Well, this evening we will be considering Lord's Day 20 in our Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer 53. So if you'll turn with me to page 27 at the back of your blue psalter, we'll read question and answer 53 from Lord's Day 20 of the Heidelberg Catechism. And I'll read the question here and have you respond with the answer. So the Catechism asks here in Lord's Day 20, as it goes through explaining to us the Apostles' Creed, the Creed that we just recited this evening. Catechism asks in question 53, What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit? First, He, as well as the Father and the Son, is eternal God. Second, He has been given to me personally, so that by true faith he makes me share in Christ and all his blessings, comforts me, and remains with me forever. And our scripture reading for this evening comes from Paul's epistle to the Romans, Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verses 9 through 17. Beloved, this is God's holy, inspired, and perfect word. Let us give careful attention to what God has to say to us from it. The Apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Rome, You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit. If the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin. Yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. If you do not receive a spirit, that makes you a slave again to fear. But you receive the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory. Well, as we consider here question and answer 53 from the Catechism, we see here that the Catechism at this point turns in its exposition of the Apostles' Creed and turns our attention to that article of faith. The article of faith that we as Christians, we as Catholic Christians, believe in the Holy Spirit. Now, some theologians, some historians have claimed that before the 20th century, before the 20th century, the Holy Spirit, the teaching on the person and the work of the Holy Spirit was the forgotten person of the Godhead. You see, at the turn of the last century, around 1900, Pentecostalism became a very distinct movement within Christianity. With the men like Charles Parham, whose work in Topeka, Kansas, influenced this man, William J. Seymour, some of you who might be familiar with, who was the leader of the Azusa Street Revival just up the road in Los Angeles, beginning in 1900. And many Christians claim that this revival of Pentecostalism that began at the turn of the last century was the rediscovery of God's Holy Spirit. That somehow, for the whole history of the church, somehow the Holy Spirit had been neglected and forgotten. We have to ask, friends, was the Holy Spirit, was God's Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity and His work only discovered some mere 100 years ago? One theologian explains it this way. This assumption that we just mentioned previously, this assumption becomes virtually an article of orthodoxy among evangelicals as well as others. That the Holy Spirit had been discovered almost out of nothing in the 20th century. This is in danger of the heresy of modernity and is at least guilty of historical short-sightedness. It forgets that it was with good reason that the Reformation pastor-theologian John Calvin was described as the theologian of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, each century since Calvin's time has witnessed events which were ascribed to the unusual working of the Holy Spirit. Even in the late 20th century, the two greatest works of theology on the Holy Spirit remain the extensive studies by the 17th century Puritan John Owen and the great 19th century Dutch theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper. We see, friends, the Holy Spirit, the person and work of God's Spirit has been central to the Church throughout its history and has been central to Reformed theology as well. not only in Calvin, not only in Owen, not only in Kuyper, but also as we see, friends, in our very own catechism. If you were to search the Holy Spirit in the catechism, I did this this week in preparation for this, the catechism mentions the Holy Spirit 50 different times. Out of 52 Lord's Days, that means the catechism is mentioning the Holy Spirit almost every single week. We see here that our catechism, our theology is a theology based in the work of the Holy Spirit. And specifically this evening, we see here in question and answer 53, as it continues to exposit the Apostles' Creed, we see what the catechism tells us about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. And when the Catechism tells us about the Holy Spirit here, it really does break the Holy Spirit down into two parts. It tells us firstly about who he is. It tells us about the person of the Holy Spirit. Notice what the Catechism says here. It breaks this answer into two parts. First, He, as well as the Father and the Son, is eternal God. You see, in this part, the Catechism is explaining to us the person of the Holy Spirit. Who the Holy Spirit is. And it would indeed be profitable for us to spend a lot of time explaining who the Holy Spirit is. That He is very God of very God. With the Father and the Son, He is divine. He is eternal God. And yet this evening, I'd like us to spend the majority of our time looking at the second part here of Question and Answer 53. This part where the Catechism talks not about the person of the Holy Spirit, but talks about the work. What the Holy Spirit does. Notice what the Catechism says here. Second, He has been given to me personally so that by true faith He makes me share in Christ and all His blessings, comforts me, and remains with me forever. We see here at the very beginning of this part of the answer, He has been given to me personally. We see the very personal nature of the Catechism. The Catechism doesn't speak in lofty theological terms. It does indeed at times. But here the Catechism is being very personal. What does it mean for me as an individual Christian, someone living in this world? What does it mean for me to believe in the Holy Spirit? Well, it means that He's given to me. That He dwells within me. And we see this very clearly in Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 9 here. Look at what the Apostle Paul says. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. Now, notice here what Paul says. He says, if the Spirit of God lives in you. Now, in some ways, this word, if, kind of misrepresents what Paul is saying here. A better translation instead of if is that Paul is really communicating here is since. Since the Spirit of God lives in you. Paul isn't questioning whether the Spirit is alive and well in these Christians at Rome. He knows that the Holy Spirit lives within them. He assumes that it's true. So it's better to say that since the Spirit of God lives in you. And notice the language Paul uses here. The Spirit of God lives in you. This word, lives, literally means to make your home, to live, to dwell someplace. What Paul is saying here, friends, is that the Holy Spirit, God's Holy Spirit, eternal God, makes His home in you. You are the dwelling place. You are the house of the third person of the Trinity. Think about that for a moment. The eternal God, the one who spoke creation into existence, the one who hovered over the deeps of the water in Genesis chapter 1, dwells inside each and every one of you. And that's really from this truth. The catechism really unpacks the work of the Holy Spirit from this truth that the Spirit dwells. He's given to me personally. The Spirit dwells within God's people. But why? To what purpose does God's Spirit dwell inside of us? Why has God in Christ given to us His Holy Spirit to live and to make His dwelling within us? What we see in the catechism, what we see here in Romans chapter 8 is that the Holy Spirit is given to us. The Holy Spirit dwells inside of us to bring to remembrance three things. Firstly, to remind you of the hope of a new life. The Spirit dwells in you to remind you of your hope that you have in Christ. Secondly, the Spirit dwells in you to remind you of your gratitude. To remind you of the life of thankfulness that we are to lead to God who has saved us from all our sin and misery. And thirdly, the Spirit is given to us, the Spirit dwells inside of us to remind you of your adoption, to remind you of your status before God, not as a slave, but as a son and as a daughter. And so then let's firstly look at this initial, this first point here. The Spirit dwells inside of you, friends, to remind you of the hope of a new life. Look at what Paul says at the end of verse 9. If anyone does not have the Spirit of God, he does not belong to Christ. Paul is very clear here. Paul makes a connection here between the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit. If you do not have the Spirit, then you do not have Christ. The only way to have the blessings of Christ, the only way to be a partaker in all the blessings that Jesus has and Jesus has won for us is to be the dwelling place of God's Spirit. And we see this, don't we see this in our catechism as well. Remember, He's given to me personally so that by true faith He makes me share in Christ and all His blessings. This is what the Holy Spirit does. He reminds us that because we have Him, we are connected, we are united, we are bound to our Savior, Jesus Christ. But look at what Paul says also in verses 10 and 11. Verse 10, But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you. Now when we look at verse 10, verse 10 is a notoriously difficult passage to translate. And in studying this verse, I think the best way to translate this verse It really comes from the English Standard Version. The English Standard Version says this for verse 10. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit, capitalized Spirit, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. So what Paul, again, notice here in verse 10, Paul begins with another if, which should also be understood as since. since Christ is in you. Although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Notice that here, it's the Spirit of life. God's Holy Spirit is the Spirit which gives life, which gives new life, which gives new creation to those who are dead. So what is Paul saying here in verse 10? Well, he's telling us, friends, that your body, your body dies. Your body is going to die. We all know too well, living in this world, that our bodies begin to ache. Our bodies begin to hurt. We are literally wasting away. In this life, we experience pain, we experience heartache, we experience sorrow and misery. This all comes from the curse. The ultimate curse being that our bodies, your bodies, will die. That's what Paul tells us here. Your body is dead because of sin. And yet, that's not all Paul has to tell us. Paul also tells us, your body will live. Your body will live. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who lives in you. Friends, you have the Holy Spirit of God who brings new life, who brings resurrection power to your dead and dying bodies. This is the life-giving new creation power of God's Holy Spirit. Although your bodies will die, although our bodies will waste away, we will return to the dust from which we came, we have a greater hope than that, friends. Our hope is that we, as those who are indwelt by God's Holy Spirit, will be resurrected to new life. We will stand before God on that final day, resurrected in our eternal, everlasting bodies, bodies that will no longer hurt bodies that will no longer feel pain bodies that will no longer feel weakness and sorrow and therefore we see here again that it's through the work of the Spirit and it's through God's Holy Spirit that we share in the blessings of Jesus Christ friends this truth should give us unspeakable hope as we live in this world God's Word promises you that the Spirit of life will resurrect you to new life He will give you an immortal and everlasting life in the presence of God so friends never forget never forget that it's only through faith and by the work of God's Holy Spirit that you can take part in the blessings of Christ that you can take part in the blessings of that age that period to come. So we see that the Holy Spirit reminds us of the hope that we have new life. What we also see here, and we also see in our catechism, is that the Holy Spirit secondly reminds you of our gratitude. He reminds you of our gratitude. And remember the three sections that our catechism is traditionally broken down into. The first section being our guilt, the second, God's grace, the third section, our gratitude, our response to God's grace, this life of gratitude that we are to live. Well, notice what the Catechism says here about the Holy Spirit. It says, at the very end of this question and answer, it says, the Holy Spirit remains with me forever. The Holy Spirit remains with me forever. But what does this have to do with gratitude? This means, friends, that at no time, at no time, especially during your pilgrimage here in this veil of tears, in this world of sin, will the Holy Spirit of God leave you or forsake you. He dwells in you at all times to empower you, to thank God with an obedient life, to love God and to love your neighbor. and paul makes this absolutely clear for us in verses 12 through 14 look at what the apostle paul writes here therefore brothers we have an obligation but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it for if you live according to the sinful nature you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Friends, Paul is telling us here that your lives should not be characterized by the sinful nature. We are to live not according to the sinful nature, but to live according to God's Holy Spirit. Do not miss the sternness of Paul's warning here. as the homes, as the dwelling places of God's Spirit, friends. We are to flee. We are to run away from any life, any actions, any things that would bring dishonor to our Father, that would bring dishonor to the Spirit who lives inside of us. Instead, friends, Paul calls us to live lives according to the Spirit. We are called to live a life characterized by the life-giving, the life-giving Spirit who dwells inside of you. We are called to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself. But Paul tells us here, it's not that we are called to do this by our own power, by our own willing, our own trying. by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. And it's not also, on the other extreme, it's not just to let go and to let God. Instead, Paul tells us here that we are called to Spirit-empowered gratitude. We are to live lives of thankfulness to God's honor, to God's glory. It's not the Spirit's gratitude. It's not God's thankfulness. It's mine. It's yours. But it's empowered, it's done through the work of God's Holy Spirit. Friends, that's what we're called to. The Spirit of God, God's Holy Spirit, calls us and reminds us of the gratitude that we owe to our great Savior and our great King. But thirdly and finally, the Spirit not only reminds us of the new life we have in Christ, The Spirit not only reminds us of the lives we are to live in response to that new life we have in Christ, but the Spirit also, as Paul tells us and as our catechism explains, the Spirit also reminds us of our adoption. Notice, lastly, what the catechism says here. He makes me share in Christ and all His blessings. He comforts me and remains with me forever. The Spirit, friends, is given to you. The Spirit is given to you in order to bring you comfort. To assure you of God's favor. To assure you of God's love towards you. And this comfort that the Holy Spirit brings is clearly also and finally stated here by the Apostle Paul. in Romans chapter 8. Look at what the Apostle says in verses 15 through 17. For you do not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you receive the Spirit of Sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs. heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory. Friends, you are sons and daughters of God Almighty by the Holy Spirit. And notice here, verse 15, Paul's contrast here between being a slave and being a son and being a daughter. He tells us in verse 15 that you do not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear. You see, in the first century, in the biblical world in which Paul is writing here, being a slave, being in the slave could be a very fearful position to be in. We get a glimpse of the life of slavery in Exodus chapter 1 as Moses describes the hardship that Israel was placed under by their Egyptian taskmasters. Look at how Moses describes this in Exodus 1, verse 14. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields. In all their hard labor, the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. this is the spirit of slavery that brings fear. When we were outside of Christ, when we were outside of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, we were slaves to sin and slaves to death. And we had a very legitimate reason to fear. But Paul tells us, that is not the spirit that we have received. We have not received the spirit of slavery and fear. We have received the spirit of sonship, the spirit of adoption. This means, then, friends, that you have been legally brought into the family of God. Having the Spirit, being the dwelling place of God's Spirit, does not cause us to fear, does not cause us to dread, as slaves might before a taskmaster. Instead, we come before our God, not afraid of Him. Not afraid of Him as He might smite us down because we've broken His law. But we come to Him as children, those who've been brought into His family. And we can address our God as Paul does here. We can address Him as Abba Father. Just when we thought it couldn't get any better for us that we are now called sons and daughters of the King of Kings, not only are we sons and daughters, but Paul goes on to tell us that we are also heirs. Because you have been legally adopted into God's family, you are entitled to all the rights that come along with it. You receive all the benefits that belong to being a son and daughter of the King. You are now an heir. You are now legally able to inherit the blessings that God is going to bestow to you through Jesus Christ. Paul tells us here that we are not just heirs in the abstract. But Paul makes it very concrete for us how we are heirs. We are heirs in Christ. Paul says you are co-heirs with Christ. Now this might be a temptation for us to say, well, we're heirs in the same way that Jesus Christ is an heir. Well, that would be to misunderstand Paul and what Paul is saying to us here. We are not heirs in the same way that Jesus is an heir and son of God. No, friends. How did Jesus become an heir? How did Christ take up his seat at the right hand of the Father? He did it by his work. He did it by fulfilling the covenant of works. He did it by his perfect life of obedience before his Father. He did it by fulfilling and coming and dying on the cross in his sacrificial death. He did it by conquering Satan and death in his resurrection and ascension. That's how Christ became an heir. Friends, you are not an heir because of your work. You're only an heir because you are united to the one who worked for you and worked for you and on your behalf. Because you are in perfect fellowship with the heir, with the son who went and worked before you. That is how we are heirs, sons, and daughters of God. But Paul doesn't end there. Not only will we share in the glory of Christ, and that we are heirs and daughters and sons of the King, but the realist that Paul is, we will also share in the sufferings of Christ as well. The end of verse 17. If indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory. Friends, what we see here is that the Apostle Paul tells us that the Christian life is not going to be easy at times. Friends, the Bible never promises that the Christian life is going to be a cakewalk. That it's going to be easy and simple. No, Paul tells us that we, as heirs of Christ, will share in Christ's sufferings. This world, the life of the Christian, it will be hard at times. It will require great suffering. It will require at times great pain and great anxiety. But friends, remember, You have not been given a spirit of slavery to lead you back into fear, but you've been given the spirit of adoption, the spirit of sonship. And friends, maybe you are suffering unspeakable heartache right now. Remember, you have the very Spirit of God dwelling inside of you. He has given you every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ. That you are forgiven of all your sins. He reminds you that you are promised new life, free of all pain and all suffering. That you are the beloved Son and Daughter of God Almighty. And friends, there is nothing, nothing in all creation, no suffering, no pain, no sin, nothing can separate you from God's perfect Spirit. In this world of suffering, in this world of pain, friends, remember who you are. You are the dwelling place of God's Holy Spirit. You are sons and daughters of the King of Kings. Hallelujah. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, as we look at ourselves, we realize that we are sinners in need of Your mercy and Your grace. That so often as we live in this world, we are overwhelmed by the cares that this world requires of us. That this world so often weighs us down with heartache and sorrow, with pain and suffering. And yet, Father, that is not the final word. We know that this world suffers because of the curse. And yet, Father, we've heard this evening, we've heard this evening that You have reversed the curse through the work of Your Son, Jesus Christ. And that You bring that work, You bring the benefits, You bring the accomplishment of that work to us personally, given to us by Your Holy Spirit. Father, seal that promise to our hearts. Take away the clouds of doubt. Take away the clouds of pain from our eyes and our minds and help us to see and to rest our eyes on Jesus. And to know without a shadow of a doubt that we are sons and daughters of the King. That we are co-heirs with Christ. The Christ who has gone before us. The Christ who has won our redemption. The Christ who now sits at Your right hand, ever interceding for us, praying for us, and bringing our prayers to the very throne room of God. So Father, comfort our minds and hearts this evening. We thank You for Your Word. Seal these promises to our hearts by that blessed Holy Spirit, Spirit of the new creation. In the name of Christ, we ask all of this. Amen. Amen.