The Deity and Personality of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit as the God Who Judges Sin

Acts chapter 5, a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property and kept back some of the price for himself with his wife's full knowledge, bringing a portion that he laid at the apostles' feet.

Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the price of the land? All remained unsold, did it not remain your own? After it was sold, was it not under your control?

Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart, you have not lied to men, but.

To God?

And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

There elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, and Peter responded to her, tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price? She said, yes, that was the price.

And Peter said to her, why is it you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and who carry you out as well.

And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things.

We have in this text one of those texts that is difficult to preach on, I'm not going to attempt to cover it really this evening, but it is not a comfortable text, it is a text that many today would find to be somewhat unpleasant to think about.

You have Ananias and Sapphira, names that have become watchwords in the history of the Christian church for people who experienced judgment at the hands of God in the early.

Church.

Now you may recall that there were such incidents in the Old Testament as well. You may think of what happened in regards to Aaron's sons when they offered, as the Bible says, that which was called strange fire upon the altar.

Now we don't know exactly what that was. There was something that they did where evidently they rejected the parameters that God had laid down for his worship, and they offered strange fire upon the altar.

Evidently they thought they could come up with maybe a better way, maybe a way that borrowed from paganism, we just don't know. What we do know is that God's wrath was kindled and he struck the men dead.

And we remember Uzzah when the ark was being brought back toward Jerusalem, the people of Israel led by David are rejoicing greatly, and yet in their rejoicing they ignored the law that God had laid down concerning, again, his worship, his holiness, and the means by which the ark was to be treated and carried.

And instead of the priests carrying the ark, they have it on an ox cart and there is an incident where it begins to tumble and Uzzah reaches out his hand to steady the ark. And the wrath of the Lord breaks forth against him and he too is struck down.

Now there would be much worse in the consideration this evening simply of these incidents and the fact that God is concerned about his worship, but that's not actually what my focus is upon. It is interesting to know that I think we would be neglecting something if we didn't know that what we see in Acts chapter 5 is the fact that the God of the New Testament, the God of the church, is the very same God that was concerned about his own holiness and his own worship back in the Old Testament as well.

We have many friends and family who might think that there is the God of the Old Testament and then there is the God of the New Testament as if they are somehow different gods. This is not the case in any way, shape, or form.

And the fact that in the primitive church, the brand new church, we see this concern for holiness that was just as much evident in the Old Testament in the formation of the people of God there, the giving to them of the rules of worship that were to guide their life, once again demonstrates the unity of God's purposes and actions.

But actually, my focus is elsewhere. When we think of what happened here, hopefully as you read it, sometimes we are so focused upon what happened, the historical incident, the fact that, for example, Peter is very straightforward here.

When Sapphira comes in, what does Peter immediately do? Did you sell the land for such and such a price? He doesn't talk about the weather. He doesn't do anything. He goes straight for the specific issue and brings that judgment of God to bear in this particular situation.

But we're so focused upon that, that we missed some other things. And what I wanted to do this evening is that I want you to see if you can see what the commonality between this text and another text is.

The Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is about spiritual gifts. And you might think, I don't really immediately see a connection here. But let's read the first section and see if we can come up with something here.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you.

Were led.

Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus.

Is accursed.

And no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons.

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom for the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another the gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effect of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, and to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

But one, the same Spirit, works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as he wills. For even as the body is one, and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.

For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we're all made to drink of one Spirit. Now, what then do we have that ties these two texts together?

What we have is the centrality of the Spirit of God in a demonstration in two of the key texts of the New Testament of the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. And I felt that it would be good to be reminded about this because, let's face it, we hear much about the Father, we hear much about the Son, but the Spirit seems to be the quiet member of the Godhead.

There is much discussion of God the Father, and there is much inappropriate focus upon God the Son, but God the Spirit, we don't hear as much about Him, and part of that might be because we live in a day where there is great imbalance in some areas, where there are people who, abandoning a biblical foundation, run about claiming revelations of the Spirit constantly, and the Spirit told me this, and the Spirit told me that, and the Spirit says this, and the Spirit says that, and we see the results, the mockery of the Gospel that comes about by so much of what we see in the quote-unquote Christian media, and in the charismatic movement.

But at the same time, the fact of the matter is, the Spirit is not nearly as prominent in the New Testament text as the Father and the Son. And yet, we confess the Spirit to be eternally God, we pray for the Spirit's ministry in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, we confess that without the Spirit we can do nothing, that we need His ministry amongst us, and yet, how much time do we really spend looking at what the Scriptures say about the Spirit?

When we think about what took place in Acts chapter 5, notice the centrality of the Spirit.

Here.

But Peter said in verse 3, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the prized land, to lie to the Holy Spirit? Now may I suggest that you can only lie to a person, you can only lie to a person.

We all have the old Trinity hymnals, and you can look at that Trinity hymnal, and you can say, I'm the richest man in the world. It will not mock you, or laugh at you, but it cannot do so, because it is impersonal.

There are many people who will say, well the Holy Spirit really isn't a person, the Holy Spirit, the folks that wake you up at annoying times on Saturday morning, it's the one Saturday morning you want to try to sleep in, and they show up on your doorstep at 114 degrees wearing, well what I'm wearing, carrying a book bag, and want to talk to you about Armageddon, and you want to talk to them about Armageddon when they wake you up.

And those folks do not believe the Holy Spirit is a person. They believe the Holy Spirit is a thing, God's impersonal active force. And so in their mistranslation of the Bible, called the New World Translation, Holy Spirit is a small h and a small s.

They view the Holy Spirit like electricity in these lights, like water running in a stream. It's a force, it's an it, but you can't lie to an it. You can't lie to the electricity in these lights, it's not possible.

Notice as well, though, that Peter said, Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit in verse three, but in verse four, why is it you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to whom?

To God.

To lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. To lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to a divine being, and it is indeed by the power of the Holy Spirit that what takes place here does take place. Notice even to Sapphira, why is it you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?

So here in Acts chapter five, the one who observes, the one who knows men's hearts, the one who reveals to Peter the lie is the Holy Spirit of God, and he is identified as a person and as deity, and it is the Holy Spirit then that brings about this fear that comes over the whole church, a reverential fear.

In light of the holiness of God, the church is to be pure and holy, and here we saw people coming in who were going to begin the process of adulterating that early church. God says no, but then we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

The Spirit, Lord, and God in the Trinity

Once again, we have some very important truths about the Holy Spirit. You notice how central the Spirit was. First, you have the centrality of the Spirit in bringing about Christian confession, true Christian confession, not just saying the words, Jesus is Lord, but no, notice no one speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Now, I've heard many an atheist say Jesus is Lord and mocking the sentence. So obviously, we're talking here about the actual confession, the real confession, Jesus kurios, words who become extremely important to those early Christians, especially with the rise in the Roman Empire of the demand to offer a pinch of sacrifice upon the altar and say not Jesus kurios, but Kaiser kurios, Caesar is Lord.

The Christians would not do this. It's a spiritual expression. Jesus is kurios, the very word used of Yahweh in the Old Testament. But then you have all these ministries that come about by the same Spirit, the same Spirit that brings about Christian confession.

The idea being a person who's said Jesus is Lord properly has made a real confession of.

Faith.

One that represents their heart is a person who is led by and dwelt by the Spirit of God. And therefore, the Spirit of God then places that person in the body of Christ and gives different ministries.

But then did you notice something about verses four through six? I would, I would encourage you to be sensitive to text like this. What do I mean sensitive? Listen to them again. Listen to the words. Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

And there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. Spirit, Lord, God. The Trinitarian names. Paul normally refers, normally, not always, but normally refers to the Father as the As,.

As God.

He normally refers to the Son as Lord, kurios. And the Spirit is the Spirit. You have a Trinitarian passage. Talking about the one activity of God in the church, Spirit, Lord, God. I say we should be sensitive to these because the doctrine of the Trinity revealed as it is between the Old and New Testaments.

How is it revealed? In the coming of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the revelation of the Trinity.

The New Testament then becomes the record of the faith that flows out of that revelation. And so the New Testament is soaked in Trinitarian language. The fact that New Testament writers, for example, could say the Spirit of Christ, Spirit of God within the same sentence and not even sense any kind of contradiction or problem.

So here you have evidence of that. And then we have each one partakes of the Holy Spirit, all the gifts the Holy Spirit.

Gives.

But then if you haven't marked it, you haven't memorized it, you don't know where it is. May I point your attention especially to verse 11. But one, the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually.

And what does it say? Just as he wills. Just as he wills. One of the key identifiers of personhood is the existence of the will. And here the Spirit of God gives his gifts. He places people in the body as he wills.

That electricity and that light up there has no will. It follows certain rules. Just as water flows downhill. Now we can manipulate both. We can use hydraulic systems to make water go uphill, but we have to use pressure and.

There are certain rules.

And electricity, if I were to lick my finger and stick it up there on certain wires, it would follow certain rules, all right. But the reason it's staying up there and not doing that to me down here is we know what those rules are.

And so we use certain circuits and diodes and transistors and resistance and watts and ohms and all that wonderful fun stuff that the electricians amongst us know all about, thankfully. But it has no will of its own.

Once you put certain rules in place, it goes where it's supposed to go because it's just an impersonal force. The spirit distributes to each one individually, just as he, that is the action of a person,.

Not an it.

And since this person is giving the gifts that form the very body of Christ, the means by which God, Father, Son, and Spirit is glorified in the building up of the body, then clearly we here have one of the key texts, not only demonstrating the personality, but the sovereign divinity of the spirit.

No mere secondary creature determines the very shape, the various form and substance and function of the body. God is the one who forms that body for his own glory. This and so we see them for even as the body is one, it has many members and all the members of the body, though they are many are one body.

So also is Christ for by one spirit. We were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks and slaves are free and are all made to drink of one spirit. What is the supernatural unity that binds Christians together?

Why is it that I can travel to Australia? I can travel to Sao Paulo. I can travel to Italy. I can travel to the UK, go up to Scotland amongst my, my long lost brethren. And yet we have a connection, a unity.

We all say Jesus is Lord and we mean the same thing by that.

How can that be?

How can it be in November? I'm going to get a chance to go down to, uh, uh, to Peru and train pastors down. Why would I even bother to try to do such a thing like that? If I didn't believe that there is going to be a connection, a supernatural unity, a bond, a foundation so that spiritual words will be met by the spirit in them as well.

And yet that's the unity that we have, the same spirit. See, what defines the body? We were all baptized into one body by that spirit. It is the understanding of the apostle that if you are in the body of Christ, you possess the spirit of God.

That's what binds us all together. And that is a supernatural unity. It's not merely of some secondary creature or like electricity, an impersonal active.

Form.

And so though the spirit is not in any way, shape or form by and through the divine economy, the forefront person of the Trinity in the new Testament, we need to not just skip past the references to him, but we should be sensitive to these texts and ponder these texts and allow the spirit of God to give testimony.

As Jesus said to Jesus to direct us to the word and to our saving, always remembering that he is the one promised to have been sent to us. The father and the son send the spirit to us. We are not left as orphans because the father and the son, they make their abode in us.

How?

The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives for which we should be eternal.