Who is the Holy Spirit? What is it that the Holy Spirit wants to do in and through your life and how is it that we should respond to him? Now, sadly, too many people think of the Holy Spirit as an it or a thing or a force rather than understanding that he is the third member of the Trinity. There is God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and today in our present condition, Messiah taught that he has departed, he is at the right hand of God the Father and he departed in order that the Holy Spirit might come and dwell in the life of every believer. And he even said, “It is better that I should go so that the comforter, that he will come and teach us all truth.” So there are numerous benefits from him, the Holy Spirit being in your life.

Now, we see that in the last several lessons, there was an emphasis in the teaching and in the actions of Messiah in regard to the Sabbath day. We talked about how the Sabbath day is inherently related to creation and when we looked at creation, we saw that initially it was not according to God’s order and immediately what did we find? The Spirit of God there. Now what we are to glean from that is that we, in and of ourselves without Messiah in our life, leading our life, empowering our life, illuminating our life, without him, our life is going to be without order. Literally that word without order, as we talked about means chaos, at least from a spiritual standpoint.

You see, there’s many people and they might say, “Well, I don’t believe in Messiah. I don’t have the Holy Spirit, but my life’s not in chaos.” Well, spiritually it is. That person is far removed from the things of God. He doesn’t have a problem with it because he’s interested in the things of God. And one of the worst situations that a person can be in is to think that he’s okay spiritually or not even emphasize anything spiritually because in that condition he will never hear, he will never be blessed. He will never grow and mature into a location where God will use him, god will bless him and God will redeem him for the age to come.

Look with me if you would to the book of Mark and chapter 3, the book of Mark and chapter 3. Now, we finished up last week with a very important statement that some of the wise sages made concerning Messiah. Now, I called them wise sages, they were the scribes and there were different political and religious parties back 2000 years ago and the scribes, what they were known for is that they were supposedly experts in the scripture. Now, they might be able to quote the scripture, they might have interpretations for the scriptures, but they weren’t using the scriptures in the proper way. Why do I say that? Because Messiah constantly, whenever there was a conflict, whenever he was teaching something, whenever there was a confusion, what did he do? He drove the people back to the scripture, he pointed to some verse. And if someone were to understand that verse they would understand what he was teaching, what he was doing, what he was about and who he is.

So we read in verse 22 and this is where we finished last week, “There were some scribes and they came down from Jerusalem and they were saying concerning Messiah…” And a very important statement that, “Beelzebul or Beelzebul has he,” meaning he is possess by… What does it say? By the leader of the demons. So by Beelzebul, he cast out demons. That’s was their accusation against Messiah. Now we’re going to see immediately that Messiah makes a connection between the spiritual, the spiritual, and his activity.

In once sense, everything is spiritual. One of the things that people need to learn is that nothing is done without a God’s part of it. That is to say everything has a spiritual connection. You can’t go anywhere and be separated from God. What did David say? David says, “If I go up to the heavens, God is there, if I go down to Sheol, God is there.” And Jonah learned this, you can’t flee from the presence of God, everything is spiritually related. But here’s the problem with these scribes. Instead of identifying the spirit of Messiah, that is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit working and moving through him… And we’ve talked about how in the book of Isaiah chapter 59, there is that connection between the work of redemption and the giving of the spirit.

So it’s not surprising that there is a connection between Messiah and the Holy Spirit, but instead of them, these so called experts in the Bible, instead of them understanding that, pointing that out, what did they do? Well, despite all the good things that Messiah had done…. Now, why do I say that? Well, you’ll recall that also in this chapter, Messiah asked them a question. He says, “On the Sabbath day, is it right to do good or evil, to save a life or to kill? And obviously the answer is to do good and to save a life, and that’s what he did. So he identified himself coming from the purposes, the plans, the will of God, but yet what did they do? They accused them of being demonic possessed and doing things by Beelzebul, the leader of the demons.

Now, how is it that Messiah responded? Well, let’s move on. Look, if you would now to verse 23. “He called to them… ” Now, literally it’s a word that means to invite or to summon. And what he was doing as the text says, “He summoned them, in parables speaking to them.” And he spoke in parables because, well, there’s a variety of reasons, but one of which he wanted them to give serious thought to what he was saying. Because they either, one or two things can be said, they either flippantly made that remark about him being demonic possess or they were totally wrong in their assessment of the situation. Regardless, they needed to take things much more seriously, they needed to think through them. So he spoke here in parables and he asked a question, “How be it possible for Satan to cast out Satan?” Now, why did he put Satan in this thing? This is the first time here in this passage that the term Satan appears, and the reason is this, Satan all about accusing and manifesting sin for the purpose of punishment.

And we see Messiah is the opposite. He made manifest sin of all for the purpose of forgiveness and for the purpose of restoration, returning things back to a godly order, a proper order. So the first thing he speaks about is this, he says, “How is it possible that Satan could cast out Satan?” Verse 24, “For if the kingdom is divided against himself, how is it possible for that kingdom to stand?” And the word stand becomes important because it’s related to being establish. And that tells us that Messiah is working to bring something about. Now Satan, he just wants destruction. He just wants to bring things to an end. Satan enjoys pain and suffering and there’s no order in what he’s about. But Messiah, what he’s saying here is that he wants to restore things. He wants things to be establish. And so he shows this in contrast to what Satan and his kingdom is about.

Verse 25, he speaks on and writes, “And if a house is divided against itself, it is not possible that house to… ” What? “… to stand.” That is to be established, to carry on, to move forward. Now why does he say that? Well, here again, there is an emphasis upon the future. Messiah is preparing something for a future, destruction just in, when something is destroyed, it has no future. That’s what Satan is about. He comes praying to destroy, but the future belongs to Messiah. He wants to establish something. He’s building up something. So he shows over and over in these parables what he’s wanting to bring about in this world and how it is the exact opposite, it is in conflict with anything related to Satan.

Move on to verse 26, “And if Satan stands against himself and is divided, then he is not able to… ” What? “… he is not able to to stand and he is brought to…” What? “… an end.” Now here again, that’s where demotic influence and demonic activity brings us to an end, to destruction. But with the Holy Spirit there is future. For example, going back to Genesis chapter 1, everything was in chaos and it was all there, but there was no order to it. And because of that, nothing would have happened. It would have just remained. But what takes place? The Holy Spirit, he is present and he begins through illumination, that is through truth, he begins through the spoken word of God to bring things into a being so there is a future. And that’s exactly what Messiah is trying to reveal to the scribes and all those who were listening to him.

Verse 27. Now, there’s another aspect of the scribes. These scribes, they were using the word of God, but not for the purposes of God. They didn’t understand or they wouldn’t submit to the fact that the word of God is a group of instructions, commandments, so that we can follow them to bring out God’s purposes, his conclusion. But what does Satan wants to do? He doesn’t want a godly conclusion, which is the kingdom of God. He doesn’t want things to be brought into their final form of holiness and righteousness and that which manifests God’s glory. He likes that chaos, he likes destruction and he likes to take, and that’s exactly what the scribes were doing. They were using the scripture, they were using religion, so to speak, in order to take for themselves, not to manifest God’s glory.` And that’s why Messiah look, if you would to verse 27, it says, “But no one is able to enter into the house of a stronger one for the purpose of taking his vessels, unless first, he binds the stronger one and then he is able to plunder the house.”

Now, what’s he talking about or showing? If he was just a man, he wouldn’t be able to do battle with the enemy, with that demonic influence. And what he’s doing here is not just dividing, but he is binding the enemy. That is where Messiah is working, those miracles, those healings, those things that he did, the enemy was bound, to show that he’s stronger than Beelzebul. He is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. So in this passage of scripture, what I want you to see is that there is an emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit and his connection to Messiah, revealing Messiah’s identity as a King of Kings, that one who is Lord over all.

Now, we’re going to see another passage which speaks to his identity. Look on if you would to verse 28, “Truly, I say to you that all will be forgiven of the sons of man, sin and blasphemy, whatever he should blaspheme, but… ” It says in verse 29, “… but if someone should blaspheme the Holy Spirit, he has no forgiveness.” Now we’re dealing with something that’s very well known, this concept of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And notice how he elevates the Holy Spirit in a very unique way. He says all blasphemy, all sin potentially can be forgiven except one and that is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

Now, before we go any further, what is this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Well, here we need to put some things together. These scribes, as I said, they were knowledgeable in the scripture. They knew a lot of biblical truth. The problem is this, they would not submit to it. And now when the Spirit of God is moving in an undeniable way, when good is being accomplished, what did they do? They accused the work of the Holy Spirit. See, they were convicted. They knew that it was the Holy Spirit, but nevertheless, they said it was demonic influence.

And when you are convicted that God is present, God is working, the Holy Spirit is moving, he is accomplishing things, when you’re convicted by that truth, but you attribute it to demonic power, demonic influence, you have blaspheming the Holy Spirit. And that’s why he says… Look again in verse 29, “But… ” And that’s an important word, but, we’ve talked about it before. It means an absolute contradiction, that which is different than what he said previously. Remember he said, “All forgiveness, it’s possible,” but in contradiction to that there’s something that’s not forgivable. And what is that? Look at verse 29. “But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, he has no forgiveness ever, but rather he has or is subject to…” What? Well, there’s a couple of different words in the different manuscripts. One is that he has eternal condemnation. Another manuscript has, he has eternal punishment, so very similar judgment or punishment.

And there’s another manuscript that says that he has basically done… What? He has done something which is the eternal sin. So there’s three ways to translate that. And let me just summarize by saying he has done something very, very serious and we can least say has eternal consequences. And that’s a pretty drastic statement. So in saying what he said, it reveals to us the importance of the Holy Spirit and how that Holy Spirit, how he is personally and intimately connected to Messiah. We know in the scripture that Messiah said that unless he leaves or departs, that is unless he ascends to the right hand of the father, he says, the Holy Spirit will not come, and he says, “It’s better for you in order that we might do even greater things by means of the Holy Spirit.” So signs and wonders and deeds and powers, all the outcome of the Holy Spirit.

Now, here again, all this relates to the identity of Messiah and that’s what he’s going to talk about in this next passage. Look, if you would to verse 31, he spoke to them that any of those people, they were saying things against the Holy Spirit, that is that he has an unclean spirit. How could he, the Lord of Lords have an unclean spirit and that’s why we see in verse 31 this next outcome. We read, “And his mother and his brothers came and were standing outside… ” Now, where was he? Well, remember the context, Messiah here is at home. There was so many people coming to his home to hear him teach that it was too many to feed them as they had done previously and more and more people were coming around him and more and more people were coming to the conclusion that he is the Messiah, the anointed one.

And what happens? Well, from this context, we see that his family, his mothers, his brothers, one manuscript also has sisters, they were coming… They didn’t go inside, but rather we read, literally, “They stood outside and they sent to him.” They sent for him. And why was that? Well, look at what it reads in verse 30, “They were sending for him to come outside.” And we know why, earlier on in this text they thought he was beside himself, that is crazy. And those who are sitting around him, this crowd, this crowd he was with and they were speaking to him, that is, he was speaking to them saying, “Behold… ” What? They said, “Your mother and your brother are outside.” And what did he say? Well, “Behold your mother and your brothers and even your sisters, they are seeking you.” And he responded in verse 33, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?”

Now, why did he say that? Well, they were seeing him as just a man and even though he’s fully man, also we need to understand that he is fully God, God incarnate. So he wasn’t emphasizing his physical relationship with his mothers, with his brothers, or even with the sisters, he was talking those who have a real relationship with me are not those who are related to me physically, but have a spiritual connection. Now, why is that important? Well, what have we been talking about? We’ve been talking about the Holy Spirit and unless he dwells in me, in you, unless we have a relationship with him, we have no part of Messiah.

One of the things we see in an undeniable way is that the moment someone believes, what happens? the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in that person. Now, some people want to talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second act, and oftentimes they turn to the Book of Acts and they deal with the passage where Paul is speaking to a group of disciples and he says, “have you heard of the Holy Spirit?” And they go, “No, we haven’t heard.” And people go, “There you go, here’s disciples, but they don’t even know of the Holy Spirit.” And then Paul laid hands upon them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now isn’t that proof about that second blessing, that second step that someone has to take? Well, there’s a very big problem with such a statement and what is that?

Well, if you read that context in the Book of Acts, Acts chapter 19, what you’ll find is that those disciples were not Messiah’s disciples. That is, they had not even heard the name, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus of of Nazareth, they didn’t know him. And Paul said, “Well, what have you believed on?” And they were literally, it says, disciples of John. That is, they knew that John spoke about one who was coming after, they believe John and they were looking for that one who would come after, but they did not know the name Yeshua.

They did not receive him into their life. They did not know that name. So it was only after Paul gave them the gospel, the full gospel about the name Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. It was only after they came to that understanding, then immediately they received the Holy Spirit. So we see the connection is not biological but spiritual and that’s what he wants to emphasize in this passage of scripture. So look again at verse 33, “And he answered and said to them, who is my mother? Who is or are my brothers?” And then he looked around concerning this crowd who were surrounding him, who were sitting by him and he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers, for who ever does the will of God, this one is my brother, this one is my sister, this one is my mother.” Now, why did he bring into this account, “Whoever does the will of my father?”

Because it is impossible… And don’t miss this…. It is absolutely impossible to do God’s will without the Holy Spirit. We’ve said the first thing that happens when someone believes in Messiah, they are filled, endowed with the Holy Spirit, it’s a proof. We know elsewhere in the scripture, Paul speaking to the Corinthians and he talks about the Holy Spirit as the earnest, that is as the down payment. So you can’t be a believer unless you have the Holy Spirit and you can’t serve God, you can’t do anything for him unless the Holy Spirit, he is moving, dwelling, enlightening you, empowering you in moving into, as the scripture says, all truth.

So in this passage of scripture, we see over and over Messiah elevating the importance of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because at that time and was we looked throughout the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, although there are references to [foreign language 00:25:45], your Holy Spirit, we don’t see the Holy Spirit in the same terms as we do in the New Testament. That’s not an accident because we see an inherit relation and what is being emphasized here is the inherent relationship between the work and the availability of the Holy Spirit through an acceptance of Messiah.

We talked about how redemption and the giving of the Holy Spirit go hand in hand. So let me ask you a question, how is the Holy Spirit moving in your life? Do you sense his presence? Do you understand his leadership? Do you experience his power? Do you have him as your teacher doing exactly what Messiah promised, and that was to guide you into all truth? One of the wisest things that we can do is to begin to explore scripturally what the word of God says about the Spirit. Because we can’t worship, we can’t serve, we can’t teach, we can’t even pray in a way, and to the extent that God would have us to do any of these things in and of ourselves, we are ultimately and completely dependent upon the Holy Spirit and his work in our lives so that we can be brought to the place where God is well pleased with us, not just as his children by faith, but pleased with us as his faithful servants.

So my hope and my instruction to you is to emphasize the truth in the scripture concerning the Holy Spirit so that you might be used and manifest God’s glory in the same way that we see Messiah, everywhere he went, everyone he was having contact with, we see how he was serving his Heavenly Father and bringing blessing into those people’s lives. Well, we’ll close with this, until next week when we begin our study of Mark and chapter 4.

Speaker 1:    Well, we hope you will benefit from today’s message and share it with someone else. Please plan to join us each week at this time and on this station for the radio edition of LoveIsrael.org.

Again, to find out more about us, please visit us at our website, LoveIsrael.org, there you will find articles and several other lectures from our teacher, Dr. Baruch. These teachings are in video form. You may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week. May the Lord bless you in our Messiah, Yeshua, that is Jesus, as you walk with him. Shalom from Israel.