The work of the Holy Spirit is to separate the Believer from the world; something that begins the moment a person gets saved.
Jordan says, “Coming to Christ and getting saved, whether in our program or Israel’s program, means coming into an irresistible collision with the life force of God the Holy Spirit.
"We become new creatures. Israel becomes a new nation.
"In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God did not come to permanently reside in the Believer. In the new covenant, He will.
“When He says He dwelleth with you and shall be in you, you know Him for He dwelleth. Now that’s the contrast He’s getting at. He is with you. He shall be in you. He’s with you—that’s the Old Testament status.
“John 14:16 says, ‘And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.'
"Christ’s already said He will abide forever, so this Holy Spirit, when He comes, is going to come not simply to be with them, but to be IN them, and when He’s in them, He’s going to be there permanently.
"Now that’s part of the ministry of the new covenant that Jesus Christ is introducing in John and is going to talk about in great detail in chapters 15-16.
*****
“In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come on people, would go in them and would be with them, but He didn’t permanently stay.
“There are three characters as great examples in the Old Testament. One is Saul. The Holy Spirit came on Saul, came into Saul and Saul prophesied, and then the Holy Spirit left him and never came back! Saul repented after Samuel told him he was going to lose the kingdom but God said, ‘It’s too late.’
“With Samson, the Spirit of God came on him, but he thought it was the time he spent down at the gym and his pretty hair and all that stuff that made him such a hot buffed-up dude.
"Delilah cut his hair for him. He got a haircut down at the devil’s barbershop and what happened? The Spirit of God left and the Scripture says ‘he wist not that the spirit left him.’
“The result was the Philistines fell upon him, bored out his eyes, put him in a grinding machine and had him grinding. They bound him, they blinded him and had him grinding. There’s a famous sermon from Jeremiah about what sin does to you. ‘It’ll blind you, bind you and grind you.’
“There’s old Samson. The Philistines get him out one night and are going to make sport of him. He’s a blind, pitiful shell of himself but they use him to mock him. He had been a fearful guy to them. He’d slain many mighty Philistines. He was an enemy.
“They bring him in to mock him, tie him to a pillar. Samson says, ‘Lord, if you just let me one more time bring the house down I’m willing to go,’ and he did.
"The Spirit of God went back on him, gave him the strength and he knocked the pillar over and brought the whole house down and killed them all, himself included.
“With Samson, the Spirit was on him, was in him, left, and then came back. With Saul, the Spirit was on him, left and never came back. Then you got David.
“With King David, the Holy Spirit came on him, was in him and was with him even though David sinned grievously, personally. He commits adultery. He steals another man’s wife. Then he has her husband murdered. Dastardly things. When he repents, Nathan the prophet puts his finger in his nose and says, ‘Thou art the man.’ Remember that?
“David repented. He wrote Psalm 51 to describe what that repentance was like. He said it was ‘bloodguiltiness’ like the breaking of bones. It was a bitter, painful experience. And in the midst of all that, he cries out to God, ‘Take not thy Holy Spirit from me!’ Even in all of that, God never took His Spirit away from him. The Spirit of God stayed with David and never left.
*****
“You go back and read about when Moses gets the skilled laborers together to build the tabernacle. The Holy Spirit came on the artisans. You ever hear anybody pray, ‘Lord, guide the hand of the surgeon now as he goes to do surgery?’
"I used to wonder where they got that from and then a fellow told me it’s like what God did back there in Exodus when He guided the hands of the artisan to give them skill in doing their job to build the artifacts for the tabernacle. Yes, the Spirit of God came on him and did that but then you know what He did? He left.
“All that coming-going, coming-going-staying-and-not-leaving—that’s before the new covenant. So it’s not right to say that under the old covenant they never had the Spirit of God at all. They did—He came on them, He would go with them, He indwelled them. He went in Daniel, for example. But what He didn’t do is He didn’t regenerate them and He didn’t permanently dwell with them. That’s going to change.
*****
“Jesus said, ‘I’m going to go away to the Cross, be resurrected, ascend into heaven and I’m going to send the Holy Spirit, and when He comes your relationship with Him is going to be NEW and different, permanent. He’ll be with you, but He’ll be in you permanently. A permanent indwelling.
“Now, if you want to see when that takes place, John 14:18 says, ‘I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.’ That’s not like verse 3 where He’s talking about the Second Coming.
"He’s talking about, ‘I’m going to come to you in the person of the Holy Spirit.’ Once again, you see the Trinity in action here. You had all three of them back in verse 16.
“When Christ says, ‘I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you,’ He’s not going to leave the throne of heaven.
"It’s the Spirit of Christ that’s going to come. One of the members of the Trinity. Verse 19 says, ‘Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.’
“Think about what He’s saying: ‘Because I live you live.’ He’s saying He is the source of life and not just life, but spiritual life—eternal life.
"You know, when you read the Lord Jesus Christ’s conversation, when He just talks about Himself, the whole thing is He was either a liar, a lunatic or the Lord
"One of greatest demonstrations of His deity is just the common assumptions He makes when He talks and He assumes life--all life--is there because of Him.
“Paul says it in Colossians 1. He says, ‘By him all things consist.’ The reason things hold together and life exists is because of Him; the consistency of His word, His integrity.
“Verse 20 says, ‘At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.’ That day is the day back in verses 16-17 when He sends the Comforter, the spirit of truth, who’s going to be in you. And when He’s in you, ‘They’re going to know that Christ is in my Father, that ye are in me and that I am in you.’
“That’s that new covenant relationship; the permanent provision and promise of the new testament and the new covenant. It comes into their experience and is inaugurated on the day of Pentecost when He comes.”
*****
"Jeremiah 31:31 says, 'Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.'
"Ezekiel 36 explains how He’s going to do the heart-writing of His law into their hearts. It’s a supernatural operation. He writes, 'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.'
"Ezekiel 36:24 says, 'For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.'
"What did He say in Jeremiah? ‘I’m gonna write my law in your heart. I’m gonna give you a new heart. A new spirit will I put within you.’ What spirit would that be? There’s the Holy Spirit coming!
“What does He take away? The stone, or the hardness of the heart. He takes away the rebellion against the truth of God’s Word. 'He that be often reproved hardeneth his heart.'
"You hear the Word of God over and over and you reject it and that much reproof hardens. He said, ‘I’ll take that away. I’ll take away the effects of all that unbelief and I’ll give you a responsive heart. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.’ "
(new article tomorrow)
No comments:
Post a Comment