Address—C. Hendricks
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I'd like to speak tonight on the.
The Person of the Holy Spirit.
All the.
The in Christendom deny.
The Person of the Holy Spirit.
They deny the Trinity.
They deny.
The.
Deity of Christ.
And they say that the Spirit of God is in it.
That he is a just an influence.
Just a force.
Just a.
Something just this power, the power of God.
Well, it's true that the Spirit of God is the most powerful force there is in the universe, but he's more than just a power or a force.
He is a person.
A living Person, one of the Persons of the Trinity.
If you deny that the Spirit of God is a person, you've denied the Trinity.
If you deny the deity of Christ, you've denied the Trinity. There's various ways that can that can be denied. We were just talking about the Trinity, and now I'd like to look at the third person. The 1:00 we call the third person. We don't say third because he's inferior to the Father, who is number 1, and the Son who's number 2. As we often say, they're all equal.
They're all God I'd like to look at.
Some of the verses that those that say that the Spirit of God is in it.
Would use.
Romans 8.
Romans, chapter 8.
And we'll explain why it reads as it reads.
And those that deny his person, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, they deny his person.
That he is a person.
And they they use verses like this to support their denial. They say that the Spirit of God is an it.
And they have some scriptures to support that, and we'll see what the meaning is, the proper meaning of the scriptures that support it.
Seemingly supported.
Verse 14 of Romans 8 for as many.
As are led by the Spirit of God.
They are the sons of God.
For ye have not received the spirit of ******* again to fear.
But you have received the spirit of adoption.
Whereby we cry ABBA father.
Now here's the verse, the Spirit itself.
Beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Doesn't say the Spirit himself, it says the Spirit itself. And again verse 26.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Well, how do we explain that speaks about the Spirit as being an it?
Is he really a person?
Person's not in it.
Well, in the Old Testament.
The word spirit many languages let me start with this way. Many languages assign a gender to every now.
And we do that not officially, not formally in English, but we will say like the ship will say, she's a beautiful ship.
And we speak of the ship in the feminine gender. She's a beautiful ship.
But in English, the word ship doesn't carry a gender like these other languages.
And it so happens that in Hebrew.
They have two genders, just two, feminine and masculine.
They don't have a neuter gender.
They don't have any it. They have a she or a he feminine, she of masculine, he or her or him. That's the gender they have. And it so happens that the word spirit in the Old Testament is feminine.
It also means wind or breath. Sometimes it's translated that way. And it means that in the New Testament too, the word spirit.
But in the New Testament, we're dealing with the Greek language, and it has three genders. It has the masculine gender he or him, the feminine gender she or her, and then the neuter gender it or itself.
And it so happens that the word Spirit in Greek is in the neuter gender. So when it reads as like in this 26th verse, but the spirit itself.
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The the pronoun itself modifying the noun spirit is in the neutral gender, so it comes out itself. It's merely A grammatical A grammatical thing.
It does not prove, as they say, that the Spirit is in it. In fact, we can prove, and we will prove tonight, the Spirit is a person.
In fact, all three genders are used in the Bible to describe the Spirit. The Old Testament spirit is feminine. In the New Testament, the spirit is neuter. But whenever the Lord Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit, he always speaks of him in the.
Masculine gender. Now turn back for that. Turn back to John chapter 14.
John, Chapter 14.
And verse 16.
And I will pray the Father.
And he shall give you another comforter that he.
May abide with you forever.
Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not.
Neither knoweth him.
But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Again in verse 26.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you.
All things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you again in the 15th chapter, verse 26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.
The Lord always refers to the Holy Spirit as He or Him. Again in the 16th chapter, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him.
Unto you he doesn't say, I will send it unto you. He never uses that language.
I will send him unto you, and when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
And so on.
Verse 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now, albeit when he.
The spirit of truth is come. He will guide you into all truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear.
That shall He speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. Well, I don't have to multiply verses to show you that. When the Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit, he speaks of him in the masculine gender, He or Him or himself.
And so he is indeed a person.
Referred to in the in the Hebrew as feminine because that word that means wind or breath or spirit is feminine in Hebrew, but in the Greek it is neuter. So it is it. Sometimes it comes out that way in the translation.
But that doesn't prove their point. Not a bit of it, in fact. Let's let's look at what characterizes a person. Let's look at some of the things that that characterize a person. He's one of the persons of the Trinity.
And we know the verse I'll quoted to you in Matthew 28 where the Lord speaks of the baptismal formula that we use. He says baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now I want to say this too, that sometimes in our King James Bible, the Holy Spirit is referred to as Holy Ghost, sometimes as Holy Spirit.
That's exactly the same person, it's just that they received instruction from King James when they translated the King James Bible.
Not to translate the same word in the original the same way every time. So sometimes they translated its spirit, sometimes ghost, but it's the same word in the original. And I think it's better to stick with Holy Spirit, which most revisers have done. And I think Mr. Darby's translation always refers to him as the Holy Spirit. There may be an exception to that, but certainly it's basically so.
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But it's the same person regardless of whether you say ghost or spirit.
He is a person.
He has the qualities of a person. Let's look again back to Romans 8.
And we will see.
That it is said of the Spirit of God.
That he has a mind.
Romans 8 and I'll read verse 26 again. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He prays for us, He intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So these are the the marks of a person. And now the next verse. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.
And it does not have a mind, a force.
Does not have a mind and influence does not have a mind, but the Spirit of God has a mind. He is a person because he.
Intercedes for Saints according to the will of God.
Again, the Spirit of God has a will. First Corinthians.
Chapter 12 where we have the chapter that speaks of the Holy Spirit.
So often.
And verse 11.
1St Corinthians 1211 But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. Again, you have the masculine gender, He and he wills, Spirit of God wills and he determines how the gifts are going to be distributed. Just like it says later in the chapter, God does that.
And so he is, He is indeed, he is God.
I didn't refer you to the passage in Acts, and I think I should do that. Acts chapter 5. We'll look at that now before we go on.
To prove that.
He is a person and that he is God.
Himself.
But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price.
His wife also being Privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles feet.
And Peter? Said Ananias.
Why hath Satan fill thine heart to lie to the holy?
Ghosts, you do not lie to an itch.
You lied to a person.
And to keep back part of the price of the land whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Now in the previous verse he had lied to the Holy Ghost, and in this verse he lied to God. The Holy Ghost is God, and he's a person.
As well.
Well, let's look at some of the other qualifications or qualities of a person in Acts Chapter 16.
Acts Chapter 16.
Now verse 6. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia.
And the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. The Holy Ghost forbade them.
To preach the Word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. He did not allow them to do that. This is the action of a person. He forbade them. He did not allow them to go to those places.
So he forbid he speaks.
He speaks.
Acts Chapter 8.
We'll start with the verse that.
Deals with Philip and the Angel.
Acts Chapter 8.
And verse 26 and the Angel of the Lord spake.
Unto Philip saying, Arise and go toward the South, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem. Unto Gaza, which is desert.
No one would deny that the Angel of the Lord was a person. He spake to Philip as a person.
And he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under candidacy, Queen of The Ethiopians.
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Who had the charge of all her treasure, and they had come to Jerusalem for to worship.
Was returning, and sitting in his chariot. Read his science the prophet, and notice. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him. Read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? The Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself.
To this chariot.
Again in Acts 10.
Acts 10.
Verse 19.
While Peter thought on the vision.
The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them.
Doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Now here the Spirit of God is speaking. He's speaking as a sovereign person in the Godhead, and he says don't be afraid to go, to go with him. I have sent them.
Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek. What is the cause? Wherefore ye are come. The book of Acts is often misnamed the Acts of the Apostles. It's really the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
It's the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and the various ones that he was using.
In that day, so the Spirit of God speaks.
He has a mind, and he wills, and he forbids, and he speaks.
He loves.
Let's look at Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5 you see if he's part of the Godhead and God is love.
Then every person in the Godhead must love.
It would be very strange to find that there was one of the three persons of the Godhead that did not love. Well, it's not so.
God is love, Father loveth the Son, and the Son loveth the Father.
And the Spirit also. Now let us look in Romans 5 and verse 5. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God, this is the first time mentioned in Romans, is shed abroad in our hearts. By whom? By the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. He is the one who is qualified to shed abroad in our hearts the love of God.
The one who knows the love of God. The one who is a part of the Godhead.
The one who was one with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, He sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. He dwells within us. Wonderful, tremendous truth. But then let's turn over to Romans 15.
Romans 15.
This is an easy one to remember. 15 and 30.
Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love.
Of the Spirit that she strived together with me in your prayers to God for me.
The love of the Spirit, wonderful expression, the one who sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God, He loves.
Of course he does. He is one of the persons of the Godhead.
And in Ephesians 4.
We find.
That.
He can be grieved.
Turn to Ephesians 4.
Verse 29.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Well, how do we grieve him? You don't grieve in it. You don't grieve a thing. You don't grieve a force. You don't grieve an influence.
You grieve a person.
And he can be grieved now. You can't grieve him away. You can't sin in such sort that he will leave you.
Because he's not in you by virtue of anything that you have done or your godliness of walk.
You can lose the consciousness of communion and you will lose that if you grieve the Spirit of God, and they'll have to bring that home to your soul if you grieve him. But we should think we have a divine person, the Spirit of God, indwelling us. The Lord Jesus was not in the disciples, He was among them.
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But now the truth of Christianity is the Spirit of God indwells us. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He inhabits the house where he dwells. Christendom, the profession of the name of Christ. He inhabits that that house. He dwells there.
And that's what makes it so grievous when Christians do not recognize His presence in their midst collectively, and they grieve Him by not allowing Him to run the meeting.
Instead, they appoint a man to do that, and they have.
An order of church, government and church.
The way they meet church administration and that, and practically speaking.
They ignore his presence.
And they may even deny his presence, or they treat him as though he were not there. And this is very grievous.
We can grieve him personally by doing a number of things. Like the next verse says, let all bitterness.
And wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Malice is evil intent to injure someone.
And be ye kind one to another. There's this positive side. We can please him. We can give joy to his heart, be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you. So we can do that which is displeasing to Him. We can grieve him. It's a very serious thing to grieve the Spirit of God.
Whether we do it individually or collectively. And there are some that teach that the Spirit of God is only among the Saints who are gathered to the Lord's name. He's not elsewhere. That's wrong.
If that were true, then you couldn't fault those in system for not looking to the Spirit to lead them if he wasn't there.
You couldn't fault them if he wasn't there. You can't fault them. The sin is, as Mr. Darby wrote, the dispensationally A clergyman. The notion of a clergyman is dispensationally the sin against the Holy Ghost. The sin is he is there.
He is there. He is wherever Christians are, whether they recognize His presence, whether they lean upon Him to lead in their meetings or not.
If they don't, that's their sin, because they're because he is there. He is there.
And that's so important to realize that now that's a different truth than the presence of the Lord in the midst as gathered to his name. That's a different truth. I was talking to one brother recently and he put those two together all the time as we talked. I'd say something about the Holy Spirit being present among all Christians wherever they gather. And then he would say, you mean the Lord is in their midst wherever the guy said. I didn't say that, I didn't say that. No, He's only in the midst of those that are gathered.
His name but the Spirit of God is.
Is on the earth inhabiting God's house, which has become like unto a great house.
Filled with all kinds of things that are not of God. But the Spirit is not taking his leave. He is still there. And because He is there, whenever Christians meet, they're held accountable and responsible to look to Him, to lead and guide.
And not some man appointed person or something of that sort. So it's a sin and we can grieve him in that way. We can also quench him in First Thessalonians chapter 5.
Turn over to 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5.
Verse 16. Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything, give thanks. Very short, terse statements, wonderful truths.
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks.
For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench, not the Spirit.
Despise, not prophesying.
Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.
The spies not prophesying.
And don't quench the spirit. You quench the spirit when you do not allow Him.
To lead.
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And guide in the assembly. Now we can do that like just take this morning. I wasn't here, we weren't here. We were in the Marysville but.
If the Lord prompted you, if the Spirit of God prompted you this morning to give out to him or to give thanks.
Or to.
Read a portion of scripture and you didn't do it. You quenched the Spirit.
He wanted you to do it and you didn't follow his leading so.
When we do what he does not like, we grieve him.
When we don't do what He wants us to do, we quench Him.
And we can do that.
We should be supple in his hands, so to speak, sensitive to his promptings and to his leadings.
And.
The realization that he is there, he is there.
He does not leave us.
There's a verse in Scripture that indicates that more than one.
That he is with us forever. John 14.
And other passages. And he is in us. But he will never leave us. We may grieve him.
We may quench you. Oftentimes He is quenched. You can quench the spirit by.
Setting up a clergy where everything has to be done by the man in charge instead of looking to the Spirit of God. We can also have an order of things that is according to scripture and quench the spirit because we don't.
Do what He would have us to do. We don't pray when he would have us to pray. We don't give thanks when he would have us to give thanks. We don't read a verse or give out a hymn in order to do some of those things, like giving out of him or reading a scripture, you have to be acquainted with the book. You've got to know the Scriptures and you've got to be acquainted with the hymn book too. So we, we just don't get in a magical prompting by the Spirit when we're not.
We're not qualified.
We haven't been in the hymn book, we haven't acquainted ourselves with it or with the word of God, and so we can quench him.
In those ways.
So we can grieve him. We can quench him. This is a person we're talking about, not a force, not an it, not an influence.
But a person?
The Spirit of God in Scripture does not have a distinctive name like the Father and the Son have.
I think one of the reasons for that is that he is like the woman.
We had that before us this afternoon, and I'll just refer to it. In Luke 15, we have a beautiful picture of the Trinity.
We have the shepherd going out after the lost sheep, that's the Lord Jesus, and not quitting until he find it.
Lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing and brings it home. And then we have the woman. That's a picture of the Holy Spirit. Very fitting picture of the Holy Spirit the woman is.
Not in public. Notice she's not out front in the public. She stays at home. Like they asked Abraham, where is Sarah thy wife? He said. Behold, she's in the tent where she belonged in the domestic sphere. She's in the tent.
And so the woman is an apartment picture of the Holy Spirit.
Who keeps out of sight we don't see the Spirit of God. He works a windblower where it listeth, and I hears the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit, the the Spirit of God. When he's the first mover in our in the life of a believer, He brings that soul into exercise before God.
He is the first mover. God is always the first mover. If He hadn't moved first in any of our lives, none of us would be saved.
Because we have a will which is disposed against him.
But he has moved in our lives and the Spirit of God is that great power. He is a power, but he is a wonderful power. But that's not all. He's a person and.
And he leads us.
And desires to use us so we can quench him.
It's a solemn thing, a serious thing to quench the Spirit of God. He wants to use this. There's a verse that says.
Whatsoever is not of faith his sin. There's another verse that says whosoever knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him and his sin. The Spirit of God tells you to do something, you don't do it, It's sin. We can quench him.
Well.
He was active in creation.
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You'll find him active in everything that God does. Going back to Genesis one for a moment.
Genesis 1. In fact, he's the first person mentioned of the Trinity in the Bible as a distinct person.
He's mentioned in connection with Creation.
Genesis 1 and verse one. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Now I just point out that that word God is the Hebrew word elohim, which is in the plural and it really embraces all three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God plural created singular the heaven and the earth, but when he's singled out, he's mentioned in the next verse the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God.
Moved upon the face of the waters.
So the first, very first part of the new test of the Old Testament we have him mentioned and the the New Testament ends and I'll turn to Revelation 22 and read the verse in Revelation 22, verse 17, the end of the New Testament, after Christ has gathered out a bride, God has gathered out a bride for his Son and the Spirit and the bride say come. The Spirit and the bride say come.
So he's mentioned in the 1St chapter of the Bible, He's mentioned in the last as the one that is that is calling for the Lord Jesus to come. He joins our call, He prompts our call, He energizes our call. The Spirit and the bride say come. Wonderful for the Spirit of God to be there to prompt us.
And lead us.
Into the truth.
He is involved in inspiration. Look at First Corinthians chapter 2.
First Corinthians, chapter 2.
All of the things that God does.
Are done by the Spirit.
First Corinthians, chapter 2.
Verse 11. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him?
Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
The only one who knows the things of God is the Spirit of God. He is God. He is one of the Persons of the Trinity.
And he knows the things of God, and he communicates them to us.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.
That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak not in the words, which man's wisdom teacheth Here you have now inspiration, the Spirit of God, communicating the very words to the apostles to give us, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth communicating. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual are the new translation reads Communicating spiritual things by spiritual words.
Or spiritual words by spiritual things. The Spirit of God is the one who is involved in inspiration. Next verse says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.
If the Word of God is foolishness to you, you're a natural man. You've never been born again. You've never been sealed by the Holy Spirit. You are ignorant of divine truth because the natural man understandeth not.
The things doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to Him.
Neither can he know them. He can't know them. He can't understand this book. You can go to the the most educated college professor in the land and he can teach his subjects with great skill and power, but given the Bible and he doesn't understand it.
It is something to him. It's a closed book to him because he does not have the Spirit of God to teach him.
These things are spiritually discerned only discerned by the Spirit who teaches us.
So we have the Spirit of God as our teacher. He is the one that inspired the book.
He now indwells us to make known to us the meaning of its contents. And how wonderful to have a divine teacher. For that, let's turn to 1St John Chapter 2.
First Epistle of John, chapter 2.
We don't have the Spirit of God mentioned in so many words here, but he's referred to.
Under the title of anointing.
Verse 20 of 1 John 2 But ye have an unction. That word means an unction or an anointing.
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From the Holy One and you know all things.
And then again in verse 27, but the anointing same word is rendered unction in this 20th verse is now rendered anointing.
By the same principle that I cited earlier, that the King James translators were told not to translate the same Greek word with the same English word, and so they translated anointing, sometimes unction. And it's too bad they did that because it's hard to do a word search in the English language because of that. You have to know the original verse 27, but the anointing which ye have received of him.
Abideth in you.
And you need not that any man teach you.
But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and His truth, and is no lie.
And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Now those verses are addressed to the babes in the family.
There's 3 levels in the family of God. The fathers, they've known him, that is from the beginning, which is Christ. Then there's the young man. They are strong. They've overcome the world and overcome the wicked one. They're strong because the word of God abides in them. And then you have the babes, the children, they know the father, they can cry, have a father, the first cry of a newborn child, the 1St.
Utterance you might say that is of intelligible could be daddy.
Mama or Dada or Mama or Daddy or Papa.
And so we have the 2 words, the Aramaic word ABBA.
Abbas like daddy or Papa, it doesn't require any teeth to say ABBA. A baby can say that before it has teeth. And then father. Father speaks more of maturity. ABBA father.
The youngest in the family and he's telling these young ones, these babes that you don't need the methodical teachings of men as they have them in schools and so on. But the, the anointing that abides in you, He teaches you. You don't need a man as such to teach you. Now God, Christ has given teachers to his church and he does teach them through these gifts. And that's not what he's referring to.
He's referring to man as such, without the Spirit of God.
And they will not lead you correctly. And we can be kept from all kinds of error by being subject to the Word under the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God is active in the birth of Christ. Let's look at.
That beautiful passage in Luke chapter 1.
Luke chapter 1.
Well, let me let me refer you to Matthew one first, and then we'll look at the one in Luke, Matthew chapter 1.
Matthew, Chapter 1.
Verse 20.
Verse 19 But Joseph.
Her husband.
She was found with child of the Holy Ghost and he didn't know who the Father was of this.
Conception. It was the Holy Ghost.
It wasn't Joseph and Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example.
Was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the Lord, and appear of appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, Marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
If you have a margin in your Bible, the word conceived there is properly translated begotten. That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Ghost. Spirit of God is the begetting power in place of the man in connection with this birth.
Man had nothing to do with it.
Mary was His mother, He had no earthly father. That which is begotten in hers of the Holy Ghost. So it was the Holy Spirit that was the bigoter in that birth. Turn now to Luke chapter 1.
Luke chapter 1.
You see that everything that God does, he does by the Holy Ghost.
In Luke chapter 1.
Mary was told she was going to have a child and then she says in verse 34 unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man.
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And the Angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. That verse has the whole Trinity in it. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. The power of the highest that would be God the Father shall over shadow thee. Therefore that which is born of thee shall be called the Son of God, the Son of God. So you have all three persons of the Blessed Trinity in that verse, the Holy Ghost.
As the one that.
Prevented the sin nature of Mary from being transferred to that child.
And preserved his humanity wholly the holy thing.
Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Tremendous truth The Holy Ghost preserved His humanity wholly holy.
Holy, he was given. Let's look at John 3.
He was given.
Quite differently than in the Old Testament when the Spirit of God came upon someone in the Old Testament.
He came upon them, the prophets, they spoke under the power of the Holy Spirit for the occasion, and they look forward and they prophesied of things that are to come, and they didn't even understand their own prophecy sometimes. But it was the Spirit of God that moved them to utter the prophecy, and then He left them. He did not remain with them. But there's a verse in John 334.
For he whom God hath sent.
That's the Lord Jesus speaketh the words of God.
God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. Again, that's another verse that has all three persons in it. God sent the Son, and He has given the Spirit without measure.
He hath not given the Spirit by measure unto him. What does that mean?
That means that when he received the Holy Spirit as a man, he received him in the full power of the Holy Ghost. He'll never be taken from him. He will be with him as man forever.
And that unto him.
The last part God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. It was certainly true of the Lord. The translators are not wrong in what they've the way they've rendered it, but it also is true of you and me.
He has not given this spirit by measure unto us either.
Because He has given the Spirit to us.
Based upon the redemptive work of Christ. It's not based upon anything that you or me that deserves it, that merits it.
That has done anything for it, but it's the work of Christ which is the basis.
For this giving of the Holy Spirit to us. And He saw He's not given by measure like he was in the Old Testament, but he shall abide with you, John 14, and shall be in you the Spirit of God-given without measure. This the Lord, the blessed Lord, He received the Spirit as a dove came upon him at the river Jordan when he was baptized.
By John the Spirit came upon him. The voice of the Father was heard from heaven. You have the Trinity there.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, but he came upon him as a dove when the spirit was poured out upon the believers.
In Acts chapter 2 it was as flames of fire. Flames of fire.
Tongues as tongues of fire.
And.
Why fire? I believe the thought of the fire is that there is that in us which needs to be purged out. We have a sin nature in us. He did not. He received the Spirit by virtue of the perfection of His person. We received the Spirit by virtue of the perfection of His work. His work? Well, both are perfect, and so both are. The Spirit is given to both to Him and to us without measure.
Without measure.
No measure to it. It's the full display and the power and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Wonderful truth. The Spirit of God is involved in the resurrection.
I want to show it was, we're taking this up, how all three persons are involved in the resurrection while you're in John just turned back to the second chapter, John chapter 2.
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And verse 18.
That answered the Jews, and said unto him, Jesus, what signs show us thou unto us, seeing thou that thou doest these things, Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple.
And in three days I will raise it up.
They didn't understand his words.
Then, said the Jews, 46 years was this temple in building, and now it reared up in three days.
But he spake.
Of the temple of his body.
When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this.
Unto them, and they believe the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said, Just think of those words, You kill me.
You destroy this temple.
Only God could say that. Or a madman.
Certainly couldn't be a normal person.
Only he could raise himself from the dead.
Well, the father also raised him. Look at Romans chapter 6.
Romans, chapter 6.
And verse.
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death.
That, like his Christ, was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.
Even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
So the Father, the Father's glory raised Him from the dead. The Lord raised Himself from the dead. John two and first Peter three, we have the Holy Spirit mentioned in connection with the Lord being.
Brought to life after his.
Death.
First Peter 3 verse 18 For Christ hath also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, quickened, made alive.
By the Spirit, so all three persons, as always, were active in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
All three persons are active in the death of the Lord Jesus. Turned back to Hebrews 9.
Hebrews, Chapter 9.
And verse 13.
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit.
Offered himself without spot to God. Here we have the Trinity again in one verse.
The Son offering himself by the eternal Spirit, without spot to God.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who offered Himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Spirit of God was involved in his death, was involved in his birth, was involved in his entire life.
He, being LED of the Spirit, went forth into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. It says he was justified in the Spirit. First Timothy 3 Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit.
Seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Justified in the Spirit.
Declared.
Who he was by.
The spirits leading in guidance in his life.
He offered himself by the eternal Spirit, without spot to God.
We could go through all of these different areas, the creation.
The IT was pointed out to me as a beautiful verse in connection with the creation. I'll turn you to it. Ecclesiastes. Turn back to Ecclesiastes. I enjoyed it so much.
You don't see it in your English Bible.
But Ecclesiastes 12 and verse one reads, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.
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Now I told you that the word Elohim in Genesis 1.
Is the plural for God.
Where that is used with a plural.
Verb. It's translated God's in the plural, where it's used with.
Singular verb. It's translated God. It's the true God.
Three persons, one God.
And this word creator in the Hebrew, you can't see it in the English.
Is in the plural.
Remember now thy creators in the days of thy youth, Well, they don't translate it that way. Thy creator, He is a plural in majesty, a plural in unity.
One God, one Creator, three persons involved in the creation.
Was the Father involved in the creation? Absolutely. Was the Son involved in the creation? Absolutely. Was the Spirit involved in the creation?
Absolutely all three persons, and they're found in these Hebrew words, Elohim.
And Creator here in the plural, in fact, everything that God does.
Everything that he does, he purposes.
And that's usually we attribute that to the father and then he carries it out.
You attribute that to the Son in the power and energy of the Holy Spirit.
You attribute that to the Spirit of God, all three working together in perfect harmony and unity. But the Spirit of God has been given to us and indwells us.
He is called the spirit of adoption.
The Spirit of His Son, the Eternal Spirit, the Comforter.
The spirit of life, the spirit of glory.
You can think of many others.
Titles. Names given to the Holy Spirit. There are symbols. He is symbolized when he came upon the Lord as a dove.
He came upon the Christians he symbolized as tongues, like as of fire.
And.
He is symbolized as water. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
This spake he of the Spirit.
Which they that believe on him should receive, and so on.
Wonderful to think of him as he's portrayed in the scriptures he's symbolized as oil.
You remember the leper when he was cleansed, they took blood and sprinkled it on his right ear.
And on his right thumb and on his right toe, and then on top of the blood, they sprinkled the oil. The oil is a type of the Holy Spirit who seals the soul by virtue of the blood of Christ. We get sealed after we believe the gospel, and then we can hear and act and walk for Him.
By the Spirit's power, as we are now under the blood of Christ. Well, beautiful types, these Old Testament types.
Beautiful gospel pictures that God gives us the Spirit.
Is typified by the oil.
How good and how pleasant it is for a brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the.
The precious oil that was poured upon the priest and ran down upon the beard, and so on. The Spirit of God producing unity.
The unity of the Spirit we're exhorted to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. When was that formed? When was that unity formed? It was formed on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came down from a glorified Christ in heaven. And he came down and he, he baptized those 120 believers into one body and they then became something they weren't before. They became the body of Christ no longer just.
Individuals, but members one of another and of the glorified head in heaven.
He's spoken of individually. That's a collective truth, the baptism of the Spirit that took place once, and every soul that is saved from then on after is brought into that, that unity which the Spirit of God produced by his coming.
And we're to keep it practically, you know, with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
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How to keep the unity of the Spirit to walk under the power and guidance of the Spirit of God?
We've also been sealed with the Spirit. We've been born of the Spirit. First action of the Holy Spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. New life from God, which is from the Holy Spirit. And then he seals us when we believe the gospel of our salvation.
He seals us. He is the seal. A farmer, he will, a rancher. He will buy cattle, and he purchases them. They're his by purchase. But then he does something more. He marks them out as belonging to him. He stamps them with his stamp.
And he brands them, and they have His name on them. So God has branded us, if you will. He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. He has marked us out as His. We belong to Him. The Spirit of God is the seal.
And he's here to glorify Christ. He's not here to speak of himself. He's not here to draw attention to himself. When you find Christians that are constantly looking within to see how they're making progress in the Christian life, they're just being occupied with self in some form or another. The Spirit of God doesn't do that.
He leads us to be occupied with Christ. You want to see a spirit LED Christian, you'll see one that is always Speaking of Christ and seeking to glorify him. He's not under law. He's not under *******. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty, but the law is *******. And so the Spirit of God has given us to set us free, if the sun shall set you free.
Ye shall be free indeed.
He's also the earnest of the inheritance.
He gives us to enjoy now what we will enjoy in that coming day of glory, which is.
Soon to dawn upon us, He's been given to us.
He is the teacher, the anointing. We already looked at that.
So we have these different aspects of the Spirit of God. I think the word Spirit occurs something like 400 times in the Old Testament, 600 in the new. So there's no way in an hour lecture that I can cover the whole subject. But we've touched upon a lot of precious things tonight in connection with the Holy Spirit, who was here not to draw attention to himself, but to glorify Christ. It's like a godly woman. She doesn't draw.
Attention to herself, she points to her husband, and she seeks to to exalt him before the eyes of others. That's what the Spirit of God is here to do.