The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, Lesson 40 cont.

OK, we are in lesson 39. All right, no, lesson 40. And we have worked our way down to question 4. And we ended up last week talking a little bit about The question, question three, with the definition do we need profits today? What did we decide? Is it a good thing to have profits today? Or do we have profits today based on Rideout's definition? What do you think? Let me read something from Rideout that might help.

But this brings us to our last subject we have called prophecy. We'll understand that I do not refer here to what is ordinarily termed that, whether prediction or any divine oracle. I use the term now as we find it in the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, quote, you may all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all be comforted. He that prophesies speaks unto men for edification, exhortation, and comfort.

This is a special application of the Spirit of God, of truth suited to the special needs of the saints. The principle is evident, and we can apply it to the entire body of Scripture. That's his opinion. You agree with that? You okay with that? Yeah, I really struggled with that at first because of my concept of what a prophet was. We focus, I think, generally in our theological circles, with a really heavy emphasis on the prophecy for the writing of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, and we have defended so so carefully that, you know, the nature of Scripture as completed and closed canon that we've almost pushed to an extreme of saying that there's no other, you know, prophecy means nothing apart from the inspiration and writing of Scripture. And I think we've kind of missed some elements of what Like, for instance, what Paul refers to there as prophesying one to another, he's not referring to writing scripture. And there's something there that we kind of cut ourselves off from realizing if we've narrowed down the idea of prophet to just a scripture writer.

I agree with that. That's good. I'm just gonna say I was in the same boat just to see the different aspect of prophecy as it moves through the church age. Yeah Good luck Sorry, go ahead Go ahead. I was just gonna say JD years. It's not too long ago. Yeah, I you know you Probably would never have referred to it as this but you shared a word with me that applied scripture This is back just after Christmas and it it was exactly you know, what I needed to hear at a certain time, and it applied scripture to my specific situation. I don't even think you totally realized you were doing it, but I don't know. That's a good point, Miles. A lot of times I think if you accept Rideout's premise, that it isn't, you don't necessarily know you're doing it.

And he calls it, the word in season is a word of prophecy. He says, we have a perfect word and we have enlightened to understand it. We have been enlightened, but we still need to have it applied to mind and heart and life. And then he said, a word in season is a word of prophecy. So how many times in your Christian life has someone said something to you and your thought is, boy, that was just what I needed right now. That's what Wright House says is an ongoing gift of prophecy now, and I think that's right.

And you may not know, you may not know that that's in fact what you're doing, you know, and I'll tell you where you can see it. You can see it on text messages because people will, I don't know if you, but people will write you and say things and they, You know, you can't express a full thought unless you do four paragraphs, you know, read for an hour. So it's cut down a little bit, but sometimes in the middle of reading it, it hits you.

I know the exact answer for this question or this purpose, you know, to edify them. Because that's the whole purpose, isn't it? If someone texts you and says, well, you know, I thought I'd share this issue with you. I have ABC problem and I'm having a tough day and, and you just text them back, just the right thing. Well, you don't, you know, you didn't calculate just the right thing, but it seemed to fit or I'll tell you another example. I think that the none but the hungry hearts are prophetic in that sense. Because a lot of times people read them and say, Oh man, that just nailed it for me today. Pathetic in the sense that they're a word in season.

There we go. For the record. Yeah, that's right. Okay. With that in place, the next question is how do we become obedient to the word? This is a great question. All you Baptists get up and do your push-ups now. Rite Out says it's affected by allowing the spirit to apply it. So the question is allowing the spirit to apply it.

There's nothing more deadening than to be engaged with truth without its acting upon the conscience. to traffic in the holy things of God, where mere pleasure or worthy profit is awful to think of, even where this extreme is not reached. We all need to remember that it's a solemn thing to have to do with God and to have conscious upon that the Spirit may make practical what you've been learning. So what's the word obey mean? This means to listen under.

Okay. That definition fits perfectly under grace because I don't think the Holy Spirit is ever not communicating to each one of us individually. I think he always is. He might do it through another person, but primarily it's through his word. And haven't you gone back and referenced the none but the hungry hearts?

You know, if you read that every day and read some scripture every day, you find that in a lot of days, it's applicable to what your circumstances are that day or that week. And it shows the necessity of I don't like the word obedient, it sends chills up my back, but it does show you that how important it is to listen under God's word, to listen to him. If you don't read it, you're not listening. You know, if you're walking around waiting for some sort of light bulb to go on, Or you're looking at closed doors, open doors, circumstances, that kind of thing. And I think you missed the point of what it means that God's Word is applicable to what's going on in your life today. So when the question is, how does one become obedient to that? How do you do that? I think you have to have a relationship with the Lord. Right. Yeah, that's true. And how does that relationship develop?

When I met Donna several decades ago, I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could. No one said to me, you got to do that. I just wanted to do it all the time. Every minute I could spend with her, I would do. It's the same way with the Lord. I think you're right. As this intimacy with Christ grows in our hearts, we want to spend time with Him, and we discover that the way to do that is in His Word.

I have to tell you, I'm in the MRI tunnel this week, right? Two hours I'm in that thing. So I'm in there, and it's like right here, and it can be claustrophobic, so I'm talking to the Lord, right? I said, well, I could have brought a Bible here. No, they wouldn't let you do that because you have to lay perfectly still.

So I said, well, I'm going to just start, as names come in my mind, I'm going to pray for them. And so I'm going and it seems like, and I run on a name. So I said, well, what do I do, start over? So y'all got prayed for at least twice, usually. Anyway, but it made it tolerable. That MRI machine is not fun to be in for a long time. So, anyway. So back to it, the question is how? How? What's the how?

I mean, I think, honestly, right, you know, the time, I think it's his time with him and his work. And then, you know, it, I don't know how to say this. with Holy Spirit's guidance, the convicting, the convincing of his word, you know, I think then it becomes more, you listen under and you follow that word. Yeah. So it's, you know, I, a lot of these things, when we talk about it, I always think, I think there was, back to the hungry heart this morning, there was something that, you know, we use this word all the time and I can't remember who it was. And it's like, How's that practical? What does that mean? And this is like, how do we do it? I'm working for you. Yeah. I mean, it's just, you know, I wish I could remember this morning's one. You know, how do we do this?

And I think it is just time, time in His Word, in communication with Him, in prayer, and just the Holy Spirit working in you. And I think the other thing was, we talked about this I think last night, is it comes down to faith. You believe it. You believe His Word. If you believe His Word, then you'll be, you'll listen under and follow it. Yeah, and the believing is a big part of it.

And I think the believing is, you know, that verse that God will cause you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. If he wants you to read the scripture, he's going to cause you to want to do it and to do it. But the motivation, what I was saying is that the Spirit of God causes you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. He causes you by developing this intimacy with Christ. to want to do it.

And those of you who spend time with the Lord every day, just you and Him, you don't have to look at the calendar or anything like that. It's built into your day. Part of how you think and feel and do everything, no matter where you are or what you're doing. And there's always involved in that some greater intimacy is learned from that, even if it's only a few minutes.

You know, this morning I was messing around on my computer and I always download the slides for the main service and have them on a flash drive. Now I go to California and I can't bring the flash drive with me, but I can do that here. And just in case somebody didn't get it or didn't download.

And we're going to sing Blessed Assurance this morning. I just love that. I get tears in my eyes when I think about it. Well, that's not based on the fact that I intellectually thought I better be serious about Blessed Assurance. It's all based on relationship.

You know, I think the one that comes to mind, and I pulled it up again, is 2 Peter 3, 18, where Paul says, but grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the prayer. And I think that's only done by spending time in His Word. And again, what this class is, the Holy Spirit, it's the Holy Spirit, you know, moving in our hearts and minds to want to be with Him. That's it.

I will say this, and based on what Macaulay said about when he did that series on grace, we must be taught grace. We don't know anything about grace when we come to Christ. And this is grace. So learning from a gracious standpoint about, that's why I put the word obedience in there. You have to learn that. how that works under grace. And you've got to have a ten minute conversation like we've just had. Otherwise you don't know how it works. Isn't there a scripture that says Christ learned obedience through his suffering?

I didn't want to bring that up. That's a big factor in it. You know, not two hours in an MRI tunnel is suffering, but where does your mind go? It goes to the Lord, you know. Okay, last question. We've got two more to go. Explain the apparent dilemma between 1 Corinthians 7, 6, 25 and 40 with verse 10 and 12. So here's how we're going to do that.

Let's have Sue Ellen, you look up six, 1 Corinthians 7.6. Joanne, you look up 7.25. And Frank, you can look up 7.40. And then in the back row, JD, look up verse 10, 7.10 and Courtney, 7.12. Kind of interesting how this comes together. So pay attention as we go. All right, Sue Ellen. All right, 7.6 says, but this I say by way of concession, not of command. Is there more? That's good. OK. 7.25? Yeah,

25. Now concerning virgins, I have no opinion of the Lord, but I gave an opinion as one who, by the mercy of the Lord, is trustworthy. Okay. But in my opinion, she is happy, which means that she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

Okay, so keep that frame of reference in mind. All right, Tim. 1 Corinthians 7, 10? Yeah. Okay. But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband. Okay. Courtney, work 12. But to the rest I say, not the Lord, but if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband and he consents to live with her, she must not send away her husband. So it's interesting.

What he's pointing out here Is it, Paul is saying in practical application, there are certain things that he does not have a direct revelation from the Lord about. And other things he does. So does that mean I can disregard the ones that he doesn't have a direct revelation about and only obey the ones he has a direct revelation about? What's interesting about verse 10, but to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband. No, that's not what I was looking for. It was verse 40, but in my opinion, she is happier if she remains as she is.

I think that I also have the spirit of God. So what he's doing is he's giving us an opinion based on having the Spirit of God. Now, we can also go to 2 Timothy and read about what's all Scripture for according to all Scripture is for, I think, three things. What's that? teaching, correction, reproach. There's three things or four things. So could you say that all of these verses that we're talking about are scripture? The answer is yes, they are. Based on that, are they to be complied with?

Or can I sort of wing it? Because Paul doesn't say, well, I have a command from the Lord that, you know, bang, bang. What do you think? Frank? I think the answer has to come based on context of Scripture as a whole. Okay. That and that. The Spirit leads us in the Word and reminds us of what we should and shouldn't do, what He'd like us to do, where He'd like us to go. And all of the teachings in Scripture leads to the answers that we need. So, along with his way of saying that, in context of where we are in these verses, also, I don't know, I didn't get a word for that, if you will. But at the same time, the body of Scripture, even if we just take the first Corinthians on, helped direct how we should be feeling based on what the Spirit has taught us.

And that's what brings that answer to us. That's a good answer. That's a great answer. I'll say what Rydolf says, and it's interesting. He says, Here then we have in divine wisdom, recorded in God's Word side by side, infallible commands and the judgment of a spiritual man.

When it is the Lord speaking, the apostle tells us and distinguishes from his own judgment. And yet he spoke as a man guided by the Spirit. So would you say that you're going to find yourself in circumstances, if somebody comes to you for advice about some issue, that you're guided by principles? I would say biblical principles. Yeah, I mean, if you know God's word, yeah, you are.

But sometimes, you know, the questions or the issue, what I find with it, what the Lord does is he sometimes you learn in the going. Sometimes you have to walk through it and maybe not have a clear understanding at the beginning. Other times, you know right away, you know, somebody comes to you and says, you know, I'm drinking two bottles of bourbon a day.

Well, that's not a tough one, you know. But if somebody comes to you and says, you know, I'm just sort of tired of trying to be a good Christian. I'm running out of gas. I'm not reading the word as much. And now there's something that takes a conversation because you have to talk about grace and desire and God's word and what's it really all about. You know, you don't want to, the fact that you're even concerned, the person's even concerned about, well, you know, I'm just sort of running out of gas spiritually. And you know the Word of God is not designed, especially with the Spirit, you don't run out of gas. Because the gas is infinite.

The right word is principle. We have principles. Paul couldn't have written about the internet and issues internet related or whatever. He couldn't have even dreamt of that. But the principles that he lays out can be applied to anything in life. I agree. So I think the key is the principles laid out. Paul lays them out, and he had direct word.

He went three years with the Lord in the desert. I mean, he got to know Him intimately. We don't know all of the things he shared, shared between the Lord and him while he was with the Lord for the three years, or I think it was three years or whatever, in the desert. So I mean, he has Intimate knowledge and then lays out these principles for us that are that are timeless They can be applied to anything that we run into today And I you know, I think there are other ones that you know, I've seen him last last night, you know some of the ones In Philippians when we're doing it in verse 17 brethren join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us and That's not a word from the Lord.

He's saying, follow this pattern. He's laying out the principles of how to live, how to apply the word, how to apply this life in Christ. I think it really comes down to what you said, principles. Principles are laid out through the logical imperatives that we put them.

You know, they're not commands, but they're, you know, if this, you're going to respond this way. And so I think it's laid out that way as to how this all, you know, not direct commands, but principles laid out. Well, sometimes they are direct commands, but they're just there because they're a principle and not a statute. Problem with the reform theology is that they give you statutes and not principles.

Grace is all based on principle. This is how a thing works. And it works the same way every time. And the principle of grace works the same way every time. That's why you have to learn what grace is and how it functions. So that you won't, eventually you'll learn to rest in grace and trust the Lord and what he's doing.

I was going to say, what spoke to me in this part right here is that one sentence that, let us see to it that we always read God's word with the desire that it should search us. Oh wow, that's cool. That's really cool. Not that I would, you know, I think a lot of times you go to the word to try to get something to help you where you are. Right. And as I read that I thought, The Word is really designed to lift us into Christ's presence. Yeah. That's really good. And I think that's right.

I think that, you know, when we were I don't know if it's Sunday school, but maybe ten years ago we were talking about different forms of theology. We were talking about dispensationalism and what the tenets of reform and how you study based on whether you're reformed or covenant or whatever or dispensational. The one unique thing about the Dispensational Doctrine is that you always go into God's Word for it to teach you. All these other forms, you've already made up your mind what you believe and you're looking in Scripture to back up what somebody's told you and you've believed it. You let God's Word teach you. Really important. I don't know if you can read that again. The word comes to you, I think, both ways.

I think I look to Scripture and find comfort in Scripture. But then there's other times, you know, trying to find something and then the Lord brings the word to me. Sure. I'm trying to justify something in Scripture and it's wrong or whatever, but later the Lord lays on my heart or through the Spirit, the right Scripture, so to speak. I like that the Word comes to us. A lot of times we do search and find comfort in verses, but I think a lot of times it's the other way. The Word comes to us. Yeah, I was just thinking of that, if I can get to it in a hurry. I'm not real savvy, but we'll see.

So, this is one of the reasons why I thought Titus would be a good place to go because In 2.12 it says, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.

And then the word explains what it's doing, instructing us to deny ungodliness. So you go back to Romans 1, what is the issue with salvation? It's because we're all ungodly, it isn't because we're all Sinners, it has to do with what we are, we're ungodly. To deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly and righteously and in a godly manner in the present age.

That's what grace is supposed to do. And it's all based on principles. It's all based on the gospel, the cross, and all that God has done through Jesus Christ. It's all based on that. Okay. Last question. All scripture is given by inspiration. Oh, that's what I was looking for. Inspiration of God and is profitable. Is it so to us? Are we becoming sanctified or set apart by the truth?

What is one proof? What does Riteout say the one proof is? that dreaded word. He says the proof is obedience. The proof is listening under. And then, we talked about this about a month ago, John, if a man loved me, he will keep my word. I think I read it in this class, the difference between keeping God's laws and keeping his word. What's the difference? I demonstrated it with a story from H.A. Ironside. Remember what it was? I may have it still. Oh, I do. I got it. Here's the difference. I sometimes illustrate this like this.

Here's a child, a little girl in home. She's attending school, and after school, she delights to play with her young companions. One day, her mother says, my dear, when you come home from school today, there are some chores I want you to do. Dust the living room, prepare a few things for supper, and I will have to be out for a time. But when you've done these things, then you can go out and play. Because she's an obedient child, when she returns from school, she does the things her mother has commanded her to do. So she shows that she loves her mother in this way. On another occasion, she's under no such command.

But coming home, here's her mother speaking to a neighbor next door and she is saying, you know, I really do not know what I'm going to do to get through this afternoon. I have invited company for dinner and I'm feeling so miserable and wretched that I haven't my dinner ready. There are potatoes to peel and vegetables to prepare, and I don't know how I'm going to get through."

In the morning, she had said to the little daughter, when you come home from school today, you may have time to play until I call you for dinner. But the dutiful child, hearing this conversation between her mother and her neighbor, says, You go and lie down for an hour and I will peel the potatoes. I'll prepare the vegetables and I will set the table and help you get the dinner.

But my child, I told you you could go play and mother said. Oh, but I wouldn't be happy out playing. Knowing here at home, you feel so badly, the child would reply. Yesterday, the girl kept her mother's commands. And today she's keeping her word. How it would gladden a mother's heart to have her doing these things while under no command. That's the difference. When you see this phrase, if a man loved me, he will keep my word. There's a difference in attitude. There's a difference in desire. and contemporary world would say there's a different in want to.

I want to do that, you know, it isn't that I have to, I want to do it. He says, obedience dear brother is that which we are called. Of what veil is knowledge and even miraculous power if obedience to God's word, God's holy will in love is not our daily practice. The Lord lays this upon our hearts. I think so. Don't you find in your life that whatever God has called you to be and do, husband, wife, mom, dad, whatever business you're in, you know, whatever the ministry he's called you to do, it isn't someone, you know, hung a chain around your neck and said, you got to do this.

You want to do it. And that's the work of the Spirit in your heart. You want to do it. You can't see yourself doing anything else. I promised Donna 30 years ago that when we retired, we'd go to Phoenix and play golf. I haven't been to Phoenix yet. That's what the Lord has something else for us to do. And this is a lot more fun than hitting a golf ball.

You know, and Mike, not only is the desire there, but I think that we listen under the Word of the Spirit that He is the One who works powerfully through us. We recognize that truth that if there's going to be a life lived out, a righteous life lived out through us, it's His life by His strength.

Yeah, yeah. Maybe say it this way, and then we'll close. If you're a mom or dad and you have children and you're believers, you can't help but love your kids. You just can't help it. You do. That's a cool thing. Commands and principles, you know commands are one thing just like in that story, you know, they said the commands are one thing but principles are I think that's more where the Your relationship is shown is if you do it because you love him because you know and I go to the full extreme where he calls us the colony, you know, I Abba, Father, Daddy.

You don't have that much of an intimate relationship with the God of the universe. You just want to do it. Because it's not out of law or... No. It's out of love for Him. Because you love Him? Sure. You know, it goes back to the intimacy with Him. Sure. And like you said, a father or parents and kids, you just love them. Yeah, you do. And that's the same way we should be with the Father and the Lord. Cool way to live. And you just do it because. Yeah. All right, let's close. Father, how we thank you for your word and your spirit. We thank you that the spirit is always working and is supposed to will and do of your good pleasure based on a growing intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.