L.D. 20 brings us to another transition of thought in the Heidelberg Catechism, as it follows the confession of the Apostles Creed. We have been considering the truth of the Triune God, as He reveals Himself to us His redeemed people in Christ. And as we consider that wonderful revelation of God and give confession of it in this apostolic confession, there are, as you remember, three parts. The first is of God the Father, the second of God the Son, and the third of God the Holy Spirit. Most recently we have considered that wonderful revelation of God in the face of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son our Lord. We confessed many things concerning Christ and His work. We confessed that He is the only begotten Son, our Lord. We confessed His incarnation, and the fact that He walked among us and did His work in our flesh. We confessed the fact of His suffering and death on the cross, and the wonder of His resurrection as the proof positive that He had accomplished the work which God sent Him to do, namely, to redeem us and to reconcile us unto God. Still more concerning the Son of God, we confessed that He ascended as the Lord Christ into heaven, and rules over all things as the absolutely Sovereign King, and that He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. In other words, we spent much time considering Christ and His work.
Now we come to the third part, i.e., the confession of God the Holy Spirit. And we are struck with the fact that the Catechism, in its confession of the Holy Spirit, is very brief. One Lord's Day, and that a very brief Lord's Day with but one question and answer, is devoted to the subject of the Holy Spirit. When we think of all the emphasis given the Spirit in the Church today, and much of which is a very improper and erroneous emphasis, we may wonder why there wasn't more said by our Reformed fathers. But even though it is true that there could be much development in our doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit, and even though it would be possible to consider the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the use of special gifts in the early New Testament period, and other such like questions, the fact is that when we understand the place of this confession in the Catechism, it is a rather complete consideration of the Spirit and His work. I say that from this perspective: Our confession of faith in the Holy Spirit is a confession of Him, not simply as the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, but as the Spirit of Christ. We confess Him Who has been poured out into the Church as the Comforter, Who lives in us and abides with us forever.
As the Spirit of Christ He is not only named the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of grace, the Comforter. He is the One by Whom we are partakers of Christ and all His benefits. If we remember that, then we shall understand that not only this 20th Lord's Day, but also all that follows in the remaining articles of the Apostles Creed, is concerned with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Church is essentially the doctrine of the Spirit's work. The communion of saints comes from His living presence with the people of God. The forgiveness of sins is our gift to enjoy as the Holy Spirit applies that gospel to our hearts. Even the resurrection of the body and life everlasting, as our heart-felt hope, is our confession because of the Spirit's work in us, as He applies to us all the blessings of salvation in Christ.
And so, while this Lord's Day indeed speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, true and co-eternal God with the Father and the Son, the emphasis falls upon the fact that He is given us, as the Spirit of the exalted Christ. He is the One given me, to make me by a true faith partaker of Christ and all His benefits. And so this same Holy Spirit is the One Whom Christ has poured out as the Comforter, that He may comfort me and abide with me forever. Consider with me then:
THE HOLY SPIRIT
I. HIS IDENTITY
II. HIS WORK
III. HIS PERSISTENCE
WE BEGIN, AS DOES THE CATECHISM, BY CONSIDERING THE IDENTITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
AND THEN WE NOTICE, FIRST OF ALL, THAT HE IS TRUE AND CO-ETERNAL GOD WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON.
We mention this only as a matter of review, not intending to spend much time with this matter. This is a fact that was developed earlier in L.D. 8 in connection with the truth of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the one Being Who is God. As the third Person He proceeds from the Father and the Son. That the Spirit is true and co-eternal God with the Father and the Son is demonstrated throughout Scripture. That is a truth profoundly maintained by the Apostle Peter in the incident involving Ananias and his wife Sapphira, as recorded in the opening verses of Acts, chapter 5. Now remember, that took place immediately after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, in which the work of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ became fully manifest in the Church. Without going into the history of that incident, you will recall that Ananias and Sapphira presented a lie to the apostles—first Ananias, and then in a separate incident 3 hours later, Sapphira. That lie to God's servants proved to be deadly. Peter confronted Ananias, saying to him, "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" That, you understand, was the nature of the lie. In being deceitful with God's officebearers, Ananias and Sapphira were lying to the Holy Spirit! But then Peter says this: "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." And the consequence, as you well remember, was death, immediate death, for Ananias and Sapphira. But there we are shown—well, we are shown the horror of the lie, for one thing. But in connection with that which we consider here, we are shown in Acts 5 that the Holy Spirit is true God. He must be recognized as God. He must be worshipped as God. He must be honored as God.
The Holy Spirit is an essential member of the Triune covenant life of God. Let us remember that while God is One in Being, He is three in Persons. He is the covenant God. When we speak of the covenant, we speak of that relationship of fellowship and love that belongs first of all and eternally to God Himself. The very life of our Christianity is found in that truth. Because that same covenant God, in mercy, takes us His people in Christ into the fellowship of His own covenant life. What a blessed truth that is! And may God give us to see that all the more as we consider the work of the Holy Spirit! If I may compare a moment, Allah, the god of Islam, is dead. Islam is a growing religious movement around the world, especially in the third world countries—although its growth is not limited to third world countries. It's a growing religious movement. And its god is dead! What a terrible thing! I say, Islam's Allah is dead, because they say that he is only one. But there is no life without fellowship. There must be relationships, in order for there to be life. We serve the living God, beloved! What a horror, to see ministers of the Christian church finding fellowship with Jews and Muslims and Mormons, while saying, "We all serve the same God." What a horror! Such ministers say, by such a statement, that they serve a god who is not God! God, Who is Three Persons in one divine essence, lives a life of beautiful fellowship and love. The Holy Spirit is a member of that covenant life of God, living in perfect communion with the Father and the Son, co-equal, co-eternal, true God.
BUT THE EMPHASIS OF THE CATECHISM IS NOT ON THE ETERNAL GODHEAD AND DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, BUT RATHER ON THE FACT THAT HE HAS BEEN REVEALED TO US AS THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST.
The Spirit of God became the Spirit of Christ. He did so for us. He is not now a different Spirit from the Spirit of God. He is one and the same Spirit. But Scripture teaches that when Christ ascended into heaven and when He sat at God's right hand, the Spirit was given Him. The Holy Spirit was given to Christ as the One Who will and must apply all the blessings of salvation to His Church. That was the very promise of Jesus to His disciples, as we read in the gospel according to John, chapters 14-16. The Lord said (John 14:16-19): "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also." A little later in that same chapter, we read: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26). In the next chapter, John 15:26, Christ said, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."
The Holy Spirit is become the Spirit of Christ, our bond of unity with
Christ, the Source of our enjoyment of all covenant blessings in the fellowship of God's
love. We are told in Galatians 4 that God sent forth His Son to redeem us. He redeemed us,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. The consequence of our redemption by Christ is
that we are given a place in the very family of the Triune God. We are taken into the very
covenant life of God, to enjoy His fellowship and to know His love. But that we might be
made conscious of that tremendous blessing, something else must happen. And so we read in
Galatians 4:6: "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son
into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." To put it another way, as we read in
Romans 5:5, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us." Is that a matter of your own experience? When you hear the
Word of this gospel preached to you, and when that Word is applied to you personally, do
you hear Christ speak to you by His Spirit, so that you cry out in thankfulness for your
fellowship with the Father?
WHEN WE CONSIDER THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT—AND THAT REALLY IS TO BE OUR MAIN FOCUS THIS
MORNING—WE SEE THAT IT IS THE SPIRIT WHO MAKES US PARTAKERS OF THE RICH BLESSINGS OF
SALVATION IN CHRIST JESUS.
HE DOES THAT, IN THE FIRST PLACE, BY UNITING US WITH CHRIST.
Now you understand immediately that this is something of critical importance. We must be united with Christ. That is necessary, if we are to be saved. Without Christ we have nothing. That truth was emphasized by Christ Himself in John 15, when He likened Himself to a vine, and His people to the branches. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." Every dead branch the Father cuts off. It is not part of the vine. But those that receive life from the vine, are pruned and cared for by the Husbandman, that they may bring forth more fruit. So Christ continues, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned" (John 15:4-6). Clearly, then, the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ works a critically important work in making us, by a true faith, partakers of Christ and all His benefits.
To understand this work of the Spirit, we make a distinction between the objective fact of salvation and the subjective realization of that salvation. I know those are big terms. But let me explain them. They are important to our understanding. When we speak of the objective fact of salvation, we speak of all that Christ has done for us. We speak of the work of Christ that is an accomplished fact. That is something objective, something that has already taken place historically and that could be seen. The objective fact of our salvation is seen in the cross of Jesus Christ and in His resurrection from the dead. That work of Christ is finished. He accomplished the salvation of His people, every one. But in our own experience there must also be the subjective realization of that salvation. When we use that term subjective we speak of something internal. We refer to the fact that what has been merited by Christ, and accomplished in His death and resurrection, must also be applied to us personally. This, I say again, is critically important. The life of Christ must be our life! That is the subjective realization of that salvation.
It becomes very evident in our day, if only you ask searching questions and if only you observe the reaction to faithful preaching and even to that which is not faithful preaching, that we live in a very superficial age when it comes to the Christian faith. There are multitudes who want to claim Christ's work as for them, who speak of their sins being forgiven, but who show nothing of the fruits of faith as Scripture defines those fruits. They come to church, in some cases can even talk religion somewhat knowledgeably, but who show nothing of the joy of being partakers of Christ's life. There are those who can express appreciation for preaching, even biblical preaching, so long as it is not applied personally. But when it comes to a personal application of salvation, when it comes to the biblical requirements of heart-felt Christianity and godliness, they want nothing of it. Christianity is fine, so long as it does not impinge upon their own personal life as it is lived in the world. But it is exactly because we live in a very superficial age, that this personal, subjective aspect of salvation must be emphasized strenuously. We must have not only the objective fact of salvation, but we must also have the subjective application of salvation to our hearts, to us, personally.
NOW THE QUESTION BECOMES: IF CHRIST HAS OBTAINED ALL THE BLESSINGS OF SALVATION BY HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS, HOW DO WE RECEIVE THOSE BLESSINGS? HOW DO WE BECOME PARTAKERS OF CHRIST AND ALL HIS BENEFITS?
Many will answer that question this way: They will say that Christ obtained all of salvation for us. But to make it our own and to become partakers of Him and all His benefits, we must let Him into our hearts. "Accept Christ; let Him into your heart. He has done His part; now you must do yours. Then you will be saved." That is the position of all Pelagians and of all Arminians. Now when I use those terms, most of them would not know what I am referring to. Pelagius was a man who lived in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, and whose teachings would gain hold in the church throughout the centuries, as she departed farther and farther from the truth of Scripture. Pelagius taught that the will of man is neutral, so that he is free to do the good or the evil, any time. And applied to salvation, he is free to accept Christ, or reject Him. That is a matter of man's own free will. Augustine, that great defender of the faith, fought Pelagianism with the sword of the Word of God, pointing out the truth that man is totally depraved, completely under the power of sin. Man is incapable of doing good, incapable even of willing the good, incapable of believing on Christ. He is dead in trespasses and sins. Only sovereign grace, irresistible grace, God's grace can give life and save him. Only the work of the Spirit can give him the life of Christ.
Years later another man came along, another false teacher by the name of Jacob Harmsen, also known as Jacobus Arminius. He was a minister in the Reformed Church in the Netherlands, and a professor in the seminary around the year 1600. A likeable fellow, Arminius' doctrine was far more subtle in its error than was that of Pelagius. Arminianism teaches that the work of salvation is of the Holy Spirit. They teach, even in their writings, that the work of salvation is not of man, but of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit must give unto the sinner the blessings of salvation. If the Spirit does not dwell in you, you cannot receive the blessings of salvation. Now we agree with that, don't we. But Arminianism adds something. Don't be deceived by the nice face of Arminianism. Don't be deceived by that which initially sounds right. Let them continue to tell you what they believe. Listen carefully and with ears that discern things. Put their teaching to the test of Scripture. Because Arminianism adds this: The Spirit must work in you. But whether or not you will receive that Spirit, that is up to you. The Spirit must give you the blessings of salvation. But whether you receive those blessings of salvation is a matter to be determined by you. That is Arminianism. You can find many of their errors word for word in the Canons of Dordt, the Rejection of Errors.
But that same error takes on different forms in the church. It is an error that often corrupts the church's view of preaching. The same error can be seen in the proposition: God sincerely promises and offers salvation to all, with a sincere desire to save. But whether you will actually receive that gospel depends on your willingness to receive the Spirit of grace. That is the same error. That is an error prevalent in Reformed Churches. Essentially that same error reared its ugly head in our own churches in 1953. "God promises every one of you—notice that, a general promise—that if you believe, you will be saved." That proposition, which denied the particular promise of the gospel, that proposition which taught a general promise, was the same offer of salvation, limited by a condition. The same thing. Many missed that. Many did not understand the controversy. Many even left the churches in ignorance, several of whom later came back when they saw more clearly where they had been led by that error.
The same error comes to the fore with any form of preaching that is only the speech of a man. If preaching is only a man speaking, you have the same error. You have the presentation of a gospel, the response to which is left up to the hearer. The preacher can just speak; or he can plead; or he can beg you to come to Christ. He can admonish you to turn from your evil ways; he can threaten you with the judgments of God. But if all you hear is the word of a man, you have the same error in different form. That is why we maintain, as the Bible teaches throughout, that the preaching of the gospel, the faithful exposition of God's Word by His servants, is Christ speaking either to save or to harden, Christ speaking by His Spirit to the hearts of His people, while hardening those who stumble at that Word, being disobedient.
HOW DO WE BECOME PARTAKERS OF CHRIST AND ALL HIS BENEFITS?
Our Catechism gives the answer: The Holy Spirit is given me, to make me by a true faith partaker of Christ and all His benefits. To us who belong to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given. He takes up His abode in our hearts. And with that abode He establishes faith. Faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit. That faith is a gift of God, as we read in Ephesians 2:8. But that gift is given only by the Holy Spirit. And by that faith you and I are united with Christ. That is the essence of faith, the bond as we sometimes speak of it.
Still more—and this is most important with respect to that subjective application of salvation, our enjoyment of fellowship with Christ—the Spirit brings that faith to activity in us by the Word of the gospel. Through that preaching, as Christ speaks, taking us into His own fellowship, it is the work of the Spirit which applies to us that Word, and by which we receive the blessings that are ours in Christ. Do you understand, now, how important it is to confess our faith in the Holy Spirit? Do you see now, more clearly, the essential and critical importance of His work? If not for His work in your heart, you will never receive this Word preached. If not for the work of the Holy Spirit in you, you will never enjoy the comfort of Christ's fellowship and love. If not for the work of the Holy Spirit, you will never turn from your iniquities, to serve the living God in love for Him and for the neighbor. If not for the work of the Holy Spirit, you will never know what it is to be blessed by God.
Now hear once again the Word which we read earlier from I Corinthians 2 (I read verses 10-14): "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
It is the Spirit Who regenerates us, giving us the new life in Christ.
It is the Spirit Who calls us through the gospel. It is the Spirit Who gives us the
consciousness of our justification. It is the Spirit Who sanctifies us, again working
holiness in us by the application of the gospel. It is the Spirit Who gives us
understanding and wisdom, a love for the Word, a desire for spiritual growth and
godliness. It is the Holy Spirit Who causes us to fight the good fight of faith, and who
comforts us. What does that Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, mean to you personally? When
your confession is that this Holy Spirit makes you by a true faith partaker of Christ and
all His benefits, when you know that work of the Spirit in your own life, then you have
comfort, true comfort, in life and death.
NOTICE, THE CATECHISM CONCLUDES BY CALLING OUR ATTENTION TO HIS PERSISTENCE.
AND WHEN I USE THAT WORD, I AM REFERRING TO THE WONDERFUL TRUTH THAT HE NEVER FORSAKES US, BUT ABIDES WITH US FOREVER.
As we heard the words of Jesus in the gospel according to John, His Spirit is called the Comforter. He is our Advocate. That is striking. We spoke earlier of the ascended Lord Jesus being our Advocate with the Father. But the Spirit is also our Advocate. As Christ is our Advocate with the Father, so the Holy Spirit is within us for God. Christ pleads on our behalf with the Father. The Holy Spirit carries God's reply to us through Christ. That is our comfort. Through the gospel the Spirit pleads in our hearts, just as effectively as Christ pleads with the Father. Through the gospel the Spirit pleads with us, so that the result is that we increasingly say through faith, "This is my only comfort in life and in death, with body and soul, that I belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ." And so He also fills us with a desire, a fervent desire, to live unto Him. He makes us sincerely willing and ready to show our gratitude to God for this great salvation that is ours.
Yes, the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, our Comforter. But don't overlook also this: He Who is the Comforter is also called the Spirit of truth. In other words, He comforts us with the truth. With the truth of the gospel He comforts us. If we reject that truth, if we don't hear that truth, we rob ourselves of His comfort. If we depart from the truth, we leave that which alone will comfort us. For the Holy Spirit will never speak another gospel than that which is truth. He will not speak of Himself, said Jesus. "But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John 16:13b,14).
WE HAVE NEED OF THAT COMFORT, DON'T WE.
I do. I have need of that comfort even daily. From Lord's Day to Lord's Day, I need the truth of God by which alone the Holy Spirit comforts me. I must have comfort over against my own sin, comfort in the face of my own struggles. I need that comfort in the face of death, and all kinds of troubles. That comfort I find here in the gospel. Do you know that comfort?
When you belong to Jesus Christ, when the Spirit is yours, to make you by a true faith partaker of Christ and all His benefits, you may be sure that He will abide with you forever. The Spirit will abide with you forever. No matter what happens, even if we become mentally off and confused in our minds, and depressed, the Spirit never leaves us. That is why, even with a loved one in a coma, we read the Scriptures, knowing that the Spirit speaks by that means, comforting and nurturing the bond with Christ our life. The Spirit is always there to comfort us, even in the valley of the shadow of death. And that is why, we may be confident that even as we make that journey through death's doors, the Spirit of Christ will guide us, leading us into perfect fellowship with Christ our Savior, and with God our Father in the face of Jesus Christ. So He shall forever be with us, giving us the pure enjoyment of perfect fellowship with God, in the light of His love. Believe it, beloved. That's the gospel. That is our faith concerning the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Preached:1) Randolph PRC 1/26/97 (am)
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