th th th Thank you. Okay. I guess I better get going. Second Corinthians chapter one is where we will start this morning. Second Corinthians chapter number one. And it is good to have you here and let's go ahead and pray and we will start Lord. I thank you for your word and for your instruction to us. Thank you for. The ministry of your spirit. To us. And also through us. To other people. And we pray your blessing upon our study that we would appreciate his activity. Understand him. in his role and in his identity, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So, we've been talking about the Holy Spirit, who is, of course, fully God. He is all that deity is. He is the third member of the Trinity. We sometimes, I think incorrectly, think of him as a lesser member, one whose priority is perhaps the magnification of the Father and the Son, and to some extent that is much of what he does, but he really is prominent in the New Testament, and he does not in any way take a backseat role. So we've talked about who he is, and we've begun to talk a little bit about his activity, particularly with reference to the work of conversion or regeneration. It is God's Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin. It is God's Holy Spirit who brings us to faith. It is God's Holy Spirit who makes us new creatures. We are born of the Spirit, out of the Spirit. And then from that moment on, from the time of the creation of the new birth, There are a variety of activities or ministries of the Holy Spirit, again, to us and through us. And we will, over the next few weeks, just kind of look at what he does on our behalf, what he does to us. We'll talk at times about how we respond to his work, because he, of course, can be resisted, and he can be grieved, and he can be quenched. And so his work is, I don't want to say not automatic, but it is not without opposition in the human experience. So we will try and take notice of all that. What I want to do this morning is just kind of walk through some of the things that happen to us when we are made new creatures, right? And, you know, if I was a professor of theology, which I am not, and if you are a class of students, which you are not, we might devote ourselves to the very difficult exercise of trying to figure out the sequence in which God does these things. We're just not going to get into any of those things. But when we are born out of the Spirit, John 3, and when we have the new birth, and when we are born into the family of God, then there are some words that the New Testament uses to describe what God does to us in that moment. And these things are, they're positional in nature. They happen to us. So 2 Corinthians chapter one, and let's start in verse number one, or not verse number one, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse number 21. Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. And we'll come back and talk about the anointing at another time because that is another ministry that we have received from God's Spirit is an anointing. What does that mean and what does it accomplished. We will look at that separately. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who also hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our heart. And so I want to call your attention first of all to what he does there, first thing that is mentioned in verse number 22. The Holy Spirit seals us. The Holy Spirit seals us. And that word seal is a word that refers to the placing of a mark or the authentication. Right? You know, you have enough familiarity with how it would work with the sealing of an envelope and the melting of wax and the impression of the wax seal designating its authority. And that seal is a protection. In John chapter 6 and verse number 27, Jesus himself was sealed. The Father has sealed him or authenticated him. In Romans 15, 25 through 28, Paul talks about sealing the offering for the saints in Jerusalem. Again, authenticating, and protecting. The seal was to not be disturbed. It was the evidence of purity in that which was being communicated. The letter has been unopened, and we know that because the seal is unbroken. I have now for 20 years worked as an election worker. And ballot boxes are sealed. We're given a seal, and then boxes are sealed. There's tamper-proof tape and evidence of seal, and where election workers in Douglas County have to sign to verify that they have not tampered with the ballots in any way. There is a sealing, a protection, and an authentication. Look at Ephesians 1. and verse number 13. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse number 13, in whom also ye trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, which by the way, if I could just pause here for a second, If you look at that very carefully, you'll notice that what's happening there is that you're being given, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a divine sequence of events, right? You trusted after you heard the word of truth, how shall they hear in whom they have not heard, Romans 10, the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed, So you trusted because you heard, and then after that you were sealed. Verse number 13, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of His glory. And in this case, Paul is not only arguing that we are sealed, but he is arguing that the Holy Spirit Himself is that seal. that he is the authenticating mark or evidence or proof of salvation. We will come back to that. And so, right, one of the things, because somebody asked me about, evidently I had said something unclearly or inaccurately last Sunday morning. Please make sure that you understand, this is passive. This is God doing something to us. This is not us going out and getting something. This is something that God has done to us. We heard, we believed, our faith, Ephesians 2.8, is God's gift to us. And when we believe, then God begins to do certain things on our behalf. And the first of those that we're looking at, I'm not necessarily arguing the first in sequence, but one of the things that God does is that he seals us. He grants to us his Holy Spirit, in the sense of sealing. And if you'll jump back to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 30, not only is the sealing passive, but the sealing is permanent. And that's one of the implications of Ephesians 4.30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. I mean, if you think about it, folks, one of the alternatives that we might argue could happen would be to leave when one is grieved. We probably all have situations and circumstances in our life in which the route that we have chosen is the route of departure. I don't have to stay in this job. Unfortunately, sometimes people decide I don't need to stay in this marriage. I don't need to stay in this relationship. I don't need to stay in this conversation. The response to being grieved, irritated, agitated is to depart. But notice the way that it's put here in Ephesians chapter 430. It's not the main teaching of the passage, but the implication of the passage is this. You can grieve God and God cannot get away from you because he has sealed you. So not only is his sealing passive, it is something that he does to us. It is permanent. It is something that has endurance. So I would kind of put it this way, and I would not fight over it, but in the sealing, which is something that really truly happens in the impartation of the Spirit, but the sealing contains an element of promise to it. We have been labeled as being authenticated by God. And this is why, if you want to go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 13, I think that it is on the basis of the fact that we have been sealed, permanently sealed by God's Spirit. And that the Spirit, the sealing of the Spirit, right, is the authentication of salvation. That this is one of the reasons that Paul talks to us the way he does. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. And verse number five, examine yourselves, examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. Prove your own selves, put yourself to the test. Know ye not that your, know ye not your own selves, every believer should know this, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates. And reprobate means unable to pass the test, folks. Its counterpart is actually the word prove. Prove. Be able to pass the test. And the test, and we'll come to this, the test of salvation is the presence of the Spirit. Now, the Spirit cannot be weighed, I'm being a little bit facetious, right? But when you got saved, your weight did not change. The Holy Spirit came in and your weight went up, right? He cannot be felt. He is, in a physical sense, he is not, right? He is not like an expected mother who can feel physically the presence of the baby in her womb. So the testimony of the evidence of the Spirit is to put ourselves to the test as to whether or not the work of the Spirit is being accomplished. Is what the Spirit does in the lives of people evident in my life? And there is a sense, folks, and I realize that the security of our salvation is very emotional and very complicated, complex, But the New Testament does present a scenario in which there is an internal witness to our salvation. We are not simply relying upon the testimony of other people. Again, look at the text. Prove your own selves. Put yourself to the test. Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you. I realize that Jesus Christ is there and I think this is an instance in which the trinity, the Trinitarian nature is being used somewhat flexibly. To what extent Jesus is in me, right? Whether that's in the person of his spirit, which I think is how the Bible would teach it, but except he be reprobates, right? You can't pass the test of the spirit if you don't have the spirit. Paul will say something similar if you go back to Romans 8. And verse number nine. Well, let's just go back to verse number five. For they that are after the flesh or according to the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit, or according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, for or because to be carnally minded, and the idea there is fleshly minded, it's really the same word, for to be fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And Paul is not in any way taking away the conflict, that's Romans chapter seven. Verse number seven, because the carnal mind or the fleshly mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. And then so that there is no unclarity or uncertainty on what Paul means. The remainder of verse number nine, now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And again, folks, this is because the Holy Spirit is the authenticator of our salvation. He is the seal. He is the stamp of authenticity. This is not a matter of physical birth. It is not a matter of baptism. It is not a matter of religious works. It is not a matter of self-proclaimed identification. I am a Christian. As unfortunately, one of our former presidents said, I am not a Christian. I'm just not the born again kind. Well, if a man doesn't have the spirit, he doesn't belong to God, period. And I think you know this, but I will state it anyway. This is not confined to the independent Baptist denomination. The authentication is God's spirit, not a denominational label. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 22, because Paul, and he does this in Ephesians 1 and he does it in 2 Corinthians 1, he really lays side by side two distinct words that are kind of in the yoke together, that are in the harness together. 2 Corinthians 1.21, now, he which establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest. There's that word, the second word I'm talking about. He has given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Which, grammatically, looking at verse number 22, the little conjunction and joins those concepts, it doesn't separate them. It would not be, I'm not faulting our translators for dealing with this way, but it would not be inaccurate in accordance to the use of the Greek conjunction there to translate the verse this way, verse number 22, who hath also sealed us, even giving us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. So again, as I pointed out, it is very clear in Ephesians 1.13, the Holy Spirit is that deposit. And the word here that is translated earnest is actually a word that comes really out of the secular financial world. It's not distinctively a religious word. It is distinctively a financial word. It was a word that originated in the business world referring to the money that a purchaser paid to a seller that would be forfeited if the purchase was not completed. That's how a Greek mind or a Roman mind understood the word. He understood that word to be the security deposit. Or as we use legally, the earnest money. It was actually at times even used to describe a bribe. I'm going to give you this money in exchange for you making a decision favorable to me. trying to buy your decision. I'll look over at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 5. 2 Corinthians 5, 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest, there is that word again, who hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit. Or Ephesians 1.14, we read Ephesians 1.13. I think we read 14 as well. Ephesians 1.13, in whom also ye trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, and the word which there, right, which doesn't, you know, we might think it should be who, but again, to be faithful to the fact that the word spirit doesn't have a gender attached to it is translated which, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. And again, there is this, This idea that it is passive, God does this for us, and it is permanent, right? How long do we have the spirit? Ephesians 1.14. Okay, seriously folks, I'm not, I'm not, right? How long do we have the spirit? Ephesians 1.14. Somebody tell me, what's Ephesians 1.14 say? How long do we have the spirit? Until when? Until, right? Until something happens, until the redemption of the purchased possession. That's you, by the way. Paul said we're waiting for the redemption of the body. In other words, what you want to notice about Ephesians 1.14 is what it doesn't say, which is the earnest of our inheritance until you sin long enough, often enough, and brazenly enough that he takes it away. or which is the earnest of our inheritance until you repudiate him and then he leaves. No, it is permanent. How long do we have this down payment of the spirit? Until the redemption is complete. Until the redemption is complete. In other words, folks, this is, it appears to me to be a very solid, absolute biblical truth that if God were to take a man's salvation, if God were to send a man to hell, he would have to send that portion of the Holy Spirit with him. And this is another thing for another time, but none of us have all of God's Spirit. It is said of Jesus in John 3, that God giveth the spirit without measure unto him, and it is said of us in 1 Corinthians 12, that each one of us receives a measure. We get a portion. The spirit is present in every believer, but to whatever, however that works, however that works within the deposit, if God were going to cast you into eternal flame, the Holy Spirit being the earnest, right, being the promise that the redemption will be completed and then failing to complete the redemption, God would have to fail the Spirit. He would have to, I mean, forfeit the Spirit. That's the terminology that is being used. This is part of why we believe in an eternal security. of believers or the perseverance of the saints. So God, one of the ministries of God's Holy Spirit to us is that He is our authenticator and He is the deposit. We have Him. We have Him. Turn now to John chapter 1. A different ministry of the Holy Spirit John chapter one and verse number 32. John, this is John the Baptist. John bare record saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and did abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. So another thing that the Holy Spirit does is baptize us. We are baptized either with, we will get a little more deep into this at a later time, Because there are a variety of explanations. We were baptized with or by the Holy Spirit. Look at Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1, let's just start in verse number 1. Acts 1, 1, the former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and under the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. You shall, right, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, excuse me, and verse number 10. Kind of jumping into the middle of Peter's explanation of his vision. This was done three times and all were drawn up again into heaven and behold immediately there were three men already come into the house where I was. and sent from Caesarea unto me, and the Spirit made me to go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell upon them. as on us at the beginning, predicted in Acts 1.8. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles, granted repentance unto life. So the New Testament has spent a lot of time both preparing us for and explaining to us this concept of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Look at what it says in 1 Corinthians 12. Some people, and I really didn't want to get into this too far, spend a lot of time on it, but some well-meaning people try and explain the baptism of the Holy Spirit as some kind of spectacular event. And of course, when the day of Pentecost came, it was a spectacular event. The question is, Is it by necessity a spectacular event every time it happens with the equivalent of rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire? Now, of course, our primary concern is what the Bible teaches, but I feel on pretty safe ground in saying that if that kind of situation or experience was required, very few of us would really be able to say anything about our salvation with any authority because very few believers have that kind of experience. And then one of the problems is that when you start to teach people that they have to have that kind of experience, it's amazing how many people can have it. whether they really have it or whether they're saying they had it. So when the spirit came on the day of Pentecost, it was a spectacular thing. But it does not require to be a spectacular thing. First Corinthians chapter 12. In verse number 12. For as the body is one, and have many members, right? And you're familiar with the passage and the way Paul argues, right? He's just arguing about human bodies. How many bodies do we have? We have only one body. But it has lots of members. It has lots of parts. Arms and legs and hearts and liver and intestines and gallbladders and appendixes and veins and arteries and muscles and tendons. But it's all one body. So as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. My veins don't have their own identity. My ligaments don't have their own identity. They're all part of one body. And that's the way Jesus is. And how is Jesus that way? For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. So one spirit. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The placing of the individual body members, right? That's when you and I got saved, this is, This is really a huge thing, folks. And it's really a huge obstacle in American Christianity in which so many people are adamant that they can have Christianity on their terms, this individual Christianity that they choose, that they practice, that they shape, that is completely counter to what the scriptures are actually teaching about the people of God. God has one body. And that body is one church. And every one of us is making up a part of that body. And we assemble in local assemblies like Westwood Heights. But we are not the only church. And we are all parts of Christ's body. And just as all of the parts in a human body are supposed to be working together for the benefit of that body, All of the members of Christ's body are working together for the benefit of Christ. That's what the Bible teaches. This is not the only reason, but it is one of the major reasons that participation physically in church services and more than just sitting and staring is the expectation. There is some kind of mutual ministry of the body parts to each other. And again, don't do this now, but if you go back to Acts chapter one and read the way Luke writes, he is explaining to you that what is about to happen going forward on a much larger scale is exactly what was happening when Jesus was alive. When Jesus was the only one that had his body, And then he went away and gave us the Spirit, and now the church is his body. And again, folks, the ramifications for that are huge. And of course, I have my distinct perspective from my young background. But today, all over America, churches are Pastors and congregations have been working passionately to fill a building with unbelievers, which in and of itself is not a terrible thing, and then calling that church, which is a terrible thing. Because God gets to control the dictionary of what a church is. And here's what a church is, the body of Christ. Right? And so I am sealed by the spirit and that same spirit baptizes me into one body. He places me into a body, the body of Christ. And my energies and activities now are oriented towards the body of Christ. This is, that's the whole of New Testament. This is one of the reasons for all of those one another passages, right? When human bodies, When human bodies, and by the way, I just read this. I did not know this. It's kind of a frightening book, but it's a worthwhile book if you are interested in these things. It's called Lost in Transnation. It is a psychiatrist lamenting the way that modern medicine, in the name of science, I'm putting all that in air quotes, has collapsed to societal pressure to support the transgender movement. She just talks about the fact that from the moment of conception, boys are boys and boys are not girls and girls are girls and girls are not boys. 80 percent, 80 percent of all autoimmune diseases, girls get, girls get. The body turns on itself. It's not a healthy thing when a body turns on itself. Well, Christ only has one body. It's not a healthy thing if I turn on you. or you turn on me. And it's not a healthy thing if we turn on the members of First Baptist Church in Platt Smith or Midwestern Baptist Church. That's not a healthy thing either. There's only one body. Anyway, I've gone off. So he baptizes us. Oh, I'm gonna run out of time here. Romans chapter six and verse number, let's look at it and then. Romans chapter six matters not just for what it teaches, but because of the way it is abused by denominations who want to turn water baptism into the instrument whereby you are baptized into the body of Christ. How did you get baptized into the body of Christ? I would argue this is the work of God's Spirit, and it is not the work of baptism, but water baptism is the preview what is happening. Romans chapter 6 and just look at verse number 3, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Okay? And the question then becomes theologically, is your baptism, when you were baptized by water or in water, Was that the symbol of your salvation or the instrument of it? And many people come to Romans six and argue that's the instrument of it. You get baptized by water and it baptizes you into the body of Christ. That is not what Paul is saying. He is using the analogy. And don't you understand that when you were baptized into Christ, you were baptized into his death. Verse number four. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. And I would just point out to you folks that I mean, if it's anything that you ever think about or wonder about, does baptism save people? Just remember that Paul writes those words in a book in which the major theme of Romans 1-8 is salvation by grace through faith alone. That has been his hammer since he used the word Paul in Romans 1-1. The men are lost, they are hopelessly lost. Their works cannot save them. They are all lost. Jew and Gentile like God in mercy brought Christ to be the savior and all who believe may have that salvation. That is the emphasis of the book. And Paul is not now reversing course in Romans six going, oh, and by the way, it happens when you got wet. That is not the point that he is making. Look, if you would, at Galatians chapter three. How am I doing on my time? I'm out. That's OK, because I can I can get away with just mentioning the next one, Galatians chapter three. Galatians 326, for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus, we're all body parts. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. And in 1 Corinthians 10, verses one and two, Paul uses the word baptism a mark of identification, right? The sealing of the Spirit is a mark of authentication. The baptism of the Spirit is a mark of identification, right? They were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the wilderness. They were all identified with Moses. Our baptism is what enters us into living union with Christ. Water baptism symbolizes that, but it does not produce that. So baptism is our position, our placement into the body of Christ, right? Sealing is the promise. I promise to save you. I promise that you are mine. How do I know that I'm yours? I'm giving you my spirit. Now, are we just X number then of individuals, our common denominator being that we have the spirit? No, because we have all been, through that same spirit, put into one body. the body of Christ. And there must be some orientation to what we do, that we are part of a body, something larger than our individual desires and appetites. And then finally, I'm just going to mention this because we will build off of this going forward. He indwells us. 1 Corinthians 3.16, Romans 8.9-11, John 14.15-21. He lives in us. I mean, you could possibly make the argument that the sealing and the baptism are things that God does, and then he goes on to do other things. But the teaching of Scripture is that there is a remaining, indwelling, active presence of God's Spirit. And the emphasis there is on the word active. He is doing something. And that's part of where the anointing comes in. One of the things he is doing is connected to that anointing. But I'm out of time this morning, so we'll stop there. And we will be back at 11 o'clock.