The Deity of the Spirit

The question we're going to try to answer tonight is what kind of person is the Holy Spirit? What does he like? What kind of person are we talking about here? So tonight we're going to explore the biblical teaching on the deity of the Holy Spirit. The fact that the Holy Spirit is God. He is just as much God as the Father or the Son is God, equally God with the Father and the Son. So that's what we're going to look at tonight. And I want to introduce it by saying it's important for us to recognize the deity of the Spirit on a couple of levels. It's important first of all for doctrinal reasons. One of the primary proofs for the Trinity rests upon the fact that separately each of the three persons can be shown in the Bible to be God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. So that's one of the greatest evidences of the Trinity. So it's important for doctrinal reasons. But to understand the deity of the Holy Spirit is also important for practical reasons. If the Holy Spirit truly is God, then the one who is with us is always with us. He is omnipresent. So he is always with us. And he's always with all believers in all places in all of the world. That being that he is God, he's omnipresent. So it makes it possible for him to be with every believer, no matter where we are, in the world at the same time. It also means that the one who Jesus has promised to be with us forever, the Holy Spirit, also has all power. So he's omnipresent. So he has all the power to help us with all of our needs. No matter what our needs are, the one who is with us has the ability to meet those needs and help us with whatever our lack is of strength. It also means that he is omniscient. He knows all about us. And so there's nothing that escapes him. There's nothing that he doesn't know or understand or grasp about us because he's God. And so that is a tremendous comfort and challenge to us as well. When we recognize that the Holy Spirit is not just an occasional burst of power from God the Father, the Holy Spirit is a separate person who is fully God himself. He was always with us. Knows everything we do has all power to grant us to enable us whatever the needs may be in our lives. So it's important. This is an important doctrine. It's not a side issue. It's a very important doctrine. Okay, we're going to look at four lines of evidence in the Bible that the Holy Spirit is God. Four lines of evidence tonight. But before we jump into that, anybody have a question or comment before we proceed further about what we're doing where we're headed tonight. Okay, ready to jump into it. The first line of evidence, obviously, and the most obvious one, is that the Holy Spirit is called God. At times in the New Testament, he is called God. One place where that is true. We're going to look at a couple of passages. One is Acts chapter 5, verses 3 and 4. Most of the passages have for you on your outline tonight. I'd like for you to turn to. We don't have them on the screen. We'll finish up with a few on the screen. But good to get your fingers some workout tonight. Acts 5, verses 3 and 4. You remember the story? Early church, many in the church, according to chapter 4, because of the beginning of the church and people coming to know Christ and losing their jobs and some of them being excluded from their families, there's a lot of needs. And so there are those in the church who are selling property and donating the proceeds to the church to help with those tremendous needs. Remember, there were 3,000 people that got saved under the appendicos. So this church starts out as a mega church. It starts out with huge numbers of people. And there are more being saved every day, the Bible tells us. Well, one of the couples in the church, Ananias and Safira, verse 1 says, man named Ananias, together with his wife Safira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Now, notice what happens in verse 3. But then Peter said, and Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings, but to God. The story goes on to say, when Ananias heard that he fell over dead and his wife comes in later, she also falls dead. An evidence of God's judgment. Now, this issue has sometimes been misunderstood. The issue was not that they didn't give all the money to the church. That was not the problem. I mean, Peter says as much. He says, you didn't have to sell the land to start with. You didn't have to give anything to the church. Even after you sold the land, the money was still yours. The problem is they lied. That much is clear. So although the details are not given us, we know that because some people were giving all to the church, as it is said of Barnabas and the latter part of chapter 4, that evidently had something to do with the lie. Evidently, they sold, kept back a part of the money for themselves, but made it appear as though they indicated they were giving all of it. That was the lie. Now, for our purpose tonight, kind of a side issue as far as the story is concerned, but it's very important for our doctrinal study. In verse 3, Peter says, you have lied to the Holy Spirit. The end of verse 4, he says, you've not lied just to human beings, but to God. Are there two laws to two different people here? No, that's not the point. The point is, you lied to the Holy Spirit, once you understand that's serious. You're not lying just to people. You're lying to God, equating the Holy Spirit with God. The Holy Spirit is God. He's called God here. Okay? One other passage, but any questions about this one before we move on? How did Peter know that this was a discrepancy in the reporting here? Evidently, God just revealed that to him. There's no indication that he found that any other way. So we really don't know, but you would assume that God just gave him that knowledge. You would expect they were believers? They're identified with the church. In some way, they seem to be known and respected in the church. So evidently, they were some early believers. Now, how far back they went, we don't know. We don't know if they were part of that group that was in the uproom at the beginning and had gone back to the ministry of Christ, but they evidently were part of the church. Okay? Good. Any others? Okay. 1 Corinthians 12 is another passage where much the same type of indication of the Holy Spirit being God is very similar to what we find in Acts 5. 1 Corinthians 12, this is the passage on spiritual gifts and Paul is making the point that there are lots of different kinds of gifts. There are lots of different ways to use them and there are lots of different effects of them. But he says in the midst of all of that variety, verses 4 through 7, it all comes from the same Lord. It's all the same God at work and in verse 7, to each one of the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Now, it's down to verse 11. He says, all these, after he's listed a number of different spiritual gifts, he says, all these are the work of one and the same Spirit. And he distributes them to each one just as he determines. And then he goes on to say some more about the spiritual gifts and how it's like a body that has many different parts, all the parts form one body, but there are different parts that do different things. And then in verse 18, he kind of summarizes that by saying, but in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them just as he wanted them to be. Very similar statements in verse 11 and 18. And again, you have to ask yourself, is it saying that both of them are placing parts in the body, both of them are giving spiritual gifts to different people? And it's obvious that's not the answer. Basically, it's the Holy Spirit's work to distribute the gifts and the fact that he is called God, in fact, that God does that in verse 18 is equating the two. The Holy Spirit does it. It's God that does it. The Holy Spirit is God. Okay? So two passages where he is directly called God. We can stop right there and say, that's proof enough. But the more evidence you see, the more mountain of proof there is, the stronger the case becomes. So we'll move on to some others. But any question about 1 Corinthians 12. Okay? Let's go to the second line of evidence then that the Holy Spirit is God. And that is the Holy Spirit possesses divine attributes. The Holy Spirit possesses divine attributes. Now, remember what an attribute is. We've talked about that when we talked about what the Bible teaches about God and what the Bible teaches about Christ. What is an attribute? Somebody give me a simple clear definition of that. Characteristic, yes. Characteristic. Anything else? Any other descriptive word? Okay? It is a characteristic or a quality that is inherent in a person. It is not something that is learned, it is something that is there by nature. Okay? That's what an attribute is. It's something that a quality or a characteristic that is inherent by nature. We're just going to look at six. We could go through all of the attributes of God and find some evidence of them. I'm sure in the scriptures, but these six are clearly noted among others. First of all, he possesses eternality. The Holy Spirit is eternal. Hebrews 9 and verse 14. How much more than with the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleans our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God? Obviously, the thrust of this passage is not true with the Holy Spirit eternal, but just in this very quick reference to the Holy Spirit, he is described as the eternal spirit. Now, this is different from us. This means that he has existed forever. See, he is eternal. We are not eternal. We have eternal life once we trust Christ the Savior, which means we live forever in what way? In what direction? The soul? Yes? Future? Okay. Having eternal life means that our soul, the soul, the soul lives on anyway, but having eternal life means that we will live forever in the future, but we are not eternal. We have not existed forever in the past. To be eternal or to have eternal, eternity as an essential attribute as a part of your nature, not only must you exist forever in the future, but you have to exist forever in the past. That's what it means to be eternal. We have eternal life, but we are not eternal. Only God is eternal, because only God has existed forever both in the past and in the future. And so when the Spirit is described as the eternal spirit, obviously, he has a divine attribute. That's an attribute that's only true of God. Okay, the second one, I'm my presence, which means again, God is everywhere. He is everywhere present at the same time. That's omnipresence. And that quality is described of the Holy Spirit in Psalm 139, verses 7 through 10. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed into depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast. So the point is God's presence, God's Spirit, is everywhere. There is nowhere you can go in the universe and escape the presence of the Spirit of God. Now this whole passage is remarkable because it talks about the amazing knowledge of God, his omniscience, verses 1 through 6, his amazing presence. My presence is omnipotence the way he made us. So it's great passage on the awesomeness of God, but it is specifically the Spirit that is mentioned in verse 7. He is everywhere present at the same time. No where we can go to escape his presence. So the spirit is not only eternal, he is also omnipresent. Question, comment? Thirdly, the Spirit possesses omniscience, which means he has all knowledge, all knowledge. First Corinthians 2. We looked at this passage last time, but it makes our point here tonight as well. Verse 10, these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, for who knows a person's thoughts, except their own Spirit. Within them in the same way, here it is. No one knows the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God. Now think about this for a minute. If the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God the Father, then he knows all things, right? Because God the Father is omniscient. He knows all things. So if the Holy Spirit knows his thoughts, then that's an equation which says basically, the Holy Spirit knows all things as well. The Holy Spirit is omniscient. And he searches all things, the Bible says, all things, even the deep things of God. Okay, so the Holy Spirit knows all. He is everywhere present at the same time. He is eternal. Fourthly, he is omnipotent. Luke chapter 1, the announcement of the birth of Christ to Mary. Luke chapter 1, verse 35, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born of you will be called the Son of God. The Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High are the same. That's, we've talked about this before, Hebrew parallelism. This is written New Testament, written in Greek, but it's Hebrew thought because these are Jews still living before the cross. So the idea is, they will repeat the same thing using different words to make the point. And that's exactly what's happening in verse 35. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. The Holy Spirit is the same as the Most High, the power of the Most High God. But his omnipotence, having all power, is seen in other ways as well. It is seen in creation. It is seen in salvation. The Holy Spirit has a part in creation. The Holy Spirit also has a part in salvation. And those are works that only God can do. I can't create, you can't create, I can't save anybody. You can't save anybody. Only God does those things. And so if the Holy Spirit does them, he is God. So his power is also seen in those ways. Questions about omniscience, omnipotence of the Holy Spirit? Yes, Greg? That's a great question. If the Holy Spirit knows all the thoughts of God, then why would Jesus say, no one knows the coming of the Son of Man, second coming, not the angels of heaven, not even the Son of Man, but the Father? Okay, help me out here. Why did Jesus say that? Okay, any other thoughts there? Steve? He knows, but it's not to the Lord's timing. I would agree with you that he knows now when he's coming back. Pardon me? No, he didn't. He was still God. So he knew all things. And the key to that conundrum is, is let me tag on to what Brother Max said. And I think we talked about this, but it's been a long, long time ago, when we talked about what the Bible teaches about Christ, his omniscience. Theologians, those who study doctrine and write on these things, describe Christ in his humanity this way. And this is a part of the mystery of the incarnation. I think the best way to describe it is Jesus voluntarily laid aside the independent use of his divine attributes. Every word in that description is carefully chosen by theologians so that we don't fall in the ditch on either side because the humanity and deity of Christ and how they fit together is a very tricky thing. It's a very delicate subject. So the best way to see that Jesus was limited in some ways in his humanity, I mean, he was limited in other ways too, right? He got tired. And part of the description of God's omnipotence is that he never grows weary. Jeremiah 32, 16, I believe it is. I say, 40, he never grows weary. There is no expenditure of energy when God does something, but there was with Jesus. It's because of his humanity. In his humanity, he voluntarily, he wasn't forced. This was not something that was, he was constrained and couldn't do. Okay. He voluntarily laid aside. That's part of Philippians 2, him becoming man, becoming one of us, being obedient, a voluntarily laid aside. And here's the key word, the independent use of his attributes. He never flexed his deity unless it served the purpose of glorifying God. Now, were there times when you could see in Jesus life here on earth that he knew all things? Are there times when you can see that? Sure. Pardon me? At the well. Woman of the well. I mean, he knew everything about that woman's past. He knew she had had five husbands and the man, these days, you know, no. But the man, the man, she was with now, was not her husband. He knew all that. Okay. And many other instances, you know, Jesus is healing the man with withered hand and Mark 2 looks out among the Pharisees and he knows the hardness of their hearts and he knows the questions they're asking. So there's plenty of evidence that Jesus was all knowing in his humanity. But there were times when he voluntarily laid aside the independent use of his attributes. And that statement, Greg, you brought up, which is an excellent point, is one of those, one of those times when he voluntarily chose not to know something. I believe now that he's back in heaven in a glorified body, I think he does know when he's coming back. But during his existence here on earth, with human limitations, he voluntarily laid aside some of that. But it was clear at times he knew all things and it was certainly clear at times he had all power to speak to the waves, calm them down, dispel the storm. But then there were times when he's tired, he's hungry, he's weak. That's not omnipotence is it? Well, it's the voluntary laying aside of the independent use of that divine attribute. Yeah, it shows genuine humanity, the fact that he was flesh. And for him to be genuinely human, he has to show human characteristics too. And that's the difficulty here. You've got God and man in one person and it stretches our ability to understand. But I think that's the best way to look at it. He voluntarily laid aside in his incarnation the independent use of his divine attributes. It's not that he didn't have them, he did, but he didn't always flex that muscle. Sometimes he voluntarily laid that aside. Right? Yes. Yeah, when he was tempted by Satan, he didn't give in, that he didn't give in to that temptation. As we would in our humanity in all likelihood. Okay, that's good. The omnipotence of God is seen in all three, the Father, Son, and the Spirit. Okay, number five, the Holy Spirit possesses truth. First John, five, six. This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, he did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. Now notice how that's carefully stated. It does not say that the Holy Spirit has the truth or the Holy Spirit tells the truth, says the Holy Spirit is the truth. In other words, that is an essential part of his nature. He is the truth, part of his nature. So because he is the truth, he can reveal truth. Same thing is said about Jesus, right? John 146, I am the way the truth and the life. It's not just that Jesus has the truth or tells the truth. He is the embodiment of truth in the fullest sense of the word. So that's the same thing that's said about the Holy Spirit. He is the truth. Okay, and then the last one, he possesses holiness. Romans 1.4, Romans 1.4 describes him this way who, speaking of Christ, verse 3 describes him as the descendant of David. That's his humanity. Verse 4 describes him in his deity. Who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead? Jesus Christ our Lord. He is called the Spirit of holiness. And the idea here is the Spirit who is characterized by holiness. A person of love is a person who is characterized by love. Okay, so when you say the Spirit of holiness, it's more, it's more than just that he hasn't sinned or that he has, he is holy in the sense that we can be holy. What he's saying here is an essential part of his nature is holiness. So he has, he possesses the unchangeable perfect holiness of God. Reflected in his name, right? He is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. So those are just six attributes of God that are seen of the Holy Spirit, enough to make the case, I think, that the Holy Spirit because he is described as having divine attributes is God, clear case. All right, questions on this before we move on to the third line of evidence. It certainly all be encouraging to us. I mean, this is the one who lives within us, who indwells us, who is with us 24, 7 and he has all these qualities. So many others, very encouraging. Okay, the Holy Spirit also performs divine works. In other words, the Holy Spirit does things that only God can do. He performs divine works. One of them is creation. Genesis chapter 1 begins in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In verse 2 says, now the earth was formeless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. So the Holy Spirit was present and involved in creation, mentioned in chapter 1 and verse 2 of Genesis. He had a part. Now exactly what part the different members of the Trinity played is a little difficult to understand because obviously the Bible says that God created right here in Genesis 1, 1 and other places. The Bible says that Jesus created John chapter 1, Colossians 1, make it clear that all things were created by Christ. Nothing is in existence that was not created by him. So the Bible says Christ is the creator and obviously the Holy Spirit is involved in creation as well. And by the way, there are some other passages that describe the Holy Spirit being involved or at least may refer to the Spirit's involvement in creation. I think we've got a couple of them on the screen. Psalm 336, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, their story host by the breath of his mouth. You see the word breath there? You remember what we said last week about the Holy Spirit and the Hebrew word, Rua is the word for spirit, wind or breath. You can translate it all three ways in the Old Testament. So scholars are, they debate over whether or not this should be just the breath of God's mouth or literally the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. So that one's a little could go either way, but the other one, Psalm 104 and verse 30 is pretty clear. When you send your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the ground. In the verses before that verse, he's talked about all the animals in the animal kingdom and how they look to God for the provision of their food and so forth. And he says, when you send your spirit, they were created and you renew the face of the ground. So the Holy Spirit is involved in creation. Now again, trying to parcel out who does what is not really possible. There are some who have tried, there are some who have suggested that the father is the architect. He had the design for creation. The son is the contractor. He oversaw the project and the Holy Spirit is the laborer, the one who actually did it who formed and filled the earth. The Bible doesn't really make it that clear. That's just kind of a nice way of looking at it that fits our categories. Whether or not that's the way it actually happened, we can't say for sure. We do know this. All three were involved in creation. Father, son, and spirit. And exactly how that looks, we don't know, although we know they do operate in perfect unity. Okay, so he is involved in creation. Secondly, he is involved in regeneration. Regeneration is what? What does that mean? Made new. Made new. Okay. All right. That's good. Anything else you want to add to that? Okay. That's good enough. Regeneration means to be made new or to give new life, be born again. And in biblical terms, it's talking about the new birth, salvation. So the Holy Spirit is involved in regeneration or the new birth or salvation. The clearest example of this is Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus in John 3 verses 5 through 8. Jesus answered very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and of the spirit. Flash gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. In other words, natural birth comes through fleshly means, physical means, spiritual birth comes through the Holy Spirit. He's the one that gives spiritual birth. Verse 7, you should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, you hear it sound, but cannot tell where it comes from, where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. So the Holy Spirit regenerates. The Holy Spirit gives new life. And then Titus 3, 5, where Paul talks about the fact that we're not born again, we're not saved by our own works. He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth, regeneration, and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Those are just two descriptions of the same thing. Salvation, new birth, regeneration, renewal, rebirth, they're all the same, same concept. So the Holy Spirit is involved in regeneration. He's the one that gives new life. We'll see more about that later because we'll spend a good bit of a lesson on that work of the spirit for unsaved people in regeneration. But just to say right now, that the Holy Spirit takes that which is dead, that which has no spiritual life, that which is lawless, rebellious, and disobedient, and breathes life into that person, giving them a whole new direction, a whole new life, a whole new set of characteristics. And only God can do that. So the Holy Spirit creates, he regenerates questions before we look at another one. Okay, thirdly, the Holy Spirit does resurrections. Romans chapter 8 and verse 11 mentions at least two that he has the power to do. Romans 8, 11, actually many, many more than just the two, but two different categories. Romans 8, 11, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. God resurrects through the spirit. It is the spirit who is involved in giving resurrection life both to Jesus and to us. And then fourthly, he is involved in inspiration. Second Peter 122. 121, so only 21 verses in that chapter. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. It's one of those passages that describes how we got the Bible, how the Bible was written. The Bible was not written by people who were just dreaming up this stuff on their own. This came directly from God. These men wrote, although they were human, they wrote, they communicated their message from God as they were carried along or born along by the Holy Spirit. The only other time that word carried along, born along, is used in the New Testament, is in Acts 27, where it's describing the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul and his weight of Rome, and it says, the ship was being born along by the wind. It was totally under the control of the wind and that storm, the sailors had lost control of the whole thing, and it was under the control of the wind. That's the idea here, that the Holy Spirit was totally in control of the process of the writing of Scripture, so that he protected the human writers from any error in what they wrote. They wrote exactly what God wanted them to write. That's the inspiration of the Bible of the Scriptures. That was the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was doing that. The Holy Spirit performs divine works. He does things that only God can do. All right, any comment or question there? Okay, we've got about two minutes and I think we can summarize this last point in about that amount of time. Another way to see that the Holy Spirit as God is that the Spirit is associated equally with the Father and the Son. In other words, they're mentioned together, they're mentioned as being on equal terms, and I'm just going to, we're going to throw these verses on the screen for you to kind of show you, boom, boom, boom, how that works. Matthew 28, 19, the baptism formula. Therefore go and make all disciples, disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. One name, but three different persons indicating they are equal, name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. And then John 14, 16, and 15, 26, these two go together. 14, 16 says, and I, Jesus is speaking here in the upper room to the disciples and I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever. And we've made this point before that the word another means another of the same kind. He's just like me in other words. Jesus is saying, the Holy Spirit is just like me. We're equal. And then in verse 26, He goes on to say, when that advocate comes, 15, 26, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me. And you can see that in this passage, both the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit. So there's an equality there. He comes from both the Father and the Son. And He is equal to the Son back in chapter 14. So obviously all three of them are equal. They are the same nature. And then Romans 8.9, notice, this is pretty neat. Romans 8.9 Paul says, you however are not in the realm of the flesh, speaking of believers, you're not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. Notice He has called the Spirit of God, then the Spirit of Christ, in the same verse. Again, equating the three members of the Trinity. The names are, in a certain sense, interchangeable. It doesn't mean they're the same person, but they have the same nature, same essence. And then one other, when the benediction in 2 Corinthians 13, made the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Paul mentions all three members of the Trinity as conferring special blessing according to his prayer, his desire for the Corinthian church. So God's blessings come from the Father, Son, and Spirit, indicating their all. Three equally associated. So the Spirit's mentioned on the same plain, same level, equally with the Father and the Son, indicating that He is indeed God. All right? Any comments or questions on the deity of the Holy Spirit? He is God. Yes, sir, John? Yes. Good point. Another line of equality is the Son is also called an advocate in 1 John 2. And that's why Jesus can say, he's an advocate, another advocate, one just like me, Holy Spirit is. All right, time's up. Let's pray. Father, thank you that the one you've sent to be with us is fully, completely God in every sense of the word. So we don't have somewhat lower form of you. We don't have an inferior being who is with us at all times. He is just as much God as you are and as your Son is. And so we are filled with joy and gratitude and a sense of empowerment because of that that you can enable us to do whatever you want us to do because your Spirit is with us at all times. Thank you that you've given us that wonderful gift in Jesus' name, amen.