Person, Necessity and Unity of

In this part of the sermon: He explains his methodology: instead of tackling specific questions about the Spirit in isolation, he will first establish broad, foundational biblical principles to form a…

Martin uses the image of an open Bible surrounded by question marks to illustrate the common approach of seeking instant answers to specific questions about the Holy Spirit without first establishing foundational biblical principles.

I've done it occasionally, but it gets awfully crowded and we've got to move the pulpit and the rest. But if you'll picture here a large open Bible. There, I'll help you. There it is, okay?

10:12 - 10:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid insulting the Holy Spirit by treating Him as an impersonal force or referring to Him as 'it.'

He uses the analogy of someone admiring a house and referring to the builder as 'it' to highlight the insult of treating the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force rather than a person.

You hear people talk about Holy Ghost power. How would you feel if you constructed a house? Someone came by and was admiring that house, and they said, who did it? You say, it did it.

23:07 - 23:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Seek to be careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit, remembering that He is a person who indwells you.

The husband-wife relationship is used as an analogy for the sensitive conscience believers should cultivate towards the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the desire to avoid grieving a person with whom one has an intimate relationship.

As person he is grieved. And when I remember that he is person, I know a few things that are a greater spur to the maintenance of a sensitive conscience than the fact that I am indwelt by a person. A person indwells me. And the closest analogy I know is that of a husband-wife relationship.

24:18 - 24:39 Read in full sermon

The point: When assessing a professed movement or manifestation of the Spirit, ask if it gives proper regard to His divinity and personality.

Martin recounts someone describing a spiritual experience as 'like having vodka in my orange juice' to illustrate an irreverent and unbiblical view of the Holy Spirit as a means to an ecstatic 'kick.'

And so I plead with you, dear friends, seek to cultivate that consciousness of the divinity and the personality of the Holy Spirit, and whenever you're trying to assess a professed movement of the Spirit, a professed manifestation of the Spirit, ask yourself the question, does it give proper regard, this particular manifestation, to the divinity of the Spirit? I remember reading somewhere when someone was talking about his great experience, he said it was like having, vodka in my orange juice, talking about the Holy Ghost, giving him a kick, like vodka in his orange juice. That's not the Holy ...

26:08 - 27:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second principle is the absolute necessity of the Spirit's work in salvation, not as an optional 'extra' but as indispensable as Christ's death. Without the Spirit's work in…

He shares a personal anecdote about preaching in a beautiful, debt-free church building where he felt the Holy Spirit could 'completely vacate that thing' without anyone noticing, illustrating how many evangelical churches operate without the Spirit's essential presence.

And I speak by bitter experience. I couldn't wait to get back here in this place this Sunday after where I had to preach three nights this past week. Beautiful, brand-new building, debt-free. The thruway was coming through where the other church was through the money way like a drunken sailor.

40:26 - 40:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin extends the necessity of the Spirit's work to the church, arguing that His presence is of the very essence of the church, making it a true temple for God's inhabitation…

The analogy of a heathen temple built for a god, where the temple's purpose ceases if the god is removed, is used to explain that the church exists for God's inhabitation through the Spirit, and without Him, it ceases to be a true church.

Based upon the redemptive work of Christ, that's the foundation. Ephesians, chapter 2, he says in verse 20, you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone in whom each several building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple in the Lord, and here's the unique characteristic of that temple, in whom ye are builded together for inhabitation of God to the temple it's to contain your God. When the heathen have their God they build a temple and in the place that's called the shrine, the central focus of worship, that's where...

41:37 - 42:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: because there is division of responsibility and ministry if you get the work of the trinity so split up that you can have direct dealings with Christ and not with the spirit or with the spirit and not with Christ you've …

A baseball team with distinct positions but essential unity of purpose (scoring runs) is used to clarify the difference between 'unity' and 'identity' in the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in salvation.

now notice I did not say identity but unity out on a ball field you got nine men on a baseball diamond on a team and there is essential unity in their overall function they're trying to produce the most runs for their side and keep the other team from getting as many in the simplest terms I know that's the essential unity of purpose and of work but now there's not identity the catcher is not the pitcher the pitcher is not the catcher and the first baseman is not the shortstop there is individual responsibility but there is essential unity now what's true in a ball field and I trust the analogy...

45:38 - 47:04 Read in full sermon