Person & Work of the Holy Spirit
Mike Doyle · Feb 3, 2013
Holy Spirit (2013), No. 05
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926342597315

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

Okay, we are... What question did we get to? Did I make a note of it? Four, maybe? I think. Four? And John 14, 15, 16? Or John... How about three? What are some of the distinctions and contrasts between this and the previous social culture? Did we do that? Yeah. We already did that, huh? Okay, just so you know, I'm on top of things. Question four. can be seen on page 11, about halfway down the page.

And the question is, in John 14, 15, and 16, what two great facts are spoken of repeatedly? Christ's departure to the Father, and the coming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I'm sure that you have read John 14, 15, and 16 and thought to yourself, well, what's the big deal?

The Lord Jesus is about to leave because we've got to read the whole rest of the gospel. We know he's going to be crucified, buried, resurrected, and then he's going to ascend to heaven. But there's a very interesting thing here, what he's instructing his disciples about, and that it's expedient that he go. Go where? Go to the Father. And then the Holy Spirit will come.

Why that scenario? Because they only allowed one of them on the earth at a time? What's the key thing? Not the right answer. What's the right answer? Why did he go? Because the Spirit of the Spirit is going to dwell all people and Jesus is not able to be everywhere at all times. In John 14, 15, and 16, what was the primary job that the Lord Jesus gave to the Holy Spirit? What's the thing he's going to come and do? Teach what? What's he going to teach?

His words. His capital W? Who's the personification of the capital W? Jesus Christ. So his job was to come and reveal Christ to believers in the world, right? Isn't that his primary job? So you have to ask yourself, what Christ are we talking about? glorified Christ. Don't you see that the Lord Jesus Christ, even when He rose from the dead, He was not yet glorified, right? I mean, I don't see anything in the Word of God that says that He was glorified. I mean, He had a resurrected body, but He had to go to the Father, according to John chapter 17, in order for the Father to glorify Him with the same glory that they had before the world began.

Glorified now as a man. Okay? Why is that so important? What do you mean glorified now? Well, when the Lord Jesus, before he ascended into heaven, he was not glorified as a man. He was not? No. No, he wasn't. Not as a man. He was glorified as a second person of the Trinity, but now He is a man. He is 100% God and he is 100% man. He has put aside his glory as God in order to become a man. Those disciples and apostles that saw him, they didn't see the glory of God, even though he had a resurrected body.

Even afterward, they saw him as a man. That's right. Now he had a pretty cool body in the sense that he didn't have any scabs on it. They could put their fingers in the holes and and he didn't have to eat and he could walk through walls and do all kinds of cool stuff like that. But there was no, no, well let's talk about what glory is then. What is God's glory? What is it? It's his essence. It's his essence, but it's more than that. His essence what? Revealed. Revealed.

When the Apostle Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus, Did he see the same person that the disciples saw going up into heaven? Answer, no. Because he saw the glorified Christ. He saw the full-on glory of God manifested through a man. The Son of God. You see that?

So, sequence is important. When the Holy Spirit comes, He comes after Christ has been glorified. So when he begins to reveal Christ to the believers, he reveals a glorified Christ, not just the resurrected one. You see the difference? That's why it's critical. We are not growing in the knowledge and grace of the Jewish Messiah walking around on the earth before the cross, or after the cross, or after the resurrection, or before the ascension. The one we have to do with is the one who's glorified. And that's a really important distinction. Here's why it is.

In 2 Corinthians 3.18 it says this, Beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. The beholding we do is in the Word of God. That's the mirror. What do we behold? Oh, we got intellectually really smart because we went to seminary. No. We behold the glory of the Lord as the Spirit of God reveals Him to us through the reflection that's in the Word. Okay? What's the result of that beholding? We are transformed into His same image And it says this, from one state of glory to the next state of glory to the next state of glory, even as by the Spirit of God.

So spiritual growth is conformity to Christ, but conformity to the glorified Christ. It's a really important distinction. It's not conformity to the Messiah of Israel. It's not conformity to the resurrected Christ. Okay? And if you miss that point, you miss one of the great tenets of the body of Christ. Because who do we have to deal with?

The glorified Christ in the heavenlies. Okay? that when he was glorified, that was the beginning of the new creation? The beginning of the new creation was the resurrection. Because he rose in newness of life, Kainos. That's why Romans 6 says that when we were baptized, we were baptized into his death. And that's a critical time frame too, because when he dies unto all the old, that's when we go in. So that when he's raised, we're raised with him, newness of life.

The new creation starts at the resurrection. He's the first one. Donna? So then does the work of the Holy Spirit change when Christ returns to the earth? Yes. Because here's what's going to happen. When Christ returns to the earth, is he going to cover up his glory at that time? No, no. Full on. How about you and me? I love this question. Here we are in the millennial kingdom, right? Russ, he's down in Castle Rock, right? And here's all these other inhabitants of the earth, lots of people who are saints, but standing next to him is Russ. How can they tell that Russ is the Son of God or a member of the Bride of Christ? How can they tell? How can anybody tell?

Because the glory of God is coming out of him. See? That's the difference. That's how they'll know. The Bible speaks of our glory will be revealed when his glory is revealed. That's right, because you can't separate the two. So that's why in John 14, 15, and 16, the two great facts, the Lord Jesus' own departure to the Father He's glorified and then the coming and the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's job is to reveal Christ to the believer. It's important that you understand who gets revealed. Who is it that I'm going to behold the glory of? Is this three? Four? Three. Is there a three there? I think there's some threes there. And we're on question four and five, and five actually I've already answered it.

Five, why was it expedient and advantageous for Christ to go to the Father? And the issue is, in speaking of His departure to the glory, our Father links with the promise of the Spirit. He should come in a special manner and dwell in them never to depart. This blessed comforter and advocate would testify of Christ.

Really? Testify of Christ who? The one who died? The one who was buried? All of that, but the full manifestation of the glory of God. And he would bring all things to their remembrance and show them things to come. The Spirit's revealing Christ was to be the glorified Christ, not just the risen Christ.

You may not think that's an important point, but I think it's really important. Because when I'm reading the Word of God and you're reading the Word of God, what do you expect? What are you there to do? Are you there to cram your head full of facts so that you can come to Sunday school and act like you're really smart? Do you want to be a theologian like we don't have enough of those? Those and lawyers, we've got way too many of them.

Why do you read your Bible? So that you can know Christ. And through the study of, I don't even want to use the word study, through beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus in the word, the Spirit of God, His job, it's His job to reveal Christ, the glorified Christ to you. That revelation conforms you. It isn't your spiritual push-ups. It's not your memorization of scripture. It's beholding Christ, the glorified Christ. And who would have guessed that God would say to you or me, here's what I'm doing. I'm conforming you to the image of my son. And oh, by the way, he's glorified. That's kind of cool, isn't it? Spirit's job. It's his job.

Is this why you have issues with WWJD? What would Jesus do? Sure. Is that because it's mimicking the earthly Christ rather than the glorified ones. Everybody understand Courtney's question and hear it? No. WWJD, what's that stand for? Come on you good Protestants, you know what it is. It means, what would Jesus do?

Okay, so you study the scriptures and get all, oh he, in this circumstance he'd act like this, and in that circumstance he'd act like this, right? Is that different than beholding the glory of the Lord? Yes it is. It's hugely different. And those of you who attended the grace class, what you discovered in the grace class was that there are no exhaustive set of rules on how to live under grace. That there are certain things that you do and you don't do, but most of grace is left up to you. How do you know how to make a decision about what to do and what not to do? If you can behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, you learn what's of Him and what's not of Him. It's a real simple equation. I wouldn't do ABC, because it doesn't fit with the glory of Christ that I know. You know? It's not tough. It's not tough. It's not a rule, it's a principle. Yeah.

Why did Jesus say, when Mary went to... He said, don't touch me. And what was the rest of that phrase? Because I hadn't gone to the Father. Oh, why? That's right. What he meant was, don't associate yourself with me as the one you've known me as the Messiah of Israel. From now on, you're going to know me as the glorified Christ. So don't associate. By touching him, she meant, don't identify with me until I've been to the Father. I've been glorified and then identify with me. See the difference?

It's really cool, I mean, when you think about what the spirit of God's job is. That alone answers what would Jesus do. Yeah, that would solve the what would Jesus do principle. You wouldn't have to wear the wristband anymore. Think of the money you're going to save. Maybe we could come out with a B, C, D, O, G wristband. Okay, streaking to page 11 at the bottom.

There are two phases of this indwelling, what are they? Now this is kind of an ambiguous question because he brings in a new principle here. He calls them phases. What they really are is the individual dwelling and the corporate dwelling. The Holy Spirit indwells each individual believer, but he also indwells the church itself. Now, you know we study what's going to happen at the rapture, and the rapture, oh by the way I better preface this by saying this is my opinion. At the rapture it talks about the fact that when the church goes, that the Spirit's going to go with it. That doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit's leaving the earth. What happens is, is that he corporately indwells the church, and that's a huge influence on the whole world. And when the church goes, the corporate dwelling goes, too, because the church isn't here anymore. See that? So, I mean, if you're a history student, you certainly have seen where the church, over the years, through missionary work and evangelism, has prevented a lot of travesty in the world just by, you know, doing what they do.

So, that's the influence of the Spirit of God. The believer has to understand that he is personally indwelt by God himself, the third person of the Trinity, and so is all of us as a body. The Spirit of God, when we all go upstairs and we're all in the same room, each individual is indwelt by the Spirit and so is the whole group. And why would that be so? Because we are called the body of Christ. A body and a head. He's the head, we're the body. You can't separate them. Is that corporate, just a group like church or all Christians? I think it's all Christians. I do too.

And this gets away from you. God doesn't deal with nations anymore. Yeah, that's right. deal with the U.S. or deal with whoever. He deals with us on a corporate level as far as the body, but not as the U.S. He doesn't deal with us on that, like in the Old Testament, it was Israel and the nation. Now it's individual. Everybody understand what Courtney's saying? Corporate as a body.

And you've seen this a lot lately, especially you conservatives. who think that because we're not acting the way we should as Christians that God has turned his back on our nation. God does not deal with mankind on a national level anymore. Israel is the only nation he ever dealt with and it's the only nation that he ever punished because they weren't tracking right and it's the only nation that got leaders that were consistent with who the people were. Just because the United States was created on biblical principles, we think we're special.

No, we're not. No, we're not. The most important thing to understand is the body of Christ in the midst of a totally decrepit world. And you know what? We ain't from around here. We're from heaven. God has been very gracious to our country in terms of earthly success, but I'm not so sure that earthly success is the goal. Question 7. Oh, by the way, page 12, paragraph 2 and 3. I'm so tempted to say what Rush Limbaugh says. For those of you from Rio Linda, just a slam.

How does a believer today maintain the view of the temple in a church that is so ruined? Now what Samuel Rideout says here is that the church itself on the earth is not conducting itself in the manner that it should, and that it is ruined. It does not manifest the glory of Christ, either individually or corporately. He says, but though we are in the midst of ruins, God's truth remains, and the blessed fact that the Holy Spirit indwells the whole church corporately is as true today as it was in Pentecost.

So for you guys who want to criticize the charismatic boys down the street. If they're believers, the Spirit's there too. They're just listening on a different channel. The second statement that Rideout makes, which I think is a good one, that the Church has lost incalculably by failing to realize this fact and to own the presence and control of the Holy Spirit is scarcely necessary to say. I think that it's really interesting that if we don't grasp onto this corporate indwelling, we begin to adopt a mentality that we all got to get smart. We all got to study and we all got to be really good, whatever denomination we are, whatever independence we are, people got to know us because we really got the Bible down.

That's not the corporate indwelling of the Spirit. Maybe it's a good time to ask him. If the Spirit indwells you personally, and he's going to manifest Christ through you, what are people going to see? going to see Christ. And you know that little thing about the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, kindness, meekness, self-control. Notice it's singular. So you're not going to manifest one fruit without all of them working at the same time.

It's the same way corporately. Donna. You know, you talked about we all think that we're the strong brother the rest of the week. Don't we also corporately think that we, Holly Hills, have a better handle on... There's no question we do. And that's a really good point, Donna, because it begs for exclusivism in our mentality. But if you think about it, the Spirit of God indwelling us corporately, would do several things. One, it would make us dependent on him for the function of the body.

And you remember when we talked about those of, well, some of you come to Wednesday night, we had a discussion one night about if you have a strong believer in a room and a weak believer, Paul gives instructions as to how each should act to the other.

The weak believer, who's usually someone who's running off at the mouth and thinks they have all the answers and probably is pretty legal comes in the room, what's the strong believer to do with that person? Now the strong believer is one who is pretty up to speed on biblical doctrine. His sole job is to teach the weak believer. The weak's believer's sole job is not to judge the strong believer.

And that's why Donna said, when you have that discussion and you say to the class, well of course everybody in this room thinks they're strong, right? There aren't any weak ones in here, we're all strong. So corporately we adopt that attitude, but we forget the teaching part. If you talk to somebody else outside the body of Christ, who you recognize is a weak believer, what's your responsibility? To teach them. Get out the Word of God and teach them. Not to have an attitude that, boy, we really have got it nailed down here in Holly Hills. We really have got it wired up there. Especially the music. It's like a Bill Murray.

It's a love of grace and love. That's exactly right. That's what God means. Sure. And that's the work corporately of the Holy Spirit. If somebody walks in the door, they should see his working, which is the manifestation of the Spirit of God, love, joy, peace, patience, all those things, not only individually, but as a body. When I first came here, my buddy Miles Stanford called us the frozen chosen, because we were so doctrinally correct and we were so stiff that we were frozen, but we were the chosen ones. So does that make sense? Now, think of God, the Spirit, dwelling in, presiding over the whole testimony on earth.

Think of His directing all worship, energizing all service, ordering all discipline. What room for forms, human directors, and human contrivances? That's the question that he asked. What room? Is there room for human forms, human directors, and human contrivances? He's talking about denominations. See, denominations is not something the Spirit of God came up with. So he encourages us by saying, let us be well assured of this, that where there is faith to count upon God, and listen to this next part and see if you can, and obedience to his truth, the presence of the Spirit in the church will be found to be no mere doctrine. What's obedience to the truth? You guys, if you're like me, when you hear the word obedience you get a little nervous. What is obedience? What would God have you do?

That's it. Belief. That's the sole responsibility that we have is to believe. Believe the truth. The brethren love to use the word obedience to the truth and really what they mean is believe the truth. But a blessed reality even two or three who acknowledge his presence only let him be supreme, let him control absolutely, and by the word of God, the saints of God will find what a stupendous fact we have been considering. I must tell you that if we as a corporate group depend on the Holy Spirit corporately, he'll run this place like it ought to be run. He'll do it. You know, I've been I'm privileged to be an elder around here for 10 years. I've watched him do it. Some of you are hard cases. Courtney told me, he said, I don't know, if you want to be an elder, those sheep are pretty stinky. He's right.

But corporately, what I've watched the Spirit of God do is bring together certain people so that we can make decisions and function in love and grace. It's kind of cool when you see it happen. Because we've experienced the other side of that coin too, where it didn't work very well and egos got in the way and that kind of thing. The Spirit of God will run His church the way it should be if we let Him.

Any questions there? In conclusion, question eight. What are the two characteristic features of the Spirit's work of baptizing and indwelling. I better let you guys answer some questions here. Oh, by the way, I think that's at the bottom of page 12, going into 13. No, it's almost to the bottom of page 12. What are the two characteristic features of the Spirit's work of baptizing and indwelling? Maybe I'll reframe the question.

Spirit of God baptizes believers and he indwells individuals and the church corporately. What are the two characteristics of those two things that he does? It's the power for walk and order in the individual and the church as a whole. Okay, and? Before that, what does the baptism of the Spirit do? Formation. It forms the church. See? The baptism of the Spirit, it isn't that you get wet.

What the Spirit of God does is He takes you through the cross, death, burial, and resurrection, and puts you into the body of Christ. And so there is the forming of the Church, the body of Christ. The second thing He does is that He enables believers and the body to function like they should as members of the body of Christ.

Those are the two things he does. That make sense? It's kind of cool because it takes the sweat off of you and me. See? It's Christ's body. And don't you find it interesting how important it is to know what he's doing? Because if you don't know, then you're going to go Well, I think he's doing this, and I'm not sure I think he's doing that. Maybe we ought to walk around the sign seven times, I don't know. Something like that. So if you understand what he is doing, I think he can settle down and comfortably just let him do what he's going to do. Individually and corporately.

Okay? Next question. What about babies that are baptized? You mean infant baptism? We have them. Okay, alright. Having come out of Catholicism, I've got a great answer for that. My mother used to sneak in our house, in my brother's and sister's house, and she'd say, well, I'll give the baby a bath. I'll baptize you in the name of the Father.

You know, she's doing all that because she didn't think we would be able to do it. Every human being that's born or conceived has a sin nature, right? Yes or no? They get it when they get to be a teenager? No, they get it at conception. I've probably told this way too many times, but when our son John was born, Donna said, I know he doesn't have a sin nature.

As having a sin nature, what's your standing before God? You have none. Because the Bible teaches that you, every individual, sinned in Adam when he sinned in the garden. So we say, well, gee, they're all innocent. No, they're not. Not according to Romans 5.12. It says that we all sinned in Adam.

I used to be really tough on that issue, until Donna got pregnant with John, and then John shows up and I think, wait a minute, I better think this over, I don't want my child going to hell. I read this in Chafer's Systematic Theology one day, and boy, it spoke volumes to me. The work of Christ on the cross was so complete that God can save anybody, any way he wants, anytime. just for us as we become cognizant, there's only one way, it's by faith.

So I don't know what he does. I can't find anything Biblically what he does with aborted fetuses for babies. What is water baptism? That's the second thing. When you got baptized, what really took place? You got wet. Well yeah, and for me it was like a, and maybe for everybody, I don't know, it was like a public... It's a public demonstration of what happened to you as a believer.

Because I'm, sorry to go on, but I'm a person who since I have such a history that for me it would be easier for me not to be baptized and to not acknowledge it publicly. So, I don't know. So, the issue of baptism doesn't really do anything. There isn't any extra grace or a dedication ceremony or anything like that.

I'm also convinced, and this is my opinion, but I'm convinced of this, that the children that you've all had, God specifically chose them to be in your family. so that they would hear the gospel, get saved, and grow up. I'm convinced he does that. And then he goes out and gets people like me and Holly from outside. Saves us anyway. So, just to repeat, from a gracious standpoint, God can save anybody any way he wants because the work of Christ on the cross was total and complete. It's that word propitiation. God was satisfied about sin. For those who were old enough to think, he requires that you believe. What he does with those that, you know, whatever category they fall in, is his business. I just know nobody deserves salvation. Nobody. We all deserve hell. And his grace super abounds in how he's going to do that. That's my opinion.

Yeah, I was wondering, for Wanda's sake, as far as when King David's baby died and he was all, like, sackcloth and ashes and all that, and then after he died, the baby died, he said, I'll be with this baby in heaven, something like that. So maybe... Well, I've been sprinkled with mercy. and I'm talking about my God, because I was talking to her, and she said, I said, well you were baptized when you were a baby, and she said yes, but I didn't know that, and so then I just wanted something to say to her.

The issue is whether you believe or not. That's what it comes down to. Do you believe just the basic gospel? The thief on the cross was not baptized. No, and you know what else is interesting about him? Yeah, he wasn't. And what did the Lord Jesus say to him? Today! Yeah, we're going to Disneyland. You and me, baby. Yes, that's important to understand that the thief on the cross is not a member of the body of Christ. Why? He's in paradise. He's like Old Testament saints. Yeah, he's like any saint. He's with Abraham and the rest of those guys. And in eternity we won't be able to see him. Oh yeah, you'll be able to hang on. But here's the difference.

When did the body of Christ begin? At Pentecost. He left the planet before Pentecost. How do you get to be a member of the body of Christ? It's the Spirit of God who baptizes you into Christ, right? The Spirit hadn't been sent yet. See? Is he saved? Absolutely he is, but he's not a member of the body of Christ. He will not be a member of the bride. Will he live all eternity in paradise like all of the Old Testament saints? Absolutely he will. But he'll live here on the earth. The new earth, I should say. Where is paradise? We've been there. It's not there. Trust me. I don't know what paradise is. What's it called? different dimensions. Was Lazarus paralyzed when he was talking across the gulf to the rich man?

Yeah, I think he was. He wasn't in turmoil. And I forget what chapter in Hebrews it is, but in Hebrews there's a variant. No, it's not Hebrews. I'll paraphrase it. Here's how it goes. Paul is talking, I think it's Paul, he's talking about It's in Galatians, that's where it is. He's talking about, we have not been brought to Mount Zion, but we've been brought to the, what's the other mountain? Zion and? It's Hebrews. Is it Hebrews? And what he says, he begins to describe the throne room of grace, and he describes who's there. There's the church of the firstborn, And there's the souls of just men made perfect. They're different. They're not the same. Where do you find that?

Hebrews 12.22.

But you've come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the myriad of angels, to the general assembly, the church of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Yeah, so you have to identify who all those groups are. Hebrews 12, 22. Hebrews 12, 22.

So you have to identify who the players are in those verses. Who are they? Well, there's two groups of human beings there, you know, the spirits and souls of just men made perfect, and the church of the firstborn, the Ecclesia, okay? That was a rabbit.

Next question nine, did you read Joel 2.28-32? Of course not. Does this passage disprove what we have been saying about the unique character and destiny of the church? Is it not after all identical with Israel? This is it. Okay, Rio Linda, this is the bottom of page 12.

Somebody want to read Joel 2.28-32?

If you don't, I've got it. on all mankind, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out my spirit in those days. I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into glow before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. and it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. For on Mount Zion in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls."

Okay. Is he talking about the church there? Louder. No. Here's what the write-out said, which is kind of cool. He said, and by the way, he uses the word Elias, which we would term Elijah, but a lot of your translations will use the word Elijah and write out, because he's a little older than some of you, uses the word Elias. Okay, same guy.

You'll recall the petitions and remarks of the Lord as to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was referred as Elijah. It was said that he would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, Luke 1.17.

Our Lord is speaking of him And speaking of him said, Elijah has come already and they knew him not, Matthew 17.10.

He had previously declared if you will receive it, this Elijah which is for to come, Matthew 9.14. So to get to the answer now, it's perfectly plain that John was in his person and ministry of fulfillment of the promise as to Elijah.

He was the forerunner, the herald of Christ. if they had bowed to his message and accepted him, and they means the nation of Israel, not just a few of them, they would have found that the kingdom of Christ or the kingdom of God would have been introduced and the day of the Lord ushered in. But they had no heart for John and did to him as they listed. I think it's important for us to understand that starting with John the Baptist, and all the way through past actually the Lord going up into heaven. If the nation of Israel had, as a nation, received Christ, guess what would have happened?

The Millennial Kingdom would have started. It would have started right then. And this Joel 2.28-32 would have been enacted right away.

They messed up. Yes they did. But you know, it's cool, their mess up opened the door for you and me. He would have brought it in. And that would have been interesting because after Pentecost, here the church had begun, and he's even saying after that, if you as a nation will believe, I'll bring in the kingdom right now. Did they? No, absolutely not.

In just the same way, the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was, to all intents, had the nation been ready to bow to God, the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. How many of you have spent a little time reading Acts 2 and Peter's sermon there? It has a lot to do with the kingdom. And when he says, you Jews need to repent, the word repent means what? have a change of mind. What did he want them to have a change of mind? Most people think, well, he was talking to them about changing their mind about their sinfulness. It had nothing to do with their sinfulness. What did he want them to change their mind about? Who Jesus was. That's what he wanted them to do. Would Christ have brought in the kingdom then? The nation had to buy it, not just a few. However, the church had begun that day. Isn't that interesting?

It didn't work out that both entities were functioning at the same time because the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah. guess too, and it's all part of God's plan, because we could say that about Adam and Eve messed up big time too, it's just, you know, we would have done the same thing. Yes, we would have, there's no question. Well, and one of the points that Rideout is making in this part of the book is how, what a mess the church is. Yeah, and then here we go.

We're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we've been baptized into Christ and we can't get it right, you know. Then upon Mount Zion, God's earthly center, there will be deliverance, and through the remnant who turn to Him, blessing will flow out to the nation, and from there to the world at large.

I think it's going to be really interesting what the environment is like during the Millennial Kingdom. Boy, it's going to be something. always have to die at some point. No question about that. Yes, he did. The penalty and the propitiation for the sin issue had to be paid. Whether it was corporately for the nation of Israel or for any human being, God had to be satisfied. His righteousness demanded the death. The millennium then will be marked by the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh.

Ooh, that's kind of cool. Is that going on now? In connection with the display of special prophetic gifts. Now listen, I live in a neighborhood of Hasidic Jewish people. Yesterday they were all walking around, pushing their carts, wearing their black unis and going up to the synagogue, right?

As far as I can tell, they still have to go and learn about God. They don't have the law written in their hearts. They still have to teach each other. So the spirit hasn't been poured out yet. Does it appear, by the way this is the third paragraph on page 13, does it appear that God was lingering with the Jews through the first seven chapters of Acts? What do you think? A very interesting point. It almost sounds like Reinhold might be an ultra-dispensationalist, but he's not. What does that mean? I'm not going to explain it. Ask me later. another, an opportunity to accept him, you know, but they didn't.

Here's what Breitach says, which is kind of cool. He says, students of scripture have frequently remarked how lingeringly, how do you say that? Lingeringly, God bore with the Jews all through the first seven chapters of Acts until Stephen's death. That's another part of scripture that you would benefit greatly from, reading what Stephen had to say.

I mean, he drilled the Jews and the Sanhedrin right between the eyes, and they responded kindly by stoning him to death. But what he did was, he told them, this is what you've done, and this is how you've dealt with all of the grace that God has expended towards you. Until Stephen's death, we might say, the Lord was ready to return to the repentant nation. Alas, the nation was not ready to have him, and so the counsels of God went on to the fulfillment as to the church. Had they received the truth as a nation, the prophecy of Joel would have been completely fulfilled, and as it was, the fulfillment for Israel remains until the future day.

Do you agree with that? I have a question. Do you think he would have fulfilled it then? How would an entire nation get something? I mean, it's a lot of people, isn't it? I mean, would it be like every last one? You know what I mean? Yeah, it would have. It sure would have.

The thing that's important to remember is that God understood exactly what was at the heart of Israel and He wasn't surprised by their actions. But the other element in that is that it and he prized himself that he even read parts of it and explained things clearly without mincing words. And the people that heard were amazed at the truth. He couldn't argue against the truth that he was simply expositing out of the table.

Yeah. Isn't that something? And what was the reaction? They were so angry, you know, they chewed on his body. I mean, they were animals. And here's the Apostle Paul holding their coats while they're doing it. And he's agreeing with everything that's happening. This is a sidebar. Something happened with Stephen right as he was dying that opened up vistas for us in the church that we talked about earlier. Do you remember what it was? He looked into heaven and he saw. What did he see? Do you think he saw the glorified Christ? You better believe he did.

That was the first time in the word when the first revelation to us that we as believers have the privilege of looking into heaven and seeing Christ. That's a cool thing. That's the first time. That was a trigger, like, wow, he's no different than me. You want to see how the manifestation of the life of the Lord Jesus happens to a person who beholds the glory of the Lord? What was the next word out of Stephen's mouth? Forgive them, Father, because they don't know what they're doing. Gee, I wonder where that came from. Who else said that?

See, it's exactly the same. because he's beholding Christ, who is his life, who doesn't change, he's the same. Isn't that cool? It's a really cool place, I think. And the other thing I was thinking as you read through this section is that you have a sense that if mankind had only done this, or had done this, you know, as you read through there, that the onus is on man. It was, it was for the Jewish nation because they were under a law system. But they wouldn't have acted any different and God knew that.

That's true. That's true. I think that's the whole thing, God knowing about all this. That's exactly right. Before he created Adam and Eve, he'd already had the covenant with the sun. So he was going to pay for the sins. What? Before he even created him. But he wasn't, you've got to get it out of your mind, he wasn't tricking them. No. He was serious. And he allowed them to do it. Yeah, he let them do it.

Okay, well, we'll pick up next week with question 11 and hopefully streak on to 4. Everybody have a copy of the questions of number 4? Okay, I'll hand them out after I pray. Dear Father, how we thank you for your Word and to study the person and work of your Spirit. It's so edifying to us to know that that your spirit lives within each one of us individually and in us corporately as the body of your son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his precious name. Amen.