1 00:00:00,056 --> 00:00:11,115 Day in and day out, media, news, entertainment, anxieties, fear, finances, broken bodies, all of it is telling us you live in a material world. 2 00:00:11,115 --> 00:00:19,182 You live in a world where having fun matters, having the most fun matters, doing the next thing, you know, it's just this empty, empty, empty world. 3 00:00:19,182 --> 00:00:21,383 And the creed says, no. 4 00:00:21,464 --> 00:00:28,889 The creed militates against that and says, no, you live in a world with Christ at the center. 5 00:00:28,889 --> 00:00:38,906 Where God has died and raised, where you've been filled with his fullness and gathered into a body that has died with him and is rising with him and will rise with him. 6 00:00:38,906 --> 00:00:41,487 You live in this reality, Christian. 7 00:00:41,487 --> 00:00:44,509 So may we increasingly do that. 8 00:00:44,930 --> 00:00:48,512 The following message was recorded at King's Tree Church. 9 00:00:48,512 --> 00:00:57,477 May the Spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. 10 00:00:59,705 --> 00:01:09,160 We will be looking at our second and final message as we work through the Nicene Creed. 11 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:21,206 This seg, these two sermons on the Nicene Creed are kind of the capstone on the series working through the Psalms that we just finished up, because the Psalms concluded with 12 00:01:21,527 --> 00:01:25,829 seeing how God calls his people to confess the truth together. 13 00:01:25,829 --> 00:01:27,930 And so now we move to look at. 14 00:01:27,930 --> 00:01:34,445 One of those confessions that has bound the church together for the majority of her lifespan. 15 00:01:34,445 --> 00:01:37,637 That is the what is called the Nicene Creed. 16 00:01:38,037 --> 00:01:45,262 I'll just read the whole creed for you and you can listen, and then I'll talk about the second half, which is what we're going to be looking at this morning. 17 00:01:46,023 --> 00:01:56,524 But the creed that every Christian since about the middle of the fourth century, 300s, has been believing is this. 18 00:01:56,524 --> 00:02:08,267 I believe in one God, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, 19 00:02:08,267 --> 00:02:20,600 begotten of the Father, before all ages, so before time, this is not a creation within time, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not created, of one essence with the 20 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,521 Father, through whom all things were made. 21 00:02:23,568 --> 00:02:36,158 Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man, he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, 22 00:02:36,158 --> 00:02:42,223 and suffered and was buried, and he rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures. 23 00:02:42,223 --> 00:02:50,599 He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. 24 00:02:50,599 --> 00:02:53,141 His kingdom shall have no end. 25 00:02:53,313 --> 00:03:04,582 And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the creator of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who spoke through the 26 00:03:04,582 --> 00:03:09,485 prophets in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 27 00:03:09,506 --> 00:03:12,769 I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. 28 00:03:12,769 --> 00:03:17,512 I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. 29 00:03:17,552 --> 00:03:18,433 Amen. 30 00:03:18,433 --> 00:03:22,836 So that's what we're going to look at this morning, the second half there, starting with and the Holy Spirit. 31 00:03:23,726 --> 00:03:27,278 Now, you might say, wait a second, we are a Bible church. 32 00:03:27,278 --> 00:03:28,679 We believe the Bible. 33 00:03:28,679 --> 00:03:31,560 We believe this is God's word. 34 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:41,936 So why are we taking two sermons to look at words that men wrote down when we have Scripture in front of us? 35 00:03:41,936 --> 00:03:48,219 And that's an important question because we are a church that believes Scripture to be the inspired word of God. 36 00:03:48,219 --> 00:03:53,102 And this is our authority, the Holy Spirit working through this text. 37 00:03:53,379 --> 00:03:54,480 Is our supreme authority. 38 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,031 So why are we looking to a creed? 39 00:03:57,031 --> 00:03:59,233 Well, two reasons at least. 40 00:03:59,233 --> 00:04:09,339 The first is that this creed safeguards and clarifies the teaching that's found in Scripture. 41 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:15,724 Because every heretic that has ever existed has been able to point to Scripture and say, that's what I believe, right there. 42 00:04:15,724 --> 00:04:17,925 It's a matter of interpretation. 43 00:04:17,966 --> 00:04:21,924 And so the creeds guard the apostolic. 44 00:04:21,924 --> 00:04:29,830 Interpretation, the apostolic teaching, such that the authority that the creed has derives from the text itself. 45 00:04:29,830 --> 00:04:35,824 We confess it to be authoritative because it faithfully interprets what is found here. 46 00:04:35,985 --> 00:04:39,588 So it's not an it's not an authority apart from the text. 47 00:04:39,588 --> 00:04:45,012 It has its authority because it gives the interpretation of what's found in the text. 48 00:04:45,012 --> 00:04:51,787 If it didn't say something found in the text, if it made up something, then we would say, well, that undercuts its own authority. 49 00:04:51,836 --> 00:05:02,771 But it's it guards and clarifies what is found in here so that we can say, here's what I believe, here's what I believe, and know that Scripture is beneath it, supporting it. 50 00:05:03,292 --> 00:05:17,959 Secondly, it's worth our time looking at this creed because for the last 1700 years, this creed has been the core expression of the faith agreed upon by all the different branches 51 00:05:17,959 --> 00:05:18,550 of the church. 52 00:05:18,550 --> 00:05:21,667 Every branch, every every extension. 53 00:05:21,667 --> 00:05:31,465 Of Christianity that still remains Christianity, give or take, some very small corner issues that we're not going to get into right now. 54 00:05:31,465 --> 00:05:37,890 But every expression of Christianity has been able to confess: this is what we believe. 55 00:05:37,890 --> 00:05:38,972 This is what we believe. 56 00:05:38,972 --> 00:05:50,413 So if the church is a river, a broad river, and you have some denominations here and some denominations here, and on the far edges, it turns into this marshland of kind of strange. 57 00:05:50,413 --> 00:05:52,075 Idiosyncratic beliefs. 58 00:05:52,075 --> 00:05:53,696 The church is this river. 59 00:05:53,696 --> 00:06:01,704 The creed, the Nicene Creed, is the deeply carved rut at the center of that river, running through the center. 60 00:06:01,704 --> 00:06:11,122 This is what it means to be at the very center of what we as a church believe, because this has held together the body of Christ. 61 00:06:11,122 --> 00:06:16,016 This has been an expression of what the body of Christ believes from the beginning. 62 00:06:16,763 --> 00:06:28,723 So, for these two reasons, because it safeguards what we find taught in the text and gives the apostolic interpretation of that, and because it has been the center, the center, the 63 00:06:28,723 --> 00:06:35,328 safe center of the church for 1700 years, it's worth spending some time to look at this. 64 00:06:35,328 --> 00:06:36,489 That's why we're looking at this. 65 00:06:36,489 --> 00:06:41,313 Now, last week we looked at what this creed says about the Father and the Son. 66 00:06:41,313 --> 00:06:45,877 This week we're looking at what it says about the Spirit and the Church. 67 00:06:45,877 --> 00:06:46,627 Now, 68 00:06:47,003 --> 00:06:53,638 When this creed was originally composed in Nicaea in 325, it ended with, and the Holy Spirit. 69 00:06:53,638 --> 00:06:56,180 We believe this, this, this, and the Holy Spirit. 70 00:06:56,180 --> 00:07:08,049 And so when it came to the Council of Chalcedon in 381, they said, we want to maintain the teaching of Nicaea because that's the apostolic faith, but we want to fill out our 71 00:07:08,049 --> 00:07:09,210 understanding of the Spirit. 72 00:07:09,210 --> 00:07:13,903 We need to be clearer about what we believe about the Holy Spirit and about. 73 00:07:13,903 --> 00:07:15,553 What the church is in light of the spirit. 74 00:07:15,553 --> 00:07:17,614 So that's what we're going to be looking at today. 75 00:07:17,614 --> 00:07:23,495 Now, one note of historical import that I need to mention here. 76 00:07:23,576 --> 00:07:26,797 The version of the creed that I read for you a few moments ago. 77 00:07:26,797 --> 00:07:31,978 That is the version that would have been originally composed in 381. 78 00:07:31,978 --> 00:07:34,669 We're not going to get super deep in history, but I need to touch on this. 79 00:07:34,669 --> 00:07:35,959 I need to touch on this. 80 00:07:35,959 --> 00:07:39,800 That is the version that would have been originally composed in 381. 81 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,643 And specifically, it talks about the spirit of. 82 00:07:43,643 --> 00:07:45,474 Proceeding from the Father. 83 00:07:45,474 --> 00:07:47,824 It says the Spirit who proceeds from the Father. 84 00:07:47,824 --> 00:08:00,268 And it's getting that from places like John 15, 26, where Jesus says, When the helper comes, who I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the 85 00:08:00,268 --> 00:08:03,138 Father, he will bear witness about me. 86 00:08:03,139 --> 00:08:06,149 So the creed says the Spirit proceeds from the Father. 87 00:08:06,149 --> 00:08:08,540 Now, that was the original text. 88 00:08:08,540 --> 00:08:11,821 A few hundred years later, as there were some new 89 00:08:12,475 --> 00:08:19,769 Heresies arising, and the deity of the Son was brought into question. 90 00:08:20,029 --> 00:08:21,860 A text, a part was added to the creed. 91 00:08:21,860 --> 00:08:25,052 The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. 92 00:08:25,052 --> 00:08:28,894 And that was primarily to safeguard the Son is fully God. 93 00:08:28,894 --> 00:08:33,577 The Son is fully God, so much so the Spirit proceeds from him as it does from the Father. 94 00:08:33,577 --> 00:08:35,057 So that was added later. 95 00:08:35,057 --> 00:08:42,007 That's there's there's legitimacy to that, and you'll read the creed with that added to it: the Father and the Son. 96 00:08:42,007 --> 00:08:47,310 And there's no issue with that, but I'm giving you the old version, the original version. 97 00:08:47,310 --> 00:08:48,241 So just know that. 98 00:08:48,241 --> 00:08:55,165 If you see it with and the son, just realize, okay, this version incorporates that addition that was made a few hundred years later. 99 00:08:55,165 --> 00:09:03,279 If you see it just the spirit proceeds from the Father, okay, this is the old version from that original, the original writing in 381. 100 00:09:03,279 --> 00:09:04,590 You say, okay, what is that all? 101 00:09:04,590 --> 00:09:10,117 I just want to give you that clarity because as you dig into this, you might find it differently and you think, what's going on? 102 00:09:10,117 --> 00:09:12,598 I want to give you that little historical note. 103 00:09:12,598 --> 00:09:15,359 More could be said, a lot more has been said about that. 104 00:09:15,359 --> 00:09:18,138 But for now, that's what I'm going to leave it at. 105 00:09:18,138 --> 00:09:22,801 Okay, with that said, let's look at Acts 238. 106 00:09:22,801 --> 00:09:35,675 This is going to be one of our kind of main texts today, because what Peter says in Acts 238, I think you'll see the creed is drawing from this in the way it talks about the 107 00:09:35,675 --> 00:09:37,635 section we're looking at today. 108 00:09:38,161 --> 00:09:42,864 So here's what Peter says in Acts 2, 38. 109 00:09:43,245 --> 00:09:45,367 He's just proclaimed the risen Christ. 110 00:09:45,367 --> 00:09:47,749 The Holy Spirit has just come in Pentecost. 111 00:09:47,749 --> 00:09:53,133 So we are we are in a Holy Spirit register, like this, this is dealing with the Spirit. 112 00:09:53,253 --> 00:09:57,977 The Spirit has just come upon them, and the people say, What can we do? 113 00:09:57,997 --> 00:10:08,125 And Peter responds and he says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. 114 00:10:08,195 --> 00:10:13,110 And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 115 00:10:13,311 --> 00:10:21,051 Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 116 00:10:21,051 --> 00:10:26,758 Let me pray, and then we'll look at how the creed interweaves with this and what it means for us today. 117 00:10:26,758 --> 00:10:28,109 Let me pray first. 118 00:10:29,718 --> 00:10:42,206 So, Father, this very same Holy Spirit, of whom the Creed speaks, of whom Peter speaks here, who is living and present with us now, we pray for the Spirit to be at work this 119 00:10:42,206 --> 00:10:53,133 morning, to guard, to clarify, to empower, and to enable this time, Lord, upstairs now and downstairs as the children are being taught. 120 00:10:53,233 --> 00:10:59,157 Lord, to be a time where you are at work, where you are doing work in the lives of your people. 121 00:10:59,157 --> 00:11:12,663 Come as fire falling upon kindling that turns it into something that gives light and heat, come by the Spirit and fall upon this time together, that these words, these little human 122 00:11:12,663 --> 00:11:26,088 words I speak, would be made carriers of the working of your Holy Spirit in the lives of your people as Christ is lifted up, as we are drawn to him, and as we are united together 123 00:11:26,088 --> 00:11:26,858 in one body. 124 00:11:26,858 --> 00:11:28,849 Help us, Father, we look to you. 125 00:11:29,075 --> 00:11:31,767 And we pray these things in Jesus' name. 126 00:11:31,827 --> 00:11:32,828 Amen. 127 00:11:33,289 --> 00:11:39,283 Now, you can perhaps hear the similarity between the creed and the passage that I just read. 128 00:11:39,283 --> 00:11:48,781 The creed says, we believe in the Holy Spirit, and then in one holy church, and we confess the baptism for forgiveness of sins. 129 00:11:48,901 --> 00:11:57,148 And what Peter says here is repent, be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. 130 00:11:57,148 --> 00:11:58,609 So baptism, forgiveness, 131 00:11:58,609 --> 00:12:04,511 Spirit, it's all it's all intertwined in this text in Acts and in the Creed. 132 00:12:04,511 --> 00:12:12,483 Now, what I want to do for us is to first ask, how does Scripture, how does Acts present the Holy Spirit here? 133 00:12:12,483 --> 00:12:15,974 Because this is like when the Spirit shows up, Pentecost. 134 00:12:15,974 --> 00:12:21,155 When the Spirit shows up, how does the scripture present the Spirit here? 135 00:12:21,155 --> 00:12:27,167 And then we'll move to say, and how does the creed emphasize or sharpen or clarify that? 136 00:12:27,167 --> 00:12:33,839 So first we're gonna look at the text, then we'll move to the creed, specifically right now asking this question about the spirit. 137 00:12:33,839 --> 00:12:38,700 We'll move to the one church and baptism and resurrection briefly after that. 138 00:12:38,700 --> 00:12:43,402 But let's ask ourselves: what is what does Acts here tell us about the Spirit? 139 00:12:43,402 --> 00:12:49,283 Well, in Acts 2:38, which I just read, Peter says the spirit is a gift. 140 00:12:49,283 --> 00:12:49,854 Do you see that? 141 00:12:49,854 --> 00:12:55,425 You will see, you will receive the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift. 142 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:56,370 Of the Holy Spirit. 143 00:12:56,370 --> 00:13:03,326 Be baptized in the name of Jesus, forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 144 00:13:03,326 --> 00:13:05,798 So the Holy Spirit's presented as a gift there. 145 00:13:05,798 --> 00:13:13,685 And then earlier in verses 32 and 33, the Holy Spirit is presented as a promise. 146 00:13:13,765 --> 00:13:22,515 Peter says this: Jesus raised, this Jesus, God raised up, and all of us are witnesses of this. 147 00:13:22,515 --> 00:13:36,191 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing. 148 00:13:36,191 --> 00:13:38,852 So the Spirit is there called a promise. 149 00:13:38,852 --> 00:13:46,775 Jesus being raised from the dead receives the promise of the Spirit and then pours the Spirit as a gift upon his people. 150 00:13:46,775 --> 00:13:51,537 So the Spirit is a promise received by Jesus and a gift. 151 00:13:51,603 --> 00:13:52,673 Given to the church. 152 00:13:52,673 --> 00:13:56,976 I want to look at those two things, starting with the idea of a promise. 153 00:13:56,997 --> 00:14:10,085 It says there that this Jesus being raised from the dead, verse 33 of Acts chapter 2, having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured it out. 154 00:14:10,646 --> 00:14:20,803 So the Spirit is a promise received by Christ before anyone else receives the Holy Spirit, before the church receives the Holy Spirit, Jesus receives the Spirit. 155 00:14:20,825 --> 00:14:26,030 Jesus is the one who inherits the promise of the Holy Spirit. 156 00:14:26,030 --> 00:14:30,032 And the church receives the Spirit secondarily. 157 00:14:30,453 --> 00:14:34,897 Christ is the one faithful human being. 158 00:14:34,977 --> 00:14:40,942 Jesus is the one faithful covenant servant, the only one. 159 00:14:40,942 --> 00:14:43,104 Every other one falls by the wayside. 160 00:14:43,104 --> 00:14:46,027 Jesus is the true human being. 161 00:14:46,027 --> 00:14:49,033 And as the true human being raised up from the dead, 162 00:14:49,033 --> 00:14:56,496 Having achieved all things, he alone receives the promises that were given throughout the whole Old Testament. 163 00:14:56,496 --> 00:15:04,299 He is the offspring, the offspring of Abraham, who receives the promises that were given through the Old Testament. 164 00:15:04,299 --> 00:15:05,780 Jesus is. 165 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:15,084 And ultimately, every promise is summed up in this one phrase that you've heard before: I will be their God, they will be my people. 166 00:15:15,084 --> 00:15:18,895 That's the if you want to boil down what's the promise of the Old Testament? 167 00:15:19,069 --> 00:15:21,051 I will be their God. 168 00:15:21,051 --> 00:15:23,072 They will be my people. 169 00:15:23,072 --> 00:15:28,266 And Jesus receives the fullness of that promise when he's raised from the dead. 170 00:15:28,266 --> 00:15:32,078 He inherits that promise fulfilled. 171 00:15:32,078 --> 00:15:37,442 And at the center of that promise, this promise that God will dwell with his people. 172 00:15:37,442 --> 00:15:41,845 God will gather the nations into his presence. 173 00:15:41,945 --> 00:15:44,367 God will be with his people. 174 00:15:44,367 --> 00:15:47,769 At the center of that promise is the Holy Spirit. 175 00:15:47,847 --> 00:15:48,607 Is the Holy Spirit. 176 00:15:48,607 --> 00:15:54,279 Let me read for you Acts, or I'm sorry, Ezekiel 36, which says this. 177 00:15:54,939 --> 00:15:56,920 Ezekiel 36, verse 27. 178 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:01,181 This is looking forward to the new covenant, the time the promises are fulfilled. 179 00:16:01,741 --> 00:16:09,223 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 180 00:16:09,223 --> 00:16:17,295 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 181 00:16:17,309 --> 00:16:18,919 I will give you a new spirit. 182 00:16:18,919 --> 00:16:20,850 My spirit I will put within you. 183 00:16:20,850 --> 00:16:26,792 I'll bring you into my place, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. 184 00:16:26,792 --> 00:16:39,045 That shouldn't be surprising to us, because if the promise is ultimately, I will be with you, my presence will be with you, and the Holy Spirit is the presence of God, then of 185 00:16:39,045 --> 00:16:45,797 course the coming of the Spirit, the receiving of the Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise that God will be with us. 186 00:16:46,323 --> 00:16:55,876 When God sends his spirit to be in Christ, and then through Christ to his people, that's the fulfillment of the promise of his presence. 187 00:16:55,876 --> 00:16:58,756 The spirit is his presence. 188 00:16:58,756 --> 00:17:02,838 And so where the spirit is present, God, the promise is fulfilled. 189 00:17:02,838 --> 00:17:06,348 I am with you, you are mine, and I am yours. 190 00:17:06,348 --> 00:17:16,121 So Jesus being raised up from the dead enters into the inheritance promised to God's people throughout the Old Testament. 191 00:17:16,349 --> 00:17:25,073 God dwelling with him by the Holy Spirit, and he, the one true people of God in relationship to God. 192 00:17:25,073 --> 00:17:28,274 Now I'm speaking about Jesus here as a man, okay? 193 00:17:28,274 --> 00:17:35,077 Of course, as God, as the Son of God, eternally the Spirit is Christ's. 194 00:17:35,077 --> 00:17:39,198 He is eternally in the single relationship of Father, Son, and Spirit. 195 00:17:39,198 --> 00:17:45,759 But as the man, the covenant servant, Jesus Christ, as the man. 196 00:17:45,759 --> 00:17:54,215 Who's raised up from the dead, he enters into the inheritance of God's presence through the promised Holy Spirit. 197 00:17:54,215 --> 00:18:07,744 As the risen Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the King, the Messiah, he rises from the dead and says, Now I have inherited every promise ever made to God's people. 198 00:18:07,744 --> 00:18:15,119 And the fullness of all those promises is the very Spirit and presence of God given to him. 199 00:18:15,399 --> 00:18:20,110 And he receiving that promise pours it out on his church. 200 00:18:20,330 --> 00:18:25,652 Now, an image to help you with this is think of a man who inherits an estate. 201 00:18:25,812 --> 00:18:28,873 It's his, he inherits the estate. 202 00:18:28,893 --> 00:18:34,154 But now that he's inherited it, he can invite his friends to come be part of it. 203 00:18:34,154 --> 00:18:40,516 Because of their relationship to him, they can come enjoy the estate that is his estate. 204 00:18:40,936 --> 00:18:44,893 Similarly, Christ inherits the spirit. 205 00:18:44,893 --> 00:18:52,135 As the man Jesus Christ raised from the dead, he inherits the promise of the Holy Spirit. 206 00:18:52,135 --> 00:18:53,455 He does. 207 00:18:53,735 --> 00:18:58,397 Then we get to come into that promise through relationship to him. 208 00:18:58,417 --> 00:18:59,877 We get to enter that promise. 209 00:18:59,877 --> 00:19:08,199 Just like you say, hey, my friend inherited this awesome lakeside estate, and he's invited me to go there this week, and I can enjoy it because he's my friend. 210 00:19:08,259 --> 00:19:14,321 So too, we say, Jesus Christ has inherited the Spirit of God and 211 00:19:14,321 --> 00:19:16,683 I can be filled with the Spirit. 212 00:19:16,683 --> 00:19:19,445 I can enter into the Spirit is in me as well. 213 00:19:19,445 --> 00:19:27,230 I can receive the gift of the Spirit because of my union to Christ, because of my relationship to Christ. 214 00:19:27,570 --> 00:19:35,255 So the Spirit is the promise that Jesus, as the risen man, who is also God, inherits. 215 00:19:35,476 --> 00:19:37,757 Now that leads directly into the second part. 216 00:19:37,757 --> 00:19:43,686 The Spirit, as the promise that Jesus inherits, the Spirit is the gift that Jesus gives. 217 00:19:43,686 --> 00:19:48,258 To his church, the gift that Jesus pours out on his church. 218 00:19:48,258 --> 00:19:53,040 And again, Acts 2, 38, Peter says, they say, what should we do? 219 00:19:53,040 --> 00:20:04,355 He says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive with that baptism the gift of the Holy 220 00:20:04,355 --> 00:20:05,345 Spirit. 221 00:20:05,405 --> 00:20:11,770 So the Holy Spirit is the gift that God in Christ gives to us, to us. 222 00:20:11,770 --> 00:20:14,942 Now just pause and think about that gift language for a second. 223 00:20:14,942 --> 00:20:17,164 Think about gifts that you give. 224 00:20:17,164 --> 00:20:27,330 When you give a gift to someone on their birthday or for an anniversary, or think about a really big gift, like a the gift that a father gives to his daughter and son-in-law on the 225 00:20:27,330 --> 00:20:28,611 day of their wedding. 226 00:20:28,611 --> 00:20:32,854 Those gifts are they're something we care about. 227 00:20:32,854 --> 00:20:36,427 If you give a gift like that, you're thinking they're going to appreciate this. 228 00:20:36,427 --> 00:20:37,537 This is valuable. 229 00:20:37,537 --> 00:20:38,678 This is good. 230 00:20:38,678 --> 00:20:41,840 We don't, like Jesus says, we don't give coal. 231 00:20:41,872 --> 00:20:44,433 We don't give worthless things. 232 00:20:44,433 --> 00:20:52,075 When you give a gift, especially in a significant moment, you're giving a gift that is good, that you say, This is valuable. 233 00:20:52,075 --> 00:20:53,875 Receive this gift. 234 00:20:54,035 --> 00:21:09,960 Now, if that's true for humans, how much more if the Holy Spirit is the gift that the supreme gift giver, the best gift giver, gives on the greatest of all occasions? 235 00:21:10,180 --> 00:21:11,044 The death 236 00:21:11,044 --> 00:21:23,659 Resurrection, the death, burial, resurrection, and enthronement of Jesus Christ envisioned as one event, the greatest event, the best gift giver in light of this event, gives a 237 00:21:23,659 --> 00:21:24,649 gift. 238 00:21:24,870 --> 00:21:28,151 Do you think that gift will be valuable? 239 00:21:28,151 --> 00:21:31,513 Do you think that that gift will be life-changing? 240 00:21:31,513 --> 00:21:40,118 It will be awesome if you give a good gift, if I try to give a good gift, if your parents have given you good gifts. 241 00:21:40,118 --> 00:21:45,692 Infinitely more, this gift is an awesome thing. 242 00:21:45,692 --> 00:21:50,395 God says, What can I give at this moment? 243 00:21:50,415 --> 00:21:53,157 The Spirit, which is his whole self, of course. 244 00:21:53,157 --> 00:21:54,078 We'll get to that in a moment. 245 00:21:54,078 --> 00:21:55,538 The Spirit is God. 246 00:21:55,679 --> 00:22:01,683 So all this to say, do not think the gift of the Spirit is ho-hum. 247 00:22:01,683 --> 00:22:02,904 All right, okay. 248 00:22:02,904 --> 00:22:09,748 Well, it helps me, and I feel warmer during a worship song, or maybe I feel like I shouldn't do this, or I should do this. 249 00:22:10,620 --> 00:22:21,425 The Spirit does stuff like that, but the Holy Spirit is the gift of God Himself given to us at the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 250 00:22:21,425 --> 00:22:25,207 This is the fullness of God's life given to us. 251 00:22:25,207 --> 00:22:34,691 God opens the storehouses and gives us the best gift imaginable, Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. 252 00:22:34,691 --> 00:22:36,911 And you've received that. 253 00:22:36,971 --> 00:22:38,762 I've received that. 254 00:22:39,196 --> 00:22:47,157 And we don't want to be like the couple whose parents gave them a beach home for Chris for their for their wedding, and they just never go there. 255 00:22:47,157 --> 00:22:49,159 They don't even they don't even remember they have it. 256 00:22:49,159 --> 00:22:50,920 They don't even, they don't think about it. 257 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,881 And they're they're there freezing up in Minnesota, perhaps. 258 00:22:53,881 --> 00:22:59,862 And they don't even think we could go to the beach home our parents gave us, or they've got this place. 259 00:23:00,223 --> 00:23:01,763 Let's not be that way. 260 00:23:01,763 --> 00:23:05,664 God has given the gift of the Spirit. 261 00:23:05,742 --> 00:23:15,300 And may we all together and individually desire, Father, everything this is, everything this is, I want to receive. 262 00:23:15,300 --> 00:23:18,322 Everything you have given us in the Spirit. 263 00:23:18,322 --> 00:23:19,383 Let us be aware of it. 264 00:23:19,383 --> 00:23:21,805 Let us be sensitive to us to it. 265 00:23:21,805 --> 00:23:23,727 Let us be receptive to it. 266 00:23:23,727 --> 00:23:27,149 And let us know the fullness of this awesome gift. 267 00:23:27,149 --> 00:23:35,534 Because the gift is the promise Christ has received, or the spirit is the promise Christ has received, the spirit is the gift Christ has given. 268 00:23:35,534 --> 00:23:40,567 And then the creed helps us to see, moving to the second part, the spirit is God Himself. 269 00:23:40,788 --> 00:23:46,572 This isn't just a force, an idea, a religious feeling. 270 00:23:46,572 --> 00:23:53,637 The Spirit who Christ has received by his resurrection and poured out from the throne is God. 271 00:23:53,757 --> 00:23:55,138 The Spirit is God. 272 00:23:55,138 --> 00:23:56,479 The creed clarifies that. 273 00:23:56,479 --> 00:24:00,612 We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the creator of life. 274 00:24:00,612 --> 00:24:02,123 This is the gift you've been given. 275 00:24:02,123 --> 00:24:03,888 He is the gift you've been given. 276 00:24:03,888 --> 00:24:14,014 Who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets. 277 00:24:14,274 --> 00:24:18,076 So the creed clarifies for us: the Holy Spirit is God. 278 00:24:18,076 --> 00:24:19,557 Don't be deceived. 279 00:24:19,557 --> 00:24:23,219 The Holy Spirit is God Himself. 280 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,762 And we see that not just there in the Creed, but in Scripture. 281 00:24:26,762 --> 00:24:31,524 The Spirit is explicitly called the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3:7. 282 00:24:31,696 --> 00:24:40,400 The Spirit is the maker and giver of life in Genesis 1 2 and Ezekiel 37, where he's the breath that brings the dead to life. 283 00:24:40,641 --> 00:24:43,983 The Spirit is omnipresent in Psalm 139. 284 00:24:43,983 --> 00:24:45,383 Where shall I go from your spirit? 285 00:24:45,383 --> 00:24:48,085 Where shall I hide from your presence? 286 00:24:48,385 --> 00:24:54,689 And the Spirit is presented indivisibly with God in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 287 00:24:54,689 --> 00:24:57,060 Let me read this one for you, just so you can see this. 288 00:24:57,060 --> 00:25:01,442 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 10 through 11. 289 00:25:01,932 --> 00:25:07,335 These things, speaking of the gospel, God has revealed to us through the Spirit. 290 00:25:07,355 --> 00:25:11,697 For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 291 00:25:11,697 --> 00:25:17,120 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? 292 00:25:17,541 --> 00:25:23,844 So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 293 00:25:24,565 --> 00:25:26,966 What's being said there is, think about your own spirit. 294 00:25:26,966 --> 00:25:28,387 How do you even define that? 295 00:25:28,387 --> 00:25:31,338 It's hard to define, but we all know there's something there. 296 00:25:31,504 --> 00:25:32,944 There's your spirit. 297 00:25:32,965 --> 00:25:35,325 If your spirit is gone, you're dead. 298 00:25:35,346 --> 00:25:37,466 Your spirit is not divisible from you. 299 00:25:37,466 --> 00:25:42,829 Your spirit is indivisible from you in a mysterious way, but we all get that. 300 00:25:42,829 --> 00:25:50,632 And Paul here says the spirit, the Holy Spirit, is the spirit of God, indivisible from God. 301 00:25:50,632 --> 00:25:52,673 You can't separate him out. 302 00:25:52,673 --> 00:25:56,014 If God is God, the Spirit of God is God. 303 00:25:56,014 --> 00:26:01,136 And so the creed, without getting into all these specifics, so it's good to know them. 304 00:26:01,136 --> 00:26:05,177 The creed helps us remember the Holy Spirit is God. 305 00:26:05,177 --> 00:26:07,118 Let's not be confused on that point. 306 00:26:07,118 --> 00:26:09,578 Let's not think he's a force or an idea. 307 00:26:09,578 --> 00:26:11,219 He is God. 308 00:26:11,219 --> 00:26:23,102 If he's called God in Scripture, he's called what God is called, he does what God does, he's indivisible from God, then he is to be worshipped as God because he himself is God. 309 00:26:23,382 --> 00:26:29,224 And the creed clarifies this and sets it before our eyes, reminding us you believe this. 310 00:26:29,224 --> 00:26:30,458 You believe this. 311 00:26:30,458 --> 00:26:31,789 Don't stray from this. 312 00:26:31,789 --> 00:26:44,335 And then what we looked at in Acts would emphasize that and say, and this one who is God, our Savior has received fully, as a man, the man, Christ Jesus, has received fully the 313 00:26:44,335 --> 00:26:49,238 gift of the Spirit and given him to us. 314 00:26:49,318 --> 00:26:51,439 Given him to us. 315 00:26:51,519 --> 00:27:00,474 The second thing that the creed implies about the Spirit is that the Spirit is the union between the head, Christ, and the body, the church. 316 00:27:00,890 --> 00:27:07,525 Now it implies that in the creed because it moves straight from I believe in the Holy Spirit to I believe in the church. 317 00:27:07,525 --> 00:27:10,066 You're like, well, what's the connection there? 318 00:27:10,127 --> 00:27:14,170 But we see that connection clearly in Scripture. 319 00:27:14,170 --> 00:27:20,635 Let me read for you Ephesians chapter two, where this is made more clear. 320 00:27:20,635 --> 00:27:24,838 Ephesians chapter two, verses twenty and following says this. 321 00:27:24,838 --> 00:27:28,132 em 322 00:27:28,132 --> 00:27:39,950 church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a 323 00:27:39,950 --> 00:27:42,302 holy temple in the Lord. 324 00:27:42,302 --> 00:27:49,727 In him, in Christ, you are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 325 00:27:49,827 --> 00:27:53,970 The Spirit unites the church around Christ. 326 00:27:53,970 --> 00:27:57,242 The Spirit unites the church in Christ. 327 00:27:57,328 --> 00:28:02,430 The spirit is the one who unifies the one body of Christ. 328 00:28:02,430 --> 00:28:06,782 And so it's it makes sense that the creed moves from the spirit to the church. 329 00:28:06,782 --> 00:28:08,993 So let's take that same step with it. 330 00:28:08,993 --> 00:28:13,555 Moving from, okay, the Holy Spirit, who is God, the promise, and the gift. 331 00:28:13,655 --> 00:28:22,398 Now let's consider the church, whom this spirit creates, unites together, binds together. 332 00:28:22,959 --> 00:28:26,520 Just like in a similar way, not exactly, but in a similar way. 333 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:42,107 As a human body is moved and empowered and given life by the human spirit within it, so too the church is moved and empowered and given life by the Holy Spirit within it. 334 00:28:42,107 --> 00:28:44,307 It's not a one-to-one, but it's similar. 335 00:28:44,307 --> 00:28:52,891 Your body, the spirit, keeps it alive, holds it your whole, your own spirit, your human spirit is in it, uniting it, keeping it alive. 336 00:28:52,911 --> 00:28:55,832 The body of Christ, the Holy Spirit. 337 00:28:55,832 --> 00:28:58,253 Is doing that same kind of work. 338 00:28:58,253 --> 00:29:01,454 You get this idea in Ephesians 4. 339 00:29:01,454 --> 00:29:09,257 Peter or Paul says, be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 340 00:29:09,318 --> 00:29:14,040 The unity we have, Christian, is a unity in the Spirit. 341 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:20,542 The Spirit is who unites us around Christ, a personal unity. 342 00:29:20,542 --> 00:29:22,743 Maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 343 00:29:22,743 --> 00:29:25,286 There is one body, one spirit. 344 00:29:25,286 --> 00:29:35,523 Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all. 345 00:29:35,523 --> 00:29:46,250 And so when the creed says, I believe in one holy Catholic apostolic church, it's not saying there's a particular institutional church that is the church. 346 00:29:46,310 --> 00:29:48,792 Catholic, remember, means universal. 347 00:29:49,092 --> 00:29:54,916 When the creed says that, what it's meaning is, just as there is one spirit. 348 00:29:54,916 --> 00:30:04,803 And one Lord, so too all those who have confessed Christ by that one Spirit and confess that one Lord are in one body. 349 00:30:04,803 --> 00:30:05,463 That's the idea. 350 00:30:05,463 --> 00:30:14,629 We're confessing there is a there is a oneness, there is a unity around Christ, and that unity is worked by the Spirit. 351 00:30:15,110 --> 00:30:18,412 And that's who the He's the one who holds us together. 352 00:30:18,412 --> 00:30:24,644 Now, we could say so much more about the oneness of the church and where the edges of the church are. 353 00:30:24,644 --> 00:30:26,506 Why are Mormons not Christians? 354 00:30:26,506 --> 00:30:28,006 Because they're not. 355 00:30:28,147 --> 00:30:31,850 And the this creed actually explains why they're not. 356 00:30:31,850 --> 00:30:36,745 I'm not going to be able to get into all that today, but this is not just academic stuff out there. 357 00:30:36,745 --> 00:30:40,238 This is like when a Mormon comes to your door and says, Hi, I'm a Christian just like you. 358 00:30:40,238 --> 00:30:52,508 You can say, ah, no, you're not, because of what we find in the creed and because of the one spirit who binds us into one church around the one Jesus Christ. 359 00:30:53,102 --> 00:30:54,393 More about that another time. 360 00:30:54,393 --> 00:30:56,343 Come to any of the pastors we can talk to about that. 361 00:30:56,343 --> 00:30:57,074 But let's move on. 362 00:30:57,074 --> 00:30:58,214 Let's move on. 363 00:30:58,755 --> 00:31:03,917 The creed then moves from the spirit to the church to baptism. 364 00:31:03,917 --> 00:31:04,357 Why? 365 00:31:04,357 --> 00:31:06,518 Why does it then move into baptism? 366 00:31:06,598 --> 00:31:14,181 Well, this shouldn't really be a surprise because Paul includes baptism right here in this same text in Ephesians 4. 367 00:31:14,181 --> 00:31:18,383 When you ask the apostle Paul, tell me about the oneness of the church. 368 00:31:18,503 --> 00:31:21,124 Tell me about the unity of the church. 369 00:31:21,456 --> 00:31:37,067 The Apostle Paul thinks this: well, unity in the Holy Spirit, one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. 370 00:31:37,067 --> 00:31:48,354 So the Apostle Paul, working by the Holy Spirit, puts baptism together with this idea of the unity and the oneness of the church. 371 00:31:48,454 --> 00:31:49,635 So why would this be? 372 00:31:49,635 --> 00:31:51,456 Why is baptism in here? 373 00:31:51,856 --> 00:31:53,517 Three things, I think, at least. 374 00:31:53,517 --> 00:32:00,049 One is that from the very beginning, baptism has been understood to be the moment that someone receives the Holy Spirit. 375 00:32:00,049 --> 00:32:02,420 Now you're gonna say, wait a second, wait a second. 376 00:32:02,420 --> 00:32:05,271 In Acts they receive the Holy Spirit, not being baptized. 377 00:32:05,271 --> 00:32:05,882 That's right. 378 00:32:05,882 --> 00:32:06,422 That's right. 379 00:32:06,422 --> 00:32:07,782 It is possible. 380 00:32:07,782 --> 00:32:09,083 It's possible. 381 00:32:09,143 --> 00:32:20,688 But in general, baptism is understood to be the time where one receives the Holy Spirit, is born into the body of Christ, and receives the Holy Spirit. 382 00:32:20,688 --> 00:32:21,988 That's what we see. 383 00:32:22,028 --> 00:32:23,889 In general, in the New Testament. 384 00:32:23,889 --> 00:32:33,363 Now, this does not mean, hear me very clearly, this does not mean you can't have the Spirit and you can't be saved unless you're baptized. 385 00:32:33,363 --> 00:32:34,713 That's not what it means. 386 00:32:34,713 --> 00:32:44,357 But it does mean that in the natural order of things, union to Christ and receiving the Spirit comes through baptism. 387 00:32:44,598 --> 00:32:46,018 Now, think of a birth. 388 00:32:46,018 --> 00:32:47,318 Think of a birth. 389 00:32:47,659 --> 00:32:50,736 A child is conceived in the womb, they are alive. 390 00:32:50,736 --> 00:32:52,437 They're alive in the womb. 391 00:32:52,857 --> 00:32:58,440 They're receiving the benefits of oxygen in the womb through the mother's blood. 392 00:32:58,661 --> 00:33:07,406 But the time comes when they're born from the womb, and now they're living in the world and breathing air into their own lungs. 393 00:33:07,626 --> 00:33:10,438 There's something, and sometimes they're not born naturally. 394 00:33:10,438 --> 00:33:13,149 Sometimes you need a C-section, and it's an unnatural birth. 395 00:33:13,149 --> 00:33:16,091 It's not the way you'd expect, but they're still born. 396 00:33:17,032 --> 00:33:17,932 Similarly, 397 00:33:17,932 --> 00:33:29,482 Yes, you can be alive, truly alive in Christ by faith before baptism, benefiting from the working of the Spirit, just like the baby benefits from the oxygenation of the mother's 398 00:33:29,482 --> 00:33:32,564 breathing before baptism. 399 00:33:32,564 --> 00:33:42,272 But baptism is presented as the moment of birth, the moment of birth into the life of the church and into the receiving of the Spirit. 400 00:33:42,272 --> 00:33:44,094 That's just what Peter says, isn't it? 401 00:33:44,094 --> 00:33:47,266 Baptized, and you will receive the gift of 402 00:33:47,266 --> 00:33:48,737 Of the Spirit. 403 00:33:49,217 --> 00:34:01,844 So, baptism is presented as the moment we're born into the church in a unique way, and we receive the Spirit in a unique way, even though there are plenty of things, plenty of 404 00:34:01,844 --> 00:34:04,946 times where it doesn't work that neat and clean. 405 00:34:04,946 --> 00:34:06,807 God is not bound by this. 406 00:34:06,807 --> 00:34:08,848 God is not, his hands are not tied. 407 00:34:08,848 --> 00:34:11,910 He gives the spirit and he gives salvation where he will. 408 00:34:11,910 --> 00:34:16,052 But this is the natural way that it's presented to be in Scripture. 409 00:34:16,052 --> 00:34:16,506 Now, 410 00:34:16,506 --> 00:34:24,376 The second thing is, as part of being born into the church, baptism is associated with forgiveness of sins. 411 00:34:24,376 --> 00:34:31,530 And this can make us a little nervous because we say, listen, we're forgiven by faith when we trust Jesus for forgiveness of sins. 412 00:34:31,530 --> 00:34:33,141 That's right, that's right. 413 00:34:33,221 --> 00:34:35,521 But baptism is tied to that. 414 00:34:35,521 --> 00:34:37,622 Baptism is the sign of that. 415 00:34:37,622 --> 00:34:40,683 Baptism is the seal of that. 416 00:34:40,683 --> 00:34:44,324 And again, just what does Peter say there in Acts? 417 00:34:44,324 --> 00:34:45,424 Repent. 418 00:34:45,594 --> 00:34:51,486 Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. 419 00:34:51,987 --> 00:34:54,788 So to be baptized, think about what it is. 420 00:34:54,968 --> 00:34:59,750 To be baptized is to be declared you are in Christ. 421 00:35:00,170 --> 00:35:04,572 That's what's being declared by the authority of God upon baptism. 422 00:35:04,572 --> 00:35:07,493 Can you be in Christ by faith apart from baptism? 423 00:35:07,493 --> 00:35:08,474 Yes. 424 00:35:08,554 --> 00:35:09,574 We see that. 425 00:35:09,574 --> 00:35:12,556 Thief on the cross, we always point to the thief on the cross, but that's true. 426 00:35:12,556 --> 00:35:14,016 And God can do that. 427 00:35:14,268 --> 00:35:17,551 Can sins be forgiven by repentance and faith apart from baptism? 428 00:35:17,551 --> 00:35:18,551 Yes. 429 00:35:18,812 --> 00:35:27,679 But baptism divinely declares you are in Christ and your sins are washed away. 430 00:35:27,679 --> 00:35:32,103 And that divine declaration is a gift to God's people. 431 00:35:32,103 --> 00:35:38,027 Why in the world would we say, I'm a Christian, but I don't want to be baptized? 432 00:35:38,048 --> 00:35:43,322 Why in the world would we say, you know, I'm alive in Christ, but I'm not going to. 433 00:35:43,322 --> 00:35:44,923 Be baptized into Christ. 434 00:35:44,923 --> 00:35:48,386 I'm not going to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. 435 00:35:48,386 --> 00:35:50,578 It's like a baby in the womb that is alive. 436 00:35:50,578 --> 00:35:54,941 Nobody's saying she's not alive, but she's saying, I don't want to be born. 437 00:35:54,941 --> 00:35:56,472 I don't want to come out there. 438 00:35:56,472 --> 00:35:58,384 I'm going to stay in the womb. 439 00:35:58,384 --> 00:36:05,810 No, if you're a Christian, it is right and good and simply obedient to be baptized. 440 00:36:05,810 --> 00:36:07,071 To be baptized. 441 00:36:07,071 --> 00:36:13,274 So if you're trusting Christ, be baptized into Christ and receive baptized. 442 00:36:13,274 --> 00:36:15,816 The fullness of this gift that the Lord has for his people. 443 00:36:15,816 --> 00:36:17,486 It's like a wedding ceremony. 444 00:36:18,107 --> 00:36:23,421 You can get married by filling out a form, getting something mailed to you, and you're like, okay, great, we're married. 445 00:36:23,421 --> 00:36:24,932 Okay, it's possible. 446 00:36:24,992 --> 00:36:29,644 But the wedding ceremony is an anchor in the relationship of the couple. 447 00:36:29,644 --> 00:36:31,346 It's an anchor that they look back to. 448 00:36:31,346 --> 00:36:41,423 They remember the vows, they remember the moment they received the affirmation of their family, and a real change was effected in them through that ceremony. 449 00:36:41,423 --> 00:36:42,944 It's not just nothing. 450 00:36:43,246 --> 00:36:52,198 And so too, Christian, baptism is an anchor in your life where the Spirit declared through the church, you are in Christ. 451 00:36:52,218 --> 00:36:54,139 So go back to remember that. 452 00:36:54,139 --> 00:36:54,859 Remember that. 453 00:36:54,859 --> 00:36:56,159 Hold to that. 454 00:36:56,159 --> 00:36:57,169 You're in Christ. 455 00:36:57,169 --> 00:36:58,200 Your sin is forgiven. 456 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,580 You were baptized, and that means something. 457 00:37:01,580 --> 00:37:08,642 Not because someone in a fancy suit said it might mean something, because the scriptures say it means something. 458 00:37:08,962 --> 00:37:13,061 And as a side note, there is no category in the New Testament. 459 00:37:13,061 --> 00:37:16,713 For someone who is in Christ and is not baptized. 460 00:37:16,713 --> 00:37:18,214 That doesn't mean it's not possible. 461 00:37:18,214 --> 00:37:19,975 Again, we see the thief on the cross. 462 00:37:19,975 --> 00:37:21,997 It just means it's not the norm. 463 00:37:21,997 --> 00:37:23,417 It's not the norm. 464 00:37:23,538 --> 00:37:27,980 So if you are in Christ, if you're trusting Christ, be baptized. 465 00:37:27,980 --> 00:37:32,363 Be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 466 00:37:32,363 --> 00:37:37,847 That's why baptism is included in Ephesians 4 as part of the unity that the Spirit creates. 467 00:37:37,847 --> 00:37:40,494 That's why baptism is in the creed. 468 00:37:40,494 --> 00:37:54,990 As part of what we believe as Christians, because those in the one body of the one Christ by the one spirit have also received the one baptism in the name of the one triune God. 469 00:37:55,230 --> 00:38:02,253 Then let's move then very quickly to conclude, because the creed says the Spirit, the Spirit is God. 470 00:38:02,293 --> 00:38:08,528 Then we confess the one church who is created by the union of that, that Spirit, uniting us around Christ. 471 00:38:08,528 --> 00:38:15,733 Then we confess one baptism, which is the way that spirit is uniquely given to us, and we are birthed into the one body of Christ. 472 00:38:15,733 --> 00:38:20,857 And then it says, I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. 473 00:38:20,857 --> 00:38:23,659 Why would we move from spirit to church? 474 00:38:23,659 --> 00:38:24,778 I can see that. 475 00:38:24,778 --> 00:38:26,501 The spirit unites the church. 476 00:38:26,501 --> 00:38:32,825 From church to baptism, I can see that because baptism brings us into the church in this unique way. 477 00:38:32,825 --> 00:38:35,547 But why then do we move into resurrection? 478 00:38:35,547 --> 00:38:37,698 Well, what's baptism? 479 00:38:37,914 --> 00:38:42,007 Baptism is this picture of death and resurrection. 480 00:38:42,007 --> 00:38:51,292 Your resurrection hope, the hope of the life to come, is woven into the shape of baptism itself. 481 00:38:51,292 --> 00:38:55,224 Remember what Paul says in Romans six. 482 00:38:55,224 --> 00:38:57,336 Let me read this for you briefly. 483 00:38:57,336 --> 00:39:05,240 In Romans chapter six, Paul writes this, starting in verse three. 484 00:39:05,818 --> 00:39:12,531 He says, Do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 485 00:39:12,551 --> 00:39:23,645 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 486 00:39:23,645 --> 00:39:35,260 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 487 00:39:35,260 --> 00:39:39,521 Christian, resurrection hope is built into baptism. 488 00:39:39,521 --> 00:39:42,862 Did you go down and come up again? 489 00:39:43,002 --> 00:39:47,484 If you came up again, resurrection is promised to you. 490 00:39:47,484 --> 00:39:55,306 In that rising up motion from the water, we are, we are, we are united to the resurrection of Christ. 491 00:39:55,306 --> 00:40:02,988 And your future hope is encoded into your coming up out of the water. 492 00:40:03,438 --> 00:40:05,389 Into your coming up out of the water again. 493 00:40:05,389 --> 00:40:07,370 We are in Christ. 494 00:40:07,370 --> 00:40:10,131 So this is so critical to get. 495 00:40:10,371 --> 00:40:14,212 You, Christian, are united to Jesus. 496 00:40:14,212 --> 00:40:17,574 That's absolutely everything. 497 00:40:17,654 --> 00:40:18,844 It's not a moral life. 498 00:40:18,844 --> 00:40:20,645 It's not doing better than I did yesterday. 499 00:40:20,645 --> 00:40:22,916 It's not it's that all comes. 500 00:40:23,056 --> 00:40:30,519 What matters the whole thing, the only thing we have to offer, you are united to Christ. 501 00:40:30,519 --> 00:40:32,900 Every good thing, life. 502 00:40:32,900 --> 00:40:39,244 Resurrection, hope, the Spirit, forgiveness, justification, everything pours from. 503 00:40:39,244 --> 00:40:41,745 You are united to him. 504 00:40:41,745 --> 00:40:44,907 And in baptism, you died with him. 505 00:40:45,268 --> 00:40:52,832 You were united to him in his death, such that when you come to the moment of your death, I love that this is true. 506 00:40:52,832 --> 00:40:58,555 You will find Christ is there because you are united to him in his death. 507 00:40:59,711 --> 00:41:03,413 For you, you will die with him and in him. 508 00:41:03,973 --> 00:41:07,835 But he's risen and you will be raised. 509 00:41:07,835 --> 00:41:09,917 That's what the baptism is saying. 510 00:41:09,917 --> 00:41:12,398 That's what this union to him is saying. 511 00:41:12,398 --> 00:41:14,579 We have this hope. 512 00:41:14,579 --> 00:41:20,302 If we've died with him in a death like his, then we've we have been raised with him. 513 00:41:20,562 --> 00:41:24,825 Spiritually, we will be raised with him. 514 00:41:24,825 --> 00:41:29,737 Christian, you will be raised with Jesus Christ. 515 00:41:30,013 --> 00:41:38,785 And and the physical, tangible anchor of that promise that Paul gives us and that the creed gives us is look at your baptism. 516 00:41:38,785 --> 00:41:41,806 You died with him, you've been raised with him. 517 00:41:42,146 --> 00:41:44,727 You have hope, therefore, in him. 518 00:41:44,967 --> 00:41:46,308 Now let me wrap it up here. 519 00:41:46,308 --> 00:41:48,228 We've got we've got about five minutes. 520 00:41:48,228 --> 00:41:49,908 Let me finish this off. 521 00:41:50,369 --> 00:41:52,229 Why does any of this matter? 522 00:41:52,269 --> 00:41:59,131 Is it just, you know, to going over historical stuff, just kind of doing a little bit more theology than we normally do from the pulpit? 523 00:42:00,381 --> 00:42:12,800 It matters because I I I want us as a people to know what we believe, to know what we believe, not like in a fuzzy way, kind of, you know, not really that, but not really that. 524 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,041 To know what we believe. 525 00:42:15,141 --> 00:42:17,883 And yes, it's here in scripture, but this is a lot. 526 00:42:17,883 --> 00:42:20,805 This is a lot to just have off the off the top of your head. 527 00:42:20,805 --> 00:42:29,141 The creed helps us to say, these are the things, these are the core things that I believe that I live from. 528 00:42:29,141 --> 00:42:31,113 That I will die for. 529 00:42:31,113 --> 00:42:32,794 These are the core things. 530 00:42:32,794 --> 00:42:34,375 It's important for us to have that. 531 00:42:34,375 --> 00:42:42,522 And specifically today, it's important for us to know the Holy Spirit is God Himself. 532 00:42:42,602 --> 00:42:47,006 Not just a fuzzy feeling, not just a little conviction in my heart. 533 00:42:47,006 --> 00:42:54,832 The Holy Spirit is the presence of God Himself, and He has been given to you if you're trusting Christ. 534 00:42:54,832 --> 00:42:58,407 He's been given to us as a little congregation. 535 00:42:58,407 --> 00:42:59,888 Out here in the fields. 536 00:42:59,888 --> 00:43:08,516 And what can't you give a master artist a little piece of graphite and he can make a masterpiece? 537 00:43:08,516 --> 00:43:15,201 You give God a little congregation in the cornfields of Ohio and He can do anything He wants. 538 00:43:15,201 --> 00:43:21,126 The Holy Spirit in our midst is what empowers, is what will do the work. 539 00:43:21,126 --> 00:43:22,938 He is the one who will work. 540 00:43:22,938 --> 00:43:25,789 And so we've received the Spirit. 541 00:43:26,250 --> 00:43:27,411 We have. 542 00:43:27,867 --> 00:43:44,832 You have, not just us as in as as a church, you Christian, trust in Christ, baptized into Christ, you have received the Spirit of God to dwell in you, to work in you, to encourage 543 00:43:44,832 --> 00:43:46,012 one another in you. 544 00:43:46,012 --> 00:43:51,213 When you look around after service here, you're seeing people filled with God's presence. 545 00:43:51,454 --> 00:43:54,214 And you're also someone filled with God's presence. 546 00:43:54,214 --> 00:43:57,245 So you can minister the presence of God. 547 00:43:57,333 --> 00:44:01,945 To your neighbor, and you can receive from them the ministry of God. 548 00:44:01,945 --> 00:44:03,966 Go and visit a sick Christian. 549 00:44:03,966 --> 00:44:13,689 You're bringing the presence of God into that room, and you're ministering in some mystery to God Himself. 550 00:44:13,710 --> 00:44:17,571 It is an awesome thing for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 551 00:44:17,571 --> 00:44:20,693 That's the reality in which we live, Christian. 552 00:44:20,693 --> 00:44:27,355 To be a Christian is to be united to Christ and so to enter a new world. 553 00:44:27,413 --> 00:44:29,544 We're not just people who try to be moral. 554 00:44:29,544 --> 00:44:31,645 We're not just people who vote a certain way. 555 00:44:31,645 --> 00:44:34,867 We're not just people who don't watch particular movies. 556 00:44:34,967 --> 00:44:38,589 We are those who live in a new reality. 557 00:44:38,589 --> 00:44:41,451 We live in a new reality. 558 00:44:41,451 --> 00:44:49,575 We live in a universe where Christ is the center of all things, where hope is the air that we breathe. 559 00:44:49,575 --> 00:44:57,213 Even as we're gasping in to weep for sorrow, hope is the air that we breathe in this new. 560 00:44:57,213 --> 00:44:58,304 Reality. 561 00:44:58,304 --> 00:45:10,793 We live in a reality where we gather together on Sundays, not as a social club or group of acquaintances, but as the body of God incarnate, filled with the Holy Spirit of God, 562 00:45:10,793 --> 00:45:16,576 ministering in the power of God to one another and to the world around us. 563 00:45:17,257 --> 00:45:25,947 And day in and day out, media, news, entertainment, anxieties, fear, finances, broken bodies. 564 00:45:25,947 --> 00:45:28,929 All of it is telling us you live in a material world. 565 00:45:28,929 --> 00:45:34,009 You live in a world where having fun matters, having the most fun matters, doing the next thing. 566 00:45:34,009 --> 00:45:36,995 You know, it's just this empty, empty, empty world. 567 00:45:36,995 --> 00:45:39,217 And the creed says, no. 568 00:45:39,297 --> 00:45:51,216 The creed militates against that and says, no, you live in a world with Christ at the center, where God has died and raised, where you've been filled with his fullness and 569 00:45:51,216 --> 00:45:52,767 gathered into a body. 570 00:45:52,767 --> 00:45:56,730 that has died with him and is rising with him and will rise with him. 571 00:45:56,730 --> 00:45:59,311 You live in this reality, Christian. 572 00:45:59,311 --> 00:46:02,253 So may we increasingly do that. 573 00:46:02,253 --> 00:46:07,177 Say, I'm not gonna live in the world that the media calls me into. 574 00:46:07,177 --> 00:46:10,539 I'm gonna live in the world I confess in the creed. 575 00:46:10,719 --> 00:46:14,642 So let's say this creed together, and then we'll take the Lord's Supper. 576 00:46:14,642 --> 00:46:17,994 Uh and I think we have it up on the screen. 577 00:46:17,994 --> 00:46:20,426 I think Avery you can bring it up there for us. 578 00:46:20,426 --> 00:46:22,663 And we'll just say these things and then 579 00:46:22,663 --> 00:46:30,067 move straight in to the Lord's Supper together, because what we confess here is really ultimately what we're doing here. 580 00:46:30,307 --> 00:46:34,329 Let's say this together if if if you're able to confess these things as true. 581 00:46:34,349 --> 00:46:43,614 I believe in one God, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. 582 00:46:44,335 --> 00:46:52,209 And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, 583 00:46:52,209 --> 00:47:07,736 Light of light, true God of true God, begotten, not created, of one essence with the Father, through whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down 584 00:47:07,736 --> 00:47:14,108 from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man. 585 00:47:14,669 --> 00:47:20,563 He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. 586 00:47:20,563 --> 00:47:24,224 And he rose on the third day, according to the scriptures. 587 00:47:24,724 --> 00:47:33,927 He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. 588 00:47:33,927 --> 00:47:36,127 His kingdom shall have no end. 589 00:47:36,748 --> 00:47:48,661 And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the creator of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who spoke through the 590 00:47:48,661 --> 00:47:49,791 prophets. 591 00:47:50,417 --> 00:47:58,612 In one holy Catholic and apostolic church, I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. 592 00:47:58,633 --> 00:48:03,496 I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. 593 00:48:03,576 --> 00:48:04,596 Amen. 594 00:48:04,957 --> 00:48:05,808 Amen, Father. 595 00:48:05,808 --> 00:48:12,202 Thank you that words like this can help us to express your truth. 596 00:48:12,622 --> 00:48:15,004 Thank you that you are a speaking God. 597 00:48:15,004 --> 00:48:17,546 Bind us, Father, to you. 598 00:48:17,546 --> 00:48:19,785 Bind us to what you have said. 599 00:48:19,785 --> 00:48:32,325 Bind us to the faith as it is in Jesus Christ, the faith of the apostles, the word of the cross, the true deposit of faith, the slain and risen Jesus as Lord. 600 00:48:32,325 --> 00:48:35,568 Bind us, Father, to this as one people. 601 00:48:35,568 --> 00:48:49,109 And as we come now to the table, may we confess, not just with our words, but with our bodies, that we believe this Jesus Christ as Lord, God, Savior, and King. 602 00:48:49,109 --> 00:48:51,381 We pray these things, Father, in his name. 603 00:48:51,381 --> 00:48:52,361 Amen. 604 00:48:52,963 --> 00:48:58,207 Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabina, Ohio. 605 00:48:58,207 --> 00:49:06,795 To see more of the beauty of God and the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship with us on Sundays at 10 a.m. 606 00:49:06,795 --> 00:49:10,037 or visit our website at Kingstreech.org.