Richmond BC Conference: 1997
Table of Contents
Moses Redemption and Deliverance
Exodus Plagues of Egypt and Types of Death of Christ
Ten Temptations
Ten Temptations
Ten Temptations
The Ten Temptations
Six Attributes of David
John Mark
Tempting the Lord - What Must I Do?
Robes
The Two Thieves
John 7
Address—C. Hendricks
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Turn with me tonight to John's Gospel Chapter 7, verse one.
After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee.
For he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him.
Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come.
But your time is always ready.
The world cannot hate you, but me it hated, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
Go ye up unto the feast I go not yet up unto this feast, for my time is not yet full. Come.
When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone up, then when he also up onto the feast.
Not openly.
But, as it were, in secret.
Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where is he?
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him, for some said he is a good man, others said nay, but he deceived the people.
Howbeit, no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
Now, about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters?
Having never learned.
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory.
But he that seeketh his glory, that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keepeth the law?
Why go ye about to kill me?
The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil.
Who goeth about to kill thee?
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the Fathers.
And ye on the Sabbath day, circumcise a man.
If a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are ye angry at me because I've made a man every wit hole on the Sabbath day?
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Then said some of them of Jerusalem, is not this he whom they seek to kill?
But lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
Howbeit we know this man whence he is. But when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me.
And ye know whence I am.
And I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
But I know him.
For I am from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go on to him that sent me.
Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me, and where I am thither you cannot come.
And then, said the Jews among themselves, whither will he go?
That we shall not find him. Will he go on to this dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What manner of saying is this? That he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me, And where I am thither ye cannot come.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
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He that believeth on me, as the Scripture had said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said of a truth, this is the prophet.
Others said this is the Christ.
But, some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
Not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was.
So there was a division among the people because of him.
And some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him.
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have you not brought them? Brought him?
The officers answered. Never man spake like this man.
Then answered them, The Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?
But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
Nicodemus saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them.
Doth our law judge any man before it, hear him, and know what he doeth?
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look for out of Galilee arise with no prophet.
And every man went unto his own house.
Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.
There were three feasts.
Of Jehovah.
Where all the males?
Had to go to Jerusalem.
There was the Feast of the Passover.
Pentecost.
And Tabernacles.
And this was the.
Feast of Tabernacles.
That we're reading of in Chapter 7.
In chapter 5, the Lord is the Son of God who quickens the dead.
Gives life.
In chapter 6, he is the Son of Man.
Who came in incarnation, the bread from heaven.
Life unto the world.
And.
His death.
Also brought before us.
Eating his.
Flesh and drinking his blood.
One doesn't do that. He has no life in him.
So we have.
Him as the Son of God.
Quickener of the dead and His divine power as God the Son. And then we have his manhood.
Becoming a man.
Bread from heaven and dying on the cross for our sins and for the glory of God.
And then he ended up where he was before.
A man now in the glory.
Well, this Feast of Tabernacles that's in this chapter.
It wasn't time yet for it to come to pass. It wasn't time yet for him to assume his rights in this world where he had been cast out as the Son of Man, rejected, scorned, despised, spit upon, crucified.
And sent away with the message we will not have this man to reign over us.
And so the Kingdom was put in advance.
Well it says in the 1St chapter of verse of this chapter after these things Jesus walked in Galilee.
For he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. Notice that's the way the chapter opens.
Later on, some asked the question, is not this he whom they seek to kill?
Well, we'll come to those verses.
Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
His brethren, that's his brothers, his half brothers after the flesh.
Therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea.
That thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
We know that they did. Later, after his death and resurrection, they came to faith in him.
And two of his brothers. He had four. Two of them wrote books in the New Testament, James and Jude.
But here they hadn't come to faith in him, Neither did his brethren believe in Him.
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And they wanted him to show himself to the world.
Thou do these things, show thyself to the world. A time for that had not come. This was the time when he was in rejection.
And the leaders and the rulers of Israel were about to put him to death.
So Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come.
But your time is always ready. They were simply men of the world, and it's always the time for men of the world to seek the things of the world.
But his time hadn't come yet.
The time when all the promises would be fulfilled in the Messiah who would reign down here.
The Son of Man reigning in this world.
That time had not yet come.
He says the world cannot hate you.
But me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
Go ye up unto this feast. I go not yet up unto this feast for my time.
Is not yet full come.
What a word to their conscience, though I doubt that it had much effect. The world cannot hate you.
Because they were of it. They were part of it.
They were connected with it.
They hadn't come to faith in him yet.
I haven't taken sides yet with him.
He says my time is not yet full come.
So when he had said these things.
These words unto them he abodes still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone up.
Then when he also up onto the feast, not openly.
But, as it were, in secret.
It wasn't time yet. It isn't time yet.
For him to openly come and take the Kingdom. But he will.
He will. He will do it.
With great power and authority in that coming day.
But he says my time has not yet come. So you're both still in Galilee.
But when his brethren were gone, up then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him.
For some said he is a Goodman, others said nay, but he deceiveth the people.
Great discussions took place there at Jerusalem. There were Jews from Galilee and the surrounding regions who were not aware of the the purpose of the leaders at Jerusalem to kill him.
And we'll see that a little later.
They say in verse when he says in verse 19 Why go ye about to kill me?
The people answered and said.
Now as the devil who goeth about to kill thee.
You have to distinguish between the people who came from a distance, Galilee and other places, and the residents of Jerusalem themselves. They knew what the intent was to do to him. It was at Jerusalem where he met with his stiffest opposition and hatred.
The Jews there, especially the leaders.
Many Hearts The thoughts of many hearts are manifest in this chapter.
And there's this great discussion going on amongst these religious people that had come to the Feast of Tabernacles, this great religious celebration, the only feast that had eight days to it.
Passover and Pentecost had seven typical of Jewish days, but this one had an eighth day. Well, we'll come to that.
Verse 14.
Some said in verse 12, some said he's a good man, others said nay, but he deceiveth the people. There was this discussion, who is he? What's he about? Is he is he a good man? Is he an evil man? Is he a deceiver? And there was all this discussion going on. You have to remember that it wasn't just you that Jerusalem that we're discussing these things, but the Jews that came from a distance Galilee and other places around about.
And there was great discussion going on as to who he was. Doesn't mean there was exercise of soul as to the truth of this person and the truth of his mission, but they were pondering these things.
12.
Verse 13. Howbeit no man spake openly of him, for fear of the Jews.
They knew what the spirit of the Jews at Jerusalem was to get rid of him.
To put him to death.
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And so they discussed it among themselves, but it wasn't something that they discussed openly because they were afraid.
Of the Jewish leaders now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
And this again produced some comments. The Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
How does he know all this?
He's never been to.
He's never been to the seminary, he's never been to school to learn these things. Just a common Carpenter, son of a Carpenter. That's what they said.
That's what they thought.
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine.
But his that sent me?
Now that's the God that they profess to know.
The one that sent you.
They didn't know him.
And he tells them that in a moment, we'll read the verse.
He says my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. You reject we, you reject me. You reject what I'm saying you're rejecting him.
I am just giving you what he told me to say.
If any man will do his will, the one who sent me.
That was Jehovah, their God.
At least that professively was their God.
He shall know the doctrine.
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
The soul that came into the presence of God as a result of what Jesus taught.
Would know the doctrine.
If he willfully rejected it.
Steeled himself against it. He would abide and remain in the darkness.
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me, if any man will do his will.
He shall know of the doctrine.
Whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory. That was true of the leaders.
Of Jerusalem.
But he that seeketh his glory, that sent him.
The same is true.
And no unrighteousness is in him.
Wonderful words of truth that their consciences had to admit were true.
Their wills wouldn't.
But their conscience had to admit it.
Did not Moses give you the law?
And yet none of you keepeth the law.
Why go ye about to kill me?
And then you get the people which were not the people of Jerusalem, but those that had come from a distance. They answered and said, Thou hast the devil who goeth about to kill thee.
They didn't realize you go, that's in the 20th verse. In the 25th verse you have then said some of them of Jerusalem. Is not this he whom they seek to kill? Yes, it was.
So those at Jerusalem knew what the intent was of the leaders of Jerusalem to kill him and put him away, but those that came from a distance didn't. So there's this mixture.
Many opinions that were floating around at that time. Who is he?
Is he a Goodman? Is he a deceiver?
Is he the Prophet? Is he the Christ?
They didn't make a distinction. They didn't realize that the two were the same, and so there were all these discussions.
Thou is the devil who goeth about to kill thee, Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and you all marvel. That goes back to the 5th chapter where He healed that impotent man on the Sabbath day.
And that's what they were faulting him for.
I've done one work.
And ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision.
Not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers, And ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man.
You carry out circumcision on the Sabbath day. If a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are ye angry at me?
Because I've made a man every wit hole in the Sabbath day.
An argument that they could not answer.
They carried out circumcision on that day and another gospel. They would lift their beast out of a pit if it had fallen in on the Sabbath day.
But they were. They had a will.
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They had a will which was steeled against him.
Who is the light and the truth?
And they would not have.
Him or his doctrine?
And he says to them, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Then said some of them of Jerusalem.
Is not this he whom they seek to kill?
And lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? And the answers of that question is yes, they did.
In their conscience.
They knew who he was. He tells them so.
You remember in the we might look at it and then we'll go back here. We might look at Mark Chapter 12.
In Mark chapter 12.
I'll read those verses.
And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set in hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husband been a servant, that he might receive from the husband men of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him and beat him, and sent him away emptying. Again he sent unto them another servant, and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he.
Another in him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, He sent him off so unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
But those husband men, the leaders of Israel, said among themselves, this is the air. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.
And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
This is the air. They know who he was.
But they refused it.
Terrible thing to.
Close your eyes to the light through the testimony of the truth that was coming to them in his person, in his words, in his works. Everything that he did and said were the evidence and the absolute proof of who he was.
And their conscience could not refute it, but their wills rejected him.
Terrible thing.
Verse 26. Again, back to John 7. But lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed, that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is. But when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. There's several glaring mistakes made on the part of those that make some of these statements. When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. A little bit farther down in the.
Chapter Verse 42 Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?
And yet here are some people that said no man knoweth where Christ.
From whence whence he cometh?
The scripture was clear as to that.
Then cried Jesus verse 28 in the temple as he taught.
Saying ye both know me.
And you know whence I am.
And I am not come of myself.
But he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
They claim to know him.
Their God.
They didn't.
They didn't know him in their souls.
They didn't submit to him.
If they had known the father.
In their hearts, and in their souls, and in their wills, Had they submitted to Him, they would have submitted to the Son.
He was the living embodiment of the Father.
He says later, He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.
The words that he spoke were the Father's words. The works that he wrought were the Father's works. It was all clear and manifest, and their conscience bore testimony to that truth. Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am.
And yet I am not come of myself.
But he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
In their wills, they didn't know him. Some have puzzled over this statement. You both know me and you know whence I am. And in the 8th chapter he says.
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Verse 19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me nor my Father. If he had known me, you should have known my Father also. 1 Chapter he says you know me, and the other chapter he says, You don't. One is the question of the conscience, the other is the will.
I had rejected him.
In their wills.
When the truth is presented to the conscience of man, it assents to it.
But they wouldn't submit to that.
That's what made it so serious. And then he says at the end of verse 28, whom he that sent me is true, whom ye know not what, an indictment upon these leaders. You don't know him.
You do not know God.
The sum and substance of all blessedness, both in this life and in that which is to come.
Is to know God.
And he can only be known in the person of his son.
And here the Lord says, ye don't know him.
Your conscience knows me.
It testifies to who I am.
My works do, and your conscience says Amen to it, but you won't have it.
Because you don't know him.
The only true God.
And Jesus Christ, whom now has sinned. So there is a sense in which they knew him, and there is a sense in which they did not know Him.
How important to know him?
And that he knows us.
Verse 29 You don't know him, he says. But I know him.
For I am from him.
And he hath sent me.
Tremendous truths that they had to grapple with and they had to decide, is this true? Is he speaking the truth? He says I know him.
He sent me, I am from him.
And he hath sent me.
If that were true.
Their whole course was wrong.
Their whole course was a course of rebellion against the Light, fighting against the truth.
That was there in the person of Christ.
Then they sought to take him. They wanted to put that light out. They could not stand the intensity of that light shining in upon their sin darkened souls. They sought to take him.
But no man laid hands on him.
For his hour was not yet come. Several times in the Gospel of John they sought to take him.
Here it just says, no man laid hands on him, and another place He, walking through the midst of them, went his way. In another place they came to take him. And he said, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth, He said, I am He.
And they all fell backward to the ground.
They could not touch him.
Until his kind time had come.
No man laid hands on him because his hour.
Was not yet come, he says in John 10. No man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
And I have power to take it again.
And many of the people believed on him and said, when Christ cometh.
Will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? You can just see all that was going on there at Jerusalem at this time, the most critical time in, in, in the history of all the many feasts that they had celebrated. Here was the the fulfiller of the feast. Here was the King himself in their midst. The one who was to fulfill will be the great antitype of the Feast of Tabernacles when he reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And they did not know him.
They did not receive him. They willfully rejected him.
Though their conscience told them.
He was the Christ. Do they rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Yes.
In one sense.
In another sense, they did not.
Will he do more when Christ cometh? Will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
Quite a combination. I was noticing that the Pharisees and the chief priests, they didn't really.
Like each other too much, they had very different views, but they banded together to take him.
And then said Jesus unto them, yet a little while am I with you?
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And then I go unto him that sent me.
Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me in where I am thither ye cannot come.
Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go on to the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach? The Gentiles had no idea of the spiritual significance of the Lords words. He was about to go on high to the Father, and become the head of an altogether new creation.
He was rejected as the king down here as the.
I'm still waiting.
Remember, the thief on the Cross said.
Lord Jesus, Remember Me. Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
And he told them, you don't have to wait that long. Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
If what he asked for was what was granted him, he'd still be waiting. He hasn't come into his Kingdom yet.
But he will.
It could be very soon now, very soon indeed.
Verse 34 You shall seek me, and shall not find me, and where I am thither ye cannot come.
No, they could not come there. Where is he? He's Speaking of himself as being there already. He's there in the glory and Father's presence.
Then said the Jews among themselves, whither will he go?
That we shall not find him, will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
Now that was about to come to pass after he went on high and sent down the Holy Spirit.
But he wasn't going to do that personally.
What manner of saying is this, that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me, and where I am thither ye cannot come?
And now we come to this tremendous verse. Remember the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Pentecost? They had seven days each, but the Feast of Tabernacles had an eighth day.
It was after the completion of the seven.
When the 8th day, it's a it's a new beginning, a new beginning, a new creation. And that's why we Christians meet on the 8th day or the first day of the week, because that's when he rose from the dead. That's when he became the head of a new creation. That's when Christianity began, if you will.
With Christ.
Ascended.
And then he sent down the Holy Spirit.
In the last day, that great day of the feast.
It must have puzzled the Jewish mind. Why are there 8 days to the Feast of Tabernacles?
That eighth day being symbolical of the beginning of Christianity.
After the king was rejected and did not take the Kingdom, it was placed in abeyance and it's still in abeyance. He's gone on high.
And sent down the Holy Spirit.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He becomes the center now of an altogether new order of things.
The center, the head of a new creation.
This doesn't speak of his death and resurrection, but that's involved in what he's saying here.
It assumes it.
And that's all developed in this gospel.
He that believeth on me is the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
An altogether new truth, something they didn't have in the Old Testament.
What does it speak of? That living water, that flowing water, that river of water, refreshment and blessing to those roundabout.
This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given.
Because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
So the coming of the Holy Ghost depended upon a finished work.
A risen Christ and ascended Christ to the right hand of God. He was 40 days risen on the earth.
And then in Acts 1, he ascended up to heaven, and 10 days later.
Completing the 50 from his resurrection to the sending of the Holy Spirit, which was Pentecost, 10 days later He sent down the Holy Spirit.
When he was a man here on earth, at the River Jordan, he received the Spirit the first time for himself.
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By virtue of the perfection of his person, the Spirit was given as a dove. It came upon him perfect holiness.
Perfect purity that blessed lowly 1.
But now he receives the Spirit Acts 2 from His Father as a man in the glory, the Head now of a new order of things altogether, and He sends Him down.
And he comes here and unites those 120 believers in the Upper Room, the Day of Pentecost, into one body, and unites them to that glorified man in heaven.
And there we have the mystery, that hidden secret that God never divulged in the Old Testament.
Jew and Gentile. It doesn't tell us who composes that one body down here. On the day of Pentecost it was all Jews and Jewish proselytes. But that that baptism of the Spirit was not completed. It began then. It was not completed in Acts 10 till Acts 10, when the Gentiles are brought in.
And then you have in one Corinthians 12 by 1 Spirit, where we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews, Acts 2 or Gentiles Acts 10, and have all been made to drink into one spirit.
So we have the two that in that incorporate the body of Christ tremendous truth. This is the beginning of an altogether new order of things. The Spirit of God down here.
Indwelling each of us individually and collectively, and uniting us together to one another and to the glorified man in heaven.
Going to read those verses again, they are so tremendously important in the last day. That's the eighth day of the feast. Speaking of a new creation, He becomes the center now of an altogether new order of things. Not the Jewish Messiah, they had rejected him as that, but as the risen, glorified man in heaven, the man of God's counsels, to whom everything is being made subject.
In that last, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
We go to Him, we drink from Him, we find our blessings, our sustenance, our life, our everything in Him.
He that believeth on me.
As the Scripture hath said.
Out of his belly.
Out of his inmost beings shall flow rivers of living water.
This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given.
As the constitutor of Christianity, because Jesus was not yet glorified, he could not be sent down.
Until Christ was in glory those that talk about the Church of the Old Testament or the church.
When Jesus was here on earth, or even when he was a risen man on earth.
Do not understand the church didn't exist yet.
It didn't exist until that risen man ascended up to heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, and received the spirit now to pour him forth and to send him down.
To bring those Jewish disciples now into something.
That never existed before the body of Christ. The truth of it was not brought out until Saul of Tarsus was converted in Chapter 9.
But the thing itself existed in chapter 2.
Of X.
Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said of a truth, this is the prophet.
Others said this is the Christ.
Thinking that the two were different.
But, some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
Have not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was, and so they dismiss him because?
He didn't come from Bethlehem, so they thought.
They never investigated. They never searched it out to find out they were not seekers. They did not want to know the truth.
So there was a division among the people because of him.
There has been a division among the people because of him ever since.
All throughout the world.
A division because of him.
How wonderful to be on the side of faith.
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And some of them would have taken him. Again, we read that, but no man.
Laid hands on him.
His hour hadn't come.
He was unassailable.
Then came the officers to the chief priests to remember back in verse 32, the Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests said officers to take Him, and now they come back.
Then came the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have you not brought him?
The officers answered. Never man spake.
Like this man?
Oh, we can say that.
Never man spake like this man.
His words are life giving.
To the soul that has faith.
To the soul that whose eyes have been opened.
But to those that still reject him.
His words will condemn them.
Condemn them.
Awful to think of.
To refuse those words, to refuse the one who uttered them, to refuse the one who came as the very expression of the Father.
Never man spake like this man.
That answered them, the Pharisees. Are you also deceived?
Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him?
Yes, one of them had.
And he comes forward a little here. Remember in John 3 the ruler of the Jews, Nicodemus, He came to Jesus by night.
Came to him as a teacher to a teacher.
But now he speaks out a little bit better.
But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed wrong.
The people that know the law and fail to keep it are cursed.
Curse it is everyone that continueth, not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
It isn't the knowledge of the law that keeps 1 and preserves one, it's the keeping of it.
And none have kept it.
So they say, are these people who knoweth not the law are cursed?
They knew the law and they were the ones that were cursed because they were crucifying. They were about to crucify the very one that the Law pointed forward to.
Nicodemus now comes forward a little more brightly.
He saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them. That's in John 3.
Doth our law judge any man before it, hear him, and know what he doeth?
That took quite a bit of boldness for him to come out like that against the tremendous opposition that existed there among the Jewish leaders.
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look for.
Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. That was wrong.
They are. One of their prophets came from Galilee. Jonadip.
These leaders said out of Galilee arise with no prophet. That wasn't even true.
And every man went unto his own house.
Jesus.
Went unto the Mount of Olives.
And in there, there's this wonderful account.
I didn't read it but I'm going to go into it just a little. So beautiful.
And early in the morning he came again into the temple.
And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.
And the scribes in the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.
And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.
Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned. Moses in the Law commanded that both the man and the woman should be stoned.
They only brought half the party.
Moses in the Law. It's amazing how the law can be quoted by these religious hypocrites.
And not realize that.
It condemns them too.
But they had come now into the presence of Him who is light.
And they didn't know who they were up against.
They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses and the Law commanded us that such should be stone.
No matter how he answered that question, they could have faulted him.
If he said stone her, they'd say he had no compassion.
If he said let her go.
00:45:01
They would have accused him of not keeping the law of Moses.
What does he say to them?
This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. There was number purity in their motives whatsoever.
They didn't care a bit for this woman. They didn't care for her. They were just going to make her.
Just use her to trap the Lord.
But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
As though he heard them not is just added by the translators he wrote on the ground.
The very one that wrote on the ground with his finger. The very one that wrote.
The 10 commandments.
And those two tables of stone.
They were using the law.
To the very lawgiver.
Who alone had the authority and the right to stone her?
They were using it to him and he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
And then they continued asking him.
And he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And the only one that was qualified, if that was the requirement, was himself.
He was the only one that was without sin. He's the only one that could cast a stone at her. Would he?
And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
You know the law was given twice. The first time Moses broke it and then.
It was written again and God gave it to Moses a second time. Maybe these two writings refer to that.
We're not told.
And when they had heard it being.
Being convicted.
When they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one. That's the proper use of the law.
Proper use of the law is to convict man of sin.
It went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman.
He said unto her woman.
Where are those thine accusers?
Hath no man condemned thee? And she said, No man Lord.
And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee.
Go and sin no more.
We have a beautiful commentary on that in 2nd Corinthians 5.
I'll read it.
Verse 19.
God was in Christ.
Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.
And have committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
The law was given by Moses. He was not here to enforce the law of Moses.
He was here to show grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
And so he showed grace. He ministered it. He imparted to that woman the only power that would enable her to live above that sin that she had fallen into.
The law won't do it.
Commanding a person like this not to commit adultery won't do it.
But grace will empower the person.
Not to do it.
He came.
At Blessed One, full of grace and truth, the very lawgiver, not to enforce the law, not to give it again, but to show grace.
And to bring into blessing.
Wonderful portion we've been looking at.
The blessed Lord rejected here the Kingdom put in abeyance not fulfilled.
But on that eighth day.
He now becomes the head.
Of a new order of things.
That would be brought into operation by the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Who would unite us, everyone, individually, collectively, to that glorified man in heaven?
What a portion is ours.
The Person of the Holy Spirit
Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I'd like to speak tonight on the.
The Person of the Holy Spirit.
All the.
The in Christendom deny.
The Person of the Holy Spirit.
They deny the Trinity.
They deny.
The.
Deity of Christ.
And they say that the Spirit of God is in it.
That he is a just an influence.
Just a force.
Just a.
Something just this power, the power of God.
Well, it's true that the Spirit of God is the most powerful force there is in the universe, but he's more than just a power or a force.
He is a person.
A living Person, one of the Persons of the Trinity.
If you deny that the Spirit of God is a person, you've denied the Trinity.
If you deny the deity of Christ, you've denied the Trinity. There's various ways that can that can be denied. We were just talking about the Trinity, and now I'd like to look at the third person. The 1:00 we call the third person. We don't say third because he's inferior to the Father, who is number 1, and the Son who's number 2. As we often say, they're all equal.
They're all God I'd like to look at.
Some of the verses that those that say that the Spirit of God is in it.
Would use.
Romans 8.
Romans, chapter 8.
And we'll explain why it reads as it reads.
And those that deny his person, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, they deny his person.
That he is a person.
And they they use verses like this to support their denial. They say that the Spirit of God is an it.
And they have some scriptures to support that, and we'll see what the meaning is, the proper meaning of the scriptures that support it.
Seemingly supported.
Verse 14 of Romans 8 for as many.
As are led by the Spirit of God.
They are the sons of God.
For ye have not received the spirit of ******* again to fear.
But you have received the spirit of adoption.
Whereby we cry ABBA father.
Now here's the verse, the Spirit itself.
Beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Doesn't say the Spirit himself, it says the Spirit itself. And again verse 26.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Well, how do we explain that speaks about the Spirit as being an it?
Is he really a person?
Person's not in it.
Well, in the Old Testament.
The word spirit many languages let me start with this way. Many languages assign a gender to every now.
And we do that not officially, not formally in English, but we will say like the ship will say, she's a beautiful ship.
And we speak of the ship in the feminine gender. She's a beautiful ship.
But in English, the word ship doesn't carry a gender like these other languages.
And it so happens that in Hebrew.
They have two genders, just two, feminine and masculine.
They don't have a neuter gender.
They don't have any it. They have a she or a he feminine, she of masculine, he or her or him. That's the gender they have. And it so happens that the word spirit in the Old Testament is feminine.
It also means wind or breath. Sometimes it's translated that way. And it means that in the New Testament too, the word spirit.
But in the New Testament, we're dealing with the Greek language, and it has three genders. It has the masculine gender he or him, the feminine gender she or her, and then the neuter gender it or itself.
And it so happens that the word Spirit in Greek is in the neuter gender. So when it reads as like in this 26th verse, but the spirit itself.
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The the pronoun itself modifying the noun spirit is in the neutral gender, so it comes out itself. It's merely A grammatical A grammatical thing.
It does not prove, as they say, that the Spirit is in it. In fact, we can prove, and we will prove tonight, the Spirit is a person.
In fact, all three genders are used in the Bible to describe the Spirit. The Old Testament spirit is feminine. In the New Testament, the spirit is neuter. But whenever the Lord Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit, he always speaks of him in the.
Masculine gender. Now turn back for that. Turn back to John chapter 14.
John, Chapter 14.
And verse 16.
And I will pray the Father.
And he shall give you another comforter that he.
May abide with you forever.
Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not.
Neither knoweth him.
But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Again in verse 26.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you.
All things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you again in the 15th chapter, verse 26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.
The Lord always refers to the Holy Spirit as He or Him. Again in the 16th chapter, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him.
Unto you he doesn't say, I will send it unto you. He never uses that language.
I will send him unto you, and when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
And so on.
Verse 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now, albeit when he.
The spirit of truth is come. He will guide you into all truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear.
That shall He speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. Well, I don't have to multiply verses to show you that. When the Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit, he speaks of him in the masculine gender, He or Him or himself.
And so he is indeed a person.
Referred to in the in the Hebrew as feminine because that word that means wind or breath or spirit is feminine in Hebrew, but in the Greek it is neuter. So it is it. Sometimes it comes out that way in the translation.
But that doesn't prove their point. Not a bit of it, in fact. Let's let's look at what characterizes a person. Let's look at some of the things that that characterize a person. He's one of the persons of the Trinity.
And we know the verse I'll quoted to you in Matthew 28 where the Lord speaks of the baptismal formula that we use. He says baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now I want to say this too, that sometimes in our King James Bible, the Holy Spirit is referred to as Holy Ghost, sometimes as Holy Spirit.
That's exactly the same person, it's just that they received instruction from King James when they translated the King James Bible.
Not to translate the same word in the original the same way every time. So sometimes they translated its spirit, sometimes ghost, but it's the same word in the original. And I think it's better to stick with Holy Spirit, which most revisers have done. And I think Mr. Darby's translation always refers to him as the Holy Spirit. There may be an exception to that, but certainly it's basically so.
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But it's the same person regardless of whether you say ghost or spirit.
He is a person.
He has the qualities of a person. Let's look again back to Romans 8.
And we will see.
That it is said of the Spirit of God.
That he has a mind.
Romans 8 and I'll read verse 26 again. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He prays for us, He intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So these are the the marks of a person. And now the next verse. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.
And it does not have a mind, a force.
Does not have a mind and influence does not have a mind, but the Spirit of God has a mind. He is a person because he.
Intercedes for Saints according to the will of God.
Again, the Spirit of God has a will. First Corinthians.
Chapter 12 where we have the chapter that speaks of the Holy Spirit.
So often.
And verse 11.
1St Corinthians 1211 But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. Again, you have the masculine gender, He and he wills, Spirit of God wills and he determines how the gifts are going to be distributed. Just like it says later in the chapter, God does that.
And so he is, He is indeed, he is God.
I didn't refer you to the passage in Acts, and I think I should do that. Acts chapter 5. We'll look at that now before we go on.
To prove that.
He is a person and that he is God.
Himself.
But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price.
His wife also being Privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles feet.
And Peter? Said Ananias.
Why hath Satan fill thine heart to lie to the holy?
Ghosts, you do not lie to an itch.
You lied to a person.
And to keep back part of the price of the land whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Now in the previous verse he had lied to the Holy Ghost, and in this verse he lied to God. The Holy Ghost is God, and he's a person.
As well.
Well, let's look at some of the other qualifications or qualities of a person in Acts Chapter 16.
Acts Chapter 16.
Now verse 6. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia.
And the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. The Holy Ghost forbade them.
To preach the Word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. He did not allow them to do that. This is the action of a person. He forbade them. He did not allow them to go to those places.
So he forbid he speaks.
He speaks.
Acts Chapter 8.
We'll start with the verse that.
Deals with Philip and the Angel.
Acts Chapter 8.
And verse 26 and the Angel of the Lord spake.
Unto Philip saying, Arise and go toward the South, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem. Unto Gaza, which is desert.
No one would deny that the Angel of the Lord was a person. He spake to Philip as a person.
And he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under candidacy, Queen of The Ethiopians.
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Who had the charge of all her treasure, and they had come to Jerusalem for to worship.
Was returning, and sitting in his chariot. Read his science the prophet, and notice. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him. Read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? The Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself.
To this chariot.
Again in Acts 10.
Acts 10.
Verse 19.
While Peter thought on the vision.
The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them.
Doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Now here the Spirit of God is speaking. He's speaking as a sovereign person in the Godhead, and he says don't be afraid to go, to go with him. I have sent them.
Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek. What is the cause? Wherefore ye are come. The book of Acts is often misnamed the Acts of the Apostles. It's really the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
It's the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and the various ones that he was using.
In that day, so the Spirit of God speaks.
He has a mind, and he wills, and he forbids, and he speaks.
He loves.
Let's look at Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5 you see if he's part of the Godhead and God is love.
Then every person in the Godhead must love.
It would be very strange to find that there was one of the three persons of the Godhead that did not love. Well, it's not so.
God is love, Father loveth the Son, and the Son loveth the Father.
And the Spirit also. Now let us look in Romans 5 and verse 5. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God, this is the first time mentioned in Romans, is shed abroad in our hearts. By whom? By the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. He is the one who is qualified to shed abroad in our hearts the love of God.
The one who knows the love of God. The one who is a part of the Godhead.
The one who was one with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, He sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. He dwells within us. Wonderful, tremendous truth. But then let's turn over to Romans 15.
Romans 15.
This is an easy one to remember. 15 and 30.
Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love.
Of the Spirit that she strived together with me in your prayers to God for me.
The love of the Spirit, wonderful expression, the one who sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God, He loves.
Of course he does. He is one of the persons of the Godhead.
And in Ephesians 4.
We find.
That.
He can be grieved.
Turn to Ephesians 4.
Verse 29.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Well, how do we grieve him? You don't grieve in it. You don't grieve a thing. You don't grieve a force. You don't grieve an influence.
You grieve a person.
And he can be grieved now. You can't grieve him away. You can't sin in such sort that he will leave you.
Because he's not in you by virtue of anything that you have done or your godliness of walk.
You can lose the consciousness of communion and you will lose that if you grieve the Spirit of God, and they'll have to bring that home to your soul if you grieve him. But we should think we have a divine person, the Spirit of God, indwelling us. The Lord Jesus was not in the disciples, He was among them.
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But now the truth of Christianity is the Spirit of God indwells us. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He inhabits the house where he dwells. Christendom, the profession of the name of Christ. He inhabits that that house. He dwells there.
And that's what makes it so grievous when Christians do not recognize His presence in their midst collectively, and they grieve Him by not allowing Him to run the meeting.
Instead, they appoint a man to do that, and they have.
An order of church, government and church.
The way they meet church administration and that, and practically speaking.
They ignore his presence.
And they may even deny his presence, or they treat him as though he were not there. And this is very grievous.
We can grieve him personally by doing a number of things. Like the next verse says, let all bitterness.
And wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Malice is evil intent to injure someone.
And be ye kind one to another. There's this positive side. We can please him. We can give joy to his heart, be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you. So we can do that which is displeasing to Him. We can grieve him. It's a very serious thing to grieve the Spirit of God.
Whether we do it individually or collectively. And there are some that teach that the Spirit of God is only among the Saints who are gathered to the Lord's name. He's not elsewhere. That's wrong.
If that were true, then you couldn't fault those in system for not looking to the Spirit to lead them if he wasn't there.
You couldn't fault them if he wasn't there. You can't fault them. The sin is, as Mr. Darby wrote, the dispensationally A clergyman. The notion of a clergyman is dispensationally the sin against the Holy Ghost. The sin is he is there.
He is there. He is wherever Christians are, whether they recognize His presence, whether they lean upon Him to lead in their meetings or not.
If they don't, that's their sin, because they're because he is there. He is there.
And that's so important to realize that now that's a different truth than the presence of the Lord in the midst as gathered to his name. That's a different truth. I was talking to one brother recently and he put those two together all the time as we talked. I'd say something about the Holy Spirit being present among all Christians wherever they gather. And then he would say, you mean the Lord is in their midst wherever the guy said. I didn't say that, I didn't say that. No, He's only in the midst of those that are gathered.
His name but the Spirit of God is.
Is on the earth inhabiting God's house, which has become like unto a great house.
Filled with all kinds of things that are not of God. But the Spirit is not taking his leave. He is still there. And because He is there, whenever Christians meet, they're held accountable and responsible to look to Him, to lead and guide.
And not some man appointed person or something of that sort. So it's a sin and we can grieve him in that way. We can also quench him in First Thessalonians chapter 5.
Turn over to 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5.
Verse 16. Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything, give thanks. Very short, terse statements, wonderful truths.
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks.
For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench, not the Spirit.
Despise, not prophesying.
Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.
The spies not prophesying.
And don't quench the spirit. You quench the spirit when you do not allow Him.
To lead.
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And guide in the assembly. Now we can do that like just take this morning. I wasn't here, we weren't here. We were in the Marysville but.
If the Lord prompted you, if the Spirit of God prompted you this morning to give out to him or to give thanks.
Or to.
Read a portion of scripture and you didn't do it. You quenched the Spirit.
He wanted you to do it and you didn't follow his leading so.
When we do what he does not like, we grieve him.
When we don't do what He wants us to do, we quench Him.
And we can do that.
We should be supple in his hands, so to speak, sensitive to his promptings and to his leadings.
And.
The realization that he is there, he is there.
He does not leave us.
There's a verse in Scripture that indicates that more than one.
That he is with us forever. John 14.
And other passages. And he is in us. But he will never leave us. We may grieve him.
We may quench you. Oftentimes He is quenched. You can quench the spirit by.
Setting up a clergy where everything has to be done by the man in charge instead of looking to the Spirit of God. We can also have an order of things that is according to scripture and quench the spirit because we don't.
Do what He would have us to do. We don't pray when he would have us to pray. We don't give thanks when he would have us to give thanks. We don't read a verse or give out a hymn in order to do some of those things, like giving out of him or reading a scripture, you have to be acquainted with the book. You've got to know the Scriptures and you've got to be acquainted with the hymn book too. So we, we just don't get in a magical prompting by the Spirit when we're not.
We're not qualified.
We haven't been in the hymn book, we haven't acquainted ourselves with it or with the word of God, and so we can quench him.
In those ways.
So we can grieve him. We can quench him. This is a person we're talking about, not a force, not an it, not an influence.
But a person?
The Spirit of God in Scripture does not have a distinctive name like the Father and the Son have.
I think one of the reasons for that is that he is like the woman.
We had that before us this afternoon, and I'll just refer to it. In Luke 15, we have a beautiful picture of the Trinity.
We have the shepherd going out after the lost sheep, that's the Lord Jesus, and not quitting until he find it.
Lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing and brings it home. And then we have the woman. That's a picture of the Holy Spirit. Very fitting picture of the Holy Spirit the woman is.
Not in public. Notice she's not out front in the public. She stays at home. Like they asked Abraham, where is Sarah thy wife? He said. Behold, she's in the tent where she belonged in the domestic sphere. She's in the tent.
And so the woman is an apartment picture of the Holy Spirit.
Who keeps out of sight we don't see the Spirit of God. He works a windblower where it listeth, and I hears the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit, the the Spirit of God. When he's the first mover in our in the life of a believer, He brings that soul into exercise before God.
He is the first mover. God is always the first mover. If He hadn't moved first in any of our lives, none of us would be saved.
Because we have a will which is disposed against him.
But he has moved in our lives and the Spirit of God is that great power. He is a power, but he is a wonderful power. But that's not all. He's a person and.
And he leads us.
And desires to use us so we can quench him.
It's a solemn thing, a serious thing to quench the Spirit of God. He wants to use this. There's a verse that says.
Whatsoever is not of faith his sin. There's another verse that says whosoever knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him and his sin. The Spirit of God tells you to do something, you don't do it, It's sin. We can quench him.
Well.
He was active in creation.
00:30:00
You'll find him active in everything that God does. Going back to Genesis one for a moment.
Genesis 1. In fact, he's the first person mentioned of the Trinity in the Bible as a distinct person.
He's mentioned in connection with Creation.
Genesis 1 and verse one. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Now I just point out that that word God is the Hebrew word elohim, which is in the plural and it really embraces all three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God plural created singular the heaven and the earth, but when he's singled out, he's mentioned in the next verse the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God.
Moved upon the face of the waters.
So the first, very first part of the new test of the Old Testament we have him mentioned and the the New Testament ends and I'll turn to Revelation 22 and read the verse in Revelation 22, verse 17, the end of the New Testament, after Christ has gathered out a bride, God has gathered out a bride for his Son and the Spirit and the bride say come. The Spirit and the bride say come.
So he's mentioned in the 1St chapter of the Bible, He's mentioned in the last as the one that is that is calling for the Lord Jesus to come. He joins our call, He prompts our call, He energizes our call. The Spirit and the bride say come. Wonderful for the Spirit of God to be there to prompt us.
And lead us.
Into the truth.
He is involved in inspiration. Look at First Corinthians chapter 2.
First Corinthians, chapter 2.
All of the things that God does.
Are done by the Spirit.
First Corinthians, chapter 2.
Verse 11. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him?
Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
The only one who knows the things of God is the Spirit of God. He is God. He is one of the Persons of the Trinity.
And he knows the things of God, and he communicates them to us.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.
That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak not in the words, which man's wisdom teacheth Here you have now inspiration, the Spirit of God, communicating the very words to the apostles to give us, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth communicating. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual are the new translation reads Communicating spiritual things by spiritual words.
Or spiritual words by spiritual things. The Spirit of God is the one who is involved in inspiration. Next verse says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.
If the Word of God is foolishness to you, you're a natural man. You've never been born again. You've never been sealed by the Holy Spirit. You are ignorant of divine truth because the natural man understandeth not.
The things doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to Him.
Neither can he know them. He can't know them. He can't understand this book. You can go to the the most educated college professor in the land and he can teach his subjects with great skill and power, but given the Bible and he doesn't understand it.
It is something to him. It's a closed book to him because he does not have the Spirit of God to teach him.
These things are spiritually discerned only discerned by the Spirit who teaches us.
So we have the Spirit of God as our teacher. He is the one that inspired the book.
He now indwells us to make known to us the meaning of its contents. And how wonderful to have a divine teacher. For that, let's turn to 1St John Chapter 2.
First Epistle of John, chapter 2.
We don't have the Spirit of God mentioned in so many words here, but he's referred to.
Under the title of anointing.
Verse 20 of 1 John 2 But ye have an unction. That word means an unction or an anointing.
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From the Holy One and you know all things.
And then again in verse 27, but the anointing same word is rendered unction in this 20th verse is now rendered anointing.
By the same principle that I cited earlier, that the King James translators were told not to translate the same Greek word with the same English word, and so they translated anointing, sometimes unction. And it's too bad they did that because it's hard to do a word search in the English language because of that. You have to know the original verse 27, but the anointing which ye have received of him.
Abideth in you.
And you need not that any man teach you.
But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and His truth, and is no lie.
And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Now those verses are addressed to the babes in the family.
There's 3 levels in the family of God. The fathers, they've known him, that is from the beginning, which is Christ. Then there's the young man. They are strong. They've overcome the world and overcome the wicked one. They're strong because the word of God abides in them. And then you have the babes, the children, they know the father, they can cry, have a father, the first cry of a newborn child, the 1St.
Utterance you might say that is of intelligible could be daddy.
Mama or Dada or Mama or Daddy or Papa.
And so we have the 2 words, the Aramaic word ABBA.
Abbas like daddy or Papa, it doesn't require any teeth to say ABBA. A baby can say that before it has teeth. And then father. Father speaks more of maturity. ABBA father.
The youngest in the family and he's telling these young ones, these babes that you don't need the methodical teachings of men as they have them in schools and so on. But the, the anointing that abides in you, He teaches you. You don't need a man as such to teach you. Now God, Christ has given teachers to his church and he does teach them through these gifts. And that's not what he's referring to.
He's referring to man as such, without the Spirit of God.
And they will not lead you correctly. And we can be kept from all kinds of error by being subject to the Word under the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God is active in the birth of Christ. Let's look at.
That beautiful passage in Luke chapter 1.
Luke chapter 1.
Well, let me let me refer you to Matthew one first, and then we'll look at the one in Luke, Matthew chapter 1.
Matthew, Chapter 1.
Verse 20.
Verse 19 But Joseph.
Her husband.
She was found with child of the Holy Ghost and he didn't know who the Father was of this.
Conception. It was the Holy Ghost.
It wasn't Joseph and Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example.
Was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the Lord, and appear of appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, Marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
If you have a margin in your Bible, the word conceived there is properly translated begotten. That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Ghost. Spirit of God is the begetting power in place of the man in connection with this birth.
Man had nothing to do with it.
Mary was His mother, He had no earthly father. That which is begotten in hers of the Holy Ghost. So it was the Holy Spirit that was the bigoter in that birth. Turn now to Luke chapter 1.
Luke chapter 1.
You see that everything that God does, he does by the Holy Ghost.
In Luke chapter 1.
Mary was told she was going to have a child and then she says in verse 34 unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man.
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And the Angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. That verse has the whole Trinity in it. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. The power of the highest that would be God the Father shall over shadow thee. Therefore that which is born of thee shall be called the Son of God, the Son of God. So you have all three persons of the Blessed Trinity in that verse, the Holy Ghost.
As the one that.
Prevented the sin nature of Mary from being transferred to that child.
And preserved his humanity wholly the holy thing.
Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Tremendous truth The Holy Ghost preserved His humanity wholly holy.
Holy, he was given. Let's look at John 3.
He was given.
Quite differently than in the Old Testament when the Spirit of God came upon someone in the Old Testament.
He came upon them, the prophets, they spoke under the power of the Holy Spirit for the occasion, and they look forward and they prophesied of things that are to come, and they didn't even understand their own prophecy sometimes. But it was the Spirit of God that moved them to utter the prophecy, and then He left them. He did not remain with them. But there's a verse in John 334.
For he whom God hath sent.
That's the Lord Jesus speaketh the words of God.
God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. Again, that's another verse that has all three persons in it. God sent the Son, and He has given the Spirit without measure.
He hath not given the Spirit by measure unto him. What does that mean?
That means that when he received the Holy Spirit as a man, he received him in the full power of the Holy Ghost. He'll never be taken from him. He will be with him as man forever.
And that unto him.
The last part God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. It was certainly true of the Lord. The translators are not wrong in what they've the way they've rendered it, but it also is true of you and me.
He has not given this spirit by measure unto us either.
Because He has given the Spirit to us.
Based upon the redemptive work of Christ. It's not based upon anything that you or me that deserves it, that merits it.
That has done anything for it, but it's the work of Christ which is the basis.
For this giving of the Holy Spirit to us. And He saw He's not given by measure like he was in the Old Testament, but he shall abide with you, John 14, and shall be in you the Spirit of God-given without measure. This the Lord, the blessed Lord, He received the Spirit as a dove came upon him at the river Jordan when he was baptized.
By John the Spirit came upon him. The voice of the Father was heard from heaven. You have the Trinity there.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, but he came upon him as a dove when the spirit was poured out upon the believers.
In Acts chapter 2 it was as flames of fire. Flames of fire.
Tongues as tongues of fire.
And.
Why fire? I believe the thought of the fire is that there is that in us which needs to be purged out. We have a sin nature in us. He did not. He received the Spirit by virtue of the perfection of His person. We received the Spirit by virtue of the perfection of His work. His work? Well, both are perfect, and so both are. The Spirit is given to both to Him and to us without measure.
Without measure.
No measure to it. It's the full display and the power and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Wonderful truth. The Spirit of God is involved in the resurrection.
I want to show it was, we're taking this up, how all three persons are involved in the resurrection while you're in John just turned back to the second chapter, John chapter 2.
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And verse 18.
That answered the Jews, and said unto him, Jesus, what signs show us thou unto us, seeing thou that thou doest these things, Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple.
And in three days I will raise it up.
They didn't understand his words.
Then, said the Jews, 46 years was this temple in building, and now it reared up in three days.
But he spake.
Of the temple of his body.
When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this.
Unto them, and they believe the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said, Just think of those words, You kill me.
You destroy this temple.
Only God could say that. Or a madman.
Certainly couldn't be a normal person.
Only he could raise himself from the dead.
Well, the father also raised him. Look at Romans chapter 6.
Romans, chapter 6.
And verse.
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death.
That, like his Christ, was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.
Even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
So the Father, the Father's glory raised Him from the dead. The Lord raised Himself from the dead. John two and first Peter three, we have the Holy Spirit mentioned in connection with the Lord being.
Brought to life after his.
Death.
First Peter 3 verse 18 For Christ hath also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, quickened, made alive.
By the Spirit, so all three persons, as always, were active in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
All three persons are active in the death of the Lord Jesus. Turned back to Hebrews 9.
Hebrews, Chapter 9.
And verse 13.
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit.
Offered himself without spot to God. Here we have the Trinity again in one verse.
The Son offering himself by the eternal Spirit, without spot to God.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who offered Himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Spirit of God was involved in his death, was involved in his birth, was involved in his entire life.
He, being LED of the Spirit, went forth into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. It says he was justified in the Spirit. First Timothy 3 Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit.
Seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Justified in the Spirit.
Declared.
Who he was by.
The spirits leading in guidance in his life.
He offered himself by the eternal Spirit, without spot to God.
We could go through all of these different areas, the creation.
The IT was pointed out to me as a beautiful verse in connection with the creation. I'll turn you to it. Ecclesiastes. Turn back to Ecclesiastes. I enjoyed it so much.
You don't see it in your English Bible.
But Ecclesiastes 12 and verse one reads, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.
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Now I told you that the word Elohim in Genesis 1.
Is the plural for God.
Where that is used with a plural.
Verb. It's translated God's in the plural, where it's used with.
Singular verb. It's translated God. It's the true God.
Three persons, one God.
And this word creator in the Hebrew, you can't see it in the English.
Is in the plural.
Remember now thy creators in the days of thy youth, Well, they don't translate it that way. Thy creator, He is a plural in majesty, a plural in unity.
One God, one Creator, three persons involved in the creation.
Was the Father involved in the creation? Absolutely. Was the Son involved in the creation? Absolutely. Was the Spirit involved in the creation?
Absolutely all three persons, and they're found in these Hebrew words, Elohim.
And Creator here in the plural, in fact, everything that God does.
Everything that he does, he purposes.
And that's usually we attribute that to the father and then he carries it out.
You attribute that to the Son in the power and energy of the Holy Spirit.
You attribute that to the Spirit of God, all three working together in perfect harmony and unity. But the Spirit of God has been given to us and indwells us.
He is called the spirit of adoption.
The Spirit of His Son, the Eternal Spirit, the Comforter.
The spirit of life, the spirit of glory.
You can think of many others.
Titles. Names given to the Holy Spirit. There are symbols. He is symbolized when he came upon the Lord as a dove.
He came upon the Christians he symbolized as tongues, like as of fire.
And.
He is symbolized as water. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
This spake he of the Spirit.
Which they that believe on him should receive, and so on.
Wonderful to think of him as he's portrayed in the scriptures he's symbolized as oil.
You remember the leper when he was cleansed, they took blood and sprinkled it on his right ear.
And on his right thumb and on his right toe, and then on top of the blood, they sprinkled the oil. The oil is a type of the Holy Spirit who seals the soul by virtue of the blood of Christ. We get sealed after we believe the gospel, and then we can hear and act and walk for Him.
By the Spirit's power, as we are now under the blood of Christ. Well, beautiful types, these Old Testament types.
Beautiful gospel pictures that God gives us the Spirit.
Is typified by the oil.
How good and how pleasant it is for a brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the.
The precious oil that was poured upon the priest and ran down upon the beard, and so on. The Spirit of God producing unity.
The unity of the Spirit we're exhorted to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. When was that formed? When was that unity formed? It was formed on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came down from a glorified Christ in heaven. And he came down and he, he baptized those 120 believers into one body and they then became something they weren't before. They became the body of Christ no longer just.
Individuals, but members one of another and of the glorified head in heaven.
He's spoken of individually. That's a collective truth, the baptism of the Spirit that took place once, and every soul that is saved from then on after is brought into that, that unity which the Spirit of God produced by his coming.
And we're to keep it practically, you know, with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
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How to keep the unity of the Spirit to walk under the power and guidance of the Spirit of God?
We've also been sealed with the Spirit. We've been born of the Spirit. First action of the Holy Spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. New life from God, which is from the Holy Spirit. And then he seals us when we believe the gospel of our salvation.
He seals us. He is the seal. A farmer, he will, a rancher. He will buy cattle, and he purchases them. They're his by purchase. But then he does something more. He marks them out as belonging to him. He stamps them with his stamp.
And he brands them, and they have His name on them. So God has branded us, if you will. He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. He has marked us out as His. We belong to Him. The Spirit of God is the seal.
And he's here to glorify Christ. He's not here to speak of himself. He's not here to draw attention to himself. When you find Christians that are constantly looking within to see how they're making progress in the Christian life, they're just being occupied with self in some form or another. The Spirit of God doesn't do that.
He leads us to be occupied with Christ. You want to see a spirit LED Christian, you'll see one that is always Speaking of Christ and seeking to glorify him. He's not under law. He's not under *******. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty, but the law is *******. And so the Spirit of God has given us to set us free, if the sun shall set you free.
Ye shall be free indeed.
He's also the earnest of the inheritance.
He gives us to enjoy now what we will enjoy in that coming day of glory, which is.
Soon to dawn upon us, He's been given to us.
He is the teacher, the anointing. We already looked at that.
So we have these different aspects of the Spirit of God. I think the word Spirit occurs something like 400 times in the Old Testament, 600 in the new. So there's no way in an hour lecture that I can cover the whole subject. But we've touched upon a lot of precious things tonight in connection with the Holy Spirit, who was here not to draw attention to himself, but to glorify Christ. It's like a godly woman. She doesn't draw.
Attention to herself, she points to her husband, and she seeks to to exalt him before the eyes of others. That's what the Spirit of God is here to do.
God's Government
Submission to the Lord
Christ's Martyrdom Sufferings
God's Center-Christ the Object
Speaking Often One to Another