Introduction

When we open the Bible, the very first verse we read introduces us to Elohim, the Strong One who is a faithful Creator and strong Rock. Then in next verse we are introduced to the Spirit of God.  The Bible starts off like this ...

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2:  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. 

This is the condition of the earth on the first day — it was unformed and unpopulated. But then as we read on we are told that ...

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters

That is the way it begins. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep and brought light and life and beauty out of the unformed and uninhabited earth.

Now the question is who is this Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the deep? Is this Spirit of God just an impersonal force or energy or is this Spirit of God a personal being? 

The Bible is clear that there is only one true and living God.

Exodus 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2: I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6: And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Isaiah 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

1 Timothy 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4: Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6: Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

From Genesis to Revelation the clear teaching is that there is only one God. God is one; eternally, everlastingly one.  He is one in essence.  He is one in power.  He is one in being.  He is one in glory.  He is one in attribute. 

But the same Bible that teaches that there is only one true and living God also teaches that this true and living God is a Trinity - One God in three divine Persons. This one God is revealed in three divine persons.

1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

There are three distinct, coexistent, co-eternal persons in one God, namely God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 

In our past sermons, we looked at the clear evidence that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is not an impersonal force or energy but a conscious, intelligent, personal Being. And having shown from the word of God that the Spirit is a Person, we now ask, what kind of being is He?

This morning, I want to show from the Scripture the nature and dignity of His Person. I will attempt to show from the Scripture that the Holy Spirit is not just another person.  He is the third Person of the Trinity, meaning that He is divine; that He is God; that He is equal to God the Father and God the Son.

The unbelieving world will not believe this great Biblical truth because it cannot. 

John 14:17 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.

The natural men, the unsaved can neither receive the Spirit nor the things of the Spirit. They can neither receive things of the Spirit into their understandings, nor into their affections; and indeed, because they cannot understand them, therefore they do not love them, but despise and hate them. 

Then Jesus said, but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. The disciples and every a born again Christian, knows the Spirit; as a Spirit of illumination, regeneration, and conversion.

Jesus promised His disciples another Comforter to be with them forever. Another divine person was being sent to continue the work of the Kingdom of God. Jesus was not sending just a thing or a force or an influence, He is sending another divine person, a member of the Godhead.

So this morning consider with me the proofs from the Scripture, the Deity of the Holy Spirit.

I — The Divine Names

1. The Spirit is called GOD

The Holy Spirit is explicitly and clearly called God.

Lied to God

Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2: And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3: But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4: Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

A certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of their property and they brought the part of the price and laid it at the feet of the apostles. But Ananias and Sapphira "agreed together" to deceive and to try to give the impression that they gave the sum of the whole price. By the way, they did not have to give the all the proceeds of the land. 

But Peter was aware of what was going on and he said, "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" and then in the very next verse, he affirms "thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God".

Peter told Ananias that he lied not to humans, but to the Holy Spirit. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira against the Holy Spirit is said to be a sin against God. Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. This is a clear implication that the Holy Spirit is God.

Temple of God

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Here the Christians are called "the temple of God," and that the Spirit of God lives in them.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Christians are not only temples of God; they are also temples of the Holy Spirit. When Paul writes "temple of the Holy Spirit," he implies that the Holy Spirit is God.

From these two identifications, an inescapable conclusion is reached of the deity of the Holy Spirit.

II — The Divine Nature 

Divine characters are attributed to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is ascribed with attributes and characteristics that God alone possesses.

1. He is eternal

Hebrews 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13: For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The Holy Spirit, our Comforter, Helper and Advocate, will be with us "forever".

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

2. He is omniscient

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10: But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11: For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God and knows the thoughts of God.

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.

John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 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. 14: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The Spirit therefore knows all things, and is able to teach all things.

3. He is omnipotent

The works that God does, such as creation, are also ascribed to the Holy Spirit. 

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

Psalm 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

Romans 15:18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, 19:  Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

In Paul's ministry, the work that Christ has accomplished was done through the power of the Spirit.

4. He is omnipresent

Psalms 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8: If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9: If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10: Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! For the Spirit of God is everywhere.

Thomas Oden observes that "such statements are grounded in the premises of omnipresence and eternality — attributes ascribed properly only to God" (Life in the Spirit, page 18).

5. He is holy

Holiness is a basic characteristic of the Spirit. 

Ephesians1:13 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,

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? 

Note that whenever the Bible uses the lower case "h" in "holy" Spirit, it is referring to His character — when it uses an upper case "H", it is referring to His title as the Holy Spirit.

We must never forget that the One who is present with us all the times is holy.

6. He is sovereign

1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5: And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6: And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7: But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8: For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9: To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10: To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 

No one can demand a certain spiritual gift. Although each Christian does have a spiritual gift given to him by the Spirit, it is important to note that the Spirit determines what the gift will be.

7. He is Good

Nehemiah 9:20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.

Here the Spirit is called good Spirit. He is good, supremely good. 

The Bible says,

Mark 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18: And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Eternality, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, holiness, sovereignty, and goodness are attributes of God's essence, that is, characteristic of the nature of divine existence. The Holy Spirit has the basic attributes of God.

Closing Thoughts

Brethren, this morning we are reminded that the Comforter who Jesu prayed to the Father to come and to abide with us forever is the third person of the Trinity. 

R. A. Torrey observed, "If we once grasp the thought that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person of infinite majesty, glory and holiness and power, who in marvelous condescension has come into our hearts to make His abode there and take possession of our lives and make use of them, it will put us in the dust and keep us in the dust. I can think of no thought more humbling or more overwhelming than the thought that a person of Divine majesty and glory dwells in my heart and is ready to use even me."

Oh, what a wonderful gift the Holy Spirit is! He is Divine. Christians, may we honor and adore Him. May we never sin against Him by either grieving Him or ignoring Him.

To those who are still outside of Jesus Christ, let me tell you the most beautiful invitation and it is found in the last Book of the Bible ...

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Come.  Come.  The Spirit of God is pleading, "Come to Jesus, come." 

AMEN!