The Testimony Of The Spirit

Hebrews 10 and the Testimony of the Holy Spirit

We continue in our studies this morning out of the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, but before we once again turn to this tremendous text, let us ask the Lord to bless our time together.

Our gracious Heavenly Father, we would ask that in these few moments we have together, you would meet with us, you would lift up our hearts and our minds from the things of this world to understand heavenly things, eternal things, things that can truly change our lives and make a difference.

Be with us now, we pray in Christ's name, Amen. Well you might be aware of the fact that Reformed Baptists are known for moving very slowly through books of scripture when preaching. Not that you've gathered any of that from the years that we spent in Matthew and we're all the way into the fourth chapter of Romans and things like that.

We tend to try to be rather complete in our analysis of the text of scripture. Sometimes that means we spend a fair amount of time on just a few words. In fact, I'm looking here, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. This morning's text is eight words long, yes, eight words long.

And I was intending to work through chapter 10, verses 15 through 18. It is the natural continuation, sort of the conclusion of what we had worked on not all that long ago here in chapter 10, so it's still fresh in our minds.

I had a whole other sermon prepared for this evening, not even in the book of Hebrews if you can believe that. But I was constrained to spend our time this morning on a small number of words. Now, I don't believe that I am in any way abusing the text by looking at this because I'm not claiming that it was the author's intent in these words to open up an entire discussion of a subject other than the perfection and completion of the sacrifice of Christ.

He remains very focused upon that like a laser. He is not varying from that, but sometimes we have just texts of scripture, passing references. For example, you may be aware of the fact that in Acts chapter 13, verse 48, the apostle in narrating the preaching of Paul amongst the Jews and the Gentiles makes just passing reference, he says, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Now, it wasn't Luke's intention with that little phrase to give us a doctoral dissertation on the fact that it is the appointment of God that results in human faith. It just it just wasn't his intention to do that.

But the fact that he could so easily and almost lightly make reference to this tells us that this was this was something that was well, was understood in the apostles mind. It was understood. It should be understood by those who read his words.

And so sometimes a passing statement can cast a great deal of light upon something that's very important for us today. Well, what am I referring to? Well, if you're sort of in keeping track of where we are, you know that we finished that tremendous text in verse 14, the last time that I spoke from this pulpit.

And so the next verse, verse 15 says, now the Holy Spirit is testifying to us. Saying for after saying, and then he goes on to quote once again from Jeremiah chapter thirty one, the same text that was dealt with rather fully back in chapter eight.

So he's he's bringing a text back in and he's he's actually dividing it up. He says for after saying the first part, he then says, verse 17, and he makes application and we will look at that, Lord willing, this evening.

But I want to look at the very beginning of verse 15 today. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. Believe it or not, that's all I'm aiming for today is to understand why it is that the writer would just so easily introduce a text from the Old Testament with with these little words.

And I want to look at each word because it's very easy for us. And sometimes it's appropriate for us. We're following the argument. We're understanding what the apostle is saying. He's talking about the perfection of the work of Christ and how he brings about perfection those for whom his sacrifice is made.

And and there's this is central to the issue of what atonement is and what it accomplishes and all of that. But that's why just in passing when he says this, it casts a light upon what it is that the author and he uses the plural here, us, the early Christians believed about the nature of scripture.

And if there is anything that we should have learned from looking at the not too distant past in church history, in our own nation, it is that when a church, whether it be a local body or when a denomination, a group of churches, whether it be a seminary, oh, the the number of dead seminaries in our land today, we look back and and there's this constant realignment.

And almost always it has to do with one thing. It's not what just recently happened in the Presbyterian Church, United States of America, where they they took out of the book of order the basically the words that would require you to be sexually pure if you're going to be a minister in the denomination so they can ordain practicing homosexuals.

That's not that. Believe me, the PCUSA and and the United Church of Christ and and the ELCA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, these denominations didn't just overnight wake up and go, hey, let's ordain homosexuals.

Why not? Let's just completely overthrow what Christianity is believed about sexual morals and things like that for for for how many centuries? And no, that was that's the end result of a process of decay.

And when you look at it and go back, what was it all about? Where did it start? It started when for the first time they took a step away from believing that God has spoken with authority and clarity in the Bible.

They all started there and it may have been subtle and the first step may not have been obvious. That's where it all started. And so we have these words and they cast light upon a situation that whether we know it or not, we face today.

Because you all you don't you don't just sit here in the pews and then never say anything about your Christian faith during the rest of the week. You have interaction with other believers and you have interaction with people who claim to be believers.

But honestly, once you talk with them and you listen to them and you hear what they believe, you go, that's a false faith. That's not it. That's not a saving faith. This person does not believe that the Bible is really the word of God, does not believe the gospel, does not believe in the incarnation, the Trinity, whatever it might be.

And it all comes back to whether God has truly spoken. So notice what we have here. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. And that's the introduction to a quotation from the book of Jeremiah. Now, he could have just simply said, for thus it has been written.

That's that's the easy, simple way of doing it. Back elsewhere in the book of Hebrews, the writer had said it's written somewhere. You know, they didn't have chapter and verse divisions and things like that.

And especially if you're reading from a scroll, can you imagine what it was like to try to get to the end of the scroll real fast? I mean, they must have had wrist muscles the size of well, I was going to mention somebody, but he's fallen into disrepute, a very large weightlifter to be able to get there.

And so it's sort of hard to give specific reference. It's real easy for us to do that. So at one point he said, well, it says somewhere. But here he says, the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. Let's think about this concept of the Holy Spirit testifying to us.

It's the plural. This is a testimony of the Holy Spirit to all of us, to those of us who name the name of Christ. There is a way in which we could understand Scripture as being a testimony of the Holy Spirit given to us.

Now, this is not the first time something like this has been said. For example, in Acts chapter one, verse 16, looking at some of the way that the early church introduced the Old Testament. In Acts chapter one, verse 16, we read, Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas.

Think about that. The Scripture had to be fulfilled. Well, why does it have to be fulfilled? Because it's divine. Well, why is it divine? Well, the Holy Spirit had foretold about Judas by the mouth of David.

And so the New Testament writers, when they read the Old Covenant Scriptures, they recognize, well, David spoke these words. David wrote these words. They recognize that men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

And so, yes, David said these words. And yet there is more to it than that, because the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. And so the early church sees the Holy Spirit being active, especially in bringing about the written Scriptures, which are authoritative.

Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. This great text, we've gone here many, many times to talk about the relationship between God's sovereignty and man's actions, but note something else. Acts chapter 4, verse 24.

And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, O Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David your servant said, Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things?

The kings of the earth took their stand. The rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah, his Christ. And so before quoting from the second Psalm, in their prayer, they recognize that the reason that this is relevant for them to quote these things is because these are divine words.

Who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David your servant said. Now, that's an awful high view of Scripture. Once again, the Holy Spirit is speaking, but he is speaking by means of human beings.

And so the Holy Spirit speaks and we see in Acts chapter 5, of course, to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. And likewise, in Acts 5 .32, and we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

Well, there's that word witness. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit. Well, that's the very same terminology we have here in Hebrews chapter 10. The Holy Spirit witnesses, testifies, martyreo, it's where we get the term martyr.

But it didn't mean you necessarily had to die. What makes a person a martyr is not so much their death as it is their death for giving testimony, for giving witness. A martyr is first and foremost a witness.

And so the Holy Spirit testifies, the Holy Spirit witnesses, and here in Acts 5, we are witnesses of these things, so is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit testifies. That shouldn't surprise us, because what did the Lord Jesus tell us in John chapter 15?

When he's describing the coming of the Spirit and the ministry of the Spirit, yes, he's a parakletos. He's the one who comes alongside. He's an encourager, but he's also a testifier. 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, what will he do?

He will testify about me. And you will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning. The Spirit will testify about Jesus. Elsewhere it says, he'll take of my things. Now, he also convicts the world of sin.

The Spirit does many things, but the Spirit is a testifier, and his presence in our lives is a part of that testimony. Ephesians chapter 1, he's called the arabon, the down payment. And God's way of saying, I have redeemed this person, and I will continue my work in him, and I will finish my work in this person.

Do you see the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life in that way? Do you see the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? If you're a believer in Christ as God's down payment, as God's promised money, I have begun my work and will continue that work.

In this one who is my child. Even when you experience the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, that should be to you evidence of God's faithfulness to you. Some people struggle mightily with the issue of assurance.

And they look at their sins and they go, oh, how can I be a believer? And yet, I always ask them, do you believe it's the Spirit of God that has convicted you of these things? Do you believe it's the Spirit of God that convicts you of how much you should love Him?

And how you should not love sin, but should love Him? Where do you think that comes from? Do you think the world convicts you of that? And if that is the Spirit of God testifying to you, witnessing to you, and bringing conviction to you, that's the role of the Spirit.

The Spirit has been given to you for that very thing. And that Spirit then is this down payment, that pledge money on God's part that He will continue that work. As long as that conviction is there, the one who truly needs to be concerned is the one who has no conviction.

The one who truly needs to wonder, because as we're going to see later on in the book of Hebrews, the Lord chastens those who are His. He disciplines His sons. If you don't have conviction, that's when there's a problem.

But you know what? People who come to me and they're struggling with conviction, they're struggling with their sin. They're not the people who are going, yeah, yeah, I do that kind of stuff, don't really care.

No, there's conviction involved in those things. Likewise, when you look at Acts chapter 28, Acts chapter 28, verse 25, and when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word.

The end of Paul's sermon. The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, go to this people and say, you will keep on hearing, but will not understand. And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive.

For the heart of this people has become dull in their ears. With their ears they scarcely hear. They have closed their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and stand with their heart and return and I would heal them.

Here, the apostle, he closes his sermon with a word of warning and judgment. A very harsh word of warning and judgment. And yet, what does he say? The reason these words, you should listen to them. The reason these words are true is because where they came from, the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers.

This took place in history. And just as it was true of their fathers, it was true of them. And this was the Holy Spirit. Now, Isaiah said the words. Isaiah wrote the words. But the Holy Spirit spoke the words.

And so, very, very clearly we see that from the perspective of the New Testament writers, what they had in the Scriptures that they possessed, was spoken by the Holy Spirit of God. It was divine. And so, the writer's not saying something different than it is written.

But he is, just as the apostles did in all those references in their preaching and acts, he is giving us an insight into what must be our attitude toward the Word of God as well. And one of the reasons I chose to not just summarize these statements and move on, is because I think one of the things that we must do, one of the duties that is that of the elder of the flock, is to look at what's going on out in the fields where the sheep will be encountering the world.

And I would say that one of the most constant drumbeats that is pounded into your ears, whether you are aware of it or not, whether it is open and clear or not, one of the most constant drumbeats of unbelief is to question the reality of the existence of divine revelation.

One of the ways that this is accomplished is through fraudulent divine revelation. We are surrounded by false scriptures. Now, I doubt many in here have spent much time reading the scriptures of the religions of the world.

That's something I have to do. But there are many people who do. And I imagine that if you have engaged in giving testimony, that there have been people who said, well, okay, that's what your Bible says, but why should I believe that?

There's all sorts of other books out there that claim to be written by God. I mean, you know, I was out yesterday morning, like this is the hottest week of the summer. You may have noticed that. So what do I do?

I rode 200 miles on a bike. Yeah, brilliant, brilliant. And yesterday morning, I was coming back across Pinnacle Peak. I don't know if any of you live out that direction anymore. We used to have a family that lived right out in that neighborhood.

But some of you may have seen the disputation in the newspaper articles and stuff about the fact that the Mormons are building a temple out there on Pinnacle Peak Road, around 55th-ish, 53rd Avenue, somewhere around that area.

And as I rode by, I happened to look over and saw the construction of what was going on there. I thought, well, here it comes, and started wondering, I wonder when they're going to have open house, because I'd like to go through the open house.

I've only been through one Mormon temple. That was in Brooklyn, no, Manhattan, the Manhattan Temple in New York. I want to go through the open house and get a chance afterwards. They had, oh, they used to have wonderful refreshments afterwards.

Chocolate chip cookies and water. And it's just, it's worth going for. And I can see right now that the pastor probably wants to go with me. But the missionaries hover around you, and they want to know if you'd like to talk.

And guess what, for some strange reason, I want to talk. And I did, in Manhattan. And they were very surprised that I knew everything that went on in the temple. And that led to some very interesting conversations.

And I imagine here in this area, it will lead to my summary being asked to leave. But anyways, I noticed, you know, I noticed it was there. And many people will tell you, oh, okay, that's what your Bible says.

But what about the Book of Mormon? Ever read that? Oh, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Christ, ever read that? And of course, the world today, everyone's talking about the cut on. Ah, the religion of peace.

Try to beat, trick or troll yourselves back there. Have you read the Quran? Have you read the Bhagavad Gita? The Upanishads? All these, all these. And there's people coming up with new stuff all the time.

And these days, with Zulon Press and all the rest of these things, anybody can publish a book. It doesn't matter what it says. There's all sorts of stuff out there. And there's so much of it, that especially young people, they go into college, they go into university, and they get exposed to all this stuff.

And they take classes on religion. You've got to read a little bit of this there, a little bit of that there. And they're like, I didn't know all this stuff was out there. What makes our scriptures so special?

And hopefully, I think some of the young people in here would testify. Some of us, anyways, have tried over the years to prepare them for those things. Give them a foundation upon which to be able to interact with those things.

But we have to admit that it's something we've got to deal with. And there are people who've read these things, and well, why should I believe that? I've read this over here. Have you read that over there?

And it can become a barrier to proclamation of God's truth. Now, I don't believe for a moment that a person reading the Quran is going to experience a conviction of the Holy Spirit of God. Sure, the Quran says some true things.

Almost any book says some true things. But the Holy Spirit only testifies to what He Himself has brought into existence, and that is the Word of God. And so, we can be confident that the Spirit of God will continue to testify of His truthfulness and of His Word.

And we can also be confident of the fact that there is a reason why we have been given the scriptures. Ever thought about that? When I talk about the canon of the scripture, why we know that Hebrews should be here, but why we don't think that Clement's epistle to the Corinthians should be in the New Testament.

It was written pretty early on, Clement was. It's got a lot of good stuff in it. Of course, it quotes from the New Testament, too. But, you know, maybe. When I talk about the canon of scripture, I like to point out that the God who put out so much effort in the inspiration, the breathing out of the New Testament, I believe that He will put out just as much effort to make sure His people know what is and what is not scripture.

He managed to do it with the Old Testament. There weren't any arguments between Jesus and Ava. Jesus going, well, don't the scriptures say? And the Jews going, oh, we didn't know that was scripture. Doesn't happen.

I believe that the scriptures tell us that God has a purpose in giving us His Word. In Romans chapter 15, verse 4, Paul says this, for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

Well, you've got to know what the scriptures are. That means God had a purpose in our knowing what was and what was not scripture. And if that same Holy Spirit is active after writing in the New Testament, who is active after the writing of the Old Testament, then we can have confidence in what God has preserved for us.

But we also know what's one of the other big things we've got to deal with is false teachers. I remember Pastor Fry has absolutely no idea what it's like to be a Southern Baptist and come here. The first couple Sundays were interesting, especially one time Pastor Fry was praying.

Now, I was already involved in apologetics. I had already been up to Salt Lake City. I don't know how many times that time. I've written books on Mormonism and all this type of stuff and witnessed of thousands of Mormons by that time.

And Joe was witnesses and things like that. But I'll never forget the first time Pastor Fry prayed and he started talking about false teachers. And he said, Oh, Lord, break their teeth. Now, I can guarantee you that has never been said in the Southern Baptist Church.

Just no, this never happened. Not once. And I remember sitting back going, hmm, okay. I'm going to have to think through that one. You know, and he's talking about silence them and things like that. And, you know, there's those imprecatory Psalms.

I didn't know they were imprecatory Psalms. He sort of skipped over them in the Southern Baptist Church. But they're there and there are false teachers. And we have all been in situations where we thought we were getting somewhere.

We were witnessing to somebody. And all of a sudden, they bring up some Benny Hinn type guy. You know, I heard so-and-so say, and off to the races you go. And all of a sudden, you realize that everything you've been saying has been being misinterpreted by the person you're talking to because they're thinking that you and that guy are on the same page.

So, we remember Peter's words. Speaking of Paul, as also in all his letters, speaking of these things, and this is 2 Peter 3 .16, in which are some things hard to understand which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction.

Peter recognizes Paul's writings of Scripture. It's one of the main reasons liberals don't believe Peter would ever have said this because their views just won't allow for that. That's to be dismissed a priori.

But other people go, see, shouldn't quote that Paul guy. Tough stuff in Paul. That's not what Peter said. Peter didn't say don't read Paul's letters. Peter, in fact, just identified Paul's letters as Scripture.

But what did he say? In which are some things hard to understand. Yeah, okay. Which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction. Now, what follows if it's the untaught and unstable who distort the Scriptures?

What follows by logical necessity is those who are taught and those who are stable can properly handle the Scriptures, not to their own destruction. But it's important to be taught and it's important to be stable, well-grounded, not moved about.

I become so concerned because we have such ease of access anymore. I talk to people, people pop into our chat channels all the time from all over the world. Ease of access. And yet sometimes I'm really concerned because they come in and say, oh, have you seen this?

And for example, there was, I think it was a CNN or Fox or something news story recently about an ongoing textual critical project in the Hebrew Old Testament. It's been going on for years. And the most dangerous thing you can do is get a religion reporter and have them write a story about something like this.

Because for those who work in the field, it's like, yeah, that's going on all the time everywhere. But a religion reporter comes along, ooh, this is interesting. And since they don't know, it sounds like someone's just rewriting the entire Old Testament and they're discovering that everything we've ever believed was false.

I mean, boy, that is the boilerplate for so many people today. And people will come in, they'll say, did you see this? What do you think? And they're all concerned. They're all worried. And I just go, stability problems there, huh?

They seem to be blown about by every wind. I mean, one little thing. You read a news story, and it's like, oh, maybe everything I believe is wrong. Don't sound very taught. Don't sound very stable. Those who are untaught and unstable, they can distort as they do the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction.

To their own destruction. Rightly handling the Word of God, my friends, is not just something we happen to really emphasize a lot here. Because if that text is true, if you don't do it, it can result in your own destruction.

Because we are handling the very words of God. And if this is the means by which God has given us guidance and direction, well, it's like some folks, I do a lot of traveling. And sometimes I have to rent a car.

Don't really like that. I prefer just getting picked up and taking where I'm supposed to go. But sometimes you gotta rent a car. And if anybody rented a car recently, they offer to, and it costs money, as everything does.

Do you want tires? That costs extra. Do you want a steering wheel, brakes? That's extra. Yeah, that's great. And now they'll rent you a GPS. Now over in London, it's a sat-nav, in case you're wondering.

Don't bother asking for a GPS. They'll look at you in a very British way and wonder what you're talking about. It's a sat-nav over there. But it's GPS here and in Australia. And in Peru, they just don't bother with any of that.

Just honk and drive. It's just how that works down there. But it's scary to see some of the, nothing against our senior citizens here. I'm working on it myself. But especially the little old kids and the couple, they'll be standing next to me, renting a car.

Would you like a GPS? And I can just tell, these folks are going to end up in Nova Scotia and they're going to Florida. I can just tell. Because, you know, they take it. They're not sure which way to hold it.

They don't know where the on-off switch is. And oh, I'm just like, if you really want to do this to somebody, it can give good guidance. But did you hear the story just last week? Just last week, there was somebody that was seriously injured because they were driving the storm with an outdated GPS device and they drove off a cliff.

They drove off a cliff because they hadn't updated their device. So for those of you who have some of the older ones, you need to update the thing. Now, thankfully, we don't need Bible version 2 .0. We don't need updates.

We don't need anything. God got it right the first time around. But the point is, something that can give you good directions. And man, I'll tell you, my droid gives me great directions. It takes me right to the front door of a lot of places.

Sometimes not so much, but mostly it's time it can give good directions. But if you don't use it right, if you don't put in the right information, if you don't handle it right, the Holy Spirit has testified to us.

And that means each one of us is accountable for that testimony. Each one of us, the Holy Spirit has testified to us. This is a public revelation. And we will be held accountable for what is found therein.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 22? Have you not read what God spoke to you saying? You see, the fundamental assumption of the writers of Scripture is that when the Holy Spirit speaks, you had better listen.

God has given us His revelation. He has testified to us. The writer is telling us about the perfection of the work of Christ. And in the middle, for just a moment, in His words, He reveals to us that the only reason that we would ever have to believe in the perfection of the atonement and eternal life and forgiveness of sins and the deity of Christ, and what's all that based on?

It wasn't just something somebody made up one day. It's not some council sat around and said we're going to teach this, this, and this and we're going to write this. No! The only reason that these Jewish Christians should press on and not go back to the old way is because God in His Word has spoken with clarity.

He has revealed His truth. He has testified to them. And because He is who He is and He does not age and He does not change, His testimony remains just as valid to this very day. That is the glory of the Word of God.

That is why the Word of God is the center of our worship and the ministry in this place and by God's grace always will be. Let's pray together. Indeed, our Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word.

We thank You that from eternity past You chose to bless Your people through the production of, inspiration of, writing of, and preservation of Your Word. And Your Spirit to this day continues to draw our hearts out to that which He Himself has brought into existence.

We believe. We hold to. We love this Word because the Spirit within us has made us new creatures in Christ and it is natural for us to do so. We have a desire to hear Him and to follow Him. And so we would pray for every believer in this room that You would strengthen our faith, that You would cause us to cling ever more closely to Your Word.

If there be any here who have not bowed that knee in repentance and faith, Lord, that Your Word would come alive in their heart, that You would reveal to them Jesus as the Messiah, the suffering servant, the King of kings, the Lord of all.

And Lord, that You would glorify Yourself in their salvation even this day, we pray in Christ's name.