WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.679 Well good evening. It's great to be here tonight. I was here this morning but Sam said I could come 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:17.359 dressed like he was this morning. So I've come like I am and I said I'm not really 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:24.060 overdressed so that's good isn't it? Let's pray and we'll look at this passage particularly 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:31.179 from John's Gospel tonight. Heavenly Father we thank you for your goodness to us in the Lord 00:00:31.179 --> 00:00:38.399 Jesus Christ. We thank you too for the Spirit of God, for your Spirit, that Spirit who hovered over 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:44.159 creation, that Spirit who inspired the prophets of the Old Testament and that Spirit who inspired 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:49.820 the Apostle John to write these words for us tonight and we pray that your Spirit would continue 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:57.259 to do his work in our hearts and minds and lives so we might get a greater picture of your glory, 00:00:57.899 --> 00:01:03.200 the work of your Spirit, so the praise and the honour and the glory might belong to Jesus 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.200 in whose name we pray. Amen. 00:01:09.019 --> 00:01:16.260 John's Gospel is a gospel that begins with very evocative words if you remember. In the beginning 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:22.600 was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by him and without 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:31.880 him was not anything made that was made. Evocative because what John is doing is echoing the words 00:01:31.880 --> 00:01:39.800 of Genesis 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and that language of creation 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:48.700 which then speaks of God's Spirit hovering over the waters, of God's Word coming forth, is actually 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:56.920 a reflection of the triune God in creation, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So it's often expressed this way 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:06.959 that the Word of God characterises the Son, the Logos, God's Word, the speaking of God by his breath and the 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:12.079 word for breath is the same as the word for spirit. Both in Hebrew language and in Greek language, 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:18.479 the Spirit is the breath of God, if you like the empowerment of that very word. So when you get to 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:26.740 a verse like Psalm 33, by the word of the Lord the heavens were made and all their host by the breath 00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:34.019 of his mouth. So what you've got there is a description of God's interactive working of Father, 00:02:34.020 --> 00:02:41.160 Son and Holy Spirit. God spoke the word, let there be light, that word was empowered by his breath. 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:48.719 So the Spirit of God is not something which is new to the New Testament. The Spirit with the Father and 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:58.939 the Son always, always were. They don't have a beginning. They existed before time and we as mortals 00:02:58.939 --> 00:03:04.979 are so limited by our time, we're so temporally bound that we can't think of a language talking 00:03:04.979 --> 00:03:11.639 about the period before creation without using temporal language like before creation. But that 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:18.000 itself is bound. God is everlasting. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God, says the psalmist. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:23.599 And the Spirit of God continues to work in the Old Testament, particularly we see it in the 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:30.159 inspiration of the scriptures, but we see it in the way in which the word of God comes to the prophets 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:37.439 and the saints of old. But if you go back to the very beginning of Adam and Eve, you see that God's 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:47.539 word to Adam was a word which was, he breathed into Adam, God's breath, God's spirit as it were, 00:03:47.539 --> 00:03:56.479 breathed into Adam and Adam became a living being. But on the day in which he eats of the fruit of the 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:06.259 tree of knowledge of good and evil, on that day you will die. And there death enters God's pristine 00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:14.879 good world. But it's not physical death, you notice. Adam actually doesn't die physically that day 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:23.959 with Eve after Satan has tempted them. What happens is that Adam dies spiritually. Before that he was in a 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:33.199 spiritual relationship with God. He was with God in the garden, walking, working, resting, loving his wife. 00:04:33.779 --> 00:04:38.339 Children hadn't come by then, but nonetheless that would have been the fruit of their relationship. 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:47.459 And their harmony with God and creation was at one. But when they broke covenant with God, 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:54.879 when they sinned and rebelled against God, the penalty was death. The penalty actually is eternal death, 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:04.059 but God in his goodness prevents that penalty from operating automatically. That's the reason why Adam and 00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:09.720 even are cast out of the garden. They're cast out of the garden because in the garden is not only the 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:15.199 fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but also the tree of life. If they were to have 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:21.680 eaten of that tree of life in a state of spiritual death, they would have died eternally. So it's by 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:28.740 God's mercy that he prevents them from coming into his garden again. And he puts their cherubim and a 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:34.740 flaming sword. Not your ordinary old seraphim, you know, cherubim, because cherubim are special angels. 00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:41.360 They're throne attendant angels. They guard the throne of God. That's why you find cherubim over 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:47.639 the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle on the temple later to come. So Adam dies physically, 00:05:47.900 --> 00:05:55.500 spiritually, but God allows him to continue to be alive physically. Why? Because he has the prospect 00:05:55.500 --> 00:06:04.180 held out for him of spiritual life, of being what we call regenerated, of coming back into relationship 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:11.500 with God out of the despair and the spiritual death that his sin has brought him in, so that God might 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:21.720 vivify him, regenerate him, renew him, enliven him, make him spiritually alive. That's why the Apostle Paul 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:30.600 writes to the Ephesians and says, you who were dead in trespasses and sins, you he made alive. 00:06:31.380 --> 00:06:40.260 It's a resurrection experience in one sense. That is spiritually made alive. So that's all in the 00:06:40.260 --> 00:06:47.020 background of John 1. And when we get to John 3, we find Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:55.579 about being born again. And Jesus says to Nicodemus, unless you're born of water and the spirit, 00:06:56.199 --> 00:07:03.399 you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, unless you're born anew or born from above. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:10.039 And the interesting thing is, that was not new teaching that Jesus was giving. Because in the 00:07:10.039 --> 00:07:16.759 conversation in John 3, Jesus says to Nicodemus, are you a teacher in Israel? And you don't know 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:23.399 these things. He actually chides him for not recognizing that it's a spiritual work that's 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:31.039 needed to revivify, to bring a person alive. Ezekiel has an extraordinary description of it 00:07:31.039 --> 00:07:39.199 in the Old Testament, when he sees a valley of dry bones. God breathes on those bones, and the bones 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:47.159 come alive. Flesh is joined to the bones, and a whole army rises up. A bit like a Tolkien's Lord 00:07:47.159 --> 00:07:54.800 of the Rings almost, but better. And here is God's revivifying, energizing spirit at work. And when 00:07:54.800 --> 00:08:00.159 Jesus describes that in the language of being born again, he describes it in terms of resurrection 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:07.380 language, a person coming from death to life. So that in John's Gospel, when we find the death of 00:08:07.380 --> 00:08:17.220 Lazarus, we find that Lazarus, four days in the tomb, Jesus comes, says open the tomb, the sisters say, 00:08:17.300 --> 00:08:23.520 look, he's going to stink. I mean, he's our brother, we know. No, but he's been four days in the tomb, 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:28.720 so he's really going to stink. So you don't want to have that tomb opened. But they open it because 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:35.139 Jesus says so, and Jesus says these amazing words, Lazarus, come out. 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:50.980 If anyone else had said that, what would have happened? Nothing. Why? Because Jesus' words are life-giving. 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:59.980 They're spirit-empowered. The very words of Jesus come and bring life into Lazarus's dead body 00:08:59.980 --> 00:09:08.460 and makes him alive. It's a picture of regeneration. It's a picture of what's going to happen at the last 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:14.320 day. It's a picture of so many things, but all to do with the spirit of God energizing Lazarus. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:23.360 So when Lazarus wakes up, as it were, comes alive in the tomb, he hears Jesus' voice. What does he do? 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:28.860 He gets up and walks out. He obeys what Jesus says. Why? Because he'd made a life. 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:34.420 And you can't imagine, can you, Lazarus lying there saying, oh, I hear Jesus' voice, but 00:09:34.420 --> 00:09:39.300 I don't think I'll go. It's kind of nice here, really, a bit damp. I could redecorate a bit, 00:09:39.299 --> 00:09:44.620 but I've been here four days. I could stay a bit longer. No. When you're in the state of death 00:09:44.620 --> 00:09:53.939 and you realize what life means, you gravitate automatically. It's irresistible. What theologians 00:09:53.939 --> 00:10:01.759 describe as irresistible grace, the call of God, the beckoning of that word. And so Lazarus walks out. 00:10:02.299 --> 00:10:05.859 Actually, he didn't walk out. He hopped out because he was all bound up in linen, but that's not the story. 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:14.060 Anyway, the spirit of God, if you're a Christian, has made you alive. 00:10:16.100 --> 00:10:21.460 If you're not a Christian, it's only the spirit of God that can do that. And you should therefore 00:10:21.460 --> 00:10:28.019 call upon God for his enabling spirit to enable you to believe. But for those of you who are not, 00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:34.539 who are believers, you may have a conscious memory of becoming a Christian. It might've been a scripture 00:10:34.539 --> 00:10:40.179 class or a youth group or church or a friend or a conversation or just reading your Bible. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:44.379 Or you may have been had the great privilege of being born into a Christian family 00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:51.159 and grown up never knowing a time when Jesus was not your savior. But regardless of the first or the 00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:59.759 second, you are in Christ because the spirit of God has made you alive. He's regenerated you. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:08.419 He's made you born again. He's enabled you to hear the word of God and believe. He's unstopped 00:11:08.419 --> 00:11:14.759 your ears. He's opened your eyes so that you can actually see the truth of what it is in Jesus. 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:21.980 That's not anything a human can do unless the spirit of God first operates. 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:28.560 Otherwise, we're dead in trespasses and sins unless the spirit of God makes us alive. 00:11:30.259 --> 00:11:31.519 Well, that's the work of the spirit. 00:11:32.940 --> 00:11:39.220 Then you come to John 16 and you scratch your head and say, just a second, Jesus is talking about 00:11:39.220 --> 00:11:43.500 sending the spirit as if he hasn't come. 00:11:43.500 --> 00:11:49.840 In actual fact, there's a verse in John 7 that says, he's talked to us about the spirit 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:53.299 who was not yet. That's really strange. 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:59.360 What it means is the spirit hadn't yet come. But if what I've been saying is true and should 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:04.220 always test anything a preacher says, especially bishops, by the word of God, 00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:14.220 then what does it mean to say when Jesus says, unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you? 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:17.220 The counselor being a word for the spirit. 00:12:18.980 --> 00:12:23.620 Well, you see, what Jesus is talking about is, he's talking about the coming of the spirit 00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:29.899 in a new dimension. He's the coming of the spirit, which is going to be an empowerment. 00:12:29.899 --> 00:12:36.840 The coming of the spirit, which is actually going to bring the deliverance of salvation 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:44.840 to God's people. What marks the Old Testament from the New Testament is promise and deliverance. 00:12:45.659 --> 00:12:50.779 The Old Testament saints were always looking forward to what God was going to do. The great 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:56.620 salvation, the coming of the King, the coming of the Messiah, the victory over the evil one. 00:12:56.620 --> 00:13:03.700 A promise way back in Genesis 3, would you believe? Here is this expectation of the promised 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:12.080 one coming. And what happens in the arrival of Jesus is that Jesus fulfills all the Old Testament 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:19.600 promises about salvation for God's people. Not just for Israel, but for all nations. So the promises 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:24.860 given to Abraham, be a father of many nations, would come true in the person of Jesus. 00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:32.360 And what we do, we live on this side of the cross. And we live now in the light of that 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:40.840 fulfillment of the promises. And what God does now is, he says, I'm going to send my spirit to my people 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:50.440 and bring to you all the benefits of Christ. All the benefits of salvation won. The difference between 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:57.140 the spirit of Christ in the Old Testament and the spirit of Christ in the New Testament is that the 00:13:57.140 --> 00:14:04.720 spirit of Christ in the New Testament is the spirit of the ascended Christ. The God-man who'd won the 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:13.300 victory, who dealt with your sins and brought you everlasting life. That, what Jesus has done, he now 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:19.240 communicates to you. So the New Testament talks about the spirit of Christ in us. 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:23.659 The New Testament also talks about, or Paul does to the Corinthians, he says, 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:29.539 you are temples of the Holy Spirit. You'd have never said that about an Old Testament saint. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:39.979 You'd have never said of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, Moses, David or Jeremiah, that they were temples of the 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:46.539 Holy Spirit. There was only one temple, or tabernacle, or dwelling place in an altar in the patriarchal times, 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:54.440 where the spirit of God was symbolically present in the Holy of Holies, with a cherubim, notice, 00:14:54.659 --> 00:15:02.899 over the Ark of the Covenant, the throne room of God. And the Apostle Paul says, all that belonged to the 00:15:02.899 --> 00:15:11.079 holiness of the presence of God in the temple, now belongs to you as Christians. Interestingly, 00:15:11.299 --> 00:15:20.639 collectively, as the temple of God, but individually, as temples of God. The Holy Spirit has taken up 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:27.960 temple residence in you. That's why it's so important the way you live your life, because the 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:34.379 spirit of God is in you. To grieve the spirit by your sin is a serious thing. It's a serious matter, 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:40.860 because God is with you. Emmanuel, just as we sang in our song earlier this evening. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:49.940 So here is Jesus talking about the spirit of truth, that he will bring, and he'll bring, as it were, 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:56.900 with him, all the benefits of salvation, enabling us to be in relationship with God, so that to be born 00:15:56.899 --> 00:16:02.439 again under the new covenant, is to be baptized with the spirit. And you have this language of baptism. 00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:06.259 We haven't got time tonight. Someone said to me this morning, why didn't I talk about Acts 2? 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:14.139 Because they only gave me 20 minutes, that's why. So, and I've probably taken more. But nonetheless, 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:20.279 there's much more to be said. The whole arrival of the spirit in that extraordinary activity in the 00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:26.319 day of Pentecost, you'll notice the day of Pentecost comes after Jesus has ascended. Not even just 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:32.920 straight after resurrection. Resurrection, 40 days, that's ascension, and then 10 days later, 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:39.940 you get Pentecost. And there, the spirit of God comes in mighty power, signs and wonders to demonstrate 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:46.340 the extraordinary thing that God has sent his spirit. And Jesus is the one who sent the spirit, 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:54.120 and he sent the spirit to us, to indwell us, to empower us, that we might live lives for him. 00:16:54.120 --> 00:17:01.019 You'll notice here in verses 12 and 13 and following, Jesus says, 00:17:01.019 --> 00:17:27.579 It's very interesting. 00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:33.899 The spirit of God, his chief task is to glorify Jesus. 00:17:33.900 --> 00:17:41.560 Whenever you talk to a person who speaks about the spirit of God a lot, listen to see if they're 00:17:41.560 --> 00:17:47.400 saying, are you glorifying Jesus? Have you noticed the harbour bridge at night? Perhaps some fireworks 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:52.000 night or some of the night you might see it. And look at the harbour bridge and it's lit up, isn't it? 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:59.200 Beautifully floodlit. And the interesting thing is, at night, you don't see the floodlights. 00:18:00.660 --> 00:18:05.519 What you see is the bridge. The floodlights don't actually draw attention to themselves. 00:18:06.500 --> 00:18:11.380 You don't even notice where the source of light is. All you see is the light shining on the bridge. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:16.500 That's what the spirit does. The spirit isn't there to glorify himself, he's there to glorify 00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:22.039 Jesus. You see, there's an order in the Trinity. You've probably recognised that if you've done the 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:27.119 Trinity over the last couple of weeks. It's not the Trinity, for example, isn't the triplets, 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:36.480 the three brothers. Nor is it the twin brothers and the Holy Spirit. No, it's Father, Son and Holy 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:43.900 Spirit. And that's deliberate. That's to do with their personhood. Their divine nature is an ordered 00:18:43.900 --> 00:18:51.620 relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son longs to do the Father's will, submits himself to 00:18:51.620 --> 00:18:58.300 the Father in coming to the world voluntarily, at one with the Father in everything. But he is the Son 00:18:58.300 --> 00:19:04.140 and God the Father. And then the Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. You might have noticed that 00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:10.259 when we read that creed, that ancient creed, where the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. 00:19:10.259 --> 00:19:18.259 So that relationship of order is that the Spirit comes and he takes what is Jesus and declares it 00:19:18.259 --> 00:19:24.200 to us. Now these verses actually in chapter 16 are particular to the apostles, because the apostles are 00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:31.680 going to have the significant task of delivering fresh revelation to the people of God. That fresh 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:39.119 revelation is encapsulated for us in our New Testament. It's the apostolic deposit, if you like. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:44.799 Paul says, the church is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus being 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:50.639 the cornerstone. Now the apostles and prophets of the New Testament, they bring the word of God. In 00:19:50.639 --> 00:19:58.119 the Gospels, they are reminded by Jesus' words. I mean, they didn't have iPads to write down what 00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:04.799 Jesus was saying on the road to Galilee, and they couldn't remember it all. So what God does, 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:09.079 the Spirit comes and brings to remembrance all that Jesus had taught them. 00:20:10.779 --> 00:20:16.519 And through that, he then brings fresh revelation for the New Testament, the letters of Paul and 00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:21.940 James and John, Revelation, Hebrews as well as the Gospels. So the 27 books of the New Testament 00:20:21.940 --> 00:20:27.200 become our apostolic deposit, our word, if you like, that comes to us. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:34.360 In John chapter 17, when Jesus defines what eternal life is, he says this, 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:42.900 this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:46.660 Isn't that interesting? Where is the Spirit? 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:56.060 Well, the Spirit is here. How can they know the true God, the only true God? And how can they know 00:20:56.060 --> 00:21:05.060 of the Son whom the Father has sent? By the Spirit. You see, the Spirit is the one who enables us 00:21:05.060 --> 00:21:12.440 to learn about Jesus. The Spirit is the one who inspired these very words. In John 17, 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:17.740 the chapter is an extended prayer of Jesus. He prays for himself first, with regard to himself 00:21:17.740 --> 00:21:25.180 and the Father. Then he prays for the 12 apostles. And then, would you believe, he prays for you. 00:21:27.380 --> 00:21:31.860 You can notice in that third section, he says, I don't just pray for these, the apostles, 00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:37.460 but I pray for everyone who believes in me through their word. 00:21:37.460 --> 00:21:50.100 Jesus had you in mind when he prayed that prayer. Doesn't that blow your mind? That Jesus had your 00:21:50.100 --> 00:21:59.519 name in mind. From before the foundation of the world, he's known you and loved you with an everlasting 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:06.579 love. He's engraved your name upon the palms of his hands so that you belong to him. 00:22:07.460 --> 00:22:13.480 And he's orchestrated your life in such a way that his Spirit has come to engine your life at a 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:19.700 particular point in time, to regenerate you, to open your eyes, to see the truth that is in Jesus. 00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:28.360 What a privilege. Nothing that you have done has earned that. Nothing that you have done has actually 00:22:28.360 --> 00:22:33.799 made Jesus do it for you, or the Spirit's had his arm twisted, if he has an arm behind his back, 00:22:33.799 --> 00:22:42.460 to do it for you. No, it's God's sovereign initiating action, what we call grace. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:48.659 And the Spirit continues to be alive in the world. And notice earlier in that chapter, 00:22:49.259 --> 00:22:54.639 and he says, I tell you the truth, the Spirit, when he comes, he'll do three things. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:23:03.320 He'll convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they don't believe 00:23:03.320 --> 00:23:12.200 in me. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father. And of judgment, because the Prince of 00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:17.759 this world has been judged. See, the Spirit of God, the only activity of the Spirit of God in the world 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:23.660 is to convict people. And the word convict, in the original language, has a sense of convict or 00:23:23.660 --> 00:23:30.180 convince. And there's a sense in which the Spirit of God is continuing to convince people about Jesus 00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:36.740 by convicting them of their sins. Convicting them of the fact that Jesus has really come, 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:43.220 that righteousness of God is demonstrated in Jesus' death and resurrection. And that in his death 00:23:43.220 --> 00:23:48.680 and resurrection, evil has been destroyed. And the Prince of this world, Satan himself, 00:23:49.120 --> 00:23:57.279 is now under wraps and ready for judgment at the last day. The Spirit of God still works in this world. 00:23:58.299 --> 00:24:04.339 And he normally works through us. In the way we communicate with other people, or the way we pray. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.480 When you put your name on that thingy bing, that whoever's going to be there, that Sam's going to put, 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:16.120 hopefully, as you pray for people, you're praying that the Spirit of God will take that person's heart 00:24:16.120 --> 00:24:24.220 and mind and change them. It's good to have persuasive preachers. It's good to have powerful 00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:30.120 arguments. It's good to have logic and rationality. It's good to have emotions and all the aspects of 00:24:30.120 --> 00:24:36.099 the Christian life. But I'll tell you what, without the Spirit of God working, nothing will happen. 00:24:36.099 --> 00:24:40.259 It will be fruitless. You know, the best theological degree in the world, 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:44.459 and don't have the Spirit of God, and you're of no worth. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.799 The Spirit of God takes a person 00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:50.579 and enables them to have life. 00:24:51.639 --> 00:24:53.319 And that's what God continues to do 00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:55.539 at the last day 00:24:55.539 --> 00:24:57.459 when 00:24:57.459 --> 00:24:59.359 the judgment comes 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:02.779 and God gives us new resurrection bodies. 00:25:03.399 --> 00:25:06.000 They're described as spiritual bodies. 00:25:06.099 --> 00:25:07.619 It's fascinating, isn't it? 00:25:08.419 --> 00:25:09.259 Spiritual bodies. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:12.259 That doesn't mean they're like Casper the Ghost type bodies, 00:25:12.899 --> 00:25:16.959 but they're bodies empowered by the Spirit. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.799 If I said to you, think in your mind of a steam engine, 00:25:21.619 --> 00:25:24.679 you don't think of an engine composed of all steam, do you? 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:27.359 You think of an engine, you know, 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:31.299 very strong and metallic and all the rest of it, 00:25:31.299 --> 00:25:33.279 it's empowered by steam. 00:25:33.779 --> 00:25:34.980 Or an electric motor. 00:25:35.619 --> 00:25:36.759 It's not just made of electricity, 00:25:37.159 --> 00:25:39.940 it's something very substantial and solid, 00:25:40.159 --> 00:25:42.539 but empowered by electricity. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:45.899 A spiritual body is a body empowered by the Spirit. 00:25:45.900 --> 00:25:48.280 That's what's going to happen for us. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:49.680 We're going to have bodies 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:52.000 which are going to be no longer tempted by sin. 00:25:52.180 --> 00:25:52.880 Wouldn't that be great? 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:54.920 No longer subject to decay. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:57.120 No longer subject to disease. 00:25:58.759 --> 00:26:00.240 No longer subject to death. 00:26:01.540 --> 00:26:02.600 And in this world, 00:26:02.740 --> 00:26:05.440 God continues to work extraordinary miracles 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:06.740 in our midst 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:10.680 by seeing people raised from spiritual death 00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:11.980 to spiritual life. 00:26:12.820 --> 00:26:14.700 God gives all kinds of other miracles too 00:26:14.700 --> 00:26:15.480 at his pleasure 00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:16.880 to wake us up, 00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:19.100 to shake us up to the reality of heaven and earth 00:26:19.100 --> 00:26:21.000 and what's going to happen at the last day. 00:26:22.340 --> 00:26:24.559 But the Spirit's active and alive 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:26.559 and he's working mostly, 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:29.480 he chooses to work mostly through us. 00:26:30.380 --> 00:26:32.080 His little temples, 00:26:33.100 --> 00:26:35.000 the places where he's taken up residence, 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:37.259 that he might purify us 00:26:37.259 --> 00:26:39.880 and make us more and more like Jesus, 00:26:40.600 --> 00:26:43.480 being transformed from one degree of glory to another 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:46.660 so that all the praise and the honour 00:26:46.660 --> 00:26:48.720 might go to Jesus 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.480 and that's the work of the Spirit. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:54.160 Let's pray. 00:26:55.600 --> 00:26:56.519 Heavenly Father, 00:26:56.660 --> 00:26:58.100 we stand in awe 00:26:58.100 --> 00:27:00.340 at your plan of salvation, 00:27:01.140 --> 00:27:03.080 your patience with your people, 00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:05.779 your generous heart 00:27:05.779 --> 00:27:08.740 and for the plan of sending Jesus 00:27:08.740 --> 00:27:10.500 and sending your Spirit 00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:12.159 to enliven your people 00:27:12.159 --> 00:27:13.679 and to join us to Christ 00:27:13.679 --> 00:27:16.559 so the Spirit of Christ might live in us. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:19.199 Father, we pray that with this fresh vision 00:27:19.199 --> 00:27:20.119 of your glory 00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:22.779 that we might live as disciples of Christ 00:27:22.779 --> 00:27:24.339 by your Spirit, 00:27:24.879 --> 00:27:27.000 giving praise to you and to your Son. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:29.859 for we ask it for Jesus' sake. 00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:31.099 Amen.