Well, last Sunday morning we took a new disc out of the sleeve, we checked it for scratches, we put it on the turntable, we removed the dust with an anti-static cloth, and we gently lowered the needle, and we listened to side three, remember it's a double album, and track one, an introduction to the Holy Spirit. And what did we learn? Well, we learned that he's unique, he's a person, and he's the third person of the Godhead. and that he proceeds from the Father and the Son. We learn that he is the agent of God's first creation, that he is the author of Scripture, that he was active in the conception, life, death, resurrection of Jesus. We learn that he is the agent of the new creation, the Church. When Christ ascended to the Father's right hand, he poured out his Spirit on his people. Peter says when he preaches the Pentecost crowd therefore being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he poured out this which you now see and hear in the Old Testament the Spirit was given but he came down on scattered individuals there was no corporate experience of the Spirit of God there was no community indwelt by the Spirit there was no orchestra just a handful of soloists who were the coming of the new covenant He poured out, the Spirit was poured out on a worshipping community, poured out upon a people, upon the church. For truly, says Jesus, John, sorry, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And we read about it, didn't we? Acts chapter 2, and we read, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Jesus the baptizer baptizes all his people with the Holy Spirit and it's a corporate experience the many are baptized into one united to Christ they're united to each other they're now an orchestra of many players harmonizing as one so do you see when the Spirit comes we have a new entity wasn't there before it's the church the new entity is being created and it's that new entity into the church new converts are brought as Peter says for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call the Spirit is the agent of the new creation the church and so now it's safe today to talk about what the Holy Spirit does in us We're not thinking of ourselves as soloists, but as part of the orchestra. And if we see ourselves as part of the orchestra, part of the church, it's safe to talk about what the Spirit Himself does in each one of us. Now again, it's very much an introductory message. We're proceeding very rapidly on a broad front, and later in the series we'll be able to sink down some wells and explore some of these things in more detail. and God willing you'll also be addressing some of these things in the fellowship groups as well so what does the Holy Spirit do in us? five things and we're really covering the ground very very quickly okay five things it does in us number one the new birth now Christian friend why did God's word root in your heart and not the person sitting next to you? who made it all real? who took out that heart of stone and turned you away from your sins to trust in a crucified Savior and to bring about a change of such miraculous proportions that the only way to describe it is that you were born again why did it happen? who made it happen? it was the Spirit of God so we read Titus chapter 3 And verse 4, but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. a Christian friend you've been washed no one likes being dirty do they? it's embarrassing I don't just mean you come off the football pitch with a bit of mud on your knees not washing for weeks how many adverts are there about clean clothes and clean loo's and clean kitchens and clean bodies and clean teeth we're obsessed with being clean aren't we? How much do we spend on running water and sanitation and being clean? Because cleanliness touches something very deep inside us all. What were we? Paul says to Titus, for we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Christian friends, we were unclean a little bit of dirt on our knees we have never ever been washed think about that in natural terms you sit here today you've never ever you know you're one of the Tudors you've never ever had a bath in your life never mind you know whether I smell a bit or whether you've never ever washed in spiritual terms that's the way we were never washed but through the Spirit the uncleanness has been washed away we've been baptized with the spirit we've been cleansed we've been left smelling as fresh as a newly bathed baby because that's what I became through the washing of regeneration the spirit didn't just sort of didn't patch up the old life it gave me a new life I was born again the change was dramatic decisive it was once for all it was regeneration I may look the same as a new me looking out the person I used to be the old man is dead standing before you is a new man with a new heart a new life a new creation those who are taking notes Ezekiel 36 verses 25 to 27 it prophesies of these things not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing that inward cleansing the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit remember the man with the withered hand Jesus says stretch out your hand and he did so and his hand was as restored and as whole as the other His hand was regenerated, it was renewed, it was complete, it was whole. And that's what's happened to us. No half measures. Regeneration. Renewal. Through the Spirit. Whom, says Paul, He poured out on us abundantly. Through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Which is why, my friend, this morning, if you're not a Christian to be very clear about this. No one is asking you to believe what your parents believe. That's not how it works. No one's asking you to believe what your friends believe. That's not how it works. No one's asking you to go to church and to keep the rules. Who would want to go to church and keep the rules and just believe something because my parents believe it? That's not what we're about. It's not about straightening your tie and dressing up nice and saying, oh yes, now you behave properly. It's got nothing to do with that. You need to be born again. You've never ever been washed. If you're a teenager, how many hours do you spend in the bathroom a week? But spiritually, you've never ever been washed. Maybe you can't go a day without washing your hair. But spiritually, you've never ever been washed! You're unclean. I don't know if you need to be washed clean on the inside. You need a new heart, a new life, a new beginning. You need a new you. That's the gospel. It really is. It's not, we want you to believe what mum and dad believe, we want you to go to church, keep the rules, it's nothing to do with that. It's far more radical, extraordinary, different. And the word which the Bible gives it is being born again, a new you. And God the Spirit does it. need to be washed clean and you know that there are things of which you're ashamed but it goes far deeper and far further than ever we can comprehend in ourselves you need to be born again you need to come to Jesus Christ to do it for you number two a new birth a new life 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 Paul says therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation all things have passed away behold all things have become new now in my unconverted days I lived in a box and I could see no further than the walls the sides of the box because only what I could see only what I could touch was real or at least real to me And if you told me there was a world beyond my box, beyond what I could see and touch, I didn't believe you. Paul writes, the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness to him. He can't understand them. There is no world beyond the box, because they're spiritually discerned. But now all things are new. I live outside the box. I realize there's a world beyond this world. There's a reality beyond this reality. And now we can speak, can't we, of God, and it's real. And of heaven, and hell, and holiness, and sin, and glory, and the wonder of it all, and Jesus crucified for me. And I want to talk about those things, because now those things have become real, because they are real. I'm now alive to spiritual realities. I now see when I couldn't see. I now hear when I couldn't hear. I now know when I knew nothing. I'm alive. Paul writes in to the Ephesians, Ephesians 2 verse 1. I knew he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead dead man sees nothing, knows nothing, hears nothing dead in trespasses and sins made us alive together with Christ I'm now alive and I live in this world by the realities of another world and I've already entered that other world and I live in this body of flesh by a new power, the power of the Spirit of God and I'm part of the new creation while still existing in this old creation and I now see the kingdom of God it's a new life and it's the work of the Spirit what did John the Baptist say? I indeed baptize you with water he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire Jesus is the baptizer to be baptized means to be immersed and Jesus has taken his people and immersed them into the realm of the Spirit. In case you're on the beach, you've got your bucket and spade. Take your bucket and you fill it with water. The water's in the bucket. You then take your bucket and you put it in the sea. So the water's in the bucket and the bucket's in the water. It's filled with water and it's immersed in the water. That's what it means to be baptized with the Spirit. Not only has the Spirit been poured into me, but I have been immersed into the world, into the realm of the Spirit. That's why I see things I couldn't see before, I know things I didn't know before. I've been brought into a whole new world, a whole new dimension. Everything's become new. Paul writes of the Corinthians, he says we've all been made to drink into one's spirit and the picture is less picking up a glass of water and drinking it the picture is of giving a plant a drink well you know what you do when you give a plant a drink, don't you? You get a watering can and you pour the water over it speaks of abundance, fullness that's what the Spirit of God has come, He's done, He's come, He's been poured out the living water has been poured out into our parched lives and everything's become new he fills me but I've also been immersed into him and everything is new it's a new world really is so that's why Christ's eyes don't see it we can tell you he's wonderful you don't just don't see it you don't think what are you on about it's because you need to be born again We need to go to Jesus to get born again. A new birth, a new life. Point number three, a new relationship. Now God communicates himself to us by his Spirit. We read in the opening chapter of Revelation, he's before the throne. There he is waiting to do the will of God. Jesus tells us he doesn't speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he speaks He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you." So the Holy Spirit, He proceeds from the Father and the Son. And He proceeds from the Father and the Son to do the will of the Father and the Son. So when God gives His Spirit, He's giving Himself When God gives His Spirit, we become partakers, we enter into, we share in the very life of God. Now, John 14. John 14, verse 16. Jesus says this, And I pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth. who's coming to abide? who's coming to live in God's people? well we're told the Spirit of God is coming to abide in you the Spirit of God, Spirit of Truth is coming to live in you but then Jesus says John 14 verse 18 I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you so the Spirit will come to you and when the Spirit comes to you I will come to you says Jesus so the Son lives in us by the Spirit and not just the son but the father also John 14 verse 23 Jesus says if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we father and son will come to him and make our home with him so the father and the son dwell in believers through the spirits when the Spirit comes the Father comes when the Spirit comes the Son comes because the Trinity can't be divided so we're told 2 Timothy 1 verse 14 the Spirit he dwells in us 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19 your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit but when the Spirit comes the Father and the Son come with him when the Spirit comes we know the Father and the Son 2 Peter 1 we share in the divine nature through the Spirit we know the life of God in us through the Spirit let's get romantic for a moment husband says to his wife darling I love you he gives her a box she opens the box and inside she says oh darling it's a piece of your love Is that how love works? Is love sort of stuff that you can put in a box and hand it over? A piece of my love? A substance that you can give out? Of course not. Love is relational, isn't it? You can't separate love from the lover. It's a relationship. And the husband who loves his wife shows his love by giving himself to his wife. In Scripture, we're never told the Spirit loves us. Why? Because He's the giver. He's the very expression of the love of God. The Spirit, He comes to us clothed with the love of God. And when the Spirit comes, I'm therefore assured that God loves me. Romans 5 verse 5, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. whom He has given to us. And we're never told to love the Spirit. Why? Because being the Spirit, He thinks only of the Father and the Son. So when He fills me, all I can think about is the Father and the Son, and how I may glorify them. We have the doxology, don't we? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion or fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Or Paul writes to the Corinthians. as I share in the life of the Spirit, the communion, the fellowship of the Spirit, it's then participating in the life of the Spirit that I know the grace of the Son and the love of the Father. Which is why John says truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Okay, so when the Spirit comes we experience a new relationship when the Spirit comes we experience a new relationship with the Father and with the Son because we're sharing we're participating in the very life of God that's why in scripture the Spirit is spoken of as a river what's a river? well a river is water isn't it? but a river isn't just water it also carries the water and the Spirit, He is God, but He also carries, He brings the Godhead to us. The Spirit, He is the carrier and the one who is carried. He is God, bringing all of God to us. So the more we know of the Spirit, the more we will enjoy the very life of God Himself. The more we have of the Spirit, the more we'll know of the Father. The more we have the Spirit, the more we'll know of the Son. God gives Himself to us by His Spirit. Psalm 36, you give them drink from the river of your pleasures. The pleasures of God, the enjoyment of God, it flows us to the river of the Spirit. Psalm 46, there is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God. What causes God's people, the city of God, the church to rejoice is that river pouring into her, who is God bringing God to us. As we drink of the Spirit, so we're filled with all the fullness of God. It's a new relationship. Lots to think about, isn't it? I know, lots to say. We're going to sink down some wells later on, but we're moving on a broad front and moving quite quickly. So now, we know the Father, don't we? And we cry, Abba Father Romans 8 verse 14 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God for you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba Father the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we're children of God by the Spirit we talk of God as our Father and it's real How does his spirit bear witness with our spirit? Because when the Word of God paints a picture of a Christian, the Spirit of God says, that's a picture of you. You're a Christian. And because when, as a little child, because that's all we are in this world, as a toddler, we fall over and hurt ourselves, we instinctively cry, Abba, Father! It's right, Christian, isn't it? When you hurt, when you're grieving, where do you run? Father. And when our little legs won't carry us any further, what do we do? We lift up our hands to be carried, don't we? And we say, Abba, Father. We can't stop ourselves from doing it. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. There are times, aren't there, when we feel as orphans, and we're alone, and we're frightened, and we're cold, and we don't know what to do. But then it seems as though our Father finds us. He picks us up and he cradles us, and he sings us lullabies of love, and we're at peace, and we feel safe in his arms. Where does all that come about? It's the Spirit of God. We can't stop ourselves, can we? A Christian went to see his pastor. He said, I've come to tell you I don't believe it anymore. So his pastor said, what are you going to do about it? he said, well I've already done it I've been to the Lord and I've told him all about it even when we can't believe we can't walk away, can we? I don't believe it anymore but I've talked to God about it we can't stop ourselves it's because the spirit of adoption who is in us is stronger than we are a new relationship with the Father, a new relationship with the Son we now know Jesus don't we? John 14 verse 18 Jesus says I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you. He who has my commandments and keeps them it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and reveal myself to him so when he comes to us by spirit we know and enjoy an ever-growing deepening intimacy with Christ as we respond to Him. I was preaching at the Heath Camp and preaching to a group of teenagers preaching about the Christ and the cross and we got to the end of our time and all the teenagers got up and left but a number of the leaders remained and some of the men who were there, some of the leaders were in tears and one of them said he was here and he was Jesus was there the bridegroom had come and as we talked about what he'd done on the cross he'd come and he kissed his bride and for his bride for some of them it was it was too much almost they were grown men in tears their hearts were broken and yet their hearts were rejoicing 1 Thessalonians 1, it was the joy of the Holy Spirit. And their eyes were looking upward, hoping, longing, aching for His appearing. Romans 15 verse 13, overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have a new relationship. He's the one that makes it all real. There are times when He is here. How do I know? Because it's Spirit. and of course that's why we talk to God isn't it? Relationships work by communication praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit Ephesians 6 verse 18 and God talks to us Hebrews 3 verse 7 therefore as the Holy Spirit says today if you hear his voice and 1 Corinthians 2 verses 10 to 14 through the scriptures we begin to know the mind of God and through the scriptures we have heartwarming experiences of Jesus, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while the scriptures were opened to us and as we walk with the God of wisdom so we become wise and discerning and we begin to know the mind of Christ and we're led by the Spirit of God 1 John 3 verse 24 by this we know that he abides in us that he lives in us by the Spirit whom he has given to us and we can say so much more than we will. It's a new relationship. God is real through the Spirit. Okay, nearly at an end. A new birth, a new life, a new relationship. Number four, a new direction. 1 Peter 2 verse 1, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 tells us we're sanctified by the Spirit. It means we're set apart for God. we share in his holiness our lives are changed and are changing that will soon be spring got a foretaste of spring today haven't we the sun the sun is shining but soon as spring we're here properly and the sun will be shining and there'll be warmth and rain showers of rain and the ground begins to wake up and there are blossoms and blooms and flowers and the ground begins to be renewed, and there's new life, and you hear the dawn chorus, and there are march hares, and there's frog spawn, and a fruitful earth, and we say spring is here. But what are we witnessing? When the spring comes we're actually, says the Bible, witnessing the work of the Spirit. That's why we began with Psalm 104, that's why we sang Psalm 104. Because Psalm 104 verse 30 says when you send your spirit you renew the face of the earth springtime is when the spirit renews the face of the earth that's why spring is a metaphor for better things they spoke of the Prague Spring they've been speaking about the Arab Spring it's the end of darkness the end of oppression the end of the winter it's a new age of freedom joy life So when the Spirit sanctifies us, when the Spirit is at work in us, changing us, what is it? It's the springtime of our souls. That's why holiness would be so beautiful and so attractive to us. There's been a long, dark winter of sin and the curse and death. But now God sends His Spirit and the spring has come. and he's renewing his children, just turn me to Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18 Paul says, do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation or debauchery but be filled with the Spirit alright, when God's people are filled with the Spirit what do they look like? Verse 19, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when we're filled with the spirits what do you hear on our lips? On our lips is the language of heaven we're talking to each other in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs and not just there's the language of heaven on our lips but there's a song in our heart It all sounds corny but that's what it says isn't it? Making melody in our hearts to the Lord. We have a new song. We sing to the Lord and what's on our lips? That which builds people up. Our mouths aren't filled with the winter of discontent but our mouths are filled with thanksgiving. You always tell people who living at a distance from the Spirit because they're crabby and miserable and whinging and moaning and complaining and grumbling like the children of Israel going through the desert they didn't have the Spirit and they complained at every turn but when the Spirit comes and fills me my mouth will be filled with thanksgiving And sanctification, the coming of the Spirit, is all about relationships, isn't it? That's why Paul goes on to talk about relationships. So no one will be trying to get their own way, trying to force their agenda. We read 521, submitting to one another in the fear of God. After you? No, after you. And he goes on to talk about husbands and wives. When the Spirit comes, husbands love their wives, as Christ loves the church. When the Spirit comes, the wives submit to their husbands, as a church does to Christ. You'll see transformed marriages when the Spirit comes. So if you've got a problem in your marriage, the great thing you need is the Spirit. And it transforms relationships between parents and children, chapter 6. You'll find children honoring their parents, not resenting them. And you'll find parents who don't exacerbate their children, saying, parents won't be provoking their children to wrath and even slaves, those at the bottom of the food chain even they'll be transformed says Paul bond servants be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in sincerity of heart as to Christ verse 6 chapter 6 not with eye service as men pleases but as bond servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill doing service You'll have cheerful, smiling, willing slaves. Can you imagine that? Because it's the work of the Spirit, because they're doing it for the Lord and not for their master. And when you look at it, you say, this is wonderful! What's going on? Spring is here! It's the springtime! Which is why then Paul goes on to talk about the fruit of the Spirit. The ground now begins to yield the fruits, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, and all the other fruits. Self-control. It's the springtime. The showers, the sunshine, the growth, the change. And you'll see the change in relationships. You want to know whether the Spirit of God is at work in Amy and Park Chapel? You will see it fundamentally in our relationships. relationships in your marriages, relationships with our children, relationships with across the whole spectrum of church life. No one whinging, growling, moaning, complaining, pushing an agenda, but thankful, joyful, after you! And all of us have one singular aim, to glorify God, that if a slave, a miserable, dirty, washed up, useless slave, now lives a new life, His master thinks, what's got into him? What's got into him is the Spirit of God. New relationships will look like Christians, will be unrecognizable from the people that we once used to be. That's how Paul can write, can't he, to the Corinthians. He goes through his list of the most wretched lives, you know, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, homosexual prostitutes, thieves, criminal fraternity, drunkards, extortionists, loan sharks, all those people. And he then says, and such were some of you. Some of you were homosexual prostitutes. Some of you were part of the local criminal fraternity. Some of you were drunk. but you were sanctified you were justified in the name of our lord jesus christ and by the spirit of our god he changes everything we now walk in a new direction we live under a new power the spirit has come so new birth a new life new relationship new direction and we close a new home back in Ephesians again Ephesians 1 Paul writes verse 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ so in Christ we have every spiritual blessing Christ comes clothed with all his blessings best of all Christ himself. But is it too good to be true? Verse 13 of chapter 1, in him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So Christian friend, when you believed God sealed you with his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was himself the seal. Now I'm sure you know this, in that ancient world a man's seal was a mark of his ownership. It goes on today, people brand cattle. The mark shows who owns the cow, who owns the cattle. That's all he used to do. A man's seal was a mark of his ownership. He was saying, this belongs to me. God has sealed us with his Spirit. The Spirit himself is the seal. God says you're mine, you belong to me. And Paul goes on, he piles up the assurance, verse 14, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Now when you buy something in some situations there's a down payment isn't there, there's a deposit and you make a deposit, it now belongs to you and in the ancient world the down payment, the deposit, the first installment meant legally it was now yours so hands off everyone else, it's mine and of course it guaranteed that you would return with the full payment to redeem the purchased possession well that's the picture here, God's spirit he's not only the first installment of heaven he's not just a foretaste of what is to be but he's a down payment He's the one who guarantees that God will return and take me home to be with Him. Is it all too good to be true? No, Christian friend, we're going home and God's Spirit, He is the guarantee. Let's wrap it all up. When does the Spirit come? He comes at the feast of Pentecost. That's highly significant. It's not just that that just happened to be the day it happened. God had all eternity to plan this. He planned it very deliberately that it would be on the day of Pentecost. What's Pentecost? Well, Pentecost is the feast of the first fruits. It's the first harvest. It's the barley harvest. harvest went on for some time, but the first harvest was celebrated by Pentecost. Now, Christian friends, we've received the Spirit, but it's only Pentecost. It's only the beginning. It's only the firstfruits. And Romans 8 verse 23, we look forward to the fullness, the fullness of the Spirit. because the Feast of Pentecost was followed by another feast a bit later on called the Feast of Tabernacles that was when the full harvest was brought in that's why when Peter saw the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, remember what he said? He said, Lord it's good for us to be here let's make here three tabernacles one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah what's Peter saying? He's saying nonsense and rubbish, well he is in one sense, but in another sense he's saying look the full harvest has already come I'm on the mountain with the Lord heaven is here we've arrived it's the Feast of Tabernacles but of course Peter was wrong but one day we will stand on the mountain one day we will behold his glory the Feast of Pentecost gives way to the Feast of Tabernacles the full harvest and the firstfruits of the Spirit will give way to the fullness of the Spirit. The firstfruits of God's blessings will give way to the enjoyment, the full enjoyment of those blessings. It will be the full harvest. So what have we said this morning? Well, we said we're born again but on that day we'll be clothed with resurrection bodies. We said this morning that we're part of the we've become new creations well on that day we will fully take our place in the new heavens and the new earth we said this morning we know the Lord and we do we know the Father and the Son but on that day revelation tells us we shall drink from the pure river of the water of life proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb on that day we come to the very source of the river We drink from the very source of that which flows from the Father and the Son. We come to the source of the Godhead. We should dwell at the very heart of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We should be lost in God. We've been speaking about walking in a new direction. But on that day, that sanctification by the Spirit will come to its fullness. and we shall see him as he is for we shall be like him we should be holy as he is holy and we will have truly come home we thank God for his spirit, don't we? but we live in Pentecost this is just the beginning these are the first fruits this is the taster And we look forward to the full harvest, the fullness of the Spirit.