Sunday School - Back To Basics Part 5

Father, we thank you God for your goodness this morning. We pray Lord that you'd anoint her time That by means of your spirit you'd instruct us that you would lead us that you would encourage us

Lead us into level ground as you've promised in your word and we pray God for the illumination of your word this morning

Both today in our Sunday school and the other Sunday schools and also Lord This morning as we bring forward your word to your people.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen All right Praise God, we've got a great subject today.

We've been going through our back -to -basics series and we've been going through teaching on the Holy Spirit We've been going through a series going basically to the basics of the

Bible and And this week's topic is the topic of the Holy Spirit.

So that's an exciting one Today's topic is the

Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is often Amongst certain circles seem to be not as emphasized as much and There's a joke especially towards Reformed brethren like ourselves that say that our

Trinity is comprised of the Father the Son and the Holy Bible and Not the Father Son and Holy Spirit and and that's usually a dig at us because they say we don't emphasize the spirit

We don't emphasize the gifts of the spirit We don't emphasize the ministry of the spirit and I would say that's not a that's probably not a fair assumption to make especially when you look at Church history and the emphasis that the

Puritans and other reformed people put on the Holy Spirit in his in his ministry It's it's an ignorant statement

But today I want I want to focus on the topic of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is indeed God He is the third person of the triune

God and he is divine. We went over this in our topic of the Trinity We showed you some verses of the Bible that showed that the

Holy Spirit not only is Person but he's also God he's a divine person, but I want to go over the first part again

This is a really important key that we understand something that the Holy Spirit is not just a force the

Holy Spirit is not just a inanimate object It's not like electricity when you consider what some of the

Other religious groups teach on the topic of the Holy Spirit most famous being Jehovah's Witnesses, for instance

They say the Holy Spirit is a force like a wind or like electricity and it's impersonal.

There's no There's nothing personal about the Spirit But let's see if that's true according to Scripture.

I want us to turn to John 14 John 14 Chapter 14 and 15 and 16 are well -known chapters where Jesus relates the importance of the ministry of the

Holy Ghost Now why does why do some people call him the

Holy Spirit and others call him the Holy Ghost Where do we get the

Holy Ghost from? What's from the King James Version, right? Authorized version translates spirit as ghost back then a ghost was just an app like an apparition of a spirit

It wasn't you know, we think of ghosts today. We think of like Halloween time we think of like dead people's souls or spirits, but that wasn't necessarily early connotation of the

English word It just it was pretty much synonymous with the word spirit and so Although ghost does have a more ghoulish in the

German and English Development of the word doesn't have more ghoulish connotation And so most translations now do translate it as Holy Spirit.

I like the King James Version which translates it as Holy Ghost similarly in Luke 24 when

Jesus says see that I have flesh and bones for Spirit doesn't have flesh and bone as you see that I have

The King James also translates that instance of spirit as ghosts he says I'm not a ghost in that text when

John 14 verse 17 It says even the spirit of truth Yeah I'm gonna read from verse 16 as well actually and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper

To be with you forever Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him

You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you

What's what's surprising about that description of the spirit that Jesus gives us in John 14?

What's interesting about that description Go ahead pastor

What kind of pronouns specifically? personal masculine pronouns He him right, you know in the day and age that we live in where pronouns are so important and up and so much

We're up to debate You know, what kind of pronouns should we give people? What kind of pronouns? Well, first of all, we we don't get to give each ourselves whatever pronouns we want

We don't have that authority because we're not the designers of the English language Nor are we

God? But God does have the authority to do so and he attributes himself in the spirit personal pronouns masculine pronouns

This is personal masculine pronouns in the Greek he him Even the way that he's described as another helper.

There's a In the Greek construction. It's it's talking about a person. There's no way you can construe any other way another in another what?

It's another another person another helper another like the same of the same nature and substance of the one who came before him

Which is Jesus so so clearly there is a Picture here of the personal pronouns that's used of the

Spirit And so I want you to put it this in if you're following along in the teaching. The Holy Spirit is a person

It's a person You know, the Holy Spirit is not a force or and you can fill the rest of it like this not a power or force

Again, similar to what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach and say we see more evidence of this in the same chapter 14 verse 26

He says but the helper of the Holy Spirit whom the Father was sent in my name He personal masculine pronoun will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you then chapter 16 of John and Verse 13

Jesus says the Spirit when the Spirit of truth comes he again personal masculine pronouns will guide you into all

Truth for he will not speak can an inanimate object or force or wind speak

No, they don't speak But he will not speak of his own authority But whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come

Okay Pretty clear, isn't it? The Holy Spirit is a person He's a person

Yeah Good point and He is indeed a person now.

I want to examine some some other verses of Scripture There are those who would say, you know

Jehovah's Witnesses other Unitarians as well would make the error and assumption of saying that Jesus, but the

Holy Spirit is a force or power But but that would be incorrect I want you to look at Zechariah chapter 4

Zechariah chapter 4 Pretty cool well -known verse verse 6

Zechariah 4 6 says Then he said to me this is the word of the

Lord to Zerubbabel not by might nor by power But by my spirit says the

Lord opposed Did you catch that? Not by might Not by power

But by my spirit sometimes people would say, you know Unitarians and JWs would say that the

Holy Spirit is like the power of God But the Lord says it's not by power So he doesn't equate the spirit and there are times where the spirit is equated with a certain power, of course

But but he's he's differentiating that my spirit is not just a power. It's not just a force.

It's not by force It's not by by power, but it's by my spirit. So the word might means like strain for force

So it's not by force not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord opposed. So clearly the

Holy Spirit is not Just a force. Does that make sense? He's a divine person.

He is Again spoken of as a person by Jesus and Jesus is the authoritative word.

He's the authoritative Incarnate one who relates to us the words of the Living God and so we can trust

Jesus in this circumstance We can trust the Prophet Zechariah. We can also trust Jesus again in Acts chapter 1 and Verse 8 maybe some of you know this verse

If not, you should commit to memory because it's a great verse Acts chapter 1 verse 8

Jesus says the following to his disciples, but you receive power When the

Holy Spirit has come upon you and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all

Judea Samaria and to the end of the earth So you'll receive what? Power when the

Spirit comes upon you, okay, that's what the Spirit does. He gives us a power He enables us he empowers us, but he himself is not just a generic power.

He's not just a force or a wind He's a divine person who is empowering you And that that brings forth a connotation of a relationship, right

That's right That's right, that's a good point

Certainly, we want to understand clearly then that the Holy Spirit is a person Is there any doubt then in our minds now after reading some of these scriptures and there's so much more that we could go

Through but is there any doubt that the Holy Spirit is a person not a force He's a person and it's so crystal clear and and I understand that the

Unitarians and Joe wouldn't say should be one obviously as I understand that perspective very well And one of the things that they they note about the

Holy Spirit is that you know, he's not given a personal name Right, so you have Jesus.

That's a personal name. Okay, you have Jehovah. That's a personal name But but the Holy Spirit is it sounds more like a title

It's not a personal name and yet we've examined a couple weeks ago how there are times in which the

Holy Spirit is called Jehovah Right, we examined scriptures for instance in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17 now where the

Spirit of the Lord is That's Jehovah where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and now Jehovah is the

Spirit Right, and so we've seen times when the Holy Spirit is directly named

Yahweh or Jehovah And then we also seen in times in the Hebrews chapter 3 verse 7 through 11

Where it's quoting from the Old Testament the Old Testament speaker was Yahweh and yet the New Testament writer attributes that to the

Holy Spirit right, there's also times in scripture like in I think of Acts chapter 13 verse 2 where Paul Is the

Holy Spirit speaks to Paul? It says the Holy Spirit said set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work of the ministry

Okay, so the Holy Spirit speaks right and see all things that are consistent with a person all things that are consistent with a

With a personal being not an impersonal being does that make sense?

Yeah, it's like electricity yeah Yeah, it's not a good one because it makes the

Holy Spirit impersonal Yeah They maybe but you know, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

You receive power when the power of God comes upon you It's almost it's it's it's a double entendre doesn't make a lot of sense but You know, of course there are times in scripture where the

Holy Spirit seems To be associated with power and rightfully so because you know, think of what animates your body it's your spirit

You know if you the body without a spirit is dead scripture says, right? So if you have no spirit, there's nothing to animate your body.

So it's just it's essentially someone's like your life force, right? And so without the spirit the body is dead and so so there there is that connotation, but again,

God is Trinitarian he's not a Unitarian being similar to what we are and so his the distinction of the persons are

More clearly defined than what would be the case of us for instance, right? So let's let's look at some other good things.

So we've got the first line the Holy Spirit is a person not a power or force But something else about the spirit that must be understood

I want you to turn to the first book of the Bible Anyone know what Genesis 1 1 says?

In the beginning what? God Come on kids

So it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and then the very next verse the earth was about form and void and darkness was over the feet the face of the deep and The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters

Now this is a fascinating text It's way more fascinating that we even give it credit because I did a study on this for seminary under Bruce Waltke and Bruce Waltke is like one of the leading

Old Testament scholars in the world just a brilliant dude and And and he brought he has a view of Genesis chapter 1 2 & 3 that I don't really agree with but I think he was spot -on and bringing out the complexity of the first opening verses of Genesis and One of the complexities that he brings in is that is that Genesis is painting a picture, okay?

In verse 2 the earth was about form and void and so this is the opposite of life.

The earth was Inhospitable to life. That's the point that that that it's trying to get across that the earth was not fit for life

The earth was was there was a there was a what he uses the term of sirred evil. Do you know what a sirred evil means?

Assert s -u -r -d evil sirred evil So for instance

Climactic events like a tornado or a hurricane that kills people that would be considered a sirred evil. It's a natural evil it's it's it's not it's it's not something that is

It is it is it is morally ambiguous in a sense it's It's not that you did anything wrong.

So God killed you for hurricane or or tornado, you know good good and bad people die alike, right?

Yeah chaos exactly like a sirred a chaos and and that's the idea of the early formation of the earth

The earth was formless and void. It was it was this chaos It was inhospitable towards life and then what comes into the picture what's over the surface of the deep?

It's the Spirit of God And it's the Spirit of God that is able to transform the formless voidless sirred evil to be a place of hospitable life

And so where the Spirit is there's life and that is always kind of the big mega, you know

Main picture of the ministry of the Spirit throughout the Bible right where the Spirit is life follows

Right where the Spirit is not death follows you see that you see the the picture that it starts right here in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2

Every time the Spirit comes into the into into the picture it produces life where the

Spirit is not in the picture Produces sirred chaos evil all these things and you see that early on even here.

Yeah That's right, that's right

That's right. And so one of the reasons I want us to look at this verse is because it says in the in verse 1

God created the heavens and the earth Yet verse 2 reveals that the Spirit is active in that creation work because without the

Spirit there's no life Right, Jesus says something very similar in John chapter 3 when he talks about being born again

He says that which is born of the flesh is flesh But that which is born of the Spirit of Spirit you need a spirit to live

Spirit is where is where life comes from. You can't have even biology teaches you can't have life from non -life

Right, there has to be an origin point and the Bible is demonstrating that God is the origin point of life

He is the one who brings forth his ruach his spirit and that produces our spirit within man, right?

So that's why God in chapter 2 Genesis God forms man out of the dust of the earth and he breathes into him

So the word for spirit is ruach, which basically means like like breath or wind, right?

and so then God literally breathes his spirit into into the form of man and Man now is alive now

He has a spirit and so God imparts his spirit to to man and now man is alive

And it says that man became a living soul that's the word nefesh became a living soul and so the

The picture here is really beautiful and it's very clear. But the Spirit is active in creation. The Spirit is

The Creator how do we know this? Well notice what it goes on to say later on in verse chapter 1 verse 26

Then God said let us plural make man in our image after our likeness

Then it goes on to say so in the image of God he singular masculine pronoun

Created male and female, right? So you see the complexity the unity and diversity of the

Trinity early in the text of Scripture Pretty it's pretty clear.

This is a Trinitarian text I know there's scholars today like Michael Heiser and stuff would say that this is not a reference to the

Trinity This is reference to maybe the Divine Council to me That's problematic in a couple of ways because then it makes the divine angels or the

Divine Council equally image bearers To Yahweh where we don't see any indication of that elsewhere in Scripture.

There's no scripture that says that Angels are created in God's image similar to like how we are and So whoever was whoever the

Lord was speaking to had to have shared in the same image because it's in our image, right?

and And angels aren't anywhere that I'm aware of in Scripture referred to as being in the image of God Representative certainly of God but not in the same as we are as image bearers which makes us unique and different from the rest of the angels

Anything you guys want to ask her? Yeah In the manner in which you deal with the spirit does that have a new type of parallel where you just say, breathe on the steps

Oh absolutely Absolutely Huge connection. A lot of people struggle with that text in John 21 because they don't know what to do because it says that he breathed on them the

Holy Spirit but then it isn't until Acts chapter 1 or 2 that they actually receive the spirit so what does this look like?

What does this mean? And what's the differentiation there? That's part of it

Part of it is that we are moral agents moral beings with volition will and it also means it really depends on where you fall in the debate in terms of you know there's a dualist not dualist but there's those who believe that man is a composite of two essential natures or aspects and then there's those who are trichotomists who say that there's three things that make humans human so the dualist would say there's body and soul soul and spirit are the same thing and then there's the trichotomists who say there's body, soul and spirit and the soul and spirit though very similar are distinct and I would fall more in that category

I do think there's a bit of a distinction and where I break it down is this

I think that what it means that we're created in God's image is that we are creatures unlike the animals who have spirit our spirit allows us to commune with God, it allows us to worship, it allows us to pray you know, animals don't do that so what differentiates us?

When you look at the creation account, Genesis 2 and 3 chapter 1, 2 and 3 you see that animals are also called living souls

ESV translates it being, they became a living being the word being is a soul in the Hebrew and it says that man became a living soul as well so when you look at it, animals and humans both have a body they both have souls, or they are a soul it's not what you have, it's what you are you are a soul, you don't have one, you are one but what differentiates us in my opinion from the animals is that we have a spirit we are spiritual beings, and it's the spirit that allows us to commune with God now that is in a sense a small microcosm of the

Trinity as well God is Father, Son, Spirit, we are in my opinion, made up of a composite of a trichotomy, we are body, soul and spirit, this is in a similar fashion as God is

Father, Son and Spirit, but still we're creation, he's creator, way bigger way different so we're not a perfect image of the

Trinity, but even so I think that a trichotomous view does help in that regard but I'm on the minority end of most reformed and puritan

Christians in that regard most puritanical and reformed Christians think that soul and spirit are just interchangeable for the same unseen aspect of man, and I think that that's mostly right, but I think it doesn't do justice to the totality of I think the difference that scripture brings out to those two aspects of the unseen part of man yeah yeah so let me go a little deeper in that,

I think I can persuade maybe some of you at least that the image of God isn't simply like having moral power or character or even volition and will, but I really think it's the spirit

I think it's having the spirit your spirit is what God is spirit he gave you spirit so that you are an image bearer of God and I know that this is most likely the case because look at what the scripture says elsewhere in regard to the spirit of man it says in Colossians, let's just go there real quick Colossians chapter 3

Colossians chapter 3 it says in verse starting in verse 9

Colossians 3 says do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator okay so notice truly you know when we as Christians we say that correctly but also partially incorrectly that everyone every human is made in God's image that is true, but that image has been tarnished it's dead you are spiritually dead the

Bible says apart from Christ and so it's only when you put off the old self that's the old man and you put on the new self that's being born again, this is born again language then you are being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator okay, so it's only in Christ that we're truly putting on the image of our creator now what's the difference between an unregenerate person and a regenerate person one is spiritually dead, one is spiritually alive, spiritually alive meaning that your spirit is either dead or alive okay and so to me that points to a very clear line between spirit meaning that the spirit is what really identifies us as image bearers of God it's a direct line there between this verse and other verses showing that the spirit is what connects us to God's image and if we're spiritually dead we're not in his image fully, but if we are spiritually alive and we're born again we are in his image, does that make sense?

that's right that's right see that same picture alright, yeah you had a question?

correct well so we're all created, there's a sense in which we are all created in God's image this is interesting though because it says in Genesis God made male and female in his image who is he talking about?

in Genesis chapter 2 verse 26 27 he says God made man and female in his own image who is he talking about though?

Adam and Eve, he's talking about Adam and Eve so the when you look at that you go to Genesis chapter 5 verses 1 to 3 it talks about how

Adam and Eve had children how Adam and Eve were created in God's image and then

Adam and Eve bore children who bore their image wait a second here this is very important, this is very interesting so all of humanity this makes sense under the

Doctrine and Federal Headship that really truly, you know, we bear a resemblance of the image of God as as natural humans but we're really actually in Adam's image okay and that's why 1

Corinthians 15 Paul is very clear that there's two Adams there's the first Adam, if you're under the first Adam you're gonna die, if you're under the second

Adam who became a life -giving spirit he brings life, right and so you're either under the first Adam you're either in the first Adam's image or you're under the image of the second

Adam that's Jesus Christ okay, so again there is a sense in which we're all created in God's image that's true, but it's basically like we're a stamp of a stamp

Adam and Eve were created in God's image then they fell and now we're after Adam's image but it's only in Christ that that image is restored the image of God is restored to those who are in Christ does that make sense?

I was just thinking it wouldn't be witnessing I care about that that's technically still a true statement right, so that's not wrong but it's, again it's like humans, we're copies of our ancestors you might look at a kid like man, he looks just like his father you look at the father, he looks just like his father and you know there was an original mark, an image but it gets less and less, it gets kind of lost after time because we all originally have one father, it's

Adam and Noah we all go back to one lineage to one family so that image has been lost in a sense you still have it, it's still there in shape but you haven't been renewed you haven't been born again, and that's when you truly receive the image and mark of God again that's right so back on the topic of the

Holy Spirit that second line is, the Spirit is the Creator alongside the

Father and the Son all those verses I provided for you there prove that the

Holy Spirit is indeed the Creator, let's look at Job chapter 33 for a moment fun fact, the book of Job was the first book of the

Bible written, did you know that? the book of Job is the oldest book of the

Bible even older than Genesis Job chapter 33

I'd like to read verse 4 actually, yeah, 33 -4 the

Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God made me, Elihu says to Job the

Holy Spirit made me this is a phenomenal text, it shows that the

Spirit is the Creator, just like we see in Genesis 1 right, it's the Spirit that brings life, it's the

Spirit that's hovering over the surface of the deep, then you have the Holy Spirit here being the one, referred to as the one who made me the one who fashioned me the one who created me, and the breath of the

Almighty, remember the word Spirit can often, has the connotation of breath or wind, and the breath of the

Almighty gives me life, similar to that's hearkening back to Genesis chapter 2 where the Lord formed man out of dust and he breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living soul it's that same imagery again okay we'll do one more text in Psalm let's go to Psalm 104 just the next book over Psalm 104 verse 30 when you send forth your spirit they are created and you renew the face of the ground again, that's very similar to Genesis chapter 1 again when you send forth your spirit they are created so the

Spirit is the one who brings forth creation he's the one who brings forth life and you renew the face of the ground remember that in Genesis 1 the surface of the deep was void and formless and inhospitable to life, and the

Spirit comes and he brings forth life, right so it's only after the introduction of the Spirit into that context of certain evil that life begins to infiltrate creation again and so you have some pretty solid verses here that all prove what?

the Holy Spirit is a person and he's also the creator he's the creator so again you have three persons

Father, Son and Spirit who are all called God, Lord, Yahweh Creator and yet the

Scriptures cannot be broken, there is but one Yahweh there is only one God there are three persons who eternally exist as the one true everlasting

God Father, Son and Spirit this is a brilliant expose on the

Trinity and on the divinity of the Holy Spirit, so I hope this is helping you, any questions in this regard?

go ahead, you go first Charles yeah,

I understand where you're coming from the Orthodox there's a lot of Orthodox Jews today actually who aren't even against abortion based upon that principle, you know they don't think that a person a baby is alive until they take their first breath, and there is of course a technicality where that's true in a sense right, obviously that's true in a sense but also not completely accurate because the mother is breathing for the baby the baby is receiving oxygen nutrients through the mother and so it's not as if he as if the child is unborn

I mean something that, think of what it means to have life, to have life means that there is a level of activity brain heart, organ there's a level of activity there that is unique to living growing creatures and so the infant in the womb is entirely human right it would be wrong to assume that they're sub -human just because they're missing you know, there's three inches of separation between the womb and outside the womb you know, that doesn't make a lot of sense obviously you know that child is a living soul, it's receiving nutrients, oxygen from the mother so I've heard that argument before that whatever strain brings oxygen it's going to stop breathing that's right yeah, absolutely absolutely, good you had a question too?

I have a question in regards to you know, Genesis 1 it says that the Holy Spirit was created so the spirit was already

Christ sent the spirit to the infant that's what you said the Holy Spirit is here while you're asleep like Psalm 139 says, from where can

I flee from your spirit? if I make my bed in Sheol, you're there if I make my bed in Heaven, you're there you can't outrun the spirit the spirit is

God and God is omnipresent, omnipotent

He's everywhere at all times He fills the universe by the breath of His might He's everywhere so it's not like what

Jesus refers to, which we're going to get into in a minute here, is clearly a new aspect of His ministry towards the elect when

He talks about sending the spirit this is not that, oh the Holy Spirit's never been on Earth before because we know that's not true because He anointed kings

He anointed prophets Samson was filled with the Holy Spirit there are all these stories of men in the

Old Testament who were filled with the Spirit so clearly it's just referring to the

Spirit's a new ministry of the Spirit, so to speak does that make sense? yeah visiting in a new way let's go to back to John chapter 14 and we're going to learn a little bit more about the ministry of the

Holy Spirit in John chapter 14 and can someone read verses 15 through 18 15 through 18,

I'd like to read that yeah so what does

Jesus call the Spirit? who does He promise to send?

He just said it helper He's our helper sometimes this can be translated as comforter different translations, or advocate counselor and He is referred to as our helper in what way does the

Holy Spirit help us? yeah that's right that's important isn't it

He brings to remembrance teachings of Scripture how else does the

Spirit help us? Amen.

Matter of fact that's another text that we can look at in Romans chapter 8 verse 26 and 27 it says in Romans 8 26, likewise the

Spirit helps us okay, what did Jesus say He was going to send? a helper,

Paul says likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know who to pray for as we ought but the

Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and He who searches hearts knows what is in the mind of the

Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God one of the ways the

Holy Spirit helps us is that He's the one who intercedes for us in our weakness

He intercedes the Holy Spirit is our helper who intercedes what does that mean to intercede?

what does that mean? yeah? that's right that's right, which is why some translations translate the word comforter as a counselor or advocate it's because it's all kind of a similar connotation

He's the one who stands in the gap so if you were in trouble with the law and you had to go to court you want a lawyer or a public defender and that's the person who's going to stand in the gap

He's going to advocate for you, He's going to counsel He's going to help you in your situation and so the

Holy Spirit is our helper He's our advocate, He's our counselor He's the one who intercedes for us on behalf of the

Father or before the Father and He's the one whom Jesus sent so the

Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and He brings forward

His ministry of intercession for us, and really one of the ideas of intercession is like, think of praying praying, right?

when we pray we're doing an intercessory work and the Holy Spirit is essentially, think about it this is kind of crazy, the

Holy Spirit is praying for you isn't that cool? like think about it wouldn't you feel real comforted if some of you guys know

Paul Walsher if you asked Paul Walsher to pray for you and he would pray for you, wouldn't that be a cool thing right? like you'd feel like, oh man this guy's praying for me but it's only even bigger and better than Paul Walsher is out there praying for you, and his name is the

Holy Spirit right? and the Holy Spirit is interceding for you He's praying for you,

He's doing it with words and groves that could not even be expressed yeah yeah that's right, that's right which is interesting because he says in John 14 or was it 14 that we just read?

yeah, where he talks about, I'm going to send you another helper and he says, I will not leave you as orphans

I will come to you right? Jesus is going to come to us through the ministry and work of the

Holy Spirit right? that's how He comes to us and so the Holy Spirit is you know is very important He's the one who leads us to the

Father He's the one who intercedes for us in our weakness He's our helper phenomenal, isn't it? such a grace that we can have such a great helper and yeah any thoughts or questions on that?

mmhmm that's right absolutely, and that is the chief way by which the

Spirit ministers to us is by, again, what Jesus says He would do bring to your remembrance all that I have taught you it's by bringing us back to Scripture and the

Holy Spirit will never contradict Scripture you know, my wife grew up in a very charismatic Pentecostal background and where basically you know, new revelations every week is what was expected and you know, if you don't have a word from the

Lord you know, it's always like a new word, a fresh word I want a fresh word, I want a new word from God and it's always this anticipation of of you know, the

Holy Spirit has to speak to you and He has spoken it's His word, the Holy Spirit has spoken you know, this is not by the thoughts or inventions of man it's not by clearly devised myths as Peter says, but that these men were carried along by the

Holy Spirit okay Scripture has its origin in the work of the Spirit, it is divinely inspired, therefore

He speaks to us primarily through His word, now does that mean that the Lord won't use the Spirit to maybe you know, speak to you or bring a certain sort of conviction, well certainly

He does that right, I mean, I tell you guys the four things you have to, you know, consider if you want to be in God's will and the first one is you have to make sure it's biblical, second is the

Spirit of God has to bear witness, testify that means that there should be, you know, there should be a sense a discernment of saying you know what,

I think the Spirit is leading me in this direction, I was just at a lunch with a couple pastors and this one nice pastor from Hollister, he's moving from Hollister to Texas and so and that seems to be a big theme now a lot of pastors are leaving

California going to greener pastures and more freer states but you know, he was saying how he felt a clear call and conviction to go there and so that's one of the marks of being a

Christian is that the Holy Spirit will reveal to us His will and His desire for us similarly as I had a desire and will to come here from Wisconsin clearly the

Spirit leading in that direction and I would say that the Spirit has blessed me coming here, amen?

and I think it's certainly what the Lord's will was for me and my family yes sir that's right the

Spirit of righteousness that's right that's right exactly that's our next conversation from John 15 why don't you turn there

John chapter 15 notice what

Jesus says again about the Holy Spirit John 15, 26 when the helper comes whom

I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the

Father, He will bear witness about me so what is the

Holy Spirit's main objective what's His work what's the

Spirit of truth leading us to it's to Jesus right?

the Spirit is His ministry, His work is to exalt, it's to make

Jesus known that's the purpose of the Spirit in His Trinitarian mission essentially in the work of salvation it's to sanctify it's to set apart, but also to exalt

Jesus now it's something you must be aware of, brethren, is that there is no competition within the

Holy Trinity right? and so there are certain times in which I think charismatics will often overemphasize the

Spirit, because they feel like He's been excluded, and the Holy Spirit is not being excluded, He's doing exactly what

He is supposed to do, which is to make Jesus known, when Jesus is made known, the

Holy Spirit is glorified, right? and so when Jesus is worshipped, when Jesus is the center of our of our

Christian worship, that exalts the Spirit, because that's His work so where Jesus is exalted, that's where the work of the

Holy Spirit is, right? and so we don't have to create a crisis within the

Trinity, we don't have to pit one member of the Trinity against another, or say that one is forgotten, or one is not the center clearly, the

Spirit's work is to testify of Jesus it's to witness about Christ, and we see this even more clearly in John 16 verse 7,

He says nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away,

Christ saying that it's to their advantage of the Christians, of their disciples that He would go away, for He's gonna die and He's gonna ascend to Heaven for if I do not go away the

Helper will not come to you but if I go, I will send Him to you and when He comes,

He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment so that's one of the ministries of the

Spirit is of course to convict, which is why I tell you, brethren, one of the ways to discern God's will is that there should be a bearing witness and testimony of the

Spirit there should be a conviction, the Spirit convicts sin, righteousness, and judgment so this is part of the

Spirit's work but then in verse 12, it says I still have many things to say to you, but cannot bear them now, but when the

Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth for He will speak for He will not speak of His own authority but whatever

He hears, He will speak He will declare to you the things that are to come He will glorify

Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you all that the Father has is

Mine, therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. You see the cohesiveness of the

Trinity there? Jesus saying that all that the Father has is Mine, therefore because of that,

I will take what is Mine and declare it to you through the Spirit. There's no competition within the Trinity. There's no animosity, there's no butting heads in the

Godhead this is a cohesive beautiful orchestra that the

Lord has in His Trinitarian nature and the whole purpose of verse 14 is that He will glorify

Me, the Spirit will glorify Me. So where Jesus is glorified, the Spirit is at work

Amen? And so the Spirit's ministry is to exalt whom? To exalt

Jesus. That's the whole purpose of the ministry of the Holy Ghost Any thoughts or questions?

Have you learned much of the Spirit today? Now it's not just one thing that we learned about the Spirit but it's another thing to put on the

Spirit. And the only way we can put on the Spirit is if we have Christ in our heart Like we're talking about this supernatural being supernatural person who can dwell in us.

And you know one of the things that He does is that as a Christian when we sin He doesn't just let it slide

He'll nudge you He'll do a lot of things to get your attention so that you understand that He's the one who convicts of sin and righteousness

And so we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is our helper and so we don't have to run from Him we should be running to Him.

And so if you're struggling this morning, if you're having a hard time, you have issues at home whatever your situation may be the

Spirit is our helper He's our helper. There's a practicality behind the theology that we've been teaching you

We're not just teaching you theology for the sake of having head knowledge but that this truth would transform the way you live and that you have an access to an all -powerful, all -consuming

Spirit, the Holy Spirit and He's available to you in Jesus' name So if you call upon Him He'll work

Yeah Hmm Oh yes

Oh yes, the Spirit is He never rejoices in sin Right The severity

The severity Well I think

I think the context of like a father and a son relationship is usually the key to understanding

God's heart and understanding the heart of the Spirit. So for instance if we recognize that in our own relationship with our own children, right, and say

Okay, if I told you not to do this, don't do it. And if you do so you're going to grieve me in a certain way But if there's something that's kind of a gray area and, you know, you should have known but you did it anyways there's a level of leniency there, of course that a father can have to minister to his son

And I think the Spirit also is very similar to that There is a, maybe a leniency or a grace that's offered in such circumstances

We can't say for sure because there's no clear text on that, obviously But I think we can rarely go wrong if we go, if we understand the dynamic of the relationship between God and his elect as between a father and a son and the heart that the father has towards his son.

I think that that's a good illustration of his patience and his love towards us So, does that kind of help a little bit?

Yeah It might be technically the law so even if the law

Sure Sure Yeah Amen That's right

Only with the help of the Spirit Well, let me pray for us. Any other questions?

Let's pray. Father, we do ask, Lord, that you grant us the gift of thy Spirit For you are indeed a good

Father and as a good Father you desire to give good gifts to your children. How much more, Lord than will you not give us the

Holy Spirit who has been given to us through the name and blood of Jesus We thank you,

Lord Jesus, for the ministry that you did on earth living the life that we could not live, dying the death that we deserved and being raised again and ascended at the right hand of the

Father and you have now given us a helper a gift to empower us, to bring to remembrance all the things that you have taught, but Lord, also,

Lord to convict of sin righteousness and judgment and so, Lord, may we receive the conviction of the

Spirit in our lives and see the things that we need to address and Father, help us to by means of the Spirit to overcome these things and more and we ask these things in Christ's name.