Gospel of John [Joh 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 55. Gal 5:16; Php 2:12-18; Heb 13:15-16.

Title: Gospel of John [JOH 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 55. GAL 5:16; Php 2:12-18; HEB 13:15-16.

 

The positive command to "walk by means of the Spirit."

 

This is a commitment on the part of the believer. A commitment in faith of what the Spirit will do in all that is required of Him.

 

It is not merely asking for help, but it is more of an entering into a definite covenant understanding with God in which natural ability and resources are laid aside and renounced and confidence is exercised toward the Spirit that He will Himself actuate and motivate the entire life, one day at a time.

 

If Christianity were a made up religion like the rest there would be rules that were easier to follow. Christianity cannot compete with made up religions that are based on basic simplicities of human psychology. There is simplicity of devotion to Christ, but Christianity is not simplistic. It takes a great amount of a person's life to mature in it. There are not ten commands but hundreds. It is a manifold or multifaceted wisdom from God that is based on fact and not fiction. Because it is based on the real and facts it cannot be simplistic like all other religions. Anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about.

 

This entails a very real expectation or hope as well as an attitude of thanksgiving as well as time to time evaluation.

 

Again, there is no indication, manifestation, or identification of either the presence or the activity of the Spirit beyond the noticeable results that He achieves.

 

The Spirit is producing in us that which is pleasing to God.

 

Php 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation [deliverance] with fear and trembling;

 

Php 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

 

Php 2:14 Do all things without grumbling [complaining] or disputing [questioning or doubting];

 

Php 2:15 that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

 

Php 2:16 holding fast [hold to firmly] the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

 

Php 2:17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

 

Php 2:18 And you too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

 

The source of Paul's joy was his ability to serve and sacrifice through the power of the indwelling Spirit. No matter what happened to him in his personal life, this was his true source of joy and he urges us to rejoice in the same way, for it has eternal results and is pleasing to the Lord [vs. 13].

 

It is obvious that this must be desired by the believer, for it is not found in any part of the world other than the positive believer who has submitted his life unto the will of God. He must desire it while knowing it will not be present in his life without complete submission to the Spirit’s ministry. It will not be promoted in the world but rather mocked as stupidity.

 

A Syrian writer of satire around 180 AD.

The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account... You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property. [Lucian, The Death of Pelegrine, 180 AD]

 

The question every believer must answer is if God and His will are real enough to forsake worldly or fleshly dominance in his life? Each must answer for himself and each will be brought to a place by God where the answer, for or against, is urgent.

 

GEN 32:24

Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

 

The truly positive believer who walks in the light will be moved to thanksgiving as he experiences the fruit of the Spirit in his life.

 

How could he not? He has produced fruit through the grace gifts of God. He willingly followed and relied upon the Spirit who was given to him. He willingly submitted to the will of the Father's plan that was given to him. He learned and relearned the word of God that was given to him. He used the volition that was given to him.

 

HEB 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

 

Before the cross the sacrifice was a Levitical offering according to the instruction of the Mosaic Law. Yet now the offering is a celebration in the heart of praise and reverent awe of God as well as thankfulness for what He has done. Also, in the next verse, there is also what the finished work is now able to produce in the believer which is virtue, the fruit of the Spirit in accordance with the strength of His might.

 

EPH 1:18

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

 

EPH 1:19-20

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places

 

HEB 13:16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

 

Hence, GAL 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Unfortunately the spiritual life has been misstated and misunderstood.

 

The impression has been created that the natural functions of human life are to be set aside and the mind and will are rendered dormant, to the end that the Spirit may exercise His own mind and will.

 

Such a notion is foreign to the plan of God as that purpose is revealed in the New Testament.

 

The Spirit clothes Himself with the believer’s body and faculties and, without manifestations of Himself, works in and through those faculties.

 

Though thus hidden from observation, it is nonetheless the uncomplicated work of the Spirit. With the tremendous issue of the believer’s life in view, it is evident that definiteness in the matter of the believer’s attitude of trust is of major importance.

 

Yet, there is very strong opposition to this trust and resultant walk by the Spirit. The scripture discloses that the believer faces unceasingly on the negative side of his spiritual life three superior foes - the world, the flesh, and the devil.

 

On the positive side of his spiritual life he faces the superhuman responsibility of producing the fruit of the Spirit and growing to maturity, to the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ through the Spirit's filling and his consistent education in the scriptures. It's quite a life for those who take the time to see it and understand it.

 

How could such a journey be undertaken if it were not for the filling of the Spirit, the finished work and victory of the Lord, the constant comfort from the Father's plan, and the constant reminders of the promises of God who has manifested the most dramatic change to a fallen creature in the history of history?

 

There is a two-fold victory: 1) the conflict with foes. 2) the God honoring manner of life and service. Both depend on an unhindered relationship to the Spirit.

 

The victory both in the sphere of conflict with foes and in the sphere of a God-honoring manner of life and service depends wholly on a relationship to the Spirit which is unhindered with respect to the presence of evil and actively reliant on Him for the outworking of His perfect will.