Okay. Okay. All right, I'm gonna try and get us going here. Sorry to interrupt. I mean that in all sincerity. John chapter three is where we are going to start. And then I will mention a little bit more about this in the announcements at the end of the service. But we've begun passing around a sign-up sheet for the annual Christmas banquet. The date for that this year is Saturday, 14 December, 5 p.m. And we are doing as we always do. The church will provide most of the food. We ask folks to sign up for either a dessert, a salad, or some soda or soft drinks. And then also, if you just would put how many from your family will be attending, that just helps us to know for meal planning. It will not be catered by Wheatfields this year. So if that factors into your planning, I know that's always popular. But we're going to do a Western theme this year. We're going to do barbecue. And so we're going to have Parker's Smokehouse cater this year. So hopefully you will find that palatable. I really had nothing to do with the selection of the restaurant, but I think Parker's has about the best catfish that I've ever had. Not that we're catering catfish. It is for everybody, you and your family, all folks who are invited. The church has provided the entree for many, many years, kind of a thank you for your service. That's really the intention of it. So Saturday, 14 December. All right, John chapter three is where we are. Let's go ahead and pray. And we'll look at our text this morning. Father, thank you for who you are and what we know about you. And we thank you for your salvation and for our savior. And Father, we know that even the angels are interested in our salvation. Help us to be interested in it. Bless our time together, I pray, please, in Jesus' name, amen. So we're giving some time in our Sunday school hour these days to the work, the person and the work of God's Holy Spirit, who of course is fully God himself. And the Bible presents to us, we would argue and understand in a Trinitarian concept of God, that there is one God who exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. And there is a sense in which they are sometimes spoken of interchangeably. And then there are times that they are specifically addressed as to having specific functions. So this morning I wanted, we looked at John chapter 3 last week on the necessity of the new birth and being born from above and I wanted to return to that this morning and my intention is to of course deal with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But salvation involves each one of the members of the Trinity in a specific way that is presented in John chapter 3, which we'll look at. Also in Ephesians 1, which we will bounce back and forth between in addition to some other verses. And so again, what is true of one member of the Godhead is generally true of the other members of the Godhead. but then there are times in which they are each presenting themselves as having a distinct function. So let's begin then. John chapter three, verse number 16. It is the role of the father to desire that humans be saved. And again, fully God, fully Trinitarian. I'm not trying to take anything away from the Father. But look at verse number 16 and the way that it is presented. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. So in that instance, when Jesus uses the word God, he is distinctively thinking about God the Father. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And I want to just pause here for a second, folks, and talk about this, not to be difficult or to be contrarian, but to help us to understand what John 3.16 is really stating. It is very common for us to read John 3.16 through the lens of emotion. And God has an emotional commitment to us. I'm not arguing against that. But John 3.16 is not about the depths of God's emotion. And here's what I'm getting at, okay? First of all, let me just kind of deal with it grammatically. For God so loved, in the Greek language, what Jesus said is, God loved the world in this way. God loved the world in this way. We see it in Romans, that word in Romans 5, 8, but God commendeth. God put his set in place and established or demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Right, and here's the, here's, again, folks, here's what, here's the point that Jesus is really trying to make, right? It is possible to love somebody deeply and passionately and emotionally and yet be completely unable to help them, right? If a spouse gets sick, if a child gets sick, you love that person, but you do not necessarily have healing power. If somebody becomes traumatized and they are mentally distressed, it is possible to love them deeply and yet be completely powerless to help them. If somebody is astray, somebody that you love is away from the Lord or an unbeliever, it is possible to love them deeply, to wish nothing but the best for them, and yet be powerless to do anything to intervene. All right, so the point that Jesus is making in the text is the exact opposite of that, is that God the Father had a will and the power to do something that would genuinely accomplish the salvation of men. He didn't just longingly wish that they would be saved. He did not wring his hands and go, oh, that there was a way that they could be saved. No, he loved the world in this way. He gave his son, that whosoever believeth on him would not perish, but have everlasting life. It is the will of the Father to save sinful men. Again, we're going to come back to John chapter 3, but if you look at Ephesians chapter 1, and if you're unfamiliar with it, the introduction of Ephesians is a celebration of the Trinity's role in salvation. Is that the Clemson side of the family or is that the Wormley side? Yes, I have. Yes, I have. Yes, I have. Okay, enough said. Back to the text. Ephesians chapter one. And let's just start in verse number three. Paul introduces himself, of course, in verses one and two, and I'm not trying to minimize that, but, Ephesians chapter one, verse number three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy and without blame before Him, the Father, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. And the Beloved there is the Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. And when we turn back to verse number seven, We will be able to see that a little bit more clearly. And I really want to emphasize this, folks, while we're in Ephesians, because some well-intentioned but terribly misguided people have abused Ephesians 4.32 with reference to the Father and his desire for people to be saved. Now I'm not saying that you've heard this preached, but I have heard this preached. And if you came in the background that I have, you might have heard this preached as well. Ephesians 4.32, And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. And I've heard it preached as almost as if the son needed to negotiate a deal with the father to obtain our salvation. because God has forgiven us for Christ's sake. He didn't really want to do it, but he did it for the sake of his son. That makes wonderful rhetoric. It makes terrible Bible. It makes absolutely terrible Bible. In the first place, folks, our translators, and I'm not trying to be critical because I think I understand what they were getting at, But just to translate the Greek without anything else, what Paul said is, even as God in Christ hath forgiven you. That's not the same thing. But that's what the text says. What I think our translators were trying to do was not create a divide between the father and the son, but relate the father and the son and that relationship to the way that we are relating to the son, right? He's bringing two parties into forgiveness, that there is a relationship in forgiveness, that is the work of two parties, right? There is an offended party and there is the apologizing party, so to speak, to be tender, forgiving one another. There's the one another, I think, is what they're playing on to point out the way to translate it that way. Now again, I don't know that. I'm not privy to their mind. But you could get your Strong's Concordance out. You could get Esaut out, which is a free verb. You could look at the received text and it is, even as God in Christ, tiny preposition, even as God in Christ forgave us. That's the argument that is being made there. Okay, back to John chapter 3. So, with reference to our salvation, the Father wants it. The Father wills it, and the Father takes action, and the action that He takes is to give His Son. That brings us then back to John 3, verses 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. It is the Son's task to accomplish this salvation. The father wants us to be saved. He gives his son. The son then becomes the savior. John chapter three, no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven. That of course is a statement about Christ and his divine identity. Verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. This is his activity. His identity is that he is the Son of Man in heaven. He is divine. His activity is the cross. Lifted up is a reference to the cross. Always when it's used, right? It's not about me lifting him up in exaltation and preaching. That should happen. It's not about us lifting him up in exaltation when we sing. That should happen. But in John, when it talks about him being lifted up, it's talking about him being crucified. It is talking about the physical act of his being nailed to the cross, held up in the air as our substitute. So verse 14, as Moses lifted up serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So we have there his identity, he is divine in heaven, his activity, he is put on the cross, and his purpose. Christ came to save sinners. He did not come to condemn sinners. The condemnation is a stated fact. We will look at that. Jesus didn't need to come and condemn us, not because he couldn't condemn us, but because we were already condemned. Again, to go off a little bit on tangent, This is a sequence that we frequently lose sight of when we talk about some of these big picture salvation issues, is that God is rescuing people who are already condemned. The entire race of humanity was born condemned. It is a question of salvation. So the son's role is to accomplish salvation. If you want to go back to Ephesians chapter one, And in verses seven through 12, Paul celebrates the work of the second member of the Godhead in our salvation. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all blessings. Blessed be the Father. Verse number seven, in whom, this is, by the way, the way that we know that the beloved in verse number six is Christ, right? He has made us accepted in the beloved. Who is the beloved? Well, in whom do we have redemption through his blood? He is the beloved son. The forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, verse number 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted Christ. So, right, this is the work of the son. It is his blood that was shed. It was the Son who died on the cross. In John chapter 1 and verse number 29, when John the Baptist beheld Jesus, he called him the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. In 1 Corinthians 5.7, he is called our Passover. He is the one who has sacrificed for us. And in 2 Corinthians 5.21, he is even said to have become sin for us. so that the wrath of God could be legitimately poured out upon our sin. And he then became sin for us. So it is the son's role to accomplish our salvation, and he does this, right? By becoming our sin substitute, by becoming the actual offering, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and then also by being our priest, by being our priest, the one who mediates. And again, folks, we want to understand that that mediating role of Christ between, right, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, is not a mediation of innate hostility, right? It is that God wanted a man to mediate between himself and humanity and the only man who can adequately do that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is Hebrews chapter 7, 8, 9, and 10. That is the full New Testament description of that. We'll look at that, we won't look at those verses, but we'll look back at that event tonight in the message in which the way Jesus is both, is compared with the work of the high priest and yet is not out of that priestly system. Right, so he's doing the same kind of work, but he is not occupying the same distinctive, would be the way to put that. I don't wanna say office, because the office is a high priest, but he's not in the tribe of Levi when he does that. And that is fully developed in Hebrews 7, 8, 9, and 10. Right, so he died on the cross once, and he will never die on the cross again. But his mediatory role as our high priest is an eternal activity. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. So on whatever date it was 2,000 years ago, he died. But this day he is doing intercessory work for us. And again, this is not because God is still somehow mad at us. and only the ongoing work of Christ keeps that at bay, but because this is the way that God has decreed that it would be. Back to John chapter three. So what then is the work of the Spirit? If it is the work of the Father to desire salvation and offer up his Son, and if it is the work of the Son to become the substitute and the sacrifice, What does the spirit do? And the spiritual then is to apply the salvation. And he does that, folks, in part. I mean, we'll look at some verses. But this is where, I mean, we just have to be honest about this. This is where many of our disagreements about the doctrine of predestination and election and foreknowledge and the things that we just kind of clump under Calvinism and its difference, it is with reference to the work of the spirit that we are frequently talking. We don't agree on the father's desire to give his son and his willingness to do it, and we don't disagree upon the son's death and only his death as our substitute, but we do disagree on the way and the extent to which the spirit of God may work in the lives of people. Let's go back again to John chapter 3. Verse number 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, born from on high, cannot see the kingdom of God. So some event that originates in heaven has to happen. Transformative event, a man has to be born all over again. Verse number six, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And again, we know I talked about that last week. Dogs beget dogs. Dogs do not beget cats, and they most certainly do not beget human beings. Not yet anyway. Because seriously, folks, we're living We're kind of living on the last battlefront, and this is just my pea-brained, pinhead perspective, but we're kind of living on the last battlefront. We've been fighting about the existence of God and the identity of God, and the church was birthed in a controversy about whether God would become man, and now the church is immersed in a controversy over whether a man is a man, or whether a man doesn't have to be a man. And folks, if a man doesn't have to be a man, if a man can decide that he's a woman, we are not very far down the road from a man deciding that he is a goat. So anyway, and I don't know what battlefield there is after that. We're fighting about the fundamental identity of humanity. So we'll just let Jesus' words here stand, right? Flesh begets flesh. which means that this born from above cannot happen at that level, there has to be more to it. On the other hand, verse number five, I'm sorry, I misread. Verse number three, man be born again, he cannot see the king of God. Verse number five, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Verse number six, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of or out of the spirit is spirit, and then he instructs Nicodemus that he should not be surprised at this. And again, folks, I'm not gonna go back and redo it, but if you recall last week, we took water and the spirit and we went back to the book of Ezekiel, where God is very clear to Old Testament people that salvation is a washing and a renewing. And Jesus expected Nicodemus to have understood that. He shouldn't have this stunned look on his face, the one that he evidently has. Verse number seven, marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Verse number eight, the wind bloweth where it listeth, an old word for wills. The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born the Spirit. Again folks, Jesus is making the point that you don't see the wind, you only see the effects. We don't see the wind, we just see the leaves on the ground. We don't see the wind, we just see the tree branches on the ground. And this is true of everyone that is born of the Spirit. You don't see God, but there's an evidence that God has been there. That's kind of a That's kind of New Testament expectation 101, is that there is real evidence for real salvation, that it shows up because it is the work of God, that it is the work of God. Go down now to verse number 18, right? God gave his son so that all who believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life, because God did not send his son to condemn the world, because the world is already condemned. Verse number 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. All right, so it's not like men are born believers and they lose their faith, right? And you hear people talk like that, not really a lot in our world, but if you read, you know, and do religious reading, you hear people talk, I lost my faith. Biblically, nobody is born with that faith. Right? The default position for humanity is unbelief and lostness. He that believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, right? Here's where, folks, Right? And Jesus doesn't specifically mention the spirit at this, but here is the tricky part. Why won't people race to be saved? Why won't they race to be saved? And the answer to that is found in verse number 19. This is the condemnation. That light has come into the world and men love darkness. Given the choice between darkness and light, human beings choose darkness. Human beings choose darkness. That's the way we are. And over the course of time, right, over the course, just over the course of American history, We have just been choosing one darkness over another darkness over another darkness over another darkness unceasingly. Unceasingly. Because just like God loved the world, men love darkness. And again, I would just remind us, I talked about this more last week, John loves playing with light and dark as metaphor for righteousness and evil. Human beings love darkness. They love the ambiguity that maybe there's not really a God. They love the ambiguity that maybe a fetus really isn't a human being. They are attracted to that. They are attracted to that. This is the condemnation, that lightest come into the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. All right. What is the role of the Spirit? The role of the Father is to want men to be saved and to want them to be saved in such a way that he has made this salvation possible. He gave his Son, who is the perfectly adequate Savior. His death really accomplished the possibility of salvation. What is the Spirit's role? He is the one who is going to bring the work of Christ and the will of the Father into an effective, accomplished end in the lives of human beings. But folks, I've really kind of hammered on verses 18 and 19 there because I think it's very easy for us to lose sight of the reality of what we're up against. And I am not in any way opposed to child evangelism. We taught our children the Bible from a young age. Our children made professions of faith at a young age. To this point in their lives, they still maintain those professions. We are very grateful for that. But it is nonetheless, folks, still a supernatural work of God. It is not just simply the emotional manipulation of a young child getting them to say something that we are in pursuit of. Go back to John chapter one. John has really already dealt with this before Jesus has this same kind of conversation. Let's just begin in verse number six. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, right? John now tells us about the ministry of another John, John the Baptist. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light. Just like you are not that light and I am not that light. I am not the light for my children. I am a witness to my children, but I'm not the light. He was the witness of the light, but was sent to bear witness of the light that was the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born. Which were born, right? John 3.16, you must be born again. How were they born? Well, they were born not of blood, which you may have a note in your Bible, literally of bloods. This is not inherited by ethnicity. When I was in India 30 years ago, it was not uncommon to meet Indian people whose explanation for rejecting Christianity was that it was a Western religion. You have your gods, we have our gods. But this is not a birth of bloods. It's not transmitted by ethnic heritage. But neither folks, verse number 13, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of the flesh, Because again, I would take you to the first verses of Romans chapter eight. The flesh has no interest in the things of God and never will. When we put together, to whatever extent we put together our little lists of things that God cannot do. God cannot lie. God cannot be unrighteous. You know what else God cannot do? He cannot reform the flesh. It is not subject to the will of God, neither indeed can be. Neither indeed can be. So it's not the will of the flesh. Now this doesn't mean that we're not aware of what we're doing and it doesn't mean that we didn't have, I don't know what happened to me. I went to bed lost and I woke up saved and it was just a miracle. But any appetite for things spiritual does not originate within. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And the flesh is hostile to God. It was born hostile to God. It will remain hostile to God until the day that it is eradicated fully. Back to verse number 13. Nor the will of man. Nor the will of man. Wanting it for somebody else doesn't cause it. Wanting it for somebody else doesn't cause it. And we want it for those that we love. Many years ago, he's with the Lord now. He was really a good man. One of our deacons walked his granddaughter down the aisle, presented her from baptism. He said, she's saved, I guarantee it. And I just cringed because you can't guarantee somebody else's salvation. Wanting it for somebody else doesn't accomplish it. Where does it come from? John 1.13, which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. But of God. It comes out of God. We are born. We are begotten. Verse 14, the word was made flesh, dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glorious of the only begotten. of the Father full of grace and truth. Fathered. Fathered is the idea. This is why we call God our Father, because he is, folks, he is our Father. Spiritually, God has fathered us. So the Spirit's role here, look at John chapter 16. John chapter 16, verse number seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. It's in your best interest. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, right, when he has come to us, I'm going to send him to you, and we see this, of course, at Pentecost. I'm going to send him to you. When he has come to you, he will reprove the world of sin. Now, again, I'm not going to take the time to prove this, but I think if you would just get your concordance and look at the way John uses the word world, it almost invariably is a reference to the unbelieving mass of people who are hostile to God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Or Romans 5.8, God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He will reprove the world of sin, verse number eight, and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me. So already you can anticipate the tension and the hostility that that is going to create. That the Spirit comes and through the Spirit's ministry to those who do believe have a reproving effect on those that don't believe. Who are they going to hate? Who are they going to hate? of sin, verse nine, because they believe not in me, and righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more, and of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. So part of the work of the Spirit is then to apply, that's the word I'm gonna use, I think that it's a safe word, to apply the work of Christ and the will of the Father to those who believe, to bring about their faith, to go back to Ephesians chapter one, Verse 13 and 14 verses 1 through 6 or 3 through 6 are a praise of the Father. Verses 7 through 12 are praise to the Son. Verse number 13, in whom ye also 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 until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Right, and here Paul's magnifying the sealing work of the Spirit. And so what, and so, right, I kind of, I want to end with this today and we will expand upon this a little bit further next week. So what is the Spirit's role? Well, the Spirit is the one who convicts and persuades. This is what he is doing in the book of Acts when these men were filled with power. These men were filled with the spirit to speak the word of God boldly, plainly, to present the whole truth and nothing but the truth. When Peter preached at Pentecost, these men were pricked in their hearts. This is the convicting work of God's Holy Spirit. He is the agent of the new birth. We've already seen that in John chapter 3. You must be born again. What does that mean? It means you must be born of the Spirit. You must be born of the Spirit. And again, because we're dealing with a God who is one God in three persons, and yet God is our Father. But the Holy Spirit is the one. He's the one who is instrumental in the birth of Christ, physical birth, and in the spiritual birth of his people. He seals us. And in that case, and by the way, in Ephesians 1.13, folks, the Holy Spirit is the seal. The Holy Spirit is the seal. We're not sealed by the Holy Spirit. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit. And he then becomes the deposit. We will look at this, right? He is the earnest of our inheritance. We will look at that. And then there are other things that he does at that time. There is his baptism. We are baptized in the Spirit. And we are indwelt by the Spirit. And again, folks, the New Testament is very clear that the absolute non-negotiable of genuine salvation is the presence of God's Spirit. This is truly the thing that sets Christians apart from unbelievers, is the indwelling presence of God's Spirit. So we will give further attention to that. Let me ask you if you would to turn to one last passage, 2 Corinthians 1, that helps bring together the Trinitarian work in salvation. that there is no tension between them. None of them are at odds in this, but each member of the Godhead is fully supportive of and fully functioning in human salvation. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 21. 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 hearts. They're all there. They're all there. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in 2 Corinthians 1, 21 and 22. So it isn't just one member of the Godhead who is active and instrumental in our salvation, they all are. And the Spirit has his unique work. And again, we will turn our attention more to that, Lord willing, next week. Okay.