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

in our series,

the major Bible doctrines.

This morning, we're going to focus on

the power of the spirit,

the Holy Spirit, and the power of the

gospel.

So, we're going to look at the verse in

Acts chapter 1,

Acts 1 · chapter mention

kind of get us kicked off and going

here.

Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Remember, this was one of the the

questions the apostles had about John's

baptism.

And

Jesus said there's one coming after him.

And he was he was mentioning the member

of the Trinity, member of the Godhead,

the Holy Spirit

would come.

In the Old Testament, we seen that

there were limited times that that

happened. Limited times that

the spirit came

upon men, although it was there.

But here, this is on everyone,

not just the apostles, but every member

of the church

will participate in this.

And this is a promise. We want to remind

oursel of that. Another promise from

God, the promise of the spirit.

In verse eight here, he says, "But you

shall receive power

after the Holy Spirit is come upon you,

and you will be witnesses of me both in

J in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria,

and to the uttermost part of the earth."

And those are words directly from Jesus

about the third member of the Trinity

that he mentioned as well in the in the

upper room. Now, let's put that with

Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

As we begin this morning,

we have the power of the Holy Spirit and

Paul talks about the power of the gospel

here in Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

in verse 16. same word

the power the spirit the Holy Spirit was

going to come and bring him power and

here Paul says the power is in the

gospel of God to salvation verse 16

I am not ashamed of the gospel

there's a lot of shame that comes with

it a lot of people don't want to deal

with that they want to Jesus that you

know is makes everybody comfortable and

cold

but Paul says said that he was not

ashamed of the gospel of Christ

crucified savior for us to to die and to

pay for our sins.

And he says that I am not ashamed of the

gospel of Christ. For it is the power of

God unto salvation to everyone that

believes to the Jew first and also to

the Greek. For in it is the

righteousness of God revealed from faith

to faith. As it is written, the just

shall live by faith. So, we have the

power of the Holy Spirit and we have the

power of the gospel. And and these two

go together for us here as we begin. And

remember that's uh

you know that's what Jesus told us was

going to happen. Um he was going to send

the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God. And

the Holy Spirit is a member of the

Trinity as we've been learning and have

learned and have known

part of our Bible uh from the very first

verses. And we saw that back in Genesis

remember the spirit breathed into Adam

and Adam became a living soul. So we

have examples in the Bible where the

spirit did something and in there that

that case he breathed into Adam and Adam

became a living soul.

So the the holy spirit represents you

know there there are words in our bible

that

um the authors and the writers of the

bible use to help us understand more

about the holy spirit. One of them is

fire. the Holy Spirit of fire he came.

That's what we see the symbol on the day

of Pentecost. And when we see that

symbol in the Old Testament as the

holiness of God so fire in the Holy

Spirit represents uh purification.

Uh we saw uh the oil of the Holy Spirit

in the Old Testament what that

represented anointing.

We've seen the dove come on upon Jesus

in the New Testament.

That means purity and peace and humility

and longsuffering.

And then we seen in John chapter 3 about

John 3 · chapter mention

the wind and the breath representing the

power of God. Let's turn to that verse

in John

John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

And remember at the end of John we have

the one where it says Jesus breathed on

them

and it said receive ye the spirit. So

there the breath of Jesus and the spirit

of God went together.

So we have those comparisons in the word

of God. And here we're going to revisit

this. We've been to this verse before

but we're going to come back to it a

second and look at it in a little bit uh

greater depth. And he he says here in

verse uh six of John chapter 3, he that

John 3 · chapter mention

is born of the flesh is flesh. That

which is born of the spirit is spirit.

So the birth here, the new birth is

brought about by the holy spirit. And

Jesus himself compares the spirit to the

wind here.

He says, "Marvel not that I say you must

be born again. The wind blows where it

wills."

So the wind is very sovereign, you know,

it uh we were we were

had a picnic, I guess, yesterday, right?

And the wind came out of the north and

blowed all the plates off the the table

when the rain hit. So we ran and

gathered them all up and I was

surrounded by croutons.

So we got everything cleaned up and we

got then the wind was coming this way

and then no sooner we got everything

clean cleaned up. The wind started

blowing from this direction. What a

great example of what Jesus is saying

here. We don't know which way the wind's

going to come and the wind has the the

freedom and to do whatever it wants.

And that's what Jesus says. the

sovereignty here of the of the wind and

the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.

And uh he again he says you don't know

the sound of it or you don't know the

voice of it. That's uh you know the the

the wind here

um is compared to the Holy Spirit and

the spirit here is indeed a member of

the Godhead. So you know the the Bible

never calls the wind God.

The Bible never calls the sun God.

You know, God's above the wind and he's

greater than the wind. But Jesus is

simply saying here that, you know, we

can't even predict the weather. It was

85 yesterday and I think the wind chill

this morning was was maybe 35. What a

change. And and uh you know that's what

he's saying. The wind can do whatever it

wants. The weather can do whatever it

wants. And we just have to observe

and and agree with Jesus here and that

uh it comes from wherever it wants to

and it goes wherever it wants to. And

then he says so is everyone that is born

of the spirit. So the power of the holy

spirit here

uh with Jesus along with the power of

the gospel to make men be born again.

That's uh what this whole chapter is

about here.

Um, as we look at this and begin and the

word sound up there, it means voice, you

know, and and the wind has a voice,

doesn't it? If it blows hard enough, you

know, we can hear the voice of the wind

and and uh the spirit has a voice. And

the voice, the spirit's voice is the

word of God. It's the gospel that Paul

talked about. So, we have the Holy

Spirit and we have the gospel as the

power of God unto salvation

to everyone that believeth. And you

know, again, we don't know which way the

wind's going to go. And it's invisible.

It's it's mighty. Uh there's a lot of

comparisons we can make with the wind

here with the Holy Spirit. And I think

that was the whole point of verse 8 here

with Jesus and and the spirit uh to

Nicodemus which he didn't have and which

he needed. Let's turn to Job chapter 4.

Job 4 · chapter mention

Job

Job 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

and verse 14.

Job 4

and verse 14.

This was a long time ago, the oldest

book in the Bible. And there are things

here that

let us know that the word of God is in

is inspired

in a great way. And here uh we have in

chapter 4 of the book of Job about the

spirit of God. Start in verse 14. He

says, "Fear came upon me and trembling

which made all of my bones to shake.

Then the spirit passed by before my

face. The hair of my flesh stood up. It

stood up still, but I could not discern

its form, its image before my eyes.

Therefore, I was silent, and I heard a

voice saying, "Shall mortal man

be more just than God? Shall a man be

more pure than his maker?

Behold, he put no trust in his servants,

and in his angels he charged with folly.

How much less is it in them that dwell

in houses of clay, whose foundation are

dust, who crushes before the moth?" So

Job compares himself here to God to the

spirit of God and and uh we see that he

he trembled when he thinks about God

compared to himself. So

you know we have a

you know we're Christians are now filled

with his spirit

that Job is talking about here. So and

again this is before the incarnation.

So we see him work and and we see him

produce

results here. Turn over to Ezekiel

37

to the valley of dry bones.

When I first got saved, I read this over

and over wondering what this meant.

for 35 years now

we have some clarity what we have here

in Ezekiel chapter 37

Ezekiel 37 · chapter mention

and verse 8.

Ezekiel

37

and verse 8

talking about the spirit of God as the

wind

bringing about results

bringing about change.

And here we have

Ezekiel the prophet's vision

and it's just a valley of dry bones.

I'll start in verse eight.

And when I beheld, lo, the shenus,

there's a good King James word.

And the flesh came upon them, and the

skin covered them above, but there was

no breath in them. And then he said unto

me, prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy,

son of man, and say to the wind, thus

sayeth the Lord God, come from the four

winds and breasts of the earth upon

these slain, and make them live.

So I prophesied, as I was commanded, and

the breath came into them, and they

lived, and they stood upon their feet.

They were exceedingly great army. So we

see, you know, the humanly speaking,

uh, a death and destruction is about as

bad as it can get. Um, look up in verse

two

some more to help us with what exactly

this was. And caused me to pass by them

round about them. And behold, there were

very many in open valley, and lo, they

were very dry. There's a lots of them,

and they're very dry. in

>> I'm sorry. Yes.

Ezekiel 37.

Is am I on track?

>> Yeah.

>> So, this is the valley of dry bones and

and Ezekiel sees how bad it is and

humanly speaking and the wind of God,

the breath of God comes in and brings

life. So the Old Testament is telling us

something that the spirit brings life

and and it can bring life to to uh dead

bones as many as there were here such a

pile if you will. So how did they stand

up?

Everyone stood up by the breath of God.

So

turn over to John chapter nine.

We have so many

good examples in John about

exactly what Jesus said.

He said to the apostles, "You're going

to preach my word. The Holy Spirit's

going to come and you're going to do

greater works than I did."

And we see accounts of that here in John

where

this new birth that he told Nicodemus

about this blind man

um

lays hold of of who Christ is and and

and he's born again.

So here in chapter one or excuse me

verse one of chapter nine John

as Jesus passed by

he saw a man who was blind from his

birth. His disciples said master who did

sin this man or his parents that he was

born blind.

Jesus said neither this man sin nor his

parents but that the works of God should

be made manifest in him. That's what the

new birth is. It's a work of God.

You know, as God breathed in, the spirit

breathed into those dry bones in the Old

Testament to bring and give life. So,

the spirit of God, the breath of God,

the voice of God, the word of God

um is able to do that in the New

Testament here to the worst of sinners

who this blind man was treated like. And

Jesus said, "I must work the works of

him that sent me." So those are the

works that he's talking about is is

bringing the new birth, bringing life to

people. And as long as I am in the

world, I am the light of the world.

So you know, that's what Jesus is. He's

the light of the world. He's the one

that shines in the darkness for us.

You will go over to verse 36.

This whole chapter is about this very

thing. John gives us so many examples of

the new birth after Jesus says you got

to be born again. Well, how's that?

Well, John says boom, boom, boom, boom,

boom. Chapter after chapter,

he shows us what the new birth is and

how the preaching of Jesus and the words

of Jesus along with the Holy Spirit

moving brought about faith in the son of

God.

And that's what he says up here in verse

36. And he answered, "Who is he, Lord,

that I might believe on him?" That's

what this is all about.

Jesus believing on Jesus, who he is, and

what he said he's done.

And Jesus said, "Thou has not seen him.

Thou has both seen him, and it is he

that talks with thee." And he said,

"Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.

And Jesus said, "For judgment I have

come into the world that they who see

not might see, but they who see might be

made blind." There's some more of that

sovereignty

where the wind blows,

as he said back there in chapter three,

wherever it will. So

God is sovereign where the word of God

and the spirit of God and the truth of

God and the salvation of God forth. God

is sovereign in these things. And Jesus

said, "If you were blind, uh, you should

have no sin, but now you have said we,

therefore, your sin remains." So in the

example here, and again, the woman at

the well, he's, you know, Jesus told her

about the living water and that's what

he gives. That's what the word of God

is. That's what the words of Jesus are.

They're the living word of God.

Now turn to the book of Acts again.

Acts chapter

Acts 1 · chapter mention

1.

We're back to our verse

again.

So, you know, that's what

teachers and preachers know

is that if you want to fill

a building or a funeral home or a church

uh with the Holy Spirit,

you can do it with the word of God and

the spirit of God. And we've seen that.

We've seen Jesus do that. We've seen the

the valley of dry bones. And now this

spirit is the one Jesus is talking about

here coming in verse 8. Um and and this

is where the preaching of the gospel of

grace

begins.

And you know these men spent years with

Jesus three and a half years but yet

they didn't fully understand all this.

you know, their, you know, their faith

was, you know, denial not too long ago,

but now Jesus has restored them and he

wants them to go forward. And, you know,

he, the Holy Spirit is coming upon these

men, and we're going to see what happens

when the Holy Spirit comes. Many people

get sidetracked here with the all the

gifts and everything in these early

chapters. We'll come back to this in a

future message and deal with the gifts

collectively. But now turn to chapter 6

and verse 10.

We're talking about the spirit,

power of the spirit and the power of the

gospel.

And we see it here in our dear friend

Stephen.

We're going to get to meet him. He's in

heaven. And here we have a a good

example of what

Jesus was talking about when he, you

know, he said, "They're going to

persecute you like they persecuted me."

And here in chapter 6 in verse 10,

the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit and

the the gospel that Paul preached is uh

is the power of God. Those things are

able.

They have a great ability.

And here in verse 10, they were not able

to resist the wisdom and the spirit by

which he spoke. And this is Stephen,

remember?

And this is exactly what Jesus told them

was going to happen when the Holy Spirit

would come. And you guys, he said, you

will be not just the men, but the women.

you're going to be uh witnesses for me

uh wherever you go. So the verb in this

the verb in this verse here in chapter 6

and verse 10 the the verb here greatly

highlights the divine wisdom given to

Stephen.

Everybody Stephen got up and he was

talking and everybody was like man where

did that message come from? you know

what it come from heaven. They come from

God and his wisdom and it came through

the spirit of God and it come out

Steven's mouth uh to these stubborn men.

Here it is. It says and you know they

they uh they did to him what they did to

Jesus. They raised up false witnesses.

See in verse 13, same thing. These were

paid liars, you know. They just brought

him in and they they you know for a fee

you could get a conviction and that's

exactly what happened and they end up

stoning Stephen here. Well, we're before

we get to that back up to chapter 2,

Acts

2

and 17.

And it and it wasn't just Stephen,

you know, he wasn't one of the 12. It

wasn't just Peter who was one of the 12.

It was it was the men and the women in

the church that God poured his wisdom

out on in the early church here so we

could have these things recorded for us

and read them and see what happened. And

then it come to pass in the last days in

verse 17

says God I will pour out my spirit upon

all flesh.

So

they go to the Old Testament remind

everybody about this verse

and you know we've seen this a couple of

times but then verse eight and your sons

and your daughters will prophesy.

That's what Stephen was doing.

You know, when they said, "This man's

got wisdom from on high." He's he's

prophesying with the wisdom that God

gave him

and the Holy Spirit gave him. And you'll

see visions and old men will dream

dreams.

And on my servants and on my handmaids,

I will pour out in those days the spirit

and they shall prophesy. And the point

there is that everyone, you know,

everyone who the moment they're born

again

receives the Holy Spirit,

whether they're four year old child or a

40year-old

adult or an 80year-old adult, it doesn't

matter. The spirit comes when when the

regeneration comes as well. I'll turn to

chapter 7.

Nobody was asking for the spirit.

We'll deal with that in a future

message. But God poured it out and and

we see the evidence of it here.

The greater than John, they were

baptized with the greater greater than

water. They were baptized with the

spirit of the Holy Spirit of God. And

here we're talking about Stephen again

in verse seven.

And you know, notice his message. And he

said uh to the high priest, "Are these

things so?"

And he said, "Men and brethren and

fathers, hearken to God of glory."

That's who Steven's talking about, the

God of glory from the Old Testament.

This is this is the election in the Old

Testament to the Jews. You know, you

guys had the word of God. You guys have

the privileges. You guys know God. And

you know God because he chose you.

and um they didn't want to hear these

things. So he goes on there to talk

about verse 5. He says, "And he gave him

no inheritance, not so much as to set

foot. Yet he promised that he would give

it to him for a possession and his seed

after him when he had no child." And God

spoke in this way. So you see Stephen is

speaking the word of God. He's speaking

the truth of God that the Holy Spirit

has given him here in a great way.

And uh he says you'll be a stranger in

the land. He he he notes the dates. And

then he says in verse 7, the nation to

whom they shall be will be in bondage

and I will judge says God and after that

they will come forth and serve me in

this place. So God uh is who Stephen is

talking about here with them. And this

wisdom come from a come from the Holy

Spirit and come from above. That's what

chapter 6 is all about here. And then

look in verse three of chapter 6.

Back up and pick up a couple more verses

here about Stephen and his wisdom.

Therefore, wherefore, brethren, look

among you for seven honest men, full of

the Holy Spirit and wisdom, that we may

appoint over this business, that we

might be given

ourselves continually to prayer and to

the ministry of the word, you know. So,

we can't overlook that, you know, along

with the wisdom and the and the

preaching and the teaching was the

prayer and the ministry of the word.

And the saying pleased the whole

multitude, they chose Stephen,

a man full of faith and of the Holy

Spirit. So that was the man they put

forth. And we see here what what

transpired

before the Sanhedrin when he spoke uh to

them as well. And it didn't go so well.

And then look what

um the verse says in chapter

7 verse 48.

He's summing it up here.

Quite a quite a message that he

preached.

Where do you get it?

It came from heaven above. It come from

the Holy Spirit that was in him.

And it

was met with great opposition. In verse

48 of chapter 7, he says, "Nevertheless,

the most high dwells not in temples made

with hands,

as the prophets say."

And God says, "Heaven is my throne, the

earth is my foottool. What house will

you build me, sayaeth the Lord, and what

place will you give me of rest?

Has not my handmade all things?"

So after that message, you see the stiff

neck of the uncircumcised in heart.

You're resisting who? The Holy Spirit

as your fathers also did. So the wisdom

of God and the spirit of God and the

truth of God, these all all these things

go together here and a great example for

us in the early church.

and one verse 40 54. And when they heard

these things, they were cut to the

heart.

They nashed on him with their teeth.

And he being full of the Holy Spirit, he

looked up steadfastly to heaven, and he

saw the glory of God and Jesus standing

on the right hand of God. So we have the

the Trinity showing up here

in this one of these first examples in

the early church.

Behold, he saw heaven open and the son

of of man standing on the right hand of

God.

And they cried with a loud voice, and

they stopped their ears, and they ran

unto him with one accord. And they cast

him out of the city, and they stoned

him. And the witnesses laid down their

clothes of the young man's feet, whose

name was Saul.

And they stoned Steven, calling upon God

and saying,

uh, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He

knelt down with a loud voice, Lord, lay

not to their charge like his savior did.

And when he said these things, he fell

asleep. So, we've got the all three

members of the Trinity involved in the

early church here for us to see the

power of the Holy Spirit, the power of

the word of God, the power of the

gospel. Uh these are great examples. And

the Bible also calls these men, go back

to chapter 4,

ignorant.

They were ignorant in in worldly

knowledge. They were ignorant in maybe

their culture. They were ignorant in a

lot of things.

But look what it says at the end of

verse 13.

They took knowledge of them that they

had been with Jesus. So that that's

where the power for them was at was that

they had been with Jesus and his word

and the Holy Spirit in which that he had

promised to them. And then it happened

with Peter. Look there in verse 8 of

chapter 4. Then Peter filled with the

Holy Spirit said, "You rulers of

Israel." So there was the boldness to to

speak and with the wisdom um on high. So

that's the way God works. God works

through his spirit and God works through

his word and God works through his

church, his preachers. and you know the

the ones that were praying as well. We

saw that. So here this the the

wind that Jesus called back there in

John chapter 3. The wind blows where it

John 3 · chapter mention

wills. The sovereignty of the of the

spirit. We see here uh in these early

chapters in the book of Acts.

And if you will look in verse

um oh we looked at that one. Go to 1

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 3.

You would have to be God to be in

everybody at once, wouldn't you?

So that's what we have. We have everyone

who has been born again has the Holy

Spirit dwelling within them.

It's a gift. It's a part of this great

salvation and redemption that we have.

And here Paul tells, he reminds the

Corinthians here in chapter 3:16,

a verse you know so well. But as a

reminder,

you know, the sin and everything that

they were wrapped up in,

you know, before Paul starts talking

about the doctrines and the and the

issues, he tells them that they have the

spirit of God in them.

Here in verse

16, know you not that you are the temple

of God, and the spirit of God dwells in

you.

If any man defile the temple of God,

him shall God destroy. For the temple of

God is holy, which temple you are. So

God, he's committed to uh us changing

into the image of his son. He's

committed to it. He's didn't take the

Holy Spirit from the Corinthians because

of their sin. No, he left them there to

do his work. And what is his work? We'll

turn over to chapter six.

Well, let's read chapter 4 verse 20 on

the way over. Chapter 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 and verse 20. He says, "For

the kingdom of God is not in word but in

power."

Power of the spirit. So, we need the

spirit of God

and the word of God. That's the

sanctifying

uh that Jesus spoke of about the word of

God going forth. And here in 1

Corinthians chap 6 and verse

11,

these sinful Corinthians that Paul just

reminded that they had the spirit of God

in them. He says, "And such were some of

you, but you are washed and you are

sanctified

and you are justified in the name of the

Lord Jesus." How all that happened? By

the spirit of our God. So the spirit of

God brings the new birth and and

justification. And not only that, he

doesn't leave us. He keeps working to

bring about our sanctification

and ultimately our glorification.

You know, that's what God, he's

committed to to saving us. Turn over to

chapter 12. And here Paul tells them

about the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit

like Jesus did in John.

But here Paul tells them in verse three

of chapter 12, "Wherefore I give you

understanding, no man speaks by the

spirit of God calls Jesus a cursed and

no man can say Jesus is Lord but by the

Holy Spirit." So that's where it begins.

The new birth

begins with the spirit coming

upon us sinners.

And then as he comes, he brings us not

only salvation, but our the gifts for

the church. And again, we'll spend some

time on this and on a separate message,

but we're just looking at this from the

the power of the spirit point of view

that the spirit's the one not only that

brings us salvation, he also brings us

our gifts and the diversity of them. You

know, these things are left up to him,

not up to us. And then Paul says, "And

there are differences of administrations

but the same Lord." There are

diversities of operations but the same

God who works all in all. So that's you

know we all have God working in us now

because of what Christ has done for us.

And you know the reason for all this is

as he he gives it here. another by faith

and nine the same spirit to another the

gifts of healing by the same spirit and

Paul just continues to drive that home

for us that's that's the reason and then

here in verse 13

the the baptism of the Holy Spirit is us

getting the spirit of God upon belief

and it's the spirit of God putting us

into the body of Christ

Both those things take place here and

Paul mentions both of them in 1

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 12. And again, we'll

look at this a little deeper when we

look at the gifts.

But you know, the conclusion then is

that the natural man cannot come to

Christ on his own.

He can't. You know, we have verse after

verse on that one. and the the natural

man, he's got a lot of problems.

And Lord willing, we'll spend some time

on those as well. When we when we get to

man, we look at at those things and the

issues that we have as the human race

and as human beings. We're going to look

at sin, talk about sin, as uncomfortable

as that is, but this is how we learn.

So, you know, Paul, he he um he

persuaded men, didn't he?

And how do you persuade men? Well, you

persuade men with the word of God.

That's how he did it. He said, "Knowing

the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.

We're going to, you know, that that word

persuade means to bring about a change

of mind." That's very similar to the

word repentance.

So Paul was persuading men to repent, to

turn from their ways and turn to God and

to obey the gospel.

You know, that's what uh Paul did. And

he took advantage of opportunities to

preach the word of God. And as we saw in

another place, the church was praying

and uh you know for for so folks to be

saved.

So we need that as well. the the

spirit's good, the word is good, but we

need prayer uh as well. And the church

needs to be a part of this as we try and

win win win the lost.

Now go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 3.

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

You know this is so

you know preachers will know this,

teachers will know this.

You know if you are involved in

evangelism, if you've been born again

and you, you know, you're saved and you

understand the gospel and you believe

the gospel, this is so we'll know what

to do with people who are not saved.

You know, and

the word of God says that we need the

spirit of God, we need the word of God,

and we need prayer to win the lost. And

here Paul says in chapter 3 in verse

six, who also has made us able ministers

of the New Testament,

not of the letter, but of the spirit.

The letter kills, but the spirit gives

life.

So we want to remember that that the

Holy Spirit is the one who has life.

He's the one who can give life, eternal

life. You know, the kind of life that

lasts forever.

So men are dead in trespasses and sins.

We have many verses on that. Um and

their greatest need is then is to be

saved by the gospel of grace. that can

save them. But the natural man calls

these things foolishly.

You know, nobody's going to say, "Hey,

would you give me the gospel?"

Some people do, I guess. You know, I've

heard I've heard some do that, but

that's Mike Borland used to tease me at

Chilikathtic Bible Church. He sat in the

back kind of like I do now. And he he

would if he had to go anywhere, he'd

say, "Set back here and if anybody runs

in and demands to hear the gospel, make

sure you give it to them."

But men are not looking for God

ever.

Regardless of what they think,

uh they they don't they can't even see

Jesus without the word of God. Oh, you

might see a picture. You might see, you

know, something. But without the word of

God, you can't see Jesus because he's

the light of the world.

He's the logos of God. John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

So, we preachers should know

these things about the gospel and the

needs of uh the natural man. And Paul

deals with these things in first

Corinthians. And now here in in 2

Corinthians, he tells us in verse three,

he says, "If our gospel is hidden is

hidden to them that are lost."

I was on I lived on this earth for 23

years before I heard the gospel,

churches on every corner.

But somebody finally brought me the

gospel. And I'm I very thankful for

that. It was hidden from me and I was

lost.

And then he goes on to say here, in whom

the God of this age has blinded the

minds of them who believe not.

Now we're getting into our condition.

Lest

I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

I said 3:6 and now I'm in chapter 4. I

jumped over a bunch of verses.

Second Corinthians chapter 4

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

>> and it's not physical birth or excuse me

physical blindness like the blind man in

John but these examples are in here so

we'll just see just how blind we are

and it's on a spiritual note.

What do men need?

The law.

Well, they need the law to condemn them.

The law Paul said the law is a school

master to bring us to Christ.

Well, here here's the Christ that we

need brought to.

And he says here, "Them that believe

not, lest the light of a glorious gospel

of Christ." You see the contrast? It's

believe. It's faith.

That's what it is. It's not works.

It's faith.

The light of the glorious gospel of

Christ, who is the image of God should

shine unto them.

Paul said, "That's why I'm not

interested in any popularity contest for

Paul. I want to get the gospel out." And

that's what he did in verse six. because

he knew God was working

in a great way. When wherever he went

and wherever he preached Jesus and the

resurrection,

people were were being saved and getting

saved. That's the only way. And that's

the that's the reason the church exists

is that we might shine

uh

in this dark world. We might be the salt

and the light in this dark world.

And then Paul says, "For God who

commanded the light to shine out of

dark, it's God's commandment. We're

obeying God." So when we preach the

gospel of Christ, when we shine the

light of the glorious gospel

uh to unsaved people and to the lost,

we're doing the work of God

because God's commanded this

and he's sovereign over these things.

and the light to shine out of darkness.

He's shown it in our heart to give us

the light. And where is it at? It's in

the knowledge and the glory of God in

the face of Jesus Christ. God's face is

Jesus Christ. That's what this says. And

Paul says there's nothing nothing I did,

nothing I've deserved, nothing. There is

no merit in me. I'm I'm the earth and

vessel. Paul says down there in seven

for all these things.

So each believer has the Holy Spirit.

Each believer should be um sharing the

gospel as best we can with those who are

not saved and who are not born again.

Telling them like Jesus told Nicodemus,

it's a must. It's a a must that you be

must be born again. This isn't a

suggestion from God. It's a commandment.

Now, if you will turn over to the book

of Ephesians,

and Paul tells us over here about this

darkness,

Ephesians chapter 2 and verse one.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And notice Paul starts this out with God

quickened you. There's our word.

The wind of God gave you life. God

breathed in you and God gave you life

after that wonderful chapter one.

And we should never lose sight of this.

He says in verse two, "In whom in time

past you walked according to the course

of this world." We weren't looking for

God ever.

No human being is ever looking for God.

Every contact

Uh, anyone that's ever saved or ever

will be saved is initiated with God.

We got our backs to him

according to the prince of the power of

the air. The spirit that now works in

the sons of disobedience. That's the

spirit we have. We got Satan's spirit in

us, you know, in in in a sense that we

have pride. His pride he passed on to

Adam. Adam passed it on to us.

So now the energy in us, the energy that

works in us

is pride that God hates.

So God

has to make the move. Verse three, among

whom we also had our manner of life.

Even Paul, God didn't look down and say,

you know what, I think Paul make a good

apostle.

Well, God did look down and say that,

but Paul became a great apostle not

because of anything he did, but because

of what Christ done for him. And that's

what Paul said. We hear even by nature

the children of wrath even as others. It

can't get any worse.

So, this whole section here is is on

this very thing. But God, who made the

first move?

The one who always makes the move.

Uh, who chose Israel?

Did they choose God? No. God chose them

not because they were great, but because

they were the least.

And you can say the same thing about us.

We're we're the least. We're great

sinners. But God who was rich in mercy

for his great love which which he loved

us

even when we were in that condition. He

didn't wait on us to get better. He

loved us in that terrible condition.

And he sent forth his grace. He sent

forth this glorious gospel. This mighty

gospel, the power of God, the gospel of

God, the spirit of God.

uh that in the ages to come that he

might show us the exceeding riches of

his grace and his kindness toward us.

God's kindness

uh moved for by grace are you saved

through faith and not of yourselves.

There it is. It's a gift of God.

Salvation's a gift from this gracious,

kind,

loving God upon terrible sinners. Like

Romans chapter 5 says, not of works,

Romans 5 · chapter mention

lest any man should bo,

we are his workmanship, created in

Christ Jesus unto good works. So that's

why we're, you know, that's why we're

not, you know, off,

you know, somewhere else with with Lot's

wife

or or with Judas.

God ordained that we should walk in

these good works that he has called us

to as well. He gets all the glory. He

gets all the credit. He's done it all.

Chapter 1, verse three.

That's why Paul says

if you understand God has done it all

and it's a gift and you can say blessed

be God and the father of our Lord Jesus

Christ. He's blessed us with all spirit

spiritual blessings in heavenly places.

And here's where

Steven told the Jewish nation they were

chosen by God. Here Paul tells the

church you're chosen by God.

according as he has chosen us before the

foundation of the world that we should

be holy

and without blame.

So Paul's saying that when we get to

heaven and we're we have our we have our

glorified bodies and we're in a holy

heaven with a holy God. All that was the

work of God, not any work on us. We

received the gift

having predestinated us to the adoptions

of son by Jesus Christ. Without Jesus

Christ there is no adoption.

Without Jesus Christ there is no

sunship.

And he brought us to himself

according to the good pleasure of his

will. God has a will, doesn't he? to the

praise of his glory, of his grace

through which he has made us accepted in

the beloved in whom we have redemption.

What a word. What a wonderful word we

need redeemed.

We're sinners. God provided a great

redemption through his son and through

his blood that we might have not the

forgiveness of most of our sins or the

ones that we can remember

or the ones that we can confess

know all our sins

were laid on him according to his riches

of his grace

in which he has abandoned or excuse me

abounded toward us in all wisdom.

and prudence. See that word wisdom

again? That's what God wants us. He

wants us to have heaven's wisdom now. He

wants us to know these things now.

You know, so that we might avoid sin. We

might avoid all these terrible things

are here on this world. We might avoid

uh the devil's kingdom

and come to God. And then Paul talks

about the Holy Spirit in verse 13.

and whom after you trusted

you heard the word of truth. How could

you trust if you can't hear the word of

truth? Well, Paul says faith comes by

hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So, we need both. We need the word of

truth and we need faith and the gospel

of our salvation in whom after we

believed we were sealed

the Holy Spirit of promise. God

seals those that are his. He's the Jesus

is the great king. He knows who all his

all of his sheep are.

And then, you know, Paul goes on here to

talk in verses 15 that God just would

just enlighten us with these things.

Help us to understand

all of these great things. Wherefore,

after I've heard of your faith in the

Lord and love toward the saints, cease

not to give thanks for you making

mention of you in our prayers.

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the father of glory, may give unto you

the spirit, there's that word again, of

wisdom and revelation in the knowledge

of him. What's our treasure? Our

treasure is this wisdom of God, the

understanding of God, the revelation of

God that God has given to us, this great

free gift of eternal life. Now turn to

Romans chapter 8. Here we have

Romans 8 · chapter mention

all of these laid together. Paul told

the Corinthians that God justified you

or the spirit justified you and

sanctified you and will glorify you. So

the first one's happened. The other two

are going to happen.

And here

in Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Paul reminds them of a similar thing.

He says in verse 28,

"We know that all things work together

for good to them that love God,

to them who are called

according to his purpose." The love of

God called us. You know, that's

uh election. That's the conviction that

the spirit brings upon us as well. God.

He called us. We didn't call him.

And to them that are called according to

his purpose. So God's got a great

purpose. He didn't just save us. He

wants us to be like his son.

And whom he did forno. He predestinated

to be conformed to the image of his son

that he might be the firstborn among

many brethren. And that's what Jesus is.

We're going to be like him. He's our

older brother.

Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them

he called.

And see the see the great golden chain

here as others have referred to.

Moreover, whom he predestinated, them he

called. Them he called, he also

justified. And them he justified, he

also glorified. You think God's going to

fail? Think again.

And uh what shall we say then to these

things? If God be for us, who can be

against us?

There's a word in verse 32 we want

if you can find it. He that spared not

his own son, but delivered him up for us

all, how shall he not with him also?

There's our word. Freely

give us all things. Salvation is a free

gift from a holy and just God who

condemned his son uh that we might um be

with him in heaven. That's what the rest

of this verse says. Who is he that

condemnth?

Christ had died. Yay. Rather, he's risen

again. That's what we're celebrating

today.

Not just that he rose. He's he's went

beyond. He's seated at the right hand of

the father. He's making intercession for

us.

as the as the gospel goes forth, as the

word of God goes forth, as these things

go forth, we've got Jesus in in heaven

helping uh us um with these things. And

they're freely given there. Nothing

merited.

You can't merit salvation.

It's a free gift from a holy and

gracious God. There is therefore now no

condemnation to them that are in Christ.

Let's close in prayer.

Father, we thank you this morning

for the word of God. We thank you for

the spirit of God. We thank you for the

son of God who rose from the dead and

seated at your right hand

and will soon come back for us.

Maybe through death, maybe through the

rapture, maybe individually and through

death, but collectively remove the

church from this earth that we might be

with our blessed Lord and have this

great marriage that supper we're going

to have in heaven. And we thank you for

this amazing love to us worthless

sinners. All we have is filthy rags. And

you've given us a great gift and a great

hope. We thank you for it in Jesus name.

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

to sin darken world as we go from this