Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040606.htm

ADAPTING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT'S PRESENT MINISTRIES
Part I: Adapting To The Holy Spirit's Present Ministries To The Lost: Striving, Restraining And Convincing

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) Many believers today desire to see a spiritual revival occur, to see the tide of apostasy that saps the cultural order of its potent goodness overcome with good as Romans 12:21 puts it. However, many Christians struggle on just how to succeed here:

(a) Lynn Vincent in her article, "Mass. Confusion," in the May 22, 2004 issue of World magazine, p. 23 reports how troubled Christian and pro-traditional family groups are over feeling powerless before the recent state sanction of gay marriages in Massachusetts: on the one hand, pro-traditional family groups are trying to get two different Federal Marriage Amendments through both federal House and Senate bodies of the United States Congress, " . . . But legal experts say neither would prevent states from sanctioning marriage-equivalent relationships, such as civil unions. Even so, both FMAs are in trouble . . ." as supporters doubt they can get enough constitutionally required votes to pass these various amendments.

(b) How are we supposed to see God's righteousness imparted to Iraq in our era? That's a tall question, for, in the same issue of World magazine, p. 17, an article appears with a photograph with the following caption beneath it: "Iraquis outside the prison of Abu Ghraib read a local newspaper showing pictures of prisoners allegedly being humiliated by their U. S. captors."

In view of the atrocious photos we were bombarded with of things that occurred in that prison, how can we hope to see Iraqi people come to trust our Gospel of salvation from sin through faith in Christ?

(c) But, closer to home, we in our own body here at Nepaug Church often wonder how to be effective disciplers of people around us. More than one believer has asked me how to be effective in witnessing for Christ, or in discipling weaker believers, and that on a regular basis.

(2) Thankfully, we are not alone: Revelation 22:17a notes not only the Church, the Bride of Christ, but also the Holy Spirit is at work in reaching the lost.

Well, in view of the spiritual NEED around us, and in view of the Holy Spirit's work to influence the lost for Christ, how are we to work WITH God's Spirit so the DARKNESS can be penetrated with Christ's RENEWING GOSPEL?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I love to see the lost trust in Christ and society changed through their conversions, but in Revelation 22:17, I learn the Holy Spirit witnesses to them WITH believers! How am I to work WITH the Holy Spirit to be EFFECTIVE in partnership WITH Him?!"
  1. The Holy Spirit STRIVES AGAINST and RESTRAINS the development of evil in the unsaved world; thus, we believers must NOT HUMANLY try to accomplish this SUPERNATURAL work:
    1. The Holy Spirit strives against the rate of the development of apostasy like He did during the days before the Noahic Flood, Gen. 6:3; Lewis S. Chafer, Syst. Theol., vol. VI, "Pneumatology," p. 28.
    2. Akin to this striving, the Holy Spirit restrains the appearing of the man of sin until after the Church is raptured, 2 Thessalonians 2:6-9:
      1. A "Restrainer" is hindering the appearing of the man of sin who will come in Satan's power during the Tribulation, 2 Thess. 2:6-9.
      2. Since this anti-christ will be empowered by Satan (2 Thess. 2:9), the "Restrainer" is stronger than Satan, so the "Restrainer" is God!
      3. Well, God the Restrainer is said to be "taken out of the way," and the only way that can be said to occur is by the Spirit's being taken out of the world by the rapture of Christians in Whom He indwells:
        1. The Holy Spirit indwells believers in the Church era, Rom. 8:9.
        2. Thus, when the Church is taken to heaven in the pretribulation rapture, the Holy Spirit's supernatural, restraining influence in Christians will be "taken out of the way" of Satan's evil efforts.
    3. Well, if the Holy Spirit restrains the Satan-empowered anti-christ from even appearing, we Christians should let the Holy Spirit do His "restraining" work and humanly stay OUT of this work by GOD!
  2. Then, God's Spirit counters SATAN'S BLINDNESS of the lost in CONVINCING them of TRUTHS to PREPARE them for Christ's GOSPEL; we may then give that GOSPEL for maximum impact:
    1. Unsaved people have their minds blinded to God's truth by Satan, the most powerful spirit being created by God, cf. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
    2. As such, it is futile for us to try to handle such blindness on our own.
    3. To counter that blindness, God the Holy Spirit works to convict the lost of their need to change their views on three truths, John 16:7-11:
      1. The Holy Spirit convicts the unsaved of certain facts, 16:7-8a.
      2. The facts the Spirit convicts are related to the gospel, 16:8b-11:
        1. The Spirit convicts the lost that they sin if they do not believe in Christ for salvation from sin, John 16:8b, 9.
        2. The Spirit convicts the lost that Jesus is righteous for being raised from the dead and ascending to the Father, Jn. 16:8b, 10.
        3. The Spirit convicts the lost they will be judged if they reject Christ, for Satan is already judged, Jn. 16:8b, 11; Col. 2:13-15.
    4. Thus, since these truths are made convincing to the lost by the Holy Spirit, it is imperative that we Christians give the unsaved these following facts related to what the Holy Spirit makes clear to them:
      1. To enjoy the Holy Spirit's work to convince unsaved people that they are in sin if they do not believe in Christ (John 16:8b, 9), we believers must share that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins, that He was buried and rose from the dead so that by faith in Him they will have eternal life, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 3:16.
      2. To enjoy the Holy Spirit's work to convince the lost that Christ is righteous, we must tell the lost of Christ's resurrection as God's upright, exalted Son, John 16:8b, 10 with 1 Corinthians 15:4.
      3. To enjoy the Holy Spirit's work to convince the lost that they are accountable to trust in the gospel, we must share it with the lost as God's power unto salvation, John 16:8b, 11; Romans 1:16.
  3. Then, as we saw in John 17, if we HEED Scripture, God makes US who witness BELIEVABLE to the lost, FURTHER making our witness of the Gospel EFFECTIVE, John 17:6, 11, 21b, 23b,c!
Application: To be effective with the lost, we must FIRST (1) trust in Christ to be equipped for effective partnership with the Holy Spirit in evangelizing them. (2) Then, instead of vainly trying to hinder the world's apostasy, something only God can do, we must (a) be BELIEVABLE to the lost by our LIVES that heed Scripture (Jn. 17:6, 11, 21b, 23b,c) and (b) give them the GOSPEL: we must tell them they must trust in Christ Who died for their sin, was buried and rose again that by faith in Him they might receive eternal life. (c) The Spirit is powerfully as work to convince them this news is TRUE that they might BELIEVE and be SAVED!

Lesson: Due to the Holy Spirit's striving, restraining and convincing works toward the lost, OUR role is NOT to try to HINDER EVIL nor to CONVINCE the lost of truth on our OWN; rather, we must HEED God's TRUTH in living RIGHTEOUSLY by God's power (Jn. 17) to be MADE CONVINCING to the lost BY GOD, and then to TELL them Christ died for their sin, was buried and rose again so that by faith in Him they might have eternal life! The Holy Spirit THEN makes us EFFECTIVE!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 For encouragement to trust the Holy Spirit's world convincing ministry, here are illustrations from 3 widely different cases on earth:

(1) First, we read of an incident from Ethiopia. Dr. Ray Davis who is now with the Lord, a missionary I knew, wrote the book, Fire on the Mountains where he recorded on p. 57 the moving of God's Spirit in an area of Ethiopia before missionaries brought the gospel: "Near home he [Dafarsha] stopped at the house of a prophetess, a . . . little woman sitting among clay pots and bowls. Dafarsha watched in awe as she cast pebbles on the ground and read omens . . . My son,' she told him, you . . . will hear good news . . . that will spread over all these mountains.'" That news was Christ's gospel!

(2) Second, we view the testimony of a Muslim who graduated M. A. with honors from the Islamic University of Al Azhar in Cairo. In the July-August 1989 issue of SIM NOW, p. 11, his testimony reads: "When I was serving my religion . . . I . . . believed that I was serving God. But so many . . . problems came into my life, I began to think . . . that was not the way God wanted me to serve Him. I . . . asked God that if this were not the way, would He please show me the right way.

After this I kept having a dream [of] . . . walking along a path that . . . ended at a church. Every time . . . I asked God if it had come from Him. And . . . I kept thinking of Christ. The picture of Him on the cross, with blood flowing from His wounds, kept imposing itself on my mind. This was even against my will, because I had been taught that Christ was not crucified. In spite of my continued rejection of Christ, this picture came into my mind more and more, and every time . . . I felt a great happiness . . . I finally decided . . . to accept Christ . . .'"

(3) Third, Stephen Bennett Ministries in Connecticut reports in a May, 2004 e-mail message that the legalization of "gay" marriages in Massachusetts has forced gays have to decide what to do about their unions, and, amazingly, many want to get out of them! Mr. Bennett reports a man, "Tom'" told him "almost in tears" at having paid a psychiatrist $200 an hour for years to hear counsel that he should accept his gay orientation that "NO ONE ever told him homosexuals COULD CHANGE"! Stephen thus witnessed to him of Christ's hope!

God's Spirit is TRULY convincing people AROUND the WORLD of truths to READY them to heed Christ's Gospel. OUR role is (1) to live BY His POWER and (2) TELL them that Gospel!