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TEXT: John 3:34
SUBJECT: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit #4: The Spirit in Christ
We come this morning to the fourth sermon in that series called "the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit". After some introductory remarks, we took up the subject from an historical perspective. First, we studied the Spirit as Creator and Sustainer of all things. "You sent your Spirit, they were created; and you renew the face of the earth". Then, the Spirit's work in Israel was explored. "You also gave your good Spirit to instruct them..."
And so today, we mark His next great work, in the human life of Jesus Christ. Did the Spirit work in Christ? John evidently thought so: "God did not give Him the Spirit by measure". And so has the Church in every age. Article 2 of the Apostles' creed begins, "I believe in Jesus Christ..." The word, "Christ" is not a name, but a title. It means "the Anointed of the LORD". And His anointing was not with oil but with the Spirit; and not the Spirit by measure, but in His fulness". Thus the Holy Spirit acted--and mightily--in our Lord Jesus Christ.
But what did He do?
First, He conceived the human nature of Christ in the virgin's womb. This was first announced to Mary. An angel appeared to her with this surprise greeting:
"Rejoice, highly favored one,
the Lord is with you;
Blessed are you among women.
Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb
and bring forth a son and call Him Jesus."
But Mary was skeptical. She replied, "How can this be, seeing I have not known a man?"
Then came the miraculous answer: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you; and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."
Some time later, a comparable word was spoken, this time to her fiancee', Joseph: When Joseph found Mary with child, he sought to put her away privately. But before he could begin divorce proceedings, an angel came to him with this very great news: "...Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit".
Thus, although the Father willed the Incarnation, and the Son volunteered to it, it was the Holy Spirit who brought it to pass. Bethlehem would be an unknown village today if it had not been for the Spirit's almighty work.
But the Spirit was not finished with Christ after the begetting. He remained with Him all His life. First, in the womb. There, He sanctified Christ, innoculating Him against original sin and keeping Mary's imperfections from becoming His own. That is why the angel referred to Him--before birth--as "that Holy One".
But "holiness" is never satisifed with a negation. Christ must be more than "not sinful". He must be positively good if He is to be "the Holy One". And so He was. He was gestated and born in fellowship with God and inclined to do His will. And how did He come to this positive holiness? By the Spirit!
"There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and
the fear of the LORD."
About this prenatal work, Christ was heard to say, "I was cast upon You from the womb; You are my God from my mother's belly".
And so, the Spirit was with Christ from the beginning, even when He was being "curiously wrought in the lowest part of the womb".
But He did not leave Him at His birth. He continued sanctifying through His boyhood. Did Jesus "grow in wisdom"? Did He submit to His parents? Did He astound the doctors? Well, how do you suppose He did these things, but by the Spirit?
Christ, therefore, enjoyed the Spirit without measure from the earliest days of His life. But chiefly, the Spirit came upon Him in His thritieth year, to call and equip Him for His life's work: the redemption of the world.
He came upon Him, visibly, at His baptism. There the Spirit "descended like a dove and (lit) upon Him". When the Baptist saw the heavenly dove, He knew His Man and announced for all to hear: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
From that day on, Jesus would be "The Christ of God".
This anointing enabled Him to take up His great work. It made Him:
1.A Prophet. This office has a passive and an active side. Passively, a prophet learns the mind of God; actively, He proclaims it to others. Under the Spirit's influence, Christ did both with. Did He know the will of God? The finest preacher who ever lived thought of himself as a child in comparison to "the Prophet who was to come into the world". "He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all". Christ's own testimony is the same: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father". Thus, Jesus understood the mind of God as no one has--or can. And He proclaimed it just as well. His disciples said about His preaching, "Did not our hearts burn within us...while He opened to us the Scriptures?" But more than friends had to admit His greatness: "No man ever spoke as this man speaks!" cried His bitterest foes. Christ, therefore, was the prophet-par-excellance. And where did He get this gift? Let Him answer for Himself, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor..."
2.A Priest. A priest took upon himself the sins of Israel and bore their punishment. But what they did typically, Christ did "for real". They killed an animal on an altar. But these could never satisfy the demands of justice. Only Christ could. And He did, by offering Himself a sacrifice for sin. And how did He do this? How did He bear up under the weight of sin and the fury of God's wrath? By the work of the Spirit! "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the Living God?"
3.A King. A king exercises power for God. This Christ did, in countless ways; especially by miracles. And how did he perform these "signs and wonders"? By the Spirit. "But if I cast our devils by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you."
And so, Christ's saving work--all of it--was performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gave Him life. The Spirit perseved Him in death. The Spirit gave Him power over death. Thus, even in Christ's life, "it is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing".
We are saved, therefore, by Christ. But Christ became our Savior by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Therefore:
1.We ought to be more mindful of and thankful for the Holy Spirit. For not even the Son of God could have secured our salvation without His work. He was grateful to the Spirit--Who anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows. And so should we be.
2.We ought to feel more deeply our dependence on the Holy Spirit. What? Not even Christ can function effectively without Him? Not even He can preach or do good works apart from His activity? Then how can we? How can we "begin in the Spirit and be made perfect through the flesh?" Yet many of us would try. We long to be good and active in God's service. But then forget the source of our goodness and zeal: the Holy Spirit! We cannot be more dependent on the Spirit than we are--but we can feel it more! When we do, we'll quit grieving Him with our bad attitudes and start cherishing Him more and more.
May God help us to do so, for Christ's sake. Amen.
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