The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit lesson 33 cont.
JD McCulley · Sep 4, 2022
Holy Spirit (2021-23), No. 77
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261928214155

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So last week we started talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. And we got into, we started looking at Ephesians 1, 19 and 20. We talked about the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe. We talked about us being the recipients of that power. And we looked at the word surpassing greatness and we said that that's a Greek word that goes far beyond the kind of power that you see in a normal situation. This is a super abounding, we talked about it being, exceedingly beyond measure. And then we started relating that power that worked in Christ to raise him from the dead. It's the same power that works in us.

And I was listening to that song this morning by Jeremy Camp. And I did. I was like, I haven't listened to it in a while. And I went back and listened to it. And it's so spot on for exactly what we're talking about here. I'd encourage you guys to listen to it again. It's one of those that definitely deserves to be on the playlist.

Because when you think about that same power is the same power that works in us, and then we start to get, okay, that's the truth. That's true of us. What are the mechanics of that? How does that actually get displayed? So we looked at 2 Corinthians 4.7 and I'll read that.

It says, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. And Rideout goes into this whole concept of a broken picture. And he pulls from the imagery that it was biblically true in the Old Testament of Gideon in Judges 7, where Gideon is, he has this army of 35,000 Midianites that he's going up against, and God wants to whittle his army down. Instead of impressing upon his army with greater numbers, he whittles it down.

And I was asking my kids about this, and I said, do you remember the story of Gideon? And they're like, oh yeah, for sure. And I was like, wait a minute. Did you learn that from the Bible or from VeggieTales? And my son was like, VeggieTales? He remembered the story of Gideon and his men from VeggieTales. But in the story of Gideon, you have God preparing Gideon by reducing his numbers, and he says, I want you to take these things into battle.

I want you to take a pitcher with a torch in it, in one hand, and I want you to take a trumpet in the other. And he said, those men that, remember how he did the filtering? at the river. He said, those that lap the water from the river like dogs, those men are not going to be prepared for you in battle. They will not go with you. But those who look expectantly as they drink, aware of their surroundings, those are the men I want you to take. And they took this picture and when they approached the army of the Midianites, they broke the picture and held the torch.

And so Rideout goes into this scenario that must have been in the mind of the spirit as Paul was thinking through this. But one of the things that as we start to look at this story of the smashed pitcher or the broken pitcher is Rideout says, In connection with this verse about the earthen vessel, the story of Gideon and his men were no doubt in the Spirit's mind. That is, the earthen pitchers of Gideon's men, in which the lights were concealed, they were then to break the pitcher and the light would shine out. He says, Beloved, I want you to notice that what was necessary for the display of the excellency of power, again that's what we're talking about, that resurrection power, was not an adorned pitcher, not a surrendered pitcher, not a discarded pitcher, but a broken pitcher. As we start to think about what that means, we get to this next section, or this next question.

But before we get to the thorn in the flesh that Paul was dealing with, Paul talks about his ministry as an earthen vessel. And it has the picture of being broken, right? But it's not in the scripture there, and it's not to be confused with you having to break yourself in order to be used by God. Actually, you've already been broken in the sense that Rideout talks about, where does this breaking of the vessel so that God's power shines out, where does that happen for the believer? And that's where he's driving us to.

Paul says in Ephesians 3, 7 through 9, he says, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light. There's the there's what right. I was trying to make the connection there and to bring to light what the administration of the mystery, which for all for ages has has been hidden in God who created all things. So God intended a sharp contrast to be clear here for us so that no one would question the source of the gospel and its super abounding power. So Paul was made low in order for the message to be made powerful through the Spirit. Does that make sense?

Let's talk about it. I can see everybody's mind churning a little bit. Here we go. I don't think we realize how much of who I am in Adam is in the way of expressing itself, which hinders the expression of Christ through us, because it's the only thing we know. That's the only thing we know is we've lived an atom, our whole experience in our life, we think that's normal. And when we enter into this spiritual growth realm and things begin to go south rather than north, things get tough.

Well, who's it tough for? You have to learn all the little nuances about that. When the word God starts talking about death works in me so there might be life in you, well what this death process is, you know, is difficult to understand, I think. Yeah, it does.

I think that the verse that kind of sums up this portion of the study, 1 Corinthians 2.5, it says, So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. When was the last time you saw the power of God in your life?

And we're getting, this is where the rubber meets the road, right? It's a good question. Because you think about it, it's easy for me to prepare for this study and to come and to teach the study. I'm reading from Rideout Snow, I'm going through what he said, I'm thinking about it in light of what I'm dealing with, what's going on in my mind. That could be done without the power of God, couldn't it? Could it? I think it can. I think that what we realize is it's not that I'm expectantly praying, God, be powerful through this message today.

Maybe that is part of my heart, but I think that what Rideout has in mind here is that we find ourselves broken when we find ourselves at the foot of the cross, because in the resurrection side of the cross, the resurrection side, So, when I think about myself as a teacher, and I start to think about, what does it mean to be an earthen vessel, JD?

How do I be available to you in that way? And it does have a humbling effect. It has the same effect that Paul had. Who am I? That you would be powerful through me. And we have to recognize that that position in our minds is a lowly position because it's Christ's power that we're looking to convey these messages, this study through, whether it be the sermon later or whether it be a conversation you have with your neighbor later. We want to be the earthen vessel. And what does the earthen vessel look like? It doesn't look adorned. It's not built up. God doesn't put the clergy robe on me when I speak or on Mike or on Courtney. It's not an adorned place. And this understanding of being an earthen vessel helps us to recognize that God uses a common man to do mighty things. And that's the place where I find myself in these types of situations where I'm communicating the Word of God to folks.

But it doesn't just happen at studies like this. It happened last night with a neighbor. It's gonna happen today with some kids that show up at my house. It's gonna happen at the Labor Day celebration that we're, you know, the picnic. These are situations that are not just for church, not just for a study, not just for the spiritual moments of your life.

This is a place that we find ourselves on a regular day-to-day basis as an earthen vessel. You know, J.D., from our discussions last week, you know, I think That you said it I think all this is saying is that we're common where the earthen vessel was a common thing Mm-hmm, whether we're broken or not or whatever. I yeah, that's our debatable, but but I think it's it's just saying he's using Nobody special. Okay, you're not you know, you're clergy or you're the guy on the street or anything You're just an earthen vessel and he uses it and we have this treasure treasure treasure in earthen vessels and And this which is what is the treasure the surpassing greatness of the power of God and not from ourselves?

And I you know that's why I think he's just saying Uses anybody you don't have to be a Paul. You don't have to be and it's anytime any anywhere night You know I think the thing is you bring up a good question. Hey, you know if I utilize the power today Yeah, what you know I think every day. I use the power even whether I know it or not and I think I think what you said, I go back to God uses all things. And that's why I think, you know, in any situation, in the trials and the blessings, he's working. He's working 24-7, 365.

And he allows things. I think it was this morning's Hungry Heart about He lets Satan go as far. He uses Satan. And it's only as far as he allows him. Like Job. He'll go and he'll allow Satan to work on you. He'll allow you to fail. He'll allow you to sin. He'll allow you to speak boldly.

And he's using all those things and it's all eventually to conform us to the image. And it would bring glory to himself. And so I think, yeah, I mean, the power, it's all the time. And whether we realize it or not, there's some times when it's like, I only survive because of the power of God. The Holy Spirit working in me. There's no way I could have survived this without it. And there's others where I think he's working and I don't even know it. You know, the power is there and, you know, I don't know. It's just, yeah, it's all the time, 24-7. We don't realize it many times. Mike, I know you've got something brewing. I was thinking about it.

If we talk about having this resurrection life, what powers the resurrection life? Resurrection power. So whether we realize we have the resurrected life, whether we're clear on the identification of having been separated from the old and placed into the new, whether a person recognizes that fully as a Christian is something that, first of all, would be sad if they did not because it's true of them. That's what we spend a lot of our time doing is talking about understanding the things that are true of us and then operating by faith upon those truths. To have a resurrection life is to also be empowered for that life.

And that's what we're saying. God not only raised us from what we were in the old man and placed us into the new, He says, I will dwell and empower you with the same power that I rose Christ from the dead, I rose you from the old man and placed you into Christ.

But what He allows during that process is some of the things that we talk about in question number two, what was the apostle Paul to learn from the thorn in his flesh? So God allowed some things to happen to Paul. Paul has a resurrection life, right? But he also got, in 2 Corinthians 12, he talks about these sufferings, the things that God allowed in his life. And a lot of it had to do with the the false teachers that he was surrounded with, constantly teaching and preaching against everything that he was communicating about the Word of God, or through the Word of God, about the Lord. And Paul not only in chapter 12 talks about his sufferings, but he also talks about an opportunity that he had to literally, as a man in Christ, have the opportunity to hold the things that God had for him from a heavenly perspective.

Remember that? But it wasn't because Paul was an apostle that God was able to do that. It was because he was a resurrected saint. He was in Christ. And Ryot makes the point that you have that exact same title. You're not an apostle, but you are in Christ. And we don't behold it with the Lord Jesus face to face, as Paul was able to witness. we have it through his word. And we behold him through his word.

There's a lot going on out there. I can see mine's churning. This thorn in the flesh, what was the purpose of it? Do you have a thorn in the flesh? Courtney. Courtney? I want to make a comment about I think you have to be careful in this kind of discussion to delineate between what's positionally true of me and what's conditionally happening.

The position that I occupy in Christ and all the power that goes with that is something that can never be changed and we all have it. We all have it. The issue is how does that, the power of the resurrected Christ, get worked out in my condition. And I think suffering is a huge part of the preparation to get us ready. And what the suffering does is it teaches us to be dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Because otherwise we'll just grab the power and try to go with it. And that's not what God intended.

Now the Apostle Paul, before his ministry really started, he was 11 years, you know, up to Jerusalem and back to Tarsus, seven years before he gets the call to come. Now he wasn't idle while he was in Tarsus, but the point was that if there's anybody who talks about this process that believers are to go through. Death works in me, so there might be life in you.

Who really understood that? It's him. Because it not only has to be the power of Christ, but I have to be in tune with that. I have to understand that that's what's really happening, you know. Paul can be really bold with some of his detractors, but he knows who it is. It's not him. And at the same time it can be very empathetic with people that he's dealing with, but you know, the whole makeup of that behavior pattern starts with his position in Christ.

But also, the identification of the cross, how much of that cross gets applied to me in my everyday life. Yeah. I'm going to draw something that I had in my mind on the way here. Because I always think about the Holly Hills logo. I think about it a lot. But how do we represent, really, in essence, this basic? I haven't got that figured out. But what I did figure out, at least in my mind, is I think that this is really where the power of the resurrection, the super abounding resurrection power, gets carried out in a believer's life.

It's, it's, when you look at 2 Corinthians 12, 7, about all situations that we're talking about here, he says, because of the surpassing greatness, there's that word again, uperballoon. Because of the surpassing, I don't know why my Greek has like a Latin. There's others in Texas. No, it's not Latin. Uperballoon. All right, you won't forget it. It's a super abounding power.

He says, because of the superabounding or surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, Paul says, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. He says it twice.

We're not talking about Galatians 2.20 today, but it represents every bit of what it means to live a resurrection life. I've been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I who live today, it's Christ who lives in me, right? And how does that life get lived? By faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. This is resurrection life.

And the problem is that we We start our day, I start my day sometimes without recognizing this truth. And I start to bootstrap it through the day a little bit. You ever done that? And then you find yourself like, oh my gosh, it's going in my flesh. And you start dealing with it in a worldly way. How do you deal with it in a worldly way? Grumble, complain, throw a fit, all the things.

And then you realize, wait a minute, this isn't resurrection life. I'm not operating by faith in my co-crucifixion with Christ. It goes back to that. I think about, and I'm not trying to be, I'm not trying to say that this is the mechanics of how it works for every single person.

God can bring to mind truths about who you are in Christ outside of Galatians 2.20.

I just think Galatians 2.20 sums it up in a most perfect way. Resurrection life starts with me being co-crucified with Christ but risen and living by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

So, and all that is to keep me from exalting myself. That's what Paul talks about here. So the thorn in the flesh was given to him to torment him. You got any torment in your life? Read some news for a minute. Alright? Paul is to learn that the only vessel out of which such glories can shine is a common vessel.

Otherwise he would be puffed up by the revelations, feeding his natural pride. Paul had enough to be prideful about. He knew enough to be very prideful. But in the main service we've been talking about his appearance and how the difficulties that he faced in trying to communicate the Word of God to the Corinthians. But for Paul, and I think this is interesting, it says, the cross is the secret of power. That's what he's talking about.

So we could say, is it a broken vessel like Gideon, the picture we get from Gideon? Or is it a common vessel in earth? It's an earthen vessel in this verse. It's a common vessel. He uses a common man with a thorn in his flesh to live a resurrected life, powered by resurrection power. How does he do that? By not exalting himself, but finding himself dependent 100%.

And that's where we get into this third question that I think is interesting. Because in your flesh, if you're like me, this all of a sudden gets me very antsy. What are the conditions under which divine power may be given us? And Rideout talks about this word surrender, complete and total surrender. What does that make you think? I'm supposed to go to the altar and surrender myself? What are the conditions under which divine power may be given us?

This is where Galatians 2.20 does come into play. I guess that's what I was going to say, the last half of 2.20. What is the process by faith in the Son of God? That's where it comes from.

The other which I was thinking of besides Galatians 2.20 is Romans 6.11. Consider yourself dead unto sin and alive unto God. Physicially from Adam and now consider yourself. You are alive now consider yourself alive consider yourself alive. You know that that's where I think The the two go together.

Yeah, I oftentimes try to make insert the word resurrection life there right because When we're talking about our position We're in a resurrected position But it starts with an understanding that I've been co-crucified with Christ. Oftentimes, if I were to say, you know, to anyone who had maybe not had a chance to think through these things, why would the cross be the secret of power? Well, if you're on this side of the cross, what is the secret of power of the cross? It's the gospel message. It's what Christ did in order to save you. But for us, what is the secret of the cross? It's not only that, but we have an additional perspective of looking back to the cross from a historical perspective.

What happened there on that cross, Galatians 2.20? You were crucified there. Do we think of ourselves as having been crucified from everything that was in the old man and being placed in everything that is in the new man?

And how does that affect your life? on a day-to-day basis, it's the secret, Whiteout says. It's the heart and soul of our Christian walk. It's what he's trying to convey here, and I think he's right, because this is where we got crucified. This is where the change happened for us. We've got a new life now, a new resurrection life. And so, Mike, you mentioned this the other night in the study. It's this side of the cross that that we find ourselves.

We're not going back and thinking necessarily all through all that we were in the old man. You may. I mean, we study it plenty, and it's very important that you understand what you were delivered from so that you can understand what you were delivered into or placed into, rather. It's very important to understand the old man because that's where that understanding leads us to a lost situation, something that we can't get out of, something that only God can satisfy, a need for the sin problem.

Right? Yeah. Do you want to address what Rideout talks about, self-surrender? Yeah. It gets a little antsy, right, to surrender yourself. But one of the things that you see in the term that you used, it's not just surrender there, you said the word self. And that's why I get antsy with the word self-surrender, because that means I've got to surrender myself. Ever felt that way? How do I surrender myself to God today? Because this is the condition that Rideout talks about here that's necessary to see the divine resurrection power in our lives. Surrender. Surrender ourselves.

Self-surrender. You know, I think of a couple different things in that when the focus is off who we are in Christ or Christ, that's when the weakness and the failure happens. And that allows the flesh and the old man to exhibit itself. It's, you know, you said you look back at the crossroad. I think it's still faith in what is true about us. You know, when we lose that, you know, when I fail, it's, you know, I'm relying on the old man or the whatever. And I've taken the focus off of who I am in Christ.

And I think, you know, again, Galatians 2.20, by faith in the Son of God, if we forget about that or we take our eye off that, That's when the old man creeps back in. Or we're not considering ourselves dead into sin, you know, and alive under God. Those are the things I look at. It's like, you know, when I fail, that's when I'm not doing those things. Yeah, it's exactly right.

We are to surrender our will, our gifts, our talents. Those are things to be surrendered. But do you do the surrendering? Who makes the surrendering? And if there's an altar in this scenario, who places all these gifts and talents at the foot of the altar? That's a great question because of what Rideout points out in that one paragraph about self-surrender.

And Miles makes the same point that self can do all of these things. Self can do these things, like I was saying for me. All of these things. That's exactly it. I'm surrendered, I'm this, I'm that. I really do think that Me, the person, agrees with God about the cross. And there is a conscious surrender. But the surrender is based on the fact that I was crucified with him. I'm agreeing with what he's done. And so one of the things we're going to talk about here this morning is that Paul's criticizing his detractors. And one of the things he's saying is, look, we got our marching orders from God and it's in this box. We don't go outside this box.

The trouble with self is that self now begins to think, I'm doing pretty good. I can go into any box I want and I can be of use to the Lord because I've surrendered. But I don't think that's right because I think what's happening is that the control of the Holy Spirit in my life has to be absolute. You know, I have to be subject to him and whatever direction, I mean, say something, not say something, do something, not do something. whatever it might be, it's got to be by His direction and not because I have surrendered.

That's right. I think that what you said at the very beginning, and then we'll end on this, is that the surrender is an attitude of faith in what's true of me. That's my part, is to believe what is true of me, and the resurrection power carries the rest of it out through you. The person of Mike, the person of Courtney, It carries that power out through you, but it's not, it can't be done outside of faith. Yeah, I think that's the clarifying thing. You know, that's, you know, what is our part?

You know, this self or whatever, putting it on the altar, yeah. Yeah. It goes back to the relationship with faith. Faith in the Son of God. Faith in all these truths of us. It's, do we believe this? Do we believe it? That's, you know, do we believe it?

Then we can get rid of all this. Baggage or whatever and and quote putting it on the altar or something if it's my faith in Not focusing on that stuff, but focusing on Christ not in itself But focusing on Christ. I think that's that's kind of the important part and just believing what he tells of us Yeah You know, it's so I mean we do have a part in it. Our part is the unmeritorious You know process that he can be glorified. Yeah, it's all all this can happen. It's through Just believing what what he tells tells of us Yeah Ephesians 3 20 and 21 says now to him that is able to do it exceedingly abundantly above all that all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us and let him be glory and We're going to get into some other questions, so we'll continue to work through this thinking.

It was a good morning to be reminded that resurrection power is found right here in Galatians 2.20.

And I'm going to continue to behold what is true of Galatians 2.20 as I go throughout the day. That's really what it is. That's what our Christian life looks like in just a fine Very, you know, fine detailed type of mechanic there.

Unfold Galatians 2.20 and you'll find yourself with an earthen vessel but containing a powerful, powerful message.

I don't think, when I was first a Christian, one of the waves that went through Christianity was surrender. Surrender. Or under yield. If I'm yielded, I can get by with anything. you know, without the cross. Without the cross. Yeah. Yeah. That leads to self-pride, right? That's right. That's where I... Self can yield. Self can submit. It's a subtle form of self-righteousness. That's right. That's what it is.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the cross. We thank you that we were co-crucified there with you so that we could have newness of life in you, that we could be placed in Christ. And all of that means to be buried, resurrected, ascended, seated, and we have the opportunity to abide above in those truths. And Lord, I just pray that as we go about our daily walk, that we would remind ourselves of what is true, our death up to the old and our life in the new, that we would recognize our crucifixion with you, and that it would be real and practical through our faith in you. Thank you for that opportunity to trust you and to see you abound in greatness and for us to be used as a common vessel. We thank you for the privilege that that is. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.