10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
10250 North Freeway @ West
Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
Peculiar
Misunderstandings
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1989
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
Message #5
MISUNDERSTANDING
THE CURRENT ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
(Part #1)
"The Holy Spirit and the Conscience of Man"
Text * Romans 9:1
Talk about misunderstandings, they truly abound with regard to the Holy Spirit of God, especially in His current role. All sorts of behavior is accredited to Him. Some claim that most all they do, however inconsistent or out of harmony with the Bible it may be, is of the Holy Spirit. They accredit their activity to the leadership of God through His Holy Spirit. Others are afraid to admit that the Holy Spirit is involved in any of their daily affairs. To them its as though the Holy Spirit authored the Bible and made it alive; then just sort of vanished into a passive, uninvolved role. They acknowledge that He lives in believers, but they don't think he does anything except just quietly ride around in their hearts. What I've briefly expressed is the two extreme ends of the spectrum of misunderstandings about the Holy Spirit.
One thing is sure, if you do not see eye to eye on what another thinks the Holy Spirit does or does not do, you will generally be thought peculiar. Because we deny much conduct we see in certain people, which they say was produced in them by the Holy Spirit, to actually have been generated by the Holy Spirit, we are thought to be peculiar. In fact, for this primary reason, many accuse us of not believing in the Holy Spirit, an accusation which is absolutely untrue. Yet, on the other hand, some of us have so recoiled at the massive abuses against the Holy Spirit by the laying of all sorts of inconsistent and ungodly activity to his credit, that we have failed to credit the Spirit of God with much of what He does. For fear of being identified with those who make mockery of the Spirit and work of God by their ridiculous and irratic activity which they say the Spirit produced in them, we have quenched the Spirit in us. We have Him boxed up in the Bible, and will scarcely acknowledge that He has any role at all in our daily lives.
The development of this message will be a little different from most of the others in this series; yet before it is over, one should be able to see why some people think our position on the Holy Spirit is peculiar, what our position is, and why we do not think it is peculiar in light of God's Word.
I. IT IS FIRST OF ALL VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A VERY REAL PERSON:
A. He is just as much God as ,Jesus Christ is God or the Father is God:
1. The apostle John said, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, The Word (which John 1:14 tells us is Jesus, the Son), and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one," I John 5:7. Don't get to thinking that the Father and the Son are real persons, but that the Holy Spirit is just some sort of influence or mystical force. Every distinguishing quality of God can be ascribed to the Holy Spirit just as readily as it can be ascribed to the Father or the Son. dust as they are eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and perfect; even so is the Holy Spirit.
2. As a real person, He searches hearts (Romans 8:27), holds the natural universe together in balance (Colossians 1:17), and works regeneration in the hearts of all who believe, Titus 3:5. He's the one who caused Mary to become pregnant with the body of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:18), who inspired the Bible writers to write this Bible (II Peter 1:21), and who empowered the apostles to work the miraculous signs and wonders which characterized their lives, Mark 16:20.
3. Listen folks, the Holy Spirit is a very real, living, viable person. He didn't just "used to be" a real person; He "is" a real person. He didn't just "used to have" a job to do; He "has" a job to do right now. And, I might add, He is doing it. I think a lot of us do not realize or see that He is doing it; but He is. Thank God, His doing of His great work is not dependent upon our recognition of what He's doing.
B. And, the Holy Spirit is not a real person in retirement or on a leave of absence:
1. In fact, He is on specific assignment from heaven to carry on a work in the hearts and lives of believers. Jesus specifically said, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you," John 14:16-17. John 16:7-15 will tell you that the Holy Spirit was sent first as a Comforter to the apostles, and inspired them to write the Holy Scriptures and to heal and perform miracles.
But, the Holy Spirit's assignment to come to earth as a Comforter of believers was not limited to the apostles only. Yes, only they and a few of their hand picked co-workers, were His tools in scripture writing and miracles; but His assignment was to move in as a Comforter to all believers. You can quickly see that in I Corinthians 3:16, Romans 8:9, I Thessalonians 4:8, and other passages.
2. As far too many people see it, the Holy Spirit is almost a non-person doing very little today. Oh, they think He did great back there in Bible days. He worked in men to perform miracles, cast out demons, and write the Bible. But, once He finished that, it's kind of like He just vanished off the scene or just quietly sits back in the believers heart doing very little. Believer, that is not the case. The Holy Spirit is very real with plenty to do today. He is not boxed up in the Word or in men's hearts. He always works consistent to the Word; but He is not just the Word. The Holy Spirit is not the same as the Word of God. He is a person and the Word is His product. He works in and through His Word; but He also does some works that is not through His Word. These works are always consistent to the Word, and often involve the Word; yet the Holy Spirit's performance of these works is not dependent upon the introduction of the Word as is the case in the regeneration of the lost.
3. Many of God's sincere people have denied a great deal of the power of the Holy Spirit. They've just pretty well shoved Him out of real everyday life. To them, He's just a "used to be" force which is now basically pinned up in the Word and the believer's heart. By failing to recognize a greater scope for His work, as Psalms 78:41 says, "we limit the Holy one of Israel." It is a grievous sin to deny any aspect of the power of God. Let each of us beware that we do not go beyond that which is ascribed to God, nor stop short of it, for failure on the one hand is just as wrong as failure on the other hand.
II. NOW, THERE ARE SOME VERY SENSATIONAL IDEAS ABOUT WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS DOING THESE DAYS:
A. Lots of people think He directs men through their conscience:
1. They think the Holy Spirit controls the heart; and so they think by listening to their heart, they're listening to the Holy Spirit. So, they equate following the inclinations of their heart with being led by the Holy Spirit. Thus, whatever they feel in their heart they should do, they do; and they just know it's God leading them to do it.
2. It is true that the Holy Spirit can use a man's conscience or heart. Paul wrote, "I say the truth, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost," Romans 9:1. Although, the feelings of the conscience alone should not be misunderstood to be the working of the Holy Spirit. To the contrary, the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked," Jeremiah 17:9. Proverbs 14:12 warns, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Your old heart, or conscience will deceive you, and make a fool out of you. Satan often gains control of the heart, and he can cause you to reason that even wrong is right. He can make you justify nearly anything. As Matthew 16:7 shows, one of the perennial problems of mankind is that "they reason among themselves," and in so doing, they profess themselves to be wise when in fact they are fools according to Romans 1:22. II Timothy 3:7 speaks of these "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
3. Folks, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," I Corinthians 3:19. Your deceitful old heart or conscience within itself is no basis for sound decisions. Our lives are not to be guided by what we think or our hearts tell us. No man who knows what God says in His Word can consider himself consistent with God's Word when he is being led by his conscience. Your old heart will fail you time and again, and frustrate the will of God for your life. Don't get to thinking your conscience or how you feel is the Holy Spirit leading you; and don't get to thinking that because you are sincerely following your conscience, you are following the Holy Spirit's leadership.
4. Your conscience is nothing more than your frame of reference; and your frame of reference is whatever you make it to be. For generations, the Soviets have taught their people anything is good when it's done in the interest of the communist state. The result is that the communists can in good conscience lie, cheat, murder, desert, and do virtually any other evil thing they please as long as it justifies and advances their state. They're going by their conscience, but you sure can't blame what they're doing on the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God.
5. Your conscience becomes a tool by which the Holy Spirit can work in you and lead you once it is filled with the Word of God. As King David explained, "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee," Psalms 119:11. Once the Word of God is planted in your heart, the Holy Spirit of God can recall it to your memory. That is what Paul was saying to Timothy when he wrote, "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things," II Timothy 2:7. He was not asking Timothy to make decisions based on his conscience alone. To the contrary, he was telling him that the Lord would direct him with the truth of the Word which he had hidden in his heart. That's exactly what Solomon is teaching in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." He is saying we are not to go by our own conscience, heart, or understanding. To the contrary, we acknowledge Him in our hearts, which is to replace our own ideas with the superior reasoning of His Word. Then, in following that reasoning, we are in fact being led by the Holy Spirit of God, for then are we following His direction and not our own heart.
6. But, even when portions of God's Word are hidden in our heart or conscience, we must be extremely cautious. Whenever any consideration comes up, be certain that the decisions made in the heart are made from the consideration of divine truth hidden there; not through sophisticated human reasoning. Satan can surely get in and mix the seeds of tares among the good seeds of truth, or the seeds of error and self with the words of truth. Jesus warned of this in Matthew 13:24-30. When John warns us to "Try the spirits whether they are of God," in I John 4:1, he is not telling us to go with our feelings and conscience. The only adequate way to "try the spirits" is to analyze them in light of the revealed truth of the written Word of God. Praise God for the man or woman who has enough truth hidden in his heart to perform such an analysis on the spot. Pitty the man or woman who lacks the truth to do so; and who thus succumbs to human reasoning in his analysis. Sadly, this is what many do, all the while claiming themselves to be led by the Spirit of God.
7. Following feelings and the conscience, and equating that with the working of the Holy Spirit, is such a common occurrence even among very fine, godly, and sincere people. But, the practice destroys so much of the credibility of the Lord's work. God-fearing people, even many preachers, who denounce humanism or self-reliance with vehemence, pray to God for the leadership of the Spirit. They think He'll answer and lead by causing them to feel a certain way. So, they follow their own hearts, believing whatever they feel to be God's leading through the Holy Spirit. They do not realize they are doing exactly what the humanist are doing. They're leaning on self. It's the deceitful old heart that's leading; not the Holy Spirit.
The result is so often erratic and inconsistent conduct, which is blamed on the Holy Spirit of God. He's accredited with leading the believer to do whatever he did, regardless of how inconsistent, hurtful, or humbling it proved to be. For example, in the case of preachers, they often claim the Lord is leading them to another church, only to have time reveal they should have stayed put. People make purchases, change churches, quit school, change jobs, and do lots of very absurd things; not on the basis of solid biblical consideration, but upon the strength of how they feel. And, they piously accredit such activity to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Even most lost men, who have almost no knowledge of the Bible can see through this. Surely God's people who follow their feelings and conscience should not blame the out-growing inconsistencies and embarrassments on the Holy Spirit.
8. The Holy Spirit does many wonderful things. He can even use a believer's conscience which has been filled with divine truth to help direct that man's life. This He does only to the extent that the individual utilizes the divine truth in his heart. But, He does not direct people through their consciences apart from the Word of God.
Let every lost person pay special attention to this truth. You won't find God by searching your own heart, and following your conscience. Let your conscience be your guide, and you'll die and go to hell. Only the light of God's revealed Word can bring you to salvation. Follow your conscience and you'll end in hell; but follow what God says, and you will be saved.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"