Acts 1:4-8
Who is the Holy Ghost?
As the doors of the New Testament opened, God was at work. It had
been almost 400 years since God had spoken, 400 years of silence. The
Persians, who were in power at the close of the Old Testament, fell
from power and the Greeks rose. The Greeks then fell from power and
the Romans rose. Great atrocities were committed both in and against
Israel, but God remained silent.
Then, suddenly and powerfully, God spoke His mind through a man named
John. John prophesied of two comings.
\\#John 1:6-14\\ One of the comings was of the Messiah coming. By
Acts 1, He had come, died for sins, rose from the dead, and was about
to return to heaven.
\\#Matt 3:11\\ But John also promised the coming of the another
member of the Trinity. The One called the Holy Ghost.
Mt 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to
bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,
and with fire:
The prophecies of the Holy Ghost were just now about to be fulfilled.
This was now the time for the church to learn who the Holy Ghost is
and how He can be released from the believer into a lost world.
Perhaps we as well need to learn those lessons? Who is the Holy
Ghost? How do we release Him?
I. The Holy Spirit Is God’s Power in the World.
A. \\#Acts 1:4-8\\ Jesus said our power comes after He arrives.
1. No Holy Spirit. No power.
2. It may also be truthful to say, No power; No Holy Spirit.
3. But it is certain that the Holy Ghost is the power of God
in the world.
B. What kind of power does the Holy Ghost bring?
1. There is convicting power.
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment:
a. He will reprove us.
(1) That’s conviction or correction.
(2) Conviction is not when God tells us what is
wrong. Any preacher, parent, or book can do
that.
(3) Conviction is when God puts "feelings" to what He
tells us, bad feelings for doing bad and good
feelings for doing good.
(4) It is the addition of emotion to education.
(5) When I was a kid growing up, telling me what to
do was one thing, but correcting me for doing
wrong was quite another.
(a) If we did bad, we were made to feel badly
for doing it.
(b) If we did it again, we were made to feel
worse.
(c) And so it would go until the joy of doing
the bad completely dissipated compared to the
bad feelings of doing it.
(6) Of course, I am talking about spankings.
(a) People have said for 50 years now that
spanking will make a child violent, angry,
and uncontrollable.
(b) So all of the rioters and looters must have
been spanked a lot growing up.
(c) No. I suspect they were not spanked at all,
just told when they were doing wrong.
(d) You don’t get angry, violent, uncontrollable
kids from correctly spanking them.
(e) You get angry, violent, uncontrollable kids
from NOT spanking them.
(7) So the Holy Ghost does not just tell us that we
have done wrong.
(a) He puts some feeling behind it.
(b) When was the last time we were convicted?
b. He will correct us in three areas:
1. Sin - He puts feeling to us when we have done
wrong.
2. Righteousness - He puts feeling to us when we have
done right.
4. Judgment - He puts feeling to us about what will
happen if we don’t quit doing the wrong and start
doing the right.
c. Listen, conviction is not judgment.
1. Conviction is putting some feeling to us.
2. Judgment is what happens if the conviction doesn’t
take.
(a) For a lost sinner, judgment is hell.
(b) For a Christian, judgement will be losing our
rewards, including some privileges we have
on earth.
2. Oh, God give us the Holy Ghost’s convicting power.
C. There is saving power of the Holy Ghost.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will
raise him up at the last day.
1. People don’t get saved unless the Father sends the Holy
Ghost and draws that person to Christ.
2. Now, there are other things that must happen.
a. No one gets saved if someone doesn’t witness.
Romans 10:14 …and how shall they hear without a
preacher?
b. No one gets saved without faith and repentance.
c. But no one gets saved unless the Holy Ghost shows up
in power to convict them, draw them, and save them.
3. I have wondered all of my ministry whether we lack the
Holy Ghost’s power in this area because of us or because
He is simply not drawing as He once did.
a. We are preaching the same Book.
b. At our church, we preach in like manner and fashion as
when souls were being saved. (In fact, they call us
old fashioned.)
c. We spend some time in prayer.
d. We spend some time in inviting people to come.
4. Oh, God, give us the Holy Ghost’s saving power.
D. There is the changing power of the Holy Ghost.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new.
1. Once saved, the Holy Ghost changes the sinner into a saved
sinner, and that is what a saint is.
2. I still see that.
a. I saw God change me. I’m not what I want to be, not
what I should be, but thank God, I’m not what I was.
b. I’ve also seen Him change some of you.
c. But so many who claim to be saved have so little
change in them.
(1) How little change?
(a) So little that they cannot even come to
church.
(b) So little that they cannot get into the
Word.
(c) So little that they cannot quit drinking the
devil’s beverage, smoking the devil’s weed,
or using the devil’s drugs.
(d) So little that their mouth still praises the
devil instead of God.
(e) So little that they find time, money, and
energy to do whatever their friends,
family, and selves want to do, but they are
too tired, broke, and busy to tend to God’s
business.
(2) Let’s face. That’s no change at all.
3. Oh, God, give us the Holy Ghost’s changing power.
II. The Holy Spirit Is God’s Power in the Believer.
A. The Holy Spirit is not just God’s power in the world, but He
is also God’s power within us.
B. We have other promises of power to the church in our age.
1. \\#John 14:16-18\\ The Holy Spirit is our Comforter.
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may
abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will
come to you.
a. This is not the same power as conviction, salvation,
or transformation.
(1) Maybe indirectly in that this power is only
available to a Christian but not directly.
(2) When the Holy Ghost comforts, He is not trying to
convict, save, or change.
(3) He just wants to comfort.
b. What does that mean?
(1) It means the Holy Ghost will just come sit
beside you and hold you when you hurt.
(2) It means the Holy Ghost will just listen to you
when you need to talk.
(3) And it means if you ask Him to do so, the Holy
Ghost will lighten your load.
(a) Now God is able to fix every problem we
have—with His many other powers—but that
does not fall under the category of being
comforted.
i. God could heal but that is His healing
power. It is different from comfort.
ii. God could change the circumstances,
but that is His miracle-working
power. It is different from comfort.
iii. God could forgive a sin or wrong, but
that is His forgiving power. It is
different from comfort.
(b) So what can God remove that is just for
comfort?
(c) When God comforts the kind of things that He
will take for us are things like regret,
frustration, hopelessness, guilt, and
shame.
c. Oh, how some need the Holy Ghost’s comfort!
(1) You need to quit taking the responsibility for
the mistakes of your past.
(2) You need to quit beating yourself up for things
God has forgiven.
(3) You need to quit expecting to face an angry God
over things He has forgotten.
(4) You need to sleep with a clear conscience at
night, not because you never did wrong; but
because Someone else paid for the wrongs you
have done, and now whatever the bitterness, the
scars, and the hurts that exists, they are
between those that you
wronged and God.
(5) Sure, you should do whatever you can to make
things right; but having done that, whatever
anger, resentment, or bitterness that is left
is no longer any of your business.
(6) This is the comfort God offers.
2. \\#John 14:26\\ The Holy Ghost is our Teacher.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he
shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you.
a. Again, if you are saved, this is what the Holy Ghost
will do for you.
(1) This seems primarily a promise for the Christian
concerning the things spoken by God.
(2) I think we could include that to mean anything
that God has spoken.
(3) We would call that mainly doctrine.
(4) Understand, there is nothing in the Bible that a
believer cannot understand, not because we are
so smart, but because we have such a great
Teacher.
(5) One of the best and the most repeated compliments
I get in my preaching is that it is easy to
understand.
(a) I hope that is true.
(b) Several have said that to me and some on
many occasions.
(c) I consider that a great compliment, but
every believer has a much better Teacher!
(d) It is the Holy Ghost. He puts everything on
the bottom shelf!
b. There is another promise very much like this.
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew
you things to come.
(1) The difference between what the Holy Spirit
promised to do in John 14 and John 16, is the
difference between a Teacher and Guide.
(a) A Teacher teaches knowledge. We need to
KNOW things, especially the Word of God.
(b) But a Guide guides us. He is not talking.
A guide is taking us places.
(2) I can go to the travel agency and have an agent
teach me about the beautiful mountains of
Switzerland or the beautiful valleys of Nepal.
(3) He can teach me about the waterfalls of Brazil
or the lecture me on the Aurora lights of
Alaska.
(4) But what I would really like is a guide who will
take me there and show them to me in person.
3. \\#Rom 8:26\\ The Holy Ghost is our Translator and
Intercessor.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray
for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered.
a. I have been saved for 45 years, but I still do not
speak fluent heaven. Neither do I speak fluent
spiritual.
b. I’m afraid I still speak carnal and selfish. but I
have a Friend who translates and transcribes my
foolish prayers and then personally delivers them to
God.
c. Oh, how we need God to interceded and translate our
prayers today!
III. What is the problem? What is the point?
A. The problem is the Holy Spirit has limited Himself to our
obedience, our faith, and largely to our body.
I Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of
God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption.
B. If we don’t, He won’t either!
1. If we don’t believe…
2. If we don’t obey…
3. If we don’t go…
4. He won’t either.
C. What do we need the Holy Ghost to do tonight? What does He
desire to do? What would He do if we would release Him to do
it?
D. We will not find out unless we pray, believe, and go.
May God help us to do so this evening.
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