[0:00] How is everyone doing this morning? Great. All right. We got a whoo from Sabe. Everybody else?
[0:11] Okay. Waking up. What's going on? A couple of things that I want to call your attention to before I get in today's sermon, but you can turn to John 14.
[0:22] John 14 is where we're going to find ourselves today. It's a little bit of a different type of sermon because there's a longer introduction because I feel that there is a need to provide some background understanding to explain how some people think, how some churches teach, the subject of the Holy Spirit.
[0:42] But before I get into that, you'll note that when Carl was given his introductions, he mentioned about the prayer that The Rock is hosting. And I've talked a little bit about this to you guys before, and I'm hoping to get a letter out to you soon.
[0:58] And the letter was supposed to be out for Christmas. Then we had a flood, and then I was hoping for New Year, post-New Year. And hopefully by Valentine's Day letter, you'll get one from me.
[1:10] But there's a couple of announcements, but I'm going to tell you some of the announcements already because I'm kind of excited about it. So the prayer meeting, the three churches, Grace Church of 99, The Rock, and us, we kind of connect.
[1:25] There's a lot of common friends. We're pretty much all settled. There's a couple of projects that we're working on together. And you'll notice when Carl talked about engaging the world, one of our heart's desire is to reach Squamish.
[1:38] Amen? It's a very unreached. We recognize that for, I don't know, going back 10 years, really none of the churches have experienced growth.
[1:50] I believe there's been growth in maturity in the churches. But as far as numerical growth, it's been kind of static. And so we're attacking this in various ways.
[2:01] Not only do we meet and talk, encourage one another, we pray for one another. And just so you know, in February, Dave Crente has asked me to be at Church 99 just so I can get to know some of his flock better.
[2:14] So on that second week of February, I'll be preaching over there. But we're just trying to just bring some of our bodies. But one of the things we're praying about is this summer getting an outreach program.
[2:28] And we may lean on other churches to come out and help us. But we might run like a sports camp for a week. So that's something that I'm going to ask you guys to pray with.
[2:39] We're just kind of going through the nuts and bolts. Years ago, The Rock did that. And there's things that they learned, things they would like to unlearn. And we just kind of come together and use that as a focal point to not only connect with the community, but it provides an excellent opportunity to share the gospel.
[2:58] Amen? The other thing is we have an official invitation. So the ministry that I spent time with in October that I've been connected for a few years has asked if we would be willing to raise between $10,000 and $15,000 and a crew of workers to go to Manila for a couple of weeks and help shore up some cabins that they have.
[3:27] And these cabins are located on a 30-acre piece of property. And they're used to house pastors who come in for retreats. So the cabins were built in the 90s.
[3:38] And they're feeling their age. So we're going to give you some of the details. So I'm going to put that out to you guys if you would like that opportunity. I hope you would because it's going to be a great, I think it'd be a great opportunity.
[3:52] It's a safe place, but it also gets you to experience a life that's different. You get to know where some of our brothers and sisters are from and their culture and all that.
[4:05] So that is something that we could get a couple of project leaders behind, some of the men that like to lead that and insert some men and women who would like to go and do that work.
[4:15] That would be a great, I think that'd be a great opportunity for us. And they've asked us, and this is big, if any of you guys, and I haven't mentioned it to anybody, there's a couple here who feels the desire to go on vacation in the Philippines for maybe six months or so to kind of oversee all their maintenance, they would gladly take it.
[4:41] So if there's even a family that would like an out-of-country experience for you and your kids, there's that opportunity to take that on. So you'd basically live on the compound and kind of work with their people to help make the decisions on how things would go over there.
[4:59] So there's some kind of cool things. I know Caitlin's already got her hand up for her dad, so we know where the Regears are next year. But anyhow, just pray about it. Just as the Lord seeks to take the information that Dave and I and the church historically has been preaching to you through the power of God's word, the gospel, to work in you to do good works.
[5:23] And there's some really great opportunities for that to happen. So I guarantee you, I already know, I've already talked to some of the pastors who are there.
[5:34] And for those that come, they are certainly, not only are they willing to host, which they're really great at, but to give you a different type of ministry experience. Some of the experiences that I experienced there, there'd be the opportunity to go into the cemeteries and share the love of Christ.
[5:50] So there's some really unique opportunities there. Anyway, so let's turn our attention to John 14. If you remember last week, I went over these three promises.
[6:05] These are the three promises that Jesus Christ has given his disciples. And we're kind of in this unique time, right? John 14 to John 17 are the precious teachings of Jesus in the last hours before he's crucified as he's deeply connecting with his disciples.
[6:26] In some ways, although he's been with them for like three years, there's just this heartfelt connection of putting the dots together and dealing with the repercussions.
[6:37] As you know, for the greater part of his ministry with the disciples, he did not share with them that he was going to die. So when he invited them to come into, to be a part of his kingdom building, a lot of a mindset was thought, well, I'm going to have a leadership position.
[6:55] I'm going to be a part of something great as God comes down. But then Jesus reveals, oh yeah, for that all to happen, I have got to die. I've got to leave you.
[7:07] Right? And they're concerned. They're anxious. They're perplexed. And they've got questions. They've got emotions. They've got thoughts.
[7:17] And what's going to happen to us? What's next? What is this life? Look, like Jesus, I left everything. Right? You told me to leave my fishing business behind, and I did.
[7:30] Whether it was carpentry or I was a stonemason, whatever. These men left everything behind to be with Jesus on this kingdom building exercise.
[7:41] And now that they're kind of at the end of it, and remember, and I haven't talked about this in a couple of days. So this is a couple of days.
[7:52] A couple of months. All right. Maybe a year. You know, it's on the Thursday, and going back almost a year in teaching, we were in that triumphal entry.
[8:02] Remember that? And they thought, with all the great mighty crowds four days ago in their time, they were shouting hail to Jesus.
[8:13] They were shouting the psalms that prophesied of the great king who would rule. His kingdom would be here. What a high that would have been, right?
[8:23] It's here. It's here. And whether they had really good spiritual inclinations, or maybe some fleshly ones, right? Hey, I get to be a governor. I get to, you know, I get to rule over the tribe of Judah.
[8:37] And, you know, the loser apostle gets the tribe of Dan. You know, like they're all competing. They're trying to figure it all out. And then Jesus says, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[8:48] It's not going to be like that. In fact, I got to go. I got to die. I've got to resurrect. And I have to ascend to heaven for all these things to happen.
[8:58] So he says, listen, I'm going to give you a few promises. So look at John 14, starting in verse 12. The first promise is that for me to leave isn't the end of it, but you're going to do greater works than I did.
[9:15] Greater works. And remember, there's a function of that word works. A lot of times, a lot of people want to point towards the miracles or the signs. And although the apostles are going to be given that power in that first century to do so, the ultimate work of Jesus Christ was to shed the gospel, right?
[9:34] To preach God's word. That's the most important things. Signs don't save anybody. Miracles don't save anybody. But the truth of the gospel is what regenerates.
[9:48] And it's why today, 2,000 years ago, here in Squamish, we can sing the praises of Jesus Christ. Amen? They were faithful to that. And we get to be a part of that process.
[10:00] So he says, hey, there's this promise you do that. But there's a couple things. One, I'm going to leave and I'm going to go to the Father. And I'm going to be a mediator, right?
[10:11] You can pray to me and all that the Lord wills, I will be there with the Father. So God said, Jesus is saying, I'm going to be with Jesus. Then the third promise is I'm going to send you a helper.
[10:25] A helper. A comforter. An advocate which we know as the Holy Spirit. Last week, I ended this sermon by demonstrating to you some of the personified qualities of the Holy Spirit.
[10:42] I talked about how the Holy Spirit has to have a, the reason he's seen as a person, and it's not contingent on flesh, but it's contingent on him having an intellect, will, and emotion.
[10:55] Do you guys remember that? I kind of jammed it in. I shouldn't have done that, actually. I should have ended it at the mediator. I got a call last week and someone said, they were listening. Someone said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard you were, oh no, I was testing my kid.
[11:09] Yeah, you're talking about the Holy Spirit. And I was like, kind of. But I really wanted you to be moved by the fact that we have a mediator in heaven that accomplishes all these things.
[11:21] But anyway, I went in and what I was trying to prove to you is that the Holy Spirit is a person. He's separated from God and Jesus. But we know through our theology they're all one.
[11:34] Amen? And they're all of one purpose. It's not like one is trying to do something and the other three, the other two. They work in conjunction together.
[11:45] There's a lot of illustrations in the world to try to understand what the Trinity is. I don't know if there really is one. But the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God work as one.
[12:03] And why is the Holy Spirit so important? Take a look at John 14, 21. Simply says, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.
[12:18] And he who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I will love him and manifest myself to him. If you remember last week, I talked about the Mosaic Covenant.
[12:29] In the book of Exodus, God made those same promises to Moses. If you do these things, you'll be my cherished people. If you follow me, if you do all these things.
[12:41] But we know the story, it didn't work out so well for them. It worked out so horribly that Jesus needed to come to make it right. So they were missing something.
[12:54] And that's why in this text, Jesus for the first time is introducing the helper, the Holy Spirit, the helper.
[13:06] And if you look at verse 18 of John 14, there's this poignant point that he makes. He says, I will not leave you as orphans.
[13:17] I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. The heart of our Lord is found here.
[13:28] That they will not need to go it alone. Thus he gives them these encouraging words. Yeah, you're going to do great works. But I am also going to mediate for you.
[13:42] And you are now going to have the Holy Spirit as a helper. In my notes, I wrote, this is huge. Right?
[13:53] This is big. This is changing everything that existed for the people of God at that time. Do you get that? Like, this is everything. This is so, this is such, like, this is a massive point in time, a massive teaching that Jesus is introducing this idea.
[14:11] Now, the question that often gets asked in churches is if the Holy Spirit is such a big deal and is so necessary to the Christian life, why is there so much confusion on the subject?
[14:23] Have you guys ever had, heard different things? Just recently, just someone just kind of commonly said to me, you know what, I, I, he found out I was going to be preaching on this. And he says, I want to hear this because I've kind of heard all these bits and pieces about the Holy Spirit, but I kind of haven't really put it together.
[14:41] So, I'm going to take this time to, it's going to be part of my introduction. And I want to encourage you to send some feedback questions.
[14:54] You can email me if there's anything, I, I, I've troubled. But I want to go through with you, I'm trying to go through some of what I believe you would have experienced and what the divergent teaching are and why.
[15:08] Okay? So, before I go down that road any further, let me pray. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, just, I'm praying for the power of your Spirit, the enlightenment of your Spirit, the Spirit of truth to come upon me.
[15:20] May the words that I speak be truthful. May they be in alignment with your Word, O God. I pray that you would help us understand this power.
[15:35] And, Father, we are. There's two extremes that exist in the churches. And there's those that talk about the Holy Spirit all the time, and then there's the extreme that barely talks to them.
[15:46] Usually, our heritage is on the side of barely talking about them. And we're guilty of not really understanding this gift, this power, this counselor, this helper to us.
[16:03] Which I believe is why, and I know Dave can attest to this in the counseling, where we stumble as Christians is often we depend on the flesh rather than the Spirit.
[16:17] So, as we just get into this subject, I pray you'll bless the sermon, and you'll bless those that hear it, and you'd give them some understanding.
[16:28] And I pray that you need to even give them more reasons to rejoice and worship you as we get into some of these great promises and the purposes of the Spirit in our lives.
[16:43] So, Father, I just pray that the words that are spoken would be the words that are heard. In your name we pray. Amen.
[16:55] So, one of the things that we practice when we look at understanding our Bibles is our church background believes in what's called the analogy of faith.
[17:12] It's called the analogy of faith. And what that is, it's a hermeneutical principle. Hermeneutics is how we study our Bibles.
[17:22] Like, there's certain rules that we study. And our position here is we believe in a historical, literal interpretation of Scripture.
[17:33] What that means is, when I put together a sermon, the first idea I want to understand is, what did the original writer mean to the original audience?
[17:45] You with me on that? I want to understand what the original writer meant to the original audience. And there's generally only one meaning. There's not multiple meanings.
[17:56] There's multiple applications, but we usually have to figure out. So, that's why we do studies into the culture. And that's why I sometimes take you back to Israel and how they'd be thinking at that time and how they would be receiving that message.
[18:13] So, when we go through, some positions are built what's called on proof texting. What they do is they find a verse and they build their faith on that one verse.
[18:28] The analogy of faith means every verse needs to be defended by every other verse in the Bible. Are you with me on that?
[18:39] The Bible is written by God. Amen? It says it's been written by men, empowered through the Holy Spirit. Okay? And it's consistent.
[18:50] There is no contradictions. Like, some people point to some, but usually when you, not usually, when you do the work, you find out it's a very consistent message.
[19:02] Like, there's not one guy saying one thing over here and someone saying something else over there. So, as you take the time and you go page to page, it's a consistent message all the way through.
[19:14] And the reason I'm saying this, so when we're looking at the Holy Spirit, we have to consider what the whole Bible says in the teachings of God to understand certain points.
[19:27] So, we say that there's going to be no essential contradictions. So, that's why it's always dangerous when someone keeps coming at you with certain proof texts. Well, that verse is written in a book.
[19:40] Let's understand that book and in its context, because that gives meaning to that verse, obviously, right? So, we have to be very careful.
[19:51] And then that has to fit in with the rest of what God's Word says. So, one of the reasons regarding the Holy Spirit that there is various contradictions within various churches is because sometimes the teaching of the Holy Spirit is not taken as a whole, or the teachings are not held in accord with what other parts of the Bible teach.
[20:21] And you're going to see there's some positions I'm charitable to. I disagree, but I'm charitable to. But there's some positions I disagree. I believe they're in big trouble, and it only leads to greater trouble.
[20:36] So, another problem, and the reason I had Carl read that passage today, you notice that passage says we need all the works. We need all the gifts of the Spirit.
[20:46] We need all the Spirit to work as a church. And what that means is there's not some works that are greater than others.
[20:57] We need every one. So, often, what happens that different churches hold different positions is because some have raised certain gifts to be greater than others, and they really go after a few, I'll say, manifestations of the Spirit.
[21:17] Some rightly, some wrongly. So, be patient. If you think I'm going in one direction, be patient with me. If you hold a different position, I'm hoping to tie it all up.
[21:27] So, essentially, there's two types of churches. There are some churches that are on one side of the extreme that rarely mention the Holy Spirit or the power of the Holy Spirit.
[21:42] We're kind of on that extreme. Then there's other churches where it's all Holy Spirit. You do not hear God's Word. You don't even hear God or Jesus.
[21:52] It's really Holy Spirit, right? So, there's these two extremes. Now, a lot of us say, well, isn't it just a matter of finding yourself in the middle? No. It's a matter of finding ourselves with what the Word of God says.
[22:07] Okay? So, some theologians would say that there's a position which is called a cessationist position.
[22:18] And that means some of the gifts of the Spirit have ceased to function today. Okay? So, there's this cessationist.
[22:29] I'm going to give you another definition. Then there's the position that's a non-cessationist position who would say, no, all the gifts that we see in the Bible, in the New Testament, are in existence today in the church.
[22:46] Then there's a third group. And they're the open to the non-cessationist.
[22:57] Basically, they're open to the gifts of the Spirit and what the Bible says, but practically, they act like cessationists. You with me on that one? They theologically believe there's a possibility.
[23:10] And it's really not that direct. I'll tell you my position. I believe that I hold to the cessationist positions. I think many of you know.
[23:22] But that basically means I don't believe there's modern-day apostles that did the works that we read in the Bible. That's what I don't believe. But I believe that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can do miracles through men.
[23:38] You with me on that one? Doesn't mean I believe the Holy Spirit is cut off, but I don't believe like Peter, who could heal with the Word any time that he wanted to, I don't believe that exists today.
[23:51] I believe a Lord can call a guy named Peter to bring healing at a certain time. You with me on that? Okay? So those are the kind of the extremes, but they're really not as extreme as one another.
[24:08] But I'm going to tell you where the churches kind of go a little bit wonky. The first one, and the presupposition is that when Jesus Christ came to teach the kingdom of God is here.
[24:24] Remember he said, repent, the kingdom of God is here. And because Jesus Christ existed on this earth, Jesus Christ was able to heal, do the miracles, every miracle that he did, they believed that that kingdom is now here.
[24:40] Okay? And because Jesus was able to do those things, because we're believers, we're supposed to be able to do all those things as well.
[24:52] So it's a matter of understanding is the kingdom. We believe, I say we, our church background, our confessions confessions that we follow as a church, is that Jesus Christ has entered, there's a kingdom here, but it's not fulfilled yet.
[25:06] Do you know what I mean by that? The good news, the gospel is here, but everything that is supposed to happen in the new earth and the new heavens hasn't happened.
[25:18] How do I know that? We get sick. Right? People get cancer. People die. There's sin.
[25:30] This isn't perfection yet. Now, people on this side who tend to be a little bit extreme would believe that the reason you have cancer, you're sick, is you don't have enough faith.
[25:43] That if you believed enough, you would hold that the kingdom is now, you could be healed. And I'm not talking about this is a zany, crazy faith that happens in crazy California.
[26:00] There's people in this city believe this. Okay? So, you guys know my son Jordan, he tore a labrum, weightlifting. He's, you know, he's getting big and strong and he blew out a, what, is that a muscle, I guess, right?
[26:15] Ligament or something? So, he's in pain, but he was confronted that if he believed enough, that wouldn't be there. Right? So, that's what, so, they're saying, you know, you've got a lack of faith because that's not happening.
[26:29] Now, there's so many areas that that contradicts God's truth because one, you and I never says that we believers in Christ have the power to generate faith.
[26:41] You know that? Do you know what I mean by that? I can't make my faith stronger. The Bible actually teaches that faith is a gift of God. God, what we can do is our strength is found in the object of that faith.
[26:56] What I mean is, what saves you and I is because we believe in Jesus Christ. Amen? It's not how much stronger my faith is than someone else's.
[27:09] It's because we believe in Jesus. And there's going to be people, the Bible talks about, some people struggle with faith. There's doubt. There's different avenues that occur.
[27:22] So, that whole idea, and then, I always say, well, what? People still get cancer who are great, holy, godly people, right?
[27:34] Just recently, someone was saying, they were, my cousin kind of wrote me a letter just talking about how, because their child was suffering it. Their pastor went and told them that there must have been sin in their life that brought this curse on them.
[27:50] No, it was their decisions. They made foolish decisions, some sinful decisions in there. But some of them, they're just normal people that went through hard times. It wasn't because they lacked faith.
[28:04] A lot of these churches, you'll see healing centers. There's more emphasis on prayer than there is on actually studying God's word. So, these people, some of them, I believe, they're kind, they're nice.
[28:19] I believe they love Jesus, but I'm not sure they really know the Jesus of the Bible and everything that Jesus says about himself. And the reason I caution people about being friends with them is because they do something that's called scripture twisting.
[28:36] It's making scripture say something that scripture doesn't say. And why is this dangerous? Do you remember the blaspheming of the spirit, right?
[28:49] We can blaspheme. If we attribute an action or a quality to God that is not true, what are we doing?
[29:02] We're actually blaspheming. we're lying. And that's, that's, that's a pretty serious place. Even though you willingly or unwillingly or have all the right intentions.
[29:15] So, to tell someone that the reason they have this sickness is because of some sin and that God did that, they're attributing a work to God that he did not true, that is wrong.
[29:28] Yes, in God's divine providence he allows us to get sick. And we know many stories that because that people have been hurt, we know the story of Jodi Erickson Tata, right?
[29:43] You remember? As a teenager dives into a pool, gets paralyzed. Man, her ministry is worldwide. Just being able to share God's word.
[29:54] And she's kind of funny. She's, in her story, she went to these healing rooms in these places that told her if she had enough faith, she would be healed. And she said she had to repent of that.
[30:07] Okay, so there's that position. You with me on that one? So you're going to meet them. They tend to be very estranged. They kind of come and go in churches unless they find a group of people for that.
[30:25] So they believe that the kingdom is here, it's now perfection, can happen if we would only believe enough. All right? I always say, what does life experience tell us?
[30:38] Okay? Now, the second one, which focuses on the works and gifts of the Holy Spirit, belongs to this presupposition.
[30:50] That presupposition is, is the book of Acts normative or descriptive? What I mean by that is, if you hold to the position that the book of Acts is normative, and just in case you don't know the book of Acts, the book of Acts is the story of the early church.
[31:11] It leads right after the four gospels. In fact, in Acts chapter one, it talks about Jesus ascending into heaven, and then the promised Holy Spirit helper coming to here, and he's gone forward, and they saw great miracles.
[31:32] The apostles were able to do some of the miracles that Jesus did. So, some of the people, when we look at Acts, they see that as commands, that we're supposed to do the exact same things that happened in the book of Acts.
[31:50] So, those are the people on the normative side. It's normal for the church. So, they would look at our church and say, you know what, we might be really nice people, good Christian people, but there's not enough tongues here.
[32:02] There's not enough healings, right? They're going to want to see more of those spiritual sign works. Then, there's the other side, is that they believe that the Acts is descriptive, that it's the narrative, it's telling the story, of what happened in the early church, and I would be on that position, and it's telling us that, yeah, the Holy Spirit at the beginning manifested itself in some incredible ways.
[32:32] So, are you with me? On those two. So, I've got great friends on both positions, I don't really, the other group, I'm a little bit cautious if I want to be very good friends with them.
[32:46] These guys, I understand where they're going with that, and as long as they're biblical in applying all their understanding to God's word, we're great friends.
[32:57] Okay? So, we just disagree. So, turn with me to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. And I don't want yet, if you hold to the Acts position being normative, I'm not wanting to attack that position here, that's not my point.
[33:24] My point is, obviously, when we get down to the text, and we understand everything that we know what God speaks about the Holy Spirit, I want that to inform us.
[33:35] You with me? So, Acts 2, and this is what they're talking about, says Acts 2, so Jesus had ascended, it says, when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them, and rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
[34:13] So, this is, Jesus is gone, now this is the first time the Holy Spirit as the helper is coming down on them, and if you look at verse 4, all were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, now that tongues is another word for languages, they were speaking languages, because in the rest of Acts chapter 2, people understood what they were hearing, all the people that were in Jerusalem at that time, and it formed evangelizing, and they became saved, and the church just exploded, right?
[34:46] So, there was this sign there. In Acts chapter 3, there's a beggar that's lame in the portico where he's preaching, and he heals them.
[34:58] So, we see that working out. in Acts 5, 12, it says, now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.
[35:12] Notice it doesn't say that everyone who believed, so it's not like everyone who believed were able to do all these signs. You remember Simeon, the sorcerer, he was following Paul at one point, wanting to pay him, please teach me so I can do these works.
[35:30] And what we see, what happened at the day of Pentecost happens two more times recorded to us in scripture. In Samaria, who were the enemies of the Jews, right?
[35:45] It says that Philip, when he went there preaching, there were signs that did signs, and when they heard him and saw the signs that he did, they paid attention.
[35:56] And it says that unclean spirits were removed, paralyzed, were made well. In Acts 9, 36, Peter brings a woman named Tabitha or Dorcas back to life.
[36:10] And then in Acts 10, 44, the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles. And they were all speaking in tongues. So, what we're seeing is these unique time frames where the Holy Spirit is coming upon different groups of people, there's the manifestation of the signs, and it goes back to when Jesus Christ did the signs and wonders, what saved people?
[36:44] people? What saved people? Please, I have to give you a big F and preach the whole thing over again. Faith, yeah, but what did they believe in?
[36:56] Jesus, and what did they believe about Jesus? He was saying, yes, my wife saved the day. No, but they were believing in the gospel. The gospel was what saved them.
[37:08] the signs and the works pointed to, authenticated the message that was being preached. You with me? That's the purpose. If signs and wonders are used in any other way than to authenticate the message rather than build up the person, you know you're in big trouble listening to that.
[37:30] Okay? Yes, sometimes God may use some signs or wonders to point to authenticate the message that Jesus Christ is saying. So I'm not saying those signs are dead, but when we become saved, there's been a fragment of that group that says in order to be saved you have to speak in tongues.
[37:53] And that actually is contradicted in scripture. Paul specifically says not all of you will speak in tongues. And they start to talk about that there's a higher form of living.
[38:04] I have problems with that one. Because I've seen people chase after the gifts and the wonders so desperately because they thought they were missing out on the Christian life.
[38:17] And if you remember before Christmas I preached on the sufficiency of Christ and that Jesus Christ at that moment of salvation gives us everything we need to live on this earth.
[38:30] Every spiritual resource is given to us. We don't have to go seeking for anything more. We don't have to dig. We don't have to ask. We don't have to look.
[38:42] We're given everything at that moment of salvation. So when people talk are you born in the spirit? Amen. Because we're going to get to that in a minute. It's the spirit that regenerates you.
[38:54] And that filling is living in the power of the spirit. Alright? You with me on that? So those are the normative and the other one and sometimes with the normative people who hold it normative I always say what do you do with Ananias and Sapphira?
[39:11] Remember when they lied to Peter which was lying to the Holy Spirit they died. Does that mean if you lie to your pastor? You know what I mean? Like there are certain things there.
[39:24] So we're going to have a whole new church tomorrow if we say that's true. Anyway. So those are it all depends which background you grow up in and that generally forms your view of the Holy Spirit.
[39:38] So I'm just kind of giving you an overview. So our church this church's position and remember this church wasn't a group of people who got together and made up their own beliefs.
[39:52] They followed a confession by earlier Baptists. And the reason they do that is those people who've come before us who've studied God's word attest to that truth for us.
[40:06] You with me on that one? They've living this truth. They're saying it's good, it's real, it's true, and it's biblical. And as we look at that we form our belief system on this confessional understanding.
[40:19] So it's not like Squamish Baptist Church in the year 2000 believes this. We believe we're following in the apostles' teaching which began at the very beginning and especially later on in the late 1600s.
[40:33] That's when a lot of the stuff started getting more codified for Baptists. So we believe that these fantastic displays were used by the apostles to authenticate the gospel they spoke.
[40:47] And now as I said we have the word of God. We don't need to question or know what God has to say. It's right here. Remember when someone says Lord tell me what to do. How much are you reading your Bible?
[40:59] Because he kind of outlays all those things. Right? If you're not doing the things that he's revealed why do you think God would reveal to you the things he hasn't revealed? You with me on that?
[41:11] All right. Not only that like I said we have these Christians as Christianity grew out. More and more people attested to the truth of the faith and we can look at them when we see this history this narrative the gospels but Christian biographies all point to Jesus through this time.
[41:44] So do I say do we need them the same way? I don't really believe so much in our church but I believe God is birthing the church in different parts of the world. If you said that to my mentor John MacArthur he'd probably tell you to fire me.
[41:57] But I do believe I've met a lot of guys that are dealing with Muslims that are in Muslim countries and usually how they came to faith was one guy that I got to know he believed God was telling him that this was true.
[42:12] He wasn't saved by the angel coming which he believes was an angel angel but he just at that time started reading the gospel and he got saved by reading his Bible.
[42:24] So there's a couple of those stories that I've seen through that and I believe there was works and miracles that happened like the one guy said he couldn't even read the language that that Bible was first brought to him and just through his Bible he was able to learn the language.
[42:39] So those are just some of the testimonies. So sign gifts wonderful wonders believers but like I said they're poor at making people believe. Just like I said the greatest miracle whoever lived Jesus Christ did the most greatest miracles that man ever saw but we believe that when Jesus died only 500 people were saved at that time.
[43:03] That's what scholars put that number at. About 500. So it's not the spectacle that actually draws people to Christ. The signs point to Jesus and it's the gospel.
[43:18] So anyway are we all right on that one? You kind of have that position. You can have a different position than me. I still love you. That's okay. So let's get to the text.
[43:32] Back to the Holy Spirit in John 14. Jesus is promising a helper. Which will come in the form of the Holy Spirit. Now if you've noticed what I've said.
[43:45] I said this is the first time in scriptures where the Holy Spirit has been identified as a helper. Okay. The Holy Spirit has been mentioned before.
[43:59] And we even know that the Holy Spirit had a very effectual ministry in the life of Jesus. How did Mary get pregnant? The Holy Spirit, right?
[44:10] He was active in that. When Jesus was baptized what descended upon Jesus? The Holy Spirit, right? He was active in the testifying.
[44:23] Matthew 12 and Luke 4 says that Jesus Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach. that the Holy Spirit gave Jesus the power to preach.
[44:38] Even the book of Isaiah prophesying about Jesus said that God will put his spirit upon Jesus.
[44:50] Okay. Matthew 12 Luke 4 Acts 10 Luke 11 tell us that the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus. Luke records that Jesus began his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.
[45:08] Remember the wilderness where Jesus went to be tempted? What led Jesus there? The Holy Spirit was the one who led Jesus to be tempted.
[45:20] Luke 4 and John 3 says when Jesus returned from the wilderness after being tempted Luke writes that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.
[45:36] Luke 10 says the Holy Spirit rejoiced with Jesus. In Romans 8 11 Paul testifies that it was the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.
[45:55] Alright. If the Holy Spirit was so important in the life of the Son of God who was without sin fully man fully God how much more important should the Holy Spirit be for us?
[46:18] Right? infinite more. There is no perfection in us. We need that Spirit.
[46:30] We need that power. We need that life. So this morning I want to share with you two benefits of the Holy Spirit in your life.
[46:44] Next week I'm going to talk about five benefits the Holy Spirit in your life that we get from this text. Alright. So one the first benefit of the Holy Spirit in your life is the Holy Spirit is the one who reveals spiritual truth to you.
[47:02] The Holy Spirit is the one that reveals spiritual truth. Notice the title. It is the Spirit of Truth. Now the question is what is spiritual truth?
[47:14] truth. It is the truth that you need Jesus. Right? Spiritual truth opens your eyes to the fact that you were indeed a sinner.
[47:25] That you are lost. That you can't get there. The Holy Spirit is what reveals to you that there is a God.
[47:36] And that God somehow you have to make peace with because even you looking at your life know and understand that there is something broken there.
[47:49] That is what possesses a lot of people who are not Christians to want to do good works because they know there is some law that has been broken that they have to fix somehow.
[48:04] John 14 17 The world cannot receive the truth it neither sees him nor knows him. What that means is the man cannot naturally receive spiritual truth.
[48:19] You cannot on your own naturally come to the conclusion of God. You may know that God exists but you do not know his message for you. You may know you have done wrong but you do not know how to make it right.
[48:38] That's why Paul later on in Romans 1 the law of God is written on every man's heart. There is nobody who walks this earth who thinks they're innocent.
[48:50] You know that? And if they start counting on their hands the good things that they've done, like just think if you can remember every good thing you've done, yeah you're in trouble buddy.
[49:03] Right? You act like a few good works makes up for 50 years of godless living. You see the world cannot receive the truth because it neither sees him nor knows him.
[49:22] This is what we saw in Jesus' ministry friends. They saw the goodness of Jesus Christ lived out. They saw the works and every time Jesus even pointed them to the Old Testament when he dealt with the religious rulers, they always said the same.
[49:40] Well first, you know what they did, remember? They said he was from Satan. Man's conclusion, the most religious, holy, steeped people in God's, the Old Testament at that time concluded that Jesus had to have been of his father the devil.
[50:08] We're not that smart. We're not that learned. But that's where the greatest teaching and understanding took them. And every time they continue to ask for more signs, more works, things.
[50:29] All they had to do is walk up to Capernaum and there would have not been a single unhealthy person. Matthew testifies that Jesus healed all, but yet the heart says otherwise.
[50:47] The fact is we are spiritually blind people and we need the power of the Holy Spirit to unmask our eyes. Ephesians 3.5 Paul says that until the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, Jesus Christ is a mystery.
[51:04] You might think he's a good guy, you might think he's a prophet, you might think he's a good rebel who rebelled against Roman authority, but you will not conclude that he's the Savior that you desperately need.
[51:17] In fact, when the religious rulers of Jesus saw everything that Jesus did, they heard everything that Jesus taught, they concluded, like I said, that he must be from the devil.
[51:31] And through that Holy Spirit, opening our eyes, 1 Corinthians 2.10 says, this Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
[51:42] That is when we can begin to truly understand the magnificence of God, the beauty of God, the joy of God. without the Spirit, one can never hope to understand God.
[52:01] It was interesting, in Acts 2, that passage that I read for you, and the church began, and people are speaking in tongues, and they're seeing miracles, and people are getting saved.
[52:13] The critics on the sidelines criticized them for being drunk. That was their comprehension of the events that occurred with the Holy Spirit coming down, right?
[52:28] The great day of Pentecost, the church being born, this new mystery being created, and the world said, man, they're drunk. And Peter had to say, no, we're not drunk.
[52:39] It's too early to even start. What are you talking about? Right? But no, these men are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now we need to think of us.
[52:56] For us, my friends, this is a wonderful truth. Let me ask you the question, what would happen if the Spirit wasn't involved in having spiritual sight?
[53:09] What would that mean? If the power wasn't in the Spirit, where would the power be? The power would need to be in you. Now, let me take you a little road on this one.
[53:26] Would you want the power in you to bring about salvation in someone else? Right? Think about it. A lot of people wish they could. Do you think you're smart enough, clever enough?
[53:37] Can you share enough of the gospel to bring someone to faith in Jesus Christ? Christ. Now, if you do believe that, that you believe someone can get saved by the power that you have, you should never be able to sleep.
[53:56] You will chase that person down until they're saved. Wouldn't you? Because it's just a matter of finding the right equation or the right need, the right focus.
[54:10] Some churches believe that. When I'm preaching that now, I'd go to Shane, he'd lower the lights. Maybe have Dave Regeer and Sue light a candle, create a nice atmosphere, right?
[54:22] Even pump in some smoke to say it's the glory clouds come to Squamish, right? But churches use those because they're trying to weaken the emotions to the point where you will finally accept Christ.
[54:36] If I believed that, I would do everything in my power to make that happen. And then I wouldn't sleep at night. And I had to worry, okay, everybody wasn't saved that night, that day at Sunday.
[54:48] What are we going to do next Sunday, right? I'm going to try to do more and more ingenious things to try to coax you into heaven. The fact is I sleep very well, except when my dog snores too much, because I'm giving it over to the Spirit.
[55:09] I actually rest well. I feel the burden of the Spirit preparing my sermons. I believe the Spirit is with me. He brings things to mind as I go through His Word.
[55:23] It has to be the Spirit. That's why Jesus Christ shares the parable of the seed and the sower. Where did Jesus say the power was? In the sower or the seed of Mark chapter 4?
[55:37] The seed, right? It's the Word of God that has the power. It doesn't matter what the sower does. It's God causes it to rain in the soil which brings out growth.
[55:56] My role as I see it is to present the gospel clear enough that you could reject it. That's one of my goals.
[56:09] That you would not leave here saying I do not know what the gospel is. If you don't I have failed. If you accept it and are transformed all praise goes to the King of Kings who enacted his spirit upon you to open your once spiritually blind eyes to see the truth.
[56:32] So the first work of the Holy Spirit is to open your eyes to spiritual truth. The second work of the Spirit is that the Spirit of truth binds us to God.
[56:47] Binds us to God. Look at verse 417. There's this phrase it says you know him. And up to that point the apostles were not ignorant of the work of the Holy Spirit.
[57:04] They'd seen and heard the work of the Spirit in the life of Jesus. But even they would have read they would have known the Old Testament and they would have known that the Holy Spirit was involved there as well.
[57:17] And although the New Testament says more about the working of the Holy Spirit than the old were able to understand certain aspects of the Holy Spirit and one of the works of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was to anoint.
[57:33] It was an illustration of God's blessing. So when Israel wanted a king God actually anointed Saul.
[57:45] Remember Saul? It anointed him. He came on and Saul actually started off pretty good and then Saul continued in sin and in fact he took on the role of the priest and it says that God pulled his Holy Spirit from him.
[58:03] Okay? Now we know David. Later on he's anointed. He's blessed by God to be the king.
[58:15] And it says here it says then Samuel took the horn of oil. This is in 1 Samuel 16 and anointed David in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day forward.
[58:33] Now we need to understand this isn't salvation. He's already believed in God before this. This is a blessing because remember when David sins with Bathsheba he gets approached by the prophet and if you turn your Bibles you won't have to go there right now but Psalm 51 if you don't know it's David's prayer before God confessing his sin and one of the words that he uses there in verse 11 is do not remove your Holy Spirit from me.
[59:06] He's not talking about salvation he's actually talking about God's blessing God's anointing God's power so when Jesus says you know him the disciples were not ignorant of the workings of the Holy Spirit spirit now let's take a look at verse seven again it says you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you okay and there's a distinction that the writer is making here he dwells with you and will be in you so there's two promises actually there's the one he will dwell in you which is the promise of anointing promise of blessings and we're going to read that in John 15 if you're not familiar is do you abide with the father because if you don't you're going to be turned and thrown in the fire and your works are going to be like broken branches but the next one it's a promise of eternally being with you new living translation says he lives with you now and later will be in you so not only is the
[60:29] Holy Spirit present now but he's also the guarantee that you will not fail that your faith will not fail okay you guys are kind of Baptist right okay so when I say your faith will not fail because of the Holy Spirit you can say amen amen to that right like your faith cannot fail amen because the power of the Holy Spirit right so that's true that's wonderful truth he's not just with you but will be in you he is the source of your power in the Holy Spirit the Greek itself gives us an understanding that this is a permanent uninterrupted resident this isn't what they had in the Old Testament but you see this was the beauty of the new covenant Ezekiel 36 27 says I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules you see our walk with
[61:40] God is not a walk of the flesh it is the walk of the spirit when people ask me how do I know so and so is a Christian to say what does their life show that's the only thing that I can go by do they walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh okay the last point on this one Paul writes this fact in 2 Timothy 1 14 he says but the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guards the good deposit entrusted to you that is the Holy Spirit is depositing the seed of salvation that within you the Holy Spirit by working within us guards the deposit that is with you and that is why Paul says in Ephesians 1 13 it says in him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised
[62:45] Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it praise to the glory of God amen right that word seal is almost like there's this tattoo that's put on us that Satan can't touch he cannot take it away so not only does God use the spirit to open your spiritually blind eyes and when you accept him and when you believe in him you are sealed for eternity you're his everlasting and you do not need to fear for your salvation because the Holy Spirit guarantees it now people will say does that mean I get to live what I want to live the way I want to live and it's sinful no no you're missing the other point the Holy Spirit is the one who does the work in you I can tell you if you're sealed or not sealed by how you're living if you're not adhering you have no conscience and you chase the things of ask yourself is is my life rotten fruit or good fruit because only good fruit can come from the healthy vine amen let's pray dear
[64:17] Lord holy heavenly father how unappreciated sometimes we are and I don't mean we're purposely unappreciated Lord of your Holy Spirit within us but father I pray that we would not be people whose lips do not cry out and praise thank you for the Holy Spirit that has led us to see truth it's the Holy Spirit that drives us to do good for your glory and that you have sealed us for eternity what a wonderful promises you've made to these apostles of God these promises are made to us too and I know sometimes the Christian life seems hard to live and I pity anybody who does it in the flesh the whole idea of filling is putting truth in our lives it's reading
[65:22] God's word it's knowing God's word it's knowing what is right and wrong and it's praying Lord give me strength to do what is right some of us come from sometimes it's years if not decades of sin and there's ingrown habits whether it be impatience or angers or frustrations it may take a little longer but you're still going to do that work you are going to change us and I know there's stories in this church who can tell us without a doubt that through that spirit their lives changed 180 degrees they were headed for death and now they're going for life they can tell that their marriage was headed for divorce and now it's a glory to be demonstrated as an example to others some parents and even how to love their children there was a fleshly way listened to worldly wisdom and now they've turned it over to godly wisdom and they're seeing incredible results spirit born results so father forgive us if we have attributed works in your name that were not true or not real bless us for holding to what is true oh lord i thank you for this sunday we can come together and just learn from your word and be moved by these words and promises that you give us and just as even as we think about these ministry opportunities there might be some people here who say that's a great idea but
[67:13] I am scared to death of doing that father I pray that their prayer would be father give me a spirit of understanding strength may I have the courage to go forth whether it be helping with a work in the philippines or here locally or even tonight for the dinner there's people that are coming today that have a broken understanding of the gospel and maybe there will be a conversation that happens over dinner which really shines on the truth of Jesus and their desperate need for you so father I ask you to bless this time and the love that we have for one another in your holy and precious name amen