The Glory Of The Holy Spirit

Well, I'm going to ask you now to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 14. There are a couple of passages I want to read from John 14, John 15, and John 16. Well, John 14 and 15, Keaton has already read to us from John chapter 16. We're studying the Trinity, and today we want to talk about the Holy Spirit. And so you follow as I read these texts as we seek to find out what the Bible tells us about this third member of the Trinity.

First of all, John chapter 14, beginning in verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Now chapter 15, verse 26. But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.

And then finally, let's just look at chapter 16, verses 12 to 15. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

All that the Father has is mine, therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Let's pray. Father, now help us as we seek to understand what the scripture says about your being. As we speak today, as we think today of the Holy Spirit, we pray that you would help us to be able to understand who our triune God is. Lord, we need to know that because if we're to love you, we need to know you.

If we're to serve you, we need to know you. If we know who we believe in, we need to know what you are like. And so Father we pray that today by your Spirit you would open the Word of God to us and help us to understand the important functions of God the Holy Spirit So, again, we ask for your help now, in Jesus' name. Amen. As you sit in the theater watching this magnificent production on the stage, you begin to realize some things.

You appreciate the work of the playwright, who has developed these characters for you, developed these deep and rich characters, and how he moves the story along in every scene. you're entranced by the actors as they inhabit those characters and they bring to life the story unfolding in front of you. As the curtain falls on the last act you join the whole audience in wild applause and cheering and the cheers get louder as the cast comes out and takes its bow. But there's a group of people whose work you haven't really noticed, who will receive no applause, who will not even appear on the stage to receive credit for all their hard work.

There's no applause for the ones who raised the curtain at the right time. There's no recognition for the hardworking people who worked in the darkness, putting all the set pieces together for every scene. There's no hurrahs for the lighting wizard who's lit the stage and set the mood for the play as it progressed. And although the stage crew performs its indispensable work, it stays behind the scenes, putting all the focus on the play.

Such is the work of the Holy Spirit. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit. Now look, he has identically the same nature as the Father and the Son. But even though he is fully and equally God, he accepts willingly the behind-scenes position that he occupies when it comes to the work of the triune God. Remarkably God the Spirit embraces and in no way resents the fact that he has this background position in all that the triune God does Now once again a quick review is in order We been studying the Trinity and the definition we had is this God eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And each person is fully God, and there is one God. That's our definition. God is three person. each person is fully God and there is one God question how can God be three yet be one because his nature is undivided we cannot say that the Father is more powerful or wiser than the Son or that the Father and Son are wiser than the Holy Spirit or that the Father existed before the Son and the Spirit each person is fully God and has all the attributes of God.

Each person has all the attributes of God. Each person is fully God. God is one essence, yet three persons. So we can say that in the Godhead, there is an equality of essence, an equality of essence, an undivided nature. But then that raises another question. How can God be one and yet how can he be three?

Well they differ in their relationship to one another and how they function towards creation. The father does not do what the son or the spirit does. The son does not do what the father or the spirit does and the spirit does not do what the father and son does. They each have their own particular functions and they relate to one another in particular ways.

So there is equality of essence but difference in function. Equality of essence but difference in function. So today we want to look at the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. He is distinguished by his role in the Trinity, what he does in the Trinity, and by his relationship to each of the members of the Trinity. And although he's fully God, he has a different function within the true, within the triune Godhead.

He is fully God, but his function, he functions differently than the Father and the Son. And the way we distinguish them is by what they do, how they relate to one another, or how their roles that they perform, and how they relate to one another Alright So today I want to explore three avenues with you The first is this recognize how the Spirit assists in carrying out the work of the Father Recognize how the Spirit assists in carrying out the work of the Father. Second, recognize how the Spirit works to glorify the Son.

How the Spirit works to glorify the Son. And lastly, recognize what this means for you. So those are three avenues we want to pursue this morning. So here's the first. Recognize how the Holy Spirit assists in carrying out the work of the Father. How does he assist the Father in carrying out his work?

Well, where do we go first? We go to the very beginning, Genesis chapter 1. We did this last week. Let's look again. The triune God is all revealed here. Well, we know this is the triune God from the whole revelation of Scripture, but here's what we find.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. So you see the Spirit at work in creation. Again, this work can be distinguished from the work of the Father and the work of the Son. Remember what we saw last week.

God the Father spoke the creative words that brought the universe into being. But it was God the Son, the eternal word of God, as we know from John's Gospel and from the epistle of Colossians and other places. It was God the Son who carried out those creative decrees. It was God the Son who took what the Father said and did something with it. And then lastly, it seems that the Spirit hovering over the face of the waters apparently sustained and manifested God's immediate presence in creation.

So here is the function of the Spirit in creation to manifest God's immediate presence, to sustain His presence in His creation. And so you see the Spirit at work in creation as He assists the Father in that work of creation. But not only that, we see the Spirit's work is most obvious in the Father's work of salvation through the Son. This is where we see most, this is where the Spirit clearly and obviously is at work, and that is assisting the Father's work of salvation. salvation through the Son.

I want you to turn to the book of Acts and listen to what Peter says as he's speaking to the Gentiles for the first time as the gospel goes to the Gentiles in the person of Cornelius and his household. So we're going to drop into the middle of this sermon, all right? I hope you remember the rest of the story, but he's bringing the gospel now to these Gentiles.

God has moved him to go to Cornelius' house and to preach the gospel. Here's part of gospel that he preaches. Acts chapter 10 verse 34. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.

You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. What we see here, it is that the Spirit assists and empowers the Son to carry out the work of salvation that the Father has planned.

The Father has planned it. He sends His Son. And it is the Spirit who assists and empowers the Son to do the work that the Father gave Him. It is the Spirit that energizes Jesus, the God-man, in doing the work that God has assigned Him. but you will notice that when the when the son does that work in a manner of speaking he does not give credit to the spirit he does not give credit to the spirit for example luke chapter four again let me let me say to you that since we're doing systematic theology here that we're going to go to many places in the bible to put all these things together in our understanding of the Holy Spirit.

So once more, let me say to you, I'll wait till you get there. So the length of the sermon depends on you. Okay? Just want to make that clear. I want to make that clear. Luke chapter four Here Jesus is in the synagogue and he sitting up in the front as was the custom when you taught in the synagogue you would sit and he asked for the scroll So they hand him the scroll So we start reading in Luke chapter 4, verse 16.

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 and the and recovering of the sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the lord's favor 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 today it's been fulfilled in your hearing jesus mentions the spirit as he reads but mostly to draw attention to his identity as the spirit anointed messiah it's about his identity as the spirit anointed society messiah The Spirit has come upon him.

Do you notice? Even the prophet Isaiah, 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 the liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to celebrate those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. It's on me. So identify him as Messiah. He doesn't seem to bother, and that doesn't seem to bother the Spirit who continues to work behind the scenes.

It doesn't seem to bother the Spirit that Jesus says, I'm the guy. Instead of saying, look, see, the Spirit's at work here. He says, no, it's fulfilled. Here I am. One theologian put it this way. The Spirit continues to do His work behind the scenes and assist the Father's calling on the Son's life by enabling Him to carry out the mission given Him.

Without fanfare or accolades, the Spirit simply enables Jesus and seems quite content for Jesus to get the credit and honor. Again, that may seem unfair to you, but the Spirit is okay with it. He's okay with it. That his job as we going to see is to point people to Jesus So he assists the work of the Father in salvation through the Son by enabling the Son empowering the Son anointing the Son So the Holy Spirit works in his own particular way.

His own way, not the way the Father and the Son works. He works in his own particular way in both creation and salvation. working in a way that never draws attention to himself. He works in a way that never draws attention to himself. All right, second avenue then. We've seen how the Holy Spirit assists in carrying out the work of the Father. Now we need to see and recognize how the Spirit works to glorify the Son.

Jesus in the Gospel of John in particular, when you read of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John, in particular you see the the apostle john consistently quoting jesus as saying the job of the spirit is to point to me he says that we saw three instances of that already this morning in john 14 john 15 and john 16 those chapters where the holy spirit where jesus talks about this helper this comforter that's coming and he seems to emphasize above all else that that one who is yet to come his purpose is to point to jesus again we see that clearly clearly in john chapter 16 i still have many things to say to you but you verse 12 but you cannot bear them now when the spirit of truth comes right he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears whatever he hears he will speak by the way let me just say something here very quickly this promise is not made to you and me all right he's not saying the spirit's going to come and he's going to guide you into all truth now does the spirit guide us into truth yes but we see that in other passages this is a promise made to the apostles that they will the Spirit will bring to mind all that Jesus teaches them and even teach them new things that Jesus would have told them if he was sticking around. But the Spirit is going to reveal that truth to them so that when they write it down it be just like Jesus was saying it because the Spirit is going to do all that That clearly what he saying here He does that also He says that also in chapter 14 So having said that what does the Spirit do When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me.

Why? Because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. So what he's going to give you is still the stuff that he's getting it from me. And he's going to glorify me in this process of guiding you into truth. Okay? Alright?

So the Spirit, then, by assisting the Father's work of salvation, specifically seeks to glorify the Son. Alright? The Spirit specifically seeks to glorify the Son. This is how he assists the Father in the plan of salvation through his Son. How does he assist the Father's work of salvation? He does it by putting the spotlight on Jesus.

And that's absolutely necessary for our understanding here this morning. Because what we see over and over is the Spirit always stepping back and putting the spotlight on Jesus. Not himself, but on Jesus. Well, how does he do that? Let me just mention five ways, and we're going to look at each of those ways. How in the world does the Spirit glorify Christ?

He does it in five ways. First of all, He produces the Word of Christ. Second, He empowers the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. Thirdly, He reveals the glory of Christ. Fourth, He generates faith in Christ. and lastly he conforms you to the likeness of christ that's how he glorifies the son it's how he puts the spotlight on him so let's look at each one of those this morning first of all the spirit produces the word of christ as he inspires the scriptures now around here we all know 2 Timothy 3 16 and 17.

Your pastor has been quoting it to you for 31 years. Okay? 2 Timothy 3 16 and 17 All scripture is God breathed. Important to read. God breathed and is useful for teaching, convicting, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. All right?

All of Scripture is God breathed. God breathed out His Word. You want to know what God thinks? Look at the Bible. God will not say anything less nor anything more than what you find right here this is the mind of God for us and he breathed it out and that is not to say that he dictated the word of God he did not dictate it that's not what Paul is trying to say but we know that the writers as they chose the words that they would pen they chose the words as they talked to the people who witnessed the things that Jesus did and selected what they wanted to include in the scriptures and as their personalities found expression in their writings their very personalities come out in their writing nevertheless they were moved by the spirit to write everything the spirit wanted how do I know that because of second Peter chapter one turn there second Peter chapter one second peter chapter 1 beginning in verse 19 and we have something more sure by the way he's talking we have something more sure than the eyewitness of the transfiguration we've got something more sure than than even that what is that the prophetic word to which you will do well to pay attention is 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 verse 21 for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were what carried along by the Holy Spirit so for example Luke Luke says at the beginning of his gospel he's writing to a man named Theophilus he says look I've talked to people who are eyewitnesses I went and interviewed them and I talked to them and the things I writing down are the things that I heard them tell me So just like any historian he interviewed all these people he sorted out all those things he put it in a way that he wanted to communicate it he wrote it down in the way he wanted to right But all the time he is writing down what the Holy Spirit wanted written down as the Spirit mysteriously worked in him to produce the Word of God.

Alright? So, the Spirit brought into existence all of the Scriptures. This is the product of the Spirit of God. Now, I don't know about you, but if that's His product, you would expect Him to be the central character, wouldn't you? You would expect it to reflect Him. But it doesn't.

It reflects Christ. How do I know that? Very key passage, Luke chapter 24. We're going to camp in Luke 24 for a couple of minutes. So I want you to turn to Luke 24. Luke 24, after the resurrection of Jesus, a couple of disciples are walking along, right?

They're on the road to Emmaus, and they're walking along, and they're kind of having a pity party about the fact that this promised Messiah has turned out to be an incredible disappointment to them. He's not done what they thought he was going to do. Jesus walks up alongside them as if another person on the walk on the same road comes up alongside them.

He hides his identity from them, and he listens to them talking about how this Messiah had failed, not knowing that the Messiah had been resurrected and walking with them. And when we come to Luke chapter 24, this is what Jesus says to them in verse 25. Follow. And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary that the Christ, the Messiah, should suffer these things and enter into his glory? and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So in other words, he takes a survey of the whole Old Testament and shows them how the whole Old Testament was about whom? Him.

Then later on, he meets them after he leaves these guys and he meets the other apostles later. Pick it up at verse 45. Luke 24, 45. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem So he opened their minds to understand the scriptures the Old Testament The whole Old Testament then points to Jesus, finds its fulfillment in, talks about Jesus.

So here's the Spirit of God bringing about the Word of God, but instead of him being reflected in its writings, what happens is the content is about Jesus. The whole Old Testament is about him as well as the New Testament. The New Testament is about him as Jesus or as the Holy Spirit fulfills that promise of leading the apostles into the truth that they could not bear now but that they would receive later.

What do they talk about? They talk about Jesus. So much so that in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 Paul talks about his ministry to the Corinthians and he says to them and I When I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

There's the central message, the primary message, Jesus Christ and him crucified. So here's the Spirit of God. He glorifies the Son by what? by actually producing the word of Christ. The word that points to Jesus. The book in front of us is the Jesus book. And the Spirit is the one who produced it.

How else does he do it? Well, the Spirit empowers the proclamation of the gospel. Of whom? Of Christ. Now what is the gospel? We all know what the gospel is, right?

Yes? The gospel is the good news. That's what the word gospel means. Gospel actually is a Greek word that means good news. Okay? Euangelion is the Greek term.

Like, we get the term from that root. You know what English word we get from that root? Eulogy. Right? Eulogy. You all know what a eulogy is.

It's when you go up after someone's dead and you just start just slamming them and everything, right? Now, you know what a eulogy is? Eulogy is where you get up and you say all these good things about the person whether they true or not You just want to really make a lot of big deal about how great this person is who dead So the word means good news but it good news about Jesus Now, look at this.

How does the gospel go out into the world? Luke 24, you should still be there. Luke 24. We'll pick it up at verse 46 now. Luke 24, verse 46. after he's talked about showing them from the Old Testament all these things. And 45, then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending you the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Now, what is he talking about there? Well, we know what he's talking about there because Luke, who wrote this, also wrote the book of Acts. And in Acts chapter 1, if you want to turn there, you don't have to.

But in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, we read these words. But Jesus, again, speaking before he ascends. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria. and to the end of the earth. So the power that he talks about here is the power of the Holy Spirit, who then will move them to proclaim the gospel to all people.

So the Holy Spirit then empowers the proclamation of the gospel that brings people to whom? To Jesus. He empowers them to go out with this good news about this person called Christ. And that good news, what does it do? It draws people to Jesus. Jesus himself in John chapter 12 says, When I am lifted up, I will what?

Draw all men to myself. Well, who does the drawing, by the way? Well, the Spirit does. And so the Spirit energizes that proclamation so that people are drawn not to him, but to Christ. Right? remember what did Jesus say in John 15 26 and 27 we've already looked at it so let me quote it for you but when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father he will bear witness about me and you also will bear witness because you've been with me from the beginning so he energizes the proclamation of the gospel in which he bears witness to the son and it draws people to christ draws people to christ you see the holy spirit empowers people to proclaim the good news and the good news points to jesus so there again you see the holy spirit is at work What?

Exalting the Son. Exalting the Son. So, the Spirit empowers the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I love 2 Corinthians 4.

I call 2 Corinthians chapter 4 the Do Not Lose Heart chapter. Because it starts out with Do Not Lose Heart. and it ends with do not lose heart. So, hint, hint, when you're losing heart, where are you going to go? Okay, you're going to go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Great, great, wonderful, marvelous chapter. But here in this chapter, beginning in verse 4, it says, verse 3, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.

In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants, for Jesus' sake. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

So what is the gospel about? What's the gospel about? It's about the glory of Christ. It's about seeing this glorious Savior. It's about suddenly where it was all veiled before and you couldn't see it. You know, like you've got blinders on.

Suddenly the blinders are ripped away. And even though the glory has always been there, you've never seen it. Suddenly you see the glory of Jesus. you see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that the gospel you see Well how does that happen How does that happen Well, Jesus tells us in John 3. Are you getting tired yet? John 3. Remember, it's nighttime, talking to Nicodemus.

Jesus says this to this teacher. Verse 3, Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who's born of the Spirit. So, what has to happen? You've got to be born again.

The Spirit has to sovereignly intervene and do something to you. Give you new life. So in other words, Jesus makes it clear that this unveiling, so that we see the glory of Christ happens as the Holy Spirit regenerates our dead, darkened, imprisoned hearts. He brings us new life. But what are we awakened to? Are we awakened to suddenly saying, Wow!

Wow! Spirit, what a great job you did! What happens? The Spirit gives us new life where suddenly we look up and do we see Him? What do we see? We see the glory of Christ.

We see the glory of God in the face of Christ. The Spirit, if you will, rips the blinders off and steps back. So all you see is the glory of God in the face of Christ. That's what the Spirit does. You see? We are awakened to see not the magnificent work of the Spirit, but instead the glory of Christ. and then that spirit generates faith in Christ that actually generates faith in Christ how so? by that act of regeneration our eyes are opened we see the glory of Christ and what happens We are irresistibly drawn to Him We are irresistibly drawn to Him We see that glory and we want to embrace it And the Spirit produces faith in our hearts by revealing the glory of Christ so that that's what we want.

And so the Spirit generates faith in Christ. Again, the Spirit works not so that we have faith in Him. But what? He shows us the glory of Christ so we are drawn as if irresistibly to this glory that we want. He does that. He produces that faith by showing us that glory.

And then the last thing. The Spirit conforms you to the likeness of whom? Of Christ. Of Christ. You see, the Spirit not only regenerates you, but then He continues His work by sanctifying you. That is, making you holy.

Empowering you to grow in righteousness. But what does that look like? What does it mean to grow in righteousness? Well, let me give you three passages very quickly. And for sake of time, I'll just give you the passages and I'll read them. if you can look them up that fast go for it but listen to what it says romans 8 29 right we all know the promise of 8 28 for those you know that are called those who love god who've been called according to his purpose right he's going to work everything for good what is that good what is the good verse 29 for those whom he foreknew romans 8 29 for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

What's the goal of our salvation? What is the goal? The goal is we look like Jesus. I remember one time, Pastor Rick Wilson and at that time Pastor John Street and I were teaching a group of pastors. And we mentioned this. And one of the pastors said, so what you're saying is we're all going to be like vanilla? all of us are going to look exactly the same no we still have our own personalities but we be like Jesus we be like Christ I don know about you that kind of appealing to me You know I sure it appealing to the people who live around me as well I want him to be like Jesus, right?

Well, that's the goal of our salvation. Okay, 1 John chapter 3, verses 2 and 3. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared. but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure isn't that amazing so when jesus returns in glory what's going to happen we are all going to be transformed into the likeness of christ that's the goal of our salvation.

By the way, I always want to say this. Wouldn't it be great that you are so much like Jesus that when Jesus appears, it's just like a little step as opposed to this, wow, Jesus appears. Anyway, Colossians chapter 3 verses 9 and 10. Do not lie to one another. Well, Why not? Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

That is Jesus. So what is salvation? Salvation is making us look like Jesus. And that's what the spirit does as he works progressively to produce in us righteousness. What he's doing is conforming us to the work of Christ. that's the goal of the Spirit's sanctifying work. To remake us, not in the Spirit's likeness, but in the likeness of Jesus.

You see? That's His work. He glorifies the Son. How? By taking us as He gives us new life and now cultivating and developing that new life until we look like the Son. that's the spirit's work there's a marvelous passage this is the last one we're going to look at second corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 second corinthians 3 18 listen to what it says and we all with unveiled face Beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. We're being transformed into greater glory. What's the glory he's talking about? The glory of Jesus. And how do we do it? By looking at Christ.

So the Spirit focuses our attention on Christ so that we become like Him. He makes us like Christ by focusing our attention on Christ. Again, let me read to you something that Bruce Ware, you've heard me mention him, wrote. Listen to what he says. Because God has so made us that we long to become like what we adore, The Spirit helps us see Christ increasingly as glorious and worthy of praise.

And when this happens, we seek to become more and more like Him. From our initial conversion to our ultimate glorification, the Spirit constantly commends to us the wonder and the glory of the Son. As we see Him, aided as we are by the Spirit's illuminating work, we become like Him. The Spirit sanctifies us by pointing us to Jesus. The Spirit focuses our attention on Jesus in our sanctification.

As in all of the Spirit's work, He seeks to bring honor and glory to the Son, to the ultimate glory of the Father. And so you see, and so it is, that the Holy Spirit works to glorify the Son. he works to glorify the Son. Well, what does this mean for you? Okay? Are there any... I mean, I think that's been pretty practical already.

But what sort of lessons could we draw from this? Let me give you four. Be instructed. Be instructed by the Spirit's deep and abiding willingness to work without recognition. Have you ever thought about that? Here is God Himself working in a way that He doesn get recognition You ever work like that This is what the Spirit has done eternally Always drawing attention to the Son, to the glory of the Father, while He steps back.

Stage crew, never out on stage. Right? Do you work like that? Do you think that way? What happens if you never get any recognition? Do you quit? you know the good news of this of course is that ultimately god does recognize everything that you've done he will recognize it but let's just think about now if people don't recognize your faithfulness to god and your work do you quit do you quit i think that's a lesson we can learn from the holy spirit don't you think yeah second be motivated to live for the glory of another be motivated to live for the glory of another who is that other?

Jesus doesn't it seem to make sense and is it not obvious that if the Spirit's work is to glorify the Son and He's at work in you that you then become a person who's always pointing to the sun. Who's always pointing to the glory of the sun. Doesn't that make sense? Yeah. That's the way we need to be. We need to be the kind of people.

You know what? One of the things that that just bothers me about me is I'm a glory hound. I really think so. It's like, Lord, you know, it's just got to be about you all the time i remember my friend randy patton someone had just introduced him to speak and had this wonderful flowery introduction for randy randy gets up in the pulpit and he says wow may god forgive you for saying the things that you said and may he forgive me for loving it so much right and it'd be great if we were the kind of people that constantly are pointing to the glory of Christ and not seeking glory for ourselves.

But it's all about Jesus Apostle Paul was that way One of the most radical statements in the New Testament is when he in prison he waiting for his hearing before the Roman emperor to see whether he going to live or die And he says to the Philippians in Philippians chapter 1 verse 20 pray that I have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. What happens to me is not important. They may kill me, that's not important.

They may let me go, that's not important. The only thing I want those people to see in all of this is Jesus. That's all I want them to see. I'm not the main character in this drama they may kill me, they may let me go it doesn't matter, none of that matters death, life, everything in between the only thing that matters is they see Jesus that's the way we need to be that's what the Holy Spirit does in us thirdly, learn to ask the right questions about the Spirit's work you know in our circles we're always quick to argue with our charismatic and Pentecostal friends about whether or not the gifts of the Spirit like tongues and healing and prophecy are still part of the package today all right and those are questions that we have to address but i think we need to ask this question of those friends not so much just just mix it up about whether those gifts are here or not here's the question does the practice of the gifts that come from the holy spirit magnify jesus in your congregation is the love of jesus more evident in your congregation by the exercise of those gifts is the love of Jesus is the image of Christ in your congregation more obvious because of the spirit's work does it make his presence and love more obvious or do you end up making more of the spirit than of Jesus isn't that the bottom line now before we get all hoity-toity and say yeah I cannot wait to see my charismatic friends and put that question to them that's the question we have to ask in this congregation.

Is the Spirit at work in this congregation? How will we know? When the love of Jesus is flowing. When there are people who are gathered from wickedness and want to follow Jesus and come here and become part of us. And we'll know that the spirit is at work when we can see those sorts of things happening in our midst where Jesus is a big deal. Alright lastly fourth one Imitate the harmony and unity of love within the Trinity Imitate the harmony and unity of love within the Trinity Isn't it interesting that this is, and again, I appreciate this theologian Bruce Ware, because he's helped me see some of these things much clearly, but he says this, and I love this.

I mean, think about people when they work together. Now look at the Trinity when it works together. And we find here, as he's pointed out, I love this, you see no bickering, no fighting, no disputing as to who has the right to do so and so. Right? They've just worked perfectly in harmony. Again, if I can quote Ware again, we must resist the lie of our culture that says the only way that we can exist happily together is if we always and only acknowledge everyone as exactly the same.

But that's what our culture says, doesn't it? Can't have submission and authority because then you're thinking this guy is better than this guy. And what we've seen in the Trinity is that's not true. We can acknowledge that everyone is not the same and still have harmony and still have unity and still have love. We don't have to say we're all the same. besides that what is harmony do you know the difference between unison and harmony what's the difference unison is we're all singing the same harmony is all these different parts making a beautiful song right harmony is when differences work together and that's what the that's what the trinity does and the holy spirit who never draws attention to himself works in harmony with the other two members of the Trinity.

Well, we spent this time of worship shining the spotlight on the one who does not seek or desire to be the center of attention, haven't we? But I hope that after today we're going to see that his work to assist the Father in the work of salvation and to glorify the Son. I hope we see that clearer and I pray that the more we understand the Holy Spirit the more we'll love the Son I pray that that's what happens.

I believe we ought to ask God the Father that the work of God the Holy Spirit might be seen mightily in this congregation. So what should we expect if the Father answers that prayer? What should we expect? We should find a congregation that is in love with Jesus and that makes a lot of the Son. And we should see more people seeing the glory of Christ and wanting to follow Him.

Let's pray. Father, we do ask that. We ask that the Spirit would be at work in our midst. Father, we... Lord we confess that the last thing we ever would want to see is a dying church And the only way the only way we will not become a dead and dying church is if the Spirit is at work in our midst and so we beg you to we beg you that the spirit would work in our midst and that this congregation as a whole would know more of the presence and the love of Christ and that individuals would know more of the love and the presence of Jesus please work in this congregation we pray make us those who exalt the Son to the glory of the Father in the name of Jesus we ask these things Amen