The direct operation of the Holy Spirit ceased when the Bible was completed was one warning after another in preaching school. Today (1972) only 5% of our brotherhood has gone liberal by saying the Holy Spirit works directly in their lives. Don't go liberal. I joined in on the adamant vow....gladly.
Yet, I ran into a problem.
In my very earliest years, after hearing one smug anti-Spirit statement after another from our preaching colleagues, I read from the Bible where the Holy Spirit works directly in our lives. My first thought was the Bible had made a mistake. It didn't take long to realize between the Bible and my mind there was not contest as to which would be the final authority.
After 25 years of trying to link to the Truth regarding the Holy Spirit, I am more convinced than ever that one of the church's most ignorant and costly blunders is the denial of the direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon modern believers. We were wrong.
The Trinity is composed of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are so tight in their essence and existence that they cannot be separated. Even the Word speaks of the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God. They are One and we are called to have intimate relationship with all three.
Those who oppose the Spirit's involvement do so more out of safety than study. I have paid a price for believing Him to be true. How can I do otherwise? Good friends mock and egoists rant against me. Yet, the Word clearly reveals. The Holy Spirit is our adequacy (II Cor. 3:4-5), and inward strength (Eph. 3:14ff) and hope (Romans 5:1-5).
While I have been branded as a false teacher, the Word won't let me leave this conviction. Gratefully, such a faith increases as I read the Word and read materials about Jesus. To work in the church without the Spirit is to be left to our corporate steam and ingenuity. Both will offer flashes of success; but endurance will not reside.
Without the Holy Spirit of God working among us we only have self-effort fruit to offer. Eventually such rots. Denying the Holy Spirit is a popular stance among many of our people. It even gets invitations to be a guest speaker at places. But it is more than a blunder to deny Him. It is a dishonest and costly sham.
2 comments:
We really "quench" the Spirit, don't we? Jesus Himself said the Spirit would convict the world of sin (John 16:8). That wasn't at a point in time past, that meant always, even today. A.W. Tozer said that a church without the presence of the Spirit would be left to their own vices of either chasing after the latest fad or clinging to church tradition and history (my paraphrase). Very appropriate, I thought.
Keep staying true to the real Truth!
Jay
Thank you, Terry, for boldly speaking the truth. We can't believe (in) God, the Father and Jesus, His Son, without also--and equally--believing (in) the Holy Spirit, who is God and Christ, living in us.
I'm just beginning to grow in my understanding of the Holy Spirit's "role" in my life...at one time, I only knew that there was a Holy Spirit. I made the decision to want to know the Holy Spirit, not just know about Him (and what a difference that is). Only knowing about the Spirit is kind of like Satan knowing about God but not loving or trusting Him enough to actually know Him as God wants us to be in a relationship with Him.
So far, my "listening to the Spirit" and seeking Him for guidance and direction is kind of in the infancy stage... I still want to take over and make my own decisions, but I'm learning and trying! Thankfully, the Spirit is amazingly patient with me!
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