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[0:00] Independence Day, the 4th of July.

[0:20] ! That our Second Continental Congress declared a resolution of independence.

[0:40] Not the Declaration of Independence yet, but the resolution of independence. And it was a major, major step for them to take, a very dangerous step. After that, then Thomas Jefferson, along with four others, kind of a committee of five, were commissioned to draft the Declaration of Independence, which went through a number of revisions before the final draft was presented to the Congress.

[1:17] And, of course, this declaration, the resolution before the Declaration, ultimately represented a complete separation of the 13 colonies from the Great Britain, the British Empire.

[1:36] And on July 4th, 1776, it was approved, the Declaration of Independence. The day before that historic vote, and very serious vote, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, and he wrote this, and I want to quote it.

[1:55] The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epic in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.

[2:12] It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. That, by the way, is a good idea, isn't it?

[2:24] It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.

[2:43] Now, he said that the 2nd of July would be that date. And, of course, we know that the 4th is the date that we commemorate, and much in the same way that John Adams recommended that we would celebrate it.

[2:58] And we have been doing that for, well, for the history of our nation. And it's exciting, isn't it? It's an exciting time of the year.

[3:08] And especially if we will consider or make the connection to these days early in our nation, dangerous days.

[3:21] I mean, with the declaration came the cost of many, many lives. And, you know, it's a declaration of independence that has to be continued to be fought for and bought through the sacrifice of life.

[3:42] The 4th of July commemorates the, I guess we could say really the American Revolution, culminating with a declaration to be free, free from the tyranny of then the British Empire, to be free.

[4:04] Now, very quickly we'd move to the context of Christianity. With that freedom, of course, in our nation, we're very, very tenacious about holding on to a freedom of religion so that Christianity could flourish in this great nation, and it has, continues to.

[4:29] Some of those freedoms are being challenged in our day, something we ought to be praying a lot about. But even beyond that, as Christians, we celebrate really another, even more significant independence day.

[4:46] And not just one day, but actually we could say maybe three days, significant days. That would be the day that Jesus died on the cross, the day three days later that he was raised from the dead, and then the day that he saved me and saved you.

[5:06] A day, of course, that would be different from person to person. Truly our independence day, where Jesus declared us free from the tyranny of sin.

[5:19] Of sin. And all that goes with that. Now, interestingly, our study of the five doctrinal statements, which I started a few weeks ago, want to continue today.

[5:32] We're going to be in this for a few more weeks. It's interesting that it brings us to the study of God the Holy Spirit, whose ministry, by the way, one of his primary ministries, is to make us free from the tyranny of sin.

[5:54] That's right. And so with that in mind, I really would like to begin our study this morning, my message this morning, with a passage of Scripture from Romans, the book of Romans.

[6:05] So you can go ahead and turn to Romans. And turn to Romans chapter 7. And I want to just read a few verses, starting in Romans 7, verse 22, and go on into chapter 8.

[6:24] Now listen to this. Paul says, For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. The law of God.

[6:35] We could even substitute the word gospel. I delight in that. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

[6:46] But, he said, I see another law in my members, in my body. This law is warring, he says. It's warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin.

[7:05] The law of sin, which is in my members. So he recognizes that. And we too, we also recognize that. And Paul said, Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

[7:24] And then he said in verse 25, I thank God. That's who will deliver him and delivers us. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[7:36] So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And then on into chapter 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

[7:55] For the law of the spirit of life. That's what I want you to notice, first of all. We'll talk about that as we kind of begin to walk through the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

[8:08] The law of the spirit. That's capital S. That's the Holy Spirit. The spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me, what?

[8:21] Free from the law of sin and death. Made me free. Now, obviously, we should participate in celebrating the freedom of our nation and at the same time praying for that continued freedom and all that that freedom means, the liberties that we enjoy as citizens of this great country.

[8:48] And at the same time, of course, thinking about and remembering all of those who have laid their lives on the line. Many of them losing their lives to not only initially buy that freedom but to keep that freedom.

[9:05] And it's ongoing today. We should celebrate that. Absolutely. But every day, we should celebrate the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus in the spirit.

[9:17] a freedom from the law of sin and death. And so, we're talking about and looking at our five doctrinal statements and what we teach about God the Holy Spirit.

[9:33] So, what do we teach about God the Holy Spirit? He is, we teach that the Holy Spirit is a divine person. Now, most of us in this room, probably every one of us are thinking, well, yeah, I already know that.

[9:47] Let's just think about this very seriously because there are those who have differing views about the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit. We believe that He is a divine person.

[10:01] That means He's God. He's as much God as God the Father and God the Son is God. They are God. He's divine. He's deity.

[10:12] He is God. But He is also a person. I've already, we've already talked about this in relation to God the Father and God the Son. We believe in the Holy Trinity, three in one God.

[10:29] God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And we believe that each of those three manifest in personhood. So, the Holy Spirit possesses all the qualities of personhood.

[10:42] God the Holy Spirit. And so, He is eternal. Because He's divine. He's deity. He's eternal. No beginning. No end. He is underrived.

[10:55] Which is kind of a fancy word that means He had no beginning. He wasn't created. It wasn't something that God the Father created at some point to be a helper to us or whatever.

[11:06] He had no beginning. He's underrived. And He possesses all the attributes of personality and deity.

[11:18] All of those. In the same way as God the Father and God the Son. All the attributes of personality and deity. Including intellect.

[11:30] He has a mind. He thinks. Including emotions. Including will. These are attributes of personality and deity.

[11:44] Intellect. Emotions. Will. Eternality. These are a bit redundant. Omnipresence. Meaning that He's everywhere present and nowhere absent.

[11:56] Just as God the Father and God the Son. Omnipresence and the other omnis. Omniscience. That is, He knows all things. He's not learning anything.

[12:08] There's no point in time or eternity where He began to be aware of things and discovering things. I mean, all those are true of you and of me.

[12:19] But with God the Holy Spirit just as with God the Father, God the Son knows all things. Knows the end from the beginning. Omnipresent.

[12:31] Omni- omniscient and omnipotent. So we get all three of the omnis in there. Omnipotent just simply means He's all powerful. There's no limit to His power.

[12:44] Now He doesn't manifest His power, the fullness of His power all the time, but He is all powerful. There's no limit to it. He's not gaining strength. He's not growing in His power.

[12:55] Some of us are going the other way. I think about it nearly every day that I get out in the yard and do a little work that my power is not what it used to be. But I've never possessed all power.

[13:08] The Holy Spirit possesses all power. He's omnipotent. And then finally, truthfulness. That's a quality of personality and deity.

[13:22] Though in the case of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, their truthfulness is perfect. In fact, truth is what God is rather than just what God knows.

[13:37] All truthfulness. And so, in all the divine attributes, He is co-equal, He is co-eternal, and equal in divine substance with the Father, with the Father, and the Son.

[13:54] Now, I said something similar. Our statement says almost the identical thing in relation to God the Father and also God the Son. And so, we say the same about God the Holy Spirit.

[14:07] Co-equal, co-eternal, equal in divine substance, with the Father, and the Son. Now, you know, this brings up a bit of an issue that really is an issue in the church, has been really since the beginnings of the church, and that is that there's a tendency among some believers, and I would even say a tendency among, specifically among conservative, Bible-believing, evangelical Christians, a tendency to minimize the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

[14:39] And even if we don't articulate it that way, and even though we may not say that's a part of my belief system, in our thinking, we just kind of naturally relegate the Holy Spirit to maybe a lesser God.

[14:55] We don't think of the Holy Spirit in the same way that we think of God the Father and God the Son. And there are many, even among those who profess to be believers and Orthodox believers and even conservative Bible believers, to minimize the person and the work.

[15:15] That his person is something less than the person of God and the Son. That his work is something lesser of value than God the Father and God the Son.

[15:28] And so some people believe this, have a tendency to go that direction, almost to the blasphemous point of not considering his deity on the same level as the deity of the Father and the Son.

[15:42] I mean, and at the very least, we tend to, again, relegate the Holy Spirit to a place of lesser importance under the Father and the Son, which is just as egregious as the charismatics elevating the Holy Spirit to a place of greater importance above the Father and the Son.

[16:03] What else do we teach about God the Holy Spirit? That it is the work of the Holy Spirit to execute the divine will with relation to all mankind.

[16:20] For example, we recognize his sovereign activity in creation. I've already mentioned this, mentioned it last week.

[16:33] And along with this particular passage of Scripture in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2, where the Bible says the earth was without form. You remember how the Bible begins.

[16:43] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then in verse 2, it says the earth and earth was without form. It wasn't completed yet. And void. And darkness was on the face of the deep.

[16:56] And this is the part of the passage we need to focus on. The Spirit of God was hovering. Actually, it's the word that is better translated brooding.

[17:09] Brooding. That suggests some activity that's involved here. He's not just kind of hanging out there. He's brooding over. He's involved. Brooding over.

[17:20] Hovering over. The face of the waters. So the Holy Spirit was involved in the creation. As I mentioned last week, all three members of the Godhead were involved in the creation.

[17:32] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's verse 1. That's a reference to God the Father. That person of the Holy Trinity. And then verse 2, the Spirit of God brooding over the face of the waters.

[17:47] And then the very next verse says, and God said. The eternal word. That's a reference to God the Son.

[17:57] So we recognize this, don't we, about the Holy Spirit, His sovereign activity in the creation as we recognize the sovereign activity of every member of the Godhead. but also in the incarnation.

[18:12] The incarnation. God becoming a man. The incarnation through the virgin birth.

[18:23] Matthew chapter 1, verse 18. Mary was found with child of the Holy Spirit. And perhaps you remember over there in Luke chapter 1, we studied it a long time ago.

[18:38] But you're familiar with the passage where the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and explains what's going on in her and the child that will be conceived in her without her ever having known a man.

[18:53] And that was what Mary said to the angel. He said, how can this be? How can I have a child? I've not known a man. And you remember what Gabriel said. He said, the Holy Spirit will come upon you there in Luke chapter 1, verse 35.

[19:08] The Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, will come upon you. He said, the power of the highest, the very power of God, is going to come upon you so that that child that is born will be what?

[19:23] Will be who? The Son of God. The Son of God. So, He is active in the incarnation. Also, in the written revelation, which is just another way of saying the Bible, God's Word, the written revelation.

[19:42] 1 Peter, 2 Peter, rather, chapter 1, verse 20. No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man.

[19:57] Now, the word prophecy here is just an all-inclusive word to refer to the revelation, God's revelation to man. Not just simply those books that are, quote, prophetic books, but all of God's revelation.

[20:13] None of the revelation of God, nothing that we have in this book that is called the Bible, is someone's interpretation of things. Or someone's thinking about certain aspects of God and plan of God.

[20:29] It's not someone just kind of figuring it out and putting it down on paper. None of God's Word was ever produced by the will of man.

[20:41] But men, those men chosen to write God's Holy Word, they spoke from God. They spoke from God, not from themselves, not from their environment, not from some committee that got together and decided to form some body of theology.

[21:01] They spoke from God, but they did so as they were, and this is an interesting part of the passage, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

[21:13] That's a neat way of putting it. carried along. It is actually the Greek word pharaoh, not like pharaoh of Egypt, but it's the word pharaoh, pharaoh in the Greek, and it means to bear up or to carry along.

[21:30] You know, carried along, born along. You see, listen, contrary to what some people want to claim, God did not use the dictation method in order to prove, to produce his divine revelation, the Bible.

[21:47] It's not that these Bible authors were sitting in some private prayer closet or in some monastery somewhere or in some place of seclusion, and they have pen and hand and paper, and God begins to speak, and they just simply write it down.

[22:03] Now, some of God's word did come that way. God spoke, and it was written down. But that's not indicative of all of the revelation of God's word.

[22:14] Rather, God, having chosen men to write down his revelation, he, through the working of the Holy Spirit, worked through the individual lives of the Bible authors, worked through their unique personalities, worked through their environments and experiences of life.

[22:35] how the Holy Spirit worked through the personal character of each individual Bible author and some of the other events that took place around them.

[22:46] He did all of this working through the chosen authors of Scripture, and the Holy Spirit then moved them to eventually write down God's revelation and to do it without error.

[23:02] That's what we believe about the written revelation. And this is the working, the direct working of the Holy Spirit. The word of God is inspired of the Holy Spirit.

[23:13] Remember? Inspired, breathed into by the Holy Spirit. But God, the Holy Spirit is active in something else, in the work of salvation.

[23:25] We'll talk a whole lot more about this when we get to the doctrine of salvation, which will be a few weeks on down the road, okay? But He is active in the work of salvation.

[23:37] John 3, verses 5 and 6, unless one is born of the Spirit. Of the Spirit. Now, you know the passage of water and of the Spirit. But water is another subject.

[23:49] We'll tackle that some other day. But clearly, Jesus is saying, unless one is born of the Spirit, and that's capital S, Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, He cannot enter the kingdom of God.

[24:03] Can't be saved. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Right? I mean, that's just scientific. And that which is born of the Spirit, again, capital S, Holy Spirit, is Spirit.

[24:19] Now, this comes from John chapter 3, and you remember that this comes out of a dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus, very curious about Jesus and what he was teaching and whether or not he truly was the Messiah.

[24:33] And so, he had kind of a kind of undercover meeting with Jesus one evening. And among other things, Jesus told Nicodemus, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

[24:46] You must be born again, he said to Nicodemus. So, what an interesting concept. Something that Nicodemus had a little trouble with. In fact, he didn't even understand it. And we know that because he said, how can a man be born when he is old?

[25:01] That is, born again, when he is already old. Can he, and it's an absurd question, and Nicodemus, by the way, is not suggesting that this is even possible.

[25:11] It's an absurd question. He says, can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Basically saying, Jesus, this is a ridiculous notion here, that a man must be born again in order to be saved, order to enter into the kingdom of God.

[25:30] And so, Jesus explained that it must be a spiritual birth. He's talking about a spiritual thing. He's talking about the work of the Holy Spirit.

[25:42] And so, he explained further in chapter 3, that which is born of the flesh, his flesh. What does he mean by that? Well, obviously, he means that if it were possible, would you're suggesting, Nicodemus, that a man could get back into his mother's womb and be born a second time?

[25:58] If that's possible, then that second physical birth would just simply be physical, be flesh. What's born of the flesh is flesh. It's flesh and blood. But Jesus, of course, is talking about a work of the Holy Spirit.

[26:14] He's talking about a spiritual birth. Jesus is talking about being birthed birthed by the Holy Spirit. Birthed from above. In fact, that's what the word born again literally means.

[26:28] Birthed from above. And so, he said, that which is born of the Spirit, Holy Spirit, is Spirit.

[26:39] So, this is the activity of the Holy Spirit. All right, let's move on from there. We teach that the work of the Holy Spirit in this age began at Pentecost.

[26:54] Now, not everyone agrees with that. We're talking here, of course, about the birth of the church. Not everyone agrees with that. There are those, my Reformed brothers, who believe that the church actually began way back in the Old Testament.

[27:11] There are some who would mark the birth of the church when Jesus selected his disciples that he was actually planting or forming the church.

[27:23] But I believe, and we teach, that it began at Pentecost. And so, the Holy Spirit in this age began at Pentecost. What's Pentecost?

[27:33] What does that mean? Well, we've heard of the Feast of Pentecost. We know the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost, the word Pentecost just simply means 50th day.

[27:46] 50th day. And it signified the Feast was held on the 50th day after Passover, the first day of Passover. So, 50 days later.

[27:56] Now, in the Christian context, very significant because Pentecost was the 40th day after the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[28:07] And it's significant to Christians because it was on that day, the day of Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit came upon His apostles, Jesus' apostles, and thus signifying the birth of the church.

[28:25] The Holy Spirit coming and establishing the church and inhabiting and dwelling the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, this age, when we say we teach the work of the Holy Spirit in this age began at Pentecost, the age is the age in which we're living now.

[28:40] the church age. Some call it the age of grace, though I think I would prefer it to be just the church age. God operated according to grace long before the church was established.

[28:54] Everyone who's saved, Old Testament and New Testament, saved by grace through faith. It's the age of the church, the age in which we're living now. It's an age that has been going on now for better than 2,000 years since the church was established, since Jesus walked this planet.

[29:13] And it will continue on until Jesus comes again. So we don't know how long this age is going to last. But the point of the doctrine is that the work of the Holy Spirit in this age, the church age, began at Pentecost.

[29:29] Now, of course, the Holy Spirit was working prior to Pentecost. This is not to suggest that the Holy Spirit didn't do anything until Pentecost. We already talked about the fact that he was involved as one of the agents of creation.

[29:45] The Holy Spirit worked all throughout the Old Testament. In fact, you find examples of that throughout the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit coming upon a man and coming upon a person to do this and that and being indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

[29:59] You find that in the Old Testament. So the Holy Spirit certainly was working in the Old Testament. He didn't just start in the New Testament. But I would note that there is a marked difference between how the Holy Spirit works now here in the New Testament era, marked difference between how he works in the New Testament and how he worked in the Old Testament.

[30:22] And you can just find this as you find examples of passages that mention the Holy Spirit in both Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament, his indwelling presence in a person was always temporary.

[30:41] He would come upon a person, that person would do what God needed to be done, and then he would depart. And quite often in the Old Testament, there are examples of where he did so not just in the life of the faithful, but also even the unfaithful.

[31:00] Not just believers, but also unbelievers. The Holy Spirit came upon people for a task, and then he would depart.

[31:10] So he came, and he went, and he came, and he went. But in the New Testament, clearly, his indwelling presence in a person is permanent. It's forever.

[31:23] believer. And also in the New Testament, exclusively coming into the life of the born-again believer and not unbelievers.

[31:35] So, not a temporary guest. The Holy Spirit is not a temporary guest, as he was as exemplified in the Old Testament, but a permanent resident.

[31:47] Now that is something to shout about, that God indwells us, every believer, and he comes and he stays.

[31:58] It's not coming and then going and coming and going. That's why I don't ever sing come Holy Spirit. He doesn't have to come.

[32:10] He's here. And he never departs. And that is the working of the Holy Spirit that began at Pentecost. And, as we go further, he came from the Father as promised by Christ.

[32:29] As promised by Christ. Where is this promised? A couple of places. In the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verses 15 and 16. He said this to his apostles, remember, and very soon, very shortly, Jesus is going to be leaving.

[32:45] He's going to go to the cross. He's going to depart. He's going to ascend back into heaven. And so, he's preparing his disciples for that day. And he says, I will pray the Father to the Father and he will give you another helper.

[33:01] Another helper. Some of you who are more used to the King James know that it's the word comforter. Comforter. Helper. Comforter. It's the Greek word parakletos or paraclete.

[33:14] Sometimes we've heard that mention. The divine paraklete. That's a reference to the Holy Spirit. Parakletos. Para is a preposition.

[33:24] Means beside, alongside. And kletos comes from the Greek word kaleo. It means to call. And so, who is the Holy Spirit? He is the one called alongside of us.

[33:38] Now, he indwells us. That concept is true in Scripture. But in terms of his working, he comes alongside of us as we live out the Christian life.

[33:55] And so, who is this helper that he may abide with you forever? How long is that? Forever. He comes as a permanent resident. The Spirit of Truth.

[34:06] So, he identifies this person, the helper, as the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Truth. Whom the world cannot receive.

[34:18] This is just for believers. Just for followers of Christ. Another passage in John. John 15 and verse 26. But when the helper comes, there's the parakletos, the divine paraklete.

[34:33] When the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, who will testify of me.

[34:47] Testify. We'll get back to that ministry of the Holy Spirit here in a minute. And so, we need to add something else to the work of the Holy Spirit of this age. And that is to initiate and complete the building of, the building up, the building of, the body of Christ, which is the church.

[35:08] 1 Corinthians 12, 13. For by one Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks.

[35:22] And that is the church today. It's not just a Gentile church. It is the time of the Gentiles, the time of the church, the age of the church was made up of Jews as well. baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

[35:42] And by the way, the word baptized there is not a reference to water baptism, okay? There are some who teach that. You're not saved by water baptism, but rather a baptism that is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, spiritual baptism.

[36:00] And really, the word baptism is just used here by Paul as a metaphor to describe this working of the Holy Spirit. That is, baptized means to be immersed.

[36:12] That's the meaning of the very word baptized, immersed. And so we are by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit immerses us, brings us into the body of Christ.

[36:24] We're immersed really technically in Christ. we're in Him. As we all are, we are immersed into the body of Christ, His glorious body.

[36:36] That's the church. And then the phrase make to drink into one Spirit, not complicated, just another metaphor, just a parallel metaphor to exemplify, to explain, illustrate this working of the Holy Spirit.

[36:51] This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Next, the broad scope of His divine activity includes convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

[37:07] And what did Jesus say about that in John 16, 7? I will send Him, that's the Holy Spirit, to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

[37:23] And by the way, I believe that He's going to convict the world through us, through our testimony and through our proclamation of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit abides in the church and speaks through the church today to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

[37:44] And then Jesus breaks this down in the passage of sin in what sense? Because they do not believe in Me. which identifies the meaning of the word sin here specifically.

[37:57] This is the sin of unbelief. See, all other sins that we commit can be forgiven by the cross.

[38:10] Unbelief can be too as long as we forsake and repent of it in this life. But ultimately, it's unbelief that will condemn a person to a devil's hell.

[38:21] the sin of unbelief. And so, He's talking about the sin of unbelief. Remember, Jesus said in John 3, 18, He who believes in Me is not judged, not condemned.

[38:33] But, then He said to Nicodemus, He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

[38:44] So, He will convict the world of sin because they do not believe in Me. also of righteousness, of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.

[38:59] So, He's talking about the ascension of Jesus back to the right hand of God the Father. Alright, so the righteousness that He's speaking of here that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of is the righteousness that is of Christ.

[39:12] The righteousness of Jesus Christ. His righteousness, the righteousness of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the Holy Spirit then reveals the utter sinfulness of man by revealing the absolute righteousness of Christ.

[39:32] In contrast, how it reveals the utter sinfulness of man through the righteousness of Christ. And He convicts the world of judgment.

[39:43] Of judgment, why? Because the ruler of this world is judged. Who is that ruler? Satan. Okay? It's Satan. And Satan has already been judged.

[39:56] You say, I don't know if that's already happened yet. Well, in the mind of God it has. Satan's already judged. And so, very much in the same way that the Holy Spirit contrasts the righteousness of Christ with the sinfulness of man, He also uses the judgment of Satan really as a guarantee to show a guarantee of the judgment that will come upon every single unrepentant sinner.

[40:25] But there's more to the activity of the Holy Spirit and that is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and transforming believers into the image of Christ.

[40:39] John 16, 13, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come He will glorify me. Now mark that. The Holy Spirit will glorify me.

[40:52] You listen to some people on, you know, on the TV shows, the TV evangelists in some churches you would get the idea that the Holy Spirit is glorifying Himself but His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

[41:08] He will glorify me. For He will take of what is mine, that is, the name, the glorious name of Jesus, He will take of what is mine, my glory, and declare it to you.

[41:24] I might bring this up. We sometimes sing that very famous, familiar chorus, glorify thy name. You know that chorus, don't you?

[41:38] Glorify thy name, very popular one, been around a long, long time, still sing it today. And in that chorus it begins with God the Father, doesn't it? Father, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify thy name in all the earth, glorify thy name, glorify thy name, glorify thy name in all the earth.

[42:01] And that's right, isn't it? We ought to sing that, it's true. And then the chorus moves to the second member of the Trinity, God the Son, Jesus, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify thy name in all the earth.

[42:19] And that is absolutely right, isn't it? And then we get to the third stanza of that, and it takes up God the Holy Spirit. You know where I'm going with this? Spirit, we adore you, we love you, we worship and adore you.

[42:36] There's nothing wrong with that. Absolutely right. As a third member of the Godhead, we love him, we adore him, we worship him as we do God in his entirety, his wholeness.

[42:51] But then we sing, glorify thy name in all the earth. God. And dear people, you may be splitting your hair a dozen ways, but that contradicts what Jesus said.

[43:07] In John chapter 16, verse 13 and 14, he said, the spirit of truth will glorify me.

[43:17] He will take what is mine. He will take my glory, which is all wrapped up in his name, the name of Jesus, and declare it.

[43:35] Not himself, not his glory, but the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and his name he will declare to you. And so here's how I have for years chosen to sing this, even though everyone else sings something different, this is how I sing it.

[43:54] Spirit, we love you, we worship and adore you. Glorify Christ's name in all the earth. Glorify Christ's name.

[44:08] Glorify Christ's name. Glorify Christ's name. In all the earth. That's his ministry. He doesn't look to himself.

[44:20] He doesn't promote himself. He glorifies the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes what belongs to Jesus and declares that to the world.

[44:32] This is the activity of the Holy Spirit. Glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And transforming believers in the image of Christ.

[44:43] This is 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18. But we all with unveiled faith beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

[45:03] It's again a reference to the Holy Spirit. This is all by the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, transforming believers in the image of Christ. We don't have time to go to that passage there in 2 Corinthians 3 and look at the larger passage so let me just remind you of what's going on here.

[45:22] The larger passage describes or really reminds us of something that happened to Moses when he received the Ten Commandments when really he came into the very presence of God.

[45:39] And you remember that when he came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets that his face was changed. In fact, it was so startling, so disturbing to the others that they had to put a veil over his face.

[45:56] Remember that story in the Old Testament? Moses didn't even realize it but he had to cover that up. In fact, I would like for you to listen to that passage and then I'll explain what Paul is talking about here.

[46:11] In Exodus 34 starting with verse 29, Now it was so when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

[46:30] And why did it? Because he was in the presence of God. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him.

[46:42] Then Moses called to them and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him and Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the children of Israel came near and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

[46:57] And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses, and this is the key passage, this is what Paul is referring to here in 2 Corinthians 3, but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out.

[47:17] And he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him, with the Lord.

[47:34] So he would come into the presence of the Lord and take the veil off. And his countenance would continue to be changed. And he was beginning to reflect the very image of the Lord.

[47:48] So what is Paul using this for? Well, a number of things we don't have time to look into. But here it is primarily. Here's what Paul is saying. Moses wore a veil over his shining face when he stood before the people.

[48:02] But when he went in to speak with God, he took the veil off. And so Paul is saying that believers, all born-again believers, by the working of the Holy Spirit, can, like Moses, approach the very glory of the Lord with unveiled faces and thereby experience the very same transformation that is exemplified in the life of Moses.

[48:31] And that transformation is into the image of Christ. like comes by way of a mirror. Remember, that's what the passage says.

[48:42] Beholding as in the mirror the glory of the Lord, as being transformed into the same image, the very image of Christ. This is the working of the Holy Spirit. Not the same glory, but we're transformed into the very same image, like a reflection of the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[49:02] Christ. We're becoming more like Jesus. That's the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Now, a couple more points and we'll just have to get the rest of this next Sunday.

[49:17] We teach that the Holy Spirit is the supernatural and sovereign agent, capital A, in regeneration.

[49:28] in regeneration. Agent in regeneration. John 6, 63, it is the Spirit who gives life.

[49:38] That's the basic meaning of regeneration. Enlivened, given life in this sense, in the sense of salvation, eternal life. We're given life.

[49:49] We were dead in trespasses and sins and the Holy Spirit produced life. He enlivened us. The Spirit gives life. And also in this passage, in Titus chapter 3 and verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done.

[50:11] By the way, I would mention that works of righteousness are to be done. You see that implied in the passage? It's not that we reject and remove ourselves from any righteous works.

[50:25] that's not the point. He said, not by works of righteousness which we have done and all should do. But in relation to salvation, it's not according to the righteous works but rather according to His mercy He saved us.

[50:48] Through what process? Through the washing of regeneration. Now again, it's not water baptism. We don't believe nor do we teach.

[51:02] Baptismal regeneration. No one gets saved by getting into that Bartlesville water up there in the baptistry or wherever you were baptized. Not water baptism.

[51:13] This is referring to an internal washing. Regeneration is a spiritual work. Salvation is a spiritual work. It's not accomplished by external works of righteousness nor is it accomplished through external ceremonial washing in a baptistry.

[51:37] It's accomplished through the internal washing of regeneration. By the way, this is the new birth. In fact, some translations even use that word rather than regeneration because it's what the word means.

[51:50] Through the washing of the new birth. The new birth. This is the working of the Holy Spirit. It's internal. Regeneration is not something that you notice or it's not observable.

[52:03] This is the deep secret work of God in the heart of those who believe. Regeneration.

[52:13] What comes after that conversion that is observable. And what comes next here in the passage is also observable. The renewing of the Holy Spirit.

[52:25] This is talking about the change. Internal change. An internal change that begins to express itself on the outside. And that must be true of every believer and if it's not true of you.

[52:38] Hmm? Hmm? The internal change. A change that by the way by the verbs used here is ongoing.

[52:51] It's not a once and done thing. It's an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer affecting change in that believer.

[53:02] This is the other word the big theological word is sanctification. Being sanctified. This is the activity of God the Holy Spirit in the life of every single true born again believer follower disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[53:27] And then one more baptizing all believers into the body of Christ. Again you know the word baptize appears so many times in scripture and there are those who want to attach the same identical significance to it.

[53:42] It's not water baptism. It's not that that outward symbolic act of baptism.

[53:53] Now the symbolic act of baptism may point to these spiritual realities but it is not the spiritual reality in and of itself. And so what is the working of the Holy Spirit?

[54:05] He is supernatural and sovereign. He is baptizing all believers into the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 By one spirit we were all baptized into one body.

[54:27] I want to end with that. And we think about that and we think well yeah I know that. We're the body of Christ. That's what we are.

[54:40] We're the body of Christ. The hands and feet and legs and eyes and mouth and brain and we're the body of Christ fit together perfectly fit together by the Holy Spirit.

[54:52] Absolutely. But what's the implication of that? That's something we ought to dwell on more than we do. One body we're one body.

[55:04] We're not you know got the feet sitting over here and the hands over here and the brains over here. We're one body.

[55:15] That's what we are the body of Christ. And therefore the implication is we're loving one another just as your body loves every member in that sense.

[55:28] We can't get along without every member. It makes it real hard when we have to. Loving one another as we love Christ. Working together for the same cause of Christ in this world.

[55:49] Beneficial to each other. Lifting each other up. Meeting each other's needs. Caring for one another. together. You know we're one body worshipping together praying together learning together serving together.

[56:10] We're giving of ourselves together for one another's benefit as well as the work of the gospel to the world as well as giving of ourselves together to the Lord.

[56:24] Lord. We are one body. We are the body of Christ baptized that is immersed brought together placed together into one glorious beautiful body by the work of God the Holy Spirit.

[56:50]  See how important the Holy Spirit is. Equally important is every other member of the Godhead the Father and the Son. .