The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit Finish Lesson 44 Continued
Courtney Hemenway · May 7, 2023
Holy Spirit (2021-23), No. 108
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926193111615

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

I think we made it partially through Question 1. This is Lesson 44. It's the end of the book. And as we were talking a little bit before class here and at the end of last class, the end of the book with write-out just has some really good summaries. And, again, I encourage you to go and read that. I don't usually like to read as much, but in a lot of these answers, I'm going to read Wrightout's answers because he just succinctly put a lot of really just good truths.

I couldn't do it better than he did. So the fourth one, what is the hope attached to righteousness? We went through that. Is it something or what do we get out of that hope? Is it secure or unsecured? And it's the person of the Lord Jesus himself. And it said, if we have righteousness imparted to us, we can be in His presence. The Holy Spirit teaches us to wait without doubting for us to be with the Lord.

And we see this in Galatians 5.5, where we through the Spirit by faith are waiting for the hope of righteousness. So again, it's not a hope like it might happen. We do have that hope. And the righteousness is imparted to us. Gives us that hope of what being in his presence as we have that righteousness imparted to us.

We can be with him and Positionally, we're we're there now Conditionally we're here so Again that's what the the hope we have because of the righteousness so right out puts it this way I or one section of it. Look at the young converts at Thessalonica.

With scarcely more than a few weeks instruction, they were taught, quote, to wait for God's Son from heaven, even Jesus, 1 Thessalonians 1.10.

Their future prospects were all connected with that event, with that person. They were not waiting for judgments, surely not for improvements in this world, but were waiting for a living, loving person. That's kind of interesting. So right off the bat, the Thessalonians were taught not to fix me, get me, provide for me. It was to wait on the Lord. It was the expectation of the Lord's coming.

That was the very first things that they learned. I think that's an interesting thought. Were we taught that when we first were converted? or when we first came to know the Lord? No. So it's kind of interesting that he brings that out. Continuing on, who taught them thus to wait? Who sustained them in this hope? Will we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith?

That's Galatians 5.5.

Righteousness by faith is the theme of Paul. As justification, it is the present possession of every believer. Again, are we there? But there is a hope connected with it, a hope that is attached to it. We have justification as a present blessing. We do not hope for that, but we are in the midst of a groaning creation. We have not yet the inheritance for which we hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But the Holy Spirit sustains us in waiting patiently for the hope attached to the righteousness by faith. And that hope, we just saw, was the coming of God's Son from heaven.

Again, I think this is a tremendous section. Do we do that? Are we waiting for the Lord anxiously or expectantly? I just thought of this. I think what Verne had, the crowns that we receive, isn't one of the crowns expecting the Lord or waiting upon the Lord or expecting Him? I think that's one of the crowns, actually, that we receive. So, beyond what's here, I think that's the crown of us looking forward to the coming of the Lord. So, not only do we get that joy of expecting, we get a crown for it, which we'll throw at his feet when we get there, but it's kind of exciting to think about that. I guess your thoughts on that, it was interesting to see what Wright put about the Thessalonians that they were taught that immediately.

But I don't ever remember being taught that, really, that, you know, it's the salvation, which, you know, you now are free from judgment, free from the sin payment that you had to do for sins. But I never heard that, that, you know, now, wait expectantly for the Lord. Has anybody taught that?

No. And, you know, Courtney, I think part of it is the fact that we're just not taught our union with Christ. You know, that's never bright, you know, for most Christians throughout their whole Christian life. They never learn their union with Christ. But if we were to learn our union with Christ early, then we would understand, you know, much more so the significance of our, you know, future being with Him and, you know, face to face, right?

Yeah, I think, you know, the John 17 for me is the intimacy and that what's brought out through that. The other is, you know, the references to Abba Father. Again, the intimacy, daddy, the intimacy that we have, that brings me closer in expectation of that relationship.

So I think it is, but I was never really taught to wait expectantly. I think every time we take the Lord's Supper, it is. Every time we take the Lord's Supper, it's until he comes. So I mean, I've thought about that all these years. Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. And what is the purpose of the Lord's Supper? is to wait expectantly for Him. That we are to do this until He comes. So I think that's a great point. Yeah.

I noticed that Bride Up makes a statement that, but the Holy Spirit sustains us in waiting patiently for the hope attached to righteousness by faith. The hope attached to righteousness. We spent some time recently talking about What is God's righteousness? What is he? What are his characteristics? And we found out that he wasn't a vengeful God and couldn't, was not a person who could wait to punish. Even though in Romans when he gets everybody lined up and guilty, what does he do?

He demonstrates to them his love for them. So there's a righteousness or a rightness in God that we share. And I think that the hope that's attached by faith, as Rideout puts it, is that we, as the bride, get to enter into the fullness of what that righteousness is. And once there, I had a thought today that You know, when somebody's come to visit you, family, and you haven't seen them in a while, when they first walk in, it's just a joyous occasion. It really is. And I think when we first enter into God's righteousness experientially and we're there with Him and all the other saints, it'll be a thousand times more than that, but that's what it'll be like. And so that becomes an expectancy for us, looking forward to that, and that is a hope that we have.

And Christ has to come for that to happen. Yeah. You know, I think too, what you say about the righteousness too, the righteousness and the love, but the righteousness is what brought Christ to the cross. He had to pay for the sins. We couldn't be standing with him in a sinful body or a sinful state. So the righteousness, even though it is associated with love, it brought his son to the cross. And so, but then from that point, We get that righteousness where you have that important part of righteousness or the ability to stand in his presence.

And that's the thing that is, I think the hope here is just that because of that, we stand in his presence. And then what is it? God is love. Yeah. So, I mean, the hope that we have through the righteousness is the fact that we can stand with him face to face.

Well, then you have to be righteous to do it. You have to be of a, what word would I use? of a creation that can't tolerate sin or anything that's not of God. So when you're in that environment, then you realize, wait a minute, this He didn't crucify some because he was mad.

It wasn't part of him. Right. He couldn't have it around. But in that was love. That's right. Because what was he doing, which we'll get into later, getting a bride for him. That's right. And to bring all of us into a relationship that we can have with him. That's where the love is. Righteousness, through the payment or having to pay for the sins, that was horrible. The concept behind it was, He loved us so much that He gave us His Son.

Sure. You know, and that's the amazing part, where the love comes in. Yeah. You know, well, the two of them, before anything, had the covenant to do that. He solves the sin problem, and then He turns right around and offers it to us. Offers, yeah, salvation to us, that righteousness imparted to us because of that, yeah. Well, I thought The Hungry Heart this morning really ties into this.

I did. I don't know. I read that too. Yeah, there was a lot to that. Again, what happens to us. We're separated from sin, the world, law. He went through all of those things. I was almost going to read that today, so I don't know if you have that. I do, yeah. Let me just read that. Sure. Yeah, the last paragraph. My mind must rise above what I am to what God is. then it is that one is formed by the revelation of what God is. This we are called. Yeah. Yeah. We're formed. Isn't that weird? I mean, amazing. You know, again, I think it was from last week, we may have said that too, about our expectation and all this. Expecting to be face to face and Lord's return. We're waiting for that. But I think we talked about that.

I cannot, with this sinful mind and body, figure out what that's going to be like without a sinful mind and body. What will my life be without sin and a flesh that is just infested with sin? What is that going to be like? I just can't wrap my head around that. There's so much good in this body, as Paul said, nothing good dwells in this flesh, and yet we'll be without it, and standing with righteousness imparted to us, with a relationship. I can't picture that. I can't. Yeah, you have your mic. Kind of dovetailing off of some of the things that you guys were talking about here, I think it's interesting, the I part of what was mentioned there.

I have some notes on Galatians 5.5. We're thinking about that hope, righteousness. And my notes, and I don't remember when I took them, but under law, it's all yours to do.

But under grace, it's a work of the spirit. Law, you trust in yourself. But under grace, you walk by faith in what God has done, is doing, and will do. Under law, you're waiting to be justified. But under grace, you're justified already and anticipating the blessed hope.

And I was just thinking about, like, even as a Christian in modern day evangelical mindsets, There is, the hope is still very, it's great, but it's also like, well, what is going to end up happening to me? Because I don't know who I am in Christ. I'm still trying to get to that place. I hope I'll be ready when the time comes. And that creates an anxiety in its own way. It's way different than recognizing the hope of righteousness under grace. It's a totally different type of expectancy that the majority of believers don't ever actually get to behold because they're worried about me.

Well, and with that, I always think of, you know, this is a perfect thing for the flesh to go after is that you've got to, you know, you've got to do something. This is all the, you know, the Catholic church, a bunch, you know, Baptists that have requirements and all these things that you have to do. And it puts that anxiety, that anxiousness that we're not supposed to have and all the stuff. Am I going to be good enough? Why am I not doing this? Boy, I failed today. I got to do 59 spiritual push-ups and this and that. We're already positioned, already, you know, and that's why this one song that's that I think, and you'll probably know the name, but it's one that's recent. And I think I said it a few weeks ago.

On my best day, I'm a child of God. In my worst day, I'm a child of God. That's really, that's a really true statement. And that's a very freeing statement. Even when I fail, his love doesn't go away. Romans 8, 30s, you know. And even on my worst day, I'm a child of God.

I don't have to worry about it. I'm positionally there. I don't have to do anything, which we're going to get into a little bit more in the lesson coming up. It's not that I have to do anything more. That's incredibly restful, you know. So yeah. That's what Miles was talking about. Without the union, You get, and that's busy. I get busy. Yeah. No, great, great comments. Yeah. Mike.

I've made this comment before, but through this process, we are learning what the righteousness of God really is. And I think Reformed theology has taken the intolerance for sin and attached it to God's vengeance against sin and forgot totally about what the character of God is. God's love. Love. God is love. They don't have that part. They have His righteousness is a big hammer hanging over you all the time. And who drives that? What drives that?

The flesh. Because the flesh loves that. That's right. The flesh absolutely flourishes on that. And so when the teaching or the doctrine is off enough, the flesh goes wild with that. You know, it's, it's, I got to do say, Oh, you got to do something. And the flesh just is right in there, cheer, cheerleading that on.

So any misdirection of what the scripture says, the flesh will take and run to the, you know, the goal lines and try to make you as miserable as possible. Can't take your salvation away, but he's going to make you as miserable as possible as he can. It wants to take your focus off of the glory of Christ.

Absolutely. You know, so no, I think it comes down to all these misdirections of, you know, the interpretation of reading a scripture. It's the self, the flesh is the one just, amen, let's run with it. One of the things I think we're going to learn about in Titus is the fact that we're to be alert to diversion. And that's a diversity. Oh yeah, totally. Totally.

Yeah, the schemes of the devil. It's really not the devil. It's the schemes of the flesh. A lot of people put, oh, the devil. It's not the devil. It's that stuff residing in me, in my flesh. That's the culprit. Again, if the devil's attacking you, that's a special day because he's not omnipresent. And God let him do it. Even if he did, God let him. toy with you or do whatever, but it's not going to take your salvation away. I'm so important in the 7 billion people here that the devil decided to make it my day. You know the power of sin is not the devil, but it's the law, right?

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You know what's funny is, if I read Spurgeon, I just get so filled with grace. The next thing I read, I don't think you're a Christian because you're doing this, this, and this. Did I break up? Yeah, no, no, that's, yeah, you weren't doing stuff, right? And then, yeah, tagging on to what you have to do. Yeah. Yeah. That was kind of the Baptist methodology.

I'd hear one sermon one week that was like, oh, you're saved by grace alone through faith alone and nothing else. And then sometimes they'd even wait until the next week to say, but if you don't, you know. Which, you know, from, what's his name? The guy in the college we went to, the seminar.

Anyway, this always stuck with me. When you say something, then you put but, like da-da-da-da-da-da, but. He said, forget everything before the but. Like, I really don't think that this is going to happen, but. Well, that means it really is going to happen. You know, he said, eliminate everything before the but. So, yeah, grace yourself, but, okay, throw all that away.

Now, this is what I really want to tell you about. So, what's the guy's, Bill Gothard. Bill Gothard. Bill Gothard. That was it. You know, and I just, that was one of those things that stuck out, that when you hear people, but, okay, everything you said before, forget about. This is really what you want to say. So, anyway. One other thought I had, if you don't mind.

Think is mankind we you know the big big three questions like right for us are who am I where did I come from? Where am I going? Mm-hmm and When you don't understand where you fit in the answer to those questions your life is Incomplete right you do not understand the purpose that your creator has for you. You don't understand the unique of your own personality and how he designed you in eternity past, you didn't understand where you stand in eternity future. And that's what Paul is getting at here. And I thought, wow, what a comment for Right Up to make about the theme of Paul having to do with righteousness through faith. And how does that actually satisfy all of those three big questions that every person has? Where did I come from and where am I going?

Righteousness. Christ. Right. That's the involvement you have, but it's all by grace. And those answers get solved in your mind without the truth of the gospel message and the glorious appearing of the Lord, that blessed hope. You have no idea where you're going. Right. Yeah. It's a very depressing place. Yeah.

Well, you know, and again, I like the word hope, but not in the worldly sense. No. You know, hope is, yeah, not like it's gonna. So the hope, I mean, we have that great expectation. Positive, totally. That's where we're going to be. And positionally, like I said, now. I'm just so thankful you did that.

Well, you know, the righteous, I think when you say that, where we started, where we started, righteousness was there because we were sinner. We were separated because of that righteousness. But what had to happen was Christ had to pay for the sins done, but then the gracious act of salvation through faith. So that's where, you know, how we enter His righteousness, you know, is now our righteousness.

And then the final is where I'm going. The cool thing is that I can hear Mike's brain churning. You can see it from behind like that. Some of the gears are going there, yeah. And it's not just where we're going, it's where are we? And that's the joy of walking by faith is that we already possess. But there is that face-to-face reality that Paul wants to make sure that when we see that appearing of his glory, like Mike was talking about, it's like seeing somebody for the first time in forever, you know, and walking through the door and it's just It's unexplainable. And the thing is, kind of what this is pointing to, is not only that meeting, it's the longing for that meeting.

That's where really the Holy Spirit is now, is that we long for that. Yeah, it's going to be incredible. But because of that, in the position and the time we're at now, we should long for that. We know it's going to be incredible. Do we long for that? And that's where I think the Holy Spirit is putting that longing, that desire to be with Him. And that's where, you know, right as pointing out in this last section is, do we desire that? Do we long for that?

We know it is. I mean, we don't totally know it's going to be, you know, I think there's another song, you know, when I see him, I'm going to be in awe. I'm going to be on my face. You know, you know, just because you don't know, you know, it's just so amazing. So, but what we're talking about is that position now until we get to that point, which is going to be amazing.

It's the longing for that is what he's pointing out. So, um, all right. Blasting on to question two. Um, what is the meaning of the spirit and the bride say come revelation 22, 17. I'll read it. The spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come. Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

So is this an invitation to unbelievers to come? Is this a call to those who don't know Christ? Is this a call? So who's the bride? The body. Did you say something Russ? The body of Christ. Yeah, so if we're the bride, who's the bridegroom? Jesus. Huh? Jesus. Jesus? Yes? Yeah. Let's go back to the Luke Jenkins. The answer is always Jesus. Jesus. So would an unbeliever be waiting for Christ as the bridegroom?

No way. No way. Not a chance. They're going to be cursing him when they step in front of him. So an unbeliever wouldn't be wanting the bridegroom to come. They wouldn't want it at all, because that's their final act, which is going to put them into eternal separation from God. Judgment comes. Judgment comes. So it would not be an invitation to unbelievers in this section. And a lot of people use this as the gospel message that Christ is calling you to come and all this, but this is not for an unbeliever. This is for us as the bride of Christ.

It was funny. We had the thing last night. Our neighbor got married. We thought it was just a barbecue. It turned out they were getting married last night. We didn't know. It was pretty weird. He puts on this big spread every once in a while. This was a big one. He had a big tent. He had a band. He had a dance floor. They had bonfires and all this kind of stuff. We thought it was just a neighborhood barbecue. Then we were talking with one of our neighbors. I don't know when the ceremony is. Ceremony? What ceremony? Oh, I think Chuck's getting married. And sure enough, they got married last night.

So the expected look between the two was the bride looked into the bridegroom's face and that expectation and just that longing, that wanting that to happen. Here it basically says, look who is saying come. From verse 17, the spirit and the bride say come. Us and the bride say come, but what's the interesting other section of this? Who else is expecting the bridegroom?

The spirit! Does anybody think that's kind of strange? I think, you know, this is just a lot, you know, we're preparing a lot of this stuff just like, you know, and I'd never seen that before. I'd never seen that or even thought about that. But the spirit and the bride say come. Wow.

Isn't that, that just blew my socks off. Think about that. We're, of course we want the bride to come, but the spirit, one of the triune head wants him to come too. How does that work? That just blew me away. You know, the bride said, you know, the spirit is longing for Christ to come. That just was like, wow.

Why would he want? He wants to see the fulfillment of the bride meeting the bridegroom. He's been working on us forever. And now the finality of that is, the wedding ceremony. He's looking forward to it. That's a weird thought. Never thought about that. He's looking forward to the meeting of the bride and the bridegroom. And he's been working on the bride since the band started. And now finally he's looking forward to the ceremony. He's been waiting a long time.

That's what I was going to say. It's a little weird to say this, but he's been working towards that moment. with every single human being. Every single human being. And those that have rejected him obviously won't be participating, but this is what his role has been. This is almost like, this is done. Yahtzee! You know, it was like, yeah, he's been working all this time. He's looking for the fulfillment of that.

That's incredible. You know, I've never seen that before. I think that was great that I brought that out. JD, when I hear your voice and we're talking about this subject, I can't help but think of you on our wedding day because you were doing our photos and I often think, and you've done a few weddings, like you've seen that anticipation of the bride and the groom, you know, and it's quite something, isn't it?

It is. That's an interesting and relationship to that expectation, because I often told the bride and the groom throughout the day, I'm actually going to be spending more time with you than anyone else today. And every little detail and every little concern, and where's my, whatever the thing was, oh, it's raining. And I just got to be there with them that whole time. But yeah, having that perspective and that anticipation of seeing that union take place, that's an interesting way of thinking about it.

Well, you know, from a personal, I remember when she turned the corner, I get teary eyed now. Yeah. You know, I was a mess. You know, finally seeing that. Oh yeah, I remember Dave McLeod. Dave McLeod was the guy, Dave McLeod, and I think he finally got some tissues or something by the time she got up there, you know.

That was amazing, you know, but that was one, not even on the scale of what we're going to do when we see Christ. You know, so that's amazing. But like I said, this part of it is the spirit wants that, but it was cool. I'd never seen that before. It's also neat that he says almost the last word in the book of inspirations, the cry of the spirit. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's, I thought I'd never thought about it. Yeah.

Um, I like what right output points out. But I want you to notice a remarkable expression, the Spirit and the Bride. Without a doubt, as we've seen, the Spirit forms the desire in the hearts of saints for Christ to come. But it's not merely the Spirit and the Bride, but it is a distinct longing on the part of the Spirit for that one event for which all things wait.

This connects with what we have seen before, the closest intimacy, the divinest affections of the infinitely perfect persons of the Godhead. What is the desire of the Holy Ghost at this moment? The coming of Christ. What is the desire of every Spirit-taught saint? The longing, the yearning of the Spirit.

His own personal desire, I confess, beloved, it is a revelation to me, one that should hush all imagination, but should awe our souls as we behold the love of the Spirit and His desire for Christ to be fully glorified. I thought that was tremendous. With the Spirit and taught by Him, the Bride of the Church for which Christ died utters her longing.

She is homesick, not merely for Heaven, but for Him. who has made it heaven for her, all her longings for holiness, for deliverance from a groaning creation, for the unity of his church, for reunion with the loved ones who have gone before, for a body freed from the sickness and weakness brought in by sin, all is focused in the longing for himself.

Even glory has no attraction, save as he is the center of it. Even the beauty not of our own, in which we will be clad, cannot win her heart from him. The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. It is one whom her soul loveth. Tell her of nothing else. It is himself she desires. I thought that was tremendous, but I love that.

Behold the love of the Spirit and His desire for Christ to be fully glorified. That's part of the triune God, longing to see another part of the triune God be glorified, to finally get a bride for Him. Yeah. I also think it points up the real work of the Spirit of God Yeah, it's important that we study to not readily divide the word of truth, but there's a purpose in that. And the purpose is to get to know the groom. Yeah, intimacy.

And the more you get to know him, the more your desire to be with him becomes. And that influences all aspects of your life because he, I don't want to say this, slowly but surely rises to the top of things that are important to you. the thing that everything else has to take second place to Him. And not because someone twisted your arm, but because the Spirit of God has been at work showing you the wonders of Christ. All the world becomes chaff, and you begin to focus on Christ. Then all this stuff is immaterial, and it's not, like I said, it's not because I'm supposed to, not because I'm instructed to, it's because I want to.

I have that desire. And, you know, my question at the end is, is this how we look at the Lord? As the Spirit looks at the Lord? Do we have that same longing? You know, and I woefully know, you know, I, I, but it, it makes me think of that, that, you know, I should be longing for him daily. I think what it does though, and I think it defines for us, what is the Holy Spirit up to?

Is he up to get me to obey? Is he up to get me to memorize? Is he what? No, he's not up to any of that. He's simply, through the Word of God and other means that he uses to reveal this person, the groom to us. And that alone and all of who he is, is a magnet.

Yeah. To our hearts. Well, you know, we've spent a year and a half or two years on this, you know, the mechanics of all this. But this is the summary. Yeah. This is the end point. This is what he wants. And when you see this, the spirit says come. Sure. Then you realize all that he's doing and why.

You know, and that's kind of the exciting part to me is that, you know, after all this and all the mechanics, we've learned what he's doing, convincing, you know, convicting us how he did this, that. But the ultimate is this. is that we are to long for the bridegroom to come. It was just a really good summary, I think, of this. Any other thoughts? Yeah.

You know how we're saved by grace through faith? It's interesting that it has nothing to do with us pulling our bootstraps It's a gift from God. I mean, it's simple, but it isn't that, wow, did I have enough faith? No, it was a gift given to me. I have it. Well, yeah, and this leads into the understanding of grace. It's not anything that you do or have done. It was graciously given to you, free. You didn't have to do anything other than believe. That's it. And then what do we get out of that? We're now the bride to Christ.

Wow. Amazing. Well, it looks like we're out of time. We're blazing through. So it's six questions will be done in six weeks. So, great discussions, love it. I think this is just a real great summary. So, again, I encourage you to read that last chapter. You know, I'm going to be reading lots, but it's an amazing summary and just really puts into perspective all that we've learned over this year and a half or two years, whatever we've been doing.

Anyway, let's close. Heavenly Father, we just thank you. We thank you again, just even revealing new things in Scripture that as we're, you know, looking at this and that we say as the bride, come Christ, as the bridegroom, but the Spirit indwelling us is crying the same.

The fulfillment of the marriage ceremony between us as the bride and Christ as the bridegroom, the Spirit longs for that. He's been working since time beginning with man to work in everybody's life to be part of that ceremony, to be a part of the bride of Christ. been working forever to do that, and he longs for that ceremony, that the final one will come into knowledge of Christ and life in Christ. At that point, the bridegroom will come. And we, as the Spirit, we all should be longing for that coming of Christ and just have the Holy Spirit just work in our hearts to have that longing, that desire for the Bridegroom to come. And not in a selfish or just a get out of here, but it's a longing for that ceremony, to be united, the Bride and the Bridegroom. Not just to get rid of this flesh and all its worldly and all that, but a longing for that relationship, that bride and bridegroom relationship.

Just pray that each and every one will have that in their hearts to long for that. We just thank you again for the indwelling Holy Spirit who is working every day to do that. And we rest in that fact. And so we just pray as we move throughout this day that we just start focusing on the bridegroom and the coming of him. We say come. We do all this in the name of your son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.