If you are like the rest of us, you are probably sometimes confused about what is The Lord's Way. How can we know the Lord’s way? Well, the Bible is the Lord's way and we can know it by studying it. Let us do it, what do you say?
My friend, you have very graciously invited us into your home for Bible study today. We are joyful and thankful about that. It is our prayer that we will both be blessed in our search of the Lord's Way.
This month we are studying about the Holy Spirit. This is the third lesson, and all four of them will be printed in this little book and made available to you, free of course, upon your request. If you think you are going to want one of the books, it would be a good idea to get your request in now. That way we will have some idea how many thousands to have printed-- and we can have them mailed to you more promptly, you see. Our address is In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@aol.com, and our toll free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633.
I can't think of a biblical subject over which there is more confusion than that of the Holy Spirit. And I want you to know as we begin today that I am not putting anybody down when I say that, or I am not claiming for myself a perfect understanding of all things, so as to answer all questions. I am not here to win any debate points or anything like that. I am searching for the truth just as you are. And I do know where the answers are. They are in the word of God, and we will be turning to it for our answers. So, you won't be hearing me say, "God told me to tell you" or "God spoke to me and said thus and so." I will be quoting God as He speak to us in His word.
For those who must have a miracle, the Bible is the most fantastic miracle of all. It is a contradiction to claim to be a Bible-believing Christian while holding to experience, however ecstatic it was, as authority that overrides biblical authority. A Christian experience is not the confirmation of truth. Rather, truth is the basis for a true Christian experience. A Holy Spirit experience is not an alternative to Holy Spirit teaching. Instead, by Bible teaching, a person is led into the life in the Spirit. And after Ken Helterbrand leads the Edmond Church of Christ in a hymn, I will be back for Bible reading and prayer; then the message titled, The Holy Spirit and the Christian.
We will be reading today from the epistle to the Romans. In the eighth chapter we are going to begin reading at verse eight and read down through verse 11. “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Now let us go to the Father in prayer. Our heavenly Father, Almighty God, we pray You in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Your Savior. And we pray Your blessings on our study today about the Holy Spirit, and we are searching out to know just how He is a help to us and how He can be if perhaps He has not been because of the lack of our faith and our understanding of Your word. Help us, Lord, in our study today and be with us, attend us. We pray You in Jesus’ name, Amen.
You probably hear Christians talking a lot about "the day of Pentecost." Well of course, Bible students know that to the Jewish people there was a day of Pentecost every year. However, generally the expression "the day of Pentecost" is a reference to the first such day after the resurrection of Jesus. The events that make that day so important are described for us in the second chapter of the book of Acts. It is the day that marks the beginning of a new era! It is the birthday of the church of Christ! It was a turning point in history. It is the day God dispatched the Holy Spirit to begin His ministry! It is the day of which the Old Testament prophets had spoken for centuries.
It is the day God was talking about through the prophet Joel, when he said, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also on My servants and on my maidservants I will pour out of My Spirit in those days..." And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:28 through 32). Well, "all flesh," "sons and daughters," "old men and young men," "menservants and maidservants" and "whoever" are all key words and phrases in that passage. Because beginning on the day of Pentecost, the message of reconciliation with God became a universal one, to people of every nation and every position, every accountable age, women and men alike, and they would all be recipients of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The apostle Peter was the spokesman for the apostles, and for God, on that day. He began his sermon by saying in Acts 2:47, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind...” And then he concluded, saying in verse 36, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
Well, Peter was saying every person receives the Holy Spirit when he is baptized into Jesus Christ. That is when he is saved, becomes a child of God. And that is the promise of God. He confirms that in Acts chapter 5, verses 30 through 32 when, before the Jewish council he said again, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging Him on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be the Prince and the Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him"-- as we just saw from chapter two, verse 38.
To the Gentile Christians at Rome the apostle Paul wrote to in that passage we just read, "So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
Although there are many, many passages which teach the Spirit's indwelling, it hardly seems necessary to pile one upon another indefinitely. Suffice it to say from what we have already seen, any person who obeys God as Peter declared on Pentecost Day is saved, he receives the Spirit to indwell him. Life in the Spirit is a promise to every obedient believer-- no one is "left behind". And that is what God was saying through Joel and Peter and Paul and the others.
There should be no more mystery associated with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit than with the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ or the indwelling of the Spirit of God who raised up Jesus from the dead, because that is precisely what we are talking about, as seen from that passage we just read. Well, it is not then a personal indwelling-- or an incarnation of the Holy Spirit, as for example in the case of Jesus, who having been born of Mary, was God incarnate-- living in a person’s body.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead, comes to dwell in us when we are born anew of water and the Spirit as Jesus taught in John chapter 3, verses 3 and 5. God says if any such person says God's Spirit does not dwell in him, he is none of His. Well, we don't want to leave you with a false expectation. There is no evidence that what Peter promised every obedient believer in Acts chapter 2, verse 38 and 5, in verse 32 and what Paul wrote with the Gentile Christians about it in Romans 8:8 to 11 as indwelling, is what the apostles received in Acts 2:1 to 4-- the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What the apostles received was promised them by our Lord to equip them to do the work to which God had chosen and called them. What they received enabled them to do "the signs [or the works] of an apostle" (II Corinthians 12:12). Matthias had taken Judas' place to bring the number back up to twelve, and what the twelve received was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That was never promised to every obedient believer. If we fail to make that distinction, friend, we are destined to disappointment and confusion. It is obvious just from the reading of the Scriptures that not all the saints-- even in New Testament times received what the apostles did on the day of Pentecost. To promise that to every person becoming a Christian, or to create an expectation of it, is a serious, grievous mistake. It is false, friend. Don't be deceived by it. Another distinction we must make between the Holy Spirit as a gift to abide in us and the "gifts of the Spirit" mentioned in I Corinthians 12:1 to 11-- well, continuing on over into the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters, too; the gifts of extraordinary wisdom, knowledge and faith. These were the gifts of healing, miracles and prophecy, the gifts of discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues and so on. No one member of the church possessed all of these gifts and there is no indication that all of the members, or every member, possessed any one of them.
The indwelling Spirit does not empower the Christian to do miracles. As we just noted from I Corinthians 12, some of the early Christians did possess power to do miracles. And others possessed that power as a result of the laying on of the apostle's hands. But some did not receive it. Two examples of the first of these that I mentioned: the Samaritans (Acts chapter 8) who believed and were baptized (Jesus said, "Everyone who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16), and they had, so, the only biblical conclusion, has to be that they were saved-- so they were Christians alright). They had received the Holy Spirit in the measure promised in Acts 2:38 and 5:32. If not, why not? However, it was not till later that, by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, the apostles Peter's and John's hands, that they received a measure of the Holy Spirit which empowered them to do miracles (Acts chapter 8, verses 1 to 18). And the same is true with the twelve men in Ephesus in Acts 19 who were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and just as God had promised in Acts 2:38 received the gift of the Holy Spirit. But, it was not until after the apostle (Paul in this case) had laid his hands on them that they "spoke with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19, verses 1 to 12).
So then, what are the advantages of the indwelling of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit? If it isn't miraculous, what does it mean to me as a Christian? Well, first, my friend, with the absolute certainty of it, the child of God is very adamantly determined not to defile his body with sin (I Corinthians 6:19 and 20), be it with cigarette smoke, or pot, or crack or cocaine or liquor or illicit sex-- or gluttony. I mentioned gluttony; I knew someone was wondering why preachers never say anything about that, so I thought I would toss it in here. I do love that Very Berry Cobbler I found at one of our restaurants, though.
Secondly, with a strong faith that the Holy Spirit indwells him, which faith is firmly fixed on biblical teaching as we have just seen, the Christian draws strength to resist the works of the flesh, and walk in the Spirit (Ephesians 3:16; Galatians 5:16) and it enables him to keep himself pure (I Timothy 5:22). And in that same connection he is emboldened to add to his faith, moral excellence, and to that knowledge, and add that to his knowledge, and to knowledge, self control, and to self control perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, Christian love. And that is II Peter chapter 1, verses 5 through 11.
Well, there is much more to be said, so let us hurry on to those thoughts in the first chapter of Ephesians. Here Paul is addressing Gentile Christians particularly about God's bringing together in one body, or one church, all people in Christ; that would be to His own glory. Oh say! That was great news to the Gentiles! They were received into the body of Christ as one with the Jews! The end of that discrimination! They had heard the gospel of their salvation and had believed--"and were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory" (verses 13 and 14). A seal was a mark or a sign of ownership, a stamp of validity. Cattle and even slaves were often given such a sign-- sometimes called a "brand". On the farm we branded our cattle, our livestock so as to know what were ours. The idea here is that the Gentile Christians had received the Holy Spirit as a mark or a sign that they were the people of God, the church of Jesus Christ. It was a constant sign, an assurance to them more than to other people; but it was a sign to others, too. It was something that they needed every day. And so do we, friend. And, that is what the indwelling Spirit means to all Christians of every generation, whether Jew or Gentile. It was (and is) given at baptism, as we learned from Acts 2:38, which is a sign read by others. My friend, are you so identified with Christ? I hope so, but if not, I hope you will “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive that gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself." Let us pray. Father, we thank You for the precious promise we have of the gift of the indwelling of Your spirit and all that it means to us; and this faith is founded so firmly in what You teach in Your word. We pray in the lovely name of Jesus. Amen.
In that first chapter of Ephesians the apostle Paul says three things about the indwelling Spirit. It is a promise. We talked at length about that. Number two: It is a seal or a sign belonging. And we discussed that. And it is the "earnest of our inheritance.” That is King James Version, verse 14. I wanted that to be our closing thought. In verse eleven he had said that in Christ we have obtained an inheritance. And the apostle Peter wrote about that inheritance, too. He said in I Peter 1:4 that it is an incorruptible or imperishable inheritance, one that is undefiled and one that will not fade away-- and it is reserved in heaven for us. Oh my! Having lived so long in this old world of change, we have witnessed the corrupting and trashing and destruction of so many beautiful and valuable things, that the thought of an incorruptible, undefiled and unfading inheritance really grabs us, doesn't it? There is the old hymn that says, "In the land of fadeless day lies the city foursquare; it shall never pass away and there is no night there. God shall wipe away all tears; there is no death, no pain, nor fears; and they count not time by years, for there is no night there."
Well, we Christians have such an inheritance reserved in heaven for us, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is our "earnest" payment (King James Version), our "guarantee" (the New King James Version), a "pledge" (the New American Standard Version). The word used here has its origin in the Hebrew but came into use by the Greeks through the Phoenician merchants. In modern Greek it is used for an engagement ring, but in its ancient commercial usage, it meant a first installment, a deposit, a down payment or a pledge that was a part of the purchase price, paid in advance to secure a legal claim to the article under consideration and to validate a contract. And that is what the Holy Spirit means to the Christian, my friend. God has the beautiful inheritance reserved for us and He reassures us daily of the validity of that promise by His constant presence with us.
It has been good to have you in our study today. I pray you have been blessed by the message as much as I have been in preparing it and delivering it. Today's message titled The Holy Spirit and the Christian will be published in this little book with others about the Holy Spirit. The book will contain the four messages for this month and will be titled simply The Holy Spirit. They will be free to you as is everything else we offer and do on the air. Simply mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or e-mail it to searchtv@aol.com. Or, you may use our toll-free telephone number and call in your request. The number is 1-800-321-8633. In Search of the Lord’s Way is presented every week all across the nation to many millions of people for which we are grateful. But we are presented on this station by churches of Christ in this area. And we would like for you to seek them and worship with them at your very first opportunity. Perhaps you will have time to do that even today. And be with us again next week at this same time, would you? We would like very much to have you with us again. Until then, God bless you. We love you. |