The Holy Spirit (18)
By Abraham Eli
This study was first taught on September 11, 2012
Topic: Now That the Holy Spirit is in You (2.2): He Exposes Error (1)
No audio available for this study.Background
Last week, we noted that the sad reality about a hardened heart is that it manifests in unbelief, doubt, and fear; which then makes it impossible for such an individual to be able to trust in the Holy Spirit, regardless of the wisdom of His counsel, and the consolation of His comfort!
Many of us, believers in Christ, are unable to enter into the promises of God for our lives, neither do we see the glory of God, nor are the mighty works of God manifest in and among us, as a result of unbelief. And in many instances, such unbelief is a choice we make to distrust the Holy Spirit, as did Thomas, when he refused to accept the witness of his fellow disciples about their having seen the resurrected Lord. Also, a number of us, easily sink in times of trouble, when we could easily have overcome such troubles, because we prevaricate between the word of God and the prevailing circumstance, and take our eyes off the Author and Finisher of our faith, as did Peter, who began to sink when he took his eyes off the Lord Jesus and focused instead, on the boisterousness of the waves of the sea. Indeed, the bible says that a doubter (also called a double-minded man), is unstable in all his ways, and cannot receive anything from God! Many of us, unfortunately, believe that when the Holy Spirit is leading us to do something, there will be no obstacle, opposition, adversity, or contrariness, and so, when such contradictions occur, we panic and begin to question whether or not the Holy Spirit really wanted us to step out of the ‘boat’ in the first place! It is important to note that, it is in the absence of doubt, that a mountain is uprooted and cast into the sea; but where there is even a tiny bit of doubt, mountains remain unmoved. Also, many of us who say we are believers in Christ are unable to yield to the Holy Spirit in doing the work of God, because of fear, which manifests as an undue concern for what people would say, or what could happen to us, if we heed the word of God! Many of us are seeking our own glory, not the Lord’s, and so, we are concerned more about whether what the Holy Spirit is asking us to do will be seen as a success or a failure by men; whether or not people will laugh at us; and, whether or not we would become unpopular with our family, friends, and the world at large, etc.
If you and I are to overcome or conquer unbelief, doubt, and fear, we must humbly receive the word of God without question, be prepared to be fools for God, and, simply yield to the Holy Spirit, Whose work it is to do all that the Father asks! And it is for this very reason that the Lord asked the Father to send us the other Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to come and reside within us (in the figure of a well springing up to everlasting life)! May we not despise this wonderful Gift of God in us, so that astounding testimonies of His acts can resound in our lives, and, through our service to God!
Scripture Text(s)
John 14:17
We move on from here tonight, and consider another aspect of what the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, Who is in us, does in, for, and through us. We pray that every work that the Spirit of truth in us is expected to perform, will indeed be perfectly done, in Jesus' name, Amen.
Anything that is contrary to the word of God, but which is presented to the body of Christ as truth, is known as error. Such error may manifest itself as a teaching, a word of prophecy, a miracle, a sign or wonder, etc. For as long as an error is kept hidden, that is, it is not made known to the church that it is an error, it thrives and spreads; but when it is brought to the Light, it diminishes and eventually dies. Exposing error is one of the initial works that the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of truth, does in the life of a believer in Christ. And He does this in a number of ways, which we shall begin to focus on tonight.
Ephesians 4:14; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Matthew 24:11-13, 23-27; Jude 1:3-4; Acts 20:28-31.
Conclusion
The Spirit of truth exposes error, which can manifest among others, as false teachings, which is meant to lead believers in Christ away from the truth, and unto falsehood. For the Spirit of truth to do this effectively, He makes the believer, especially those who are newly born again, to become aware that there are indeed false teachings, false teachers, false prophecies, false prophets, false churches, etc. Thus, He lets us know that not all churches are the true churches of God.
Making this awareness plain to believers, keeps us on alert, and enables us not to gobble up everything that we are told or hear, which may be called the word of God. The Spirit of truth also wants us not to take for granted, that every place that bears the name of ‘church’ is a church of God. This is a very important aspect of the work of the Spirit of truth in the believer, because, not being aware that there are false ministers and false churches, false teachers and false teachings, and, false prophets and false prophecies, etc., is the reason why many believers have strayed from following Christ, imbibed all sorts of false and devilish doctrines, and, are now engaged in all manner of strange practices, which unfortunately, they have become so attached to, and are holding dearly and tightly to them so much so that it is becoming increasingly difficult to disengage them from such error!
Tonight, what the Holy Spirit wants us to know is that not everything called the ‘word of God’ is truly the word of God; not every message that the messenger prefaces with, “Thus says the Lord” is from God; not every song or chorus that has in its lyrics, “Jesus”, “God”, or “Holy Spirit”, is a song in praise of God; not every place of ‘worship’ is involved in the worship of the One true God. Indeed, the Holy Spirit has since warned about it before this age, as did the Lord Jesus Himself, before He went to heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God! May the Lord help us to discern and discriminate when it comes to where we worship, what we hear and follow, and, who we are listening to, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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