Have you given much thought to who that is? I’m almost certain that if that was a question on a religious quiz most Christians wouldn’t know who the Spirit of Truth is. So much is taught about God and Jesus that the Holy Spirit is usually neglected or put on the back burner as though He doesn’t exist. But the truth of the matter is we wouldn’t be saved apart from Him. He’s the witness that comes in at our new birth experience helping us know what has happened in us. The answer Gabriel gave to Mary is the same answer for us, how will I know that I’ve been born again? The Holy Spirit. How will I ever understand the Bible? The Holy Spirit. How will I know what pleases or displeases God? The Holy Spirit. How will I walk in victory as a Christian? You got it😊 The Holy Spirit.
It was in my fellowship with Him this morning that I said to Him, Why haven’t we focused on You in the Morning Messages? The reason is, He never speaks about Himself, but He’s always pointing us to Jesus, He’s doing exactly what Jesus said He’d do. Yet without Him, we’d be clueless. So I said “I’d like to showcase You if you don’t mind, but teach me how to share You the way I know and have experienced you with my readers. I’d like them to begin paying closer attention to You, and Your function in our lives.” He doesn’t like to be the center of attention. Unlike us, He seeks only to shine the light on God the Father, and Jesus Christ.
Our first introduction to the Holy Spirit is in Genesis 1 so we’ll start there. For most times when we read Genesis One, we place the emphasis on everything God said, and rightfully so but there’s no specific mention of the Son even though we know from scripture that everything was created by and for Him. Colossians 1:16. But right at the onset of creation we read these words.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2 NKJV
The Holy Spirit gave life to everything that was being spoken into existence. Every time God said “Let there be!” The Holy Spirit hovered over it bringing His energy to it. He was included in the decision making process of creation. Here are all three now showing up to create image bearers and caretakers of the ‘Let there be.’
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26 NKJV
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit made us into all their images. So we have all three persons of the Godhead not only available to us but indwelling us by the Spirit. We’re never told to pray to Him, but we can’t pray without Him. He’s not God, He’s not the Son, but He’s the only person of the Godhead that if we blaspheme Him there’s no forgiveness. That’s why we can sin against God against Jesus, pray for forgiveness and receive it. But Jesus said if we blaspheme against the Holy Spirit we can’t pray that sin away.
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” Matthew 12:31-32 NKJV
“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Mark 3:28-30 NKJV
Some of you are seeing this scripture for the first time. Jesus gave this warning when the Pharisees were accusing Him of casting out demons by Satan’s power. He’s not called Holy just to give Him a title. He's the Holy Spirit because of what He represents. He’s the very Ruach (breath) of God. When God breathed into Adam’s nostrils, He breathed into him the Holy Spirit. Whenever we attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to satanic influences, we have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. Everything Jesus did on earth He did by the Holy Spirit. In Luke Four we learned that after His baptism He was filled with the Holy Spirit, when He won out over Satan’s attempt to derail His ministry He returned full of the power of the Holy Spirit. I’ll share some insight I learned while writing this message by someone I respect very highly in the faith. Pastor John Piper.
Why This Particular Sin Makes Repentance Impossible
“But why does this one particular sin, this one blasphemy, make it impossible to repent and be forgiven? What about blasphemy against the Son of God, or God the Father, or angels, or Scripture, or the church? Why do these not put us beyond repentance and forgiveness? Why only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I think it’s because of the unique and decisive role the Holy Spirit plays in our salvation. If we look to God the Father and then turn from his glory to embrace sin, that is bad. If we look to his Son Jesus Christ whom He sent into the world and then turn away from His glory to embrace sin, that is doubly bad.
But in either case there is hope. The Father has planned redemption and the Son has accomplished redemption. This wonderful redemption is outside ourselves and available to us if we repent of our sin and turn back to Christ in faith. But it is the unique and special role of the Holy Spirit to apply the Father’s plan and the Son’s accomplishment of it to our hearts. It is the Spirit’s work to open our eyes, to grant repentance, and to make us beneficiaries of all that the Father has planned and all that Christ has done for us.
If we blaspheme and reject the Father and the Son, there is still hope, for the Spirit may yet work within us to humble us and bring us to repentance. But if behind the Father and the Son we see and taste the power of the Holy Spirit and reject His work as no more precious than the work of Satan, we shut ourselves off from the only One who could ever bring us to repentance. And so we shut ourselves off from forgiveness.”
The Holy Spirit is the Agent through which all the power, goodness and promises of God are manifested. To ignore or attribute His works to anyone especially Satan is unforgivable. His power and work is so pure and distinct from any other power, that to do so is beyond ignorant. So what is the unforgivable sin? And I pray no one in my audience will ever commit it, or has failed to warn someone who is tethering on the edge of doing so-A hardened heart that rejects the conviction work of the Holy Spirit And attribute His power to the workings of satanic influences. This must be resisted with every ounce of energy and strength we possess. The Holy Spirit is more powerful and vital to our Christian faith than we’re able to consider.
The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that He withdraws forever with His convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.
So now that we have begun breathing again lol let’s move on. If you’re living for Jesus and have repented of all known sins, that is proof that you have not blasphemed Him. For you have yielded to His convictions and are doing what He’s leading you to do. 😓 So we see that He was active at creation and He’s active in our new birth experience. He’s active every time we pray or open the scriptures. He was active on king Saul and King David, He was active on Gideon and Samson, He was active on Elijah, and Elisha. Notice I said on, because that’s how He worked prior to Jesus dying for us. But after He filled the Son of Man, He now fills us. He’s the only Person of the Trinity that’s active on the earth. So as much as we don’t pray to Him, we must acknowledge that everything and all things are done through and by Him at the Father’s will.
He has feelings, He can be grieved, He is the audible voice of the Father and Son. He laughs, He corrects, He convicts us of sin in our lives, He enjoys being a part of what we do, and more than anything He draws us near to the heart of Jesus. Jesus calls Him the Spirit of Truth, He calls Him the Comforter. He’s our closest ally to all things heaven. We’re not born again without Him. He’s the rhema of the Word. Without Him the Bible wouldn’t make sense to us. He is the power in us to do the will of God. We don’t even know how to pray apart from Him. The scriptures I’m sharing bears this out. In a few words: We can’t live this Christian life without Him period!
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And 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 will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
John 14:15-18, 26 NKJV
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:7-8, 13-15 NKJV
Let’s continue looking at other scriptures that speak of our role in acknowledging the working of the Holy Spirit as well as the things He does in, through and for us. I pray you’ll fall in love with your Helper. He’s so precious to us.
“Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
Hebrews 10:28-29 NKJV
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:16, 22-23, 25 NKJV
“Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.”
Acts 2:3-4, 17-20 NKJV
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,”
Romans 8:9-11, 14-16 NKJV
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,”
I Peter 3:18-19 NKJV
If we gloss over scriptures we’ll miss how much of what we do is actually the work of the Holy Spirit. He’s the power behind our confession and ultimate manifestation of the promises of God. My introduction to the Holy Spirit was a book written by Benny Hinn. You may not care for him but I can truly say that it was one of the best books ever written for anyone who wants an encounter with the person of the Holy Spirit. I strongly encourage you to purchase it. It’s titled Good Morning Holy Spirit. He makes the Holy Spirit personable and approachable. You really discover everything Jesus said about Him. I learned to recognize the Holy Spirit’s voice after reading that book. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
Acts 4:31 NKJV
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27 NKJV
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Ephesians 4:30 NKJV
I’ll conclude with a few other scriptures that you can read on your own that will further point you to knowing and acknowledging His work in our lives. There’s so much that He does but if we’re not taught to recognize Him we’ll miss out on enjoying a robust relationship with Him. Everything we believe about Jesus comes through the Holy Spirit. Every act of spiritual boldness we exhibit, comes from the Holy Spirit. The joy we have comes from the Holy Spirit; it's one of the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5. He’s the very attribute and essence of the Father and Son. Another recommendation: The Shack. They portrayed Him masterfully in that book and movie. He teaches us how to receive the Father’s love. That overwhelming feeling you experience in worship, that’s Him drawing you closer to the Father and revealing Jesus to us. He takes the funky prayers we pray, cleans them up and makes them acceptable when Jesus presents us to the Father. He’s the one behind the scenes making all good things happen. We pay attention to the actors when we watch a good movie, but it’s what’s going on behind the scenes that makes it all work together flawlessly. That’s the Holy Spirit. We’re enjoying Jesus while He does all the work. That’s why Christians can’t brag about anything, but we can be thankful in all things. Someone has done all the heavy lifting. Jesus showcased The Holy Spirit’s power when He rose from the dead. Hallelujah. He did it so well the grave clothes were not disturbed. Glory to God! Now that’s a power we don’t want to reckon with.
Do you know the only reason Jesus came back to life was because of the power of the Holy Spirit? I shared the scripture with you. Did you miss it? Now we have that same Spirit of power. And you thought Jesus did that all by Himself. Nope. It was the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus said to mess with Him is to be lost forever with no hope of ever being forgiven. He’s that Holy and He’s that important. Don’t make light of or ignore the Holy Spirit convictions in your life. That’s extremely dangerous ground. Get to know your Teacher and Friend, and you’ll truly get to know the Father and Son.
Go Deeper:John 14:26; Romans 8:14; John 14:26; Romans 8:26
2 Ephesians 4:30; 1 Corinthians 2:10–14; 1 Corinthians 12:11
3 Acts 8:29; 15:28
4 Acts 5:3, 4
5 Acts 5:1–4; Isaiah 6:8–9 with Acts 28:25; Jeremiah 31:31–34; with Hebrews 10:15
6 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Ephesians 2:22
7 1 Corinthians 2:10–11; Psalm 139:7; Zechariah 4:6; Hebrews 9:14
8 Genesis 1:2; John 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13
9 Matthew 28:19, 20; 2 Corinthians 13:14
10 Psalm 51:11
11 Genesis 6:3; Genesis 1:2; Isaiah 40:12
12 John 16:8–11
13 John 3:3–7; Titus 3:5
14 1 Corinthians 12:13
15 Romans 6:1–10
16 Romans 12: 1, 2; Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:16
17 Galatians 5:16, 22, 23
18 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20
19 Ephesians 4:30
20 Romans 8:9; Jude 1:19
21 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30
22 Ephesians 4:30
23 Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4
24 2 Thessalonians 2:7
25 Zechariah 12:10; Joel 2:28–32
26 Jeremiah 31:33; Isaiah 11: 2–3
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
October 25, 2021