God's Word comes to us in the first chapter of the first epistle of Peter to the churches, the first epistle of Peter chapter 1. We read this as the basis for our exposition of Lord's Day 20. 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love. in whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they'd administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy, And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. For as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and unfain loved of the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of god which liveth and abideth forever For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you. On the basis of 1 Peter 1 and many other passages throughout sacred scripture, the Heidelberg Catechism teaches us about the Holy Spirit and does that in Lord's Day 20. You'll find Lord's Day 20 on page 12 in the back of your Psalter. Remember that the Heidelberg Catechism is explaining the Apostles' Creed as the content of faith, what faith must know and trust. And now, what dost thou believe concerning the Holy Ghost? First, that he is true and co-eternal God with the Father and the Son. Second, that he is also given me to make me by a true faith partaker of Christ and all his benefits, that he may comfort me and abide with me forever. Beloved of God, we learned in Lord's Day 7 that the pinnacle of faith is trust. Trust. Faith trusts personally in all things revealed in the Word of God as true and as declared to me. We learned there in Lord's Day 7 that that trust issues forth out of knowledge. As we know that word and the God in Christ in it, trust grows. And we learned also in Lord's Day 7 that both the knowledge and the trust come forth out of faith as a bond, bond between us and the Lord Jesus Christ, where his life is planted in us. All three aspects of faith as a bond, as certain knowledge and assured confidence or trust are a sovereign, gracious gift to us of the Holy Spirit, who we study tonight. Understand that in studying the Holy Spirit and His work, Faith does something very interesting. Tonight, faith studies the source of itself. Faith is a gift in every way from this Holy Spirit. Out of the life that the Spirit plants within us, The Spirit himself gives us knowledge, true knowledge and trust with regard to himself and with regard to himself as the source of this very thing, faith. It's his work. to create faith in us. It's his work to bind us to Jesus Christ. It's his work to make us partaker of all of Christ's benefits. The third person of the Trinity is the source of the faith by which I study the third person of the Trinity and grow in that faith and trust in him, trust in him. to be the strengthener of my faith, to grant me knowledge, and to give me this union with Jesus Christ and to preserve that union. Study a friend, the creator of the faith that I have, a friend who will keep it all the way to the end and forever. The Holy Spirit's work Let's notice first, the work peculiar to Him, second, a work accomplished by Him, and third, a work with a glorious purpose, the Holy Spirit's work, a work that is peculiar to Him as the third person of the Trinity, a work that's accomplished by Him, and a work with a glorious purpose. The work of the Holy Spirit of God with God's elect in salvation is to ensure that that salvation becomes the actual personal possession of each one whom God has chosen from all eternity. The Holy Spirit's role is strictly one of applying what Christ has earned for us on the cross so that it becomes in our own lifetime, in our own experience and consciousness, actually, really, our possession The Spirit, in other words, does not add anything to the work of Jesus Christ. The Spirit does not earn anything for us. He applies what Christ himself has earned. This is what the catechism means when it says, the Spirit is to make me partaker of Christ and all of his benefits. He doesn't add any benefits. All the benefits are what Christ has earned for us. Instead, he makes me partaker of them. He applies them to me so that I have them in my own possession. That's what the catechism meant to back in Lord's day eight, when it told us of the unique work of the persons of the Trinity in saving us. Word spoke. That Lord's Day of God the Father in our creation, God the Son in our redemption, and God the Spirit in our sanctification. While of course all the works of God are one, and the work of salvation is one too, all three persons are involved in all aspects of the work of our salvation. Nonetheless, because each one has his own unique personal properties, each person is uniquely involved in one of the three aspects of our salvation. God the Father is the source, God the Son comes and redeems us, and God the Spirit is the one who sanctifies us, that is, applies that work to us so that we're consecrated to God. That's what we read tonight in 1 Peter 1 verse 2. The Apostle Peter says of the saints that they are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, a consecration of the Spirit to Jehovah God. That's peculiarly his work. to consecrate us, to apply the work of Christ to us so that we're actually unto God in our life. All the work of salvation is one and is connected. But we still make distinctions. And rightly so. There's a difference between being chosen unto salvation in election and being given the legal right to salvation at the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then actually possessing salvation by the work of the Spirit in us in our lifetime. I want to make this as clear as I possibly can with the use of an illustration. that you're going to purchase a birthday present for someone off the internet. Maybe you use Amazon or some other online resource like that. The first thing that you do is you choose a birthday present for that person and that choosing becomes the source of that present that they are going to have. And then, You put in your credit card numbers and you click buy or purchase. And at that moment, when you purchase that thing that you had previously chosen, that thing becomes the legal possession of the person that you are buying it for. They are the legal owner. You've bought it in their name. It is theirs at that moment. However, they don't have it yet. There's been a transaction, a transfer. Money has been transferred to different accounts so that it's actually theirs. They are the legal owner of it, but they don't have it in their possession yet. It's not until it's delivered to them, shipped to them. They take it, they actually become the possession of that thing that you purchased for them, that you chose for them. This is the difference between the Spirit's work in our salvation and the work of the other persons of the Trinity. God, especially in the first person of the Trinity, elects Christ earns, legally earns our salvation at the cross, representing us so that what he does is ours for it's purchased for us. Legally there, it's ours already. However, God's people don't actually possess that salvation until it's worked in them as they come upon the stage of history. and the Spirit goes and applies working that into them. That's his particular work, if I might put it in this crude way in line with the illustration. The Holy Spirit is the FedEx man who brings that package that you already own that has been chosen for you for your birthday so that you possess it now, it's yours. When the Holy Spirit does that work, making it yours, your own possession, He applies everything we know and talk about. in regard to salvation to you." Those are the benefits that the Catechism speaks of. He makes us partaker of Christ and all of his benefits. Those benefits are all the aspects of salvation, regeneration, calling, faith, justification, sanctification, glorification. Those are the benefits and logically that's the order in which the Holy Spirit applies those benefits that Christ earned for us and that have been chosen to be granted to us. He comes in and he plants the incorruptible seed of Christ's life within us in regeneration. And then by taking the word, And applying it to us, He makes active, He draws out of that life within so that it becomes active in us. Grants us by that the ability to see our sin before God. causes us to fall upon our knees, seeing what that sin is, and to repent of that sin and to seek forgiveness in the cross of Jesus Christ. He calls us irresistibly through that word to the cross, the foot of the cross, to look up at our Savior in faith. He applies the life and death of Christ to us. He causes it so that when the Word of God is preached, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Jesus Christ. He applies that to us so that it's ours. Speaking of me, He's justified me. There's no condemnation. I'm not guilty. He's the one who sanctifies us, who transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ, slowly but surely throughout our life. He's the one who preserves us in that life, keeps that incorruptible seed from being destroyed, preserving us in holiness throughout our life. And he's the one who, when we wander, corrals us back in by his power through that word. He's the one who finally glorifies us. so that all we are is new life within and without body and soul. It's all his work. He's the applier, applying what Christ has earned at the cross, what has been chosen for us in eternity to us now in our own life personally. You see this work occurring in your life? See this happening? When you look back upon your life, can you see the Spirit, Holy Spirit of God, doing His applying work, applying those benefits of Jesus Christ to you? What a wonderful, wonderful thing. And you see, as you look back, the sins you walked in, Even consciously that you once loved and now you hate, you hate them with all your heart. You hate them because of what they are before your God. You see how you thought little and not nearly enough, and even still you don't think nearly enough, but you thought so little of Christ and all the things that had come to you from your youth up, and he gradually worked in you a deeper love for that Christ, and love for that God, and the joy of salvation. That's him, that's his work. That's his presence in your life, and nobody else. And you must see that, and you must believe that, and you must confess that. That's him, that's his presence in my life. What a joy that is. You see that, you see what he's doing. He's applying what Christ did on the cross to me. He's applying what God chose for me in eternity to me now in real time in my life. He's with me, he's working on me. I see him. That's his work. And it's a work that only he can do, nobody else. Only the divine, the holy, the personal Spirit of God is able to do that work of applying Christ's redemption to us. Only Him. If someone's going to do that work in your life and in mine, he's going to have to be divine. He's going to have to be God. This work is a work of recreation. It's applying Christ's life to us, generally from our youth up, many of us, others later in life, perhaps, but applying Christ's life to us by causing life to be where there is only death, causing the blind to see and the lame to walk, And he does that even from our youth up. It's a divine thing. Who but God can do such a thing? If it took divine power to create the world out of nothing, does it not take divine power to create spiritual life where there was only utter spiritual death? Was it a work that only God could do, bearing the eternal wrath for our sins upon the cross? then does it not also take divinity, God himself, to apply what Christ has earned on the cross to depraved, wicked, dead men? Thus our confession that we make. In this catechism is that I believe that He is co-eternal with the Father and the Son. He's God Himself. And part of the way that I know that is because this work that He performs is a work that only God can do. It's a work that only a spirit can do. Only a spirit can do this work of applying salvation to you and to me. And that's also who He is. He's the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, the very word Spirit means breath, breath or wind. That's what He is. Within the Trinity already, He's the divine breath. Breathe forth of Father to Son and Son back to Father in consecrating love. And now, Father and Son, breathe this person of the Trinity upon the church to do this work of applying salvation to us. A work that requires an indwelling of the elect children of God by God himself. It requires taking what Christ has done on the outside of us and working it inside of us. An objective thing being worked subjectively within. Only a spirit can do that. He performs this salvation inside of us. Third, it's only a Holy Spirit that can do this work of applying salvation, and this is what He is. He's the Holy Spirit. The word holy means consecrated, set apart unto. This is who He is. It's who He is in the triune life of God already. His work within the Holy Spirit is to consecrate Father to Son and Son to Father in a divine, personal bond of perfect love and fellowship. and therefore it is he who has the Holy Spirit does this particular aspect of the work of salvation, of going in and applying that salvation to us so that we are consecrated by his work, personally consecrated unto God, bound to God in this love bond with him. It's a work that only a person can do, person. and he's a person. As he is divine, as he is spirit, as he is holy, he is also a person. It's important for us to remember too, although Christ used the illustration of wind to teach us about the Holy Spirit in John chapter 3, that illustration was not to be applied in such a way that it makes the Spirit an impersonal force. The Lord was teaching, and He said that explicitly about this, or this about the Spirit, that He is sovereign, that He's powerful like the wind is powerful, and He does an invisible work like the wind does an invisible work. But the Spirit is not an impersonal force that floats around like the wind. The Holy Spirit is not some kind of a gaseous substance that floats about here and there, but he is a person. He's a person who thinks and feels and wills. He can be grieved. The scriptures say only a person can be grieved. And it takes a person to do this work of applying salvation to us. How could anyone less than a personal being apply a work of salvation into a person? We are persons. and he must apply salvation into us as we are persons, into our will, into our emotions, must fit it into our personalities. How can anyone less than a person work the very life of another person, Christ, into this, except he himself be a person? Sometimes the Spirit, Holy Spirit, can be so mysterious to us, so hard to get a handle on. Sometimes because of that, we neglect Him, don't think about Him, aren't thankful for Him. In some ways, He wants to be in the background. He shines the spotlight on Christ. But we may not neglect Him entirely, or forget about Him, or disregard Him. It's a sin to do so. We know Him. He's revealed in the Word. And He is this, He's part of our glorious salvation, applying that to us. By knowing that, seeing that, we understand much about Him. Children, if you had never seen a lawnmower before in your life, didn't know what a lawnmower was, didn't know what it was supposed to do, One of the ways you could learn about it, learn what it was, is by watching it do what it does. When you see it mowing a lawn, you might not know what it's called. But you'll say, that's a kind of a machine that mows lawns. I can tell that because that's what it's doing. And you can learn things about that lawnmower too. It must have a blade spinning underneath it. How else could that grass come trimmed out from behind it when it goes over it? It must have some sort of an engine or motor that's turning that blade. You learn things about it by virtue of the fact that you see it working. so too for us in sacred Scripture. One of the ways that we learn about this mysterious Holy Spirit is by watching Him do His work on the pages of Scripture and in light of Scripture in our own hearts and lives. He is holy, he is spirit, he is divine, and he is person, for it takes all of that to do this work of applying salvation to us, and by that we know him, we know something about him, and we must love him, we must think about him, we must worship him. He is co-eternal with the Father and the Son. He is God, and we commune with him as we're thankful for him, and we confess this work that he does as God himself. There's a spirit working in me as a person, as holy, as a work that only He can do. That's how I honor Him. That's how I magnify and worship Him and not neglect Him. Nobody else can do this work. I can't do this work. I can't apply the salvation of Christ to myself. I can't apply what God chose to be applied to me, to myself. Any form of self-salvation dishonors this Holy Spirit, robs Him of His glory as divine, as person, as holy, as the glorious Spirit of God. He applies Christ to me. I don't apply Christ to me. My own free will, He doesn't wait for me, do a part of it myself, and then come and do a part of it too. Faith is something He applies to me too. If faith becomes active by Him, it becomes something that is conscious in me, activated by His work in me, makes me willing in the day of His power, so that there is a real conscious knowledge and trust coming forth out of me by His work. But it's Him, it's Him, from beginning to end, it's Him. How he has accomplished and continues to accomplish this work of applying Christ to me is absolutely astounding. And we've called attention now to that work in our own life as he applies all the benefits of salvation to us. But now, for a moment, I'd like to back up with you and think about the work of the Holy Spirit for you for you personally. This is his charge to apply salvation to you. This is his charge from eternity in the decree of the covenant to apply salvation to you. It's a charge that he carries out not only in your lifetime, but he's been preparing all history long for your arrival as one of God's elect upon the scene of history so that he might do this work upon you. And that's beautiful to see too, not just his work right now, but how he's been preparing all history long. History has been six to 10,000 years. And here you are upon the stage of history in 2020. He's been waiting for you to apply the work of Christ to you, but he hasn't been sitting on his hands. He's been working through all history also for your arrival this way. He was involved in the creation of this world. The giving of life, physical life in this world. And of your physical life finally in it too. There he was. Hovering over the unformed mass in the beginning and as the power of God through the word creating life order Why So that he might carry out his charge and redeem a church and you a part of it Then you think about as you keep going history of the fact that the Spirit throughout history Had been preparing the tool, the tool that he would use to accomplish much of his work in applying the benefits of Christ to you. That is the tool of this book, the Word of God. The Word of God is the means, the chief means, the tool by which he does much of his work in applying the salvation that Christ has earned to you. And for how long has he been working, inspiring the prophets of old, revealing progressively the revelation of God that's found in this book so marvelously, every last word, inspired by him in its way, in its particular place, so that the whole would all come together as the one grand revelation of God. It was him doing this, 1 Peter 1 verse 11. It was the Spirit of Christ, which was in the Old Testament writers, testifying beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. He was preparing prophecy and fulfillment so that this could be read and by His Spirit, by His work could be understood by you. Producing His own tool that He would use to apply these benefits of Christ to you when you came upon the scene of the history of the world. And then you keep going in history long before you were ever born. Think of his work with the Lord Jesus Christ, ensuring that there'd be a salvation to apply to you. It's absolutely fascinating and marvelous, instructive and wonderful to contemplate the Holy Spirit's involvement in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth. If you look closely at it, the Holy Spirit Almost acts, and this is not original to me, almost acts as a divine, motherly figure to the man Jesus Christ. Be careful with that. Be careful with that. The Holy Spirit is male. He is not female. He takes on an almost motherly role with the Lord Jesus Christ. At every point from his birth, to his death, to his resurrection, leading him, preparing him, ensuring that he accomplishes what he must accomplish, that there is a salvation to apply to you. Think about it. Right away at the beginning of Christ's life, who is it? The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, Mary. It was the Spirit who was uniting the divine and the human in the womb of Mary there. It was the Spirit who was ensuring that Mary's polluted nature was held back so that this holy thing would be just that, a holy thing come forth out of her womb. As the Lord Jesus grows up, as a boy maturing, is it not the Spirit? filled him so that he grows from one degree of perfection to another as he matures throughout the stages in his holy humanity. Luke 2 verse 52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man as he grew up. So that every stage of his life he was the pinnacle, the pinnacle of wisdom and obedience to God as is possible for someone to be At that stage of life, when he was nine, he was fully wise and favorable to God as a nine-year-old. And when he was 10, when he was 11, when he was 20, he was fully wise and favorable to God in the capacity of a 20-year-old. It was the Spirit doing this. As he himself, the Lord Jesus in his humanity, read the Word of God, the Spirit worked through that Word. So that by the time he was 30, he was fully mature and developed in his human capacity to begin his public ministry. And who is it that is given to him, equipping him for that ministry. But this spirit now without measure that at his baptism, Descending upon him like a dove, and John says, without measure all of him, the whole third person of the Trinity is poured out upon him that he might do his work, carry out his ministry. And what do you see immediately after that? equipped by that Holy Spirit. Jesus must go into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, to show that he will resist that devil and will do the work of God and all of his work on the highway to the cross. And who is it that takes him into the wilderness to be tempted there? Matthew four, verse one, the spirit drave him into the wilderness to be tempted, literally pushed him is the word. He pushed him into the wilderness like a mother bird who has grown and developed her chick and now pushes it out of the nest. You must go my little fledgling and meet the challenge that is before you. The spirit who was involved in the maturation process of the humanity of Christ. now in his maturity drives him out of the nest as it were into the wilderness to face this evil one and to resist him. The culmination of the work of Christ in his life, who is it? Who is it who is supporting the Lord as he hangs upon that cross bearing the eternal wrath of God? We'll focus on on Friday as we point our eyes towards the cross. It was the Spirit there who was communicating the divine properties to the human so that as the human is pummeled with eternal wrath, there is an upholding so that he can bear what is an eternal punishment of thousand, thousand times over. Who was it? when he yielded himself. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. And his spirit went up into glory and his body went into the grave. Who was it that held that body? So that Psalm 16 verse 10 would be true, that the Holy One, this man, would not see corruption in that grave. He held that body from seeing decay there. It was the spirit. Who was it who raised that body again? uniting at body and soul in a resurrection life and glory was God in 1 Peter 1. But then in 1 Peter 3 verse 18 was God through the Holy Spirit. Spirit quickened him to life so that you see from the womb to the tomb to resurrection life it is the Spirit who is the companion of Christ, the protector of Christ, the nurturer of Christ, the servant of Christ leading him through every stage of His work and unto glory so that there is a salvation to apply to you." Isn't that marvelous? Long before you came out of your mother's womb. Not only was it the case that you've been chosen in eternity, 2,000 years ago, legally, salvation was earned for you, but throughout the history of the world, the Spirit has been preparing for your arrival. He might apply benefits of salvation to you. It's that Spirit now, it's Christ, it's at the right hand of God, ascended. whom he pours out upon the church, given me, says the catechism, given me, poured out upon the church as the Spirit of Christ, of course, He's so intimately involved with Christ all of his life long. He knows Christ. He knows Christ in and out. And now, as the spirit of that Christ, he can take Christ and apply him to you and to me as a divine, holy spirit and person. For you see, beloved, you can't have those benefits without having Christ. It's not just the case. That he takes, as it were, out of the hands of Christ a package labeled benefits of salvation. Comes down here to you and to me, puts them in our hands. And this is where the illustration fails, doesn't it? He's not the FedEx man simply delivering a package. But he takes Christ himself, makes me partaker of Christ and all of his benefits. And he works Christ, who is justified and who is glorified, works him in me, who has all of salvation within himself there at the right hand of God. makes Christ live in me. Makes me one plant with the Lord Jesus Christ himself so that his life is flowing into me. This is why the Apostle Paul speaks of this work of the Holy Spirit in applying salvation to us the way that he does in Galatians 2 verse 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." The Spirit's work is to make you and me more and more united to Christ and Christ more and more alive in me. And he's not going to stop. Ephesians 4 verse 13 says, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. He's working Christ himself into his church and all of the benefits come as Christ is being worked into us. That's his marvelous work. He'd been preparing all history long to do and is now doing in you for your salvation. Why? Why is He doing this? Why is all this His work? What's driving Him? He's a person. He has motives. Well, first of all, beloved, it's because He loves you. He loves you. It's not only the case that God the Father loves you. It's not only the case that God the Son loves you. It's the case that God the Holy Spirit loves you too. He desires with Father and Son that we be in heavenly glory with the Triune God, wrapped up in the life of fellowship and joy. He loves you. But it's also this, his motivation is that it glorifies Christ. Because if there's one thing that the Spirit is about, he's about the glorification of Christ. Given me, poured out upon the church, he's the Spirit of Christ, the Christicized Spirit to make us one plant with Christ. and his joy and his goal is always to shine the spotlight on Christ. John 15, verse 26, where the Lord Jesus says, when the Comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. He's going to come speaking constantly of me. And again, in John 16, verse 14, the Lord Jesus says, when the Spirit comes, he shall glorify me. He shall glorify me. That's his purpose. Ultimately, that's his motive. And it's one with his love for you. Loving you, he loves Christ. Loving you, he seeks to magnify Christ, for there's nothing that glorifies Christ more then that in love for you fills you with Christ. Christ can see himself in you. A mother not only seeks to lead and to protect and to grow and to assist and to nurture her child, but she works for her child's manifestation and his glory. So, too, the Spirit is not a mother, is not a woman but male, but has a motherly role, we said, with Jesus Christ. He not only seeks to lead and to protect and to grow and assist and nurture Christ and lead Him in the work of salvation, but He seeks the glory of His Christ, to magnify Him in and through His work in you and in me. So, let's go back. to the question I asked you before. Do you see Him? Do you see His work in your life? You look back, applying the benefits of Christ to you, applying Christ to you. Ultimately, beloved, when all is said and done, would you know the Spirit's work in your heart? See Him, see His presence in your life. and you see it this way, do I know, admire, love, adore, seek, honor, glorify Christ. That's Him. That's Him. That's the Spirit's hallmark. That's his calling card. He creates a people in Jesus Christ. He fills them with Christ unto the manifestation of their own love for Christ and their own magnifying of Christ so that they honor this Christ. They speak truth about this Christ. They confess this Christ. They worship this Christ. They live for this Christ in all their life. That's ultimately Him. That's ultimately how you see Him in your life. It's not going to be, do I speak in tongues? It's not going to be, have I had some shocking experience? It's not going to be, if there's been the performance of some slaying of the Spirit in me, it's going to be, is Christ my all in all? It's going to be what it was in the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1 verse 20 when he said, Christ, this is my desire in all my life that Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. There's a man whom you know, the Spirit has been working upon him in his life. When you hear John the Baptist say in John 3 verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease. You know, there you're hearing the words of a man under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit who honors Christ. The great biblical Christ in his heart and confession in life, worships him, adores him. There the Spirit's been working. sovereign majestic power applying salvation the benefits Christ himself to him the honors is Christ this work of the Holy Spirit the catechism says is a work he will do in his people forever The Spirit has given me to make me by a true faith partaker of Christ and all his benefits, that he might comfort me and abide with me forever. Forever. He never stops, never stops doing this work in me. Making me think much of Christ, honor Christ. In fact, even when all of the elect are in heaven, he doesn't stop. For time unending, he will still be uniting us to Jesus Christ. There's no more growth in it, but he keeps it at its fullness for all eternity. We can't be there and we can't remain in that perfection unless he's constantly applying Christ fully to us. And forever He is this Spirit, working Christ in us. Nothing will stop Him. Nothing will prevent Him from doing this work. It never has. Nothing ever has stopped Him. Nothing ever will. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. Sometimes, beloved, you wonder if your own sin has not only grieved Him, drove Him away. Astoundingly, it hasn't. It hasn't. He won't stop. It's forever. He will abide with you forever. He'll let you know when you grieve Him. He'll let you know. But even that's part of His work. Even that's part of this application of the benefits of salvation to you. He won't leave you alone until you fall on your knees in repentance and coming back at the foot of the cross. My Christ, my Christ, there's no life worth living aside from Thee and unto Thee. It's an unquenchable work forever. That's comfort. It's comfort in my trials, it's comfort in my afflictions, it's comfort in my frailty and weakness. I didn't make him run away from me in the past or leave me when I sinned against him and against my God. He led me to repentance time and time again. He's still there. He's still there. He's my dearest and truest friend. We're kept by the power of God, says the Apostle Peter, unto salvation. ever. I worship Him as I worship Father and Son. I honor Him as I honor Father and Son. I love Him as I love Father and Son. He lives with me and abides with me forever. The divine, holy, personal Spirit of Christ. Amen. Father, bless Thy Word to our hearts. Strengthen us in our knowledge of all the work of our salvation and our love for Thee, the Triune God. We're thankful, Father. We cannot thank Thee enough. We cannot thank Thee enough, Holy Spirit, for Thy work. Continue it, we pray, not because we're worthy of it, and to Thee be praise and glory and honor forever. Amen.