God the Spirit 930

Well, it's a great pleasure to be with you here this morning and to preach in this series.

It's always tricky when you preach at the, I think, the end of the series, I suppose,

and not knowing exactly what's come before, not knowing whether what you're going to say

might contradict what's gone before or they might contradict you.

So, but of course, teaching will continue on here week after week anyway after I've gone.

But it's great to hear, to be here and to speak to you about the Holy Spirit and knowing God as Spirit.

So with that in mind and that task before us, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Holy Spirit.

We thank you for your Spirit who inspired these words of the Apostle John so long ago.

And we pray, Father, that your Spirit might do his work in our hearts and minds and lives this morning.

Father, we pray that my words might be your words, that you would bless us through your Word and by your Spirit

to the praise and glory of your Son.

And we ask it in his name. Amen.

John's Gospel is a deep and rich reservoir for understanding God.

An ancient writer in the early church described John's Gospel as a pool in which a child may play and an elephant may wait.

Or in our view, perhaps a deep sea diver might continue to never fathom the depths of John's Gospel.

John's Gospel begins, as you well know, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.

John deliberately evokes Genesis 1.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And in Genesis 1, there's a reference to and the Spirit of God moved over the waters.

And God said, let there be light, and there was light.

And there you see that Trinitarian aspect of God with regard to the creation of the world, the heavens and the earth,

by the breath of his mouth, speaking words.

And it's not surprising, therefore, as the Bible moves on through the Old Testament and the New Testament,

that the language of breath, which of course is exactly the same word as spirit, both in Hebrew and in Greek,

the Spirit of God, the empowerment of God, speaks words.

And the Word of God is characteristic of the Son of God, the incarnate Jesus.

So here you get this interconnection of God, his Word and his Spirit.

If I was to quote to you from Psalm 33, verse 6, where the psalmist says,

Psalms 33:6

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

So John introduces his gospel with this concept and understanding of God in three persons.

And yet you may say, well, where is the Spirit in John chapter 1?

John 1 · chapter mention

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

There you can clearly see the divinity of the Son of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.

But as you move through John's gospel, you see that it's the Spirit of God that empowers not only his people, but also Jesus himself.

So when you get to chapter 3 of John, you have that extraordinary encounter with Nicodemus.

Nicodemus, a ruler in Jerusalem, comes to Jesus by night, no doubt for fear of being seen by the other Jews and his fellow elders in Jerusalem.

And Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus reveals that he must be born again.

You must be born of water and the Spirit.

And here the reference to the Spirit is arresting.

We've already seen the Spirit descend upon Jesus as a dove with regard to in Jesus' baptism.

We've seen the way in which the Spirit has actually empowered, not in John's gospel, empowered him to go into the wilderness for the temptation.

But here Jesus enunciates the important role of the Spirit in being born again.

And the interesting thing is, that is not new teaching.

It's new language, but not new teaching.

And you can tell that because Jesus says to Nicodemus, are you a teacher in Israel and you don't know this?

You don't know that unless a person is born of water and the Spirit, they can't enter the kingdom of God.

What does it mean to be born of water and the Spirit?

Well, being born of the Spirit is a reference to the work of the Spirit to change us from within.

The work of the Spirit to enliven us.

To bring us from death to life.

And the Bible's testimony with regard to that is as old as Adam.

Adam and Eve were told, if you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on that day you shall die.

In God's mercy, Adam and Eve did not die physically that day, but they did die spiritually.

There was a spiritual death that entered the human race.

A spiritual death which was not characteristic of Adam and Eve's relationship with God in the garden of Genesis 1 and 2.

Whereby they could talk with God and walk with God and they do God's work in the garden, till the garden, eat of the fruit.

But that all changed when they rebelled against him.

And a spiritual death took place for Adam and Eve.

By God's mercy, they did not die physically that day, because to have died physically that day in a state of spiritual death would have meant an eternal death.

There are three aspects to death in the Bible.

The spiritual, the physical, and the eternal.

If you die physically in a state of spiritual death, then the outcome will be eternal death.

What the Bible chillingly describes as the second death.

But God, in his mercy, protected Adam and Eve from actually eating of the tree of life, which would have perpetuated their state of spiritual death.

And he cast them out of the garden and put before him, put the cherubim there with a flaming sword.

The cherubim, of course, are not just ordinary old seraphim.

They're not your ordinary garden common angels.

The cherubim have a special place in scripture as cherubim of glory.

They're throne attendant angels.

They guard the throne of God.

And the Garden of Eden was seen very much symbolically as God's dwelling place.

The Garden of God, described as such in the Old Testament.

So here are Adam and Eve in this state of spiritual death.

And they, before they can be in relationship with God, must be born again.

The language of being spiritually born, coming to life in God, is evident by the way in which Eve, in chapter 4, speaks of getting a child with the help of the Lord.

There is a woman of faith.

There is her expression of faith.

And so we see the godly line which would have begun with Abel, had he not been killed by his brother Cain.

And there you get the battle between the spiritually alive and the spiritually dead.

And that battle of the seeds between those who are of God and those who are not of God, seen actually from that first human family of Cain and Abel, is demonstrated in the death of Abel and the judgment that falls upon Cain.

The line of faith continues through Seth and through generations.

But throughout the Old Testament, there is the reality that you can be part of the family of Abraham, but not be alive to God.

You can have all the aspects of being part of God's people, but not be alive to God.

And the difference is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Theologians have described that as regeneration.

For obvious reasons, regeneration is new birth, regenerating, bringing a person to life.

So when Paul writes to the Ephesians, he says,

You who were dead and trespassers in your sins, you he made alive.

And raised you to be with Christ and seated you in the heavenly places.

That's all a work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit actually enables us to see things as they truly are.

Enables us to see reality.

Enables us to hear God's word.

Enables us to come to life spiritually.

That's a work of the Spirit of God.

Enables us to hear God's word.

Forward and appeal at a crusade, for example.

May have been taught by your parents.

Became a Christian in scripture at schools.

Or in Sunday school.

Or some other venue.

Or a neighbour or a friend.

Or just by reading your Bible.

But what's actually happened is,

God has brought you from death to life.

He's actually enabled you to see the truth.

Whether it's from the words on the page of the Bible.

The testimony of a friend or teacher or parent.

Or pastor.

What God has done has brought you to life.

You see,

we're all humans are dead in trespassers and sins.

Unless God brings us to life,

there is no hope.

We can't bring ourselves to life.

We can't believe or by ourselves.

If you can think of,

if a dead person,

if after a ship has sunk and there's a life raft

and there are dead people floating in the sea,

it doesn't matter how many life boys you throw them,

they can't hold on to it.

Because they're dead.

They need to be made alive

before they can actually hold on to that life raft.

In John's Gospel,

you get the beautiful story of Lazarus.

And there, you recall,

when Lazarus was dead in the tomb,

Jesus speaks and says,

Lazarus, come forth.

Now, if anyone else had spoken like that,

nothing would have happened, would it?

Lazarus would remain dead in the tomb.

In fact, you can imagine,

you wonder what on earth the people thought

as they were gathering around that tomb.

What was Jesus doing?

Lazarus, come forth.

Jesus didn't go into the tomb

to pick up Lazarus and bring him out.

Notice that?

What Jesus did was he spoke

life-giving words.

The very words he uttered

brought life into Lazarus.

And when Lazarus was brought

from death to life,

he hears in that instance,

Lazarus, come forth.

And he gets up and walks out.

He responds to the invitation of Jesus.

He responds because he's been made alive.

You can't imagine him, can you,

waking up in that tomb and saying,

oh, Jesus is calling me,

but it's not too bad here.

I've been here four days.

I can stay a bit longer.

It's a bit damp, it's smelly,

but I think it's all right, a bit dark.

No.

Once he knows the condition of death

that he's in,

it's irresistible for him to come forth.

It's the spirit of God

that brings him to life

and enables him to walk out.

Actually, he didn't walk out.

He hopped out

because it's all bound up with linen,

but that's not the story.

What's interesting here is

Jesus is the focus.

There's no reference to the spirit

in that episode

of the raising of Lazarus

because the spirit

never works for his own glory.

The spirit always works

for Jesus' glory.

Have you noticed that?

That's why it's almost subtle,

the way in which the spirit

is referenced in the Old Testament.

The spirit is always there

empowering, as it were,

the saints of old,

the prophets.

The prophets speak by the spirit of God.

The apostles speak by the spirit of God.

The spirit of God is actually there,

but he's always bringing glory to the Son.

And you'll find that there

in chapter 16 of John's Gospel,

which we're looking at,

where the spirit takes what is mine

and declares it to you.

And he glorifies me.

It's a bit like if you think of,

if you look at the Harbour Bridge at night,

and you'll see it's lit up by floodlights.

If you look carefully,

all you can see is the bridge.

You don't actually see the floodlights.

The floodlights' purpose

is to light up the bridge.

That's how the spirit works.

The spirit's purpose

is always to glorify Jesus

so that the attention

is upon Jesus,

not upon himself.

Whenever you hear

of Christian conversations

talking about the importance

of the spirit

and they're glorying in the spirit

or they're glorying in the fact

that they've got manifestations

of the spirit,

it's always a slight danger

if they're not glorifying Jesus.

For to have the spirit of God

means you'll be glorifying Jesus

because that's the spirit's

chief task.

Now let me come to parts

of this chapter in John 16.

Do the second part too

from verse 12

if you've got your Bibles open.

I have many things to say to you

but you cannot bear them now.

When the spirit of truth comes,

he will guide you into all truth

for he will not speak

on his own authority

but whatever he hears,

he will speak

and he will declare to you

the things that are to come.

He will glorify me

for he will take what is mine

and declare it to you.

Although the father has his mind

therefore I said that

he will take what is mine

and declare it to you.

Now he's talking to the apostles here

and I want you to realise

that he's actually talking about

the coming of the spirit

which is a bit strange

because I've just been saying to you

the spirit's already there.

The spirit's already been active

in the lives of the Old Testament saints.

No person could have believed in God

without the spirit of God

making them alive,

regenerating them.

So what is Jesus saying here

about the coming of the spirit?

What does he mean

in terms of the spirit coming?

Well hasn't the spirit

already been there?

Haven't they already been

baptised into Jesus?

Haven't they already been born again

in terms of John 3

which comes several chapters

before John 16?

Aren't they already clean

by the word that Jesus

has spoken to them?

True.

But what Jesus is saying is

the spirit of God

is now going to come

in a

quantitatively

different manner.

In a new manner.

And the language of the baptism

of the Holy Spirit

which you find

in the book of Acts

describes this

coming of the spirit of God

with power.

And what the

main difference

between the Old Testament

activity of the spirit

and the New Testament

activity of the spirit

is

the same spirit of Christ

which is in the Old Testament

prophets

we read of that

in 1 Peter chapter 1

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

that is the

unascended

spirit of Christ.

The spirit of Christ's

activity in the New Covenant

for us as Christians

is the spirit

of the

ascended Christ.

That's why Jesus says

I'm going to send

another counsellor to you

notice that

another

counsellor to you

but he cannot come

unless I leave you.

He cannot come

until I

go to the Father.

And what Jesus

here is saying

is that there's going to be

a

qualitative

difference between

the Old Covenant Christians

and the New Covenant Christians

and it all

focuses upon

Jesus

and his death.

Because after

his death and resurrection

Jesus ascends

to the Father

and from there

he sends

the Holy Spirit.

He sends

the spirit of truth.

He sends

the spirit of power.

He sends

the other

counsellor.

He does that

and in our church year

as you know

we have

Good Friday

Easter Day

and then

Ascension

and then

Pentecost

or Whitsunday

in the old form.

So that

movement

is that

Jesus sins

and why does he do that

from heaven?

Why couldn't God

have done that beforehand?

Because without

the death

and resurrection

of Jesus

we're still

dead in our sins.

the promise

of deliverance

is there

and now

the reality

of deliverance

is there.

So the

ascended Christ

sends the spirit

of Christ

in order that

we as Christians

can appropriate

salvation

won,

salvation

accomplished.

The Old Testament

were always looking

forward

to the future.

Always looking

forward to the future

of God's deliverance.

they walked

by faith.

Things into which

angels

longed to look

was a salvation

that God was going

to bring about

through the Lord Jesus.

But we

have seen that.

Abraham

rejoiced

in Jesus'

day.

He saw it

and was glad.

He didn't fully

comprehend

all that God had

but he knew

that God

had a plan

and that God

would execute

that plan.

Abraham

walked by faith.

But we

walk on the

other side

of the cross

and the spirit

of the

accomplishment

of redemption,

the spirit

of the ascended

Christ

has now come.

And what's

the spirit

going to do

among the

apostles?

With the

apostles

he's going

to be

another

counsellor.

But don't

go away,

the counsellor

will not

come to you.

But if I

do go,

I will

send him

to you.

Jesus

was the

first counsellor

if you like.

And when

the spirit

comes,

it's another

counsellor

but in actual

fact Jesus

says it's

him.

It's the

spirit of

Christ.

So to have

the spirit

in us as

Christians

is to have

Christ in

us.

You can't

separate their

activity.

Although they

are two

persons in

the Godhead,

it's the

spirit of

Christ who

comes to

us.

It's not an

alien spirit.

It's the

spirit of

the resurrected

Christ.

It's the

one who

brings to

us the

assurance of

our salvation,

the assurance

of our

forgiveness of

sins,

the assurance

of we are

heirs of

heaven and

the hope

of eternal

life,

the assurance

of victory

won.

That's the

spirit's task

in us.

He comes

as counsellor.

He comes

to defend us

from the

accusations of

the evil

one.

He comes

to support

us and

strengthen us

in our

daily life.

He is

there because

he brings

to us

all the

benefits of

Jesus.

And that's

why the

Holy Spirit

is described

as the

spirit of

Christ.

But the

spirit comes,

he guides

the apostles

into all

truth.

And he

doesn't speak

in his own

authority,

but whatever

he learns

from me,

he will

declare.

the spirit

is dependent

in that

sense upon

Jesus as

Jesus is

dependent upon

the father.

As you've

looked at the

trinity over

these last

three weeks,

you'll have

seen that there

is an ordered

relationship in

the trinity.

For example,

it's not the

twin brothers

and the

Holy Spirit.

It's the

father,

the son,

and the

Holy Spirit.

It's

interesting,

isn't it?

It's not

the triplets,

three brothers

as it were.

No,

it's father,

son,

and Holy

Spirit.

There's an

ordered

relationships.

That's why

in the

creed,

as we

said,

the Holy

Spirit

proceeds

from the

father and

the son.

The

spirit,

just as

the son

desires to

do the

father's

bidding,

so the

spirit

longs to

glorify the

son,

and in

glorifying the

son,

he glorifies

the father.

Jesus

speaks about

the way,

if you

know me,

you've seen

the father.

All that

the father

has is

mine.

There is

an equal

authority

among the

three of

them,

but there's

an ordered

relationship in

that devolving

of authority

to us.

So for

us,

the spirit

of God

comes and

dwells in

us.

To have

the spirit

of God

is to

have the

son,

to have

the son

is to

have the

father.

So we

have God

in us,

the hope

of glory.

And the

spirit teaches

the apostles,

and here this

is particular,

we sometimes

take these

verses as

being generic

to all of

us,

the spirit

guides us

into all

truth,

and there's

a sense

in which

that is

true.

But the

apostles had

a particular

focus in

terms of

delivering

revelation,

revelation.

So that

again,

you'll

notice that

we believe

in the

church which

is Catholic

and apostolic.

What does it

mean to be an

apostolic church?

Well,

an apostolic

church is a

church which

was founded

upon the

apostles.

In

Ephesians 2.20,

Paul says,

the church of

God is founded

upon the

apostles and

prophets,

with Christ

Jesus being

the cornerstone.

Here is the

foundation of

the church,

apostolic and

prophetic.

prophetic.

That's your

New Testament,

you see.

Along with the

Old Testament

prophets,

the New Testament

apostles and

prophets bring

to us the

revelation of

God, the

word of God

in written

form, the

covenant document

that God has

given us to

show us how

to live our

lives, to

enable us to

live in a way

which pleases

him.

Now that

apostolic word

is brought

about by the

spirit of God

bringing to

remembrance all

that Jesus

has said.

I mean,

Gen X and

Gen Y can't

imagine how

the apostles

could have

worked without

an iPad and

to remember

everything that

Jesus had

said.

But it's the

spirit of God

who's actually

enabled them to

remember those

things so they

can deliver them

to us.

To us.

If you

remember in

Jesus,

sometimes called

the high

priestly prayer

of John 17,

he prays for

himself firstly.

He prays for

the apostles

and then he

prays for

you.

In the third

section, you'll

notice it

begins,

Father, I

don't pray for

these only,

the apostles,

who have a

special place

in the divine

economy, but I

pray for everyone

who believes in

me through

their word.

That's you.

did you realise

that Jesus

prayed for

you?

He had you

in mind

when he spoke

those words.

He had your

name in his

heart and mind

before the

foundation of the

world.

Your name's

engrafted in the

palms of his

hand, for he

loved you from

eternity.

him.

And when

God the

Father sent

Jesus to

live the life

we could not

live and to

die the death

that we

deserve, he

did not leave

us alone, but

sent his Holy

Spirit to

empower us, to

enable us, to

live for him.

the wonderful

aspect of the

Holy Spirit, as

I said to you

before, is that

he never glorifies

himself.

His chief end

is to glorify

Jesus.

One of the, not

only the benefits,

but one of the

evidences of having

the Spirit of God

is where is

Jesus in your

consciousness, in

your purpose, in

your life?

Is Jesus the one

whom you want to

glorify?

Is he the one

whose name you

want to lift high?

Is he the one

that's going to

challenge you by

his Spirit to

eschew sin?

To defeat

temptation?

To love one

another as Christ

has loved us?

To have the

fruit of the

Spirit, and you

can see this

sermon could go

on and on, the

fruit of the

Spirit with all

its beauty and

glory of love,

peace, patience,

faithfulness,

self-control, all

those aspects of

the fruit of a

relationship with

God that God

brings about by

indwelling us.

Later in the

Apostle Paul's

teaching, he

talks about our

bodies as being

temples of the

Holy Spirit.

So the Spirit of

God takes up

temple residence in

us to sanctify us

so that everything

might be holy.

because God is

doing a work in us

to change us from

one degree of

glory to another

so we might be

perfected that last

day and then we

shall be given at

the last day

spiritual bodies.

Notice that?

Bodies empowered by

the Spirit.

A spiritual body

isn't like Casper the

Ghost whispering

around.

A spiritual body is

a bit like a steam

engine.

A steam engine isn't

composed of steam.

It's powered by

steam.

A spiritual body is

empowered by the

Spirit of God.

And in that

resurrection state,

there we shall be in

such harmony with

Father, Son and Holy

Spirit.

For our spiritual bodies

will be in a state of

such perfection.

that death shall be

no more.

Temptation shall be

banished.

Disease and decay

will have gone.

And we shall enjoy

the inheritance of the

saints in light

with God forever,

Father, Son and Holy

Spirit.

And there we shall

know in all our

fullness what it

means to know God

as Father, Son and

Holy Spirit.

But above all, to

rejoice that God

knows us

and has given to

us the bounty of

his grace, the

glory of his

inheritance, the

forgiveness of sins

and the elevation and

adoption of sons and

daughters of the

Most High, which

he's done in the

Lord Jesus to whom

all be glory.

But through his

Holy Spirit in our

lives, applying all

that Jesus has won

for us, but

ensuring the glory

goes to him and

to him alone.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we

stand in awe at

the wonder of your

grace, at the

beauty of your

three persons,

Father, Son and

Holy Spirit.

And as we've

reflected upon the

work of your Holy

Spirit, we just

rejoice that he

dwells in us,

changing us more

and more into the

likeness of Jesus.

Father, we pray

that you would so

enable us to

glorify you and

your Son by your

Holy Spirit, that

we might live lives

that please you and

by your mercies

would be a witness

to the world that

they too might put

their faith in you.

Amen.

Amen.