Good morning. If you'd like to open your Bibles with me, we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 2 this morning. Hebrews chapter 2. At least that's going to be where we'll begin. So let's ask the Lord's blessings on our time together. Our merciful and gracious Heavenly Father, how thankful we are that we're able to sing about our substitute, the one whom you have revealed throughout all of scripture. Lord, how hopeful we are this morning as we open the Bible that you would open our hearts, that you would open the windows of heaven, that you would open the meaning of your word and cause us, Lord, to look in faith to thy dear son, our sin bearer, and all our righteousness, or that we would find our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray. Amen. Our text this morning will begin in Hebrews chapter two. And we'll overlap a little bit from what we looked at last Sunday.

In verse three, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders and divers, miracles and gifts, of the Holy Ghost according to His will. My hope this morning is that we will have a better understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and and what he does for his church, that we will appreciate him more that we will find ourselves in need of him and that our hearts will be drawn to love him. Yes, the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit.

Now, the Apostle Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And as the apostles of the Gentiles, his apostolic authority was always called into question by those who hated the gospel of free grace. They wanted there to be some requirements of the law attached to the gospel. And so in their attempt to silence Paul and to discredit him, they were always calling into question his authority as an apostle. And so, often in his letters, he would have to defend his position as an apostle.

And in doing so, For instance, in the book of Galatians, in the book of Ephesians, in both of the letters to the church at Corinth, and in Romans, he emphasized the fact that he did not learn these things from a man, but that he was taken by the Spirit of God into Arabia, and that he spent three years being instructed one-on-one by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that he had received this gospel message directly from God.

For that reason, For that reason, we know that the Apostle Paul is not the penman of the book of Hebrews. He never would have said, as we just read in verse 3, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. That is just the opposite of what he said in all of his other writings. This gospel message was not confirmed unto us by them who heard him. If Paul was writing, he would say this gospel message was confirmed directly to me.

Now, the Apostle Paul, of his own confession, an apostle born out of due time, the apostle to the Gentiles, was given apostolic powers and apostolic authority, just as were the other apostles. And so these gifts of the Holy Spirit that the apostles had were confirmation that the message that they were preaching was from God. But before we touch on what those gifts were, let us address the question as to who the Holy Spirit is. Who is the Holy Spirit?

In John chapter 16, the Lord Jesus calls him the witness. the witness. He is the one who witnesses to the hearts of God's people the truth of the gospel. The Lord Jesus also referred to the Holy Spirit as the comforter. He is the one who comes along beside us and advocates for us and speaks peace and hope and truth and life to our hearts.

He's called the Holy Ghost. He's called the Spirit of the Lord. He's called the Spirit of Christ. He's called the Spirit of Truth. All of these titles describe for us the one that the Penman of Hebrews is now referring to, who gave to the apostles gifts. Gave to the apostles gifts. He is none other than the third person of the triune Godhead.

Now, I understand that sometimes it's difficult for us to to identify with the Holy Spirit. We have in our own experience fathers and sons. And so in one sense, we we can relate to God the Father, we can relate to the Lord Jesus Christ as God the Son, but who is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? The scriptures are clear that he is no less, he is no less the fullness of God than the Father and the Son. All the attributes and all the characteristics of the divine nature belong to the Holy Spirit as well as to the Father and to the Son.

What kind of attributes are we talking about? Well, eternality. The Holy Spirit is an eternal person. He's not As some have suggested, just the impersonal power of God. He is. He is the third person of the Godhead who is himself Jehovah. He is himself. I am. He is in self self existent, uncreated. He is uncreated. He is the one that, in creation, hovered over the face of the deep. You remember, the earth was without form and void, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep.

And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And that light is Christ, and that Spirit is the Holy Spirit. And so we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit working together in physical creation. And in the same way, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit work together in spiritual creation, in making us new, in doing for us what they did When the earth was without form and void, we come into this world, spiritually speaking, without form and void, and darkness is upon the face of the deep. And it is the Spirit of God that must breathe life, and it is the Son of God that must give life, and it is God the Father who must ordain life. And so we are, according to the revelation that God has given us of himself, elected by the Father, chosen by God the Father in the covenant of grace. We are redeemed. We are purchased by God the Son, and we are regenerated and kept by God the Holy Spirit. How could there be any failure in a salvation? That is, purposed, accomplished, fulfilled, pursued by such a glorious Godhead.

Not only is the Holy Spirit eternal, as is the Father and the Son, He is sovereign. He is in absolute control over all things. There is no competition between the sovereignty of the Father and the sovereignty of the Son and the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, like the Father and like the Son, is immutable. He is immutable.

When God said, I am the Lord and I change not, Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed." That declaration is true of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is no less God Almighty, the all-powerful, eternal, sovereign, omniscient God, than the Father or the Son. This is who the scriptures reveal himself to be.

All the divine perfections of God are in the person of the Holy Spirit. The scripture says that the Holy Spirit can be grieved and that the Holy Spirit can be quenched. Only a person can experience grief, and only a person can be quenched. These are not the experiences of some impersonal power. This is telling us that the spirit of God is as much a person as is the son and as is the father.

Our need for the Holy Spirit is that we can't pray without the Holy Spirit. We can't worship without the Holy Spirit. We can't preach without the Holy Spirit. Now we can say words, and those words can be accurate, They can be true to scripture, in prayer and in preaching, but without the Holy Spirit taking those words and making them effectual to our hearts, giving us understanding and giving us faith, those words will be of no profit to us. We can't witness without the Holy Spirit. how desperate we are for the Spirit of God.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes that a threefold cord cannot be broken. A threefold cord cannot be broken. It's a picture of a rope that's twined together with three ropes and the strength of that rope. And I believe in that we see a picture of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, a three-cord rope that cannot be broken.

Turn with me, if you will, to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. As I already said, I hope this morning that we can have a better understanding of who the Holy Spirit is, not what he is, but who he is. I hope that we can have a greater appreciation of our need for him and a love for him.

Why? Because the Lord has instructed us to ask for the Holy Spirit. He told us, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? I hope that if anything else, that if nothing else, that the Lord will put on our hearts by considering what he has revealed about the person and work of the Holy Spirit, that he will put on our hearts a need to ask for him.

Because without him, without him, we can't do anything. Without Him, we're operating in the strength of our own flesh. The Lord Jesus told that woman at the well that they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. We can know all the doctrinal truths of the Bible and accurately define our orthodoxy, but without the Spirit of God enabling us to worship, it's just gonna be religious activity is all it's gonna be.

For it to minister grace and hope and peace and life to the heart, the Spirit of God must be involved. He must not only be involved, he's the one that has to do it. They that worship him must worship him in spirit, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and according to the truth of God's word.

You have your Bibles open to Romans chapter 15. Look, if you will, at verse 13. Paul's closing remarks to the church at Rome. And he always expresses his prayer to these churches when he writes his epistles. And here in chapter 15, toward the end of the book of Romans, he says, now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. We can't believe, we can't abound in truth and in hope apart from the power of the Holy Ghost. We must be born again by the Holy Spirit.

The Lord told Nicodemus, Nicodemus, accept you be born Again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus couldn't understand what the Lord meant when he said born again. He was so confused that he said that he even contemplated the thought of going back into his mother's womb and being, how can that be? And what did the Lord Jesus say? No, Nicodemus.

That which is of the flesh is flesh. You were born the first time according to the flesh, but that which is of the spirit, the spirit, it's the spirit that giveth life. The flesh profiteth nothing. You've got to be born from above. You've got to be born by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that opens the eyes of our understanding. It's the Holy Spirit that gives us faith. It's the Holy Spirit that speaks truth to our hearts. That's why he's called the spirit of truth. The spirit of truth. Turn with me, if you will, to John chapter 16.

Now the Lord Jesus was, the word comforter, it's Well, in the original language, it's the word paraclete. Adam is an attorney. It's one who stands by your side and advocates for you and presents your case to the judge. What a comfort we have. If we are called into a court of law to have someone who knows what they're doing to advocate for us, to be our comforter, someone that stands along by our side, that has our best interest at heart, that can present a case for us, that will deliver us from the curse of the law.

Now that's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ is. He is our advocate before the Father. He is our righteousness. If any man sin, John says, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He pleads our case. Would it be possible that the father would not agree with the case that the Lord Jesus would present to him? No, there's the threefold cord that cannot be broken.

But now the Lord Jesus is going to say, I'm going to send you another comforter. I'm going to ascend back into heaven. I'm going to take my rightful place at the right hand of the majesty on high, but be of good cheer. I'm not going to leave you without a comforter. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. And after the Lord ascended back into glory, about 10 days later was the day of Pentecost, the disciples were all gathered in the upper room, and the fulfillment of that promise was made, and the Spirit of God came.

John chapter 16, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. it's good for you, it's necessary. As long as I'm here with you, you remember when Mary came to the tomb and she thought that he had died and that they had stolen their body, his body? And now he speaks her name, Mary. And she realizes that it's the Lord. And she says, oh, Rabboni. And what does she do? She tries to cling to him. Like, I'm never going to let you out of my sight again. I'm never going to let you out of my sight again. I thought I'd lost you.

The disciples, as long as the Lord Jesus was here in the flesh, the disciples could only have comfort with him if they were in his physical presence. And the Lord said to Mary, now I know in the King James it says, Mary, don't touch me, I'm not yet gone to my father. The word touch me is cling to me. I don't believe the Lord was saying to Mary, you're going to defile me if you touch me before I ascend back into glory. There were others that touched him. He was saying to her what he's saying to us.

Don't cling to my physical presence. Don't look for physical manifestations. Don't look for physical evidences of my presence in order for you to have comfort. I'm gonna go to my father and when I do, I'm going to send the spirit of God and he will be with you always. so that if you are unable to sleep and turning in your turmoil at two o'clock in the morning, he's with you. He's called the spirit of Christ. He's not separated. He's a separate person, but he's ministering the same truth of the gospel to our hearts. Wherever we are and wherever we go, the spirit of God is there.

That's how That's how glorious, that's why the Lord said, it's expedient for you that I go away. Right now, you have to depend upon my physical presence in order to have comfort to your heart. But I'm going to go to my father and I'm going to send another comforter. Look, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. How glorious it is that we have none less than God Almighty. God Almighty. The Holy Spirit is no less God than the Father. He's no less God than the Son.

And he ministers grace to our hearts. And he speaks and he comforts always. wherever and whenever we cry out to him, he's there. That's why Paul said, he is near to you as your lips. He is not far off. He is not far off. Say not, what can I do to bring Christ down from above? Or what can I do to bring him up from beneath? What can I do to make what he did work for me.

No, he's near unto thee, even as near as thy lips. For if thou will confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Spirit of God is always with us, brethren. Always. There's never a time he leaves us. The Lord Jesus said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Never. I'll always be there. And that's how he's there, through the ministry of God, the Holy Spirit.

Verse eight, and when he is come, when he is come, you know, we have to, believe what's true about God from what he has revealed to us. We must be very careful not to try to imagine things that aren't revealed in scripture. And we must be very careful not to imagine the Spirit of God as some sort of impersonal force. He is a person.

And when he has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now the word world here is used in the same context that we find it in John 3 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. Does God love every single person in the world? No. Jacob I have loved, Esau I've hated, he loves righteousness, he hates iniquity, he loves his son and all that are in him. So what does the word world mean?

Well, if it meant the same here that some people think that it means in John 3.16, then the Holy Spirit's not doing a very good job. And I say that with, That statement is blasphemy. Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit to say that he's not able. He said when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin. He will convince the world of sin. He will convince the world of righteousness. And he will convince the world of judgment.

Is he failing? Did the Lord Jesus fail in what he came to do? Did he die for some people who are gonna end up eternally separated from God? Absolutely not. No, the Lord Jesus accomplished what he came to do and the Holy Spirit accomplishes what he has been sent to do.

The word world here is speaking of Those outside of Israel, those outside of Judaism, the Gentile world, that's where we came out of the world. And then the Lord's gonna tell us what this reproving the world, and this word reprove means convince. They're not just going to entertain the thought of sin. They're going to be convinced that they're sinners. They're going to be convinced by the power of the Holy Spirit that everything about them is sinful. And the convincing of their sinful nature is not going to be that they're going to have to admit their bad behavior.

You don't need the Holy Spirit to admit your bad behavior. The Bible makes it clear that all men have the law of God written upon their hearts and that God has given to every man a conscience to know right from wrong. You don't have to have the Holy Spirit to have a guilty conscience when you do something that's wrong. Everybody experiences that. What you have to have the Holy Spirit for is to convince you that all of your sinful behavior is founded in one thing, unbelief. Unbelief. My fallen nature is an unbelieving nature. Left to myself, I cannot believe. Left to myself, I cannot generate faith. Left to myself, it's impossible for me to be saved.

The Holy Spirit must regenerate me. He must make me to believe. And so the Lord Jesus says, of sin because they believe not on me. Now, when the Spirit of God gives us faith in Christ, we continue to confess. that apart from that faith that God has given me in Christ, apart from that new nature, that new heart, I remain an unbeliever. Nothing in my old nature, nothing in my flesh is capable of believing God. That's why the man cried out, when the Lord said, if you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe. And what did that man say? Lord, I do believe. Oh, help thou mine unbelief. Restrain my unbelief. We have an unbelieving nature that has to be restrained.

And behaviorally speaking, the only difference between one person and another is divine restraint. Divine restraint. That's the only thing that differs one man from another. How much God restrains a person from being what they would be apart from that restraining work of God Almighty. The Bible says that the wrath of man, the sinful behavior of man, will praise him. God will turn all the evil that man does to his glory. And that which he cannot use to praise him, he will restrain. He will restrain.

We, the unbeliever sees atrocities taking place in the world and they think, how could that be? How could that be? And the unbeliever who understands the nature of sin and understands the nature of their own sin and how dependent they are for God to restrain their old nature is amazed that those atrocities don't happen much more often than they do. It is the restraining grace of God that keeps men The restraining, let me say this, I don't want to use grace as it relates to the unbeliever. It is the restraining power of God that keeps men from doing what they would otherwise do.

We need the Holy Spirit to convince us that apart from the righteousness that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from that perfect faith, that perfect life of faith that he lived, and the work of grace that he has given us to believe on him, that everything about us is sinful.

Sinful. He will reprove the world of sin because they believe not on me. When the Spirit of God regenerates us, he convinces us of that. He convinces us that everything about us is unbelieving and sinful before God. And whatever bad behavior we may demonstrate, It all comes from a nature of unbelief.

Lord, help thou mine unbelief. Restrain my unbelief. Thank you for the faith that you have given that enables me to rest all the hope of my salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ for all of my acceptance before God. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. He will reprove the world of sin because they believe not on me. Look at verse 10, of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more.

We look not on those things which are seen. For those things which are seen are temporal. We look on those things which are not seen. For those things which are not seen are eternal. We set our affections on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We look through the eye of faith to the Lord Jesus Christ seated. He is seated because he finished the work. In the Old Testament tabernacle and in the Old Testament temple, there are many pieces of furniture. There is an altar, and there is a laver, and there is an ark. And one thing that is conspicuously missing in the Old Testament tabernacle is a chair. Why? Because the priest's work was never done. They never sat down. They were always making sacrifices for sin. It was a bloody religion.

And when we look through the scriptures to see, to look through the eye of faith into that which cannot be seen by the flesh, the Lord has revealed to us that that one piece of furniture that's missing in the tabernacle of the old covenant is the one that stands out prominent. in heaven.

It's a throne. And the Lord Jesus is seated. He's finished the work. He cried on Calvary's cross when he bowed his mighty head. It is finished. There's nothing else to be done. And he ascended back into glory and took his rightful place. And as we've already seen, he ever lives to make intercession for his church. The work of redemption is accomplished.

There's nothing more for us to do of righteousness because I go to my father. What does that mean? That means that all our righteousnesses, the best thing that we ever do is filthy rags before God. I think there's an article in your bulletin this morning quoting George Whitefield saying that a man has never really repented until he has repented of his righteousness. Think about that. A man has never really repented until he has repented of his righteousness. If God judged you and me for the best thing we ever did, the best prayer we ever prayed, the best selfless act that we ever performed for someone else that no one else knew about, if God judged us for that, we'd go to hell for it.

This goes back to the first point. that when the Spirit of God comes, he will reprove the world of sin because they believe not on me. Lord, I'm a sinner, and whatever I do, whatever I put my hand to, it has sin involved in it, but here's my hope. I have a righteousness in heaven. All my righteousness is filthy rags before God. The best thing that I ever did needs to be repented of. Repentance is not just confessing your Your shameful acts, it's, Lord, everything about me is sinful. But I have a righteousness in heaven.

The Lord Jesus has ascended back into glory, and the Father has accepted him. Not only accepted him, but said to him, sit thou here at my right hand until I make all thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord Jesus sent his works before him, And the father saw the works that the Lord Jesus accomplished. And the father said, I'm satisfied.

We have a righteousness, but it's not in us. It's in Christ. He is our righteousness. Only to the extent that he is in us and we are in him. This is our hope. This is our hope in the day of judgment that as he is, so are we in this world. My righteousness is Christ. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

When the Comforter comes, it's expedient for you that I send the Comforter. When he comes, he's gonna convince you that you're a sinner. He's going to show you that your only righteousness before God is seated at the right hand of God. And look at verse 11, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.

He's going to convince you, reprove you, that when the Lord Jesus died on Calvary's cross, that he actually accomplished the putting away of all your sin, that he defeated death. That's the work of the devil, death. He opened the grave. He defeated Satan once and for all. Satan is on borrowed time. He's God's devil and he's on God's leash and one day he's gonna be chained and thrown into the lake of fire. But in the meantime, judgment has been executed. Judgment has been accomplished. He will convince the world of judgment because the prince of this world, that's Satan, is, not shall be, but is judged. He is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.

Well, that's always the truth, isn't it? That's always the believer's experience. Lord, I want to know everything, little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. I'll grow you in grace, but growth in grace is a gradual thing. It's a gradual thing. I'll teach you as you're able to receive the new light. How be it when he, The Spirit of Truth has come. He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself."

And here's one of the reasons why we might have a difficult time relating to the Holy Spirit as we relate to God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit doesn't exalt Himself. the foolishness that's being practiced in many forms of modern day. And I emphasize that word modern day. Christianity, and I'm using that word in a very broad sense, is contrary to the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

People believing that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second blessing. That somehow the manifestation of the Spirit of God in ecstatic utterances and in performing of miracles, those were apostolic gifts. Those were given to those men who were used of God to pen the scriptures. And there's no evidence that those gifts were ever intended to extend beyond the time of the apostles. And if you have any understanding of church history, you will know that those things that are practiced today in the holiness movement and in Pentecostalism and in the charismatic movement relatively new. The church knew nothing of that stuff until some wild-eyed prophetess woman in the 18th century stood up and began to say that I've received a second blessing from God, and it spread from there. It's not of God. You say, well, what is it?

Well, a lot of it's just smoke and mirrors. A lot of it is just trickery, it's just sleight of hand. A lot of the rest of it is just psychological manipulation. It's manipulating the crowd to experience something that just comes from emotion. And much, if not most of it, is demonic.

I say that without apology. What's being practiced in Pentecostalism and in the holiness movement and in charismatic movement today is demonic. It is a denial of the work of the Holy Spirit and what he has come to do. Can you show me that from Scripture? I believe I can. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse nine, talking about the wickedness being revealed.

Verse nine, even he whose coming is after the working of the spirit with all power and signs and lying wonders, There is an evil spirit in this world, and he's able to do supernatural things, but it's not the Holy Spirit. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved, What is the love of the truth? That's the love for Christ. It's love for who he is and what he's done and the spirit, that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Let's go back to our text in John chapter 16. Verse 13. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine, and therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. He's gonna reprove the world of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my father, and of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. So much I've wanted to try to deal with. I guess I had too much this morning, but go back with me, Tartex, and let me see if I can close this. Bring it, bring it all back around. Verse four.

He's talking about those apostles. That's what he's talking about in verse three. Those who were with him, those who heard him. The apostles. This is not Paul writing this. The apostle Paul heard him and received the gospel directly from him. And the Apostle Paul, as is described in chapter, in verse 14, was given spiritual gifts, even as those 11 apostles were given. For as God also bearing them witness, confirming their message, both with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, our Holy Ghost, according to His own will. We read about the gift of tongues and the gift of healing and the gift of miracles.

Those were sign gifts. They were given to the apostles and through the apostles occasionally to others, but only by the hand of the apostles to authenticate the message of the gospel. You say, well, why don't we need them today to authenticate the message of the gospel? If they speak not according to the law, and to the testimony, it is because there is no light in them.

The spirit of God now takes the word of God and reveals Christ to the hearts of God's people. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, he gave gifts and signs and wonders and miracles. to those early apostles. And now that we have the scriptures, the full testimony, those apostles were preaching from the Old Testament. This New Testament had not been written. They were in the process of writing it and being confirmed by the Spirit of God.

I wanna say, to my brethren, don't be, don't be felt as if you are somehow a lesser Christian or that you have not experienced a greater blessing because of those who pretend, pretend to be manifesting the gifts of the spirit of God. The gift of the Spirit of God is to lead you to Christ. That's His gift. That's His work. And it's a spiritual work. It's a hidden work of grace in the heart as God enables us to look to the Lord Jesus for all of our righteousness, all of our acceptance, All the hope of Satan being defeated was all accomplished in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. That's his work.

Those who, you know, what do they say about rich people? If you have it, you don't have to flaunt it. And then there's the wannabes who are flaunting a lot more than what they actually have. I think that applies to what we're talking about here. If you have the Spirit of God, you don't have to flaunt Him. Those who go about pretending to have something that they don't have, trying to convince themselves in the flesh that they have something spiritual about them, the work of the Holy Spirit is a work of grace in the heart. or give us, give us your spirit. All right.