Blogpost #12:

The Holy Spirit - God's Divine Enabler - Pt. 2

We finished last time thinking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit under the Old Testament Covenant. It is clear that His ministry is one of empowerment and enabling. In the O.T., He 'came upon' a person to enable them to fulfill some divinely appointed task. While the results of His empowering could often result in miraculous victories, it is equally true that His departure before the task is finished can also be devastating! King Saul is a case in point. Once the 'Spirit of the Lord departed' he was just a mess!

The point is, you simply can't do 'God's work' without God's Spirit. It simply can't be done. It was never intended to be done any other way. If we ask 'why', the answer is simple. If we could do it without God, then He would have to share the glory with us... and that isn't going to happen.

But, something even more amazing did happen. God wants us to share in His glory. Of that there is no doubt in Scripture. These verses testify to that reality.

"...you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you

 as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy

of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."

1 Thess 2:11-12 NASU

" It was for this He called you through our gospel,  

that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. "

 2 Thess 2:14 NASU

"After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you

 to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 

 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen." 

  1 Peter 5:10-11 NASU

"And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory".

1 Peter 5:4 NASU

These are truly amazing verses. They reveal a 'plan' which, as Paul rightly says in I Cor. 2, 'has not even entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him'. Who could have imagined that God's plan would be to take sinful, rebellious man and not just allow him to see His glory, but make him fit to share that glory! It is truly mind-boggling!

The Final Preparation

The appearances of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament are unique and often dramatic; they are also fairly rare (considering we're talking about at least 4000 years of history in the O.T.). But, He literally permeates the pages of the New Testament. There is a reason for that as we will see.

The answer is contained in a favorite phrase in Paul's letters which describes this. It's used about 90x in the New Testament (over 150x if you include the variations). The phrase is 'in Christ' (or 'in Him'). It describes what Jesus promised in John's Gospel...and later in Acts 1 where He told them they would soon be 'baptized in the Holy Spirit'. They could not know all that this would mean, but it would changing everything. Jesus said...

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 

 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you ." 

  John 14:17 NASU

The Divine Solution to ALL our Problems: The New Birth

Nicodemus scratched his head. He knew Jesus was for real and He had answers for all the 'buts' that his lifetime of theological training had ingrained in him. Jesus had wisdom and understanding that simply overwhelmed him. So, when he came by night to talk to Him, he was totally mystified when Jesus took him to the next level and told him that he could never see heaven unless he was 'born again'. His response was predictable.

"Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"  Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you,

 unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

   " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

  "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again .' 

 John 3:4-8 NASU

His response was predictable...it sounded like nonsense! What would you have thought? You know, nothing has changed. It's still true for us today. What did Jesus mean by 'born of water and the Spirit'?

In Scripture, water is normally used to describe washing, cleansing, removing spots and blemishes. The burden, guilt, defilement of sin has to be dealt with, atoned for; the past must receive due justice if it is to be put away. But, this is only the first stage of the 'new birth' experience. We may be forgiven and the penalty for our sins may have been paid and we are 'reconciled' to God, but we still have a huge problem. We still have a sin nature which will just start sinning again unless something in us is changed. We still have a heart attitude toward God that is not.....well, god-like. It's still a rebel-heart, selfish and self-centered. It has no power to be anything else! At least not yet.

That's why the second part is so crucial...and why the Holy Spirit is really the primary divine force in this age. He is the one who brings God and man together 'in Christ'. What is he describing? What does this mean to us practically?

There are a number of descriptions, but I think one of the clearest (startlingly so!) is the one found in

2 Peter 1. Have you ever stopped and let these verses sink in? Can this really be true? Who do you know that when you look at them, at their lives, your thought is... 'they have become partakers of the divine nature'...'I see God in them'. That's what it means when we say a person is 'godly'. They are like God. Let these verses sink in for a moment.

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  

seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, 

through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises,  

so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature , 

having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." 

  2 Peter 1:4 NASU

By divine decree everything pertaining to life (real life, eternal life, life in the Spirit) and godliness (the spiritual potential to become conformed to the character of the Son of God Himself)...it's all been granted to us 'in Christ'...so that we can literally, not mythically or even mystically, but literally become partakers of the divine nature. This all happens because the Spirit of God has come to dwell in us...at the moment of our 'new birth'... and it's not temporary, it's for eternity.

Rightly did Paul say that this mystery was hidden from past ages and generations (clearly we would never have thought of this!), but now God has 'willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you (by the Holy Spirit) , the hope of glory.' Col 1:26-27 NASU

Paul is right, it is rich. God is in you. You are no longer 'in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you'. He is the 'enabler' of all those 'precious and magnificent promises' that make it possible for us to share the divine nature of our God and Savior.

"We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." (1 John 3:24 )' But the converse is also true, 'if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him'. (Rom 8:10). It's just that simple. He is the means of our salvation. The fulfillment of everything in the New Covenant in us depends on Him...and, since He is God, He will and can not fail! Paul sums it up for the Thessalonians:

"But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, 

because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation 

through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 

It was for this He called you through our gospel,

 that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

 2 Thess 2:13-14 NASU

Obviously...

Obviously, we can only start down the path of understanding who this person is and what He is doing in this New Covenant Age. If you're hungry for more, try getting out your Bible concordance and look up phrases like, 'in the Spirit', 'by the Spirit' and 'through the Spirit'. It's an amazing study. The Holy Spirit is truly the key to the Christian's new life...and crucial to what Tozer means by 'right thinking' about God.

Next time we'll deal with the 'incomprehensibility' of the person of God. How do you know someone who is beyond your comprehension? We'll see...

Tozer Blogpost #11

 

The Holy Spirit - God's Divine Enabler 

In trying to lay the foundation for 'right thinking' about God, we have considered both the Father and the Son, now we want to think about the One many call the 'forgotten person' of the 'Trinity' - the Holy Spirit. If we want to think 'rightly' about God, that must include the Holy Spirit. HE is essential, yet He is often missed or overlooked. Why? Well...maybe (according to the KJV) it's because He's a 'ghost'! What do you say about a ghost?

All kidding aside, the truth is we really don't know what to do with Him. Yet, He is probably the most important person of the Trinity to us during this present age. Some have rightly termed it 'the Age of the Spirit'. It's also a somewhat unique subject to study. It's difficult to find 'experts'. You have men who are thought of as experts in the Old Testament, experts in the New Testament, experts in linguistics, archeology, in Christology, etc., but you don't often find someone who is considered an expert in the 'Holy Spirit'. Of course, some would like you to think they are, but the credibility is often suspect. And, let me hasten to add, I am not an expert either.

So...what do we do? The best answer is to just let the Scriptures be our guide, since He wrote it (i.e. via divinely inspired authors). What do we want to accomplish here? What is our approach?

I think the most fruitful approach, given the limited space we have, is to try to give an overview of how many aspects of our relationship to God are either governed by or dependent on the Holy Spirit. For a Person who is virtually unknown to mankind, it really is mind-boggling how much He is the key to so much in the Christian life!

'...the Spirit of the Lord came upon him...'

The presence of the Holy Spirit is first seen in the earliest moments in Genesis 1:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, 

and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and 

 the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."  
Gen 1:1-2 NASU

Is  vs. 2 describing a stage in the original creation or the beginning of a 're-creation' after some act of judgment? We don't know. Since Scripture gives no plain answer, it's obviously not essential for us to know. What is clear is that the Holy Spirit was an essential partner in that creative process...just as He was in the creation of man.

"Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils

 the breath of life; and man became a living being."  
Gen 2:7 NASU

"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." 
  Job 33:4 NASU

Yet, the most familiar description of the Holy Spirit is seen in the phrase 'the Spirit of the Lord came upon him'. It seems that whenever God wanted to do something special, some divinely-appointed task to accomplish His purpose, the Holy Spirit was God's agent in the world to accomplish it. He would come upon them to enable them to perform the task. Samson, Saul, David and many others experienced it. Jephthah was one example, when he defeated the Ammonites:

"Now the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon...  Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them;

 and the LORD gave them into his hand." 
  Judges 11:29-32 NASU

Another Ammonite crisis produced one of the most famous 'divine interventions'...

"Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; 15 and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, ' Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. 16'Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 
 17'You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves,
 stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.'
 Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you." 
2 Chron 20:14-17 NASU

It also happened to Saul when the Ammonites came up against Jabesh-gilead:

"Now Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us and we will serve you." 2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "I will make it with you on this condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it a reproach on all Israel."

"Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and he said, 
"What is the matter with the people that they weep?" So they related to him the words of the men of Jabesh. 6 Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he became very angry. 7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by...saying, "Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen." 
Then the dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man." 

  1 Sam 11:1-7 NASU

There are many other illustrations, but the point is clear. When God wanted to accomplish something or inspire someone to do something special, He moved in the person of the Holy Spirit and He became the divine enablement to accomplish His will. But, once the task was accomplished, however long it might take, the 'divine enablement' usually ended. The 'empowerment' was temporary. This is key.

But, the experience of the Holy Spirit is uniquely, permanently different in the New Testament, as we will see next time.

However, in the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, there was one last experience of the Holy Spirit 'coming upon' someone to fulfill a divine purpose...and it changed the world. It was the Virgin Mary's encounter as she became the vessel for the miracle birth...'the 'Word became flesh'.

"The angel answered and said to her, " The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

 and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; 

and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God." 
  Luke 1:35-36 NASU

Once this final act of 'divine enablement' was accomplished, the Lord Himself would begin to lay the groundwork for the New Covenant and the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in born-again 'believers'.  We'll see more of the impact of this next time.....

Tozer BlogPost #10

 Right Thinking about a New Start

It's the beginning of a New Year, which always signals a 'New Start'. The holiday binges are over, so the airwaves are filled with the annual ads offering a surefire way to rid yourself of those unwanted extra pounds or a no-risk way to secure your financial future.

New Year's 'resolutions' are a favorite American pastime. Virtually all fail, usually within a fairly short amount of time. Are they a complete waste of time? Maybe not. It may be that the real value is that we seem to be more willing than at other times to take stock of what's wrong, what's missing in our lives and what will make it better. Are we brutally honest with ourselves? Probably not, after all, the motives are usually quite selfish and self-centered. Still, it opens the door of opportunity for real change.

The whole idea of a 'New' Year is obviously to give us a chance at a new start. It's a chance to evaluate what I'm doing, where I'm going, what's working, what is not and is it producing what I want it to produce. It's a chance to change, to re-order the priorities, to restructure and refocus. While the assessment 'process' can be a little depressing, all in all, it tends to reinvigorate us that there is the potential for a brighter future. For the Christian, the crucial question then becomes, "Is this all an effort of the flesh or of the Spirit?". How do you know which it is? How can you assure success in the quest.

'New Beginnings'

Joseph Carroll (an evangelist/Bible teacher who preached on the same platforms as Tozer and others during the 50's/60's) had a favorite saying which blessed many souls. He said, 'Christianity is a life of multiplied new beginnings'. Those who sat long under his ministry knew that he could be relentless when it came to waking the slumbering sinner to the peril of his coming judgment, yet he would be as tender as a lamb to the seeking soul. He labored to see 'new beginnings' in the lives of those to whom he ministered, knowing that no one was beyond the forgiveness of the Savior.

If you gauge the 'success' of a ministry by the number of lives truly changed (as opposed to 'decisions' on signed cards), his ministry was enormously fruitful. But, there was a reason for this. He never made it easy. He took seriously the admonition of scripture that 'the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.'. How does this fit with the popular notion that if you 'only believe' you will be 'saved'. It doesn't.

So, how do you know if your message is actually leading people to the narrow way or the broad way? Simple. You simply let the Savior tell you how it works.

The 'Gospel' Message is About Relationships

It's no accident that both the Old Testament and the New Testament sum up the Ten Commandments in two short summaries. You can fulfill all the requirements of the Law of God by simply obeying two commands, 'Love the Lord Your God with all your heart' and 'Love Your Neighbor as Yourself'. It's simple. Well, at least it's a simple summary.

The truth is when Adam rebelled against God's authority (i.e. he chose what he wanted rather than what God wanted), he ruined the relationship with God (for himself and for all of us). Without the guiding, restraining force of a living relationship with God, Adam (and we as well) are left to be consumed by our own selfish desires...and that usually ends up destroying most of our relationships with one another. This is no surprise. After all, there are only a few primal desires (wealth, power, prestige, sex), so it's pretty likely that there will be lots of conflicts as we pursue our desires and others are pursuing theirs.

Restoring Relationships

So, with a planet filled with broken relationships, both horizontal and vertical, how does it get fixed? Again, the answer is simple, the realization is not. The answer is found in forgiveness. It's very interesting that in our current day, the whole issue of forgiveness is getting lots of space in the evangelical press. There seems to be a problem with people forgiving one another, holding grudges, letting 'roots of bitterness' pollute their lives and, in general, making a mess of their relationships. How is this possible?

Let's stipulate upfront that there are always exceptions to the 'norm'. Having said that, are we to believe that men and women who are supposedly born again of the Spirit of God, partakers of the divine nature, whose eternally damning sins against Almighty God are forever forgiven....that they would have trouble forgiving someone else of some offense against them? Seriously? Is it just possible that maybe these folks aren't 'born again', that they don't have a 'new heart', a heart like His?

Where's the flaw in all this? I would like to submit that the flaw is in the modern 'gospel' message by which people think they can be 'saved' and have their sins 'forgiven'. Here's the question which reveals the problem. If I were to ask the average churchgoer how a person could have their sins forgiven, what would they likely say?? My guess is that most of them would be quoting back verses like 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved'. And, that's true. But, I didn't ask, 'how are you saved', I asked 'how do you receive the forgiveness of your sins'? Apparently, in the Bible, it's not the same.

Scripture is clear that the basis for the forgiveness of sins is the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 26.28). But, how does this 'forgiveness' become mine? The Lord Jesus Himself made it unmistakably clear in the last words He spoke to His disciples before He ascended into heaven.

"Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Luke 24:44-47 NASU

Forgiveness of sins begins with true repentance. What is repentance? It's a change of mind that leads to a change in action. It's a new understanding of my position as a rebel against God, that my relationship with God is adversarial. Like it or not, He views me as an enemy. And, when '(my) mind is opened to understand the Scriptures', I will totally agree with Him!

Is this Scripture at odds with others, especially those which focus on the 'faith' side? Not at all. 'All Scripture is God-breathed', so in order to rightly interpret, you have to include all of it. The New Testament is filled with verses which declare that the 'narrow path', the path which leads to 'life' is only found by those who 'repent and believe the gospel'.

So, why is repentance seemingly missing from so many pulpits in America today? In some (many?) places, it seems that the fear of making people uncomfortable is the driving force. To confront them with the 'sin issue' may turn them away from a loving God. To tell them to 'repent' makes it sound like there's something they have to, God forbid, DO!

This pseudo-'grace' message is really nothing more than the evangelical version of 'political correctness' which pollutes so much of our society. It's the kind of murky, mindless, ignorant Christianity which ends up seeing the confusion in books like Rob Bell's 'Love Wins' and Young's 'The Shack' passed off as 'spiritual insight'. We live in a theological fog and the supposed answer is 'just believe in Jesus'. It's not just sad, it's scary. The really scary part is that we're not scared!

How It Works

The path to reconciliation with God is quite simple. It begins with the recognition that I am a sinner. How does that happen? Somebody has to do the 'dirty work'. They have to explain to me that 'God is God' and He alone has the right to run things. He alone is the Creator and Sustainer of all life...including mine. I Belong To Him!

The problem is, I'm an outlaw. I have rebelled against His rightful authority and, as the Bible describes it, 'gone my own way'. God created me to love Him and serve Him; I have done neither.

Rather, I have made it my focus in life to love and serve myself. My great desire is to achieve 'success', however I may define it. I have believed this was my right. It was not.

In order to restore our relationship, God sent His Son to take the penalty for my sin and rebellion. He shed His blood and made it possible that I would not have to pay the price of my redemption. The operative word here is 'possible'. It's possible, but it's not a 'done deal'. What makes this salvation mine?

You immediately say 'Faith'. And, that's absolutely true. But, faith (that is, me putting my trust in Him to have provided all that was needed to deliver me from the penalty and power of sin in my life)...that kind of faith is simply not possible until you 'repent'.

Repentance and faith are so intimately bound up in the true conversion experience that over and over you see the refrain 'repent and believe'. Sometimes one is emphasized more than the other, but the shadow is always there. Whether it's John preparing 'the way' for the Lord with a baptism of repentance or Jesus beginning His own ministry in Mark 1 or Paul testifying to the Ephesian 'elders' and calling them as witnesses how he faithfully preached 'repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ', the message always begins with repentance...that change of mind which enables us to realize that we are on the wrong path and we have to turn back to 'follow Him'.

Peter summed it all up on the day of Pentecost.  In that sickening moment he made it clear to the multitudes that they had just executed the Messiah they had been waiting for...waiting for over a thousand years! They crucified Him. The enormity of what they had done overwhelmed them...you can hear the cry of despair in their words.

"Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter, 
"Brethren, what shall we do?" 38 Peter said to them, 
"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
 for the forgiveness of your sins;" Acts 2:38 NASU

What's important for us is that this message led to the salvation of over 3000 souls that day! And, Peter never said 'Believe'. Did they believe? Of course, but first they needed to repent and receive the forgiveness of their sins. This took away the blindness that kept them from seeing the Savior...now, they could 'follow Him'. Repentance leads to faith, life-changing faith...and with it, forgiveness.

This post is about 'new starts' in a New Year, but even more important is a 'new start' in a new life. The glorious truth is that for those that know God's saving grace, His mercies and forgiveness are 'new every morning'. The Christian life is a life of 'multiplied new beginnings'. We can begin each day newly cleansed and forgiven. And we can share that opportunity with others. In the last words before He ascended to the Father in Heaven, the Lord Himself told us 'that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem'.

For the Christian, the 'new start' begins with forgiveness...and forgiveness comes with repentance. To get it right, the message has to be right. It has to be His message. It's not just 'believe', it's 'repent and believe the gospel'.

Next time, we'll see how the Holy Spirit is the power that makes all this possible.