First Corinthians chapter twelve, and we'll read from verse one. Now concerning spiritual gifts or spirituality, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were lit. Wherefore I did you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God, call us Jesus a curse, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are diversities in the original that is also like diversities above, and can be used, or differences. There are differences or diversities of administration, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which works at all in all. Now, I want to speak this morning on the Trinity, and you have that in those three verses. In verse four, you have the Holy Spirit in verse five. You have the Lord Jesus Christ, and in verse six you have the Father. God the Son, the God the Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father, all in that one portion. You have them put in the exact same order over in Ephesians chapter four. If you were to read chapter four, you would find the very same thing. One Spirit, one Lord, one God. and father of all. Now, although he uses that expression, one God and father of all, that does not keep universalism or the fatherhood of God. But everybody says, God is only the father that has grown to a born again. Now, there's a big difference between being a creature and being a child. Every person breathing in the world is one of God's creatures. But that's not going to take you to heaven. After you come to know Christ, then you are his child. You're born into the family of God. And that's what he's referring to here. He's talking about being the God and Father of all who are saved, all who are born again, and know they are going to heaven. And so you have in this passage the rich endowment that is a gift. given by the Holy Spirit, and also the vital energy. And that energy is the Holy Spirit. And also the worthy exercise, God wants every person to stir up, find out what is your gift, and stir it up. Paul said to Timothy, stir up the gifts of God which is in this. And so we need to remember these things, and pray. Find and know that. The Tyune God is interested in these gifts, the dispensing of them and the use of these gifts. The Trinity is interested in awe. There are some people come knocking at your doors at times, and they don't believe in the Trinity. Well, the Trinity can be traced throughout the Bible very clearly. Right in the beginning, Genesis one... God created the heavens and the earth, and that word God is in the plural Elohim. And so later on he said, let us, speaking in the plural, let us make man in his own image. Let us go down and read in chapter eleven to see what men are doing. They were building the Tower of David. And so here you have the Trinity. Now when you come to the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the Trinity again. Here the Lord Jesus stood in Jordan, and John is going to baptize you, and God's voice is heard, the Father's voice is heard, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, and the Spirit in the form of a dove settled on the head of the Lord Jesus. Now there we have the Trinity, the Father speaking, the Son submitting, and the Spirit identifying the Lord Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah. The same thing is true of his resurrection. The Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and you have over in First Peter, one, two, five, we read a lecture according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, says the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. So there again you have the Trinity together. And also in the plan of redemption, God is interested in man. The triune God is interested in man. He's interested in them being saved. He's interested in them being baptized. Now you have that in Matthew, and this is what it says in Matthew, verse eight and ninety. Go therefore ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And as to the benediction of God's people, the Trinity is so interested in the blessing of his people. You read this benediction in second Corinthians, and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. So here are just a few verses from the Bible that show you the Trinity. One time a missionary was trying to get across to an Indian who lived in the North Country where it was quite cold, trying to get across to him the truth of the Trinity. And he couldn't see it how there could be one in three and three in one. All the same effort but different personalities as to their expression and as to their activity. Finally, the Indians... It dawned on him, and he came out of it. Oh, he says, I see water, snow, and ice. Well, they're really the same thing, but they differ. Now you can swim in water. You can't swim in snow, and you can't swim in ice. You can skate on ice, but you can't skate on snow, and you can't skate on water. And yet, they're really the same thing. Ice is just frozen water. Snow is also water, but it's coming down in little flakes. It hasn't reached a certain temperature where it can freeze. Someone might throw a picture of water into your face. Well, you may take it and you may not, but it won't fill you. Well, if someone threw a snowball at you, that wouldn't hurt you. But let that water freeze and let that snowball freeze and throw it at you and you're going to get hurt. You did this with a chunk of ice. And yet they're the same thing. And so there's such a thing as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I was amazed this week in turning over the John's gospel of the first two verses of the latter part of chapter fifteen, and also a few verses of the opening of chapter sixteen. And it so struck me that I thought I'll mention it this morning because it brings out the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and also the Spirit works in the world and in the church. Now, if you were to turn over to John chapter sixteen, you would find that the opening verses have to do with the Savior and his followers or the preachers. And you'll also find in verses seven to fifteen the Holy Spirit and his power. Under the remainder of that chapter you have the Father and his presence. As soon as you've got your Bible open I want you to see something that's very remarkable. And it's in the latter parts of John chapter fifteen and verse eighteen. And six times in this verse you'll find the word world. And also eight times in the passage you're going to read, you find the word hate. Now verse eighteen of John fifteen, if the world hates you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, now there's a second time it's mentioned, the world at the third time would love his own. But because you're not of the world, But I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world, at six times in those two verses, eighteen and nineteen, the world takes a view. And he was talking to the religious people of his day, what a wicked, hateful, religious world. And religious hatred is the worst of all. You've seen what hatred in religion has been doing in Peru. They thought it's really a religious war. This time of hatred, feeling religious, fear, fear. If you were to read your history, you'd see a lot of those conflicts, dreadful first retreating, awful slaughter, were religious battles. And so here you find the Lord Jesus pointing out this hateful world. And who did it hate, and why did it hate it? It tells you in verse twenty-two of John fifty. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sinned. But now they have no hope for their sin. He that thinketh me thinketh my father also. Notice what he says. If I had not done among them the works, now in the verse he just read, it seems he said, if I had not come and spoken unto them. Now he says, if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have both sinned and hated both me and my father. but this cometh the path that the word might be fulfilled that is written in the law they hated me without the cause. Isn't that remarkable? Why did they hate the Lord Jesus? It was because of what he said and what he did. Now he said, if I had not come and said what I did and done what I did, They wouldn't have had the sin that's now resting upon them. He's talking about one sin in particular, the rejection of Jesus Christ. God has confronted the world with the fact that he is the eternal God. He sent his son, his son to represent God the Father, and millions and millions in the world today it's worth. The rest of the Lord Jesus had never come. and said what he did and do what he did. Because if he has come still on the spot, they've got to see, except him already done. And friend, it's too late for you to claim anything. You're on the spot. God is confronting this world with the person of his son. What he did and what he said. And the Lord Jesus Christ makes it plain. He has no hope now for your sins. He stands before God, condemned, guilty before God, until you are born again, then you become a citizen, and you're not guilty before God. These are strong and trusting words. I want you to continue here. He says in verse... But when the comforter is come, now he's going to bring in the work of the Holy Spirit. We've noticed in these previous verses, the Father and the Son, the Father and the Son, the Father and the Son. Now we come to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit in verse twenty six of John fifteen. But when the Spirit, the comforter is come, to whom I will send unto you from the Father. Notice the Trinity here again. He says, whom I, that's the Lord Jesus, will send unto you from the Father. There's God the Father. Even the Spirit of truth is the Spirit. So you've got the Trinity right there in that verse again. Verse seven now of verse chapter sixteen. And this is what I want you to get. Chapter sixteen and verse seven of John. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Why was it expedient for the Lord Jesus to go away? And the disciple was worth knowing. He said, well, it's expedient that I go away. because if I stay here, only those people in my immediate presence locally can enjoy my company. But he says, I'm going to the Father, and I'm going to send the Holy Spirit who can be in every heart in all the world. If I stay here, God manifests in the flesh, I can only really benefit those who are right around me. He can see me and hear me. But he said, when the comforter, the Holy Spirit comes, when humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, when this humanity goes into the presence of deity, then deity comes down with a desire to dwell in congested humanity. So he says, when the Spirit comes, he's universal. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere. And he tells us what he's coming down into the world to be. Notice these verses. In verse eight, and then he that is the spirit of his coming, he will recrue the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not in me, of righteousness because I go to the parlor, and you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is up. So the spirit came down. And what is his mission? It tells you plainly here, he has come to convict the world of sin. And he tells you what that sin is, or sin because they believe not on me. They don't believe I'm the eternal son of God. They don't believe I was born sinless from the devil. They don't believe the things I said in my life and the things I'm going to do. And so the Spirit of God is here in the world to convict the world of sin, not to convict the world of murder or of adultery or of drunkenness or of gambling. The Spirit doesn't convict the man of that. They know that's wrong. Your conscience tells you that's wrong. He's here to convict the world of unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ, because if that sin were corrected, you wouldn't commit me. You wouldn't commit a dog. You wouldn't trust them, swear, and steal. So the fruit of God is aiming at the root of them. He's here to convict the world of sin, of sin, because they believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not a theoretical belief. This is a belief that becomes realistic to those who by faith, all the faith they have deposited in the Lord Jesus Christ and they accept them as their savior. Then they become new creatures in sight and their life is changed. So that's the sin he's here to convict the world of. And the list of those who are going to be in the lakes of fire forever, the fearful, and unbelieving, head to lip. Those who will not believe, the gospel that God sent into the world in the person of his Son, and the spirit of God is in this world to convict man of his need of that Savior, the people that are afraid to believe, the fearful, because of what folks will say. Fearful. They believe not. These are the three things that have to live. Man is afraid to trust the same. He's afraid of what others may think and be. He doesn't seem to fear God. If he feared God as he feared not as much as he feared man, he'd make a move. For the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, not only in politics but in salvation. And so is he here to convict the world of sin. And that sin is unbelief. He says, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life and shall not come in condemnation, but is fast death unto life. So you say, well, Mr. Wilson, I believe in Jesus, right? Let me ask you a question. Do you have eternal life right now? Oh, no, you say, I wouldn't go that far. I don't have eternal life, then you don't believe. For the Lord Jesus says, he that believes us have, he came alive. He thinks you believe. Yours is a historical faith, like believing the Columbus of the sovereign America. You have been trusted with all your heart in the finished work of Christ. The second thing, sin, that he has been victim of, of righteousness. Man has none. I don't care who the person is, how righteously they try to live in the eyes of men, and do right. The Spirit of God is to convict man of righteousness, something he does not have, because in Romans three, there is none righteous, no, not one. Only one righteous person ever walks this scene, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. And because he was righteous, he went from the cross, for God would accept no other sacrifice but a sinless righteous sacrifice. And so the Spirit is here to convict man of a lack of righteousness, but he also tells us in us where righteousness is to be found in a glorified Christ that God's right hand. Man, if he doesn't believe that, is making God a liar. If you believe not the record that God gave of his son, you make God a liar. And that's an awful offense. You can read that in First John, five, ten. It's right in the Bible. He's made God a liar. That's the sin that's sending the men, demons, and hell, calling God a liar. They won't believe what he tells them. They are lost in us. And the righteousness, true righteousness, found in Jesus Christ. The third thing the Spirit appears to present of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. This judgment is present. It's not going to be peaceful. Already the Prince of this world, the God of this world, has been judged. Judged at the cross. And the Bible says in John three, I think at seven, we're condemned already because we have not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. No man is condemned right now. He's judged right now. He's guilty right now. He's just waiting for the day when that sentence will be read and that judgment will be carried out. After death... the judgment, the execution of that sentence that now rests upon every person who does not believe in Jesus Christ the Saviour. This is the message of the Holy Spirit. It convicts the world of sin, all righteousness, and of judgment right now. He has to do this before he can give gifts unto men. There he speaks about the church in the last three verses or four that I want to read. Verse twelve of John fifteen, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, he's speaking in the future. Howbeit when he the spirit of truth is come, at that time he hadn't. He will guide you, he's talking about the church now, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear in that cell he speaks, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath of mine, and therefore said I, he the Spirit shall take of mine, and show it unto you. You have the Trinity again in that verse. All things that the Father hath of mine hath the Son. Therefore said I, there's the Son again. that he, God, shall take, or the Spirit shall take, of mine, and show it under you. So you see how the Trinity is involved in the very coming of the gospel. And the Trinity is united in the trade men in Jim and our faith. For every one of the Trinity has a part in the plan of salvation man's redemption. For instance, we find over in John, verse sixteen, that familiar verse. For God so loved the world that he gave as only begotten sons, that whosoever the leader in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God sent his son into this world. Now, that's all he could do. See, he didn't send an angel. He didn't create a special being. He sent his son into the world. Now, that's all God can do. The rest now is up to the Lord Jesus. He takes over there. What does he do? He takes. And he lays down his life. That was his name. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom for a minute. That's what the Lord Jesus came for, was to lay down his right, a ransom from earth. Many. Luke nineteen ten. The Son of Man is come to speak, and he say that which was lost. And once he gave himself at the cross and was raised again and went back to God's right hand, now the prayer takes over. God did all he could do. He sent his son. He gave his son. The Lord Jesus has done all heathenly. He gave his life at such a height for sin. And then back to heaven, it's worth done. As far as the world can go. Now the Spirit takes over there. And what does the Spirit do? He convicts. He's crippling. We're born from above. He prickens the lost soul that put the state in evil sight. You have these prickens who were dead and trespasses and in sin. And so the Spirit of the Spirit of the Spirit is convinced, if we've been noticing in John's history, convinced the world of sin, of righteousness, and those who believe that are pricked by the Holy Spirit of God. We're born from above, the new birth takes place through the Father, Son, and Spirit. all have a part in the wonderful work of the gym, man's wonderful salvation. But they don't stop there. The Trinity is not only satisfied with man being saved, they have a vital interest in the spirituality and welfare of all who are saved. That's why you have any staffers who are going to take out the gift. And verse seven and eleven of the first Corinthians, the gifts of the Spirit are enumerated. There are nine in all. And these gifts are distributed to God's people, certain ones. He selects and he gives a special authority and a capability to. Now, before all this should happen, the coming of the Spirit or the Spirit is here now, and the selecting and the giving of gifts. He came down on the day of Pentecostal. Before he could hear them. Say, people, and gift some. He didn't gift them all. There had to be a conflict. There had to be a struggle. Because there was another spiritual world that was seeking to control minds and bodies of men. And that is the satanic world. So there had to be a conflict, a battle, a struggle. between heaven and hell. The son of God and the son of the distant Satan. And his victory for had to be about. Two or three weeks ago on a Sunday morning, I mentioned at the worship meeting a passage at that time I didn't know it was going to fit in. So what we're saying now, and it was these verses. Marvelous verses. It's the wonderful parenthesis in your Bible. In Ephesians chapter four and verse eight, it says, Wherefore he says when he ascended up on high, he led captivity, captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now if you would skip the next two verses, you'd begin in verse eleven. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. You would think that reads right on without any interruption. But in between those two verses, verses eight and eleven, there are two verses and you'll notice in your Bible they're in brackets. It's wonderful to see this. And what do the brackets read in verse nine? Now he that ascended which is but he that ascended up far above. No. But now he that ascended, what is it but that he also descended, first into the lower parts of the earth, he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all this? So he simply says, Paul is going to launch into these gifts. been's married. And he seems to stop as much as I say, I'm going to give you the Christ that had to be paid before God could save human beings and give them gifts and news. And he draws attention to the back that was born. He says, see that Jesus Think of the depths of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rich he sees. And you know that very verse is found in Psalm sixty-eight and verse eighteen. That very verse is found over in that Psalm. In the Old Testament, hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ came. Is that unusual? No. David spoke words about the sufferings of Christ. He says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? David used that language hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ came. David, by the Spirit, uttered words that the Lord Jesus was going to utter identically upon the cross. And here's another thing. David in Psalm sixty eight and eighteen used language that applied to and was used by the Lord Jesus Christ. when he came. And it says there right in that verse, as he says, when he led captivity, when he descended, and also when he asked him where he was before, he said, just don't remember. Before that he descended into the lower parts of the earth, full the awful descent. He came from deity to being obeyed. What a descent that was. Then he descended into Nazareth where he was brought up. It wasn't that a street. From the throne to the state. And he descended into the agony of Jabathah. He descended into the chains of Jabathah. Where before Pilate? The hair was torn from his feet. They fastened his feet. They froze it. And they robed him with a mock crown, a mock robe, and also put a crown of thorns upon his head. He descended to that. But he also descended deeper still. He descended into Golgotha's death, death, the death of the cross. He says he descended into the lower parts of the earth. It is said and he said it about Jonah. Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, but the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Lord Jesus Christ descended into that compartment of Hades where the blessed of the Old Testament went. You have that illustrated in Luke sixteen where you see Lazarus, there he is in Abraham's book. But you also see that it's man enslaved. Both were in the faith called Hades, the place of the pot of spirit, but one was in paradise where the righteous were and the others were in the place of torment. But then the Lord Jesus rose again. He empties that compassion. of the citizen's souls of Old Testament faith, and he took them head to heaven. Those who had been in captivity to sin, to Satan, like some of you did not, he led captivity, captive, and went to heaven. He gave sin unto men. Isn't that remarkable to think of the Lord Jesus Christ being there? And it says, even those that rebelled against him, he gave this just to, and they shall dwell among him. That's an amazing statement. You can hardly take it in to think of what the Lord Jesus did. He descended into the dead. It's thoughtful for your sins and mine. Then he ascended, the one that descended, also ascended, up far above angels at the right hand of the cross. Oh, the height he ascended thee, the depth to which he went first, and out of the depth he went back to the height of the very presence of God, like a mighty pontiff. After winning a battle, he goes in through the capital, And look at that train of capture. There you have the king, all his commanders, and his generals and what have you, all the boots and the loops that he captured as a result of that conflict, just like the Romans used to go in after victory was won right into Rome. Paul may have had this in his mind. their chariot drawn sometimes by lions, tigers, elephants, and the airfield will trust you, and odors from many altars. Paul says the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall be led, captivity captive, this mighty victory, this mighty conqueror, the empty ladies of its grave, and to men's souls and sinners the heavens. And Paul speaks now of going up. Paradise was down as you see it in John, in John, Luke, but the Lord Jesus said to the society, the day thou shalt be with me in paradise, there's the place of that swath. But then Paul was later on, he said, I was caught up to paradise. And so that place where the Spirit of the Old Testament things was, essentially, Christ took those out of that compartment, into heaven where they now are at God's right hand, and where every spirit and soul of every Christian, since Pentecost, go. They go to heaven. And God says, I'm going to give that man who is down there on earth He trusted me. He saved by my grace, but I'm going to give him a gift. He once was a rebel. And it tells you in that verse. Notice that verse that's over in Ephesians four, eight, and eleven. He tells you about their ascent. He says, Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among. a wonderful all that is. The Lord Jesus had to go through that conflict, that battle in order to be able to give gifts unto me. A price had to be saved. The price for my salvation was terrific. But after I am saved, included in that price was a gift that many of them now were given by a living Christ that they might carry on his work here while he's absent. until he comes again. He's gave gifts unto men. Only the born-again believer is eligible for the gifts of the Spirit. Only a born-again believer is eligible for any of these gifts that are going to be taken up. Not one who denounces the Lordship of Christ will receive any one of these gifts. Do you know that Christian faith is the only faith in the world and there are thousands of them. But the Christian faith, if you want to use a Christian religion, you can, but I don't like that word because there are so many religions. But the Christian faith is the only faith in the world that has the Holy Spirit. And the born-again Christian is the only person in the world who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. And if you are not born again, it says in the Bible, concerning those who are not saved, if any man have not the servant sight, he is none of his. And only those who are saved and in the church can receive these gifts and execute them and exercise them in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is given to save people. That's the gift. is given to save people only, but he's withheld from the law. The Spirit of God is withheld from the law. But he abounds in the spiritual believer and is limited in his activity in the carnal system. This is the work in the day of the Holy Spirit of God. Christ cannot be your Lord and until he's your Savior. It is possible for a person to know Christ as dangerous and not know him as their law. You say, Brother, listen, how do you explain that? Possibly quite simple. It's a very peculiar thing. Strange relations between a husband and wife. They are husband and wife, but there's no fellowship between them. There are Christians who are born again, but there are strange relations between them and God. Say again. But not enjoying. Strange relations between parents and child. Yes. The relationship is there, not broken, but relations are strange between father and son or mother and daughter. That's often true. He's a Christian and his wife. You're a cunt. Many a man says, I'm an American. But he's lost and is loyal. He won't fight for the flag. Yes, he's an American, but he's not a loyal American. Many people call themselves Christians, but they're not loyal to Jesus Christ and all him is lost. Not me. God is not your father. It's not saved. Christ is not your lover. It's not saved. Heaven is not your homeland. That's where you are as well. The Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the world. You may be a church member. You may have been baptized, but if you haven't been born again by the Spirit of God, you're lost on the way to hell. But if you are saved and born against them, you know you're saved going to heaven. The Spirit of God just can't use you in your pleasant situation. He can't give you anything to do because you're out of heaven's place. You're a kind of person. But to the physical person, the one whose knowledge is seen, the Christ is wrong. The second one, he can give a gift. and Jesus. You can take your choice, identify the group you're in, and do something about it. If you're not saved, come to know the Lord Jesus this morning. If you are saved, that you're a jacked rider, get back in the fellowship you've got. And if you have any gifts at all, a gift of the Spirit, God at least, will you make your decision this morning to have you something about it? that we pray. Our Heavenly Father, in the name of the