Almost 2000 years ago one of the greatest events in the history of mankind occurred.  On the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, God poured out the Holy Spirit to the church by the thousands to live in man.  The mystery of God that has been hidden for the ages began – that is how man can become a member of the family of God.  And at the resurrection the mystery will be finished.  God is growing His immediate spiritual family that consist of Himself and His Son.  We will become Spiritual offspring and marry His Son in a Royal wedding never equaled.

This Day of Pentecost this process of becoming members of His family.  A process that started all those years ago to the first century church and remembered each year on this day.  It explains the purpose for the physical creation of God – a creation that God will use to bring children into His family.  We are the firstfruits of God – Pentecost is the Feast of the Firstfruits.  God began to call the firstfruits and impart to them His Holy Spirit so that they can become spiritual members of His family.  The Holy Spirit makes all this possible.  But how does God’s Spirit accomplish this?  What is the Primary Purpose of the Holy Spirit in bringing sons and daughters into the family of God.  Today I am going to give you 5 primary purposes of the Holy Spirit in bringing members into the family of God.

The Title of this Sermon is taken from John 4:24:

In Spirit and in Truth

KJV John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

But the Back story of this statement deserves a closer look.  Turn to John 4: and lets start in verse 3:

In this passage, Jesus talks with a woman by the well. 

John 4:3-11  3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  4 But He needed to go through Samaria.  5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.  7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

So Jesus engages this woman at the well and he mentions the water, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  Of course this woman wants this water, I mean, who wouldn’t?

But Jesus tells her to go get her husband.  She is now stuck.  She can’t tell Jesus that she is shacking up with someone, but she wants this living water.  So she decides to tell Jesus part of the truth, She has no husband.

John 4:16-19   16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,'  18 "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

So the next statement is interesting, either she is looking to change the subject to religion, perceiving Him to be a man of God, or she was really pondering a deep philosophical question.

John 4:20  20 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."

Then he both answers her and at the same time drops a bombshell for their generation.  For a Jew or even a Gentile, the method to Worship God or even a false god was always at a specified place.  For the Jews it was the temple. But there were alters and other worship places they used, some worse than others taken from false gods.  The Romans and Greeks had their temples they used as well.

John 4:21-27   21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  22 "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  23 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."  26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."  27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"

So notice that He actually tells her He is the Messiah along with the news that traditional worship of God would now change.  Now this was very early in His Ministry.  He foreshadows the coming of the Holy Spirit and all to a Samaritan Woman.  Three Chapters later at the Feast of Tabernacles He speaks of the coming Holy Spirit again in Chap. 7:37-39.

John 7:37-39   37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

So we know that to be composed of Spirit means never getting hungry or thirsty, not having to worry about death, or even being injured.  But what is being promised here it to have access to this spirit while in human form. 

How does that work?   ….It all began with the glorification of the Jesus

John 17:1-5  NKJ Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,  2 "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.  3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  4 "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.  5 "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

NKJ John 15:26 " But 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.

So the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and is His Essence.  We read earlier that The Father is Spirit.  It is the Essence and Power of the Living God.  And He is sharing it with us.  So let’s pause and deal with the odd use of Personal pronouns in our bible in referring to the Holy Spirit. 

He and His are used in John because in Greek, you have Masculine and Feminine gender to objects especially if those objects do something like act as a helper, advocate, bring to remembrance, and so many other functions of the Spirit.  Now, today, the Christian world adheres to the doctrine of the Trinity.  You might be surprised as the origin of this heresy.  At the time there was no idea or thought about God being anything but One.  When Jesus introduces the concept of one being greater than most understood, He angered many of the Jews of His day.

John 10:29-31   29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.  30 "I and My Father are one."  31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

So here He says two are one.  Now Trinitarians would say, 3 are one but this concept did not come from God.  Trinitarian beliefs did however, come from Samarian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and many other false worship systems.  So how did it make its way into Christianity?  In the Decades after the death of the original apostles, the church suffered many heresies from every side.  They had to be constantly on guard for false teachers.  By the 3rd Century there was a dispute about the nature of God.  Some taught that One that became flesh did not pre-exist with the Father and that the Father was the original God until He created a son from nothing.  Some on the other spectrum believed in a trinity because they came into the church from false religious system and this mixing of beliefs was the Greek thing to do. But actually, most Christians found themselves between these two positions.

Emperor Constantine to the rescue

Although He was not a Christian his whole life and was only baptized on his deathbed, he did intervene.  He called the Council of Nicaea to decide the matter.  Although he did not really care which side other than the fact his goal was to unify Christianity so that he could grow his empire.  He came down on the minority view of the trinity and future legislation would cement the belief and make it law. Those seeking power would compromise.

But it was and is heresy.  God is one through His Holy Spirit and as He reproduces Himself through many offspring God will always be One.  The Father, Son, and all of His children are One in the Spirit.  So in the time remaining I want to give you 5 primary purposes of the Holy Spirit in brining members into the family of God.  There are so many different ways that the Holy Spirit Helps us in various ways.  You can study and create a list with a dozen or more facets.  In my list I have tried to choose primary purposes rather than an exhaustive list but I would encourage you to study and build your own list to see how it compares with this one.  So the first purpose of the Holy Spirit in brining new members into God’s family is:

The Holy Spirit is the essence and power  of  God that unifies His family

So right off the bat I have combined some important components here.  God is Spirit composed of the Holy Spirit.  In that He is one with everyone composed of His Spirit.  This is a unifying force that holds His family together.  It is also why we can be one with the Father and Jesus when we have this Spirit in us.

John 17:20-23   20 " I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;  21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  23 "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Romans 8:9  9 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. 

The Holy Spirit Imparts Life to those who receive it

So we are starting the process of changing to spirit.  First, the Fleshly body is given the spirit to commune with God, then, after the resurrection, a new spiritual body will replace the fleshly body.

Romans 8:10-11   10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  11 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.

Romans 12:2   2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Titus 3 describes the process of regeneration and renewal by the Spirit

Titus 3:4-7   4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,  5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,  6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Lest there remains any doubt, 2 Cor 5:17 says it so plainly

2 Corinthians 5:17   17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  This is the process that is begun when we receive God’s spirit. 

Another purpose of the Holy Spirit is to dwell in the Temple.

The Holy Spirit dwells in Gods Temple(s)    

The Spirit of God allows Jesus Christ to dwell in us because we become the Temple where He dwells replacing the physical Temple.  We talk often of how our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit.  But it was not always this way.  When Solomon finished praying over the first temple, the Spirit of God came and dwelled in the Temple.  But this all changed in Acts 2:1

Acts 2:1-4  When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Galatians 2:20   "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

John 14:22-23   22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

We are told that Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, But without this vital purpose of the Holy Spirit, to dwell in us as the Temple of God, we would have no way to being the transformation.  That transformation happens when we let The Father and Son live in us and commune with us and help us to change who we were.  To point us to what we can become if we allow God to use His spirit to transform our hearts and minds.

The Holy Spirit convicts people of their sins

How is someone guilty if they are not convicted?  Turn over the John 16:8-11.  Most people don’t go around thinking the wages of sin are death and they earned it.  The Holy Spirit opens our eyes and ears to the truth.  

John 16:8-11   8 "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  9 "of sin, because they do not believe in Me;  10 "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;  11 "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Think about the Apostle Paul before his conversion.  He was persecuting Christians even unto death and he felt very righteous.  But God strikes him with blindness to match his spiritual blindness. In this Jesus was able to break through to him and as a converted Christian, Paul referred to himself as the least of the apostles.  He was convicted of his sin and now sees himself through God’s eyes.  How can we truly change unless we can be convicted of who we were, so that we are convinced of who we are becoming?

The Holy Spirit guides us to all truth and reveals spiritual matters to us

Not only can we see the sin in our lives, the Holy Spirit reveals to us the hidden things of God and all truth so we can see where we are going.

1 Corinthians 2:9-14   9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."  10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.  13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

During the Parable of the Sower, Jesus said this starting statement:

Remember that he was talking with a large crowd and he gave them many parables about the kingdom of God and that afterward, his disciples pointed out that no one know the meaning of these parables including them.  He then told them the meaning of the parables and then this:

Matthew 13:13-17   13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.  14 "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;  15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'  16 "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;  17 "for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

We don’t want to take for granted what God has revealed to us through His spirit.  We understand the meaning of life, the nature of God, the purpose for mankind, all because of the Holy Spirit.  Can you even put a price on that?

John 16:13   13 "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.

It is in Spirit and In Truth to we grow with the Spirit of God into a new creation.  We never want to forget what the Holy Spirit does for us.  John records that the Holy Spirit would be an advocate/Counselor or helper.  But these are terms also applied to Christ living in us through the spirit so I confined my list to major purposes of the Spirit.  You can go over the reading we cover at Passover in John 14-17 and read many of these attributes. And consider how the 5 listed here stacks up with Christ’s attributes.  So the 5 purposes we covered today are:

The Holy Spirit is the essence and power  of  God that unifies His family

The Holy Spirit Imparts Life to those who receive it

The Holy Spirit dwells in Gods Temple(s).   

The Holy Spirit convicts people of their sins

The Holy Spirit guides us to all truth and reveals spiritual matters to us

As we keep the Feast of Pentecost.  Let’s rejoice in the gift we were given by God to make us part of His family.

Let’s thank God for this life giving Holy Spirit that helps us to know Him, be One with Him and His Son. 

Let’s remember what God has revealed to us through His spirit and praise Him and His son for dwelling with us.