Just see all the it's funny the Holy Spirit's difficult topic because he's always behind the scenes. He's anonymous He's pointing to the Sun. He's pointed a father. He doesn't like to draw attention to himself So let's get started a word of prayer and we'll walk through our fullness of the faith Heavenly Father as we embark on this chapter today on the person minister the Holy Spirit we are just we praise you for our the permanent indwelling of him in us with the new covenant. And we are so thankful for the help, for the illumination, for the comfort that he provides. And I can't imagine living in this world with all the tests and temptations and trials without your help through the spirit. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so if you would, open up to chapter 7. And like I said, this is one of the more interesting chapters because, again, the Holy Spirit is this. kind of anonymous individual. And by the way, I want to leave time if you have questions about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and all those other things that are connected to him. So feel free to ask those during, and we'll probably have a little time afterwards as well if you want. So we're in Lesson 7, and I'm just going to kind of work through the workbook as we have. You've got the answers there. But before we do that, we have a quiz. And we love quizzes. I had it all queued up, and then it went away. So let me go get it again. And let's see here. And we've got to test your knowledge on the Holy Spirit. There we go. All right. OK, first, the Holy Spirit is a person possessing intellect. Sorry, that pop-up got in the way. Emotion and will. No. No, that's okay. I don't want that. Let me do this again. Let me close this down. Ah, I think I just broke it. I did. Try it one more time. All right, question number two. We'll get here in just a second. There we go, all right, there we go. Okay, the Bible is composed of wise instruction from men and holy, oh, that's the wrong one, wrong quiz. Sorry, that was back in bibliography. All right, let me jump back to lesson seven. Okay, there we go. Okay, the believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit only once. True. For by one spirit, we're all baptized into the body. We're all made to drink of one spirit. 1 Corinthians 12, 13. A believer is filled with the Holy Spirit only once. True or false? Let me say it again. The believer is filled with the Holy Spirit only once. Right, the word is filled because we're commanded to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit. Do not get drunk with wine, that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5, 18. And filling is when we yield to the Spirit. And so we can yield more or less. All right, a person cannot become a Christian unless convicted by the Holy Spirit of his or her sin. True. And the Holy Spirit, when he comes, will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit was active in the creation of the world. True. That's right. Remember, it was hovering. Holy Spirit by, let's see, where's the verse here? Psalm 140 30 thou dost send forth thy spirit they are created and thou dost renew the face of the ground in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. So the Holy Spirit was involved in creation. It is the Holy Spirit's job to bear witness to Jesus Christ. True, yes. The Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption when the helper comes that is the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father he will bear witness of me. All right, the Holy Spirit is given to the true believer as a seal of his or her salvation. True, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge. And it's also in the Greek described as an engagement ring, because we're the bride and the Holy Spirit is a pledge, a promise, and it's an engagement ring. Erebon, I think is a Greek word. Okay, number eight. Sin causes the believer to forfeit the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling. Right. True. So we're not losing the spirit in the sense of him dwelling, but the filling. And we'll look more closely at this, but if you remember Paul in this passage, he talked about don't get drunk, right? And what does alcohol do? You fill yourself up with it and now you're under the control of it. And the idea is that as you yield to the spirit, you're filling yourself up with the spirit. And so if you sin, you're kind of emptying yourself of the spirit, and that's the idea behind that. But I say walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another. So you can be fleshly, or you can be spirit-filled. Okay, the believer's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer. True. And number ten, The Holy Spirit will have nothing to do with a person until he or she confesses Christ as Lord and Savior. False! because that is the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So the Holy Spirit is not indwelling in the unbeliever, but it's knocking on the unbeliever's heart, right? That's the idea. A little bit of mystery there, but there you go. A little bit trickier, right? You guys aced those other ones. This one wasn't so easy. Some of the questions are a little tricky. All right, so let's jump in to lesson seven. And as we said, the Holy Spirit's a person, right? He's another member of the Trinity. And each person in the Trinity is truly God, right? But each member in the Trinity has a specific function. The father is the head, so to speak. The son then submits to the father. But Christ is no less God than the father. And the spirit, from what we see in scripture, submits both to the son and to the father. And yet he is God as well. And I think some churches today overemphasize the Spirit. They feel like they have to invite him in. No, he's here. You don't have to invite the Holy Spirit in if you're a believer. He's already in you. So he's present, he's omnipresent, all those things we'll see. He has personal pronouns, he, him. Right, John 14, 17, and let me just, I'll click on that verse so you can see it there. There we go. John 14, 17, this is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, but it does not see him, there's that personal pronoun, or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and, future tense, will be in you. Because that's Jesus sharing this to the disciples before Pentecost. All right, he also has a personality. And that personality comprises of an intellect, right? The Holy Spirit has a mind. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind and spirit is, but he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 1 Corinthians 2.10, the Holy Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. And that's showing the omniscience, of the Holy Spirit. And 1 Corinthians 2.11, the Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except the spirit of the man, which is in him, even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the spirit of God. And now you're seeing the Holy Spirit being a really ascribed deity. Now emotion, he possesses the ability to experience emotion. And Ephesians 4.30 says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So very interesting. Because the Holy Spirit is so anonymous, it can almost seem like an impersonal force. And the scriptures are trying to reinforce, don't think of it that way. Don't think of him that way. And then it has volition. It has a will. He possesses the ability to determine or act decisively. For example, in 1 Corinthians 12, 7, but to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for common good. And if we jump down to verse 11, It reads, but the one and same spirit works. So there's activity, all these things distributing. So there's a decision to each one individually, just as he wills. So the gifts that you have willed by the father, but ultimately they're being chosen by the spirit. Each of you have had been given gifts by the spirit as a born again believer. And then Acts 13 2, this is interesting, while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So he's involved in the ministry of this Paul's great ministry and Barnabas. Any questions on his personality? Pretty cool. All right, let's go to Holy Spirit is God. Now these are some of the attributes of the Holy Spirit proving that The Holy Spirit is God. He's omniscient, all-knowing, Isaiah 40. He's omnipresent everywhere. Let me read that, Psalm 139. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? He's eternal without beginning or end, Hebrews 9.14. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And then truth, of course, 1 John 5, 7, there are three to testify, the spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement. Or John 16, 13, when the spirit, when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose you to what is to come. Now, this is where it gets a little mysterious. There are clear examples in the Old Testament of God speaking audibly, right? Visions, dreams, we have that. And it's somewhat of a mystery how the Bible through these holy men speak, and we'll get into that in a little bit. But it would not be typical for any of you to hear audibly the Spirit. Now, what you may experience is a thought will arise in the back of your mind. That's probably the closest I can describe of what may be an impression, maybe a thought pops in your mind. And it's very hard because it's just a random thought. Is this a bad chili that I had the other night? What is the, we didn't have any chili yet. You know, so I want to make sure we're not seeking after an audible voice of the Spirit. However, I think we've all experienced a thought pop in our head, and then we have to discern whether that's from, if that aligns with the Word of God or not. Sometimes we'll feel a prompting, like we'll need to call someone or pray for someone. Those are very real things. And when you get those, you should definitely stop and pray. You should definitely call. I really believe God has connected us through the spirit. And therefore, when these things happen, it's an opportunity for us to respond. And I've just learned to trust that. So when you get that impression, you get that thought, just ask the question, is this a biblical thing? Is this a thing of love? If that follows through, then yeah, you should do those things. Any questions on that one? because that can be a little awkward. Okay, statement of deity. Write the key statement that shows the Holy Spirit is God, 2 Corinthians 3.17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Not to sin, of course, but to be free to do righteousness. And the Lord is Spirit there. And then according to Acts, this is a powerful passage. with Ananias and Sapphira. But Peter confronts and says to Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it sold, was it not under your control? And I want to pause there. Do you see how we have a stewardship? And why is it that you've conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. So they lied to Holy Spirit. They lied to God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is God. Great passage. All right. The work of the Holy Spirit. Psalm 104, verse 30. The Holy Spirit is active in creation. You send forth your spirit. They are created. And you renew the face of the ground. And what's so cool is when we get to the millennial kingdom, The Holy Spirit, again, will renew creation. It'll be like the Garden of Eden again. So the Holy Spirit, once again, will see him involved in creation. Roman numeral three, letter B, 2 Peter 1.20, which we covered in our Peter sermons, tells us that the Holy Spirit was active also in prophecy. This is the key verse. If people question is that when people say the Bible is written by men, this is the verse you go to. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one own interpretation, so it's not up to you and I to determine the interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. And so there's this superintendence that's going on. When David was writing the Psalms, when Solomon was writing, when Peter, Paul, Matthew were writing, there's this Holy Spirit working in them. It's still their thoughts, the men's thoughts. It's still their personality. It's still them writing, but there's a superintendence of the Holy Spirit guiding the thoughts so that when they finish writing that, it's the Word of God in the original autographs. And that's what separates the Word of God from any other text. Very, very key. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ. You can see that there. It will disclose or reveal Christ and will not speak of himself. This is a big one. But when he, the spirit of truth comes, this is John 16, 13, he will guide you in all truth. He will not speak on his own initiative. But whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. So the Holy Spirit is in submission to the Son and the Father. And this is very key. This is where the charismatics start to venture off in the wrong direction. They start to make the Spirit the leader and the center of everything. When, no, he is there serving the Son and the Father. He is just passing along in submission to them. Very key. Any questions on that one so far? All right, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in salvation. One of the most important areas of the Spirit's work is in respect to God's plan of salvation. And what special work does the Holy Spirit do according to John 16, seven and eight? This is that famous passage. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. This is Jesus speaking. For if I do not go away, the help will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And he, when he comes, He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Now look how this verse interprets itself. Verse nine, concerning sin, let me move up there so you can see it better. Let's do it this way. Did that go to nine? No, it's a little tricky here. Let me move it down. Did I get too far ahead? Right there, okay. All right, so concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. So the first thing the Holy Spirit does is convict you. that Jesus Christ is God and that you need to repent. You're a sinner. Christ is God. He's holy. That's the first thing the Holy Spirit is doing. So when you're witnessing to someone and they're like, I don't believe Jesus is Christ. I'm not a sinner. I'm basically good. You're seeing right there the suppression of truth, the rejection, rejecting what the Spirit is trying to do. Then second, concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see me. And this again is showing how Christ is righteous and man is not. All right, and that they need a savior. And then we come to the third one, and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. Therefore, Satan is judged, his children will be judged. And in the end, there is a judgment to come for the unbeliever. So it's very fascinating how that interprets the text there. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Oh man, tell me more. Okay, so, A is convict the world of sin, rights, and judgment. B, by whom are sinners born into the kingdom of God? You remember that great conversation with Nicodemus? Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed, I said to you, you must be born again. And then here's this analogy that Christ gives to help us understand. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. And that's why when you share the gospel, some believe and some don't, and you can't make it into a formula. It's a mystery how the Lord works, how the Spirit moves. What work does a Spirit do when a person is saved? This is a really key verse. He saved us not, this is Titus 3, 5, not on the basis of deeds which we've done in righteousness. That's a really good passage to give to unbelievers. Look, And look how he even spins it. It's not like your righteousness is sufficient. But according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we will be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. By the way, if you're always wondering how do you tell if it's water baptism or spirit baptism, When you see water, it'll be literal, physical water mentioned in the passage. When you see pictures, analogies to water, then it's the Holy Spirit, like this one. There's no physical water in here. This is imagery of water associated with the Spirit. So this is dealing with the Holy Spirit. You'll see that very consistently through the scriptures. All right, so he renews, he regenerates. Right? And then 1 Corinthians 12, 13, we're baptized into one body, for by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slave or free, we were all made to drink of one spirit. And that connects all of us believers into the body of Christ through the spirit. And let's see, okay. And then baptism of the Spirit occurs only once at the time of salvation. So here's what happens. You get saved and at that moment, the Holy Spirit comes in permanently and dwells in you forever. He's never taken away. It's not like the Old Testament where it went upon them for a time and season and purpose and then went away. So you get saved, but that's invisible. No one can see the Holy Spirit. So then the next step is for you to be baptized, which pictures visibly what happened invisibly. So you go into the water. That represents how you died in Christ. And then you come up out of the water. That's your new life in Christ. And so the whole picture of water shows you the immersion that were placed into the body of Christ by the Spirit. Beautiful picture. That's why baptism is so important. It's a public testimony to what has happened individually and privately. And how does the Holy Spirit guarantee a believer's salvation? Ephesians 1.13. You also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, here it is, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge, that's the word, Erebon, the engagement ring, of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory. That's it right there. That is one of the key verses for security. I have been sealed and the spirit is a pledge that God will fulfill all his promises to redeem me, resurrect me, and glorify me. By the way, a seal is an ancient device, usually a signet ring, you know, those little rings with symbols on it. And they would put that on the wax and that would seal something, a mark. A seal indicates ownership and security. It's interesting that when you get to the tribulation, and the Antichrist comes, he institutes a seal, the forehead or the hand, and that is marking his own. And anyone who takes the mark of the beast cannot be saved. They're lost forever. All right, any questions so far? Pretty fascinating, don't you think? All right, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life. What is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the believer? Romans 8 and 9, we've covered this before. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. And that is it. You're either in the Spirit and saved, or you don't have the Spirit, you're not saved. Is it possible to be a Christian and not being dwelt by the Holy Spirit? No. Impossible. What is another ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer? We've kind of mentioned this already, 1 Corinthians 2, 12, and that is he teaches us the things of God. Do you remember having that? I don't know if you guys had this similar experience or at times this experience, but as an unbeliever, you know, reading the Bible, trying to understand this, I'm not saved, it doesn't make any sense. And then I get saved, I'm like, whoa, I understand this. How's that? I mean, my first year, I didn't even know I had the Holy Spirit in me. I had to be taught that. I didn't know that. But I knew something had changed. Something was going on. My affections changed. I suddenly had power to say no to sin. And the Bible suddenly started making sense to me, which was really amazing. So that's one of the ministries of the Spirit. And then what exhortations are given to all believers? You're familiar with this passage, very key. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So we can grieve him. And that's one. The second thing we can do, 1 Thessalonians 5, 19, another command, do not quench the spirit. And the idea there behind quenching is that you don't want to extinguish it. You don't want to suppress it. When it's exhorting you, when it's compelling you to do something godly and biblical, follow through. This is what helps us grow. He helps us grow. And then Ephesians 5.18, which we've been reading, do not get drunk with wine. In other words, filled up to where it is now controlling you, for that is dissipation, waste. But be filled with the spirit. In other words, yield to the spirit. Be filled up with his thoughts, his words, and be in obedience, yielding to him so that you're under his authority. And again, you can do that a little or you can do that a lot. And that's those are the three main commands. Don't grieve, don't quench, and be filled. MacArthur says this, to be filled with the Spirit is to be under total domination and control. To be filled with the Spirit involves confession of sin, surrender of will, intellect, body, time, talent, possessions, and desires. It requires a death of selfishness and the slaying of self-will. To be filled with God's Spirit is to be filled with His Word, and as we are filled with God's Word it controls our thinking and our actions. So when you're obeying You're being filled with the Spirit. You're yielding. How does a Christian keep from sinning? 516 of Galatians. I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. We really live in binary choices. It's either flesh or spirit. And this goes back to the put off and put on principle, right? We put off the flesh, we put on the spirit. We put off our selfish desires and put on God's selfless desires. We deny ourselves, carry a cross, follow Christ. When the believer has filled the spirit, there'll be fruit. And this is how you can test and how you know whether you're walking in flesh or you're walking in the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, right? Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And you can look at the exact opposite of those things. So the opposite of love is hate. Joy is opposite. Joy is depression or, yeah, that'd probably be the best example. Peace, now you have conflict. Patience, you're being impatient. Kindness versus unkind, goodness versus not good, that'd be evil, faithfulness versus faithlessness, gentleness versus not gentle, lack of self-control. You can see those there. And when you look at that list in that respect, do you see how easy it is for the flesh to run your life and how difficult it is? Not impossible, but sometimes there's moments when emotions grab you, situations grab you, testing grabs you, and you're like, what do I do? And that's why you have to come back to that passage and remind yourself, okay, these are the things I have to respond. Now, application, 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20, Paul writes, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own for you've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God your body. Now, I've explained this before, but I thought it'd be good to review. So the New Covenant, one of the great promises of the New Covenant is the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And you've ever wondered why we get that benefit versus the Old Testament didn't get it? And it's a beautiful picture. So in the Old Testament, when they built the temple, the first thing they had to do after building it was to cleanse it with the sacrifices of blood. So they slaughtered all these animals, and then the Spirit of God came in the temple. And then you had one temple, and everyone would come to the temple to meet God. New covenant comes along, and what happens? Christ dies on the cross. He enters the heavenly tabernacle. And now when we repent and believe, we are what? Washed by the blood of the lamb. And now our physical bodies become this little temple of the Holy Spirit. And now we, the temple, go out to the world. So the reason we can be indwelt is because of the work of Christ. That hadn't happened yet. But once it happened, blood can be applied to you, and now your body is a temple. That is so marvelous. Here, I got an extra copy. So does that make sense? And it shows you how God was picturing, even back then in the Old Testament, this new covenant to come. And I just think that's such a marvelous truth. All right. We're at a good breaking point here. Questions. This was a kind of a shorter lesson, but what are questions you have about the Holy Spirit? I've always wanted to have answered. Hopefully I have the answer. Michael. Yes. Yes. So you're baptized once at the moment of belief and you are baptized into the body of Christ through the Holy Spirit and then Filling is that moment when you yield to the Word of God, you yield to the Spirit of God, and now you're filled because you're under His literal control, because you're obeying the Word. And when you're obeying the Word, you're doing it in His power, not your power. You're saying no to the flesh. And you're saying yes to the Spirit. So when we go out witnessing, okay, that's yielding under the power of the Spirit. When we share the gospel, that's under the power and yielding of the Spirit. Now, can you mix that a little bit and sometimes throw in the flesh? Yes, you can. And that's where God sorts all these things out. But the many fillings is when you obey and submit. Because we can obey or we can disobey. We can submit or not submit. And that happens throughout our life. Stephanie. Yeah, I don't like the word filling is just terrible because it confuses things and I'm glad you said that he's permanently dwelling in there so you always have this permanent residence, residing spirit. But then the question is, is how do you live? Right? And, and it's, it's, I think we all have had those experiences where we're like, we know the right thing to do. The conscience is pricking us. We have the verses that popping up our mind. There's a part of us that says, I know I need to do this. I know I need to do this. And we then follow through. Or it's sometimes the opposite. You're in sin and you're going, I know this is wrong. I know the scripture says this is wrong. I know I shouldn't do this, your conscience is pricking you, and then you choose to sin. That's grieving, that's quenching, that's emptying yourself in the sense, not removing the spirit, he's still there, but you're resisting him. And now you're not filled with the spirit, you are walking in the flesh. You're submitting to your desires. It's James 1, I think this is a good reminder. But each one is tempted, right? When he's carried away and enticed by his own lust. And remember, Satan's technique has not changed since the garden. He uses the same tricks because it works every time. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's the beachhead of the flesh. And at that moment, what do you do? And so James says, in this process of sin, you get tested. First, you get tested. And the lust is there, eyes and flesh, the pride is there, and then what do you do in that moment? If you give in to the test, then it turns into a temptation, and then James goes on to say, then when lust has conceived, so now you're moving from thought to action, goes on to say, it gives birth to sin, now you've committed it. And sin, when it's accomplished, meaning it starts to grow up, it grows, you're doing more of it, you get greater bondage, it brings forth death. That's the process. And so it's only at that door, which is, if you remember, when Cain was angry at God because God rejected his pitiful offering of low-hanging fruit, literally, on the ground and so forth, Christ, pre-incarnate, comes to Cain and says, hey, sin's at your door. It seeks to master over you, but you don't let it. And even then they had The ability not to resist or you know to resist or not resist the spirit and so that's that's the challenge we have Not to give in to the flesh. That's why I love the beautiful picture. That's painting Galatians 5 22 Actually the whole context let me back up you have Verse 19 now the deeds of the flesh are evident you get that list in other words the works of the flesh This is you. When you go do things apart from the Spirit, this is what it looks like. And then it contrasts that with not the work of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit. So to be the fruit of the Spirit means you're not doing the deeds of the flesh. So it's either one or the other. Any other thoughts, Steph? Is that helpful? Other questions? Judy? Yes. Yeah, so we hold the view going back to really the whole book of Acts. It's a very interesting pattern. You go to Acts chapter 2 and Pentecost happens. And this is different. This is the new covenant being inaugurated. Christ is now ascended to the throne. He departs. He sends the Holy Spirit. And you see these tongues of fire, right, over their heads. And suddenly they start speaking in other languages. And the text affirms that what they were speaking wasn't gibberish. It was actual languages. And it goes through the list. In fact, there's actually a Greek word in there, glossa. They were speaking literally the dialects as if they were from that neighborhood. And then people are like, what is this? I hear him speaking in my own dialect. What's going on? So the spirit of God is speaking through them a known language. This is why Apostle Paul was so successful in ministry because he could speak in tongues. He'd go to all these different countries, never knew the language, never was taught, never had spoken, but now he's talking literally in their language, which is just a miracle. And then what's really fascinating is that as you go through the book of Acts, remember the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit's gonna come, you're gonna be my witnesses to the world from Jerusalem to Samaria to the ends of the earth. So as the church is being made by Christ through the work of the Spirit, we see some interesting events. So we see the apostles in Jerusalem speaking in tongues, it's a sign. They're now in the body of Christ, but only Jews. And then we go to Samaria, half Jews, They received the spirit and they in that pastor that doesn't say they spoke in tongues, but it's assumed then Cornelius Gentile He speaks in tongues. So now Peter's like oh the Gentiles are now in the body because they spoke in tongues Just like we did we did so now half Jews are in the body of Christ Jews are in the body of Christ half Jews Gentiles then you go further and you meet the John the Baptist disciples and And they're like, have you been baptized? Yeah. And John's baptism. And did you receive the Holy Spirit? We didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit. Like, how did they not know that? So then Paul lays hands on, I believe, forgive me for some of the details, and they speak in tongues. So by the time you get to the end of the book of Acts, we see the Jews, half Jews, Gentiles, even disciples of John, everyone is now in the body of Christ. And then the ministry goes out to witness. And during that time, eventually the scriptures are written. And that's how now God speaks to the rest of the world through the Bible being translated into their native tongues. Now, does this mean that, so tongues today that we predominantly see in many churches, Are gibberish their scientists have actually looked at the languages study and go there's no there's no structure. There's no grammar here It's just made-up stuff. And so that's not biblical tongues biblical tongues is you've never known the language It's a real language and then you're speaking it in order for that person to hear the gospel and understand in fact Part of the rules in the early church was if you because remember this is Rome you have lots of foreigners inside Rome taking captive whatever and in the church, and now people are speaking tongues in the church, their native tongue or an unknown tongue, and you need an interpreter who knows that known language and makes it known to everyone else. And so, because if you, as Paul says, if you speak a known language and no one else knows it, like if I suddenly started speaking Russian to you guys, you'd think, well, I was a Russian spy. But you'd be like, John, we're all English. We don't know Russian. Cut it out, right? Now, if there was a translator, then that would work. So tongues, it has to be, according to scriptures, a known language. The gift of tongues means you didn't know it before. So like Chris, you know Spanish. Not because you have the gift of tongues, but you did the hard work of learning. Now, the Holy Spirit can help you, but he helps you in all things, not just speaking Spanish. So that's the belief we hold, and I have yet to see real demonstration of tongues. Now, does this mean that God may not make a special exception somewhere in the world. He could. But in the church predominantly, we just don't see this with any of the other charismatic gifts. Questions on that? Right, there is no basis for that in the scriptures. The closest we have is Paul saying, there's Romans, right? Which says the spirit helps us without words. So if you're speaking, you've already contradicted that passage. Paul also talks about my spirit knows, right? And again, that's his thoughts. Those are words. There's no such thing as a secret prayer language between you and God. Why would you need that when you already have your own spirit, your own mind? And Paul talks, pray with your mind. If you're praying and you're not thinking, then that's being disrespectful to the Lord because now you're just, you know, you're just not saying anything. It's just impressions and feelings. God gave us a mind, an intellect, a vocabulary, so we can interact with him with words that have meaning. And he interacts us with words and meanings. Yeah, it's true. We sometimes get impressions, and that's what a feeling is. But feelings do have words associated with them as well. I'm happy, I'm sad, and so forth. So yeah, prayer language is completely unbiblical. Michael. What is the meaning of Ephesians 6.18? It says that praying the Spirit on all occasions is all kinds of praise and worship. Yeah. That's a great example of being filled with the Spirit, right? With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit. Contrast that with praying in the flesh. That's the contrast that's being made there. So I'm going to make sure my prayers are Spirit-filled, not fleshly desires and selfish desires, but God-centered prayers. Prayers that honor the Lord, that align with His scriptures. And so that's another example of being filled the spirit in your prayers. And then it says, with this view in mind, be on alert with all perseverance, petition from all saints. So yeah, so praying the spirit is words, thoughts, cogent ideas that you are sharing with the Lord that are informed by scriptures. And so it's an intelligent conversation going back and forth. We know how to pray, right? We know that we should pray for lost people, which is what we do every Sunday. So that's the idea. You can do both, that's the beauty. God doesn't require you to open your mouth if you can't speak. I mean, we know that people who can't speak, they can pray in their minds. So you can be praying in your, but they're thoughts. They're either thoughts that are communicated in your thoughts or they're communicated through your mouth. either are totally acceptable before the Lord, because He can hear your thoughts. He knows the words on your tongue before you even speak them. But this is an encouraging thought for a believer who maybe loses their throat to lung cancer or throat cancer or a deaf, dumb, blind person, right? They still have thoughts going on, and if they understand the gospel, they can speak to the Lord. The Lord understands even though they can't speak to us. Someone is in a coma They talk about a lot of times people can hear and so they can have a conversation with the Lord as a believer Because the Lord can hear those thoughts. So yeah, you don't have to speak but you can Great questions. All right. What other ones you got? Roger Right. Right. So the passage that typically those who claim baptism is required for salvation is by Peter. Baptism now saves you, 1st Peter 3. Let me go to that passage now, 1st Peter 3, verse 20-ish. Corresponding to that, 1st Peter 3, 21. Baptism now saves you. Now there's these two hyphens in there. Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, baptism is not required, physical baptism, water baptism, is not required for salvation. That comes after you've been spiritually. Now, spiritual baptism is required for salvation. When you repent and believe, that happens. But you have no control over that. You just believe and it happens. So does that answer your question or not? Mark 16? Yeah, so in that case, let me go right to that verse, Mark 16, 15. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. He who has believed and been baptized shall be saved. So sometimes what you see in the gospels particularly, they kind of lump it all together. They lump the baptism of the spirit and the baptism of water lumped in together. That's what you have here. But we can say, because we know the rest of the scriptures unpacked it, is yes, you are to go into the world baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The assumption is you would not physically baptize someone unless they have repented and believed. So Jesus just puts them all together and says, and baptized you shall be saved. If you look at Pentecost, same thing happened. They were cut to the heart, they believed, and then thousands were baptized. So it isn't a one-two process. If you're not, you're spiritually baptized first through repentance and faith, and then shortly what should follow is physical water baptism. The water baptism doesn't save you. The spirit baptism is a byproduct of your salvation. It's part of that moment that you get justified and Christ credits to you his righteousness, and now you can stand, as Jude says, before God blameless with great joy. Derek. So, great question, and the scriptures are pretty clear, Matthew 28, 16 through 20, baptism is in the triune God, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, right? In fact, let me just go read that verse exactly as it is in scriptures. So here it is, all authority has been given to me on heaven and earth, go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We're being baptized in the triune God. Our faith is in Christ, and then at that moment we believe we are sealed for redemption, the Holy Spirit is given to us as a pledge, he permanently dwells in us, and now we are saved. So if someone says, I have to be baptized solely in the name of Christ, that's not the Trinity. And so that would be problematic. Now they could still be saved because they're just being ignorant, but they have to have faith in the triune God. That'd be my next question. Do you believe in the Trinity? Yeah, and that's an unfortunate confusion on their part, right? It is true. The scriptures tell us the object of our faith. Who are we to believe in for salvation? The reason it's Christ is because he is the only mediator between God and man. So we come to Christ, who is the great high priest, who stands between us and God, and we put our faith in him because he's the one who did the work on the cross. and he's the one who died for our sins, and we're trusting in his work and his person. But as Christ has said throughout the Gospels, if you see me, you've seen the Father. If you believe me, you believe the Father. If you love me, you love the Father. To not, to separate the Father and the Son, both in faith and in obedience, is to have some completely unorthodox view of Christ and the Trinity. So that's narrowing scriptures in a way that really is not intended. And so that's how I would counter such a person like that. And so yeah, to believe in the son is to believe in the father. Yeah. Yeah, you get into a paradox and you got a problem. And as far as praying goes, technically, we pray to the Father through the Son with the help of the Holy Spirit. And that's really how we really should be praying, with that view in mind. Well, our time is up. So let me close in prayer, and then we'll break, and we'll start the worship in about 10 minutes, giving other people time to come. Heavenly Father, thank you for this chapter and the truth of the Spirit. Thank you for the permanent indwelling Spirit. I just can't imagine living in this world without Him. And help us not to grieve Him. Help us not to quench Him. And help us to submit to your word and be filled with the Spirit. in all that we see, all that we think, all that we do, and all the ways that we witness and obey. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, we'll get started in about 10 minutes.