Boy, turning tonight in the Scriptures, I know the bulletin says Acts 2, that's where I expected to go, but made a change this week as I studied the Holy Spirit, went to Romans 8. So if you've already read Acts 2 in preparation for this sermon, I apologize, but you've certainly not wasted your time. Let's go to Romans 8. Our topical study, of course, is the Belgic Confession and the deity of the Holy Spirit tonight in Article 11. So Romans 8. And then if you'll join me on page 163. the very bottom, the deity of the Holy Spirit, Article 11, which continues on page 164. But first, I'll read to us Romans 8. You, no doubt, are aware of the fact that in the great book of Romans, the Holy Spirit, His name, his topic, his focus, it's not been in Romans 1 through 7. We've hardly heard at all about the Holy Spirit throughout the book and suddenly in chapter 8 he just splashes onto the scene. So we have before us a great chapter giving us insights into the person and into the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm just going to read the first 30 verses. Hear now the word of God. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. "'who walk not according to the flesh, "'but according,' now here it comes, third person, here he is, "'but according to the Spirit.'" So the first verses here have been all focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, but now watch. "'For those who live according to the flesh "'set their minds on the things of the flesh, "'but those who live according to the Spirit "'set their minds on the things of the Spirit.'" For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we're debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, for in this hope we are saved. Now, hope as seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Word of the Lord to us tonight from Romans 8. Now if we'll take up the Belgic Confession. The deity of the Holy Spirit, we'll read this together, it's a short article. Beginning then with these words, together we say, we believe and confess also that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son. Neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but only proceeding from the two of them. In regard to order, he is the third person of the Trinity, of one and the same essence, and majesty and glory with the Father and the Son. He is true and eternal God, as the Holy Scriptures teach us. The word from the confession. So congregation, a few moments ago, we said words about the Holy Spirit as we gathered to stand in the Apostles' Creed, where we said, I believe in the Holy Spirit. And then, of course, all of that follows has to do with the Holy Spirit in his work, in the church, that's why we believe in a holy Catholic church, a holy, in other words, separate, universal church that the Holy Spirit is creating throughout the world. It was so exciting this morning to hear from the Word Indeed Ministries, right? The one story just really moved us of that Muslim leader whose daughter became a Christian and then she ended up suffering and dying for the very fact, and then that's what brought him to Christ. What a story that was this morning. And the communion of saints, this is a work of the Holy Spirit giving us communion among ourselves. Are we in fellowship one with another here at this church? It's the work of the Holy Spirit. The forgiveness of sins, of course, here The Holy Spirit's work is to drive us to see our sin, to admit our sin, to be soft towards it instead of hardened to it. And so the Holy Spirit's work there with sin, the resurrection of the body, we already see evidence that the Holy Spirit will indeed cause our resurrection someday and we go to the empty tomb with the Lord Jesus Christ to see that. and then the life everlasting, which we end this wonderful creed with the words, amen, which means we agree, we believe in the Holy Spirit. Now, in our last study, the Belgian Confession, we studied the divinity, the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We concluded that Jesus was God and yet fully man. Tonight, we seek to identify the Holy Spirit. Who is he? What does he want? What's he up to? What's he doing? So with the same kind of outline that we used for Jesus, let's see how the scriptures reveal the divinity of the Holy Spirit, okay? So we're trying to walk through right now, kind of be in school here for a few minutes, kids. We're gonna try to understand who is Jesus Christ. I'm sorry, who is the Holy Spirit? Okay, so here we go. His identity. If we go to Acts chapter 5, we hear an interesting, sad story of a man who thought he could lie. And you know his name is Ananias. He goes and sells the property and he gets some money. And now he comes and he's trying to make it look like all that money he's given to the Lord. And so he's lying. Let me read the text. Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you've lied to the, to who? Who did he lie to? Peter says, you just lied to the Holy Spirit. And you've kept for yourself some of the money that you received for the land. Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it the money at your disposal? In other words, you sold the land, you do what you want with the money. You didn't have to come lying about it. And after it was sold, okay, what made you think of doing such a thing? You've not lied to men, but to, and you would think the text would say what? The Holy Spirit. It doesn't say that. You just lied to God. So here, Peter has no problem putting the two together. that at the one point he's lying to the Holy Spirit and at the other time he's lying to God because in point of fact he has just lied to God when he lied to the Holy Spirit. So who did Ananias lie to? The Holy Spirit. Who did Ananias lie to? God. Second Corinthians 3.14. But their minds were hardened, for to this day, when they read the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. He's talking about those who are stuck in Judaism. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. now the lord is the spirit who's the lord when you turn to the lord and the veil is removed who's who's the lord just tells us we're 17 the lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the lord who is the spirit that was second corinthians three 14 to 18. So who's the Lord? The Spirit. Who's the Spirit? The Lord. John 14, 26. The original language calls him he. Now that's a simple little thing, but wait a minute, it's a very important thing. Does it call him it? If the Holy Spirit is just a power, we would say it. But here the pronoun specifically is he, he. So, these things have I spoken to you while I am still with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. He. Who is He? The Holy Spirit. We would say, a person, we would say the third person that we're now learning of the Trinity. So in John 14, 26, the Spirit is referred to as a helper, as a counselor, as a comforter, but he's never referred to as it. Never. So let's look at his attributes. That's what he's been called in the scriptures. Let's look at his attributes. First of all, he's eternal. You remember from Genesis 1-2, the spirit is already there in Genesis. Verse two, what's the spirit doing? He's hovering over the waters. Now, as hard as that may be for us to understand and completely put together, one thing's for sure, there he is. He's omniscient. Psalm 139 says, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. I can't get away from you. Well, how can anyone be omniscient if he's not God? He's omnipotent, Isaiah 11 too. He is called the spirit of might. Isaiah 11.2, that's his attributes, let's look at his works. Job says he creates, Job 26.13. John 3 tells us that he regenerates and creates life. We have been born of water and the spirit. He dispenses spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. He teaches us how to pray, we saw that in Romans 8.26. what a wonderful passage that is in Romans 8 26 wasn't it likewise the spirit helps us in our in our weakness for we don't know what to pray for as we ought don't you often have that you just don't know what to pray don't know what to say prayers are three sentences long and i'm i'm done but the spirit comes in our weaknesses because we don't really know ourselves fully enough to know exactly what we ought to be praying for ourselves. But the Holy Spirit knows you better than you know you. He knows just what you need. So he teaches us how to pray and give us the power to pray. He leads believers to glory through sanctification, Romans 8, 14, that was verse 14 of Romans 8. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. He's leading us. How comforting, how encouraging that is to us, isn't it? He's leading us. He raises the dead in Romans 8, 11. Proof, Jesus Christ. Summary, the Holy Spirit empowers purifies, reveals, unifies, gives evidence of His presence and pleasure of God or His displeasure within our hearts. Okay, so we've looked at His attributes, His works. Here's His honor. In His name, we are baptized. Boys and girls, you've seen pastor baptized now, multiple infants in the church. What do I say? Well, from Romans 28, 19, I've been told to say, I baptize you in the name of the Father. Okay, sure, right. And I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ. Yes, of course. But what's the third one? I baptize you in the name of the Holy Spirit. So, it's also sadly from Ephesians 4.30 possible to sin against the Holy Spirit. He's moving you. He's been speaking to you. He's brought to you the very Word of God. But you've stiffed armed him, you've ignored him, you've denied his power, you've attempted to stand against him. It's impossible to sin against the Holy Spirit. And when I say possible, I find it to be so true in my life, don't you? He's been so kind, so patient, so tenacious. to lead. He doesn't push me, but he leads me. And he's been leading you. So we have, therefore, the teaching of the singular essence of God and the three persons that make up his self, revelation. These three persons are neither different nor separate from the divine essence. It is a mistake to think that the divine essence is one entity or the person of the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit another entity. This would constitute three or four gods. There is a distinction rather than an essential difference between the divine persons. So here's our conclusion. Why does the Holy Spirit, God, before us and in our midst? Well, let's go back to think a moment about Jesus Christ. How is it that we know Jesus Christ is God in the flesh? And we tried to point out five ways. They all started with W. I don't know if you remember that, but let's think about it again. Let's think about Jesus Christ. How do we know that he is God? First of all, the word of God says so. Second, because of worship, we worship Jesus Christ. Third, because of his works. Fourth, because only Jesus Christ being God could absorb the wrath of God for us. And five, because of his worth. So with the Holy Spirit, let's think now a minute. How do we know the Holy Spirit is God? Well, number one, his presence. If God the Father and God the Son are in heaven, and indeed they are, and the Spirit is just some sort of power, then we are left without any real presence of God. This just can't be, for he says that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Never will we be without the presence of God. Never has it been because of the Spirit of God. So His presence is with us. He's not just some kind of power. Boys and girls, I don't know if you've watched any of these movies, Star Wars, you know, may the force be with you like the Holy Spirit, some kind of force from Star Wars. No, no, no. All right, second, his power. How do I know the Holy Spirit is God? Because of his presence. Second, because of his power. We pray for the power of God to help us worship, don't we? But we do not want the power of God over the person of God. If the Holy Spirit is not God, then we are seeking a power and not the person of God. We're here to worship God. We're empowered to worship God by God. And such is the case with the Holy Spirit. And He does have the power. I want to give you, I just want to pour out a lot of verses and thoughts about the power of the Holy Spirit a minute. Can I do that? You don't have to jot all these down, I don't know, I probably got 20 of them, but here we go. The power of the Holy Spirit causes us to be born again. Now don't let that just go by you real easy. Don't let that go, oh yeah, so what's the big deal? I've heard that a long time. Think a moment. Do you remember how it was when you didn't know Christ? Some of you may not be able to clearly see that in your life, but many of us can. I certainly can. You remember how hard-hearted you were What a rebellious lot you were. And yet the Holy Spirit came and turned you. I was serving in the United States Marine Corps. I've told you this before. I was aboard a ship. I had all kinds of time on the ship. What's a Marine truck driver do on a ship? Sit around. But on the second cruise, my second six-month cruise, okay, I'll tell you, I stole a Bible out of the library on the ship, and I began reading it. What was I doing reading the Bible? No, I knew the Bible. My parents taught me the Bible. I went to church. I sat in church. I did all those things when I was a kid. Yep, yep, yep, yep. I knew the Bible. But I never read the Bible like I read then because now I wanted to know Christ. And I was constantly asking myself, what does he want? What does he want? And I'm sitting there, laying in my rack, barely enough room because the stack rack's five high in a ship, and I'm laying there reading my Bible. I read the entire Bible and Haley's Bible handbook in less than three months. That means I was in the Word of God constantly. Why? You think I was doing that to myself? Not for a minute. The Holy Spirit had grabbed a hold of me. Now many of you could come up here tonight and give similar stories of how the Holy Spirit got a hold of your shirt collar and started shaking you. That's His power. He can change a man's heart. Now I'm here to tell you tonight, I cannot change your heart. And I'll tell you tonight, you cannot change mine. You might influence me, but you can't change me. But God can change me, and he does it by the power of his Holy Spirit. What are you doing here on a Sunday evening? everybody else is at home watching tv and yet you have you got it in your head tonight what time to go to church and you went out got in your car and it's cold night got the kids packed up wrapped up all of that business hauled them into the car here we go and you come to come to what is going on in your heart i'll tell you what's going on in your heart the holy spirit's going on in your heart He's working, isn't He? In you and now through you. Such is His power. And so when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, He said, listen, this is what's got to happen. This is what's got to happen. You got to be born again. And by His grace, this is what's happened to us, isn't it? Now, Then there's this issue of not only saving me, but changing me, helping me battle sin, starting to change my heart so that I don't want to do that anymore. Now there's a long ways to go. How about you? How are you doing in this process of sanctification? What gives you any hope that you will change into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ? the power of the Holy Spirit. This has to be a God power to not only save me and save you, but to change you. Colossians 3, verse one. Since then you've been raised with Christ, in other words, saved, raised up from your deadness. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immortality, impurity, and lust, and the list goes on. How can I do that? Only by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has the power to raise you physically from the dead. Congregation, unless the Lord comes, every one of us in this room tonight is gonna die. What hope if we? We have hope in the power of the Holy Spirit. He was the power to the martyrs, even Gideon de Bray. who stood firmly on all that he's written here, and they hung him for it. He has the power to help us be martyrs. He has the power to help us be bold, the power to be unashamed of the gospel. You know Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation. You know the verse. How do I have such power, the Holy Spirit? Mark 13, 11, don't be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not for you to speak, but the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 1, 7, for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. And then there's the power to preach. Acts 1 14, then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. That's a work of the Holy Spirit. He can change you. You say to yourself today, I don't think I can do that. I don't think that's, I don't think I can do, I can't, I can't do it. But then the Holy Spirit brings us to Philippians 4.13, and then we don't know what to say anymore, because Philippians 4.13 says, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. He gives us the power to love, 1 Corinthians 13.4, where love is patient and love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it's not proud. How will I ever, how will you ever love like that? By the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will give you the power to weep with those who weep. For blessed are they that weep, for they will be comforted. It takes a power to stand against Satan and to storm the gates of hell. Ephesians 6, 10, finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. And we're learning here tonight that his mighty power is the power of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the power to lay hold of God in prayer. Romans 8, 15, we saw it. For we did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you receive the spirit of sonship, and by him we cry, we cry out, Abba, Father. He gives us the power to pray. to lay hold of God as never before in our lives. He gives us the power to biblically speak of repentance and the wrath of God and the coming judgment in a world that's so lost, so confused in such darkness. He gives us the power to tell the lost to repent because there is true joy and hope in Christ. He gives us the power to teach the learners to rejoice. He trains us in the leadership so that we might reproduce because there's work for us to do in Christ. He gives power to the weak 2 Corinthians 12.7, to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, there was given to Paul, here he says, to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power The Holy Spirit power is made perfect in weakness. So this is the work of the Holy Spirit's power. Let me go on. The power to serve instead of being served. First Peter 4.11, let him who serves serve in the strength of God, in the strength that God supplies that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. He changes us. He turns us from being ones who demand to be served and got a bad attitude when we're not served perfectly to now serving others. He gives us the power to trust God when things go against us. And you know I'm going to go to Job. Job 2 verse 7, so Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. And his wife said to him, are you still holding on to your integrity? Cursed God and die. He replied, you're talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble? There's an expression. It only can come by the power of God. The Holy Spirit brings to us the power to forgive those that have done us wrong. Ephesians 4.32 tells us to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. It's impossible. Unless you've got the power of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the power to forgive, but he also gives us the power to accept forgiveness. He gives us the power to let go of the world and hold on to the world to come. He gives us the power to know him. We've come to know him with an intimate relationship. He gives us the power to invite a friend to worship God next Sunday. You do have that power. Is there someone that you could invite next week? to the worship service, maybe morning, maybe night, to come with you, maybe have dinner with you afterwards. This is someone you could invite. Now, if you sit back right now and you hear that, you say, whoa, wait a minute, that's outside of my comfort zone. I get it. But it's not outside of his power to change us, that we might be thinking more of others and inviting others to church. The power to worship, the power to see into the heavenly throne room and sense the presence of God. Do you sense that tonight? That the Holy Spirit is here now with us, speaking to us. So here's 21 powers that I just mentioned. There's more. Before us is the power of the Holy Spirit. He's here in the midst with one job, in his humility, to always be pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is always deflecting our view of him. Don't look at me, look at Christ. Look at Christ, look at Christ! Well, here's one more reason why we can believe that the Holy Spirit is God. And I find it in the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians, you know the text. I always get them mixed up, don't you? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Nine of them, boom. Can I say something about those a moment? Every one of these fruits of the Spirit is beautiful. And I find that what God does is beautiful. And what the Holy Spirit is doing in our midst and in your heart and in mine is bringing to us beauty. He brings us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. You know what these are. These are just beautiful truths of our Lord Jesus Christ, beautiful aspects of our Savior. The beauty that he would have within your heart is listed before us. And the Holy Spirit is actively seeking to ignite these attributes into your life and mine. So his pleasure to bring about such a work of beauty is evidence to me that he is God. This is his passion, that we would be beautiful people and have a beautiful life in the midst of his sin. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. Self-control. These are works of the Holy Spirit. These are works of God. These are works in our midst that take a great power. And he's in our midst. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you tonight for the very presence of the Holy Spirit and for his power and for his pleasure to work within us such beauty. Father, would you help us to not fight what the Holy Spirit would paint in our hearts? Such beautiful scenes of love and joy and peace. What a beautiful life it would be if these were predominant within our hearts. So Lord, we thank you tonight that you're seeking to paint within us that which is like Christ. We thank you tonight that you would change us, first save us, and then do this work of sanctification. We pray that your Holy Spirit would continue to be in our midst, helping us, guiding us, being patient with us, forgiving us of our sins. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this comforter, this advocate who prays for us and teaches us how to pray. We thank you for this counselor who's always guiding us to your word. May we live in the reality that the Holy Spirit is in us and with us. Thank you, Lord, that you've never left us alone. We pray it now in Jesus' name.