In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding that God is a person. They highlight the significance of Jesus being God in the flesh and how he revealed the clearest understanding of God. The speaker then focuses on the baptism of Jesus, explaining that it was a moment when all three persons of the Trinity were present. They emphasize the joy and power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit and how it is a part of every Christian's inheritance. The sermon concludes by discussing the Holy Spirit's relationship with God the Father and the Son, highlighting the importance of understanding this relationship in the Word of God.

This is tape KK10 in the Springs of Living Water Tape Library. Copies may be obtained by writing Springs of Living Water Tapes P.O. Box 32636 Spring Lake Park, Minnesota 55432 Tape number four in a series of heart-to-heart talks on the subject, God is a Person. This is side one of the tape and it features the message entitled, Today Inherit the Mind of Christ, and the Katherine Kuhlman Concert Choir with a prayer. I wish I had the ability just now to bring you face to face with the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is as definitely a person as God the Father is a person. The Holy Spirit is as surely a person as Jesus, the Son of God, is a person. He is more than just an influence. He is more than just one of the attributes. And I would like in the next few minutes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to make His person real to you. It would change your whole outlook on life. He can change your relationship with Jesus. When you realize the power of this wonderful third person, the Trinity, it opens up the entire Word of God to you. You see everything so differently. And then you realize how valuable is this experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And I believe in that experience with every atom of my being. The Bible teaches it. There is an experience after one has been born again. First comes a new birth experience. That experience that we call conversion. Being born again. Regeneration. When one accepts Jesus as one's personal Savior. After that, there is an experience that's promised to every believer. The experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Or being filled with the Holy Spirit. Call the experience anything that you want to. But it's a part of every Christian's inheritance. And it's a part of the plan of Jesus for His own and every member of His church. Now for just a few minutes, I want you to see the Word of God as God relates to the Holy Spirit. Oh, this is something that's very glorious. The Word of God clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit relates Himself to both God the Father and to the Son. Turn, if you will please, to the 3rd chapter of Matthew. Begin with the 16th verse. And immediately you will recall that glorious event when Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism. Oh, these two verses are very revealing. I still contend that the full depth of the meaning of these two verses cannot be understood by any human being. It's all so involved and yet it's so simple that even a child can understand. For here we have all three persons. You know it well. You have read the 16th and 17th verses of the 3rd chapter of Matthew many times. I shall read it again. But I pray that the Holy Spirit Himself shall give you a clearer revelation than you've ever had before of that which has happened. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. Now get the picture. Here we have the person of Jesus who literally is God in the flesh. For you will remember that the clearest revelation that God ever gave of Himself He gave through His Son, Jesus. And Jesus literally was God in the flesh as He came and walked upon this earth. So here we have Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto Him. And this is what He saw. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. That was the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, the Word of God teaches, is the Spirit of God. This is vitally important. I pray that the Holy Spirit Himself shall give you this glorious revelation as to just who He actually is. Whenever you think of the Holy Spirit, whenever you speak of the Holy Spirit, remember He is the Spirit of God. And whether it's in the Old Testament or the New Testament, you read of the Spirit of God. It was the Spirit of God that moved upon the waters during the time of creation. It refers to the Holy Spirit. Whenever the Old Testament prophets spoke of the Spirit of God, they were always referring to the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. All right? Here we have Jesus coming up out of the waters of baptism. The heavens were opened unto Him. And He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. Remember, it was the same Holy Spirit, the same Spirit of God, that came in that upper room as the hundred and twenty tarried. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. No man, no woman can ever come before the throne of God. No person in the day of judgment can ever plead ignorance regarding the fact that he did not know that Jesus was the true Messiah, that he did not know who Jesus really was. For God Himself made sure that all generations to come would know that the One who came in the form of flesh, the One who came up out of the waters of baptism, was all that He said that He was and that He had been sent by God Himself and that He was the very Son of the living God, the true Messiah. God did not leave that for an angel. He did not leave that for another. But God Himself spoke and proclaimed to all generations to follow, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And there you have all three members of the Trinity. Jesus coming up out of the waters of baptism, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God Himself, but the Person of Almighty God was still in heaven. So profound that the greatest minds that have ever lived have never been able to fathom the full depth of it, and yet it's so simple anyone can understand. And it gives full proof as to just who the Holy Spirit is and how He relates to the Father, how He relates to Almighty God. He is the Spirit of God. And you know, the most amazing thing is that we think we know so much about the Holy Spirit and there are those who feel as though He is just a new personality having come on the scene and that it was something given just to the Church. Marvel at how much the Old Testament prophets knew regarding this third Person of Trinity, the Spirit of God. I marvel at the knowledge of Jeremiah. It's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by My Spirit, saith the Lord. The Holy Spirit. All the Old Testament saints, many of them, were well acquainted with the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit. Here's Isaiah. And remember, he's the same Holy Spirit today as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God that Isaiah knew. That 61st chapter of Isaiah. And this is so thrilling. Isaiah describing his experience when he said, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, on the opening of the prison to them that are bound. As I stand in the pulpit, and I feel that wonderful anointing of the Holy Spirit, and I feel sorry for that one who has been called to preach the gospel who has never known that wonderful anointing. Let me ask you, as you stood there in that pulpit, has that anointing of the Holy Spirit come upon you to such a degree that you were not conscious of those who filled the pews? That literally, he took those lips of clay. I'm not talking about speaking in an unknown tongue. I'm talking about the Holy Spirit taking your mind and giving you the mind of Christ, giving you the mind of God, and literally as you surrender yourself to Him, you are hearing with your own ears that which the Holy Spirit is giving to those to whom you are ministering. There's nothing in the whole world like the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Nothing. Nothing. If you're a man of God and you stand before your people as the great shepherd to the flock, and you've been given the responsibility to preach the gospel, your greatest thrill is to stand there and have every fiber of your being under the control of the Holy Spirit. The Holy. I do not have the vocabulary. It is not in the human vocabulary to describe these things, the Spirit. They're so marvelous. And hear Isaiah utter the same wonderful anointing. To me, that's glorious. I know those of us who've experienced the wonderful Pentecostal experience sometimes feel as though we're the only people whom the Lord has so blessed, and that this is something new, a new thing that has been given to a precious few. Oh, bless you. Isaiah knew the same Holy Spirit. He's talking about that same anointing that you and I have today. And he looks up with great joy and cries forth, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. John had that wonderful experience on the Isle of Patmos, and he knew not how better to describe it than to say, I was on the Lord's. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. The Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit. Again I remind you, as we're coming face to face with the person of the Holy Spirit, I pray that you listen very closely and realize that the Holy Spirit is a person that you and I cannot take lightly. There's something about the Holy Spirit that is very solemn. He's one easily grieved. Those words were never spoken of God the Father or of Jesus Christ the Son, but of the Holy Spirit. He's not a person that you can just cast aside, put behind the door, shrug your shoulders and say, I have no need of Him. When you consider that the sin for which there is no forgiveness is not against the Great Creator, is not against Almighty God, that's the thing I so marvel at. And the Bible clearly teaches that there is a person against whom you can sin and there is no forgiveness for that one who sins against. No matter what you say about God, you use His name in vain. You have refused to come to Him, to call upon Him. And yet, the very moment, then in all sincerity, you look up and accept His Son as your personal Savior, just automatically He adopts you as His child. You may be the worst sinner in the whole world. You may have committed every sin there is. And yet, when you accept His Son, the Christ, as your Savior, He adopts you as His child. He makes you His heir and you become a joint heir with Jesus. No, the sin for which there is no forgiveness is not against God. Neither is it against Jesus the Son, even those who spat upon Him while the spittle was running down His body. Had they turned and cried out and said, Forgive me. I confess I'm a sinner. Forgive my sins. Even in that moment, Jesus would have looked down and said, I forgive you. As He cried out and said, The sin for which there is no forgiveness is not against Jesus the Son. But that sin is committed against the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God is holy. That is why He is called the Holy Spirit. Yes, make yourself real to men and women for Jesus.