What If The Holy Spirit Left BBC? (Part 2)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Well, it's amazing if you think about gods and false gods.

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False gods you could see, but they don't talk. Our God, the only

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God, you can't see Him, but He speaks. And we're very thankful for Him speaking, because without His speaking to us, we wouldn't know much about Him.

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We would look at the stars and the sky and the moon. We'd watch babies being born, and we couldn't figure out that God is wise.

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And we could figure out that He's powerful, and that He has oversight and sovereign power and rule.

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But there are things that we can't learn about God from nature. We need something more specific.

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And so God speaks, and He speaks through His word, and He tells us everything we need to know about Him.

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God is a revealing God, and He wants to be known and thought about as He has revealed

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Himself. As some have said, anything you think about God that's not true is idolatry.

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And so we want to think about God as He has shown Himself in Scripture. And God has shown

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Himself in Scripture as a triune God. How do we know God is triune?

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Not because we look at anything in the world, but because the Bible says God is one, and yet there are three persons, the

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Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And today, we're looking at part two, the ministry and the work of God the

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Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Sometimes we take for granted that God is three in one.

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Other times, it's good to just dive into this topic. I think maybe on one extreme, there are so many wild things done in the name of the

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Holy Spirit, fanatical things that if we're not careful, we on the other side might think, you know what, we're cynical about the work of the

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Holy Spirit, and may it never be. George Speighton of Scotland said, Whenever Christianity has been a living power, the doctrine of the

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Holy Spirit has uniformly been regarded equally with the atonement and justification by faith as the article of a standing or falling church.

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The distinctive feature of Christianity as it addresses itself to man's experience is the work of the

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Spirit, which not only elevates it far above all speculation, but also above every form of religion.

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In other words, as important as the atonement is, and it's important, as important as justification by faith is, and it is important, so too is the doctrine of the

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Holy Spirit. And so we looked at an outline last week that's kind of a counterintuitive outline.

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What if the Holy Spirit left Bethlehem Bible Church? And we looked at several things that might happen.

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Now it's a theoretical issue because He can't leave, but we're trying to show through Scriptures that He's a valuable, vital, important work in every local church.

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A very famous question asks this, What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit? Answer, first that He is co -eternal

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God with the Father and the Son. Secondly, that He is also given to me by true faith and makes me a partaker of Christ and all

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His benefits. He comforts me and shall abide with me forever. He, the

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Holy Spirit, is not a force. He's not a power. He is a person. Persons have minds.

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The Spirit of God has a mind. This person of God, He can be grieved. Forces can't be grieved.

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And so we want to talk about the Holy Spirit. I don't know if you remember that the word spirit, pneuma, is a neuter word.

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It's a gender neutral word. But every time you take that word spirit and substitute a personal pronoun, what you will get is the word

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He, a masculine pronoun to designate the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is not an it.

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He is a He. To review a little bit last week and to expand, what if the Holy Spirit left this church?

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Number one, there'd be no church. There'd be no church. Turn your Bibles, please, to Hebrews 9, verse 14.

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There would be no church because the Son, the Eternal Son, adds humanity and is dependent on the power of the

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Spirit for His mission to fulfill all righteousness, for Him to do everything from, remember last week, from baptism to temptation to inauguration into public ministry.

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The Spirit of God was the intimate companion of the Lord Jesus. Cappadocian Father Basil of Caesarea said the

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Holy Spirit was Christ's inseparable companion. All the activity of Christ was unfolded in the presence of the

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Holy Spirit. I don't think we quite understand that as a Christian church these days, how important the

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Holy Spirit was, not just with the incarnation, not just helping Jesus preach, not just the confirmation of baptism, but even

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His death, Hebrews 9, verse 14. I don't know if we know much about the book of Hebrews at this particular church.

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I heard it's been preached over the years at other churches. We'll be back in Hebrews soon enough.

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Hebrews 9, verse 14. Isn't this fascinating? How much more will the blood of Christ, the

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Messiah, who through the Eternal Spirit, capital S, the

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Spirit of God, He is omniscient, He is omnipresent, He is all -wise, He is in fact God, and here we notice

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He is eternal. The Eternal Spirit offered Himself. How does Jesus offer

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Himself as a sacrificial offering to the Father? Through the

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Eternal Spirit, Jesus offered Himself without blemish to God, and how that then cleanses our conscience.

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So, we talked earlier that there'd be no church if the Holy Spirit left the church, because if the

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Holy Spirit didn't attend Jesus' work, there would be no church to purchase. The Spirit of Holiness declares

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Jesus to be the Son of God by His resurrection. We also learned last week that if the

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Spirit of God left the church, Jesus would recede into the background. I'd like you to have your Bibles turned to John chapter 14 today.

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We're going to look at John 14, 15, and 16. Now, if I say to you, Spirit -filled church, what do you think of?

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Miracles, maybe? Tongues, maybe? Emotions, maybe? Feelings, maybe? Sometimes I think if churches are

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Spirit -filled or non -Spirit -filled, is there maybe a difference between the two? Half -Spirit -filled? Partially Spirit -filled?

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Some Spirit -filled? What does this buzzword mean, Spirit -filled?

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Some people love it, some people hate it. What is Spirit -filled? Deliverance ministry?

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You can always tell a Spirit -filled church, where the person and work of Jesus is emphasized, you'll know it's

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Spirit -filled. Why? Well, let's look at these three verses briefly. We didn't look at last week very much.

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John 14, 26. Everything in this message today is to make you appreciate the person and work of the

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Holy Spirit more, and what He does, His position, His name, and His actions.

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John 14, 26. The Spirit of God doesn't even go forth in His own name, and He could, but it is through the powerful name of Jesus.

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Do you notice in the next chapter, 15, 26. John 15, 26. When the

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Helper comes, talking about the Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the

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Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, He will testify about me.

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Show me a Holy Spirit -filled church, and I'll show you where the spotlight is on the Lord Jesus Christ.

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It's strange to me that some Holy Spirit -filled churches self -proclaimed, they talk about the

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Spirit of God so much, they don't talk about the Lord Jesus as much, and therefore they deny even their

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Spirit -filling, because Spirit -filled churches talk about Jesus all the time. John 16, 14.

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Jesus also said, He, talking about the Holy Spirit, will glorify, He could glorify

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Himself, He's God, the Spirit, but no, He doesn't do that. His wonderful prerogative and privilege and pleasure is to glorify the

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Son. He will glorify me. The Spirit of God gets the most glory and honor and praise when the

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Son is exalted. J .I. Packer put it this way, When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are so placed that you do not see them.

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You are not, in fact, supposed to see where the light is coming from. What you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are trained.

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The intended effect is to make it visible, when otherwise it would not have been seen for the darkness, and to maximize its dignity by throwing all its details into relief so that you see it properly.

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This perfectly illustrates the Spirit's new covenant role. He is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the

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Savior. And that's what a Spirit -filled church does, is talk about the Lord Jesus, bear witness to Him, speak about Him.

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No wonder Paul said in Colossians 1, While all the other false apostles might preach themselves and preach someone else, or preach

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Moses, we proclaim Him. When it comes to Timothy, when it comes to Epaphras, when it comes to me, we're not like the false teachers at Colossae.

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We talk about Jesus. And by the way, week after week after week, we want to talk about Jesus here for lots of reasons.

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Here's a reason, dear congregation. In light of what you have done this last week, or haven't done in regards of sin, aren't you glad for the

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Lord Jesus to be reminded of Him, that you are still good with God? God's not mad at you.

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You were never under a curse. No matter what sin the Christian has committed the last week, no matter what sin I've committed or you've committed, we stand underneath the blood of Christ.

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He's been our ransom. He's purchased for us. We stand by His great grace, and you couldn't be more loved by God.

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You couldn't be less loved by God. No wonder Luther said, when the devil throws your sins in your face, and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this.

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When Luther talks, I like to listen. What do you tell Satan when he says you're sinful? And you know you are.

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Luther said, say this, I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf.

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His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God. And where He is, there I shall be also.

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I mean, we need to be reminded every week of who Jesus is, because what happens when our faith isn't strong enough?

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Well, the object of our faith, He's strong enough. What if we say that in the last week, I don't think I obeyed enough.

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I want to remind you of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God will remind you in the word. Here's who Jesus is.

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And by the way, even though you didn't obey enough, Jesus on earth perfectly obeyed enough.

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Well, I didn't pray enough this week. Well, reminded when we're preaching to you who Jesus is, Jesus prayed enough on earth and He's interceding for you,

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Hebrews chapter 7. Number three, if the

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Spirit left the church, you'd have no contact with Jesus, because Jesus is seated at the right hand of the

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Father. Jesus sends His Spirit to dwell within us.

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So we have Emmanuel, but Jesus physically is in heaven. Number four, as we looked at last week, if the

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Spirit of God left, you would lose your salvation. Every person here would lose their salvation.

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Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. We didn't look at this last week, but we will this week. 2

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Corinthians chapter 1. We don't save ourselves. The Spirit of God saves us.

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And we don't keep ourselves. The Spirit of God keeps us. If we could unsave ourselves, we already have.

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If sin could make us unsaved, how many sins would it take?

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Answer would be one, unless it was the Lord Jesus guarding us by the Spirit's power. 2

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Corinthians chapter 1. For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him, 2

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Corinthians 1 .20, they are yes. Wherefore also by Him is our amen to the glory of God through us.

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Now, He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is

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God, who, verse 22, also sealed us.

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Think protection. Think inaccessibility. And gave us the spirits in our hearts as a pledge.

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Friends, because of the Spirit of God's work and sealing you, your salvation is guaranteed. Number five and related, and this is our last one,

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I think, in review. Our second to last one in review. By the way, I like reviewing, so I just like to talk about who

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Jesus is. So if you think, you know what, how many minutes does it take for Him to review? 20 minutes.

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But I want you to know, I've been giving you added information as we're going, okay? So this isn't just regular review.

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At least the men in the discipleship class can feel my pain, right? So you know. I would not let them do this, but I can do it.

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I'm doing it because I really want us to grapple with this and wrap our minds around this, so that, in fact, you could be reminded that when people say, well, you're just not

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Spirit -filled, you don't appreciate the Spirit. Do you even believe in the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit to you? Besides, supernaturally, the

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Spirit of God opening up the Red Sea, besides the Spirit of God supernaturally giving people the gift of a language they've never learned back in 1

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Corinthians 12 and 14, besides the Spirit of God doing healings and wonders and miracles, there are other things that maybe aren't so showy, and that's what we're looking at today.

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Turn to Ezekiel 36, please. God, the Spirit, saves people.

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And if you have a loved one or a spouse or a child and you would like them to be saved, if we didn't have the

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Holy Spirit, they would never be saved. The work of Christ is finished, accomplished, done on earth, needing no more work, but that death needs to be applied to different people, and it's only applied by the

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Spirit of God's work. The Spirit applies Christ's life and death, capped by the resurrection, to the people that the

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Father has given to the Son. This is our only hope for salvation.

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When you pray, dear Lord, save my child, you're praying that the Spirit of God would make them alive.

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Ezekiel 36, verse 25, this is the context from John chapter 3 that our Lord Jesus with Nicodemus talks about.

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Ezekiel 36, verse 25, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

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Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

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Verse 27, my point this morning being, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.

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We're thankful for the Holy Spirit and His saving role. If anyone here is a Christian, you are a Christian by the saving work of the

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Holy Spirit. And lastly, we looked at, no prayers would be answered without the Spirit of God, as He is the only one who knows the will of the

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Father. Well, let's get into some new information here today, and that is point 7, nobody would understand the

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Bible without the Holy Spirit. You wouldn't understand personally when you read or preaching. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, please.

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1 Corinthians 2, most of our message will be in 1 Corinthians this morning. Typically, I'm just going verse by verse through Hebrews.

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If you're visiting here today, it's a little more of around a topic, yet each individual verse we're looking at in context.

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1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now, here's the problem when you read the Bible. If you've ever picked up the Bible when you were an unbeliever, you could understand the word the, you could understand the word

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Jesus, you could understand syntax and things like that. It wasn't a matter of you couldn't read it, but you couldn't understand it because there was no

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Spirit of God shining a light on it, shining a light in your heart, helping you to understand these spiritual truths.

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As I was taught in seminary, it's like we have God broadcasting

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His word in the Bible on FM frequency, and we've all got antennas that are

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AM, but are broken. And so how can we understand what

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God's saying when here's this infinite God, and we're finite people, and we're fallen, and He's talking, and what

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He says to us, we couldn't understand unless He helps us understand, and that's what the Spirit of God does.

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1 Corinthians 2 .11, and Paul is talking about plural here with the other apostles, but he'll make it very particular.

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For whom among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God, no one knows except the

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Spirit of God. Now we, apostles, have received not the Spirit of the world, but the

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Spirit who is from God, so that we may know things freely given to us by God.

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Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the

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Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. And now we come to verse 14.

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But a natural man, an unbeliever, one that doesn't have the Spirit of God, when he picks up the Bible, what does he learn?

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What does he know? How can he understand it? The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God that he's written, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are what?

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Spiritually appraised. And who's the one helping him appraise? The Spirit of God. This is, by the way, an excellent verse to remember if you're ever trying to evangelize someone, and they want to argue with you, evidence, carbon dating, big bang, anything else.

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I'm thinking, this person doesn't understand, unless God opens their eyes. One man said, an unbeliever's best is this, to gnaw the bark of Scripture without getting to the wood.

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Luther said, the Bible cannot be understood simply by study or talent, you must count on the influence of the

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Holy Spirit. That's why we open up the Bible and say, Lord, help me to understand, help me to see these things clearly, help me to know you and worship you properly.

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One man said, man is like a pillar of salt, like Lot's wife, he's like a log or a stone, he's like a lifeless statue, which uses neither mouth or eyes, nor senses nor heart, unless he is enlightened, converted, and regenerated by the

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Holy Spirit. And you know, by the way, when you were an unbeliever and you read this, and you're just like, okay, fine,

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I remember when my dad was dying, I picked up the Bible, I knew there had to be life and death answers in this,

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I couldn't read it, I couldn't understand it, I mean, I could read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, but it didn't make any sense to me, and I just kind of tossed it to the side.

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But then when God saved me, and I would read, and I would understand, I would think, that's exactly right, He knows me,

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He understands me, and now by the Spirit's power, I get to know Him and know what He's thinking, I get to know what the

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God of the universe thinks about me, about love, grace, sin, forgiveness, His Son.

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You can read Psalm 103 as an unbeliever, and it says, He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities, and get that.

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But when you're a Christian, and the Spirit of God illumines your mind, and you think, He doesn't deal with me according to my sins,

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I know my sins should make me bust hell wide open, and He doesn't make me pay for those sins, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is

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His steadfast love toward those who fear Him. And it's like you want to just take the Bible, because it's got the truth of God's Word, and you just want to say,

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Yes! I don't know if I've said it to you or not, but I used to do it with the kids all the time, to try to teach them around the dinner table, worship time, that Daddy loves the

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Bible, and I want them to love the Bible, and I can just remember saying, Daddy loves the Bible, and I would just kiss the

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Bible. Oh, I love the Bible. You might be thinking it's some kind of Bible -olatry or something.

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I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I don't care what you think, I'm trying to teach my kids a lesson. Oh, I love the

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Bible. How do you end up loving the Bible? I mean, who loves something like this that convicts you?

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He knows the inner recesses, He knows what I'm thinking, He knows what I've done, He knows everything about me, and I'm left undone.

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That's the bad news until I get to the Savior, and even though He knows everything I've done, He still loves me anyway?

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Who does this? Who thinks this way? Nobody makes this up. The Spirit of God makes you see

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Jesus as God in the Scripture, and how He has revealed Himself. Well, while we're in 1

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Corinthians 8, there'd be no spiritual gifts at all. Turn to chapter 12, please.

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When it comes to the body, that is the church, there's all kinds of metaphors for us, bride, body, and the one that I think of when it comes to body, you've got different parts of your body, and hands, and ears, and eyes, and so we have different parts, and different parts do different things your feet don't see.

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And so God has given spiritual gifts, and if there was no Spirit of God, none of us would have any spiritual gifts to serve one another.

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Now let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 12, and take a look at this. There's so much more to the Spirit's work than spectacular, supernatural, healings, miracles, gifts, and tongues.

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Do we believe in the Spirit? Yes, we do. 1 Corinthians 12 .4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same

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Spirit. It's the one Spirit, He has all kinds of gifts to give, they're not all the same.

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There are a variety of ministries, and the same Lord, the one Lord of the church,

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Jesus has His Spirit give. And there are varieties of effects, verse 6, but the same

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God who works all things and all persons. There's a unity, but a diversity. And these gifts are for other people's good.

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If you have a spiritual gift, it means you're a Christian, because every Christian has one, at least one.

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Verse 7, why do you have it? For yourself? No, verse 7. But to each one is given the manifestation of the

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Spirit for the common good. For the profit of the church.

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But one, verse 11, and the same Spirit works all these things. You can tell

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He's not a force, He's not an it. Why? Because He distributes to each one individually, just as He wills.

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So you say, well, I want the gift of teaching, and I'm going to pray really hard for it. That's not how it works.

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When you get saved, God gives you a gift, or He doesn't give you a gift of teaching. He'll give you some gift, but you don't know what it is.

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And that's why when people say, I just have to pray for tongues, and for healings, and for miracles, after I'm a

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Christian, they ignore these verses. Sovereign Spirit, sovereignly gives gifts at salvation, individually as, what's the text say again?

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Verse 11, as He wills. And then Paul goes into this one body, many members, and why this is so important, because the feet have needs of the head, and the eyes have need of the ears, etc.

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While we're in 1 Corinthians, let's go to number 9, and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

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Without the Spirit of God, we'd have no reason to be sexually pure. 1

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Corinthians chapter 6. Why be sexually pure in a slutty, smutty, dirty age?

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Answer, the world would say, avoid unwanted pregnancy, you don't want to get a bad reputation, you don't want to have a venereal disease.

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What's the real reason to be pure with your body? 1 Corinthians 6 .18,

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we get the answer, God's answer. Remember Corinth was an awful place, when it comes to sexual immorality.

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Flee sexual immorality. See that in verse 18? It's present imperative, and it's where we get the word fugitive.

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Run like a fugitive away from this. You can think Joseph running. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually, sins against his own body.

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These people at Corinth, they were degenerate, they were awful. I've been to Corinth before with some of you, and you see up on the mountain top, that's where all the priestesses were, and they would come down on Friday night for worship.

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A thousand prostitutes descending on the city for worship. And Paul is writing to these people, and God is sanctifying them and saving them, and he wants them to realize, you don't do that, why don't you do it?

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I mean God could just say, just don't. But he says, I want you to run from sexual immorality.

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It's present. Keep on running, because the temptations will keep on coming at you. He gives an explanation rather, verse 19.

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Do you not know, remember the Corinthians were know -it -alls, I know, I know, I know. You ever talk to kids like that?

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I know, I know. You say to a child, do this, I know. That's how the

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Corinthians were. So he even uses that kind of against them. Don't you know? I mean you should know, that your body is a temple of the...

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Why be holy? Why be sexually pure? Why run from immorality, including pornography?

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Because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God.

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You are not your own. Now lots of times he talks plural, so you're thinking, I don't want to bring the illicit sexual things into the body, plural.

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But here he's focused on singular. Reminding each individual Christian, each individual believer here, not just at Corinth, but here at Bethlehem Bible Church, that your body is just not some kind of, you know, tomb, corpse, thing that doesn't matter, your spirit's the only thing that matters, not your body.

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No, every person here who's a Christian needs to be a responsible steward over their bodies when it comes to this morality, immorality.

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He uses the word temple, do you see it there? Temple of the Holy Spirit. That's just not the temple of the

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Gentiles, the court of the Gentiles, that's not this big external temple rather, this is the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary.

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And now, he says something in verse 20, I wouldn't write, but Paul did, by the

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Spirit's power. You were bought at a price. Now think about this context of buying things at a price sexually.

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One man said, there's a possible antithesis to the price paid to a prostitute. And one commentator says, it's not a very delicate way of putting it, but the

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Corinthians were probably not very delicate people. You were bought at a price, therefore, honor

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God with your body. The price was the

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Lord Jesus, He ransomed you. He gave His life a ransom for many, Mark chapter 10.

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Romans 3, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1, we have redemption through His blood.

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And since you've been ransomed, that's the reason. Not because you don't want to get pregnant, you want to have a bad reputation, you want to have to go to the doctor.

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No, because God owns you. The Son died for you, and He owns you, and that means

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He owns your body. Number 10, if the

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Spirit of God left, there'd be no power in preaching. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, please.

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I guess we could have done these in order in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, there'd be no power in preaching.

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Now, it probably is no surprise to you that I love preaching. But I don't just love to preach,

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I love to listen to preaching. And sometimes I go on bicycle rides, and I'll listen to five or six sermons, in a row.

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You think that's a long bike ride, but I listen at 1 .5 speed, by the way. Sometimes I like to talk fast enough that if you try to listen to me at 1 .5

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speed later today, you can't do it. I have sat in congregations, and I have heard preaching through frail men who mispronounce words, who don't, you know, practice what they preach, and they're fragile, and they're sinful, they're just regular

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Christian people, and they have preached the Word. And I have just forgotten about that person behind the pulpit, and I have heard

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God's Word thunder with clarity. Have you ever heard a sermon where you're thinking, I'm exposed.

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Nobody. This isn't for anybody else. God knew what I needed, either conviction, or He knew

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I needed encouragement today. And it's like God is talking to me through that pastor.

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Have you ever had that happen to you? Without the Spirit of God, that doesn't happen. Because there's just a guy up here trying to talk, and to convince, and to give you a motivational speech, and a

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TED Talk, and persuasively with words. What does Paul say? Paul says, the

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Spirit of God is involved when it comes to preaching. There's power in preaching. The world hates preaching.

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Don't you preach at me. But the Spirit of God uses preaching through phraamen. 1

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Corinthians 2 .1 When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom.

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He could have, by the way, maybe one of the smartest men in all the world, the best pedigree in all the world, Paul. So what did

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I do instead? Instead of jive talking, instead of smooth talking, instead of snake oil salesmen, instead of all kinds of educational things and Greek wisdom,

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I came, did something simple. Proclaimed to you the testimony of God. What God said, I said it. Kind of like, you know, you ever get the shampoo and you read what it says on the shampoo bottle?

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Wet. I don't read them because I can't see in the shower. I don't have my glasses on. Without readers, you can't tell.

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And it's like, wet hair, apply shampoo, lather.

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That's what I'm looking for. You can tell what's scripted, what's not. Rinse and then repeat.

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So every week, I'm going to get up and I'm going to try to preach my heart out like it's my last sermon I've ever preached. I'm going to talk about the

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Lord Jesus. And what do we do next week? I mean, what are we going to do? What's the mission statement? What are we going to do? What's the plan for the church?

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What's the strategy? Here's the strategy. I'm going to get up and preach again. And some of you will get saved and some of you will grow.

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And then the next week, I'm going to get up and preach again. Why? Because the Spirit of God, He attends to this. He makes you different.

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I can argue all day long on Twitter and Facebook and nobody gets changed. So therefore,

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I don't do it. It's a one -way communication. Take it or leave it. But many of you have come here to this church and you've said,

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I didn't believe in depravity when I got here. I didn't believe in election when I got here. I didn't believe in limited tome when I got here. I didn't believe in reprobation when

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I got here. I didn't believe in hell when I got here. I didn't believe in inerrancy when I got here. I didn't believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus.

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Whatever it is. And guess what? I took you all back by the shed and I forced you to believe it because you've got to believe everything we do to become a member of this church.

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Right, Gary? I didn't have to do any of that. I simply just preach every week.

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And guess what? Your mind changes. Sitting underneath the Word of God, it's called repentance.

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And the powerful Word, through a frail preacher, changes people. That's the program of the church.

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The Lord Jesus said, I will build my church. And how does He build it? The Lord Jesus, on the way to the cross, was a preacher.

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And the Spirit of God even attends to His preaching. Verse 1 continues, And when I came to you, brethren,

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I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you, there it is again, the testimony of God.

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For I determined, I knew ahead of time what I was going to do. If I ever have a funeral or a wedding,

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I think of this exact same thing. I'm going to see their faces, and maybe I don't want to talk about sin, but I'm going to have to do it.

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Maybe I don't want to talk about the Savior, but I'm going to do it. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

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Consciously, I knew I was going to do that. The medium is not the message, but the message is. I was with you in weakness, in fear, in much trembling.

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That's language of submitting. It's not shaking, but it's submitting.

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This is how slaves are to submit to their masters, Ephesians 6.

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I was with you in weakness, and I submitted. I was under God's authority, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the

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Spirit and of power. By the way, I don't have to manipulate anybody. I got here to the church 22 years ago, and people pulled me to the side.

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They said all kinds of things. Thank you. Come over for dinner. Don't you believe in evangelism?

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Yeah, I believe in evangelism for certain, but shouldn't you have asked me that question when I was candidating? Not, I'm already your pastor.

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What if I don't believe in evangelism, and I'm your pastor? So what do you mean,

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I don't believe in evangelism? Well, yeah, you don't do altar calls. You don't sing, you know,

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Just As I Am, Part 42, Lights Dimmed. You want to ask why we have different ushers at every door, because they're going to keep the door shut until at least a few of you come up.

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I don't have to manipulate anybody, because people believe through preaching. So we preach 1 Corinthians 15, so they believe.

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Verse 10. I don't have to manipulate anybody, because I don't want you to be my followers. Because somebody who's going to talk better than I do is going to then make you their followers.

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Paul was persuasive, but he didn't want to make it so he was the message. Knowing the fear of the

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Lord, we persuade men. It wasn't that he wasn't trying to be passionate and beg people and appeal to them, but he wasn't going to try to trick people and convince people by human methods.

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Because whose method was it? It's the Spirit of God's method. Verse 5, do you see?

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Why did Paul do what he did? That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, our flamboyant preachers, smart proclaimers, but in the power of God.

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That's why I find it quite strange when churches say they believe in the Holy Spirit, they tell me I don't believe in the

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Holy Spirit, and then every single week it's a pep me up for those who are down, and a motivation, and a rally, just get them through another week.

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They're denying the Spirit's power as they do that very thing. Of course we believe in the

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Spirit, because He attends preaching. Think about VBS that's coming up.

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Have you seen the line -up of the men who are given the Gospel message? A, I think it's pretty impressive.

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But B, they're just frail men like me, so it's pretty... Depressive, is that a word?

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How is it going to happen? The kids are never going to hear the Gospel. Some of these kids in West Point, except through those men, how is it going to work?

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Because they stand up, and they open the Bible, and the Spirit of God attends the preaching, and they say,

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Dear little kids, I love you enough to tell you the truth, that you're a sinner deep down, but there's a great

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Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. They might even say a few things that might be kind of wrong, or maybe they'll stumble, and maybe they'll get up and say,

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You know what kids, as far as God is concerned, you're all basically vipers in diapers. Then what will we do?

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Well, there might be some truth to that. Here's my point.

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Aren't you glad when it comes to evangelism, personal Bible study that you're teaching somebody else, preaching,

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Sunday school, that it's the power of God doing the work? What would we be doing? I couldn't sleep at night.

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Regularly, I preach, and I think, You know what, I could have done a lot better today, but Father, I preach the Word, I discharge my duty, and I just go home and take a nap.

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Because it's the power of God's Word. It's Luther in Wittenberg, asked, How did you start the

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Reformation? Remember? How did you start the Reformation? What did you do? Now, he was an intellect, and he was brilliant.

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He was God's man for the hour. But Luther said, I preach the Word, I went to Wittenberg with Amsdorf, and Philip had a beer, and I went to bed, and the

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Word of God did its work. Now, I'm not saying that's prescription, that was a description. The point is, beer -drinking

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Luther changed the world. No. God changed the world through preachers.

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And every time you look at Mary Schlester, Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, John Calvin, John Knox, John Owen, John the

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Baptist, you just look at all the Johns of the Bible, Johns of church history, and it's all because of their perfection?

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No. That's why, friends, we don't live the Gospel. Only one man lived the

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Gospel, his name was Jesus. We proclaim the Gospel because we can't live up to the Gospel. If my life has to be perfect for people to be saved, then really it's a sham anyway and all a self -righteous cloak because I can't do it.

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But when we talk about who the Lord Jesus is and preach His Word, remember that guy, what was his name?

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Luke Short. Luke Short is in England, he hears John Flable, the great preacher, preach a sermon on 1

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Corinthians 16, verse 22, Lord, come. If anybody doesn't believe in the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed,

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Lord, come. Maranatha. We always think Maranatha is some kind of charismatic music sermon, music team or whatever.

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Maranatha is God, come back and judge. And Luke Short heard that message in England, moved to Connecticut, 85 years later, sat on the beach in Connecticut and remembered the sermon when he was 100 years old and got converted.

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How? Because the Word of God is powerful. That's why at Awana, we want to teach these kids the Bible so that it's hidden in their heart and when they do want to sin, it's like these verses just pop up.

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They can't hardly do it. Do we believe in the

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Holy Spirit? Of course we do. I can't think of anything more helpful to me as a sinful evangelist and preacher than that power that comes by the

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Spirit as he attends to His Word. Well, I have more, but I'm just debating what to do.

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What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit? First, He is together with Father and the

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Son, true and eternal God. Second, He is also given to me to make me by true faith share in Christ and all

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His benefits. Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit. Well, I think we'll look next week how

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He sanctifies us. Bow with me if you would, please. Father, I thank You for our time in the

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Word today. We are thankful that You didn't leave us as orphans.

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I can imagine the apostles, the disciples wondering, Lord, You're going to leave us. What will we do?

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And He told them not to worry because He was going to give them one just like Him, the

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Helper, the Comforter, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. We're thankful that we can have

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Him too and we do in our hearts as a seal, in our hearts as a helper when it comes to encouragement and conviction.

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And I pray today that somebody would hear this message about the Holy Spirit and the

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Holy Spirit would convict them that they're a sinner, that they might be righteous in their own eyes, that they might be unrighteous in their own eyes, but they need a perfect righteousness that only the

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Lord Jesus can give by faith alone. I pray that You would open their eyes. Father, have

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Your Spirit, Christ's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, open their eyes so that they might not just see their sin but might see the

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Savior of sinners, the risen Jesus Christ. And it's in His name we pray. Amen. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.