The Holy Spirit (17)
By Abraham Eli
This study was first taught on September 4, 2012
Topic: Now That the Holy Spirit is in You (2.1): You Have a Trustworthy Companion (3)
(use the audio to study)
Background
Last week we saw that in spite of the fact that the Holy Spirit is a Companion Who can be trusted absolutely; there are those who are unable to trust Him. That such people are unable to trust the Holy Spirit is not the result of a horrible personal experience with the Holy Spirit, rather, it is the result of their nature—they are ‘stiff-necked’ and their hearts and ears are not circumcised; thus, they always, always, resist the Holy Spirit.
We noted that while Abraham’s relationship with God grew better over the years, Israel’s relationship with God grew progressively worse, and this was the result of their stubbornness and rebellion—a direct product of a ‘stiff-neck’ (a term usually ascribed to an ox which is unyielding, and so, hard, tough, or difficult to be brought under the yoke and moved in a particular direction) and an uncircumcised heart and ear (an expression which refers to the intact foreskin of an uncircumcised man, which traps filth and bacteria, causing diseases in the man, and discomfort in intercourse, a type of our worship of God). Indeed, no matter how many divine miracles they witnessed, no matter how many messages from God they heard, no matter the physical evidence of the presence of God among them, and in spite of their own personal experience with God, they just could not be swayed away from their chosen path of destruction.
Like the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, there are unfortunately, very many people in churches today, who are unyielding to the Holy Spirit; bound up in iniquity and unable to be free of it; unable to worship God in spirit and in truth; and, blatantly resisting the Holy Spirit (refusing to do what they know He is asking them to do—including those who claim to have known the Lord for a number of years). These people still have in them, the nature of the old man, the carnal man, and the worldly man. They still have the nature of sin in them, and their desires are always contrary to God! The solution to this problem is a spiritual circumcision procedure which is done only by God, through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This circumcision requires your total surrender to the Lord (a genuine repentance, along with a full understanding that you died with Christ, and have thus died to sin, the flesh, and the world); and, a voluntary submission to the Holy Spirit Who will then ‘cut off’ and ‘stripped off’ every sinful nature, every fleshly desire or wrong affections and desires, and, every worldly passion still in your heart. It is only after this spiritual circumcision that you will be able to heed the truth, which the Holy Spirit is communicating to you.
Scripture Text(s)
John 14:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2
One of the direct consequences of a person who is not spiritually circumcised is the inability of such a person to trust and obey God, and His word. Such lack of trust, and, act of disobedience, manifests in ways, which we shall be studying tonight. We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us be permanently rid of manifestations of distrust, mistrust, and disobedience to God, and help us to simply accept God at His word, and thus be able to walk with Him, our lifelong Companion, as He lives in us, in Jesus' name, Amen.
Our second scripture text tonight, raises the issue of the faithlessness of men, vis-à-vis, the heeding of the word of God. Such was the case of Israel in the wilderness and in the Promised Land. We shall see how such faithlessness manifests, and how easy it is to overcome faithlessness. And as a result, we would be able to heed the voice of our Comforter, and not walk contrary to Him.
Ephesians 2:8; Romans 10:16-18; Hebrews 4:2; 3:7-19; John 20:19-25; 1 Peter 1:8-9; John 11:40; Mark 6:5-6; 9:23; James 1:5-8; Matthew 14:26-31; Mark 11:12-14, 20-26; 2 Timothy 1:6-7; John 7:13; 12:42; Proverbs 29:25; Luke 10:19; Romans 8:15; Luke 1:74-75; 1 John 4:18.
Conclusion
The faith that believes and trusts the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, Who is in us, is a gift from God made available to us at repentance. Unfortunately, we see that very many people in churches today, are unable to live by this gift of faith, because of the hardness or the uncircumcision of their hearts. Such hardness of heart manifests as unbelief, doubt, and fear, which are, essentially, faith killers.
It was unbelief that made the Israelites refuse to heed God’s word when He told them to go into the Promised Land, and as a result, they died off in the wilderness. It was unbelief that made Thomas refuse the testimony of those who had seen the risen Lord. It was the unbelief of the countrymen of Jesus that made it impossible for the mighty works of God to be made manifest. The Lord, however, made it clear that if we can just simply have faith in God, we would certainly see His glory; and, nothing shall be impossible to us. When a person prevaricates between two opinions (God’s v. others), he is said to doubt. Doubt made Peter sink because he prevaricated between heeding the Lord’s command to step out in faith, and the waves of the sea which he saw coming at him. Many people feel that when God asks them to do something, there will be no adversity or contrariness. What we need to know is that when God asks us to do something, regardless of the situation that may arise afterwards, we can be confident that the word of God is more powerful than any adversity that may have arisen. In the absence of doubt, the fig tree which the Lord cursed died. When doubt is present, mountains remain where they are; but when doubt is eliminated by simply trusting in God and His word, mountains move to where you ask them to move to. Then, there is fear, which manifests as the concern for what people would say, or what could happen to you, if you heed the word of God: concern about whether or not what the Lord is asking you to do is seen as successful or a failure by men, anxiety as to whether or not people would laugh at you if you do what God asks you to, if what you are asked to do would make you unpopular with your family, friends, and the world at large, etc. The fearful are thus, never able to do the work of God! The love of God in us, when it is plainly and simply received casts out fear.
Today, very, very, many people in the church are unable to walk with the Holy Spirit because of unbelief, doubt, and fear. But if you would gladly and simply receive the word of God without unbelief, doubt, or, fear, your walk with the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, will produce astounding results and testimonies of divine acts, as it ultimately did in Abraham’s life, and as it would also have been produced in the lives of the Israelites, had they yielded to God!
Back to all Bible Study Outline List