Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: Emphasis on the Spirit

We noted that King David was indwelt with the Holy Spirit which he begged God not to remove at one point.

We noted that Jesus receives the Holy Spirit at His baptism by John.

The disciples receive the Holy spirit when Jesus breathed upon them

And we noted that believers that make up the Body of Christ the Church are not indwelt with the Holy Spirit forever.

This must have been huge considering the number of places we find that the promise is made.

John 7:37–39 (NASB95) —

John 14:26 (NASB95) —

John 15:26 (NASB95) —

John 16:7–15 (NASB95) —

παράκλητος [parakletos /par·ak·lay·tos/] n[1]

The two words

Para is to stand to one’s side

Kaleo is to be called

Summoned or called to one’s side.

So, who and what is the holy Spirit and what is the relevance of the third person of the Godhead who is God and who indwells every church age believer and order to empower that believer to be and to accomplish and bring the believer into glory?

Opening Hymn: The Solid Rock

Prayer

The Holy Spirit at Creation

So let us trace the Holy Spirit throughout the bible.

The first mention of the Spirit goes all the way back to the beginning in the Creation Narrative.

Genesis 1:2–5 (NASB95) — 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.

And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

In the account of creation, we find much about the ministry of God the Holy Spirit when related to the working of the Holy Spirit to save and to grow the believer.

First, we find the principle of common Grace.

Common grace

Common grace is the grace by which God cares for creation and fallen humanity by upholding and providentially guiding creation despite the devastating effects of the fall.

Left to itself, sin would have destroyed and decimated creation.

But God did not leave creation or humanity alone and allow sin to wreak complete havoc.

In short it is the grace that is extended to the unsaved and wicked world.

That is there is the presence of the Holy Spirit when the world was at its worst.

In Fact, it was dead.

It had no redeemable qualities.

The very thought of the religion of evolution is ridiculous to think that given any amount of time such nothingness could bring itself out of its dismal state of being.

The god that is worshipped in evolution, needs millions of years to create what our creator God took in six days to do.

The god of the disciples of evolution hate man because he sees man as an unwanted intruder that disrupts the delicate balance of the earth.

So, such a god gives nothing to man while the Creator God loves and cherishes his creature who he created in His own image and gives freely His own spirit.

This parallels the condition of the heart of lost man.

Totally depraved, dead in its relationship to Christ. the first experience of God’s grace apart from life itself is the fact that over a depraved heart the presence of the holy Spirit is brooding over that heart which is sick and depraved and evil from its youth.

But whether we ever realized it or not, the spirit was at work even when we were at our worst as God haters and ready for the next stage of Creating life where life did not formally exist.

Brooding ministry of the Spirit

What we also see is that the spirit was not dormant.

He was not just a potential power waiting to be used but He was moving.

1. Piel, to brood over young ones, to cherish young (as an eagle), Deut.

32:11;

2. figuratively used of the Spirit of God, who brooded over the shapeless mass of the earth, cherishing and vivifying.

This tells us of the personality of the spirit caring for the lost.

The principle is that without the Holy Spirit there is salvation.

Questions

1.

Where do find in Genesis the first mention of the spirit of God?________ _______________________________

2. Common Grace is best described

a.

As Grace extended to all believers

b.

Grace extended to all the Lost

c. Grace over commoners

d.

Grace to our enemies

3. What is the best way to describe the spirit moving over the waters of the deep?

________________________ ________________________________

Effectual Grace

The next work is the effectual grace.

Theologically it is the effectual calling.

To bring light out of Darkness.

To bring light of the dark heart of the unsaved.

Genesis 1:2 then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

The word for light is אֹור[ʾowr /ore/] n f. which is different than the word which is used for the luminaries that are created on day 4

It is light that relates to God himself

1 John 1:5 (NASB95) — 5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

This light has a literal and metaphorical concept.

The first illumination allowing one to see.

The second is the lifting of spiritual blindness.

God is infinite and man is finite.

Man cannot know God or the things of God apart from God revealing it to him.

1 Corinthians 2:14–16 (NASB95) — 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

It is through illumination of the heart that God sheds light upon the Gospel message that the spiritually dead cannot comprehend apart from the work of the spirit.

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NASB95) — 6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

This is efficacious grace in that it is God makes effective salvation in the life of the one who responds to God’s grace by the means of faith.

As apart of this effectual grace there is the result of regeneration.

That is God taking that which was formally dead and bringing about life.

and not only life but life in abundance.

It is the Holy Spirit that makes the Gospel understandable that is he causes that light to shine where there was no understanding and then he takes the faith response to the grace and makes it effective for regeneration.

Faith comes through hearing and hearing the message of Christ.

He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says.

Within the narrative we also have the convicting ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

God saw the light was good

How could any of us by our own standard know what is good and pleasing to God. and apart of the holy Spirit we do not.

For those of us who are saved.

Really, how much did you humanly understand the Gospel message.

Did you even question the idea that this Jesus died for you?

Does it make any sense that it took place 2000 years ago?

But yet how quick was it that you responded to it when the eyes of your heart were opened?

That light was good, the holy spirit attested to that, and he bore witness to our souls.

John 16:8 (NASB95) — 8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

It is from that point that the Lord began to bring order out of Chaos within the world over the next six days creating that which God deemed as good and acceptable.

This is what he is doing with the believer after causing light to shine out of the heart.