We're going to look at two passages
of Scripture as we consider, once again, God the Holy Spirit
and the believer. The first passage is in Zechariah. If you will turn back with me,
that's the next to the last book in the Old Testament, Zechariah
chapter 4. And verses 6 and 7, Zechariah
chapter 4, verses 6 and 7. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt
become a plain and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with
shoutings crying grace, grace unto it. These two verses that
we've just looked at and I've read are the answer. They contain the answer of an
angel who was speaking to the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah
in a dream or a vision had seen a golden candlestick with seven
lamps, much like the lampstand that was in the tabernacle, but
it was different in this sense. At the top there was a bowl,
and there were pipes running from the bowl to each one of
the lamps, and then on either side there was an olive tree. If you look back, let's read
that in the first few verses. And the angel that talked with
me came again and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of
his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And he said,
And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold,
with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon,
and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top
thereof. and two olive trees by it, one
upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side
thereof. So I answered and spake to the
angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my Lord? Then the angel that talked with
me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, Lord. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord
of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain,
before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying,
Grace, grace, unto it. This, it seems, pictured the
continuous supply for the lamps that were burning. The two olive
trees would continually supply the oil that was needed for the
lamps to burn, the constant supply. Zerubbabel did not understand
what this meant, and so we see the angel explained it to him. Who was Zerubbabel? Who was this
man, Zerubbabel? Well, we know that he was the
leader. He was a governor of Israel when the nation came back
out of the 70 years captivity in Babylon. And he was at the
head of the nation. He was to reestablish the testimony
and worship of God in Jerusalem. And we know that included the
rebuilding of the temple. And I believe that the many obstacles
that he faced, and there were many obstacles, remember this,
these people coming back out of captivity, and they were to
reestablish God's worship there, build a temple, and once again,
began to worship God according to the law of Moses. concerning
the sacrifices, the altars, the candlestick, the table of showbread,
the holy of holies, and all of that. But there are two great
truths that are given to him as he faced these many, many
obstacles, which are represented by the great mountain. Notice
that the question is, who art thou? O great mountain, before
Zerubbabel. In other words, in the face of
these difficulties, these obstacles that he was going to meet, God
is promising him and showing him that every need would be
met, that there would be a constant supply, as these two olive trees
pictured, constant supply of oil for the lambs. And the constant
supply. to enable him to accomplish the
work that he was to do was by the power of the Holy Spirit,
first of all. That's the first thing we see.
It would be by God, the Holy Spirit. It would not be by might
nor by power. This is common in the word of
God. First, we have a negative. It's
not by might, it's not by power. The work that he was called to
do, it was beyond the ability, beyond the power, beyond the
strength of a man. And it would not be by man's
power, man's ability, man's might, but it would be produced by my
spirit, which we know is God the Holy Spirit. We have seen
previously that the relationship in the Trinity is that the Holy
Spirit proceeds from the Father. When the Comforter, our Lord
said, when He has come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeded from the Father. God says, My Spirit. It's God,
the Holy Spirit, who is going to give you the strength and
the power that you need. And this mountain, these obstacles,
all of these things that would hinder you in doing the work
that I've called you to do, they're going to be taken care of. How? Not by human power, not by human
ability, but by my spirit. The work of the Lord and preaching
the gospel, and the point I'm making especially is in living
the Christian life, the life that God would have us to live.
None of us have the ability. No man does. And yet God promises
that it's not by might, it's not by power, man's power. It
is rather by God the Holy Spirit living in us, enabling us. And there's a constant supply.
There's a constant supply every day over the years of read and
heard a few people think, well, I don't know if I should confess
or profess Christ as my Lord and Savior. I just don't see
how I'm going to hold out. You can't. Not in your strength,
and you're not expected to. That's not it at all. But God,
the Holy Spirit, He's the one who will give you, not by might
nor by power, but by my Spirit, this great mountain, whatever
it is, and all of it. shall be as a plain. And then
the second thing we see, grace, in verse 7. Notice it says that
he would bring forth the headstone thereof. Now this means at the
finishing touch, the end, the headstone of this work, that
it would be brought forth with shoutings of grace, grace. Now that tells me that If at
the very end, all the glory, all the praise is given to grace,
then all the work was done by grace. That's the point I want
to make. God, the Holy Spirit, and God's
grace. And remember, as God told Paul,
the apostle, my grace is sufficient for thee. When you look at the
life of Paul, or the life of the believers in the New Testament,
it was an impossibility when you think about it to do what
some of them did, many of them. But they did it, why? Because
of the power of God, the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God. We know and we saw last week
that the new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit. We looked
at that passage in Ezekiel chapter 36 that said, a new heart also
will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I will
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
in the New Testament was speaking to Nicodemus about the new birth,
He said, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. We also
know that the new birth, in the new birth rather, is by the grace
of God. Salvation is of grace. And so
I want us to see these two truths, the Holy Spirit and grace, their
association. The beginning of salvation in
a person. All of us here tonight who have
been saved, All of us, without exception, because there's only
one gospel, there's only one Savior, and the work of salvation
begins with the new birth, and that is the work of God the Holy
Spirit. In John chapter 1, we read, but
as many as received Him. If you are saved, you have received
the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. As many as received
Him. To them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And
you see those two terms are synonymous. To believe on Christ is to receive
Christ. Many people, I don't know why,
but even among some sovereign grace preachers, they have a
problem with that word receive. But that's what the scripture
says. To receive Christ is to believe on Christ. And then we
read, which are born, not of blood, nor of the will of man,
nor of the will of the flesh, but of God, of God the Holy Spirit. The new birth begins, the Christian
life begins with the work of God in us, the grace of God. And here's the beginning, and
we all know this, you know this, I'm not telling any of us anything
we do not already know, that the beginning of salvation is
the work of God the Holy Spirit. Yes, He uses the gospel. We've
seen that. The gospel comes to us, but as
I pointed out last week, what one of the Puritans said, the
Holy Spirit comes riding in the chariot of the gospel. Of his
own will begat he us with the word of truth, we read in James. But it's the work of the Holy
Spirit and it is a work of grace. For by grace you are saved. So salvation begins with the
work of the Holy Spirit, by the grace of God, And what we need
to see is it continues. As long as we are in this world,
the child of God, our life is going to be marked by God the
Holy Spirit and the grace of God. God the Holy Spirit, when
he comes to live, he doesn't come to stay for just a few days. He comes and he doesn't leave. He's with us even unto the end
of the age. Now the second passage I want
us to look at is found in Galatians. So, we see that very clearly
here in this passage of scripture. There's a continuous supply,
continuous supply of God the Holy Spirit and the grace of
God as we would serve the Lord. As we have begun by the work
of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God so we are to continue
to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here in Galatians chapter 3,
verses 2 and 3, the Apostle asks this question, This only would
I learn of you. Received you the Spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish,
having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Now you see in the first question
that Paul puts forth, it supposes, his question supposes that they
had received the Holy Spirit. That's taken for granted, because
he asks, this only would I learn of you, receive ye the Holy Spirit. But the question is, they had
received the Holy Spirit, but how did they receive the Holy
Spirit? Was it by hearing the gospel
of the grace of God that you were quickened and made alive
in Christ, given life in Christ? Was it through hearing and believing
the gospel of the grace of God that you were born again, justified,
sealed with God the Holy Spirit? And remember, the Holy Spirit
is the seal. He himself is the seal of every
believer. Keep your place there, but look
over just a few pages to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 and verse 13. In whom, that's Christ, in whom
you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth.
The gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed,
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit
is the seal. And the seal shows ownership. You're bought with a price. You're
not your own. You are His. And it also shows
security, doesn't it? It shows security. We sang that
hymn. As long as God is and I am, there's
not going to be any separation from His love. But Paul is asking
the question here in Galatians. Was it through hearing the gospel
of the grace of God that you were quickened, that you were
made alive, that you received God the Holy Spirit? Or was it by hearing a so-called
gospel which puts you to working that adds to the message of Christ. How was it? How was it that you
received the Holy Spirit? Was it the work of grace taking
place in your heart as you received the Lord Jesus Christ, or was
it when You heard a message, and that's because the Galatians,
you know, these churches, these false teachers had come there,
and they had began to teach, well, you know, Christ, that's
good, that's good, but there's more, there's more. And I've
often wanted to ask people who say that, what more is there
than Christ? What more is there than Christ?
And when you ask someone, usually they, The answer will have to
be, well, it's what we do. It's our works. Christ is all. He's all in all, the scripture
says. And we are accepted in Him. He
finished the work. We receive Him and we're saved
and saved for eternity in Him. Now we are to grow in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord. There's no question about that.
We are to mature. But we never reach perfection
in the sense that we are, in this life, free from the flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, and
the flesh can do nothing but sin. That's all it is, sin. The spirit is life. The spirit
is righteousness and holiness. Now, there's only one right answer
here. This is not a trick question
that Paul puts to them, is it? There's only one right answer.
Did you receive the Holy Spirit by hearing the gospel of the
grace of God, or did you receive the Holy Spirit by hearing the
message of works? There's only one right answer.
Now see, this is true. You began in the Spirit. Notice
that. You began in the Spirit. Now,
are you so foolish? Are you so foolish as to think
that to go on in growth, in maturity, that this is the work of the
flesh? That this is going to be accomplished
in your natural, innate strength and ability? Well, it's not going
to happen that way. That's not going to... That which
we recognize that we have been born of the Spirit of God, we
didn't have the strength, the ability to produce a new birth,
and we don't have the strength, the ability to grow, to mature. We don't have that in ourselves.
Look in Galatians 5, just a moment. We don't have the ability, the
strength in ourselves to bring about the new birth. That's the
work of God, the Holy Spirit, and it is a work of grace. Well,
what would make us think that we have the power, the ability
to grow, to grow ourselves, to mature? In verse 25 of chapter five, Paul
says, if we live in or by the Spirit. If we live by the Spirit,
that's how we came to have life, isn't it? By the Spirit. By Him
quickening us. By Him working in our hearts. If we live by or in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us live This is what I see
here. Let us live depending upon the
Holy Spirit for the strength, for the power, for the help as
we live in this world, as we walk in this world. It's not
by might, it's not by power, but it is by my spirit. This is what the Lord is teaching
us. Let us take the Holy Spirit's
Word, that is the Scriptures, as our guidebook. You know, a
child of God in the New Testament, a child of God has spoken at
least one time as being in a race. In Hebrews chapter 12, let us
run with race. Let us run with patience the
race that is set before us. But several times, our life is
pictured as a walk, as we walk. Now, a walk has a beginning,
doesn't it? It has a beginning. And our walk
began with the new birth. That's when we begin to walk
with God. A walk has a destination. It
has an end. And our destination is heaven.
It is to forever be with the Lord. Now, our walk must be in
dependence upon God, the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God. We must never think that we are
sufficient in ourselves. You know, Paul said we're not
sufficient in ourselves to even think of right thought. That's
amazing, isn't it? Man doesn't like to believe it.
But that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's all there
is to it. And that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit. We don't have the strength, the
ability to live as the Lord would have us to live, to grow in the
grace and knowledge of the Lord. But thank God we do have God
the Holy Spirit living in us. You know, when our Lord promised
the coming of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14, he used the
title of comforter, of comforter. And the Greek word from which
that is translated is a word that's, uh, it looks like you'd
pronounce it parakletos, parakletos, which literally means called
to one side. called to one side. And it's
the same word that's translated advocate in 1 John chapter 2. Speaking of, if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
who is the propitiation for our sins. So we have one who comes
alongside, who lives in us, that is God the Holy Spirit, and we
have one who ever lives, in the presence of God as our advocate,
as our helper. That word literally can be translated
our succorer. You know, in Hebrews, we have
a high priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
and he's able to succor us, help us. The Holy Spirit, that's one
of his titles as well, helper. and we have Him always living
in us to help us. Our need is to learn to depend
upon God the Holy Spirit and the grace of God working in us
every day. Every day when we get up and
face life, we've got obstacles, we've got a mountain like Zerubbabel
had before him, but yet he was going to be successful. And that
mountain was to become like a plain. How? Not by his strength, not
by his ability, but by God's Spirit and God's grace. I want you to turn to Acts chapter
4 and look at the early church,
what's recorded here of the early church in regard to these two
truths, God the Holy Spirit and grace. God the Holy Spirit and
grace here in Acts chapter 4. If you will look in verse 31 and also verse 33. And when they
had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And they spake
the word of God with boldness. Now notice in verse 33. And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great
grace was upon them all. You see, the Holy Spirit and
grace. In verse 33, they were filled
with the Holy Spirit. And in verse 33, we're told,
and great grace was upon them all. And what did this enable
them to do? Now they're just a minority.
A very small minority among the Jews in Jerusalem. These early
believers. But what did the Holy Spirit
and the grace upon them enable them to do? Well notice it tells
us that they were able to speak the Word of God with boldness. With boldness they were able
This is what it produced. They spoke the word of God with
boldness. Now, let me close with these
two scriptures and think about the Holy Spirit and grace. I've tried to point out that
the Christian life begins with the Holy Spirit's work and grace,
and it is to continue trusting in the Holy Spirit and God's
grace. How necessary, how needful is
the Holy Spirit and grace? Think of these two scriptures.
First concerning the Holy Spirit in Luke chapter 11 and verse
13, I'll read it to you. If you then, now these are the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you then being evil, and that's
a general truth of all men, right? If you then being evil, Know
how to give good gifts unto your children. Look at this, how much
more? How much more will your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? We should
ask, should we not? We should ask to be filled with
the Holy Spirit. Pray and ask the Lord to fill
us day by day with His Spirit, enabling us to walk in the Spirit.
and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Because we still have
the flesh and it's still, it lusts against the spirit. And
we need God's power, the power of God, the Holy Spirit to walk
in the spirit. And then the second verse is
found in James chapter four. This has to do with grace. Always
remember this, James four and verse six, God resisted the proud. Any time we get lifted up and
think we're sufficient in ourselves, think we're beyond the reach
of temptation to fall into sin, whatever, God resisted the proud. But, I'm glad that's not the
end of this verse, aren't you? But giveth grace unto the humble. May God help us to humble ourselves
always before him. Recognizing that in ourselves,
we are nothing. We are what we are by the grace
of God. And whatever we have, we've received. Whatever we know, he's taught
us. That's just so, isn't it? And
all the glory and all the praise, all the honor must always redound
to the Lord. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless this word and think about these two truths, the Holy Spirit,
the need of the Holy Spirit, and grace, how they work together.
That's how the Christian life begins, and that's how it is
to continue. Let's be dismissed with prayer.