The Work of The Holy Spirit in Redemption

Tonight we're doing lesson 10. It's the work of the Holy Spirit in redemption.

Everything that Christ accomplished for us on the cross — His death, His burial, and His resurrection — is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. So the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit go hand in hand together to bring us back to God. We'll start with Bible point number one. The Holy Spirit is the dispenser of divine grace. Grace is the first blank. He takes God's loving favor and He pours it out on us, right? He takes our heart of stone and He makes it a heart of flesh. He takes a sinful disposition, a heart that loves sin and that loves rebellion, and He makes it new, right? He applies to humanity Christ's work of redemption. He renews the ungodly and sanctifies the church. All of soteriology is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Let me stop right there. Soteriology — soter in Greek means Savior or salvation. And so soteriology is a study of salvation. The last unit we studied was Christology, and this unit is pneumatology. So it's natural to go straight into the doctrine of salvation, where the Holy Spirit takes the finished work of Christ and applies it to our hearts. All soteriology is the work of the Holy Spirit applying — that's the second blank — applying the finished work of Christ. The Spirit's work is concluding, completing, and perfecting. Perfecting is the third blank. If Christ died on the cross for our sins, what good is it if it never touches our hearts, right? What good is it if it never transforms the sinner, if we're never born again by it, right? That's the work of the Holy Spirit, applying the work of Christ to our hearts.

1 Corinthians 6:11 says this — "And such were some of you." This follows, by the way, a laundry list of terrible sins. He says, "And such were some of you, but you were washed, and you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." The Holy Spirit and Christ work together to accomplish our salvation, right? All these things we'll be studying in our next unit — justification and sanctification — but we see that it's accomplished by Christ, but it's applied to us by the Holy Spirit.

Application is this: can you, who are accustomed to evil, do good? Good is the blank. And we have for reference there Jeremiah 13:23, the famous passage — can the Ethiopian change his skin, can the leopard change his spots, can you, being evil, do what's good? Can we do it on our own? We must be born again, right? We must be born from above. We must be born of the Holy Spirit.

Bible point number two: all of God's revelations are through the Son or the Spirit, and the latter includes the former. Explain that. All of God's revelations are through the former. When we did Christology, we talked about how Christ is the one true revealer of God. He is the Word of God made flesh, right? If you want to see God, you look to Christ, right? If you want to hear God's voice, you look to Christ, right? He is the Word of God made flesh. His life, His teaching, His death, burial, and resurrection shows us the love of God, shows us the holiness of God, right? So all revelation is through Christ, and that includes in creation — all things were created by Him and for Him and in Him, all things consist. This includes, as Pastor Casey told us a couple weeks ago, in preservation, that Christ holds everything together and He establishes not only the world, but He allows its continuance to go forth. We're all held together by the very word of His power. This includes providence, where God's directing all things to His end and for His glory, and it includes redemption. All that is revelation from Jesus Christ, right?

However, that external revelation has to be spoken into our hearts. Can't you walk right by a sunset and not realize that God created that sunset? People do it every day, right? Even though nature is testifying that God is Creator, people don't fall down on their knees and worship Him, right? It takes an inward revelation, right? And so the Holy Spirit takes the revelation of Christ and applies it to our hearts. All of God's revelations are through the Son or the Spirit, and the latter includes the former, as Christ is the objective, external revelation of God. The Holy Spirit is the subjective, internal — internal is the first blank — internal revelation of God to man. The Holy Spirit is the one who pricks your heart, right? And says, "You're a sinner. You need forgiveness. You need to turn to God. You need to beg for His mercy. You need to see that God loves you and that He's provided for your sins." That is all the inward witness of the Holy Spirit, right? And it may come through a man or a woman sharing the gospel with you, right? When Ken preached this past Sunday, when he's speaking the Word of God, preaching the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is at work in your heart, right? Tugging you, drawing you, reconciling you to God.

The Holy Spirit takes the revelation of Christ and reveals — that's the second blank — reveals it to the hearts of men. The Spirit is ever turning the objective revelation of Christ into His subjective revelation, leading — that's the third blank — leading men consciously or unconsciously to appropriate the love, work, and person of Christ. In whom are all things finding their life, object, and chief end? The Holy Spirit is revealing Christ to us and leading men. No one comes to Christ apart from the moving of the Holy Spirit. No one turns to God apart from the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:12 says, "Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." It takes the Holy Spirit to awaken our minds, to awaken our conscience, to awaken us, to make God's Word not just the written Word, but the Word that's spoken to our hearts.

When the Holy Spirit reveals it internally to me, is that the moment of regeneration? Or is it — I don't know how to word this — you know, people will say, well, it's our choice. If the Holy Spirit is the only way to produce the choice, then it would seem that you're regenerated as soon as you're in the call.

Well, good question, and in the next unit that we're going to start in two weeks, I believe it's the third lesson is calling, and there's an external call and an internal call. And we'll discuss it in detail then, if that's all right, just for brevity's sake. 1 Corinthians 2:12 says that "we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." We would not understand or comprehend the revelation of God apart from the Holy Spirit. The application is this: do spiritual — that's the blank — do spiritual things make sense to unaided men? No, they don't. These things have to be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

Bible point number three: the Holy Spirit is a principle of all movement toward God. Toward is the blank. The Holy Spirit is the foundation, He's a principle, He is the impetus of all movement toward God. Christ is the divine Logos or reason of God. As the one true expression of God, Jesus Christ is the outgoing — outgoing is the second blank — the outgoing movement or centrifugal action of God, whether in creation, preservation, providence, or redemption. As the outgoing movement of God, it's simply this: Christ is the Word of God, right? He's the Word of God that's spoken, He's the Word of God that's written, He's the Word of God that's revealed in creation.

Centrifugal may not be a word we use a lot, but it simply means an outgoing movement. We're blessed here in Florida to be near the space coast, right? We know of Blue Origin, we know of SpaceX and NASA. From my front yard, I actually can see the rockets take off — it's really neat. So I try to catch as many of them as I can. Well, over in California, they have a company that's very different. It's also an aerospace company. It's called Spin Launch. Maybe you saw news reports about it a year or two ago. What Spin Launch has done out in the desert in California — they have built, I think five or six stories tall, a giant what looks like a nautilus shell. It's a round device that is a centrifuge, okay? And it's a vacuum centrifuge. And the idea behind it is to spin the satellite around inside the vacuum at high rates and then to catapult it into space without using a rocket. So just sheer force doing it can send an object at 5,000 miles per hour is what they're hoping to do. They still haven't got it down yet, but that's what they're working on, right? So it's a centrifuge — it's outgoing, right? Christ is the outgoing revelation of God, right? All of God's words are mediated to us by Christ. All those actions are mediated to us by Christ. He's the one true revealer of God.

The Holy Spirit is the returning — this is the third blank — is a returning movement or centripetal action of God, where the divine thought and activity returns to itself. The Holy Spirit is a returning action of God. When I was in grade school, I did track and field and I threw the discus. And if you've ever held a discus, they're heavy, right? And you don't put your fingers around the edge of them — you actually put your hand flat on the side of it — but it's by the turning motion of your hand that it creates force, centripetal force, that holds it in place so it doesn't drop from your hands, right?

Well, the Holy Spirit is the principle of all centripetal action, all movement back towards God, right? And we see that in the divine economy of the Trinity. Think about Christ Himself and think about that at His baptism. We have the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased." And at the same time He says that, we see Him blessing the Son with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit alights on Him like a dove, right? And then the Holy Spirit, on Christ, He does all of His ministry to please and obey the Father, right? That's that returning movement right back to the Father. It's the same with us. The Holy Spirit is the principle of our movement back towards the Father, back towards God through Christ.

The Holy Spirit is a returning movement or centripetal action of God, where the divine thought and activity returns to itself. Just as with Christ — "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God," that's Hebrews 9:14 — Christ did everything in His ministry. We talked about this last week through the power of the Holy Spirit. He was able to render Himself a perfect obedience to God by the Holy Spirit. He offered Himself to God through the Holy Spirit. Just as He did, it is only through — through is the fourth blank — the Holy Spirit that the church has access to God. And thus, fallen creatures can return and be reconciled to God. It's only by His power that we can please God.

The Holy Spirit, in returning us to the living God, reproduces in us in limited measure the same eternal movement of the divine mind, and grants us participation — that's the fifth blank, I'm sorry, the fourth blank — participation in the triune communion of God through our union with the Son. It's the Holy Spirit who actually, through our faith, unites us to the Son, makes us one with the Son. Therefore, we get to participate in all the privileges of the Son, right? We get to hear the Father saying, "You're my beloved Son. I'm well pleased," because you're in Christ. You're covered with the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 4:4–6 says this: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in you all." The Holy Spirit renders to us the presence of the Father and the presence of the Son within our hearts.

Flip over on the back. On the right-hand side, reference number three is Galatians 4:4–7. This kind of fleshes this out so well. It says, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son." You see, that's the outward expression of God. God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, just like us, having to fulfill the law on our behalf. Verse 5: "To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts." It's the moment of your salvation, right? Crying out, "Abba, Father" — daddy, Father — "therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." We see, again, Christ being the outward revelation of God, and then the Holy Spirit being the inward action back towards God, redeeming us and reconciling us to Him.

Flip back over on the front. The application is this: be in awe that God desires fellowship — that's the blank — fellowship with you. Let this sink in that God, from eternity past, has loved you and would send His Son into the world to humble Himself, take on flesh, right? Be born of a woman, be born under the law, to live a perfect life in order to redeem us, right? In order to reconcile us so we can have the Holy Spirit living within us to bring us back to God. God desires fellowship with us. It's amazing.

Bible point number four: the Holy Spirit is a principle of all return. Return is the blank. Return to God. It is only through the Holy Spirit that fallen men are convicted of sin, are led to Christ, converted, and brought back to God. You can nag someone all you want, but you're not going to convict them of sin. It's the Holy Spirit that does that, right? You can share the gospel with them till their eyes are red and bloodshot, right? But unless the Holy Spirit is moving their hearts, that is going to be of no effect, right? It takes the Holy Spirit, despite our best efforts or our lack of efforts — it's the work of the Holy Spirit.

So it's only through the Holy Spirit that fallen men are convicted of sin, are led to Christ, converted, and brought back to God. All true worship is offered — offered is the second blank — in spirit and truth, John 4:24. All of our prayers, works, and desires, indeed all of our lives are only worthy of regard by men and God in that they are part of the Holy Spirit's moving — moving is the third blank — us back to God. In other words, everything that we do, if it's not authored by the Spirit, if it's not moving us back to God, if it's not making us more Christlike, if it's not offering ourselves in holiness to the Lord, then it's nothing, right? It's of no regard to God, and it shouldn't be of any regard to men. Then we prize things that are vain, right? Don't we prize strength and prize beauty and prize money and success and fame? That's all meaningless, right? What matters is our relationship with God.

Galatians 5:25 says, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

In other words, as the Holy Spirit is the principle of all movement back towards God, we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. In other words, set our minds on the things of Christ. Set our minds on walking and bearing forth fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The application is this: do you hunger, thirst, and live — live is the blank — for the living God?

If you're not hungering, thirsting, and living for the living God, what are you living for? There's no creed worth living for. There's no code of honor worth living for — and that's thinking about the best and most noble things in this world, right? If we're not living for Christ, it's all worthless. It's vanity, it's error.

Bible point number five: the Spirit convicts — blank for number five — convicts men of their ungodliness and exposes sin. Sin is the second blank. We're now getting into very specific works that the Holy Spirit does. He convicts men of their ungodliness and He exposes sin. What does Jesus say to Nicodemus in John 3:20? "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."

In my garage, I have a field mouse. I've caught him a few times, sniffing in the trash, and he moves. As soon as you turn on the light, he knows, right? Light exposes him, right? He knows he's in trouble, so he goes right underneath — I have these metal shelving where I keep my pool supplies — underneath it where I can't get him. It's dark and damp and stuff, and that's where he likes to hide, right? Doesn't sin hate to be exposed? Doesn't evil hate to be exposed? That's why men who are not regenerate, men who are not born again, don't like to come to church. They don't like to hear God's Word. They don't even enjoy the company of Christians because it's convicting, right? The Holy Spirit convicts men of their ungodliness and exposes sin.

John 16:8 says, "And when He has come," speaking of the Comforter or the Holy Spirit, "He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment."

The application is this: does your heart grieve — grieve is the blank — over the things that grieve God? If you are born again, what thrills the heart of God should thrill your heart, right? What God loves should be what we love, right? Joy, peace, kindness, goodness, patience, long-suffering — that should be what our heart embraces, right? We should also, with equal passion, hate the things that God hates. We should hate dissension, disunity. We should hate preferential treatment, right? God is no respecter of persons. We should hate falsehoods. God hates lies — He's truth, right? We should hate violence, right? We should hate oppression. We should hate the things that God hates. And so our hearts should grieve over the things that God grieves, if we are born again.

Bible point number six: the Spirit regenerates — that's the first blank — regenerates men and gives them eternal life. Life is the second blank. The Spirit regenerates men and gives them eternal life. Not only does He convict men of sin, but He is the one who must change your heart. You must be converted by the Holy Spirit, right?

Titus 3:4–7 says, "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Salvation from start to last is the work of God. And we're going to see that over twelve lessons when we do soteriology — we have to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

Flip over on the back. John 3:5–10, this is Jesus speaking to Nicodemus. He says, "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, and you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit,'" speaking of the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in blowing, so to speak, salvation upon men. "'Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?"'"

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the seventy rulers of Israel, right? He, of all anyone, should have known the Old Testament. And what does Jesus say about the Old Testament? That it testifies about Him, right? In this passage here, John chapter 3 says, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." A lot of times I've heard people say, "Well, He's talking about baptism — water baptism as a symbol of our regeneration." It's not what it's talking about. And He basically tells Nicodemus that. He says, "You're a teacher of the law. You should know this." This is what we call an allusion, where He's alluding to a passage from the Old Testament. And it's very evident when you look at the Greek Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament, and compare that to the same verbiage in the New Testament.

And you'll see that here in Ezekiel 36:25–27, speaking of the New Covenant, which would be effected by the Holy Spirit. He says, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you." It's an idea of purifying your heart, of removing your sins, of removing your filthiness, of removing your iniquity before God, right? "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." Saying that every believer in the New Covenant will be regenerate, will be born again, will have a new heart, a new disposition, a new way of looking at life, because the Holy Spirit has given them a new heart, right? A heart that's sensitive to the things of God. And He tells Nicodemus, "Don't you understand this? You should know this. You're a teacher of Israel. Don't marvel that I say you must be born again, that you must be born of water and be born of the Spirit." Because that's exactly what Ezekiel had prophesied would come through the Messiah in the New Covenant.

Look back over on the front. Application for number six: can you earn — earn is the blank — earn God's favor by your works of righteousness?

No, not at all. We just read in Titus 3:4–7 — verse 5: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration of the Holy Spirit." So your works cannot regenerate you, but it takes the Holy Spirit's washing and regenerating.

Bible point number seven: the Spirit unites — unites is the blank — unites men to Christ, making them one. One is the second blank — one with Him. This is the essence of regeneration. The essence of salvation is that we're united spiritually to the Savior. There is no salvation apart from union with the Savior. It's in union with the Savior that He takes all of our sins, all of our filthiness, all of our unrighteousness, and bears that penalty on the cross. And it's in union with the Savior that all of His abundant works, all of the merits that He earned in this life by pleasing God and fulfilling the entire law, are accredited on our behalf. So that God looks at us truly and says, "You're righteous, because you're united to Christ the Savior." That action is done by the Holy Spirit. He unites our spirit with His.

The Spirit unites men to Christ, making them one with Him. Romans 8:9–11 speaks about this union: "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." When the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ, He imparts Himself to us. We become one with Him. "Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." It's a beautiful union there.

The application is this: how does God's indwelling presence change — it changes the blank — the way that we act? It takes what is broken and makes it whole, right? It takes what is crooked, what is bent, and makes it straight. It takes what is vile and what is corrupt and makes it clean. It takes a heart set on hate and bitterness and fills it with love and gratitude, right? Only the Holy Spirit can change us.

Bible point number eight: the Spirit glorifies — glorifies is the blank — glorifies Christ and mediates Christ to man. Just as Christ is the one mediator between God and man, the Holy Spirit is a mediator between Christ and man, right? He takes the work of Christ and applies it to our hearts.

John 16:12–14, Jesus says, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak." He's being a mediator, a mediator of Christ. "And He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you." It's the work of the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the triune Godhead are all equal in worth, all worthy of our worship and prayers, but the Holy Spirit is not slighted when we give all glory to Christ. You can see He actually takes a position that to glorify Christ is to glorify Him, right?

Application for number eight: when you glorify Christ, you are truly walking — walking is the blank — in the Spirit. Some people say, "Oh, I'm filled with the Spirit because I got riches and success and wealth and health." They'll say, "I'm filled with the Spirit because I'm just walking on sunshine and enjoying all the marvelous blessings of our Lord." Or, "I got a healing in my life," or, "I can work miracles. I'm living for a miracle, so I got the Holy Spirit. I'm glorifying God" — is what people will say. That's not how you glorify God. You glorify Christ by walking in the Spirit. In other words, what is the Spirit going to do? He's going to take the things of Christ and apply them to you. To glorify Christ is to become a Christ-pleaser, to walk after Christ, to keep His commandments. Jesus says, "If you love Me," what? "Keep My commandments." It's to mold our lives in His image. That's the greatest honor, right? Is to follow after someone, right? I had a gentleman after my father died — there was a man in our church that used to take my brother and me hunting, he was a great big guy, six foot five, a former ball player. I just thought the world of him. He had guns. Whatever he did, I wanted to do. That's the way that we do.

How much more so Christ, right? If you want to glorify Christ, walk in the Spirit. Follow in His steps. Keep in step with the Spirit.

Bible point number nine: the Spirit sanctifies us. Sanctifies is the blank there. That means He sets us apart. He makes us holy — He makes us holy, that's the second blank — and Christlike.

Once we are converted, the work is not done, right? We're going to talk about this when we discuss soteriology — we've got a long way to go. Are any of us perfect? Are any of us glorified yet? No — all you have to do is look in the mirror. If you can fool yourself in the mirror, ask your wife or ask your brother, ask your friend, and they'll give you a good assessment and let you know you still have a long way to go, right? The Holy Spirit sanctifies us. He makes us holy.

We read in 1 Peter 1:1–4: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace be multiplied." A great Trinitarian verse. We see that it's the Holy Spirit who leads us in sanctification. He sets us apart in Christ to begin with, and He conforms us continually into the image of Christ until we are glorified. That means the day that we go home — and in a moment, a twinkling of the eye — we will be transformed into His image, right? What a glorious day that will be.

The application is this for number nine: are you cooperating — cooperating with the Spirit in your sanctification? As we start soteriology in two weeks, we'll learn that parts of our salvation are wholly up to God. Our regeneration is what we call a monergistic act — it's where God Himself, one person acting alone, takes the Holy Spirit to regenerate us, right? However, our sanctification, which is part of the long picture, so to speak, of our salvation, is cooperative. In other words, we can't just say, "Okay, Holy Spirit, make me sanctified, make me pure, make me like Jesus." We have to try, right? We have to daily die to our flesh. We have to daily renew our minds. We have to daily pray. We have to daily read God's Word. We come to church for mutual encouragement, for edification, for exhortation, right? Because we need that, right? But if we don't, then how are we going to know the commands of Christ? How are we going to know what pleases Him? How are we going to be able to walk after Him and be conformed to His image, right? So it takes cooperation. It's a synergistic act — is what we call sanctification — where it is indeed the Holy Spirit leading us, and He's going to bring us home, but He doesn't just drag you, right? You have to cooperate in your sanctification.

Bible point number ten: the Spirit equips us. He makes us to be the body of Christ. Equips is the first blank, body is the second blank. He cares about the church, so He equips the church so we can edify one another and fully be the body of Christ here on earth. Here in this room tonight, we have all various gifts represented. Some of you have a real servant's heart, right? Some of you are gifted teachers. Some of you are great encouragers, right? Some of you seem to know the right word to say at the right time. Some of you have the gift of hospitality. Some of you have all those wrapped up into one — God bless you.

And the idea, though, is we use those gifts to edify, to strengthen the church, to build up the church. And if we're holding back any of those gifts, our body is going to be lacking, right? So the Holy Spirit equips us to be the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:4–7: "There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." God has given you a gift, every one of you. And it's not to be sat upon, right? It's not to gather dust, saying, "Well, my gift's meager. I'm not going to use it." Use your gift. It's often the smallest gifts, so to speak — the ones that people overlook or think isn't that important — that makes the biggest difference in the world, right?

Years ago at a church I was leading a Bible study, and there was a gentleman who came regularly but he was a former crack addict — that's what he called himself, former. And he still struggled with drugs. And you could tell sometimes you'd see him come in — I'd send him home. But I do believe he was a believer. He was struggling with his faith. But he had the most uncanny way of knowing when you needed a particular word, and he would bring it up from the Scripture. He would say, "David, I was praying for you today and this verse has been on my heart, and I was thinking about you and that verse was so encouraging to me." Right? It's amazing how the Holy Spirit operates, right? And the vessels that He chooses to use to bless you. So don't ever overlook anyone — no matter how old, how small, no matter how odd, God can use believers, right?

Application for number ten: are you using your spiritual gifts for the profit — that's the blank — the profit of others? Are you using your gifts to call attention to yourself? Are you using your gifts for others' benefit, right? Are you on the hospitality committee because you want to be the queen bee in charge of everything and you want to run things? Or are you on hospitality because you want to see people feel welcomed and feel loved and have their needs met, right? Are you teaching because you think too highly of yourself and you just want to trumpet your name and get some kind of a following online? Are you teaching because you simply want to take the things you've learned and share them with somebody, right? Are you administrating because you are on a power trip, thinking, "Well, I want to run the church and it's going to get done and it's going to be top-down, and if people don't like it, they can get to the back of the line"? Or are you doing it to try to bring people together to serve the Lord Jesus Christ? We use our gifts for the profit of all.

Bible point number eleven: the Spirit seals us. Michael talked about this when he talked about the images of the Holy Spirit, the pictures of the Holy Spirit — the image of Him as a seal. The Spirit seals us. He secures, marks, and authenticates us. Secures is the second blank. In ancient times, when you would have something precious — maybe there's a letter, a communication — you've probably seen in movies where they would take a candle and they'd melt wax to seal that envelope. This is before they had peel-and-stick things. And then they oftentimes put a signet ring, indicating a mark of ownership on it. It would authenticate it and let everyone know that this is precious. "We don't want the contents of this letter opened or read by just anyone. This is a direct letter from, say, the king, or a direct letter from a governing authority. Only to be opened by a certain individual." Well, the Holy Spirit, He seals us. He secures, marks, and authenticates us.

He secures us because you're precious to Him. You take what's precious to you and you lock it up. When you left your house tonight, did you leave the front door open? You pulled it shut and you locked it. You sealed it because it's precious to you. He marks those as His own. And does not the Holy Spirit leave His mark on us? He takes the character of Christ and He works it beautifully into our hearts. He takes what was formerly a liar, a blasphemer, and makes that person a man of honor, makes that woman a lady of truth. Not only does He secure and mark, but He authenticates us, vouches for us. He says, "This one's Mine. This one's born in Zion. This one is My son. This one is My daughter." That's what the Holy Spirit does.

Ephesians 1:13–14 says, "In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance" — the down payment, kind of like on a house you put earnest money down, right? Or if you are engaged to a young woman, you give her a ring, right? An engagement ring. That's a visible sign of that promise. It's a down payment saying, "I'm going to marry you, babe. And here's the ring to prove it." "The guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." The Holy Spirit seals us, and He seals us as the guarantee — a little taste of heaven in our hearts now, an experience of the triune communion of God in our hearts, until the day that He calls us home. Then our faith will be made sight, and how glorious that will be.

The application is this: you are precious, bearing His image and truly His heir — heir is the blank. You're truly His heir. He's authenticated you, He's marked you, He has sealed you, and He will see you through.

Bible point number twelve: the Spirit glorifies His saints. We read up in Bible point number eight that the Spirit glorifies Christ. Here in number twelve, the Spirit glorifies His saints and makes all things new. Glorifies is the first blank and new is the second blank. The same Spirit who created the church at Pentecost — right? Who in celebration of the exaltation and the enthronement of Christ the King at the right hand of God came and made His body on earth in the church — that same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead to His exalted position is going to take us as a church and raise us up into heaven one day. What a glorious day that will be.

Romans 8:22–23 says this: "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now." We often think of heaven as being out there, but the Bible really speaks of heaven as being here — that the entire heaven and earth are going to be recreated. Right now all of earth is under a curse because of Adam and Eve, right? The thorns push up, branches drop at the cemetery, like Pastor was saying earlier today, right? There's mildew outside — the men with Pastor Celso were pressure washing right outside this past weekend. They trimmed a tree over the education building — how great that they helped! But we have to do those things because we live in a decaying world, right? This world groans for deliverance. This world, the stones and the rocks, they know who the Creator is, right? And one day everything's going to be made new and Christ will reign here on the recreated earth and heavens.

"For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also have the firstfruits of the Spirit." We have that down payment, we have the very firstfruits of this newness of life, of this new creation in the Holy Spirit. "Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."

Let me say something here. One day this old body that's frail, that gets a crick in the neck, has a bum knee, that is running on fumes sometimes — one day God's going to recreate that, right? And it's going to be perfect, right? It's going to no longer have these limitations, right? No longer be under the curse. No longer will we live by the sweat of our brow, right? We will then be like Christ to a finite degree.

Flip over on the back. Reference number twelve on the back, 2 Corinthians 5:1–8: "For we know that if our earthly house" — this tent, speaking of our body — "is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven." Desire that heavenly existence, right? "If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life." Saying it's not that we just want to die, it's that we just want to be where Christ is, right? We want to experience life eternal, which is to know God and to see Him and to fellowship with Him. Verse 5: "Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

One day, our dear sister Dawn — we want her to be here on earth as long as God has her — but one day she's going to have a new body, right? One day, Miss Heidi, who sits here so faithfully on Sunday mornings, right almost right in front of where I'm standing — she teaches the kids and she's in such pain — one day God's going to take that pain away, right? And that will be a past forgottenness; she won't even remember that, right? It'll be just joy and fellowship with God. And what a glorious thing to look forward to.

Flip back over on the front. The application for number twelve: "The same Spirit who formed His body, the body of Christ, will bring it to heaven." It's us. He is going to make all things new. Remember, He is the principle of all movement back towards God, right? And so in the resurrection, it will be by the same resurrection Spirit that raised Christ from the dead who will raise our mortal bodies and quicken us as well.