In Step With The Spirit: Who Is The Holy Spirit? - George Solomon

We weren't here last week, we're in the second week of our series around the Holy Spirit. And today I entitle this message, the God or the Holy Spirit, I should say, that does not leave you. The Holy Spirit that does not leave you. And I wanna give you a bit of context before we jump into the scripture. It is Jesus speaking to His disciples. It is at the hour of the last supper and it is before His crucifixion and obviously before the resurrection. Jesus is preparing to the best of His ability to comfort the disciples because He's about to tell them that He's going to depart, that He's going to leave them. He's going somewhere in fact that He says that you cannot come. So you imagine that, three years, they followed Him, three years, they walked with Him, they believed in Him, they put their hope in Him, they put their entire life in Him. And He, all of a sudden, to them wakes up and says, "Hey guys, I'm leaving." And you can't come. So the question is, what happens when a person that you've depended on? Maybe expect there's something from. Let's you down. They depart. When your future, you thought you had all planned out and all of a sudden it just changes. Everything inside of you maybe begins to rattle and it was no different for the disciples. In fact, even with Jesus' words, they went into shock. They went into fear and worry and concern. How do we know this? Because Jesus speaks to them and He says this, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, you also believe in Me. One translation says, "Do not let this overwhelm you. "Do not let fear overtake you." And He says, "I'm not leaving you." And they're still confused. So we're gonna jump into it and we're gonna continue on with what Jesus said in John 14. He gets a little bit further down the track. In verse 16, this is where we pick it up. Jesus speaking to His disciples, "I will pray to the Father and He will give you another helper. "That He may be with you forever. "The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, "for He does not see Him, neither does it know Him. "For you know Him, for He lives with you." Listen what He says now and will be in you. He is with you but He will be in you. "I will not leave you often. "I will come to you." Which brings me to a question. Have you ever said something that you regret and as the words are coming out, it's like you can't just bring them back? I've had many moments of those. You know when I said support me? It's not the context. But she's right, actually I've had many moments. In fact, this week, just recently, I had one of those moments where I was just talking to a couple and I said, "Hey guys, do you live around the area?" They didn't answer the question. They said, "One of the person responded said, "I'm actually not a guy, I'm a girl." - Oh. - I thought, "Oh, I am so sorry." And they were so forgiving and so gentle. But there was a moment, a very sensitive moment where I really came undone. And it was a while back when I was at a funeral and I attended a wake and in the wake, there was probably about 80, maybe people odd. I don't know, conversation after conversation, the room's crowded and I walked over to a table to grab a tea or a coffee and there was a gentleman and I began to talk with him. And not long thereafter, a woman comes alongside and I put two and two together and I know there's a relationship and what I would normally do is say, "Hey, what is a relationship between you two?" But some reason I didn't. I presume to know the relationship and in that moment I said to the woman, "Are you the mother?" And she responds, "No, I'm the wife." I honestly, I, that moment that 80 people vanished. It was just me. In fact, I think the Holy Spirit said, "Yeah, I'm actually checking out as well." Like, "I can't even help you with this one." And to this day, I'm not lying, to this day, I do not remember how that conversation ended. I don't even remember their faces. I was traumatic and I was traumatized by it. But the truth of the matter is I said that to say this because you can be surrounded by a lot of people but still feel alone. Maybe stupid. And sometimes life can be going along really well than suddenly everything changes. Maybe it's a word that you said that changed the relationship or maybe a word was spoken into your life that changed something within you, maybe it was a relationship that you thought would last, but it just didn't. Or perhaps you're dealing with grief and all those things that we carry through life. And but the truth that is life goes on. But inside of you, you can be left empty. You can be left feeling alone and potentially even abandoned. But sometimes, maybe sometimes the hardest part isn't what's happening around us or what's changed around us in that moment. Maybe it's about what's changed inside of us or maybe what's happened inside of us. We've all had those moments, right? I remember a moment with my mom and dad, the passing of them at such a young age, I had just felt not only lonely, not only insecure, unsure of what tomorrow looked like, but I felt abandoned in that moment. And there is a difference. See, loneliness is a disconnection from someone but abandoned is someone who has left you to your own. And now you have to try and figure it out all by yourself. And sometimes it's no fault of your own. So why do we fear being alone? Why do we feel and fear steps in and that realization of being abandoned is terrifying? One person said this, one of our greatest human fears isn't simply being alone. It's the fear of being abandoned. Left with no one in Jesus speaks into this fear, sitting with the disciples, he knows they're confused, he knows the uncertainty they're facing. He knows they're trembling, but he says this to them to try and comfort them, he says, but I will not leave you orphans. He doesn't say alone and he uses the word orphans because orphans speaks of someone without a parent, someone who's called to protect and provide and to always be there and never to let you down. He uses the word orphans to comfort, to protect. What he is saying is you are not going to be abandoned. You are not going to be left to figure life out all by yourself and you're not going to be left without help. You're not going to be left without my presence. Jesus never said to his disciples, listen. Life will get easier, never said it. He wasn't promising that the Holy Spirit would even prevent loneliness or feelings of loneliness or difficult seasons. He wasn't promising any of that. What he was promising that his presence will always be with us through the difficult times. So why is that important to us? Because when we walk through difficult seasons like the disciples did, sometimes our response to God is not to draw closer but to withdraw from Him. Sometimes the temptation is to stop serving, to stop praying, to stop believing, to stop gathering with others. But can I suggest you it is not God who abandons us, it is us who abandons God. God is not moved, God is not moved, God is always there, that's the promise. And you might not even feel His presence. You might not understand what He's doing and most of the times we don't. But the absence of a feeling is not the absence of God. You might even think sometimes what I have thought. If God is with me, why am I experienced pain? Why am I struggling in a situation if you are with me? So when you don't feel the presence and when you were struggling in the situation, I want you to remember His promise. I will not leave you orphans. So how do we know we're not abandons? Because Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples, He promises it to us, not only to dwell with them but He says, listen, that He will be in you. He will be in you. And if we take a quick look and go all the way back to Genesis, this was always the heart of the Father. From the very beginning, we see God's desire to dwell with His people. In Genesis, we see God walking in the garden, we see the relationship, He attended to have not only with Adam and Eve, but what the future would look like for humanity, that I will be their God, they will be my people. But sin into the world and it broke that relationship with God. Yet. God in that moment did not and does not. His abandoned, his desire to continue to dwell with humanity. That's the God that we serve. We see the in Exodus, in fact God tells Moses his people to tell his people to build a sanctuary. Why, that I may dwell with them, even though you sin, even though you broke relationship with me, I want you to build a tabernacle. I want you to build a dwelling place where my presence is and he does that. And that temple place became the dwelling place the presence of God. And we see in the New Testament, nothing different. John 1, the scripture tells us that the word of God became flesh and dwelt amongst us speaking of Jesus. It says that he tabernacled with humanity. That ID tabernacle or dwelt amongst us, listen to this, carries the idea of pitching a tent or tabernaculate amongst humanity. What is absolutely crazy for today is that we now have become that temple where the spirit of God tabernacles, not only with us, but inside of us. When you think about that, how does that change your perspective? That the living God, the spirit of God resides within us and chose to live in a broken humanity. The vessels, the vessels, we become the vessels of God. Do you see the progression, the desire of God walking in the garden dwelling amongst people? Jesus coming to dwell amongst humanity and now through the Holy Spirit, God dwells within His people. It was always His desire to dwell with humanity, which brings me to a question and maybe it's something that you're asking, who's the Holy Spirit? Because it is a conversation amongst many Christians. But I want to say this to you, the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is not simply a force, but is a force to be reckoned with. He's not simply a feeling, although he brings peace beyond our feelings, he's not just power, he is the power that works in us. The Holy Spirit is God Himself dwelling within His people. He is, listen, not an it, he is a person, he is fully God. He's not one third of God, he's not part of God, he is fully God. The God of the universe dwells inside of you. He says, in John the Scripture that we read, I will send you a helper, he doesn't say that. Jesus says, I will send you another helper. This is really important to understand, 'cause the idea of another, listen, carries the idea of the same kind. It's not different, it's the same kind, it is like the one that is already present. So what Jesus is saying, I'm present, you see me? The Holy Spirit is exactly like me, he's not different, he's not inferior, he's not a substitute. In fact, he goes on to say, it's actually to your advantage, I go away and the Spirit of God comes, because if I don't go, the Spirit will not come. In other words, I think what God was saying, it's gonna be really difficult for you to do life without His Spirit. He's not a lesser version of God, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Three distinct persons, one divine nature and essence. How do we know this? 'Cause it's all through the Scripture. You look even at the baptism of Jesus. I mean, He's there in the water and His voice from heaven, the Father comes and the Spirit in a form of a dove comes to Him. So there we see the three persons, three distinct persons, one divine nature. In fact, the Scripture goes on when the two become, the husband and wife are joined, the two become one flesh that I am of the same kind. I am the same nature, I am the same will. It's like if you've seen me, Jesus says, you've seen the Father, we know different. So I'm sending you another one. Not a lesser version of myself. So according to the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is God. I'm gonna show you. We see it clearly in Acts three and four in the account of Ananias and Sophia. Peter confronts Ananias for lying to the Spirit of God and he says, you have not lied to men, but you've lied to God. So he is God. The Holy Spirit possesses the attributes, attributes, sorry, of God. In other words, he's eternal, he breathes nine. He's omnipresent, some 139. He knows the deep things of God, one Corinthians. He is God. He carries and possesses the attributes of God. He performs the works of God. He is active in creation, Genesis one. He brings new life to people, John three. There are so many Scriptures after Scripture that testifies who he is, he is a person. But maybe he's the person we ignore the most. And not even in intentional way. We just don't think about the Holy Spirit as God or maybe a divine nature of God. Maybe we think of him just as power or someone who he's not. You are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells within you. How do we know that he's a person? 'Cause the Scripture describes him doing things that only a person can do. He speaks Acts 13. He can be grieved Ephesians four. He loves Romans 15. He chooses and distributes spiritual gifts according to his will. He is a person. But what's interesting about John 14? Jesus not only talks to us about him being the helper, he talks about the spirit of truth. That the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. Why does Jesus call him the spirit of truth? Is it possible? And I think the easiest is that the disciples were filled with so many different voices competing for their beliefs. So many different voices competing for the idea of truth. And our world is no different today. We are filled with so many different opinions and thoughts and truths. Everyone has opinion. Everyone has a platform. Everyone has a voice. But here's the thing. Just because something sounds convincing, doesn't make it true. Just because something feels right, doesn't make it true. Jesus promised he would send the spirit who would lead us into truth. So the question is maybe where does this truth, or who is this truth? Where does it lead us more importantly? I think what is the truth? The answer is not just information and knowledge, the truth leads us to a person and the person is Jesus. So the spirit's work is not only to convince us or convict us of the life that we live but to point us back to Jesus. How do we know this? Because Jesus said in John 14, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the father, except for me. It's interesting, he didn't say, I am a way, and I am a truth. What Jesus meant, there is no other way. No matter what you think or opinion, what you were believing, what someone told you, there is no other way. And he says this, the spirit of truth has come and he will guide you into all truth. What does he say? He will glorify me. He will take that of which is mine and declare it to you. That's why he calls it the spirit of truth. JJ Packard describes the Holy Spirit, who is a theologian, he says this, the hidden flood light shining on the Savior, that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is described as the hidden floodgate or flood light, I should say, shining on our Savior. In other words, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes and he glorifies Jesus, he reveals Jesus and he points us to who really he is. And that's important, because not every voice claiming even to speak of Jesus is actually truth. So the question is maybe who we listen to? What voices are we listening to? What are we reading when it comes to truth? 'Cause the truth is there, the truth is there, but do we know the truth? I want to show you a clip from a movie called "A Few Good Men", if you have ever seen it. Yeah, Tom Cruise, he's pretty like I'm fire, that's probably three shots of coffee. I want the truth, Jack Nicholson, who plays a commander of these marine soldiers. And it's a courtroom setting, and what the situation is, the commander has ordered something, and Tom Cruise doesn't know what has really happened in the context of it. 'Cause what took place was that another marine had killed another marine. And they're trying to uncover the truth. And the lawyer fires question after question, 'cause he understands the nature of this man here. He understands this man is very prideful and will not give much away. But he also knows that if I put him under pressure, He can't help but speak out and eventually the questions keep coming and Jack Nicholson says to him what do you want and obviously Tom Cruise says I want the truth to which he replies the commander says you can't handle the truth see what's interesting about that scene is the truth was already there it was already in the courtroom the problem wasn't that the truth wasn't there the problem was that someone the commander was trying to hide the truth and that's exactly what the enemy tries to do with us all to hide the truth from a Satan conceals the truth he distorts the truth he questions the truth but the Holy Spirit has come the spirit of truth so when the enemy hides the truth the spirit reveals the truth the enemy points us away from Christ the spirit of God leads us to Christ Jack Nicholson when he says you can't handle the truth what he was saying is you want comfort of believing that everything is right but you aren't prepared to face the reality of what is behind it because we're afraid of the truth that's why we lie to people because we're afraid of the truth if I say the truth what will happen to me if I tell them the truth maybe they'll walk away from me and we'll never be friends again so we leave people in a lie or maybe a misunderstanding of life because we're too afraid to speak the truth the truth's got to cost absolutely it's cost Jesus it cost Jesus and it will cost us but that's what the enemy wants to do and we see it in the world today there are people who want the benefits of Jesus without having wanted the truth of Jesus you know I think there's a movie called friends friends with benefit we want the friend we want the benefits and the friendship but I want the commitment is that what it is I don't want the commitment I just want the benefits from it and it's a very similar thing the West is that right no yes friends better I don't know what it is I didn't watch it I just like I remember was it was it actually a movie or not there you go so you watched it I was a click was a clean movie if you're not the first one up for prayer or someone was telling me about it so it's an opposite of what that but we see it in the world today we really do we don't want the conviction we want to comfort we want friends with benefits doesn't make it any different that you sit and watch a movie that's not appropriate for you Hannah let's let's get on with the message we're gonna go he sends the spirit of truth why because the greatest danger isn't simply that we might feel alone or abandoned it's that when we're hurting confused or afraid we might actually believe the lie the lie that God has abandoned us the lie that God has forgotten us the lie that our sin is too far gone the lie that life listen can be found without Christ the biggest lie you can do life and you don't need Jesus you can have the world or you can have Jesus which one do you want or why can't I have both why can't I have both if I put God in his in place if he is my authority if he's my supreme if he's my number one why I can't I do life I'm gonna do life right relationships marriages finances money work all of that you're gonna do it with God or without God but I'll just rather do it with God because so much I guess easier when I find myself in a difficult situation and I don't know how to get out of it it's then not only the one who leaves me in the truth but the helper the one who comes alongside of me the one who is alongside me but more importantly the one who lives inside of me you know I think today as I finish I was saying this to my wife today like in the cars thinking I just I was just in the morning one day and I just had this crazy thought like what if I get interviewed by God you know when you go to a job interview you put on your best clothes fill out the resume maybe few lines in there that you really didn't do pretending to be someone who you really not and the employee has no idea and you present it before them but the truth is we don't have a resume before God and God sees beyond the clothes he looks into the heart of a person he knows exactly who you are I'm just thinking well I get the job not get the job do you understand what I mean let's come front in when you think about that it's challenging one person set two meters I'll share it that's stressful okay so I'll pay for your therapy it's all right like but that's the truth that's actually the truth why don't we all stand for a moment the one thing that we cannot do is play Christianity can't play Christianity we can't pretend to be one person and then we're another person we can't pretend to that we love Jesus we know the scripture we just choose willingly to disobey the scriptures I'm not saying it's easy to obey the scriptures but it's not impossible because he gave you the spirit to actually do it and I want to make this really clear it's different to the person who struggles I'm okay with it with a Christian who's coming in and is walked in with an addiction and he's broken but he shows up every Sunday because he's trying to be set free with it he's going to counseling because he wants to be set free from it he's talking to people because he wants to be free from it I get that I just don't get the Christian who comes in and lives in sin and says I'm a Christian and worships God on Sunday who you you you could fool us I could fool you be careful God we're either in or out within or out and I don't say that to condemn anyone I'm saying it because that's actually the truth of God not perfect you're not perfect but are you committed are we committed to God and if you ever if you ever want a comparison in your life just look at the cross if you ever going through a difficult season in your life and you think well you know what I'm not going to give to that person anymore I'm not gonna give them any kindness I'm not going to show them forgiveness I'm not gonna serve them any longer well look at the cross just look at the cross that'll be the greatest comparison that'll be your greatest answer right there I thank God that Jesus is going to go to God and God like that's enough I'm drawing the line I know and I'm out are you thankful why why do we do it to him why do we check out why do we quit I'm God because someone said something a church that offended me so I'll never go to church again because the church offended me no no no a person offended you who was human and potentially could have made a mistake and you gave him no grace to restore that situation I'm just saying that's true that's life maybe we need God to stir our hearts like what what David even prayed himself like my soul God thirst for you hunger and a righteousness for you God I don't have that in my heart I can tell you as a as a Christian and a journey for a long time Christian I had a lot of desires for a lot of other things and I had to say God I don't have that desire I'm honest with you but I want you to create a desire within me a heart even though I don't feel like doing something sometimes I still want to do them good things for you I'm what I'm talking about do you understand what I'm saying it's not about my feelings and the desires of what I want to do I just keep coming back to the cross I said my goodness if you did that for me wow I can do that for you I can do that for you I can do that for you every eye close every head bow will you do for him because Paul says in Romans 12 how do we do it he answers the question he says offer yourselves a living sacrifice because it's your reasonable act of duty before God not I have to I want to I want to serve you God I want to serve you people I want to love people outside in my workplace wherever I go I want to be you God I want to be you I want to be you Jesus Paul said imitate me as I imitate you maybe you need to get around someone that is further on down in the track I don't know what you need to do but maybe we just first start with saying God create a mere desire for you hunger for you and then you lead the rest of the way Lord what do we take a moment to do that maybe like one of the disciples confused unsure uncertain don't understand why don't even know Jesus I would I would say if you're new you've been never accepted Christ into your life ask him into your life and when you invite Jesus into your life he will give you that spirit that was in him the same spirit he'll give you the fullness of himself in you to live not just under the circumstances of life but to see that you can live above the circumstances of life you know what we normally do is dismiss the service and go pray but I'm gonna say to you right now whatever's in your heart right now maybe you need to respond Let's not rush. Let's just take a moment to do that. Maybe it's coming up the front and getting someone to pray for you. Don't be ashamed of that. Don't feel like people is talking or watching me. No, they're not. They're here to help you. Maybe you want to kneel. Maybe you want to raise your hands. Maybe you want to just posture yourself before God and say, "God, I know there's so much more for me and for you." Why don't we take that moment and do that and then we'll close the service. If you need prayer, come on out. Yeah. You want to raise your hand? Yep, raise your hand. If you want to kneel, let's find you can do that. What will our interview with God be like? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.