Introduction to The Godhead: The Spirit Working in The Vessels of God | Steve Benson

Anybody had enough of the ladybugs

beside me?

My shop back full of those things.

Anyway, I digress. Good morning.

Open your Bibles. We've been going

through

a new series

on sound doctrine.

Open your Bibles to the book of Numbers

if you would.

been looking at the

the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

And

last week we were looking at

three primary

areas in the Old Testament where we see

the Holy Spirit

uh in creation. We looked at that

chapter one of Genesis there. The

spirits, the spirit moved on the waters

and where the Bible says

gave a title to the spirit and gave a

title to God

there in the Hebrews. So we have things

like that in the Old Testament where we

see God involved in creation.

He made uh he made this world out of uh

it wasn't chaos, but

God made order out of disorder

in creation. He did it with his spirit.

And that same creator in Genesis chapter

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

1, he's the comforter in John chapter

John 16 · chapter mention

16. And we're going to try and stay in

the Old Testament today. But as well, I

want to refer to some of those things

that we've learned already. The creator,

the comforter.

We have places in the Bible where the

Godhead dresses each other.

And we have what they say and what they

said.

So the Godhead, we must believe in the

Trinity. We we talked about that. You

know, that's a doctrine that we we must

believe in if we're going to understand

the word of God

and what it has to say.

And there's one God yet he's here in the

word of God in three different distinct

persons with personalities.

People have personalities. We know Mary,

the mother of Jesus. We know her

personality. We don't just know her

name. We know a lot about Mary

and so it is with the characters of the

Bible that David and for for example and

Paul Peter and many others. We know

their names but we know their

personalities as well.

So the Bible reveals to us the

personalities of the Godhead. God the

father, God the son, and God the holy

spirit.

And you know the Bible is progressive

in um its revelations.

You know we start out in Genesis chapter

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

3.

Remember back there we had the first

mention of Jesus. You know there in the

first book of the Bible where God said

he was going to send

somebody to crush the head of the

serpent.

And God did much more than that, didn't

he? So we we take the Bible as a whole.

We take the book of Genesis. We take the

book of Revelation. We take everything

in between.

But at the same time, we try to take a

systematic approach to to God and to the

word of God. You know, it's a waste of

time if we don't believe the Bible is

the word of God. If we think it's a

fairy tale or filled with errors or

whatever some of the modern thought is

about the word of God, if we take that

approach, you know, then we we're

wasting our time. And that's not our

approach. We believe everything this

book has to say, regardless of how

difficult it may be. Even if we can't

understand it all, we say amen to what

God has said in here. So the Bible just

comes to us with with who God is and and

what God has done and and our faith lays

hold of these things in the word of God.

And we have we have the three persons of

the Trinity. We have the God the Father.

He has a distinct personality. We have

God the Son. He has a distinct

personality. And we have the spirit of

God as well. The Holy Spirit in the New

Testament and the spirit of God here in

the Old Testament.

And you know we see things that tell us

that he is a person because you know he

can be grieved, he can be you know

quenched and all those things the New

Testament has to say about the Holy

Spirit. So he's a person you know that

can be uh grieved.

So this person then is you know he's not

God is not like us. Remember he said

that you know. So when we think of God,

we don't want to think that God is like

us. He's not. That's what the Bible says

over and over and over again. So we have

to realize there's somebody in here

that's greater than us and somebody

that's over creation

and the things that we saw back in

Genesis. So you guys are sitting there

in Numbers and I'm on my way there.

Numbers chapter 11

Numbers 11:17

verse 17.

So we saw the last time we were together

we primarily looked at the the spirit in

creation and the spirit

um upon the Messiah. We had so many

verses where you know the the Messiah

was going the spirit of God was going to

come and rest upon the Messiah and help

him with his with his mission. So the

spirit of God, he's holy, he's divine

like the other members of the Trinity.

And we remember what happened back in

Genesis with creation, the power of God.

So, you know, the spirit of God has all

those great attributes, you know, and

he's a member of the Godhead. We saw

that

we have God the Father, God the Son, and

God the Holy Spirit. And, you know, God

is supreme. There's nobody greater than

God. And, you know, at some point in

this study, we'll get into the the

attributes of God.

and and our our theology needs to be

systematic. As I mentioned earlier, what

good is it to have? If you don't believe

the Bible's the Bible, then why waste

your time trying to believe it and

understand it? But if you get in here

and believe it and understand it, then

we can see that God is who he says he

is, you know, and he and that's what he

said. Who are you going to compare me

with? And there is no one that we can

compare to God. and he reveals himself

to us in the Psalms and and so many

other places. And that's what Jesus told

the the folks on the road to Emmas. He

went into the Old Testament and showed

them where he was in the Old Testament.

Well, here we see in the book of

Numbers, we see that the Holy Spirit is

here. And um we saw him at creation. Now

we're going to see him. We saw him with

with Christ, with the Messiah. And now

we're going to see the Holy Spirit

working with with the children of God,

you know, and and primarily the Jewish

nation

um and the men of the Jewish nation. And

here in chapter 11 of verse 17,

he says, "And I will come down and I

will talk with thee, and I will take the

spirit

uh which is upon thee, and I will put it

upon them, and they shall bear the

burden of the people with thee, and thou

shalt bear not thyself alone." So, we

can see that God sent his spirit to help

with with great burdens

uh here in the Old Testament. Turn over

to Numbers 14.

Got a few here in the book of Numbers,

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14

and verse 24.

Numbers 14:24. my servant

Numbers 14:24

Caleb. You know, that's that's who God

sent his spirit upon in the Old

Testament. Those who were who were

servants. I know we that's not a grand

title, you know, especially in the world

that we live in, but in the word of God,

that is a grand title. If you're a

servant of God, that's there's nothing

better than that. And here we see Caleb

and and he says, "I will put another

spirit within him." That's the Holy

Spirit. Uh and and has followed me

fully. Him I will bring into the land

wherein to he went and his seeds shall

possess it. So we see God the Holy

Spirit um coming upon the servants and

leading them and directing them and

helping them uh to accomplish God's

will.

And in numbers 27,

Numbers 27:18,

Numbers 27:18

we have another example

of this. And the Lord said unto Moses,

take unto thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a

man in whom is the Spirit,

and lay your hands upon him. So we see

here God the Holy Spirit again working

here with Joshua and Moses and back

there with Caleb. So we see an example

here God sending his spirit individually

on these men uh to help them

accomplish tasks like you know teaching

and understanding and guiding and

knowing what to do. Turn to 1st Samuel

chapter 10.

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 10:6

chapter 10

verse 6. 1 Samuel 10

and verse 6 he says and the spirit of

the Lord will come upon thee and thou

shalt prophesy unto them and be turned

into another man. So the spirit of God

again was there on the prophets so that

they would know the word of God and that

they would know uh the will of God.

And turn to Nehemiah chapter 9.

Nehemiah 9 · chapter mention

Nehemiah chapter 9.

Nehemiah 9 · chapter mention

And

verse 20, Nehemiah

Nehemiah 9:20

9 verse 20

here, thou gave us also thy good spirit

to instruct them. So again, the spirit's

called good. And we see that this the

spirit is instructing them, helping

them, you know, understand God's will,

who God is, and what God had done for.

And here's one I like. Turn to Psalm 51.

Psalm 51.

And this is David. This is the one that

people take out of context and

misunderstand.

This is where, you know, David

confessed his sin

um

to God

concerning Basheba.

And this is a really, really good psalm

to see David just pour out his heart

before God after he had been involved in

this.

And there's a lot of good a lot of good

verses in here, but I want to zero in on

verse 10

where he he's going to say in verse 11,

we'll get that in a second. Take not

your Holy Spirit from me. And what the,

you know, the reason that David wanted

the Holy Spirit, look what he says in

verse 10. He says, "Create in me a clean

heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit

within me." So without God, without the

Holy Spirit, we can't have a clean

heart. Without the Holy Spirit, we

cannot have our our spirits, you know,

renewed.

So with that, we do we can and David

did. And and God restored him. That's

what he says in verse 12. Restore unto

me the joy of my salvation, and uphold

me with a willing spirit, and then I

will teach transgressors thy way, and

sinners shall be uh converted unto unto

thee. Deliver me from blood guiltness,

oh God. Thou God of my salvation. My

tongue shall sing aloud

of your righteousness. Oh Lord, open you

thou my lips and my mouth shall show

forth your praise. For you desire

sacrifice.

You desire not sacrifice or else I would

have given it. You delight not in burnt

offerings. Sacrifices of God are a

broken spirit

um and a broken and contrite heart. Oh

God, you will not despise. How did David

get there? You know, how did David get

to where he could repent? How could

David get to where he could confess his

sin? And and how could David get to the

point to where he was restored, you

know, from those things? And the Holy

Spirit's there for us to help us when we

sin and when we we don't do the right

things, you know, and and David here is

a good example for us to see that that

was how he got his his clean heart back

was um and his right spirit back

was through the Holy Spirit.

Turn over to Psalm 143.

Psalm 143.

And this is a good psalm.

The Holy Spirit helps our prayer in the

New Testament. We're going to we're

going to see that eventually when we get

over to Romans chapter 8 that, you know,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

not only can the Holy Spirit, you know,

search the deep things of God and help

us with the deep things of God, the Holy

Spirit can can search us as well, like

he did David.

and help David confess his sins to God.

So here we see in verse uh 10,

David says, "Teach me to do thy will for

thou art my God. Thy spirit is good.

Lead me into the land of uprightness."

So God led David uh through the Holy

Spirit. And you know, so that he would

understand who God is. And we need that,

don't we? you know, Paul, and we've seen

that already in the New Testament in,

you know, first Corinthians, those first

few chapters where Paul says that the

spirit of God searches the deep things

of God that we might know what's freely

given to us of God,

you know. So, the blessings of God, the

knowledge of God, the understanding of

God, the spirit of God helps us uh

tremendously here.

Turn to Isaiah 32.

Isaiah 32. We saw some examples last

week of the Holy Spirit coming upon the

Messiah uh when he come to help him. And

we read a lot of verses on that last

week. Um here's a good one for us to

remind us of these things in in Isaiah

32.

This is the, you know, the kingdom of

crisis that's eventually going to come.

We're going to be, we're going to be a

part of that. Here in Isaiah 32 and

verse 15,

he says, "Until the spirit be poured out

upon us from on high."

So here's here's the here's a good

example of the deity of the Holy Spirit.

You know, you just can't go any higher

than him.

And uh until the spirit be poured out on

us from on high and the wilderness be a

fruit fulfilled and the fruit fulfilled

will be as counted as a forest, then

justice will come. So this is the

messianic kingdom where the spirit is

going to be poured out on us to from on

high to know God and for them to know

God in a great way.

You know I I think a good example for

that for us Gentiles, you know, I wasn't

raised a Jew. I didn't know any I didn't

know the Old Testament from the New

Testament.

But that's what that's what the new

birth does. It brings us this

understanding

um of who God is and what God has done

and and you know Christ just you know

we're all one in him

and there's no more Jew, there's no more

Gentile.

That's what Paul says in Galatians. So

the spirit is poured on us from on high

so that we might know these great things

of God. Turn over to Isaiah 34.

Isaiah 34

and verse 16.

Seek ye out of the book

of the Lord and read it.

No one of these shall fail.

None shall lack or made for my mouth has

said it and commanded it and his spirit

has gathered them.

So God tells us that his word is

reliable.

Whether we're in Genesis or Revelation,

we're somewhere in between. God says,

"Seek out the book of the Lord." We've

got the book of the Lord. So God can

show us who he is in this book. And then

uh in these Old Testament verses that we

see here uh are just incredible.

Turn to Isaiah 44.

Isaiah 44.

And the and the day is going to come

we're going to we're going to get into

the New Testament here and see what the

New Testament says

about the Holy Spirit.

And you know that's what's going to

happen. That's how we Gentiles got

saved. That's we heard the gospel and

somebody brought us the gospel. Faith

cometh by hearing and hearing by the

word of God. And and Jesus said the

spirit was going to convict us there in

John. We saw those verses. But here we

have something in the Old Testament

saying, "I will pour water upon them

that are thirsty and floods upon dry

ground." It reminds me of what Jesus

said uh in in uh one of the gospels,

John chapter 7, where he says this, he

John 7 · chapter mention

stood up and spoke and said of the Holy

Spirit, that God was going to pour out

his spirit upon the Gentiles, and we're

going to know God, you know, and and uh

not just know about God, but know God,

the new birth, regeneration, be given a

new nature,

forgiven for all our sins. these all

these great things and God has given us

a spirit to abide with us forever.

And here it is stating that in the Old

Testament.

Isaiah 59.

Isaiah 59. You guys are going to need

new Bibles by the time we get done

today.

These Old Testament verses just

fascinate

about God, who he is, and

what he's willing to do for us sinners.

In Isaiah 59,

we're in here

as Americans are are in the Old

Testament in this verse 19.

Bear with me a second.

It says here,

you know,

um

the the Holy Spirit's on a mission

for for God, for God the Father and for

God the Son.

And that mission is to show men and

women and children

that God loves them and what a wonderful

salvation he has for us, what he's

provided for us. And here in verse 19,

he says, "So shall they fear the name of

the Lord from the

America, I mean the West." Are we in the

West?

Yeah, we we're in the West.

China's in the east. Well, here we are.

God wants his word spread. God wants his

truth spread. God wants his salvation

spread. God wants everyone from east to

west to know about his glory

from the rising of the sun when the

enemy shall come in like a flood. And

the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a

standard against him.

And here's our wonderful

redeemer.

And the re redeemer shall come to Zion

and unto those who turn from their

transgressions in Jacob and in the Lord.

God's not going to forget Israel.

You know, but these verses are saying

that God's going to save Gentiles to the

west

and he's not going to forget Israel. The

redeemer is going to come. There's only

one redeemer for the Jew. There's only

one redeemer for

um the Gentiles.

Whosoever will may come, this redeemer

has done a great work.

And as for me, this is my covenant with

them. So God is coming after us,

you know, with his redeemer. God is

coming after us with his Holy Spirit.

God is coming after us with his word.

And that's what this says. As for me,

this is my covenant with them, sayaeth

the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee,

and my words which I have put in your

mouth shall not depart out out of your

mouth, nor out of your mouth of the

seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed

seed. So, generation after generation,

God, you know, he's on a mission here

to redeem Israel, to redeem Gentiles,

um because of this precious redeemer

that he has sent. And he says from

henceforth

and forever more. So, the gift of the

Holy Spirit, the gift of the redeemer,

uh, both of them here in the book of

Isaiah. Turn over to chapter 63.

Isaiah 63

and verse 10.

Isaiah 63 and verse 10.

you know,

the the Holy Spirit can be

um can be vexed, can be grieved, uh

could be lied to. Remember what happened

to Ananas and Safara.

So, the Holy Spirit is a person

because he can be grieved, because he

can be quenched, because he can be

blasphemed.

So, he's a real person.

and a member of the Godhead with a

personality, but they rebelled. They

vexed his holy spirit. Therefore, he was

turned uh to their enemies and he fought

against them.

So, we uh we can misuse God that he's

given to us, the Holy Spirit. So, uh we

want to be careful. He's holy.

Um that's what Paul says in Romans 1:4.

Romans 1:4

He talks about that spirit of holiness

that the Holy Spirit is. That's why he's

called the Holy Spirit.

He's holy and he's takes up residence

when within us and we we should know

what he likes and what he dislikes

and live accordingly.

And you know over and over God talks

about redemption and the redeemer and

the spirit and giving them to us. And

these are great gifts that God has for

us. You know these aren't, you know, we

cannot merit salvation. We cannot merit

anything from God. If God had not chosen

to freely give, we would be in serious

trouble.

But we have a redeemer because God has

provided

this precious gift of eternal life

through his son. Turn to Ezekiel

37.

Ezekiel 37.

and verse 14. Ezekiel 37

and verse 14.

And I shall put my spirit in you and you

will live.

How is that? That there's the new birth.

You know, the spirit of God comes and

that's what the New Testament says.

We're going to get to those verses,

aren't we? where he says not, you know,

we have to be born by the word and by

the spirit. Both. We need both. Well,

here he's talking about that spirit

being poured out on us and I will put my

spirit in you and you will live. We're

dead. We're dead in trespasses and sins.

But God gave us his spirit that we might

live.

Only God has life. You know, there's

nobody on the earth with life. We're

We're all dyers. There's no one that

hasn't died. There's no one that's not

going to die.

That curse is in throughout the human

race.

I know the the health care is getting

better and the um I guess the uh what do

they call that? The age that people are

dying is going up because of the great

healthcare we have. But everyone is

going to die.

And we need life. We need the

resurrection life. We need the life from

God. We're we're dead.

We're dead. We're separated from God.

We're born that way. Every one of us.

And we need the new birth. We need the

Holy Spirit of God. And he's the one

that produces the regeneration.

You know, we've seen that as we've

studied the Holy Spirit and and seen

that it is the spirit of God that brings

life.

You know, that's that's what John 5 says

about the where that's where Jesus talks

about his own deity. He talks about the

deity of the father. He talks about the

deity of the Holy Spirit.

And it's God that brings us life. It's

God that brings us regeneration. It's

God that brings us hope

uh for this dying body that we are in.

Paul said, "Oh wretched man that I am,

who shall deliver me from the body of

this death?" And only God

can do that.

Turn to Ezekiel

39.

and

verse 29.

Ezekiel 39 29. Neither will I hide my

base anymore from them, for I have

poured out my spirit upon the house of

Israel, saith the Lord.

Well, you know, this is concerning

Israel, but he did God's done the same

thing for the church.

We're going to look at the the day of

Pentecost at some point here going

through this series,

but it's a good time for us to stop and

realize that, you know, before the day

of Pentecost ever come, God

had plans of pouring his wonderful

spirit out upon us.

And you know he and God we can clearly

see here that

he says upon the house of Israel and we

see in the New Testament about about the

nations as well. And that's that's what

Jesus said to do. Go to the nations

and and baptize them in the name of the

father, the son, and the holy spirit

teaching them to observe all things

whatsoever I've commanded you. And

here's that verse in Joel. Let's look at

Joel chapter 2.

Joel 2 · chapter mention

And

up in verse 25, he says, "I will restore

to you the years that the locusts have

eaten."

We've, some of us have wasted a lot of

our life. Some of us have wasted a lot

of time

and God says he's going to restore

uh to you the years that the locust have

eaten.

What a picture. How? Verse 28.

And it will come to pass afterwards that

I will pour out my spirit upon all

flesh, not just Jews,

not just Americans, not just Germans,

not just Chinese folks, Asian folks, or

Japanese on all flesh.

So, how's that going to happen? what is

going to happen through the preaching of

the gospel going and doing what Jesus

said for us to do at the end of the book

of Matthew. So again, we have some

incredible verses here about these

things. Turn to Micah chapter 3.

Micah 3 · chapter mention

Micah,

Micah 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

Micah chapter 3 and verse 8.

Micah 3 · chapter mention

But truly I am full of power

by the spirit prophet talking of the

Lord of judgment and might to declare

unto Jacob his transgression to Israel

his sin. So we'll never know what sin is

or what sin is not without the word of

God.

And without God telling us what it is,

Paul said, "I

didn't know uh coveting was coveting

except for the law says that." He said,

"People are smart enough to know." No,

we're not.

God has to tell us what's right. God has

to tell us what's wrong. And he does

that in his word. And these these were

spiritled men. These prophets were. And

these men that God used in Israel to

confront men about their sin and and and

and what was wrong. You know, God gave

these men his spirit for this very

purpose.

Haggi chapter 2.

Hei

chapter 2

and verse 5.

according to the word

that I coveted with you when you came

out of Egypt,

the nation of Israel.

They wouldn't exist without God.

They wouldn't exist without God. The

church wouldn't exist without God.

And you know, we that's why we have to

believe in the word of God. If we don't

believe the Bible is the word of God, we

don't have a Christianity. We don't have

a church, we don't have anything.

So, we're dependent on what God says

in his word. And that's what this is.

According to the word that I have

coveted with you and when you came out

of Egypt, so my spirit remains among

you. Fear not.

We have that in the New Testament. You

know, I just love Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

There is therefore now no condemnation

to them that are in Christ. We just have

this assurance from God that, you know,

he he's going to keep his word. He's

going to keep his covenant with us.

Well, we're so sinful. How can he do it?

Well, he's got a plan. Turn to

Zechariah.

to Zachchariah.

You ever dream that God would come and

dwell among his own?

You ever dream that up?

No. No one can dream this up.

You know that man's ways aren't God's

ways. God's ways aren't man's ways. But

God said, "I'm I'm going to come and

dwell among you

to the Jews first.

And that's what John says. He came unto

his own and his own received him not.

You say, "Surely the Jews would know

God."

They missed it.

You know, so we need God as well to keep

us uh in tune with who he is and his

word. And you know, we never get to

where we've graduated

with these things, but God says he's

going to bring his presence with us.

And he's he's promised to do it in the

spirit and with the Holy Spirit. That's

Pentecost. That's, you know, the called

out ones that God has for himself. And

we're going to see that in the New

Testament. But here in Zechariah chapter

Zechariah 4 · chapter mention

4

and verse 6, this is

you. This is one of the

best verses in the whole Bible.

How does God do things?

Oh, he's mighty God. He can he can nuke

anyone at any time.

But that's not the way God works.

He doesn't do things like we do.

He does things differently.

So that's why we want to be

understanding

of him and his ways.

And in verse six, then answered, "And he

spoke unto me, saying, this is the word

of the Lord unto Zerubbable,

saying, not by might nor power,

but but by spirit, sayeth the Lord." So

that's how God does things and

accomplishes

his will and sending the redeemer to us.

We didn't ask for him. We really didn't

even know we needed him until we got

into the word of God. Just see how

sinful we are

and how ignorant we are and how blind we

are.

Just like those who killed Jesus,

they're in Jerusalem.

We need a savior, too. We need a

redeemer, too. We need the spirit of

God, too. You know, God brings us these

things when he brings us this great gift

of salvation. And here in chapter 9,

verse 9,

rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion.

Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold

thy king.

Oh, the redeemer is a king.

God's a king. God's going to dwell among

us as a king.

How can we miss this?

But we do. We need the word of God. He

is just having salvation. It's He's got

it. We need a deliverer and it's him. We

need a deliverance and it's him. We need

a savior and it's him.

God is dwelling among us as a man and

that man is his son

whom the spirit is pointing us to as

well. And these great things are

said of him here in the Old Testament.

That's what remember David said in Psalm

139. Where can I go

to get away from your spirit?

Well, the Holy Spirit is is God

that therefore he's he is omniresent.

He's everywhere.

You know, that's that's what we need.

You and I, we can't be in two places at

once.

He's everywhere at once.

And this is the very gift

that God has given us because of what

Jesus has done. Turn to Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8.

God even thought of our infirmities,

you know, in his great plan.

He didn't say, "Well, I'll give you the

gift of salvation, the gift of the Holy

Spirit, but as soon as you sin, you're

back on your own.

That wouldn't take long, would it?

So, what about my infirmities? What

about my shortcomings? What about my

flesh? What about all these problems

that I have? Well, Romans chapter 5

Romans 5 · chapter mention

covered that.

You know, God gave you his son. How much

how it didn't cost him anymore to give

you everything else.

And so, it is with the Holy Spirit. God

has given us the Holy Spirit. Not only

that we can know the deep things of God

like Paul says in Corinthians here Paul

says that that we might know the deep

things of ourselves and our

shortcomings.

So

the spirit of God is who we have

dwelling within us.

Every Christian

you have the presence of God in you. I

have the presence of God in me. the

spirit that he's speaking of here. And

you know, he's he has the ability to be

everywhere at once. That's just

incredible.

But he's God

and he he makes the deep things of God

known to us and he makes our deep needs

made known to us

and we need that. Verse 26. Likewise to

the spirit,

he helps our infirmities,

for we know not what we ought to pray

as we ought. We don't even know how to

pray right

without the spirit, but he's there. And

he makes intercession for us with

groanings which cannot be uttered.

And he that see he that searches the

hearts

knows what is in the mind of the spirit.

So we have the mind of Christ. We have

of the Holy Spirit. And he's the word of

God is living and sharper than any

two-edged sword, you know. So we we have

this incredible ability of our flesh to

deceive ourselves even.

So we need God's word. We need the

spirit of God to help us with these

things. He searches our minds. He

searches our hearts with the living word

of God. And you know, he's not something

less than God.

He is God.

So we have two members of the Trinity

dwelling within us. the the son of God,

Colossians makes that clear, is dwelling

in us. And here Paul makes it clear that

the spirit of God is dwelling in us as

well.

So we can take hope, can't we? Now turn

over to Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

We'll just take one of these. And there

are many

here. He Paul tells us that the Holy

Spirit has sealed us

in uh verse

30 of chapter 303. I'm sorry, no 30

chapters in pieces.

Chapter 3 and verse 30.

That's not happening either, is it?

Thank you, pastor. Chapter 4:E 30.

There he is.

Thank you. And grieve not the Holy

Spirit of God by whom you are sealed.

So God has sealed us with his spirit.

That's just this is just one thing that

the New Testament says we have. And it

says until the day of redemption. I'm

glad he didn't say until you sin.

or I'm I'm you until you sin for the

29th time or the 39th time. No, God has

sealed us with his spirit until our body

gets redeemed. You know, God knows these

wretched men that we are and these

wretched women that we are.

But nevertheless, it should help us now.

Let all bitterness and wrath, anger and

clamor, be kind one to another,

tender-hearted, forgiving one another.

That's the, you know, the love of the

spirit, the Holy Spirit that God has

given to us. So, you know, we live in a

land and a time of great fraud.

It's going on everywhere.

You know, it's just one thing after

another with the internet now. People

being taken advantage of and being

deceived. These these great frauds and

these great hoaxes abound.

But this will never happen to us. This

will never happen to those who are gods

because he has sealed us. I saw that

special on Bernie Maid off the other

day. Remember him? I hope you didn't

have your 401k with him.

40, excuse me, $65 billion

he made off of.

So many people give him millions of

dollars and their whole, you know,

retirement funds and, you know, he

pulled off one of the greatest Ponzi

schemes ever to the tune of $65 million.

In 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years

in prison.

Doesn't seem right, huh? But he died in

prison 2021.

And you know, God says, "You think I'm a

man like Bernie Maid off?" No, God is

not a man like Bernie Maid off. God is a

great God who this universe belongs to

him. Revelation 7.

Revelation chapter 7.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

Whose seal do we have on us? Not Bernie

Maidoffs, not not United States

government, not even Athens Bible

Church.

It's the seal of God,

the God of the universe.

And here in Revelation 7

and verse two, I saw another angel

ascending from the east having the seal

of the living God. And he cried with a

loud voice to the four angels to whom it

was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

saying, "Hurt not the earth, neither the

sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed

the servant of God in our forehead."

So those who have the seal of God are

marked for preservation.

God owns us. That's what the Bible says.

He paid a great price for us. He shed

his blood for us.

He bought all of us, body, soul, and

spirit. We belong to God. We belong to

him. This is his ownership over us. This

is his security over us. This is uh

we're in God's portfolio, if you will,

because of Christ and what he has done.

And we have this incredible seal. Turn

to Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 5. And you remember

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

this

um you know this is the the scroll and

Christ takes the scroll and the the

title deed to the universe. You mean the

universe has a title deed?

This is what it says. But I know who the

owner is

and he is the one who has given us the

Holy Spirit. He's the one who has given

us this seal and we we will not be

destroyed.

You know that's a part of this as well.

We have the ownership, we have the

security, we have we have the

destination.

Our destination is heaven.

And here we see in chapter 1 5:1 I saw a

right hand of him who sat on the throne.

A scroll was written and what it was on

the back and it was sealed.

There's our word with seven seals.

So God has sealed us to the day of

redemption. Verse seven,

and he came and he took the scroll out

of the right hand of him that sat on the

throne. So here's ownership.

Who owns the universe?

Well, God created it. Well, now his son

has come and bought it back and he

bought us as well. And here's the

purchase price in verse 9.

And they sang a new song, saying, 'You

are worthy to take the scroll and open

its seal. For you are slain. You've

redeemed us to God by the blood out of

every kindred, tongue, people, and

nation.

Security, destination. We're even marked

for rewards. Jesus said at the end of

this book, "Your rewards follow you."

And he that is just, let him be just

still. And so on. Turn over to chapter

nine.

Revelation

and verse four.

And it was commanded them that they

should not hurt the grass of the earth,

neither any green thing, neither any

tree, but only those who have not the

seal of God in their forehead. So again,

we're sealed by God by the Holy Spirit.

We have nothing to fear.

We're going to die and go to heaven. God

has paid a great price for us. And uh

that's what his son

has done for us.

And um

turn to second Timothy chapter 2

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

and I'll quit.

Second Timothy 2

2 Timothy 2:19

verse 19.

And God knows who has the seal. He's not

going to forget anyone.

Nobody's not going to be to heaven

because God forgot them.

In verse 19,

lest the foundation of God stand sure

having this seal. The Lord knows them

that are his. And let everyone that

names the name of Christ depart from

iniquity. So there we have it. The seal.

God knows he he him he's paid a great

price for our body, our soul, and our

spirit that we might be with him

forever. That's what God wants. He wants

us to have fellowship with him. And he

he wants us to know him in a great way.

And he's sealed us for this great trip

we're going to make to heaven someday.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for

this day.

We thank you for your word.

We see examples of your spirit, Father,

doing little m mundane things we might

think

and and guiding us and teaching us and

helping us to know you and to know you

better. And as you've said, the spirit

knows the deep things of God. The spirit

knows the deep need that we have as

well. and we thank you for the great

provision you've made with your

wonderful son shedding his blood for us.

And we pray 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 well to a sin

darkened world as we go from this place.