here that how many times we've
talked about the Holy Spirit here being He, He, the Spirit
of Truth, the Comforter. And tonight I want to talk about
the Deity of the Holy Spirit, the Deity of the Holy Spirit.
When we, not last week, but the week before last, when we talked
about the Holy Spirit, we talked about His person, His personality,
by His titles, by His names, by His relations to the Father,
to the Son. And now we're going to talk about
Him being God. You know, I've got two books
in there, and they've got a couple hundred pages in each one of
them, and they're both devoted to nothing but the Holy Spirit. I didn't realize there was that
much to things about it, but I mean whole books devoted to
it. And I read the one by Arthur Pink several years ago and been
looking through it again. But every believer knows this
about the Holy Spirit. Every believer knows this, that
any good thought they have, any spiritual thought they have,
any fruit that they may bear, any spiritual fruit that they
may bear, gentleness, goodness, faith, any graces they may have,
meekness, patience, long-suffering, humility, faith, repentance,
any graces that they may have, any gifts that they may have
to exercise, whether it's praying or preaching or giving or singing,
whatever it may be. They know that from regeneration
to when they enter glory, it's worked in them by the Holy Spirit. They know that. They know that
they cannot bring that out of themselves. They know the Holy
Spirit regenerates them and takes them to glory. And anything that
comes good out of them is by the Holy Spirit in them. Now,
when we talk about the Deity, when we talk about a person,
a person is an intelligent being, an intelligent living being,
having an understanding, having a will. And the Holy Spirit is
a person with a personality. You know, you find over in 2
Timothy where it says this, that he even speaks. It says, the
Spirit speaketh expressly that in the last times, perilous times
should come. So the Spirit speaks as if He
is God. And so there's one God. We know
this. There's one God. Yet there are
three persons in the Godhead. Three persons. God the Father
is fully God, has no beginning, no ending. There was a time when
he wasn't, there will be a time when he won't be. He'll never
improve, he'll never be any better, never be any wiser, no way in
the world he could ever change. Because if he changed, it had
to be for the better, and then that means he could not be God.
And if he had changed for the worse, that means he could not
be God. So he is perfect, and he's being fully God. And God
the Son is fully God. Fully God. And I tell you, beloved,
he was eternally with God his Father, and yet he's eternally
God the Son. It's the mystery of the Godhead.
And yet God the Holy Spirit is fully God, and all three are
eternal. There never was a time that they
didn't exist. All three of them are equal,
not ones above another. Now, in the economy of grace,
in the economy of salvation, they all take different positions.
But as far as their turnality, they're all equal, they all have
a work, they all have a purpose, and they're one in that. They're
one in their work and in their purpose to carry out in this
world. Now, there's a difference in
what we're told about the Son and about the Spirit. The Scripture
says the Son is begotten, the only begotten Son of the Father.
Now, when it talks about him begotten, that means he's begotten
in time. He wasn't begotten in eternity,
because he's fully God, always was God, and will in eternity
with God. When it talks about him begotten,
that means he's begotten in time. He's born of a virgin. And so
he's the only begotten of the Father. But when you talk about
the Holy Spirit, it says nothing about him being begotten. He
has always been. We never read that about the
Spirit. And the Scriptures, talking about the deity of the Holy Spirit,
the Scriptures teach us that the Holy Spirit is God Almighty. Now, I know that... Well, let
me show you. Look over in Acts chapter 5 with
me. We'll just go through a few things here. Look at this. And that's why, you know, we
don't... That's a little known about Him. And we use the same
things over and over, but the Holy Spirit is expressly called
God in the Scriptures. Here in Acts chapter 5 and verse
3, you know the story here about Ananias and Sapphira selling
some things and bringing it and laying it at the apostles' feet.
But here in Acts chapter 5 and verse 3, it says this, But Peter
said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to
the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold,
was it not thine own hand? Why hast thou thine own power?
Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast
not lied unto men, but unto God." So here he says, you lie to the
Holy Ghost, and you lie unto God. So that means that the Holy
Ghost and God are one and the same in this particular instance.
So if lying to the Holy Spirit is lying unto God, then the Holy
Spirit must be God, as equal as the Father is. And over in
the scriptures also, we're called the temple of God. I remember
when we were going through 1 Corinthians 6, he says, you know you're not,
that you're the temple, your body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit, which you have of God. When you're, which is not, you're
not your own, you've been bought with a price. And I'll tell you,
beloved, the temple of God dwells in us. And we are the temple
of God, the Holy Spirit dwells in us. When our Lord Jesus said,
I'll send you another comforter. And so Christ in us, Christ in
you is the hope of glory and the Holy Spirit. And this temple,
here, a temple is a place where God meets, where God is worshiped,
where God dwells. And here we are, we're the temple
of the Holy Spirit himself. So wherever we go, that's why
Paul stresses so clearly and so plainly, How awful fornication
is. How sinful fornication is. And
how awful it is that you take the body and use that body that
the temple of God dwells in and use it for something besides
to glorify God in. And that's why I so get hard
against that. And let me show you over in St.
Corinthians 6, just a moment. St. Corinthians 6. Look in chapter Chapter 6 and
verse 16. Here he's called the living God.
The Holy Spirit's called the living God. He's called the temple
of God. And here we are, it says this
in verse 16 of 2 Corinthians 6. And what a grievance 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 there they are. The Holy Spirit here is called
the Living God. The Holy Spirit in us, and as
he said, we're the temple of God, here He's called the Living
God. And so the Spirit is called the Living God, so that means
He's God. And I want to show you something else over here
in 1 Corinthians 12. This is interesting to me. It may not
be interesting to you, but it's interesting to me. Here it talks about, in verse
3, Wherefore I give you to understand, I want you to understand this,
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God, no man that has the Holy
Ghost in him, the Spirit of God in him, speaking by the Spirit
of God in preaching and teaching in any way, calleth Jesus accursed,
or says anathema. And that no man, now listen to
this, can say that Jesus is the Lord, that Jesus is Jehovah God,
that Jesus is God in the flesh, but by the Holy Ghost. The only
way you're going to know who he is, is the Holy Ghost will
reveal him to you. Make himself known to you. And
then he goes down here in verse 4, talking about the Spirit.
He said, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,
see how it's capitalized? And here goes all of them called
God now. And there are differences of
administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities
of operations, but it's the same God which worketh all in all.
So the Spirit and the Lord and God are all called one here.
The Holy Spirit and God, all of them called one here. Same
God, same Spirit, same Lord, all of them is one. And I'll
tell you something else about proving that the Holy Spirit
is God. The Holy Spirit Himself is called
Jehovah. Because when you look in the
Old Testament, and in the New also, he says, you know that
God spake by the prophets. The holy prophets, God moved
the holy prophets to speak. And so it was Jehovah who spoke
by the mouth of prophets. And then you go over in 1 Peter,
2 Peter 1, verse 20, it says over there, that holy men of
God spake. The holy scriptures were not
by private interpretation. The fellow just didn't say, well,
I'm going to sit down and write some things, and if I can understand
them or something, I'll do it. But no holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so the Holy Ghost,
He's the one who spoke through these prophets. He was the one
who carried these prophets along. He was the one who taught them
what to write down. He was the one who enabled them
to write the Scriptures. And yet it says that God did
it. So if God did it and the Holy Spirit did it, that means
that the Holy Spirit is God. Is that not right? And then it
was also in, it says that Jehovah, the Lord Jehovah, was tempted
in the wilderness. It was God that was tempted.
You know, when Israel began to tempt God, it said, you know,
tempt not the Lord thy God. Well, they did. They started
murmuring and complaining. They didn't have no water. They
had no food. And it says that they provoked
God. They tempted and provoked Him. And it says that over in
Psalm 78, and yet in Isaiah 63 it says this, they rebelled and
vexed His Holy Spirit. Talking about the same thing
was they was murmuring and complaining said we want some food We want
some drink and they just complained about everything and God says
they rebelled and vexed my Holy Spirit when it all said at the
same time that they Tempted the Lord Jehovah himself so Jehovah
and the Holy Spirit shows us here that the Holy Spirit is
God And it said in Deuteronomy 32 that the Lord alone did lead
them Jehovah did lead them God led them out of Egypt. And then
it said in Isaiah 63, the Spirit of the Lord did lead them. The Holy Spirit's God. And I'll
tell you something else that shows us that the Holy Spirit
is deity, that He is God. And that's why, you know, when
you find folks who, you know, it's belittling to
the Holy Spirit, belittling to Him to say, You know, that you can't have
this evidence of Him being in you without speaking in tongues.
You can't have... And then there's some people
that does not, you know, Jesus-only people that do not believe in
the Father. And then there's some churches that don't even
believe in the Holy Spirit or use of the Old Testament. So
you see how important a deity of the Holy Spirit is? I mean,
He is God. It takes God to work light in us. And so if God, and
He does that by the Holy Spirit, the perfections of God are found
in the Holy Spirit. All the perfections of God are
found in Him. The Scriptures ascribe to Him
holiness. Holiness. He's called holy. He's called
the Holy One. We have an unction of the Holy
One. And no man teach you, but the Spirit will teach you. And
Romans chapter 1 verse 4 says that Christ was raised again
from the dead by what? The Spirit. capital S-P-I-R-T,
Spirit of Holiness. The holiness of the Spirit bore
witness because he's holy to the resurrection and raised Christ
from the dead to prove that he would satisfy God's justice. And God raised him from the dead,
and the Spirit being holy bore witness by raising Christ from
the dead. And I'll tell you to show you
something else about the perfection showing that he's deity. The
Spirit is eternal. Is God eternal? Spirit's eternal.
In fact, Christ offered himself to God through, through the eternal
Spirit. The Holy Spirit's the one that
took him and through him and by him, he offered himself. to
the Holy Spirit, be His Spirit eternally. And then he's omnipotent. If God got all power, the Holy
Spirit's got all power. Or, excuse me, he's omnipresent.
And then getting back up here, he's omnipresent. That means
he's everywhere at all times. And I read, I think it was last
Sunday morning, maybe two weeks ago, Psalm 39, when David said,
Whither shall I go? to flee from you. If I go to
heaven, there you are. If I go to hell, there you are.
If I'm in darkness, it's like light to you. And he says, and
whither shall I go to flee from thy spirit? And what he's saying,
he's not saying, I want to get away from God. He says, there's
no place that I can go that you ain't there, that he ain't there. And that's why he can be grieved.
And you know, where shall I go? Where can I go to be free? Now,
I know we don't always feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Now, sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Sometimes, you know,
if He enables us to pray, sometimes He don't. But I know one thing
for certain and sure, that there's no place where we can go that
we can get away from Him. Because you know why? Because
He's in you. And He watches over you. And He keeps you. And He
protects you. And He preserves you. And not
only that, but He's omniscient. Look with me over here in 1 Corinthians
2.10. He's omniscient. That means he's all-wise. He
knows everything. In fact, I love this verse of
Scripture right here. It says here in verse 9, But
as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him." Now, this prepared means the
salvation and everything that God has prepared for us in Christ.
But now watch this, "...but God hath revealed them unto us by,"
how? "...thy Spirit." And you see
how that's capitalized, showing us that He is, "...and the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, that need things of God." Now how
in the world do we know anything about God? The Spirit searches
all the things of God. He looks into the things of God.
He knows the things of God. He knows the eternal purpose
of God. He knows the eternal wisdom of God. He knows the salvation
of God. He knows the blood of Christ.
He knows all about it. He knows everything there is
to know because He's God. Now watch this. For what man
knows the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in
him? You're the only one who knows what's going on in you
right now. You're the only one who knows
anything about you, you know. I could not read your mind. I
can't tell you what's going through your mind and your heart. I don't
have a clue what's going on. I know what's going on with me.
I know what's in me. And even so, now watch this,
even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Oh my, you see, he's omniscient. He takes the things of God. He
searches the things of God and reveals the things of God unto
us. And he says, Now we have not
received 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. Not only is he omniscient, knows all the things of God,
and knows all the things of man, and reveals unto us the things
that God has prepared, but he's omnipotent. He's omnipotent. In fact, when Joseph was fixed
to put his wife away, put Mary away, he's minded to put her
away privately because he found out she was going to have a child.
He was sleeping one night, and the angel of the Lord came to
him and said, Joseph, don't you be afraid to take Mary to be
your wife. For that holy thing that's conceived in her is conceived
of what? The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost
came upon her. The power to put the seed of
God in a woman, to put the life of God in a woman, to put the
life of God, he says, the Holy Ghost, that thing that's conceived
in her is conceived of the Holy Ghost. And that's why, you know,
it takes seed to produce life. It always takes seed, natural
life, any kind of life. And that's the same thing it
is in this business of spiritual life. The Holy Ghost takes the
seed, the Word of God, and puts it in our hearts. He certainly
does. And then let me tell you something
else to prove that He's absolutely God, that He's deity. He is absolutely sovereign. As God's sovereign, He's sovereign.
You know, it says in Matthew 4 that Jesus was led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness. And how in the world would the
Lord Jesus Christ be led of the Spirit unless the Spirit was
absolutely sovereign and Christ submitted Himself to that Holy
Spirit to lead Him up into the wilderness? The Spirit guided
Him and helped Him and enabled Him while He was in the wilderness.
And then in John 3, when the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, except
a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. And He said, and the wind blows
where it listens. It blows where it will. He says
you hear the sound, you see some evidence of it, but he says you
don't know where it comes and you don't know where it goes.
And he says that's the way the Holy Spirit is, so is he that's
born of the Spirit. This shows the sovereignty of
the Spirit. Sometimes he comes as a rushing mighty wind, sometimes
he blows real softly, sometimes he comes in great power, but
he blows where he will. He blows upon, if one person
may be sitting there getting absolutely nothing, the person
sitting there next to him may be turned upside down. He is
absolutely sovereign where He blows, absolutely sovereign who
He works under. And let me show you something
else over in Acts 13, just a moment. In Acts 13. You know, the Holy
Spirit calls men into the work of the Lord. He's the one that
calls men into the ministry. Christ calls men into the ministry
and puts them into ministry. The Holy Spirit puts men into
the ministry, sets them apart. It says here in Acts 13 and 2, as they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work were unto I called them. Only God can call a man. Well,
here's the Holy Spirit calling them. Here's the Holy Ghost calling
them. And when they had fasted and prayed, laid their hands
on them and sent them away. And watch this. So they being
sent forth of the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia, and from
this they sailed to Cyprus. So the Holy Ghost is the one
who brings men and puts them in the ministry. He's the one
who separates them. He's the one who sets them apart. So He's absolutely sovereign.
And the works, the works that ascribe to Him, that the Scriptures
ascribe to Him, reveal His Godhead. Creation is ascribed to the Holy
Spirit. Creation is ascribed to Him and
tributed to Him. You know, by Him, by His Spirit,
He garnished the heavens. You know, the thing is, is that
you know everything that God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit done, they've done it as as one, and yet they
all have different instances we'll see later. But you know,
look with me over here in Job 33, just a moment. Job 33. Talking about creation being
attributed to Him, showing that He is God. Only God can create. God's the one who, He said, let
there be light. There was light. the light from the darkness.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Well,
the Holy Spirit creates. Creation is attributed to Him.
By His Spirit, He garnished the heavens. Here in Job 33 and verse
4, look what it says here. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty
hath given me life. The Spirit of God hath made me. A song we sung tonight about
when I was an infant in my infant heart or something. You know, He is the one who formed
us in our mother's womb. The Holy Spirit was. Kept His
head on us. And all scripture, showing you
the works that's ascribed to Him, not only creation, but the
inspiration of the scriptures. He said, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God. That means it's God-breathed.
That means the Holy Spirit is the one who breathed them into
existence. And even the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ was
formed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one, the
power of the high shall overshadow thee, and that holy thing which
shall be conceived in thee is conceived, born of the Holy Ghost.
And there He was. He came upon her. And the Holy
Ghost is the one who came upon her and conceived her. He formed
Christ. He formed Christ in Mary's womb. He's the one who did it. And
to show you that He is God, our Lord Jesus was anointed for His
work by the Holy Spirit. Do you reckon Christ needed to
be anointed? When He started His public ministry, He said,
The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me. to preach the gospel to the
poor. And over in John 3.34 it says
this, that the Lord gave the Spirit without measure unto him. Everybody else in this world
gets just a measure of the Spirit. Christ had the Spirit without
measure. Everything he did, all the works
that he did, all the miracles that he did, the Holy Spirit
worked through him and in him. And then let me show you this
in Romans chapter 8, verse 11, and I'm through. Romans 8, 11. And the Spirit's who raised Christ
from the dead. I told you that once, but look
at it over here again with me. The Spirit raised Christ from
the dead. Romans 8, 11. But if the Spirit, see how it's
capitalized again, the Spirit, Of Him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ from
the dead. You see, the Holy Spirit raised
up Jesus. The Holy Spirit raised Christ
from the dead. There lay the dead body. He was
as lifeless as anybody you ever, any funeral, that funeral went
to the other day, that man was lifeless. Christ was as lifeless
as that man was. You could touch Him and He couldn't
feel. You could speak to Him and He couldn't hear. His heart wasn't beating. Couldn't
see out of his eyes. Couldn't hear with his ears.
And there he lay in that tomb. And then, early Sunday morning,
the Holy Spirit come in there and quickened him. Put life back
in that body. Put life back in that body. Opened
him eyes. Opened him ears. caused that
heart to start beating again. And life came into that body.
And he came out of that tomb. And the Holy Spirit quickened
him and raised him from the dead. And look what it says here. And
the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead shall also, when
you are in the grave, when you are just in the tomb, shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit. Where's that Spirit
at? That dwells in you. He's going to do exactly the
same thing. He did it. It quickened us from the death
of our sin. He gave us ears to hear, eyes
to see, a heart to believe, spiritual motions and actions to go towards
God. And when we're put in our graves
and we're put in our tombs and we're put in the ground, And
he's the same one that quickened Christ is going to come and quicken
our mortal bodies. And I heard a dumb, poor, ignorant
preacher. He's gone now, and I don't want
to speak evil of the dead, but this poor old preacher, he's
using this verse of Scripture one time, and he says, when Christ
quickens your mortal bodies, that means that He makes you
move real fast while you're preaching. Instead of it makes you, it gets
you stirred up while you're preaching. Could you imagine somebody being
that eager to be a preacher? No, I can't. Tempted to be a
preacher. Taught herself a preaching, but
not being a preacher. Oh, no. And here's the question. I'll ask you this. It says down here in verse 16,
Romans 8. The Spirit himself, that's where
it should read. Instead it says the Spirit itself.
bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Has the Holy Spirit bore witness to your spirit, to my spirit? And this bear witness means give
evidence to. When somebody bears a witness
to something, they give evidence to something. Does he bear witness
that he's in you, that Christ has been made through you? Has
he bore witness, gave evidence to you that you're a child of
God? That's what He does. He's the only one who can give
you evidence. He's the only one who can bear witness to you.
I can't bear witness to you being a child of God. But He can. I can't make you know whether
you know Christ, but He can make you know whether you know Christ.
And He's the only one who can. If you need assurance, I can't
give you that. Only the Holy Spirit can give you that. And
He's the one who gives evidence whether you're one of Christ
or not. And does He ever give evidence to you that you belong
to Him, that you know Him? Has He given evidence to your
heart? Oh, I believe Christ. I need
Christ. I've got to have Christ. I'm
unable, even as a child of God, I'm unable, unable to keep myself
spiritual as I want to be. I'm unable to pray as I need
to pray. I'm unable to study as I'd like
to study. I'm unable to be as holy as I'd
like to be. I'm unable to have a good thought. And sometimes all we can do,
and I read a little thing today, it said, Lord, help me. Lord,
help me. Lord, help me. That's all that
preacher could say. Lord, help me. And that's all I could say
so many times. Lord, help me. And how's He going
to help me? The Holy Spirit's going to come
and do something for me, going to stir up my heart, stir up
my mind, show me where I'm wrong, show me my weakness, my inability.
I wouldn't even know I was weak and unable if it wasn't the Holy
Spirit that made me know that. I would never shed a tear if
the Holy Spirit didn't work it in me. I wouldn't understand
one verse of Scripture if the Holy Spirit didn't interpret
it for me. I'd be like everybody else, I'd
be stuck on John 3.16, the 23rd Psalm. That'd be the whole Bible
for me. Or the, what do they call that,
the Golden Rule? Do unto others as you have them
do unto you. Just get it done first. Oh, that's
all we'd know about the Scriptures if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit
in us. So He's God. He's God. Our Father, in the blessed name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for giving us this short
time together this evening. I pray that you take the words
that have been said and cause them to be a blessing, cause
us to learn from it. Lord, we need you. And again,
we pray for our services this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
that you would use Brother Greg and that we would come with prepared
hearts we come ready and willing to listen, to learn, and sit
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and learn. And, O Father,
we pray again for those who are sick and tired. Bless them. And,
Lord, we pray for Eleanor, strengthen her and her body, and restore
Brother Floyd's strength to him. We ask in his name, Christ's
name. Amen.