[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to the service this morning. It's a beautiful day to worship as we gather to be encouraged, and to be encouraged, and to be encouraged, and to be encouraged, and to be encouraged.
[0:18] And so I trust the Lord will continue to bless us this morning as we partake of spiritual nourishment. The physical will follow after, Lord willing.
[0:33] We have a topical today as we celebrate an aspect of Pentecost.
[0:47] Pentecost. And as we think of the feast of Pentecost or the Christian service of Pentecost, what comes to mind or what happened?
[1:13] Peter? Peter preached to the people. In Acts chapter 2? The Holy Spirit came down, right?
[1:24] And the Holy Spirit indwells believers ever since. Now what feast of the Jews does it correspond with?
[1:34] Passover? That would be Easter.
[1:49] Yeah. Or Good Friday. The first fruits. The feast of first fruits. And the Jewish people would celebrate the early harvest, the early fruits from their fields.
[2:09] And so it marked the beginning of what would be a greater harvest to come. And so symbolically, it talked about or it prophesied the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us as believers as the first fruits.
[2:31] And so we're going to look at the Holy Spirit. And so we're going to look at that a little bit closer, a little bit later. Now, when we think of the Holy Spirit in your life, what role does the Spirit play in your life?
[2:48] He leads us into all truth. Okay? He's the comforter.
[3:03] Okay? Is that it? He convicts us of sin.
[3:24] He leads and guides us. To all truth. He seeks to produce fruit in us.
[3:41] Is that what you're saying? Right. And Galatians 5, 22 and 23 pop up, right? The fruit of the Spirit. Producing love, joy, and all nine of them.
[3:55] And so this morning, you may be wondering, how does Philippians 3 fit into this?
[4:07] But this morning, we want to look at two aspects. And both of them weren't mentioned here this morning. The first role of the Holy Spirit is to make you born again.
[4:24] And identify you as belonging to the Father. That's the first and primary role of the Holy Spirit.
[4:41] He identifies us and marks us as belonging to the Father. And the second aspect we want to examine this morning is that the Holy Spirit leads us in a path of righteousness or a path of maturing in Christ.
[5:01] And it's the Spirit's desire and role for all of His children to mature in Christ.
[5:14] And so we want to look at that aspect as well. And so I'm not saying these are higher than the other ones mentioned. But I've chosen to focus on these two.
[5:26] As we consider the Holy Spirit, it is likely the most misunderstood and misrepresented doctrine out there.
[5:54] And we're all over the map in the role of the Holy Spirit. And the work of the Spirit is very diverse.
[6:08] And yet, nowheres does the Bible support that the Holy Spirit has been given to glorify man.
[6:20] Never, never, ever. Always the Lord. So that's something I want to just impress upon us.
[6:36] Always to glorify our Father in heaven. And the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's turn to the book of Romans.
[6:49] Romans chapter 8. We're going to begin there. Romans 8, 8 to 11.
[7:06] We're not going to dwell on it long, but just to glean a few thoughts. Romans 8. So Romans 8, verse 8.
[7:18] So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
[7:29] If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
[7:40] And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
[7:52] But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
[8:07] And so here, Paul identifies that if the Holy Spirit is not indwelling in you, you are not his.
[8:22] There's no gray area. You either have the Holy Spirit or you don't.
[8:35] And if you do, you are a child of God. Now, the Holy Spirit does have a work in that it draws us, or he draws us, to Christ with truth.
[8:52] But as we then trust and place our faith in Jesus Christ, God then makes us born again by giving us the Holy Spirit to indwell us.
[9:09] And so Pentecost is the beginning of that. It's the promise that God had given the church, that the promised Holy Spirit, the Comforter, would come.
[9:22] And so he is the Spirit of promise. So now let's look at a number of verses that just kind of affirm this. 2 Corinthians 1.
[9:39] 2 Corinthians 1, verse 21 and 22. 2 Corinthians 1.
[10:14] So verse 22 teaches us that God has anointed and sealed us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
[10:41] Some of your versions will say as a down payment. As a down payment. So when we seal something, what do we do?
[10:56] What's the aspect of sealing that's in mind here? Preservation. I think of my wife canning.
[11:07] And if the jars don't seal, they'll go bad. Right? But if they're sealed, they're preserved. And there's all kinds of pictures of seals and so on.
[11:19] But here, God seals us or preserves us. He marks us. He marks us. Identifies us as belonging to him.
[11:31] And not only that. He then says the Spirit will work as a guarantee. As a down payment.
[11:42] Now when you make a down payment, it speaks of security. It speaks of more to come.
[11:55] There's more to come. This is the beginning. And maybe in a sense, when we do make a down payment on a house or on a whatever, we look forward to what's to come.
[12:13] And the joy of fulfillment. And so the Spirit serves as that. As what is to come. Let's also turn to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 5.
[12:29] Reaffirms us. Reaffirms what we're talking about. Chapter 5, verse 5. Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
[12:47] Now, what's the context here? The context is death, dying, and going to be in eternity.
[13:00] And he says in that context, God has prepared us for that very thing and has given us a spirit of a guarantee of what death will bring.
[13:14] It will bring life eternal in his presence. And the Spirit of God serves as that guarantee, that reminder.
[13:27] Now, could God have given us anything greater than that? Any greater symbol? Absolutely not.
[13:39] Because what did he give? Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God. God. God gave of himself to live in here.
[13:57] The third person in the Trinity. Yeah. And for many years, I struggled with that.
[14:08] Probably shared that before. How can a person live in here? But I've since realized, and most of us, that a person does not need to be in a body or have its own body.
[14:23] And so the Holy Spirit, as a person, can exist without a body. And he's decided to live in my body and in yours to make himself home there.
[14:33] And that same sense, at death, when you move out of your body, you will continue to exist for all eternity.
[14:48] But you will have moved out of your body this earthly tent. And so the Holy Spirit reminds us of that. One more scripture.
[15:00] Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. Ephesians 1, 13 and 14.
[15:26] These are some of my favorite verses in Scripture. And it marks out the process of coming to Christ. Verse 13, he says, In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
[15:48] So you trusted after you heard and the Spirit drew. So having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
[16:05] And you're marked as belonging to Christ, to God. And not only that, He is the guarantee or the down payment of our inheritance.
[16:25] Now what are we going to inherit? Everlasting life. we're going to inherit all things with Jesus Christ.
[16:37] Including a heavenly mansion. All things. And He says, this, the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us, is a down payment or a guarantee that you will inherit.
[16:53] nothing will separate us. And until, how long will the Holy Spirit act or serve in this position?
[17:09] Until the redemption of the purchased possession. How many of us here are a purchased possession? I hope there's more hands that will go up.
[17:25] To be a purchased possession means that the Lord Jesus has paid for you. Paid for your sins. We are, we have been bought at a price.
[17:38] In German it says, He's in die, you coughed. The blood of Jesus Christ paid for us. We are a purchased possession and the Holy Spirit serves as a down payment, as a reminder of what's to come until the redemption, until we are redeemed or removed from this earth.
[18:05] Until you take your last breath, the Holy Spirit will serve to seal you for that day. hallelujah.
[18:21] God has reversed the curse where we fell in the Garden of Eden through disobedience and we lost eternal life.
[18:35] God has restored us back into fellowship. fellowship back into eternal life what Adam and Eve, our forefathers, lost.
[18:50] And so this is this is the work of the Holy Spirit to serve, to identify us, and to remind us of the future that's yet to come.
[19:02] so in that there is hope. There's a surety with this because we have God himself in here.
[19:18] And now when I live with that awareness that God is here, then all of a sudden I'm careful where my feet walk.
[19:31] and what my hands do and what my lips say. Right?
[19:44] Because I am taking the Lord with me where I go. And did you know that when you do something that is wrong, the Lord, the Holy Spirit, does not jump out of your body and allow you to do your thing and then comes back later, he goes in with you and he is grieved.
[20:09] He is hurt. The role of the Holy Spirit. So it does us well to be conscious or to think of that.
[20:25] God will do it. So this is foundational. We need to understand who we are and the great lengths that God took to place us there that as children, as I'm knowing who my Father is, to prepare me for the rest of my life here on earth.
[20:49] because if I'm in doubt as whether I belong to God or not, it totally steers and affects the rest of my life.
[21:05] And we would have perhaps many earthly examples of children that don't know who their parents are.
[21:17] Orphans, or maybe adopted children who struggle with identity. And they struggle with did my dad love me?
[21:36] And it can go on for years as they seek to find the truth and to settle it in their hearts. And so spiritually speaking, for eternity, we need to know our Heavenly Father, that He loves me, and as I've placed my faith and trust in Him, He has secured me.
[22:06] And that gives me the basis to now grow and serve Him without wavering. God if I'm unsure of this, how can I be sure over here?
[22:23] And the answer is we can't be. We have to understand that I am accepted and loved and sealed by God.
[22:37] Amen? It's fundamental, foundational. We need to know.
[22:49] And Scripture has a lot to say on it so that we can and do know. how do you know that you have the Holy Spirit?
[23:09] What's the evidence? Okay, you wouldn't understand His Word. That's key. Okay, we have peace with God because we have the Holy Spirit and we have peace because when we turn to God, He forgives us our sins and puts our heart at peace.
[23:39] Some other thoughts. How do I know? Okay, so God's Spirit identifies. Did you know that you can't pray?
[23:53] you cannot connect with the Father without the Holy Spirit? It's a vital role. There's a hand back there.
[24:12] Okay, so that's the evidence that we are Christians is by the fruit that the Father produces in us. can we bear fruit for God?
[24:31] It's almost a trick question. Who does the fruit bearing? We or God? God through us.
[24:43] because the illustration in John chapter 15 is that he is the vine and we are the branches and as we are tapped into the vine, the vine bears much fruit and the branches will be laden with fruit.
[25:04] But it's the vine producing the fruit through the branches. fruit. And so it's the evidence that we are born again is if there's fruit being produced.
[25:16] What does this fruit look like? It's Galatians 5 22.
[25:31] The fruit of the Spirit. it's our character being molded to that of Christ as we produce or as God produces through us and makes us into the image of Christ reflecting the character of Jesus Christ.
[25:53] Gentleness, long suffering, patience, all those things is produced in us. Slowly, or at least it feels slowly at times, but we are growing in Christ, maturing in character.
[26:13] And that brings us to Philippians 3 and let's turn there. Now, the first half of chapter 3 in Philippians, Paul relates his human righteousness, his human credentials.
[26:47] And he says, if any person here on earth has it made, I do. For I was born a Jew, I was circumcised on the eighth day of the stock of Israel, Israel, I'm on the tribe of Benjamin, I'm a Hebrew, I'm a Pharisee, I'm zealous for God.
[27:10] And when it comes to human righteousness, Paul says, I've got it made. But then, we don't leave that passage.
[27:24] Then Paul says, but the things which were gained to me, I counted loss for Christ. And human righteousness was traded in for Christ's righteousness.
[27:40] And he goes as far, and he says, all my credentials in the human wisdom and society, I count as dung as a manure pile.
[27:55] It's worthless. In fact, it stinks. I traded in for Jesus Christ.
[28:09] And Paul was sealed by the Holy Spirit. And then, it brings us into our passage. In verse 12, he says, not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on.
[28:27] And he has just finished saying how he is righteous in Christ. So his identity is preserved and it's secure in Jesus Christ as a child of God.
[28:44] But then he says, but I have not already attained, and am not already perfected. Paul is acknowledging that my walk, my earthly walk, still needs to grow.
[29:01] And when we think of our earthly walk, it is our Christian character that needs to grow, to be perfected.
[29:13] And it's a process from the moment that you become a child of God till you are removed from this earth. some older people here.
[29:31] Have you attained already? Have we attained? Have we arrived? Mr.
[29:43] Tigrop, is the struggle ongoing? It's ongoing. it is, it will only cease when we are redeemed, taken out.
[29:57] And so Paul is acknowledging that even though he is an apostle and he has the righteousness of Christ, he says, I am still a work in process.
[30:09] And he says, I press on, and this is now the focal point of this morning's message. I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me.
[30:29] Paul is saying, there is a purpose why Jesus grabbed a hold of my life. And Paul says, I have not achieved, but I recognize that God has a purpose for me.
[30:49] Jesus has laid hold on me. And now Paul says, and listen to this, Paul says, and now I lay hold on that as well.
[31:06] Paul is saying, I recognize, I know what God wants from me. God has a purpose for me.
[31:18] Why did Jesus lay hold on me? Well, the generic answer is to become more like Christ, to mature in our Christian character.
[31:32] But there's more. As we mature, God has a purpose purpose for each one of us individually.
[31:49] For Paul, it was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. who! who who! who who! who who! who who who! who who who! who who who! who who who Is that true?
[32:25] Was anybody here left out? Does God overlook any of his children in giving spiritual gifts?
[32:38] So then, when God lays hold on us for a purpose, and I recognize it, and then that becomes my focus.
[32:49] And I strive, I press on, that I also may lay hold of that as I realize this is the gifting God has for me, that he has given me.
[33:06] And our responsibility is to recognize it, to identify it.
[33:19] And I look down that side where there's mostly young people this morning. If you are a child of God, has God gifted you?
[33:34] Do we acknowledge that? And as we grow into adulthood and keep maturing, that God would reveal his purpose to us.
[33:51] What are my gifts? What is God? Where does he want me to go? And this is what Paul's heart was.
[34:07] Some of you are prayer warriors. It is a gift of God. And if you're a praying person for the church, for the leadership, you have laid hold of that which Christ has laid hold of you.
[34:27] And the list would go on and on. And this morning we had men up here singing or leading in song.
[34:38] And if that is our spiritual gifts, we're laying hold of that which Christ has laid hold of us. There is no end to that list.
[34:56] But where are your gifts? And we need to have the mind of Paul here to desire to lay hold of that. In verse 13, he continues, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended or to have arrived, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.
[35:28] You know, by this time, Paul is an aged man. Well, he could be 60-ish. I say aged. His body has been through a lot.
[35:41] And when we read 2 Corinthians, we know he's been through a lot in his service for the Lord. But he is an older man. He's reflecting. And he says, I do not count myself to have arrived, but one thing I do, I forget those things which are behind and I press on.
[36:00] I reach forward to those things that are before me. You know, often we refer to this in the context of we all have a past behind us that we're not very proud of.
[36:17] A past without the Lord. And we need to forget and know that I'm forgiven and I press on. All of us have a past that we're not proud of.
[36:34] Because it was without the Lord. And we do need to move on because if we don't, then we're not aware that we're forgiven. But this passage goes even deeper.
[36:49] It keeps us from saying, I've served enough. I've done my share. I'm going to coast.
[37:02] Paul says, uh-uh. I look, I look forward, I reach forward to those things which are still ahead.
[37:18] And he preached right till they killed him. And so it's a reminder that we don't coast on what I've done here for the Lord.
[37:33] And now, I've got our maid, but we keep reaching. We keep, we keep, uh, focusing on the Lord. What do you have for me? And, and you know, it often changes as we mature and God puts us in different directions.
[37:50] But it's always reaching ahead. And it's always in his work and in his service. So there's a, a double aspect to this. It's not only our, our ugly past, but it's also, it's also in Christian service never giving up and, and, and continuing on.
[38:11] In 14, he says, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The finish line. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus to be in his presence.
[38:30] until Paul says, I press on, I don't give up until I reach the finish line. And in whatever way we're able to be available to God.
[38:47] Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. and if we are mature in Christ, we have this mindset of pressing on, of continuing.
[39:03] The Lord's work is not done. And he says further, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. He will speak to you.
[39:16] Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. And, you know, going back to verse 10 in chapter 3, Paul says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death.
[39:45] if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. I believe the Apostle Paul was prepared to go all the way and be martyred for Christ.
[40:06] In fact, he was. You know, the Apostle Paul had people like Stephen waiting for him in heaven.
[40:22] People whom he had a hand in killing and he has to face them. And it's by the grace of God and Paul and Paul acknowledged I'm willing to go that same road.
[40:41] I am sold out for Christ. So this is then the role of the Holy Spirit in our life is to guide us ever upward into this maturing mindset that I want to serve.
[41:03] to recognize the gift that God has given me or gifts and to use them for his glory.
[41:16] we have lately talked much on church planting and missions.
[41:47] In fact, we have a committee in place that has just started to examine what are our options here. Should we be planting another church in the region?
[42:01] Should we be expanding our building? But in either scenario, God needs you.
[42:15] He wants you. He wants you as part of that. He needs your gifts. In fact, that's the purpose he gifted you.
[42:29] And as we recognize this call, this work of the Holy Spirit, am I surrendered to that? Who here enjoys being stretched spiritually?
[42:51] Is it fun? It's joyful after. you know, many of you have participated in the scripture readings.
[43:07] And I would encourage more of our young men to sign up for that. But you know, it stretches. It puts us out of our own comfort zone.
[43:20] and without, as long as we're comfortable, we're not available to God.
[43:32] Because we're doing it in our own human strength. But God pushes us. He wants us to rely on Him. And then He uses us to bless others.
[43:50] There are many ways that He calls us, He stretches us. But it's up to us. How do I respond?
[44:04] So recognizing the role of the Holy Spirit is to bring you to maturity in Christ and that He may put you into service.
[44:15] Let's pray. Father, as we consider what You have done as God to us, for us, by granting us of Yourself to indwell us, to guide us, to seal us, to mature us, us.
[44:57] And all of this, Father, is for Your purpose as You build Your kingdom here on earth, as You bring men and women and children to the Lord, and You seek to have us part of that.
[45:15] Lord, as we recognize this, give us the courage to surrender to self and to say, Lord, here am I.
[45:30] So may You bless and lead each one of us. In Jesus' name, Amen.