The Person and Work, of the Holy Spirit lesson 29

OK, so two people or three people said to me last week, boy, we've got to continue that conversation that we were having, which conversation had to do with, I think, simply put, what is worship in the spirit and worship in the truth? And we had a conversation about the Brethren worship time in their meetings and comments were made about charismatics and what they call worship.

Basically what's the word worship mean? To declare worth. So the point being is that worship, the person or the the focus of the one whose worship must be worthy of the worship. We all laugh in our society because some of these Hollywood types are worshipped and they are totally unworthy. What does that say about me if I'm going to be a worshipper and I'm going to worship the Lord Jesus, what do I have to have in place in order for me to actually worship Him. I've got to know Him. You can tell me I need to worship Him and we're going to have a worship ceremony and we're going to play music and we're going to do whatever, but if I don't have at least the beginnings of intimacy with Christ, what am I doing? I'm faking it. In truth is the Lord Jesus himself. That's right. That we're in him.

And that relates to another doctrine we talk a lot about, which is the doctrine that the Word of God is designed specifically to reveal the person of Christ to the believer. Lots of theologians get really smart and get degrees about doctrine, that would have trouble recognizing the Lord Jesus if he walked in the room because they're focused on the doctrine. If you understand what the doctrine is for, to reveal Christ to us spiritually, then it makes sense. It goes together, slides together. See that? I think that's a really important principle that we probably don't talk enough about. God's desire is for us to know his Son. It's a greater desire than we have to know him. His desire that we know him is way more intense than ours is.

But if you understand what he's doing and what he's up to vis-a-vis the work of the Holy Spirit, he's revealing truth to us and principles that the truth states, but in that revelation is a person and his name is Jesus Christ, the glorified Jesus Christ. See that? So if we start with that premise, then we understand that all of these ecclesiastical forms of quote-unquote worship, if they don't do that, what are they? How would you classify them? One way you could classify them is that they're Jewish. The whole Jewish system was symbols of what really went on in heaven. Well, where are you and I positioned in the heavenlies?

We don't need the symbols. But if you look around in Christendom, in most churches, that's all they have is symbols. Because they think, well, I'm talking to my buddies. They kind of know the Lord Jesus. Maybe they know him as Savior. But the symbols really give me a clue as to what maybe worship is all about. When in fact, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord in his word, causes us to be worshipful because we see him. There's a growing intimacy with him. And anything other than that isn't spirit and isn't truth, I don't think.

Comments? Oh, is that clear? Maybe I'll speak louder more often. I think one of the things that's interesting about 1 Corinthians 14, 19, so that's one of the verses that we talked about briefly last week. Right. And, and, and right out, it's called this the manner of worship. And it's interesting because that word, you know, that's a, that's an interesting choice of words, right?

So we're not talking about a, a lot of times we think of worship as like, Oh, that happens at 10 o'clock, you know, on a Wednesday, whatever. So at some point in time, we gather together for worship, but it would seem to me that And what Paul's talking about for the instruction of the church in this chapter, that he's talking about the outcome. And he asks the question, what is the outcome of having, you know, gathered together? And he talks about when you assemble, you have psalms, you have songs. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't, but you can. And then you have some teaching, and you have revelation, and it goes on to talk about the tongues, and we know that that's ceased. And then he wraps it all up, and he says, let all things be done for edification. And so worship is an attitude, and it's an environment, but it's not like a plan. It doesn't seem to be like a planned service that's unique and distinct.

It's an attitude that happens when the church gets together. We share. Teachings that we share things that we're encouraged by we share songs that are we're encouraged by but all of those elements of edification are meant to have a hundred percent focus on the eternal attributes and nature of our creator our God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the intimacy that we have with him through the cross and Being identified with him in his resurrection and when we talk about those things these are the kinds of things that come out worship and is the manner that governs the body when they gather together and they start to focus on God's work. I do think that this is talking about something a little different than structured teaching. This is talking about more of the manner of worship that happens as we gather together and assemble. So that was some thoughts that I carried away from last week. I don't know, I'd be interested if there's any response to that.

Well, JD, I think this is more talking about edification of the body, and that's part of worship. But I think what we were talking about, which we're going to have today, the Lord's Table, that's a different focus. It's not edifying the body. This is focusing on worshiping, pointing to Christ, glorifying God. We, by product, are edified by it. But I think the focus of that part of the worship is solely to focus on remembrance and Christ and not on us as a byproduct or a focus of where, you know, Paul's here talking about tongues and what that means to the body.

In our worship service, which we have in the Lord's Table, I think that is a different one that's solely focusing on the Lord. Yeah, I didn't have that in mind, Courtney. So thanks for bringing that up. Because when we say worship service, we oftentimes incorporate the Lord's Supper into that. Because we're commanded to, right? We're instructed. Yes. Right. So that I didn't think of that being being a part of that. So that's a good clarification. Rideout contributes to that same thought with question two and three.

Under the law, what was the material for worship? And under the law, he says, all Israel's feasts of joy centered around the sacrifice, the sacrifice of the lambs or the goats or whatever they were sacrificing. And then question three is 1 Corinthians 10, 16 and 17. He quotes, as the material for our worship, explain what he means. 1st Corinthians 10 16 and 17 he says is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ is Not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ since there is one bread We who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread or the one the King James is one loaf, so I Right out says, just as all Israel's feasts of joy centered around the sacrifice, so do all ours around the memorial of our Lord's finished sacrifice.

Yeah, and I'm not sure that there's a lot in any worship service or any time of worship. There are two things I was struck in the conversation. One, is the finished work of Christ is critical for our understanding. And two, well, let me do it in the form of a question.

Do you think that it's more edifying to have fellowship around remembrance of Christ or just on your own? In other words, is it more advantageous to us from an edification standpoint to be involved with a group of believers and the Lord's Table and a fellowship about that together, or can I just do it at home whenever I want? I'm sorry?

As a group. It's more edifying to me. It may just be me, To me, fellowship with other believers is paramount in a Christian life. It's just the coolest thing ever. Yeah. Even a grumpy guy like Courtney, we get on the phone and we start talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm edified. I really am. Anybody who has Christ somewhere in the center of their life, you get edified by just chatting with him. Alan and I talk. We get out and fight with each other. It's a really cool thing. I'm just wondering, does Donna have a mirror at home? Just curious. I don't look at it. I'm reading the Bible.

You know, I think, strangely enough, after our discussions last week of spirit-led meetings like the Plymouth Brethren have had, I've been asked to lead the Lord's table today. But one of the things is also, the early church was, you know, basically set up in Acts 2.42 to come together, and they did it any time, any place, anywhere.

And that was, you know, anytime they gathered, they broke bread. And, you know, that's in keeping with this 1 Corinthians 10, you know, that you broke bread, you had a remembrance every time you met together. And so it wasn't just, you know, on Sunday, but it was usually when they met together.

So it was more of a group. It wasn't as much, but I assume the similar would be just as a family, you know, they would remember the Lord. So again, it's the importance of remembering, which we'll get into in the Lord's Table today. What does it mean and why? Mike, kind of my thought in some of that is, you read those verses in 1 Corinthians 10, and it's talking about the sharing in the body.

There's the unity, but the body aspect, and we talk about how worship is focused on is based in a revelation of who Jesus Christ is. He's the object of our worship. Christ is the greatest, the clearest revelation of the glory of God to us, right? But we are the body of Christ present here.

So as we gather to interact with one another, I think that the glory of Christ is revealed to us through those fellow members of the body as the Holy Spirit works through them to minister to us, because each part ministers to another part. So there's this glorification of Christ that happens through his body as we gather together and as we share with one another the intimacy that we have with Christ, and the result is that he's glorified and worshipped. Does that make sense? I don't know. Yeah, no, I think that's fine.

Yeah, it's like through COVID, I think the big sacrifice in COVID was we weren't supposed to get together. And as beneficial as Zoom has been to us, Zoom is not the same thing. Zoom just doesn't do fellowship the way that I think it should be done, face-to-face, personal. But it does allow Miles in Canada to join us. I don't want to discount the beauty of Zoom too, but I understand your point. It's so much better to be in fellowship here together, and as we get more and more coming back, it's much different than Zoom. I think Zoom is allowed during that COVID time to be able to, you know, meet when, you know, being subject to the authorities as Romans 13, we were to not meet and all that. I think it's been a great, and you know, for others to join in. I mean, there's others in the other class that join in from far away.

You know, it's like you watch this time of year, you have two major sporting events going on. One is the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. And the other one is the NBA playoffs, right? In all of those cases, they will show you the arena that they're playing in. But then they also show you all the guys standing outside watching the video who couldn't get tickets. And they're trying to identify with, well, that's what Zoom does. You get to watch it on the screen. You're not in the arena. Maybe they don't serve beer out there, I don't know.

Like all things, there are good things and not so good things about technology. It allows us to listen to other people's viewpoints or teachings on certain things that you wouldn't get otherwise. Gee, you had to go back and read it after the book was published. which now you can almost, a lot of things you can listen live. We were driving to the airport on Friday listening to a tape and it's a good thing we weren't in fellowship because we were criticizing the guy. So, anyway.

So, Reinholdt says that the Lord's Supper is not the means of grace we would selfishly make of it, though most blessedly does it ripen and mature the Christian character when rightly entered into, nor is it any sense the sacrifice that ritualism would make of it."

One of the things you'll see in what the Catholics call communion service, it's a ritual, not the same thing, not the same thing. Right out says it is the only feast of Christianity. What do you think about that statement? It's the only feast of Christianity.

Reading on, we have set before us the emblems of our Lord's death and as we recall the death we have him before us, his person. His love, His grace, all the infinite fullness of Himself. So we are thus to dwell upon Him, led of the Spirit of God. Praise finds its impulse and ascends as a sweet Savior of Christ unto God.

And lastly, he says, I do not limit that worship. I do not limit that worship, but do claim, according to Scripture, that it should have the commanding place. It should be the center of the Lord's table. I agree with what he's saying. Yeah, I do too. I think it's interesting that he said, I do not limit it. What do you think that means in this context? I do not limit worship to the Lord's table, but it is the commanding service. Yes. I agree.

So incidentally, we talk about, and that's kind of what I was talking about earlier, is that there's incidental worship. It comes because of who we are. We worship because we're redeemed creatures, right? But we have this very clear commanding, and I like how Rideout puts it, it's the center around which worship clings. This is the Lord's Supper. It's the center around which worship clings and from which it radiates. I thought that was a really cool way of saying that, because what does the Lord's Supper cause you to do? And Courtney mentioned it earlier. It all starts with remembering. So where's your focus? Where does the focus of your worship go? And that's something that I found very interesting there. Good point. A couple other comments, one from Kelly, William Kelly. The liturgies of the church today invariably fall back upon the feelings of man with the slight tincture of gospel and a large infusion of law. That's 1860.

There may be sublime language, glowing ideas, chiefly borrowed from the Old Testament, but in substance they are utterly beneath intelligent Christian use. You get that? The thing that would be sublime language and glowing ideas are beneath intelligent Christian use, far more Jewish than Christian.

And I think that's what you see in most denominations. You see some form of Judaism. I mean, I don't know if you've ever. Again, my reference is Catholicism. You walk into a Catholic church and you know how it's set up. You have the place where everybody sits.

That's the outer court. Then you have the inner court, which is on the other side of the communion rail. or it's up on the platform. That's the holy place. And then you have this little gold thing in the middle of the altar where the Lord's elements are, which they think are really the body and blood of Christ. That's the Holy of Holies. And most of those cathedrals are built in the shape of a cross. When I was in high school, that's the kind of church we had to go to every day. I was hoping to be on this side of the cross over here because I could sleep and they wouldn't see me.

So you see that with a lot of, it's one of the giveaways as to whether the group that you're hanging around with is biblically based in Christian truth. Kelly says, true worship is always according to the revelation of the Word. I like that statement. I think that's right. He says, Jewish worship was set out in figures and shadows. Yeah, it was. Salvation that the Jews had before their eyes was still a thing coming. It was a prospect. and not yet brought home to the heart as a present reality while they waited for the Messiah, the worship was suited to that waiting for the Messiah.

But here's the thing, you know one of the great things about the book of Hebrews is the whole part in the middle of it about how the writer, most people think it's Paul, takes because the book is written to Hebrews, it takes the Hebrews who have become believers, Christians, out of Judaism into Christianity.

And how does he do that? He does it by enumerating to them the blessings they have of being a Christian. But the most important part is 1019. Enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Christ. He's not talking about the high priest once a year. He's talking about every single believer. And you know what's cool about that? There's no word as you go through the rest of Hebrews of where they ever left.

Once you get into the Holy of Holies, you stay there because that's your home. That's our home. So what goes on in there? Let's say you enter into the Holy of Holies. What's going on in there? Haven't you been there? Aren't you there now? What goes on in there? Worship goes on in there. Why? Because what do you do in there? What's the atmosphere? What's going on? I think it's the beholding of the Lord Jesus in His glory. Because in the temple, what was behind the Holy of Holies? The Shekinah glory. The glory of God. Colossians tells us that the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. He's in there.

We get to go in boldly by faith, but that never says, you know, you get to come out on Fridays like you'd want to. You wouldn't want to once you got in. Do you think that there's a time in a growing believer's life when there comes a realization of those facts and they go in. One of the things I'm going to talk about later is come out from among them and be separate. That's an event. Is boldly entering the Holy of Holies an event in a Christian's life? What do you think? Yes. I got a yes. What do you think? I think so. I think so. So when does that happen? At your new birth, or is that...

Well if you think of it, if we ask the question of what was the focus in the Holy of Holies for Israel, obviously it was a temporary sacrifice, but we have a sacrifice, we have a way that that sacrifice is presented, and we have a substitution. And then we have an atonement for the sins of those that presented the sacrifice and had faith in what it represented. And so when we think about our salvation, there's substitution.

Christ died on that cross. I didn't. And it was satisfactory to God. And it covered permanently, not temporarily, those sins that I stand guilty before the Creator with. The concepts are exactly the same, it's just that for us we behold it from a perspective of past and complete. But the concept or the focus of what happened when we believed with substitution and atonement are very real and are to be remembered regularly, right? We did enter into the Holy of Holies the moment we were placed in Christ, right?

That moment. From a positional standpoint, yes. That's what I was trying to get at, I think. It's position and condition. Positionally, we're put there immediately. Conditionally, and our realization of that is a conditional growth. I think so. Spiritual growth. Positionally, we're there instantaneously. But then realization is our spiritual growth as we begin to understand that.

You know that's you know as I think of you some of these things is you know, so those terms and I you know, I think you know The engineers you leather or whatever. It's like can we say these things? But what is that, you know, and I you know realizing that and I think it is it is just Knowing him as you know him you begin to realize these things in the spin I guess the whole point of this is is our class. It's a Holy Spirit and directing us to that and revealing that over time so that faith becomes a reality, I guess, or something. We talk about some of these terms.

I think about it and then I go, what does that really mean, to enter into the holy of holies? What does that mean to us? Yes, positionally I understand that, but what does that mean today? Sunday the 11th, what is it? And I think that's just to know Him and you start to realize that intimacy, that relationship we have, that's entering into the Holy of Holies, I think, is that we begin to realize who Christ is and who we are in Christ and all those truths that the Holy Spirit reveals in us. That's, I think, our entering into the Holy of Holies, is the Spirit guiding us in that direction. Do you think up until that time our own understanding holds us back? I think so. Or maybe it's our ignorance, we don't know?

Both, but that's the job of the Holy Spirit. That's exactly why we study this. This is to Him to reveal it. That's right. I don't think it's an overnight thing. I think it's just like with any relationship, it takes time. And I think the Spirit, and He knows the best course for us, is individually brings us to those points where we truly begin to understand what it means to be in Christ and to have that relationship. I think you're right about that.

I think as you grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus through the study of His Word, you discover all kinds of things. From our perspective, they're new, but from God's perspective, they're all done. So when I come to the realization, wait a minute, there's no barrier for me, personally, as a believer in Christ, to enter into the Holy of Holies, whatever that, at that point, whatever that is, to be face-to-face with the Lord. I have that privilege. because God has removed all the barriers. He wants me to do that. Well, until I know that, I'm going to be peeking around the corners.

You know, I think one of the major transitions, too, is it becomes less about us and becomes more about Him. It's not about us. And it's not about what we get out of the deal or what we are receiving or the blessings, even though that's a result of it. I think the entering into the Holy is realizing how much He cares for us and it's all about Him, not us. You know what else is part of that?

You have to abandon yourself to go in. You have to walk away from you. So you have to have the understanding about identification with Christ. I was buried, resurrected. crucified, buried, resurrected with Christ. Well, the resurrected man, to go into the Holy of Holies, he has to leave the old man behind.

And he's got to be ready to do that. He's got to have the understanding. He's got to have the faith. And he's got to have the Scripture that explains it to him. And he now, through the working of the Spirit of God and showing us these truths, we will go. You don't go legally and then try to work it out. You go because God opens the door, but you also recognize that if I'm going through that door, I'm leaving Adam back here. I'm walking away from him. I'm going to stop relying on him.

Mike, I was going to say, I think what Jim was saying about You know, when you, or JD, when you, you know, the moment you put your faith in Christ, you are placed in Christ. You are already seated in the heavenlies. You're positionally, like we said, you're in the Holy of Holies.

It's really a matter of recognizing and accounting that to be the case, you know, considering that to be true. And, you know, if it ties back to what we're talking about about worship and, you know, so many churches and denominations work so hard to enter a state of feeling that makes me feel like I am in the presence of God, when in reality, spiritually, you were there all along as a believer. And really, real worship is reckoning or recognizing that that is the case, not trying to attain some feeling of that, but recognizing that God's revealed that in His Word, that that's where you are. and worshipping him for that, rather than trying to whip up some kind of a feeling of that. Does that make sense? That's really good. No, I like that. Yeah, that's really good.

And because we are sentient beings, in other words, we have souls that experience things, I think the Holy of Holies vis-a-vis the work of the Spirit really is, you don't look for the experience, but there's an experience involved in it. You know, I tell, I encourage people all the time, when you read the word, don't read it to cram your head full of biblical facts. Read it to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus. That's the different thing. A much different thing.

Is there experience involved in that? Yeah. Is there intelligence involved in that? Yeah. Is there certainly a faith involved in that? Yeah. But your faith doesn't make it so. Your faith gets, you get to enter into what is already so. And reckoning is a word that's not beyond faith, but I reckon maybe backwards. Like I reckon I got off a plane yesterday from Florida. Why? Because I did. I reckon I'm in the Holy of Holies. Why? Because the Word of God says so and I've been persuaded about that. I am. I don't reckon to make it so. I reckon because it is so.

See that? OK, we're a couple of minutes over. Before we close, I got a text from Ralph. Thought I'd read it to you. I'm home, but not going to be on Zoom today. Oh, gee. My son is leaving right after lunch to drive back to Wisconsin. Last Monday, I went into primary care doc for a cough. Ended up admitted to the hospital for AFib. Heart rate 160. It took three or four tries to get a med to keep me out of, to get me out of the fib.

Thanks for your prayers. Okay. So let's close. Father, how we thank you. We thank you that for all that you've done for us to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus in the Holy of Holies, in the place of worship. And I guess I would ask that we would continue to grow in that environment and by growing the beholding and the clarity of just the person of your son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his precious name. Amen.