Thanks for joining us today, Michael Brown here. Welcome to our Digital School of the Word and the Spirit class is now in session. And by God's grace, you're going to get infused with faith and with truth and with courage to help you stand strong in the Lord on the front lines. We're continuing to talk about getting to know the Holy Spirit. So we're laying some foundations about the Holy Spirit as a person, not being a human, but someone with personality, a being with personality, with intelligence. The Spirit of God rightly looked at as part of the Godhead Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I was talking with a colleague the other day and he mentioned a young man that seemed to have massive learning disabilities and so on, outwardly, severely autistic, but once you could communicate with him, really had spiritual insight. And he was explaining the Trinity. I like to speak of God's complex unity. Many Jewish people in the Trinity think of three gods, so I always like to speak of the complex unity of the one true God. But he was explaining that the Father is the Planner, the Son is the representation of his love, and the Holy Spirit executes the Father's plans through us.
Yeah, I mean there are a million different ways we could speak of God's triunity and complex unity, but that's a good one. Because the Holy Spirit does not have a face that we see, like the face of Jesus on the earth, even though we don't see his face today, we know he was on the earth in bodily form. And we think of the Father sitting on the throne, even though we don't see his face, no one has ever seen him, no human being can see him in this world, yet we can still picture this being sitting on his throne. Okay, but the Holy Spirit doesn't have a face in that way.
He works invisibly. In that sense, you could think of God's complex unity similar to the physical sun, S-U-N, that the core of it, the energy of it, the power, the force of it, the internal brightness, no one can see. What you see is what shines forth. So you could think of the Father as the source of all things unseen, and the Son is his radiance in shining forth, and the Holy Spirit are like the effects of the sun rays on the earth.
You don't see the sun rays, but that is what nourishes the earth, and nourishes plants, and keeps us going, and heats, etc. So the Holy Spirit is like that. And because the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word nouma can mean wind, or can mean breath, you could just conceptualize the Holy Spirit in an impersonal way. God's power, the moving of God, the outpouring of God.
That's why it's so essential. We recognize that the Holy Spirit is not abstract power, but personality, a personal being. God himself, Hebrews 9, the eternal spirit. We said earlier in the week, Peter asked Ananias, why did you lie to the Holy Spirit?
You don't lie to a rock, you don't lie to a piece of wood, you lie to a being, to a person. Why did you lie to the Holy Spirit? And then Sapphira, why did you agree to test the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit can be grieved. The Holy Spirit speaks. The Holy Spirit acts.
The Holy Spirit works. So it is essential that we deepen our relationship with God and understand who the Holy Spirit is. So over the course of these weeks we're going to talk about other aspects of the person of the Spirit. We'll do that today.
Then we'll pick up next week. We'll talk more about different ways the Holy Spirit leads and guides. What does Scripture say? And then how do we sort these things out in our own lives? I have no desire to just impart abstract information. Look, a lot of things are fascinating to learn, aren't they? And when you're taking math in school and you've got this equation, you know, this times this divided by this and so on and square root of this and there's no moral outcome to the story. There's nothing, how can I say it, there's nothing to be gained aside from learning how to do math, right? It's just abstract, you're learning how to do math, you're sharpening your mental skills, things like that.
Whereas I have no desire just to give you interesting information. Desire is to build you up and to strengthen you but in a specialized way in accordance with what we've been called to do as a ministry. So to supplement what you're getting in your local church, to supplement what you're getting in your own relationship with God with the goal being that you are healthier and thriving more in God than you've ever been. I ran into a pastor at a car wash just this morning and he said to me, thank you for being a voice of sanity in a world that has lost its mind. And that was meaningful to me because that is our goal, to be a voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity so we're going to navigate through the cultural issues, we're going to navigate through the culture wars.
We spent weeks leading up to this talking about how to navigate the whole political scene while keeping our witness and keeping our focus where it belongs and to the extent we walk with God, to the extent the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, to that extent we can bear more fruit. John chapter 14, the words of Jesus. John chapter 14, beginning in verse 15. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commands.
Talk is cheap, friends. The expression of our love for God, to God, is our obedience in him, with him, through him. If you love me, Jesus says, keep my commands and I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever, the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.
I will come to you. Now, think of this. Being with Jesus as one of his disciples was greater than any dream they'd ever had. It all seemed unreal. Finally, the generation to see the Messiah.
And every new thing he did must have been a shock for them. I remember reading the New Testament for the first time as a Jewish kid, 16 years old, no background in the Gospels, no background in Christianity, knew almost nothing about Jesus. So I heard preaching in the church and stories and stuff but I'm reading the Bible on my own. I remember the first time I get to the account with a blind man, I'm wondering, is Jesus going to heal the blind man? Is Jesus going to heal the blind? Did he heal the blind? He healed the blind. Jesus healed the blind man.
Wow. I was amazed. Of course, I knew what I was reading was true. I was sure the Bible was God's word but I was, yes, he healed the blind man. So I don't remember where I was reading but let's just say it was in John 9. That's the healing of the blind man. Well, two chapters later is Lazarus. Lazarus is dead and I literally get there is like, is he going to raise Lazarus from the dead? I knew he died and rose from the dead but I didn't know about all the miracles he performed. I knew some stuff. Yo, he raised Lazarus from the, he actually can raise the dead. Wow.
He did this. I was blown away and I don't, all of you who've suffered loss, loss of a close loved one, you know the gaping hole that's in you, especially if it's a spouse, someone you were so close to, a child, a parent, it feels like a part of you is missing. Think of just having Jesus there. Whatever's going on in your life, Jesus is there.
It's like, okay, we're going to make it. Everything's good. Everything's okay.
Jesus is here. Okay, we're good. We're good. We're good.
Think of that. All right. Now he says, I'm going to go. I'm, I'm going, I'm, I'm leaving. No, no, don't, don't, don't leave. It's only been a few years. Don't leave.
He says, no, no, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to send the spirit. You would think that we would realize that the coming of the Holy Spirit in our lives is a big deal. You would think that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is nothing to sniffle at.
You would think that this would be of incredible, tremendous importance to us. Jesus is leaving, but he's going to come in the presence and the person of the spirit. Let me read to you from a little further in John's gospel, the 14th chapter. First, the beginning of the chapter, Jesus says this, do not let your hearts be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you that now that Greek word for rooms only occurs twice in the entire New Testament here in John 14, two.
And then as we scroll down in his gospel, John chapter 14, verse 23, Jesus says this, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. It's the same word for rooms. We'll make our rooms with them.
My father's house are many rooms. We're actually going to come and dwell with you. It is really absolutely remarkable, utterly remarkable. Jesus and the father come and dwell in us, make their abode with us.
How? By the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings the reality of the father and son. The Holy Spirit guides and teaches. So I can't overestimate, I can't overemphasize the importance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The presence of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit, the communion of the Spirit, the leading of the Spirit, the witness of the Spirit, the empowering of the Spirit. He's literally taking the place of Jesus.
He's literally being Jesus and the father to us. Jesus said, I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. So the Holy Spirit called the paraclete from the Greek word parakletos, King James translated it comforter, but it has more of a legal meaning, one that would stand by and help but in the sense of being our advocate, being the one who counsels us, being the one who guides us, being the one who defends us.
And we'll dig more into that in the days ahead in terms of the meaning of the word. But he will be with you forever and he's called the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth, he leads us into truth. The Holy Spirit is always leading you into truth. Yes, we get our doctrine from the Bible. We don't get our doctrine from dreams, visions, prophetic words, traditions. We get our doctrine from the Bible. As we walk with the Holy Spirit, he will lead us into truth through the word of God. He will lead us away from error into truth. So it's not just a head knowledge of reading the word of God and then we can even have information that we don't live out and work with. It is more than that.
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As a new customer, 100% of the proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast. So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. And now back to the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, ready to infuse you with faith, truth, and courage. Thanks friends for joining us on the Line of Fire. Thank you TriVita, our great co-sponsor. Thank you for all of you standing with us and supporting us. If you love what we're doing, join our support team. Go to thelineoffire.org, click donate monthly support.
Thelineoffire.org, click donate monthly support. Join our support team and let us multiply this movement around America and around the world. Jesus said this, the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him. Now they don't see the Spirit, right? We don't see the Spirit, but we know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.
I will come to you. So this is not saying that the Spirit is the counselor in the sense of going to someone to tell you what to do, but in the sense of a legal counselor and advocate. And Jesus elsewhere is referred to as our advocate using the exact same word in 1 John 2.1. So the Spirit is another advocate. 1 John 2.1 says, I write these things to you that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
So he pleads our case. The Holy Spirit continues to do that. And Jesus says, I will come to you.
How? By the Spirit. John 14 verses 25 and 26. Jesus says, all this I have spoken while still with you, but the advocate, the Holy Spirit from the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Oh, so the advocate, the one who pleads our case and stands for us, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth who takes the place of Jesus in our lives. We still talk to Jesus and love Jesus and worship him and talk to the Father and love the Father and worship him, but the one that is walking with us, the one that is present in us, the one that is empowering us and speaking through us, the one that is leading us and guiding us and correcting us, that's the Holy Spirit doing the work. All one and the same God, but each with different assignments and ways of working in our lives. So the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father in Jesus' name.
He will teach you all things. So this is not just for the apostles. Yes, the apostles were guided by the Spirit to write the scriptures. The apostles were guided by the Spirit to learn insight about who God is and the plan of redemption.
Think of Paul writing Romans and his Bible was the Old Testament. How did he get those insights? How did he have that spiritual understanding? Well, I'm sure he received certain things directly by revelation from Jesus, certain things from the apostles that confirmed and spoke with him and gave accounts, eyewitness accounts, but he was taught and led by the Spirit. So for us, we are taught and led by the Spirit through the Word. And I've met people who are simple in terms of education, who don't know any Hebrew or Greek, and yet they have profound insights into the Word.
I've read much from one Pentecostal leader from a couple generations back, died in 1947. He was a plumber by trade. He started working full-time in the fields when he was six or seven years old, 12 hours a day, pulling up turnips and things like that. His wife taught him to read. The only book he ever read his entire life was the Bible. And I've read some of his stuff and said, where did he get this insight from? And it's exactly accurate in terms of Hebrew or Greek insight as he's opening up the King James.
How did he get that? He was taught by the Spirit. The Spirit opened up the Word.
So it's a good thing when you read the Word to say, God, open my heart, open my mind. Teach me. Illuminate me. Give me insight. I love to quote Psalm 119, verse 18.
Gal einive abita nifla ot mitareh techa. Open my eyes, uncover my eyes, that I might see wonders out of your law, out of your teaching. So pray that, God, open my heart, open my mind. Maybe you're really studying out a doctrinal issue.
You can't decide between different church traditions or denominations or groups what's true or not. Well, obviously you go to the Word. Obviously you get on your knees and you pray. But make sure that you include with that, God, by your Spirit, lead me into all truth. Teach me. Illuminate me. And then, especially for the apostles, but by application for us, what else?
He will remind you of everything I've said to you. You say, how did the apostles remember everything Jesus said? Well, first it was an oral culture, not a written culture. So a vast majority of what was conveyed was by memory.
And if you've ever been in a situation, think of this in your own life. Those of you that are old enough to have used phones before cell phones. I know for myself, I did not have anywhere where I had phone numbers written down.
I memorized them. And it was instant. I'd meet someone, a new friend, they'd give me their number. I was known for that.
In my drug days, before I was saved, I was known for that. Give me your number and I'll remember it. And when Nancy and I first met, 19 years old, in 1974, I asked for a number. He said, what? I asked for a number to share the gospel.
Honestly, I did that. Thank God he brought us together. We got married.
That's the greatest gift he's ever given me in this world outside of salvation. But I asked for a number. And she had two numbers. She had her personal number and her parents' house number. And anyway, I remember those numbers to this day.
She says, well, who can check? I remember them. I remember my childhood numbers growing up. Our home number, then the phone, my dad got a separate line from my sister and me. And then one of my best friends down the block, his number. I remember all those numbers. I know my phone number today. I know Nancy's phone number. And I guess we still have a home line. I guess I know the home line number. And an office number for the ministry. I don't know. My daughters are two daughters, two sons-in-law, grandkids, my assistant.
I don't think I remember any of their numbers. What? Well, because it's all stored on the phone. It's all stored on the phone. So the ancient world and much of the world today is much more of an oral culture. So it's very common. It's very common that much more would be memorized. So you'd hear a teaching and you just had a better system of memorizing that part of your brain was more active and used. That's one thing. Another thing, it's very possible that notes were taken, that one of the disciples was a note taker.
That's also possible. But for sure, for sure, the Holy Spirit brought to mind what Jesus had said. How did the John 17, the prayer that Jesus prayed, we call the great high priestly prayer. Did Jesus just teach them that afterwards?
Remind them? It's possible, but I believe they're listening to him pray and they're in part of the prayer, all the prayer. But the Holy Spirit's bringing it to remembrance.
And now, because you've got a few different guys, when they all remember it the same way, that's your further confirmation. So the Holy Spirit does that. And I found in my own life, the Holy Spirit bringing a word to remembrance, bringing a scripture to remembrance. Or as I'm preaching, I'm preaching and suddenly this whole train of thought comes and boom, there it is. When I'm talking to somebody, just your average person, and I go on a tangent, when I'm done, it's like, I just went on a complete tangent, lost my train of thought. It's like, oh, okay.
And then you try to get it. When I'm preaching, I can go on a tangent and the moment I'm done, bing, the thought just pops back in my head where I was. And I realized that's just the Holy Spirit's grace on me as I'm speaking.
The Holy Spirit brings things to remembrance. You can ask the Lord, Lord, bring the right word to me at the right time. The right scripture. Some of you have spoken to me. A word of encouragement. Bring it to me at the right time. A word of warning.
Bring it to me at the right time. He's an amazing God. And the Holy Spirit wants to do so much more in our lives than we realize. So we're going to keep going. Next week, we're going to start back in John's Gospel.
We're going to talk about how we can grieve the Holy Spirit. Hey, make sure you're getting our Frontline newsletter. It comes out once a month.
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