Acts 1:4-8 – Who Is the Holy Ghost? – Bible study

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 Gods 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) Thats 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 dont 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 dont 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 doesnt 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 Ghosts 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 dont 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 doesnt 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 Ghosts 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 Ghosts 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. Im not what I want to be, not what I should be, but thank God, Im not what I was. b. Ive 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 devils beverage, smoking the devils weed, or using the devils 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 Gods business. (2) Lets face. Thats no change at all. 3. Oh, God, give us the Holy Ghosts changing power. II. The Holy Spirit Is Gods Power in the Believer. A. The Holy Spirit is not just Gods power in the world, but He is also Gods 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 havewith His many other powersbut 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 Ghosts 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. Im 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 dont, He wont either! 1. If we dont believe 2. If we dont obey 3. If we dont go 4. He wont 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.