to see they're safe, just thankful to our Lord for them. We've been looking at chapter 11 of Don's book, The Basic Bible Doctrines, Bible Teachings. And in chapter 11, we approach the subject of the person and the work of God the Holy Spirit. We spent the last two Sundays looking at this chapter. He takes his thoughts from John 14, 16, And 17, which says, which we read, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter.

This is Christ speaking. 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 and shall be in you. Folks, to have life, to have Him who is life in a heart, we read that God must give us a new heart, and that's the work of the Holy Spirit. He must give us a new heart.

We looked at how the Holy Spirit is Himself God in the Spirit. He's the third person of the Holy Trinity. In all things equal with God the Father and God the Son, we consider the work of the Holy Spirit as it is necessary for the salvation of God's elect. As the works of the Father are necessary and of the Son, so are the works of the Spirit.

We spent our time in the last couple Sundays looking at those. And then we came to the Advent. You recall last Sunday, we considered the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and how it was the Holy Spirit that revealed the things of Christ to those people, to those 3,000 of whom the Lord took their hearts through the preaching of the gospel. Now, this morning, we're going to pick up the last part of this chapter, and we're going to look at the works of the Holy Spirit in general.

And Don tells us that there are fourfold, in other words, four things that we see in the work of the Holy Spirit. And when he says general, he's not meaning as anything but for a lack of a better word. He says there is nothing general about these four works of supernatural divine power which are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. And the first one he talks about is creation. Creation is a work in which God the Holy Spirit participates with the Father and the Son.

Listen to these words from Genesis 1 verse 2. And the earth was without form and void. How many people have read these verses and not realized that the Spirit of God is right there with the Son of God as the creator of all things and God the Father who creates everything. Listen to this, let me go on. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water.

Did you catch that? I've got to be honest with you. I mean, there's a lot of things I'm learning in this study just as well as anyone else is. I didn't, you know, I fell into that trap. You'll remember that I admitted, I confessed that I fell into that trap of thinking of the Spirit of God as not necessarily a person, but a whiff of smoke maybe, a movement, A wind as it's described when it talks about God's spirit giving life to his people over in John chapter 3. Just like that, I've thought about this very thing, I fell into this very trap as well. The Spirit of God was there in the beginning in Genesis 1-2. Listen to Job chapter 33 verse 4.

The Spirit of the Lord hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. You see the work, the works of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures declare there? So creation is a work of the Holy Spirit as well. He participates in that. He participates in the providence, just like creation is a work of God the Holy Spirit, who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him, with whom took counsel. That's Isaiah 43, 13 and 14. It is the Spirit of God who turns the king's heart, whithersoever he will. Inspiration is a work of the Holy Spirit.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, it says, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instructions in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3.16. Or how about this, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Are you starting to see a picture? Taking what we've seen over the last couple of weeks, we're seeing the picture of our God, the Holy Spirit, who works all things out according to the counsel of His own will, and how He has a part throughout all of God's salvation.

Listen to The book of God, writes Don, is his book. He inspired it. Every word was written, every sentence was formed, and the order in which the whole book was written was by his supernatural, unerring, infallible direction. Though many instruments were used to write the book of God, God the Holy Spirit is its only author. The incarnation and virgin birth of Christ are works attributed to the Holy Spirit.

Listen to these words from Matthew 1 verse 20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. So we see that Christ becoming a man could not have become a man if it had not been for the Holy Spirit, right? Here's another one for you, Hebrews 10 verse 5.

Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Well, who prepared the body? The Holy Spirit of God. The only human body of Christ, I'm sorry, Sometimes you read a word and your brain just doesn't work right. Not the only, the holy. The holy human body of Christ was created by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It was God the Holy Spirit who prepared the body for our Savior in which he could both obey the law of God and satisfy its justice by the sacrifice of himself as our substitute.

Another thing we see is it is the sovereign, irresistible work of God, the Holy Spirit, that lost sinners are born again and brought into a living union of faith with Christ. Turn over to Psalm 65. We'll look at a couple of psalms if you would. Psalm 65. I'm talking about the Holy Spirit and His work, and His irresistible work, saving lost sinners, causing them to be born again. Look at verse 4 here. 65 verse 4.

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach them to thee that they may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house. Another one, if you would, go to the right to Psalm 110. Psalm 110. So we see it's the Lord who causes us, the Spirit of God who causes us to dwell in His courts. Over in Psalm 10, verse number 3, we read these words, The people shall be willing when, in the spirit of thy power, in the day of thy power, And the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast to do of thy youth.

One more, if you would, over to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. You can't get any plainer than this, folks. This is just as plain as the nose on our face. Look at verse 63. We're talking about the Spirit and His work in giving life to a dead, cold sinner. Look at verse 63. It is the Spirit that quickens. There you go. God's Word itself. It's the Spirit that gives life. So we see there with those three verses, the regeneration, the new birth, and his work. Look again in John chapter 3. Let's go over to John chapter 3. Beginning at verse 3. John 3, verse 3.

Jesus answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. This is the Lord answering Nicodemus. And Nicodemus said in verse 4, He saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter in a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and what? Of the Spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Don goes on to say this, he says, it is the Spirit of life who gives life to dead sinners. The revelation of Christ is the Spirit's work as well. Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 4, 16, or 4, 6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, look at John 16. You're in the book of John already. Turn over to chapter 16. And look with me a couple verses there. John chapter 16, beginning at verse 13.

Albeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever ye shall hear shall He speak, and He will show you the things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.

We know Christ only as God, the Holy Spirit makes Him known to us and in us. We know the things of God only as He makes them known, as we see in 1 Corinthians 2. Turn over there if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is to the right, just the other side of Romans. And look at verse 2, I mean chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. beginning of verse 10, but God hath revealed 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 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. 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 of God. Chosen and redeemed sinners are convinced of their sin of righteousness, established by Christ, and judgment finished by His blood, atonement only by the almighty, efficacious grace of the Spirit of God, as we read in John chapter 16, 8 through 11, if you want to turn back to John again.

Looking at verse 8, it says, and when he is come, speaking of the Spirit, this is John 16, verse 8, and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more.

As David sent Ziba, To fetch Mephibosheth, remember that story? Mephibosheth was born, he was dropped at some point when he was born or fell or something to that point. He was born lame, he was lame from that time on. He couldn't move, so David sent somebody after the household of Saul to fulfill a promise that he made to Saul's son. And Mephibosheth was the only one left, and he couldn't walk, so David sent Ziba to fetch him.

So the Lord Jesus Christ, our King, sends his Spirit. There was a day when every one of us came under the hearing of the gospel for the first time. Some of us may remember that well, like myself. Some may have faded off a little bit into the past, but I find that most people remember the time the Lord first taught them, through the preaching of the Scripture, the truths of His Word. That was the Spirit working in you. That was the Spirit doing what He said to Nicodemus, giving life, quickening.

Opening our hearts in the preaching of God's Word to the Word of God. The fact that they are all by unnature unwilling, all of mankind unwilling to be fetched is no difficulty for our Lord. He is not just an influencer, He is God the Holy Spirit. He makes the chosen willing, as we read a moment ago in the Psalms, 110 verse 3.

He converts those that He calls effectually, giving them faith in Christ by the operations of His omnipotent grace. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 2, where we have one verse over there, and I've got a lot of verses for us this morning, but I think I'm going to just pick and choose as we go through, if you don't mind. If you'd like a full list of more verses to look at, I would be happy to give them to you. So look over to Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9.

This is how we're talking about giving us faith in Christ by the operations of His omnipotent, all-powerful, all-irresistible grace. Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, that man should boast. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit, writes Don, that the believer's life is ordered and protected and preserved in this world unto eternal glory. Don writes, believers are people who have been born again and live in the realm of the Spirit, the realm of faith.

And look over Romans 8. I know we're familiar with Romans 8, 28, but I want to look at some other verses there. Don brings us to Romans chapter 8, verses 5 through 9. Speaking of us who live in the realm of the Spirit, in Romans 8, verses 5, we read these words, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is immunity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Here's the realm that Don is talking about. So, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of his.

God lives in us, and we live in God. Read John chapter 17 sometime in your own time, and look how many times the Lord says about being in Christ, and Christ being in us. He lives in us, and we live in Him. God the Holy Spirit takes up residency in every believer permanently. From the moment of regeneration, He dwells in every believer forever. He works in every believer continually. He is sanctifying He is a sanctifying influence of every believer's life. He is their earnest of our inheritance and gives us an assurance of salvation.

Listen to Romans 8, verse 16. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Or how about these words from 2 Corinthians 1, 22, who hath also sealed us and given us an earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. And one more, if you would, from Ephesians 1, 13-14, in whom ye also trusted, after ye had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed. This is talking about the Spirit. Folks, once the Spirit comes into God's people, He doesn't just leave. What does it say in Malachi? I think it's chapter 3, verse 3. I am God Almighty. I am the Lord God Almighty. I change not. Therefore. What comfort we have. Therefore. Because He changes not. These sons of Jacob are not consumed. He's talking about His elect. He's talking about His power. He's talking about the one who keeps us. God Himself.

We were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Folks, the Holy Spirit is the comforter, the teacher, the illuminator, the one who opens our eyes and gives us the understanding we have through God's Word, the unction, the one who gives me the ability and others the ability to stand up and preach, the one who gives you the ability to answer questions when you're out in the world. Somebody comes up to you and says something to you, and they say, well, God loves you, God loves everybody. You know that's not true. If God gives you something to say in that fact, it comes from Him. It comes from the One, the Influencer of Truth.

So He gives us the answer. He leads the believer in obedience and service to Christ Himself. We'll talk more about that in the next message. The Holy Spirit calls. qualifies and equips men for special service in the kingdom of God. He distributes spiritual gifts in the body of Christ as he will. He gives the power of grace to do what we are called to do by God himself. And the spirit of grace produces in every believer the fruit of grace. Every Fruit that comes from us is produced by His grace, not of our works. It is the Spirit who teaches us to pray according to the will of God. And the Holy Spirit directs all the believers' hearts in worship.

In the last day, God the Holy Spirit will be the agent of Christ, as we read in Romans 8, 11-23, in the resurrection of our bodies, the second resurrection, as he has been in the resurrection of our souls, the first resurrection that we read about in Revelation 20, verse 6, and we'll close with that. Turn to Revelation 20, verse 6. Speaking of the resurrection of our spirit, the first one, blessed and holy. This is Revelation 20, verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such, the second death hath no power. Amen.