What Is the Holy Spirit?

If you've ever heard of the term in some of the churches you may have grown up in, the periclete comes from the Greek word parakletos, which is translated comforter or helper. But it literally means one who is called alongside to help you. One who is called alongside to help. That's the Holy Spirit.

That's the pericletos. Look at it this way. The Holy Spirit is the one who puts fuel in your spiritual tank. Of the three persons in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit's identity and role is often the most confusing. Today we begin a countdown of Skip's top 40 messages on the Connect with Skip Heitzig YouTube channel. In the number 40 spot is his message, What is the Holy Spirit?, where Skip introduces you to the Holy Spirit and how he works in your life.

Before we begin, here's a resource that will help you grow even closer to Jesus than ever before. The year was 1962 and the United States was behind in the space race. Boldly, President Kennedy threw down a strong claim. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Three, two, one, zero, and liftoff. When JFK made this challenge, America had little space experience.

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That's connectwithskipp.com or 1-800-922-1888. Okay, let's dive into today's teaching. We'll be in John Chapter 14 as Skip Hyten begins the study. Holy Spirit is a divine person. He's not like some lesser being, like an angel that appears in the Old Testament or a group of angels that do.

He's a divine person and this is, we have to get this, this is of such vital importance. Nothing will heighten our respect or enlarge our regard for the Holy Spirit more than this. The Holy Spirit is not a substitute name for God. It's like, well, should I say God or should I say Lord or should I just say Holy Spirit?

Because, you know, they're just sort of, they're all just sort of the same thing. The Holy Spirit is not a substitute for God. Now, I'm going to go light on the historic theology of this, but I do want to touch on a couple things because inquiring minds want to know. In 200 A.D. there was a character named Sibelius who taught something called, interestingly, Sibelianism. Not that he named it that, but that's what it has been called.

But he taught effectively Modalism. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three names for three different modes of one person. One single entity expresses himself different ways at different times and designates that, but it's really just one entity acting in three different forms or three different modes of one person's activity. But, again, let's go back to the Scripture. Notice, for example, in chapter 14, the Holy Spirit is said to be eternal, having the ability to dwell with human beings eternally. Did you look at verse 16?

I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and he will be in you. Also, in the same section that we just read, the Holy Spirit is sent forth from the Father, comes from the Father, and is sent at the right time by Jesus Christ the Son. Chapter 15, verse 26, when the Helper comes whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me. And this same Holy Spirit, according to Jesus, is active in the world.

He's active in the world. Chapter 16, verse 8, and when he has come, he will convict or convince, you could translate that, the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. This is why in our baptism formula, we always say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit, or the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, because that's what Jesus said to do. He said, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a divine being, part of the triune God, the Trinity. Now, we're going to get to this in the book of Acts, but tucked away in the book of Acts is the story of two hypocrites. In chapter five, do you know their names?

Ananias and Sapphira. See, some of you, you're on it. And this is how the story goes. You can turn to it if you like, or not.

But go ahead. Verse one, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part of it and laid it at the apostles feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own?

And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. There are several verses we could point to, we just don't have the time. But you could, and probably should, take a pencil and draw a line between those two verses and circle the word Holy Spirit. You lied to the Holy Spirit. And the next verse, go right to that God.

You've lied not to men, but you've lied to God, equating the Holy Spirit lying to the Holy Spirit with lying to God. Also, in your Bible, the Holy Spirit is seen as omnipresent. You know what omnipresent means? He's everywhere, all places at the same time. He is omnipresent.

He's in Albuquerque and in Santa Fe and Algeria and North Korea and Saudi Arabia and Israel. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent. Psalm 139, David said, Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

And that's a rhetorical question. What's the answer to that? Where can you flee from God? Nowhere. You can't get away from God. You can't get away from him. Nowhere. You can't get away from him.

Why? Because he's omnipresent. Where can I go from your spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence? Also, the Holy Spirit is seen as omnipotent. There's a word that means what? All-powerful, omnipotent. He can do anything, and he is seen in creation.

I mentioned it a few moments ago. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters in that initial stage of creation. Also, Job, in Job 33, said, The Spirit of God has made me. So he attributes his being as a person, his creation as a human being, to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God has made me.

Question. Does all this really matter? Does it really matter that I see the Holy Spirit as a person and as God?

Yes, it does, and here's why. If you don't understand who he is, if you don't understand who he is, you'll never appreciate what he does. You need to understand who he is so you can appreciate what he does. And if you are not aware that this divine being, personality, is dwelling in you, it will show. You will be like those that Paul speaks about in 2 Timothy chapter 3, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

It's a sad state to be in. A form of godliness. That's just a religious person who goes through all the motions and ceremonies and maybe carries a Bible, sings a few songs, but denies the power thereof. What will happen is you'll start losing interest in spiritual things. You'll start losing interest in prayer, and you'll start losing interest in worship and in the Word of God.

You'll start losing interest in churches that teach God-centered preaching, and you'll only want the entertainment. And then, the long end of that, the eventual end of that, are the groups that deny the Holy Spirit as both a person and his deity. There are groups that deny that. You need to know who they are in case you say, well, I don't know if the Holy Spirit is really God or a person. Let me just tell you the groups that would believe that. Unitarianism believes the Holy Spirit is not a person, believes the Holy Spirit is not God. Christian science holds to that view.

The Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons, and the Muslims would all agree together on that issue. But the Bible says the Holy Spirit is a person, and the Holy Spirit is a divine person, part of the Trinity. The triune God, the triune nature of God. Now, oh man, you know, whenever I bring up the Trinity, I'm forced to confess something to you. I don't get it. I do not understand the Trinity. I can't get my little theological brain cells wrapped around so I can walk away going, I am so satisfied that I have a complete understanding of how the Trinity works and what it's all about. I can't say that.

I haven't mastered it yet. In fact, the more I think about it sometimes, it's just like a little fuse goes, it's beyond me. You know, there was a man once in solitary confinement, his cell was pitch black, but he had a single marble. And so, in that solitary confinement, he couldn't see anything. He could only hear, he could hear the marble drop, bounce, and he'd find it. So what he would do to pass the time to not go crazy is he would throw the marble up, have it bounce on the walls of the cell, hit the floor, and then he'd find it.

He'd do it again, hear where it lands, find it, kept doing it. One day, he threw up the marble in the air, and it didn't come down. And he sat up in his cell.

He thought, I didn't hear a drop. He searched the bottom of the cell, couldn't find the marble. And he tried to think about how that's possible, and he went nuts, and it killed him. He died in his cell. The guards came into the cell to remove his body, brought some lights in, and when the guard was taking out his body, there was a little twinkle up toward the ceiling that grabbed his attention, and he looked up and he noticed a marble caught in a spider's web.

And he said, isn't that amazing? How was that spider able to get that marble and bring it all the way up to the top of that cell? All of us have some theological marbles that just haven't come down yet. And I think the biggest theological marble, at least in my cell, is the Trinity. I believe it wholeheartedly because the Bible teaches it. I do not completely understand it, and I think that's good.

That's okay. I mean, how can three be one God? One of the biggest issues you will have in discussing your faith with Muslims or with Jewish people or with Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons is this issue.

You should at least have something down with which to explain it with. So the criticism, and there's a lot of criticism, but the criticism is typically a semantical criticism. It goes like this, well, the term Trinity isn't in the Bible, which I have to really work hard at not getting mad when I hear that. The word Trinity isn't found in the Bible, therefore it can't be true. Well, the words second coming are not in the Bible, but it says Jesus is coming again. That says so in the Bible. The word rapture isn't in the Bible, but the doctrine of the rapture is in the Bible. The word Bible isn't in the Bible, but we have one and we believe it. You see, it's ridiculous to say you can't believe something unless the exact verbal representation is actually written on that page.

Who cares if it's written on the page or not? Who cares if it says Trinity or not? The concept of the triune God is found in the scripture and that expresses what the Bible teaches because that is true. The historic Christian Church from 2,000 years ago on to now have all believed that there are three distinct persons in one God, the triune nature of God. Here's a couple historical examples. I won't belabor it.

I'll just give you a few. 96 AD Clement of Rome formulated all three members of the triune God in an oath saying, and I quote, as God lives and as the Lord Jesus lives and the Holy Spirit, close quote. So that's 2nd century, 97 AD, a post-apostolic era. Ignatius, 107 AD, used the formula for the Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. In the Shepherd of Herma, 2nd century AD, they spoke of one God existing in three distinct persons. Justin Martyr from the 2nd century defended the veneration, the worship that was given to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Irenaeus, late 2nd century, one of the great theologians of the post-apostolic era, fought Gnosticism, which we've talked about on many occasions, fought the heresy of Gnosticism and he articulated the theology of the Trinity and he said this, quote, God the Father, the Word, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made among men visible and tangible and the Holy Spirit who at the end of the age was poured out in a new way. And finally, Tertullian, the end of the 2nd beginning of the 3rd century, was the one who coined the term Trinity.

Trinitas was the word he coined, which we get the word Trinity from. So, if you're going to deny the Trinity, you're going to have to deny biblical teaching and all of church history up to this point to do it. And you basically have to be the arrogant one who says, even though 2000 years of church history has affirmed it, I deny it because I know better.

See what happens if you do that. Not really. So, the Holy Spirit is a person, the Holy Spirit is a divine person. 3rd statement that ties the sentence together, the Holy Spirit is a divine person who helps us. The Holy Spirit is a divine person who helps us. Now, we have read several verses in these chapters. I want to sum up, and this will help set it up for next week, how the Holy Spirit helps us.

First of all, notice that he's called a helper and as I said earlier on, we need all the help we can get. I have discovered this in my Christian experience. Just when I think I'm coming up to some new truth and I'm kind of crossing a spiritual line of maturity, I remember when I was three years old in the Lord. And I thought I was such an old Christian. I've been saved now three years. And I remember people you know who looked at me like I'm the veteran believer.

But with every year and every stage of my growth, I see the struggles I still have in my flesh. And I'm coming more and more and more and more to rely upon this wonderful divine person, the Holy Spirit. He's called a helper.

Jesus says, where we began in verse 16 of chapter 14, I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. And that term is seen throughout this section. The word helper, some of you will remember the term, is the Greek word parakletos. Parakletos. If you've ever heard of the term in some of the churches you may have grown up in, the paraklet comes from the Greek word parakletos, which is translated comforter or helper. But it literally means one who is called alongside to help you. One who is called alongside to help. That's the Holy Spirit.

That's the parakletos. Look at it this way. The Holy Spirit is the one who puts fuel in your spiritual tank.

Tim Downs once said, watches, cars, and Christians can all look chromed and shiny, but watches don't tick, and cars don't go, and Christians don't make a difference without insides. And he said, for a Christian, that's the Holy Spirit. The helper. You have a helper. Wake up tomorrow and realize, I have a helper. When you are out there and you go, I don't have many friends, I need a helper.

You have one. Not that you don't need believers, but you have a helper. Learn to call on him and rely on him. So when it comes to the believer, we have a helper. The Holy Spirit is a divine person who helps. Now he's a helper. There's something else about him. He is another helper. You say, you mean there's more? Well, look at what Jesus said.

I will pray the Father, verse 16, he will give you another helper. In the Greek language, the word another has two possibilities. You know, English is limited in its ability to translate concepts from the original language.

Let me explain. In Greek, when I say another, I could use one of two words, heteros or alos. They both mean another, but they're slightly different variations. The word heteros means another of a completely different kind.

The word alos means another of the same kind. So this is how I have explained it before. If I buy a CD of a band and I listen and go, man, I don't like that. I don't like that. And I say, I want to buy another. Am I going to buy another CD exactly like the one I just bought?

No. Not only will I not buy that CD, I will not buy another one that band produced. I want another one of a different kind. Now, so I'll say I want a heteros CD.

Another one that's very different from this one. But let's say I buy a CD and I really like the music and I let you listen to it. You go, man, I really like it. And I say, you can have mine. I'll buy another. Now I'll use the word alos. I want to buy another one just like the one I gave you.

Get it? That's the word Jesus uses for another comforter. I'll pray the Father and he will send you a comforter like me for you.

He'll send you one just like the one that you have had in me. So here's Jesus saying, I'm going to talk to the Father and get you a helper as good as I have been to you. The Holy Spirit then is to you as good a helper as Jesus was to the apostles. How's that for help? You have another helper.

Something else about this. You have a permanent helper. He's not going anywhere. Verse 16, I will pray the Father he will give you another helper that he may abide with you for 10 years. Okay, two decades.

Okay, till you really get crusty and gnarly. Forever. He'll abide with you forever. He's a permanent helper. He's not going to be with you for three and a half years like Jesus was. He was with him three and a half years and said, I'm going.

My work here is done. He went to the cross. He was buried. He was raised and he ascended into heaven, not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a permanent abiding possession. In chapter 14 verse 17, the Holy Spirit of truth or the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive. Notice this, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphans.

I will come to you. That's Skip Heitzig's number 40 message on our top 40 messages countdown. It's from the series expound Holy Spirit. Find the full message and more of Skip's teachings at youtube.com slash Calvary ABQ and watch your favorite teachings from the comfort of your couch on your big screen TV. Now here's Skip to tell you about how you can keep encouraging messages like this coming your way as you help connect others to God's word.

The world highly values self satisfaction and instant gratification. But God calls us to a different way of life, one that focuses on loving and serving others. That's why we freely share these biblical messages to encourage and strengthen you to live the life God has called you to. But we need your help to keep these messages coming to you and others. Right now you can give a gift to connect others to God's word. Here's how you can do that.

You can give online at connectwithskip.com slash donate that's connectwithskip.com slash donate or call 800-922-1888 800-922-1888. Thank you. Tomorrow Skip Heitzig shares another top 40 message and explores the problem of anxiety and how you can find peace for your soul through the truths of Scripture. It was pride that took Lucifer out of heaven. It was pride that took Adam out of paradise. It was pride that took Saul King Saul first king of Israel out of the kingdom. It was pride that took Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon out of Babylonian society.

It was pride that took Haman out of the Persian court. It was pride that changed angels into demons. It is pride that changes friends into enemies. Pride ruins everything and here's why. Pride is the cancer of the soul. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.