[0:00] Welcome to the service this morning. We are privileged to be able to worship this morning.
[0:12] And we had a long list of birthdays in our bulletin, but there's one birthday that Ben did not mention.
[0:24] And can you help me out? What birthday are we celebrating today? It's the birthday of the church.
[0:35] It's the birth of the church on Pentecost. And so we're celebrating another year of grace, of the existence of the church, as God saw fit to have the church age in which we are almost 2,000 years in now.
[1:05] So the first Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, marked the birth of the church.
[1:16] And so the church being comprised or made up of people that believe, that have put their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, have trusted and have received Jesus into their hearts.
[1:39] as John 1, verse 12 would have us understand, he who has believed and received, to them he has given the right to become children of God.
[1:54] And so upon them, the next verse tells us, God gave them the new birth, the Holy Spirit.
[2:07] And that marks the birthday of the church. Never before in all of the history of mankind has God done something like that.
[2:19] It's a new era, a new dispensation, where Jew and Gentile alike coming together, faith in Christ.
[2:33] One body, the church. One head, Jesus Christ. And then the Holy Spirit to live within us.
[2:49] to dwell within us, to guide us. And so this morning, we're going to, before we go through the passage that was read for us in Galatians, let's turn and just read the account in Acts 2 to get a refresher on that.
[3:07] Acts chapter 2. It's an exciting account. As God does something new and wonderful, so Acts 2, and starting in verse 1.
[3:25] When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
[3:43] And then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit of the saints.
[4:03] And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
[4:20] And then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
[4:31] And how is it that we hear them each in our own language in which we were born? So it's a beautiful scene.
[4:42] It's a scene that was promised by God. He had told the apostles and the believers to wait in Jerusalem till they were going to receive the power from on high.
[4:59] They were to dwell in Jerusalem. And that was ten days ago, Ascension Day, when Jesus went back to heaven. And so at that time he instructed them, Don't go back to Galilee.
[5:13] Stay in Jerusalem and be gathered. And so we know from Acts chapter 1 they were gathered as one accord in prayer and they waited for this to happen.
[5:28] So Pentecost, it's the Feast of Weeks in the Jewish culture. It corresponds with the second of their three annual feasts.
[5:42] And God revealed himself to the world in a way which he'd never had before. And so in a miraculous way the sound of a rushing mighty wind the sound of it so people heard that sound there was tongues of fire or looked as of fire doesn't say they were fire but had the appearance of fire resting upon each of the believers.
[6:22] And so God accompanied these visible signs to bring the birthday or the birth of the church. And then the third sign was that they spoke in tongues or languages and because it was the second of the annual feast days all males Jewish were commanded to gather in Jerusalem for these days.
[6:52] It was way back to Exodus where God commanded that. And so it says in our scripture here that in verse 5 and there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews devout men from every nation under heaven.
[7:12] And so God had previously already scattered the Jews through persecution and so on and now they're living they're living in all different countries and they're coming back for this feast.
[7:28] And as the birthday of the church God gives the gift of language. And so the whether it's restricted just to the 12 who got the gift of language or not but there was about 70 gathered in the week before but these 12 are speaking in languages of the countries around them.
[8:00] And so everyone is hearing the gospel in their own dialect. And that's amazing.
[8:11] That's these are Galileans. These are untrained unschooled men. They can't they don't speak languages.
[8:24] And here they are speaking foreign languages. so the power of God has come upon us.
[8:37] The power of God. And so the birthday of the church. And so God started off. We could say he started the church with a bang.
[8:48] Not the big bang but a bang. Like get the attention of the church. And there was everybody knew something is happening.
[9:02] This is different. And then we could go on with the first message and so on with Peter. The boldness. 3,000 men being saved and so on.
[9:15] 3,000 people. And so we see it continuing. God's spirit at work. this was promised.
[9:28] And so I want to turn to John. The gospel of John chapter 14. Just a couple verses there. John 14.
[9:50] And Jesus has announced that he will be leaving. And he's told the disciples, let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God.
[10:02] But going down to verse 16. Jesus further the believers and he says, I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever.
[10:20] He's saying, I must go, but I'm going to send the third person in the trinity and he will abide with you for how long?
[10:33] Forever. He's going to be permanent in your heart. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, talking about the Holy Spirit, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you.
[10:58] I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. Jesus is saying, I will come to you in the form of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
[11:13] God is faithful, and thus, we are still in this era, and every time someone gives their heart to God, surrenders, and invites Christ into their life, is filled with the Holy Spirit.
[11:38] Never fails. God is faithful, he has promised, and so he does. And so this morning, if you are here as a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit residing within your body.
[12:01] Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, why has God done this? why this change?
[12:17] And I'm going to open it up for some feedback. Why did God do this change that did not exist in the Old Testament to give us the Holy Spirit permanently?
[12:32] Any thoughts? Any thoughts? Any thoughts? Any thoughts? Any thoughts? Any thoughts? thoughts? Okay, we're too weak in the flesh to do what on our own?
[12:52] To be holy, okay, so to live a godly life. Okay, very good. Can we add to that?
[13:10] Peace, comfort. Yeah, he said, I will not leave you as orphans. An orphan is without parents, without family.
[13:23] Well, may have siblings, but without parents, and so feels abandoned or alone. And Jesus says, I'm going away, I will not leave you orphans, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
[13:40] Any other reasons for the Holy Spirit? A one-on-one relationship with the Father. Yeah. And so the witnesses with our spirit that we belong to him, according to Romans 8.
[13:58] Okay. So a guarantee, a down payment for our inheritance.
[14:13] And that's in Ephesians 1, verse 14. Verse 13 also says that the spirit has sealed us or marked us or identified us as belonging to Christ, to the Father.
[14:32] So it's a mark of ownership. A mark of ownership. I want to expand a little bit before we move on to Galatians.
[14:48] So in regard to enabling us, empowering us to live a holy or a godly life, the spirit is a spirit of truth.
[15:03] Satan is a spirit of lies. And before we are believers, he has dominion in our hearts. and now we have a spirit of truth who desires dominion in my heart, to have free will that we follow the spirit of truth.
[15:28] And so God is enabling us. And like our brother said, we can't do it alone. And so for 4,000 years, Old Testament history, they couldn't do it.
[15:47] Today, me and you, we can't do it. We can't. All of us have tried.
[16:00] We can't do it. We need help. We need God. It's a marvelous truth to think that the third person of the Trinity is living in your heart.
[16:16] God with you. God with you. Wherever you go, whether it is Sunday morning or Monday, night or Saturday night, God with you, you're taking Him wherever you go.
[16:36] I will never leave you nor forsake you. So with that in mind, let's turn to Galatians chapter 5.
[16:47] verse 16, Galatians chapter 5.
[17:11] I say then, walk and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary or opposite to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
[17:37] the command is, walk in the spirit, and the result is, you shall not fulfill the lusts or the desires of the flesh.
[17:56] So we are born again. We have a new nature. That is the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is given to us as power, as truth, to guide us into a holy life.
[18:18] So why then, why then does Paul command the church to walk in the spirit? What does it mean that we walk in the spirit?
[18:32] it? Well, walking is, is our everyday life decisions and, and walk in life.
[18:47] And, but we are to walk how in the spirit it is saying we are to be spirit led. And when we are spirit led or obedient to the spirit, the result is we will not allow the flesh to come up and, and rule us or to take over.
[19:19] He says the two are contrary. the two are contrary. God desires for his children to be conformed to the image of his son.
[19:38] That means spirit led. That means our lives are being cleaned up. We're learning, we're learning to obey God to recognize the flesh and to put it down.
[19:58] Walking in the spirit. You know, we don't, we're not believers for very long when we realize that that flesh is still there.
[20:16] Unfortunately, it forces us to choose not only every day, but many times every day to choose who am I going to obey.
[20:36] Whether it's doing business with somebody, whether it's how I talk to my spouse or my children, everything everything in life, is it honoring to God or is it my flesh rearing its head?
[20:58] And then it's self-oriented. The flesh always points to self and wants to lift up self. So Paul is very clear, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
[21:13] So what happens when you do not walk in the spirit? What happens? Okay, you fall into the depths of Satan or into sin.
[21:36] Anyone else to add to that? You're absolutely right. what happens? What?
[21:47] We don't make very good decisions. How about the new nature in us, the Holy Spirit? Do we feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit?
[22:08] when we're tempted to go to the flesh? If you are born again, you have felt the nudging of the Spirit.
[22:23] That is his ministry. He is gentle. He does not force himself. but he will prod you and remind you and convict you when we do wrong.
[22:47] You know, have you ever spoken something negative to someone and then walked away and all of a sudden you have that nudging or feeling of condemnation.
[23:04] I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have done that. And God is trying to get a hold of us, saying, that was not right.
[23:20] Go make it right. that voice, that nudging, peace and fellowship wants to disappear until we deal with it.
[23:40] And thus he says, we are to walk in the Spirit and to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Ephesians 4, let's turn there.
[23:53] Next book in the Bible, Ephesians 4, verse, we're going to look at a number of scriptures in a row here. Ephesians 4, 30.
[24:07] He says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit and that same Spirit, here's the word, sealed us for the day of redemption.
[24:25] The day of redemption is the day God is going to take you from earth. And we're sealed for that day. But don't grieve. What does the word grieve mean?
[24:37] What do you do when you grieve?
[24:52] You're sorrowful. You're sad. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. How do we do that?
[25:03] by making choices contrary to his leading and turning to the flesh were making him sad, sorrowful.
[25:32] Do we think in those terms as we go through life? That when I make bad decisions or use words that are not edifying, I'm grieving God in me?
[25:54] This is what he is saying. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. it. And it goes in context with Ephesians 4, the sins that are listed there, and we'll leave that for some other time, but it is saddening God in us, the Holy Spirit.
[26:16] Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 19. 19. 19. 19. 19. 19. 19. 19. 19. 19. 19.
[26:27] 19. 19. 19. It's not a very long verse. 1 Thessalonians 5. 19. Do not quench the Spirit.
[26:39] What does the word quench mean? To put out? To douse? When you quench a fire, you put it out.
[26:52] And so how do we quench the Spirit? By ignoring, by refusing to listen to the Holy Spirit's nudging, prodding in your heart.
[27:15] And Paul again says, do not quench the Holy Spirit. So these are choices that we make.
[27:28] In James 4, verse 5. James 4, verse 5. He says, or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?
[28:00] yearning? And the word yearning means to desire or to long for. The Spirit desires or longs for us jealously.
[28:16] yearning. And the concept here is we are, excuse me, when we have had a pattern of making wrong choices and not listening to the Spirit, he yearns, his heart aches that we would listen, that we would follow him.
[28:48] He's jealous in a godly sense, wanting us to come back. The Spirit yearns jealously. You know, and sometimes our heart yearns for somebody.
[29:03] We wish, we pray that they could see the light. And this is the picture of the Holy Spirit. So we're talking believers here, not unbelievers.
[29:18] And so God seeking a holy life. And then 1 Timothy 4.2. 1 Timothy 4.2.
[29:29] 1 Timothy 4.2. 1 Timothy 4.2. 1 Timothy 4.2. 1 Timothy 4.2.
[29:41] 1 Timothy 4.2. I'm going to read the first two verses. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.
[30:09] Now the Spirit works through our conscience, but to have our conscience seared with a hot iron, seared mean?
[30:27] Burnt, numbed, by burning it off, so we're past feeling, past feeling.
[30:42] We deaden that area. And it's called searing. So is it possible to sear our conscience that we're past feeling?
[30:59] that we become cold? Now, I want to tie this in with blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
[31:16] Is there a difference between blasphemy and quenching and grieving? do we understand all of them in their proper perspective, context?
[31:35] What is blaspheming the Spirit? Is it the unforgivable sin? we're on the subject of the Holy Spirit this morning, and so we need to understand these processes.
[31:58] So to me, searing and blaspheme are very similar. and let's turn to Matthew chapter 12.
[32:26] Our Bible study group heard this on Wednesday. Matthew chapter 12. And starting in verse 22, and I'm going to take a few minutes here just to go through to give us the proper perspective and context and understanding.
[32:47] Matthew 12, 22. So it's in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Then one was brought to him who was demon possessed, blind and mute, and he healed him, so the blind and mute both spoke and all the multitudes were amazed and said, could this be the son of David?
[33:08] So what has happened? A notable miracle where a demon possessed man has been freed from the demons and his blindness has gone away and his muteness he can now speak and see and he is in his right mind is no longer demon possessed and the crowds glorify God for what is happening and verse 24 and when the Pharisees heard it they said this fellow Jesus does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons what what is happening what is happening here we are seeing the hand of God the Holy
[34:15] Spirit of God at work refusing to acknowledge it and we're ascribing it to the power of Satan this is blasphemy it's the very utmost of unbelief refusal refusal to believe God it's called blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and Jesus goes on to say how would Satan cast out his own people his own demons if I'm the devil why would I cast out my workers it's a paraphrase right that's what he's saying it's not happening you guys are not even thinking logically just stop and think Satan would not cast out his own people because here
[35:18] I want to keep him there why would I remove a demon and so verse 31 we're going to skip down to 31 therefore I say to you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven men anyone who speaks a word against the son of man it will be forgiven him but whoever speaks against the holy spirit it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come we can speak negatively against Christ in unbelief and be forgiven but the holy spirit the third person in the trinity is God the father's agent to do his work it's God in action his spirit and that is why when we witness the spirit of
[36:24] God at work and then we ascribe it to Satan he says that is not forgivable people that do this know and understand what they're doing they realize this is the hand of God through a hardness of heart I'm refusing to submit to that that must be the devil against all human reasoning they're out they're out to disobey God this is blaspheme of the Holy Spirit I've numerous times have had individuals come to me and I don't know I'm scared that I've committed the unpardonable sin and heaven is closed to me not understanding what it is and when I explain this to them then they breathe up and they realize no that's not me at all we need to understand you know these hardened hearts the
[37:48] Pharisees they then turn around after this very incident and they say to Jesus in verse 38 teacher we want to see a sign from you we want to see a sign from you well what has Jesus just barely done cast out demons restored health eyes open so he can see the blind and speak we want to see a sign from heaven and Jesus says he calls them an evil and adulterous generation and he says no sign will be given to this generation except the sign of the prophet Jonah for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Jesus is saying you guys there is one more chance not long from now
[38:59] I am going to give my life for you and Jonah the story of Jonah is a sign to what Jesus Christ would do and if when I come out of that grave after three days and three nights and you refuse to believe that I am resurrected that's your last sign you're done there is nothing more that I can do for you this is this is Jesus is that's it and and what did they do when Jesus came out of the grave according to the Matthew account of the resurrection what did they do these same people they paid off the soldiers to go and tell a lie that they had stolen Jesus by night they paid them big money the last sign there is no hope what more can
[40:08] God do for us the blaspheme of the Holy Spirit let's go back to Galatians we almost went on a bit of a rabbit trail here didn't we Galatians 5 verse 18 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law and very clearly every born again believer receiving the Holy Spirit is no longer under the law and then for the works of the flesh are evident and the list is there there is there are 17 words there works of the flesh adultery unfaithfulness in marriage fornication that's unlawful sexual activity of any kind is fornication uncleanness it's a a moral evil a sensuality uncleanness lewdness when a person is lewd there it's a shameless conduct an absence of restraint of the flesh shameless conduct lewdness idolatry the worship of idols immorality associated with idol worship sorcery witchcraft drug related for the word sorcery is where our word pharmacy comes from drug related it has to do with a casting of spells and so on through evil spirits sorcery hatred a strong feeling of malice toward someone wanting to hurt someone contentions discord quarreling always always seeking always seeking a fight jealousies distrust suspicious not trusting each other it's a work of the flesh outbursts of wrath hot anger or passionate anger that reveals himself in action selfish ambitions self centeredness weight me number one and very often it's at someone else's expense that I am number one dissensions separations divisions caused by disagreements heresies sex groups sex formed by self-willed opinions
[43:33] I don't agree with you I'm going to go start my own group with my own ideals it's a sect and here he calls it heresy envy displeasure at the success of another I can't handle it when someone else is doing good murderers unlawful killing and drunkenness intoxication by strong drink and revelries riotous gatherings for entertainment involving drunkenness these are the works of the flesh and those who practice such will not enter or inherit the kingdom of God now if you look at that list and this any one of those surprises your life
[44:36] Paul is saying you are not born again if this is the norm in your life you are not a Christian that's what he is saying it does not mean that a believer could not slip into one of these momentarily but God cannot leave him there and the Holy Spirit would do his work but if that's part of me and I don't feel guilty about it I am an unbeliever now then he turns and says in verse 22 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such there is no law nine words for the fruit of the spirit and notice it does not say nine fruits the fruit of the spirit these nine qualities are who
[46:00] Jesus is like we are to be conformed to the Holy Spirit's work is to bring out this fruit of who Jesus is in your life and we have love the love of God love toward one another good will love love love love we have joy contentment with God joy comes from a right relationship with God and same as peace state of harmony with God and other believers this this is all part of the fruit of the spirit indwelling us long suffering that we're patient when we're afflicted or annoyed or persecuted we endure it patiently what does the flesh do when you're annoyed we strike back but here it says long suffering patient kindness that we're gentle toward others it speaks of a moral goodness character of integrity goodness it's kindness shown to others some of these words are very similar uprightness of our heart faithfulness first of all in our trust in God but more so a faithful character speaks of our own fidelity or reliability when I say yes can you depend on me when you say yes can others depend on you are you faithful or when you say no is it going to say no often that comes into play when we raise our children right we need to say no and mean no gentleness has to do with meekness or taking a lowly place and self control literally holding oneself in restraint of lusts passions and appetites to bring them under control of the
[48:47] Holy Spirit all this is the fruit of the Spirit very interesting when it talks about the flesh it's the works of the flesh and when it talks about the Spirit it's the fruit of the Spirit not the works of the Spirit it's the fruit that will naturally come as the Holy Spirit has his way in my life this is what will come out this is the outside evidence of what's inside the fruit do we produce fruit or does God produce fruit through you which is more correct which way is it
[49:55] God produces fruit through us when we try to produce fruit we fail we fail but when we submit to the Holy Spirit's guiding God is able to produce and let's quickly I know time is going fast here let's turn to one more passage John 15 two verses here verses four and five abide in me John 15 four and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and
[50:57] I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing so then as we summarize walking in the spirit so you do not fulfill the lust of the flesh it it is submitting to God it submitting to the Holy Spirit allowing the spirit to control my life allowing him room in my heart to guide me will be produced and we will not produce the works of the flesh that's that put down so as as we as we see our responsibility then is to surrender to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us that's our responsibility and then
[51:58] God does the rest producing the fruit and it will then be evident in your life may the Lord bless each one of us as we practice this as we understand and you know the next time you wrestle with temptation which way are we going to turn to the nudging of the spirit or to the flesh let's pray father what a great gift you have given us to the church power from on high to lift up your name through those Lord whom you have saved by grace through holy lives you are lifted up and so father you gift not to glorify us but you not to lift us up but you and so
[53:06] Lord let us embrace and just allow you to work through us may you bless us to this end in Jesus name amen