A SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
John 14:16-18
Morning Meditation 12/14/2013
Verse 16-18 says, .” And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 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. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is very controversial to say the least. I want to present a simple summary of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It will not be extensive and the value of it to you will depend on your running the references and reading the verses for yourself.
1.The Holy Spirit comes as a result of the intercession of Jesus: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter . . .” The work of the Holy Spirit is seen in the word “Comforter.” Jesus speaks of “another Comforter.” Jesus was their Comforter at the time He spoke this. So the Holy Spirit is to TAKE HIS PLACE once He departs after the resurrection to be our High Priest in the presence of God. Today Jesus is THE ONE MEDIATOR between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5).
2.The Holy Spirit is a GIFT. Note the words of Christ, “and he (The Father) shall give you another Comforter.” The word “give” translates “didomi” and means, “to give something to someone.” Roy Hession used to say, “The Holy Spirit is not a reward for our faithfulness but God’s gift to our weakness.” That is so true. When I am willing to take the LOW place, the WEAK place, I am in a position to receive the work of the Holy Spirit in me. Too many of us try to CLIMB to find Him and He is always just out of reach. We need to crawl because there is where He is.
3.The Holy Spirit is as someone has said, “Heavens throne gift.” This is brought out in Acts 2:33: “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” Jesus “received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost.” This is in keeping with number one above where Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.” The Holy Spirit is a gift of the Father to the Son and the Son to His people.
4.The Holy Spirit is not new to the people of God. The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was to fulfill a special roll in this age. The Holy Spirit was active in creation (Gen. 1:2), strove with man about his need of salvation before the flood (Gen. 6:3), filled Old Testament believers for special work (Exo. 31:3; 35:31), the Holy Spirit was vexed at wrong actions in the O.T. (Isa. 63:10), the Holy Spirit indwelt Moses (Isa. 63:11). So indwelling is not exclusively New Testament.
5.Since Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes into the life of the believer at salvation. Ephesians 1:13 says, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” THIS IS A DEFINITIVE STATEMENT STATING WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES INTO THE BELIEVER. For the believer to pray for the COMING of the Holy Spirit (that is what many are doing when they pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit) would be like me asking you over and over again to come into my home when you are standing right there at the time I am asking. Get this picture in your mind. You are standing in my living room. I stand there looking at you and I say, “Will you please come into my house? Please oh please come in!” You would get a little uneasy if I continued to ask you to do something when it is obvious that you had already done it. If the Holy Spirit was in the habit of speaking out loud I think He would say to someone who continued to pray for Him to come, “Hey, you dummy. Get up off you face and read Ephesians 1:13 and when you have read it, get your hands off the steering wheel of your life and let me take over. It is not my presence you need, it is my control.”
6.The Holy Spirit is the Seal of our salvation (Eph. 1:13). He doesn’t seal us, He IS the seal. The body of the believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
7.He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).
8.The Holy Spirit seals us until the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30).
9.The Holy Spirit is God’s Earnest to us of our inheritance (Eph. 1:14). This is God’s guarantee to us that He will finish what He began in us when He saved us.
10. The Holy Spirit is grieved when we sin as Christians (Eph. 4:30).
11. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Filling can take place over and over again and should. Therefore, it is not wrong to pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
12. The Holy Spirit is a person and not a principle: The following can only be said of a person:
1)He speaks and calls; Acts 13:2.
2) He commands and permits; Acts 16:6-7.
3) He leads; Rom 8:14.
4) He instructs; John 16:13.
5) He comforts; John 14:26.
6) He intercedes; Rom 8:26.
7) He bears witness; Rom 8:16.
8) He can be grieved; Eph 4:30.
Note: All these expressions can only be said of a living personal being.
13. The Bible is given by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:21).
14. The Holy Spirit will never lead or inspire an action contrary to what HE HAS SAID IN THE WORD, i.e., barking like a dog, etc. This is the only safety we have against Satan. Satan is an imitator and will imitate the work of the Holy Spirit. How do we know the difference between the actions of the Holy Spirit and Satan? The answer is the Word of God. Satan will not stay with the Scriptures. If I have an experience that is in conflict with Scripture, you can be SURE that it did not come from the Holy Spirit.
15. The Holy Spirit indwells ALL BELIEVERS (Rom. 8:9).
16. The Holy Spirit is in us to empower our testimony of God’s saving grace in our lives as we witness (Acts 1:8).
17. The Holy Spirit has a world-wide witness (John 16:7-11). The missionary always finds that the Holy Spirit beat him to the mission field.
18. The Holy Spirit is sent in Jesus Name (John 14:26). Just as Jesus was sent in His Father’s name, the Holy Spirit is sent in the name of Jesus.
19. The Holy Spirit is the power to “mortify the deeds of the body” thereby enabling the believer to live a holy life (Rom. 8:13).
20. The Holy Spirit gives assurance to us that we are already God’s children (Rom. 8:16).
21. The Holy Spirit is our guide (Rom. 8:14).
22. The Holy Spirit is the Lord (2 Cor. 3:17). Jesus so works through the Person of the Holy Spirit that they are used synonymously here.
23. The Holy Spirit can be quenched; 1 Thess. 5:19: “Quench not the Spirit.”
24. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher (John 14:26;16:13).
25. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit in the life of the yielded believer (Gal. 22-23).
26. Walking in the Spirit is the only way to have victory over the flesh; Gal. 5:16-17)..
27. The Holy Spirit makes intercession for the believer (Rom. 8:26).
28. The Holy Spirit leads us in worship (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). The term “Abba, Father” is very intimate. It is like a little boy saying, “Daddy, daddy.” The yearnings of the inner man to worship and adore God is caused by the indwelling Holy Spirit..
29. Spirituality is the proper relation to the Holy Spirit just like salvation is a proper relation to the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 2:14-15).
30. Regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3; Titus 3:5). Salvation is a Spiritual birth and a new man comes into existence at this birth (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24).
31. The Holy Spirit is the restrainer of evil and the One who keeps Antichrist from making his move to take over the world until God’s time is right (2 Thess. 2:7).
32. The Holy Spirit is given to the believer until the day of redemption, i.e., the rapture or resurrection (Eph. 1:14; 4:30)..
This is not intended to be extensive but a simple doctrinal summary of the Holy Spirit as He operates in this age of grace. There are a lot of issues that I did not on purpose deal with since it is not the purpose of this meditation to argue over things that divide. All saved people are in the same family together. There are certain basic issues that we should be in agreement on. I hope this outline will help those of you who are interested in the study of the Holy Spirit. God bless you.
In Christ
Bro. White
