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 #8
MISUNDERSTANDING
THE CURRENT ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
(Part #4)
"The Holy Spirit in Deliverance"
Text * II Corintians 1:10
B. Along these same lines, another thing the Holy Spirit does is deliver the saints:
1. As believers, we rejoice greatly in the great delivering power of our God. As II Corinthions 1:10 says, He has "delivered" us, "doth deliver" us, and "will yet deliver us." We know there are three aspects of God's great salvation. He has delivered us from sin's penalty which is death, Romans 6:23. This He did by His death for us on the cross, I Peter 2:24. He is delivering us from sin's power, I Corinthians 1O:13. This He does in view of the fact that "He ever liveth to make intercession" for us, Hebrews 7:25. Also, He will deliver us someday from the presence of sin, Romans 5:9. This He will do when He returns as chief shepherd to glorify us, I Peter 5:4.
2. We know from scripture that He delivers us every day. And, with every good reason for doing so, we speak loud and long of the current-day sustaining grace and delivering power of our God. We sing of His amazing grace and say,
"Through
many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come,
Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home."
We pray, as Jesus taught, "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," Matthew 6:13. Before trips, we pray for safe travel; and we ask God's traveling mercies for our preacher, our family, and our friends. Before we go out on visitation, we pray for God's help in arranging circumstances conducive to good visits, and we pray for the sick. It is not uncommon to hear God's people say, "The Lord was with me today," then explain how the Lord delivered from some danger, temptation, or other snare.
3. Is this concept of the current delivering power of God in harmony with scripture? Most definitely it is! II Peter 2:9 says, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations." King David wrote, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them," Psalms 34:7. He continued in Verse 17, "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles." And he said in Verse 19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." Without the delivering power of God, we are nothing. Satan is too strong for us, Jude 9. All our strength for victory and service comes from the Lord, Psalms 46:1. We are nothing; the power is His, I Corinthians 3:7. As II Corinthians 3:5 puts it, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." So, it is absolutely correct to speak of what the Lord is doing for us; to recognize His delivering power in the daily affairs of our lives. God forbid that we ever become self-sufficient, and think primarily in terms of our own power. We do not honor God and spiritually succeed because we function in the energy of our own flesh. The spiritual success or deliverance of our lives is the doing of our Lord. James said, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," James 1:17. Thus Paul wrote, "That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord," I Corinthians 1:29-31.
Who gives you the strength to resist temptation and say "no" as you walk in fellowship with God? The Lord does! Who causes the growth of courage, patience, resistance to evil, and zeal in those who open their hearts to the truth? God does! And, who can keep Satan from taking everything you have including your health, stopping short only of your life as in Job's case? Only God. The fact of divine reality is that all we are, we are only by the grace of our great delivering God; not of ourselves, I Corinthians 15:10. Were it not for Him, Satan would destroy us at will. But, Satan can do only what God will allow him to do.
4. Now, if God is in the current business of delivering the saints on earth, is it God the Father, or is it God the Son, or is it God the Holy Spirit who is primarily doing so? Since God is one (Mark 12:29), it is impossible to completely divorce the Father, the Son, or the Spirit from any aspect of the work of God. All are involved every time; yet specific works become the primary function of one or the other members of the Godhead. For example, the earthly work of redemption became the primary work of the Son, while the work of revealing the scriptures became the primary work of the Holy Spirit. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are involved in delivering the saints; but whose primary role is this deliverance?
The answer to this question is most assuredly "the Holy Spirit". Remember that it is the Holy Spirit who has been sent to live in believer's today. John 14:16-17 says, "And 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." He dwells in us, (I Corinthians 3:16), and I John 4:4 says, "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." Believer, you are a saint of God, Romans 1:7. It is only because God, in the person of His Holy Spirit, lives in you that you have any victory or daily spiritual deliverance at all. He is the power that makes you spiritually tick, and keeps you going. If He is not the power of your daily deliverance, then the power is your own. And, if the power is your own, your work is in vain, for only what's done in the power of God is of worth; not what's done in the energy of the flesh. Yes, the Holy Spirit of God is the divine author and power of all true second-tense salvation. He alone is the source of power for successful, God-honoring, Christian living.
5. I do not claim to know all about how the Holy Spirit of God goes about delivering the saints. What I do know is that He does. I also know He does it in exact or total harmony with what He has said in His Word. Some things He will do, and some things He won't do. The only way we have of interpreting His delivering activity is in light of the truth He has revealed in the holy Bible. Thus every believer's "experience" about what God has done for him is no sound basis for developing a concept as to what the Spirit will or won't do. If our concept or theology of how the Holy Spirit "doth deliver" us is to be correct, it must harmonize with and never go beyond scripture. From scripture we know that in delivering us, He can use the principles of His Word which we allow Him to implement in our lives, other people in our lives such as pastors and parents, guardian angels, and providence. Yet, all about how He miraculously sustains His own through all the valleys, pressures, and pitfalls of life, we do not know. As Romans 11:33-36 puts it, "0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." Every day He is doing for us things too wonderful for our finite minds to comprehend.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"