The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit lesson 43 continued

I think we are racing through these questions. After this is the third week, we're now in question three. So question three says, what is the Spirit's way of holiness for the believer? And if you have the book, it's page 242. If you have the PDF, it's page 109. So, I'll read a couple of things that Rideout said, and then we'll discuss it.

He declares that under this ministry, he can use great plainness. Like, that's a great term. in contrast with Moses, who was obliged to conceal the glory of his countenance from the children of Israel. You remember Moses had the veil on his face. He would go in and spend time with the Lord and come out and his face would glow and then he'd cover it up.

There's speculation as to why he covered it up. One was because it intimidated the Jews. The other was that it was fading And he didn't want anybody to see that it was fading. But there's a principle going on there. Moses is in an environment where he's spending time with the Lord and the Lord's glory changes his countenance. He begins to glow.

And so keeping that in mind, It's the same thing, well maybe I'll make it in the form of a question. Is that same scenario available to us? Now, to put it in context, what's the Spirit of God's job when it comes to the Lord Jesus? Yeah, that's right, to reveal him to us and reveal him because he's in a glorified state, to reveal him in his glory. Now, the problem we have is, you know, like Paul the apostle had on the road to Damascus when he saw the glory of the Lord Jesus, he fell down and he was blinded. and it had an overwhelming effect on him. But I think what goes on here with believers is that we can behold the glory of the Lord Jesus, but we do it reflectively.

And what I mean is, let's go to 2 Corinthians 3.18, go to that verse. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed in the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord in the Spirit. Okay. Beholding is a key word, and the mirror is a key word. What does behold mean? Oh, that's a tough one. What does behold mean? Let's say I'm going to behold Sue Ellen. What am I doing? I'm looking at her. Yeah, I'm looking at her. And I'm trying to take all of Sue Ellen in.

But that verse says that we don't behold the glory of the Lord directly. It says it's in a mirror. It's reflectively. And what's the mirror? That's God's Word. So as we spend time in God's Word, we're really beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus, and there's a reflection of His glory that comes to us. We can only stand at this point to deal with reflections. It's more than a shadow, but it is a reflection. It's like looking in a mirror. You know, maybe, and I suppose a mirror in those days wasn't a very clear thing like we have today.

But there's a principle here, and the principle is if I or you spend time in God's Word, especially the New Testament, all the epistles and the like, we are beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus. That's what we're doing. Now you don't hardly ever hear anybody teach about that, but that's really what's going on.

And that process has a residual effect on us as a believer. The process, there's the reflective glory of the Lord Jesus that comes through those words by the work of the Holy Spirit. And I begin and you begin to see his glory. And once that starts to happen, what's the consequence, or it's not a consequence, what's the result of doing that according to the verse?

Transforming us into the very image of the one that we are reflectively beholding. That's the Christian life in one, there it is. It doesn't say go to seminary, memorize the New Testament, you know, become a scholar. It says, Here's the deal, guys. Behold, reflectively, the glory of the Lord, which the Spirit of God will do through His Word, and you will be transformed into His very image. That's a guarantee from Him. So you have to, I think the important thing is to maybe bump up in your value system that concept that every time you open up your Bible, what are you doing? You're making sure that when Mike asks questions on Sunday, you get the right answer? No. You're there to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus. That's what you're there for.

And that's what changes you. You know, trials and suffering don't change you. All trials and suffering do. It gets you ready to behold Him. You see that? That's the mechanism where the Spirit of God conforms us to Christ. That's how He does it. J.D. Yeah. The interesting thing about this word beholding is it's a present verb, which means it's not a one and done thing. No. You didn't behold him for salvation. You get transformed to the image of Christ. It's a continual present action that's involved in our lives. Yeah. That's a really important point. We get to do that all the time.

Those of you who are married get to behold your spouse every day. Well, unless he's in San Antonio. Anyway, you know, people say, well, gee, those people have been married for 50 years. They look like each other. Well, why do you think that's so? Because they've been beholding each other for 50 years. Hey, Mike, I have a question.

Why was the glory of Christ veiled until the Spirit began to do this work in the church? I was just recently reading about the Transfiguration, and there His glory was shown to three guys. And Jesus warns me, He's like, do not tell anyone about this afterwards. But just kind of in reading this passage here, What is it about the resurrected glorified?

I mean, we say that, right? He's resurrected, he's glorified, but that keeps it concealed until that point. Anybody want to take a shot? JD. Um, so the, the, the term where a veiled face that had to do complete with being under the mosaic law, right? That was the veil. Yeah. Um, who tore it?

It's interesting though, under the mosaic, you don't, you don't get to behold under the law system because what does the law system force you to do? Look at yourself and see how you're doing. If you're always looking at yourself with the yardstick, then you never get to beholding Christ, because it's all about you. The other thing is, is that unless you are, use the term, born again and in Christ, you don't have the capacity to even reflectively behold the glory.

The apostles saw it, that glory. How did they react? One of them wanted to build altars. You know, they did the Jewish thing. What did Paul do? I mean, Paul saw the full-on glory of the Lord Jesus or salvation. And the first words out of his mouth was, Lord, what would you have me do? There wasn't any question in his mind. Whoever this person was at that point was deserving of is describing Him as Lord. You know? So, there's two things going on there.

One is, is if you're under a law system, and that most every human being is, whether it's Mosaic or something else, then you're forced to be focused on yourself. And if you're like me, there ain't a whole lot of glory coming out of you. The second thing is, is that Because you aren't involved by the Holy Spirit, you don't have the capacity to even reflectively behold what the glory of God is. What is the glory of God? I mean, what is that?

All of his attributes at once. All of his attributes at once, radiating out. You know, that's enough to knock a whole nation down. You know he's going to come again, and he's going to be like that and Going to be something else in the new heavens and the new earth. We're not going to need a son Because of him and This is a man who has been glorified by God his father Imagine that that the glory of God is now resident within a human being Who is the Lord Jesus?

And then you go to 2 Corinthians 3.18 and you begin to think, oh my goodness, this says that I can start to, while I'm still here, I can start to behold some of this glory that he, you know, things about him. And that's what changes a believer. Because part of that glory is the intensity with which he loves each one of us. Boy, and you get a dose of that and it'll change you.

I was curious about your, you mentioned that it could be any law, not necessarily just the mosaic law. In this case, that's the context, but the principle still applies. From a Catholic perspective, you were veiled. Yeah. Oh, they have a mask on. You're not allowed to. No, you can't look. You look like a Muslim with sunglasses. What do they call those things over their face? There's a hajib. No, that's the scarf.

Anyway, so I think the spirit, one of the works of the spirit of God in a believer is to, one, educate them about this process, and two, like Rydar talks about, think of that, you followers of perfect sanctification. Little irony there. Do you desire the Spirit's way of holiness? Let him unfold before your gaze the beauties of a risen Christ. He will not occupy you with yourself, save to make you abhor and loathe yourselves. But with the chiefest among 10,000 as you gaze, the image of that one will be taken in your heart and you'll be transformed in the same image.

We talk about that a lot. Do you really think that that's the formula of spiritual growth and conformity and maturity? You think that's the way it goes? I don't think you're convinced. One, it's too easy. And two is, do I have to have a certain attitude when I pick up God's Word to read it? Am I picking it up so I can fill in the blanks on the questions that are going to be asked? at the next class, or do I need to get all of the information I need for the next teaching I'm going to do? Or can I just open up God's Word and spend time with Christ? Can I do that?

And He's really there, and I know it. I'm not hoping He's going to be there. I see Him. That's the question. Do we have to have a certain attitude? That's the question. Do we? I think yes. Yeah, I do too. What the simplest attitude is, is this is what I expect. This is what, yeah, Donna. Donna.

Would it fit the Humvee heart for this morning? You know, I thought that was really interesting about we honor the law by realizing that we've died to it. It's been carried out. And when you talk about an attitude, I think that's something that the Spirit has to bring you to, that you have died to. not only in Mosaic, but any kind of a law system. Sure. No, that's important.

How do I say this? You know, we believers operate on a faith basis. In other words, God tells us information A, B, and C, and we believe them. God tells us that we totally have been separated from any kind of a law system. We're going to talk about that in the next hour. Are we?

The attitude of the scripture is through the cross. It represents what you're talking about being under law. That Galatians 2 20 up on the board. That's the attitude. Every bit of learning about the Lord Jesus comes through our co-crucifixion with him. That's right. It's from there every single time. Yeah. If it doesn't, we're missing where the flesh belongs in relationship to our attitude, right?

Because the flesh jumps in and it's like, oh, this is cool, and this is cool, and this is a present verb, and this is, you know, middle, tender. This is really, you know, this word is used 300 times in the, you know, the New Testament. This is a theme, this is a big thing, and then all of a sudden you miss the Lord Jesus. Because You haven't approached his word through your crucified state, right? Being dead to the flesh allows you to operate in the newness of life, which is where the Holy Spirit works. It's where the Lord reveals himself. He doesn't have anything to do with the flesh. That's the law. Yeah.

I understand everything you're saying, but you can come in frustration. and have issues going on in your life, but if you're being drawn to the Lord, then that's where the Holy Spirit, you know, brings you along and points you to Him. So I understand the attitude, but I also can say there's times where I'm just like, I'm going to bonk. And maybe my attitude isn't great, but that's what I need. But it goes to the cross. That's where it goes, though. Yeah. Yeah. You know, let me say it this way.

If you understand the methodology and the goal that the Holy Spirit is trying to implement, it goes a long way in explaining why some things in your life don't seem to be fitting in with this plan. And because, like JD was saying, the understanding and the resting by faith in the fact that I've been separated from law, any kind of a law system is a really hard thing because we are raised with tell me what to do and I'll do it. It's part of our old DNA is to obey. Although we hate the word, we're still doing it, you know.

So I think sometimes, you know, the Lord puts us through very tough circumstances where I don't have any place else to turn but Him. You know, I'm out of gas. I can't obey. I can't get up. I can't do this. I can't do that. Lord, I can't even, I can't even look at you. And His answer is perfect. That's right where I want you.

You know, now I can show you a whole new life that is based on grace and based on the glory of my Son. And that's why a lot of times you look at the trials and suffering in people's lives. That's kind of what the job is of trials and sufferings, is to get you ready for the next revelation of the Lord Jesus. I think that that frustration you're talking about, I mean, we all come to the Lord in frustration.

Oh, sure. It would be silly to say that we didn't have an attitude of funk or frustration or those kinds of things. But that's one of the things that has to be checked at the cross, the foot of the cross, I believe. If you continue to operate in your frustration, yeah, can the Lord soften your heart through his word and guide you back to a place where, oh, yeah, this is my new history. This is who I truly am. And beholding you, is not something that I'm doing from the outside looking in. I'm doing it from the inside. I'm part of this. I've been there where you were, and I'm now where you are.

And that's a heavenly perspective. That's that PhD course in Ephesians. But I'm not saying that a person, a believer, because this 318 says that we all, which means every believer, are beholding Him in that way. But the attitude is something that happens through the word of God.

It leads you back to his new history, right? Yeah. Who you are in that. Yeah. And until you understand that you are involved in what the Lord Jesus did, you are present. Yeah. Then it's just an outside looking in perspective. Yeah. Well, and that, and if I was, if I was the enemy, that's what I'd want you. I want you to think that you're outside hoping to get in, you know, and that you, And I'll just keep feeding things to you that you need to do to get in, to get a little closer. And I think that's a great perspective that no, wait a minute. I'm inside. Yeah. I'm there. Yeah. And I didn't get in there on anything I did. I was taken in. So that's great. Right. What's that? That's great. That's the point. That's exactly the point. How do you live under grace? Yeah.

So the next question, oh, speeding along here. Question four, how does the spirit feed our souls? Based on what we've just talked about, page 244 in the book. I'll just read a little bit, maybe stimulate the conversation, but you will notice it was in connection with the dew that the manna came. It is the Holy Spirit who makes Christ our food. And may there not be fitness in the withdrawal of the dew that the manna may be seen? The Spirit ever presents Christ and none but Him. However, the same causes which removed the dew caused the manna to melt. The sun of this world soon drives away, as far as our enjoyment is concerned, that which should ever be our food.

You know, you're talking about being in Christ. The principles of life in Christ are totally different than the ones outside. You know, one of the words we're going to use this morning is a great phrase in verse 21, Romans 3. It starts with two words. But now. But now. And I'm not going to tell you now what that means. We'll talk about it later. Everything is new.

And we eat manna in the old realm. We feed on Christ here. Well, we're not convinced we can survive doing that. How can I survive feeding on Christ? I've got to go to work and make a living. I've got to put those dogs outside. So, the point is that the Holy Spirit is bringing us into a new life and not only the life itself, but showing us and educating us and training us on how that life works. Because we don't know. We have no idea.

The first thing we try to do when we're saved is make a religion out of Christianity. As to what are the rules around here. I remember when I was first saved, I kept looking at Christians just to see what they did. What do Christians do? How do they operate? How do they function?

And it didn't take me long to be disappointed in that approach. So it isn't a doing thing, it's the Spirit of God showing us by feeding us with Christ and transforming into His image, I function like a son of God. And you know what, I may not know that I'm functioning that way at any given time. Other times I might. And it's like sometimes we always get up in the morning and sit and read The Hungry Heart, sometimes talk a little bit. But then the day is starting, we gotta get to work. And I often think, why don't we just stay here and do this all day? You know, or, you know, we have a Bible study on Tuesday. How cool would it be if we never got off of just beholding Christ for 45 minutes? Wouldn't that be cool?

I'm thinking the only guys that ever write about that are some of those brethren guys, you know, that they must have done that. So they spent a whole day. Just hanging out with the Lord, all of them in a room or wherever they were. And that's what they shared. And so it shows me looking around and see what Christians do. There is a life to be lived that's there. By beholding the Lord Jesus and sharing him and feeding on him. Because he is our life. You know, he is our sustenance, put it another way. That question is a big question. What's that?

How does the Spirit feed our souls? I mean, if you think about not being fed, what does that mean? I mean, you're operating in human wisdom, human thinking, you're operating according to your own intellect, your ability to make things fit, you know, put the pieces together in your own way, and then you say, well, how about being fed? You're still being fed. Would you like that? I mean, how many times will we be like, yeah, that's actually what I really need. But in the meantime, I'm really busy trying to figure this out. Maybe I'll eat a little bit later. Yeah, that's great. But this is a big question.

How do we feed our souls? How are our souls fed? How do we get more? How do we strengthen ourselves? Okay, well, the first thing I would say is that you got to take we out of the equation. The Spirit of God does all of this. That's one of the hard principles to learn. I don't do anything but receive. That's all I do. He's the one that does the feeding. I guess the barrier that we have is letting him do it.

You know? And that's why I think some of the circumstances he puts us through leave us in a position where, Miles Stanford, one of Miles Stanford's greatest comments was, we have to trust the Lord has come to that. And oh, by the way, it has to come to that.

Have you found yourself in a position in your life, I don't care what the circumstances are, where I have to trust the Lord, I have to. I have nowhere else to go. I can't go to myself because I've already screwed it up so bad it isn't going to go anywhere. I can't go to people that I care about. I've got to go to the Lord himself, you know, and I have to trust him that he's going to do what he said he's doing. We are so stubborn that it takes a huge trial to get us just to get to that point. I have to trust him.

You know? And I think about when you come to that place where your soul is like hungry, I don't know what's going on. Frustrated. Yeah. Whatever. Where do you go? Do you look up in the index like depression or God's promises? That little book? Yeah. Maybe. Yeah, maybe I do. Those things are sure feed your soul. Yeah. But at the end of the day, what right out is talking about here is the things of Christ feed our soul. Yeah. Things of Christ praise is very important because those are unveiled for us. Those are for you. Yeah.

And that's a different set of truths than just reading truths of the scripture. When you're reading the person of the Lord Jesus and your identification with him, you're reading your own new history. And that's about you. And that feeds your soul, I believe.

What did the Lord Jesus say was his food? What was the thing that he said, this is my food? To always do the will of the Father. That's food? Yeah. From a spiritual realm of things, it is food. Oh my goodness, I looked and those guys are going out and we're over. Okay, we got almost two questions done.

Let's pray. Father, how we thank you for your spirit who teaches us and reveals to us the person of the Lord Jesus who is our very life and our food. Father, I pray for every one of us that we would come to know him so intimately that he is our very life and we know it and recognize it and rest in that provision that you've made for us in him. We thank you. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.