THE HOLY SPIRIT AS GUIDE I've entitled this
particular message The Holy Spirit As Guide In the last message I spoke
about five ministries of the Holy Spirit
in which He continues the ministry
of Jesus in our lives. I spoke about Him as
teacher, remembrancer, guide, revelator and administrator. Now I want to focus
on that particular ministry of the Holy Spirit as guide. I’ll turn back to
John 16:13 again. However, when He, the Spirit
of truth has come, He will guide you
into all truth. So there’s the clear statement the
Holy Spirit comes to be our guide. And then in Romans
chapter 8 verse 14 Paul speaks about how we can be fulfilled
and complete Christians. Romans 8:14,
a very important verse. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The tense there is the
continuing present tense. As many as are regularly led
by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The word son
there speaks of maturity. It’s not the word for a little baby
but the word for a grown up son. In order to become
God’s children, we have to be born again
of the Spirit of God. Jesus spoke about that
very clearly in John 3. But once we’ve been
born again, In order to grow up and
become mature and complete, We need to be regularly
led by the Holy Spirit. Now, the sad truth is
that many Christians who’ve been born again, have never really gone on
to be led by the Holy Spirit. Consequently, they
don’t achieve maturity, They don’t become the kind of
complete follow up Christian that God intends. So, I’m going to try
to deal with this theme of being led by the Holy Spirit. There are two alternative
ways revealed in the Bible to achieve
righteousness with God. They’re extremely important and they’re
a major theme of the New Testament. But according to my observation,
very little attention is paid to this particular question. The two ways by which we may seek
to achieve righteousness with God are either law or grace. And the Bible reveals
very clearly that they’re
mutually exclusive. If you seek to achieve
righteousness by law, you cannot achieve
righteousness by grace. On the other hand, if you seek to
achieve righteousness by grace, then you can’t do it
by keeping law. This is tremendously
important because again, I may be just
speaking about a limited area of the Christian
church that I’m familiar with, But I see most Christians
trying to mix law and grace. Partly by law,
partly by grace. The truth of the matter is they
don’t really understand either. Now I think we all know
basically what law is. Law is a set of rules
which you have to keep. And if you keep
all the rules all the time, then you’re made
righteous. That is righteousness. Grace, on the other hand, is
something that we cannot earn and we cannot achieve
by working for it. If you are working for anything or
seeking to earn it, it is not grace.
Grace cannot be earned. Grace is received from
God only by one way. Ephesians chapter 2
verse 8 says this: For by grace you have been
saved through [what?] faith. That’s right. Grace comes only
through faith. And if you want to
achieve righteousness, If you want to come into
the maturity of God, You’ve got to decide are you
going to do it by law, or by grace. And if you follow my advice
and the advice of the Bible, you won’t try
to do it by law. Because the Bible says no one
will ever achieve righteousness with God by keeping law. Let’s look at some of
the requirements of law. The basic principle you’ve
got to understand is this. To be righteous
by keeping law, you've got to keep
the whole law all the time It's not enough to keep
the whole law some of the time and it's not enough to keep
some of the law all the time. but you have to keep the whole
law all the time or else You are not righteous
by keeping the law. We’ll look at a few
passages of scripture. Deuteronomy
chapter 27 verse 26 This is the last verse
of the chapter. and it’s the end of
a list of twelve curses which Israel were required
to pronounce upon themselves After they came into the
land of promise If they failed to keep
the whole law all the time. And this is what this
particular curse says. Cursed is the one who does not
confirm all the words of this law. Cursed is the one who
does not abide by and keep all the words
of this law. In other words, if you start to keep
the law and then you deviate from it, you come under a curse. And Paul resumes this theme
in the New Testament in the epistle to the Galatians,
chapter 3. He says and
he quotes this verse, The one we’ve quoted
from Deuteronomy. Chapter 3 verse 10: For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse; For it is written [and now he’s
quoting the verse we’ve looked at but he amplifies it
a little bit] Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things which are written in
the book of the law to do them. So if you want to receive
the blessing and avoid the curse you have to continue in all things
all the time to do them. Otherwise the law is of no
benefit to you from the point of view
of righteousness. And then in the epistle of James,
chapter 2 verse 10–11, James is speaking
about the same question. He says for who ever
shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble [or fail]
in one point, he is guilty of all; For the one who said do not commit
adultery also said do not murder. Now, if you do not commit
adultery but you do murder, you have become a
transgressor of the law. You cannot single out the commandments
which you think are important and say: I’ll keep those and
the others I won’t. You’ve got to keep every
commandment all the time or the law is of no benefit to you as a
means of achieving righteousness. See, my experience is most
people think it will be all right if they keep most of the law
some of the time. In fact, the natural mind of man can
only think of one way of achieving righteousness, which is
keeping a law. When I was a soldier in the British
Army and had become a Christian I used to witness to my fellow
soldiers who were not Christians and talk about being
saved and so on. And I noticed
almost invariably Every one of them responded
in something like this. He would come up with a little
list of the rules he kept. Each one had his own
set of rules. And he was trying to
convince me that he was all right
because he kept some rules. Each one made a list of
the rules he kept and omitted the rules
he didn’t keep. I don’t commit adultery, I don’t get
drunk, I don’t—there were not many I don’ts, really, in the British
Army but they would seek out a few. They would kind of
hold this up as if this was all right,
that justified them. There were other things they weren't
doing but that wasn’t important. And I learned that that’s how
the natural mind of man thinks. When we think about
being righteous, each of us turns to
some sort of list of rules and we think I’ve got to
keep this and I’ve got to keep that. Now, the Bible says there’s nothing
wrong with keeping the law If you keep the whole law
all the time. Fine. If you can do it,
praise God. But then the Bible
goes on to say that in actual fact
nobody ever succeeds. And this is very clearly
stated in many passages. We’ll look at only
just two of them. In Romans chapter 3 verse 20 Romans 3: 20 Therefore, by the deeds of the law
[or by the keeping of the law] no flesh will be justified
in God’s sight; for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. So Paul says no flesh,
that’s no human being, will ever achieve righteousness
in God’s sight by keeping a law. Then you argue well why did
God give the law of Moses? And Paul says one of the results of
the law is it shows us we’re sinners. It doesn’t make us
righteous But it shows us we need
to be saved. The law was actually never given
by God to make anybody righteous. One of its main
purposes was to show us we need
to be saved. Another main purpose was to show
us that we can’t save ourselves. And, another purpose was to
foreshow and predict the savior who would be able
to save us. But returning to what Paul says,
he says by the deeds of the law, no flesh, no human being, will ever
achieve righteousness with God. And If we go back to Galatians
chapter 2 verse 16, Paul says: and it’s in the middle of a sentence
but we won’t give the whole sentence: Knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law. The question is, dear
friends, do you know it? Knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law. But by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed
in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified
by faith in Christ, and not by the
works of the law; For by the works of the
law no flesh shall be justified. So again, very emphatic. No one will ever achieve
righteousness by keeping a law. We have believed in Christ that we
might be made righteous by faith, not by keeping
the works of the law. And then going back
to the passage in the next chapter of Galatians,
chapter 3, verse 11, Paul says: But that no one is justified by the
law in the sight of God is evident; For the just shall live
by faith. And he’s quoting
the prophet Habakkuk. And then he says
the law is not of faith But the man who does them
shall live by them. If you can keep all the law all
the time you’ll live that way, You’ll be righteous
in the sight of God. But, the alternative is by faith
which is not observing a law. These are mutually
exclusive alternatives. Now, I think only
God has conceived the method of achieving
righteousness by faith. I think left to himself, natural man would never conceive
such a way of righteousness. As far as I know,
every other religion has some way of achieving
righteousness which is doing something. Different religions have different
things that you have to do But, in essence, all of them
think along this line, I’ll be righteous if I do
this, this and this, And don’t do
that, that and that. That means the
Christian faith, If we understand it rightly,
is absolutely unique. There is no other religion
that even tries to offer faith on the same basis that
the Christian faith offers it. The question is
does it work? If it works then we are of
all people the most privileged because we’ve discovered the only
way to achieve righteousness. Because, God in His
mercy has shown it to us. Now I want to look at
some passages in Romans. This is where you need to tie
a towel around your forehead and really concentrate. I know this is not the ideal climate
in which to concentrate but I have great
expectations of you people. I believe
you’re going to achieve it. We’re going to read
from Romans chapter 7. I didn’t know what the
climate or situation would be like
when I arranged this. I think God must
have intended it. Al right. We’re going to begin with
the first 6 verses of Romans. This is a rather
elaborate comparison, Taking an analogy
from marriage. The principle being If a woman marries a man,
as long as the man remains alive she’s not free
to marry another man without being called
an adulteress. But if the man
she’s married dies, then she’s free
to marry another man without being called
an adulteress. And then Paul applies this to the relationship of
the Christian to the law. This is where it becomes
a little difficult but I’ll try and illuminate it for you. The thing is this is so important
because my observation is most Christians are living
in a twilight, neither law on the one hand nor grace on the other but
halfway in between the two and they usually get
the worse of both worlds. Now I’m going to read. Do you not know,
brethren [for I speak to those
who know the law, that the law has dominion
over a man as long as he lives? Once you come
under the law, there’s no escape from the law
except by death. The law continues
to rule over you. But once the law
has put you to death it has no more
dominion over you, you have escaped from
the dominion of the law. The message is,
I’ll say it in advance, We have escaped from
the dominion of the law Through the
death of Jesus. Now we’ll show you
how it works. For the woman
who has a husband is bound by the law to
her husband as long as he lives; But if the husband dies, she is
released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives,
she marries another man, she will be called
an adulteress; But if her husband dies,
she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress,
though she has married another man. Now, this is the application
to us as believers in Jesus. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become
dead to the law, through the body of Christ, That you may
be married to another, even to Him who was
raised from the dead, that we should
bear fruit to God. Let’s consider that one. Here is where you just have
to grasp Paul’s thinking. The Jews are very
analytically minded people. It’s in the background
of their religion. That’s why you’ll find there
are probably more successful Jewish physicists proportionately
than any other nation. And if you can work through
this, you’ll have a sharp mind, It will make you sharp. I’ll put it in my words. Paul is saying when you come
under the law, that’s a marriage contract by which
you’re married to your fleshly nature. Al right? Because the law works on
your fleshly nature and says do this,
don’t do that. It’s kind of held up
there as a set of rules speaking to you and saying
do this, don’t do that. And once you’re
under the law you’re married to this fleshly
nature of yours which is a rebel. And no matter how you
try to keep the law, you don’t succeed, because the rebel in you
won’t do the right thing. How many of you
would be honest enough to admit that’s
your experience? You really tried to do the
right thing and keep the rules and somehow
you didn’t succeed. Al right I won’t ask for any hands if
you don’t want to put them up. You’ll lose nothing
by raising your hand. So, Paul says as long as this fleshly
nature of ours remains alive, we’re not free to
marry another man. But the good news is that
when Jesus died on the cross, our fleshly nature was
put to death in Him. That's he said that in the
6th chapter of Romans. Our old man was crucified
with Him, Jesus. So now the flesh, having been
put to death, executed, Paul says we’re free
to marry somebody else. Whom should we marry? The one who was raised
from the dead. So we’re married now
by the Holy Spirit, we’re united to the
resurrected Christ. We're not married to the flesh,
we're not under the law When the law put us to death,
that’s the last it could do to us. Death has released us
from the law. We’re free now for a
different kind of union, a union through the Spirit
with the resurrected Christ. And, he goes on to say
that, chapter 7, verse 6: For when we were
in the flesh, [when we were controlled
by our fleshly nature] the passions of sin which were
aroused by the law were at work in our members
to bear fruit to death. That’s an astonishing statement
for most religious people. But it says the passions of
sin were aroused by the law. The law didn’t stop us sinning,
it stirred up sin in us. Paul comes to an example
in a little while so hold that in the pending file,
we’re going on. Verse 6: But now we have been delivered
from the law, having died to what we were
held by [that’s our fleshly nature] So that we should serve
in the newness of Spirit and not in the
oldness of the letter. So we’ve been delivered
from keeping the law as a means of achieving
righteousness because the thing
that the law dominated, our fleshly nature,
has been put to death. Now we can be married to another
person, the resurrected Christ. And what Paul says is through
marriage you bring forth offspring. When we were married
to the flesh, we brought off the
offspring of the flesh. And in Galatians 5 he lists
the works of the flesh, there’s not one
good thing in them. You see, if you’re
married to a bad man, you’re going to have bad children,
that’s the message. Now we’re free from that union. By the Holy Spirit we can be
united to the resurrected Christ and we bring forth the fruit of
His righteousness in us which is the fruit
of the Spirit. So you understand, in a way
it’s not what we try to do, it’s what we’re united with
that determines the way we live. This is really the essence
of the Christian message. See? As long as you are just
trying to be good and do the right thing
you haven’t grasped the message. The message is get united
to the right person and it will work out naturally. Maybe I should, I think I will say this now,
no I won't I'll come to it later. Al right. So now we’re going to go on
in Romans chapter 7 and Paul’s going to share
his own personal experience. It’s encouraging because
if it could happen to Paul It could happen
to you and me. You says,
What should we say then? Is the law sin? Was the law bad?
Was it wrong? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not
have known sin unless through the law. For I would not have
known covetousness unless the law had said,
YOU SHALL NOT COVET. So it was the commandment,
`You shall not covet’ that made me
aware of covetousness. See, before that
I wasn’t aware of it. But sin, taking opportunity
by the commandment, produced in me all
manner of evil desire; for from apart from the law
sin was dead. I was alive once without the law;
but when the commandment came, sin came to life,
and I died. Now, you can ponder
about that but let me suggest to you
it’s true to experience. I’ll share my own
experience, I think I’ve shared it previously
one other session but When I was confirmed in the
Anglican Church at the age of 15, for the first time
I realized I needed to be a lot
better than I was. So I learned all the questions,
memorized all the answers, and I said now I’m confirmed,
I’m going to be better. And I was quite sincere. The problem was the harder I tried to be
good, the quicker I got bad. I was not nearly so bad
until I tried to be good. Because I stirred up something in me,
I didn’t know what it was, It’s what Paul calls
the old man, the rebel, the flesh. And, he would not
do the right thing. My solution after about six months
was it doesn’t work for me. I said maybe it works for some
people but it doesn’t work for me. And in those days in
the Anglican Church we prayed the general confession
every Sunday morning and amongst other things we said, I
don’t know whether they still say it: Pardon us
miserable offenders. So in my rebellious
teen attitude I said if all religion can do is make
me a miserable offender, I can be an offender without
religion and not nearly so miserable. So that was my
personal decision. I’m not justifying what I’m doing
but I am pointing out to you that It’s when you really try
to do the right thing in your own strength that
you realize you can’t do it. The harder you try
the less you succeed. That was Paul’s experience. It happened to him,
it happens to millions of people. As a matter of fact, the people
who don’t know how bad they are, are the ones who never
tried to be good. Until you try to be good you don’t
know what you’re struggling with. This is universal. See, the old man
is the old man. He’s not the old Chinese man
or the old Russian man or the old British man, because it all
goes way back to our first forefather, Adam, who was a rebel. He never begat any children
until he was a rebel and every descendant of Adam
has the nature of a rebel in him which Paul calls the flesh,
the old man. And until the law comes we can
be quite happy and contented, Well, I’m as good as the rest. I’m not so bad after all. But when we see the law
and say, That’s right, that’s what I need to do,
that’s how I need to live, that’s when we discover what’s
really inside of us. You see? So the purpose of the law,
the primary purpose, is to bring sin to light. Because otherwise we can be
deceived all through our lives not knowing what we’re
really like inside. Let me go on reading. Paul says The commandment
verse 10 which was to bring
life I found to bring death; for sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me, and
by it killed me. It’s like sin is a
sort of assassin. It’s almost like sin
is personalized. And it was just waiting for
an opportunity to get at me. So when I was faced
with the commandment I said that’s what
I’m going to do. Sin deceived me and
through it killed me. Now Paul says:
Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandment
is holy and just and good. Paul is saying there’s
nothing wrong with the law. That’s not where
the problem is. The problem is in
you and me. Then he raises this question. Has then what is good
become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it
might appear sin, was producing death in me
through what is good, so that sin through the commandment
might become exceedingly sinful. In other words, the result of the commandment
is to bring sin out into the open and show us just
how wicked it is and how powerless
we are to deal with it. That’s the purpose of
the commandment. There are other purposes
but that’s the primary one. For we know the law is spiritual;
but I am carnal, sold under sin. That’s a very vivid picture,
if I may pause for a moment. Because, in the culture of
the Roman Empire when an army captured
prisoners from another nation, very frequently they were sold
as slaves in the slave market. And the soldiers
took the price. And when a person was
being sold as a slave they would stand on a block
with a post behind them and a spear was thrust out
from the post over their head. So to be sold as a slave,
was to be sold under a spear. That was the phrase. So Paul says I am carnal,
sold under sin. My sin is the spear that’s
stretched out over my head that causes me to be
sold as a slave. And something we need
to bear in mind, when a slave owner
buys a slave, the slave doesn’t decide
what he’s going to do; the owner does. And so you see, Satan has
some respectable slaves and some less
respectable slaves. But if you or I are one of
the respectable slaves, let’s not despise
the others because it’s not their choice,
it’s Satan’s choice. One woman that becomes a slave
may become a cook, another may become a prostitute
but it’s not her decision, it’s the decision of
the slave owner. So you see, some of us that
are respectable, good living slaves, we can point the finger at the
prostitute or the drug addict or whoever it may be and
say, there you are. The truth of the matter
is we’re all slaves. What kind of slaves we are,
it’s not our decision, it’s the slave master that
makes the decision. The good news, which I might
as well interrupt with now and then I’ll go back
to my theme, is one day Jesus walked
into the slave market and He said I’ll buy him,
I’ll buy her, he’s mine, she’s mine,
here’s the price: my precious blood. How would you feel if you
were standing there on the slave block waiting to be sold?
Naked, shivering with fear, people were walking up to you,
prodding your skin to see how young
you were or what health condition
you were in. And then this wonderful
prince of a man walks in and says I’ll buy her. And when He’s bought you
He gives you your liberty. You’d be excited,
wouldn’t you? See, the problem with us
as Christians is we’re not nearly excited enough, because we don’t really see
what God has done for us. So, going on, al right. Verse 14: for we know
that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal,
sold under sin. Now, only Paul ever had this
problem, I’m sure you’ll agree. For what I am doing,
I do not understand; for what I will to do
that I do not practice, but what I hate
that I do. How many would be
honest enough to say I know from experience
what that means? Would you put your hand
up and say that’s true. It’s certainly true
in my life. Al right. and Paul says
I don’t understand it. Here I am, I’m really wanting
to do the right thing. I can remember months when I
struggled with this problem. I don’t understand why
these things enslave me. In the end I decided to be a
good slave, that’s all I decided. I won’t fight,
I’ll just give way. But God in His mercy
decreed otherwise. Al right. Verse 16: If then I do
what I will not to do, I agree with the law,
that it is good. Now I’m saying the law is right,
that’s what I should be doing. I’m not criticizing the law. But now is the
crux of the matter. But now it is no longer
I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. When I make up my mind
to do the right thing I agree it’s the right thing,
I agree with what the law says. I say I’m going to do it
and I do the exact opposite. Then I discover it isn’t
really me that’s doing it, it’s sin that’s dwelling in me. And so you can say if you like
that the law is God’s diagnostic. You know what
a diagnostic is? Diagnoses your problem. You see? you go to
any doctor and say, Doctor, I’ve got a pain
in my stomach. He doesn’t just reach out
and take a bottle of pills, He tries to diagnose
the cause of the pain. Because when he knows the cause
then he can find the cure. And God has provided
this diagnosis for us. Here is how we can find
out the real problem. It’s sin dwelling in me. In a certain sense
it’s isolated sin. I am certainly no
pharmacologist but one of the jobs of
a pharmacologist in taking a specimen is
to isolate the particular thing that causes the sickness. And God has done
that by the law. He’s diagnosed the
root of the problem. It’s sin dwelling in me. It’s not me,
it’s something else. I’m responsible but it’s
not I that’s doing it. Al right. Now let’s go on
to the other way. We’ve said that we can’t achieve
righteousness with God by keeping a law. Not because there’s
anything wrong with the law, but because of
this problem in us. Basically you have to
come to that point If you’re really going to accept
God’s way of righteousness. God’s way is grace,
not law. Grace is God’s goodness
that we don’t deserve. I find religious people find it
hard to receive the grace of God because their thinking is I’ve
got to do something to earn it. Now when I got saved
I ceased to be religious so I just plunged in
and got everything. Saved, baptized in the
Holy Spirit, got gifts of the Holy Spirit
within a week. At the same time
the other soldier that went with me
to the same meeting was a very earnest
religious type and it took him weeks to get
what I got in a few days. Because, he kept
trying to earn it. See, he thought he had to
be good enough to get it. I’ve talked with scores
of people who don’t receive the baptism
in the Holy Spirit because they think they’ve
got to be good enough to earn it. You will never be
good enough to earn the baptism
in the Holy Spirit. Nothing you can do will ever
make you good enough for God the third person to come
and dwell in your physical body. It’s grace. Let’s say this together. Grace cannot be earned.
Will you say that? Grace cannot be earned.
That’s right. Turn around to the
person next to you and say grace
cannot be earned. Al right. so we’re talking
about something, If God hadn’t chosen to do it
it would have never happened. We will never understand
the grace of God but we can receive it. Al right. now we’re coming
to the crux of this matter which is it’s either law or grace
but you can’t have it both ways. Romans 6 verse 14 Paul is speaking to people
who’ve received the grace of God And he says: For sin shall not
have dominion over you; for you are not under
law but under grace. Notice they’re mutually exclusive. If you’re under law
you’re not under grace. If you’re under grace
you’re not under law. You cannot be under both. And notice also he says sin
will not have dominion over you because you are not
under the law. What’s the implication? If you are under the law sin
will have dominion over you. See that? That’s a very
important verse. It teaches us two things. If we try to achieve
righteousness by law, sin will have
dominion over us. Secondly, if we want to achieve
righteousness by grace we cannot achieve
it by law. We’ve got to make up our
minds it’s one or the other. And then if you look on in
Romans chapter 8 to verse 14, we’ve looked at
it already: For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. How do we live
as sons of God? By keeping a set of rules? No, By what? By being led by the Holy Spirit. That’s the only way we can live as
God’s mature, grown up children. Now, turning on to Galatians—and
you’ll find there’s a lot of correspondence between
Romans and Galatians Galatians chapter 5 Galatians 5 verse 18 But if you are led by the Spirit
you are not under the law. See that? How can you become
a son of God? By being led by the Spirit. But if you’re led by the Spirit
you’re not under the law. You cannot have it both ways,
you have to make a choice. Actually, for most
professing Christians, law or a set of rules
is like a crutch. They limp around supporting
themselves on the crutch. God says throw the
crutch away and trust me. And we say but what will
I do without the crutch? I mean, I have discovered that it
frightens people to trust God’s grace, really to commit
themselves to that. We all want to hang on to a little
set of rules that we keep, that’s our crutch.
It doesn’t work. Let’s look in 2 Corinthians
chapter 3 for a moment. I’d like to read the
first three verses. These verses always bless me
and they always challenge me. Do we begin again to
commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others,
letters of commendation to you or letters of
commendation from you? Paul says do we need to get
somebody to write and tell you that our ministry
is to be accepted? He says no,
that’s not necessary. Do we need you to write and tell
other people to accept our ministry? That’s not necessary. And then he makes this
tremendous statement: You are our letter, written in our
hearts, known and read by all men. What Paul is saying is if anybody
wants to know my theology, go to Corinth. Because, it’s written
there not on paper but in the lives of
men and women. Because when I went
to Corinth no one had ever heard
the gospel of Jesus. It was a city full of pimps
and prostitutes and homosexuals and drunkards and extortioners
and all sorts of wicked people. And now there are thousands of those
people living pure Godly lives. That’s my letter. That’s the recommendation
that I offer of my ministry. See, would to God, brothers and
sisters, that we could say the same. You want to know
what I believe? Go and look at the people
I’ve ministered to. They’re my letter. There you’ll find out
what I really believe. And then Paul
goes on in verse 3: You are manifestly
a letter of Christ, ministered by us,
written not with ink, but by the Spirit
of the living God, not on tablets of stone,
but on tablets of flesh; that is, of the heart. Paul says the law was
written on tablets of stone, it was external And it didn’t do any good because
the problem was inside the people. But he says by the Spirit I can
write God’s laws on your heart and what’s on your heart will
determine the way you live. When God’s law is on your
heart you live God’s way. I quoted earlier, yesterday
I think, Proverbs 4:23: Keep your heart
with all diligence, for out of it
are the issues of life. You see, I’m a preacher. And I tell you, preaching
is a waste of time unless the Holy Spirit
is there. Because I can’t write
on your hearts, there’s no way I can make
access to your hearts. But if I preach and the Holy Spirit
honors what I say, He’ll write on your heart. And that’s what
will change you. You could go out of
this meeting this afternoon totally changed,
some of you, If the Holy Spirit has written
the message on your heart. What a blessed ministry! Being able to change
people’s lives! I’m not interested in
religion myself, I could care less
about religion. The only thing that interests
me is seeing people changed by the power of God. People who were miserable
and depressed and hopeless suddenly filled with peace and joy
and finding something to live for. That’s what keeps me going. I’m 73, I’m not contemplating
retiring because I enjoy what I do. It’s not a religious drudgery
for me, it’s exciting. It’s exciting only because
of the Holy Spirit. Every time I preach I say to the
Holy Spirit if you’re not there and you don’t anoint, this is
all going to be a waste of time. I’d just as well close the
meeting before it begins. But where the Holy Spirit
is, anything can happen. You’ve probably
heard of C.T. Studd, the famous university graduate
from my university, Cambridge. He played cricket for
England and so on. He became a missionary and
one time he prayed this. He said, Lord, give us seasons
of glorious disorder. I say amen. Lord, I’m tired of this religious
order that keeps on doing the same thing week after week and
never changes anything or anyone. I don’t mind if people stand on
their heads if they get changed. Mind you, it might
change people, too. Al right. So, let’s try and sort of make it
clear what we’re talking about. God’s way of righteousness and
holiness is not struggling but yielding. Did you get that,
I’ll say it again. Not struggling but yielding. Yielding to the Holy Spirit. Come to the end
of your efforts and say, Holy Spirit, take over.
I can’t handle this situation But you can. It doesn’t mean
you don’t need willpower. What it means is you’ve got to
use your willpower differently. You’ve got to use your willpower
not to try to do it yourself. I’m a very independent,
strong-minded person. My natural instinct is
any time I have a problem, I’ll think of the solution. It’s taken me years to come to
the place where I don’t do that. I say, Lord, what is
your solution? And very often
it’s very different from anything I would
ever have thought of. The Christian life
is not a life of struggle, it’s a life of yielding
to the Holy Spirit within us. And then it’s not
effort but union. You see what we talked about
from Romans 7 at the beginning? The question is what
are you married to? If you’re married to
your fleshly nature you’ll bring forth the
works of the flesh. You can struggle as much as you
like but this is a biological law. But, if through the Holy Spirit
you’re united with the resurrected Christ through that union you’ll
bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. Do you understand? Let me say that again. Not struggling but yielding. Would you say that? Not struggling but yielding. Not effort but union. Not effort but union. Let’s look in John 15
for a moment. This is the parable of
the vine and the branches. Jesus is speaking, we’ll
just look at three verses. Verse 1: I am the true vine, my
Father is the vinedresser. Do you have vines in this part
of the world? Probably not. But anyhow, they’re a fruit bearing
tree that needs very careful pruning. If you don’t prune a vine
at the right time of the year in the right way it ceases
to bring forth grapes. And so Jesus said I am the vine, my Father is the one
who does the pruning. And then He goes on to say in
verses 4 and 5 to His disciples: Abide in me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, unless it abides
in the vine, neither can you
unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you
are the branches; he who abides in me,
and I in him, bears much fruit; for without
me you can do nothing. Now, a vine does not bear
grapes with a lot of effort. It doesn’t make resolutions and say now I’m going
to bring forth grapes. That’s not the
way it happens. How does it happen? It’s united to the trunk,
to the stock of the vine. And the same life
that’s in the trunk flows through the branches in the sap, and the
life in the branches brings forth the
appropriate kind of fruit. Jesus said I am the vine,
you are the branches. If you will remain related
to me in me, joined to me, you’ll bring forth much fruit. And then He gave us a warning
which is very important. He said but you’ve got
to expect to be pruned. You see, there’s some
Christians who have problems because they’re not
bearing much fruit. There are other Christians who have
problems because they’re bearing fruit. And Jesus said every
branch in me that bears fruit my Father is going
to prune it. If you’ve ever seen a vine
pruned, it’s ruthless. They cut back the branches
right back to the stem. You think that thing is never
going to bear fruit again. But next year
it’s more fruitful. Some of you are struggling
with things that are your fault but many of you are
struggling with things that are the results of bearing
fruit; the Father is pruning you. Don’t give up. Don’t say why should
this happen to me, I’ve sincerely tried
to serve the Lord, I’m really doing my best and
I’ve done this, this and this. That's why it's happened. You’ve borne fruit, now
you’re going to be purged. Can you take a sigh of
relief and say praise God? Praise God! It’s a good sign, see? But the message I want to
bring out is it’s not effort. All your effort
won’t do it. No effort will produce one
grape in a thousand years. It’s what? It’s union. See, there’s a
beautiful parable there, I’ve been talking
about the Godhead: the Father, the Son
and the Spirit. All three persons of
the Godhead are in that. The Father is
the vine dresser, Jesus is the vine and
the Holy Spirit is the sap that flows up through
the vine and into the branches. And that’s what brings forth
fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. Not the fruit of our best
efforts, not the fruit of religion but the fruit of the Spirit. Now let me give you
just a little parable which I’ve used to try
and make this vivid to people. I want to say I’m sharing
out of my experience. These things are real to me
because I’ve been through them. I’ve struggled.
I’ve tried. I’ve tried to be more religious,
I’ve worked harder at it. I’ve felt so frustrated
I didn’t know what to do. But I learned that this is part of
the process that makes a Christian. So I want to give you
this little parable. The parable is this. You’re in a certain place
and you need to find the way to a distant destination over
country that you’ve never traveled. And you have two options. You can have a map or you
can have a personal guide. You understand the parable?
The map is the law. It’s perfect.
Every detail is exactly right. Every single item in the
geography is correctly marked. Or, you can say I won’t take the
map, I’ll take a personal guide. Who is the personal guide? The Holy Spirit, that’s right. So, what happens? You’ve got this young man
graduated from university, he’s strong, he’s clever,
he’s pretty self-reliant. God says what do you want,
the map or the guide? He says I’m good at reading
maps, I’ll take the map. He sets off down the road,
knowing the right direction to go. The sun is shining, the birds
are singing and he feels happy. He says this is
a piece of cake. About three days later he’s
in the middle of a jungle, it’s midnight, it’s raining hard and he’s on the
edge of a precipice. He doesn’t know whether he’s
facing north, south, east or west. And a gentle voice says to
him, Can I help you? And he says, Oh,
Holy Spirit! I need you! I need you! The Holy Spirit says,
Give me your hand and I’ll get you out of this. A little while later they’re
out on the road again and walking along
side by side. Then it occurs to him, I was
pretty silly to get so panicky just about being
in that jungle. I could have made
it on my own. So he turns around,
the guide isn’t there any longer. So he says, I can make it
on my own. Off he sets. About two days later
he’s in the middle of a bog and every step he takes
he sinks a little deeper. And he doesn’t
know what to do. He says, I can’t
ask for help again. The last time I got it and
I didn’t do the right thing. The Holy Spirit says,
Let me help you. And out he comes onto
the road again, setting off. They’re making fine
progress and then he thinks, Well, I’ve still got the map. And he pulls the map out
and says to the Holy Spirit, Maybe you’d like the map. And the Holy Spirit says,
Thanks, I know the way, I don’t need the map. He said, As a matter of fact,
I made the map. So, my question to
you and me is how often does
that have to happen? How many times will we go
back to trusting our own wisdom and our own cleverness
and snubbing the Holy Spirit? There’s one other picture which is taken from
the 24th chapter of Genesis. It’s very, very simple. It’s the story of how Abraham
got a bride for his son Isaac. You remember the story, he sent his steward back
to the land of Mesopotamia to find a relative
of his own family. This is a parable, you understand.
It’s history but it’s a parable. Abraham is a type
of God the Father. Isaac is a type of Jesus
Christ the only Son. The bride, the chosen bride, whose
name was Rebekah, is a type of what? The church, that’s right. There’s one other main
character who’s nameless and that’s the steward.
He’s never named. What’s the steward a type of? The Holy Spirit.
Do you see that? This is the Holy Spirit’s
self-portrait in Genesis 24. And the characteristic thing is
he doesn’t even name Himself. So, out goes the steward and
he takes ten camels with him with all sorts of equipment
and laden with gifts because he’s going
to choose a bride. And in the Middle East, whenever you make a significant
choice and build a relationship, I mean in the Middle East, you always give a gift. And if you receive the gift
you’ve received the person. If you refuse the gift
you’ve refused the person. It’s absolutely a critical moment. I’ve lived in that part
of the world and I tell you, camels carry a lot. I mean, they can carry an
immense amount of luggage. So there’s ten camels. He arrives at the place
where the well is and he prays and now
he says I’m going to ask one of the young women
that come out for water. And let the one that’s
the chosen women say to me, I’ll draw water for
you and for your camels. And bear in mind, a camel
can drink forty gallons of water. So, ten camels is four
hundred gallons of water. Well, along comes Rebekah
and the steward says, Give me some drink.
And she says, Certainly. And I’ll draw for your camels.
And he says this is the girl. And let me tell you,
that’s faith with works. It takes a lot of strength
to draw water for ten camels. And then he pulls out
this beautiful jewel, places it on her forehead
and what happens? The moment she wears
the jewel it marks her out as
the appointed bride. What would have happened
if she’d refused the jewel? She would never have
become the bride. What will happen to a church that
refuses the gifts of the Holy Spirit? It cannot be the bride. And then you know
the rest of the story. But what I want to point out to
you is Rebekah never had a map. She’d never been
where she was going. But she had a guide. She’d never seen the
man she was to marry, she’s never seen his father. She only had one source of
information, the steward. That’s like you and me. We can’t make it with a map
but we can have a guide. We will never see heaven,
we’ll never see the Lord in person, we’ll never see God
the Father in this life. But the Holy Spirit will
tell us what to expect. Can you say thank you
God for the Holy Spirit?
