Bible Lesson 130
CONNECTING THE DOCTRINES ON THEOLOGY #3 IN SERIES
“NOW HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT, BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD HAS BEEN POURED OUT IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO WAS GIVEN TO US.” ROMANS 5:5
“When we rely on organization, we get what organization can do. When we rely on education, we get what education can do. When we rely on eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. But when we rely on the Holy Spirit, we get what God can do.” A.C. Dixon
In the preceding Bible Lessons we have shown how biblical Theology connects from the Trinity (Father in heaven, The Son Jesus Christ who left heaven to come to the earth) and today we want to look at the Holy Spirit and see how He connects to the Trinity. I use the masculine form (He) for the Holy Spirit because that is how the Bible describes Him (John 14:16-17).
We even touched on the doctrine of Creation as we looked at the Trinity, and we will attempt, in the lessons to come, how very nicely the doctrines of the Bible will come together to give you a proper understanding of God’s inspired and inerrant Word, the Bible. We know that God is One, but manifest Himself in three personalities, and we know also that the three all come together in One God who is Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscience, and Omnipresent (Genesis 1:26; Exodus 28:1-3; Exodus 31:1-3; Exodus 35:30-31; Ephesians 1:17; John 14:6, 11, 16-17; John 165-15; Acts 1:5, 8; Acts 2:1-21).
We suffer in this century from vastly too much information about all kinds of nonessential subjects and we have reached the point that we find it hard to really believe anything unless and until one of the major news services announces it on our favorite station. Consequently, we really never form a hard opinion or belief about most things. A.W. Tozer (who has been called a 20th Century Prophet), warns us that “The doctrine of the Spirit as it relates to the believer has over the last half-century been shrouded in a mist such as lies upon a mountain in stormy weather.
A world of confusion has surrounded this truth. This confusion has not come by accident. An enemy has done this. Satan knows Spiritless evangelicalism is as deadly as Modernism or heresy, and he has done everything in his power to prevent us from enjoying our Christian heritage.” That certainly holds true and if we were more interested in Bible study and real obedience to the Word and Will of God we would be on our knees asking for God to give us a fresh visit from His precious Holy Spirit, in order that we might again know the joy of salvatio
I would issue a well known warning here that says that the Bible is the Word and Will of God and it must be known in order to be saved; however a person could, possibly learn the entire Bible by heart and be able to quote chapter and verse without hesitation and yet be lost and condemned to hell. Biblical knowledge must be energized by the work of God in the Holy Spirit. It is important that all of us remember that we are born into this world under the wrath of God, dead in trespass and sin. We have various capabilities , and can with enough study understand a vague outline of the Bible in our minds but it cannot reach our hearts until God works through His Spirit to quicken us and bring us back to Spiritual life by His Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:1-10).
Knowing God’s Word and Knowing God is the difference between the religion of Creed and the religion of the Spirit and some saint has put this in a prayer which says “The children of Israel in time past said unto Moses, ‘Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ Not so, Lord, not so, I beseech Thee; but rather with the prophet Samuel, I humbly and earnestly entreat, ‘Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.’ Let not Moses speak unto me, nor any of the prophets, but rather do Thou speak, O Lord God, the inspirer, enlightener of all the prophets; for Thou alone without them can perfectly instruct me, but they without Thee can profit nothing. They indeed may utter words, but they cannot give the Spirit. Most beautifully do they speak, but if Thou be silent , they inflame not the heart. They teach the letter, but Thou openest the sense; they bring forth mysteries, but Thou unlockest the meaning of sealed things. They work only outwardly, but Thou instructest and enlightenest the heart. They cry aloud with words, but Thou impartest understanding to the hearing.”
The writer of those verses has hit the nail on the head and apparently that has been the ongoing problem of the visible church for hundreds of years. Instead of studying of the Word of God, understanding that nothing happens in our salvation until God moves on us by His Holy Spirit to make our learning part and parcel of our being, it seems we have found the short cut to church membership and that has led us to leave God (The Holy Spirit) out of the process (Romans 8:26-27; 1st Corinthians 12:4,9, 11; 1st Thessalonians 1:5). Having said that let me clear the air about our allowing God or letting God do anything is a foolish statement and the same applies when we seem to think that we are able to keep God from doing what He has decided to do. We have come to the place that we like to think that God is such a one as we are and we think that God is busy in heaven on a daily basis deciding what is going to happen to us here on the earth. That borders on heresy, because God is God and He decreed what would happen to us while we lived here on the earth. (Psalms 115:3; Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 14:24, 27; Isaiah 43:13; Isaiah 46:10-11).
We would do well to remember that the Triune (One in Three, or Three in One), cannot be divided. We cannot choose one personality over the other. The Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit all work together in our salvation. The Father planned it in eternity past, the Son Jesus Christ came to the earth to die to pay for it, and the Holy Spirit prepares us and applies the benefits of it to us. I know, that there are those who would like to leave the Father out and simply worship Jesus Christ. For some reason they seem to think that the Father is different from the Son because in the Old Testament God worked directly with men, and sin was punished in many cases by death. If we read our Bibles correctly we know that the Father has always dealt with His creature in the person of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament Jesus Christ was in His pre-incarnate form. But whatever God has said or does is always agreed upon by all three personalities of the God-head. God has commanded us to walk a certain way, if we are saved and that way is the light of Christ. Ephesians 5:15-18 says “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; But be filled with the Spirit.”
George Sweeting comments on those verses in Ephesians like this, “Notice three important facts about Ephesians 5:18. First, it is in the imperative mood. It is not a suggestion or an appeal, but a command. Anything less than the fullness of the Spirit is disobedience to the Word of God. Second, it is a present tense verb. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit now. And it is a continuous action verb. It could be translated, “By being filled with the Spirit.” We must be filled daily, constantly, moment by moment. Yesterday’s blessing are not sufficient for today or tomorrow. Third, It is a passive verb. That means that being filled with the Spirit is not something we do, but something that is done for us. We must be yielded. We must be willing. We must be believing. But God does the filling. We simply receive it by faith.”
Some might ask, well, why is it so important that we have the Holy Spirit, as long as we believe in Jesus Christ’ That question points to a flaw in their salvation, because they seem to be attempting to pick and chose from the personalities of God. They want to take Jesus over the Father and the Holy Spirit; however they all come in One package. We have heard so many little myths about Jesus and how it seem that men can twist Him to do their will instead of the will of God. That my friends is a fairy tale. Christianity is a God thing, Christianity is not a religion in the truest sense of the word; because religion points to the externals of worship, while Christianity is an inner working of God that brings us into fellowship with our Sovereign God in a meaningful way. There are all kinds of religions but only one Christ and One Christianity, and that produces a new creature that can and will obey God (Ephesians 2:10; 2nd Corinthians 5:17).
That change involves everything that concerns Christianity, from its planning in eternity by the Father, to the satisfaction of the Wrath of the Father against sin by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the indwelling of the one that is born again, by the Holy Spirit. All three of the God-Head take part in our salvation. The Apostle Peter put it this way in the First Epistle of Peter, Chapter one and verses 1-5, “Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge (Predestination) of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Did you mark that progression in every truly saved person’s salvation’. It involves all three of the personalities that God used to reveal Himself to those who are His creatures.
There is a great problem in our time and we are moved by God to point it out, and that is that we seem to have invented a new kind of Christianity and what we have now is instead of Salvation we have a salved-vation (something that makes us feel good instead of making us good). Salved-vation is simply putting on a layer of feel good heresy and ends up delivering us to hell for eternity. I believe that the church of our day has become a station where there is a production line of sorts at which those who want to appear to be saved instead of having anything change, about their lives, can simply pass through the church car-wash facility, profess some kind of belief and be stamped as s-a-l-v-e-d. It is one thing to be salved, it is a completely different thing to be truly saved. Being salved requires only church affiliation, while being saved requires the blood of Jesus Christ and the sealing of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:1-14).
Remember that all three of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all had part in your salvation. The Father in heaven planned it before the foundation of the World, The Son left heaven and came to the earth to die to purchase it, and the Holy Spirit then brings it to us and applies all of the benefits of it to us in God’s time. (Ephesians 1:1-14). It is the Holy Spirit that fills the true Christian and it is by His empowerment that the saved person does the good work that God creates them to do. The truly saved person is filled with the Spirit when he realizes that his greatest need is to be reconciled to his Creator, repents or puts away all known sin in his life, surrenders completely to the Lordship of Christ, and by God’s gift of faith receives the fullness of the Holy Spirit by which they glorify God by obedience to Jesus Christ in their life and testimony. We cannot read the Holy Bible, the inerrant Word of God, and not understand the Trinity (One God, revealing Himself to mankind in three different and distinct personalities).
We have already spoken to the Father and the Son’s activity in our world, and now in this lesson we want to understand how the Holy Spirit works in the world. We find the Holy Spirit as He works in the Creation (Genesis 1:2). We find Him pointed out by Pharaoh of Egypt, in Joseph, the Son of Jacob in Genesis 41:38, and we find Him in Isaiah 59:19, as God promises that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him; and we find Him In Zechariah as God encourages Zerubbabel to complete the work on the Temple, saying to him. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.” that means that God’s power and His might in the Holy Spirit would guarantee that Zerubbabel would have all he needed to complete his mission. We find the Holy Spirit often throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, and it is His sufficiency that enables Christians to walk in a way that is pleasing to God. Jesus spoke of the work of the Spirit before Pentecost, and in John 7:38, “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” then in the next verse of that chapter verse 39, we find this “But this, He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Those who are truly saved, born again, and obedient to the Will and Word of God, have the Holy Spirit leading them in the way that God would have them to go (Romans 8:14).
Their bellies, or hearts as some translations have it, have that river of living waters and it flows out to others who will listen. I always attempt to make it plain that there are those who are Christians, and there are those who claim to be Christian, and many that make no bones about not caring about being a Christian. Christ refers to the truly saved as being a “little flock”. In Luke 12:32 Jesus Christ said “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” What we have to learn is that we must have our priorities right, we must first make sure that we are truly saved and we can know for certain that we are saved, only when the Holy Spirit of God has given us that assurance. We will know that we have been taken from the darkness and move into the light, we will know that we have been with Jesus and that we are in Him, and He is in us, and that the Holy Spirit has sealed us, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory (1st Peter 2:9; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2ndCorinthians 5:17).
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said of the Church” “It is a defamation of the character of the bride of Christ to take the name of Christian, when the Spirit of Christ is not among us. This is to honor Christ with our lips and disgrace Him by our lives. What is this but to repeat the crime of Judas, and betray the Son of man with a kiss’ Brothers and Sisters, I say again, may we never come to this! Truths, not names; facts, not professions, are to be the first consideration.” We must make sure that when we profess Christ, that the Holy Spirit has spoken that to our hearts and that we are manifesting that fact in our daily lives! The Father, The Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all collectively our One God. Each of those personalities are individually referred to as God, because they are all of the same essence: but they are indivisible!
The Father planned salvation before the foundation of the world, The Son volunteered in eternity past to leave heaven, come to the earth, take on the form and flesh of mankind in order to redeem men from sin, by substituting Himself in place of them, and the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven, when Jesus ascended back into heaven as High Priest and King, to be with those who are truly saved. This was all done in the mind of God before there was anything other than God (Ephesians 1:5,11; Romans 8:29-30; Acts 13:48; Habakkuk 1:12; Acts 10:42; Romans 13:1; 1st Corinthians 2:6-10; 1st Corinthians 9:14; Ephesians 2:10; Jude 4 ). Seldom do we hear much about the Work and Person of the Holy Spirit; however He cannot be overlooked. His personal Title is Comforter or Paraclete. His job as assigned by the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, is to come alongside or beside, and He comes along with us to comfort us, to advise us and to lead us in the things of the Lord. He is an empowering aid that gives us not only direction, but the energy and power to accomplish what God has assigned for us to do. Jesus Christ while he walked with us on the earth was our Paraclete or our Comforter; but when He was ascended back into heaven, He did not want us to beorphaned here and so He sent the Paraclete or Holy Spirit ‘.the Comforter, if you will, to enable us to live the Christian life.(John 14:16). The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, as He reproves the world of sin, and righteousness and judgment. We have the comfort of knowing that the Holy Spirit leads us in the path of Jesus Christ.
The Power of the Presence of the Holy Spirit cannot be underestimated, and if we are ever tempted to do so we need to go back and read the Second Chapter of the Book of Acts, and we will see that “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they (disciples) were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues of fire and sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4). God had told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, which they did, and in God’s appointed time (50 days after Jesus arose from the grave). This Pentecost experience when they received the Holy Spirit, gave these men that promised power of God to live and preach the gospel to those who lived in darkness. The Holy Spirit was leading and empowering these disciples to preach in such power and anointing, that thousands were save in that one day. When the Holy Spirit fell on these disciples it was as if someone had flipped a switch and they really began to live for God. It is the same with you and I ‘.. if we have the Holy Spirit, we will move and work and do the work of the Lord. Someone has said to be “fervent in Spirit is to be “boiling in Spirit” and to boil we have to be right next to and over the fire.”
Check your life, what have you really done for the Lord as a result of you profession of faith’ Have you made it a point to fully understand the Word of God so that you can teach others to obey it’ Do you live everyday like Christ, or do you do the best you can because you know that it’s what Christ wants you to do’ If that is true then you have a problem, because those who are saved do what they do because they are not happy unless they are walking the way Jesus walked and doing the things that Jesus left us to do. True Christians have a “can’t help it” kind of walk. What they do they do because it’s not them that are alive (they have been crucified with Christ, Romans 6:1-4, and the life that they now live they live by the faith of Him who loved them and gave Himself for them (Galatians 2:20). Think about that great privilege that God has given us. Keep the dots connected and build God’s doctrinal knowledge!
Until next time,
may God bless and keep you
This is Bro. Bob