the Holy Spirit. And I pray that this series
shall be one of the greatest inspirations of
your life. I pray that before I will have finished
this series of messages on the mighty third person,
the Trinity, that the inspiration, the truths
that I shall bring to you shall Not only make
the Holy Spirit very real to your heart, but
that Jesus himself shall be more real to you
than he's ever been before, and that you will
appreciate your salvation more than you have
ever appreciated your new birth experience. You
know, theoretically. Thousands worship the Holy
Spirit every Lord's Day. Every Sunday, literally
tens of thousands of professing Christians worship
the Holy Spirit when they repeat the doxology
in their place of worship. And yet, Would you
believe it if I told you that very few of the
thousands who repeat the doxology, worshipping
the Holy Spirit, actually, literally believe
in the person and in the personality of the mighty
third person of the Trinity? Oh, theoretically.
They believe in him. But actually, when one speaks
of a person and of the power of the Holy Spirit,
they do not accept him literally. Neither do
they accept his power literally. Watch something.
I can prove to you that the Holy Spirit is as
definitely a person as God the Father is a person,
as Jesus Christ the Son is a person. There are
distinctive marks of personality, and those marks
are knowledge, feeling, and will. Not necessarily
a physical body. Now the Holy Spirit has these
three distinctive marks of personality. The Bible
clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit has knowledge.
He has feeling. He has will. No person has seen
the body of the Holy Spirit. But no person has
seen God Almighty. And yet we accept God as a
person. May I pause just a minute and make something
else very clear to your heart. You will be you
forever and forever. I will be me forever. And
yet there will come a time when my body will
be separated from my soul and my spirit. And
yet it does not change the fact that I will continue
to be a person and that you will continue to
be a person. I can prove to you from the Word
of God that there was a time, even during the
earthly ministry of Jesus, when His Spirit was
separated from His body. For on the cross, when
Jesus dismissed His own Spirit, spirit left the
body. The body was placed in the tomb, but no
tomb ever held the personality or the spirit
of Jesus. And yet he remained the son of the
living God, even though his spirit was separated
from his body. You see so often, you and I get
the idea, that one cannot be a person, that there
cannot be a definite personality, except one
sees the hands, the feet, the physical body of
a person. But that is not true. The Holy Spirit
is a definite person with a definite personality,
just as truly as there is a person of Jesus Christ,
the Son. Now, let's go a little deeper. And I
pray that the Holy Spirit shall become your teacher,
for unless he reveals these things to your heart
and to your mind, you will have no understanding
of these deep truths whatsoever. For that which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the spirit is spirit, and these things
are only spiritually revealed. That's what Jesus
meant when he said, Fresh and blood hath not
revealed this unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Let us take the work of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit has existed from... All
eternity. Now, when you and I speak of eternity
in the past, I cannot tell you how long that
is, how far back. I do not know. No human being
knows. But one thing I can assure you, that way
back there, in the past, way before the very
foundations of the world, there has existed a
past eternity. And in exactly the same sense,
way out there in the future, there is a future
eternity forever and forever and forever. And
you and I will be a part of that future eternity.
But going back to past eternity, God the Father
has always existed. Jesus Christ the Son has
always existed. The Holy Spirit has been in existence
with them. There is something that's very marvelous.
Good being perfect knowledge, knowing all things,
had perfect knowledge of the fall of man, even
before man was created. Read it. It's there in
the first chapter of Ephesians. And having perfect
knowledge of that which was to happen in the
future. Knowing that man would fall, God made
plans for the redemption of man. Knowing that
the law would have to be justified. And yet,
only one could suffice. Only one could satisfy
the law. Only one could bring perfect justice.
It had to be a thinless blood. You know something?
How often you and I quote John 3 .16. It's marvelous.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son. But do you want to know something?
God could not have given his son. for man's redemption,
unless the Son had first of all offered Himself.
And in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, the fourteenth
verse, there is something that is almost startling.
I shall give it to you. How much more shall the
blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God. Oh, I'm
telling you, this is marvelous. Pause just a
moment, and I pray the Holy Spirit shall make
this real to your heart. Methinks the three were
sitting at the great conference table. The mighty
God of the universe. God Almighty, and with him
at the great conference table, way back there
in past eternity, was his son. And with him,
the third person of Trinity, the Holy Ghost,
making plan for man's redemption. At that great
conference table. Jesus turned to the Holy Spirit
and said, I'll call. I'll take the place of fallen
man. Through me, through my perfection, man shall
receive redemption. And he turned to the Holy
Spirit and through the Holy Spirit, The scripture
says, through the eternal spirit, he offered
himself without spot. Absolute perfection. He
offered himself through the spirit to God the
Father. And then, for the very first time, was
the Father able to give to the world His only
begotten son for he could not have given Jesus
until first of all Jesus had offered himself
and he offered himself through the mighty third
person the Trinity and from there on the Holy
Spirit played a most important part in man's
salvation The Holy Spirit played as important
a part in man's salvation as Jesus played, as
important a part as God the Father played. You
say, Ms. Cooman, how can you say that? I'll go
a step further. God the Father could not have
carried out his plans for redemption without
the aid and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit.
Why? I shall give you scripture for everything.
In Luke, the first chapter, one of the most important
phases of man's redemption, it's there. Oh, sure,
and I give it to you. And the angel said unto
her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor
with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in
thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call
his name Jesus. He shall be great. and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord
God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no
end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall
this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel
answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost. shall
come upon thee, and the power of the highest
shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. Jesus was conceived by the Holy
Spirit in the womb. of Mary. Now then, there's
something else I want to prove to you, and that
is that at no time does the Father ever work
separate and apart from the Son. Neither does
the Holy Spirit ever work separate and apart
from either the Son or the Father. the holy spirit
was present with the father at the time that
jesus was baptized turn if you will please to
the third chapter of matthew and jesus when he
was baptized went up straightway out of the water
and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he
saw the spirit of god watch it always the spirit
of god is the holy spirit the third person the
trinity and he saw the spirit of god descending
like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo, a
voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. At the baptism
of Jesus, we have not only God the Father, who
spoke audibly and said, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. But there was also
the person of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture
does not say that he is a dove. The Scripture
says, Spirit of God descending like a dove and
lighting upon him. I pray that he shall make
the word real to your hearts. Amen.