Sermon25-12 Acts5 Guide

Acts 5:1-5 theme verse Acts 5:4

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this seventh Sunday of 2025, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we meditated on the divinity and glory of God the Son who is the second person of the Trinity, yet this week, we would like to look at the eternal divinity and glory of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity together.

1)    In the Acts chapter 5 of today’s text, when a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet, Peter said “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not a your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to human but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And then after an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she felt down at his feet and breathed her last too. In this incident, Peter equates “lying the Holy Spirit” with ”lying God” so that we can know that the Holy Spirit is God too.

2)    And in the Bible, there are many other passages that testify to the divinity of the Holy Spirit, for example: While 1 Cor 3:16-17 calls us “God’s temple”, 1 Cor 6:19 calls us “the temple of the Holy Spirit” in the the same meaning, and also 1 Cor 2:10 says that the Holly Spirit searches the deep things of God when human beings or other creatures cannot engage in such an exercise. And Isiah says that God spoke to him in Is 6:9, while Paul says that the speaker was the Holy Spirit in Acts 28:25. And the greatest of sins is that against the Holy Spirit for which there is no forgiveness, while there is forgiveness for sins against the Son in Mt. 12:31 so that the Holy Spirit then must be no less a person than Jesus Christ Himself. And in the promise of the coming of the Spirit, Christ spoke of Him as “another Advocate” who would come in Jesus’ place and the attributes given Him in that passage are those of a person and the One who is divine in Jn 14:16-18, 25; 15:26; 16:7-15. And so Christian baptism is to be given “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” in Mt 28:19m and the apostolic benediction is likewise given in the triune name in 2 Cor 13:14 inasmuch as all three persons are “of one and the same essence, majesty and glory and therefore are the true and eternal God, as we can clearly know that the Holy Scripture teaches us and the Holy Spirit who was hovering over the face of the water in Gen 1:2 is God.

3)    And also the Belgic Confession article 11 confesses that “We believe and confess also that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son—neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but only proceeding from the two of them. In regard to order, the Spirit is the third person of the Trinity—of one and the same essence, and majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, being true and eternal God, as the Holy Scriptures teach us.”

4)    To summarize it again, the Holy Spirit comes from the Father whom the Son sent to us as Jn 15:26 says and also is the Spirit of the truth who proceeds from the Father so that the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit transfers the same divine essence from the Father to the Holy Spirit as does the eternal begetting of the Son. Therefore the Holy Spirit is God who shares the same divine essence, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son, while in the economic sense, He is the third person of the Trinity.

5)    And the benefits of confessing the divinity of the Holy Spirit is; First, confessing the Spirit’s deity is a confession of our dependence upon him to sanctify us so that the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, after justifying us from the sin, by applying all the benefits which our Lord Jesus earned for us. Second, because He is God, the Holy Spirit will abide with us forever, sealing, preserving, and leading us to the final day as children of God as Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 53 taught us.

6)    As such, the Holy Spirit is called as God(Acts 5:4), the Spirit of God (Jn 4:24), Advocate (Jn 14:16), in other words, the One who grants us grace, teaches us and guides us, and the Sanctifier who accomplishes our sanctification. While He not only participates in general economic ministry like Creation and Providence, but also does the special economic ministry such as the justification and sanctification of the elect and the ministry of the Word, I mean, the Writing of the Scripture through organic inspiration, and helping to interpret the Bible, and also makes the church do the mission of God by providing the gifts to them. And also He share the divine attributes of God, as He is the Spirit of truth(Jn 14:17), eternal(Heb 9:14), from whom the living water, the life, flows out(Jn 7:38-39), makes us bear the fruit of love(Gal 5:22), and holy as His name of the Holy Spirit stands for(2 Th 2:13), and omni-scient(Is 40:13), omni-potent(1 Cor 12:11; Rom 15:19), omni-present(Ps 139:7-10), and glorious(Rom 9:1).

7)    Especially, to look at more details regarding on special economic ministries for our salvation, He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (Jn 15:8-11); regenerates the hearts of God’s elect (Titus 3:4-5); fills us (Eph 5:18) and dwells within us (Jn 14:16-17). And also He has an active role in the life of the Christian so that He assists us in prayer (Rom 8:26-27), assures us of our salvation (Rom 8:15) and guides us into all truth (Jn 16:12-14). And through him, Christ Jesus gives gifts to every member of the church (1 Cor 12) and works in us all the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). The Scriptures urge us to live by the Spirit (Gal 5:16), to be led by the Spirit (Gal 5:18) and to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25). Therefore, we are warned against griev­ing or quenching the Spirit (Eph 4:30, 1 Th 5:19).

8)    By the way, I think we need to think about one more thing since the way of the Holy Spirit to work all of these various and amazing ministries in us is very unique. I mean, the way of the Holy Spirit to guide us is; First, through reminding and teaching the Bible Words, as Jn 14:26 says “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Secondly, He guides us Christians, through our conscience, as Rom 9:1-2 says “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart,” while this leading through human conscience is also true even to the non-believers. Thirdly, He guides us through the desire of our heart, as Philippians 2:13 says ”for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” That’s why a theologian the Holy Spirit as shy member of the Trinity.

9)    In that sense, Gal 5:25 said “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit,” here, to walk in the Holy Spirit which translated from the Greek verb, “στοιχέω(stocheo)” refers to live in conformity with some presumed standard or set of customs, as the army marches in order from column to column, meaning to be conformed, to follow, to hold to or to behave in accordance with. Therefore to walk in the Spirit means in the end to keep in step with the Spirit as the ESV translates this paragraph that “Let us also keep in step with the Spirit”.

10) So, to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Eph 5:18 means to obey to the leading of the Holy Spirit every time, every situation, and everywhere. And so we have to read the Bible fervantly and memorize them, since the Holy Spirit reminds us the Bible Words and teaches us their meanings, as Col 3:16 says that “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Therefore I pray that this year, we may come closer to the Word of God and be able to discern, obey, and walk in step with the Holy Spirit, having a good conscience, when we hear the voice of the Word and the science, and also the Holy Spirit works in us to desire and acts in the pleasing will of God.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 According to today’s sermon, the Holy Spirit who is the third person of the Trinity is God and the Sanctifier who applies the generation, the faith, the repentance, the justification, and the sanctification which our Lord had earned for us so that we became to know that we have to live the holy life since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, after reviewing our life whether we have been living as His temple, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 By the way, we also became to know that the way of the Holy Spirit to work in us is that He guides us to obey to Him voluntarily through the Word of God, through the voice of our conscience, and through making us desire and acts in God’s pleasing will for us. So, after reviewing our life whether we have been living the life of obedience as we are sensitive to His leading, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.