Ligon Duncan
The Power of the Church – The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Galatians 4:19; 5:1; 5:13-ff
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the answer to antinomianism and legalism.
The Spirit sets you free from bondage to sin and the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonial code.
he sets you free to be what God created you to be.
We want Christ formed in the members of the church (4:19)
How does that happen?
By what power are believers remade in the image of God?
The ministry of the Holy Spirit
How often is the power of the HS emphasized?
Ezekiel 36:26-27
New heart, new Spirit, causing you to walk in my statutes.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Law of God written on our hearts
The prophets see this as uniquely the work of the Spirit.
Their ministries are ministries of the Spirit.
Micah 3:8
I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord…
Zechariah
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts.
Joel 2:28-ff
I will pour out my Spirit…
The later prophets see their ministries in terms of the operative power of the HS.
They look forward to a time to come when the Spirit works in a unique way in the people of God.
Luke 1
The angel comes to tell about John the Baptist.
The angel says, “He is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Zechariah asks the same question as Abraham asked in Genesis 15.
How can I know this is true?
How will you know? I am Gabriel.
Last time we saw Gabriel was Daniel 9.
Gabriel came to tell Daniel what was to come.
Gabriel tells Zechariah that his son will be the forerunner.
Then Gabriel goes to Mary.
How can a virgin have a child?
Luke 1:35-ff
The HS will come upon you…
Luke 4:1
Jesus was full of the Spirit.
He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.
Adam fell in one temptation in a garden of perfection, Jesus in a howling wilderness three times refutes the evil one.
Three times, “It is written…”
Luke 4:14
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit.
Acts 1:8
You will receive power when the HS has come upon you…
Acts 10:38
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the HS and power…
Romans 1:4
Christ Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection…
Romans 15:13
By the power of the Spirit, you may abound in hope…
Romans 15:18-19
By the power of the Spirit, I have fulfilled the ministry…
1 Corinthians 2:4
My ministry was in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power
Ephesians 3:16
1 Thessalonians 1:5
Not only in word… power and the HS with full conviction
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is indeed depicted as the power of the church.
All through the canon, this is true.
Why and in what way?
Two things to see:
The pouring out of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant is depicted as a fulfillment of a promise that is older than Jeremiah 31.
Acts 2
If Jesus had not rebuked Peter when Peter tried to get in his way to go to the cross, he could never have preached the sermon of Acts 2.
Peter cites Joel 2.
Acts 2:22-ff
God planned this.
Jesus was not a victim of your designs.
Jesus decides when he is going to die.
And you nailed him to the cross by the hands of sinful men.
Sovereignty and responsibility are together with no questions.
Peter shows that Jesus is the Messiah.
Peter shows what Jesus was doing in the world.
Then, verse 36, Jesus is Lord and Christ.
The people are convicted.
They killed the Messiah.
What do we do?
Repent!
He died in order that your sins would be forgiven.
The one you killed is your only hope, and his killing is the basis of your hope as you put your trust in him.
Repent, be baptized, you will receive the Spirit.
For the promise is for you
What promise?
Context is crucial.
Has Luke mentioned the promise before?
Luke 24
Jesus explains things to the disciples.
Luke 24:45-ff
It is written that the Christ should suffer…
Jesus had already said all of acts 2 in Luke 24:47.
Now I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.
What is that promise?
Acts 1:4
Wait for what the Father had promised.
You heard of this from me.
John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
Galatians 3:13-15
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…
In Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The ministry of the Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise of God to Abraham.
It is not for super-believers.
It is for all who repent and believe.
The ministry of the Spirit is the proof and the substance that the Abrahamic promises are yours in Christ Jesus.
That is the promise of the Father.
The pouring out of the Spirit is the promise of God to Abraham so that the inheritance of Abraham comes to all who believe, Jew and gentile.
What empowers our ministry is a promise 4,000 years old, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
What does it do?
The role of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant ministry is to seal and confirm the promises to the believer and to secure them in the sanctification that those promises entail.
Ephesians 1:13
You were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
This is a pledge of our inheritance.
The HS assures us of our inheritance in Christ, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises.
I will be your God and you will be my people.
Ephesians 1:18
… His inheritance in the saints…
In the covenant, you get an inheritance.
But did you know that in the covenant, God gets an inheritance?
What does God get as an inheritance?
You.
The thing that God wants is his blood bought people.
He will be our God, we will be his people.
He will be our inheritance. WE will be his inheritance.
The Spirit seals, marks, confirms, assures us of that.
The Spirit shows us that we are co-heirs with Christ.
We need this for the church.
If we do not know this, we are crippled.
The Holy Spirit empowers our sanctification so that our enjoyment of the Abrahamic blessings is realized.
Ephesians 3:14-19
Comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth
Be filled up to the fullness of God
Four clauses in the passage.
There is a compounding prayer, 4 parts leading in the same direction 16-ff
Be strengthened with power.
Christ would dwell in your hearts through faith.
Know the love of Christ that surpassed knowledge
Be filled up to the fullness of God.
The power of the HS in your life.
You need strength.
You need that strength, because the Christian life is lived at the level of the heart and desires.
We need strength put inside us that comes from outside of us.
That strength comes from the promised HS.
The HS strengthens us so that Christ will take over our desires.
He helps us love what Jesus loves and hate what Jesus hates.
We need this so we are not controlled by the desires of the world, flesh, and devil.
You need the HS so you will know that love that surpasses knowledge.
You should know a love that you cannot actually understand.
Like peace that passes understanding
This fills you up to the fullness of God.
You become what God created and redeemed you to be.
The serpent told Eve that she would become like God.
What should Eve and Adam have said?
What do you mean will become like him?
Look at 1:27
We already are like him.
We are made in his image.
Nothing in the world is more like God than we are; we are his image.
But they took the bait.
And they became less like God.
The image was not erased but it was effaced.
It was not lost, but it was marred.
In salvation we are not only forgiven, but God, by the Spirit, goes about the work of restoring us so that we are finally, again, like our Heavenly Father.
Galatians 5
All Paul is doing in 13-26 is working out what we just saw in the prayer or Ephesians 3:14-19.
What does it look like when this works out?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
Crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the power of the church.
Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
Do you want Christ to be formed in the church?
Preach the Spirit’s word and watch him do the work.
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