Published: December 8, 2024 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit 1 - Part 12 | Scripture: Psalm 51; Isaiah 63
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this morning um I'd like to do a little bit of a summary of the ideas that we've covered uh over the past few weeks um and uh it came across some um
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headings that are um these um these they come from um I believe uh Benjamin warfield's um writings Collective
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writings um on the Holy Spirit and uh the Holy Spirit particularly in the Old Testament um he's was a scholar I'm not
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um so these are Big 25 c words that may help um you remember these things but kind of want to start with a a summary
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of of where he''s been and he I see the three that he has I just my mind doesn't think of these kinds of headings
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um but where we want to move um what I've titled earlier lessons or this set of lessons about the Holy Spirit in the
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Old Testament um we looked at the creation in Genesis and then we began to look at uh what several of the theologians um look at as
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the Holy Spirit from the fall to the Messiah but sometimes we have the
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idea that the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and obviously if you've been in the study you know that I don't think
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that that we see the Holy Spirit um I think uh illuminated and uh in a starring role in the Old Testament uh
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but but many would go to Acts 2 and say when the the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from Heaven A noise like a violent rushing wind and it
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filled the whole house where they were sitting and there appeared to them tongues as of fire Distributing them themselves and they rested on each of them and they were filled all filled
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with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance and and many would say that's where the Holy Spirit appears but
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again I hope that in this study we have seen um that the Holy Spirit was active from the beginning brooding at
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creation but hopefully we're I want to go this morning is that that work of the holy spirit is
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Preparatory to the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament leading us um perhaps as as some have said we can say that he is
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doing a work that you might call a person there is activity there is things that he is doing we see some with words but some physically being
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moved by the Holy Spirit we see the spirit clothing himself in man to do things but his personality is not fully
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developed in the Old Testament and yet I I want to stress that there is an inner work of the Holy Spirit inner meaning in the
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individuals not not just the things that we've seen the moving to do things but inner work and so I'm going
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to do a short summary here hopefully um and I want to move to some of those passages in the Old Testament that I think demonstrate the inner work of the
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Holy Spirit Holy Spirit um and moving Us in preparation for seeing the Holy Spirit and the coming of
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the Messiah um one of the things that we've talked about um at the holy spirit in the Old
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Testament just again as a summary um he is the executive of the the godhead in in the Old Testament um George smen in his uh
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book on the holy spirit says quote if events occurring in the moral government of God are also ascribed to the spirit as the executive of all the Divine
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purposes so we we see him uh at work in the moral the moral government as he says of of God but all
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of the Divine purposes of God in um in the world through the the work of the Holy Spirit um
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Spirit um I've used this one quite
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spirit's activity as described again I I believe it's uh Sinclair Ferguson I didn't go back and look it up again to be sure but we see the presence of God coming
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with power and so he uses this term power presence of God and that described by
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Warfield in uh three um I think he uses the word phases and um I didn't go back and look up a strict definition of
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phases but phases to me um when I think of it as phases of a project they're consecutive and I get I know in projects you have to overlap you
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have to start before you finish one so you're ready and you look at the critical path and some of you um who do Construction and design and all that you you understand I didn't I guess I'm just
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saying I didn't like his word phases because in the Old Testament when we see the spirit it's not
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consecutive we see his work in what I would call three spheres um overlapping and so it's not like you can go and
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these books will talk about his creation although again it's pretty limited to for us um what we see specifically in Genesis but there is
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and um e even as the spirit is presented to us overlap of these three again what I would call spheres
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word this these words again this is warfield's definition or um title I guess I should say um his his work in relation to the first creation
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is cosmical okay that's not a word that's in my I don't think that's in my vocabulary uh that sounds new Agy to me but it's it's first
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creation and I guess when you say a first right you're assuming there's a second um it's always uh made me uh chuckle a little bit when uh somebody uh does an event like a a 5K
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race and first annual is like they're counting on there's going to be at least two okay um unless it's a total flop I guess but here we see his relation to
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what we would call the first creation Genesis 1 and the spirit of God hovered or brooded over creation but he's without creation he's not in the
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matter he's involved in creation um or as one author put it he's in he Broods over creation but he's not
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submerged in matter um but he's the source of
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order life I guess I should put light first because the order but order life and light is what we see in Genesis um that's the idea behind his cosmical um
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God in the world if you if you wish uh to think of it that way
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his Theocratic presence what does that mean well mean well it's two headings here or two two things uh under this um in warfield's
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thinking and to me again I I'm going to separate them but it's his relation to Second creation
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so here again if we went back to you know look back at previous classes creation and then from the
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fall to the Messiah would be here because he's creating a nation he's creating a people for his own possession
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to use the language of the Old Testament
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here um the source of all what we would refer to
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I don't know that you can say it any if any if you were to give a an overall heading Supernatural Powers again um don't mean
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to be um boring with this but under here we've seen lots of gifts gifts of energy and
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courage to direct the foundation of the nation and the preservation of of God's kingdom
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um in a world that is at enmity with God in a wicked World he's creating a nation a people for himself that he's
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separated and so he's given some men Gifts of of energy courage as in Gideon to do the right thing um we've seen the
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gifts of skill and craftsmanship strength uh fitted to serve the kingdom um and again we
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we I I think more my fault than than other people but when I studied the men who had the skills and craftsmanship um
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I envy coveted what they did how skillful they were but what was it for it was to create a sanctuary it was to create a place where God's name would
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dwell where God would dwell it was to show his glory and His Majesty that's what it was for a place of worship worthy of the
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King and then we saw Gifts of wisdom for administration and governing of the Kingdom um Ultra important that they would have people to who knew what to do
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uh and how to govern Gifts of understanding knowledge understanding knowledge Insight um and it culminates in the gift of Prophecy um
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especially so that God's will was revealed that God himself um was revealed his will and his um leading his
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people for a specific purpose and we saw common phrases here um so if you were to link a phrase um
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here the spirit brooding over creation but but here we see um phrases like this that the spirit Came Upon men that he clothed himself
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with men uh were the things that we disc discussed here but then there's the third and I
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mine but here and we we looked at it in Psalm 51 last week as one of the examples of this but I want to flesh it out a little further here but um it's in his
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relation so his relation to the first creation to the second creation but here
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Warfield has U another alliteration for this and uh so I guess I could put it in a different color out here I don't know if everybody can see but he defines the spirit as here as
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the imminent
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Spirit yeah in his Theocratic dealings his relation to people and the coming of
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spirit and then for this one and this is
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spirit the source of all so all so here we have the source The Source The
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Source I know better than to smear the board with my oils off my
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yes yeah um I I believe that I can
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show what he would mean because the spirit's work is obviously not fully revealed as this yet but the spirit's work I think is
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Thoroughly ethical Thor ly moral um in in character even in the Old Testament from Genesis and this is where I'm I'm
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heading next Genesis 6 we we read the Lord said my spirit shall not strive or rule in man forever because he is also flesh
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and then says the limit of his days um I think from even as he were in this kind of stage there is these hints and sha for
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foreshadowing um yes um I didn't write him down he asks three questions uh and they have two yes answers and one no and
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the no answer the negative answer is is this fully the personality of the spirit and the full understanding of the indwelling Spirit uh in the Old Testament the answer would be no so yes
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it is uh something that men have debated long um I'm going to present what I think or think or the the what I would call the inner the
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inner work um because certainly we see um as we looked at last week in Psalm 51 um David asks um well I'll read it and
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and and you'll see um but to me again David's prayer um at least the the Crux of his
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prayer because Psalm 51 is all a prayer uh verse 10 create in me a clean
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heart it's cosmical uh creation is is not something I work to create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a stead steadfast Spirit within me do not cast me away from your
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presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a a willing Spirit um the creating a clean
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heart um giving him the power to to go on a a a clean Spirit but there is to me when he says uh do not take your Holy Spirit
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from me he's seeing that his his whole being his whole uh whole uh life requires the continuance of the
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holy spirit so maybe we wouldn't Define it this it this way um as as IND dwelling as we see in the New Testament but it's something
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more than more than just help me to be a better person um and uh to me again
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um he he doesn't just make people stand strong in his kingdom there's a there's an influence a
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power um a strength um beyond their their safety and development as a nation um it's
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he's conforming them to the very idea of what the kingdom of God ought to be problem
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yeah yeah yeah so I I stuck with this word um because definitely he's working in individuals but what we'll see is the
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the preparation for the day of not to me not just the day of Pentecost but the preparation for the Messiah who would come in the power of
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the Holy Spirit um as John said he he will baptize you with the spirit and and with fire um there's I don't think we need to wait
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for the Pentecost to start seeing the influence of the Holy Spirit um but as I said a number of weeks ago how Jesus
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walked in the power of the holy spirit is it's it's hard to not Define but it's it's hard to explain um but I I have grown and and at
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least I believe in an understanding that what Jesus did was not oh he's just God he can do that I think he walked in his Earthly life in the power of the Holy
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Spirit that's going to be next semester um is where we're headed what I would like to do today is look at some passages that I think shows uh that the
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Holy Spirit was given as a spiritual guide if we can't say this I think we can say this that he's given as a spiritual guide
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that there's there's something already in the Old Testament of Testament of Grace and
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Grace and Holiness that comes through the spirit that I think we we tend
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[Music] um I don't know whether the word is Overlook or just don't have haven't seen um and what amazed me as I began to look at some of
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these uh passages is um you know I I I know you know Jeremiah 31 I will take your Heart of Stone and give you a heart
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of Flesh I those are the kind of the biggies but there's a lot that give us this idea of the inner work preparing for the Messiah
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um in in other passages uh and I'd like to look at a few of those as we uh continue here but in Isaiah
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63 uh there's it's not explicit but I think it's implied um he says uh verse 8 for he
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said surely they are my people sons who will not deal falsely so he became their savior in all all their Affliction he was afflicted and the angel of his
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presence saved them in his love and in his Mercy he redeemed them and he lifted them and carried them all the days of old but they rebelled and grieved his
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holy spirit therefore he turned himself to become their enemy he fought against them then his people remember the days of old of Moses where he is where is he
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where is he who brought them out of the sea with the Shepherds of his flock where is he who put his holy spirit in the midst of them what what's implied there
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that he's a he was given to them as their guide he was given to them as um one to guide them into Holiness and they rebelled but there
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there is um I think that evidence from the the passage that um the Holy Spirit was given for the
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purpose of of Holiness and um as as a grace of God
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um look at a few more I I found this from uh John Owen [Music] um he uses the word um as we begin to see more passages and I guess I should have put it as the heading but I'll put
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it here [Music] um he described it as the the pouring
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out of the Holy Spirit again in Prophecy but in very vivid language and where he gets this
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[Music] um is uh first of all uh from Isaiah um 35
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and as I looked at a few other passages like okay I hadn't seen this before but the um this is from Isaiah
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[Music] um don't know quite where to start but um I'll read from um verse four say to those with anxious Heart Take courage fear not behold your God will come with
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vengeance the recompense of God will come but he will save you then the eyes of the blind will be open and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped then the lame will leap like a deer and the
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tongue of the dumb Will shout for Joy for Waters will break forth in the wilderness and the streams in the arabah and the scorched land will become a pool and the Thirsty ground Springs of water
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in the haunt of jackals its resting place grass becomes Reeds and rushes and a highway will be there a roadway and it will be called The Highway of Holiness
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the unclean will not travel on it but it will be for him who walks that way and the fools will not wander on it um the pouring out uh visualized here in
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Isaiah 35 of the waters breaking forth the streams from uh the the arabah um the in in the desert there will be
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streams of water um John owens's uh quote here was this was the good wine which was kept to the
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last um in preparation for the Messiah um he's Envision en visioning from uh Isaiah these streams of water being
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poured out but what is their Connection in Isaiah 44 but listen now Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen thus says the Lord who made you
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and formed you from the womb who will help you help you do not fear oh Jacob my servant and you jesurun whom I have chosen for I will pour out water on the Thirsty land and
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streams on the dry ground I will pour out my spirit on your Offspring and my blessing on your descendants and they will spring up among the grass like poppers by streams of water this one
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will say I am the Lords and that one I will call on the name of Jacob and another will write on his hand belonging to the Lord and will name Israel's name
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with with honor um the pouring out of the spirit um as Owen calls it the good wine that was saved to the last um good
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news preparing for Messianic
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um Isaiah 32 another one of of similar um type of language beat your breasts for the pleasant fields for the fruitful Vine for the land of my people in which
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thorns and briers shall come up yay for all the joyful houses and the juvenate city because the palace has been aand abandoned the populated city forsaken
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Hill and watch tower Tower have become caves forever a delight for wild donkeys a pasture for flocks until the spirit is poured out upon us from on high
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and the Wilderness becomes a fertile field and the fertile field is considered a forest then Justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile
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field and the work of righteousness will be peace and the service of righteousness quietness and confidence forever then my people will live in a
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peaceful habitation and in Secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places um this is Old
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Testament prophecy and yet um a very uh graphic picture of how God looks at this coming to
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individuals to all uh not just to the nation but the spirit is poured out for for what for justice for righteousness
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for quietness and confidence um just a a beautiful passage um of the the combination of combination of righteousness begetting trust
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righteousness beting begetting a quietness a peaceful habitation um of among the people um this idea of of the pouring out of the
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spirit um Isaiah 59 as for me me this is my Covenant with them says the Lord my spirit which is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not
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depart from your mouth nor from the mouth of your Offspring nor from the mouth of your offspring's Offspring says the Lord From Now and Forever um this um
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there's the promise here if if not the indwelling but the promise of the abiding Spirit uh the abiding presence of the spirit not just
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among select individuals as we've seen in the other situations but you know my my spirit your Offspring your offspring's
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Offspring now and
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um this is um again familiar to you Ezekiel 37 the dry bones I will put my spirit within you and you will come to life and I will place you on your own
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land then you will know that I the Lord have spoken and done it declares the Lord um there's a declaration of God's
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intention um God demonstrating through the spirit um he brings life from the dead um
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Ezekiel 39 then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into Exile among the Nations and then gathered them again to their own land
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and I will leave none of them there any longer I will not hide my face from them any longer for I have poured out my spirit on the house of Israel declares
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the Lord um
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you start to pick up um phrases that become very familiar to us in the in the New Testament um you know you were dead in your
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trespasses and trespasses and sins and then we we hear uh Paul was it in Ephesians he br brings uh captiv makes captivity captive um he brings his
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the captives home and he captures them for his own um this is uh language um that um well let me just say it this way
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the the foundations anyway whether we can use warfield's phrase of the indwelling spirit is debatable yes but the foundations of the Christian
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doctrine of doctrine of regeneration of sanctification of Salvation are in the Old Testament in the work of the Holy
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Spirit and it's there for us to see and to um I don't know if I can uh use that but
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uh the language that we've heard on on Thursday evenings um The Echoes um these are
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echoes down through the age and anyone again who who says we don't we don't need to look at the Old Testament the foundations are here and they're they're they're strong um
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Zechariah 12 in that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David and the House of
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David will will be like God like the angel of the Lord before them and in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem I will pour out on the House of David
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and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of Grace and of Supplication so that they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as
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One Mourns for an only son and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn um
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do it sound like John 14 uh or 16 um what will the spirit do he will bring a spirit of conviction um and here it is uh again I
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I think um the words um and I believe this was from Ferguson I call it the foundations the foundations are are here
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um and culminates I think in again a very familiar passage hopefully to you in Joel uh chapter
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2 and it will come about after this that I will pour out my spirit on All Mankind and your sons and daughters will prophesy your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions and
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even on the male and female servants I will pour pour out my spirit in those days and I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth Blood Fire and Columns of smoke the sun will be turned
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into darkness and the moon into blood 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 Si Zion
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and in Jerusalem there will be those who Escape as the Lord has said even among the survivors whom the Lord calls um again the the language of of scripture
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the pouring out of the Holy Spirit um he will be the indwelling
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um but the the life to come in the Messiah brought by the Messiah uh begins here the power of a spiritual life is
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portrayed here the Holiness in individuals is portrayed here so the Theocratic development the way that he
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Spirit used men for various things governance and craftsmanship and prophesying all lead I think to the
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fullness of The Graces and so we see God in the world and we see God in in his church but we also will see God in the
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soul the kingdom of God is to be instructed it is to be governed it is to be preserved and it is to be the Lord
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willing extended but we have the Coming Attractions here I use that in my classes quite a bit previews of Coming Attractions used to be when you go to the movies this is what you would see
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what we're going to see in the New Testament the personality of the holy spirit is going to be um the strong emphasis particularly obviously in the
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Book of John but what we're going to be seeing is that indwelling Holy Spirit people being conformed to the spiritual life and the character of the Messiah
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it I don't know yeah again the language that we see most often in the Old Testament is the coming upon and uh being clothed he clothed himself with uh rather than indwelling
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so um it and I'm not prepared to discuss that in one minute what uh the meaning of the indwelling it's different in the
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New Testament with the uh the death burial and resurrection of the Messiah it is different at Pentecost it is the newness of the New
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Covenant but the the hints are here and the the promise is here how much uh or what the true
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definition of the indwelling is is is What's that question yes
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yes but but yes there is that seeing and greeting it from afar and yet it was something real um I guess that's what I want to say is this this is
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not this this is showing us that the work of creation was outside of man the work of theocracy again was more outside of man even as he worked to to the inner
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life of life of man he man he was being foreshadowed for that work within man and I think there is a difference but it is it's a
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hard thing when you see the language like this like this um it's um it's uh again as I say it's something more
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than just a vision that men can expect um but how how to slice that is a is is a
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question let's let's go to the Lord in prayer continue to meditate on these things our heavenly father we do uh we thank you for this gift of the Holy
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Spirit we are thankful that we are on this side of the Cross we can have the scriptures we can see more of the the
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three person of the Trinity and yet the unity of of Will and purpose and the
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Holiness we ask that you would help us as we study these things we ask that you would help us to meditate upon them but we ask that also we would not forget to
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be grateful that it is your plan it is your idea and it is your Revelation to us of yourself
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in which we Rejoice that you are you you are God and there is no other and you have called us to be your children and
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you have promised that you will be our God we thank you and we praise you for all of these things in Christ's name