Amen. Right while we're there, in Acts chapter number 5, and of course, on Sunday nights, we've been going through this series called Declaring Doctrine, and we've been doing a systematic study through the major doctrines of the Bible, and we've been going through a section, and we're probably going to be doing this for a long time, I'm going to finish up this section, and then we'll do something else on Sunday nights for a while, and then we'll come back to this and do a different section.
But if you remember towards the beginning of the year, we did a section on the Word of God. We learned about the doctrine of the Word of God, and then in the fall of this year, we came back and we've been doing this section on the Godhead, and we're learning about the theology of God.
We learned about the attributes of God, the natural attributes and the moral attributes, and spent several weeks talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and of course, Jesus is the pivotal person in Christianity for us, so we spent a lot of time talking about His deity, His humanity, His eternal sonship.
Tonight, I'm dealing with the subject of the Holy Spirit, and I will just say this, that the sermon tonight, and I would encourage you to take notes if you've got somewhere to write, if you've got things to take notes, I would encourage you to do that on the back of your course. Of course, you can write down some things.
Tonight is going to be only an overview of the most important things that I think you should know regarding the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
The reason I say that is because there's way too much to cover about the Holy Spirit, and instead of taking several weeks, I'm going to give you an overview tonight, but I'm going to encourage you to, if you want to learn more about the Holy Spirit, I actually preached a ten-part sermon series on the Holy Spirit in the spring of 2019.
If you go on our website or you go on our YouTube channel, you can find a sermon series called By My Spirit, and it is ten sermons I preached on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
So as you can imagine, there's lots to say about the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to take ten weeks to do that. I've already done it. Tonight, I'm going to preach an overview to remind you of some of the most important things, but I want to let you know about these sermons in case you are interested in learning about the Holy Spirit.
In this sermon series, I preached a sermon called The Person of the Holy Spirit. That was part one. Part two was The Holy Spirit as God. Part three was The Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Part four was The Work of the Holy Spirit. Part five, The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Part six, The Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Part seven, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. Part eight, The Filling of the Holy Spirit. Part nine, The Fruit of the Spirit.
And the last sermon, the tenth sermon, was The Holy Spirit and Speaking with Tongues. So again, I'm not going to cover all of that tonight. There's no way I could. I'm going to do just a quick overview, but we've done a deep study in The Holy Spirit, so I would encourage you to check out those sermons if that's something you're interested in or something you want to know.
Tonight, what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you just kind of the five top things you should know about the Holy Spirit, the five top things you should know about the Holy Spirit of God.
So if you would, I'd like you to write some of these things down. We're there in Acts chapter five, and I'd like you to look down at verse number one, Acts chapter number five and verse number one.
And the Bible says this, but a certain man named Ananias, and of course we are going to see here the famous well-known story of Ananias and Sapphira.
It says, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. And I'm not preaching about this tonight, but just for you to get the context, they sold a possession.
They're taking on a special offering here in Acts five, kind of like every year we take our vision offering, they're taking a special offering.
They actually sold a piece of property in order to give in this offering, verse two, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being private to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.
So they sold the property for a certain amount, and then they kept some of that money for themselves, which was fine. We'll see it in the text here in a minute. There's nothing wrong with that. It was theirs to begin with.
The problem is they told the church that they sold this property and gave all of the money to this. So they were lying, and they were really just trying to look more spiritual than they really were.
Because there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, you know, I sold this property, I'm going to get half of it to the church, and I'm going to keep the other half for myself.
That was within their rights. But they said, oh, we're giving all of this to the church, when they had really lied about that.
The Bible says there in verse two, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being private to it, meaning that she was in on it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Notice verse three, but Peter said, and I asked, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
And by the way, let me just say this, the book of Acts is a book that highlights the work of the Holy Ghost. We call it the Acts of the Apostles, but it could honestly be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
And you'll notice that the Holy Spirit is emphasized throughout the book of Acts, beginning of course at the beginning of the book with the empowering of the believers.
And even in this chapter, there's lots of emphasis to the Holy Spirit. Here, Peter calls them out on their lie. He says, but Peter said, and I asked, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Notice verse four, he says, while it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
Here's what Peter is saying. Peter is saying, it was your property. You didn't have to sell it and give any of it to the church. You didn't have to give. He said it's a free will offering. He said, while it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
He's saying, you didn't have to give all of it. Nobody asked you to give all of it. You didn't have to lie about it. You could have said you're giving part of it. You could have gave none of it.
But then he says this in verse four. He says, why has thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou has not lied unto man, but unto God.
And that should be a lesson for us on how God sees lying. Because, of course, we read the whole chapter in this context, but the next thing that happens is that they drop dead.
And that kills them because they lied about these things, because they were trying to look more spiritual than they really were. They were trying to do things to be seen of men.
And again, I'm not preaching on that. That's the context. But I want you to notice that in this chapter, we have here in verse three where Peter says, he says, you have lied.
And Peter said, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? And then in verse four, he says at the end of the verse there, thou has not lied unto man, but unto God.
And I'm showing this to you to just explain to you. And here's point number one. We're learning about the Holy Spirit and five things you should know about the Holy Spirit.
The first thing you should know about the Holy Spirit is the deity of the Holy Spirit. And that is to say that the Holy Spirit is God.
Now when it comes to the Holy Spirit, you know, the Holy Spirit is a third member of the Godhead. And I'm not preaching on the Trinity tonight, but we believe that the Trinity teaches that there is one God that exists in three persons.
And we've got God the Father, and we have the second member of the Godhead, God the Son, and we have the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.
And often the Holy Spirit is the forgotten member of the Godhead. Often he's the one that we don't really think about and maybe don't acknowledge like we should.
But I want you to notice, and I want you to understand this, that the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is God. Just like the Father is God, just like the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God in his own right.
And again, I can preach a whole sermon on this, I have preached a whole sermon on this, and you can go back and listen to that.
But I want to show you this, at least just one proof text here, where in verse 3, Peter says, you're lying to the Holy Ghost, and then in verse 4 he says, that was not lied unto men, but unto God.
He says you're lying to the Holy Ghost, and then he says you've lied to God. You say, why did he say you're lying to the Holy Ghost and you're lying to God?
Why do you use those terms synonymously? Here's why. Because the Holy Ghost is God. Because the Holy Spirit is God.
So the first thing you should know is that, about the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, is the deity of the Holy Ghost.
Look, every member of the Godhead is God. They are completely God, they are all God, the Holy Spirit is God in his own right.
And again, I'm not preaching a sermon on just the deity of the Holy Spirit, but we could take the time to look and see how the Holy Spirit is the creator,
and how the Holy Spirit is omniscient, and how the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, and how the Holy Spirit has all the same attributes that we've seen for God in general, because the Holy Ghost is God.
And here we see Peter saying, you're lying to the Holy Ghost, and then he says in the next breath, you're lying to God, because the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Spirit is God.
So number one, things you should know about the Holy Spirit, you should know about the deity of the Holy Ghost, that the Holy Ghost is God.
Go with me, if you would, to the book of Luke. If you flip back from Acts, you have the book of John, and you have the book of Luke, Luke chapter 3.
Let me give you the second statement. Five things you should know. Number one, you should know that the Holy Spirit is God.
You should know about the deity of the Holy Spirit. Here's number two. You should know about the person of the Holy Spirit.
Not only is the Holy Spirit God, but also the Holy Spirit is a person. Again, we believe in the Trinity.
God, one God that exists in three persons. God the Father is a person. The Son is a person, and the Holy Spirit is also a person.
It is one God that exists in three persons. And this is a teaching that a lot of churches, a lot of religions teach against.
They don't want to acknowledge the person of the Holy Spirit. Now, you look at Jesus, and obviously He was a person. He was a man. The man Christ Jesus.
But the Bible even refers to the Father being a person. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the express image of His, referring to the Father's person.
But oftentimes, people don't want to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is a person. In fact, many churches and religions will teach
that the Holy Spirit is simply a force, you know, like Star Wars or something. That He's just, you know, this power.
Just like we've got the magnetic force or the gravitational pull. He's just this force that is kind of out there.
But I would submit to you that the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person. We believe in the person of the Holy Spirit.
He is the third member of the Godhead. He is God, and He is a person. Now, let me just give you one example of this.
You're there in Luke chapter 3. And actually, you know, do me a favor and go back to Mark, if you would.
We're going to come back to Luke 3 here in a minute. But go back to Mark chapter 1, if you would.
And let me just give you an example of this, you know, about the Holy Spirit being a person.
Mark chapter 1 and verse 10, if you just one book over from Luke, Mark chapter 1, verse 10.
In Mark 1, 10, we have, of course, the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in Mark 1 and verse 10, the Bible says this,
And straightway coming up out of the water, this is Jesus coming up out of the water because He was baptized,
He saw the heavens opened and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him.
And there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And even in this, in the baptism of Christ, we see the Trinity completely.
We see the Son being baptized, but yet there is a voice from the Father in heaven which says,
Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And at the same time, the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him.
All three members of the Godhead are represented there in the baptism of Christ.
And by the way, let me just say this.
It doesn't say that the Holy Spirit came down, you know, in the shape of a dove or in the form of a dove.
It says that the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him.
The dove is referring to how the Spirit descended.
And if you, you know, look up videos about doves and things,
you'll know that they have a different way of flying than other birds.
And that's what it's referring to because today, you know, you always see these pictured
and you see, you know, like a dove, like a physical dove coming down.
Or you'll see people put a dove in their car, you know, and it's supposed to represent the Holy Spirit.
But look, the Bible tells us in the Old Testament that we're not supposed to make images of things in heaven
or under the earth or on the earth.
So look, God forbids these things to have these images that are supposed to represent religious things.
And it's funny how God tells us, God tells us in the Ten Commandments.
I mean, I don't think you have to be that religious to be familiar with the Ten Commandments, right?
I mean, how many years of Bible college do you have to have before you're familiar with the Ten Commandments?
I think everybody has heard of the Ten Commandments.
And in the Ten Commandments, He's telling you, hey, don't make any images of things on the earth
or under the earth or in the sky.
He says, I don't want you to make these images.
And then Christians, they decide, oh, let's represent Christianity with a fish.
Or let's represent Christianity with a dove.
Or let's represent, look, we shouldn't represent Christianity with anything.
God is not a symbol. God is God.
We must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
And look, you don't need to have all these symbols.
That did not come from Christianity.
That came from paganism.
And by the way, you know, some of you may or may have not noticed,
but you'll notice at Verity Baptist Church, we don't have any symbols anywhere.
There's no cross on this pulpit.
There's no cross.
You know, the only symbol we have is the one that upsets the flat earthers,
which is a sphere for an earth.
But you know, we purposely don't use symbols and things of that nature
because God tells us that we're not supposed to be making these symbols to represent Him.
So the Bible says here that the Holy Ghost descended the spirit like a dove descending upon Him.
And like a dove is referring to how He descended, not what He looked like or the shape that He looked like.
Go to Luke chapter 3.
I want you to notice that He did descend in a bodily form.
Luke chapter 3, verse 21.
Luke 3, 21.
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus was also being baptized
and praying the heaven was open and the Holy Ghost, notice these words,
descending in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him and a voice came from heaven which said,
Thou art my beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.
I want you to notice that the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape.
And again, I don't believe that He ascended looking like a dove.
The dove there is referring to how He descended.
But He did descend in a bodily form.
He descended in a way that people could see and say, that is the Holy Spirit in a bodily shape, in a bodily form.
And that's just one example of the person of the Holy Spirit.
Because people say, well, the Holy Spirit is not a person, but wait a minute, He has a body.
I mean, He descended in a bodily shape.
And again, I don't have time to preach a whole sermon on the person of the Holy Spirit,
but if you can go back and listen to my sermon on it and you'll know what you'll find,
what you'll find is that the Holy Spirit has a body like we just saw.
The Holy Spirit has a will.
The Holy Spirit communicates, He has a language.
The Holy Spirit has intellect, He has thoughts and He reasons.
The Holy Spirit has emotions.
These are things that a person has.
He's not a force.
He's not just a power that's kind of out there.
He has a body, He has a will, He communicates, He has an intellect, He has an emotion.
Why? Because He is a person.
You know, when it comes to just an overview, the top things you need to know about the Holy Spirit,
the first thing you should know is about the deity of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit is God.
And the second thing you should know is about the person of the Holy Spirit,
that He is not just a force, but He is a person.
He is the third person, the third member of the Godhead,
and He has a body, He has a will, He communicates, He has intellect, He has an emotion.
Let me give you the third one. You're there in Luke.
Go to Mark, if you would.
Excuse me. Go to John.
If you're in Luke, just flip over to John real quickly, John chapter 14.
Let me give you the third thing you should know about the Holy Spirit.
The top five things you should know about the Holy Spirit.
Number one, you should know about the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Number two, you should know about the person of the Holy Spirit.
John chapter 14, if you would.
John chapter 14, and look at verse number 16.
John chapter 14 and verse 16, the Bible says this,
And I will pray the Father, this is of course Jesus speaking,
and He shall give you another Comforter,
the Comforter is referring to the Holy Spirit,
that He may abide with you forever.
Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him,
but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you,
notice these words, and shall be in you.
So Jesus said, look, the Comforter that's coming,
the Holy Spirit of truth, He's going to dwell with you,
and He shall be in you.
The third thing you should know about the Holy Spirit,
you should know about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit indwells us.
When you get saved, the Holy Spirit comes to reside inside of you.
The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you.
Go to the book of 1 Corinthians, if you would.
You're there in John.
You have the book of Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians.
John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians chapter 13, and let's just look at some verses in regards to this.
1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, not 13.
1 Corinthians chapter 3, and look at verse 16.
The Holy Spirit indwells you.
1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16, the Bible says this,
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy,
for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
And look, this ought to be quite a sobering thought,
the fact that you are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
And the Bible says when you got saved, the Holy Ghost indwells you.
And God says for that reason, you should not defile the temple of God
because the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside of you.
I mean, think about that.
He says if any man defile the temple of God,
him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy,
which temple ye are.
So look, you say, oh, I don't think it's that big of a deal.
You know, pastor likes to preach, I don't think it's that big of a deal.
If I go to a bar on a Friday night and sit down on a bar stool
and order an alcoholic drink and drink it, but wait a minute.
Think about this. Would you take the Holy Spirit,
would you take God into a bar and force him to sit there with you
and drink alcohol there while you're drinking alcohol and be there with you?
Because that's exactly what you're doing when you're saved.
You got the Holy Spirit inside of you and you're the temple of the Holy Ghost
and then you take him and you, you know, consume alcohol, consume drugs,
consume whatever, you know, you're watching pornography or, you know,
bad movies or whatever, you're letting that into your eyes.
Look, the Holy Spirit, this is why the Bible says,
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Why would we grieve him?
Because when we sin, he's stuck with us. He's indwelling us.
And we grieve him and we quench him when we defile the temple of God.
So look, before you light up a cigarette and smoke it,
ask yourself, well, if Jesus was here, if God was here,
if God was here, I'd never smoke in his presence.
Well, God is here if you're saved. It's the Holy Spirit.
He's inside of you. He dwelleth in you.
1 Corinthians chapter 6, look at verse 19.
By the way, this indwelling idea of the Holy Spirit will change your life.
Sometimes, you know, people get mad and upset and they use words they shouldn't use
and they cuss and they scream and they yell and they get all angry.
But would you do that if God was standing right next to you?
Standing right next to you? Well, if Jesus was standing right now, of course I wouldn't.
Well, the Holy Spirit is God. He's in you.
1 Corinthians 6, 19, what?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God? Look at these words.
And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
Say, I don't know, you guys, you know, this church, you guys kind of, the way you preach, pastor, you kind of ask a lot.
I mean, first of all, I came to Sunday morning service.
Then you said, hey, you should come back to Sunday night church.
I came back to Sunday night church.
Then you're telling me I should open up my Bible and read it on Monday.
Then you're telling me I should open up my Bible and read it on Tuesday.
Then you're telling me I should open up my Bible and read it on Wednesday.
Then you're telling me I should show up for Wednesday night Bible study.
Then you're telling me I should read the Bible on Thursday and read the Bible on Friday and read the Bible on Sunday.
And then you want me to spend time in prayer all those days as well.
Read the Bible and spend time praying and talking to God on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday.
And then you want me to get up on a Saturday morning and go knock on a stranger's door and try to keep them from going to hell.
I mean, you're kind of asking a lot.
Well, yeah, that's asking a lot if you belong to yourself.
But the Bible says that ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
Look, you belong to God.
Your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and He's dwelling and residing in you.
This is the teaching of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.
2 Corinthians 6 and verse 16.
2 Corinthians 6, 16.
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
For ye are the temple of the living God.
As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
So look, before you start thinking all proud, remember we talked about that this morning?
Start thinking all proud.
Well, I don't need to do as much as...
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
If your body belonged to you, you wouldn't need to.
But when you got saved, your body became the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Ye are not your own.
Ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body, which are God's.
In your spirit, which are God's.
Now, let me just say this, and before we get on to the next point,
keep your place there in 1 Corinthians. We're gonna come back to it.
1 or 2 Corinthians.
But go through the book of Ephesians if you would.
If you're in 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians, you have Galatians in the book of Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 2.
While you turn there, I'll read to you from 2 Timothy 1.14.
That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us.
So the Bible teaches clearly this idea of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
And let me just answer one question and then a couple of questions that people sometimes have.
One is this.
The Bible teaches that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a New Testament thing.
It's a New Testament doctrine.
New Testament believers are indwelled with the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament, Old Testament saints were not indwelled with the Holy Spirit.
They were saved just like you and I are saved, by faith, believing, and calling upon Jesus Christ, calling upon the Lord.
The name Jesus was not revealed in the Old Testament, but calling upon the Lord for salvation.
They're saved just like you and I are saved, by faith, calling upon the Lord.
And, you know, the way it worked in the Old Testament was that they, by faith, were believing that the Messiah was coming.
And you and I, by faith, are believing that the Messiah has come.
We're all looking back at the same event, whether you're before the cross looking forward in faith,
or whether you're after the cross looking back in faith.
It's all believing that the Lord would pay for our sins, that the Lamb of God would pay for our sins.
They were saved in the Old Testament the same way you and I are saved in the New Testament.
However, one difference was that they were not indwelled by the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
For years, I had people ask me, you know, why is that, and what's the answer to that question?
And for years, I had to say, I don't know. That's just what the Bible says, and we just believe it by faith.
You know, I didn't have an answer for that because, you know, I don't have an answer for everything.
I'm not God. And, you know, I'm not going to lie to you either.
If you ask me a question and I don't know, I'm going to say, I don't know.
When you figure it out, let me know. I'll preach a sermon about it.
But, you know, when I was actually studying for that 10-part series that I did a couple of years ago on the Holy Spirit,
it kind of just opened up to me what I believe is the answer to that question.
The reason that New Testament believers are indwelled by the Holy Spirit has less to do with you and how special you are and more to do with the temple.
Because in the Old Testament, the temple was indwelled by the Spirit of God.
In fact, we read about it this morning in that passage in 2 Chronicles chapter 7.
Whenever they would create, when they created the tabernacle or when Solomon created his temple or later on, Ezra's temple,
whenever the temple was built or rebuilt or the tabernacle was brought up, there was always this idea, this time where it was consecrated unto the Lord.
And the Lord would answer by filling the tabernacle or the temple with His glory.
And God would fill it with His glory and that was God putting His approval on it that the Holy Spirit was indwelling that temple.
Well, in the New Testament, there was a change to the temple.
We no longer have a physical building that we look at or that we have to go do some pilgrimage to.
The Holy Spirit still indwells the temple, but now in the New Testament, you are the temple.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
So that is why we are indwelled with the Spirit of God because in the New Testament, under the New Covenant, we have our temple is not a physical building, but it is your physical body.
Now let me answer this as well.
If you're there in Ephesians chapter 1, you know, there are those who teach, and this is usually the charismatic Pentecostals,
who will teach that, well, you get the Holy Spirit eventually.
You know, first you have to believe. They make salvation a process.
First you have to believe, but then you have to repent of your sins.
Which, look, if you teach someone they have to repent of their sins to be saved, you added works to salvation.
And then they say, and then, and then you get, you know, and then you go through all these steps.
And one of those steps is you get filled with the Holy Ghost.
And we know you're filled because you speak in tongues and you, you know, say all these weird things or whatever.
And again, that's a sermon for another day. I've preached on that before. I don't have time to talk about that.
But I want to show you that the Bible teaches that you get the Holy Spirit the moment you get saved,
the moment you believe.
Ephesians chapter 1, look at verse number 13, notice what Paul says.
He says, in whom ye also trusted.
And by the way, the word trusted there is a synonym for the word believe or faith.
When we say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saying trust on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not just believing that He exists, but it is a faith that is trusting in Him.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed, notice, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
So when did you get sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise? After you believed.
So it's not this process where I have to get it eventually someday when I'm speaking in tongues.
No, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel after that, you believe.
That moment you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession, until the praise of His glory.
So the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something that happens to New Testament believers,
and it happens the moment you believe, the moment you got saved.
Go to 1 John, if you would.
1 John, keep your place in 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians, we're going to come back there in a minute.
Go to 1 John, if you start at the book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament,
and you head back, you have Jude, 3, 2, and 1 John.
Jude, 3 John, 2 John, 1 John, 1 John chapter 2.
Let me give you the fourth important thing you need to know about the Holy Spirit.
We're talking about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
We're talking about things you should know.
Number one, you should know about the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Number two, you should know about the person of the Holy Spirit.
Number three, you should know about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Number four, you should know about the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches that it is the Holy Spirit that teaches us the Word of God.
1 John chapter 2, verse number 27.
1 John 2, 27,
But the anointing which ye have received,
and by the way, and I don't have time to develop this tonight,
but the word anointing there is referring to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit anointing is a reference to having oil poured upon you,
and throughout the Bible, oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit.
If you remember David, when he was anointed as the king of Israel,
the Bible says the Holy Spirit came upon him,
and those are all pictures that are used there about the Spirit.
It says, but the anointing which ye have received of him, notice, abideth in you.
That's the Holy Spirit living inside of you.
And then he says this, and ye need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
that is truth and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The Bible says here, and I want you to notice,
it says the same anointing teacheth you of all things.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is the one that teaches us
that guides us in truth, and is truth, and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 2.
Let me show this to you a little fuller.
The Holy Spirit teaches us,
the Holy Spirit is what gives us the ability to learn the Word of God.
1 Corinthians chapter 2, look at verse 7.
1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 7,
the Bible says this, but we speak the wisdom of God.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom.
Now I want you to notice those words.
Paul is saying we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.
He says, look, the wisdom of God is a mystery.
Now he's talking about to unbelievers, even the hidden wisdom.
The wisdom of God is hidden to the world.
Do you understand that?
That's why the world's a mess.
I mean, you and I look at the world and we think it's not that complicated.
Just get it done.
You know, it's not that hard.
It's not that complicated.
Just do what the Bible says, and it makes sense to us.
But the world, they look at what we believe and say, oh, that's crazy.
But it's because they can't understand it.
In a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.
Look at verse 8.
Which none of the princes, and again, this is talking about leaders, politicians,
none of the princes of this world knew.
For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, look, the world doesn't understand the mysteries of God.
It's a mystery to them.
It's hidden wisdom.
They didn't know it.
If they would have known it, they would not have crucified Jesus.
He says, look, I have not seen, neither ear heard, nor neither have entered into the heart of man
the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
Look at verse 10.
But God hath revealed them unto us.
He says, look, it's a hidden mystery.
They don't understand it.
It's a hidden wisdom.
But he says, God hath revealed.
It's not hidden to us.
It's not a mystery to us.
But God hath revealed them unto us.
How did God reveal them unto us?
By his Spirit.
For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of man?
And I've taught you this before, but I want you to see it again.
I think verse 11 is a super interesting verse.
He says, for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
In verse 11, he says, for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him?
And here's what the Bible is teaching.
The Bible is teaching that the reason that you and I can communicate with each other,
the reason I can talk to you and you can talk to me and I can understand you and you can understand me
is because we are both human beings and we have the spirit of a man, the spirit of a human being.
That's why we can communicate.
And by the way, that's why, I hate to break it to you, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings,
you can't communicate with your dog.
You think you communicate with your dog and you cannot because it's a different nature.
It's a different spirit.
You know, you're looking at your dog and saying, I love you.
And the dog's looking at you and it barks and you're like, look, it said it loved me.
You know what it said?
It said, I would eat you if I could.
That's what it said.
It said you better not drop dead because if you're dead long enough, I'll eat you.
That's what he said.
And cats, you don't even want to know what they said.
Because it's a different spirit.
We can't communicate with elephants.
We can't communicate with animals because it's a different spirit.
But we can communicate with human beings.
Even when a human being doesn't speak the same language, you can communicate with them.
You can walk up to a human being and you speak a different language,
and you smile and they smile.
And you can communicate because it's the same spirit.
A dog smiles at you.
Here's what he's saying.
I'm going to eat you or I'll eat you if I could.
And with that idea, this is what God says.
Look at verse 11.
For what man knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so, the things of God knoweth no man.
Look, no man can understand the things of God.
Why?
Because it's a different spirit.
He is the eternal spirit of God.
You and I are the spirit of human beings.
But how can it be that we can understand the things of God?
Here's why.
He says, even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God.
See, the only time that a human spirit can understand spiritual truths from the word of God
is when that human being has the Holy Spirit.
Because it is the Holy Spirit that teaches us, that guides us in all truth.
Look at verse 12.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
See, how do we know the things of God?
Because we have the Holy Spirit of God.
Look at verse 13.
Which things also we speak?
Not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Notice, here's verse 14, the quintessential verse on this subject.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Look, the natural man, the unsaved man, the unregenerate man,
the man that doesn't have the Holy Spirit of God,
they can't understand the things of God.
By the way, that's one of the reasons why,
and sometimes churches will have these campaigns where they're going to go around
and they're going to pass out these Bibles.
We're going to give Bibles to unsaved people.
We're going to put a Bible in every hotel room or whatever.
And look, I don't think there's anything, it's fine if we want to pass out Bibles.
Please understand this.
The natural man cannot understand the spirit of God.
Period.
An unsaved person cannot open up a Bible and understand it.
That's what the Bible says.
You can pass out as many tracts as you want,
you can pass out as many literatures as you want,
you can pass out as many Bibles as you'd like,
but the natural man, the Bible says,
the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
An unsaved person, if they open up the Bible and try to read it,
you know what they'll come up with? Catholicism.
I mean, how can it be, how can it be that the book of Romans,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
it's just like, not of works, not of works, not of works,
free gift, free gift, not of works.
And then an unsaved person opens up the Bible,
creates a religion called Catholicism, and they say,
you got to work your way to heaven.
It's like, why did you get that?
Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God.
They are foolishness unto him.
You give a Bible to an unsaved man, you know what you come up with?
Mormonism.
You give a Bible to an unsaved man, you know what you come up with?
The Jehovah's Witness.
You give a Bible to an unsaved man, you know what you come up with?
The seventh day of Venice.
I mean, and by the way, there's only two religions in this world,
those who believe it's not of works and those that believe it's of works.
Sometimes people go, well, there's so many religions in the world, how can you know?
Look, every single religion in this world,
unless they're teaching, unless they're Bible-believing Christians,
they all teach you have to work your way to heaven.
You have to live a good life.
That's what they all teach.
And to me it's like, look, the Bible so emphasizes the opposite.
How can you get that?
Here's how they get it.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God.
They can't understand it.
By the way, that's why you and I as soul owners have to go
and preach the gospel to them and explain it to them.
We have the Holy Spirit, and we help them understand it.
When they get saved, they get sealed with the spirit of God,
and now they can begin to learn and understand the Bible.
The Holy Spirit teaches us.
The Holy Spirit is the only way that you and I can learn
and understand the things of God.
Go to John chapter 14, if you would.
John chapter 14.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
John chapter 14.
That's why sometimes soul owners, they want to argue with somebody that's not saved.
They want to try to teach them all this like deep theology and doctrine.
I always tell them, get them saved.
Until they're saved, they can't even understand all that stuff.
They can't even get it.
They don't understand the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God.
Now, look, obviously, when we explain it to someone,
you know, when we plant that seed, then yeah, a literature,
the reason we have, you know, literature and things we give out with the gospel
and videos and things is because after we've explained to someone,
let's say they don't get saved, but we've already planted that seed,
then yeah, they could read something and it might help them
and somebody else might come along and get them saved.
Look, we understand all that, but the point is this.
The natural man on his own, you put an unsaved person on an island
with a King James Bible by themselves, no other influence or anybody explains them,
they will never understand it, period.
That's what the Bible teaches.
John 14, 26.
But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.
You say, well, Pastor Man, I don't like that.
I don't like that illustration.
Some unsaved guy on an island all by himself, the King James Bible,
he can't get saved.
Then what are we to do?
I don't know.
Maybe go to that island and get him saved.
Maybe go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
I mean, look, if people get saved by just reading the Bible, then why even go?
We can ship a Bible to every address in Sacramento and call it good.
Done.
Even better, we'll just email it to them.
We'll just send them a link.
Alexander Skirby on YouTube, there you go.
Hope you get it.
They won't get it.
They need somebody with the Holy Spirit of God to explain to them, to teach them,
and help them understand it so they can get saved.
Then they get the Holy Spirit, then they can begin to learn.
And look, once someone is saved and they have the Holy Spirit of God,
then they can learn everything in the Bible.
Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
It doesn't mean that they will learn everything in the Bible.
The Bible is a deep book.
But every saved person has the ability to learn everything in the Bible.
That's why the Bible says, we just read there in John 14, that he shall teach you all things.
We read in 1 John 2-27,
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things.
And look, this is not saying that you don't need a teacher,
because the Bible says that God gave you prophets and pastors and evangelists
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry.
But here's what he's saying.
He's saying, anything that a preacher, a Holy Spirit-filled preacher can teach you,
you could learn on your own from the Bible.
That's what he's saying.
You say, well, pastor, why are you around?
Why have a pastor?
You know, what we do as spiritual leaders is we help you go further faster.
I mean, you know, because here's the thing.
If you've never read the Bible cover to cover, not even once,
which the average Christian, you know, shamefully,
can't even say they've ever read the Bible cover to cover even one time,
or if you've only read the Bible cover to cover once or twice or three times,
it's hard to connect these dots.
You know, once you've read the Bible cover to cover 23 times, 24 times,
you start being able to connect some dots.
That's how people say, I never saw that in the Scripture.
It's like, well, read it 20 times and you'll start picking up on some stuff.
You know, the whole reason that we're here,
the whole reason that my wife can answer questions for you,
I can answer questions for you, we can try to help you,
it's not because we're special.
It's because we've just spent a lot of time reading and studying the Bible.
But, you know, you could do that too.
And now our job is to help you go further faster.
First of all, a lot of these things, we were taught by preachers,
and then we've spent time learning and studying and memorizing
and answering questions and digging into Scripture,
and we're helping you go further faster.
We're helping you connect the dots.
I mean, I'm on sermon 15 of a theological series that took me my whole life to learn.
And I'm giving it to you in a point-by-point, alliterated format sometimes.
I'm not sure why you don't take notes.
The point is this, the Holy Spirit's the one that teaches you the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit's the one that can, the same anointing teacheth you of all things
and His truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.
The Bible says that ye need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teacheth you all things.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will guide you.
And again, the point is this, you can read the Bible for yourself and learn it
and apply it to your life.
And by the way, you should.
I don't know if you get this theme from my preaching,
but I'm constantly trying to encourage you, read the Bible, read the Bible, read the Bible.
Because look, you say, well, Pastor, but you preach three sermons a week.
Yeah, but you know what? That's not enough.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Jesus said man should not live by bread alone,
but by every word which we see out of the mouth of God.
You need to be fed the Word of God every day.
You go home Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday before church,
and you read the Bible, and you open it up, and you feed yourself spiritually from the Word of God.
And you say, I'm not very good. I'm new. I haven't read the Bible a lot.
Well, can you make the equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly spiritual sandwich?
I mean, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and eat it spiritually.
And then you come to Verity Baptist Church, and we'll serve you up a steak on Sunday morning
and ribs on Sunday night and salmon on Wednesday or whatever.
We'll cook you up a nice meal and help you, you know, and you just eat that peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
And eventually, well, you put some ham on that thing, and with peanut butter and jelly it might be odd,
but you know what I mean. Every illustration breaks down at some point.
The point is feed yourself. Read the Bible. Learn it.
Babies are the ones that are spoon fed. And look, while you're a baby, I'm not mocking you.
While you're a babe in Christ, we'll spoon feed you and spoon feed you and spoon feed you.
But there comes a point where the baby grabs the spoon and wants to feed himself.
So eat. The Holy Spirit, God gave you the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible. You can understand it.
And by the way, let me just say this. And look, not everybody that saves is going to know everything, obviously.
You're going to understand things. Notice what he says in John 14.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bringeth all things to your remembrance.
Here's how he teaches you all things. He bringeth all things to your remembrance.
See, it's not like you get saved and you just know everything in the Bible.
You actually have to read the Bible and read the Bible and read the Bible,
and eventually he brings things to your remembrance.
And by the way, this is how, you know, pastors, you know, look, a lot of churches, you're not getting fed spiritually.
And the reason is because these pastors are not paying a lot of time studying the Bible or reading the Bible.
But you know, you come to church like Verity, you come to church like First Works, you go to church like Faithful Word,
you say, you know, how is it that these pastors, they connect things, they bring things together.
It's really, you know, amazing. Here's why.
Because the more you read the Bible, the Holy Ghost brings things to your remembrance.
You start connecting things and you're like, oh, well, that sounds like this.
And you study out your life and this whole thing opens up to you and you're like, wow, look at that.
And you learn and understand, but look, we're not special. You can do that too.
You can learn and understand the Word of God as well.
But here's the thing, the more you read, the more you study, the more you'll know and you'll learn and you'll understand.
Look, my wife and I have been reading the Bible cover to cover multiple times a year since we were teenagers.
That's why we are able to help you and counsel you and answer your questions and we don't have every answer.
Also, you know, I spent the last 10 years preaching verse by verse, chapter by chapter through Leviticus,
through Ezekiel, through 1 Corinthians, through Romans, through Acts, through John, through Matthew,
through Genesis, through Exodus, through Leviticus, through Joshua, through Judges, you know, through Job,
through Hosea, through Isaiah, through, you know, through all these books.
Obviously, all that helps too. You spend that much time studying the Bible, you start connecting some dots.
And look, all I'm trying to tell you is this, you should read the Bible. It'll help you.
Spend time in the Bible. Seek after the Lord. It'll help you in your life.
So, number one, you should know about the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Number two, you should know about the person of the Holy Spirit.
Number three, you should know about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Number four, you should know about the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
Number five, go to Acts, if you would, go back to Acts, where we started.
John, Acts, Acts chapter 1. Read the Bible. I don't know how else to say it.
Turn the stinking television off and read the Bible.
Acts chapter 1. You should know about number five, the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
The empowering of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one that empowers us.
Acts 1 verse 8. But ye shall receive power. This is Jesus speaking.
After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Now, notice this is different than the indwelling.
The indwelling is a seal. You are sealed. You are marked. There's a seal that God puts on you.
You are indwelled with the Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption.
You're not filled with the Spirit. You've got enough of the Holy Spirit sealed on you to keep you from hell.
But then God says you can be filled with the Spirit. You can be empowered with the Spirit.
And there's different wording that's used. And I like the book of Acts because it uses the different words, but it uses them all synonymously.
Acts 1a. But ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.
He says the Holy Ghost will come upon you. Then go to Acts chapter 2.
Now, in Acts 1a, Jesus was referring to the Day of Pentecost. He says, look, ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
They were already sealed with the Spirit. They'd already received the Holy Spirit, but they had not yet been empowered by the Holy Spirit.
He said the Holy Spirit's going to empower you at the Day of Pentecost, and Jesus called it coming upon you.
The Holy Ghost will come. It's come upon you.
And by the way, all throughout the Old Testament, it's the Holy Ghost coming upon Samson when he does his great feats.
It's the Holy Ghost coming upon Saul when he was right with the Lord and doing things for God.
It's the Holy Ghost coming upon David. It's always the Holy Ghost coming upon people.
It's the empowering of the Holy Ghost. Acts chapter 2, look at verse 1.
And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were always one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled.
Now look, in Acts 1a, he said the Holy Ghost is going to come upon you. He's talking about Acts 2, 14.
Here it says they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Look at verse 14, same chapter.
But Peter standing up with the eleven lifted up his voice and said unto them,
Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.
For these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and they shall come to pass in the last days.
Sayeth God, I will pour out my Spirit upon you. Notice how these words are all being used interchangeably.
They were filled with the Spirit. The Spirit came upon them.
He poured out the Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
Verse 18, and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
It's the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
And look, here's what I'm trying to tell you.
There's a difference between the Christian who goes out soul winning because he has to, and the Christian that goes out soul winning in the power of the Holy Spirit.
There's a difference between the preacher that gets up and, well, I'm just kind of going through the motions, and I've got my notes here, and let me share something with you from the Bible.
And the preacher that gets up with the power of the Holy Spirit. There's a difference.
God says that he will empower you. You say, well, how can I have the empowerment of the Holy Spirit?
It's connected to how much time you spend in the Word of God, because remember, it is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
The way the Spirit does his work on this earth is through his word.
You want to be filled with the Spirit? Then memorize the Word of God. Read the Word of God. Hide it in your heart.
Be filled with the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit, you have to be filled with the Word of God.
Know the Word of God. And by the way, let me just say this, it's not just about knowledge.
And I don't have time to develop all this, but the Bible teaches that it is knowing and applying.
The Bible began both to teach and do. You have to do what God, you know, and Jesus taught it on the Sermon on the Mount.
Don't be like the foolish man. Be like the wise man that built his house upon the rock, because he did something with what he was taught.
James said it's like a man that looks into the law of liberty, the mirror of the Word of God, and he beholdeth his face, and he does something with it.
Joshua said, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein, day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.
And by the way, let me just say this, the power of the Word of God is found in your application of it.
So you say, I showed up to church on Sunday night, and I heard a sermon, and nothing changed. Well, did you do anything with what you heard?
I heard about being a husband that loves his wife. Did you love your wife? I heard about being a submissive wife. Were you a submissive wife?
I heard about reading the Bible. Did you read the Bible? The power of the Word of God is connected to our application to the Word of God.
You can sit there and listen to a sermon, and listen to a sermon, and listen to a sermon, and listen to a sermon, and if you do nothing with it, it won't help you.
But when you apply it, when you do it, the Holy Spirit begins to work in you. You begin to be filled with the Spirit of God, and God empowers you.
And God pours His Spirit on you, and God fills you, and He comes upon you.
I don't know if you've been a soul winner. I don't know if you've experienced this. I'm not trying to get all weird and charismatic on you.
There's been times when I've been soul winning, and I've just known that God was working through me.
Somebody asked me a question, and I start quoting a verse. I don't even remember memorizing that verse.
It's like, where did that come from? You know, and I've read it, obviously. That's the Holy Spirit working in you.
Get up to preach. Sometimes I have this whole, you know, four, five page outline ready, and I start preaching, and I start saying things I don't even plan on saying, and quoting things, and whatever.
And lives are changed. And it's the Holy Spirit that's working. Look, look. This is not some mystical thing.
God has a third person called the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you if you're saved.
He wants to empower you. He wants to teach you. He wants to guide you. He wants you to walk in Him.
Don't ignore Him. Don't quench Him. Don't grieve Him. Embrace Him.
The Holy Spirit of God. What do you need to know about it? Well, you should know about the deity of the Holy Spirit.
You should know about the person of the Holy Spirit. You should know about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
You should know about the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And lastly, you should know about the empowering of the Holy Spirit of God.
Thank you, Lord, for the Holy Spirit. Thank you for not leaving us alone, not leaving us without a comforter.
And Lord, I pray you'd help us to take advantage of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, I pray you'd help us to take advantage of the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
I pray you'd help us to read this book, to learn this book through the Holy Spirit, to meditate upon it, to memorize it, and then to do it, and then to apply it, and to allow you to work in our lives.
Father, we thank you for the Holy Spirit. And I pray, Lord, you'd help us to be a people that are filled with the Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Lord, may our brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song.