Introduction to The Godhead: Descriptions of The Holy Spirit | Steve Benson

Open your Bibles if you would to the

book of Luke

this morning, the Gospel of Luke.

We've been going through a series on the

Godhead

and

looking at the names and the

descriptions of the Holy Spirit

this morning. Again,

big subject and

just enjoyed studying this out and

looking at these verses and learning

these things from the word of God.

We're in Luke 24. Got a couple close

together here this morning as we begin.

We do believe in the triune God, father,

son, and holy spirit.

And the father's name is designated. Um

the son's name is designated. And God

the holy spirit has a lot of names.

And here is one for us. And in verse 49,

you know, this is at the end of the

gospel. This is at the end of Jesus

ministries. One of the last things

that he said, this goes with the book of

Acts. Uh you're familiar with with this.

He says here, "And behold, I send you a

promise of my father upon you." So

here's another name of God the Holy

Spirit. Uh God the Son says it's the

promise of God the Father and he's going

to come upon you. And that that's a very

interesting word come upon you. It means

to be clothed with. So we're going to be

clothed with the early church. Uh those

that received this promise

uh and and now we receive the promise of

the father as well. And Jesus wanted

them to stay in Jerusalem until they be

endued or clothed with power from on

high. So that's where we begin this

morning. The promise of his father. So

the Holy Spirit

uh he's not somebody that we ask for.

He's not somebody that we seek.

Uh there's no merit in this that there

are some people that are better at

whatever it is that you can think of

than the others are. No, this is a

promise from the father upon every

single believer, not just the apostles.

You know, we we would expect that,

right? Oh, you guys are apostles. You're

going to be the leaders in the church. I

bet, you know, God's going to pour the

Holy Spirit out on you guys. No, Jesus

said on everyone, even even the the the

children and daughters, as he said in

Acts chapter 1, so this is the promise

Acts 1 · chapter mention

of the father that's coming upon every

believer.

uh and we don't merit this and and we

don't clothe ourselves here for the

ministry. God, the Holy Spirit comes and

does these things. So, that's the power

here that he's talking about, the

promise of the father and the power that

we're going to be endued with from on

high. Now, turn over to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

We got a couple close together here this

morning as we begin.

You know, there are times when the Bible

refers to God as something, you know,

and and uh you know, it just to let us

know that, you know, he he is a real

being. Uh God the Father, God the Son,

God the Holy Spirit. You know, they're

real beings are real people. And we have

to think of it that way. And you know,

God's not a person like us that he

should lie or sin.

But God is nonetheless uh the three in

one. The three, the father, son, and the

holy spirit united in one. And here we

see in John 1 and verse 32.

And John bore witness. Now we know that

that's one of the ministries of the Holy

Spirit. You know, Jesus said back there

in Luke, he's he's going to come uh the

promise of the father, this gift from

the father. And we see in as well in the

book of Acts in chapter one as as that

that indeed did happen. Um and Jesus

said you're going to be witnesses of me.

So we have the will of the father was

that Jesus the son would come. We have

the will of the son and the son was you

know he he wanted to please the father.

We're going to look at some of those

verses later on this message. But the

spirit has come as we see here to be a

witness to the work of Jesus. And uh

Jesus himself um had the Holy Spirit. He

came, the spirit came in as we see here

and John bore witness and said, "I saw

the spirit descending from heaven like a

dove and it abode on him." Now, every

one of the gospels mentions this and

every one of them says the same thing

like a dove.

Now, I don't want to go beyond what the

scripture says, but at the same time, I

don't I I want to honor what the

scripture says. He was like a dove. He

didn't say he was a dove. But it says

here in an abode on him. So, the Holy

Spirit's invisible,

but God sent something forth here so

that they could see and know that the

Holy Spirit came from on high. You know,

that's what the gospels of Luke says

about the incarnation. The spirit came

from on high. So, the Holy Spirit from

on high come down. That's what John

wants us to see here. And he rested and

he abodeed upon Jesus. And we've talked

about. So, you know, there are times

that God tells us in his word that, you

know, the spirit is a symbol. And here's

one of those times. He is like a dove.

We're going to look at some more of

those in a minute. But, you know, Jesus

says for us to be harmless like a dove,

you know, so, you know, doves are

they're not raptors.

Um, you know, they're pretty calm,

humble birds when you compare them to

all the other birds. And, you know,

that's that's a some of the things that

God wants us to know about the the Holy

Spirit. He's harmless like a dove as

well. He's invisible and but but they

saw some they saw something and and they

all four said it was like a dove. So

we'll just leave it there. It was like a

dove. But the key here is that he came

from heaven. And again, all four of the

gospels talk about this about the father

sending the son and the son receiving

the spirit much like we see here. So

turn to Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

and verse 29. We have another name here

for the Holy Spirit, the spirit of

grace,

you know, and that's uh we saw that when

we looked in the Old Testament at the at

the Holy Spirit. This is one of the good

names or favorite names, I guess. He's

the spirit of grace. I'm glad he's not

the spirit of of a fill in the blank,

but God sent forth the spirit of grace.

And and you know, that's the Holy

Spirit's job is for us to rightly

understand

God's grace.

You know, you want you want to

understand somebody's theology, just

say, "Hey, tell me about God's grace."

Hebrews. Yeah.

>> Yeah. I'm sorry, John. Yeah. 10:29.

Hebrews 10:29.

Hebrews 10:29

And we have two names here. The spirit

of grace is what we're looking for at

the end of the verse here. He says, "Oh,

how much sort of punishment suppose you

that you have been worthy, though you

have trotted under foot the son of God

and has counted the blood of the

covenant, which was sanctified an unholy

name thing, and you've been destitute to

the spirit of grace." There's our word,

spirit of grace.

So God, the Holy Spirit is a spirit of

grace. He comes to help us understand

the work of God in Christ, what his

blood has done, what the son of God has

done, you know, and he he sanctifies

these things in our hearts so we'll

understand, you know, the grace of God,

you know, and Paul warned uh turn back

to Zechariah chapter 12.

Zechariah 12 · chapter mention

Zechariah chapter 12.

Zechariah 12 · chapter mention

I'm sorry. Yeah. Zechariah chapter 12.

Zechariah 12 · chapter mention

Zechariah 12.

And here's the spirit of grace,

you know, and that's uh you read your

Bible and you you hear Moses and the

children of Israel,

you know, they broke the law. They they

were sinful. He is a sinful man. They

were a sinful nation. And and and Moses

pleaded for God's grace upon his people.

And God said, "Yeah, I'll be gracious to

you."

And we need to know that, you know, and

we can't know that without the spirit of

grace.

And it's in the Old Testament here. And

it wasn't just on one person or select

people like we saw as we studied this.

And we've looked in the Old Testament.

We seen the spirit in in three primary

areas in the Old Testament in creation,

in the children of God, and upon the

Messiah. Those are the three key areas

in the Old Testament. Well, here the

spirit of grace is going to be on the

Messiah.

And how are we going to benefit from

that?

Well, he says, I will pour out on the

house of David upon the inhabitants of

Jerusalem

the spirit of grace and of supplication.

So, you know, we have to realize that,

you know, we're going to have, you know,

issues in life. You know, everything's

not going to go good. Everything's not

going to go well.

And, you know, God is going to be able

to come and to help us now in a greater

way because of what the Messiah is going

to do.

You know, that's why

Jesus got upset when Peter said, you

know, you're not going to the cross. And

Jesus said, I have to go to the cross.

You know, if I don't, these things are

not going to happen. But he did go to

the cross. And now we have the spirit of

grace and of supplication that is in us.

And they shall have looked upon me whom

they have pierced. and they will mourn

for him as one mourns for his own son

and in bitterness for him and one that

is in bitterness for his first born. So,

you know, we the nation of Israel

someday is going to realize they they've

crucified and murdered their Messiah

and Jesus is the one that's going to

take take us from mourning to joy. And

and that's what this verse is saying.

And now we Gentiles now we're benefiting

greatly from this. That's what Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 all all that there in Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 about the Holy Spirit coming

uh to us and being in our heart and

helping us uh to overcome the issues and

the mourning and the and the sorrow that

we go through in this life. You know, G,

even though Jesus is called the man of

sorrow, he's much more uh isn't he?

Let's turn to First Peter chapter 4.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

1 Peter chapter 4

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

and verse 14. We have the spirit of

glory here and of God.

1 Peter chapter 4 and verse

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

uh 14. Now you remember what he said

way back there in Zechariah.

You know that

he our mourning is going to be turned to

joy.

And here Peter says if you're reproach

for the name of Christ, happy are you.

So the joy that comes and the happiness

that comes now even though we're

persecuted in this life

for the here's the word we want the

spirit of glory and of God will rest

upon you on their part he's even spoken

up and on your part he's glorified so it

means it's a good thing for us to be

persecuted for the cause of Christ. So

you know Jesus is this and more. Uh he

he's uh he he imparts his divine power

to us through his word and through the

Holy Spirit that uh imparts us here. you

know, he has all this power and to do

these things and happy are you and you

know when you're persecuted and somehow

persecution brings joy and the way that

happens is because the spirit of glory

and the spirit of God that dwells in us.

He's the the author of the truth. He's

the author of the of life uh the spirit

of glory that is in us. And he is the

one God sends forth in our hearts uh to

to let us know that we are um adopted as

Romans chapter 8 talks about.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Okay. Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

Back to Hebrews

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9

and verse 14. We have

the eternal spirit here. You know, the

Holy Spirit was not created by God the

Father and God the Son,

you know, and some people believe that.

And I don't know, that's not what the

Bible says. That's the Holy Spirit is

God. He's the creator, not a creature.

And here's a good verse to show somebody

that, you know, the Holy Spirit has life

in him. He He has He's God. So he he has

life in us and he imparts it. He has

light and that light is Christ in the

word of God,

you know. So the Holy Spirit helps us in

these areas. The eternal spirit, he

brought us eternal life. You know, we

were dead like Lazarus

and we needed resurrection life

spiritually.

It's Romans chapter 6. Being raised

Romans 6 · chapter mention

together with Christ, we're following

him. So, the eternal spirit of God is

the one that did this for us. And here

in Hebrews chapter 9 verse14, how much

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

more shall the blood of Christ

who through the eternal spirit offered

himself without spot to God purge your

conscience from dead works to serve the

living God. So how do we do that? I mean

how do we go from failing and how do we

go from doing the wrong things to doing

the right things and thinking the right

thoughts? Well, it happens through God,

the Holy Spirit, the eternal spirit of

God. And Jesus has he's not a creature.

So, um, and and neither is the spirit.

He's not a creature. So, whatever you

know, God can do, the Holy Spirit can

do.

And now turn to Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 1

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

and verse 9.

Here we have the Holy Spirit is called

the oil of gladness

in Hebrews chapter 1

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

and verse 9.

You know it's it's uh you know we're

we're children of God now. Those of us

who have been born of the spirit and the

spirit dwells within us and we've become

children of God, you know, God wants to

clean us up like he wants us clean like

he is clean.

He doesn't want any dirty vessels.

And when we and we get dirty, don't we?

So, we come and we confess our sin. to

come and we ask for God's grace and love

and mercy and those things that God

offers to us in his son.

So, as we're growing and we want to be

we want to love righteousness and hate

iniquity that God does.

I mean, how can we say we're children of

God if we don't also hate what he hates

and love what he loves?

And that's what the word of God does.

Well, how can you know, how can we get

cleaned up

uh through the word of God and through

the spirit of God? And that's what he

says here in verse 9. You've loved

righteousness and hated iniquity.

Therefore, God, even thy God, has

anointed thee

with the oil of gladness above thy

fellows.

Well, how do we know the oil of gladness

is the Holy Spirit?

But we have to have to search the

scripture, don't we? He he is the Holy

Spirit is the oil of gladness. And like

you know John said he saw a dove.

Matthew said they saw a dove. And here

um we have another description of the

Holy Spirit to help us understand. Uh

he's called the oil gladness here

uh above thy fellows.

Okay, turn back to Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

Well, who is Hebrews talking about?

Well, they're he's talking about Jesus.

He's the oil of gladness.

And he's our Messiah. He

is through him that you know he overcome

the world. He overcome the devil. He

overcome all these things on our behalf

um to give us his righteousness. And

here in Acts chapter 10

Acts 10 · chapter mention

and verse 38,

God anointed Jesus. So remember the oil.

Remember the anointing.

And here he says it's oil or he anointed

Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit.

Not with oil but with the Holy Spirit.

So it's similar to what Hebrews says.

The Hebrews says the oil of gladness.

Well, here we see Jesus was anointed

with the Holy Spirit

and with power. What he do with that

power? He went around doing good,

healing all that were oppressed of the

devil. God was with him. And we are

witnesses of all these things that he

did both with the Jews and in Jerusalem

who you slew and hanged on the tree. him

God raised and and he showed you all

openly. So here in this verse we see

that the oil of gladness here is the hol

is the Holy Spirit that Jesus was

anointed with and that was the Messiah

Messiah's mission and uh you know the

Holy Spirit is the oil of gladness.

Uh um he you know he he is the dove and

the Bible uses these terms to help us

understand these things. Now turn to

John chapter 4. John chapter 4

John 4 · chapter mention John 4 · chapter mention

and the Holy Spirit's called a few other

things.

And some of those we're going to look

at. They they all tie together so well,

Old Testament and New Testament.

Right now we're looking at the Holy

Spirit is called the oil of gladness.

And that's what he was upon Jesus here

in

in um John chapter 4

John 4 · chapter mention

and verse 14.

This is the woman at the well and Jesus

talks about drinking and being thirsty

again.

Well, this living water that Jesus is

talking about is the Holy Spirit

and the word of God

that does a great work in us. Whosoever

drinks of this water that I give him

will will never thirst, but the water

that I give him shall be in him a well

of water springing up into eternal life.

How do we know that's the Holy Spirit?

Well, he says eternal life. Only the

spirit has life.

Only the word of God has life. You know,

we can make both those applications

here.

And you know, this is this is he is in

us now. The spirit of the holiness of of

the Holy Spirit and this uh the joy and

the gladness of of the Lord. And

remember, turn over to John chapter 7.

John 7 · chapter mention

John chapter 7.

John 7 · chapter mention

in verse 37.

And you know Jesus,

he was, you know, he was persecuted, he

was maligned, he was rejected. You know,

all those things that the Bible says

about him in the Old Testament, you

know, and and now in the New Testament,

you know, all those things were true.

He's a man of sorrow,

but he was more than the man of sorrow.

And here we, you know, that's what we

need to see. He's more than a savior.

That's a lot, isn't it? But he come and

died for us that the Holy Spirit might

come and dwell within us and be this

well to everlasting life that he spoke

of to the woman back there. And here

he's in he's in the temple

and he says, "If any man thirst,"

remember what he told the woman at the

well.

"If any man thirst, let him come to me

and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the

scripture has said, that's key, out of

his heart shall flow rivers of living

water." What's that? Well, John tells us

this. He spoke of the spirit whom they

that believe on him should receive. For

the Holy Spirit was not yet given

because Jesus was not yet glorified. So

the man of sorrows is now glorified.

And as he is glorified, he said, "Go to

Jerusalem and wait on the promise of the

father." So the work of Jesus

accomplished these things for us. And

now the spirit that God gives us is his

promise of the father, a great and

precious gift. 1 Thessalonians chapter

1 Thessalonians 1 · chapter mention

1.

First Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

and verse 6.

And we saw in the Old Testament that,

you know, there were time at times in

certain, you know, seasons when when God

would give the children of Israel his

spirit to to do skilled work or to get

wisdom from him.

And but it was nothing that was

permanent like now.

the promise of the father

and the spirit.

He takes the word of God and

and he helps us with wisdom. He helps us

with understanding like he did in the

Old Testament. You know, there was a

dependency on God to know about God. And

we have that same dependency.

And here Paul says, "And there's more.

The spirit does more than just help us

understand and know.

He says here in verse six, for you

became followers of us and of the Lord.

How do we become followers? How do how

am I what I I stumbled onto Jesus?

No, you didn't stumble on to Jes to

Jesus. He come looking for you

through the gospel, through the word of

God, through his grace, through the

spirit of grace.

And he says the and the Lord having

received the word

and here we have in much affliction. So

they were persecuted Christians

and yet they've got the joy of the Holy

Spirit. So we see here the connection

made between following the Lord,

receiving his word, being persecuted for

it, yet having the joy of the Holy

Spirit. So that's what the spirit does.

He brings us this great joy uh from

above.

Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Ephesians 5.

You guys are familiar with this.

But we'll revisit it here. Remember in

Acts what happened at Pentecost.

You know, the world, Jerusalem, thought

the apostles and the disciples of Jesus

were drunk,

intoxicated in the middle of the day of

all things.

But what they were intoxicated with was

the joy of the Holy Spirit.

And Paul here tells us

that's what we should be when we come

together. Yeah, we have affliction.

Yeah, we have problems. Yeah, we have

difficulties.

You know, we're we're like the followers

of Jesus. Everything he tells us to do

gets us in trouble with the world.

But we do it anyway. And then we can

come here and sing songs and be filled

with the spirit of God. How how do we

get filled with the spirit of God? By

what he says to do. Speak to yourselves

in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

singing and making melodies in your

heart to the Lord. Singing and music is

a big big part of worship and a big big

part of church so we can do what? Give

thanks always

for all things unto God. God has given

us everything. What what is it that we

don't have? We have everything.

That's what Ephesians chapter 1 is

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

talking about.

Submit yourselves to one another in the

fear of God. And that's this brings the

fear of God. You know, don't try to get

rid of your fear of God. That's a part

of this. You know, he's the one we fear.

We don't fear the devil. We don't fear

the world. We don't fear, you know, men.

We don't There's a lot of thing the

Bible says not to fear, but as well says

for us in the fear of God. That's why

we're here.

And if you would turn to Isaiah 61,

Isaiah

Isaiah 61 · chapter mention

chapter 61.

We And we just have to keep making this

connection between God said, "I'm going

to do it." And and then it's now it's

done.

And it's the salvation is a free gift.

The Holy Spirit is a free gift. We don't

ask God for the spirit.

He gives it freely.

And here we are in Isaiah

63. I'm sorry, 61

verse three. Morning, Martha.

>> I got to grab my water bottle.

I'm back.

We're in Isaiah chapter 61

Isaiah 61 · chapter mention

in verse three here.

And once again, the Bible says that, you

know, these the the gifts for the church

and the gift of salvation

and the gift of the Holy Spirit, you

know, these all come to us in Christ.

It's not something after afterwards or

or later on.

The minute we get saved, we get the

spirit.

Regeneration is brought about by the

spirit. And then he doesn't leave us. He

He comes to do a work.

And God promised to do this in Isaiah.

You know, that was a problem with

Israel. They went on the day of

atonement.

Sacrifice an animal. Aren't you glad we

don't have to do that?

But they did to blood. Remind them of

sin. We did wrong. Now we got to sac now

we got to sacrifice.

Blood. God accepts this as a temporary

covering until his son could come. And

and once his son did this great work,

then you know, we're the we're the

beneficiaries of it.

You know, we talk about the spoils of

war,

you know, and I'm not trying to justify

that,

but it's an it's a part of the world

that we live in. Those who win the war

have the spoils.

And that's what God's saying here about

his son, about the Messiah.

When he when he dies on a man of sorrow

dies on the cross and here come all the

spoils

for his people.

And part of those spoils is is is the

Holy Spirit.

And Isaiah 61:3, he says

Isaiah 61:3

to appoint. God always appoints. He

doesn't run the risk of of happen stance

and circumstance. He's God, so he can do

whatever he pleases. We've had that.

He's sovereign. Don't Don't try to

overthrow him. You'll be in trouble like

the devil is

and the and the fallen angels are and

all the unsaved people in the world.

You're you're on the wrong side.

But we're on the right side now. Why?

Because God appointed

unto those who would mourn in Zion to

give what

he says give. Don't ever overlook give.

God, this is a gift from God. God's a

very generous God. He's a loving God, a

gracious God, a merciful God. Everything

that we need as sinners, God is if we'll

just come to him on his terms.

And you see here, he's going to do what?

The oil of joy for mourning and the

garment of praise for the spirit of

heaviness.

There's that spirit again. That's the

eternal spirit, the Holy Spirit, the

spirit of God,

that they might be called trees of

righteousness, the planting of the Lord,

that he might be glorified.

What did God ever do that wasn't

beautiful? You know, it's all over the

scripture.

The Garden of Eden and and I could we

could name 10 other things that God did

that was glorious and beautiful.

God doesn't make a mistake. And then

we're going to see as the book of

Revelation wraps up, we're planted by a

river.

And this river is God. This river is the

kingdom. This river is Jesus. The river

is God himself.

He's our river

that's cleaned us up.

That he might be glorified, not us. How

did we get it?

There's no merit there. He says give.

So we praise God for his giving and for

his great gift of his son, the Messiah.

Psalm 23.

Psalm

23. I'll bet you know this one by heart,

Martha.

Psalm 23.

Here's the great shepherd.

How can God shepherd us? He's in heaven.

He shepherds us with our w with our

shepherd in the church, our pastor.

And and but we have a shepherd. The Holy

Spirit, Jesus is the shepherd. And the

Holy Spirit is the one who is is helping

us here in this in this great song.

So you know it's like the lady did

remember when she come and she took a

very precious and expensive

uh vial of ointment and what' she do?

She had to break it. Couldn't get it out

of there without breaking it.

So it was a great cost to her.

So the alabaster box is just a symbol of

the gladness that God has poured out on

his own people when he has sent the Holy

Spirit

and his son and his word to us sinners

that we might

enjoy God. So

this is not going to end.

This this isn't we don't have temporary

life or or we don't have reincarnation.

We don't have those those things that

that men come up with. We have eternal

life that God has come up with and he's

given it to us. We're going to live

forever

and ever and ever and ever. However many

evers you want to put on it.

And you know, David, David was a sinful

man

like us.

How did he recover? How did he recoup?

He He had the Holy Spirit, didn't he?

And And you know, God communicated. God

did God did the work in him.

And that's what we need. We need God

doing a work in us. We

or we won't have any spiritual peace. We

won't have any any um any understanding

of these things. And David said, "He

makes me to lie lie down in green

pastures. He leads me beside the still

waters.

Those are two wonderful things.

He restores my soul. Wow.

You want your soul restored?

The only one that can do it is Jesus.

He leads me in the path of righteousness

for his name's sake. See, God wants us

on the righteous path.

And he sent the Holy Spirit. these great

spoils that we have now from the work of

his son.

And even Jesus is not finished. You

know, he's his work on the cross is

finished. You know, don't doubt that.

It's over and done and accomplished. He

come out of the grave. But where is he

now? He's at the right hand of the

father doing what? He's making

intercession for us. He's growing his

church. He's blessing his church. He's

being worshiped by his church. But we

still have to go through

this life in the shadow of death. I will

fear no evil.

Why? Because he fears the great

shepherd.

And surely goodness and mercy will

follow me all the days of my life. This

is now.

And then it gets better.

I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

You know what is it that God doesn't

have an abundance of? You know, he's

he's not a part of sin and evil. Don't

take him over there. But God is good.

God is love. God is mercy. God is grace.

God is all these wonderful things. And

if you don't know that, he's

disappointed.

He's disappointed that you don't know

that.

because he does want us to know this.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 13.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

And this is how the book of Hebrews

ends.

Very similar

to what Isaiah said,

the man of sorrow,

but we're filled with joy and we're

glad.

And

start in verse 10. We have an altar of

which they have no right to eat.

who serve the tabernacle.

That's going backwards. For the bodies

of those beasts and the blood is brought

before the sanctuary by the high priest

for sin that burned outside the camp.

Wherefore Jesus also might sanctify the

people with his own blood.

He suffered outside the gate.

So the man of sorrow did these things.

He He's our He's our savior. He's our

He's our redeemer.

And we worship him and praise him and

thank him for those very things.

But it doesn't stop there. We want to go

on. Let us go forth. Therefore,

outside the camp doing whatbearing is

reproach. People don't like Jesus. They

don't like God's grace. They don't like

that God's generous and God's a giver.

And he says, "We have therefore that we

make a continuing city, but we seek one

to come. We get to heaven, it's going to

be

be a lot better."

So heaven is,

you know, all the things that we can say

about heaven,

you know, it's full of love.

Um it's full of

uh light. It's full of you know all

these things eternal life. All these

things that we can say about heaven.

But now because of Jesus and what he did

and who he is, heaven is filled with

forgiveness now.

And we can have this forgiveness

through him and have this joy and have

this love and this peace and this grace

and this mercy

and we can run our race with unspeakable

joy

as Paul said.

And he says in verse 15,

"Let us offer by the sacrifice

of praise to God continually." What do

we do? We praise God for his unspeakable

gift.

That's what we do. And the fruit of our

lips, giving thanks to his name.

Names are important.

But to good and share forget not. For

such sacrifices God

is well pleased.

Obey them that have watch over you.

Verse 18. pray for them

and and restore uh each other and and

the God of peace

that brought again from the dead, the

Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of

the sheep through the blood of the

everlasting covenant. How can we be at

peace with God? He's holy. I'm sinful

here. Here he tells them, "Make you

perfect in every good work to do his

will, working in you that which is well

pleasing in his sight through Jesus

Christ, to whom he glory forever and

ever. Amen." So that's the purpose of

the word. That's the purpose of the Holy

Spirit is to help us um with these very

things. Now turn over to Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

2 or I'm sorry, chapter 12 verse two.

you know where we're going.

So the man of sorrows who was acquainted

with our grief can now

bring the spoils of heaven upon the

children of God.

And that's what the book of Hebrews says

here in verse two.

Where do we look?

Got to be looking in the right place.

Don't look to me.

Look to your neighbor. Don't look to

your church.

Don't look to your friends.

But look to Jesus.

And we find him where? We find him in

his word.

He's the author and finisher of our

faith.

He brought it to us and he's going to

end it. And we're going to spend

eternity with him. Who for the joy that

was set before him. I read the gospels

and I never saw any of Jesus joy.

Well, it's there.

His joy was not like our joy, you know,

how much is in our bank account,

you know, or if we had a good day or a

bad day.

Jesus joy was to do the will of his

father

and he did it perfectly.

And now us sinners have forgiveness and

mercy. He endured the cross. He despised

the shame

and he sat down at the right hand of

God. The scripture wants us to look past

um what he did on the cross. It's so

important.

But he's still there. He's at the right

hand of the father. So now heaven,

what's the Bible say? Heaven's rejoicing

over one sinner

who repents.

So that's what Jesus has done. He's

brought a great gift, the gift and the

precious gift of eternal life. Turn to

Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

And now you know the the the church is

the body of Christ. And Jesus said that

his joy came from doing the father's

will as as difficult as that was for

him.

But doing those things brought him great

joy.

So the man of sorrows was also a man of

joy. And his joy

wasn't in the disciples around him. They

let him down. His joy was in doing the

will of his father to get the spoils

from heaven

to dump out on us sinners

on this earth.

How much how many uh attributes does God

have?

Take several messages to go through

that.

But just think how wonderful God is and

and his divine supply.

He's not getting low on anything. It's

endless.

And

Jesus has brought this joy to us. The

man of sorrows has brought this great

joy to us through the Holy Spirit that

is in us.

And now when we we can be like Jesus, we

can we can see everything and mess

around us. But I'm going to but he took

great joy in serving the father and

doing the father's will. The early

disciples, the early church, the early

apostles as well. While they were

persecuted and maligned and murdered,

they found great joy in the ministry and

the service that they rendered to God.

And here's the one where they shook off

the dust from their feet against them.

And they came to Iconium.

And

who? The disciples. Not just the

apostles,

but the disciples. Everyone. The Holy

Spirit is poured out on everyone that's

in the body of Christ. Young or old. If

you become a believer,

you're going to receive the Holy Spirit

the minute you get saved. It's a promise

from God the Father. And you know, Jesus

is our great high priest. Now, he he was

uh you know, he was anointed

um in a greater way. The man of sorrows

uh was anointed in a greater way because

he's our Messiah. He's God. So, we have

a great high priest who, as Hebrews

says, you know, he he doesn't know what

we're going through. No, he does know

what we're going through. And quite

well.

Turn to Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Paul ties all these together for us in

one verse.

The promised Messiah brought the spoils

of heaven upon this earth. That's where

the church came from. No Christ, no

church.

And Jesus said, "No,

the kingdom's on hold. We're going to do

something

better, more. We're going to save

Gentiles."

And here are these Gentiles in Rome.

And you know that the the Bible says

beyond measure. He's going to he's going

to do things beyond measure. Not

sparingly but greatly.

And here we have

declared to be the son of God with

power.

Not sparingly

according to the spirit of holiness.

There's our Holy Spirit.

By the resurrection from the dead.

So, we got the whole trinity involved in

in our salvation, in our redemption, and

in our sanctification.

You know, we're walking in the spirit.

That's what God wants us to do. And he

says if we It's positive. If we walk in

the spirit, we won't fulfill the lust of

the flesh.

Turn to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Last verse.

Who's the good Samaritan?

Jesus. He He saw us in need. He come to

our our aid.

He's He is the good Samaritan.

Well, how about Barnabas? You guys

remember Barnabas?

He was the son of consolation.

Whatever was going on, whatever trouble

there was, he came to the rescue as best

he could. And he did it so much and so

often they started they had a nickname.

Here comes the son of consolation.

Well, we have a greater uh than

um Barnabas.

It's Jesus.

And we see here in chapter 2 and verse

25, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem

whose name was Simeon. And the same man,

he was righteous, devout, waiting for

what?

Consolation of Israel. Who's that? Oh,

that's the man of sorrows.

That's our savior. That's our redeemer.

And the Holy Spirit was upon him doing

what? So he'd know that Jesus was the

consolation of Israel.

And it was re revealed unto him by the

Holy Spirit that he would not see death

until he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the spirit

into the temple. And when the parents

brought in the child Jesus to do for him

after the custom of the law, then took

he him up into his arms. Bless God.

Notice what he says. Lord, now let your

servant depart in peace according to

your word. For my eyes have seen your

salvation

which has been prepared before the face

of all people. a light to lighten the

Gentiles and the glory of your people

Israel. And Joseph and Mary marveled at

the things which were spoken of him. And

Simon blessed them and said unto Mary,

"Behold, this child is set for the fall

and the rising of many in Israel, and

for a sign that will be spoken against.

Yet a sword will pierce through my own

soul and that the thoughts of many may

be revealed. Jesus is the consolation of

Israel.

We come to you, Father, this morning. We

come to you, Lord Jesus. We come to you,

Holy Spirit. We thank you that you're a

great God,

one that we can't fully understand even

in our own minds. You're greater than we

are and you've accomplished this great

redemption for us.

Thank you, Jesus, for dying for us

and securing the spoils of heaven uh for

us sinners.

And this is all the the grace of God.

This is all the gift of God that comes

to us by faith in your son. So we thank

you for these great things. Thank you

for your word that makes these things

known. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Lord, as we go from this place

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine well to a sin

darkened world as we go from this place.