Latest / HBCWestminster / 2.14.24 Foundations Week 5 Pastor Sam Porges

Transcript

2.14.24 Foundations Week 5 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Let's jump into our study of pneumatology tonight, and as we do, what is theology for?
• 0:07
  What is theology for?
• 0:10
  Doxology, yes.
• 0:11
  It's for the praise and worship of God.
• 0:13
  And so we are going to be studying the third person of the Trinity tonight, the Holy Spirit,
• 0:17
  and I want to begin by just asking you, what do we know about the Holy Spirit?
• 0:26
  What do we know about him?
• 0:28
  Give me some answers.
• 0:31
  Okay, he's God?
• 0:32
  Correct.
• 0:34
  He dwells within us?
• 0:35
  Yes, he dwells within believers.
• 0:37
  Yeah, really good.
• 0:40
  Okay, we get discernment from him?
• 0:41
  Yep, great, excellent.
• 0:44
  What was that?
• 0:45
  He's our helper?
• 0:46
  Yes, yep, he's our helper.
• 0:48
  What else?
• 0:50
  You can grieve the Holy Spirit?
• 0:52
  Yep, that's true.
• 0:55
  He what?
• 0:56
  Okay, so he's going to help us with changing, right?
• 1:00
  Really good.
• 1:01
  Let's go, this side is killing it right now.
• 1:03
  You guys, where are you at?
• 1:06
  You guys are smart, I'm looking out at you.
• 1:08
  What does this side know about the Holy Spirit?
• 1:11
  Give me some things.
• 1:15
  Okay, third person of the Godhead.
• 1:18
  Right, so he says, I'm leaving and I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, right?
• 1:21
  Yeah, yeah, he's sent from Jesus.
• 1:24
  He's the comforter, right?
• 1:25
  Good.
• 1:27
  He seals us.
• 1:28
  Okay, so good.
• 1:29
  We all know some things about the Holy Spirit.
• 1:31
  So, okay, great.
• 1:33
  The study of the Holy Spirit is called, as you can see up on the screen,
• 1:37
  pneumatology, and this word comes from the Greek word pneuma,
• 1:45
  meaning spirit or breath or wind.
• 1:49
  And so pneumatology, study of, and in this case, it is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.
• 1:56
  In many conservative Christian circles, the Holy Spirit is the least discussed member of the Godhead,
• 2:04
  which, in one sense,
• 2:05
  it kind of makes sense because the Bible talks a lot more about God the Father and God the Son
• 2:13
  than it does about the Holy Spirit.
• 2:16
  But much misunderstanding and confusion surrounds the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:24
  And I think what we've seen in church culture, I mean, really, it's been the last, like, 120 years,
• 2:31
  but what we've seen are some abuses.
• 2:37
  Abuses or misuses of the power and the gifts of the Spirit in some charismatic churches.
• 2:46
  But because of that, some conservative churches have completely swung to the other extreme and said,
• 2:52
  we're just not really ever going to talk about Him.
• 2:54
  We're not going to talk about what it means to be led by the Spirit or filled with the Spirit
• 2:58
  or to walk according to the Spirit.
• 2:59
  We're just going to talk about morality.
• 3:01
  And so we've got these two extremes in our culture.
• 3:04
  And I would just say this.
• 3:06
  As,
• 3:07
  someone who has been
• 3:11
  really befriended by a lot of charismatic people,
• 3:14
  someone who has been really positively influenced by a lot of charismatic believers,
• 3:19
  I would just caution us,
• 3:20
  as maybe a church that would,
• 3:23
  by and large,
• 3:24
  maybe be a little bit more conservative,
• 3:26
  to not lump all charismatic churches into one giant group
• 3:29
  and say, ah, it's all strange fire.
• 3:32
  Right?
• 3:32
  That's kind of why this book,
• 3:35
  the subtitle of this book, Holy Fire,
• 3:37
  is a balanced biblical,
• 3:38
  look at the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.
• 3:40
  Because Strange Fire was written,
• 3:43
  and then we kind of saw this extreme,
• 3:45
  and then this book comes out and says,
• 3:47
  let's just find somewhere in the middle
• 3:48
  where we don't need to go to extremes,
• 3:50
  somewhere that's biblically informed.
• 3:52
  And so,
• 3:53
  and so I just wouldn't lump all charismatic churches into one giant group
• 3:58
  and say, ah, they're all heretics or something,
• 4:00
  because they're not.
• 4:01
  They're just not.
• 4:03
  But because we've seen these two extremes,
• 4:05
  this makes the topic of pneumatology all the more important to study.
• 4:08
  And so, in tonight's lesson,
• 4:11
  we're going to look at biblical evidence
• 4:12
  for the deity of the Holy Spirit,
• 4:14
  and then we're just going to simply survey his works
• 4:16
  in the scriptures.
• 4:18
  And again, I would encourage you,
• 4:20
  as we're thinking about all of this,
• 4:22
  remember that theology, what we're learning,
• 4:24
  is for doxology.
• 4:26
  And so let's briefly look at biblical evidence
• 4:28
  for the deity of the Holy Spirit.
• 4:32
  The Holy Spirit is a person.
• 4:36
  He's not an impersonal,
• 4:38
  and as such, the Holy Spirit is a who, not an it.
• 4:43
  The Holy Spirit is a who, not an it.
• 4:45
  He's not some force that comes from God,
• 4:48
  but is attributed elements of personality.
• 4:52
  And some examples,
• 4:54
  Jerisha mentioned one earlier,
• 4:55
  but he can be grieved.
• 4:58
  The Holy Spirit can be lied to,
• 5:00
  which we're going to look at in Acts 5 in just a week and a half.
• 5:04
  He can be obeyed, right?
• 5:07
  But here's some evidences.
• 5:08
  This is for the Holy Spirit's divinity,
• 5:10
  and this is all in your notes, if you have them.
• 5:12
  But the first evidence is the names of the Holy Spirit.
• 5:16
  He's called the Helper, the Breath of God,
• 5:19
  Spirit of Truth, Spirit of Holiness,
• 5:23
  Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding,
• 5:25
  Spirit of Glory,
• 5:27
  the Eternal Spirit,
• 5:29
  and the Spirit of Christ.
• 5:31
  And so his names indicate
• 5:32
  that he's not just like any other spirit.
• 5:37
  He is the Spirit,
• 5:38
  the Holy Spirit of the living God.
• 5:40
  The second evidence here is that there are interchangeable references
• 5:42
  between the Holy Spirit and God.
• 5:46
  Interchangeable references between the Holy Spirit and God.
• 5:49
  And here's another thing too,
• 5:50
  as it pertains to the Trinity itself.
• 5:55
  There might be a natural inclination to look at the Trinity
• 5:58
  as the Father is the most God and the Son is God,
• 6:03
  but not like the Father,
• 6:05
  and then the Spirit is like the least God.
• 6:07
  But like we talked about,
• 6:08
  the first week of our study, that's not true.
• 6:11
  And what's interesting is when you look at the order
• 6:14
  in which the members of the Godhead are listed in the Bible,
• 6:17
  they are not always ordered the same.
• 6:20
  It's not always Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
• 6:22
  Sometimes it's Father, Spirit, Son.
• 6:24
  Sometimes it's Son, Father, Spirit.
• 6:27
  Son, Spirit, Father.
• 6:28
  Do you get what I'm saying?
• 6:29
  And so the order, there's variance there,
• 6:32
  which I think points to the equality of all three
• 6:35
  of the members of the Trinity.
• 6:39
  Third, the Spirit possesses the attributes of God.
• 6:41
  We see in Genesis one,
• 6:43
  in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,
• 6:46
  and the earth was formless and void.
• 6:49
  And the Spirit of God, what,
• 6:53
  was hovering over the waters.
• 6:55
  That idea of hovering is,
• 6:59
  if the idea of like static,
• 7:03
  just energy waiting to be unleashed.
• 7:06
  And so the Spirit is at work in the body.
• 7:08
  creation. And you have there Job 26, 13, and Hebrews 9, 14, which I would encourage you to
• 7:15
  check out as well. But he possesses the attributes of God. Fourth, there are various inferences of
• 7:20
  equality between the persons of the Trinity, like I just mentioned. But the Spirit is listed
• 7:27
  kind of right alongside God the Father and God the Son. Okay, so inferences of equality. And then
• 7:32
  lastly, the Holy Spirit can be blasphemed and worshiped. You can't blaspheme the Holy Spirit
• 7:39
  unless he's God. And so the Holy Spirit can be blasphemed, but then again, also
• 7:47
  worshiped. And so again, this is just a very brief survey of the deity of the Holy Spirit.
• 7:52
  But now let's look at the work of the Holy Spirit. Let's look at all the things that he does. This is
• 8:00
  fascinating. But the work of the Holy Spirit, the first is
• 8:03
  he is at work in creation. He was at work in creation. The power of the Spirit was active
• 8:09
  back in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. But next, he's also at work in the Old Testament saints,
• 8:19
  in the Old Testament people of God. Now, in the Old Testament, the Spirit did not directly
• 8:25
  work with or dwell. Maybe the Spirit did not directly dwell within Old Testament saints
• 8:33
  like he does in New Testament believers. But he did come upon certain people and anoint them
• 8:42
  to accomplish specific tasks. And so you think of Samson, right? Spirit of God rushing upon him and
• 8:49
  he's strengthened to do whatever. You think of prophets where the Spirit of God rushes upon them
• 8:54
  or even Saul.
• 8:55
  Right? There's all these prophets prophesying. Saul is walking by. The Spirit of God comes upon
• 8:59
  him and then he begins to prophesy. Or Gideon or priests or kings. We have all these examples of
• 9:07
  the Spirit of God anointing people to accomplish a specific task. And here's a question I have for
• 9:15
  you. Do you know who the first person to have been filled with the Spirit of God was?
• 9:25
  In the Old Testament. The first person where the Bible says God filled him with his Spirit. Do you
• 9:31
  know who that first person was? It was not Enoch. It's a good guess. It was not Jesus. Way back in
• 9:44
  the Old Testament, it was Bezalel. Do you remember who that guy is? Bezalel, the son of Uri.
• 9:55
  He was a construction worker, an architect, an artist,
• 10:00
  who was in charge of making the tabernacle. And this is what I find so fascinating.
• 10:08
  Oftentimes when we think about being filled with the Holy Spirit, we only think of it in a moral
• 10:12
  dimension. And so God will fill someone with his Spirit and they will do what is right. Now that
• 10:17
  is certainly true, but it's not the whole truth. What we see in this beautiful story of Bezalel,
• 10:24
  son of Uri in the tabernacle, is that God filled him with his Spirit with all knowledge and
• 10:29
  craftsmanship to make art, to make something beautiful, to make the dwelling place of God
• 10:37
  in the tabernacle. And so the Spirit of God, when it fills us, there's not just a moral dimension,
• 10:45
  but the Spirit is going to lead us into everything that has to do with truth, goodness, and beauty.
• 10:51
  Because God loves all three of those things. And so I just find it fascinating that the Spirit of
• 10:58
  God would fill Bezalel and say, I'm going to fill you with my Spirit. I'm going to fill you with my
• 10:59
  Now go create something beautiful. Right? It's just super cool. But he's at work in the Old Testament
• 11:06
  saints. He's also at work in the life of Jesus. Now let me ask you this. Where do we see the Spirit
• 11:11
  of God at work in the life of Christ specifically? Okay, at his baptism, he shows up, right? Comes
• 11:21
  down like a dove on him, right? Yep, good. What else? Got two. What was it? Interesting, right?
• 11:33
  It's just that Jesus decided to go spend 40 days doing something hard. The Spirit of God led him
• 11:38
  into the wilderness to be tempted and then to overcome that temptation, right? So that's
• 11:43
  immediately after the baptism, right? And then what were you saying? Same thing. Man, one spirit,
• 11:47
  one mind. Love it. What else? Where do we see the Spirit at work in the life of Jesus?
• 11:54
  Okay, so the Spirit of God is the power by which Jesus heals.
• 12:03
  Man casts out demons, right? What was that? Sure, right. And he's like, who touched me? And the
• 12:11
  disciples are like, Jesus, there's tons of people around you. What do you mean who touched you? And
• 12:14
  he's like, no, I want to know in order to get her to come forward, right? Fascinating story. But the
• 12:20
  power of the Spirit of God is the power by which Jesus performed miracles and signs and wonders,
• 12:25
  all of that. Really good. What about the beginning of Jesus's incarnation? The Holy Spirit, Mary,
• 12:35
  will...
• 12:37
  And you will bear a son named Jesus, right? Let's see here. You guys pretty much got all of them.
• 12:49
  And then lastly, Bob mentioned this, but I think it was Bob. Yeah, toward the end of Jesus's
• 12:55
  ministry, John 14 and John 16, Jesus says, I'm going away, and it's to your advantage that I go
• 13:01
  away, because then I can send the Spirit of God to help you, right? So the fingerprint of the Spirit
• 13:05
  of God is all over the life of Jesus. And I think that's a really good thing. And I think that's a
• 13:06
  of Christ. But not only that, the Spirit is involved in Scripture. The Holy Spirit very
• 13:15
  clearly has a role in the inspiration and the illumination of the Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3.16
• 13:22
  says what? All Scripture is breathed out by God. And what we see repeatedly is that the work of
• 13:32
  the Spirit and the work of the Scriptures are often in tandem. That's what the Spirit does.
• 13:36
  He's not working apart.
• 13:38
  He's not working apart from the Word of God. And then in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul says to the
• 13:43
  Corinthians, spiritual truth can only be understood by those who have been enlightened by the Spirit
• 13:48
  of God. And so the Spirit turns on the lights, right? As we've heard often here, he turns on
• 13:57
  the light so that we can see spiritual truth. And as we learned in our second week together,
• 14:02
  the human writers of Scripture were, as 2 Peter 1 says, they were carried along by the Holy
• 14:08
  Spirit as they wrote the Word of God, as they made these prophecies, right? So he inspires the
• 14:17
  Scriptures. He also illuminates that we can understand spiritual things. And to think about
• 14:22
  this theology to doxology idea, Highland, if the Spirit of God was not at work in you, you would
• 14:28
  see the cross as foolish. Like in your heart, you may be religious, but in your heart, you would
• 14:36
  look at this and say,
• 14:38
  come on, man. And so should we not be praising God for giving us his Spirit?
• 14:46
  Because without him, we are left in darkness. So he's active in Scripture. He's also active in
• 14:54
  unbelievers. John 16, verse 8 tells us that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin,
• 15:00
  righteousness, and judgment. The Father draws people to himself by his Holy Spirit,
• 15:07
  who witnesses to
• 15:09
  the truth in that person's heart, and convicts them of their sin, their need for righteousness,
• 15:16
  and the certainty of judgment. And so when a person first comes to faith, I mean, it's the
• 15:23
  Spirit of God that is at work invisibly and silently, but nevertheless effectively, right?
• 15:29
  Now, for our last little portion here, I want to look at the Spirit of God at work in the life of
• 15:36
  believers. The life of believers.
• 15:39
  And here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at the huge role that the Spirit of God
• 15:48
  plays in our lives of faith. And we're going to do it this way. I'm going to break you guys up,
• 15:56
  or you guys are going to break yourselves up into just groups of people sitting somewhere around
• 16:00
  you. And in your notes, there's, I think, 11, yep, 11 kind of tabs or blank spaces, and then a bunch
• 16:09
  bunch of references and I'm going to assign these to you. You're going to just take a quick look at
• 16:13
  some of those references and then we're going to come back and you're going to tell me where the
• 16:17
  Spirit of God is revealed in those passages as it pertains to our life of faith, okay? And so,
• 16:23
  why don't you guys, in one minute, find just a little group of people around you and then have
• 16:30
  one person from your group raise their hand and I'll assign to you a passage, okay? And if you
• 16:38
  go, which groups had number one, point number one, this group over here and then this group right
• 16:45
  here? Okay, what aspect of the Spirit's ministry in our lives did you guys get? He blanks us.
• 16:54
  He saves us. Okay, rejuvenation, man, both really good because they're both evident in Titus 3.
• 17:02
  The word that I'm going to take here for number one is He regenerates us. Look at this, look at
• 17:08
  Titus 3.
• 17:08
  Titus 3 verses 4 to 6. This is up here on the screen. But Titus says,
• 17:13
  When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us,
• 17:19
  not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy,
• 17:23
  by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly
• 17:31
  through Jesus Christ our Savior. That's a doxological passage, isn't it? Man, amen. So,
• 17:38
  He rejuvenates.
• 17:38
  He regenerates us, gives us life, regenerates, renews, right? Which groups had number two?
• 17:47
  This group and then right here. What word did you guys get? What does the Spirit do? Dwells in?
• 17:57
  Indwells? Ooh, nice. All right, number two, He indwells us, right? Pretty straightforward there,
• 18:02
  but He indwells us 100%. A plus. So, like I said earlier, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit of
• 18:10
  God would come upon people.
• 18:12
  To anoint them for certain tasks. But in the New Testament, we get a little bit different of a
• 18:16
  picture. The Spirit of God lives within believers, and we are now the temple of God because of the
• 18:24
  indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And this is part of the new covenant that you and I get to enjoy.
• 18:29
  Look at these verses, 1 Corinthians 3, 16. Do you not know that you are God's temple,
• 18:36
  and that God's Spirit dwells in you? And then in chapter six, or do you not know that your body is
• 18:41
  is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you
• 18:46
  were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. Jesus told the woman at the well there's
• 18:54
  going to be a day whenever people will just worship God. It's not in Jerusalem, it's not in Mount
• 18:57
  Gerizim, they're just going to worship God in spirit and in truth. This is an integral part
• 19:02
  of that, okay? So he indwells us. Who has number three? Number three, right here and then right
• 19:10
  here. What word did you guys get? Seals? Seals? Okay, perfect. That's exactly what I'm looking for.
• 19:17
  He seals us. The Holy Spirit is the Father's guarantee of our salvation, just like when you're
• 19:24
  buying a house, you put a down payment on the house. It's a good faith deposit, like I promise
• 19:31
  that I will pay the rest of this, right? The Spirit of God seals us. Look at this verse from
• 19:38
  Ephesians chapter one, in him you also.
• 19:41
  When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,
• 19:45
  were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Think of it like the king with his signet ring, right?
• 19:51
  Sealing a document saying, this is truly from me. He says, we were sealed with the promised Holy
• 19:57
  Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise
• 20:02
  of his glory. I just love how even here, Paul is in talking about the Spirit's work, he can't help
• 20:08
  but be doxological.
• 20:10
  Praise of his glory, right? Philippians 1.6, I'm confident that he who began a good work in you
• 20:15
  will carry it to completion to the day of Jesus Christ. Why? The Spirit seals us, okay? Who has
• 20:23
  number four? Back here and right here. What word did you guys get? He intercedes. Intercedes, perfect.
• 20:30
  He intercedes for us. The Holy Spirit helps us communicate with God when we don't know what to
• 20:37
  pray. Interceding in prayer on our behalf. Interceding in prayer on our behalf. Interceding in prayer on our behalf.
• 20:40
  And shaping our prayers according to the will of God so that they are presentable to the Father.
• 20:46
  Look at Romans 8, which we studied just not that long ago, just last year. Likewise, the Spirit
• 20:52
  helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. Anyone else? Let's pause.
• 20:57
  Anyone else ever been there? Lord, I don't even know what to pray right now. But the Spirit himself
• 21:05
  intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what
• 21:10
  is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will
• 21:16
  of God. An interceder is someone who stands in the gap, right? And gets two parties together,
• 21:24
  right? He intercedes for us. Who has number five? What'd you guys have? Manifestation?
• 21:35
  Of spiritual gifts? Okay, yes, good. Both of those are exactly right. And the word I'm going to choose,
• 21:42
  just for the sake of conciseness, is he empowers us. He empowers us. Without the power of the
• 21:48
  Holy Spirit, we only have the power of the flesh to rely upon, which does not produce righteous
• 21:53
  living. And it's not acceptable to God the Father. But the Spirit equips us with gifts and abilities
• 22:00
  to be used for the building up of the body of Christ, the church. He empowers us to accomplish
• 22:06
  the work of ministry, including evangelism. Look here at 1 Corinthians.
• 22:12
  1 Corinthians 12. Paul writes,
• 22:14
  Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says,
• 22:17
  Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit.
• 22:22
  Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service,
• 22:27
  but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who
• 22:31
  empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit, there's that word,
• 22:37
  manifestation, for the common good. We're going to talk about this
• 22:42
  a lot more in a couple of weeks when we study what is the church. But every single one of you guys
• 22:48
  has a unique gift, ability, has unique gifts and abilities given to you by God that are meant to
• 22:56
  bless other people and advance the cause of the gospel. And that's unique to you. God has
• 23:03
  individually wired you in those ways. And so every one of us has the, not only the duty,
• 23:10
  but the delight.
• 23:12
  Find out, okay, I've been given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, not just for
• 23:16
  myself, for everyone. What exactly is that, right? And so the Spirit of God empowers us. Who has number
• 23:22
  six? In the back, what'd you guys get? Bingo. Did anyone else have number six? Right here? Is that
• 23:31
  what you guys got too? Perfect. Okay, number six, he comforts us. The Holy Spirit is called the
• 23:36
  paraclete or the helper in John 14, verses 16 and 17. And here's what that passage says.
• 23:42
  Jesus says to his disciples,
• 23:54
  There's that 1 Corinthians 2 idea, right? They don't see him or know him. Their mind is blinded
• 23:59
  by the God of this world from seeing the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
• 24:04
  of Jesus Christ. But he says,
• 24:07
  You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. And so he,
• 24:12
  he comforts us. And 2 Corinthians at the beginning, we've been comforted by God
• 24:19
  so that we can then go comfort other people. The ways in which the Spirit has ministered to you
• 24:26
  individually, the way in which he's comforted you can then be turned for you to go and minister to
• 24:31
  others, right? So he comforts us. Who has number seven? Right here. Any other group have number
• 24:38
  seven? Okay, what'd you guys get? Yes.
• 24:43
  Perfect. He guides us. Number seven. One major role of the Spirit is to bring to our minds the
• 24:49
  things that Jesus taught so that we can obey him and live in righteousness. The Holy Spirit
• 24:56
  is humble. And we get this idea from John chapter 16, but the Holy Spirit is humble and he seems not
• 25:05
  to mind if Jesus is the one in the spotlight because he loves to point people to Jesus.
• 25:14
  Man, look at John chapter 16. Jesus says,
• 25:19
  Man, look at John chapter 16. Jesus says,
• 25:43
  Glorify me, that's Jesus, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father
• 25:50
  has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit
• 25:56
  guides us. And in our young adult ministry just a couple of weeks ago, we talked about this very
• 26:01
  idea with the Spirit of God living in us. I wonder how many times the Spirit is silently guiding us,
• 26:10
  well, protecting us,
• 26:13
  from temptation, leading us away from situations that we shouldn't be in, and we have no idea
• 26:21
  because he's always at work. And so it's kind of fun to think, okay, it's like a treasure hunt
• 26:28
  spirit. I want my theology to turn into doxology, so I want to pay attention to all the ways in which
• 26:33
  you're guiding me and leading me, and I want to give you credit for that. I want to praise you
• 26:37
  for that, right? And so he guides us. What about number eight?
• 26:44
  Right back here, what'd you guys get? He adopts us. Okay, let's look at Romans chapter eight,
• 26:52
  15 and 16. Paul writes, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
• 27:01
  but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
• 27:09
  himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And so I think with the adoption,
• 27:15
  we see is that God the Father is the one who is adopting us, but he's doing that in the Spirit,
• 27:20
  and the Spirit is the one who assures us. The Spirit is the one who assures us. He bears witness
• 27:28
  with our spirit that we are children of God on our dark days. When, as the song says, when darkness
• 27:37
  seems to hide his face, the Spirit will come and say, no, you are a child of God. Remember God's
• 27:42
  love for you. Remember how you followed him. He assures us of our...
• 27:49
  Salvation. Number nine, who is number nine? Right here, what did you guys get?
• 27:54
  What was that? Unifies. Yes, that's great. And he does that specifically, as 1 Corinthians 12
• 28:01
  tells us, by baptizing us into the body of Christ. For just as the body is one and has many members,
• 28:10
  and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit,
• 28:17
  baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
• 28:24
  And so the unity that the church enjoys is created by the Holy Spirit because he baptizes us into
• 28:31
  the body of Jesus. And so when one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. When one part of the
• 28:38
  body rejoices, we all rejoice because we're part of one body. This is where we would say,
• 28:44
  this is what the baptism of the Spirit is.
• 28:48
  Um, baptizing us into the body of believers. Number 10, who's got number 10? Right here,
• 28:54
  what did you guys get? Bingo, he sanctifies us. Over time, the indwelling Spirit, with our
• 29:04
  cooperation, shapes and molds us into the image of Christ. And we call this process sanctification.
• 29:11
  It's the process of purification or being made holy. We know from Galatians chapter,
• 29:17
  five, that the Spirit produces fruit in us so that we live lives of holiness to God. And here's
• 29:24
  what 2 Thessalonians 2 says, but we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved
• 29:32
  by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the
• 29:37
  Spirit and belief in the truth. And so we're always in this process of sanctification where the Spirit,
• 29:49
  if we cooperate with him, will lead us into spiritual growth and righteousness and effectiveness
• 29:54
  for the kingdom of God. But he sanctifies us. And then lastly, number 11, I'm going to give this one
• 30:02
  to you. Number 11 is the Holy Spirit revives the church. The Holy Spirit revives the church.
• 30:11
  Pastor Danny mentioned this just a handful of weeks ago in his sermon in Acts on Sunday mornings,
• 30:17
  but apart from the Holy Spirit, the church,
• 30:20
  lies powerless in all its efforts. The Spirit is the one in charge of revivals and true conversion,
• 30:29
  and he moves when and where he wills. The Spirit cannot be coerced into moving. It's not like if we
• 30:37
  sing this chorus of the song a hundred times, he's like, all right, you got me, here I come.
• 30:44
  And then he does something amazing. We can't coerce him into moving. And so,
• 30:49
  Highland, the church relies entirely upon him. And we know this verse well, Zechariah chapter four,
• 30:57
  verse six, not by might nor by power, but what? By my Spirit, says the Lord. Highland, can we just
• 31:07
  pause for a minute and ask ourselves, let's be honest with this. Do we want to see the church
• 31:15
  revived today? With all the churches that have,
• 31:20
  um, jettisoned their hold on true doctrine, have given way to the progressivism of our day
• 31:28
  and abandoned the scriptures? Do we want to see churches revived today? That will only happen
• 31:37
  by the Spirit of God. And we can do everything in our power to create a place for him to come
• 31:43
  and minister, namely confession and openness to him. But apart from the Holy Spirit, we can't
• 31:50
  stop him. And so, we're reminded all the time, Spirit, I want to walk by you. I want to be guided
• 31:59
  by you, right? We want Highland to be a place that is full of the life of the Holy Spirit. Amen?
• 32:07
  And so, as we consider theology to doxology, think about all that the Spirit does for you
• 32:12
  and for me. He regenerates us. He indwells us. He seals us.
• 32:20
  He intercedes for us. He empowers us. He comforts us. He guides us. He assures us.
• 32:27
  He baptizes us into the body of Christ. He sanctifies us, and he revives us.
• 32:34
  Is there not some doxology in here? Yes, there is. The Spirit is God and so is worthy of
• 32:45
  praise. And as we consider all of his work, we must remember this important truth
• 32:56
  from John chapter 3. In fact, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to John chapter 3. We're
• 33:00
  going to end with this. But the work of the Holy Spirit is mysterious. And this theme has been
• 33:07
  coming up a lot in our study of theology, right? The Trinity, mysterious. The incarnation of Jesus,
• 33:12
  mysterious. Here, the work of the Holy Spirit, mysterious.
• 33:15
  And we must be content, Highland, with the Holy Spirit not being limited to our theology.
• 33:25
  It doesn't mean that the words of the scriptures are not true or that he'll do things that
• 33:30
  contradict the scriptures, but we must not think that we have everything figured out when it comes
• 33:35
  to the Holy Spirit. He may surprise us. And you guys, what if the Spirit worked in ways that you
• 33:42
  didn't expect? Or what if he worked in ways that you didn't expect? And you guys, what if he worked
• 33:45
  in ways that made you uncomfortable? When Jesus spoke with Nicodemus in John chapter 3,
• 33:52
  he compared the ministry of the Spirit to the wind. Look at John chapter 3, verse 5.
• 34:00
  Jesus answered,
• 34:01
  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom
• 34:06
  of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
• 34:11
  Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes.
• 34:17
  And you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
• 34:21
  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. In his commentary on John, Arthur Pink points out
• 34:31
  seven truths about the wind and how it relates to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And I just
• 34:36
  want to leave you with this because it's pretty cool, okay? He says, number one, the wind is
• 34:41
  irresponsible. That is to say, it is sovereign and beyond man's control.
• 34:48
  And so man cannot regulate the work of the Spirit because the Spirit moves as he pleases.
• 34:55
  But number two, the wind is also irresistible, blowing everything before it. When the Spirit
• 35:02
  moves, he defies all of man's expectations. He breaks down all of his prejudices,
• 35:07
  brings life from death, and overcomes all opposition.
• 35:12
  Third, the wind is irregular. Sometimes it blows so quietly and lightly that it is not able to
• 35:18
  leave us. Sometimes it blows so forcefully that leaves are barely rustled. While at other times,
• 35:22
  it blows so forcefully that it can be heard from miles away. And the Spirit sometimes works in us
• 35:29
  through whispers. Whispers. While at other times, his work is undeniable and unmistakable.
• 35:37
  The wind is also invisible, unlike other elements of nature. And so too is the work of the Holy
• 35:43
  Spirit. Fifth, the wind is inscrutable, meaning,
• 35:48
  its nature and activities are beyond human comprehension. It blows wherever it wishes.
• 35:54
  And the Holy Spirit moves sometimes secretly, sometimes mysteriously, and profoundly.
• 36:06
  Sixth, the wind is indispensable. Plants on the earth depend on the shifting of the winds for
• 36:12
  survival and removal of dead parts, and so too, Arthur Pink says, do the people of God depend
• 36:19
  entirely on the wind. And so too, Arthur Pink says, do the people of God depend entirely on the
• 36:20
  movement of the Spirit for spiritual life. And then lastly, the wind is invigorating.
• 36:29
  Physicians used to refer their patients to the mountains or the seaside to be revived by the
• 36:34
  fresh air, and so it is. With the Spirit, he revives, he energizes, and he empowers God's
• 36:43
  people. So I hope that tonight, as you just consider this mysterious third person of the
• 36:48
  Trinity, that we would walk away from the wind. And so too, Arthur Pink says, do the people of God
• 36:50
  going, man, Spirit, I want you to move. I want you to be involved in me. I don't want to miss
• 36:58
  what you're doing, because he's doing so much. And so I hope that this is encouraging to you
• 37:06
  tonight, and hopefully, the little things we've covered tonight will inform our understanding
• 37:13
  further in Acts as we see the Spirit at work in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then,
• 37:20
  to the ends of the earth. Let me pray for us, and we'll be done. Father, thank you for tonight and
• 37:27
  for this short time of study, and I pray that you would challenge us and wake us up to be aware of
• 37:38
  the movement of the Spirit. God, we want to be a part of the revival of the church, of the health
• 37:48
  of the church. We want to be a part of following
• 37:51
  the Spirit. And so I pray that we would recognize the mystery of your Spirit's work,
• 38:01
  but also, God, I pray that you would help us to do everything we can to make our lives,
• 38:07
  our hearts, places where the Spirit is free to work. And I pray that the world would see that,
• 38:14
  and that the empowering of the Spirit would guide us into witnessing for Jesus, so that we can see
• 38:21
  more people.
• 38:23
  Be regenerated by the work of your Spirit. Guide us as we go tonight, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.