Relationship to The Scriptures

The Pastor-Teacher's Role: Immunizing Against Error

0:01 In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul said, and he gave some apostles and prophets, evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ, till we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we may be no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men in craftiness after the wiles of error, that we be no longer children tossed to, to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men after the craftiness and the wiles of error. One of the unhappy facts of life is that religious deception and the power of error are a constant and real danger to the children of God.

1:25 And it was the recognition of that unhappy fact which caused the Apostle to say one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus has given pastor-teacher gifts to his church is that his people may be immunized against error. Not only that they may be established in truth, but that they may be immunized against error. And so when I break into a series of positive instructions, such as we've been having on the doctrine of sanctification, for some 20-plus Sunday nights, and come to you with some studies on the work of the Holy Spirit, which in their application have been about two-thirds negative, I believe I'm on solid scriptural grounds in doing this, for one of my functions as a pastor-teacher is to seek to immunize you against the slight of men and every wind of doctrine and against the power of God. And so I'm going to come to you with some studies on the work of the Holy Spirit, against craftiness and the wiles of error. And so it's not as though we've gone sour before our time. It's because of this biblical realism that we are constrained to consider this subject of the work of the Holy Spirit, particularly applying some principles to present movements

Review of Foundational Principles for Discerning the Spirit's Work

2:54 which purport to be of God and which are sucking multitudes into their orbits and yet which woefully fail to measure up to the biblical standard of what is the true work of the Holy Spirit. And so tonight will be the fourth and the last in this brief series on the subject of the work of the Holy Spirit in which I have merely sought to give some broad guidelines to help us in this whole area of biblical truth. Thus far, having considered, the matter of a proper attitude in approaching this subject, we have spent three Lord's Day evenings establishing one basic principle that relates to interpretation. How do we interpret the work of the Holy Spirit as found in Scripture? And then we've looked at four basic foundational principles with regard to considering and assessing the work of the Holy Spirit. And the basic principle is that we must consider the work of the Holy Spirit.

4:02 And the basic principle of interpretation is this, that the teaching portions of Scripture which teach about the Holy Spirit and His work must regulate our understanding of the historical portions which describe His work. We must not extract our doctrine from the book of Acts and then seek to force the Gospels and the Epistles into our conclusions. Rather, we must go to our Lord's words in the Gospels concerning the Holy Spirit and the words of the Apostles and other biblical writers in the Epistles describing the work of the Spirit and getting our framework from there. Then we come and interpret the significance of the phenomena in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And this is the principle of interpretation to which I am committed because I believe Scripture, the teaching of Scripture, is to force it upon us. The teaching of Scripture is that God prophesies things, He brings them to pass, and then He interprets them.

5:11 So you have prophecy, fact, and interpretation. And if God has interpreted the fact, then His interpretation must take precedence over any other interpretation that man may put upon those facts. And then having established that basic principle of interpretation, we must consider the work of the Holy Spirit. We've looked at four foundational guidelines for considering the work of the Spirit.

5:37 And I'll only mention them, and then we come tonight to the fifth and last. We must always remember when considering the work of the Spirit, His divinity and His personality. Though we're considering His work, we must remember who it is that is at work. He is God and He is a person.

5:55 And if we remember that, it will keep us from all kinds of foolishness in which the Holy Spirit is used to give people spiritual kicks. We don't use God. God may be pleased to use us in grace, but we never use Him. And He is a person.

6:11 Therefore, we never think of Him in terms of impersonal force. But we seek to cultivate the knowledge of Him as a person and know what Scripture means by the communion of the Holy Spirit. So we don't just have an abstract, cold, icy doctrine of the Spirit that's correct. We have a living Spirit.

6:31 We have a living Spirit. We have a living, vital relationship in the Holy Spirit that is warm and vibrant and living. So we're kept, on the one hand, from the error of excesses which deny His divinity and excesses which deny His personality. Secondly, we must constantly remember the absolute necessity of the Spirit's work.

6:54 Some people are so anxious to make sure they never go off into excessive aspects of the Spirit's work, they totally ignore His work. Well, the one safe way to make sure you never get burned by fire is to freeze to death. But I think there's a happy mean. We're trying to strike one of them by putting in a new heating system and causing you a little inconvenience.

7:16 Now, there's one way to be sure this place will never burn down from a fire. That's not have any heater in here. But I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy that. And there's one way some people are dead sure that they are never going to go off into any excesses in the area of the Holy Spirit.

7:31 They just utterly rule Him out, outside of some abstract doctrine, and they know nothing of the living presence of the Spirit. No, we must remember His ministry is absolutely necessary for regeneration from the beginning, all through the process of sanctification, on into glorification. His work is necessary in the individual, in the church, and in the ministry of the church to the world. Then thirdly, we must constantly remember the unity of the work of the Spirit with the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

8:04 Then thirdly, we must constantly remember the unity of the work of the Spirit, with the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then thirdly, we must constantly remember the unity of the work of the Spirit, with the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The work of the Spirit is one facet of the work of the Triune God. Father, Son, and Spirit are one in essence, one in purpose.

8:18 And though certain things in salvation may be peculiarly attributed to the Father, Son to the Son, and Son to the Spirit, there is never diversity of purpose. You don't have the Son dying apart from the purpose of the Father. You don't have the Son dying apart from the purpose of the Father. So he says, I lay down my life for the sheep.

8:40 I give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given me. All that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I'll never cast out. Why? Well, that would be to frustrate the purpose of the Father.

8:53 He gave them to me that I might save them. So when they come to me, of course I'll receive them. That's the Father's purpose. And once I receive them, I'll keep them.

9:02 John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40. John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40. John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40. John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40.

9:04 John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40. John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40. John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40. John chapter 6, verses 39 and 40.

9:06 This is the will of Him that sent me, that of all that He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. Why is our salvation secure in Christ? Because that's the Father's purpose. And Christ was conscious of it.

9:20 So was the work of the Spirit. You don't have the Father purposing something and the Son dying for something, and the Spirit working unrelated to the purchase of the Son and the purpose of the Father. It is a Trinitarian perspective. It is a Trinitarian perspective in the totality of the Spirit's work.

9:38 So whatever Christ died to accomplish and the Father elected and purposed to accomplish, the Spirit is working. And we saw in our study that the focus of the Father's purpose and the focus of the Son's purchase is the sanctification of the people of God. Therefore, the primary focus of the Spirit's work in applying salvation is applying it unto holiness, not unto happiness, but unto holiness. And then last week we looked at the fourth principle, and this concludes our review.

10:13 We must always remember that the primary focus of the work of the Spirit is that of glorifying Christ. He shall take the things of mine and shall reveal them unto you. He shall glorify me, John 16. And He does this by revealing the truth about Christ, His person and work.

10:33 He does this by drawing the truth about Christ, His person and work. He does this by drawing the truth about Christ, His person and work. He does this by drawing our hearts to Christ in submission, in faith, in obedience. And he does this by producing likeness to Christ.

Illustrating the Principle: Glorifying Christ vs. Emotionalism

10:43 And so we then can evaluate supposed works of the Spirit by asking the question, what place does this supposed work of the Spirit give to Christ? Not just in word, they say Jesus, Jesus, Jesus all the time, but is the truth about him openly displayed, the uniqueness of his person, the perfection of his work? Is there an intelligent grasp upon who he is? And this principle was brought home to me with such forcefulness this weekend.

11:12 I had to preach at a ladies' retreat at a conference ground where there was another retreat going on simultaneously. And there was a meeting going on Friday evening. It was supposed to be a meeting in which the Holy Ghost was present in real power. Everybody supposed he was getting blessed.

11:30 And I listened for a while, and then I went away, and then I came back again. And my heart...

11:34 My heart was broken. I don't think I've gotten over it yet. I'm still...

11:39 I feel kind of sick right down inside here, along with some other matters that occurred on that retreat. But this was one of them. Here were people, and I watched them for a long period of time. At the end of a meeting, supposedly getting blessed in the Spirit, the organist was there playing over and over again a hypnotic cross between some kind of a boogie beat and a rock beat.

12:02 Just a couple of... Over and over and over again.

12:07 And the people are standing there at the front singing, Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost.

12:13 And after a while, the heads began to shake. And people began to give themselves over to some power.

12:22 And when it was all done, and everybody was blessed, the leader stood up, raised his hand, they all ran out and went to the snack shop to get a hamburger.

12:32 This is the Holy Ghost?

12:35 What truth about... What, my lovely Lord, was being opened up from the Scriptures?

12:43 What truth about the perfection of His work was being preached with power and clarity and being understood by the illumination of the Holy Ghost?

12:57 Nothing. What did the Holy Ghost have to do with all that? May I say I have no reservation in saying nothing.

13:07 They were just having the same kind of emotional binge that they could have had at a discotheque. Back somewhere down in the Lower East Side.

13:19 And yet I'm supposed to believe that the Holy Ghost is in that?

13:25 No. The Spirit I know from Scripture has come, Jesus said, to take the things of mine and reveal them unto you. Now if somebody, when the Scripture had been opened and Christ had been displayed, got such a sight of Christ that they were carried out and lifted up their hands and said, Hallelujah! I'd be right there saying, Hallelujah.

13:50 I'm not downgrading emotional expression that may come on the wake of a beautiful sight of Christ. God have mercy on some of us that we're so high-bound that we can't give vent to some of the natural emotional release that should follow. But I knew enough of that meeting to know that the dominant thing had been singing of trite little gospel ditties. And someone who got up there and crooned for a while that they brought up a gospel ditties that they brought all the way up from Mexico.

14:23 And I knew enough of what went on in that meeting to know that the truth of my Lord had not been expounded. The glory of His person and the perfection of His work had not been extolled. And therefore I am right to assume that whatever manifestations were going on, they weren't the Holy Ghost of Scripture because He has come to take the things of Christ and reveal them. Does that sound harsh?

14:51 Does that sound judgmental? Does that sound judgmental? Well, my friend, you've got to be judgmental in the sense that you must prove all things and hold fast that which is good. And if you're only going to hold fast that which is good, that means you've got to let some other things go.

The Inseparable Relationship Between the Spirit and Scripture

15:06 That's discernment. And God help us if we don't cultivate it. All right, so much for review. Now we come tonight to the fifth foundational principle concerning the work of the Spirit, and it's what I'm calling the inseparable relationship between the work of the Spirit and the Holy Scriptures.

15:27 The inseparable relationship between the work of the Spirit and the Holy Scriptures. Now will you turn, please, to John chapter 14.

15:40 I'm going to try to follow my own principle of interpretation, take my doctrine from the teaching portions, then take some illustrations from the book of Acts. I want to try to demonstrate the very principle that I've enunciated. In the 14th chapter of John, this reading, this rich section on the coming of the Comforter, notice our Lord's words in verses 16 and 17. Perhaps we should back up to catch the thread of thought in verse 14.

16:10 If ye ask anything in my name, that will I do. If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter that he may be with you forever, and you notice the word even is in italics. That means it's not in the original.

16:32 The word even's not there. So we could read it this way. I will pray the Father, he shall give you another Comforter that he may be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him. Ye know him, for he abideth with you and shall be in you.

16:53 Notice how there is set together this title, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth. Turn to chapter 15 and verse 26, and we will notice a similar identification of the Comforter, the Spirit of truth.

17:14 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me. And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning. Same occurrence, almost exact parallel. I will send to you from the Father the Comforter, the Spirit of truth.

17:43 John 16, verse 13.

17:46 Back up to verse 12. I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now, how be it, when the Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you, and to all the truth he shall not speak from himself, but what things whoever he shall hear, this shall he speak. Three times in this teaching portion on the work of the Spirit, our Lord identifies the Comforter as the Spirit of truth. That would be like if I were to say to my kids, now kids, when Mr. Jones comes to the house, the man with a big smile and a red checkered jacket he will give you some candy. Now if I talk to them that way, the kids know that whoever Mr. Jones is, he will always be identified with a big smile and a red checkered jacket. So when they see red checkered jacket, big smile, they say that's Mr. Jones.

18:45 If someone says, hey, Mr. Jones is coming, they have a right to expect a man to appear with a big smile and with a red checkered jacket. Mr. Jones and red checkered jacket are identified.

18:57 Now, our Lord was leading the disciples, to expect that whoever this Comforter would be, whom He would send from the Father, this other Comforter, Christ was the Comforter then, He said, I will send another Comforter, that they could expect whoever came would be inseparably identified with the whole issue of truth. Comforter, Spirit of truth. They must never think of these two things separated. Now, the strange thing, is in the midst of these very chapters, our Lord mentions many other things that the Holy Spirit will be to them.

19:37 And the rest of scripture indicates that He's the Spirit of love. He's the Spirit of power. He's the Spirit of grace. He's the Spirit of light.

19:47 He's the Spirit of life. Why does He pick out this one phrase and say, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth. Now, follow me closely. For the simple reason that everything that He does, as the Spirit of love, imparting love, the Spirit of power, working out the Father's purposes, the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of light, the Spirit of life, everything He does as the Spirit of love, power, grace, light, and life, He will do in connection with and supportive of the truth.

20:27 So that He'll never be the Spirit of love if He must be, He'll never be the Spirit of love divorced from, He'll never be the Spirit of power if He must be the Spirit of power divorced from truth. The Spirit of light and life and all these things that He is, He is preeminently the Spirit of truth. Well then, if that's so, the next question that emerges is, where is truth to be found? If He's the Spirit of truth, what is that truth of which He is the Spirit?

21:03 Well, our Lord answers that question, in these very chapters. In the 14th chapter in verse 6, He said this, I am the way, the what? The truth and the life. You see now how closely identified is the Spirit's work with opening up the truth about Christ?

21:26 For Christ said, I am the embodiment of truth. If all that He does then is the Spirit of light and life and power and grace, excuse me, He does as the Spirit of truth, He will do it in terms of taking the things of Myself and revealing them unto you. So Christ, in that sense, is the embodiment and the substance of truth, but now where is the tangible embodiment of that truth? And our Lord answers that in the 17th chapter of John, in His high priestly prayer, in verse 17.

22:06 Sanctify them in the truth. Sanctify them in the truth. Sanctify them in the truth. Sanctify them in the truth.

22:10 Truth, that is, Father, carry on your work of sanctification in the context, in the climate, in the orbit of truth. And then he tells us what that truth is. Thy word is truth. Well, wait a minute.

22:28 Christ said, I am the truth. Now he says, thy word is truth. Is there contradiction? No.

22:33 Just beautiful synthesis. Christ is the sum and substance of truth. But the embodiment of all the truth that he is, is found in the inscripturated revelation. Thy word is truth.

22:53 So these people that say, well, we don't worship a Bible. We worship Christ. We don't make the Bible supreme. We make Christ supreme.

23:02 That's a lot of religious gobbledygook.

23:06 Anything and anybody can claim to be the truth about Christ. And say, this is what I think about. How do we know? God doesn't leave us at the mercy of every subjective whim and every persuasive personality.

23:21 He has said anything that's supposed to be truth about me. Check it by this book, for thy word is truth. And all the truth that I'm to know about Christ for life and sanctification here and now, the Holy Ghost will open up to me from this book, which is truth. So then we begin to see the pattern emerging, I trust, of the inseparable relationship between the work of the Spirit and the Holy Scriptures.

The Spirit as Inspirer of Old and New Testaments

23:51 It is as the Spirit of Truth that He inspired the Old Testament Scriptures. We're going to look at a couple of verses. Then we're going to see it's as the Spirit of Truth that He would inspire the New Testament Scriptures.

24:05 As the Spirit of Truth, He inspired the Old Testament Scriptures. And when I say inspire, I don't mean He simply elevated the thought patterns of the writer. He actually guided them in the very choice of the words they made. So Peter says, 2 Peter 1.21, No prophecy is of private interpretation, for the prophecy came, 2 Peter 1 and verse 21,

24:39 No prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men spake from God, or men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit. And the word moved is a weak translation. It literally means they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

25:01 It is the Holy Spirit who carried them along and so governed and directed their thoughts and the choice of their words and their imageries, perfectly consistent with their own distinct personalities, so that Jeremiah writes like Jeremiah, Hosea writes like Hosea, Amos writes like Amos, takes his illustrations from the field, Isaiah takes his illustrations from his sphere of background and culture, but in all of this, they are carried along by the Holy Spirit. So that the Apostle Paul, in speaking of the Old Testament Scriptures, can say in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, literally translated, is God-breed. To the breath of God, is what gave us the Scriptures. Now, it's interesting again, isn't it, that the Holy Spirit is the pneuma, the breath of God. As the breath of God, He gave us the Old Testament Scriptures.

26:07 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is therefore profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, etc. Now, as the Spirit of Truth, He imparted the Old Testament Scriptures, and as the Spirit of Truth, Jesus said He would inspire and inscripturate the New Testament. Where did He say that? Well, we go back to the teaching portions.

26:34 Look at them. In the 14th chapter of John, in verse 26, He's telling them what the Spirit of Truth will do as the Spirit of Truth. Now, this may seem like a little heavy going here, but you stick with me, because we're coming,

26:55 to the place where I feel we've set the stage for some very helpful and, I trust, practical applications. 1426. Perhaps we ought to back up to verse 25. These things have I spoken unto you while abiding with you, but the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom He had previously identified, you'll remember in verses 16 and 17, as the Spirit of Truth, this Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things.

27:25 All things. Now, this is one of the promises that is exclusively applied to those immediate followers of our Lord. And you won't understand John 14, 15, and 16 unless you realize that distinction. Some things He says to the disciples as mere Christians, and therefore they apply to all of us in every age.

27:47 Some things He says to them not as mere Christians, but as distinct office-bearers, apostles. And in that sense, the promises are exclusively fulfilled in them. Now, a failure to make that distinction has wrought absolute confusion in the minds of multitudes. But the distinction is a valid one.

28:08 There's not a one of us here who can claim that we are being led into the totality of truth. And yet our Lord says to these, they would be led into all truth. He shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you. You never heard Christ talk to you, so this promise can't be for you.

28:29 Not a one of you here ever heard Christ talk to you. These people did. They were with Him for three and a half years. And He says the ministry of the Spirit to you will bring to remembrance what I have said to you.

28:43 To what end? That putting it down for posterity there might be a complete body of truth so that all things necessary for life and godliness would be the portion of the church from the apostolic period down to the end of the age. Now notice a similar prophecy in chapter 15 and verse 26. In this same section where He's treating the work of the Spirit, notice, but the Comforter whom when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of truth who proceeded from me proceeded from the Father He shall bear witness of me and He also bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Were you with Christ from the beginning of His ministry? Come on now, were you? Then don't you claim this promise.

29:47 This has distinct reference to those who were with Christ from the beginning. And one of the conditions of being an apostle was what? That he had first hand dealings with Christ. Paul being the exception, God had to give him direct revelation so that he met the requirements of an apostle.

30:06 And our Lord says to you who have been with me from the beginning there will be this special ministry of the Holy Spirit concurring with your witness of who I am and what I've done. And then in chapter 16 and verse 13 we notice a similar note that even brings in the book of the Revelation and other prophetic portions of the New Testament. How be it when he the spirit of truth is come he shall guide you into here it is again all the truth the total body of inscripturated revelation. Thy word is truth he will lead you into all the truth for he shall not speak from himself but what things soever he shall hear that shall he speak now notice and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. Here was prophecy not only that the spirit would guide them in remembrance of what Christ said and did in the past but there would also be an unfolding of future events which they would be able to predict with absolute and unerring authority and accuracy. So you have in these texts of scripture explicit statements by our Lord that to his immediate following immediate followers would be given this ministry of the spirit to give to the church a deposit of truth that would be called

31:35 all the truth. Now they were conscious of this that's why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 13 as that apostle born out of due time he could say the things we speak we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth but in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual with spiritual. He was conscious that the very words he used to express divine truth were under the direction and in that sense I'm not reluctant to use the word dictation of the Holy Spirit I know some people don't like it you know that makes man a robot well it doesn't I have someone who does my dictation I dictate and they type my letters they're not robots. Their personality comes out in how they bang the typewriter so I think the real people don't like the word it says too much that's why they don't like it because it speaks of the fact that there's no slip between what God's mind wants put down and what is put down on paper or in those days on parchment. So the spirit of truth then is the one who inspired the Old Testament scriptures he's the one who would inspire and has inspired the New Testament scriptures. So that in the time of the apostles they were already conscious that what they wrote under inspiration what was written under that

33:03 peculiar authority and inspiration was equal to the Old Testament scriptures. That's why Peter could say of the writings of Paul certain people he said take the things that are hard to understand in Paul's writings and I'm quoting now from 2 Peter 3.16 and he said they rest them as they do also the other scriptures and already then the writings of the apostle Paul were being put on a level with the Old Testament scriptures there was this consciousness that the spirit who indwelt the church was building that church upon the foundation Ephesians 2.20 of the apostles as well as the prophets Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone.

Two Once-for-All Works of the Spirit and Their Tests

33:45 Now as I warn you out I hope it hasn't because what I hope it is done is set the biblical the exegetical the verse chapter and verse framework or this very principle that the work of the spirit is always inseparable with the words of scripture. Now think for a moment what were the two great historical works of the spirit with reference to our salvation once for all works never to be repeated. May I suggest they are these the incarnation of the son of God and the inspiration of the word of God. Those are two works that he did once for all never to be repeated. Now in the incarnation it was the Holy Spirit's work to conceive life in the womb of the virgin. You remember in Luke chapter one when the angel said to her you're going to be a mama and you're going to be mama of him whom every true Israelite woman has thought and yearned that she might be mother of Messiah. And she said Lord how can this be seeing I've had no sexual relations with a man I know not a man.

34:59 What was the answer of God? The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the most high shall overshadow thee therefore that holy thing which is begotten of thee shall be called what? The son of God. That great historical never to be repeated work of the spirit was that mysterious operation of conceiving life in the womb of the virgin the very life of the son of God.

35:31 A mystery. And when you start trying to penetrate how and by you just have to stand back and say Lord I can't fathom it but there it is. That was one of his once for all works. His second once for all work as we've seen was the inspiring of the words of scripture.

35:49 Holy men carried along by the Holy Spirit. The spirit of truth will come and lead you into all truth. He'll bring to remembrance what I've said to you. He'll show you things to come.

35:59 A once for all historical work accomplished over many years but now complete so that we have this body of divine revelation. Now isn't it interesting that the two tests by which we are to evaluate any professed work of the spirit according to the scriptures relates to those two once for all works of the spirit. You say what in the world are you talking about? Well turn to 1 John 4.

36:23 It says, and I hope to tell you and explain to you what I'm talking about. Already in John's day people were being carried about by various winds of doctrine and the best way to put a good face on a wicked system of doctrine is to say the spirit revealed to me. See? They had it in John's day.

36:49 So John says, alright, here be your attitude when anyone comes along saying the spirit's moving me to teach this. The spirit's moving me to do this. Listen, isn't this admonition? Beloved, 1 John 4, believe not every spirit but put to the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

37:19 Now notice, you see the false prophet hides behind his supposed impulses in the spirit. The Holy Spirit's told me this. The Holy Spirit's revealed this. John says, don't you believe every spirit but put them to the test.

37:33 And alright, what's the test here in 1 John 4? Notice it. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

37:49 And every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God. See what he says? He says anything the Holy Spirit does here right now in time in your circumstance will always be consistent with his once for all work of incarnation. The Holy Ghost who breathed life into the womb of the virgin will never breathe a word that negates the reality of what he did there.

38:21 You got it? Get his argument? So the continuing work of the spirit to the end of the age will be consistent with the historical work of the spirit at the beginning of the gospel age. And so if this spirit that says that it's from God out here does not gladly confess the truth of what the Holy Spirit did back there, John says write it off.

38:48 It's the spirit of antichrist. Now there was a group of missionaries in China who were forced to take this seriously. And I'm giving you now in a couple of minutes the digest of an incident referred to in a tape by Mr. Raymond Frame, missionary of OMF, formerly China Inland Mission, who was in China prior to the taking over of China by the communists.

39:15 And while he was there as a missionary laboring, I believe in his first term, seeing very little fruit, there were some Chinese brethren who claimed to have some deep, powerful manifestation and work of the spirit who were going through the area in which he was working. And they came into his area. And here they were, young, green missionaries, hungry and open, discouraged, very little fruit. And this man had a great power, this native Chinaman, over the people.

39:41 And his doctrine was something like this. God moved upon the face of the waters when all was dark. And out of darkness and chaos came light and order and life. Therefore, you must forget all your theology.

39:54 You must forget everything you know. Your mind must become darkness. And then as you healed yourself up to the power of God, the spirit will come. And bring life and light and order out of your chaos.

40:06 And this was having quite an effect. He said, when you came into that very meeting, you felt absolutely melted to tears. As you found yourself weeping for no foreseeable reason, you just felt tender. There seemed to be a pervasive spirit of love that was irresistible.

40:19 And he said, it was weakening. It just left you until you felt you opened anything. That particular night, one of his missionary friends came forward to be prayed for. And he gave up himself to this thing.

40:31 And the next thing you know, he was off speaking in another language. And Ray Frames said, at that point, I was so hungry for this. I said, oh God, I want anything you have for me. He said, I began to let go of everything I knew.

40:45 Even though he said there was a little caution light that said, he gives the spirit to those that obey him. That God's work is in terms of his truth. That I should be pleading a promise. He said, I began to give myself up to this power.

40:57 And he said, a strange thing happened. I began to get numb at my feet. And then it worked up to my legs, and to my waist. And he said, at that point, I said, wait a minute, something's wrong.

41:11 This is coming from the wrong direction. If this were of God, it'd be coming from the top down. And at that point, you know what he did? He said, oh God, I plead the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ.

41:24 And the moment he did, he said that feeling left his waist and went down and out of his feet. And he had all of his bearings. He said he knew in another few seconds he'd have been prostrated on the floor with the rest of them. And then he came back later and repudiated this.

41:38 He said, Ray, this was not of God. He said, you be careful. Remember what the Word says about attributing to the devil the work of the Spirit. He said, Ray, I know it was not of God because he said I had no peace, no rest.

41:52 From that night on, unless I was in one of those meetings, getting what we would call today a high on that atmosphere. He said, I lost my appetite for the Word. I lost my appreciation of the Lord's normal ministries. And I had to be pumped up and as they began to see that something was fishy, they felt the showdown had come.

42:11 And they'd never faced anything like this and God brought this passage to their awareness. Believe not every spirit, try the Spirit. So they went to one of the meetings prepared to try the Spirit. And when this man got into what he called the Spirit, they addressed him.

42:26 And they said to him in the Chinese, Spirit speaking in Mr. So-and-so, do you confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? The man immediately came out of his semi sort of trance and said, well you know me well enough Mr. Frame, you know that I believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

42:45 He said, I'm not asking you Mr. So-and-so, I'm addressing the Spirit that speaks in you and through you. So the next time he was caught up in that ecstasy, he addressed the Spirit that was speaking in him. Do you confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?

43:01 And after repeated efforts, finally he said there was nothing but a hideous laugh, a satanic hideous laugh. And this Spirit would not confess that Jesus Christ was come in the flesh. Now brethren, that's an unusual instance. Many of us will never be called upon to repeat it, but it does underscore this principle.

43:20 They had every right to say whatever was happening could not be of the Spirit because His work in China in 1947 would never contradict His work in a virgin's womb back there at the first beginnings of the Christian era. That's the first test. Does this Spirit make confession to the historical work of incarnation, the uniqueness of the person of Christ? But secondly, does this Spirit make confession to the absolute authority of the inscripturation of the Word of God?

44:03 That's why the second great test is this very one that I'm mentioning. Notice how it's given in Scripture, Galatians 1, verses 8 and 9. Galatians 1, 8 and 9. But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any other gospel than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema.

44:39 As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which we received, let him be anathema. You see what he's saying? When I have spoken with apostolic authority under the direction of the Spirit who has revealed the gospel to me, no further revelation will ever cancel that once-for-all revelation of the essence of the gospel. He doesn't come as the Spirit of truth in the first century and reveal truth that gets embodied in the Scriptures only to come in the twentieth century to set that truth aside.

45:22 No, no. He will be present to the end of the age, opening up the Scriptures, giving us more and more insight, making us feel the longer we live, how little we know. Thank God there are whole vistas of truth yet to break open from this book. Granted, I'm not saying that the Holy Ghost's ministry of illumination is tied into the creeds of the Reformation.

45:48 I believe there is much more truth God has to break out of His Word. My friends, the work of the Spirit in illumination to the end of the age will never negate one phrase of the fruit of inspiration as found in the Holy Scriptures. Do you see the principle? May God help us to grasp it with both hands and dare, no matter how much a thing may seem to be of God, to be of God.

46:16 Looking back, Mr. Frame said he knows now what that spirit of love was. It was a false spirit of love that was the work of the devil to psychologically and emotionally defuse people so they were ready to give themselves over to this power. Oh, beloved, beware.

46:34 If you think the spirit of error is such that you can recognize at the first glance you're terribly naive. Someone has said the devil will float 1% error on a log of 99% truth just so long as he can get that infectious error into your spiritual bloodstream. All right, now we've laid out the principle. I've made you think hard and I think you've been with me.

Maxim 1: Adherence to Word and Doctrine

46:55 I hope you have. Now maybe you can sit back three degrees anyway and not quite think so hard as we work out some of the implications of this. And I want to do so in three or four concluding, I don't know what else to call them, but maxims. You know what a maxim is?

47:11 That's not coffee. It's sort of a little rule. And so I just want to lay them out. I knew of no other way.

47:22 I sweat over this and I said, Lord, how can I? So I finally just put at the top some spiritual maxims that grow out of this principle. Here's the first one. Where the spirit is most powerfully at work, there will be the most careful adherence to the word and to doctrine.

47:42 Now I'm going to illustrate that from the book of Acts. Remember I said we get our doctrine out of the teaching portions and now we're going to illustrate it from the book of Acts. Here you've lived through that marvelous, mysterious, powerful experience of Pentecost. And I think I'd have been wrung out emotionally for weeks after if I'd have lived through that.

48:02 Well, here's some people who did. In fact, they were swept into the kingdom on the crest of that mighty tide of divine visitation. And yet we read of that 3,000 who were brought into the midst of the kingdom of God. And yet we read of that 3,000 who were brought into the midst or brought into the Christian faith in the midst of the most strange phenomenon.

48:25 My, if you had any penchant for the exciting, you'd have had it fed then. Everybody talking in languages from all over heaven. You hear them in your own language and Peter stands up and preaches and people get so convicted they're screaming out in the middle of the sermon. What must we do?

48:44 You stand there and see 3,000 people baptized in one day. That was some exciting day, wasn't it? Whenever people would be predisposed to think, well, boy, Christianity is just living on this excitement. Boy, this is great.

48:59 This is wonderful. That would be the group. And yet, isn't it strange that the first thing the Holy Ghost who did all of this says about these people is this. Notice carefully.

49:10 They come into the church. Verse 41. They that received His word were baptized. There were added unto them in the same day about 3,000 souls.

49:19 Now, will you notice carefully? And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching. Well, isn't that unromantic? Well, isn't that unexciting?

49:38 When you've had foreign languages spoken all over the place. When you've seen 3,000 swept into the kingdom. And when you read in the next few verses the apostles are continuing to perform miracles. Verse 43.

49:55 Fear came upon every soul and wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Not all the believers. Through the apostles signs and wonders. All this going on.

50:05 You could excuse some people for thinking they'd get edified by running around watching miracles. But it doesn't say that. It says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Why?

50:19 I submit here's the reason. The Holy Ghost, the Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father the Spirit of Truth. So that he's telling these people you grow and you mature not primarily by watching miracles. Not by the thrill of seeing thousands swept into the kingdom.

50:45 You grow as you absorb the doctrine of the word of God. So I believe we are warranted to make this maxim when the Holy Spirit is most powerful in the world most powerfully at work there will be the most careful adherence to the word and to doctrine. That's maxim number one. Maxim number two.

Maxim 2: Painstaking Exegesis as Vehicle of Life and Power

51:12 Painstaking careful exegesis opening up of the scripture both in study and in preaching is not an enemy of life power and blessing in the church. And I'm amazed at how woolly the thinking of people is at this point. Painstaking and I use that word carefully painstaking careful exegesis opening up of the scriptures both in our own study and in preaching is not an enemy of life power and blessing in the church. No it's the very vehicle of life power and blessing. Brethren I'd love the luxury to preach in the mind of the Holy Ghost in that passage. And I dare not if I believe that the Spirit whom I ask the Lord to send upon me in preaching if I believe He's the Spirit of Truth who guided the writers in the very words they chose how dare I be careless with those words and then ask Him to bless my meanderings that are half His thoughts and half my own foolishness. Ridiculous.

52:33 No, no if we would honestly expect the Spirit of God to bless us in our study of the word in our communication of the word as Christians witnessing as students aspiring to or those engaged in teaching and preaching ministers oh beloved listen painstaking careful exegesis painstaking teacher preaching ministries that are not the enemy of life power and blessing they're the very channel of life power and blessing yet I find so many people say oh no that people only do study the Bible we like the Spirit and then other people when they see anything people get excited about the Bible they say oh they must be Pentecostals brethren there's much in here that if you've labored and sweat to get at the heart it ought to at least make you want to shout if you're so built in your genes and everything else and such that you just can't get your mouth open you at least ought to want to at least ought to feel boy it'd be nice if I could because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh isn't that what our Lord says and if the heart is bursting like a wineskin full of new wine then there cannot help

54:02 but be the longing to praise and to magnify God so the second maxim is painstaking careful study painstaking exegesis in preaching is not the enemy of life thirdly the intelligent communication of the written word is the primary means of edification in the church of Christ and I say the only means now I've chosen my words carefully intelligent communication of the written word is the primary means of edification in the church of Christ and if you want an extended commentary on this you just read 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is treating the subject of the exercise particularly of the gifts of tongues and of prophecy in the church and notice what he says in setting prophecy the intelligent communication in known language of divine truth as supreme over every other means of edification publicly now he says privately the man who speaketh in the tongue edifieth himself he doesn't condemn it and I just can't bring myself do as some do and say that's out I can't bring myself I'm unsettled in some of my final conclusions but this I know and this is the thing that's important for me as a pastor as I pray Lord build up this people Lord edify this people what should I be committed to as a course of edification well listen what Paul says

Maxim 3: Intelligent Communication of the Word as Primary Means of Edification

55:31 verse 2 verse 1 follow after love yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophesy this is the supreme gift for he that speaks for he that speaketh in the tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God for no man understandeth but in the spirit he speaketh mysteries but he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification exhortation and consolation that's why as Paul develops his argument and in recent days I've listened to this chapter over and over again in my car tape recorder just to try to absorb the overall emphasis Paul comes to that statement where he says though I speak with tongues and know more than a whole bunch of you in the church I had rather speak five words with the understanding why because he knew this was the primary means of edification not the exclusive not the only but the primary means of edification and so we see that if the spirit is the spirit who edifies and builds up the church he will do so inseparably join to the administration of the church and the church and the administration of his truth it's this that is the primary means of edification as opposed to say even the matter of miracles I know there's this great penchant for miracles and I'd love to see some miracles man I see just from the standpoint of human compassion I see somebody all twisted up

57:00 like this man I'd love to see him be able to use all of it I've had two crippled wrists and hands for a matter of weeks and I've been terrible about it but it's reminding what it must be like to live every day every time I try to do work and screw off something and pound a hammer I'm terrible patient with it and everybody that's got I'd love to be able to wouldn't you sure you would of course you want to see miracles I'd love to see miracles but when when we begin to think well you know that's the thing that'll edify that's the thing that'll build that's the thing that will as it were give the Holy Spirit a channel through which to really confront our generation that's a contradiction of scripture beloved and don't believe that reasoning listen to a man who had that philosophy and he got it in a strange place he was in hell Luke chapter 16 Luke chapter 16 verse 27 and he said I pray thee therefore father father Abraham thou would send him to my father's house for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them lest they come to this place of torment but Abraham saith they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them they've got the word they've got what the Holy Ghost said in scripture Abraham says to this man he says ah but that's not enough

58:30 that's not enough and he said nay father Abraham but if one go to them from the dead if we have a miracle then they'll repent he had that philosophy I think it's interesting where it comes from now I'm not being facetious dear ones there's an unregenerate man in hell who has this philosophy not a miracle will do it yet he got the scripture but that's just the word you know it's just the bible somebody rising from the dead phew boy that'll get him listen to Abraham's answer he said unto them if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead now beloved what clearer statement can you want than that granted God has used miracles in the old and the new testament to confirm and to validate the authenticity of something specific messengers prophets and apostles and unique periods in the history of his church and from that standpoint I never want to say that the age of miracles in that sense is over that God may not in unusual circumstances break forth and set aside his normal way of doing things I would never want to be guilty

59:58 of saying I believe in a sovereign God and this I will stand upon that whatever significance miracles may have and whatever place they may have they are not the main means of edification it's the word they are not the main means of evangelism it's Moses and the prophets Paul and John and Peter if men will not hear Paul and John and Peter they will not be moved though one rise it is because you have a bone to pick somewhere this is the clear teaching of scripture what do you do when people have hearts that are downcast and discouraged you say well why don't we just have a service where something happened well let's see how the Lord dealt with people in that state turn to Luke 24 we are seeing the principle illustrated now in the narrative here are some beside walk. They were really bad. Let's look at them. Luke 24, verse 14. They communed with each

61:27 other, two going on the road to Emmaus. Of all the things that happened, it came to pass while they communed in question, Jesus drew near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that they should not know him. And he said unto them, what communications are these that ye have with one another as ye walk? And they stood still looking sad. He said, whatever we tell this man, we want to let him know we sure ain't happy about it. Before they even answered him, it says they stood there looking sad. He didn't say they answered him. They just stood there looking sad. That's all they did. You've met people like that. They're just standing around looking sad. And it's obvious.

62:06 One look at him, you say they're in bad shape. Well, they're in bad shape, looking sad. And they said, what's the matter? Haven't you heard what's happened? And he says, what things? And they begin to say, it was Jesus. We had hoped, and all our hopes are dashed, and everything we've lived for and hoped for is gone down the drain. Some people have come with this wild tale, verse 22, that his tomb was empty. But you know, that's just a wild tale. Can't believe that. He's gone. We saw him. He's gone. He's done. He's finished. And our Lord rebukes them, verse 25, O foolish men and slow of heart, to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Behoove, did not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Then you remember the sequel. He made as if he would pass on. And they said, stay with us. And while

63:05 they're eating, he opens their eyes. They see who he is. And then he's gone from their sight. And looking back, they reflect upon how they came from a state of dejection to this state, of joy and exaltation. And notice what they said. And I read now from verse 32. And they said one to another, was not our heart burning within us while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? How did they come from a burdened, sad heart to the state of a burning heart? How did they come from a burdened, sad heart to the state of a burning heart? And they said, the opening up. That's it. Our Lord is saying, in essence, this is how you do it. This is how I

63:59 did it. But I'm going. But I'm sending the Spirit, the Spirit of truth. And he'll lead my specially commissioned ones into all the truth. And now he's present in his ministers, his teachers, his servants who open up the truth, who declare the truth to do what? To come and draw near in the preaching of the Word and turn sad hearts into glad hearts. Confused, discouraged hearts into burning hearts that once again receive perspective that enables them to go on their way rejoicing. So then, the third maxim, I believe, is amply demonstrated in scripture. And I've only taken a couple instances that it's the intelligent communication of the Word that is the primary means of the edification of the people of God. And then the fourth maxim in the Bible. You see, the first is the right to do it. And the fourth is the right to go through the spiritual life. The first is the right to do it. And when it comes to this I'm done, all of the

Maxim 4: Unity in the Context of Truth

65:05 Spirit's unifying work is carried on in the context of truth. A lot of talk in our day about unity. The great text of the ecumenical movement, not only in liberal circles, but evangelicals have imbibed the same thing. the issue of truth is central and it's pushed more and more to the background because they say doctrine is divided people saying this is truth and that's truth is what has brought the division and the schisms may i remind you that the most eloquent chapters on unity ephesians 4 and john 17 envision only one kind of unity unity in the context of truth and i'll only read the passage so that you'll know where it is to meditate upon it in the future in ephesians chapter 4 paul says i beseech you to walk worthy of the calling wherewith you were called with lowliness meekness forbearing one another in love giving diligence to keep the unity of the notice spirit in the bond of truth he says keep the unity of the spirit there is to be spiritual unity wrought and maintained and sustained by the spirit but now in what context notice there is one body one spirit called in one hope of your calling one lord one

66:24 faith one faith one body of truth one baptism one god and father of all who is over all through all and in all and then he goes on to speak of the great diversities of gifts that are given to the end that the body of christ may be built up and he returns to the note of truth when he says then in verse number fifty but speaking book you know law may grow up into him in all things and the same elements of true for following the seventy chapter or or praise for unity amongst the people of whom he says they have received my words and have known that i came forth from the he says that they maybe what so i submit this fourth maxim that because of this is a trip through theling relationship between the Spirit's work and the Scriptures, all of His unifying work must be carried out in the context of truth. Now, are we indifferent to the things that divide us from other genuine believers? No. We pray, O God, give us light, open our eyes, give us sight, bring us to oneness of mind. But we're willing to wait till the Holy Ghost gives us one view of

67:42 truth before we sacrifice truth for unity. No one's a friend of God's truth who begins to throw down the barriers that separate truth from error in the sake of getting in the same field with someone who claims to be a Christian. Far better to say, well, he may be, and if so, God bless him out there, but until he comes around to see this thing that I believe is divine truth, there's going to be a measure of a wall. I'm not writing him off and condemning him.

Exhortation to Try the Spirits and Be Immunized Against Error

68:14 He holds enough truth that I have reason in the judgment of charity to believe he may be of the Lord. I'm still not going out and linking arms and throwing down my fence at the expense of relinquishing things that God has made real to me from His Word as being divine truth. So I close, conclude, that was a funny kind of contraction, between conclude and close this brief series of instruction with this, exhortation to you as God's people, try the spirits. And remember, whenever there seems to be a manifestation of the Spirit in your life, in someone else's, in some church, in some movement, does it give due place to the personality and divinity of the Spirit? Is there the recognition of the absolute necessity of His work? Is there the acknowledgement of the unity of His work with that of the Father and of the Son? Is there the evidence of the unity of the Father and of the Son, of the centrality of His work in glorifying Christ? And is there a pervasive climate of the

69:29 deep attachment of the Scriptures to the work of the Spirit? Those are very simple things. I hope you can remember them, and I hope by God's grace they will help you to be what Paul says in Ephesians 4, and that's where we started tonight. No longer children tossed to and fro by every wind of dock, by the waves of air. And if down the road, somewhere along the line, somebody's tempted to give himself up to something that looks so good, but when he puts it to the test, it doesn't meet the test, you're kept from error, then you tell me in that day when we stand in His presence, and I will have counted this time more than well spent. If a few of you can be immunized against the wiles of error and be guided into the path of truth. I'm sure I haven't answered all the questions, but I've answered many of the questions. I've answered many of the questions, but I've answered many of the questions, but I've answered many of the questions, but I've answered many of the

70:21 questions that you're just itching for me to answer. But that wasn't my intention. And perhaps it's even better, because if I began to address myself to some of the specific things that you are perhaps deeply concerned about, it would move your mind from these broad principles. And most of our trouble comes with being off-center on the broad principles. We get in trouble out here in the application to a detail because we don't have our broad principles. So you allow me the luxury, please, of begging off from answering questions.

70:53 that you may have about a thousand and one things. And let me exhort you to think over and consider and examine these principles. And if they're true, pray them in, and then begin to use them in your own life as a child of God. Let us look to God in prayer.