is not that I did you. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. In Luke chapter 11, verse 11,
the Lord poses this question. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that's a father, will they give him a stone? If your
son is hungry and asked for something to eat, would you throw a rock
to him? Of course you would. If you ask a fish, will he for
a fish give him a serpent? Of course not. Or if he shall
ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion, something that could
harm him? Of course not. You wouldn't give
your children things like this. And the Lord says in verse 13,
if you then being evil, notice the Lord didn't say if we then
being evil, he's not evil, he's altogether holy. He's speaking
to his children too. He talks about their heavenly
father. But he says, if you then being evil, how do you respond
to that? Some people would take offense,
I suppose, but every believer knows it so regarding themself.
If you then being evil know how to give good goose into your
children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him? I've entitled this message,
Ask for the Holy Spirit. In Matthew's account, Matthew
says, how much more shall your heavenly father give good things
to them that ask him? And oh, God's children ask him
for good things. We ask him for the forgiveness
of our sins. We ask Him for His grace and
for His mercy. We ask Him to let us be seen
in Christ. We ask him that we might be accepted
of him. He has made us accepted in the
beloved. We ask him for faith. We ask
him for repentance. We ask him for love. We ask him
for a new heart. We ask him to preserve us. We
ask him to deliver us from evil and to keep us from bringing
reproach on the gospel in our lives. We ask him to give us
grace for obedience. We ask for many good things. But if we have the Holy Spirit,
we have all these things. And if we do not have the Spirit
of God, we have none of these things. And our Lord said, the
Heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to them who ask Him. Now the Holy Spirit is the third
person of the Trinity. God is one God. Now, what I'm
saying is unique to the Bible. No other religion has anything
like this. This is who God is. This is mysterious. This is inexplicable. You can't understand it. It can
only be believed. God is one God. There are not
two gods. There are not three gods. We
don't believe in pantheism. There's only one God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy
God is one Lord. He's one God. There's one God,
and he is revealed in three distinct, separate persons. God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As I said, we can't understand
this. We can only bow to it and believe
it. God is one God in three distinct
persons. Now, when we baptize someone,
the Lord said to say this. were to baptize in the name of
the Father and in the name of the Son and in the name of the
Holy Spirit. Paul ended up 2 Corinthians with
this statement, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the
love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. John said, there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. These three distinct persons
are one. Now, we don't have an analogy.
We don't have an example. I know some people have said
water is an example. It is in vapor, it's in ice,
and it's liquid. Well, that's true about water,
but I don't think that that in any way gives us a picture of
who God is. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. He is called in scriptures the
Spirit. Same word we get wind or breath
from. invisible, powerful, immaterial. He's called the eternal spirit. He never began to be, and he'll
never end. He is not like God. He is God, eternal. He is the Holy Spirit. He's called the holy, the separate,
The other, he's called the spirit of promise. He's called the spirit
of God. He's called the spirit of the
living God, the spirit of glory and of God. He's called the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. He's called
the spirit of your father and the spirit of his son and the
spirit of Jesus and the spirit of Christ, the spirit of Jesus
Christ, the spirit of adoption, the spirit of life, the spirit
of truth, and the Spirit of Grace. These are all the names given
to God the Holy Spirit. He's God, equal to God the Father
and God the Son, and subordinate to both. That's what the scripture
teaches. He's not an influence. He is
a person with intelligence, with a will, with affections, and
individual substance. He has life in himself just like
the Father and just like the Son. God the Holy Spirit. We're called upon to ask for
the Holy Spirit. Now the work of the Holy Spirit
in salvation is just as essential as the work of the Father and
the work of the Son. Now the work of the Father in
salvation is He is the one who elects. We are bound, Paul said,
to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you, elected you to salvation. Now, if you're saved, it's because
God chose you to be saved. He chose you before the foundation
of the world to be saved, and saved you must be. That's God's
work. Who were the elect? Those he
elected. I don't know how else to say
it. Romans 9, 11 says for the children, talk about Jacob and
Esau being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not
of works. but of him that calleth." You
see, if you're saved, God the Father elected you. Now, if you're
not saved, you can't say, well, I wanted to be saved, but God
said no because I wasn't chosen. No, it's not that. If you're
not saved, it's because you prefer your sin to Christ. But if you're
damned, it's all your fault. But if you're saved, it's all
His fault. And you know that. God the Father elects, God the
Son redeems. God sent His Son to redeem the
elect, to take their sin upon Himself, to pay for it, to work
out a perfect righteousness for them, and to give it to them.
It's called substitution. God the Son redeems. and God
the Holy Spirit regenerates. He's the author of the new birth.
He gives you the grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your
Savior. He gives you the grace to trust
Him. He gives you the repentance you have from sin. We need the
Holy Spirit. We need His work. His work is
just as essential as the work of the Father and the work of
the Son. Now, we need the Holy Spirit Because by nature, we're
dead in trespasses and sins. That's what the scripture says.
And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And because of this death in
trespasses and sins, we have no ability. Our Lord said in
John chapter 6 verse 44, no man can come to me. No man is able
to come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him."
Now listen, my dear friend. You and I, by nature, are dead
in trespasses and sins without the ability to believe, without
the ability to repent, without the ability to love God. We're
born dead in sins because of what Adam did when he died, we
died, and we lack the ability to perform the functions of spiritual
life and we're completely dependent upon the Spirit of God to give
us life, life from the dead. And if he doesn't give us life
from the dead, We won't be able to believe. We won't be able
to repeat. We won't have any desire to. We'll be fine just
the way things are. We need the Holy Spirit to sanctify
us. We need the Holy Spirit to teach
us. We need the Holy Spirit to comfort us. We need the Holy
Spirit to guide us. We need the Holy Spirit to transform
us, to translate us. to quicken us, to resurrect us,
both physically and spiritually. We need Him to make us a new
creation. We need Him to heal us. We need Him to enlighten
us. We need Him to awaken us. We
need Him to renew us. We need Him to keep us. We need
Him to preserve us. Oh, how we need the Spirit of
God. You know, the Lord said, without
me, you can do nothing. And we know that's so, isn't
it? But it's equally true of God the Holy Spirit. Without
Him, we can do nothing. And all we experience of God
is by Him. If you see the beauty of Christ,
it's because God the Holy Spirit teaches you. If you see the sufficiency
of Christ, how you need nothing else but Him, it's because God
the Holy Spirit has taught you. He's given you life and He's
given you a nature that can behold the beauty of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, what does the Holy Spirit do? Well, what does God
do? That's what the Holy Spirit does.
He was active in creation. The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. He was one of the ones who said,
let us make man in our own image. There's the third person in the
Trinity, the second person, the first person, God, the Father,
God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit say, let us make man in our own
image. God, the Holy Spirit is the one
who wrote the Bible. Now, listen to this scripture from 2 Peter
1, holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, if we don't have the Bible
as the inerrant word of God, what do we have? We have my opinion
and we have your opinion, both of which count for nothing. But
thank God we have a revelation from God himself. God the Holy
Spirit wrote this book. Look at his work in the incarnation
of Christ, when Christ was made flesh. We read in Luke 135, the
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. This is what the angel says to
Mary. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
highest shall overshadow thee, and that holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. The Holy Spirit
worked upon Mary to make her the mother of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And his great work is to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 16, we read these
words of our Lord concerning his spirit. He says to his disciples,
nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It's expedient for you
that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come to you. I love his name as the Comforter.
But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come,
he will reprove, he will convince the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. That's his office. And our Lord
lets us know what he meant by sin and righteousness and judgment.
He'll reprove of sin because they believe not on me." Now
when you're convicted of the Holy Spirit, you find out that
even faith is out of your grasp, that you can't even believe.
You don't even know what it means to believe. You find out you're
an unbeliever. Now, there's a lot of people
that have sensitive consciences, and that's a good thing. When
you do wrong, you feel bad about it. But you know, a lost man
can have that. But the conviction of the Holy Spirit is when you
find out faith is out of your reach, unless God's pleased to
give it to you. Of righteousness, he says in
verse 10, because I go to my father and you see me no more.
You become convinced that the only righteousness there is,
is the righteousness that he worked out and presents to his
father. Verse 11, of judgment, because
the prince of this world is judged. You really believe that all judgment
has taken place in the cross. He says, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you can't bear them now. How be it when
He, the Spirit of truth, is come? He will guide you into all truth. And this is what God the Holy
Spirit does. He doesn't guide you into error. Somebody doesn't
believe the gospel. Somebody believes something erroneous.
They didn't get that from the Holy Spirit. He will guide you
into all truth. And I need the Holy Spirit to
guide me in all truth, because I know I'll go the wrong way
unless He does it. He will guide you into all truth, for He shall
not speak of Himself." You know, the Holy Spirit is so humble. He never refers to Himself. He always speaks of Christ. That's
who he speaks of. He doesn't speak of himself.
You know these preachers that are always putting this emphasis
on the Holy Spirit and the charismatic movement and Pentecostalism and
speaking in tongues and all that kind of stuff? That's not what
the Holy Spirit does. He doesn't speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He will
show you things to come. Here's his office. He shall glorify
me. That is the work of the Holy
Spirit. He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall glorify
me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. This
is his great work. It's to glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the author of the new birth. In John chapter 3,
beginning in verse 1, we read, there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus. a ruler of the Jews. He was a
religious leader. The same came to Jesus by night.
At nighttime, I guess because he was ashamed to be identified
with Christ, his cronies certainly wouldn't have approved of it,
so he came at night. But I think it means more than just he came
at nighttime. He was in the dark. He was utterly
blind with regard to spiritual truth. He came at night and said
unto him, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher come from
God. No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be
with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except a man be born again, regenerated, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. You talk about the things you
know. In reality, you know nothing. You must be born again or you
can't see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how
can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, is spirit. Marvel not that I
say unto you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it
wills. You hear the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, or whether it goeth. So is every
one that is born of the Spirit." God the Holy Spirit is the author
of the new birth. It's what Peter called being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God which liveth and abideth forever." And this
is the answer to the promise of Ezekiel chapter 36 verses
26 and 27 when he says, I will put my spirit within you and
cause you to walk in my statutes. That's why I need the Holy Spirit.
I need him to cause me to do the will of God. Do you know
every believer is called the temple of God where the Spirit
of God dwells? If you're a believer, God the
Holy Spirit dwells within you. He's given you a new heart, a
heart that sees your sin, a heart that sees your need of Christ.
He is the one who teaches you. I'd like to read a couple of
verses from 1 John 2, beginning in verse 20. We read, but you
have an unction, this is every believer, you have an unction,
an anointing from the Holy One. That's God the Holy Spirit. And
you know all things. Now that does not mean that you
have omniscience. It doesn't mean you know the
answer to every mathematical problem or understand the laws
of physics and everything. It doesn't mean that at all.
But you know all things. Look in verse 27. but the anointing
which you have received of him abideth in you, and you need
not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, even as it hath
been taught to you, you shall abide in him. You see, when you
have this anointing, you know all things. When you hear the
truth, you know it's the truth, because you have this anointing. Now, if you don't know it's the
truth, you just don't have the anointing. God's never done anything
for you. If God's anointed you, if he's
given you his spirit, you hear the truth and you know it because
you know the truth. You know all things, you know.
When you hear the truth concerning how God saves sinners, you say,
yes, that is the truth. You give your amen to that because
you have the anointing of God, the Holy Spirit, and you know
the truth. As soon as you hear it, you know
it's the truth if you have the anointing. Now if you don't have
the Holy Spirit, if all you have is one nature, you're confused
when you hear the truth or it doesn't make sense to you. But
if you've been taught by God the Holy Spirit, you know the
truth as soon as you hear it. Now God the Holy Spirit is the
author of what is called the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians
5.22 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Now this is the fruit of the
Holy Spirit. When God saves someone, they
have the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They have love to God. They love
Him as He is. They love Him as He's revealed
in His Word. They wouldn't change Him if it
were in their power. They love the Lord Jesus Christ.
They see Him as all together lovely and everything they need
in salvation. They love the Spirit of God. They love communion with
the Spirit. All their experience of God comes
through God, the Holy Spirit. They have peace. The fruit of
the Spirit is peace. What peace we experience from
knowing that when Christ Jesus said, it is finished, all that
God requires of us, we have. You have peace from that joy.
Do you have joy from that joy? that Christ is everything in
salvation and you need nothing else. The fruit of the Spirit
is long-suffering. You see how God is long-suffering
toward you, and it makes you long-suffering toward your brothers
and sisters. The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness.
That's kindness, kindness. Same word is translated, be kind,
tenderhearted. forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." Goodness. The
fruit of the Spirit is goodness, which is seen in acts of compassion. The fruit of the Spirit is faith.
If you have faith, You know He gave it to you. The fruit of
the Spirit is meekness, this attitude toward God that believes
whatever He does is right and we submit. That's the fruit of
God the Holy Spirit. Temperance, control from within,
that's the work of God the Holy Spirit within. Oh, the fruit
of the Spirit, and He's a witness to us. Listen to this scripture,
Hebrews 10, 14 says, wherefore by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And do you hear what that says?
By his one offering, he's perfected forever everybody he died for.
And the next verse says, where of the Holy Ghost is also a witness. This is what he bears witness
to. And he bears witness to our spirit
that we're the children of God. This is the work of God, the
Holy Spirit. Paul said in Romans 8.13, if you live after the flesh,
you'll die. But if you, through the spirit,
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Romans 8.26 says
he helps our infirmities, making intercession for us. We read
of being filled with the Spirit. We read of walking with the Spirit,
being led of the Spirit, and the unity of the Spirit. But
I would like to end with this statement. What does God the
Holy Spirit have to say? In Revelation 22, verse 17, there's
so much more we could say about the Holy Spirit. One of the glorious
things about him is he doesn't speak of himself. He only speaks
of Christ. If a man constantly emphasizes
the Holy Spirit, he doesn't have the Holy Spirit. The work of
the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what
does the Spirit of God have to say to me and you today? Revelation
chapter 22, verse 17 says, the Spirit and the bride, This is
the voice of God, the Holy Spirit, and the church. The Spirit and
the bride say, come. Come right now as you are to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't try to make yourself better.
Don't try and do something to make yourself worthy. Do not
try to do anything to save yourself. Right now, as an empty-handed
sinner, come to the Lord Jesus Christ as you are not going due. You see, the message of law is
due. Go do something. The message
of the gospel is it's done. There's nothing for you to do.
come as you are to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let not conscience make
you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requireth
is to have a need of him. This he gives you, tis the Spirit's
rising being." That's the work of the Holy Spirit. He says,
come to Christ, and he enables you to come. You wouldn't come
unless he caused you to come. The Lord said in John 6, verse
37, all that the Father giveth me, speaking of all of his elect,
shall come to me. Every single one of them will
come to the Lord Jesus Christ, being drawn by the Spirit of
God. And then he said, him that cometh to me. I will in no wise,
for no reason whatsoever cast out. If you come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, you will be received. I don't care how bad you are,
how dead you are, how unable you are. If you come to Christ,
In your heart, asking him for mercy, we have this promise. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. So what is the work of God the
Holy Spirit? He tells dead sinners to come
to Christ. And he gives them life to enable
them to make this move in their heart. Thank God for the Holy
Spirit. And our Lord taught us, ask for
the Holy Spirit. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.