September 9, 2018

Sunday School
The Holy Spirit - Part 4

His Spirit Will Rest Upon You

1 Peter 4:12-14 – Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Who Is the Holy Spirit and What Does He Do?

What does he do when he comes? What is involved in this resting upon us?

He is the Spirit of truth (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13) and brings to your mind whatever truth you need – little or much.      

• All the forces of darkness will seek to confuse and obscure the light of truth in that hour. All the proportions of power in this world will appear to make God look distant, small, ineffective — like nothing. That is the goal of Satan and sin: to make God look useless and worthless. The work of the Holy Spirit in that hour — the work of the Spirit of truth — is to rest upon you with whatever measure of truth you will need in order to be faithful.    
• Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth comes.....He will glorify me." (John 16:13-14)'
• The ground and the center and the goal of all the truth the Spirit brings is the glory of Jesus Christ — the greatness, the excellency, the beauties of Jesus. The essence of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to magnify the beauty of Christ in the human mind and heart. Therefore, in the hour of trial, he will not let us forget Jesus. Jesus said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Always. Including the final hour of testing. And the work of the Holy Spirit is to cause us to remember him, and to see him with the eyes of our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:17–18; Ephesians 1:17–18).
• "The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." (1 Peter 4:14) Which means at least two things: He causes us to feel that the glory we are losing here is not worth keeping, and the glory we are about to gain is infinitely better.
• The Spirit of glory will cause us to experience the reality of 1 Peter 5:10-11: "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen."
• In the hour of trial, the Holy Spirit will overcome your doubts and give you the assurance that you need.The Spirit of glory rest upon you, in the midst of the loss of all earthly glory, and testifies to your heart: "You are an heir of infinite glory. You belong to Christ. You will be glorified with Him. You may be sure of this."
• Jesus said, “Do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11). The Spirit of glory and of God will rest upon you. If, in his power, he wants you speechless, you need say nothing. If he wants you to speak, he will give you words. Count on it. Trust him.

• And in himself, he will give you the Father and the Son. You will taste — with no pressure, in the hour of pain, to articulate a careful doctrine of the Trinity — the living experience of 2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.” In other words, may you experience the precious, personal presence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
• The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God. But they are three persons. And you will experience each of them in the hour of your trial — the Father’s care and tenderness for his child, the Savior’s redeeming love to cover all your sin, and the Spirit’s sustaining of faith so that you taste in that hour the preciousness of the presence of each divine Person: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Sermon

Daniel 7:1-3 - In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and , behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.  And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 

Subject: God Is Still In Control

• There is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9
• Nations are trying to overpower one another.
• There was injustice in the old Testament.
• For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
• Christians are under attack from all directions but God is still in control.
• Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8
• Remember, the Kingdom of God is coming, then there will be no more injustices.