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We are going through a series of the attributes of God, we've gone through A. all-knowing, B. God is beautiful, and this week I've got about 80 percent of my C message done, God is a creator, and I was going to talk about how He creates the world without evolution, and He also creates people's new birth without evolution, without human cooperation.
God alone creates the moon and the stars and the sun, and God alone creates the new birth. But you're saying there was the word but there, and you're saying you only completed 80 percent of it, and that is true, and I had a lot of India stuff to prepare this week, and I thought, you know what, I think I'd like to preach on something else tonight, and that's exactly what I'll do.
I was talking to Pastor Dave earlier in my study tonight, and some people were told not to go to the church he pastored in Brookfield, because his church, and he is a pastor, did not believe in the Holy Spirit.
You know, Baptists, they don't believe in the Holy Spirit, so don't attend. I told you earlier today that maybe to the discipleship group as well, Walktons, you had brought some people here to the church, and they left even before the preaching, and they said they didn't want to attend this church because why?
That we don't believe in the Holy Spirit. And so there's lots of confusion about the Holy Spirit, and I want tonight to preach a whole sermon with this title, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, and I want to teach you tonight about the Holy Spirit so you might thank Him more, you might understand the Godhead better, and that you would walk away saying, we may have some differences with our charismatic friends and brothers in the Lord, but both would affirm these things tonight, and we need to make sure that we understand from the biblical perspective that the Holy Spirit is alive, He is working, and I believe in the Holy Spirit.
Let me give you 10 affirmations tonight about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, a couple who's, and the rest what He does. How many people have ever heard a sermon, a whole sermon on the Holy Spirit?
Not many, many have. Tonight is going to be almost a class, it's almost going to be kind of like Bible college class, so put your Bible college hats on, and you want to take maybe lots of notes, tonight will be an exceptional night, not because I'm an exceptional preaching, but we'll have some exceptions, and here's the exception, you will need your Bible out, because we're going to go to many, many places, instead of going to one spot, camping out in Matthew 5, and rarely turning, except maybe to James 5, or Ephesians, we're going to look up at least 20 or 30 verses tonight, and I would encourage you to look these up in your own Bible, so A, you'll know where they are, and B, I preach a long time, and if you're not paying attention, taking notes, or looking up verses, you will become bored, and you will become restless, but if you're engaged, you say, well I worked all day, or I had a hard time this week, the best thing you can do when you listen to a sermon, is have your Bible out, A, and take notes, B, so I'm going to give you 10 affirmations of the Holy Spirit, that I'm sure you'll agree with, and you'll see in your own Bibles, that He is important, Jeffrey Bromley said, in almost every age, too little attention has been paid to pneumatology, the study of the Spirit, and this has resulted in a distortion of the Christian doctrine, and an impoverishment of Christian life and work, and I believe that, so tonight we'll try to correct that, 10 affirmations about the third person of the Trinity, under the title, I believe in the Holy Spirit, by the way, how many other people believe in the Holy Spirit?
Many, okay, good, you can't be a Christian, if you deny the Holy Spirit, affirmation number one, I believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, I believe He's a person, the Holy Spirit, true or false, is an it, true or false, the Holy Spirit is a thing, the Holy Spirit is an influence, the Holy Spirit is a power, He's a person, He has a personality, if you deny the personality of the Holy Spirit, you follow false teacher Arius, he was condemned at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, he said the Spirit of God was just kind of an influence, or a power, or a force, emanating from the Father, that is wrong thinking, and his teaching, by the way, has continued through the years with Unitarianism, and what?
Jehovah's Witness doctrine, by the way, lots of the stuff I'll be taking tonight, in my sermon, will be from Paul N's book, called Moody's Handbook of Theology, does anybody own that book? I know Steve does, Luke, do you?
Why? Because I own it, and you think you get what I get? He said to Luke, if I die someday, you know, you get my library, you've got to carry the tradition, so you think you own all my books now? Oh, you did, okay, so we just generally, as an Abendroth group, own that, okay, good, it is a great book, Moody's Handbook of Theology is a great resource, and so I want to give him credit, especially this morning, as I was talking about lying, truth-telling, and plagiarism, we don't want to plagiarize other people's ideas, the Spirit of God is a person, he has a personality, in the Bible, the word Spirit is a neuter word, there is masculine, feminine, and as we say in New England, nuda, there are three different kinds of words, Spirit is a neuter word, but interestingly, in the Bible, when the Spirit is talked about, do you think the personal pronoun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter, any guesses?
Masculine, let's look at some of these, turn your Bibles to John chapter 15, if you would, and let me just show you three quick examples of how masculine pronouns are used of the Spirit, you wouldn't use a masculine pronoun of an it, or a thing, a power, or an influence, would you?
Of course not, John 15, 26, and again, we're going to look up lots of Bible verses tonight, maybe the most we've ever looked up on a Sunday night service, John 15, 26, John 15, 26, John 16, 13, and John 16, 14, and I'm going to look up some of these verses, some are in my notes, and some are not, by the way, just a little pastoral hint, or a hint, if you're going to teach Awana classes, I would say 95 of the verses that I read to you from the pulpit are already in my notes, so when I say turn to John 15, you're turning, and I'm looking at my next bit of notes, with computers, you might as well have those verses typed out, so it makes your job easier, and I've done that most of the time tonight, but there's just a couple that I don't have, and so John 15, 26, because you've already beat me there, and let me just read it for the sake of the tape, and for you, when the Helper comes, whom I send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, Numa is an it word, but of course it's not given here, He will testify about me, I've never read this until this week, listen to this quote from Ryrie, the Greek word for Spirit is Numa, and it is a neuter gender word, according to every normal rule for grammar, any pronoun that would be substituted for this neuter noun, would itself have to be neuter, however, in several places, the biblical writers did not follow this normal procedure of grammar, and instead of using a neuter pronoun in the place of the neuter noun, Numa, they deliberately contradicted the grammatical rule, and used masculine pronouns, in the masculine gender, this shows they considered the Spirit to be a person, and not merely a thing, end quote, John 16, 13, it's the same thing, you could do a study on your own, if you'd like to read John 14 through 17, much about the Spirit, and if you see John 16, 13, and 14, but when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will distribute to you what is to come, He will glorify me, for He will take care of mine, and will disclose it to you, the Holy Spirit is a person, and we believe that, and along with His personhood, He has an intellect, He has emotions, and He has a will, yes, the Holy Spirit has a mind, or an intellect, He has emotions, and He has a will, three things that would tell us that He has a personality, or He is a person, let's look for Romans chapter 8, verse 27, and again, let's just turn there quickly, if you don't have tabs on your Bible, I would just try to encourage you, in the old days, I used to think tabs in the Bible show that you were an immature Christian, I may or may not, in your eyes, be immature or mature, but I have tabs on my Bible, why?
Because I just want to find it better, I mean, if you're going to Bible school, and you're not allowed to find out where Haggai is, that's one thing, but just put tabs in your Bible, and make your life much easier, Nate, maybe we should probably even order some tabs, to put right in our Bible, because I think it's a good thing, and if you look at Romans chapter 8, verse 27, you see that an intellect can't be some force, Romans 8 27, and he who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the Saints, in accordance with God's will, to search means to investigate, or to examine something, to get a magnifying glass out, and look at something closely, how can some kind of force, or power, or some emanation do that?
Of course it can't, the Spirit of God understands the mind of God, the Spirit of God has emotions, can you think of a verse in the Bible, that would talk about the emotions of the Spirit, anyone? Okay, good, let's look up Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30, he has emotions, and here Ephesians 4 30, would talk about his his awareness, how he's able to respond in an emotional way, used with language in scripturated language, of to grieve, Ephesians 4 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, whether that is speaking unkind words, or lying, or being angry, earlier in the context of verse 25 and following, influences cannot be grieved, but people and persons can, he also has a will, please look at first Corinthians chapter 12, if you would, verse 11, this is a great verse about the Spirit of God, and the body, he's trying to correct the people at Corinth, and first Corinthians chapter 12, talks about the will of the Spirit, and determining how the Spirit has a sovereign will, he chooses, he makes decisions, he wills, he deliberates, certainly forces can't do that, first Corinthians 12 11, and these are the work of the one with the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines, he could be resisted, he could be blasphemed, he can be lied to, can you think about a situation in the Bible, where a force, the Spirit, an emanation is lied to, of course it's not a force or a Spirit, but with Ananias and Sapphira, the Spirit was lied against, yes, and it cost Ananias and Sapphira, their very lives, and certainly the Spirit can be obeyed, I believe that the Spirit of God is a person, number two, I believe that the Holy Spirit is God, I believe that the Holy Spirit is God, would most of you agree, I hope so, the Holy Spirit, he is God, and I can prove that lots of different ways, but for the sake of time tonight, the first way I could prove it, is he has divine names, could you give me some of the Spirit's names, that would reflect his divinity, think before you raise your hand, anybody in the second row with the last name, starting with A, think about that, ahead of time, before you raise your hand, okay, well certainly he's called the Comforter, but that wouldn't really tell us necessarily, that he's divine, because we can comfort, yes, without looking at verses, I found in 2nd Corinthians 318, the Lord, the Spirit, he's the King, eternal Spirit, who else is eternal, except this God, Hebrews 9, the Spirit of Glory, 1st Peter 4, the Holy One, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Grace, there are many titles that the Holy Spirit has, not alone, speaking of the Holy Spirit, yes Luke, helper, but do you help your dad sometimes, yes, and so that doesn't make you divine, at least I hope it doesn't, but that is A, good for you, that you know that's the name of the Spirit, a helper, but that doesn't assist me in finding out that it's a divine name, a name of God, because other people can help, okay, Sam, did you give him that answer, okay, Scott, Sam was quick to go, no, not only does he have divine titles, but he has divine attributes, the Holy Spirit's God, because he does things that only God can do, because of his attributes, true or false, the Holy Spirit is omniscient, true, 1st Corinthians chapter 2, the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, he's all-powerful, true, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, he's present everywhere, true, can you think of a Bible verse that tells me that the Spirit of God is present everywhere, how about Psalm 139, let's go there just quickly again, I know it's a little bit different, because we're just zipping through the verses, Psalm 139, verses 11, 7 through 11, excuse me, 7 through 11, and again, I'm building my case on who he is, and soon we'll get to what he does, the Holy Spirit, Psalm 139, you know the verse as well, speaking of his omnipresence, that he is present everywhere, verse 7, where can I go from your Spirit, or where can I flee from your presence, if I ascend to heaven, you are there, if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there, if I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me, if I say surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night, and he goes on to say other things, the Holy Spirit is eternal, Hebrews 9, the Holy Spirit is holy, who else is holy, besides the Spirit, and he has many other attributes, I just talked a little bit about who he is, now let me talk about what he does, affirmation number 3, I believe that the Holy Spirit was involved at creation, I believe that he was involved at the creation of the world, do you, we can go back to Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, if you want to follow along with me, there's much to say about each one of these, but I'm going to try to go a little faster, if that is possible, Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, we could look up how God created, the Spirit created people, as Elihu says in Job 33, for the Spirit of God has made me, God makes people, God creates, but he also was there at the beginning in creation, Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit capital S of God was moving over, or hovering over the surface of the waters, and certainly anything in your mind, if you believe that the Spirit is God, the Son is God, and the Father's God, you're going to say that Trinity was involved in all these things in a certain way, and the Holy Spirit was involved in creation, number 4, I believe the Holy Spirit revealed and inspired the Holy Scriptures, you believe that, how would you go about proving that, that the Holy Spirit was involved in inspiring the Holy Scriptures, I would go to 2nd Peter chapter 1, is where I would go, 2nd Peter chapter 1, I mean after all, if this is just man's wisdom, maybe some we should follow, and some we should just punt, the Holy Spirit reveals and inspires Scripture, 2nd Peter 1 verses 20 and 21, in the context of a false teacher's influence, Peter writes this second epistle, who do you trust, whose word is reliable, and he says in 2nd Peter 1 20, but know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, you might think, well that's your interpretation, that's my interpretation, that's not what he's talking about, and I can prove it, because verse 21 is there, for no prophecy was ever made, prophecies aren't made this way, by an act of the human will, that's not how prophecy is made, it is made by men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God, Scripture comes into being by men, and let's use men as like an illustration, that's here a very biblical one, let's say men are the set of sails in a boat, I've been studying a bunch of nautical themes lately, and I can't tell you all the different names of all the sails, and all those things, because it takes a long time to do it, but I've been studying nautical themes, especially Nantucket whaling ships, having to go get sperm whales, and other things, and what they have to do, and just an amazing thing, you put a sail up, and you want the wind to hit that sail, and drive the boat along, yes, that's what you're after, to be moved along, driven along, and did you know that's the very word right there, in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 21, but men driven along by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God, they were men, they had their own personalities, and they did not, as John Calvin said, they did not blab their inventions of their own accord, they were driven along, they had ideas, but those ideas had their origin in the Spirit of God's mind, so that's what Paul, excuse me, what Peter's trying to say there, NIV actually does a great job translating the verse, and it says, no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation, think about it, false teachers in 2nd Peter, God told me, God said, God said do such and such, and Peter's saying, don't listen to those people blab, here's what you should do, you listen to Scripture, because Scripture's not really coming from the thoughts of man, it's coming from the thoughts of man, because God has placed those thoughts inside of that man, listen to those writers, false teaching finds its origin in men's minds, but not Scripture, Scripture's born along, like Acts 27 verses 15 and 17, the ship was driven along by this wind, and I love what Paul N. said, there's an analogy between the Holy Spirit's generating Christ's humanity, and the Spirit's superintending the writers of Scripture, just as the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, guaranteeing the sinlessness of Christ's humanity, so the Holy Spirit superintended the human writers to guarantee an inerrant Scripture, isn't that good?
The Spirit of God hovers over Mary, as it were, to guarantee Jesus is sinless, and the Spirit of God hovers over the writers of Scripture, to guarantee that the Scriptures are sinless, that they have no errors, turn with me to Mark chapter 12, and I want you to see Jesus even saying, hey, when it comes to the Old Testament, it's the Holy Spirit who wrote it, this is tucked in here, a neat little verse that you may just zip over, if you're not thinking about it, Jesus teaching that the Old Testament writers were guided by the very Holy Spirit, Mark 12, 35, and 36, and Jesus began to say, as he taught in the temple, how is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
Verse 36, Jesus speaking, David himself said in the what? In the who? In the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet, David calls himself Lord, so in what sense is he his son?
And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him. Revelation is God disclosing his mind to the writers, inspiration is God so hovering over the writers and superintending what they'd say, so they say exactly what God wants them to say.
Speaking of the incarnation, let me go to number five, I believe the Holy Spirit was overseeing Christ's incarnation, do you? Of course you do, let's look up two passages, Matthew 1 and Luke 1, Matthew 1 and Luke 1, how the Holy Spirit was overseeing the incarnation of Christ, certainly Jesus was alive before the incarnation, yes, in his deity he's eternal, but he's never had a body before and it was the Holy Spirit's ministry job to overshadow Mary, so that Jesus is sinless, because if he has any sin, he dies for his own sin, he doesn't die for your sin, he was overseeing Christ's incarnation, giving him the body through Mary, Matthew 1 20, but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from, or of, speaking of origin for you Greek students, ek, e-k, is from origin the Holy Spirit, she will give birth to a son, you were to give him the name Jesus, because he'll save his people from their sins, and then there's another one in Luke chapter 1, that talks about this same kind of idea, except it's not ek, of, or from, it's something different, it's the come-upon word, it's the same word that though is used when the Holy Spirit comes upon the people in Pentecost, Luke 1 verse 34, Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I'm a virgin, the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, overshadow you, to make sure that the son you bear will be the Son of God, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
I want to stress again that the human nature of Christ comes into existence, the deity, he is already God, and he does not come into existence, he is the eternal God, and it's the Spirit's job to make sure Christ was sinless.
John 7, there is no unrighteousness in him. Alright, we're moving forward, we're trying to get to the spot, I'm trying to drive us to the spot where we realize what does the Holy Spirit do with salvation and sanctification.
Number six, I believe that the Holy Spirit was intimately involved in the ministry of Christ, in other words he had a ministry to help Christ when Christ was on earth. Boy, now these are some excellent ones.
You're going to be surprised at some of the things that the Spirit of God does in helping Christ Jesus in his ministry. The first one though, you won't be surprised. If you'll turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 1, the Spirit of God was helping Jesus when he inaugurated Jesus into ministry.
He appointed Christ into ministry. This occurred at his baptism. Kings had to be anointed, priests had to be anointed. Anointing was this conference of power, singling out for something special, and here the Spirit of God anoints and empowers Christ for his special work of ministry as Israel's Messiah.
Certainly God the Father is pleased, he says so in an audible, authenticating voice. And Mark 1 10, some of my favorite verses in Mark. I love Mark. I call it the sprinting gospel. I have basically nothing original that I've ever come up with, and that doesn't sound too good, but it's original.
It's a sprinting gospel because not Jesus is running from place to place. It's not that. It's not that Mark is running around trying to follow it all, but it's you, the reader, who as you read it, it's just, they're going.
And if you're not careful, they're off to the next thing and off to the next thing, and you, the reader, are going, I've got to keep up. And immediately, here we go again, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opening.
Here Jesus sees the heavens opening. In John, John sees the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descends upon him. The heavens rip open. Tell me if you know this word for rip. Schism. That's the Greek word right here, where we get schism.
Ripped open. Tears to split like a garment. What a graphic, interesting way of writing it. The sky is ripped open, maybe beyond the planets in the solar system. Who knows how far it was ripped up. Same word as the veil gets ripped up 70 feet up in the temple as Jesus dies on the cross.
Heavens were open. Matthew says, and behold, the heavens were open. How would you like to do that? And Mr. Johanson was just telling me the other night, was it last night? Four in the morning. Jupiter aligns with Mars or something, right?
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, is what I was thinking. But some planetary alignment was going on last night. How early? This morning? Before sunrise this morning. Can you imagine here, the heavens are schismed apart, ripped apart, just looking up there.
And behold, what happens? The Spirit of God descends like a dove. Why dove? You've heard me preach this many times. Well, he's anointing Jesus for ministry. Luke 4 says, the Spirit of the Lord is on me.
But it's a specific kind of ministry. And I always like to ask this question. Why did the Spirit not descend upon Jesus like an ostrich? Like a platypus? I mean, you know, God created ostriches and platypuses, platypi.
Well, maybe it was a dove because it was, you know, creation and Noah's Ark, gentle, pure, peaceful. I've got the kid's attention, at least. The Kurtz kids are paying attention. Good for you. What did the dove say?
Doug. What did the dove signify to the Jews? They would all know, especially poor Jews. It's a bird of sacrifice. For if he, the one who sins, cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned.
Two turtle doves are two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. Bring it to the priest, sprinkle the blood, etc., etc. I can't prove it, but I think the dove is used particularly because Jesus is being inaugurated into his ministry where he will one day be the sacrifice.
Well, the Spirit is also helping Jesus in other areas. Who is the one who pushes Jesus out the door into the temptations? Who is the one who impels him out, drives him out to be tempted? Who's the one who does that?
The Holy Spirit. Look down in verse 12. You want to know where Satan's working? I'll show you where he's working because show me God's work and I'll show you where Satan's right around the corner. Spurgeon used to say the devil never kicks a dead horse.
He's going for the action. And immediately the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness, drives him out, sends him away forcefully. It's not like Jesus wouldn't go on his own, but driven with intensity.
The same Spirit who comes upon Jesus at baptism now sends him out into the wilderness, a place the Jews would think is a place of God's cursing, desolation, demonic activity, gloom. One writer called this wilderness, you'll like this, anti-Eden.
That's where the Spirit of God propels him and impels him. Well, he's active in all kinds of things that Jesus does. Here's a good one for you. Turn to Matthew chapter 12 and let me show you that when Jesus was exercising out demons, it was a Spirit of God who was casting out the demons through Jesus.
Jesus has the assister, the helper, the Spirit of God who is active in Christ's exorcisms. I bet you didn't know this. I bet you remember it, but you probably didn't think about it. Matthew 12 25. And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and any city or house divided against itself will not stand.
Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself. How then will this, will his kingdom stand? If by Beelzebul cast out demons, if I do that, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.
But if I cast out demons by the what? By the who? The Spirit of God. Then the kingdom of God has come upon you. He goes on to talk about binding the strong man. The Spirit of God when Jesus would do these things was there helping him.
Matter of fact, even when he was preaching, let's go to Luke chapter 4, the Spirit is anointing Jesus to preach. Boy, can you imagine? This is, this is Acts chapter 10. God anoints Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power, doing good, healing all who are oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Whether it's exorcisms or healings, it's the Spirit of God ministering through Christ, Jesus and the Spirit together. Luke 4, 14, and Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and news about him spread throughout all the surrounding district.
You bet it did. And he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth where he'd been brought up and as as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him and he opened the book and found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And what happens when the Spirit of the Lord is upon him here?
Because he anointed me to what? Preach the gospel to the poor. And he sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim, see three words, preach, proclaim, proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
I would have paid a million dollars to be there when he did this. And he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And if that wasn't enough, verse 21, Jesus said to them today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
Did you know the Spirit of God is also involved not in the ministry of Christ, but also in his death? Turn to Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine, verse 14. The eternal spirit is the one who's intimately involved everywhere we turn.
If God is triune, since God is triune, the whole Bible is a demonstration of the Godhead. Hebrews 9, 14, the death of Christ. How much more linking it to verse 13, will the blood of Christ, who don't you forget it through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
He played a part in the death of Christ. The Spirit of God did. Well, not just death. Whenever you hear death, you always think of something else. And Mr. Johanson, what do you think of when you think of death of Christ?
Is anything else come up? Resurrection. Very good. Resurrection of Christ, Romans 1, 4, I'll just read it. And who through the Spirit of holiness, capital S, was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.
From the inauguration at the ministry to Jesus being overshadowed, Mary being overshadowed, and Jesus being born a perfect human, still God though, to demons, to everything else, the Spirit was involved in the ministry of Christ.
Now let's get to you. Number seven. For those of you taking notes, 55 minutes divided by 10, five minutes a point. Right kids? Never trust that kind of math. That's what I call new math. Don't do it. Number seven.
I believe that the Holy Spirit is involved in the salvation of human beings. I believe that the Holy Spirit is involved in your salvation. If the Holy Spirit is not believed in this church, then we don't believe people can get saved, and we certainly do.
Let's go back to the beginning of time. How about before time? Turn to Titus chapter 1, if you will, and let me show you that the Spirit of God is involved in a Trinitarian promise to redeem people. Before time began, before Genesis 1, 1, the Father and the Son and the Spirit made a promise together that they would save a select group of people from their sins as a trophy of their glory and of their grace.
And without getting into this passage, it would take all hour to do, let me just read you this first part of the pastoral letter to Titus. Paul, a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Why is Paul in ministry?
One, for the faith of those chosen of God. I'm in this ministry for those who have been chosen by God for the faith of the elect. And the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. I'm also in this ministry not just for people to be right in God's eyes, saved, justified, regenerated.
I'm also in ministry for their sanctification, that they might say no to sin and yes to righteousness. In the hope of eternal life. I'm also in ministry not just for justification and sanctification, but for what?
Glorification. Which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago. Now, to whom was that promise given? Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Laban, Hezekiah. I mean, think of somebody old. I know somebody old. How about Methuselah?
God promised to Methuselah, who was how old, by the way? It's a good bit of trivia, yes. 969 years old. That guy goes back a little bit. What wisdom that man must have had. But that's not my point. There's a promise between God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit for the salvation, sanctification, and glorification of His people.
The Spirit of God is involved in people's salvation. True or false? The Spirit of God helps people be convicted of sin. Yes? Without the Spirit, you're never going to know it's sin. You're going to think, like I said this morning, it's a crime, it's a misdemeanor, it's a disease, it's a syndrome.
Let's turn to John chapter 16. By the way, if you ever get asked to go to the president of a company, the president of the United States, if you don't think he's a Christian, the last president of the United States, let's use him as an illustration.
I'll never forget, as long as I live, it was during President Clinton's presidency, and there's all these pastors going to talk to him about his missteps. And Alistair Begg said one time that if I ever get an audience with the president, this is my three-point outline to President Clinton.
And it comes right from John 16. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, Jesus says, as he's comforting them. 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 he, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Sin, because they do not believe in me. Righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see me.
And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. And the very same thing that Jesus says, Paul says at the end of Acts, as he speaks to a Roman leader about sin and righteousness and what to come.
Judgment. Good outline for evangelistic preaching. The Spirit of God is involved in planning, he's involved in convicting of sin, and he's also involved in calling people to Christ, effectually calling them.
Why don't we look to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. We're going to make it, we're going to just speed up maybe just a hair if that's possible. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. There are two kinds of calls in this world of the Bible.
Here's the first call. Everybody who's not a Christian, repent. That's called a general call. And you can say no to that if you're not a Christian. Everybody repent. Have you ever told somebody to believe and they've said forget you?
I like my life as it is. Don't tread on me, don't tell me what to do. Who do you think you are? That can be resisted, the general call. Believe in the gospel. There's another kind of call, and every time it's used in the New Testament epistles, it's used of this kind of call.
When the Spirit of God changes your nature from sinner to saint, you can't say no. Now it's not like God is a caveman and there's his wife over there, the bride, the Church of Christ, and he goes and grabs that wife by the hair, puts slings her over.
Boy, did you see that spit? Boy, that was just, that almost went and hit Mark. Wow! Now all these flowers up here make me very nervous. Remember Easter seven years ago? Up here preaching, this place was jam-packed and we had all the Easter lilies everywhere, and you know, Easter lilies, I think these, yeah, these are actually fake, but we had real Easter lilies, not fake Christmas poinsettias, and off this big bug comes, spiraling over, and I could see it go to these lilies, then the bug comes over to these lilies, and then the bug comes zooming, spiraling, like a planet out of control, coming right in, and I could not stop it, and down the throat it went, right down there, and it's Easter Sunday.
Reminded me of motorcycle riding, when you would get bugs hit your teeth, and they taste like celery. I mean, it was amazing. Coughing, and remember my one time of dear, dear servant, and by the way, if you ever want to learn how to serve with a smile on your face in tough situations, you watch Mark Schaefer, because he is a godly servant, and he models service at our church.
Part of his service didn't go so well this time, though. Mark's like, you know what, I think I'd like to get you a fan, Mike. You get all hot in the pulpit, and I'll get you a little fan. We'll just kind of have the fan come up right here, and I said, well, Mark, I don't want my notes to get all messed up, and I probably could have said, you know, in those days my hair was longer, and I don't want my hair to get all must.
I didn't say that, though, and he had the thing all set up. Is that how you like it, Pastor, and everything just right? Yeah, but it was still messing me up too much, and notes going everywhere, and I reached down.
I didn't want to lose my eye contact, and I reached down, and I put my finger through the fan thing into the blades, and it just goes, and then I look, and I go, you know, it's the delayed thing when blood doesn't strike right away after you get cut.
It's like that five-second delay, and you go, hmm, my finger's bleeding, so now I have the dilemma. Do I tell the congregation? Do I suck my finger? What do you do? You say, what does this have to do with anything?
Not a whole lot, but you guys seem like you needed a little break, so I get your attention, and we got ten more minutes to go, so hold on. A general call, believe, can be denied, but the effectual call, when God changes you, you cannot say no.
He changes your nature, and your nature that used to say, God, I don't love you, has been changed into a nature that says, God, I do love you. God is not taking you with hair like an ape man across the stage, and you are kicking and screaming against your own will.
No, that's not the illustration, because your will has been changed, and now you have a will that says, I love you, God, and I hate my old life, and when God calls you through the preaching of the Word, you can't say no, and it is the Spirit of God's ministry to make you born again, and to give you this effectual call.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13, describes it this way. We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning, for salvation, through sanctification, by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
For it was this, He called you through our gospel, it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and when you see that word called in the New Testament epistles, Romans through Jude, it is that effectual call where He changes you, and then He says, well, we've got to stand firm then.
Salvation is not, I have to choose my vote, and cast it in with Satan who votes no, and God who votes yes, and I have to cast the final deciding ballot. I know we're only 50 miles from Boston, but we are not in a democracy, and we have already cast our vote, and we have cast our lot, and our lot is with Satan.
We have voted no. We have opposed God, but the Spirit of God, maybe I could say, there are three persons voting for us, the Father, Son, and the Spirit, and when they say yes, and change our nature, we now respond with a brand new nature that says, God, I love you, I hate my sin, and God is the victor.
Thomas Watson, the Puritan writer, said, God rides forth conquering in the chariot of His gospel. He conquers the pride of the heart, and makes the will which stood out as a fort royal against Him. To yield and to stoop to His grace, He makes the stony heart bleed, and that is the Spirit's work.
His grace is irresistible. How about regeneration? While we're in Titus, how about back to Titus, Titus 3 .5. Titus 3 .5 shows that God is involved in our salvation, and if we're not careful, we'll forget about the Spirit of God, and how He is the one who makes us born again.
He's planned it with the Father and the Son. He affectionately calls us to Himself. The Father chooses, the Son dies for, the Spirit brings to faith, and here's another example with the word regeneration.
He saved us, Titus 3 .5, not because of righteous things which we have done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit. Good. Now God has planned it.
He's affectionately called you. He's convicted you of your sin. He's made you alive again, and if it's left up to you to keep yourself to the day of redemption, you won't make it. I won't make it. So guess what God does?
He starts a work, and He finishes it, and He finishes it by sealing us to the day of redemption. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13. I'll just read it for sake of time. And you were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
And so He seals us like a deposit He is, guaranteeing us to be saved. Boy, there's so many other things. How about 1 Corinthians chapter 12? Let's turn there. God, the Holy Spirit, He baptizes the believer into the church.
Now there's some baptisms in the Bible that are wet and some are dry. This one is what? Dry. Baptism just means to place into. So we were rotting off on our own, God saves us, and then the Spirit of God places us into our, in His body.
It's called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We could talk about tongues another time, but this particular baptism is God placing us into the church. 1 Corinthians 12, 12 and 13. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit, capital S, we were all placed into, baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, we're all made to drink of one Spirit. I'm going to give you the last two on point number seven by true or false.
True or false? The Spirit of God indwells the believer. True. We are the temple of God and the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 3 says, dwells in us. How about the Spirit of God? Does He fill us? Does He control us?
Absolutely. Ephesians chapter five, do not get drunk with wine, that leads to debauchery. Instead, be what? Filled by the Spirit. All right, we've got to do eight, nine and ten. Nine super fast kids, eight and ten is another story.
Eight. I believe the Holy Spirit is involved in sanctification. I believe that the Holy Spirit is involved in sanctification. How can you be more like Christ without the Spirit? Could you be? No. We read earlier about Romans 8, 26, where the Spirit also intercedes for us with groans that cannot be expressed by words.
The Spirit of God gives us His fruit. What would be the fruit of the Spirit? Love and joy and peace and all those things. He is involved in our sanctification. He prays for us. He gives us fruit, tells us to say no to sin, convicts us of sin.
Number nine, I believe the Holy Spirit was active in the salvation of the Old Testament saints. He was involved in the salvation and sanctification of Old Testament saints. How did Abraham get saved? Circumcision, works.
How did Abraham, who was a pagan, learn from his father about idols and then one day became the example of justification by faith alone? Did he do without the Spirit? You say, well, the Spirit didn't come upon the church until Pentecost.
I know, but you've been taught tonight that the Spirit is eternal, that the Spirit convicts of sin. The Spirit's always been around. It was the Spirit who took Abraham and made him born again. It was the Spirit who redeemed Abraham.
It was the Spirit who helped Abraham say no to sin and told Abraham and convicted Abraham when he goes, you know what, she's just my half-sister kind of thing, who was there driving him to be more like himself.
It was the Spirit of God. All right, and number 10, maybe my favorite. Hey, I'm a preacher. Number 10, I believe the Holy Spirit gives power to New Testament preaching. Almost every week this happens.
Steve gets up to pray, Dave gets up to pray, even tonight. God, would you make there be power in the preaching? Who is the one who is doing that, by the way? If I really get loud and stand up real high, then you guys will pay attention more?
Sometimes if I just, if I beg you, if I can just get you to obey, you know, I'll even go so far as to give free books out if you'll obey. How about that? It's the Spirit of God who helps the preaching and who helps the reception of the Word.
1 Corinthians chapter 2, referenced by Dave tonight. Let's just go there. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, this is our last affirmation about how I believe in the Spirit. Of course, we can look at other things.
This is a 18-week class, probably at seminary. But I want you to know that we at this church believe in the Spirit. And I believe that many of my charismatic friends forget about these things. And if they would remember that we believe these things, they might not say just because we don't believe in a private prayer language of tongues that we don't believe in the Spirit.
1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 1, and when I came to you, Paul said, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. By the way, Paul could argue with the best.
Argument is good. Logic is good. Persuasiveness is good. But it isn't good when you're trying to just be like the Greeks and the Roman style who would just have that was the whole art was how you did it.
Paul, when you read Romans, you know he's logical. You know he's powerful in his preaching. But he knows it because it's from the Word of God. There's nothing wrong with persuasiveness, but it's just not this Corinthian kind.
He says in verse two, I determined to know nothing among you except two things. He had a two string guitar, the person and work of Christ, Jesus Christ defining his person, him crucified, defining his work, who, of course, it was including the resurrection.
He said, I made a deliberate, conscious, determined effort to say worldly wisdom. I'm going to punt it. I'm going to drop kick it like I would a rugby ball. I'm going to focus. Well, Paul didn't say the rugby ball, but, you know, I would say like a rugby ball.
He's not going to sell the gospel. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in what punch line, the demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith will not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
When it comes to conviction with preaching power in preaching, receiving the word of God, it is the spirit's ministry. First Thessalonians one five says that our gospel did not come to you in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
I believe in the Holy Spirit. And now let's get to the last bit of practical advice. If you want to know if a church is spirit filled, if you want to know if a church believes in the Holy Spirit, what's the one thing you should look for?
It will just clear all these up. If you forget all these 10 things tonight, but just want to go for the jugular, what's the one thing? And you say, how do I know if my church is spirit filled? What would be the defining moment, the defining issue on is a church spirit filled or is it not?
What would you look for? Books, book table, Christmas tree in the back. I think Jeremiah speaks of Christmas tree someplace, doesn't it? What would it be, Scott? Okay. Become more like Christ. Good. Let's flesh that out a little bit.
Amelia, pardon me? Biblical preaching. Okay, good. Yes. Love for one another. Keep going, John. Evangelistic. High view of God. I'm going to put all these together for my answer. Maybe anybody else? The one thing you look for, you get in the yellow pages and you just want to go, you know what?
I don't want to pick a church that doesn't believe in the spirit of God because I won't change. I won't be a better husband. I won't be a better wife. My kids won't get saved. I've got to pick a church that believes in the spirit of God.
Mike, pardon me? Who acts first, man or God? Who's on first? Is it God who's the one who saves or is it man who cooperates? You know, I believe first and God's allowed me to save me. That's excellent.
So far, I haven't heard a bad answer yet, but with good, better, best, I'm going to look for the best. Yes, Luke? If it's a Bible teaching church, good. Peter? If they have a true view of God, good. By the way, as I'm proud of Mark Schaefer, he's a good example of people.
Peter, over the last several months and years, you've been a good example of how someone can come in, can't pay attention to anything, and now you can pay attention to when pastor preaches, you listen.
So, good for you. How about we look for a church where kids who come in who don't know anything about God sit in the front row and they're changed? Well, that might be a good one, but that's not what I'm looking for.
You're like, you know what? It's getting late. Tell me the answer, pastor. The answer can be found in John 15, 26, if you'll turn there. John 15, 26. Do you want to know how to find a church that believes in the Holy Spirit?
Then you will find a church that has the Holy Spirit take care of his silent ministry, as it were, that he ministers in such a way that the Father is pleased, that the Spirit is exalted, but he ministers in a way that bears witness to Jesus Christ.
It is as if the Spirit of God is behind a door. He doesn't want to be seen. The only thing that you can see is his finger sticking out, pointing to Jesus. And how do we point to Jesus now he's not here?
He points to Jesus through the exaltation and exposition of his Holy Word. How do you pick a New Testament church? There's only one way to pick it. Not expository preaching, not man-centered, God-centered.
Those are all good, but they all fell into place when you look at a church that points to Jesus through the Spirit's work, through the Word of God proclaimed. That's the only reason you pick a church.
And here you notice in John 15 -26 something very striking, something that bears witness means to testify concerning someone, to point to, to bear witness. You can see in John 15 -26, when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father.
There's going to be a time, disciples, and I know you're getting uncomfortable, and I know there's warnings coming, but I'm going to promise to you there's going to be someone else who bears witness to me.
That is going to be his job. He will, at the end of verse 26, testify about me. You want to pick a New Testament church? To me, I look for a church that the Holy Spirit of God is used to point to Christ, because when Christ is pointed to, you know that the Spirit of God is at work.
It's not a bunch of hoopla and rah-rah and two-minute guitar solos and heads propped back long enough back here and some kind of wild things going on. That may or may not be biblical. That's for another story, another sermon.
But you can know it is a New Testament church driven by the Spirit when He says, Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. He is the Son of God, and He commands and demands your worship. And He is not a taskmaster.
He is a wonderful Savior to follow and to worship. All right, let's pray. Lord, thanks for our day today. Thank you that we actually have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. I'm sure, Father, we do not thank you enough for sending Him, the Spirit of God.
We don't thank you enough for having Him be responsible with you and the Son for our salvation, for our sanctification, for Christ's ministry, for the creation of the world, for new creation. Without the Spirit, we'd have no hope for ourselves to ever get to heaven.
We'd have no hope for our kids to get to heaven. And, Father, we thank you for the Spirit of God. And, Lord, we would pray for our charismatic friends that we would have good camaraderie with them and communion as we want to think about Christ Jesus together.
And I pray that you'd give us opportunities to be kind and friendly towards one another and not antagonistic. And, Father, we would never stoop to bury the truth, but we would tell it with joy and with humility and with boldness.
Thank you for our time today. Help us to live out tomorrow, when we go to work or wake up at work, what it means to be a Christian. And may your Spirit help us to do that. In Jesus' name.