Holy Spirit | David Wade | Week 06

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us [email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast, Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you. [00:00:37] Speaker B: All right, so welcome back. So like we've been doing, we're just kind of picking up where we ended last week. So last week we were talking about, primarily, at least at the end of class, talking about the Spirit's role in creation and kind of talking, talking through some of that about how he how the original world was formless and void and he was hovering over the waters. And then the creation began to take shape over the six days as the Spirit basically transformed that formless void into God's good creation. So what I want to say about that as we kind of talk through the Spirit working in creation and over those six days of creation and transforming that formless world into God's good creation. So what we're trying to say is the same work that he did in creation, he is now at work in us and recreating us. He is transforming us as well, turning our chaotic, unordered lives into what God desires. So another way to say it in a shorter, pithy way is the giver of life is giving us new life. So the Spirit's role in creation, one of his roles was to give life in new creation. He gives us new life. So there's a pattern. There's a pattern that was formed in the creation that repeats itself and that is repeating itself in the Spirit's work today. It's a transforming work. So I mentioned transformation. Just like in the first creation. It's a transformation. He didn't just snap and everything was there. He actually took this formless void and transformed it. So the work that the Spirit is doing in us as well is a transformation. It's a transforming work. It's a process. And when we look at redemption, sometimes the Bible uses past tense terms. It will say that we have been saved. It'll use that in a past tense. But it will also use present tense terms. It will say that we are being saved. And then we'll also use future tense terms. And it says, you will be saved. So which is it? Is it a past, a present or a future thing? And it's all of those. So it's something that has been done for us, but it's also something that God is still doing. And we look forward to the consummation of all of that when Jesus returns, when all of that work is complete. But the main point I want to emphasize is this transformation part and what God is doing. And we could really say it's God the Father, it's God the Son, and it's God the Spirit. All three are at. Are at work in this work, in this work of bringing us from death to life. Just like in the original creation, all three were at work in the original creation. All three are at work in this new creation of bringing us from death to life. I think we mentioned some have tried to explain it as it's from the Father through the Son by the Spirit. I think that may be a pretty good way of thinking about it. But I think the same holds true in this new work that God is doing in recreating and transforming us. So in that God is taking us from the things on the left to the things on the right, he's bringing us from death to life, and he's bringing us from sinfulness to righteousness. And I just want to say that those two things, death and sin, are so intertwined that they're really not separable. They go together. And we need to understand that, I think, to really understand the scriptures well, that sin and death always go together, just like righteousness and life always go together. Like I said, they're so intertwined, you can't really pull them apart. So especially those top two. But really all these things kind of go together. So we also talked a little bit about the wilderness. And the idea of this formless void was also this idea of wilderness. And we see this wilderness theme kind of repeating throughout Scripture. So from time to time we saw people's sin taking them back towards wilderness. And it's basically a reference back to the creation of. It was a movement back toward the way the things were before the Spirit worked. And then we saw the chaotic, dangerous sea. We talked about that idea. But we also see some other terms that we haven't really talked a whole lot about yet. Fleshly and spiritual is a term that's used a lot in the New Testament. Jesus uses those terms. And Paul uses those terms frequently. And what he means by fleshly, he's not talking about literal flesh. That's not what's bad, that's not the evil. He's talking about human nature as influenced by the world. So under the influence of the world, human nature under the influence of the world. That's what we should think of when we read fleshly in Scripture. And the other end of that is spiritual. So it's human nature as being guided by the Spirit. So that's what those words mean when Paul uses those. But we talk about the old self and the new self, darkness to light, slavery and sonship, disorder and order or chaos and cosmos, hearts of stone, hearts of flesh, or lost and found. And we could probably throw some other terms up here, but the point is God is bringing us from those things on the left to these things on the right. So our emphasis is on the Spirit's role in that work. All three are involved in that work. But our emphasis is on the Spirit's role in that work. And in Christianity especially, the Spirit is working in our hearts, is working and transforming our hearts, giving us hearts of flesh. And so this process in Scripture comes under a lot of different terms we could use. These are mostly describing the same general concept, though we could call it creation, or new creation, we could call it. So then we have this group of things that kind of fall in that category. We talk about being redeemed. And I won't go through each of these words too much, but I think we kind of know these words and what they mean. But being redeemed or redemption, transformation, we refer to it often as sanctification, but also glorification or being perfected, regenerated, reborn, renewed, refreshed, being purified. And I put healing down there as well. And so Jesus miracles kind of had a double. I think a double meaning to them. One, they were showing they were demonstrating his power over the universe, and they demonstrated who he was. But the specific healing, I think he was showing he was undoing. He was showing that he had the power to undo the effects of sin. So all those things, things were the effect of sin. And he's showing that he has the power to undo that in physical healing. He was showing that. So these things under decreation, there's a lot of words that kind of used to describe that idea. And again, that's moving back away from God's order to disorder. Before the Spirit worked in destruction, corruption, defilement, shaming, perishing, dying, decaying, profaning, and probably other words. We could put up there that kind of describe that concept. Alright, so when those things are happening on the left, so when the Spirit is at work doing those things on the left, what does it look like? And so it looks like those things. So when the Spirit is, is at work and he is producing fruit in us, and the famous passage talking about the fruits of the Spirit. So these are the things that you will see. These are the indicators that the Spirit is actively at work and doing that work of transformation, of sanctifying us. All right, so that's I think a pretty decent summary. And I wanted to kind of summarize where we were going last week at the end. I'm not sure if I really summarize that and why we were talking about the creation and how that plays in. And hopefully that kind of helps see how all that plays in. What I want to do next is, and we talked about this a little bit last week, we started to hit on this. But in scripture there are different symbols used at times to describe the Spirit. And breath is certainly one of those. I mean, it's his name, it gives him his name as breath. And we talked about that one quite a bit already. But another one of those is water. The Spirit is often referred to using these water terms. So I wanted to kind of maybe take a little detour and just dive into that idea just a little bit as the Spirit is water. So we'll look at a few verses. The first one is in John 7:37, 39. That's the one I think I'd asked you to look at last week if you had a chance to do that. John 7:37, 39. I'll just read that. It says on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Alright, there's a lot, there's a lot in this verse and there's a lot we could dive in on. So first I want to kind of set a little bit of the stage here. So this is in the middle of the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacle. It was a seven day feast when all the people would gather in Jerusalem. And this feast, probably more than any other, was a celebration. And it was a celebration of God's Provision for them. Like I said, basically, they would build tents. Feast of tents. They would build these tents and live in them. So it was kind of like camping for a week. And there was a lot of food and celebration. But on the last day of this. And this wasn't prescribed by Moses, but it was something that got added later. The. That the Jews practiced and got added later. But on the last day of this feast, they would take a basin or pitcher and they would go down to the pool of Siloam, fill it with water, and then they would carry it back up and pour this water out over the altar. And that was really the highlight of the whole feast. This was like the main point, the kind of. At the end of the feast, this was. And when they did this, this was kind of the high point of the celebration. So there was a lot of celebration that happened at this point in the feast. Like I said, it's not. This wasn't prescribed in scripture to do this, but it's something that they added in later. So it's really. I think in the midst of this water ceremony that Jesus probably stands up and he's speaking about the water. So he says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. So he describes this water as the Spirit or as the text. The text explains this for us. The text explains that he was referring to the Spirit. And he also says the Spirit had not yet been given because. Because Jesus was not yet glorified. So it wouldn't be until after Jesus had been crucified and buried and resurrected and ascended until the Spirit would be poured out on everybody in this manner that's being referred to here. All right, so. And if you've got comments, jump in. I'll keep moving. So kind of with that in mind, you kind of look back to John 4. I think it clarifies John 4 a little bit for us as well, or gives us some context. So in John 4, this was when Jesus interacted with the woman at the well. Again, a water event, a water scene here. And so Jesus is having this conversation with this woman about water, and he says to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him, will become in him, like a spring of water welling up to eternal life. So again, I think it's clear here, even though the Spirit isn't mentioned, I think it's clear here that Jesus is teaching here about the Spirit. And a couple points made both in this passage and in the previous one is that Jesus is the one giving the Spirit, and the Spirit is described that way a number of times. The Spirit is described as God giving the Spirit or Jesus giving the Spirit. And both of these passages kind of speak to that, as in this case, Jesus being the one that gives that spirit, he also tells us that it's living water. So it's the kind of water that gives life. So it's the very thing that we've been talking about as we've been talking about the Spirit in his primary role. He is the life giver. So the Spirit who gave life originally is now giving new life. And we see that in these passages. All right, so we will move on to the next one. This is 1 Corinthians 12, 13. It says, for in one spirit we are all baptized into one body. Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to. To drink of one spirit. So there's a couple of images being presented here. In one spirit, we were baptized. And we talked about that a little bit earlier, how this idea of being baptized in the Spirit or by the Spirit, or Jesus baptizing us with the Spirit. So I think the water here, I think the waters of baptism are another symbol, are representative of the Spirit. And the idea is, and particularly in baptism, that it's that point that we're given the Spirit. And then he also mentions that we're drinking of one Spirit. Again, another kind of symbol of the Spirit as this idea of water. [00:17:48] Speaker C: These go along with what Jesus said to Nicodemus where he says, you must be born of water in the Spirit. So to me, it seems when we're baptized, the Spirit renews our Spirit. The things it says in First Corinthians 12 and Titus 3. [00:18:08] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So we'll go ahead and look at Titus 3. It says, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of. Of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So a couple things in this. One, this idea of pouring, the Spirit being poured out like water. In this case, another symbol of water. So when we talk about the Spirit being poured out, it's a water Image. But also then we talk about his work, regeneration and renewal involved in the washing and in renewal. So the Spirit is active in those things. All right, look at a couple more. Want to look at Isaiah, Isaiah 44:3. For I will pour out for I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. So again, this idea of water being poured out of the Spirit in that symbol and just the refreshing, the nourishing that the Spirit gives. When that happens again, this idea of bringing life also in Joel, we'll look at 23 and then verse 28 it says, be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication. He has poured down for you abundant rain. The early and the latter rain as before, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old man shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. So again, this idea of the Spirit being poured out and also being described as rain, that that provides refreshment, provides nourishment to the land. And then we talked about this, I think last week. But the idea of sons and daughters and old men and young, the idea is the Spirit is available to everybody. I think I mentioned in the Old Testament he was more like an isolated thunderstorm. He came in a specific place at times. But he here in the New Testament, it's the rain that covers the whole land that's available to everybody. [00:20:38] Speaker C: The verses in Joel, you're quoted too, the end of that passage that's quoted in Acts 2. So it'll come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the [00:20:47] Speaker B: Lord will be saved. [00:20:49] Speaker C: Talking about being a universal gift. [00:20:52] Speaker B: Absolutely. And Peter makes reference to this passage in his sermon and speaks of what's happening there at Pentecost as the fulfillment of this. So there at Pentecost, the Spirit is being poured out on all that come to him. And he describes that as the fulfillment of this. Also Isaiah 32:15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. So again, kind of tying back into that wilderness that we talked about last week. I think it's a reference back to all those wilderness themes and that pre creation idea of the Spirit, the one that transforms and gives life from that. Another one to me that was interesting. First Corinthians 10, 4. It says all drank from the same spiritual drink. And he's referring to the time when Moses was leading Israel. He says all drink from the same spiritual drink, drink from the spiritual rock that followed him, and the rock was Christ. So he's talking about the time when Moses struck the rock and gave the people water. He's referring back to that, and he says that rock was Christ. Obviously not literally, but that event was a symbol of Christ, of Christ being struck. And when Christ was struck, water poured forth. So when we see the same thing within Christ, when he is struck, the water pours forth, the Spirit pours forth. So it's that same idea. And I think that's one of the reasons it was so important that Moses do it exactly like God said. God had a specific thing in mind when he was giving those instructions and wanted it done in a specific way because it was looking forward to Christ and his giving of the Spirit. That would happen within Christianity. Some other things we could look at that we won't dive into, but we kind of mentioned them a little bit. But the rivers of Eden, the river that flowed through Eden, giving it nourishment, I think was a symbol of Christ. I think the river of life in Revelation 21:22, I think is another symbol of Christ. This flowing from the throne where the Father and the Son. The throne of the Father and the Son. Again, this idea, the Spirit is given from the Father and the Son, and he provides life and nourishment. We could look at a bunch of other ones as well. All right, we'll give that a second. In the meantime, let's look at Ezekiel 47, verses 1 through 6. [00:23:46] Speaker D: Then the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. And I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, where the temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. Next he brought me out through the north gate and led me outside to the outer gate facing east. And there I saw the water trickling out from the south side. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and led me through ankle deep water. Then he measured off a thousand cubits and led me through knee deep water. Again he measured a thousand cubits and led me through waste deep water. Once again he measured off a thousand cubits. But now it was a river that I could not cross because the water had risen and was deep enough for swimming. A river that could not be crossed on foot. Son of man, do you see this? He asked. Then he led me back to the [00:24:50] Speaker B: bank of the river, right? Maybe get somebody else to read verses 7 through 12. [00:24:58] Speaker E: When I returned, there, along the bank of the river were very many trees on one side and the other. Then he said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish because these waters go there, for they will be healed and everything will live. Wherever the river goes, it shall be that fishermen will stand by it. From En Gedi to Eniglim, they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many. But its swamps and marshes will not be healed. They will be given over to salt along the bank of the river on this side, and that will grow all kinds of trees used for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for medicine. [00:25:59] Speaker B: Alright, so to me, a very powerful vision imagery here that Ezekiel records of this water coming from the temple. Starting small, it's growing river, starts ankle deep and goes knee, knee deep, waist deep. And then it's over your head, this growing river flowing from the temple. Beautiful imagery. I think of the work of the Spirit coming from the presence of God, being poured out from God and again giving life, giving nourishment, and even flowing down to the Dead Sea and recovering it and giving life even there. Even in the place, the worst place, the most lifeless place, even ability to give life there. I think just a beautiful image there from Ezekiel. Looking forward to that day. And we could probably spend a whole class just analyzing this. We won't do that, but we'll move on. But kind of wanted to hit that one. Alright, so the idea here is to sum it up, the Spirit of life is flowing from the temple, from the presence of God, and is bringing life everywhere. He is recreating. So I'm not going to hit this chart. This is kind of a summary, but we've talked about this a lot already, so I won't hit that one too much, but I do want to spend a little time on this one. So the Spirit's new creation work is focused on man and making new men, we typically call that, and we talked about a lot of words used to describe that process. And there's a number of different ones we could use. We typically call that sanctification, that process. So basically sanctification, it's a lifelong process of being set apart for God and made holy in practice. So it's a transformation of us. And there's a sense in which, just like salvation, there's a sense in which we can say we have been sanctified. First Corinthians 6:11 refers to that in a past tense. We have been set apart. Sanctified, literally is the idea of being set apart. So there's a sense in which it's past, but there's also a sense in which it's an ongoing progressive thing, a transformation. It's an ongoing Spirit led journey of us growing in Christlikeness. Romans 8:13 talks about that a little bit. There's plenty other passages we could look at too, for time. And we'll probably come back to this 8:13 passage, but we'll move on. The other thing I want to say about the Spirit's work in recreating us, first, it's a process, but second, it's heart focused. That work is focused on our hearts. So it's an internal thing and it's not an external transformation. So you can think of the law as more of an external transformation mechanism. It was given by God for man to follow. It was a gift. I don't want to say that it was not a good thing. It was a good thing, it was a gift. But it ultimately showed that it didn't really have the power to transform us. And we talked about this a little last week is one of the things that the law did is it showed our inability to keep it and highlighted that. So what we need is a better way of transforming. It's not an external thing based upon our own efforts, our own strength. We need, we need a better way. That's described in Romans 74646 and also in 2nd Corinthians 3:6. And Paul uses some strong terms there. In 2 Corinthians he says the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. So he's describing the letter, he's referring to the law. He's saying the law kills. And later on in that chapter, he, he talks about it being a ministry of death, the old Covenant, the old law was a ministry of death, kind of using strong terms, but it's highlighting the law's inability to ultimately to change our hearts, to change us. Because the change that needs to happen is internal, but also it's the work of The Spirit. So that kind of leads us to the third main point I want to say is that it's a joint effort. So we are co workers. It's not just us trying to do this, but it's not also just the Spirit. We are cooperating in this work of transformation. We have a responsibility. We are not just passive in this work, but neither is the Spirit. So the Spirit and us are both active in this work of transformation. The word for co workers is sunagayo, and we'll probably hit on that word again. But that's the idea, is that we're co workers with the Spirit. A couple of verses that talk to that idea. Romans 8:13 passage says, by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body. So you're doing it, but you're doing it by the Spirit. So the Spirit is strengthening, helping, helping you in that work. Philippians 2:12 also talks about this. One emphasizes our role in this. There's other verses that emphasize God's role and Spirit's role. This verse emphasizes our role. It says, work out your own salvation. This is the same idea of us being co workers in this transformation project, of our changing. Then the final thing I want to say is that this work is incredibly powerful. I heard a series of lessons listening online, I think from a teacher talking about the Spirit. And it was pretty clear to me he did not want to say that the Spirit is doing a whole lot today. So in his class he would reluctantly admit that the Spirit, he could be helping us a little bit. Right? That kind of made me sad because I think the Scriptures have a whole lot more to say about that. I think the verses were so obvious that the Spirit is helping us. He had to admit it, but he didn't really want to. He didn't really want to give a lot of credit there. So he's kind of downplaying it. But what I want to say is the opposite is that the Spirit's work in us is incredibly powerful. I'd like us to look at Ephesians 3, 14, 20. It says, for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted in and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. All right, so he's talking about the spirit in verse 16, he's talking about the Spirit that strengthens us with power in our inner being. And then at the end here in verse, verse 20, how powerful is that Spirit? It says, abundantly more than all we can ask or think. I'm not sure Paul could get any more superlatives, fit any more superlatives into this sentence. It's abundantly more than all we can ask or even think or even some translations say imagine. So I want you to think or imagine just how powerful the Spirit is in us. And this verse is telling us we're not even close. It's abundantly more than that. So however, think big, however powerful you think the Spirit might be working in transforming us, transforming our hearts. Paul says it's abundantly more than that. It's more than you can ask. It's more than you can imagine. To me, that's very comforting to know that God is at work in me, changing me and doing all those things that we open the class with, bringing me from death to life, that he's doing that within me. All right, I'll pause and see what your thoughts are. You mentioned Philippians 2:12. Work out your own salvation. The next verse literally continues that sentence. It says, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. [00:35:34] Speaker A: You know? [00:35:36] Speaker B: Absolutely. Again, the co worker idea. Right. You're working, the Spirit's working. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I think I originally had planned to read the next verse and didn't, but yeah, those verses go together. They speak to both sides of that. Absolutely. Have you ever thought about this passage in this way? Ephesians 3? It's not just a general statement of God's power. It is a statement of God's power, but it's a specific statement of his power that is at work in us. He's talking about a specific thing. It's not just a general statement of his power. Have you ever thought of it in that sense of. He's talking specifically about God working in us. [00:36:22] Speaker C: I never thought of it as the power being the Spirit, but he says it in these verses and in the first chapter of Ephesians. Paul's praying for them and he prays. That says that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you can know the hope that you have. And he mentions God's incomparably great power for us to believe, which is like the power exerted when Jesus was raised from the dead. [00:36:53] Speaker B: It's a great power, right? The same Spirit that took the formless and void pre created world and created the whole creation and brought forth that, that same Spirit that did all that is at work in us, transforming us. That's really the whole point I'm trying to get across. In highlighting the Spirit's work in creation, he's now at work in new creation. And by new creation, I mean recreating us, changing us from the inside. Maybe enough time to hit this. So I want to end on this. 2nd Corinthians 3:1 18. It says, Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You ourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. So we are a piece of literature that the Spirit is riding on our hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now, if this ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. All right, I'll pause there just for time. But the idea is, when God gave the law and it came with a lot of glory, fire, smoke, Moses, even face was glowing. He had to put a veil over it. There was a lot of glory. If that which he calls a ministry of death had glory, how much more glory does this new ministry have? Alright, so we'll end there. We're out of time and we'll pick up next week. Thanks.