From Greenville, South Carolina, we present, Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, preaching Christ in all His fullness. Once again, this is Alan Kern saying hello to you. It's good to have you with us as we turn to the scriptures again today to let the Bible speak during our continuing series of messages on the life of Jesus Christ. We are currently considering that following his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Spirit of God the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove upon him. It's a very important episode early in the ministry of Christ and we'll be turning to that in just a few minutes. We will also be having another of our commentaries. We're going to think upon Steven Spielberg's call for responsible television. An interesting topic, but first we have some music A very good friend of mine, Steve Ager, and he's singing a beautiful hymn. I need thee, precious Savior. I need thee, precious Savior, and hope to see thee soon. Encircled with the rainbow, and seated on thy throne, There with thy blood-born people my joy shall ever be, to sing thy praise, Lord Jesus, and never gaze on thee. Steven Spielberg, one of Hollywood's most admired directors, recently called for more responsible TV programming. He said that he spoke as a parent and that television programmers should be more aware of the danger to their own and their neighbors' children. Spielberg's call is overdue, for it appears that both Hollywood and the television industry, indeed almost all of the entertainment world, are interested only in money and advancing an extreme left-wing anti-Christian agenda. The welfare of children hardly appears on their radar screen. What's interesting about Spielberg's call is that it comes from a man who has made movies that have gained some notoriety for bad language, and language is an infallible indicator of the decline and corruption of a nation's culture. Also, it appears that Spielberg is worried almost exclusively about the explicit nature of the images on programs that depict, for example, an autopsy. He feels that they're too gruesome for children to watch. He's undoubtedly right. But what's incomprehensible is that the report of his comments carries no reference to the frequent portrayal of immoral activity and open perversion. It's as if blood and gore are the only real enemies TV lets loose on our children. That's how many in the entertainment industry seem to look at things. They enthusiastically espouse the cause of sodomites. They portray vice and moral degeneracy as if they were the norm. And they try to kid us that if they just clean up the scenes of blood a bit, they're giving us responsible television. I suppose the truth is that responsibility and TV rarely go together. The Bible tells us, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. TV programmers spew out what lies in their hearts, and in most cases, They are hearts that are dead set against God and His Christ. Some Christian groups are fond of such expressions as redeeming the culture. What we really need is to see such a movement of the Spirit of God as will bring sinners into an experience of Christ's redemption, a movement that will reach even to the so-called stars and moguls of the world of film and television. when they have something better in their hearts than the pit of depravity that currently finds expression in their work, and only then can we expect them to stop producing the kind of filth that's poisoning the youth of the nation. So, instead of merely lamenting the evils of Hollywood, we who are Christians need to get serious before God. and pray through for a real and powerful outpouring of His Spirit and revival power. But while we are content to live in Laodicean worldliness, our condemnations of Hollywood will be shallow and hypocritical. It's time to get serious about the spiritual state of our nation and our families. That means it's time to get serious about our own spiritual condition, judgment must begin at the house of God. Praise the Savior, ye who know Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us render to Him all we are and have. Jesus is the name that charms us, before God breaks, fits, and arms us. Nothing moves and nothing harms us while we trust in Him. Many of you have become avid readers of Let the Bible Speak's quarterly magazine. and we'd love to see many more of you join the ranks of our readership. The January to March issue of Let the Bible Speak Quarterly is available. It's always a beautifully produced magazine, and the subject matter is always instructive, edifying, challenging. It's something that we thoroughly recommend to you. The current issue is on the book of Psalms. And I think you'll find that there's much here that will be of great benefit to you, so it's not an issue that you'd want to miss. If you'd like to obtain a free copy of the magazine, and I should emphasize that I don't mean simply one free copy and then you get a bill for something else following. If you simply ask to be put on the mailing list, we'll let you have your copy of the Let the Bible Speak quarterly free as it appears each printing. So if you'd like to receive your free copy, we invite you to be in touch with us. You can write to us, or you can call us. Our mailing address is Let The Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615. You may write us by email, and our email address is ltbs at Free Prez, F-R-E-E-P-R-E-S, L-T-B-S, at Free Prez dot O-R-G. Or, if you'd prefer to call us toll free, you may call us at 866-877-LTBS, that is, 866-877-5827. I trust we'll hear soon from you, and that you'll very soon be enjoying reading. the Let the Bible Speak quarter. We now continue with our study of the life of Christ and especially of the anointing of Christ with the Holy Spirit. We're looking at the fact that that anointing established his identity as the Son of God. Yesterday we noted that the voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, following which the Spirit fell upon Christ. We saw that during the life of Christ there were three occasions when the Father made this statement to identify the Lord Jesus as the complete Savior, Prophet, Priest and King. Now today we return to these important words and we pick up the sermon as I emphasize the Father's testimony, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Now let's listen carefully as we discuss the importance of those words. I want you to notice how careful the Lord is with His words. He didn't say, this is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Now, He could say that. He was well pleased with Christ. But it's not only with Christ that God is well pleased, it is in Christ God is well pleased. And there you've got the first hint in the Gospels, of this glorious line of truth that runs throughout the New Testament, that Christ is acceptable to God, and everything in Christ is acceptable to God. And the only way of us being acceptable to God is to be in Christ. This is my beloved Son. I'm identifying Him, and I'm telling you, I find delight in Him. That's the meaning of the word, I'm well pleased. I find delight in Him. What a glorious testimony that God gave to His Son. And what a glorious testimony He gives to us, that if ever you are to be acceptable to God, and if ever God is to find delight in you, It'll not be in your words. It'll not be in your works. It'll not be in your praying. It'll not be in your giving. It'll not be in your serving. It'll not be in anything that you are or you do. It will be in the person of His beloved Son. The only place that God finds man acceptable is in the man, Christ Jesus. The practical application to us, I think, is very simple. This is my beloved Son. God identified him by sending the Holy Ghost upon him. Now, if we're saved, we profess to belong to the Lord. We profess to be the children of God. We profess to be His sons. How does God always identify His true sons? How does He do it? Romans 8, verse 9 spells it out clearly. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. That's how God identifies His sons. God's true sons always have the Holy Spirit. And if any man has not the Spirit of Christ dwelling within him, If any man has not the Holy Ghost, he's not saved. He's not one of the sons of God. God always establishes the identity of His true sons as He established the identity of His only begotten Son. That is, by the presence of the Holy Ghost. Now, that makes religion a whole lot more. and turning up at church on Sunday morning. Makes it a whole lot more than sitting through prayer meeting on Wednesday night. A whole lot more than going through the ritual. A whole lot more than simply having all the externals. I fear how many people are going out to meet God and the only religion they have is a religion of externals. I do this and I don't do that. But where is the experience of the regenerating power of the Spirit of God? Where is the evidence of the presence and the operation of the Holy Spirit in the life? Where is the fruit of the Spirit? Because without the Holy Ghost, there is no identification of a Christian possible. Because there is no Christianity possible. When Jesus said, you must be born again, you need to be born of the Spirit. I pointed out this coming of the Holy Ghost upon Christ, while it was certainly not a regeneration, it was a baptism of water and then of the Spirit. And regeneration in a Christian in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13 is called being baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ. So there is a very close similarity here. Make sure today that you know what it is to be in Christ. Make sure that you have more than a religion of externals. Make sure that you have more than church. Make sure that you have more than profession. Make sure that you are born of God. That's the important thing. For this is how God identifies His sons. If we're saved, do we not also profess to be His servants? Well, how does God identify His true servants? We read in Acts 1, verse 5, the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples, John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And a few verses later, He promised, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be My witnesses. How does God identify His true servants? By the ministry and the power of the Spirit of God. That's how He does it. You can do many things without the Holy Ghost. I have often quoted the words of Georgie Vins when he came from Russian persecution to American prosperity, said he was amazed at how much the church in America was able to do without the Holy Ghost. You can build cathedral churches without the Holy Spirit. You can gather 10,000 people without the Holy Spirit. You can have a great orchestra without the Holy Spirit, a glorious choir without the Holy Spirit. You can have a very talented motivational preacher without the Holy Spirit. Paul warned preachers about this. This is something that every preacher should live in constant fear of. And I have to confess, the older I get, the scarier this text gets for me. The nearer I get to the Judgment Day, the more solemn this text gets to me. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he warned preachers. Now I know that preachers like to make this text applicable to their congregation. And no doubt it has an application to the congregation. But I think that's just a cop-out for the preacher. For it wasn't written to the congregation, it was written to the preachers. Paul wrote to those who were following him in the ministry. He says, I have led the foundation. Now you take good care how you build upon that foundation. Take very good care. Because there's a day coming when you're going to stand before God, and your works will be made manifest. And they're either going to be gold, silver, and precious stones, or they're going to be wood, hay, and stubble. And if they're wood, hay, and stubble, they'll be burned up. And you'll be saved, so is by fire. Saved by the skin of your teeth. Saved, but your entire life work lying in ashes. It's a warning to preachers. And the warning is, you can build without the Holy Ghost. You can spend a lifetime as a professed minister of Jesus Christ, and at the end of it have nothing spiritual that will stand the test of the judgment day. It's a text for preachers. It's a text that constantly haunts me. Of all these 40 years, what is there that's going to stand the test? I can't boast of the number of people I have brought into the church, because if they go to hell, I have nothing. Can't boast of buildings, for they'll burn up too. It's why God identifies His true servants by a genuine outpouring and operation of His gracious Holy Spirit. Saving souls, producing spiritual fruit, drawing people close to Christ, building them up in their most holy faith, Those are the actions of the Spirit of God. Those are the things that identify the true servant of God, as they did our Savior. So descending on Christ, the Holy Ghost identified Him as the Son of God. Second thing He did was He equipped Him for service. Now that raises a huge question. The question is, why did the Lord Jesus Christ need the Holy Ghost to equip Him for service? Was Christ not God manifested in flesh? As God, did He not personally have all power? So, if He is God, as He is, if as God He has all power, as He has, why did He need the Holy Spirit to come and fill Him with power? I think that there's a divine principle that runs through the Word of God, and it's working here. God is a Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the entire Trinity always operates in the work of redemption. And as I understand Scripture, the Father never, never, has ever revealed Himself to a creature, angel or man, He has never revealed Himself to a creature except through His Son. Keep that in mind. And let... I don't want to digress here. Let that be your basic understanding whereby you critique every religious claim made by men in this world. We are told by the Muslims that God revealed Himself directly to Muhammad. I know it's a lie for many reasons. But for one outstanding reason, God never reveals Himself to a creature except through the mediation of His Son. Muhammad denied the Sonship of Christ. You can take every other religious claim in the world and let that be the understanding whereby you judge them. God never reveals Himself apart from His Son. But I think it's equally clear that the Son never imparts His grace apart from the Holy Ghost. In other words, it is the Holy Spirit who prepares and who enables the human heart to receive Christ and to benefit from the grace of Christ. to receive and know the blessing of the designs and the deeds of God on behalf of men. So, the grace of Christ never comes to any man without the operation of the Holy Spirit. Now, the Lord Jesus was a true man. He had a true human nature. And that human nature, interestingly, was produced by the operation of the Holy Spirit from the substance of the Virgin Mary. So, it was by the Holy Ghost that the humanity of Christ was created in order to live in union with the eternal Son of God. So, by the Holy Ghost, that humanity was fitted to receive all the gifts and all the graces needed for Christ's ministry here upon the earth. You've been listening to Let the Bible Speak, the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. I hope that you found today's broadcasting a blessing to your heart. If you'd like to email us, our email address is ltbs at freepres.org. Or if you'd prefer, you may write us at LetTheBibleSpeak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. We would love to hear from you. If you'd like to know how to be saved and how to be sure you're saved, we'd like to send you my booklet, A New Beginning, and I think that you'll find it very helpful. Each quarter we publish a free full-color magazine, LetTheBibleSpeak Quarterly, with a good variety of Bible teaching and testimony. It's available to all who request it. If you'd like to receive more information about the Free Presbyterian Church of North America and its ministry, we'd like to send you our booklet, Separated Unto the Gospel. Or if you'd like to have tape or CD copies of the messages here in Let the Bible Speak, you may have them by contacting us. Or you may visit us on the web at letthebiblespeakradio.com. Now that's a lot of information to digest all at once, but you can find it all on our website, LetTheBibleSpeakRadio.com. There you'll be able to listen to and download our programs, visit our online bookstore, and read a text version of each day's commentary. So visit us today at LetTheBibleSpeakRadio.com. This is Alan Kern saying, thank you for listening. I trust that you'll join us each day at this time, Monday through Friday, as we let the Bible speak.