Anchors of Truth

The Holy Spirit's Victory

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: David Asscherick

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000055


00:11 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Unknown God with David Asscherick.
00:21 Well, this has been such a tremendous series.
00:25 We're down to part number five, which is the last presentation
00:29 by David Asscherick.
00:31 And I want you to know that those that are here...
00:34 And we have a very good attendance here this afternoon,
00:37 and a fantastic attendance again this morning.
00:41 ...that we have really been blessed by these presentations.
00:47 I'm just amazed at how God works when years back,
00:51 when we would think about people like John Carter and Kenneth Cox
00:55 and Mark Finley, I often wondered to myself,
00:59 how will God ever replace these individuals.
01:03 And before then there had been H.M.S. Richards
01:06 and George Vandeman, and many others.
01:10 God always has a way.
01:13 And the amazing thing to me is that He reached down
01:17 and found a man by the name of Danny Shelton
01:19 and started a network by the name of 3ABN.
01:23 And that was an unbelievable move.
01:26 We are just overwhelmed by how we have seen
01:30 God's leading at 3ABN.
01:33 But then He also needed speakers for that network.
01:38 And He reached down and He touched people like Ty Gibson,
01:43 who had no background whatsoever with this message
01:46 through family or any other way.
01:48 James Rafferty, Shawn Boonstra, John Bradshaw.
01:54 If you know anything about these stories, you know
01:58 that these men were not raised in this message
02:03 or anywhere near this message.
02:06 And He reached down and He found a young man by the
02:09 name of David Asscherick.
02:11 Just as verily as He reached out and touched the apostle Paul
02:17 and called him, He has called these young men
02:21 to continue preaching this message in the last days.
02:25 And there are a lot of others, there are a lot of others.
02:28 But I just mention these because to me it's a great encouragement
02:33 that God's message is going to go forward with power
02:37 even after many of us pass off the scene,
02:41 if He hasn't returned by that time.
02:43 What an encouragement that is.
02:47 And God has reached out, found people that really didn't
02:51 come through the system at all, reached out and touched them
02:55 and called them and equipped them,
02:58 and is blessing them, their ministry.
03:01 And that is exciting to me.
03:04 So we're looking forward to this last presentation,
03:07 Really Understanding the Unknown God.
03:11 And we'll never fully understand Him, but as we study
03:15 more and more, we get a better picture of the God who loves us.
03:20 Just before Pastor Asscherick comes to speak,
03:25 we're going to ask Yvonne Lewis, Dr. Lewis, who's our manager of
03:30 Dare To Dream, our new network, to come and sing for us
03:35 the song, Wonderful.
03:58 I heard He walked on water
04:02 and opened blinded eyes.
04:07 The deaf where made to hear again
04:12 and the dead were called to rise.
04:15 Oh, but when I gave Him all my heart
04:21 a greater thing took place.
04:25 The Lord of every miracle
04:29 redeemed me by His grace.
04:36 Wonders never cease as long as I believe
04:45 and place my life within the nail-scarred hands
04:51 that bled for me.
04:54 And when I think I've seen His best
04:58 I stand amazed to see,
05:04 His glory never ends
05:11 and wonders never cease.
05:31 He still walks on water
05:36 to calm my troubled seas.
05:39 And in the midst of thunder
05:44 I can hear Him speaking "Peace!"
05:48 And though some believe His miracles
05:53 were just part of yesterday,
05:58 oh, I'm living proof His changing power
06:03 will never pass away.
06:10 And wonders never cease as long as I believe
06:18 and I place my life within the nail-scarred hands
06:24 that bled for me.
06:27 And when I think I've seen His best
06:32 I stand amazed to see,
06:38 His glory never ends.
06:48 Wonders never cease as long as I believe
06:57 and I place my life within the nail-scarred hands
07:02 that bled for me.
07:06 And when I think I've seen His best
07:10 I stand amazed to see,
07:17 His glory never ends
07:23 and wonders never cease.
07:30 Oh, His glory never ends
07:37 and wonders never cease.
08:04 Amen, thank you so much. Beautiful, amen.
08:07 Alright, I have a suspicion that some of you are feeling tired
08:12 because you ate too much.
08:14 Is that possible?
08:16 Yeah, listen. Let me tell you.
08:17 It's against my personal policy for anyone to fall asleep
08:21 while I'm speaking.
08:22 So don't test my own personal policy.
08:25 And for the viewers out there, don't do it.
08:27 Don't fall asleep on me.
08:29 Because what we're going to be talking about here in our
08:31 fifth and final session is going to be awesome.
08:34 Have we learned anything in our first four sessions?
08:38 A couple of things?
08:39 I can just tell by your response that you've eaten too much.
08:41 "Yeah, yeah. We learned a lot.
08:43 I learned not to eat two helpings of mashed potatoes."
08:46 No. Have we learned anything about Scripture?
08:49 Yeah, we certainly have.
08:50 And in our fifth and final session here on our
08:53 Anchors Of Truth series...
08:54 And I want to thank Jim and the others here at 3ABN
08:57 for inviting me to come.
08:58 I've had a great time here except for the
09:01 part where I hit the deer.
09:02 That was unplanned and not good.
09:06 But this should be really exciting, our final message,
09:09 what we're going to be looking at.
09:10 And we're going to just continue basically to explore and then
09:14 bring to closure this idea of the Spirit
09:19 as God and as a person.
09:22 We've set the table, we've more than set the table.
09:24 Now we're beginning to partake of the meal.
09:26 And we're going to bring it now to its conclusion.
09:29 Not that it's the conclusion of everything that we could know,
09:32 but the conclusion of our series here.
09:33 So let's just have a quick prayer and then we'll get
09:35 right into our time together.
09:38 Father in heaven, what a privilege and an honor it is
09:41 for us to stand here, and as has been so beautifully song,
09:44 wonders never cease.
09:46 Father, we put our confidence in You.
09:48 And because You are infinite, because You are eternal,
09:51 You are illimitable, we will always wonder in
09:55 amazement at You.
09:57 And so Father, we pray now that as we seek to continue to
10:01 understand who You are and what You are and Your character,
10:06 Father we pray that You will teach us, not just with the mind
10:11 and the intellect, but Father teach us in our hearts,
10:14 teach us in our emotions.
10:16 That we may not just apprehend You, but that we may
10:19 appreciate and love You.
10:22 Father, be with us now as we open Scripture.
10:24 We would ask that you will send the Spirit,
10:26 who we're talking about, to be not just in this room.
10:30 That would not be good enough, Father.
10:31 We would ask that, in keeping with the promise of Jesus,
10:34 that You would send the Spirit to be in us
10:37 to guide us into all truth.
10:38 That the Spirit that inspired the text may now become the
10:42 Spirit that instructs in the text.
10:45 This is our prayer in Jesus' name.
10:47 Let everyone say, amen.
10:51 Okay now, I'm just going to pick up...
10:54 Is it okay if I just pick up right where we left off?
10:56 I mean, it was just like two hours ago so we should be fine.
10:59 We just had two hours and a few helpings of mashed potatoes
11:01 between us and what we were just talking about.
11:04 And our very last thing that we talked about
11:05 was the relationship that is very similar from the
11:10 Spirit to Jesus that Jesus has to the Father.
11:13 Right?
11:14 The Bible says, "In the beginning was the Word,
11:16 and the Word with God, and the Word was God."
11:18 And so from this passage, as well as Revelation 19,
11:21 we get this idea that Jesus is called, the Word of God.
11:24 Are we comfortable with that, everyone?
11:25 He's the Logos. He's the Word of God.
11:27 And so that is one way to describe the relationship
11:31 between the Father, who superintends the Godhead,
11:34 and the Son; the Father and the Son.
11:36 The Son is the word of the Father.
11:38 But Jesus, speaking of another Comforter that would come,
11:42 another Comforter, He says that He would not speak
11:46 His own words, but He would bring to remembrance
11:49 and recollection His words.
11:51 That He would glorify Him, and that He would bring
11:53 all things to remembrance that Jesus had spoken.
11:56 And so here, Jesus, who also said, "The words that I speak
11:58 unto you, they are spirit and they are life,"
12:00 we find that it's as if the word of Jesus is the Spirit.
12:04 So the word of the Father is the Son,
12:07 and the word of the Son is the Spirit.
12:09 Each one, as we discussed in our last session,
12:12 deferring to the other.
12:13 The Son pointing the direction and the spotlight to...
12:17 Or the Father pointing the direction and
12:18 the spotlight to the Son.
12:19 The Son saying, "No, no, no. It's about the Father."
12:21 And the Spirit saying, "No, it's about the Son."
12:23 To which the Son replies, "No, it's the Father."
12:25 There's this humility within the Godhead.
12:27 Amen?
12:28 Now we spent a fairly significant amount of time
12:31 in John chapter 14 and we noted several things.
12:33 First of all, that Jesus attributes elements
12:37 and activities to the Spirit that only a person can do.
12:39 He will guide, He will teach,
12:41 He will instruct, He will reveal.
12:42 That's the kind of thing that a person does; number one.
12:44 Number two; He refers to Him with the masculine pronoun "He."
12:49 What the pronoun, everyone? He. Okay.
12:51 And the third thing that I thought was quite fascinating
12:53 is that Jesus says, "I will send you another Comforter."
12:57 Another Comforter.
12:59 Now you remember the illustration with me
13:01 and JD and Shelley.
13:03 As we're eating lunch, I request another...
13:05 Do you remember what it was?
13:06 ...sandwich.
13:07 What do you know by definition?
13:09 There was a first sandwich.
13:11 So if Jesus is saying, "I will give you another Comforter."
13:15 The question is, who was the first Comforter?
13:17 Who was the first one that the word literally means
13:19 parakletos; one that stands beside?
13:21 Who was the first one that stood beside the disciples?
13:24 Jesus.
13:25 And He says, "I'm going away, but I will send you another
13:28 Person to stand beside you."
13:30 Remember the illustration with the contractor?
13:32 Right?
13:33 I've got the job half way done, the addition on your house.
13:36 I'm leaving but I will send you another contractor.
13:40 And only a person could take the place left vacant by a person.
13:44 Does that make sense?
13:45 In what sense could electricity or gravity or electromagnetism
13:49 take the place that was left vacant by a person?
13:51 It can't be.
13:52 Jesus is referred to as the Parakletos in
13:55 1 John chapter 2 verse 1 where he says, "My little children,
13:57 these things I write unto you that you sin not.
13:59 And if any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father,"
14:01 a Parakletos with the Father, "Jesus Christ the righteous."
14:04 So when Jesus then says, "I'm going to send you another Person
14:07 to stand beside you," another Parakletos,
14:09 they're looking for a person.
14:11 Now I need to say something here.
14:13 We sometimes mistakenly assume that personhood
14:17 means physicality.
14:20 Right? We think, "Oh, person."
14:22 Toes and feet and knees and legs and a body.
14:25 No, no, no, no, no.
14:27 Personhood is not necessarily tied to physicality.
14:31 I've had people actually say to me, "Well David,
14:34 that doesn't make any sense.
14:35 How can the Holy Spirit be a person?
14:37 The Holy Spirit is a spirit."
14:39 I said, "Well, wait a minute.
14:40 I didn't say the Holy Spirit was a human.
14:43 I said the Holy Spirit was a person."
14:45 By the way, if we have a problem with the Holy Spirit
14:47 being a person...
14:48 Remember what Jesus said to the woman when He was
14:50 sitting there at the well.
14:51 He said, "God is a Spirit."
14:55 So if God is a Spirit, is God a person?
15:00 Yes or no?
15:01 Okay, so the Father is a Spirit.
15:03 By the way, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15...
15:04 You might want to just make note of that.
15:06 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul says that Jesus is a spirit.
15:09 He calls Him a "quickening spirit."
15:12 And so look at what you have.
15:13 The Holy Spirit obviously a Spirit.
15:15 God the Father; Spirit. Jesus; Spirit.
15:19 So this idea of personhood, when we talk about the Holy Spirit
15:22 as a person, what we're saying is this.
15:24 The Holy Spirit possesses volitionality,
15:28 He possesses personality, He possesses a will,
15:31 He possesses intelligence, etcetera.
15:33 We're going to see that right now.
15:35 Personhood is not necessarily tied to physicality.
15:37 And there's many ways to demonstrate this.
15:39 I'll just give you a very quick one here.
15:40 If I was involved in a car accident, heaven forbid,
15:43 and I had to have my right arm removed.
15:46 Okay? Like that.
15:47 Say, I became an amputee.
15:50 Am I now less of a person now that I've had my arm removed?
15:55 Am I less of a person?
15:56 Is that how we treat amputee's?
15:57 We say, "Oh, well he's only half a person."
16:00 No. They're still people.
16:01 Now what if I lost my other arm in an accident?
16:04 Am I less a person now than I was before?
16:06 You Say, "Oh, well David use to be a person,
16:08 but now he's half a person."
16:09 No, no, no, no, no.
16:10 The reality is that my personhood is tied to
16:14 my individuality, my identity, my character, my volition,
16:17 my will, my memory, my hopes, my dreams, etcetera.
16:20 It's not tied to my fingers, my arm, my legs.
16:24 So personhood is not absolutely tied to physicality.
16:28 When we say that the Holy Spirit is a person,
16:30 we're simply saying that He possesses volition,
16:32 that He possesses intentionality,
16:34 that He possesses intelligence, that He possesses a will, etc.
16:37 So far so good, everyone?
16:39 Now with that sort of in mind, what I'd like to do at this
16:41 point is just read a great statement here,
16:44 sort of a cautioning statement as we commence,
16:47 from a great book called, Acts Of The Apostles,
16:49 pages 51 and 52.
16:51 This is a nice little caution as we commence with our
16:54 fifth and final presentation here.
17:31 Okay, this is a great cautionary statement for us, because
17:35 what it basically does is it takes us right up to the edge
17:38 of that sea and it says, here's what you can know.
17:42 And beyond what you can know, don't make conjectures.
17:45 Don't guess, don't put out idle theories or idle ideas
17:49 or imaginings of what the Spirit is.
17:52 No. What we know about the Spirit is that He is a person.
17:55 We're going to see that in just a second.
17:57 That He is God.
17:58 We're going to see that in just a second.
17:59 But to try and figure out precisely what His ontology is..
18:03 That ontology means, His being.
18:05 What exactly is He?
18:06 Does He have a shape? Does He have a form?
18:09 We should only affirm what Scripture says, and not try to
18:12 conjecture and imagine on what Scripture does not say.
18:15 Are you with me on that?
18:16 The church is not benefitted by that.
18:18 The Spirit is a mystery.
18:20 Now that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to us.
18:22 Because as we've already seen, God Himself is a mystery.
18:27 Amen?
18:28 I mean, we saw that.
18:29 "Without controversy..." 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16.
18:32 "Without controversy..."
18:34 Some translations say, "By common confession."
18:37 "...great is the..." What? "...mystery of godliness."
18:42 So it should not strike us at all as surprising that
18:46 the Spirit is mysterious.
18:48 Because God is mysterious, and Jesus is mysterious,
18:51 and the incarnation is mysterious.
18:52 And it's a mystery.
18:54 Now can we know some things about God?
18:57 Yes or no.
18:58 Yeah, the things that He has revealed.
19:00 This is precisely how, by the way, the unknown God
19:03 becomes the known God.
19:05 The unknown God becomes the known God to us
19:08 when we see what He has revealed about Himself.
19:11 This is the way I like to say it.
19:12 If God decided to play hide and seek, you couldn't find Him.
19:17 If God just decided that He was going to make Himself
19:20 perfectly ineffably impenetrably known...
19:23 In other words, you could not access him.
19:26 ...you would know nothing about Him.
19:27 The only thing that we know about God is what He Himself
19:32 has disclosed to us in Scripture and in the created order.
19:35 Are you with me on that?
19:37 So we're going to stand on those things right here
19:39 on the edge of the sea shore.
19:40 And we're going to rejoice in all of what we do know.
19:43 Amen?
19:44 And we're not going to conjecture
19:46 about what we don't know.
19:47 One final word.
19:48 When we talk about the things that we don't know about God,
19:52 all of that sea shore that's out there, please understand
19:56 very distinctly that what we are talking about
20:00 is God's nature.
20:02 It's God's nature that is unknown to us.
20:05 God's character is very well known to us.
20:09 That has been disclosed in the life, death,
20:11 and resurrection of Jesus.
20:12 So when we talk about God, we know a great deal
20:15 about His character.
20:16 Amen? "God is love."
20:17 "For God so loved the world..." Etcetera, etcetera.
20:19 It's His nature that we should...
20:22 We should sort of come up to that question
20:24 of the nature of God.
20:25 We should take off our shoes and we should say,
20:27 "We're standing on holy ground."
20:29 Because of the limits of human language and the limits of
20:31 human intellect, we really are only babbling like babies
20:35 when we're doing our very best.
20:37 But when it comes to the character of God,
20:39 we know exactly what the character of God is like.
20:41 Because Jesus came and revealed to us who God is.
20:45 Amen?
20:46 Okay, now with that in mind, go with me to the book of Acts.
20:49 Let's spend some time in the book of Acts.
20:51 You might be saying, "Okay, why the book of Acts?"
20:52 Simple.
20:54 I'm going to say this, and I think you'll get it here.
20:56 Pentecost is to the Holy Spirit what Bethlehem was to Jesus.
21:03 You got that?
21:04 Pentecost is to the Holy Spirit what Bethlehem was to Jesus.
21:07 If you were to pick up the biography of the life of Christ,
21:11 say you were to walk up and there was a biography on
21:13 the life of Christ, where likely would that biography begin?
21:18 All the synoptics begin this way.
21:21 Matthew, Mark, Luke all begin this way.
21:24 John begins even further back, "In the beginning was the Word."
21:27 He goes back.
21:28 But for the most part, a biography on the life of Christ
21:31 is going to start right where the synoptics start.
21:33 They're going to start in and around Bethlehem's manger.
21:36 That just makes sense.
21:37 If you were going to write a biography on David Asscherick,
21:39 it would begin in Cheyenne, Wyoming, August 16, 1972.
21:43 So to with the Spirit.
21:45 Somebody says, "Well there's the Spirit in the Old Testament."
21:48 And yes, the Spirit is there.
21:50 Bu the Spirit is far more common and far more frequently
21:55 spoken of and more explicitly spoken of in the New Testament.
21:58 And it really begins on the day of Pentecost.
22:00 And so I'll say it again.
22:01 What Bethlehem was to Jesus, Pentecost was to the Spirit.
22:05 In fact, when you actually go through the whole Old Testament,
22:08 the word "spirit" occurs just 88 times.
22:12 88 times in the Old Testament is the word "spirit."
22:15 Right? The Hebrew equivalent, ruach.
22:18 And when you come to the New Testament, which is about
22:20 one third to one quarter as long, the word
22:22 "spirit" occurs 262 times.
22:25 Right?
22:26 So roughly 3 to 4 times as often in a book that's
22:31 3 to 4 times as small, a section that's 3 to 4 times as small.
22:35 So basically what you have is, the Spirit is spoken of
22:37 ten times more often in the New Testament
22:40 than in the Old Testament.
22:41 The reason for that is, that it was at Pentecost...
22:45 And this is fascinating, by the way.
22:46 It was at Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came
22:49 in all of His fullness.
22:52 In all of His... What word did I say, everyone?
22:54 Now this is awesome.
22:55 The Jews believed...
22:57 And you can make a reasonable biblical case for this as well.
23:01 The Jews believed that the law was given from Mt. Sinai summit
23:05 when God wrote on tablets of stone with His own finger.
23:08 Do you know what day they say that happened?
23:11 Pentecost.
23:13 The Jews believe that it was on the day of Pentecost
23:16 that the law was given on Sinai.
23:18 Right? It's very interesting.
23:20 Now think this through.
23:21 If that's accurate... And I think it is incidentally.
23:23 If that's accurate, look at what happens on the day of Pentecost
23:26 in the New Testament in Acts chapter 2.
23:29 The Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost
23:32 and His primary purpose...
23:34 We'll talk about this in just a bit.
23:36 ...is to write His law, the law of God, not on cold
23:42 tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of our heart.
23:46 So you can make a very powerful similarity here
23:49 between Pentecost in the Old Testament where the
23:51 law was given and Pentecost in the New Testament
23:53 where the Spirit is given, who writes His law upon our hearts.
23:57 Are you with me on that?
23:58 Awesome stuff. Absolutely awesome.
24:00 Now, when we go to the book of Acts, which in many ways
24:04 is to the Spirit...
24:05 It's the actions of the Spirit.
24:07 It's the acts of the Spirit through the church.
24:10 ...acts is to the Spirit what Matthew, Mark, Luke,
24:13 and John are to Jesus.
24:15 This is the story of the Spirit.
24:17 And when we get there, we're just going to start in
24:19 Acts chapter 5.
24:22 And we'll start here in verse 1.
24:24 We've just mentioned here Acts chapter 2, but I kind of
24:26 want to walk several passages here.
24:28 And I want to get all of this data in.
24:31 So we're going to move, not fast, but we will move
24:33 probably swiftly.
24:35 Acts chapter 5 beginning in verse 1, it says,
24:37 "But a certain man named..." What's his name, everyone?
24:40 "...Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.
24:42 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also
24:45 being aware of it, and brought a certain part and
24:47 laid it at the apostle's feet.
24:48 But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart...'"
24:53 Now watch this.
24:54 "...to lie to the..." Who?
24:57 "...to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the
25:01 price of the land for yourself?
25:03 While it remained, was it not your own?
25:05 And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?
25:09 Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?"
25:12 Now look at this.
25:13 "You have not lied to men but to..." Who?
25:18 "You have not lied to men but to you have lied to God."
25:20 So in one verse, Peter says...
25:22 In one section here, he says, "You have lied to the Spirit."
25:26 And then immediately after that he says, "You lied to..." What?
25:29 "...to God."
25:31 What does this tell us about the Spirit?
25:32 If you've lied to the Spirit and you've lied to God,
25:35 what is the Spirit?
25:36 Yeah, the most reasonable conclusion that you would
25:39 come to based on this passage is that the Spirit is God.
25:42 Peter understood this.
25:44 It was coming clear to him now, after the day of Pentecost,
25:47 when Jesus had said, "I will send you another Comforter
25:49 that He may abide forever.
25:50 Go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of My Father
25:52 whom I will send from Him."
25:54 So they go to Jerusalem and they're waiting.
25:56 They didn't fully understand exactly what was going to come.
25:58 Who knows, maybe they thought another person was going to
26:00 come walking in the door and say, "Hey, guys.
26:02 I'm here. I'm the..."
26:03 But that's not what happened.
26:04 On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came down,
26:07 it wasn't just a power, it wasn't just a force,
26:09 it wasn't just an effervescence, or an electromagnetism.
26:12 What came down, and they recognized it, was the
26:15 third Person of the Godhead.
26:17 This was God Himself who was coming, not cumbered with
26:21 humanity, but in all the fullness who lived
26:24 not just beside them as Jesus had.
26:26 He had walked with them and He had talked with them.
26:27 He had spent time with them.
26:29 But the Spirit actually came inside of them.
26:32 And they recognized, this is God in the flesh.
26:35 This is God's representative on earth.
26:38 In fact, just a statement on that, fascinating here.
26:40 This is another great statement here.
26:44 Desire Of Ages, page 671. Listen to this.
26:47 Speaking of this very moment, this very event.
27:23 Now friends, I only speak one language.
27:24 And that's the English language.
27:26 They say that if can speak three languages you're trilingual.
27:28 Two languages, you're bilingual.
27:29 One language, you're white and you're from the United States.
27:32 So that's me, one language. I've only got one.
27:35 So if I can't get it right with this language, I'm stuck.
27:39 I can't resort to my Spanish or resort to my Romanian
27:42 or to my Swahili.
27:43 This is the only arrow in my quiver, is English.
27:46 Are you with me on that?
27:47 If language means anything, third Person means third Person.
27:55 Are you with me on that?
27:56 I mean if language has meaning, third, as in one, two, three...
28:01 Okay, well who would the first two be?
28:03 God the Father, God the Son. And now what?
28:07 God the Spirit. Okay?
28:09 So here we have third, and then Person.
28:13 Is God the Father a Person?
28:15 Okay, is Jesus a Person?
28:17 So what's the Holy Spirit? A Person.
28:19 I just want to rewind here briefly.
28:22 When we started back in Genesis 1 four sessions ago,
28:25 we said that the Old Testament is suggestive.
28:29 The Old Testament is what, everyone?
28:31 There's hints, there's elusions, there's suggestions.
28:34 We went to Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Genesis 3,
28:36 Genesis 11, Genesis 18 and 19.
28:38 We went to Isaiah 6, Isaiah 9, Numbers 6, and Deuteronomy 6.
28:42 All of these passages suggest.
28:45 Then we get to the New Testament and what was implicit in the
28:49 Old Testament becomes increasingly explicit in
28:51 the New Testament where Jesus says, "I and My Father are..."
28:54 What? "...one."
28:55 So what we see is a progressive revelation.
28:59 You might remember that.
29:00 The pulling back of the cloth to progressively reveal.
29:03 But by the time we come down here, by the time we get here
29:07 to Desire Of Ages, page 671, I mean the language is
29:10 just unmistakably clear.
29:12 "The third Person of the Godhead."
29:16 So what was suggestive and became increasingly clear
29:19 becomes explicitly.
29:21 In fact, I don't want to be polemical here,
29:23 but I'm going to go out on a limb and I'm going to say,
29:25 it becomes unmistakably clear.
29:28 Third Person of the Godhead.
29:31 Now I have met many well meaning and well intentioned
29:33 people who say, "No, no, no, no.
29:34 There's no Trinity. There's no...
29:36 That's just a pagan Catholic... You know."
29:38 Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
29:40 Forgive me for my naiveté.
29:43 But "third Person of the Godhead."
29:45 If I stand before the throne of God and He says,
29:47 "Oh, you've got that Trinity thing all wrong.
29:49 How could you possible have believed that?"
29:50 I could say, "Well, I guess I was confused by that
29:52 one phrase there, 'third Person of the Godhead.'"
29:56 You tracking with me?
29:57 We serve a very reasonable God who is very good at
30:01 communicating His ways.
30:03 Amen?
30:04 I mean, He's not going to say "third Person"
30:06 when He really means there's only one.
30:09 It just doesn't add up. Are you tracking with me?
30:11 Third Person.
30:12 Now the great thing about this is that in its larger
30:15 theological context, that's exactly what we need.
30:19 We don't just need a force, we don't just need a power,
30:21 we don't just need an effervescence.
30:23 We need God Himself to come into us to do for us
30:27 what we cannot do for ourselves.
30:29 And that's the second part of the statement there;
30:31 that it is the job of the Spirit to make effectual
30:35 what had been wrought by the world's Redeemer.
30:37 So when Peter said, "You've not lied to men,
30:40 you've lied to the Parakletos.
30:42 You've lied to the one that Jesus sent.
30:44 You have lied to God Himself."
30:48 Now we're going to stay in the book of Acts.
30:50 And go with me to Acts chapter 15.
30:53 Stay in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 15.
30:57 Very quickly here.
30:58 This is the burgeoning blossoming New Testament church.
31:03 And they're all in a confused kerfuffle about how to relate
31:09 to the Gentiles who are coming into church.
31:12 And they don't know what to do.
31:14 And so they get together and they pray, and they wrestle,
31:17 and they struggle, and then they write a letter.
31:19 And I want you to hear part of this letter that they write.
31:21 It's in verse 28.
31:22 Actually, we'll pick it up in verse 27.
31:24 This is the church writing, sending this letter
31:26 with Paul and Barnabas.
31:27 "We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report
31:31 the same things by word of mouth."
31:32 Verse 28, "For it seemed good to..." Who?
31:38 "...it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay
31:40 upon you no greater burden than these necessary things."
31:43 So think about that.
31:44 The church is saying, "Hey, we thought this was a good idea.
31:46 And so did the Spirit."
31:50 Well the only kind of being that can think and have good ideas
31:53 and imagine and have opinions and perspectives
31:57 is a person.
31:58 Right? I can't say, "Hey piano, what did you think about that
32:00 last song they played on you?
32:01 You weren't feeling that, were you.
32:03 Come on, don't be so quiet. Don't be bashful, go ahead."
32:06 It seemed good to me and to the piano?
32:08 No. The moment you say it seemed good to the Spirit,
32:11 you are attributing personhood to the Spirit.
32:14 "It seemed good to the Spirit, and to us."
32:16 The church recognizes that the Spirit is not just a
32:20 power or an energy.
32:22 The Spirit is a person.
32:24 Now stay in Acts and look at chapter 16.
32:27 Acts chapter 16 verse 6.
32:30 It says, "Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the
32:33 region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit
32:37 to preach the word in Asia."
32:39 So the Holy Spirit forbids, "Don't do that."
32:42 Verse 7, "After they had come to Mysia, they tried to
32:45 go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not..." What?
32:49 "...permit them."
32:51 So, not only does it "seem good to us and to the Spirit,"
32:54 but the Spirit also forbids and the Spirit permits.
32:59 These are the kinds of activities and characteristics
33:03 that are attributable only to a person.
33:07 Now we're going to leave the book of Acts, we may come back.
33:09 But go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
33:12 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
33:14 This is one of the lists of the spiritual gifts
33:17 that we find in Scripture.
33:18 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
33:21 And I'm going to read here in verse 1.
33:24 We've already looked at the triadic passage over there in
33:26 verses 4, 5, and 6.
33:28 The same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God.
33:31 And now look at verse 11 in 1 Corinthians 12.
33:34 It says, "But one and the same Spirit works all these things,
33:39 distributing to each one individually as He wills."
33:46 So notice what the Spirit does here.
33:47 The Spirit distributes.
33:50 Okay, this is the kind of activity that you would
33:53 expect of a person.
33:54 Not only does He distribute, but Paul says that the Spirit
33:58 distributes the gifts to the church according as He... What?
34:02 According as He wills.
34:05 And this is what we were just talking about a moment ago
34:06 when we said that personhood is not tied to physicality.
34:09 Personhood is tied to volitionality.
34:11 Its tied to the possession of will and intention.
34:15 And so it says here that the Spirit gives
34:18 the gifts to who He wills.
34:19 And in the context of 1 Corinthians, it's because
34:21 the Corinthians thought, "Oh, well I'll get this gift.
34:23 And I'll get this gift and I'll be a prophet.
34:25 And I'll be a healer, and I'll speak in tongues."
34:27 And Paul says, "No, no, no, no. You don't make those decisions.
34:30 It's the Spirit who gives the gifts to whomever
34:32 He wants to give them to."
34:35 Are you with me on that?
34:37 So the Spirit possesses will.
34:40 Quite obviously, this is the very kind of thing
34:43 that a person would do.
34:45 The Spirit possesses intentionality.
34:46 Now let's go to Luke, back to the gospels, chapter 12.
34:52 We find another activity that's attributed to the Spirit
34:56 that only a person could do.
35:00 Luke chapter 12.
35:01 This is an easy one to remember because it's verse 12.
35:03 Luke 12:12
35:05 It says, "For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that
35:09 very hour what you ought to say."
35:13 Okay, who will teach us?
35:15 The Holy Spirit.
35:16 This is exactly what Jesus had said in John 14, 15, and 16.
35:18 He will teach, He will guide, He will reveal.
35:21 The Holy Spirit Himself will teach you.
35:23 Notice, all of these activities are being attributed
35:26 to the Spirit as if He's a person.
35:28 Well why?
35:29 Because He is a person.
35:32 Amen?
35:33 Not just a power, not just some force.
35:36 Not like Star Wars, "May the force be with you."
35:39 No, may the third Person of the Godhead,
35:42 the Parakletos that Jesus spoke of,
35:45 may He be with you, beside you, and inside of you.
35:51 Now here's where things get very interesting.
35:52 The Holy Spirit can be grieved.
35:55 Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30.
35:59 Ephesians 4:30, notice this one.
36:09 It says, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
36:13 by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
36:17 Don't grieve the Spirit.
36:21 Friends, I have a question.
36:22 Could I grieve this pulpit?
36:26 No. Could I grieve this piano?
36:29 You know, maybe I could.
36:32 If I sat down, I'd do my best.
36:33 But the point is that even somebody who can't play,
36:36 somebody like me who's got thumbs where there should
36:39 be fingers, I can't grieve a piano.
36:43 I can't grieve a speaker.
36:45 I can't grieve a pulpit or a chair.
36:48 Or any other inanimate thing.
36:49 But can you grieve a person?
36:52 Can I grieve my children?
36:53 Can I grieve my wife?
36:55 Can I grieve you?
36:57 Impossible, right?
37:00 So when it says, "don't grieve the Spirit," here again
37:02 what do we find?
37:03 We find the New Testament writers consistently
37:07 attributing to the Spirit the attributes and
37:10 characteristics of a...
37:13 What word am I going to say here?
37:14 ...of a person.
37:16 Not only can the Spirit be grieved, according to the
37:18 author of Hebrews, join me there, Hebrews 10,
37:22 the Spirit can be insulted.
37:26 The Spirit can be insulted.
37:28 And I'm going to say just a word on this here.
37:31 Hebrews chapter 10, I'm reading verse 29.
37:34 Hebrews 10:29
37:37 It says, "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose,
37:41 will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God
37:44 underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant with which
37:47 he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted
37:52 the Spirit of grace?"
37:55 Insulted the Spirit. Grieved the Spirit.
37:58 Now let me just remind you of something here.
37:59 In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus spoke about what we call,
38:02 the unpardonable... What? ...sin.
38:05 Can you tell me, what did Jesus say the unpardonable sin was?
38:11 Okay, very good.
38:12 Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
38:14 Now think about that.
38:15 In the context of Matthew 12, Jesus says
38:17 a very interesting thing.
38:18 He says, "Blasphemy against the Son of Man
38:20 will be forgiven."
38:22 Okay? Now think about that.
38:24 Blasphemy against the Son of Man is blasphemy against a person.
38:28 Okay? And He says that can be forgiven.
38:30 But blasphemy against the Spirit, He says, cannot
38:34 and will not be forgiven to men.
38:36 Now think about this juxtaposition.
38:38 That's just a fancy word that means,
38:40 setting two things side by side; juxtaposition.
38:42 Okay.
38:44 Can you commit blasphemy against Jesus?
38:47 Yes or no.
38:49 Can you? Can it be forgiven?
38:51 Okay, then the very next thing Jesus says,
38:53 "But the sin that cannot be forgiven is blasphemy
38:55 against the Holy Spirit."
38:57 Okay, so if this is a sin against a person,
39:00 what does this sound like it is when Jesus places it in
39:03 exact juxtaposition?
39:04 Does that sound like it's a sin against a person?
39:07 And this is what Paul is alluding to, and the author
39:09 of Hebrews is alluding to when they say
39:11 don't grieve the Spirit, don't insult the Spirit.
39:16 Don't insult the piano, David.
39:17 Don't insult that piano.
39:19 Don't grieve the pulpit, David.
39:21 Don't insult the speakers.
39:22 No, no, no, no.
39:23 The only thing that can be grieved or insulted is
39:25 something that possesses emotion, intelligence,
39:29 will, and volition.
39:31 That is to say, personhood.
39:33 Are you tracking with me on that?
39:34 Is this making sense?
39:36 It's just clear as can be.
39:38 Well, not only can the Holy Spirit be grieved and insulted,
39:41 the Holy Spirit loves.
39:44 Come with me to Romans chapter 15.
39:50 I love this particular one here.
39:51 Romans chapter 15, notice with me verse 30.
39:56 Romans 15 verse 30 says, " Now I beg you, brethren,
40:01 through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the
40:05 love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me
40:11 in prayers to God for me."
40:13 "The love of the Spirit."
40:16 The word "of" in the English usually functions
40:19 in what we would call, the possessive.
40:22 Right? If we say, for example, "He is a man of talent,"
40:26 we mean that he's a man that possesses talent.
40:29 If we say, "She's a woman of wealth,"
40:32 we mean that she's a woman that possesses wealth.
40:34 The word "of" junctions as a possessive.
40:36 So here when it says, "the love of the Spirit,"
40:39 it means the Spirit has love.
40:43 This is very similar to what is communicated in a blessing
40:45 that we've already ready, the Apostolic Benediction,
40:48 this is 2 Corinthians 13:14, where it speaks about the
40:52 fellowship of the Spirit; the love of the Spirit.
40:57 Now that makes sense because if someone can be insulted,
41:00 and someone can be grieved, and someone can be blasphemed
41:03 and sinned against, that must be someone that loves.
41:06 That must be someone who has extended His hand
41:10 only to have that hand rejected.
41:11 And who has extended His hand only to have that hand rejected.
41:14 And who has extended His hand only to have that hand
41:16 rejected again and again.
41:18 We don't talk about the love of the piano or the
41:20 love of the pulpit or the love of your car.
41:23 Only a person can be grieved and insulted.
41:26 And only a person can genuinely love.
41:28 No wonder John would say in just a few short books
41:32 away from this, God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is...
41:37 What's our word?
41:39 God is love.
41:41 Now I want to take you to my two favorites when it comes to this.
41:45 And they're both in the book of Romans.
41:47 You're already there, so go to Romans chapter 8.
41:50 To me, if all we had on this subject was these passages,
41:58 we would have enough.
41:59 If all we had were these passages, we would have enough.
42:01 And the first is Romans chapter 8 beginning in verse 26.
42:08 Romans chapter 8 verse 26.
42:11 It says, "Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.
42:18 For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought to,
42:23 but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us
42:27 with groanings which cannot be uttered.
42:30 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of
42:34 the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints
42:37 according to the will of God."
42:39 Two major things here.
42:42 First of all, is it clear to you that according to this passage,
42:45 that the Spirit intercedes?
42:47 Okay, now wait a minute.
42:49 We've got to think that one through.
42:52 What does the word "intercede" mean?
42:54 Give me some synonyms for "intercede."
42:57 Okay, stand in for.
43:00 Okay, nice and loud.
43:02 Okay, what is that?
43:04 Go between, very good.
43:06 Anybody else?
43:07 Mediate, very good. Okay.
43:08 You've got it.
43:09 Now let's take the one there; go between.
43:13 Go between. Okay.
43:14 Go between what?
43:18 Exactly. Two parties.
43:20 Okay, now think this through very carefully here.
43:23 In order to intercede, you have to have party A and party B.
43:30 And then party C is interceding.
43:33 Is this making sense?
43:34 Now think that through.
43:35 If Paul here says, "The Spirit Himself intercedes for us..."
43:40 There's one of the parties.
43:41 "...according to the will of God..."
43:44 You've got your three parties right there.
43:46 We the saints, and God, as two of the parties.
43:50 Right here, number one is God. Number two is us.
43:55 And the Spirit is making intercession.
43:57 The only way that anything can intercede
43:59 is if you have two other parties.
44:01 See, some people say the Spirit is not a person
44:04 in and of Himself.
44:05 The Spirit is just the extension of the Father.
44:08 The Spirit is just the personal presence of the Son.
44:11 Which sounds reasonably persuasive at times.
44:15 But here's the problem with it.
44:16 There is a very real sense, of course, in which
44:18 the Spirit is the presence of the Father
44:20 and is the presence of the Son.
44:21 But they say He's just the presence of the Father,
44:24 just the presence of the Son.
44:25 He doesn't not possess His own individuated personhood.
44:29 But here's the problem.
44:30 Think about what this verse would be saying then.
44:32 The Spirit, that is to say the extension of God,
44:36 intercedes between God and us.
44:40 Well, wait a minute.
44:41 How is God the Father interceding
44:45 with God the Father on our behalf?
44:47 You see how that's confusing?
44:49 The only way you can have intercession is if you have
44:51 party A, party B, and someone who is interceding between.
44:57 Now on this very point here, Ellen White is just so clear
45:03 and so profoundly encouraging.
45:07 I have to share this statement with you.
45:09 I think it's our final statement.
45:12 This is from the first volume of the Selected Messages series,
45:15 page 344, listen to this.
45:30 Okay, so does Christ intercede?
45:33 Yes or no.
45:34 Okay not just intercedes, but He constantly intercedes.
45:37 So Christ, and who else does she say intercedes?
45:39 Christ and the Spirit. Okay.
45:41 So, do we need the intercession of Christ?
45:45 Yeah.
45:46 The intercession of Christ revolves around the
45:49 pleading of His own blood.
45:51 Right?
45:52 By the way, that simply means His life; the blood is the life.
45:54 So when He pleads His blood, it means,
45:57 "Father, the death that I died was the death that they deserve.
46:00 And the life that I have lived is the life they have not lived.
46:03 I present myself to you."
46:05 That's where the intercession of Christ takes place;
46:08 presenting His sacrificial death and His substitutionary life.
46:12 Are you with me on that?
46:13 But not only does Jesus intercede,
46:17 the Spirit intercedes.
46:19 Question.
46:21 Does the Spirit present His blood?
46:24 Why not?
46:26 Because He didn't die.
46:27 He didn't die on Golgotha's tree.
46:29 So what does the Spirit do?
46:31 Ah, notice as it continues.
47:15 Okay, now this is absolutely awesome.
47:17 This is exactly what Paul is saying in Romans chapter 8.
47:19 That the Spirit Himself intercedes for us
47:22 with groanings that cannot be uttered.
47:25 In the context of Romans chapter 8, Paul has talked
47:27 about the groaning creation, and he's talked about the
47:29 groaning Christian.
47:31 And here, he talks about the groaning Comforter.
47:34 He actually says that.
47:36 He says creation groans, and he says Christians groan.
47:39 And here he says even the Comforter, the Spirit, groans.
47:43 But what is the Spirit groaning?
47:46 Have you ever had the experience of kneeling to pray
47:49 and not even knowing what to say?
47:52 This happens to me like every single time I pray?
47:57 I mean, I'll just be honest with you.
47:59 I'll be very vulnerable here with you, very transparent.
48:01 Prayer is difficult for me.
48:04 I actually read Shelley's book, Pressing Into His Presence.
48:06 Very helpful.
48:09 But for me, study comes natural.
48:11 Books come natural, reading comes natural.
48:13 But prayer?
48:15 I'm just so philosophically and analytically minded
48:17 that when I get down to pray, I think,
48:19 "Well God, You already know what I was going to say
48:22 if I was going to pray, so can we just skip this part?"
48:24 But then I realize, prayer is not about me
48:28 giving God information.
48:30 It's about me coming into connection with God.
48:33 And that takes time. Right?
48:35 But when I kneel down and I'm like,
48:38 "Lord, I don't know how to pray for all the
48:40 people that are sold into sexual slavery.
48:44 I don't know how to pray for all the children that
48:46 starve to death on a daily basis or the children in
48:49 urban situations who never even get to go out of the
48:51 city limits of the town in which they were born.
48:53 I don't know how to pray for the situation.
48:55 I don't know how to pray."
48:57 And in Romans 8 we have this amazing promise.
48:59 That when you don't know how to pray...
49:01 And he says it, we don't even know how to
49:02 pray like we ought to.
49:04 So I get down and I say, "Lord, I'm going to pray."
49:06 Have you ever had to pray for a sick person?
49:09 Is that tough to do?
49:11 Yeah, it's very difficult to pray for a sick person.
49:13 Because do you believe that God can heal them?
49:15 Yeah, but do you know that's what God is going to do?
49:20 Uh, no.
49:21 So when I kneel, when I go to do an anointing
49:23 or I pray for a sick person, I'm always caught between
49:25 my total faith that God can heal and yet my unawareness or my
49:30 lack of knowledge of whether or not He will right now.
49:33 Now God is going to heal everybody at the resurrection.
49:35 Amen?
49:36 So I don't know how to pray.
49:38 I go into hospitals on many occasions and I'm just
49:40 stumbling and bumbling and fumbling.
49:42 And when I pray, I say, "Lord, take this stumbling
49:45 and bumbling, in the words of the old hymn, stammering tongue
49:50 and Father, please will You hear what my heart is saying."
49:54 I don't even know if I'm praying the right way.
49:56 People call me all the time and they say,
49:57 "David, I don't know what I should do with my life.
49:58 Should I go to school? Should I do Bible work?
50:00 Should I marry this person? Should I move to this country?"
50:02 How do I know?
50:04 I don't know.
50:05 But you can kneel and you can pray and you can say,
50:07 "Lord, what do You want me to do?
50:09 How do You want me to go?"
50:10 And you're praying and then you can even say,
50:12 "And Lord, if I'm praying all messed up,
50:16 please let the Spirit intercede."
50:19 May the Spirit gather up those prayers.
50:21 The Spirits listening because He's a person.
50:23 See, He's a person.
50:24 The Spirit is listening, "Um-hm, um-hm, um-hm.
50:28 Hmm, um-hm, um-hm. I've got that."
50:32 He gathers up those prayers, those fragmentary prayers,
50:36 and He brings them to the... He intercedes.
50:39 "This is what he said.
50:41 I know, it sounded stupid. I know.
50:43 But this is what he meant."
50:46 "And this is what she asked for.
50:47 I know, I know. She's immature.
50:49 But this is what she meant."
50:52 The Spirit Himself intercedes.
50:55 Well how can the Spirit intercede?
50:56 Because He's a person.
50:59 And not just a person. He's God.
51:02 Jesus intercedes.
51:03 Jesus' intercession is equal to the Spirit's, but different.
51:07 Distinguishable but not divisible.
51:10 I want to say that again.
51:11 The intercession of the Spirit and the intercession of Jesus
51:14 are distinguishable, but they're not divisible.
51:18 This is what Jesus is doing, He's pleading His blood.
51:21 This is what the Spirit is doing.
51:23 But both are absolutely essential.
51:25 You with me on that?
51:27 Now it gets even more awesome.
51:28 And we stay in Romans chapter 8.
51:30 This is arguably my favorite verse in all of...
51:36 ...the first half of Romans chapter 8.
51:39 I love this verse.
51:40 I love this verse because, to me, it is so
51:43 epistemologically profound.
51:44 But I don't have time to go into that right now.
51:47 Check this out, Romans chapter 8 verse 15.
51:51 "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear,
51:55 but you received the Spirit of..." What?
51:58 "... of adoption..." I can relate to that.
51:59 I was adopted, not once, but twice.
52:01 "...you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,
52:04 Daddy, Abba, Papa..."
52:05 That's what my little boys call me; Papa.
52:07 "...Father."
52:08 Verse 16, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit
52:14 that we are children of God."
52:16 This is awesome.
52:18 By the way, the way that we know Christianity is true...
52:23 This is what I was talking about there when I mentioned the
52:25 epistemologically significance of this verse.
52:27 The way that we know Christianity is true
52:30 is because the Spirit tells us that it's true.
52:33 The way that we show it is true is by arguments and by evidence
52:37 and by godly lives.
52:38 But that's not how we know that Christian faith is true.
52:41 We know that Christian faith is true because God's Spirit,
52:44 who is Himself a member of the Godhead,
52:47 comes into our lives and bears witness with our spirit.
52:51 And God's Spirit says to our spirit, "You're a son of God.
52:53 You're a daughter of God."
52:55 Amen?
52:56 And only a person can do that.
52:58 In fact, I don't have the quotation here,
52:59 but Ellen White actually makes that exact point
53:02 based on this verse.
53:03 She makes that exact point.
53:04 She says, "The Spirit is a person," this is a direct quote.
53:07 "The Spirit is a person, else He could not bear witness
53:10 with our spirit."
53:13 Only a person.
53:14 Have you ever poured your heart out to somebody and
53:16 had them say, "I know exactly what you mean."
53:19 Yes or no?
53:20 Yeah, you open your heart to somebody and they say,
53:22 "Man, I know. I know. I feel your pain.
53:24 I know where you're coming from.
53:25 I've walked a mile in your moccasins.
53:26 I'm with you, I'm smelling what you're cooking."
53:28 Right?
53:30 "I'm hearing what you're saying.
53:31 I'm catching what you're throwing."
53:32 There's a resonance there.
53:34 And that's exactly what Paul says the Spirit does.
53:36 The Spirit bears witness with our spirit.
53:42 "You're the Son of God."
53:43 "You're the daughter of God."
53:45 And we know it, intuitively.
53:47 Incorrigibly is the technical term.
53:49 We know in a self authenticating way because God has
53:53 revealed Himself to us through His Spirit.
53:57 Not just a power, not just an effervescence,
54:00 but the third Person of the Godhead.
54:05 Amen?
54:06 Is that just absolutely so thrilling?
54:09 Now the final thing I want to get into here,
54:11 and I have just a moment, is this.
54:13 I've said this at the end of the last two sessions
54:15 and I want to unpack it a little bit.
54:19 We've looked at all the things that only a person could do.
54:21 He forbids, He permits, He teaches.
54:24 He can be grieved, He can be insulted.
54:26 He guides, He reveals, etc. He's a person.
54:31 What's the practical application?
54:33 Several years ago, I was sitting in a restaurant
54:34 and there was a man that was not of my
54:37 particular faith community.
54:39 But he was a wonderful man. A good Christian man.
54:41 And he asked me if I had received the Holy Spirit,
54:43 if I had been anointed by the Spirit.
54:46 And I said, "I think so."
54:48 And he said, "Oh, you don't know?"
54:49 And we were sitting in a restaurant.
54:50 And he said, "Come out back with me and I'll show you."
54:53 "Alright." I was a brand new Christian.
54:55 So we went out back. And his name was Jerry.
54:57 And we get behind the restaurant there and he says,
54:59 "Okay well, haba shabama hamana humana shamana hamana wumana."
55:06 And I was like...
55:08 He's like, "Yeah, it's the gift of tongues.
55:10 You can have it right now. Go ahead."
55:12 And I was just like, "What do you mean?"
55:14 He's like, "Go ahead.
55:15 The Spirit will come upon you. Go."
55:16 And I didn't know anything. Theology...
55:19 I was just like...
55:22 It just didn't pass the smell test.
55:23 It didn't sound right.
55:25 He was like, "No, it's easy. It's easy.
55:26 Go, go, go, go, go."
55:28 And I was like, "You know, Jerry, I don't know.
55:30 I'm just not... I'm not feeling that."
55:33 He's like, "No, you can do it."
55:34 And here's the thing.
55:36 And Jerry is a great guy.
55:38 And I think he was way off on 1 Corinthians 14,
55:40 and way off on Acts 2, and way off Acts 10.
55:43 I don't think that is anything like a manifestation
55:45 of the gift of the Spirit.
55:46 But here's the point.
55:48 Jerry acted in such a way as though the Spirit was something
55:52 he could just summon and then now demonstrate and perform.
55:58 We treat the Spirit like it's a power and we're in trouble.
56:01 We're going to start trying to use this power.
56:06 But we treat the Spirit and we relate to the Spirit
56:09 as He is; as a person.
56:11 Then our plea will be a very different situation.
56:15 Not, "Give me the Spirit that I may be powerful."
56:18 But rather, "Give me the Spirit..."
56:21 Or rather, "Give the Spirit to me.
56:24 May I be given to the Spirit that He may use me."
56:28 A great old story about Dwight Moody, I'll close with this.
56:31 He was preaching a big evangelistic meeting in Chicago
56:33 and a young minister was getting tired about hearing,
56:35 Moody... Moody... Moody... He was at a minister's meeting.
56:37 And so he spoke up on one occasion at the minister's
56:39 meeting and said, "All we ever hear is Moody, Moody, Moody.
56:44 What, does this guy have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?"
56:50 And one of the older ministers spoke up and said,
56:52 "No, you've got it all wrong young man.
56:55 Dwight Moody does not have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit.
56:59 The Holy spirit has got a monopoly on Dwight Moody."
57:03 And friends, that's what we need.
57:05 We need the unknown God to become the known God.
57:11 The Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead.
57:13 Not just to be beside us or next to us or over us or around us.
57:18 But in keeping and in fulfillment with the promise
57:21 of Jesus, that the unknown God would become the known God.
57:25 That His Spirit would bear witness with our spirit,
57:27 and that He would be in us.


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Revised 2014-12-17