Person, Necessity and Unity of

Introduction: The Need for Foundational Principles on the Holy Spirit

0:01 Last Lord's Day evening, for some 20 consecutive evening studies, we have been considering various aspects of the teaching of Holy Scripture on the great theme of sanctification, God's work in salvation, which has to do with the overhauling of the man himself. Well, justification, of course, has to do with what God declares true of us on the basis of the merits of Christ. Sanctification has to do with God's work in us by the Spirit and by the virtue of Christ's death and his present intercession. However, I indicated last Lord's Day evening that I was constrained by a number of factors to break into that series and to consider with you four several points. First of all, I would like to present to you on this special Lord's Day evening some very basic biblical principles relative to the work of the Holy Spirit. The Church in the history of her existence has been plagued with constant deflections from the scriptural teaching with reference to the work of the Spirit, and in a very natural way, or it would be very natural to understand why this should be an area of confusion, because, you see, the Holy Spirit works in the realm of the Son.

1:25 And that is because the subject is the subject in the internal, and objective truth is much easier to keep in line than truths which deal with the subjective and the personal and the inward. And so I suggested last Lord's Day evening that as we approach this subject where there has been, and no doubt in a group this size would be present here, great diversity of background, great diversity of conviction, that we must first of all seek under God the truth of the Holy Spirit. And that is why I am here today, and I am here today to talk with you about the great diversity of background, great diversity of conviction, that we must first of all seek under God the truth of the Holy Spirit. to have a proper attitude in approaching this subject.

A Proper Attitude for Approaching Scripture

2:01 And I suggested that a proper attitude would be comprised of three things. First of all, a conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit. The scriptures are not open to the clever or to the wise, but they are open to those who have been given the mind of children. Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.

2:30 The Apostle Paul indicates his conscious dependence upon the Spirit in opening up the truth of God in his prayer for the Ephesians, and we looked at it last week, Ephesians 1, 15-17. Then secondly, our attitude should be characterized by teachableness. By the disposition reflected in the commentary on the Bereans in Acts 17-11, where scripture says they received the word with readiness of mind. There was a teachableness.

3:03 They did not come with the attitude that no one could teach them anything and that they would sit in judgment upon the pronouncements of the Apostle and see if he had it straight according to their preconceived notions. No, there was this teachable spirit, the acknowledgment that there was much more yet to learn. And then thirdly, a proper attitude consists of an investigative and discerning spirit. For in that same text it says, they searched the scriptures day by day whether these things were so.

3:40 They didn't swallow everything merely because an apostle said it, but as long as he was expounding scripture, there was a teachable spirit, but there was also an investigative and discerning spirit. And they investigated, noticed, with reference to a fixed standard of authority. It does not say they received the word with readiness of mind and searched their own experience to see whether this was so. It says they searched the scriptures to see whether these things were so.

4:11 There was an objective, fixed standard to which everything was brought. And that must be our attitude. And then they did it with persistence. Many people go astray in many areas of biblical truth, particularly in the area of the work of the spirit, because they want quick, easy answers to thorny, knotty problems.

4:35 They get the itch for the instant answer. And so someone comes along and says, well, it's very clear. And they quote three or four verses and say, well, and they say, boy, that does seem clear. And they swallow the whole shoot and match.

4:49 The Bereans weren't that way. It says they were noble. And how did their spiritual nobility manifest itself? They searched the scriptures.

4:57 Scriptures day by day. Persistence. Many spiritual ills are rooted in mental laziness.

5:08 May I repeat it? Many spiritual ills are rooted in mental laziness. For one of the effects of the fall is this crippling of our mental faculties and this disposition to mental laziness. God says thou shalt love me not only with all your heart, but with all your mind.

5:32 And someone who's been caught up in a deflection of biblical truth with reference to the Holy Spirit upon hearing the tape of a certain preacher recently that was exposition and application and careful opening up of scripture said, that's not for me. You've got to think too much. And little did he know he was betraying the very thing that led him down the path in which he now finds himself. They searched the scriptures.

6:02 Scriptures day by day. God nowhere says that everything in scripture is easy to arrive at. That's why Peter said, our beloved brother Paul hath written things hard to be understood.

6:17 And therefore it demands intense thought and careful persistence. And then that investigativeness and discernment was carried out not only with reference to a fixed standard, with persistence, but with submission to the authority of the word. Whether these things were so. And once they were so, the next verse says, and many believed.

6:43 They were not searching it out with a view, well, that once I arrive at truth, then I'll decide whether I want to buy truth. No, no, you'll never arrive at truth with that disposition. If any man will to do my will, Jesus said, he shall know of the doctrine. There must be that disposition of heart, of commitment, to present truth if we would be candidates for further truth.

7:08 And so may God help us as we further investigate the teaching of scripture that it will be with that attitude, oh God, wherever the hand of scripture leads me, I will go, even if I must trample over cherished opinions,

7:25 even if I must walk over time-worn traditions, I'm willing to go where the hand of scripture leads. This is the attitude of the Bereans. And I suggest as we approach the subject of the work of the Holy Spirit, it must be our attitude as well. And then we concluded last week's study by laying before you a basic principle of interpretation without which it is impossible to come to any clear understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit.

A Basic Principle of Interpretation: Teaching Regulates Narrative

7:59 And the principle of interpretation that comes out of scripture is this, all of the narrative, descriptions of the work of the Holy Spirit, and that's particularly in the book of Acts, must be interpreted in the light of the teaching portions that are found in the prophecies of our Lord and in the epistles. And I gave it to you this way, the teaching portions explaining the person and work of the Holy Spirit must regulate our understanding of the history, the historical portions which describe the work of the Holy Spirit. And you must never get them reversed. Let me give it to you again. The teaching portions explaining the person and work of the Spirit, John 14, John 16, Ephesians 1, and many other passages, the teaching portions explaining the person and work of the Spirit must govern our understanding of the historical, biblical portions describing the work of the Holy Spirit, namely, the book of Acts. And if one takes his dominant theology of the Holy Spirit out of the book of Acts and makes that regulate the teaching of our Lord and of the apostles, he will end up in hopeless confusion and oft times in terrible, terrible

9:29 spiritual darkness.

9:33 And so as we come to this subject, and I can't go back over everything last week, I trust you, I must, I demonstrated from the scriptures that this is the principle which we must follow in our interpretation. Well, so much then for the proper attitude, the basic principle of interpretation. Now, I wish to consider with you tonight some of these foundational principles, these foundational guidelines which must govern all our conclusions with reference to the work of the Holy Spirit. And what I'm doing, and if I had the blackboard, and I almost toyed with the idea, but it gets crowded up here with the blackboard.

Framework for Understanding the Holy Spirit: Principles Over Specific Questions

10:12 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?

10:22 There it is. And out here, about six question marks. And here are all the areas where people have, not all, some of the areas where people have questions about the work of the Holy Spirit. Some of the most burning questions.

10:34 What about tongues? What about the baptism of the Spirit? What about...

10:40 And then you've got all those questions. Now, the natural thing to do is to take those questions and without any kind of principles extracted from Scripture within which those questions can be resolved, to come with each question and try to find chapter and verse that answers that question. Then chapter and verse that answers question two, question three, question four. But so often, though this, again, is the itch that all of us have.

11:05 We want instant answers. We want index-type answers. We go wrong in these specific areas because we are wrong in our principles. And so what I want to do with you is to go to the Scriptures and see if we can extract some overall broad concepts of the work of the Holy Spirit and let those basic principles form a framework within which we'll take the specific questions and have a basis of resolving them and answering them.

11:39 So you see what we're doing? We're not avoiding the specific questions. We're trying to set the stage so that those questions can be wrestled with and answered with some degree of accuracy and, I trust, with satisfaction in the light of the Scriptures. So I want to set that framework for you out of the Scriptures.

12:01 And if you get hold of this, then though many of the specific questions I'm not going to deal with, for that would rerun the series on into months, I believe you'll have the framework within which you can resolve many of your own questions. All right? Principle number one that forms this framework of reference is this. In all of our thinking about the Holy Spirit, particularly His work, we must remember the divinity and the personality of God the Holy Spirit.

Principle 1: The Divinity and Personality of the Holy Spirit

12:34 Though we shall be focusing on certain aspects of His work, it is essential to remember that He is God and that He is a person. When I use the term divinity, I mean that because of the Holy Spirit's union in the Godhead with the Father and with the Son, He possesses all the essential attributes of deity. He is God. That's what I mean by divinity.

13:04 He is God. When I use the word personality, I mean that there is a separate mode of existence, to which belong personal attributes. To quote one servant of Christ, speaking on this subject, because of His union with the Godhead, we ascribe to Him divinity, and because of His personal properties and acts, we ascribe to Him personality. Certain things are said of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit suffered them not.

13:38 Why hath Satan put it into thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? It is obvious that He is regarded as a distinct personality, and yet because of His union in the Godhead, we ascribe to Him divinity. Now I'm not going to prove this tonight. I assume that all of you present believe this.

14:00 If you don't, if you have questions, let me tell you where to go for a good biblical treatment of the answer. John Owen, Volume 3. And if you're not quite brave enough to bite that off, the little paperback Octavius Winslow, the person, the work of the Holy Spirit, and in his first chapter, he has an excellent treatment of the biblical materials on the Godhead and personality of the Holy Spirit. But I feel it's essential in all of our evaluation and exposure to this matter of the work of the Spirit, constantly to remember He is God, He is person.

14:38 Well, you say, what practical implications does that have? Well, let me show you. Just a few. When the Lord Jesus gave the Great Commission, as recorded in the 28th chapter of Matthew, you remember what His words were?

14:52 Having pointed men to His own supreme dominion, and that's the context of the Great Commission, the absolute dominion of Christ, all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth, go ye therefore. Any attempt to treat the subject of missions that starts with the go ye therefore and doesn't ask go ye why for is going to be out of focus. The commission and the specific responsibilities grow out of this statement of the absolute dominion of Christ. All authority in heaven and on earth hath been given unto me.

15:32 Now, he says, under that authority, in the full blazing light of that authority, make disciples of all the nations. He doesn't tell us here, but he tells us elsewhere how they are made, by the preaching of the gospel. You don't go out with a club and beat people in the head and give them a shot, and then make disciples out of them. You don't hypnotize them.

15:52 You preach the gospel to them. You call upon them to repent and to believe the gospel. Now, when they confess this attachment to Christ in repentance and faith, what are you to do with them? Well, our Lord says this, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

16:16 Baptize them into the name of. That is, have them submit to that ordinance which openly and visibly incorporates them into covenantal relationship with the true and the living God. And who is He? He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

16:41 You see the implications of this first principle? Biblical Christianity is decidedly trinitarian at the outset. The doctrine of the Trinity is not some profound mystery to be pulled out only for some elite advanced disciples. No, no.

17:02 Our Lord says the first visible identification of man with the covenant community of God's people is to be suffused with a trinitarian perspective. And as certainly as God the Father is divine and is person, so and person so also God the Spirit is divine and is person. And any failure to acknowledge the divinity and personality of any of the members of the Godhead is to be, in the kindest sense, sub-Christian, and in the more realistic sense, anti-Christian. Now then, you see, this matter of the recognition of the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit is fundamental to the whole Christian faith. And if people would recognize this, there wouldn't be this talk. Now look, when you got saved, you got introduced to Jesus. Now you need a second work to get you introduced to the Holy Ghost.

18:07 That's splitting up what God has joined. You see it? And so this whole movement abroad in our day that says, all right, your first conversion, that was all right. You got Jesus as a Savior.

18:20 Now you're going to get the Holy Ghost as a sanctifier. Or a baptizer. Something in me cries out and says, wait a minute, are you a baptized disciple? Oh, yes.

18:29 Well, into the name of what God were you baptized? Well, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Well, was that just a bunch of words? Or was it an intelligent expression of that relationship established by the redemptive work of Christ in which God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was the God whom you came to know?

18:51 You see, this is no theoretical issue. This is nothing for theologians to talk about at conferences. This is at the grassroots of evangelism. Planting of churches.

19:03 Carrying out of the Great Commission. And then this has other implications. And I'm only giving you a few. In the outworking of the theology of the Holy Spirit, if we remember that he's God, then we never think about using him.

19:18 You never think about the Holy Spirit being a means to the end that you'll get some kind of tingles and feel liquid love and all the rest of it. I read some of these books of people who claim advanced experiences in the Holy Spirit, and oh, I shudder. The Holy Ghost become a means to the end of some ecstatic, coat of many colors, thrilling, transporting experience. Ah, my friends, he's God.

19:49 I don't use him for spiritual tingles. I bow to him in submission as God. And anything he's pleased to give me in the way of genuine, valid experience, that's his business. But I don't move into a mood where I think of using him for tingles.

20:10 You don't box him into clever little formulas. Much of so-called evangelism in our day is nothing but a denial of the personality and divinity of the Holy Ghost. We've got the Holy Ghost boxed up in our four laws or five laws or this plan of evangelism. Soul winning made easy.

20:30 Use my program Bingo. You'll get them by the carloads. Oh, in it they'll say in the introduction, now only the Holy Spirit can give life. And so they give lip service to the Holy Ghost and then promptly turn around and deny everything they've said by their method.

20:46 He is God. And Jesus said of him in the analogy of the wind in John chapter 3, the wind bloweth where it listeth. You don't tell where it comes, where it goes. You hear the sound.

21:00 So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. The element of sovereignty, unpredictableness. And oh, if we realize that, then we'll not box him into clever little formulas. And on the other hand, we won't box him into what we think is propriety.

21:16 There's some of you that'd be shocked to the very toes. God the Holy Ghost would break in in this meeting and someone began to sob and weep under the pressure of Holy Ghost conviction. And if someone else who'd been sobbing and weeping under that conviction got a sight of Christ and began to shout, Hallelujah! What's this?

21:36 You've got the Holy Spirit boxed in too much on your end. He's God, my friends. And he's free to do all that he purposes to do within the framework of revealed truth. And if we remember that, there will be on the one hand an avoidance of this kind of an insult to his Godhead where people are using the Holy Ghost like some kind of sanctified evidence.

22:04 A LSD experience. And may God keep us from that. But on the other hand, it'll keep us from this overfastidiousness that feels the Holy Ghost has always got to come running down the tracks that have been laid for him by our tradition. You say, there you go, always trying to get the middle position.

22:25 Well, I believe it's not the middle position. It's holding the truth of God in its spectrum, in its broadest spectrum. And is it too much to expect God will help us to do that? There is that openness and flexibility when it comes to whatever he would do as God within revealed truth.

22:44 But there is a rigid inflexibility at any efforts to deny his divinity by any thinking about using him and boxing him up to our own programs. So you remember if he's God, it has great implications. If you remember he's a person, this has great implications. You won't insult him by treating him as some impersonal force.

23:07 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.

23:19 And they point to you, the building, and say, it did it. It? I'm he. The very fact that people refer to the Holy Spirit as it may just be careless parroting of what they've heard from others, but I fear too often it is an honest reflection of their defective thinking that he is person.

23:40 He is a person. He. The spirit of truth will come. Jesus said.

23:47 He is person. And so we won't insult him by referring to him as it and as mere force. We will seek to be careful not to grieve him. I think one of the most tender verses in all of Scripture is Ephesians 4.30.

24:00 Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. He is person who dwells in me to conform me to the image of Christ. And when I willfully tolerate that, which is contrary, which is contrary to his holiness and to his purpose, he is grieved. As God he is grieved.

24:18 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.

24:39 As a husband and wife grow in Christ, and grow in learning to live together, they become sensitive to the slightest nuances of attitude and feeling. And the thing that you want to avoid more than anything, the thing that causes you sometimes to swallow your words, to say, well, I'll wait till later, and I'll deal with that later, and she to do the same, is that the thing you fear most in that relationship is what? Grieving one another. It's a real, live, interpersonal relationship, and you don't want it.

25:10 You don't want to mar it by grieving either of the parties of that relationship. Is the Holy Spirit that to you? If we keep in mind he is person, then we will seek to be careful not to grieve him. We will seek to cultivate the knowledge of him.

25:31 That's why Paul could use in that wonderful benediction, 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship. The fellowship there means sharing, joint participation, communion of the Holy Ghost be with you. Is the communion of the Holy Ghost as much a reality to you as the grace of Christ and the love of the Father? Paul assumes that it would be to the Corinthians, that they would not only be acquainted with the Father's love and with the Son's grace, but with the Spirit's fellowship.

26:08 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 Ghost whom I know. I trust he's not the one you know. Then the second thing we must always keep in mind with reference to the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit is what I'm calling the absolute necessity of his work in the plan of salvation. Not only keep in mind his divinity and his personality, he is God, he is person, but secondly, the absolute necessity of his work in the plan of salvation.

Principle 2: The Absolute Necessity of the Holy Spirit's Work

27:32 You remember how our Lord Jesus tried to get this message across to his own and they still couldn't comprehend it? If you were one of Christ's disciples, everything you knew about salvation had fallen from his lips. Everything you knew of the scriptures, had come as he opened up the scriptures to you, what would you look upon as the worst thing that could ever happen to you? Why, it's obvious, that somehow you might be removed from him or he from you.

27:58 Can you imagine what it must have sounded like when the Lord Jesus said these words? And I read now from John 16, verse 6. Our Lord has told them, I'm going away. And the result of that is verse 6.

28:14 Because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Why, they said, that's the worst thing that could happen. Lord, we've left husbands, we've left wives and homes and children, but we have you, and we have you all's well. But if you go, what's left?

28:34 Sorrow filled their hearts. Now the Lord says, 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. See what he's saying? He's saying something that is absolutely essential for the ongoing of my saving purposes cannot be accomplished unless I go, and that which is absolutely essential is the coming of the Comforter.

29:05 What is our Lord telling them? He's saying you must begin to regard the Holy Spirit's ministry as of equal necessity to my own ministry. Does that grip you? Does that do something for you?

29:26 It is necessary for you. It's expedient that I go away. If I don't go, He won't come. The whole inference being, if He doesn't come, you will not know the full accomplishment of my and the Father's saving purpose in you.

29:45 And so as we think of the work of the Holy Spirit, it must never be in the context of His work is something extra. His work must be put out in the realm of maybe studying eschatology where you can say, well, I'm not sure just how the Lord's going to come and when, but He's coming and when He does, it'll all straighten out all right. You can't do that with regard to the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not something you put on the shelves and table.

30:10 It is absolutely essential, that work, to the ongoing of God's saving purpose in the hearts of men. I'll look at a couple of scriptures with you in a moment, but along this very line, I do want to read a few paragraphs from one of the most perceptive books dealing with this subject of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, Buchanan's work on the Spirit. Listen to how strikingly he states this thing. The Holy Spirit, not less than the Father and the Son, has an important office in the work of our salvation.

30:48 It belongs to Him to apply to individuals the redemption that was purchased by the Savior. It is equally true that but for Christ's death the Spirit would not have been given and that but for the Spirit's work Christ's death would have been in vain. Oh, when I read that, I just blinked. Let me read it again.

31:12 It is equally true that but for Christ's death the Spirit would not have been given. You remember John 7? Jesus said, If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. As the Scriptures say, He that believeth in Me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

31:31 This spake he of the Spirit, but the Spirit was not yet given, for that Jesus was not yet glorified. The Holy Spirit in the plentitude of His grace and power as the Spirit of the glorified Christ was not yet given. And He could not yet be given till Christ died and rose and was brought back to the place of exaltation. So, Mr. Buchanan says, but for Christ's death the Spirit would not have been given, and but for the Spirit's work Christ's death would have been in vain. This was the view entertained by the divines of the Reformation, that is, the theologians, and accordingly you will mark in a singular beauty in the arrangement of the Shorter Catechism that after a full account is given of Christ's work, both in the state of humiliation and exaltation, the Spirit's agency in the application of redemption to individuals is interposed between the work of Christ and the benefits which flow

32:37 from that work to His people. In between Christ the mediator and justification, sanctification, they put the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit's work which connects the two, which forms the link between the purchase of the salvation on the part of the Redeemer and the enjoyment of salvation on the part of His people. What forms the link?

33:04 The work of the Holy Spirit. And never till this great article of our faith is duly understood and acknowledged shall we either feel as we ought our dependence on free grace from first to last, nor will we stand in admiration of God's wisdom in providing all the grace that we need. In all of our treatment of the work of the Spirit, we must not only keep before us His divinity, His personality, but the absolute necessity of His work, just as necessary as the work of Christ in oblation and intercession is the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and in sanctification. Now, let me give you a couple of texts that state it very clearly, very simply, categorically. Romans, chapter 8. How necessary is the work of the Spirit in this matter of salvation?

34:04 People say all people need to do to be saved is believe the simple gospel. Well, there's an element of truth, but now the question is this. Do men believe the simple gospel by a mere simple presentation of the gospel, or must something else be added? What is necessary before men will believe the simple gospel and enter into the benefits of the death of Christ?

34:30 Listen to this apostle's statement in Romans 8, 8 and 9. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

35:00 Just as certainly as the Bible says, he that believeth not shall be damned, the Bible says, he that does not have the Spirit is none of his. And then in this whole passage, Paul is teaching that the Spirit's presence is never a fact to be claimed by faith. It is a reality evidenced in a transformed life. They that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh.

35:29 They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. If ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, this idea of coming to people and very cleverly laying out the gospel, saying you believe that, right down the line, prayed a little prayer, now you tell them you have the Spirit, take it by faith, no evidence of a transformed life, no evidence of new desires, no evidence of mortifying life, no evidence of mortifying the flesh, and they are forever told till the time they die and go to hell. All is well.

36:05 You trusted Jesus. Ah, my friend, listen. The evidence that your trust was the product of the work of the Spirit revealing Christ is that that same Spirit has radically transformed you and brought you out of the state of flesh into the realm of the Spirit. And there is evidence of His work in you.

36:26 And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. How necessary is Christ's work for our salvation? Absolutely indispensable. His death once for all on behalf of sinners forms the only basis upon which a holy God can accept vile, guilty sinners as righteous in His sight.

36:49 Christ's perfect life, Christ's substitutionary death, once for all on behalf of sinners, they form the foundation of our acceptance with God. Christ's work, absolutely essential. What about the Spirit's work? Absolutely essential.

37:07 Unless He has opened our eyes, quickened us from spiritual death, taken out the heart of stone, given us a heart of flesh, we are none of Christ. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none but His. Oh, how we need to constantly remember His work is absolutely essential. Not as some advanced experience, but at the foundation and in the laying of every single block in the whole structure of the Christian life.

37:46 Much of the unbiblical teaching about advanced spiritual experiences is rooted in a defective understanding of the Spirit's work at the outset. I've heard people say, when I got this experience, then I began to read my Bible, then I began to pray, then I began to want to live a holy life. When I was just converted, I didn't have anything. And I say to myself, who says you were converted?

38:14 You say, but did the Bible say? And what many describe as their advanced experience, simply is an evidence that maybe they got regenerated. You read the book of 1 John. He says, by this do we know that we've had the baptism, by this we know that we are filled with the Spirit, if we love the brethren?

38:39 No. He says, by this we know we pass from death unto life if we love the brethren. I was reading in a book the other day, and this fellow said, when I got this experience, then I began to love all of God's people. He says, if you get it, then you'll get it.

38:56 I go to 1 John. By this we know we pass from death to life if we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. That's what he said.

39:06 That's what the Bible says. I didn't say it. The book says it. Someone says, well, after I got this experience, then I began to be holy.

39:14 John says, in this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. He that doeth not righteousness is not of God. He that committeth sin is of the devil. If a man is committed to a course of fleshiness and worldliness, God says he needs to be regenerate.

39:34 Much of the kookishness in the area of the work of the Spirit has been an unbiblical attempt to patch up defective views of his regenerating power and grace. And so I remind you, dear ones, in all our consideration of the work of the Spirit, though much of my application has had to be negative, I hope you don't feel I'm just up here punching away at bad things. I'm trying to positively establish you in a perspective that will help you and preserve you as well as give you positive direction. The necessity of the Spirit's work at the very outset.

40:16 What about the church? Is he necessary for the church? The average evangelical church could rock right along if the Holy Spirit left the universe. Nothing different would happen.

40:26 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.

40:44 Built this beautiful building. I mean, it's beautiful. Functional. I had to fight the break in the tenth commandment all the while I was there.

40:52 But only for the brick and the mortar. That's all. That edifice. But the church, what is called the church, I don't say this to be facetious or unkind, but I really believe in what I observed in those three days.

41:08 The Holy Ghost could completely vacate that thing. Maybe has pretty well. I don't know. Everybody would know the difference.

41:17 Services would go on as usual. Oh, when we turn to a passage like Ephesians 2, we see that the Spirit's presence is not optional in the life and essence of the church. His presence is of the very essence of the church. Listen to the Apostle's concept of what the church is.

The Spirit's Necessity for the Church

41:37 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 they put their God. Take away their God and there's no need for the temple anymore. The temple exists for the God. Isn't that true?

42:42 That was true of the temple in Israel. David said I want to build a house for my God it being congruous with the task I've given you which is primarily to rout the Canaanites but peace will come in the days of your son Solomon so David you collect the materials and I'll let him build me a house. And so the temple was built that in a peculiar way God in his manifest glory might dwell in the midst of his people and there behind the veil the Shekinah glory dwelt. Now Paul takes that imagery known in heathendom where he's been talking about how God in this temple is building Jew and Gentile together and he says with that foundation to which nothing is added the doctrine of the apostles the doctrine of prophets no new thing to be added no new revelation the foundation is laid Christ is the cornerstone the building is growing and what is the uniqueness of that building God dwells in the midst builded together in the presence of God in the midst of the church is to be directly attributed to the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit that's pretty serious and important function is it not take him away and what do we have we have

44:11 an image of God in the midst of the church in the midst of the church in the midst of the church in the midst of the church we have an edifice we have a religious club but we cease to have a true church so his presence is necessary necessary at the foundation if we are to call ourselves individually believers if any man have not the spirit he is none of his anything that claims to be church is devoid of the spirit ceases to have the privilege of calling itself church the spirit has come he will reprove the world of sin he shall testify of me he shall take the things of mine and reveal them utterly essential so in all of our consideration of the work of the spirit may God help us to remember and constantly keep before us his divinity and personality the absolute necessity of his ministry and then I think we have time for just the third principle tonight the essential unity of his work with that of the father and of the son the essential unity of the work of the spirit with that of the father and of the son

Principle 3: The Essential Unity of the Spirit's Work with the Father and Son

45:38 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 is not irreverent but simply helps to clarify the difference in the use of words is true in the work of our salvation the father does certain things that are peculiarly attributed to him the son the father does not die upon the cross the son does the son does not elect the father does it is the spirit who has specific ministries allotted and allocated to him so in all of our consideration of the work of the spirit this essential unity of purpose must

47:04 be kept before us continually listen to Winslow's perceptive and simple words along this line no truth shines with clearer luster in the divine word than that salvation from first to last is of God it is convincingly and beautifully shown to be the work of the glorious trinity in unity each person of the Godhead occupying a distinct and peculiar office and yet all engaged upon and coalescing in this mighty undertaking the father is represented as giving his elect in the covenant engagement to his son John 17 2 remember Jesus said I have given eternal life not to all that I thought should have it but to whom to all whom thou hast given me the son was conscious that all of his ministry was the discharge of a covenantal relationship with the father the son is represented as assuming in eternity the office of a surety and in the fullness of time he appears in human form to suffer for the sins of his people the Holy Ghost is represented as convincing of sin working faith in the heart and leading to the atoning blood this is salvation shown to be thus is salvation shown to be the entire work of the triune God distinct

48:33 in office yet one in purpose I hope if you don't get anything else I hope you get something else but if you don't get anything else in our studies in Ephesians 1 3 to 14 I hope you get that as Paul is praising God for the salvation that has come to us he praises the father in verses 4 and 5 for election and predestination praises the son in verses 6 through 11 for redemption through his blood the impartation of wisdom he praises the spirit in verses 13 and 14 for his sealing work in the part his part of salvation so there is this unity in the work of salvation between the father the son and the Holy Spirit that's why you can't split this thing up as neatly as some people do and say well you get Christ when you are converted then you get the Holy Spirit here and where you get the father I don't know I've never heard that brought into it but notice how these things overlap because there is unity of essence where the father is and works the son and the spirit are and work where the spirit is the son and the father are notice this as our Lord prophesies of the coming of the paraclete of the comforter in the 14th chapter of John words that used to

50:01 confuse me but words which are precious to me now John 14 verses 17 and 18 we could back up to verse 16 I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may be with you forever here the Lord is Jesus says I will pray to the father and a third one will enter into the picture the father will send a comforter who shall be with you and then he identifies him even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive for it beholdeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he abideth with you and shall be in you and then the disciples say all right we got it straight now you're going away and you're going to pray to the father and the father's going to send the comforter so we have the comforter so we got it all straight now the comforter's here you're there and the father's there look at the next verse I will not leave you desolate I come to you wait you said the comforter's coming he says yes but I'm coming yet a little while in the world beholdeth no more but ye behold me because I live ye shall live also and in that day ye shall know that I am in the father and ye in me and I in you he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me

51:28 and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him Jesus said if a man loved me he'll keep my word and my father will love him now listen and we will come unto him and make our abode with him the comforter's coming but I'm coming and we're coming how do you make sense of all that well you can't if you've got the essence of the Godhead divided 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 left the biblical perspective now you see those who teach as they do you accept Christ when you get saved now sometime later now you take the holy spirit oh no no they're dividing up the very essence of the Godhead it's impossible Jesus said I'll pray to the father the father will send the comforter he'll come to you he'll be with you but I'll come to you we will come to you for where the spirit is the father and the son are so there is never this division of essence and there is never division of purpose and of work

52:54 when Peter stands up in the day of Pentecost to explain this unusual phenomena of the outpouring of the spirit he brings his explanation to a climax when he says in essence and now I'm quoting from Acts 2 perhaps we should turn to it get it through the eye gate as well he says do you want to understand what's happening down here he says well you gotta look away from what's going on down here to understand what's going on down here notice Acts 2 32 this Jesus did God raise up whereof we are all witnesses being therefore by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the father the promise of the Holy Spirit he hath shed forth this which he now hath given to you he hath shed forth this which he now hath given to you in the place of exaltation in the position in which I was made I'm crying now you see what he says unless you understand what the father's done with his son he's raised him up he's exalted him he has made him Lord in Christ he in this place of exaltation has shed forth this which he is seeing here he's telling these people there is an essential unity between the spirit's present work and the work that the son did and the work of the father in raising the son and in exalting the son you can understand this using As a following from the paper we see Jesus was given to him in Jesus' name spirit in his work apart from the relationship of that work to the son and to the father

54:18 and that perspective pervades the scripture may i say as we conclude our study tonight this too has great practical implications doesn't it as with the first two principles this has great practical implications for there is no ministry of the holy spirit here and now in the 20th century that is not directly related to the father's purpose in eternity and the son's purchase in time all that the holy ghost does here and now in us and through us is inseparably joined with what christ did on the cross and with what the father purposed in eternity so if i can discover what was the primary purpose of the father in election the primary purpose of the son in redemption i've got my hands on the primary ministry of the holy spirit in the application of salvation you follow my reasoning what did the father purpose in salvation what did the son essentially purchase in salvation then i'll know where i ought to put most of my eggs of concern with regard to the holy spirit's ministry in the application of salvation all right

The Spirit's Ministry: Producing Holiness (Graces Over Gifts)

55:43 and here i hope you all could take up and take the next five minutes if you've been listening in ephesians what was the father's purpose in election he chose us in him that we should be giddily happy and what my bible says now the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking but righteousness joy peace and joy in the holy ghost i'm not minimizing joy if you're here this morning you'll know i spoke about blowing your fuses no i'm not minimizing joy i'm not talking about being the holy spirit in the application of salvation being so restrained that we're afraid to give vent to our emotional appreciation of the truth of god you all know me well enough not to make that accusation but what is the essential purpose of god in election that we should be holy that we should be holy why did he predestinate us predestinated us onto adoption is sons give us the title of sons and then make us like sons whom he did forego he did predestinate us until the time when we were worthy of being sons No, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. The essential purpose of God in election was to take ungodly, unholy men and remake them into his own image. Make them holy. So then I look to the cross and I say, Lord Jesus, why did you die?

57:03 And the same book of Ephesians tells me why he died. Ephesians 5. Christ gave himself to the church. Why?

57:10 That he might hapify it? No. That he might insulate it from problems? No.

57:16 He gave himself to the church that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water through the word that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be, and the same two words are used from Ephesians 1, for holy and without blemish. Well, if the Father elected unto holiness, and the Son purchased unto holiness, what is the essential ministry of the Holy Spirit in applying a salvation thus purposed and purchased? Why, it's obvious. To make us holy.

58:00 Oh, you say, that's so simple. Yes, it is, isn't it? But oh, the confusion for a failure to recognize it. His essential ministry, then, is to fulfill the goal of the purchase of the Son, and the purpose of the Father.

58:18 Therefore, the dominant emphasis in the Scriptures is that the Holy Spirit has come to produce the graces of Christ in our hearts and lives,

58:33 not to give us gifts, but to impart graces. This is not to minimize the gifts of the Spirit. I'm simply saying that any perspective on the work of the Spirit, that either places gifts equal to or predominant above graces, is unbiblical in its perspective, and run from it, my friend, if you value your soul. Run from it.

59:04 It is out of perspective with the Scripture. That's the kindest thing I'll say. It's out of perspective.

59:13 Out of perspective. You see, the Bible teaches it's possible to have great gifts and no saving grace,

59:22 but it nowhere teaches that it's... It's possible to have graces without grace.

59:29 You say, what was that? I'll give it to you again. The Bible teaches it's possible to have gifts without grace. Matthew 7, 21.

59:37 Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not have great gifts? We cast out demons. Lord, we saw the demons jump and run when we spoke your name. We did many miracles, wonderful works.

59:50 Lord said, so you did. But I never knew you. You were devoid of saving grace. Depart from me, ye that what?

59:57 Work iniquity. You had great gifts of the Spirit. You had no sanctifying grace of the Spirit. And it says, he'll say to them, depart from me.

60:08 Look at 1 Corinthians 13. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, assuming it's possible, and have not love, grace, I'm nothing. If I have to get the prophecy, know all wisdom and all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have all faith to is to remove mountains, but have not love, that's grace, it profiteth me nothing. If I give my body to be burned, have not love, nothing.

60:33 See what Paul says? He's not saying there is no place for gifts. He's saying predominant in the purpose of God is the impartation of grace. The fruit of the Spirit is what?

60:46 Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. There's his fruit where he is present. He produces that fruit, and the fruit is the graces. The fruit of likeness to Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: Practical Implications and Future Principles

61:03 And so as we seek to form a framework within which we can evaluate and assess professed works of the Spirit, within which we can, as it were, pursue our own knowledge of the Spirit in our minds and in our experience, we must do so within that perspective of the essential unity of his work with that of the Father and of the Son, and never seek to assess his work. In isolation from either the purchase of Christ or the eternal purpose of the Father. And oh, this I know sounds so simple. You say, well, that seems so obvious.

61:43 But my friend, just being able to state these things this way has been the fruit of much heartache in my own life and in the lives of others. If only someone had told me these things and I'd had a heart to listen to them years ago, I'd have been spared a lot of pains. And I know some dear friends of mine who have been...

62:04 I know some dear friends of mine who have been... I know some dear friends of mine who have been...

62:04 I know some dear friends of mine who have been... I know some dear friends of mine who have been spared pains, whom I could not help because I didn't see these biblical perspectives.

62:11 And so I plead with you, not to just look upon them as some simple little obvious statements. Pray over them. Examine the scriptures to see if they be so, and if they be so, then by God's grace ask the Lord to inscribe them upon your heart until you sense and feel the weight of their implication in all our concern with reference to the Holy Spirit. in all our concern with reference to the Holy Spirit.

62:36 Let us then seek to remember these three principles, and that's all we'll consider tonight. First of all, His divinity and His personality. He is God, He is person. Secondly, the absolute necessity of His work.

62:53 He is not optional.

62:55 And if we have no experience of the Holy Ghost, we are none of Christ's.

63:03 And if there has not been a transformation of us out of a state of nature into a state of God, we are none of Christ's. We are none of Christ's. We are none of Christ's. We are none of Christ's.

63:09 We are none of Christ's. And if we can't get into a state of grace if all we've got is a head full of facts about Christ and the cross and a life full of activities connected with the church but are devoid of the transforming power of the Spirit, we are none of His. Just as much as you would be none of His if you were either ignorant of or denied the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. No man is a Christian who is ignorant of or denies the substitutionary death of Christ.

63:39 No man is a Christian who is ignorant of or denies Christ. No man is a Christian who is ignorant of or denies the personal, powerful, inward work of the Spirit in making him a new creature. Both are essential. And then thirdly, let us seek to cultivate that consciousness of the essential unity of the work of the Spirit with that of the Father and of the Son, and pursue most vigorously those ministries of the Spirit, those works of the Spirit, which most contribute to giving to the Lord Jesus that for which he died, to have a holy people, and bringing delight to the Father who predestined us, who chose us, that we should be conformed to the image of his Son. God willing, next week we'll take up two other principles most essential to this whole thing. Let me just tell you what they are so if you're doubting whether you should come back again, maybe we can just bait you enough to come. We're going to consider the primary focus of the Holy Spirit's work in salvation, namely glorifying Christ, and then what is perhaps most fundamental to all, the inseparable relationship between the work of the Spirit and the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. The primary focus of the Spirit's work? Glorifying

65:06 Christ. And then the inseparable work? Seeking, guiding them to the right path, by believing and understanding the Spirit's work and why we are not Stephen Smith's disciples of our spiritual life. Holy Spirit.

65:08 relationship between the spirit's work and the holy scriptures and i do trust that as god is pleased to make these things real to us they may not only give us positive direction to pursue a more intimate knowledge of the person and work of the spirit but it's my prayer that they will immunize us against all the infectious viruses that are abroad in our day with regard to the work of the blessed holy spirit let us pray then to this end that god will thus bless his truth to our hearts