We believe the Holy Spirit

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Good morning church. I want to welcome you all here so good to gather as brothers and sisters welcome if you're watching online as well if you've been journeying along with us for the last little while you'll know that to this morning's sermon marks the 2/3 point in our We Believe series we're 2/3 of the way through our doctrine of belief our statement of beliefs and the reason that we've been preaching through this is because what we believe directly infects affects sorry who we are what we say and what we do and so it's important that we not only understand what we believe but how that impacts everything that we are and do and in preparation for this morning's sermon I thought it would be helpful to recap the last two weeks because this morning sermon is going to build on that if you were here last week to put it very simply I've put them up on the PowerPoint but Dave preached that salvation from sin is made possible through Jesus looks like the Powerpoints having a moment but that's okay da Dave preached that we can receive salvation there we are through the Lord Jesus Christ and that was good news right because if we go back two weeks I preached on our human condition and and what we landed on there was that we were sinful fallen and lost we needed to be saved and so we addressed our human condition we found that salvation can be received through Jesus and this morning what we're going to be looking at is what happens to the oh excuse me to those who put their faith in Jesus who accept his gift of Salvation if you've got your church Constitution with you can I invite you to open up to section 3.1.6 the sixth part of our doctrinal statement I notice no one's opening anything that's okay it's up there says we believe the immediate work of the holy spirit in the Regeneration of people in their sanctification and in their preservation to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ before we dive into this and unpack that would you join me in prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for your word we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit Lord God we thank you for the way that you lead and guide us and Lord we pray that in this time as we come to read from your word that your Holy Spirit would be at work within each and every one of us father God would you speak to each of us in this time and Lord God speak to us so that we not only hear you but respond to what it is that you're saying to us in Jesus name we pray this amen we as a church believe the immediate work of the holy spirit in the Regeneration of people in their sanctification and in their preservation to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ who are we talking about this morning the Holy Spirit if you here in week two of our series you'll know that David loer took us through this topic of the Trinity we believe in one God who is three persons he used this diagram which I've put back up there for us because I think it's really helpful when we're trying to figure out who exactly we're talking about this morning see we believe that God is the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and yet while we believe in one God these three persons are not one another see the father is not the son and not the spirit the spirit is not the father or the son and I forget which one the third one is but all all those combinations right they're not one another but they are all God and so this morning we're looking at the third person in this Trinity we're looking at the Holy Spirit and so immediately we have to ask ourselves well if we're looking at the holy spirit in his work who does it apply to who does it apply to if you've got your Bibles there can I invite you to open up to John chapter 14 verse 15- 17 these are Jesus's words he's revealed to the disciples yet again that he's going to be crucified that he'll die he'll be resurrected and go back to the father and the disciples they're concerned about this they they go Jesus why can't we follow you why can't we come with you and Jesus says these words he says if you love me you will keep my Commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you that was Jesus's promise to his disciples to those who believed in him he said I will send a helper you won't be alone and this helper he'll actually be not only with you but in you we see that promise come to fruition in Acts chapter 2 I invite you throughout the week read it for yourself but it's amazing because before Jesus ascends to Heaven he tells his disciples he he tells the Believers in him he says hey don't leave the city until the Holy Spirit comes I'm sending you the Holy Spirit and we see that when that happens that the whole city the whole town asks questions there's a radical change in the Believers they've received the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit Peter he goes and preaches this sermon to the town that was asking questions and their only response at the end of his sermon is Brothers what shall we do and Peter empowered by the Holy Spirit he gives him this response he says repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the Forgiveness of your sin and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the Lord Our God calls to himself Peter being a believer in Jesus having received the Holy Spirit empowered by the Holy Spirit he says hey if you believe in Christ this gift of the holy spirit it's yours as well everyone who believes will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit the one that Jesus said will not only dwell with you but will be in you also so this morning we're talking about the work of the holy spirit in the lives of Christians in the lives of those who believe in Jesus and we're going to be looking at what it is he does our statement of belief gives us three words regeneration sanctification and preservation and so we're going to unpack these works of the Holy Spirit In Our Lives as I Was preparing during the week I had a conversation on Friday with Dave and he made a really helpful comment he said Dylan it amazes me the nature of these three works of the holy spirit because it gives us a fullness of our Salvation he said the Regeneration that talks about our past as Christians it's happened already he says the preservation that looks towards our future it gives us that Future Hope and the sanctification that talks about our present we've got the past present and future tenses all works of the Holy Spirit and as we see in our statement of beliefs all immediate works of the Holy Spirit now as I was looking at these three fairly big not very commonly used words I racked my brain to think of a decent illustration to try and express what's going on here what it is that the Holy Spirit does and I want to preface this illustration isn't perfect okay there's some flaws and shortcomings but I think overall it's helpful in our understanding and so I want to suggest this morning take a moment and just think about a surgery you've had a surgery that someone you've loved or known has had or gone through this idea of surgery as we think about that why is it that we have surgery because something's wrong right something needs to be fixed that's why we have surgery we we go in and we fix whatever is wrong in the recap that I gave two weeks ago we landed on the human State being Fallen sinful and lost I want to suggest this morning if Humanity had a spiritual CT scan or a spiritual MRI the results of that would be pretty horrifying because we'd sit down with the surgeon and he'd say hey this spiritual CT scan humanity is riddled with sin it's taken over everything it's everywhere in our lives that's what we spoke about two weeks ago the Fallen sinful and lost estate of man kind and so we need help the diagnosis doesn't look good because the Bible tells us the penalty of sin the consequence of sin is death and here we are full of it but the surge doesn't stop there he says hey I've got some good news there's a cure and it's free says Jesus died to pay the debt of that sin Jesus offers you eternal life he offers to remove that to pay the cost he says whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life just got to believe in him and so we see that there's this cure Jesus very R has defeated sin and yet as we spoke about last week it's our decision we choose whether or not to believe in Jesus we choose whether or not to put our faith in him he can beat the sin that riddles our B and so as we look at this first word this first work of the Holy Spirit regeneration regeneration according to the dictionary is the regrowth of lost or destroyed parts of an organ so if it's the regrowth what was originally there what has sin destroyed if we look back to Genesis we see that God created us and he created us what to be in in relationship with him God created us to be in relationship with him and yet When sin entered the world when we sinned and rebelled against him that relationship was blocked and so what is this first work of the Holy Spirit what is regeneration put very simply using the analogy it's the initial surgery right when when we make that decision to accept Jesus into our lives when we declare him as our Lord and savior it's like that initial surgery Jesus goes I've paid the penalty of your sin you're healed and so like a surgery if our bodies were riddled with something the surgeon would go in and remove all of the thing that was bad when we accept Jesus into our lives he removes the sin and puts in the Holy Spirit the free gift of the holy spirit is placed within us in a very real sense that relationship with God is restored because God being the third person of the Holy Trinity being God is now with us and in US that restoration takes place that regeneration takes place when the Holy Spirit enters into our bodies when we accept the free gift of Jesus Christ salvation and so in that moment sin is dealt with we have right relationship we've received the Holy Spirit it's dealt with and so I'm going to skip over sanctification we will come back to that I haven't forgotten it but if regeneration is the initial surgery the time where Jesus pays for the sin he pulls it all out and we receive the holy spirit that relationship with God is restored then I want to suggest that preservation the second act of the holy spirit is kind of like the antibiotics in a way in the sense that after surgery you'll often get given a prescription or hooked up to an IV and pumped with any box to ward off infection preservation is the insurance of survival the insurance of Salvation when we look at it through the Holy Spirit if the holy spirit is put within us and sin removed then the holy H spirit is our ongoing protection and he preserves us until the second coming of Jesus but unlike the antibiotics of this world the holy spirit's so much better see he doesn't lose Effectiveness we don't need a top up he doesn't fade he doesn't just disappear or not work once we receive the Holy Spirit he's not going anywhere if you've got your Bibles I'll invite you to open up to a Ephesians 1 verse 13-4 says this in him being Christ you also when you heard the word of Truth The Gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his Glory see the holy spirit is our seal Jesus promised that whoever believes in him would have eternal life when we receive the holy spirit that promise is sealed it's not going anywhere we will be preserved until the second coming of Christ we will see eternity with God the holy spirit is our guarantee of that inheritance we receive him when we first believe in Jesus and he's there with us always until we see the realization of Jesus coming again and bringing forth the new Heaven and new earth and so if regeneration is the initial surgery which removes sin if preservation is the promise the guarantee that what Jesus said will happen is actually going to happen then what's sanctification it's probably one of the words that you most used to hearing in church and I want to settle here for a little bit longer than the other two because as Dave pointed out this is the one that's in the present we we feel this and work through this together see sanctification if we were to make that big word really simple it's the ongoing process becoming holy set apart it's the ongoing process of becoming more like Jesus fully submitted to God fully living according to God's plan and will for our lives and yet we can say okay in the Christian reality sin is defeated right that's regeneration sin's completely defeated and dealt with I've got the promise of Eternity but eternity is not here yet yet but on a dayto day I still struggle with sin how can sin be fully defeated if I still struggle with it the reality is that until Jesus comes again whilst we are fully Justified while our sin is fully paid for we will not be fully freed from sin until Jesus comes the second time and so this process of sanctification is the holy spirit helping us to become more and more like Jesus we'll never get there completely this side of Eternity we'll never reach Perfection and that means it's an ongoing process and I want to suggest if we're using this illustration of surgery that it's kind of like the rehab kind of like the physio see after an operation your body heals itself doesn't it we don't have to sit in a bed and consciously think for the 10 hours we're awake okay all my energy heal that leg or heal that hip or heal that arm just just keep going body you can do this fight off that just just keep getting better we don't have to do that our bodies do it if I get a paper cut it's fixed within a couple days and I've put zero thought into to it unless I accidentally put something in it and so too the process of sanctification is ongoing the Holy Spirit when we accept him into our lives is always at work always at work always leading us and guiding us teaching us how to be more like Jesus Galatians 5: 6 16- 25 but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of your flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do that's our reality is it as as Christians we know hey I shouldn't lie I shouldn't steal I shouldn't be angry with one another and yet yet man it's really hard some people surely they deserve just a little bit of anger put towards them surely we we make excuses like that we struggle with what the Bible tells us with how God tells us we should be living how we're designed to live and the reality of sin that verse continues on but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality adultery sorcery enmity Strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions division Envy drunkenness orgies and all things like these I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God but the fruit of the spirit is love joy patience peace kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passion and desires if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit we see this t ition played out and yet we've been regenerated the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus into our lives Jesus pays the full debt the full penalty of all Humanity's sins it's done when we believe in Jesus when we put our faith in him we receive the Holy Spirit and by receiving the Holy Spirit we have the Assurance of our inheritance that very truly when Jesus said whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life when we receive that Holy Spirit we know without Shadow of Doubt that we will see eternity with God and the process of sanctification is the holy spirit's work in helping us this side of Eternity as we wrestle with the tension of being fully saved and free freed from sin and yet still sinning and I want to suggest that just like the body heals itself without much thought while the Holy Spirit is always at work within us leading us and teaching us to be more obedient to Jesus he also invites our participation not for his benefit but for ours see if I was to go in for surgery before I left the hospital before I left wherever it was that I got that surgery done I would not get out the door before I got a piece of paper or sit down with a group of people to tell me hey these are your physio exercises these are your rehab directions if you do these exercises it's going to benefit your healing process if you do these exercises you'll heal quicker you'll you'll heal stronger you'll heal better you'll see the results does that mean that if I don't do it I'm not going to heal probably not the body's amazing right the Holy Spirit if we choose to ignore him he's still going to be working and yet he invites us he says hey this thing in your life this sin that we haven't dealt with yet I'm bringing it to your attention would you work at this with me see the thing about Physio and Rehab is usually it's an ongoing process it's uncomfortable can be a bit sore and painful requires effort and so too does sanctification see whilst it's completely driven by the Holy Spirit it requires our participation it requires us to partner with what he's doing to strengthen our walk with Jesus if we go back to John 14 verse 26 it says this but the helper of the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all these things and bring bring your remembrance all that I have said to you those are the words of Jesus Jesus said the holy spirit's not just going to remind you of what it is to live according to God's will he's not just going to remind you the way in which you were called to leave he's actually going to teach you how to do it in life there's two ways we learn one's by listening and putting into practice when the Holy Spirit Spirit prompts us to do it it's listening and putting into practice the other is quite often summarized as learning the hard way right we can have all the support we can have all the teaching and yet we can go ah I know better I'm not going to lie I'm guilty of doing that with medical stuff here's your physio H I know better so too I'm guilty of doing it with my spiritual life the holy spirit will say hey this is something to work on H I know better and quite often that leads to a moment where everything falls apart a moment where I go oh actually I don't know better and so regardless of whether or not I listened I still learn like any physio like any rehab it's for our benefit to listen to the teaching it's for our benefit to do the uncomfortable exercises and so too with sanctification it's for our benefit that we partner with what the holy spirit's already doing in our lives as a church we believe the immediate work of the holy spirit in the Regeneration of people in their sanctification and their preservation to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ that embit there it summarizes the promise Jesus is coming again there will come a point where we don't need to be Sanctified anymore because Jesus has come again all sin has been dealt with that promise is assured by the Holy Spirit we are preserved Serv D when we receive him he's not going anywhere there's not a 21-day cooling off period there there's not uh our 3mon wait list for surgery when we believe in Jesus we receive the Holy Spirit immediately we are regenerated and we have that promise and yet between the two is the process of sanctification holy spirit's at work he is in each and every one of us who believe in Jesus Christ the holy spirit is at work in your life in my life how often do we ask him what it is that he's doing how often do we take the time to ask where it is that we might need to partner with what he's doing how often do we go okay you've identified this for me teach teach me grow me show me how to be more like Jesus in this situation the recovery process the sanctification process it can be uncomfortable the holy spirit in healing us he's not just going to ignore the sin he's going to highlight it that can be uncomfortable but don't run away just because we choose to ignore it doesn't mean it's not there if the Holy Spirit brings it up can I encourage you wrestle with that and because the holy spirit is the one doing the work because he is the driving force in sanctification it means that even if we partner with him and fall short even if we fail this one time don't give up the Holy Spirit hasn't he's still working in that area keep going lean into him for strength we believe in the the immediate way work of the Holy Spirit and the Regeneration of people in their sanctification and in their preservation to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ would you pray with me Heavenly Father we thank you for the gift of your holy spirit thank you that through Jesus we can have right relationship with you that very truly we can go from being Sinners and Rebels against God to having God indwelt within us thank you for the Assurance of Salvation thank you that we can stand firm knowing that the Holy Spirit holds us secure that there's no doubt in our Salvation that we are preserved and father God as each of us live on this side of Eternity as we struggle with the reality of being fully freed from sin and yet fully sinful still thank you that Jesus has paid the price thank you that your Holy Spirit leads us that you by your Holy Spirit change our hearts that we would desire more and more the things that you desire that we would be able to more and more live as Jesus lived would you help us to partner with the Holy Spirit In Our Lives to be able to do the physio that you require us to do we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.