Beyond the Basics: The Holy Spirit Pt. 2

Okay, we're talking about the Holy Spirit. We've had a few weeks on that.

We're going to close today. We talked about how

He's God. That He's not merely a force but a person. That He teaches, comforts, guides and encourages us.

That He works the works of God. How do we prove that He's God? Because He does the things that God does and that only

God can do. That He possesses all the attributes of God. And we were talking about, we closed by saying that He's clearly on par with the

Father and the Son. We prove that by just going to, there are various verses we can go to. We are baptized in the name of the

Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are several verses in the New Testament that would refer to the blessings of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Or the peace and the grace and all these kind of things. And the Greek construction would dictate, if nothing else, that the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal. They are on the same level.

And yet, if we look at page 24 of your notes, point E, He subordinates

Himself. The Holy Spirit subordinates Himself to the Father and the Son. Let's look at John 16, 13.

I mean, it is a unique relationship between the

Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Spirit. John 16, 13, and who has that?

Becky. When we, he will not speak on his own initiative.

Why is that? Why doesn't he?

Any theories? He does the will of the Father, yes. What is the role of the

Holy Spirit, generally speaking? Comforter, and to point to Christ and proclaim

His glory. That's exactly right. The Holy Spirit, I mean, this is kind of difficult to describe well, but the

Holy Spirit's purpose isn't to point to Himself. It's a point to the

Son, to lead us to the Son. Let's look at Isaiah 48, 16.

This is one that I've told the story, but there are some new folks. This is one I just knew. You know, when you have the

Jehovah Witnesses come to your door, I think pretty much most of us are looking for some way that we can just kind of entrap them, you know?

Show them the error of their ways. And I thought I was so clever, I was ready for these guys.

And I wanted to go, I took their world translation. I said, can I just see your Bible for a minute?

Took the world translation. I went to Isaiah 48, 16, and I knew I had them, and I read it to them just to prove the

Trinity right from the Old Testament. Only problem is they had changed the text.

You don't like what it says, you change it, right? That's what you do when you have a cult.

Speaking of cults, I just remembered my cell phone's on. All right, who has

Isaiah 48, 16? And please, not the world translation. Will. Okay, this is pre -incarnate

Christ speaking in a prophetic way, talking about a time when he would come.

And now the Lord has sent me and his spirit. Well, think about the Lord God has sent me.

The Father has sent the Son and the Spirit. What does that suggest to us about the

Son and the Spirit? Sent by God, they do the will of the

Father. There is, you know, are the Father, Son, and Spirit equal? Well, why is it that the

Son and the Spirit take orders from the Father? They want to do his will.

I don't even like the phrase I used. I was just kind of raising my eyes, waiting for somebody to jump on me.

They have different roles. They don't, they're not really taking orders. If I say anything really bad, just cut the microphone out.

This is, if we were to look at it, the compact that was made between the Father, Son, and the

Spirit from all time was to carry out the unified will of the

Trinitarian God, the Father, Son, and the Spirit. And they do this by taking on different roles.

The Father elects, the Son redeems, the Spirit sanctifies.

But the Son and the Spirit do the will of the Father. What did Jesus say over and over again?

I've not come to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, the will of the Father.

And really, when we think about this, what is one of the most common, the reason I said last time I thought this might be a little controversial, because people say, you know, when the

Bible talks about wives submit to your husbands, that's controversial. Because aren't wives equal to their husbands?

True or false? Wives are equal to their husbands. True. So why would they need to submit to their husbands?

Carmen. Okay. Because their roles are different, because the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church.

And here we have, again, Father, Son, and Spirit equal, different roles. Two of them submit to the

Father, and in fact, the Spirit submits himself to the Son. Does that make the

Spirit less than the Father or the Son? No, and as soon as you say, yes, it does, you've done two things.

One, you've committed heresy. And two, you've denied basically the picture of Christ in the church, of husbands and wives, the whole idea of a willing submission.

The wife who says to herself, well, I'm going to submit, but I'm going to do it grudgingly, is violating the whole principle.

Is it always easy? I don't think it is. I think it's the hardest thing in the Bible. From a human perspective,

I think it's the hardest thing in the Bible, and I don't want to see any wives elbowing their husbands. Oh, you've got to watch it when you've got a retired cop out there.

Okay, so it's a difficult thing. Why? Because husbands are,

I mean, think about it. You say, well, it's easy for the Holy Spirit to submit to the Son or the Father because they don't sin.

It's really not the point. The point is, we're all equal, and yet we have different roles, and we have different responsibilities, and we're called to do different things.

So the Father and the Son send the Spirit. In fact, we can look at other scriptures that talk about,

Jesus said he would send what? A helper, a comforter, who was the

Holy Spirit. So he sent from the Father and from the Son, and in fact, during my ordination.

Now, this is another funny story, and I'm going to tell a few funny stories here this morning. My ordination,

Mike has said, now the purpose of this is to affirm

Steve, and we want the people to recognize certain things about him. And we're not going to try to stump him.

My good friend was here for the ordination, and he asked me a question.

And immediately, I thought, I mean, it's like some things are emblazoned in your mind from seminary.

And when I first heard this phrase, the eternal spiration of the

Spirit, I thought, A, I'm never going to understand this, and B, I'm never going to forget it.

And the eternal spiration of the Spirit is this idea, that from all eternity, the Father and the

Son were sending the Spirit. And I thought, that is just a wild idea that I really can't wrap my head around.

Anyway, on this ordination council, he started asking me about that, and I just thought, okay.

He didn't use that phraseology, but just interesting. And just to show you how interesting

I think the relationship of the Trinity, the relationship of the

Holy Spirit to the others. When we talk about, turn to Matthew 4, just think about that this morning.

Not in your notes, absolutely free, no cost or obligation to you. Well, except to obey.

Matthew chapter 4, I'm going to start reading in verse 1.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Now, who has a different translation than that? Paul, what do you have?

Okay, go ahead and read it. Okay, and I think maybe

I'm even thinking of a different book, because it has, let's see if it's here anywhere else.

Mark 112, what's another word that's used for that? Instead of led up, impelled or driven.

Now, think about that. The Holy Spirit impelled or drove Jesus to the wilderness.

Okay, Mark 112, I was just turning there. Yeah, immediately the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness.

So interesting, the dynamics between, I mean, we can talk on and on about the

Trinity, mentioned before how they're all involved in creation.

How they're all involved in salvation. And how they're all, at one point or another in scripture, talked about raising

Christ up from the dead, even Jesus himself promised that he would raise himself up from the dead.

So here we have the Holy Spirit impelling or driving Jesus out into the wilderness. And what was the purpose of that?

To be tempted. And again, when we think about this, the temptation of Jesus being, if the

Holy Spirit always does the will of the Father, then we know that this was, in fact, the will of God that he be tempted.

Anyway, interesting. The Holy Spirit, point six, participates in uniquely divine activities.

The Holy Spirit participates in uniquely divine activities. First of all, the virgin birth. Let's look at Matthew 1, verses 18 to 20, and who has that?

I do. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother

Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child.

And by the way, before they came together, is what? Physical relations, so it's just a way of nicely translating that.

She was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

And we all know why, or we should know why, because they were considered the same. Betrothal was the same as being married in many respects.

You were expected to keep yourself holy for the other person. So when she's discovered to be with child, this would be no small scandal.

But notice he says, he planned to, Matthew writes, that Joseph was going to send her away secretly.

But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of Mary, do not be afraid to take

Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the

Holy Spirit. So there we have the Holy Spirit involved in the virgin birth, in the creation of the physical life of Jesus.

Also, anointing Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, let's look at Mark 1, verses 10 to 12.

I mean, it is hard to read through the Gospels and to not be, especially if you're looking for this, to just not be awed by the ministry of the

Holy Spirit and how often the Spirit is referred to. Who has

Mark 1, verses 10 to 12? Bruce. Okay.

So there we have, right from the beginning of his ministry, the presence of the

Lord. And can I tell you something, just as an aside, for those of you who don't know,

I was a Mormon for most of my life. And I can remember being on school buses, arguing against the

Trinity from this verse, from these verses. And what would be my argument?

Miss Cooley, three separate beings, because we look at it, what?

It says, he was baptized, Jesus was baptized, immediately coming up out of the water. He saw the heavens opening and the

Spirit like a dove descending. So here we have the Son in the water, the

Spirit like a dove descending. And then the Father's voice saying, you are my beloved

Son, in you I am well pleased. So we're like, how could they be? It's the

Father in heaven, Spirit descending, Jesus in the water.

What would you say to someone who said that? Bruce. They are all, the

Father, Son, and Spirit are all separate beings, but they're of the same essence. Anything else?

That whole argument glosses over one singular fact.

The whole idea, well, you've got the Father in heaven, Spirit descending, Son being baptized, three different places, can't be the same person.

Well, can't be the same God, have to be different gods is what they would argue. It glosses over one simple fact, and that is that they're all omnipresent, that they're all every place.

So if you just look at that one verse without any kind of other explanation, you might be able to make that argument.

But when you take in the whole of teaching about the Father, Son, and Spirit, you cannot come to that conclusion.

All right, the resurrection of Christ, in fact, I said that earlier, now we're gonna look at it.

Holy Spirit involved in the resurrection of Christ. Let's look at Romans 8, 11. Who raised

Jesus from the dead, the Father, Son, or Spirit? Yes, that's always a good answer.

Romans 8, 11, unless I have something really dumb. Okay, Romans 8, 11, who has that?

All right, so there we have the Spirit raising Jesus from the dead, the

Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, Spirit of God, Holy Spirit. Let's see, he distributes spiritual gifts, again, uniquely divine activities.

The Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts, and we're going to talk more about spiritual gifts in a few weeks. Ministry of the

Holy Spirit. But let's look at 1 Corinthians 12. I mean, who decides what gifts believers get?

It cannot be, well, I mean, there are various arguments made. Some would say that believers can decide what spiritual gifts they get.

I don't really understand that, but some would make that argument. But I think these verses are pretty clear.

1 Corinthians 12, verses 11 to 13, who has that? Joey. Okay, and the key point of that whole thing is in verse 11, that the

Spirit distributes spiritual gifts to each one individually.

And he's talking about believers, just as he wills, not as we will. He also indwells believers.

Any comments about spiritual gifts, by the way? Any questions about that while we're just kind of running through in terms of how does the

Holy Spirit do that, just says he does. We don't know exactly how he determines that, but like I said, we'll talk more about that in the weeks to come.

Yeah, it'll be a few weeks down the road, but yes, we will.

Okay, he indwells believers, 2 Timothy 1 .14. The Holy Spirit indwells believers.

He lives inside of believers, 2

Timothy 1 .14, and who has that? Okay, Paul write it in Timothy, says the

Holy Spirit dwells in him. So we can see that it dwells at least in Timothy, and then he says in us, so it's

Timothy and Paul, does that apply to everyone? Let's look at 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, and who has that?

There are a lot of great applications from this passage, Carl, okay.

So again, every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Now does that mean, let me ask you this question.

Does that mean that all believers are filled with the Holy Spirit? I heard a no, why not?

I think I heard now a yes. They ought to be. Well, that's an excellent question.

Let's look at Ephesians chapter 5, I believe it's verse 18.

And the reason I believe it's verse 18, again, there's some things that you never forget. The first assignment

I had in seminary was Ephesians 5 .18. We had to write a bunch of observations on this, and we can only use the

Bible. And I'll just never forget how much red was on my paper when it came back to me.

And this, it hurt my self -image quite a bit. I was damaged for months.

Verse 18, and do not get drunk with wine. For that is dissipation, but be filled with the

Spirit. Referring to the Holy Spirit. I mean, you could sum it up this way. Don't be filled with spirits, but be filled with the

Spirit. So what's the difference between, or what does it mean to be filled with the

Spirit? Well, we could look at other passages, Galatians 5.

What it means to be filled with the Spirit is, well, first of all, you'll notice in Ephesians 5 .18 that it is a command.

It is a command. Are you commanded to be indwelt by the Spirit? No, it's just a state of being a believer.

If you're a believer, you're indwelt. If you're a believer, you're not necessarily filled, because to be filled with the

Holy Spirit means that, what? You're in obedience, you're aligning yourself with the will of God, basically.

You're doing what you ought to be doing. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, if you want to have the mind of the

Spirit, then you must be walking according to the Spirit. You must be living according to the word of God.

And such a good point, to kind of take a, phrase it a little differently.

The essence of being filled with the Spirit is self -control in a good sense.

Not self -control in that I'm in charge. But that you're not letting other things control your life.

If you've ever been drunk, you know that you're, true confessions,

I did this once in my life as an unbeliever. And it was enough to convince me that I never wanted to do it again.

Because I stood up and I told myself, well, I'm going to get up and walk across the room.

It was brutal. Why? Because you're not self -controlled.

There is something else. I mean, your mind is working, but your body is not listening. It's not listening.

And the point of this passage is, don't be that way. Don't have it to where you are not in control of yourself.

You need to submit yourself to the word of God and thus be in control. And certain things, the fruit of the

Spirit will make itself manifest. You will not be controlled by other things.

You will do what God wants. And there is no greater contrast,

I don't think, in scripture than right here. Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the

Spirit. Don't be filled with the garbage that pollutes your mind, that causes you to lose control, to not obey

God. But be filled with the word of God, obey Him, and you will carry out the work of the

Spirit. Stephen. Okay, that's a good question.

And I would argue that there is a sense, and I mean, there are a variety of arguments here.

The question is, before the cross, when the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of believers, was it exactly the same way as it is now?

And I would argue no, that in the church age, the Holy Spirit has come in a new way, not so that we're all flopping around on the floor or barking like dogs or roaring like lions, but that He has taken up permanent residence in us and He works in a different way.

Now, I think it's, could believers in the Old Testament be sanctified apart from the work of the

Holy Spirit? I don't think so. Could they be sanctified or were they indwelt?

Well, I think so. I just think in some way, there is some way and it's probably too nuanced for me to explain or to even fully comprehend.

But in some way, the work of the Holy Spirit is different in the church than it was in the Old Testament. I think it is interesting to think about the life of Samson, when the

Spirit rushed upon him. And I would argue, basically, if you look at the life of Samson, what we have in scripture anyway, that he probably was not a believer until the very end of his life, that there's nothing to suggest anywhere.

I mean, there was no, there isn't one single act of obedience in his entire life, or one act of submission, or one act of humility, one act of anything, until he prays to God and basically throws himself on the mercy of God and pulls down the temple.

So, I would say that there is some difference. Can I fully define it? No, I can't. So, anybody have any comments on that?

I mean, there are books written about that.

That's why I kind of hesitate to fully step into that. But I would say, simply, that there is a difference in the way the

Spirit works in the church age. That when Jesus said, basically, talking about the day of Pentecost, that something new was going to start.

I think he was talking about a new, enhanced ministry of the Holy Spirit. Peggy? Right.

Yeah, Peggy said in Psalm 5111, David writes, do not take your Holy Spirit from me. I think there definitely had to be, how could the saints of the

Old Testament, did they sanctify themselves, in other words? The answer would be no. So they had to have the dwelling of the

Holy Spirit. But I think there is some difference between the

Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints in terms of the work of the Holy Spirit. Okay, he seals believers,

Ephesians 1 .13. I'm going to read that just so we can sort of close, because I want to ask one question just to kind of get you thinking before we close.

Ephesians 1 .13, 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. Verse 14, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession.

You know, that's something, we cannot see the seal of the Holy Spirit on our lives. But God can,

God knows. God knows who is sealed to him and who will be preserved by the

Spirit's power. Point G, he convicts of sin,

John 16, 8. Again, these are uniquely divine activities.

Who can convict someone of sin? Who can convince someone that they are a sinner in need of a savior?

I can't. I can't argue anybody into the kingdom of God.

Okay, verse 8, and when he comes, he will convict the world, talking about the

Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

So he is, this is one of his ministries, is to convict sinful people of their sin and their need for a savior.

As we mentioned earlier, he testifies of Christ. John, since we only have to turn a few pages here,

John 15, 26. In fact, for those with the authorized version, we don't have to turn at all.

15, 26. When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the

Father again. Notice Jesus sending him from the

Father, even more interesting. So it, you know, don't even ask me how that works. That is the spirit of truth who proceeds from the

Father. He proceeds from the Father, sent by the

Son, proceeding from the Father. And his role is to testify of Christ.

Did I read that, 15, 26? Yeah, okay. All right, and he glorifies

Christ. Let's look at John 16, 14. He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you.

We don't sing many songs about the Holy Spirit because the

Holy Spirit's role isn't to be glorified. The Holy Spirit's role, as Pastor Dave pointed out, is to point to Jesus.

Now, let me just ask you a question. What would be wrong with someone saying, or someone intimating, that they could throw the

Holy Spirit into someone else? That they could wield the Holy Spirit, as it were, as some kind of power?

Peggy says it would be like saying, putting yourself on par with God, suggesting that you could order God around.

So what would you say to someone who says, when people are around me, they get knocked flat by the

Holy Spirit? It may not be the

Holy Spirit that they're getting knocked flat by. There are counterfeits.

I mean, there is also the power of suggestion. Years ago,

I had a friend who liked to describe himself as the only non -charismatic at a charismatic church.

And his church was being split into two camps.

Those who believed that laughing in the spirit was of God, and those who did not.

Those who believed that barking in the spirit was of God, roaring in the spirit was of God, and those who did not.

So I said, well, what are you going to do about that? He said, well, I'm trying to establish the basis of, we need to just trust in scripture alone, but it's rough going.

And he goes, I think maybe if I had seen some of these things for myself that I'd have a better platform.

And he goes, I wonder if Friday night, if you would go with me to this place.

It was in Pasadena. And he said, if you'd go with me and we'll go see some of these things.

And I was a pretty new believer, and I really didn't want to go.

I mean, it just really bothered me. I remember sitting out in the parking lot, praying, and I'm just going, are you sure you want to go in?

I just really don't want to go in there. And we went in, they were singing these horrible songs and just things like that, and I thought, well, this is just like anything else.

And they got up and they began prophesying and calling up various pastors.

I mean, there were maybe 1 ,000 people there prophesying over different people.

And this one man, he called up this pastor and he said, now

I see that you have the spiritual eyes of Robert E.

Lee. Now, can anybody explain that to me?

I still don't know what that means. What does it mean, first of all, to have spiritual eyes? I mean, I would agree with Ephesians 1, where it talks about, open the eyes of my heart that I may see.

In other words, we would like to see the Lord in a greater way. But what does it mean to have the spiritual eyes of anyone, let alone

Robert E. Lee? And I remember leaning over my buddy and going, by the way, does he know that the Confederacy lost the

Civil War? I mean, how about the spiritual eyes of Dwight Eisenhower or something,

I don't know. But I just thought this was weird. And there were all these different prophecies going on.

And I've told the story before about how he opened the Bible finally to Matthew 22 and got down to verse 14.

Many are called, but few are chosen. And he said, you know, a better way to understand that is many are called, but few will accept.

I thought, well, if that was really a better way, the Holy Spirit could do something about that. But anyway, all that to say that as the night went on, you know, we saw just strange things.

That we were standing there, minding our own business, kind of, you know, watching what was going on. And all of a sudden, this young, little,

I mean, she was like five feet, I mean, to me, she was little. She was about five feet tall and probably weighed 95 pounds,

Asian, young lady. And she started contorting her face and growling and doing, and I just thought, you know, it was kind of like,

I didn't know what she was going to do next. I mean, you know, I thought she could take both of us out. We were both deputy sheriffs and I was a little,

I was concerned. And anyway, so all this stuff was going on and finally they said, now there are all these curtains, this huge arena, and there were all these curtains and everything.

And they said, okay, it's carpet time. And they opened up all these curtains and they asked for catchers.

And people began to thrash around on the floor and do all these kind of things. And I thought, is this really the work of the

Holy Spirit? Is this how the Spirit works, Pastor Dave?

Well, you said that so well with the, you know, it is walking by sight and not by faith. I mean, when those folks go home from a meeting like that, and you know what?

I think that many of them were saved. But here's the issue. The issue is when they go home that night, are they going to be praising

God for the insights that they have seen into the work of Christ, into their salvation, into the sovereignty and power of God?

Or are they going to go home that night and think, what a marvelous experience we had?

How exciting it was. I mean, it just, it boggles the mind when you think, okay, if Christianity is a religion of the mind where I am to submit my mind, my heart, my soul, my will to Christ, when

I am to grapple with the things of Scripture, when I am to seek Him, when I am to seek the truths of His Word, I mean, what do you do with Psalm 119?

Do you just throw that away and you just go, you know what? I don't need to seek after the Word of God like it's something precious.

I can just go on Friday night, watch people flop around, roar like lions, bark like dogs, and that elevates me somehow.

God, as Pastor Dave said, is a God of order. Let all things be done with what?

Decency and order. The house of God ought not to be a place of chaos.

Oh, I think it does. You know, false signs and wonders, you know, lying signs and wonders, whatever. People want, you know, it's hard to go home and say, you know, that was such a great,

I mean, maybe not hard for us, but it's hard to go home and say, that was such an exciting Bible study.

It was so thrilling to me to think of what Christ has done on my behalf. How many times can you do that and not think it's boring?

Well, and my suggestion to you would be, if you are a child of God, you never tire of the old, old story.

It's never old. It is ever fresh. It's only old if you just think, okay, yeah,

I get the salvation part, but now what? What am I supposed to do now? What can I experience now?

What's going to keep it fresh now? If I have to have, you know, some new experience, and believe me, the charismatic movement on, because of its essence being of experience, it is going to get more and more preposterous.

That's why there are going to be things like the laughing revival and, you know, all these where, you know, it glorifies

God somehow to lay on the floor and laugh for hours. How horrifying.

It's just mind -boggling. But the Holy Spirit, fully God, participates in many, many activities that God alone can do.

Any other comments or questions before we... Yes, Sixo. Well, the answer to the first question is yes.

I mean, we read that. You know, he does convict of sin. And certainly, you know, the more awareness you have of the word of God, the less joy you have in your sin.

And in fact, as the Holy Spirit works, your joy diminishes. Now, the second part of your question was...

Okay. Well, I mean, it talks about, Hebrews talks about God disciplines us as a father.

I don't know that it specifically talks about the Holy Spirit disciplining us, convicts us, definitely.

But I don't know that it mentions the Holy Spirit. I'd have to look that up. Good question.

All right, let's close in prayer. Father, we do rejoice even as we hear of the difficulty that Crane's had with the tree hitting the car.

We just think about all the things that could have happened, all the injuries and whatnot that could have taken place, and yet you're gracious to us.

Father, we are just thankful to have so many conveniences that we take for granted, so many things that on a daily basis just go unnoticed and then when we don't have them, it seems like life is virtually impossible.

And Lord, when we think about life, think about the new life that you have given us, we think about the life that you have given us in your spirit, think about the promises we have through your spirit and his work in our lives.

Lord, would you just lead us to a greater appreciation every day of the

Holy Spirit in our lives? Father, would he convict us of our sin, drive us to your word, drive us to really be filled with the

Holy Spirit that we might love and appreciate you more and love and appreciate