A Trinitarian Focus: Regeneration by the Spirit

Matthew 3:13–17 ESV

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Pray

The last two Sunday’s I have slowed us down to consider the role of the Trinity in the life and ministry of Christ.

A monumental moment in the life of Christ occured at His baptism.

This event occurs in all four gospel’s and is referenced through the gospel accounts.

Revelation from the Father

“The Fatherhood of God”

Matthew 3:17 (ESV)

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Two weeks ago we saw the relationship the Son has with the Father and why this matters for our salvation.

Namely that of the special relationship that the Father has with the Son.

The unique and special relationship with the Son was given for the world of sinners and rebels.

We saw how we are now able to stand in the Father’s presence because of His unending and unceasing pleasure in the Son.

Redemption through the Son

“The Son’s Obedience”

Matthew 3:15 ESV

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

We saw the other week how Jesus came and was baptized to be identified with His people.

He came to stand as our New Covenant representative and replace our former representative—Adam.

As our New Covenant representative, He stands as a faithful High Priest-King who allows us to come into the presence of God.

This week we are going to look at the role of the Holy Spirit.

Regeneration by the Spirit

“The Holy Spirit’s Empowering”

Jesus’ baptism reveals the Holy Spirit’s empowering: Because Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, so are all believers anointed, empowered, and by the Holy Spirit upon conversion.

I want to paint you a picture.

Picture with me a planet filled with Orc’s, the kind of creature on the Lord of the Ring.

Nasty looking creatures

Creatures that send a chill down your spine when you look at them.

The planet they live on is one filled with darkness.

It’s not darkness to them though, they live on it like normal because it’s all they have ever known.

Not only is the planet dark, but it is cold, it’s ice cold.

So cold even that their hearts are frozen to the core.

Now on this planet, they aren’t killed like we would be from a frozen heart.

But they go on living and going to Orc grocery store.

Doing Orc things.

Now picture one day on this dark planet a different Orc looking creature.

But this Orc was UNLIKE all the others.

This Orc had a LIGHT that shone forth unlike all the others.

And the other Orc’s hated Him for this LIGHT because they loved the darkness.

Jesus’ Anointing

“The Christ of God”

When Jesus is referred to in the New Testament, He is often referred to as Jesus Christ.

Christ was not His last name but it was His title.

The title, Christ, or Messiah is the New Testament equivalent of an Old Testament concept of “Anointed One”

When dealing with this title of “Christ” or “The Anointed One”

We are directly dealing with the relationship of Jesus to the Holy Spirit.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q. Why is he called “Christ,” meaning “anointed”?

A. Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our deliverance; our only high priest who has delivered us by the one sacrifice of his body, and who continually pleads our cause with the Father; and our eternal king who governs us by his Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in the freedom he has won for us.

In this first section we will consider the nature of the Holy Spirit.

We will be asking the question, “Who is He?”

Who is the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus?

Matthew 3:15–16 ESV

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;

If you would blink you would miss the reference but it is pinnaclely important.

The Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus like a dove.

What does it mean that the Holy Spirit descended like a dove?

Now a dove represented the symbol of love.

A dove is known as Jonathan Edward’s observed with the “remarkable and wonderful....love to it’s mate, both in expressions of it”

A dove is simply known as a figure of love and this is the picture of Jesus’ baptism.

He is baptized with water

But there is a greater baptism happened which represents the fellowship that has always been between Him and the Holy Spirit is

As Edward’s would go on to point out about this descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Son, “[the Holy Spirit] is the infinite love and delight of God”

The Holy Spirit’s descent reveals His origin.

The Holy Spirit proceed’s from the Father to the Son.

Which represents that infinite love the Father has always had for the Son.

As we have heard from the Father’s voice, we now see in the figure of the dove coming to rest on the Son.

The affection between a husband and wife in front of children.

The Holy Spirit has always been with Jesus

We shouldn’t think that Jesus was without the Holy Spirit up until his baptism.

Because we are told throughout the gospels and especially before the birth of JTB that...

Luke 1:41–42 ESV

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

So we shouldn’t think that Jesus did not have the Holy Spirit prior to His baptism.

I want us now to turn a little and consider the Work of the Holy Spirit.

We will be asking the question, “What is the Holy Spirit doing?”

Before we answer this question we need to look at anointing through the Bible.

The Holy Spirit’s rest reveals His empowering.

What does the fact that the Holy Spirit rested on Christ mean?

To understand the significance, we need to a brief overview of anointing in the OT.

Anointing was typically done to show that a person was commissioned for a specific task.

The High Priest’s Anointing

The high priest was to be a man who anointed for the purpose of cleansing the people of sin.

Exodus 29:7 ESV

You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

Anointing happened in the priesthood to call out those who were designated for a specific kind of service.

Their service was to mediate the relationship of the people to God.

But this isn’t the only place we see it....

We also see this same kind of anointing done with the messengers of Old.

Especially throughout the time of the Judges.

The Messenger’s Anointing

The Spirit of the Lord is described as filling at points in time.

Many of the messengers of old or those who acted on God’s behalf were empowered with the Holy Spirit.

Judges 13:25 (ESV)

And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him...

But what always happened was the Spirit would leave them again when rebellion would happen.

After Delilah had cut Samson’s hair, which the Lord commanded him not to.

Judges 16:20 (ESV)

But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

This leads to one other person I want to pay mind to.

King David’s Anointing

If you remember when David was first declared to be king Samuel anointed him.

The anointed showed that the kingship would belong to him and it had departed from Saul.

Psalm 51:11 ESV

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

And we see the promises that God would send His anointed.

He would send the anointed ONE to come and deliver His people.

Isaiah 42:1 ESV

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

The Holy Spirit’s presence reveals that Jesus is God’s Anointed One.

Our Reasonable Faith Chapter XV: The Mediator of the Covenant

is uniquely the Anointed, for He has been appointed by God Himself and has been anointed not merely with the token of oil but without limit by the Holy Spirit Himself

The Holy Spirit (Theology for the People of God)

“The outpouring of the prophetic Spirit in plentiful supply upon Israel was commonly regarded as one of the chief blessings and hallmarks of the new age.”

Luke 4:16–19 ESV

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:20–21 ESV

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Was the Holy Spirit simply a force that came upon Jesus?

If the Holy Spirit were merely a force to be wielded, then there would be Christians who are supposed Jedi masters.

There would be different levels of wielding the Spirit, but this is not the biblical portrait.

If the Holy Spirit were just a force, then he would depart from us every time there is sin.

But this is not so, which is why we can say of Him that He is grieved when we sin (James 4:5).

Every Spiritual gift listed in 1 Corinthians 11 represents not only a hodgepodge of gifts but ONE singular gift of the Spirit working in us.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q. But why are you called a Christian?

A. Because by faith I am a member of Christ and so I share in his anointing. I am anointed to confess his name, to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a free conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for eternity.

Our Anointing

“Baptized with the Holy Spirit”

Since Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit upon His baptism, so too are believers anointed with the Holy Spirit upon conversion.

The event of Acts 2 brought forth an event of monumental importance. God broke open the storehouses of heaven and

Just as the Psalmist depicts the consecration of the priest presiding over God's dwelling place in Psalm 133, God has bestowed His anointing upon the Lord Jesus, the High Priest-King.

Psalm 133:1–2 ESV

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!

This anointing has begun at our head, which is Christ has pour down

What needs to happen for this anointing to take place?

The Holy Spirit removes our old nature.

What is the old nature according to Jesus?

As Jesus tells Nicodemus who comes to him at night...

John 3:2–3 (ESV)

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus told him that needed rebirth.

He needed to be born a second time.

This second birth only comes when God brings it about.

Application

Evangelizing a graveyard rather than a hospital.

The doctrine of regeneration by the Holy Spirit shows us that the regeneration this requires is a moving from death to life.

It is not a cleanup job.

It is not a little bit of health.

It is a new life.

This means the way we call people to faith should never be manipulative.

Altar calls

Parenting toward conversion

We never want to manipulate because God is the ONE who has to change our hearts.

He has to give us a new nature.

The question is then, how do we know?

We preach Jesus, his life, death burial and resurrection for sinners.

Him taking our sinful life and giving us his righteousness.

A substitutionary death for sinners.

In short: we give them the gospel.

And like a faithful farmer, we wait and watch for fruit.

We don’t try to convince the fruit to grow.

And once we’ve done that, we wait for fruit.

The fruit is not what it means to be a Christian.

The fruit is merely a result of a transformed life.

This is how we evangelize our children.

But this is also how we evangelize our neighbors.

The Holy Spirit imparts a new nature.

2 Corinthians 5:16–17 ESV

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Do you hear that?

A Christianity that sounds merely like a moral cleanup job is deficient.

Even ministry itself

2 Corinthians 5:18 ESV

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

1 Corinthians 2:12–13 ESV

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

How does the Holy Spirit anoint us with a new nature?

We will answer this question in two ways.

First, through the tool of the Scriptures.

2 Peter 1:16–21 ESV

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Okay, we see that the tool or instrument the Spirit uses is Scripture.

How does the Holy Spirit impart a new nature?

Second, by grace through faith.

It is the empowering from God.

If God were compared with the Sun,

the Father would be the source,

the Son would be the light,

but the Holy Spirit would be like the heat from the Sun.

“Where the Spirit is, there it is always summer. There are always good fruits, that is to say, good works.”

-William Tyndale.

And we Orc’s who have once had cold and stony hearts can now rejoice in what God is doing in us.

We who were once ugly creatures are being made beautiful by the Holy Spirit shining the light of the gospel into our hearts by faith.

Where the Spirit of God is, there is someone who has had the love of God in the face of Jesus Christ shine upon them.

They have experienced the love of God poured into their hearts by faith.

The Apostle Paul says that the reason he can rejoice in his sufferings is because as Romans 5:5

Romans 5:5 (ESV)

because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Salvation is like a beautiful mosaic that God has painted.

The Father has planned the beautiful painting

The Son has purchased the paint— His blood

The Holy Spirit then rolls upon us the redemption accomplished and anoints and empowers us.

1 Corinthians 2:9–10 (ESV)

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.