A BIBLE STUDY ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

Bro Paul Thomas

v The Importance of receiving the Holy Spirit

First of all it is imperative that we understand that seeking and being infilled with the Holy
Spirit is a commandment in the scriptures and not an option. The Apostle Peter commanded it
in Acts 2; 38. Without the Holy Spirit, Christians will be weak both in the knowledge of God
and in overcoming sin in their lives. Dont be afraid to offend believers today by asking them
the all-important question like the Apostle Paul did:

Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?

v Who is the Holy Spirit?

A good Bible study will always define who the subject or object of its study is. So before you
ask for the Holy Spirit, you need to know who the Spirit is. The Holy Spirit, in Hebrew, Ruah
haqodesh; and in Greek Pneuma, it must be clarified right at the outset, is the same Person we
call the Father and the same Spirit who dwelt in Jesus Christ when He was on earth. The
following scriptures prove this:

Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst
of them.
Jhn 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in
you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

2Cr 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.

Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father.

Eph 4:4 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

Phl 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

This leaves no room for the view held by Trinitarians that the Holy Spirit is a so called third
Person in a Trinity committee. This is a false doctrine that violates the teaching of the Shema
found in Deut 6:4

v Symbolism of The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

Now the Old Testament as we know is filled with type and shadow teaching pointing to the
real fulfilment in the New Testament. Time allows me to refer to only one such example but
what a beautiful biblical example it is:

Exd 17:6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite
the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in
the sight of the elders of Israel.

Now, saints of God, the Apostle Paul wonderfully shows us that this Rock was symbolic of
Jesus Christ who was smitten for our sins. He had to be beaten before the refreshing,
rejuvenating waters of the Holy Spirit could be poured forth from Him into us.

1Cr 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Just as it was impossible for the children of Israel to make it to Canaan land without the lifegiving water from the Rock, so we too will die of thirst if we do not as Jesus said:

Jhn 7:37 In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

Brethren, we desperately need the Holy Spirit to overcome this world and its temptations.
Two great men of God in the Old Testament, Moses and David, testified to the
indispensability of the Holy Spirit when they said:

Num 11:29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the
LORD'S people were prophets, [and] that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

Psa 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

v Prophecies in the Old Testament promising the Holy Spirit

Brethren, this Bible Study is by no means exhaustive but a Bible study on the Holy Spirit
would be incomplete without making reference to the great Old Testament prophecies that
promised that believers would one day be filled with the Spirit and speak in an unknown
tongue.

Isa 28:11,12 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
To whom he said, This [is] the rest [wherewith] ye may cause the weary to rest; and this [is]
the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

Joe 2:28,29 And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those
days will I pour out my spirit.

Jer 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After
those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Eze 36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a
new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I
will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them]

v The Holy Spirit in the New Testament

From the start of His ministry, Jesus was identified as one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost, and [with] fire:

When Jesus had a serious conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4, He avoided
discussing tradition and politics with her but drew her attention to the greatest need of her
soul: the Holy Spirit.

Jhn 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water.

Like Jesus, we would do well to appeal to humanity to consider the real need of their heart
and cry out to Jesus to receive the Holy Spirit. After the resurrection, Jesus gave an express
commandment to His disciples that they were not to go anywhere at all but to Jerusalem and
wait in prayer, expecting to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Act 1:4 And, being assembled together with [them], commanded them that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, [saith he], ye have heard
of me.

To receive the Holy Spirit, we should wait in earnest prayer and worship. Now the book of
Acts 2, as we know so well, recounts how the 120 disciples were filled so miraculously with
the Holy Spirit.
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Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place.
Act 2:2-4 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and
began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The marvellous results that followed this infilling are faithfully recorded by the beloved
physician Luke in the book of Acts. We read how they healed the sick and dead, preached
boldly and turned Jerusalem upside down.

v The function and benefits of the Holy Spirit

According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit effects a multitude of functions and roles that are
essential to the work of God on earth. We will look at just a handful of them:

1) Gives power The Lord Jesus Himself said that;

Luk 4:18-20 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to
the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were
fastened on him.

Saints, we cannot sit down until all this work has been accomplished.

2) Builds and edifies us We are exhorted to pray in the Holy Spirit so we can build our faith
and grow mature in the Lord.

Jud 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost.

1Cr 14:2 For he that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God:
for no man understandeth [him]; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. It is important to
note that speaking in tongues followed the reception of the Holy Spirit.

3) Distributes the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and manifests the fruits of the Spirit

1Cr 12:4-7 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences
of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to
profit withal.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

4) Is proof of our inheritance in heaven

The Holy Spirit that we receive is proof that we have an inheritance in heaven. It is like a
deposit that we receive as proof that the rest is promised to us later.

Eph 1:13,14 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, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Brethren, this short and by no means exhaustive Bible study, brings out without a shadow
of doubt, that the most pressing need that humanity has today is for the Holy Spirit of Jesus to
come and dwell in us. It was the desire of God from the beginning to dwell in our bodies and
thus honour us greatly by calling us the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Once you have removed
the cursed Adamic flesh in baptism in Jesus name and have put on by faith the heavenly holy
body of Jesus by faith, you must not wait to seek the Holy Spirit and truly become sons and
daughters of the living God.

Exd 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

1Cr 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?