Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040704.htm

ADAPTING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT'S PRESENT MINISTRIES
Part V: Adapting To The Spirit's Experiential Ministries: Witnessing, Anointing And Indwelling

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Many of us know of Christians who claim to have had great, supernatural experiences involving the work of the Holy Spirit. Such believers tell us of "blessings" they have known in allegedly doing things like speaking in tongues or having God allegedly "heal" them or "reveal" some vision to them in some way.

I came into contact with some such believers last week while attending a wedding reception; my wife and I were assigned to sit at a table right next to a couple who were of this persuasion.

After making brief introductions when we told only our names, the town from which we hailed and our general relationship to the bridal party, the man, who was seated right next to me, launched out into a long explanation of what he alleged was the the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. He told of blessings he had enjoyed at Full Gospel Businessman's meetings, claiming I would "have my socks blessed off" were I to attend such a gathering! He went on at length about his many alleged experiences of being able to discern if another person, a perfect stranger, was a believer or not! He said he could tell on one occasion that a stranger he had met was actually a pastor's wife!

The longer he talked and promoted his beliefs, and that without considering my own interest or lack of interest in his view, the more vexing his one-sided conversation became. I eventually left the table for some other reason, but I took the opportunity in being away to stay away for over a half hour to get a break from this man's endless effort to try and get me to adopt his theological persuasion!

Reflecting on this incident, I found myself focusing on this question:



Since we at Nepaug Bible Church do NOT have an "experienced based" theology on the Holy Spirit as do Charismatic Theology believers in Christendom, IF we nevertheless CLAIM that God the Holy Spirit TRULY INDWELLS us, should WE not truly EXPERIENCE a DIFFERENCE in our EXPERIENCE as a RESULT? IF so, WHAT will we EXPERIENCE due to the Holy Spirit's TRUE presence and ministry in our LIVES?



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



Need: "Though I know we at Nepaug shun an experience BASED theology on the Holy Spirit, yet, if we ARE indwelt by Him, should there NOT be EVIDENCE of it in our EXPERIENCE! IF so, WHAT is that EVIDENCE, and HOW am I to RESPOND to it?"
  1. SCRIPTURE teaches those who TRUST in Christ as PERSONAL Savior from SIN both CAN and DO see EVIDENCE of the Holy Spirit's work in the EXPERIENCES of LIFE, Romans 5:1-4, 5.
  2. The MINISTRIES under which such EXPERIENCES occur are associated with various specific Biblical CONDITIONS as follows:
    1. First, every true believer in Christ always experiences the Holy Spirit's work to ASSURE his heart that he IS a true child of God , Romans 8:16. This is His "witnessing" ministry to our human spirits.
    2. Second, the Holy Spirit's "anointing" ministry occurs for every believer as does His "indwelling," and these are explained as follows:
      1. 1 John 2:18, 20, 27 reveals that the Holy Spirit's "anointing" work applies even to very immature, "baby" Christians:
        1. In 1 John 2:18-27, John wrote to immature believers as he used the Greek word, paidia to refer to them in verse 18: this word, since it is in contrast to neaniskoi (young men, v. 13-14) and pateres (fathers, v. 13-14) in this context means, "children" (UBS Grk. N.T., p. 815-816; Arndt & Gingrich, Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N.T., p. 609-610 with p. 536 and p. 640-642).
        2. As these spiritually immature "children" believers are "anointed" by the Holy Spirit, it would follow that the "young men" of intermediate spiritual maturity and the "fathers" of full spiritual maturity would be anointed by the Holy Spirit!
      2. This "anointing" ministry of the Holy Spirit, as it occurs for all believers, is quite close to His "indwelling" ministry, although they have different emphases: "indwelling" focuses on the presence of the Spirit where "anointing" highlights His discerning ministry for the believer in whom He dwells, Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, p. 73.
      3. These "anointing" and "indwelling" works of the Holy Spirit involve evidences of His ministry under the following conditions:
        1. The "anointing" ministry of the Spirit produces (a) a strong SUBJECTIVE discerning ability so that every believer CAN recognize if he is exposed to true or to errant teaching, 1 John 2:20, 27 with 2:22-23. (b) This SUBJECTIVE discerning capacity not only exposes the credibility of basic issues such as Christ's deity or incarnation (1 John 2:22-23), it also exposes the credibility of all spiritual views, 1 Cor. 2:13; Jn. 16:13. (c) Yet, the believer must be right with God: his sins must be confessed (1 John 1:9) and he must depend on the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) to have His "anointing" ministry applied so that he can and will avoid being deceived, 1 Cor. 2:14-15 with 1 Cor. 3:1-3.
        2. The "indwelling" work of the Holy Spirit (a) occurs in every believer, for if one does not have the Spirit, he is not saved, Rom. 8:9b. (b) This indwelling occurs even in sinful believers: Paul wrote the Corinthian believers were still the temple of the Holy Spirit as reason for them to cease sinning, 1 Cor. 5:1; 6:16-20. (c) Unlike Old Testament believers who could see the Holy Spirit leave them for their acts of sin (Psalm 51:1, 11), New Testament Church era believers -- even carnal ones -- are forever indwelt by the Spirit, Eph. 4:30; John 14:16. (d) If a believer SINS, the Holy Spirit will convince him of it and discipline him with misery until he confesses it, Ps. 32:3-5; Rev. 3:17, 19, 22. (e) A believer can harden himself to this ministry, Hebrews 4:7; if he does, he risks God's shortening his earthly life span by an early death, 1 John 5:16; Acts 5:1-11. (f) On the positive side, if a believer yields to the Holy Spirit's power, he is able by the indwelling Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:1-11) to do a supernatural ministry via a spiritual gift: this gift is one of a variety listed in Rom. 12:6-8, 1 Cor. 12:1-11, Eph. 4:7-12, etc.
Application: (1) Let us trust in Christ as Savior from sin to be indwelt and anointed by the Holy Spirit, John 3:16; Rom. 8:9b. (2) Then, may we (a) confess our sins and (b) rely upon the Holy Spirit to enjoy His rich blessing in our lives and service versus a loss of power and discipline (as described above)!

Lesson: As a BELIEVER, our EXPERIENCE with God the Holy Spirit TODAY is as follows: (1) If we SIN, (a) though still convinced by the Holy Spirit that we are saved, (b) we are susceptible to being deceived by errant beliefs and errant teachers, (c) we are MISERABLE under the Spirit's convincing work and (d) we lack God's BLESSING in service. (e) We must repent or risk an eventual and early death by God's discipline! (2) Yet, if we HEED Scripture, we (a) are convinced by the Spirit that we are God's sons, (b) we are able to discern the credibility degree of ALL beliefs we face, we experience (c) peace with God in living and (d) God's POWER to minister SUPERNATURALLY via a spiritual gifting for Him.

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

 When we began this message, I spoke of an event I faced at a wedding reception I attended last week. In the gathering, my wife and I were assigned to sit at a table with a couple that believed the Early Church's sign gifts were for today. Though we had introduced ourselves to the couple, we had told them our regular names, and relayed we were from Torrington and what our association was with the bridal couple. Yet, the man had taken the liberty to to launch out into an extensive "witness" to me promoting his views and experiences that implied that the Early Church "sign gifts" were for today.

He went on at length particularly about his alleged God-given ability to discern if perfect strangers he met were Christians. In one case, he shared how he had even identified a stranger to be a Pastor's wife, an event that impressed himself deeply re: this his spiritual gift!

As I found the conversation to be very taxing, the Holy Spirit worked His "anointing" ministry in my behalf to encourage me in REGARDS to the conversation: I suddenly found myself thinking, "Wait just a minute! If this man has the God-given gift to discern if a stranger is a Christian or even a pastor's wife, why doesn't GOD give him the discernment that I am a Bible Church pastor who is NOT in agreement with his beliefs, nor that I want to HEAR him go on and on about them?! Where is his alleged gift when he really needs it?"

I concluded that (a) either the man was out of fellowship with God to explain why he could not discern who I was and what I felt about his efforts, meaning I was not to be bothered by what he was trying to say at the time, OR (b) that he really did NOT HAVE God's "spiritual gift" of discernment as he claimed he did! Either way, by the Holy Spirit's "anointing" ministry in my behalf, I could tell that this man's "witness" as not of God and was thus to be ignored! I found this realization to be refreshing amidst the man's continuous talking!

So, if we know Christ as our Savior and live in accord with His Word, His INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT will INTERACT with us in our EXPERIENCE to bless, empower, guide and protect us from error and spiritual harm!

May we then believe in Christ if we have not done so and then HEED Him in life to ENJOY the Spirit's EXPERIENTIAL witnessing, anointing and indwelling ministries in our behalf!