All right, we are going to meander our way through Exodus again today, starting in Exodus 31. As I said, in this last part [of Exodus], we will be bouncing around the last half of Exodus until we conclude by looking at the Tabernacle itself. , We may actually cover Chapter 40 separately. There are a variety of things here in the book of Exodus that are precursors of what's going to happen in our current post-Messianic time, which we will review today. Prior to Jesus coming, He appeared to Abraham. He appeared to Moses. He appeared to all of these people. And as we said last week, he appeared as what we call the Malak Elohim or the Malak Jehovah. And it's interesting because I think it's bizarre. In fact, we were talking about this at breakfast last week after we left, that the word Malak is translated 'angel' in the King James and in most translations, yet the word malak is used by Jews when they pray, as referring to God. So, for example, Baruch ha-Toi Adonai Elohenu malak,,. Blessed be the Lord our God King of the Universe... The Jewish people use that word in their blessings and in their prayers in reference to God. When we looked at this last week Steve brought up a very valid point that it's confusing because we're sitting here going well an angel can't be God! That is impossible! That doesn't work! But it's not referring to an angel. The point is it is the pre-incarnate appearance of the Messiah and that's why Jesus said to Abraham, or excuse me, to the people of HIs day, before Abraham was, I am. So Jesus always existed. Colossians, says that he has created all things. In him, all things exist. So he has always been, he has always existed, he has always been the Lord God, from day one. And so when he appeared as a man, it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. But it says prior to that, the word is God and the Word was God. So we have this absolutely incredible thought that God Almighty, Himself, came and became a man. And when that occurs, we visualize Jesus as having a very specific beginning. We celebrate Christmas Day. The idea is that was when Jesus was brought into existence. But He has always been. The Bible tells us, he has always existed and He has appeared throughout the Scriptures. So this is an important aspect of everything that we're actually teaching as believers, is this understanding of who Jesus is. He has always been, He continues to be, and He will always exist. And so right through to the white throne judgment, it's the same Messiah, the same Messiah that appeared to Abraham is the same Messiah that appeared to Moses. The same one that appeared to Moses is the same one that appeared to Samuel. The same one that appeared to Samuel is the same one that appeared to David. The same one that appeared to David is the same one that appeared to the apostles. And then ultimately to to John when he gave him the revelation. And so all of these things are there for our understanding that Jesus is, in fact, the Lord God made flesh to dwell among us. Very important element. And it really is personified when we get into the tabernacle, we're going to see how the tabernacle is a picture of everything we're supposed to know about the Messiah as well. So that's another thing, and that's why I'm still not sure how long it's going to take us to get through to the tabernacle because I could do it in a variety of different ways. But today I want to look at this idea because one of the things that happened that Jesus promised, he said, it's expedient that I go away because if I don't go away, you're not going to receive what? The helper, the comforter, the Holy Spirit. You're not going to receive the Holy Spirit. And one of the things that is confusing to believers, to me, is understanding how the Holy Spirit actually works. And the fact that just as Jesus has always existed, the Holy Spirit has also always existed. It's not a new phenomenon that came as a result of the resurrection. Remember that. The Holy Spirit did not suddenly start to work once Jesus rose from the dead and ultimately ascended into heaven. That's not the way it works. He has always existed. He has continually been affecting the lives of people. Now, what's interesting to me is that, and we're going to look at this today, is that the Old Testament talks about being spirit-filled more than the New Testament does. Did you know that? Did you know that? The Old Testament talks about being spirit-filled more than the New Testament. Really, outside of 1 Corinthians 12 and the book of Acts, really the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Holy Spirit, is almost an understood aspect of a relationship with God. Because the Holy Spirit has been filling people for service, since the beginning. There's no lack of understanding in that regard. The difference is, as we're gonna look at today, is that once Jesus came and gave us this permanent residence of the indwelling spirit, that's what's different. That's what's new. And the Bible tells us, as we'll see as we get into this, I believe it's in the book of Ephesians, that we are sealed And the word there for seal that he uses in Ephesians 1.13 is the same word that's used for when you put your stamp on a document. The Romans had these things where they would actually take and take wax, and usually it was, depending upon the level of the person making the seal, it was a different color. The most extreme of those, believe it or not, Anybody know what the most extreme color of a Roman seal was? Red, exactly. And of course, we have been sealed by the blood of the Lamb, which is an interesting little, yeah, it means, it doesn't really mean a lot, but I think it's cool. But the seal that we, and the Bible tells us that we have been sealed in the same way a Roman document is sealed by a leader, And there are a variety of different leaders, as I said. That seal seals the document. And what that means is the document cannot be changed. The document cannot be changed. It cannot be taken away. And that's why our, that's why I'm so completely convinced that you can't lose your salvation for the same reason. That, you know, we have been sealed in the same way a Roman document is sealed. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. And there's the Holy Spirit that gives us providence with the Lord. It is not what we have done. It is not what we continue to do. It is not what we fail. It's not anything that we have done on our own. Okay. Important that we understand that. So this idea of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something that we need to understand. So that's what we're going to talk about today. And I think it's a subject, frankly, that's controversial but shouldn't really be, in my opinion. It's really something that is pretty obvious throughout the scriptures that the Spirit of God is at work. In Hebrew, the Spirit of God is called the Ruach HaKodesh, which means the The wind, ruach means wind or things that you can't see but you can feel. That's a ruach. So it usually is a spirit or a wind or whatever, same word. And chodesh means just things which are holy and we're going to see that when we get into the tabernacle. Everything about the tabernacle is chodesh. Ruach HaKodesh, Holy Spirit, Spirit of Holiness. And that spirit has continually worked on behalf of God because it is God and it is God's way of working. So that's the approach that we need to understand. But it really should not be something that we take lightly. The controversy of how does the Spirit of God work? Is He at work today? Does He do things miraculous? those kinds of questions and so forth to me are Really not an issue. To me, God does the same things today that he did before. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So there is no difference as far as the scriptures are concerned. So we're going to start this in Exodus 31, and I'm just going to read the first three verses or so. And it says this, Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, See, I have called my name Baziel, the son of Uri, the son of Ur, the tribe of Judah and I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and knowledge and in all kinds of craftsmanship to make artisan designs for work in golden and silver and in bronze and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carvings of wood that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship." So I find this to be one of the most interesting verses, maybe, in this whole section of the tabernacle. The tabernacle, by the way, is being described from 25 through the end of the book. This is in the midst of that, and it's telling us that this fellow, Bazaal, has been given certain abilities, but those abilities were being I would say authored is probably the only word I can think of, authored by the spirit of God. Because what God did is God filled him with his spirit to give him wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship. He had the craftsmanship. That's the point. He had that. The spirit of God is what provided him the wisdom, the understanding, and the knowledge of how to utilize that craftsmanship. So the craftsmanship was a natural ability, that's a natural talent, but the Spirit of God is what takes and moves those natural abilities and uses them for the service of God. And that is continually the way the Spirit of God works. He takes what you have and uses it for God. And that's really what is going on here. So we find this artisan, Abazael, he's spirit-filled. We read it again in Exodus 35, if you flip over a couple pages. Verse 30 I believe it is yeah, then then Moses said to the sons of Israel see the Lord has called by name Bazaal the son The son of Uri the son of Ur the tribe of Judah And he has filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and an understanding and a knowledge and in all craftsmanship to make designs for working in gold and silver and bronze so He's just repeating there what it has to say, but I think this guy's name is fascinating. Buz-i-el means shadow, literally. That's what it means. It means shadow. So, Buz-i-el-el would be the shadow of God. So this guy's called the shadow of God. It's really a great name for, you know, if you're going to name somebody. But he calls him the shadow of God. And so this guy is obviously someone who God has called out for the purpose of working on behalf of God, being the shadow of God. And I also think it's interesting that one of the things we see here and we're going to go through a variety of different places where the Spirit of God fills people in the Old Testament in a minute, but you're going to see something that's over and over and over, and that is the Spirit of God is not self-edifying. It's not self-edifying. He never edifies himself. He's always glorifying the Father. So it's just this fascinating thing. No part of the Godhead stands out. That's the point. They all do their job. They all work together for one. And that's why when God gave us the Shema, the words in Deuteronomy chapter 6, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. He's talking about the idea that God is one. He is Echad. That's actually the Hebrew word. He is one. Made up of multiple parts, but he is one God. He is not ever going to do anything that separates him That's why I have a real problem with this idea that we have God the Father number one God the Son number two God the Holy Spirit number three as though there's some sort of tearing that it doesn't work that way The Bible does not teach that. And it's interesting because, I don't know if you guys know this, but this is the great separation between certain sects of Christianity. For example, the whole Mormon religion is built around the idea that you have the Father is first, the Son is second, and the Holy Spirit is third. Read the Book of Mormon, it clearly says that right in it. And all of their catechisms teach that. So this is something, but it's a separator between us. Many other sects as well, but the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that the Godhead is unified, that it is one. And we should actually demonstrate our unity in the same way that God demonstrates his unity, is what Paul teaches. It's a very important kind of concept that we need to understand. Again, it's the same idea that the Mormons have. The same problem that they struggle with is this trying nature of God. The trying nature of God has befuddled people for eons. Truly has. But as we looked at last week, the trying nature of God has always been spoken about. Isaiah talked about it. Isaiah 46, Isaiah 48, as examples, Isaiah chapter 12, excuse me, 11. Certainly Jeremiah talked about it. So there's the plurality of God is something that's throughout the Old Testament. But the struggle that people have with the unity of God, this triune nature of God, is that they use their human way of looking at things and saying, well, how in the world do you have three parts? I mean, how can you have three things, you know, speak of them separately, but yet they're all one? And that's a struggle. And so people came up with this idea of a hierarchy. And that's something that's been added. The Catholics added it It's interesting. When I first did the study on the triune God, I actually talked about this, but they added it. They didn't add it right away. The Catholics started in the fourth century, as most people know. They didn't add the idea of the hierarchy of God until much later. Almost a thousand years later, by the way, is when this hierarchy of God thing became part of the catechism. So again, we see this thing that people struggle with, with the idea that God is one. But God is one. And we need to understand that that's an important element. And that's what the Jews have always taught. I mean, there's no question of that. Go over to Numbers chapter 11. And then we're going to kind of go zipping through the scriptures here and look at a bunch of different examples. But let's start here in Numbers chapter 11. where we're again informed that the Spirit of God was given for service, and that's what we see there. But if you go over to verse 11, excuse me, verse 17 in chapter 11, it says this. It says, then I will come down and speak with you there. Actually, read from verse 16. It says, the Lord therefore said to Moses, gather for me 70 men from the elders of Israel. Whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them into the tent of the meeting and let them take their stand there with you and then I will come down and speak with you there and I will take of the spirit who is upon them and will put him upon them and they shall bear the burden of the people with you so that you shall not bear it all alone and say to the people Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow. So this idea that that God fills people with the Holy Spirit again Not really a New Testament concept because this is something that God did here with the 70 elders So he calls the 70 elders in he says and what I think is interesting about this particular section Did you notice that the 70 elders are not elected? Did you notice that it says that the people know these guys are the ones that are in charge and They know it. It's like we know who the leaders are. It's really a very interesting concept. He says, so gather to me 70 members of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people. Moses was able to identify them. So Moses selected the elders. They were not elected. Everybody understand that? It's important. This is not a democratic organization. It's very important that you understand that. The Bible is not democratic. Yes. Yeah, right. Yeah, and so the point of the matter is that God does the selecting, and he does it through other leaders and so forth, but the best form of government is the biblical form of government, which is a benevolent dictatorship, if you really think about it. That's what theocracy really is. It's God is in control, everybody works for him. period. He makes the ones that are going to be at the elder level and those that are not. So it's a fascinating subject to me. But here we see that God is adding leadership, that he's constantly doing this on behalf of the people. That's what he's doing. And the Spirit of God is what directs that leadership. So the first element that we want to understand is that the Spirit of God directs leadership. Everybody got that? That's the first part. He directs leadership. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. Correct. Yes. You got it actually Yeah, it is That's correct Correct That's correct. And we're going to talk about that because that's an important part. But what I wanted to demonstrate initially was that the Holy Spirit is not a new thing. He has always been around. The difference is how he worked. In those days, he would come temporarily upon craftsmen. He would come temporarily upon leaders. That's important. Genesis 1-2, it says the Spirit of God is hovering over the face of the water. And what's really cool about the Spirit of God is that the Spirit of God has not changed. The Bible tells us very clearly He has not changed. So in the same way that God has not changed, it means that we can count on Him. to continue to work in the same way. So he's working first with craftsmen. The second thing he does is he works with leaders. What I find very interesting is that he also can fill an unbeliever. So what? How in the world is that even possible? But he can. Go over to Numbers 24, just as an example, in a section that most of us are familiar with. This guy by the name of Balaam. Of course this whole section here is about Balak and and the prophecies of Balaam and so forth and But in chapter 24 in verse 1 it says this and when Balaam saw That it pleased the Lord to bless Israel He did not go as at other times to seek omens That would be witchcraft to to look into witchcraft But he set his face towards the wilderness, and Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe, and the Spirit of God came upon him." What? This is a guy who is into witchcraft, for crying out loud. This is his way of doing things. He's basically a wizard, for lack of a better term. I'm trying to think of a better way of saying it, but the person that is clearly not on the side of the Lord. He is a complete heathen. He has nothing to do with the things of God, and yet the Spirit of God comes upon him. Why? Well, because the Spirit of God can do whatever he wants. That's why. Because God can do whatever he wants. God can bless who he wants to bless. God can use who he wants to use. He can even use a man who is into witchcraft for his own glory. And he does it by putting the Spirit of God upon him. And all of a sudden, everything about this guy changes. The oracle of Baal and the son of Beor and the oracle of the man whose eye is open, the oracle of him who hears the words of God. All of a sudden, he starts prophetically speaking the things of the Spirit of God. And I am convinced he has no idea what he's talking about. Because he's got no knowledge of any of this. This is the Spirit of God working through him, and that's the way the Spirit of God works. The Spirit of God will speak on your behalf, and that's why when we get to Romans chapter 8, you're going to see that the Spirit of God says things when you can't or when you don't even know what you're saying or even know how to say it. He's the one that's going to say it for you and will work continually through you and so forth. So this is, to me, one of the most interesting parts of this whole study is that God can work. I was I remember he knows here. Here's an unbeliever serving God simply because God overwhelmed him by a spirit I Don't get it not how I would have done it. I don't think I would have chosen this guy. I Can't help myself. Yeah, it's convicted me of my sin 55 years ago when I was an unbeliever The Holy Spirit didn't seal me then until I trusted him There's no question and the Holy Spirit that's what the Holy Spirit does in fact we are all led to Jesus we are all led to a saving knowledge by a Movement of the Holy Spirit the truth of the matter is I am completely convinced That none of us would ever believe unless the Spirit of God did something crazy to intervene If you look at every one of your testimonies analyze every one of your testimonies Before you actually believed and you can see the Spirit of God at work You can see it moving certain things and making certain things just so you would be at just the right place at the right time. It's crazy to me how amazing this idea of the movement of the Holy Spirit really does. I'm going to go real quickly through a couple of examples. I find these in the book of Judges. Go over to Judges. Judges is just before Ruth. Right after Joshua, and so go to judges, and we're going to flip through judges here real quick and judges chapter 3 We see on the first judge of Israel being being declared and it says in verse 9 chapter 3 in verse 9 it says and when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord the Lord raised up a Deliverer now that's an interesting word too because that's the root word for Messiah. That's the root word for Messiah and Which is which is crazy again. I you know, I don't make this stuff up. This is just what it is Okay, so the Lord raised up a deliverer. I'm curious what the other some of the other versions say Everybody used to everybody got delivered there, okay I didn't look that up earlier. I probably should have. The Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them. Othniel, the son of Kanaz, Caleb's younger brother, and the spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel and when he went out to war the Lord gave the king of Mesopotamia into his hand so that he prevailed over the king. uses rescue area. It's the same idea. And so this idea that he's going to... Now, another interesting part of this whole entire thing is what was Othaniel's basic wanting to do? What was he wanting to do? Well, he was trying to do what he could do, but he was not successful at all until the Spirit of God came upon him. He was struggling. He was being defeated. And that's the key. The whole idea is that you cannot be successful in the things of God without God. That's the point. And I don't know why this is such a hard thing for some people to get their arms around, but the truth of the matter is, you are not capable of doing anything on your own. You cannot walk with God without God in your life. You cannot serve God without having Him in your life, having Him as part. So what God did then is, as Andrew aptly pointed out, He gave a temporary anointing, we'll use that word, of the Spirit of God so that you could accomplish His goals. We see it with Gideon. Go over to Judges chapter 6. It's a few pages up in verse 34. Of course, this is just before he does the whole thing with the fleece and so forth. But in verse 34 it says, So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and the Israelites were called together to follow him. And he sent, and this is interesting, the word is malach again. And here it says it's messengers, which is crazy. Again, the idea of Moloch is anyone that represents the king, anyone who is in that capacity. And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him. So this idea that Gideon could do anything and do the great exploits that he did, well, he didn't do anything until the Spirit of God came upon him. There was no exploit until the Spirit of God came upon him. Look at Judges chapter 11. I mean, this is just, it's interesting. It just keeps on going. Judges chapter 11, verse 29, and we're just going to go quickly now. It says, Now the Spirit of the Lord came to Jephthah so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and then he passed through Gilead and so forth. So the point is, is that There was no way that Jephthah could do the things that he was going to do and his successors and so forth until the Spirit of God was upon him. And by the way, when the Spirit of God was not upon his successors, they were all failures. Read about that in chapters 13 or 12 and 13. So that's an incredible thought. Go over to chapter 13. In chapter 13 in verse 24, it says, then the woman gave birth to a son and called him Samson. And the child grew up, and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord began to, and I love this, stir him, is what my Bible says. The word there is pa'im, or pa'am, actually, pa'am, P-A-A-M, pa'am, and pa'am means to be bludgeoned. That's what it actually means. It would be a word that you would use for someone that was in a fight or got beat up in that fight. Not the winner of the fight, the guy that lost. Okay? And I think it's interesting they picked that word. The Spirit of the Lord began to beat him up. In other words, it was like he had to beat Samson down. Of course, we all know the story of Samson. Samson was of great power until he no longer obeyed the things of God. until he no longer trusted God, and the Spirit of God left him, it tells us, and when the Spirit of God left him, boom, he gets destroyed. So we see this incredible picture. We see it with Saul in 1 Samuel 10. We see it with David in 1 Samuel 16. The one that I think is the most fascinating, remember, before Jesus resurrected, we're still sort of in traditional Old Testament times, right? I mean, nothing has really changed until he's resurrected. Look at Matthew 3. We're going to take a little bit of a walk through the New Testament, but in Matthew chapter 3 And this is where Jesus is baptized and it says that in verse 16, and after being baptized Jesus went up immediately from the waters and behold the heavens were open and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove coming upon him and behold a voice out of heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So this idea that Jesus was in fact touched by the Holy Spirit, we see the triune nature of God here, where God calls out, He brings down the Spirit of God upon Him, and then God speaks out and basically confirms that that's the way it was. And of course, in the book of John, just before Jesus goes to the cross, He gives them the Holy Spirit. Look at John chapter 20. And verse 21 says, Jesus therefore said to them, peace be to you as the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had sent this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. And if you forgive the sins of any, their sins shall be forgiven. And if you refrain the sins of any, there shall be retained. So Jesus has come back, the empty tomb has been declared and so forth. He meets with his disciples, the first thing he does, is He gives them the Holy Spirit. Now, this is interesting because most people struggle with the idea that it says this here because they say, well, wait a minute. No, I thought they didn't receive the Holy Spirit until Acts chapter 1. What gives? What's going on? And the difference is simply this. At this point, He gives them and indwells them with the Holy Spirit. These are the first ones to be indwelled with the Holy Spirit. But in Acts chapter 1, He gives us a filling of the Holy Spirit, which is this same thing that was going on in the Old Testament. He does it again, except this time he does it in an even greater way than he did it before. But if you think about it, the story of Acts chapter one, where they are filled and they were able to do things that they could never have done otherwise, isn't that exactly what was going on in the Old Testament? Every time they were filled by the Holy Spirit, something incredible happened, yes. Yes, exactly. The point is, is that the filling of the Holy Spirit is when God gives you things that you cannot, you would never otherwise have. So to the craftsman, he gave wisdom and knowledge and understanding of how to use the craftsmanship that he had, but he had no ability to do that prior to that. To the elders, he gave them the ability to lead, but without the Holy Spirit, they had no idea what to do. Samson, he gave great power, but without the Holy Spirit, He was powerless. I mean, so the examples are over and over. I mean, David and Saul are probably two of the best examples. I mean, Saul, it tells us in chapter 10, was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy. And then six chapters later, we see the guy wanting to kill everybody and ultimately gets himself killed. What? You know, I thought the Holy Spirit wasn't supposed to leave. No, unfortunately, the Holy Spirit comes down for these fillings. It's a temporary thing. The difference is, I'm sorry for a purpose. That's exactly right. And so that's the I like the idea that that That Paul talks about where he says and there are gifts of the Holy Spirit You know and because these gifts are things which are given to us so that we can in fact serve him So we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, which seals us to the day of our redemption. And we have the filling of the Holy Spirit, which allows us to do certain things with the gifts that God provides through the Holy Spirit that he talks about in 1 Corinthians 12 and other places. So that's, to me, one of those things that's important. But you have to understand that The Spirit of God comes, but the Spirit of God can also leave. We see that with Saul. It's probably the best example in 1 Samuel 16, 14, where it says the Spirit of God left him. actually left him, which is an incredible statement. And of course, we saw that with Samson as well in the book of Judges. So what I wrote here in the notes is, in as much as this is not the indwelling spirit, but the filling spirit for service, we as believers will have to pray to be filled that when we want to perform or when we need to utilize the gifts of the Spirit of God. It's a separate event. Would that be considered a blessing I think so. Yes, absolutely. I think they go hand in hand. I mean, all of these things are, you know, are how God works. And the point is, is he doesn't work differently now in this regard than he did at any other time. He's always moved his people through the Spirit of God. Always. It's not something new. That's the point that I want you to get. The newness is that he now indwells us and allows this Spirit to come and to be with us. So go to Ephesians chapter 1. And I just want to look at that verse that I just arbitrarily quoted earlier, but it says this. It says in verse 13, in him you also, listen, this is really interesting because the Ephesians were Gentiles primarily. I mean, there were Jews there, but for the most part, they were Gentiles. And most of the believers at that time in this particular, if you've been to Ephesus, you really see this. Ephesus, of course, was part of Greece at that time. Today it's part of Turkey, or what we would call Turkey today. But when you go there, you can see that this is not a Roman or a Jewish community. This is a Greek community. All the architecture is Greek. Everything there is Greek. It's pretty clear that these guys were not necessarily people that had preeminently put God Almighty and Jesus the Messiah above their paganism. And it says, in Him you also, meaning the Gentile believers, who were pagans before, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, have also believed and you were sealed, sealed in him with the Holy Spirit, a promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view towards the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of his glory. So let's look at a couple of those words. So this first word, of course, is that it all occurs because we believed. It doesn't occur because of anything we did. And that's consistent throughout the scriptures. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness. I mean, this idea that Noah believed God, that's why he was saved. He wasn't saved because of anything he did. He wasn't saved because he built the ark. He was saved because he believed God. And that's why he built the ark. If he hadn't believed God, he wouldn't have built the ark. Believe me, he would not have built the ark, okay? But at the end of the day, it's all about believing. So he's saying to them, first and foremost, because you have believed, you have then been sealed. And it's interesting because the word here is ephrodiso. And ephrodiso, as I said, is the word that's used to seal a document, make it permanent. It cannot change. And so you have been in the same way that a Roman procouncil would actually stamp a document and make that document basically irrevocable. We have been sealed in the same way, and therefore we have received the Holy Spirit irrevocably. It cannot be changed. It cannot be taken away. Why? Because the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable. They can't go away. We read that in the Book of Romans. So this idea that these things are, so first we've been sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. So now this is a different element of the Spirit of God because this was the Spirit that was promised to us by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31 that we would be New a new covenant that we would have a new relationship with God and that his spirit would now come and make his resting place within us and That's a uniquely new thing. And that's what's different. The filling of the Holy Spirit is not what's different What's different is is that we have received what's different is John chapter 20 That's what's different What's different is is that Jesus breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit. That's what's different the the spirit being used to do miraculous things that's been going on forever as Andrew also pointed out right from Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 It was the Spirit of God that did all of the the the moving and so forth. Yes Yes That's correct. Right. And what's really interesting is that I love the next part of this where he says, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance. given as a pleasure, that's what you're talking about. This idea is that the Spirit of God is God telling us in advance that we're going to have a relationship with Him eternally. Because He has put the Spirit of God within you and has allowed Him to stay there. That is God's pledge to us. That's his surety, actually, is the word that really should be used there. That is God's surety. That is his guarantee that we are going to be with him forever, that we're going to have the inheritance. Exactly, promise. Yeah, promise to the beginning, really. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah. Well and in that in that From my perspective. I think that is exactly what what the filling of the Holy Spirit is all about where God Does that and he puts it upon so each one if you look at if you look at it The the terminology that's used again. It comes back to the same thing. It's God that's doing But he says he gave him the wisdom and the understanding. So it's really the same thing. Now, was there something different with Noah to where God spoke to him directly? Possibly, no question about it. Was there something different, if you read Abraham, Spoke to him directly as well. Also if you remember when the three came and visited Abraham It you know it says two went away, and then we see them in in chapter 19 as being angels of God and And then it says in and Abraham yet stood before the Lord So so this idea that God has spoken him. Yeah, so those are all Manifestations oh yeah I think that's fascinating. Again, this to me I think just further proves the point that God is one. That there's no separation between the Spirit and God the Father and God the Son. They're all intimately or intricately tied together. There is no hierarchy in the Godhead, I guess is what I'm basically trying to say. Yeah. That's a great point though. That's really cool. I like that. I've always had the understanding for me that God initiated my faith. That's all I could think of. God initiated it, not me. And the Holy Spirit indwells me. And that secures my faith for all eternity. In other words, I can't lose my salvation. If I was the one who initiated my faith, then I could lose it. But God always did. Same way Look at Abraham probably the best example when God made the covenant with Abraham Abraham split the pieces expected to walk through the pieces himself He expected to be a party to the contract But God put him to sleep, and God walked through himself, and he became both parties. If you remember, there was the furnace. There was the, what were the two pieces? I forgot now. The smoking furnace and, oh, why is it falling out of my brain? Doesn't matter. The point is, is that those two, yes, it does matter. It's driving me crazy now. That's the flaming furnace. uh... branch of these in the birds birds and and and and and and and and and and i know it's it's it's really it's it's it's a it's a huge it's a huge problem it's it's it's it's it's a huge huge problem uh... I'm not, I'm not seeing it real quickly, but the point is, is that he calls it my covenant. If you remember with, with him, like I'm just, I'm just reading here in chapter 17. This is my covenant, which you shall keep. This is the sign between the covenant between me and you. This is my covenant, not you and me. This is me and you. And this is my covenant for an everlasting covenant. So this is, you know, this is the point that you're making, I think, which is really well, well founded. is we are sealed as a pledge, as a guarantee of our inheritance. What is our inheritance? Eternal life. That's our inheritance. And so that pledge is given to us by the Holy Spirit. Go over to 1 Corinthians. Yes. Yes, yes, our inheritance is that we're going I go to prepare a place for you. Yes. So yes Yeah, that's very well. Very well stated actually. All right, first Corinthians chapter 12 because this is again. This is to Stevens point This idea that that God has given us Certain gifts and and so forth but but look at what he says here in verse 13. I of chapter 12, he says, for by one spirit were you all baptized, identified, that's what the word baptizo means there, were all baptized into one body. That's not talking about water baptism there. That's baptism in its clearest sense, which is when the Greeks used baptism for the most part, it was not about water baptism, which was the physical act of saying that this had taken place, but it was the identification. You're becoming part of the organization. And so he says, by one spirit, you are all made part of this one body, whether you're Jewish or Gentiles, whether you're slaves or free, We were all made to drink of one Spirit, for the body is not one member, but many, all filled with the Holy Spirit. So the point is that we have this relationship with God. His pledge is that He makes us part of a body, and our identification in that body is the fact that we have all been given the Holy Spirit of God to dwell within us. We've all been given that. Now, upon that, there are then going to be different gifts. There's going to be different fillings. Everybody's going to have different stuff that they do with this, or excuse me, that the Spirit of God does with them. There are going to be some that are going to do one thing, and there are some that are going to be doing other things. And that's the whole point of the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit, just in the same way he took the artisan and gave him the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding of how to build the tabernacle, he did that. Just like he took the elders and taught them and showed them exactly how he wanted them to lead, they did that. They did that in the same way. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the same. And so when he talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit all basically come down to how the Spirit of God is working and what He's doing with you. And so some might prophesy, some might minister to other people, some might have very diminutive roles, some might have very seemingly positive roles. But he goes on to say here, for the body is not one member but many, and if the foot shall say, because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body, is it not for this reason any the less a part of the body? So everybody has a different role. This is to Stephen's point. I mean, everybody is filled with the Holy Spirit to do certain things. And just like your foot doesn't write, well, I guess some people do, but your foot holds up the rest of the body. Your hands are for another purpose. Your head is for an entirely different purpose. Your eyes are for seeing, not for smelling. Your nose is for smelling, not for seeing. Doesn't mean your nose is any better than your eyes, or your eyes are any worse than your feet. All of those they're all the same Exactly they're all to be one body, and it is a picture of the triune nature of God that it is all one body And he And what's interesting is that the word that's used is a Greek word, symphoni. Symphoni, which we get symphony from. But symphony or symphoni is taking all sorts of different parts that are unrelated and making them one. That's what the word symphony actually means. So it's just a fascination that I have with this and that we all should have with this because at the end of the day, we are born into the kingdom of God and then God is the one through the spirit who utilizes us in any way that he sees fit. making us able to do our task within the body. So he makes some of us eyes, he makes some of us noses, he makes some of us ears. And he goes on to say, he says, does that mean that the uncomely things of a body are any less important than the comely things of a body? I'll give you a really good example of how I've seen this in my own life. I have a friend of mine who, was having a problem with constipation. And I played golf with him the other day. And he was just, oh, man. So he starts taking laxatives. And so nothing's working. He finally goes to the doctor or to the emergency clinic. They send him to the hospital. The hospital checks him out. And he's got a tumor in his colon. And when his colon didn't work, his entire body completely shut down. Just shut. No other parts of his body wanted to work. He was just basically shutting down. I mean, for lack of a better term, I'm trying to think of the right word. They ended up resecting his colon, so now he says he has a semicolon, which I think is hysterical. But when they did that, it allowed the rest of the body to function. Before that his body was completely shutting down. I'm talking about all of his organs even the ones that were healthy We're shutting down because his colon was shutting down Wasn't able to to clear the the bile and so forth it completely killed his gallbladder his gallbladder They had to remove his gallbladder because there was nothing left of his gallbladder that was working Killed it was starting to shut everything down first thing it shut down was his gallbladder. Thank God He had a gallbladder that worked or it would have shut down everything else. That's your gallbladder I guess is supposed to do I don't know but evidently I'm not a doctor, but I do know this is That's an uncommonly part that we don't ever want to talk about right no one wants to talk about their colon But at the end of the day that saved the rest of his body once his colon was operating again and And it is a perfect picture of the church, if you think about it. It's a perfect picture of how it works. When one piece is not operating, it affects everybody in the church. It affects everybody in the body. Everybody got this? And that's because the Spirit of God is working at all times. So, I want to end on this, but what I wrote here was We were born into the kingdom of God. We're fulfilling that truth that's spoken of in in the body in first Corinthians But we're experiencing that truth so go over to Romans. I promise we do this go to Romans chapter 8 Because in Romans chapter Romans 1 through 8 what Paul does is he explains? Why we need a relationship with God? We are basically lost. And sin has separated us from God. That's what Romans chapter 3 says. And so we get this whole separation. But then it says that the way you resolve that problem is not through your works, but because you believe God. And he uses Abraham as the example of that. And he talks about the grace of God and how the grace of God is there it has always been there And it's it's trend it transcends everything in chapter 5 but in chapter 6 he says something very important He says what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace might abound God forbid? Or how can we who were dead to sin live any longer therein for as many as were baptized into the body? That were identified into this body same words He uses in first Corinthians as many as were baptized into this body were baptized into his death And that death is what gives us forgiveness. And that forgiveness of sins is what makes us new people, he tells us in chapter six. But we've got a problem, chapter seven tells us. Chapter seven says, but our problem is that the things that we want to do, those are the things we find ourselves not doing. And the things that we don't want to do, those are the things we find ourselves doing. And he ends that little section by saying, but thanks be to God who gave us the spirit of God. Because it is the spirit of God that changes your relationship. It is not what you did. It is by grace that you're saved, not of works, lest any man should boast. So this idea is that he's given us this spirit. And so in chapter 8, he says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit, he tells us, in Christ Jesus, has set you free. Set you free. That's amazing. The law of the Spirit has set you free. So in other words, before this we were in condemnation. We're kind of like shackled. But the Spirit of God now comes and unshackles us. and allows us to be free. But this freedom that we get is not a freedom to just keep our mind on the things that we always wanted to do before, but it's to become new creations. It's to become new people. It's to become really operatives of the Holy Spirit, because that's why He filled us with the Holy Spirit. And so He says this, verse 16, and the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are, I love this, that we are the children of God. And if children heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with the Messiah, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we might be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, that's that internal promise that he gives us, that is revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God, and the creation is subjected to futility, which means vanity, like in Ecclesiastes, and not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. That creation itself also will be set free from the slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, that's the filling of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly for adoption as sons. the redemption of our body. And in hope, we have been saved by the hope that is seen. But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. And in the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that are too deep for words. And He also searches the hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good for those that love God to those who are called according to His purpose. That verse, by the way, is probably the most misquoted, misunderstood, misrepresented verse made in the entire Book of Romans. We hear it written, we see people talk about it and so forth. What he's talking about there is the filling of the Holy Spirit It is the Holy Spirit that allows all things to work together for good. It has nothing to do with you. It's His working that's causing those things to happen. And it's the Spirit of God that actually makes the intercession for us. And so in verse 29, For new he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among the brethren That this is exactly what Randy was talking about This is the fact that God has done certain things all ahead of time before we even knew what was going on To set things in course so that we would become the children got hello That doesn't even make any you know possible sense if it's random It's not random God doing what God does because that's what God has always done what God does God can use anything he will he can use Balaam if he wants to use Balaam. He'll use Balaam. He wants to use you know a belly Bellal El he'll use Bellal El if he wants to if he wants to you he wants to use Samson and then not use Samson if he wants to use Saul yeah, whoever I mean pick he wants to use Steve he wants to use Don he wants to use I mean anybody this is incredible and he'll do what he's going to do because he is God. And I'm not. It's just that simple. So this idea that we are sealed with the Spirit of God as children once, now, and forever is absolute. But we are also filled with the Spirit of God so that we can serve Him. And that's why He utilizes and gives us gifts. And those gifts come by the filling of the Holy Spirit of God. And those gifts are different. Everybody's gifts are different. And that's why this whole idea that, you know, I actually have heard people say, well, you know, if you don't speak in tongues, you're not a believer. What? It just doesn't make any sense. I mean, that's like saying, if I don't prophesy, I'm not a believer. Or if I don't teach, I'm not a believer. Or if I'm not hospitable, well, maybe I'm not a believer. I know, I'm just being silly. But again, this whole idea that he does what he does to accomplish his goals. and his goals are greater than our goals. Because God always sees the beginning from the end. He always knows where we're at. He always is in charge. We're just here along for the ride. So there you go. So let's have a word of prayer and we'll get out of here.