God, Christ & Holy Spirit (2)
Jim Davis
Last week we studied about God, Christ and the Holy Spirit's part in the creation of the physical world. We noted that each is a distinct person and each had a distinctive function in the creation of the physical world. We observed that God commanded creation to come into being through his authority. (Genesis 1:1) We noted through out Genesis chapter one that the phrase "God said" preceded each act of creation. We also noted that Christ was the creator of the physical elements of the material world. (Colossians 1:16-17) The Holy Spirit's part in the creation of the material world was to organize it and establish laws whereby the material could be sustained. He also perpetuates all life on earth through the regenerative laws he has set forth at creation. The Holy Spirit garnished the heavens. (Job 26:13) He renews the vegetable kingdom through his regenerative laws. (Psalms 104:30) He is also present everywhere and his laws of perpetuation extend throughout the galaxies. (Psalms 139:7-10) He is present wherever the laws of the universe are. The Spirit of God continues to be involved in the physical lives of humans. (Job 33:4)
This week I want us to use what we learned last week as an analogy to what God, Christ and the Holy Spirit are doing in the spiritual realm. "There is a close analogy between the material realm and the spiritual. God is the Originator, Creator, and Supreme Ruler of the material universe: the Word (Christ) is the agent through whom all things were made; the Holy Spirit is the organizer, the life imparter, lawgiver, and guide of the material realm. "(H. Leo Boles, The Holy Spirit, His Personality, Nature, Works. Gospel Advocate Company, Nashville, TN 1971. Pg. 46)
The same is true in the spiritual realm; God, the Father, originated and planned it; he brought about this new spiritual realm through the divine agent, Christ his Son. It was the Holy Spirit who revealed the laws that sustain God's spiritual kingdom. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and through the apostles preached the laws of God's spiritual kingdom through the revelation of gospel.
I. Three Persons Involved in Creation of God's Spiritual Kingdom
A. The establishment of God's spiritual kingdom on earth was by the authority of God. At God's command Christ came into our world.
When Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden, our spiritual relation with God was destroyed. From the moment that sin entered into the world God began to unfold his plan for a new spiritual creation through Jesus Christ. We were dead in sin but now God seeks to make us his new creation in Christ. (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Romans 8:3-4
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (NIV)2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (NIV)
1. God sent an angel to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus Christ.Luke 1:26-31
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. (NIV)2.While on earth Christ only taught what God authorized him to teach, it was at God's command Christ spoke.
John 12:47-50
"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." (NIV)John 5:30
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (NIV)
B. The Holy Spirit's role in God's new spiritual creation.1. Holy Spirit's role was the conception of Christ. Just as the Holy Spirit was giving life to dead matter in the creation of the physical world, He is imparting life as Jesus is conceived in the virgin Mary.
Luke 1:34-35
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (NIV)Matthew 1:20
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (NIV)
2. Holy Spirit's role was to guide Christ teaching.
Isaiah 42:1-4
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope." (NIV)Matthew 12:17-18
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. (NIV)
C. Christ voluntarily came into the physical world to save us spiritually to be recreated into his image.Philippians 2:1-11
John 10:18II. Spiritual Kingdom Sustained by Holy Spirit
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." (NIV)Ephesians 2:10
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (NIV)A. It was through Christ that the Holy Spirit enacted the laws of the spiritual kingdom. The Holy Spirit continued his work through the disciples. The Holy Spirit took the laws given through Christ and continued to give those same laws to his disciples.
1. Jesus promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit would be with them.
Matthew 10:19-20
But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (NIV)
2. Holy Spirit would teach disciples all things and would remind them of what Jesus had said while he was on earth.
John 14:25-26
"All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (NIV)
3. Holy Spirit would guide disciples into all truth and convict the world of sin.
John 16:7-11
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (NIV)John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (NIV)
Those laws given by the Holy Spirit continue to sustain and uphold all those who are saved.4. The gospel revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles. In the following verses Paul speaks of the gospel as something no one has ever seen, conceived or heard, but God has now revealed the mystery of the ages ---- God's way of salvation. The gospel was revealed by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:9-13
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. (NIV)Ephesians 3:1-6
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (NIV)
What eye had not seen, ear had not heart and the mind could not conceive is not made known through the gospel of Christ. It has been written down in the scriptures for us to understand.5. Whatever we may know about God's plan to save -- about his new spiritual creation has been revealed by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:21Isaiah said, "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners . . ." (Isaiah 61:1 NIV) "Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me." (Psalms 51:11 NIV) "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. (2 Samuel 23:2 NIV)
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (NIV)Whatever we know about God has been revealed to us through the Holy Spirit in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Conclusion:
We can clearly recognize the Holy Spirit's part in our salvation. Next week we will note the Holy Spirit's miraculous works in the establishment of the church. We will also study how the Holy Spirit continues to work in the life of the believer.