The Holy Spirit
By Martin Lloyd Jones
Introduction to Great Doctrines of the Bible: God, the Holy Spirit
We began our lectures by saying that we find ourselves, as men and women in a confused and difficult world, aware of principalities and powers which we cannot understand and which we cannot explain. The spirit of man, therefore, searches for something which it cannot find, and having shown that no human learning or teaching could ever solve that problem, we came to the conclusion that there is no hope for men and women save that they submit to the revelation that God has been pleased to give of Himself.
God has given that revelation in nature. He has given it in history. He has given it by sending His only begotten Son into this world and, in a very special way, He has given it in and through the book which we call the Bible. We have no authority apart from this book. Either we accept the Bible as God’s word and God’s revelation and submit ourselves to it whether we understand it or not, or else we assert that our understanding is the supreme authority.
So, coming to the Bible in that way, as little children, we listen to its message, and it starts with a message about God Himself. So we spent our time at the beginning on the doctrine of God—His character, His nature, His attributes, then His works in creation and especially in the creation of man. Also, we considered the being of God—the three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And then, having looked at those mighty doctrines, we came to the biblical teaching about man, because, in a sense, that is our starting point from the experiential standpoint. Why is man as he is? Why is the world as it is? Well, the Bible has its answer. It is all due to what it calls sin. So, having looked at man as he was made by God, we saw sin coming in at the suggestion of the devil, and that was the doctrine of the Fall with all its consequences in Adam himself and in all his posterity. We summed up that teaching with an analogy made by an old Puritan. Sometimes you see an old ruin in the country, an old castle or hall, and there is a notice saying that ‘So and so once lived here.’ And the old Puritan said that that kind of notice can be put up over human beings: ‘God once dwelt here.’
But then comes the glorious doctrine of salvation. So we went on to consider the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The teaching of the Bible with regard to His person is that there are two natures in one person. We did not claim to understand all this but we said that it is vital and essential biblical teaching. We then went on to consider His work. And that brought us face to face with the great central doctrine of the atonement as it is expounded in the Scriptures. And there we saw that Jesus made a perfect provision. “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21).
In our consideration of these biblical doctrines, our method has been to follow the order and the plan of salvation, so we come now, by a logical sequence, to the great doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Now I cannot not begin to talk about this doctrine without pausing for a moment to express again my sense of wonder and amazement at the plan of salvation. When you try to stand back and look at it as a whole, you must at once be impressed by its glory, its greatness, its perfection in every part; each doctrine leads to the next until there it is, the complete whole.
Another thing which I must emphasize is this: I know nothing which is such a wonderful proof of the unique, divine inspiration of the Scriptures as the study of Christian doctrine because we see then that this book is one, that it has one message though it was written at different times by different men in different circumstances. There is great unity in the message, one theme running from the beginning to the end. From the moment mankind fell, God began to put the plan of salvation into operation, and we can follow the steps and the stages right through the Bible. So as we come to consider the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, we are reminded that here again is a doctrine that is revealed in both in the Old and the New Testaments.
We find that in this great plan the Holy Spirit is the applier of salvation. It is His work to bring to us, and to make actual in us, in an experiential manner, that great salvation which we have been considering and which the Son of God came into the world in order to work out. In the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is the executive, the executor. That is His great function in the plan.
Now it is a remarkable and an astonishing thing that this doctrine of the Holy Spirit, His person and His work, has been so frequently neglected in the Church - yet that is an actual fact of history. That is not surprising, in fact it was more or less inevitable, because the Church was constantly engaged, in those first centuries in defending the doctrine concerning the Son. The Son of God had become incarnate: He had been here in this world. Jesus was preached, Jesus as the Christ, and the enemy was constantly attacking the person of Christ. This was the linchpin in the whole of the gospel and if it could be discredited, the whole movement would collapse.
Now generally speaking, the position today is that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is either neglected or it tends to be emphasized and exaggerated in a false manner. In view of all this, therefore, it is obviously essential that we should consider this great doctrine very carefully. If the doctrine of the Trinity is true then we are most culpable if in our doctrine we do not pay the same devotion and attention to the Holy Spirit as we do to the Son and to the Father.
So in this series we are going through all these details not out of an academic interest, nor because I may happen to have a theological type of mind. No, I am concerned about these things, as I am a man trying myself to live the Christian life and as a pastor of souls. God forbid that anybody should regard this matter as remote and theoretical. It is vital, practical doctrine. Wherever you are, if you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit is in you and if you really want to enjoy the blessings of salvation, you do so by knowing that your body is His temple.
Relevant Scripture
Genesis 1:1-2 . . . In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:26-27 . . . Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Isaiah 11:1-3 . . . A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 . . . I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Matthew 3:13,16-17 . . . Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
John 14:15-17,25-27 . . . “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 15:26-27 . . . “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”
Matthew 28:19-20 . . . Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Acts 2:1-4 (NLT) . . . On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
Acts 2:37-38 . . . When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT) . . . And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Romans 8:9 . . . You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.