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University: The Holy Spirit (part 1) Pastor Jeff Kliewer November 13, 2016
Witness protection?
No.
Valid, but untrue.
We have great faces for radio.
I have a radio face. We are all witnesses, but we should not be in witness protection.
This is true.
This is true. Well said.
Let's call on Rick to open us in prayer. Would you mind? Sure. Thanks.
Father, we thank you for the opportunity to look into your words and to examine some of the principles here. Thank you for Jeff's initiative in putting this together and I pray that we would get a lot out of it and that your Holy Spirit would guide our understanding.
Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Hey.
How's it going, brother? In the early summer, we studied the Trinity and we talked about how the Trinity was revealed. The Trinity was essentially revealed between the Testaments. In the Old Testament, you had the Trinity revealed, but not in bright light.
You had types and shadows and you had inferences toward the Trinity, but you didn't have a full-orbed revelation that God is triune. We just knew of monotheism, not of Trinitarian monotheism.
Per se. Between the.
Testaments, something important happens and that is that the Son of God comes into the world and reveals Himself and makes His Father known by being here in the flesh, by the second person of the Trinity actually coming to earth and taking on human flesh.
That was the revelation of the Trinity in His virgin birth, especially at His baptism. If you guys recall, what happened at His baptism? When Jesus was baptized?
The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove,.
Descended and the Father spoke from Heaven, saying, This is My Son, in whom I am well pleased. In that moment, you have the full revelation of the Trinity at the baptism of Jesus because you have the Father speaking, identifying the Son, even in the baptism act as an identification of the Son, and then the Holy Spirit descending like a dove.
So you have this third member of the Trinity revealed in a small way at that point, just an inference again, not as full-orbed as the Old Testament, kind of like the Old Testament revealed Jesus, but not in the way that the New Testament does.
In the same way, at the baptism of Jesus, you have a revelation of the Holy Spirit, but not in the full-orbed, full-explanation revelation of who He is. That comes especially where? In the Gospels. Where?
John 14 -16 is where Jesus really begins to speak about the coming of another Helper, another Comforter, and begins to explain this paraclete is coming. So then, of course, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes and now He's working.
He was always here, but now He's taking on a more full expression of His ministry in more obvious ways, starting on the day of Pentecost. So the Holy Spirit then is a member of the Trinity. And we're going to take the emphasis not on the entire Trinity, but zero in on this third member of the Trinity for this course.
So to begin with, the question is how do we know that the Holy Spirit is God? Now some of you have already looked ahead at the notes, so you might know that, or maybe you have a thought that you'd like to share, but how do we know that the Holy Spirit is actually God?
Meaning that He is personal, He's not just a force that emanates from God, but that He is Himself God. Any ideas? That is huge. And you hit the first one. So let's look at 1 .1. The Trinitarian formulas grant equality to each member in the formula.
So the first one, we'll just kind of go around the room. Ralph, would you open with Matthew 28, 19?
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and.
Of the Holy Ghost.
Now,.
We are very familiar with this verse, right? It's the Great Commission, and baptizing is to be done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. I have a question for you.
Have you ever imagined substituting a lesser being into that formula? Wouldn't that just sound so terrible? In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of Michael the Archangel. Can you imagine baptizing in that name?
Why would that be so... We repel against that, right? We recoil when we hear that idea.
Why? Right.
Because there's an implied equivalency.
You get that?
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You're baptizing into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which implies equivalency. Not that each person is identical in personhood, but it's all one being. That there's not a lesser being involved.
You can't baptize into the name of the Father, the Son, and Paul. Or the Father, the Son, and Cephas. When Paul is talking about how he was glad he didn't baptize anyone, he points out that there's only Christ that you're baptized into.
The implication here is exactly what Emily said. This kind of Trinitarian formula implies that each person is equal. You can't even imagine substituting a lesser being into that formula. Rick, would you read 1 Peter 1 verse 2?
You have these Trinitarian formulas.
According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with His blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.
We hear there the Trinity is all mentioned in a formula. The Father doing a certain work, the Spirit doing another work, and the Son of God doing yet a third ministry, and yet each one is equal in that sentence.
Another very important text is Ephesians 1 1 -14.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love.
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood and forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His kind intentions which He purposed in Him.
With a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him. Also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own purpose to the praise of His glory.
So I want you to make note of four moments of salvation within this passage. And I want you to see the Trinitarian nature of this. In the first verse of this chapter 1 verse 3 the emphasis is upon the Father.
And the work of the Father here is redemption predestined. Notice that we're learning that redemption has been predestined before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
So the first moment of our salvation actually happens before anything exists. Redemption is predestined, but the focus here is on which person of the Trinity? The Father. Okay? You see the Father in verse 3.
Now jump down to verse 7. We see redemption is through the blood of Jesus. Here is where redemption is accomplished. Redemption is accomplished on the cross. That's where the sin of the world is carried away upon the shoulders of Jesus Christ.
He stands in as a.
Substitute to bear the wrath.
Of God against sin, and so He accomplishes redemption through His blood. Notice, in this second moment here, where is the emphasis? Upon the Son. It is the blood of the Son of God, not the blood of the Holy Spirit or the blood of the Father.
The blood of the Son of God accomplishes redemption. Now look at the third and fourth moments are tied together. Verses 13 and 14. We've seen the work of the Father, we've seen the work of the Son, and now at verse 13 and 14, in Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
So notice the emphasis here is upon which.
Member of the Trinity? The Holy.
Spirit. And what He does is in a moment of time, He applies redemption. So the third moment is redemption applied. At what exact moment is redemption applied? You see that in the text? Verse 13.
Having believed.
So at that moment that you put your faith in Christ, believing upon His name, this predestined redemption, this accomplished redemption through Christ, is now applied to the believer. So there's a moment in time where even though I've been predestined, even though Christ died for me, I was dead in my sin.
In that moment that I believe, redemption is applied to me. But notice there's a fourth moment and that's called redemption consummated. It's still the Holy Spirit, but it's kind of a two-part work that He does.
Here in time, in our lives, He accomplishes that redemption. I'm sorry, He applies that redemption, but He seals us for a future day. In verse 14,.
Who is the guarantee.
Of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. So, when Christ comes back, hopefully before we die, or if He tarries and we die, and we go to be with Him in heaven, at that moment our body of flesh is no longer, the sin nature is removed from us and we are glorified to be like Christ and our redemption is consummated.
It's brought to fulfillment. So, the point is, the bigger point now, as we're talking Trinitarianism, notice that the ministries of each member of the Trinity is important. And one isn't subjugated to the other, although there is an economy where the Father is preeminent and the Son is submitting to the will of the Father and the Holy Spirit then is accomplishing the Father's will as well.
So, there's an economy, but notice that each one is pictured as active.
You see that?
Who saves us? The Father saves us, the Son saves us, the Holy Spirit saves us. It's a Trinitarian salvation. And so, the point is, only God saves. So, if it's God who saves, the Holy Spirit is viewed here as being God.
So, that's Ephesians 1, 1 -14. Now, next point. How do we know the Holy Spirit is God? Guys, you might need this. If you're debating Jehovah's Witness, where the Holy Spirit is not an actual person, or if you're speaking with a Muslim who looks at the Spirit more as just an image of God or not like an actual separate person from the Father, you'll need to understand how God speaks about the Holy Spirit.
So, the second point is that the promise of another helper was within the context of Jesus' claim to deity.
Okay? So,.
From John 14 -16, you have the upper room discourse, right? Jesus is teaching, but much of what He says reveals His own deity, and then He says, I will give you yet another helper. So, John, you're up.
Would you read John 14 -16.
For us? Hmm. Another.
It's a key word. He's revealing His own that He is the way, the truth, and the life. How can we go unless you show us the way? Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He's claiming deity for Himself, and now He says there's yet another.
Okay? And that is the Holy Spirit. Rich? Again, we see this in John 14 -26.
14 -26. But the helper, the Holy.
Spirit, whom the Father.
Will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Hmm. Awesome.
And then, Jayner, John 16 -7 -11.
16 -7 -11.
Yes.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin.
Because they do not believe in Me.
Of righteousness, because I go to.
My Father, and you see Me no more. Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
Wow. I want you to think about this. They had God in the flesh with them. And yet, what does Jesus say? It's to your advantage that I depart from you. How could that be? How could it be to their advantage that the Son of God departing.
From them? Because He.
Paid the price for sin. He's paid.
The price. Okay. What else.
Though? He's going to send the helper.
Right. Who must this helper be if His ministry can be just as great as Jesus? It's got to be God.
And these verses say He'll teach you all things that will be with you forever. Who but God can do that? Right.
Yeah. Do you see that? Good job,.
Rich. Yeah. So it says verse 8. When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. He's able to do all of these things that only God can do. Concerning sin, because they do not believe.
Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Do you see the larger picture of the esteem with which Jesus speaks of the Spirit?
He holds Him up as being capable and being able to do things that only God can do. And He even says, it's to your advantage that I go to the Father, knowing that God, the third member of the Trinity, will come to earth.
And here's the big point. The Holy Spirit can be everywhere. Jesus now has united with human flesh in His ministry on earth. There's a sense in which He's still omniscient, omnipresent.
But.
He's also united in flesh, and while He is on this earth ministering in the flesh, He's at one particular point in space. At a time. When He goes to the Father, now the Holy Spirit can come and be in and with all of us everywhere.
So that's the point. The Holy Spirit is being exalted in this passage. And to the degree, you can't just say He's, you know, great or like an angel. He's being exalted as God. Now, here's a clear cut place.
If you were to ask me, where in the Bible, though, does the Holy Spirit ever get called God? Can you guys think of a spot? It's right there on your notes, if you look ahead.
There is.
One place whereby the transitive property of equality, He is called God. Let's look at that. It's Acts chapter 5, verses 3 and 4. Kimberly, would you mind reading that to us?
Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the lamb? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold?
And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to.
God.
So, transitive property of equality. If A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C, right? So, if the Holy Spirit, to lie to the Holy Spirit, is to lie to God, then the Holy Spirit is God, right? Catch that in the text.
So, again, just to emphasize this, because this is the only place I know where you could say that he's literally called God in the text. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? So, the person that you're lying to is the Holy Spirit.
Verse 4, while this land remains unsold, it's your own. After it was sold, it was at your disposal. You have not lied to man,.
But to God.
When you lie to the Holy Spirit, you lie to God. So, that's probably the clearest place I know where the Holy Spirit is called God. Notice also, in creation, if we go all the way back to the beginning of our Bibles, there's a hint of it here.
What is the Holy Spirit's role in creation? Yeah. That's right. So, the idea is that he's there, he's present, he's active. I don't know if you guys have more insight as to what he was doing, but he was there and working in some sense because he's hovering over the face of the earth.
So, there are those who take this passage in Genesis and where it talks about the Spirit of God. And throughout the passage. But that's a reference to the.
Spirit.
Yeah.
I think so. Unless, is there a different view on that too?
Well, it gets interesting because when you get into the New Testament that Christ was the author of creation.
It gets interesting.
And so, God, the being God, is the creator. But each member of the Trinity seems to be active, right? In that. So, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Alright. And then finally, notice that there doesn't seem to be a lot of teaching on the deity of the Holy Spirit, does there?
I mean, Jesus presents him in John 14 and 16 in ways that you could say, yeah, that clearly.
Looks like the work of God.
But it doesn't seem like the New Testament authors, they certainly don't write a book of the Bible to prove the deity of the Holy Spirit. Right? Why is that? I mean, the book of John seems to go to great length to prove the deity of Christ, doesn't it?
These things are written that you would believe, and believing you would have life in his name. And so many of the movements of the text of John are to prove the deity of Christ. Right? You see the I Am statements that trace through, and each one kind of builds on the other, and of course that reference back to God being Yahweh, having a connection to I Am.
So, you see the text makes a great effort to prove the deity of Christ, but not so much the Holy Spirit. Why do you think that is?
I think the work of the Holy Spirit is to point to Christ.
Oh, yeah. I definitely think that's right. The spotlight is on the Son of God. Right?
And he came to glorify Jesus, not himself.
Okay. Good. Good.
It was already understood. I think it was already understood.
Okay.
There wasn't a need for explaining further the deity of the Holy Spirit, but there was great need to.
Okay. Yeah. And here's how I would describe it. In the Old Testament, you have this huge emphasis on monotheism.
Right?
You have Isaiah 43 .10.
And.
Deuteronomy 6 .4 The Shema of Israel.
Right? Which is that.
The Lord our God is one Lord. Right? One God. He's one. So, you have this as a huge emphasis pressing throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Along comes Jesus claiming to be God and distinguishing himself from the Father.
And here is the great leap of faith. This is what is, this is where it requires the work of the Holy Spirit for anyone to come to this, to believe that Jesus is God is to continue to believe in monotheism, but it's a Trinitarian form of monotheism.
To believe that two persons, two distinct persons are God, but there's only one God. That's a huge leap. Right? So, in the notes I mentioned, two, there's a cognitive dissonance that has to be overcome.
Number one, there's only one God. Deuteronomy 6 .4. Number two, here's this person claiming to be God, and yet praying to his Father and distinguishing himself. Number two, there's more than one person.
Who is God.
And here's the point, I think. If you can make that leap of faith, that there can be multiple persons, that Father and Son can be distinct persons, and yet one being, there's, it's no greater leap to take a third person.
If you can become a Binitarian,.
How hard.
Is it to become a Trinitarian? Right? You've already overcome that cognitive dissonance, and that's only the work of the Spirit of God. No person by human reasoning comes to Trinitarian theology. But when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, believing him to be God, it's an easy and natural step to accept his teaching about another counselor, another helper.
Make sense? So, if the text spends all this time proving the deity of Christ, or revealing, I should say, it's not so much it's proving in the sense that it's appealing to our intellect, it's revealing this to our intellect, it's revealing the Son of God.
As the text does that, it's an easy, natural step to take his teaching about another helper. Yeah?
Getting back into your evidences for the deity of the Holy Spirit, one major evidence to me was the fact that he impregnated Mary. And who could impregnate a virgin woman but God himself? But it says the Holy Spirit came upon her.
Sure. Yeah. Which proves the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Yeah, I think that's one evidence. Excellent. Thank you. Alright. Now, next major point.
I was just thinking. The other function of the Spirit in the Old Testament was to inspire the authors for the accuracy of the text.
Absolutely.
And, you know, it's not necessarily identified through each Old Testament book. Right. But, I mean, we believe that the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to record all that he wasn't present for.
Accurately. Right. Absolutely. So, his work in recording Scripture or carrying along the Scripture to all authors is a divine act. Sure. It's a divine work. Yeah, it comes from God. Yeah. It's the breath of God.
Yeah. Good. Okay, next. Notice that the word.
Holy.
Is in his name. Now, he's a spirit with many attributes, right? He's a loving spirit. He's a good spirit. He's a powerful spirit. An all-powerful spirit. But what adjective is in his name? Holy. And I would say that this marks off holiness as the crowning attribute of God.
Having demonstrated that the Holy Spirit is God, holiness is connected with his very name. And you'll notice in Scripture that holiness is the most frequently mentioned attribute of God in the Bible, because you know that.
It's good that you mention that. Yeah. Because a lot of times people say, well, how can a loving God have the Israelites kill all the Canaanites? Well, because holiness is the supreme attribute, not love.
Mmm. That's right. That's right. Now, if God is omnipotent, which he is, imagine omnipotence without holiness.
What would that be?
Hitler. Scary.
Terror. Hitler.
Yeah. Worse. Yeah. Just imagine that. We have a God who's not only all-powerful, but he's holy power. He's holy love. This attribute of holiness is the very core. It's at the very heart of who God is.
It identifies him. And so, the name Holy Spirit, when I was younger, I always thought that was kind of a weird name. It was almost like the Holy Spirit. It's like the is in his name, you know, almost.
And I thought, that just doesn't ring right. I understand a father, and I understand a son, as persons, but I don't understand the Holy Spirit.
Now, getting away from.
The difference between spirit and flesh, spirit identifies in aspects of who he is, but this word holy, I think, identifies something of who he is. So, if we want to have holy lives,.
If we want to be.
Holy as God is holy, right? We're commanded in 1 Peter 2. What member of the Trinity do you think we have to be concerned with? The Holy Spirit. And all members of the Trinity, because all members are holy, but it's in his very name.
So, pointing that out, the Holy Spirit is holy. Third, the Holy Spirit is.
Spirit. John.
16, verse 7. Right. Aha! Sprung that one on you. We all needed to get there, too.
John 16, verse 7. This is Jesus speaking. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
Okay. We've talked about this already. Why is it to the advantage of the believer that Jesus returned to the Father? He can be an advocate at the right hand of the Father. Good. And he sends his Holy Spirit, who now is everywhere, able to be with everyone.
Now, John 14, I've got to ask a question on that. Yes.
So, the attribute of the Holy Spirit being everywhere is not an eternal.
Attribute? It is.
An eternal attribute. Then how come.
It had to be initiated by Jesus sending him?
Well, it's the activity of the Spirit is different. So, you have in the Old Testament, you have the Holy Spirit everywhere, but in the New Testament, he's taking on a more active ministry that it was there in the Old Testament.
So, we'll get to this in the indwelling part of the gifts of the Spirit, of the ministry of the Spirit. But in the Old Testament, you would have, sometimes Saul looked like a prophet, right? The wicked king who ends up being lost, right?
The terminology here, if I go, I will send, implies that there's an absence.
Until it's sent. Yeah. Not a complete absence.
There's.
A change in ministry, but the person, he's always omnipresent, but in the Old Testament where he would come on, Saul, and he acts like a prophet, and then he departs, and Saul's trying to pin David to the.
Wall. You know, that's.
Different, I think, in the New Testament.
Yeah, Rich? Until he was sent, we could not be temples of the Holy Spirit. It was only after he was sent that we could embody the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit could live within us. That couldn't happen until Jesus' first son became the Messiah.
I think it has to do with the work of salvation. It has to do with the roles that each person in the Trinity.
Have.
In the role of salvation. Because the Father.
Has.
A part in salvation. Jesus comes for the first time 2 ,000 years ago, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't eternal. He is eternal. It's just the work of salvation for the sake of humanity. It changes things.
I think Akito is going to be a Pentecost. Because the Holy Spirit omnipresent.
So at Pentecost, what happened?
It's like the Holy Spirit was released at that time. Because we have the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus. He's there, but then later Jesus has to send him.
Is he.
Sending him or is he sending his ministry? Is he sending him in the manifestation of a comforter?
He's being.
Manifested in a way that he wasn't. He was always there. He didn't send him. He was always there. His ministry.
But he did send him because that's the language of the text, right? In John, he says I will send him. I go, so I send him. Go ahead.
The Spirit has the ability to be everywhere, but he is not everywhere unless God sends him.
To be everywhere. Okay. I mean, I think he is everywhere, not just able to be everywhere, because I think without the Holy Spirit, everything falls apart and isn't, you know, I think he kind of is what makes the world exist.
I mean, he's the world is contingent upon him, not the other way around. Meaning, God is an uncaused cause, and he puts the world into being, and if the Holy Spirit wasn't giving life and there, you know, it's kind of that connection between life and breath.
In the Old Testament, the Ruach, is that how you say it? Ruach.
Ruach was.
Ruach HaKodesh.
Yes, was the breath.
So it could refer to the physical breathing, but I think it also points to the same word. It is for breath as spirit. So the spirit is kind of like the breath. He's the only thing that sustains life. If the Holy Spirit wasn't there, how could we live, you know?
In the New Testament, it's Numa, and the same thing. It's breath of God, but it's also the spirit, the person God. And I'm just saying now, I think that without the Holy Spirit, life couldn't exist.
To me, it refers back to 12 believers.
As a person.
Yes, yeah.
It all goes back to the role that the Holy Spirit has in our lives because he starts the work of regeneration within us. We become a new person when we receive Jesus, but the work of the Holy Spirit starts there to make us holy.
To show us and enlighten us when there is sin in our lives. And he just gives us the conviction. We read it before. So that we can be convicted of sin. So that we can give us the empowerment to be able to change things in our lives.
I think that's right. And back to John's point that there is a distinction. The distinction probably has to do with his ministry, but the language is such that it actually refers to it as sending. And here's a great way to look at it.
You have all these disciples who are following Jesus. They've seen him resurrected, so they're already apostles who can go witness to the truth. But Jesus says, don't go do it until you have received this gift from on high.
Until you have the Holy Spirit. So there's something that's so different between these born-again witnesses of the resurrection before Pentecost and after Pentecost. Such that they can't even go out witnessing until that day comes.
There's a new age coming that Jesus is telling us it's coming when the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you. Okay. Part of that, this was not new. The Holy Spirit came upon many people prior to this.
It was not a permanent indwelling where he was being sent for that ministry. But the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit's... He's there.
I agree wholeheartedly.
A neat note in my Bible says the Spirit is the consummate helper. He frees us from trying to live the Christian life in our own power. The Gospel is not to do more and try harder. Rather, it is see Jesus and surrender to the.
Yeah. That's well said. Alright, so we are going to move into the work, but we already kind of have. Because I didn't think we'd have time next week to do all of this, so I thought we'd get started on it a little today.
We have about six minutes left, so let's just do the first... You know what? We've already talked about John 16. Let's do the first two, which are points 4 and 5. There's a back page here, and it's the work of the Holy Spirit, which is the conversation now.
We've already moved into discussing this.
Greg,.
Are you up? Yeah. Would you do 2 Thessalonians 2, 6 and 7? What is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work? Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
Okay. This is the context of not to be too concerned because you're worried that the day of the Lord has either already come or that you missed it in some way, because it's not going to happen until there's this great falling away.
There's going to be an apostasy, and then there's going to be an Antichrist revealed. And when the Antichrist is revealed, that's a sign that the end is about to come or the rapture might have just happened.
But it says in verse 7, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.
So, the.
Antichrist might not be revealed yet. We don't know who this person is, but there's Antichrists, plural, there's many people who are Antichrists and terrible dictators and rulers, but even an Antichrist by spirit in ordinary unbelievers, there is evil in the world that's at work.
Notice verse 6 goes, verse 7 goes on, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
I would.
Argue that that refers to the Holy Spirit throughout, and the rapture, yeah, throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament times. There was evil in the world, but it wasn't manifesting to the fullest extreme.
In fact, even to this day, if the Holy Spirit was not restraining the evil in the hearts of men,.
We.
Wouldn't make it home today. As soon as we left this building or right here in this building, there would be murder, there would be chaos. The Holy Spirit is constantly ministering in the world to restrain.
Evil. You know, most.
Of this world thinks that mankind is good.
Why do they think that? Because the evil of man that's in the heart of man, the depraved, the totally depraved human heart is restrained. God would restrain rulers from doing evil things, restrain individuals from doing evil things.
Right? And so one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit has always been to restrain evil. Now, when Christ is just on the brink of returning, He is going to rapture the church.
Out of the world.
Seven years, perhaps, maybe three and a half. Some people hold a mid-tribute. I think seven years before, at the beginning.
Of the.
Tribulation, the church will be raptured out. And the restrainer will be taken.
Out of the way.
See that? This is referring to the revealing of the Antichrist and these times of lawlessness. The Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way. Now, does that mean He won't still be present on earth at all?
There's 144 ,000.
Sure. He'll still have some ministry, but in terms of the working of the Holy Spirit, there will be a major shift that happens. He's no longer restraining in the way He was. And how do things go for the last seven years of this world?
Is it a pretty picture? You ever read the book of Revelation? It's not a pretty picture. Yeah, it's war and famine and disease and killing and just everything coming unraveled.
Towards the end.
Of it,.
God sends an angel with keys to unlock and these really, really, really bad demons come out. Some believe that those are the Nephilim.
Who.
The angels who procreated with man, we don't understand it.
They create giants.
And God banned.
Them, sent them away. So they've been percolating in revenge for a long, long time. Some people think that's them. It may or may not be.
There's different views of that Genesis occurrence.
But it'd be to say there's going to be an unlocking of some gates and some really, really bad.
Yep.
With that, we're going to get into the work of the Holy Spirit and it gets very personal for us next week because each of these works that we look at are things that he does in us. He convicts us, he regenerates us, baptizes us, empowers and dwells, seals, sanctifies, fills, leads, adopts, assures.
He's praying for us and ultimately he'll glorify us when our redemption is consummated. So we will look at these ministries of the Holy Spirit next week. It's important because he's working in our lives and we need to yield to his work in our lives and submit to his work.
So let's close in a word of prayer.
And we'll move on to.
Service today. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Jesus, we thank you for sending the Holy Spirit. We know that the Holy Spirit has always been in this world but you have sent the Holy Spirit in a special way and we are blessed because we have the Holy.
Spirit. We.
Ask Lord that you would teach us about the Holy Spirit, God. We need to learn because your word does reveal things and whatever is revealed is for us and for our children forever. Help us to learn, help us to study, help us to grow and more importantly, Lord, we pray that we would submit to the Holy Spirit as Lord and as holy that you would make us holy through this study, that you would change us from the inside out, continue to renew us day by day.
We thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen.
Thank you all for coming.
