No Crisis Experience Commanded #3

Review of Principles for Christian Living and Introduction to the Fourth Principle

0:03 This adult Sunday school class was held on September 26, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, in our adult class, we are presently engaged in a study that has been ranged under the very broad heading of major principles or some major principles of living the Christian life. And those of you who come weekly must bear with me as I give a brief introductory review each week, because as I look out, I see faces of people who are here for the first time. And I know how terribly frustrated I feel when I'm a visitor somewhere, and the teacher goes on like I've been there all the while, and it's not until about seven-eighths of the way through the class that I catch on to what's happening, and I feel I've missed so much. And in the light of Matthew 7, 12, which says, As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. I can never forego the review, though I know it may be a little tedious for some of you.

1:26 Love is willing to bear tedium for the sake of its objects. So, please bear with us, those of you who are here continually. Now, we are concerned in this series of studies, not with the question, how does one enter upon the path of the Christian life? That's a separate question.

1:46 We are concerned with the question to which the Bible addresses itself in very clear and explicit language. We are not concerned with the question, how does one enter upon the path of life? How does one enter into the Christian life? That brings us into the whole category of the biblical doctrines of repentance and faith, some of which we'll be opening up more explicitly in the morning worship service.

2:13 But rather, we are concerned with the question of, Those principles which should regulate our walk, our life, as those who have entered upon the Christian life. And we have been seeking to articulate these principles in a negative form, because often this is a very helpful teaching device to say what is not true, and it helps to highlight what is true. And thus far, we've stated and fleshed out from the scriptures three of these major principles. Number one, that there is no one master key to living the Christian life.

2:53 The Bible does not set forth one great or one simple principle by which we are to live this life, but rather the whole of the Bible is given that we might understand how to live the Christian life. And then secondly, we have discovered from the scriptures the validity of this principle, that there is no escape from tension and conflict. In living the Christian life, all along this pathway, until we enter the presence of God at death, or those who are alive at the return of the Lord enter his presence at his return, there will be tension and conflict. And then we have considered the third principle, that there is no area of passivity in living the Christian life. All that we are, as redeemed men and women, is to be active in the living out of the Christian life. And though God is at work in us, willing to work for his good pleasure, though it is God who keeps and preserves and sanctifies us, we are active in the totality of our redeemed humanity in that process. And now we are examining a fourth principle, and we've stated it this way, that there is no crisis experience promised or commanded as an essential element of living the Christian life.

4:16 And what we have done is explained what we mean by the words of that principle, and simply stated it as this. Nowhere does the Bible say that as we attempt to live the Christian life, we can only live it on a relatively low plane until we have some kind of a crisis experience in our Christian experience, which will then bring us to this qualitatively different higher plane, and then we can begin truly to live the Christian life as we ought. I'm asserting that the Bible does not teach that any such crisis experience is promised or commanded as an essential element of living the Christian life. We are not denying that the Bible teaches that many Christians have had unusual crisis experiences. Nor are we denying that Christians since the closing of the Scriptures in the Church, the history of the Church, and in Christian biography, we are not denying that Christians have had wonderful, life-transforming crisis experiences. What we are asserting is that when we turn to the Bible and ask the question, what is essential for me to live the Christian life, what is promised to me in Jesus Christ for the living of the Christian life, I'm asserting that there is no crisis experience which is taught,

Common Denominator of Crisis Teaching: Inadequate Regeneration

5:43 either commanded or promised, in the Word of God as an essential element of living the Christian life. Then we looked at five or six major manifestations of the contrary teaching in the past and in the present, such things as the charismatic teaching, as perfectionist teaching, much higher life teaching, and then what we did last week is we began to analyze some of the common denominators. I should say two weeks ago, we laid out, or last week, I'm sorry, the common denominators of all of these forms of teaching that assert a crisis is indeed necessary if we are to live the Christian life as we ought to live it. And to the four that I have prepared, you added another four or five, some that you mentioned I had already included, some that you mentioned could be arranged under those, and what we were doing when our class closed last week, is we were examining the first common denominator of all of this teaching, and I want us to pick up our studies there this morning. And the first common denominator is this, that regeneration and conversion, that which happens on the threshold by which we enter the Christian life, regeneration, that's what God does when He transforms us by the internal, powerful work of the Spirit,

7:11 conversion is our response to the regenerative work of God. Repentance and faith are what constitutes conversion. Repentance and faith are the manifestation of God's regenerating work. So I put them together, regeneration and conversion leaves one inadequately furnished for living a biblically normal Christian life.

7:38 Now that's the common denominator of all crisis teaching. Whatever God did when He regenerated you, whatever happened in you when you repented and believed the gospel, whatever happened to you, another set of terms you'll hear around here is when we enter out of the state of nature and into the state of grace, or the transformation from wrath to grace, whatever happened, you'll need something additional to that if you are to be adequate for living the Christian life. That is one of the common denominators of all this kind of teaching. And we are now examining in the light of the word of God whether indeed that is the perspective of Holy Scripture. And what you did last week is to give me a number of passages which indicated that this is not the perspective of Scripture, but what I want to do this morning is to go back to the book of Ephesians, and with the book in front of us, because I felt we asserted too much without really seeing it with our own eyes, we want to see in the Scriptures that this is indeed not the perspective of the word of God. The exact opposite is true. The Bible does not teach that what happens in regeneration and conversion

9:03 leaves us inadequately furnished to live the Christian life. Rather, the teaching of the Bible is, that that which God does when he brings us into the Christian life is adequate for living that life. Turn please to Ephesians chapter 1. And here in Ephesians chapter 1, those of you who were with us a number of years ago when I preached through this chapter, I hope you'll remember what verses 3 through 14 are.

Ephesians 1: All Blessings Conferred at Conversion

9:36 They are a hymn of praise to the Triune God for salvation in Jesus Christ. Paul teaches theology in eulogy. For notice the first word is blessed. He is ascribing blessing and glory and honor to God so that theology finds expression in eulogy.

10:01 He is praising God. But now notice what he's praising God for. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us. And the us is Paul and all the saints of God at Ephesus.

10:19 For notice that's who he's addressing in verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God to the saints that are at Ephesus. And the saints are simply the people of God. Not some special class of the people of God, but all the people of God.

10:37 So now he begins to praise God the Father who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. So all believers have been blessed with all blessings in Christ. All believers blessed with all blessings in Christ. Now he then begins to enumerate those blessings.

11:07 Notice as he begins to spell them out. And the first blessing is the blessing of election in Christ unto holiness and predestination unto sonship. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him. The first great blessing is a blessing which is attributed particularly to God the Father.

11:37 The Father who chose us in Christ in Christ that we should be holy. Now, how many Christians who are true Christians living the Christian life are elect Christians? Ninety-eight percent? Ninety-nine?

11:54 Seventy-five? Forty-two percent? Or a hundred percent? One hundred percent.

12:00 No sinner is ever found a saint living in union with Christ who is not an elect sinner. He has been blessed with this blessing of election in Christ unto holiness. Furthermore, look at the passage, in love he has been foreordained or predestined unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. So there is not only election unto holiness but predestination unto sonship.

12:33 And as surely as everyone who is brought out of nature and into grace, into union with Christ, just as surely everyone who is in that position is an adopted child of God. Then he goes on to say that we are furthermore, verse seven, we in whom, that is in Christ, we have redemption through his blood. And that has reference to the beloved one which of course is the Lord Jesus. So we are accepted in the beloved one in whom we have redemption through his blood.

13:12 And here the focus shifts to the blessings that are ours in a distinctive way through the ministry and work of God the Son. And so we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of his will. So here we have this expression that all believers have not only been blessed with election unto holiness, predestination unto sonship, but with acceptance in the beloved which involves the forgiveness of their sins, redemption through the blood of Christ. Now how many Christians are redeemed through the blood of Christ? 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100 percent? All of them. All of them.

14:07 All who are in Christ have the blessing of this redemption in Christ. They have the forgiveness of sins. And now skipping over some of the strands of thought because it's not my purpose to give a detailed exposition, just give you an acquaintance with the general flow of it. You will find then in verse 13 that the emphasis now shifts to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in our salvation.

14:33 And notice there is no break or breaking up of these things. He is simply unpacking the blessings that belong to all who are in Christ. All of them are elect and predestinated. All of them are accepted in the beloved, redeemed by his blood.

14:53 And he goes right on to say of all Christians, verse 13, in whom you also, not some of you, not a few of you, not the majority of you, but in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the earnest, that is the down payment of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory. And there isn't the slightest suggestion that all believers have these peculiar blessings of the Father, election, predestination, these distinct blessings of the Son, accepted in the beloved, redemption through his blood, endowed with the unfolding of the wisdom of God in saving truth. And then only some have this blessing of the Spirit. He goes right on, without any breaking up of that overarching perspective, assuming that every single believer having heard the word of the truth and having believed was sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. There is that inseparable trilogy, hearing, believing, sealed.

16:18 Not some hearing and believing and then another group sealed, or all hearing and believing and only some sealed. He assumes that these great realities are true of all the believers at Ephesus. You see that? You see it in the passage.

Ephesians 1: Paul's Prayer for Deeper Understanding, Not New Experience

16:40 Now, that being true, he's going to pray for them. Verse 15, For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, Paul had labored at Ephesus some five years at least had passed since he was amongst them. He hears a report of their ongoing faith and the fruit of that faith, love toward all the saints. He said, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

17:12 And now what's he going to pray for them? Is he going to pray, now that you've had a good beginning, it's only a beginning, you are merely elect, predestinated, accepted in the beloved, redeemed by his blood, and having believed, now my concern is that you really get what you need to live as you ought to live. That's the focus of his prayer. Well, let's look at it.

17:40 He said, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, and this is what I pray, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened, now notice what he's praying, he's asking for an increased operation of the Holy Spirit in the area of enlightenment, spiritual enlightenment, he's asking that their spiritual eyes will be further opened, opened to what? To see that there is a marvelous experience awaiting them, if only they will claim it, then they will really begin to live. Is that what he's praying? No. Notice what he prays.

18:30 Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. Calling is something that happened back here. Calling takes in that work of God's regenerating grace and the subsequent turning from sin to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.9 God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son. He said, I'm praying that you'll understand what was given you at your calling, the hope that was deposited in you at your calling. I'm praying that God will give you eyes to see, not that there is something better and higher that you ought to pray for and claim, but that you'll understand what was already given when you were called. That hope being, of course, their ultimate destiny, to be glorified, conformed to the image of Christ.

19:35 He's saying, I'm praying that you'll come to an appreciation of the hope of your calling. Furthermore, he said, I'm also praying that you'll come to know what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. He said, I'm praying that you'll come to an appreciation of what you, the people of God, already are as God's inheritance, as Christ's inheritance. I'm praying that you'll come to appreciate what God has made you.

20:05 Not that you'll see he has something greater and higher and better that will begin to make you something worthwhile. I'm praying that you'll understand what you've already been made by the grace of God. And then he goes on further, his third strand of his prayer, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe. And then he goes into this lengthy description of the measure of that power, the very power that raised Christ from the dead.

20:34 He said, I'm praying that you'll come to an appreciation of the measure of that power already exercised towards you. Now you see, this prayer does two things. On the one hand, it keeps from any notion that having been converted, we can just simply sit back and have no aspirations and longings for higher and deeper perception of the glory of God's kingdom as grace and therefore a more vital, expanded, vigorous experience of that grace. There's no room here for smugness, no room for contentment with present levels of understanding and experience.

21:16 But on the other hand, this passage completely precludes any notion that the people of God are incomplete with mere conversion. And what they really need is some kind of a glorious crisis experience that will begin to make them really link up to their potential in Jesus Christ. For if such a crisis experience were commanded or promised as the key to living the life that the people of God ought to live, then surely that would be the burden of the apostle's prayer. But that's not the burden of his prayer.

Critique of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones's View on the Sealing of the Spirit

21:51 And I mentioned when we analyzed some of these various teachings that it has grieved me that in our own generation, a man so mightily used of God to bring many to an awareness of the greatness of God as an enthroned God, the greatness of God as the God of electing and predestinating mercy. I'm speaking now, of course, of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, that he would take the position that basically we are here until we have this experience that he describes in terms of the sealing of the spirit. And because I made that assertion, and I take no delight in doing this, but I have a responsibility as a shepherd to protect those who are my sheep. And one of the reasons I have not pushed some of the later works of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, though they contain much good, is that this emphasis comes through no matter where he's expounding. And I'll give you some specimens, not ad nauseam, I trust, but enough to validate what I'm saying.

22:58 In his book on Ephesians chapter 1, called God's Ultimate Purpose, he has a number of chapters on this doctrine of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. It begins in chapter 21 and goes all the way through to chapter 25. So there are those chapters dealing with the sealing of the spirit. And this is what he says.

23:25 The prevailing common teaching at the present time page 248 of God's Ultimate Purpose, especially in evangelical circles, is that the second alternative is the correct one. That is, the alternative of the translation. It is a teaching which says that the sealing with the spirit is something that happens immediately, inevitably, inexorably to all who believe. But I cannot accept this.

23:52 And to substantiate my opinion, I mention the teaching of the 17th century Puritan, Thomas Goodwin, and then he mentions others whom he asserts take this same position. Now he says, after dealing with some of the linguistic problems, what makes this so important is that it is assumed that the sealing with the spirit or the baptism with the spirit is something which every Christian must of necessity have experienced. It is maintained, therefore, that it is not something that happens in the realm of consciousness, or in the realm of experience. It happens to all believers unconsciously.

24:32 Therefore, they are not to seek it. And as a result of not seeking it, they do not experience it. And the result is that they live in a state of believism, saying to themselves they must have had it and therefore do have it. Thus, they continue to live without ever experiencing what was experienced by New Testament Christians and also by many other Christians in the subsequent history of the Christian Church.

25:00 So I assert, quoting Dr. Lloyd-Jones, that this sealing of the spirit is something subsequent to believing, something additional to believing, and I support my contention by reminding you of certain statements in the Scriptures. And then he takes all of the passages used in traditional Pentecostal polemic to demonstrate that the disciples were saved, they were regenerate before Pentecost, but then they had this definite experience after their regeneration and conversion that transformed their lives, and this is the experience of sealing. And he tries to base it on the Ephesians 1 passage.

25:40 Then when he comes into the subject of marriage in the home, we find him emphasizing this again in the book called Life in the Spirit, Expositions of Ephesians 5, when he comes to deal with Ephesians 5.18, Be filled with the Spirit, he goes on to assert this same thing. I had a marker in here, and my marker fell out. Yes, as we come to the actual term filled, we thus differentiate from the baptism or the sealing of the Holy Spirit. What is described in the second chapter of Acts is baptism with the Spirit. Now the baptism with the Spirit clearly includes being filled with the Spirit, but it's more than that. It seems to me this is the essential difference.

26:42 Now listen to this. You cannot be baptized with the Spirit without being filled with the Spirit. But you can be filled with the Spirit and full of the Spirit without experiencing the baptism with the Spirit. Now that's a verbatim quote, and I'm not taking it out of context.

27:00 Baptism is a distinct, concrete, special experience. Whereas this, that is being filled with the Spirit, I'm going to show, is meant to be a continuous state, a condition in which one always should be. And then he takes examples again from the book of Acts. And then when he comes to deal with the Christian warfare, we find the emphasis again in this passage.

27:25 He goes on to say, how may we quench the Spirit? Well, he says we can quench the Spirit when we put a limit on the operations of the Spirit. In the first chapter of this epistle, we read in verse 13, in whom you trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, in whom after you believed, or having believed, you were sealed with the Spirit of promise. Now he goes on to say, I'm convinced there are large numbers of Christian people who are quenching the Spirit unconsciously by denying these possibilities in their very understanding of the doctrine of the Spirit.

28:02 There is nothing, I'm convinced, that so quenches the Spirit as the teaching which identifies the baptism of the Holy Ghost with regeneration. But it is a very commonly held teaching today. Indeed, it's been the popular view for many years. It's said that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is non-experimental, that it happens to everyone at regeneration.

28:26 So we say, ah well, I'm already baptized with the Spirit. It happened when I was born again at my conversion. There's nothing for me to seek. I've got it all.

28:35 Got it all? Well, if you've got it all, I simply ask in the name of God, why are you as you are? If you've got it all, why are you so unlike the apostles? Why are you so unlike the New Testament Christians?

28:48 The teaching I've just mentioned is false. The apostles were regenerate before the day of Pentecost. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not identical with regeneration. It is something separate.

29:00 It matters not how long the interval between the two may be. There is a difference. There is an interval. They are not identical.

29:08 But if you say they are identical, you do not expect anything further. And if you do not believe it's possible for you to experience the Spirit of God bearing direct witness with your own spirit that you're a child of God, obviously you're quenching the Spirit. And then he goes on to urge that people come to New Testament norms by this experience of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Now it pains me to quote that.

29:35 I take no delight in that. But I feel I owe a rationale as to why I do not push the books. Young Christians, of which we have many in this congregation, could very easily, because of the tremendous benefit and help in so much of what Dr. Lloyd-Jones has written, be caught up in what at times appears like very convincing logic and often appeals to our very noble instincts as believers.

30:03 And it would grieve me if we pushed any literature which became the occasion of any of you falling into error. No, there is not a shred of evidence in the Ephesians 1 passage that there was any believer in Christ who was not endowed with every single one of the blessings which Paul enumerates in Ephesians chapter 1. And in the light of those blessings he prays for an incredible and increased understanding of the very things that God has graciously conferred upon them. Let me pause at that point and ask if there are questions in the general drift of our study thus far.

Ephesians 2-3: God's Work on the Threshold and Prayer for Fuller Apprehension

30:44 No questions? Yes, Dean? Yes. Well, I hope we read them and believe them.

31:06 But I know what you mean, Dean. What do we say to those who try to use them in the way that Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones does? Well, it is my purpose.

31:14 I'm not going to go into a lot of these teachings that I believe are deviations from the biblical teaching in detail. But I do feel an obligation to take particularly the Acts passages, Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts chapter 19, and to give what I trust is a reasonable exposition of what happened and how that fits into the whole biblical doctrine of the Christian life. But that's coming down the road. So if you can hold off on that, I would appreciate it, because I do propose to do that.

31:48 If there's no further questions, let's go on in Ephesians, because I want you to see how this very motif of Ephesians 1 is picked up and repeated in Ephesians 2 and 3. He concludes by saying in his prayer that the power of God that he wants them to appreciate and understand, that he wants them in Christ, is the power by which God raised his Son from the dead, but also, in the opening verses of chapter 2, a power manifested in their own spiritual resurrection. Notice how you have italics in any of the older translations. You did he make alive.

32:30 No verb is there in the original. A literal wooden rendering would be, and you, when you were dead through your trespasses in sin, you once walked in the course of the world, and the thought is carried right on to verse 4, but God, being rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead, made us alive together with Christ. And now he describes what God did here on the threshold. We were dead in our trespasses and sins.

33:06 We were in bondage to our sins, in bondage to the devil. We were in a state of wrath. That's the teaching of verses 1 to 3. But God, who is rich in mercy, did a marvelous thing.

33:18 He quickened us together with Christ. In this initial experience of grace, one aspect of it described from one perspective in the Bible is that we were joined to Jesus Christ in resurrection, life, and power. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be quickened with Christ.

33:40 To share new life with Jesus Christ. And so he goes on to say in those well-known verses 8 through 10, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, pointing back again to that which God has done, created in union with Christ Jesus unto good works which God before ordained that we should walk in them.

34:12 And now in verse 11 he says, wherefore remember. He's calling them to reflect as to what they once were. Having described God's work in terms of its individual dimensions, he now describes the amazing work of God in its broader dimensions amongst these Gentiles. And he says each one of you individuals who was quickened together with Christ from the stage of spiritual death and lifelessness, and has been saved by the grace of God, created in Christ unto good works.

34:48 He said God is doing a marvelous thing in saving you Gentiles, and then he describes that in the next verses. And then you get into all of this language about breaking down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentiles. We who were once strangers are now brought near. He's describing what has already happened.

35:08 And he then goes on in chapter 3 in the opening verses to show that this amazing work of God in which the old barrier between Jew and Gentile is broken down and God is constituting one new humanity in Christ, is something that God purposed in ages past, but is now manifested and revealed through the Gospel. Having done that, he starts praying for the Christians again. Now notice what his prayer is, verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith to the end, that you, being rooted in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Now here you see is a prayer that reaches dimensions that almost defy, well they do defy as far as I'm concerned, exposition.

36:35 Paul was not content with their present level of personal experience in the grace of God. He's praying that they will have strength given by the Spirit to come to a fuller apprehension of what is theirs in Christ and appreciation of the love of God to them in Christ and that they might in this fuller, deeper, expanded appreciation be filled unto all the fullness of God. Here again, we are kept on the one hand from any notion of saying oh well I'm converted, got everything in terms of my own experience, I'll sit back and I'll just coast to heaven. No sense of coasting.

37:19 If you've truly tasted any reality of communion with God, you long for deeper, more powerful, more expanded experience of communion with God. You can't be content if you've tasted you long to feast. And when you've feasted and stretched your spiritual stomach, you want your stomach stretched more and you want to feast more. So there's no smugness, but there's not a hint that he's praying that they will come to some qualitatively new experience that will begin to equip them to live as they ought to live. He's praying that they will come to a fuller understanding of the provisions of grace already granted to them in Christ Jesus. And then when he goes on to give practical exhortation starting in chapter 4 you will notice how again and again he does not appeal when he exhorts them to a given duty. Now here's the duty, but you'll never perform it unless you get something new. Rather he says, here's the duty seek to perform it in the light of what has already happened and in the light of what God has already given. That's the emphasis.

Ephesians 4 and Colossians: Imperatives Rest on Indicatives

38:38 And so you'll hear people use this terminology, the imperatives of the Christian life rests down upon the indicatives of Christian privilege. Now the indicative is what God has declared as true. This is. Now God says in the light of what is this ought to be. The imperatives rest down upon the indicatives. The duties of the Christian life to say it differently are to be worked out in the light of the privileges conferred. Now notice how that motif is opened up right in the opening exhortation. I therefore, chapter 4 verse 1, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called. Reflect

39:34 upon what God has done in calling you into a state of grace and I beseech you to walk worthily of that calling. And now he describes what he has particularly in mind. He says this will mean a walk of lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is. There is a unity already established on the basis of what God has done. One body, one spirit, called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism in the light of these things. Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And then you'll find that motif again and again all the way through the epistle. Don't walk

40:28 he says, chapter 4 verse 17. Don't walk as the Gentiles walk. Why? Because you did not learn Christ that way.

40:38 Having put on the old and put off the new, you did not learn Christ that way. I'm calling you to this imperative in the light of this indicative. And then he goes on in verse 25. Put away falsehood, speak truth, every one with his neighbor. Why? We are members one of another. When we were indwelt by the same spirit, we were united to the same Lord. Therefore, my hand doesn't lie to my eye, and my eye does not lie to my foot. If it did, I'd be in all kinds of trouble. He says, reckon upon the reality of what God has already done. The imperative rests down upon the indicative. And you find that again. All the way through when he says you are children of the light. Now

41:24 walk as children of the light. The imperative rests down upon the indicative. God has constituted you a child of light. Now walk as a child of light. Alright? Do you feel something of the overall flavor then of that epistle? And I felt it would be profitable for us to look at it a little more in detail so that you would be able. I want to give you a working tool when trying to sort this out for yourself and to help others to sit down and say let's take the plain testimony of the word of God. And just open it up and read through large sections of the word of God. Because one of the problems with almost all of these teachings as we saw is there is a very selective and artificial usage of a passage here and a verse here and a phrase here. It becomes sort of a sloganism Christian living. And what they need to do is to sit down and say alright let's let the overarching emphases of the word of God confront our minds. To show that we're not fearful.

42:31 That's one of the reasons why we've established the practice of consecutive reading through the Old and the New Testaments in our public worship. Now there are many good reasons. But one of our major reasons is this. We want to declare to everyone that we're not afraid of any passage of the word of God.

42:49 We as individuals in a church stand under the scrutiny of the whole of this book continually. And if we're ever doing anything that makes any one of us leaving public worship embarrassed to read any portion of the word of God we better stop doing it. Right? And I hope we will.

43:07 And if there's something we're not doing and we feel uncomfortable reading in the word of God that we ought to be doing thank God if we feel uncomfortable. You see we don't have to as it were hedge our bets when we say we're seeking to live by the total witness of the word of God and hope that some doesn't turn up a passage that will embarrass us. Well in this matter then it's so vital that we catch the overarching thrust of scripture. Now very quickly notice this same structure in the book of Colossians.

43:40 I want to give you one other specimen of exposure. Here again. Paul begins with thanksgiving in chapter one in verse three. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have toward all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which is come unto you as it is in all the world bearing fruit and increasing as it does in you.

44:21 Now notice when did they start bearing fruit? Since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. You see when the gospel was embraced fruit began to be born. It wasn't as though well they were just saved and now something happens afterward and then they begin to be fruit bearing Christians. He said from the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth the gospel is producing its holy fruits and he says it's still doing it. I've heard of your ongoing faith your ongoing love and he says this was declared to him verse seven by Epaphras our beloved fellow minister fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ who declared unto us your love in the spirit. Now what's he going to pray for? Verse nine for this cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray and make requests for you and what does he pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthily of the Lord

45:30 unto all pleasing bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all patience and long suffering with joy giving thanks to the Father who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. You see he's not smug. Why fruit is being born their love for one another and their faith in Christ is strong but he says I pray for you because it's evident that God has begun a good work I'm praying that will increase but there's not a shred of a hint that he's praying that they'll get some qualitatively different subsequent experience that will materially influence the pattern of their lives. No indication of that whatsoever increase yes more yes but no hint of this kind of crisis thinking and then he goes on to describe what God has already done for them. He has delivered them out of the power of darkness verse 13 translated us into the kingdom of his son of his love in whom we have our redemption the forgiveness of our sins then he launches into a description of who this Christ is in whom we have redemption then the great blessings

46:58 that are ours in him then when he comes to exhortation notice verse six as therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him rooted and build it up in him and established in your faith as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving take heed lest anyone spoil you through his philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world and not after Christ for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and in him you are made full you see what he exhorts them to as you received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him rooted in him build up in him he doesn't say now you've merely received Christ the Lord now go on and receive the spirit you've merely received Christ the Lord for your justification now go on and have a definite second experience and take him as your sanctification no hint of that as you receive Christ the Lord walk in him rooted in him build up in him abounding in thanksgiving then when he moves on to begin to give exhortation when he enters his heart Lord come to his mouth a strawberries

48:27 and and has and and and and and and and and and with Christ. Seek the things that are above. Set your mind on the things that are above. Verse 3, for you died and your life is hid with Christ in God. Verse 5, put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth. Then he goes on to say in verse 9, don't lie to one another. Why? You have put off the old man with his doings and have put on the new man. You see that motif again?

49:20 Here's the imperative. Do this because this is what God has already done. He never says do this and you can't until you experience something you haven't yet experienced. And you see, there's all the difference in the world between saying this. Follow me closely now as we draw our lesson to close. You must experience more of what is yours in Christ. Got that? You must experience more of what is yours in Christ. Got that? You must experience more of what is yours in Christ.

49:50 You must experience more of what is yours in Christ. You must experience more of what is yours in Our güzel church, yours in Christ is different from saying you must have an additional experience before you can enjoy what is yours in Christ. See the difference between that? Some say you must have an additional experience before you can enjoy what is yours in Christ. The emphasis of the Bible is we have all in Christ, but we must experience more and more of what is already ours in him. See the difference? And that's not playing with words. That's the difference between the theology of the Christian life found in the scriptures and the distortion of that is found in the crisis teaching that we've been examining. All right, we've got about two to three minutes. Have we, I hope, clearly established

Clarifying the Distinction and Addressing Acts Passages

50:46 that this first common denominator, mere conversion is not enough. We need something subsequent to conversion to live. I hope that we have sufficiently laid out from the scriptures the inadequacy of that perspective and therefore put to rest one of the common denominators of all this crisis teaching. All right, any question in closing? Yes, Pastor Nicholas?

51:21 Some of those passages in Antichrist, speak about various events which occur in conjunction with the transition from wrath to grace or what you call them here we stand we call it the threshold blessings yes we're not saying that the giving of the spirit is precisely the same action as the giving of faith because it's clear that there is a certain ordo salutis or the order in which these blessings are given which would tend to indicate that that is subsequent but like justification is also subsequent that they all occur together as those threshold blessings which come upon the entrance into the Christian life you see the point that Pastor Nichols is making is this that the bible does make a distinction we are justified by faith until there is faith there is no justification alright it also says we receive the spirit by faith there is no reception of the spirit as the spirit of sonship apart from faith alright and the sealing of the Holy Spirit having believed you were sealed but the point that he's making is that when we take the total witness of scripture that witness says

52:49 that these blessings all come to all believers as they pass over the threshold should put the line on it here as they pass over the threshold out of a state of unregeneracy and spiritual death into a state of grace and salvation alright and we are not denying the fact that the bible makes these distinctions what we are saying is that the bible nowhere says that we get one of these or two of these and then something down here later on as a subsequent experience alright and that may be helpful as we begin to sort out things and then let me say again not knowing if some who are visiting may not be with us one of the keys to the Acts passages is to remember that just as surely as there are elements of what we call redemptive history that is on a timeline God is doing certain things at given points in the unfolding of history that are never to be repeated all of the events centering around the cross of Christ the open tomb of Christ the descent of the Holy Spirit have aspects that are rooted in non-repeatable redemptive history I'm afraid I was going to knock the water I felt it there and backed off alright

54:16 alright now just to repeat what I've said there are certain aspects that the bible records as certain aspects of the Bible records as historical events now when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven the sound as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the place where they were sitting they weren't kneeling at an altar somewhere agonizing they were sitting very unspiritual posture but they were sitting that's what the text says read it if you question it alright and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke in other languages as the spirit gave them utterance that's a fact of history that's a fact of history and we're not embarrassed with the history of the bible but now to take a quantum leap from that and say therefore it is God's will that while we're sitting all in one place the room will suddenly sound like there's a rushing mighty wind something's gone awry in the air conditioning system or something and suddenly little by little tongues of fire are going to sit over everyone's head in this building and all of a sudden we're all going to break out in different languages well that's ridiculous to reason from what God did at a given point in redemptive history for good and wise reasons as we shall see that we must therefore get God in a hammerlock

55:46 and say God you've got to do the same thing down here in 1982 it's just as ridiculous to tell God he's got to send his son again he's got to have him die again and rise from the dead or we're not going to embrace the gospel so there's the key to an understanding of the Acts passages and I hope then for some of you who are not going to be with us that you'll take that key that is a legitimate key to that particular problem and prayerfully consider the passages in that light while our time is gone let's commit our thoughts to God in prayer our Father we would seek to bow in humility before you acknowledging that there is so much concerning which we feel so ignorant yet we thank you for the measure of light you have given us from your word and of these things we are assured in our own hearts before you that you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ and it is our prayer that we may understand more and more the implications of that which you have already done for us in Christ and with more and more spiritual diligence that we may work out that salvation with fear and trembling

57:13 bless Lord the things we've considered this morning not merely to a clearer more settled understanding of a working theology of the Christian life but oh God to the actual increase of grace in our hearts and lives hear our prayers as we offer them in Jesus name Amen