Okay, well last week we began to study the Holy Spirit, so I'm gonna start out, I wanna review a bit, but I wanna ask you instead of me just telling you what we talked about last week. So I'm hoping you can remember something of what we said last week. So what did we learn about the Holy Spirit last time? Go back into the recesses. Chris. The breath of God. Yes. So God is his own breath. That's the main thing. If that's all you can remember, that's the main thing that we're trying to get across. Anything else? Does that jog your memory any? Anything else you wanna add? Yes. You weren't. Okay. The spirit gives life. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And that's because the spirit of God is the life of God himself. And so it's appropriate that he's the one who then comes and gives us life. Okay, so yeah, that's basically, I mean, that's the thing that we're trying to communicate, that we're not talking about oxygen or air created things, but that God has a spirit, God has a breath, and this is how God has life in himself. is by His Spirit. Now today we're gonna talk about what we call the procession of the Spirit from God, and we'll eventually get to how the Bible uses that word. So this is a Bible word, the Spirit proceeds from God, but this was the word that's used in the creeds from the early church to explain the Spirit. The Spirit proceeds from God. Well, if you thought last week was hard and complicated, this week is hard and complicated, and we're going further and further into more mysterious things. I think probably next week will be even more mysterious. But I understand these are difficult things. What we're trying to do, really, is just say, what does the Bible say? And let's go to the edge, like we're walking up to the ocean, we're walking to the edge of the ocean, and we're just saying, There's this big ocean out there of who God is, but at least we want to walk up to the edge and know as much as the Bible tells us about it. But as this is difficult to understand, I wanted to start with this statement by George Smeaton. He's a theologian in Scotland, 1800s. He said, they who air in this article depart from the confession of a doctrine which the entire church of God has taught and enforced from the days of the apostles. And the denial of this truth carries with it the most perilous consequences. So this is something that the church has believed, and notice he says the days of the apostles. So this isn't church fathers in the 300s, that's not what he's saying. Although that would be a good reason for us to listen to what they're saying, but the apostles are teaching this doctrine, and so it is important for us to at least know what they're teaching, and to not want to deny this truth. because it's in the Bible. And he gives a few reasons about why it is perilous to deny the truth. The main reason is that talking about the Spirit proceeding is the only way to have one God and yet the spirit as a distinct person from God. This is the Bible's way of explaining. So if you start messing with this and saying, well, I don't really think that's in the Bible, you know, you're probably going to end up either with three gods, or the spirit as not fully God, or you will end up with one God without three persons, which is what the Bible is telling us, that there's one God in three persons. So. Let's start, how is the spirit distinct from the Father and the Son? So we start with this idea, the truth of the Bible, that there is one God. One God is not three gods, okay? So there is one God, God is one in every way. Last year, we talked about the Son of God and how he's begotten, and you might remember, we looked at the confession. Our confession uses this word, subsistence. And it says that there are three subsistences. And we talked about why do they use that word? Why don't they use the word person? And that's because when we think of person, we tend to take in ideas of what we are. So we have our own life, we have our own activities, we have our own minds. And so if we think person means that, we're gonna be off base. So we have to have one God as one life, one mind, one will, one activity, and he subsists, he exists as three. So then the question is what's the difference of those three if they're all one? How are they three? And so, We talked about this idea about their eternal relationship. And even that word origin is not really a good word because origin implies a beginning in time, but this is eternal. And so eternally, there's this relationship of father, son, and spirit. how the Son comes from the Father and how the Spirit comes from the Father and the Son. Okay, so you might have seen this diagram before. This is pretty well known. So you have in the middle how those lines are connecting. Father, Son, and Spirit are God. And then you have on the outside this statement that they're distinct. There's a differentiation between them. The father is not the spirit, the father is not the son, the son's not the spirit, and on and on. So I think that's pretty, I mean, it's easy to grasp that concept. It's pretty easy to understand father's not the son, and yet the son is God and the father is God. So the next question is how? How is the Father not the Son? How is the Son not the Spirit? So I had to make my own diagram. The lines in the middle are just to try to connect them again to say this is one God. But we really wanna focus on the arrows on the outside. So first, the Father. Our confession, the creeds, the church fathers, they use this phrase, the father is of none. So in this eternal relationship, the father is of none. So he is unbegotten and he is unproceeding. So he doesn't proceed from any of the persons and he doesn't He's not begotten by any of the persons. Okay. So it starts with the father. So notice, uh, the direction of the arrows, the arrows only go one way. Uh, no, no arrow is pointing to the father. So the father is first in this eternal order. He's not first, like he's better or more important, but he's first in the order. So, The Son and Spirit are not doing anything to Him, we can say, in this eternal relationship, but He's the one. First, He's begetting, He's begetting the Son. And then He's also breathing, sending forth the Spirit. Okay, now look at the Son. The Son has an arrow pointing to Him, and He's also pointing an arrow. So the Son is being begotten by the Father, and He is breathing out the Spirit. But then the Spirit, we get to the Spirit, okay? So notice the Spirit has two arrows pointing towards Him. Okay? So the father has two arrows pointing out and none coming to him, but the spirit has two arrows coming to him and not going out. Okay? So the spirit is breathed out by the father and breathed out by the son, but he is not begetting anyone and he is not breathing out anyone. And I'll repeat, this is happening eternally, outside of time. There's no point in time where this is beginning to happen. So this is the eternal existence of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. So this is what we mean when we say Spirit proceeds from Father and Son. Okay, so another question then. In English, what does that word proceed mean? Can you think of? some way it might be used. And what comes in your mind when you hear the word proceed? Tony. Okay. Proceed or not proceed. So it means to go. Okay. Anything else? Yes. Yeah, I think that's right. I can't think of a situation where you would proceed backwards. Okay, yes? Move forth. Okay, yeah. What about process? Have you heard the word process? There's process and there's process. What's a process? Yes. So it's the same idea, the way something is going forward, the way it's happening. Process. Yes. Well, there's process and then there's process. So to process, you might know, is to walk forward, like at a funeral. There's a funeral procession. Or at a wedding, there's the wedding procession. That's when they're all walking to the front or they're walking out of the church. Okay, so, the English word gets across, you know, all these theologians, they're writing in Latin hundreds of years ago, but it gets across the same idea. The spirit goes forth from God. So, we talked about this last year with the son, that the son comes forth from the father, but he comes forth as being begotten as a son. The spirit comes forth as the breath of God. So, I'll just repeat this again. So the spirit does not beget, the spirit is not begotten, the spirit does not breathe forth, he's not, causing the proceeding, he is being proceeded from the Father and the Son. Okay, now, is there a difference between proceeding and being begotten? So why is the Son begotten and the Spirit is proceeding from the Father, let's just say? Well, so I started reading this, and, Here's what John of Damascus said, that there is a difference between generation and procession we have taught, but what is the manner of the difference? We do not at all pretend to teach. And I thought, well, that's not very helpful, is that John of Damascus? So what is the difference? He says, we don't know. Then I read Augustine. Well, maybe Augustine, he's a great, father of the church, and he said, there is a difference between generation and procession, but I do not know how to distinguish them, because both are ineffable. So now I'm thinking, okay, well, I got 20 minutes of, 25 minutes of lessons, so what are we gonna talk about? We don't know what we're talking about here. And then I read Gregory of Nazianzus, another church father. What then is procession? He says, well, do you tell me what is the unbegottenness of the Father? And I will explain to you the physiology of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit. And we shall both of us be frenzy stricken for prying into the mysteries of God. And so what that means is he says, we can't know. We don't know what procession is. If you can explain to me unbegottenness or the begottenness of the Son, we'll all be frenzy stricken for praying into the mysteries of God. Okay, this is probably how you all are feeling right now, and you're thinking, okay, what is the point of all of this? Well, because the Bible tells us this about the Spirit. And we can agree with these statements about how difficult it is to comprehend things like the procession of the Spirit, but we still have to try to understand, okay, what is the Bible actually saying? So, we still got 25 minutes, so there is further that we can go and think about it. Let's look at the chart again. What we know about the spirit proceeding is that the spirit is not begun. So it's important to understand that the spirit is not a second son. And so these fathers like Gregory, they're writing against heretics. And one of the things the heretics are saying, they're basically getting at the idea that, well, if the father begets the Son, and then the Spirit comes from the Son, then that makes the Spirit the grandson, because He's the Son of the Son. He's coming from the Son. And that's why the fathers are saying, no, no, no, no, no, because the Bible never says that the Spirit is begotten. The Spirit is proceeding from the Son. Or think about it another way. if it starts with the father and we have these two arrows, is the spirit the son's brother? So he's not the son of the son, a grandson, but he's, the son comes from the father and the spirit comes from the father, so doesn't that mean they're brothers? And so again, they're saying, no, no, no, no, that's not what the Bible is teaching, because the Bible is clearly stating that the spirit proceeds, and so he has a different relationship from the father and the son. Okay, so now let's look at the Bible. So let's go to John 14. Let's start with John 14, 26. John 14, 26, and this is related to the next verse, 15, 26. But first, Jesus says, John 14, 26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Okay, so the important point from this verse to notice is the Father will send the Holy Spirit. The Father will send the Spirit in the name of Jesus. Now, upon what basis Will the Father send the Spirit in Jesus' name? Well, that's what we see next in chapter 15. Go to chapter 15, verse 26. Jesus, again, speaking to the disciples, 1526. But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me. So, Jesus repeats what he said. Well, actually, he's not word for word repeating, because now he says, I will send from the Father, whereas before he said, the Father will send in my name. We'll talk more about that another day, but the Spirit is being sent from the Father. That's the point that we're trying to make for now, okay? So this is in the future, verse 26. I will send to you from the Father the Spirit. But then, Jesus says, he describes the Spirit. He's the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. who proceeds from the Father. And so this is where we're getting the language that we use in creeds and confessions. It's from this verse. The Spirit proceeds from the Father. So what I want you to notice then is what's the basis of the future sending? It's who the Spirit is. the spirit as one who proceeds from the Father. And so notice that is in the present tense. So if you think the word proceeding here is about being sent to earth, that wouldn't make sense, that would be in the future. I will send you the spirit and he will proceed, meaning he will come to earth. Well, that's not what it means. No, it's in the present tense. As Jesus is speaking, he's saying the spirit right now proceeds from the Father. So it's not about future sending. It's about who he is right now. And we can say it's who he always has been. He's eternally this person. He is eternally the spirit who proceeds from God. So the basis for the work on Earth of why the Father in the name of the Son is going to send the Spirit is because in eternity, who is God? God is the Spirit who in eternity proceeds or comes forth from God. Gregory of Nazianzus, he was writing against these heretics who were questioning Does the Spirit really proceed from God? And he said, the term procession is introduced by a better theologian than you, our Savior himself. And so he's saying, Jesus here is telling us, and he's the best theologian there is, that the Spirit proceeds from God. So at the very least, for you as a Christian, at least understand that this is Bible words and Christian words that we need to believe and confess. Now, with that in mind, let's also go to John 20, verses 21 and 22. John 20, 21, that's verse 21, so this is after the resurrection of Jesus. It says, Jesus said to them again, to the disciples, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. So this is happening on earth in time. Jesus is breathing on his disciples from himself, the Holy Spirit. But remember, what happens on earth, the mission of God, reflects who God is, based on John 15, 26. So for example, here's what Anselm, a medieval theologian, he says about this. He says, the Lord did this, he breathed on them, so that we understand that the Holy Spirit proceeds from him. This is as if he were to say, Jesus is saying, as you perceive this breath, whereby I indicate to you that the Holy Spirit comes out of the depths of my body and from my person, in like manner, know that the Holy Spirit, whom I indicate to you by this breath, comes out of the recesses of my divinity and from my person. So maybe that's a too fancy way of saying, I'm breathing on you to show you that just like breath comes out of my body, the spirit proceeds from me, from my divinity. And that's why Jesus breathed on his disciples. So the spirit is always sent, by the Father and the Son, we see that in John 14, 15, 16, we see that in Acts 2, and we'll look at this more next week, but Jesus says, the Father has promised the Spirit, and so I must go, and when I ascend into heaven, the promised Spirit will be sent out. So the Father sends the Spirit, but not until the Son ascends into heaven. Galatians 4, 6, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts. So, the sending of the spirit on earth is meant to show us that the spirit eternally proceeds from God. Okay, so, the procession of the spirit is the breathing out of the Father and the Son, so not a generating of a son, but breathing forth the third person of the Trinity. Okay, this next point, I really wasn't sure if I should skip it, because it's confusing to me. So we'll look at it. If you're totally lost, it's okay. It's confusing to me. So think about the word and the breath. Let's look at Psalm 33, verse six. As you'll see, these are things that the church fathers are using to explain who the spirit is. So, you know, this is not me coming up with strange ideas. So Psalm 33 verse six says, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth, all their host. So the Lord, you could say the Father in that case, but you know, it's the one God obviously, but say the Father, the Father creates the world by his word and by the breath of his mouth. Now you see that in Genesis, that God speaks, and the world comes into existence. And it says the Spirit of God hovered over the water. So the Spirit is there. So the Spirit's the one with the word creating the life. And then we read in the New Testament, all things were created through the Son. So you do see this truth in the Bible. The Father creates through the Son by the Spirit. and the Son of God is called the Word of God, and so by speaking, we can say this is like God creating through the Word by the power of the Spirit. Okay, so what the fathers tried to make the point out of from verse six is that a word has to have a breath and a breath has to have a word. And so God could not exist without both word, Jesus, the son, and breath, which is the spirit. Now you can think about this in the literal sense. If you want to go home and stand in front of a mirror, try to speak a word without breathing. Can you speak a word without breathing? You can make You know, you can make lip and mouth motions, but no word will come out without a breath, right? Now, in the same way, try the other way around. Try breathing without making throat, mouth, lip motions. Are you gonna get a word? Can you say a word just by breathing? You can't. And so this is the point that they're trying to make illustrating this point. The word, a word needs breath, right? But also breath needs some shape to become a word. And so, They're saying that from God, God has both word and spirit breath at the same time. They come from him, come from the Father eternally at the same time. So Irenaeus of Leon, he said, the spirit demonstrates the word. The word articulates the spirit. And word, capital W, is the Son of God. John of Damascus, he also says, it is necessary that the word should also have a spirit. For even our own speech is not devoid of breath. Only in our case, breath is something other than our own essence. So it's necessary from eternity that God, if he's gonna have the word, a son, he would also have a spirit. All right, well let's go now to some application. There is some application to this. I think this is relevant to us. Hugh Martin was another theologian in Scotland, 1800s. He says, thinking about all of this should be the greatest encouragement and stimulus to us to pray that God would pour out His Spirit from on high. And he brings up this question from John 15, 26. So remember, Jesus says, I will send, the Father will send in my name, this Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father. And that verse is the only clear verse that we have of that concept of the Spirit eternally proceeding from God. So he brings up, Hugh Martin brings up this question. If the Son had never come to earth, and if the Son of God had then never ascended into heaven, to send the Spirit, would we have fully known, or would it have been revealed to us in this way, that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son? So I hope that question makes sense. So if the mission of sending the Spirit reflects, is how we know the Spirit proceeds from God, then if that had not all happened, would we know this about God? Would we know, unless Jesus had said that, that the Spirit proceeds from God? So here's this mysterious truth, this great truth about God and about His Spirit. But we know it because it actually, what Jesus said happened. The Father sent the Spirit. So Hugh Martin, you can read on the screen, he says, it is the brightest manifestation and perhaps the only conclusive proof, possibly the only adequate medium of proof to men or angels that he proceeds eternally at once from the Father and the Son. He's talking about the sending, the sending of the Spirit is perhaps the only conclusive proof that he proceeds from the Father and Son. So then, if that's true, then the more the Spirit is sent out, then the more people will understand God. The more people will understand that the Spirit is the one who proceeds from God. So here's how he says it. Let it be considered how infinitely willing God must be to pour out his spirit to act. Okay, well, maybe I got a typo there. To pour out his spirit to us, I think, seeing that it is by it, by pouring out the spirit, that the most peculiar and profound and mysterious glories of the triunity in Godhead are brought to light. So God is infinitely willing to pour out his spirit because that reflects on the spirit's procession. Then he continues, if so great a revenue of specific glory to God as triune thus accrues to him from pouring out his spirit, with what confidence may the church of God continue instant in prayer both for herself and for the world. Prayer for the universal effusion of the Spirit on the church and on the world alike till the church be endowed with power from on high and the world be convinced of sin and righteousness and judgment. Now, I can say that I had never thought about it this way before. But I think it's true, I think it's a good, valid point that he makes, that this sending brings great knowledge and understanding of who the Spirit is and who the being of God is. So, we can have that confidence. God wants to pour out His Spirit. God wants to be known in his triunity. So do we pray that? Do we pray for the Spirit to be poured out on the world so that more may know this glory and majesty of God? We wanna pray that God would save sinners, that people might know that the Spirit proceeds from God. Well, let's close in prayer. Our God, we thank you that you have revealed yourself and you have revealed this mystery about yourself in your word. We thank you for the Lord Jesus and his teaching about the spirit. And we pray, Lord, that you would help us, help our minds to grasp as much as is revealed in your word. You have revealed this so that we might know you. And so we do pray that we would know you, the one true God. And we pray that you would pour out your spirit from on high that not only have you revealed this to us, but we pray that you would reveal it to many, many more, to millions of those around the world. We pray based on your desire, your will that you have revealed that people might know you. We pray that they would know you as Father, Son, and Spirit, as the Spirit who proceeds from you. And so, Lord, we ask that you would indeed pour out the Spirit from on high. We pray even today as here your church gathers, help us to see this not as mere abstract ideas, but help us to know your Spirit, to know your Spirit who dwells within us, to hear Your Spirit speaking to us as Your Spirit uses the Word of God. Help us to encourage one another and to not grieve the Holy Spirit. And so we ask all of these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.