I understand that this ends up online, this sermon. So my name is Robert Ulrich, in case someone's wondering why the voice is so different from the usual preacher here. And I am an ordained teaching elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. This time, as I return to you, I am also, at the same time, a ruling elder. a member of the session of the Sterling Reform Presbyterian Church. It's been kind of a strange experience for me later in life to learn how to act like a ruling elder rather than a teaching elder all the time. As a matter of fact, when I joined the session, I made a point of asking Pastor Brian Wright to, I said, be sure to correct me if I step out of line and start taking your role as moderator, because that is not normally the role of a ruling elder. The two passages that I chose for this morning, the one in the Old Testament and the one in the New, did you notice what they had in common? They both speak of the Holy Spirit. In the old, it's a promise of the Holy Spirit. And in the new, Jesus tells his disciples about the coming Holy Spirit. And the reason that I chose to speak on the Holy Spirit is because of something that I noticed online recently. I'm not very good at these technical things like this, but Ligonier Ministries has a nationwide study of evangelical Christians of what they believe about key doctrines of the Christian faith. And the discoveries from the last year are, three of them were pointed out here. One is 53% of American evangelicals agree that everyone sins a little But most people are good by nature. I was expecting more laughter at that, because that, to us reformed Christians, that is a joke. Have they read the news? Have they been aware of what people are doing? I wasn't wondering what the motive of that young man was when he shot Charlie Kirk. because I saw that as an evil act of a man who did not know Jesus Christ. 47% believe God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity. That also, to me, was rather humorous. Judaism and Islam. This is shocking. People are not being properly instructed. I noticed a little bit earlier someone was asking the shorter catechism question, I believe it was, on the persons of the Godhead. Concerning that, I trust that you are instructing these little children that you have here in the nature of God, who God is and what God is. Because the third item, 53% think that the Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being. That is not Trinitarian. That is not what the church has consistently taught from the very beginning. And we have the very early creeds of the church that teach us that the Holy Spirit is indeed a person. Now, don't confuse a person with a people. People are persons, but angelic beings are persons as well. All of the holy angels, all of the demons are persons. And persons has to do with that relationship that one can have with another. I have a pet cat and I missed her this morning because she wakes me up every morning at 7 o'clock. She climbs up on my chest and she takes her little paw and she taps it on my chin until I open my eyes. And I have learned from her to open my eyes quickly Because one morning, I guess I was in a little bit of an ornery mood, and I kept my eyes closed just to see what she would do. And I suddenly smelled her cat food breath, and then she licked my left eyelid with her sandpaper tongue. I have a certain relationship with that cat, but that cat is not a person. Jesus refers to the spirit here in John chapter 14, a passage that I trust is quite familiar to you. It's one that's often, the earlier part of that is often read at funerals. Where Jesus is saying to his disciples, I'm going away and I'm going to prepare a place for you. And that place is in heaven. They have spent three years as his followers. Spending time with Jesus. Observing him. Observing him as a man, because indeed Jesus is fully human, and so he did all the things that we humans do in that nature as humans, but without sin. I've known some awfully godly people in my life growing up. My grandfather was one of those that I admired in many ways, but I never saw my grandfather as sinless. And how it must have been a wonder to them to consider Jesus in his absolute holiness and to have come to rely upon him, the person of Jesus Christ, they had a close relationship. But Jesus said he's going away. but that no one comes to the Father except through me. That puts the lie to that survey question about God accepting worship from Judaism, Islam, or any other religion. Because it is only through Jesus Christ that we can come to God the Father. Jesus goes on to say there that if you'd known me, you would have known my Father. And Philip says, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. If you could just show us God. And Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words I speak to you, I do not speak in my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me, that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves, the miracles that Jesus performed. Jesus goes on to speak to the disciples there and tell them, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Notice there that he doesn't say if you ask anything, it's qualified, if you ask anything in my name. It has to be something that would be glorifying to both Christ and to his heavenly father. So you can't, like some radio preachers would tell you, or they're on TV now too, but will tell you that anything you ask God's gonna give you if you ask it in Jesus' name. But Jesus goes on to say to them, and I will pray the Father. Jesus prayed to his Heavenly Father. And this speaks clearly of two persons of the Godhead relating one to the other. The Son prays to the Father. They're not the same person. The Oneness Pentecostals will tell you that God is one. and that Jesus is God the Father come in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit is Jesus come back from the dead. A lot of confusion there. When Jesus said elsewhere in the scriptures, when he said that I and the Father are one, the question is one what? And the answer isn't one person, One God. See, and that is that mystery of the Trinity. That it's not something that's easy for our human minds to wrap themselves around. But we have to maintain very clearly those two truths. One is that God is one. One God. Three persons. each equally God. I remember one time in a Sabbath school class that I was teaching, this one lady spoke up and said, well, I believe that Jesus is God, but not like God the Father. And before I could answer the question, there was another lady that was sitting there and she spoke up and she said, that's not right. She said that Jesus is equally God. The Holy Spirit is equally God. Because the prayer that Jesus says that he's going to make to the father. He says he the father will give you another helper That he may abide with you forever a Helper a Paraclete That's the Greek word. And the Greek word means somebody who's called alongside. Just like Jesus has been alongside those disciples all those years, so that three years of ministry, helping them, in some cases feeding them, literally producing food, miraculously. They witnessed Him healing people. They witnessed Him raising the dead. But He says He's going away. But that the Father will send another helper who will abide with you forever. This term, one called alongside, is the very same term that we find in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1. And there in your Bibles, you'll find it translated with the word advocate. And there John tells us, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Jesus intercedes. Jesus there prays to the Father for the disciples, and he continues in that function for us, but so does the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, who indeed is a person. I'm going to go through some Bible verses to illustrate this so that you see it clearly. Because there are people who've read the Bible who've come to this conclusion that the Spirit is just some kind of power or substance. The Seventh-day Adventist Church does not teach the Trinity. They believe that Jesus is God. They believe that the Father is God. They believe that the Holy Spirit is a force. The Mormons do not believe that the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is a substance that permeates the entire universe. But this is coming for people who believe that the universe is infinite and eternal. And if you know your catechism, you know that those are attributes of God. But with all this false teaching, we need to see clearly that the Holy Spirit indeed a person turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 And verse 30, where we are instructed by the Apostle Paul, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Can you grieve a substance You know, I can take a hammer and I can beat it on a nail until that nail is bent so many different ways that it won't go into the wood anymore. Because I know that from experience having done that. But do you know, that nail wasn't grieved. Can you grieve a force? One can go up in the top of a very tall building and jump off that building and gravity will see to it that you splat on the ground. But gravity is not grieved. Your loved ones might be grieved if you were to do such a terrible thing, but gravity is not grieved. You can only grieve person. The Holy Spirit clearly is a person. Because Paul goes on here in this passage in verses 31 and 32 to talk about the kind of things that would grieve the Spirit. He says, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. When we exercise that kind of spirit, in that first verse there, bitterness, clamor, evil speaking, we grieve the spirit. But when we follow the example of the forgiveness that is ours in Christ Jesus, We do not grieve the Spirit. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verses 10 and 11. But God has revealed them to us through his spirit. For the spirit searches all things. Yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. searching, knowing. Forces, substances don't search. I know there's that expression that water will seek out its level. That's speaking metaphorically. But it doesn't have a conscious mind. The spirit, a conscious mind that searches and knows things. And then 1 Corinthians 12, verse 11, where we're told, but one And the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. The Spirit of God has a will. Forces don't have will. And then finally, Romans 8. 26. And 27. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. You ever have times when you wondered what you should pray for? There are situations in this life that confuse us. And sometimes we're not quite sure What is God's will in this situation? What is He about? And we want to pray according to that will, but we don't always know that. But here we're told that when we come to God in prayer, that the Spirit helps us and makes intercession for us. with groanings which cannot be uttered." Do you see that relationship? Because I think often, when I think back, I reflect back on sermons that I've heard growing up, and especially a lot of those I've listened to on the radio. I wouldn't recommend a lot of those preachers, to tell you the truth. Because there's a lot of confusion out there among them. There's some good ones, don't get me wrong. There's some excellent ones that you can listen to. And when you find an excellent one, do listen, do learn. But so many of them talk so extensively about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. which is true of us as believers, we do have a personal relationship with Him, for He died for us. And of having a personal relationship with God the Father, because after all, the most famous verse today from the Bible, John 3, 16, says that for God, that's God the Father, so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes on him might not perish, but have everlasting life. But when was the last time you heard someone talk about having a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit? And recognizing that the Holy Spirit, if you are indeed, believer in Jesus Christ and have come to faith which is a gift from God trusting in him that that Holy Spirit in dwells you is always there just like Jesus was always there with his disciples when they were traveling about there in Galilee and Judea that that same Holy Spirit dwells in you and with you and is personal, that that truth should encourage us in our walk. Here in Romans 8, verses 9 through 11, we're told, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give you life in your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. When the New Testament talks about the spirit of Christ, this passage makes it clear that that spirit is the spirit of God. And that it's not spirit in the sense of, we sometimes use that word of the spirit of something that, well, people talk about they wish that the spirit of Christmas would last the whole year long. It's not that vague kind of sense. It's a personal relationship. The Holy Spirit, Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is so beautiful how the New Testament makes it clear that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the work of God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It's one of those wonderful questions I like to ask Jehovah's Witnesses when they come to my door, and that is, who raised Jesus from the dead? Because if they'll look in their Bible, they'll find out that those are the three answers that are given, and there's no contradiction if you believe in the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We live in that hope that the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies and that he is the spirit that is given to us and will be with us forevermore. Let's look to God in prayer. Father, help us to see more clearly the truth about your Holy Spirit, even as we have believed the truth about Jesus Christ, that He died, not because of anything He ever did wrong, because He did no wrong, but that He died to pay the penalty for our sins, and that He was raised for our justification, and that that work was accomplished, Father, by you and by your Son and by the Holy Spirit. Help us to see more clearly the personhood, that personal relationship that we have with the spirit, that we have been given of your spirit in such a way that we can never fall away. Not because we are perfect or because we are always obedient, but rather because of the grasp that you have upon us. that we can rest in that truth, that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. And help us, Father, to be faithful in teaching the coming generations the truth about the Spirit. And that we might be witnessing to our fellow evangelicals who proclaim a faith in Christ and yet deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit. Help us to have those proper words to correct and instruct them in the right way, even as we have been corrected and instructed in the right way. And I pray, Father, for the young people here this morning in this church who are growing up. May they continue to grow strong physically, mentally, but most of all, Father, that they would grow in their knowledge of their Savior, Jesus Christ, and come to trust in Him and in Him alone. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please turn in your Psalters to 143B. And if you've noticed, the Psalms that I've selected have mentioned the Holy Spirit in them. And this Psalm as well has mention of the Spirit There in the middle of the sixth stanza, verse 10 of the psalm, no God have I but thee. Teach me to do thy will. Thy spirit's good lead me. And notice there's an apostrophe there in spirits. That's not multiple spirits. It's the good of the Holy Spirit would lead us on even pathway still. We'll stand to sing this psalm, 143B, followed by the doxology, 150B, and then to receive the benediction. Please stand. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh. Giv'n by the First, by God, the Nation, Be like to those that do in darkness sit, or in the dark night go, to share the dreadful pit. Because I trust in Thee, O come, tell me to fear, ♪ Thy lovingkindness free ♪ ♪ When mourning doth appear ♪ ♪ Break me to know the way ♪ ♪ Wherein my path should be ♪ ♪ Because my soul each day ♪ do I lift up to Thee. O Lord, deliver me from all who thee oppose. To thee alone I flee to hide me from my foes. No God have I but thee. ♪ Teach me to do thy will ♪ ♪ Thy Spirit to lead me ♪ ♪ On even pathways still ♪ ♪ O Lord, for thy name's sake ♪ ♪ Be pleased to quicken me ♪ ♪ Righteousness, O take my soul from misery ♪ ♪ In mercy cut off those that in these are to me ♪ ♪ Slay them, my soul, that loatheth me ♪ Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the trumpet sound. Praise Him with the harp and lyre. Praise Him with hymnal and dancing. Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipes. ♪ Praise Him with loud cymbals ♪ ♪ Praise Him with resounding cymbals ♪ ♪ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ Receive God's blessing. The love of God the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and forevermore. Amen.