Holy Spirit–Indispensable to Life of the Church, 1

The point: Count God's Word as hid treasure, search for it, and hunger and thirst for it as necessary food for the soul.

A little boy brings his mother a fistful of dandelions, illustrating the great delight of love to bring delight to its object and the mother's joy in receiving his expression of love.

that sanctifying grace, preventive grace, O Lord, may Your Word do its manifold work in all of our hearts, we plead to the praise of Your own holy name, we ask through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I doubt there is anyone here this morning who would argue with me when I say that delight and grief are words which always belong to the language and to the experience of love. It is the great delight of love to bring delight to its object. We see this when the little boy, clutching a fistful of freshly picked dandelions in his grubby hand, bursts through the back door and goes running through the ho...

2:34 - 4:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Count God's Word as hid treasure, search for it, and hunger and thirst for it as necessary food for the soul.

A young man proposing marriage and seeing his beloved say 'yes' further illustrates the great delight of love to bring delight to its object.

who can paint the look of delight upon his face when his mother stoops over and accepts this bouquet of dandelions for what it is in the perception of her son, an expression of his love, desiring to delight his mommy. And the grin that was already like a jack-o'-lantern almost stretches the muscles of his cheeks when she bends over and pats his head and kisses him on the cheek and praises him for expressing his love in that way. Surely, watching a scene like that, no one would debate that it's the great delight of love to delight the object of its love. Or we might say, we might move from the ...

4:01 - 5:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Count God's Word as hid treasure, search for it, and hunger and thirst for it as necessary food for the soul.

The mother, too busy to accept her son's dandelions, later finds him sobbing, illustrating the great grief of love to cause grief to its object and her subsequent sorrow.

But the reverse is true. It's the great grief of love to cause grief to its object. Suppose the mother in her busyness only saw the boy's grubby hand and these half-crushed dandelions, and she said, son, don't bother me right now. Mom's too busy.

6:01 - 6:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And what is called a church may be no more a true, living temple of God than that wax figure of Winston Churchill there in Madam Tussauds Wax Museum in London, is the living God of the world.

A wax figure of Winston Churchill is used to illustrate that a church without the Holy Spirit is a dead, lifeless representation, lacking true spiritual life despite outward forms.

They may receive proper incorporation and recognition by the state as a non-profit religious corporation. They may carry on business and be very successful, and yet be, says the Holy Spirit, a living temple or sanctuary of the living God, which is no longer a true biblical church. Men cannot make what constitutes a living temple of the living God. And what is called a church may be no more a true, living temple of God than that wax figure of Winston Churchill there in Madam Tussauds Wax Museum in London, is the living God of the world.

14:04 - 14:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin argues that only the Holy Spirit can make a church a living temple of God, distinguishing it from mere religious organizations or lifeless representations. He expounds 1…

The church is described as 'God's tilled land,' implying intentional work and cultivation, not a wild, unkempt field, to show God's active involvement.

We are yoked together under God. We are God's fellow workers. Now he uses two images for the church. You are God's tilled land.

18:00 - 18:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin argues that only the Holy Spirit can make a church a living temple of God, distinguishing it from mere religious organizations or lifeless representations. He expounds 1…

The church is described as 'God's building,' implying careful planning and construction, not something that just happened, to emphasize its divine origin and structure.

You are God's building. And whenever you see a well-constructed building with symmetry made of solid materials, it didn't just happen. Somebody planned it. Somebody labored in order to construct it.

18:38 - 18:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin argues that only the Holy Spirit can make a church a living temple of God, distinguishing it from mere religious organizations or lifeless representations. He expounds 1…

The Shekinah glory over the tent of meeting and later the temple is used as an example of God's unique, sovereignly manifested presence that validated Israel's claim as His people, paralleling the Spirit's unique presence in the church.

Not according to this passage. That His presence, His personal presence in a unique dimension that I am not prepared to even attempt to begin to define is a unique dimension and a unique element of that which makes the church the church. Just as surely as one of the things that separated the Israelites and their professed peculiar relationship to God was the Shekinah glory that was over the tent of meeting as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. No one could imitate that. No religion among us, no religion among the nations could coerce Jehovah to give them a pillar and a cloud. God so...

23:37 - 24:58 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin argues that only the Holy Spirit can make a church a living temple of God, distinguishing it from mere religious organizations or lifeless representations. He expounds 1…

The image of a temple with all its rituals but without the special presence of God is used to describe a church where the Lord Jesus has removed His lampstand, leaving only a 'wax figure' of what once was living.

And when God does forsake them, the very imagery that the prophet uses is that that Shekinah removes from the temple until it is gone. And they're left with the temple with all of its rituals and all of its forms and all of its ceremonies. But it is a temple without the special presence of God. And when the Lord Jesus removes a lampstand, He may in His providence leave behind the wax figure of what once was a living temple.

24:58 - 25:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Be exceedingly jealous for two things in public worship: only engage in practices God has instituted, and consciously depend on the Spirit's presence and power to make them effectual.

Martin quotes Vaughan's work on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the need for jealousy regarding the purity of God's institutions and conscious dependence on the Spirit to make them effectual.

In what is a unique essay, at least in terms of my reading of literature on the subject, Vaughan in his masterful work on the gifts of the Holy Spirit has a chapter on the Holy Spirit in conjunction with public worship. And he begins the chapter by saying that the people of God must be exceedingly jealous for two things in their public worship. Number one, that they overshadow the Holy Spirit in their public worship. They only engage in those practices which God Himself has instituted, and that they engage in all that He has instituted.

26:28 - 27:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third line of evidence is that the Holy Spirit alone imparts the gifts and graces essential for the church's true identity and effective ministry. He demonstrates this through…

The church growth movement's advice to target specific demographics (e.g., 'middle class yuppies') is used as a negative example, contrasting it with the Spirit's work in creating supernatural unity across diverse groups.

The emphasis is upon that unique unity in the new humanity that is not based upon natural, cultural, sociological factors as the church growth people tell us. They say, you want to have a successful church? Light begets and attracts light. Decide if you're going to have a church of middle class yuppies and then aim at your yuppies and yuppies will attract yuppies and yuppies will multiply yuppies.

46:09 - 46:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize what a dreadful thing it would be to grieve the Holy Spirit, who alone makes us what we're supposed to be and confers what we need to function.

The concept of a 'backup system' is used to highlight that many churches rely on carnal planning and entertainment, but true Reformed churches, relying on God's simple institutions, have no such system if the Spirit is absent.

And we have no backup system. You see, this is one of the great tragedies. In many churches, whether the Spirit of God is present or not, you still have a good time. Because there is so much that is carnally planned and promoted and paraded that at least you get some aesthetic enjoyment.

54:10 - 54:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize what a dreadful thing it would be to grieve the Holy Spirit, who alone makes us what we're supposed to be and confers what we need to function.

The story of Achan's sin and Israel's defeat at Ai is used as an example of God's absence due to sin and the necessity of dealing with sin for God's presence to return, illustrating the lack of a 'backup system' for God's people.

Wherein have we believed you? Just like Israel. When she was to conquer Canaan, God says, keep my rules, I'll be with you. Break them and you're in trouble.

55:10 - 55:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, for He alone constitutes the Church, confers divine life-giving power, and imparts essential gifts and graces.

The term 'strict reformed sandwich' is used to describe the simple structure of Reformed worship, but then countered with the idea that it becomes a profound 'sandwich' when the living God is present and feeds His people.

Only the Holy Ghost can make them effectual. And when He makes them effectual, you don't want anything else. Do you? Someone said concerning our kind of service, well, it's just one of those strict reformed sandwiches.

55:48 - 56:03 Read in full sermon