The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit Lesson 36
Mike Doyle · Oct 30, 2022
Holy Spirit (2021-23), No. 85
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492619293820

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So we are today, this class is A Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, and we're starting in lesson 36. Hopefully some interesting questions. If you have the book, the paperback, this information comes out of page 184 through 189. If you have the PDF, it's pages 81 through 89. And so, question one, which I think is really a cool question.

In 1 Timothy 4.1, Paul uses the word expressly or explicit. What does this word tell us about the Word of God?

So somebody go to 1 Timothy 4.1 and read that verse. Let's see if Rideout knows what he's talking about. 1 Timothy 4, 1. Anybody? I've got it here. The Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.

So Rideout focuses on this word expressly or explicitly. And it shows, as he says, it shows a distinctness and a definitiveness of the Word of God. Kind of a cool thing because there's nothing, he says there's nothing vague or uncertain about the Word of God. You agree with that? There's nothing vague about it.

So, you know, I thought about this as I was preparing this, that so many contemporary Christians do not spend hardly any, they'd spend hardly any time in God's Word. And this might be one of the reasons, because in today's society, we don't like people to tell us in unvague terms or in uncertain terms or very definitive terms that what's what. Because we've got our own attitude and opinion about things and that's more valuable to us than what God's Word says. So, Rideau goes on to say, every statement has a definite meaning. So, here we go. Every statement has a definite meaning.

Why do Why do these wizards of SMART and seminaries argue over issues all the time? Who was it? Was it you that said that these guys sit around seminaries and they come up with opposing views just so they have something to talk about? Otherwise they all sit there in agreement.

I don't know what's wrong with being totally in agreement with God's Word. Does it need to be debated in order to find out if it's true or not? So, how do I say this? As a believer, I think we're to be subject to God's Word in the sense that it says what it says and I'm under it. And I don't have the freedom to go to God and say, now wait a minute, we've got to work out something here. Because I don't really agree with you. And I don't really think that whatever it is, or maybe you're too gracious, maybe you're, I don't know, but it doesn't fit what I'm thinking. Rather than having just a real simple attitude, thus saith the Lord. He says it. That settles it. It's good enough for me.

Does a believer just come out of salvation with that kind of an attitude or does it take a while? What do you think? It takes a while, doesn't it? Because you learn in life there are very few absolutes. You know, there are scientific absolutes that are proven wrong five years from now. There are engineering principles that they're okay. They work. But then there's, you know, it's like gravity, but then somebody developed an airplane and it actually flew. Well, how did that happen? Well, it was another principle that was stronger than the principle of gravity, at least for a while.

But God's Word's not like that. And the fact that it's living and it's powerful and it's sharper than any two-edged sword is a really interesting description of the capacity of God's Word to, like Rideout says, every statement has a definite meaning which can be ascertained, can be known. So why does Brian and I read the same scripture? Are we going to come up with the same understanding? What do you think? Are we going to come up with the same understanding?

What's that? It is. It is. So, I think it boils down to trusting what the Spirit of God does. Is it the Word of God? Is it absolutely, unequivocally, true and precise? And can I trust it? It is meant to be understood. Oh, was it Tuesday that we were? Yeah, it was on Tuesday.

We were in Revelation 2 or 3, somewhere in there, and we were listening to, I wish I could remember the exact statement, that God wrote the Bible so that we would know, that we'd have knowledge, that we would be aware, that we would understand what God, who He is and what He's doing. He didn't write it to confuse us, he wrote it because he wanted us to know. And so here we are as human beings, believers, he wants us to know. And the highest level of that is he wants us to know him. That's what he's done. And all of his word points to that. Yet This is kind of an open-ended question.

How many people do you know that are believers that aren't sure about God's Word or have doubts about it or have a totally different view than maybe you have? Is it open for that kind of discussion? Yeah, I was going to say, I see a lot of mindset in the church that kind of thinks that scripture is very vague and uncertain, right?

It's completely contrary to that point. And I think it's just, you know, it comes from this, you know, he talks here about higher criticism, and that launched the church into this whole era of, well, totally subjective, you know, what does it mean to you?

Yeah. And now we're at this point here where everybody kind of feels like, well, there's no, there's no certain meaning. It's just kind of, and anyway, but see a lot of that. Yeah, you really do. And, and especially in contemporary society, I think it's been true in the 40 plus years that I've been in belief.

If you remember going to, when we were, before we were married and we were, hanging around with Christian singles. That's an oxymoron. And we went to see Oh God. Remember that movie with George Burns? George Burns played God. And there was a Christian singles group that went to see this movie. And we gathered at somebody's house afterwards.

And so the discussion was to be about Oh God, was there any spiritual redeeming qualities about Oh God? And I remember, I'm a brand new Christian, but I'm still opinionated, right? And so... What? I know, Courtney, you'd grab onto that. I'm shocked. But some guy was going on and on about the redeeming qualities of George Burns playing Oh God, and who was the guy that was the young man that was being talked to by God at the country singer John Denver. And so finally I said to this guy, I said, I can't see, I'm not a, I've been a Christian very long, but I don't see any, any redeeming qualities about this movie at all. First of all, God isn't a 65 year old Jewish comedian, you know?

And he said to me, well you have your doctrine and I have mine. And boy, I still remember that to this day because it put that question in my mind. Is that really true? You have your doctrine and your viewpoint and your opinion and I have mine and we're both entitled to our opinions? I quickly came to the conclusion that no, we're not.

The Word of God says one thing only, and I'm not entitled to take my opinion and broadcast it to anybody until I'm absolutely sure what I'm talking about. You know just a couple things when I think about these things that a couple of scriptures I can't find one that I'm looking for but 2nd Timothy 2 16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter for a lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene Mm-hmm, and there's there's another one. That's Titus Titus 3 9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. We get into all this other stuff. It spreads like gangrene. It does.

Just keeping it in the Word and rightly dividing the Word is the key. Saying in the Word, not in worldly stuff or what this opinion or this commentator says or anything. Ultimately, it comes down to just dividing the Word properly. I think you're right about that.

I also think that one of the big contributors to That is exegetical Bible studies. We get together, we study God's Word, and we ferret out the meeting in dependence on the Holy Spirit. And you may have a greater understanding of verse than I do, but I'm not way over here and you're way over there. We're tracking the same the same road, I may be behind you, but we're going down the same road. And so, I think Rideout does a great job. He says, you cannot trust the Word of God too implicitly. He says, you need not fear that it will prove inaccurate in some minor detail. And that's where it all comes from.

You know, we had a discussion Was it last night? About, you know, towards the end of the age, the detractors from the scriptures and those who would fool us are going to say to us, and it says so in 2 Peter, they're going to come to us and say, you know, your God said that he was going to leave and that he was going to come back.

Well, where is he? 2000 years, he's not here. And not only that, he said he was going to come back quickly. Well, that isn't what he said. He said, when I come back, it's going to be quick. And so that will be the argument to persuade people to turn away from Christ. Where is he? In other words, he lied to you. He isn't here. He didn't come back. And he isn't going to. makes it difficult.

But how long was it before it became the birth sign? That's right. That's right. Probably 5,000 years. So, the fact that the Word of God is accurate in the most minute details and all of the archaeological things that are being discovered are confirming God's Word now rather than detracting from it.

We actually heard Josh McDowell, he came to the little thing about a month ago, and just reaffirmed, he was 83 years old, which is amazing, he was still sharp as can be, but he was just saying he can't keep up with all the manuscripts that are proving everything, and not one of them has been contrary to what the scripture is. He said they just found a whole new, a whole new thing within a church somewhere, you know, in the Middle East that they broke down the walls and here are all these new scrolls that were all agreeing. And it goes through very detailed. I mean, this whole thing is evidence of man's verdict. Just how accurate God's word is from, you know, a thousand, two thousand years ago. Yeah. It's, it has been maintained, you know, to the letter. And not just by, yeah it kind of is, all the manuscripts verify that. And they haven't had anyone that is contrary to it. It's a staggering amount that says the accuracy of the word. Yeah, it's really interesting what God does when he lets out his secrets. You know, someone comes across a manuscript and they get all excited that it's probably going to refute and actually validates what we already knew.

You know? A last sentence on this question that Rideout wrote, which I thought was cool. As a matter of fact, these minute details are gems of exceptional beauty. I love how he said that. And that's really true. We get, you know, I'm sure those of you who are in Bible studies, sometimes you spend the whole night on one gem. And it's just really, really cool. I remember the guy that led me to Christ, he had an interesting, he was a guy that was full of metaphors.

He could give you demonstrations. He said, the Word of God and the Lord Jesus is like a multifaceted really expensive diamond on your finger and you're in the sunlight and you can move it and you see a facet and you move it and you see another one and you move it and you see another one. It's still the same diamond. Same light coming through it, but you see different things all the time, but it's all the same diamond. Oh, that's pretty cool. All right. Question two.

Does Scripture contain the Word of God plus other matters also? In my Ryrie Study Bible, there's a lot of commentary at the bottom. Well, you would have. That's actually an interesting study to go through with the kids, especially, and for anyone that hasn't been exposed to the scripture itself. It's like, you open up the Bible and you've got to figure out what's the Bible and what's not the Bible.

That's actually a thing. But when it comes to the actual word of God, the answer is, It's a Schofield reference Bible is the same way. Same way. Yeah. Are Schofield's notes inspired? No, probably not. Well, and where that gets dangerous, I guess, is when you get into the Catholic Bible and you get the Pope's notes, and those are. Yeah. Those are at the same level of inspiration, right?

And so depending upon where you're coming from with regards to opening up that book, That unique book, you can be deceived a little bit about what that is, but I know that's not what you're after in this question. We used to have to get kids to memorize the books of the Bible when I worked at Bible camp. We found that the Catholic kids were more than willing to give up the Catholic Bible really quickly. There's a lot less books to memorize. You know, I was going to say, though, that, you know, God doesn't waste ink. That was just kind of my note on this. Yeah. You know, everything he put in there is his word. He didn't waste any ink on it.

You know, when I was first, I was saved a year or two and coming from a Catholic family, my mother sent me a Catholic Bible, which is called the Jerusalem Bible. So I thought, well, it's probably worth taking a look at. And it was interesting that every time, especially in Paul's epistles, every time it got confusing, or, not confusing, but every time, like, you know, you get to Romans 6 and it starts talking about identification and you're thinking, the Catholic reference at the bottom would say, this is a mystery, we can't understand it. And that footnote was repeated hundreds of times, which really said to me, go talk to the priest. Well, I haven't met any of these guys very bright scripturally. They're Catholic bright. They're not biblically bright.

And so I thought, wow, how can you publish God's Word, and then every time you run into Something that you don't understand you footnote it and tell tell the reader. This is too spiritual for you to understand You know jeez Okay I'm gonna read this paragraph That right up gives an example here. He says if you allow me a homily illustration I It is not as if a person in the country, desiring to send in some produce into the city, had put it into a wagon passing by, already containing a considerable quantity of other things. In such a case, at the journey's end, the contents would have to be distinguished and separated to their respective owners.

But thank God, You do not have to sift out God's truth from something that is not that. You do not have, as a certain popular but unsound writer has put it, I wonder who he's referring to, to separate the chaff from the wheat. It's all wheat. Nothing needs to be eliminated. The words are those taught by the Holy Spirit and there's the key. Without the Holy Spirit we know nothing. of God's Word. Nothing. So all of the spiritual intelligence that every one of us have is we're thankful to the Holy Spirit solely. You cannot grasp spiritual things with a natural mind.

He's got to show them to you. Otherwise you don't see them. You do not see them. Because you don't have the capacity. I mean, the natural mind is infected with the sin nature. And how do you know? If he doesn't show you and persuade you, you don't know. You may be opinionated about something, but the other issue is, is it the truth or not? So...

Like Gary says, the Holy Spirit compares spiritual things with spiritual. That's right. He refers to 1 Corinthians 2.12 there, but that's not a capacity that we have outside of the Holy Spirit. You know, we can't comprehend spiritual things without the Holy Spirit. And that's what we're talking about here is that every, you know, I saw a news article, or it was a video actually on Fox this past week. where they were, this kid was reading his Bible out loud at a protest, and a bunch of the, you know the story, how this goes, but the end of it was, they took the Bible from him, they tore the pages out, and started to eat it. They started eating the pages, and ripping them and shredding them, and megaphones in his ear, and, you know, to them, the Bible is It's, well, it's offensive. It's offensive. Right. You have the father of lies, who is his, his, his language is to lie and to deceive.

And this was just a picture of that to me. Yes. And then you have why it Holy Spirit led process of reading that scripture. and comparing spiritual things with spiritual and what a massive contrast pages on or words on a page have to people, right? Yeah. How offensive it could throw you into a complete hateful tantrum or it can guide you and direct you to your savior. And it's just the parallel there was It just explains the nature of this world, right? And without the Holy Spirit, it's just an offensive book. Yeah. Well, sure it is. Because it challenges sin. You know? Yeah. And any, you know, what's not of faith is sin. Anything that's short of the glory of God is sin. So here it comes. I agree.

I read that same article and I watched that same video and I thought, boy, the vehemency of the protesters was absolutely amazing. This kid is reading God's Word with a megaphone. Was it University of California or Stanford or somewhere? And there was a guy standing next to him with a drum beating as hard as he could on it to drown him out. And people were screaming and yelling and he kept going. And finally somebody ripped the Bible out of his hands and then they ripped up the words and ripped up the page and one of the protesters started eating the page. Okay. It's crazy.

Well, and it just speaks to, first of all, the presence of the Holy Spirit for salvation. But I think where we're trying to get to here is when we open up God's word, we need not be concerned that we can't comprehend if the Holy Spirit is in that process. Now, we can read it. We can read it without that dependency, right? Absolutely do that.

And that's something that we have to be careful for. But without the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, we're not able to comprehend those spiritual things. And those are the things that we need the most. I mean, that's the information for life that you need the most. And what a blessing it is to have that, because I would sure be trying to put together structures in my head that were surely going to fail constantly if it were left to me. But anyway.

I think this goes back to 1 Corinthians 2.14. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. Perfect. They can't, the natural man. So they'll scream and eat the pages and do everything they can because they don't understand it at all and they can't. No. That's right.

So far we've been considering the divine authorship of the Bible. God is the author, right? We've seen that God has spoken and I think it's important for us to understand that why do we have a Bible? Because God wants to show us some things. He wants us to know things about Him and about what He's doing. And when we say that the Bible is inspired and the Holy Spirit is the one who is the one who reveals to us what it says. And so, Rite Out says this was not merely to secure accuracy of detached parts but for the purpose of unfolding a divine plan. Do we know the plan? Sure we do. What is the plan? What has God's plan always been? You know? Pretty simple.

Ultimately bring glory to himself. Bring glory to himself. But to conform us to the image of Christ. Right. But even more basic than that, he creates Adam in his own image and likeness. Why does he do that? Because he wants Adam to be with him and to be able to interact with him and understand. So Adam blows it. And his understanding of who God is, is minimal until Christ. And then here comes the Lord Jesus Christ, who's a man. He solves the sin issue and everything that's an impediment between this wanted relationship. John 17, the Lord Jesus tells the Father, I want them to be with me where I am. Oh, okay. I want them to know. I want them to know me. I want them to know you.

So it's all about relationship. It's all about intimacy and fellowship. It's always been about that. We look at salvation from our own personal benefit viewpoint when from God's perspective It's just step one in a plan that he has for us to spend eternity with him.

He says to the thief on the cross, today you're going to be with me. Me. That's really, really important. Today I'm going to be with you. Wow, that's pretty cool. And that's really what he wants. He wishes that none should perish, that all would come so that all could spend eternity with Him.

I was just going to say, going back to that concept of having to sift through God's Word, you know, right out talks about that we're not left to reason about it. And I think that that's a hard thing to come to understand especially maybe as a kind of in a fervency of wanting to understand the scripture you get your hands on a lot of new Bible software and you get your commentaries all organized and you have your resources and You're like, okay, now I've got all the things that can help me understand this stuff. But the truth of it is, is that, like Courtney talks about often, just sitting and spending time with him in his word, there's a rest there, and there's not a constant stress about having to sift through it. I mean, I have to sift through every conversation I have with everybody every day, and so do you. We constantly are on guard, we're constantly using our reason to try to figure out where people are coming from, what they're saying, what their meaning behind the words that they're saying, what's their alternative plan in the background, and all of this kind of thing.

When it comes to reading God's Word, the intention is never to have that anxiety about what is right and what is wrong. There's a rest there that, and Rideout calls it, there's not these detached parts that you have to sift through, but the purpose is to unfold a divine plan. And we always want to know what the plan is. What's the plan? Where are we going? Where are we meeting for supper? What are we doing? What are the logistics? See me the pin on the map? All that kind of stuff.

That's not the way we approach God's Word. We don't have to, rather. Because His purpose is to unfold that to us through His Holy Spirit. There's an illuminating factor there that we can rest and settle in and trust by just reading His Word. And it's unlike any other type of conversation through literature that you could ever have. And I know that goes beyond literature, but specifically those words are not, we don't have to sift them. It doesn't mean that we don't understand. We're not left to sit there and reason about them.

And that's a hard thing to come to when you have all of these tools at your disposal You know like oh, I got it. I got to keep sifting. I got to keep working what's the right and not to take away the studious nature of being a Berean but There is a really important component to resting in the fact that he's unfolding a divine plan and you don't have to sift through it you just have to understand what he's saying and take it as is.

You know, God said it, that settles it. And I'll tell you, the more I spent time in education and whatever, definitely didn't get a higher criticism or anything, but that's not the path of the believer and God's word. That's not how that works. And that's a humbling thing, I'll tell you, for a lot of people.

I just noticed that we're at time. One last thing that Rideout said, this inspiration of the Bible is therefore express and minute as well as general that reaches down to the very words. What I find interesting about, how do I say this? about contemporaries, I'll pick on the seminaries. They teach, they want to teach you all of the mechanics and the methodology on how to be a whatever you want, a pastor, teacher, whatever.

What they don't teach you is that you can't separate the words from the person. that, you know, we're human beings and if I go and have lunch with Courtney and we spend an hour talking back and forth, you know, and then an hour later somebody says something about Courtney and I say, wait a minute, that's not the guy that I know.

I know him because I spend time with him. He knows me because he spends time with me. We know the Lord Jesus Christ because we spend time with him. Those words reveal a person. And seminary keeps you away from that. It keeps you away from the concept that the reason I spend time in my Bible is to have a conversation with the Lord, and He's doing all the talking. Which is great, because the more He talks, the more I learn. He says to me, I already know all about you, but you don't know about me. Okay, let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your Word and your Spirit. We thank you so much that you have taken the energy and the time to show us who you are, who your Son, the Lord Jesus is, and what your plan is for us and for all your creation. You're such a gracious God and the blessings that come towards us are overwhelming. And we thank you for all of those, but most of you thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray in his name. Amen.