Gospel of John [Joh 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 36. 1Th 5:19; Rom 8:12-14; 2Co 12:7-10.Title: Gospel of John [Joh 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 36. 1Th 5:19; Rom 8:12-14; 2Co 12:7-10.
Conditions for the filling of the Spirit.
The leading of the Spirit is only for those who are already committed to do the will of God. He is able to speak loud enough to make a willing soul hear.
"Though the demands are superhuman, there is no ground upon which it properly can be considered a burden or bondage to avoid the quenching of the Spirit. Every demand which the presence of the Spirit engenders is in itself a path into untold riches of blessing. In truth, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the riches of His benefits constitute an earnest and foretaste of heaven’s immeasurable realities. Spiritual sanity will never shrink from the obligations which life in company with the Holy Spirit creates. Those obligations at best may be but partially discharged, but the ambition to comply with all that they exact should never be lacking." [Chafer]
This is an exhortation to continue to accept the will of God and surrender to it as was adopted in the original act of faith. Yet we must be reminded that God never gives us more than we can bear. If we have initially said yes to God's will before it becomes clear and then say no to it once it does become clear then we must deal with our antinomian mind and soul. God in His grace is going to keep presenting the believer with this important decision because God loves every believer as He loves His Son. The blessedness of His life for us, which is Christ, is far greater than any we could develop on our own in the world and under the flesh.
In this walk with God and our constant adjustment of our thinking unto His the believer has the most peculiar relationship with the word of God.
Unlike any other life man could choose for himself, the Christian has a standard or canon by which to grow and live. No other type of life has such a relationship to a body of words. Submission to this truth, embodied in the word of God, becomes the lifelong work of the Spirit in teaching and revealing it as well as bringing it to the believer's remembrance. Obviously, a refusal to submit to the word of God as a continuous lifestyle would be quenching the Holy Spirit. The soul constantly breathes information and that which is against God in other philosophies, religions, or systems of thinking that are anti-Christ will not be taught by GHS.
In guidance we are to trust the Spirit to apply the general principles of doctrine to the specific circumstances of life. If we do not, we quench Him.
There are many spiritual decisions for which the word of God does not give specific instruction. The wisdom from doctrine and faith in the Spirit to supernaturally lead will make for a life of divine good decisions. This guidance does not follow some regular pattern. One believer may be led one way while another in a different way. One may be called to service in a particular situation and another may not, though he may be ready. Certainly in every case the Spirit is not going to lead us in the way that the flesh would. These are in opposition to one another.
Rom 8:12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —
Rom 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Rom 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
The Spirit stopped Paul from going to one part of Asia, only to minister to all of Asia on a later trip.
Act 16:6 And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;
Act 16:7 and when they had come to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia [northern Asia Minor], and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;
Act 16:8 and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
Act 16:9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
Act 16:10 And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Ah, a vision would be nice. Yet your are not the apostle Paul building the foundation of the Church. The Holy Spirit in His way will make the decision clear enough for you to act upon it. Do you have faith in that?
Act 19:10 And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Paul eventually had to accept his thorn in the flesh, for it was the Sovereign will of God.
2Co 12:7 And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me — to keep me from exalting myself!
2Co 12:8 Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
"boast about my weaknesses" - perfect peace by trusting in God's perfect will despite the "pain" of the thorn. This a beautiful witness of God in this world.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I am well content [well pleased] with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
The weak are strong when they submit to the will of God.
The suffering saint evinces a sweetness of testimony and a fullness of the Spirit which is unknown in others.
Yieldness to the Spirit includes submission to the plain teachings of the word of God, obedience to the guidance of the HS, and acceptance in faith of the providential acts of God.
The real you is your personality or what the Bible refers to as the heart. The heart is used as a symbol of the will, the emotions, and the reason of a person, or put otherwise, the intellect, sensibility, and the will of a person. The intellect must submit to the teaching ministry of the Spirit. The sensibility must submit to the guidance of the Spirit. The will must submit to the power of God the Holy Spirit.
The heart cannot be empty and full. The usage of the word fullness, used in contrast to drunkenness in Eph 5:18, speaks of control, influence, possession, and empowering. The will is always in the heart, but to what is it willing? The sensibility is always there, but to what is it choosing? The intellect is always there but what does it know and believe to be true?
To see an example of this we go to what might look on the surface to be an unlikely place. The harmony or lack of in the Corinthian church is somewhat like a type of the believer's soul. One of the fruit of the Spirit is peace. In order to have peace authority must be obeyed. Without authority there is chaos. The authority is God and His word. A soul that has God's peace is a soul that is subjected to the authority of God through His word and the control of the Holy Spirit.
It seems that the Corinthians were blessed with many temporary and spectacular spiritual gifts.
[Vine's Expository Dictionary] "The peace, order, and edification of the saints were evidence of the ministry of the Spirit among them, but if, through ignorance of His ways, or through failure to recognize, or refusal to submit to, them, or through impatience with the ignorance or self-will of others, the Spirit were quenched, these happy results would be absent.
For there was always the danger that the impulses of the flesh might usurp the place of the energy of the Spirit in the assembly, and the endeavor to restrain this evil by natural means would have the effect of hindering His ministry also. Apparently then, this injunction was intended to warn believers against the substitution of a mechanical order for the restraints of the Spirit."
1Co 14:26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
Let all be done for the edification of others. Otherwise I am doing for myself and that would be quenching the Holy Spirit.
1Co 14:27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret [for edification of the whole church];
1Co 14:28 but if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.
1Co 14:29 And let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment [examine carefully].
1Co 14:30 But if a revelation is made to another who is seated [not your turn], let the first keep silent [there will be time to communicate it later].
1Co 14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted;
1Co 14:32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets;
1Co 14:33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
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