Open in your Bibles with me tonight to
the 16th chapter of the Gospel of John,
John chapter 16.
I read it as a text, not as
the text, because I will also be referring
to other passages, many passages, as we move
through the message tonight.
But John chapter 16, as we begin reading
at verse 7.
Jesus is speaking, speaking to his disciples, and
he said, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth,
it is expedient for you that I go
away.
For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you.
But if I depart, I will send him
unto you.
And when he is come, he will reprove
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and
of judgment.
Of sin, because they believe not on me.
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father
and you see me no more.
Of judgment, because the Prince of this world
is judged.
I have yet many things to say unto
you, but you cannot bear them now.
Nevertheless, when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but
whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak.
And he will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me, for he shall receive
of mine, and shall show it unto you.
Let's bow our heads and hearts in just
a moment of prayer.
Our Father, we pray this evening that you
would glorify your name through this message, in
whatever way it pleases you, as we pray
and as we speak, in the name of
Jesus.
Amen.
I think it would be the understatement of
the year, maybe even the understatement of the
decade, and perhaps the understatement of the century,
to say tonight that this is an age
of doctrinal unconcern and confusion.
Men don't want to hear doctrine preached.
They don't want to read doctrine.
They don't want to talk doctrine.
Men are in a state of doctrinal unconcern,
and as a result, they're filled with doctrinal
confusion.
Maybe you heard the story about the little
old lady that went out of her church
one Sunday morning, and she took the preacher's
hand, and as she went out, she shook
it, and she said, That was a good
sermon.
It didn't have no doctrine.
There's nothing in it.
Well, I've heard some sermons like that, I
think.
And perhaps in my earlier days, I may
have preached some sermons like that.
But in light of the doctrinal ignorance and
the doctrinal unconcern, it's always a joy when
I have an opportunity to speak on a
doctrinal subject.
My subject these two sessions is to deal
with prayer and the Holy Spirit and revival.
Now, if you look at that subject, you'll
see that I've got several subjects.
I could speak a long time, preach many
messages on the doctrine of prayer.
I could say a lot about the doctrine
of the Holy Spirit.
There's a lot in the Bible about the
doctrine of revival.
You could even spend a long time talking
about how prayer relates to revival, and how
the Holy Spirit relates to revival, and how
prayer relates to the Holy Spirit.
I welcome you tonight to Mission Impossible.
I'm going to deal in two nights, by
God's help, with the subject of prayer, revival,
and the Holy Spirit.
Now, where do you start in a subject
like this?
Well, being a good Calvinist, I'm going to
start with God.
I'm going to begin with talking to you
tonight about who is the Holy Spirit.
I will tie in the Holy Spirit with
the work of revival at the end of
the message, but I want to set forth
this evening several propositions from the Scripture about
the person and the work of the Holy
Spirit.
First of all, I want us to understand
that the Bible sets forth the fact that
the Holy Spirit is a person.
Now, if I wanted to be a little
more emphatic, I could say the Holy Spirit
is a real person.
Some people, as they talk about the Holy
Spirit, you get the idea that he's some
kind of a weird and eerie influence that
just floats around out there in space, and
comes down every once in a while to
swoop over his church and bring revival.
Some kind of weird and eerie influence that
comes and goes in the life of the
church.
The way some people pray, you'd think the
Holy Spirit was some thing or some it.
Have you ever heard someone pray, Lord, we
need the Holy Spirit in our midst tonight.
Send it down upon us.
That's a rather common prayer that you'll hear.
But I would set before you tonight the
fact that the Bible teaches that the Holy
Spirit is a person, a real person.
Now, when I say that, I mean that
he has the attributes of personality.
He has the characteristics of personality.
In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11, we're told
the Holy Spirit has a mind.
The Spirit of God knows the things of
God.
The things of God are known, not to
man, but to the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God knows the things of
God, therefore he has a mind.
Again, I read in 1 Corinthians 12, verse
11, that the Holy Spirit has a will.
I read in that verse that the Holy
Spirit divides the gifts severally as he will.
So the Holy Spirit has personal characteristics.
The Bible makes this clear.
But did you notice also that in the
passage I read in John 16, that the
Holy Spirit is referred to with personal pronouns
all the way through that passage?
If you'll read it in the Greek, it's
even more emphatic.
Some of those personal pronouns consist of masculine,
the masculine gender.
And so we read, and it's proper, even
though the word spirit is neuter, it's proper
to read, I will send him unto you.
When he is come, he will reprove the
world of sin and of righteousness and of
judgment.
In verse 13, when he, the Spirit of
truth, has come, he will guide you into
all truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but
whatever he shall hear, that he shall speak.
And he shall show you things to come.
He shall glorify me.
For he shall receive of mine and shall
show it unto you.
Personal pronouns used in reference to the Holy
Spirit.
But again, as I study the Bible, I
find the Holy Spirit is described personal acts.
Acts that only a person can perform.
He works.
He teaches.
He searches.
He speaks.
He testifies.
He reproves.
He glorifies Christ.
He directs men's lives.
Now those are works that only a person
can perform.
But again, as I read the Bible, I
find the Holy Spirit referred to with treatment
that only a person can receive.
He can be tempted.
He can be lied to.
He can be resisted.
He can be grieved.
Now if I were to take an action,
chop up this pulpit.
This pulpit wouldn't feel a thing.
It's impersonal.
I might grieve Dr. Nettles and Brother Ernie
Griesinger.
And I surely would probably grieve the people
on this campus for chopping up one of
their pulpits.
But this pulpit would feel nothing.
Only a person can be grieved.
And so the Holy Spirit, because he receives
treatment that only a person can receive, is
a person.
He is a real person.
The Bible gives him personal attributes.
Speaks of him with personal pronouns.
Attributes to him personal acts.
And attributes to him treatment that can only
be received by a person.
The Holy Spirit is a real person.
Not some weird and eerie influence that floats
in space.
Not an it, not a thing.
But the Holy Spirit is a real person
to us.
Second, the Bible makes it clear that the
Holy Spirit is God.
He is the third person of the Godhead.
And as you study the Bible, you'll find
that this person that we've just mentioned is
a divine person because he possesses all the
attributes of God.
Hebrews 9.14 says he is eternal.
As it declares that Jesus offered himself through
the eternal spirit.
Acts, or rather Psalms 139 verse 7 through
10 teaches us he is omnipresent.
The psalmist said, whether shall I go from
thy presence, whether shall I flee from thy
spirit.
And then he begins to name the places
that he would go to try to get
away from the presence of the Spirit of
God.
But everywhere he goes, the Spirit of God
follows.
The Spirit of God is omnipresent.
The Spirit of God is omniscient.
John chapter 16 where he read, Jesus said
the Holy Spirit will teach you all things.
The verse we referred to in 1 Corinthians,
we read that he searches and knows the
deep things of God.
So he's omniscient.
He possesses the attributes of God.
So the Holy Spirit is God.
And if I wanted to be emphatic, I
could say the Holy Spirit is completely God.
He does the work of God.
He took part in creation.
Genesis chapter 1 verse 2.
He inspired the scriptures.
2 Peter chapter 1 verse 21.
And we go on and on and on.
Sometimes I think when we talk about the
Holy Spirit as the third person of the
Godhead, we picture the Holy Spirit in this
fashion.
God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit.
And we come away or leave the impression
with people that the Holy Spirit is less
God than is God the Father or God
the Son.
When I speak of the Holy Spirit, I
think I would rather speak in this manner.
God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit.
And though it is proper to speak of
him as the third person of the Trinity,
he is just as completely God as is
God the Father.
And he is just as completely God with
all the deity and essence and attributes of
the Godhead as is God the Son.
He is completely God.
So we've seen the Holy Spirit is a
real person.
The Holy Spirit is completely God.
But what does he do?
Well, this leads me to my third point.
The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts
of sin.
When he comes, Jesus said, he will reprove,
which means to lay bare.
He will reprove the world of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment.
He will lay bare the hearts of men
before the Holy God.
Let me say clearly tonight that it is
not the preacher with his well-planned, homiletically
structured sermon that brings conviction of sin upon
men.
And I'm not calling for unstructured sermons.
I've heard too many of those.
I'm not calling for hodgepodge, shoot-from-the
-hip type sermons where you get up and
no study and just say whatever's on your
heart.
You better watch out.
Those kind of sermons will get you in
trouble.
You preach your pet peeve.
No, no.
It's not the preacher, though, with his well
-planned sermon.
I teach preaching.
But it's not the preacher with his well
-planned, homiletically structured sermon, the convictment of sin.
The Holy Spirit of God must work through
that preacher and through his sermon.
And if the Spirit of God is not
resting upon that preacher, then that sermon will
fall on deaf ears.
Not the soul winner going door-to-door
knocking with his various training in how to
present the plan of salvation, the convictment of
sin.
And I'm not against evangelism.
I seek to practice evangelism.
I preach evangelistic messages.
And yet it's not the soul winner with
his evangelism explosion training that convicts men of
sin.
The Spirit of God is the one who
convicts of sin, working through that soul winner,
that Christian, whatever you wish to call him,
that witness, as he goes forth to share
the gospel.
And if the Spirit of God does not
speak, there will be no conviction of sin.
Not the logical argumentation of the earnest Christian
apologist that convicts of sin.
I believe in apologetics.
But yet all of the irrational arguments can
never convince anybody of their sin.
Until the Spirit of God opens the heart,
there will be no understanding of sin.
There will be no conviction of sin.
There will be no breaking of the heart
before God, which leads to salvation.
I think one of the mistakes we've made
in this day and age is to think
that we can convince and convict men of
sin.
And by our means and by our methods
to bring people to a decision without the
presence of the Spirit's work of conviction.
I'm fearful that we've picked much of our
fruit when it was green.
Before the conviction of sin ever came by
the power of the Holy Spirit.
We were led to believe that to be
a successful preacher, you've got to have decisions.
You've got to have fruit.
And if you'll just apply the right methods
and do the right thing, then people will
supposedly make a decision for the Lord Jesus.
And how many people have made a decision,
supposedly, quote-unquote, decision, for the Lord Jesus
without the presence of the Holy Spirit's conviction?
And if there is not conviction of sin,
there will not be salvation.
I don't care how much you may will
it, how much you may desire it, how
much you may pray for it, if the
Spirit of God does not convict of sin,
there will be no salvation.
He is the one who convicts of sin.
The fourth.
The Holy Spirit is the one who offers
the new birth.
John chapter 3 says, men must be born
again.
They must be born of the Spirit.
John chapter 1, verse 12 and 13 says,
men must be born not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God.
The Spirit of God is the one who
offers the new birth.
It is not joining a church that brings
the new birth.
Baptism does not bring the new birth.
The Lord's Supper does not bring the new
birth.
Walking down an aisle does not bring the
new birth.
You can walk down every aisle between here
and California and still be unborn into the
family of God.
Shaking a preacher's hand does not bring the
new birth.
Even going through the process or ritual of
saying the printer's prayer does not bring the
new birth.
Good works, good deeds, good intentions, good feelings
do not bring the new birth.
Religious ritual does not bring the new birth.
Positivity, possibility, thinking, and positive thinking do not
bring the new birth.
Neither, quote unquote, receiving Jesus into my heart
brings the new birth.
And let me add one more.
Neither will receiving John Calvin into your heart
bring the new birth.
And I say that for some of you
here tonight.
Some folks act like when you become a
Calvinist, that's what brings the new birth.
The Holy Spirit is the one who brings
the new birth.
He blows where he wills, as he wills.
I can't produce the new birth in me.
I may want to, I may desire to,
but there is no power within me at
all to bring to pass the new birth.
In the hearts of unbelievers.
That's his work.
But fifth, the Holy Spirit is the one
who indwells the believer.
The hour of salvation.
Isn't that marvelous?
There are some things that just boggle my
mind.
When I stand outside and think in the
night hours, I look at the stars and
the infinity of space, my mind just gets
boggled.
When I think of the infinity of eternity,
my mind just swims.
And then when I think that God, in
all of his person, in all of his
attributes, in all of his power, came to
live in me at the hour of my
salvage.
God, in all of his person, God in
all of his power, in the person of
the Holy Spirit, lives in me!
When I was first pastoring, I used to
wish somehow that I could walk with my
new converts as they went to work and
face the ridicule of the world.
I came to find out that God was
way ahead of me.
He had placed his Holy Spirit in every
one of those young converts.
And when they went out and faced the
critics, I found out they gave better answers
than I could have given them.
Because of the teaching and direction of the
Holy Spirit working through them.
The Holy Spirit indwells the believer at the
hour of his conversion.
The Holy Spirit, sick, seals the believer.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby you are
sealed unto the day of redemption.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30.
I've been sealed to the day of redemption.
God has placed upon me his stamp of
ownership!
Not just for today!
Not just for tomorrow!
There were no other verses in the Bible
except this one.
It would assure me of the perseverance of
the saints.
Because God has placed upon me his stamp
of ownership!
Unto the day of redemption.
He sealed the believer at the hour of
his birth.
But seventh, the Holy Spirit fills the believer.
There's a lot of controversy about this point,
and I surely can't solve all the controversy
in one point of a nine-point message.
But let me say very clearly this.
The Bible commands the believer to be filled
with the Spirit.
Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess,
but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5, verse 18.
And the Bible, I think, also makes it
clear that the Holy Spirit fills us at
the hour of our conversion.
Now, don't roll your eyeballs if you disagree
with that.
Don't make a lousy face at me.
But I'm convinced that the fullness of the
Holy Spirit is the believer's rightful heritage based
upon what Jesus Christ did at Calvary's cross.
The Holy Spirit is not my claim because
I have prayed all night for the Holy
Spirit to fill me.
The Holy Spirit is not my claim because
I've surrendered everything up or because I've turned
loose or hung on for a period of
time.
The Holy Spirit is not my claim.
His fullness is not my claim because of
anything I have done.
But the fullness of the Holy Spirit comes
exactly the same way every other blessing of
salvation comes because of what Christ did at
Calvary.
And when I become identified with Jesus Christ
in His death and His burial and His
resurrection and in submission to His Lordship at
that hour of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes
and fills my heart with my rightful heritage.
The fullness of the Holy Spirit.
And when I read Galatians chapter 5, verses
22 and 23, and I read there that
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, meekness, kindness, temperance, and faith.
And when I see that in a new
convert, I know that new convert can't produce
that.
And when I see a new convert, one
who has just been saved out of the
dregs of sin, filled with love for the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Filled with love for a lost world.
Filled with love for His fellow Christians.
Filled with joy.
Sometimes when I go into a church to
preach, I kind of play a little game.
I look out over the congregation while I'm
getting ready and watch the people as they
come in.
Some folks just come in and sit with
a scowl on their face.
Other people come in radiating Christ.
I usually say, those are the new converts.
The Spirit of God is moving in their
heart.
Faith.
You go into a church and you want
to get it moving, and you ask the
people to take a great step of faith,
and the old members just sit back and
say, we never did it that way before.
They sit back and say, it can't be
done.
But the new convert is filled with faith
and says, we'll trust God for it.
I don't know how, but we're not going
to worry because we've got a great God.
Who is it that gives that young convert
love, joy, faith, meekness, kindness, temperance?
The fullness of the Spirit of God within
his heart.
The Holy Spirit comes and fills us.
The hour of our salvation.
But eight, the Holy Spirit is the agent
of God in sanctification in the believer's life.
Romans 15, 16 says that we are being
sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
And remember Galatians chapter 3, verse 3, where
Paul writes and says, oh, you foolish Galatians,
having begun in the Spirit are you now
made perfect by the flesh?
Which is to say, don't you realize that
the Spirit of God began this work of
salvation in you?
And the Spirit of God is the one
who must continue it as he works the
work of sanctification.
He is the one who works our sanctification
tonight.
But ninth, and I'm going to dwell on
this one for a few moments.
The Holy Spirit as the one who is
the worker of our sanctification is also the
one who brings revival and reformation and refreshing
to the church.
I say that again.
As the Holy Spirit is the agent of
sanctification then part of his work in applying
the work of Jesus Christ to us part
of his work in working his sanctification in
us is to be God's agent of revival
and renewal and refreshing in the church.
In the Old Testament there are verses where
the men of God cry out for revival.
Psalm 85, 6, Wilt thou not revive us
again that thy people may rejoice?
Or perhaps that one in the back that
is so familiar, O Lord, revive thy work
in the midst of the years.
In the midst of the years make known
in wrath remember mercy.
The Hebrew word here means to spiritually quicken.
It has other meanings.
It's used in the Old Testament to speak
of a refreshing or a reviving from sickness,
from discouragement, from faintness, and even from death.
In these passages it speaks of a spiritual
quickening, a spiritual reviving, a spiritual refreshing.
And the prayer of these saints of God
makes it clear that God is the one
who must do the reviving.
They don't pray, God give me a method
whereby we can revive the church.
They pray, O God, You revive the church.
And since the Holy Spirit is the one
who is working in our sanctification, since He
is that person of the Godhead who convicts
of sin and applies the work of Christ
and works our sanctification, then the Holy Spirit
is the one also who is to quicken
His church and refresh His church and reform
His church and revive His church.
I say again, as before, it's not the
preacher with his weepy stories that revives God's
church.
And please understand me, it's not the church
with its all-night prayer meetings even that
revives the church.
It's not the sparing of human emotions that
revives the church.
It's not the employment of cause and effect
methodology that will revive the church.
How often men today try to manipulate the
Holy Spirit into bringing revival into their midst
by human schemes.
How often men today seek to harness the
Holy Spirit by their human methods.
How often men seek to dictate to the
Holy Spirit what He ought to do because
of their human desires.
How often men try to negotiate with the
Holy Spirit by their human persuasion.
Or they try to mechanize the Holy Spirit
by their human efforts.
Or they try to move the Holy Spirit
by their spiritual gimmicks.
Or they try to bargain with the Holy
Spirit to do their own bidding.
Do you remember the day when maybe you
did that?
I remember a day when I just thought
if I can just find the right method.
If I can just find the right method,
there's got to be a method to bring
revival to the church.
If I can just find the right method,
then everywhere I go, I can apply that
method and revival will come to that church.
And I will be a successful revivalist and
evangelist.
I didn't realize it, but that was the
bottom line.
So that I could be a successful revival
preacher and evangelist.
Just find the right method.
And then when I couldn't find the right
method, I thought, well, if I just work
hard enough, God will see my hard work
and God will send me.
I found that didn't work.
And I thought, well, if I'll just pray
long enough, God will send revival.
That didn't work.
And then I thought, well, if I'll just
be holy enough, God will send revival.
Have you ever gone through that?
Am I the only one?
No.
You cannot manipulate the Holy Spirit by your
human schemes.
You cannot harness the Holy Spirit.
I tried.
Some of you have.
You cannot dictate to the Holy Spirit.
You cannot negotiate with the Holy Spirit over
revival.
You cannot mechanize the Holy Spirit by some
human effort.
You cannot move the Holy Spirit by your
spiritual gimmicks and clownery in the pulpit.
You cannot bargain with the Holy Spirit to
do your bidding.
You know why?
Because the Holy Spirit of God is sovereign
even when it comes to sending revival.
I think sometimes men are willing to admit
that God is sovereign in all things, but
not in revival.
Surely that depends upon us.
I think sometimes we're willing to say, yes,
God is sovereign in salvation, but not in
revival.
That's up to us.
Or God is sovereign in election and reprobation,
but God's not sovereign in revival.
Surely that's up to us.
God's sovereign in conviction of sin and regeneration
and in granting the gift of repentance and
faith.
And God is sovereign in ruling history, but
somehow God's not sovereign in revival.
That's up to us.
And if we can just find the right
method, find the right man, if I can
just become a certain kind of person, then
God will send revival to my church, or
God will send revival through me.
And how prone we are today to make
much of man and means.
I'm not against means.
I'm not against man.
I agree with what Brother Ernie Friedman said.
And I'll balance this thing up on Thursday
night.
I'm giving you the divine side tonight.
I give you the human responsibility side on
Thursday night.
But how prone we are to make much
of man and means.
Man and his means must get the job
done.
And if man and his means don't work,
then God can't do it, is our idea.
But I remind you tonight, the means and
the man are nothing to God.
They're nothing They're only the instrument.
And the instrument, the human instrument that God
uses to do His work is nothing.
And God is everything.
And when you and I come to the
place where we think that we're something that
God needs us and that we can do
this or that and we can manipulate God
or we can harness God or we can
negotiate with God, for God can't do anything
without us, I would remind you tonight that
God is everything and the human instrument is
nothing.
If God could use a feeble woman, if
God could use a left-handed man, no
insult to left-handed people, if God could
use a shepherd boy, if God could use
a cake of barley, a broken pitcher, isn't
that enough to convince us that the instrument
is nothing, that God is everything?
Let me illustrate it a little more fully
for you, in case you're not getting my
point.
If God could use Suppose, just suppose tonight,
that you wrote a book entitled The Five
Points of Calvin.
Now, just suppose you wrote a book, The
Five Points of Calvin, and in the first
year's time, that book sold eight million copies,
and it is heralded everywhere as a masterpiece,
a classic, a bestseller, and through that eight
million copies, it required dozens and dozens of
editions.
Then somewhere along the line, all of the
religious periodicals begin to call you for an
interview, because you, you think, are the author
of an eight million copy book.
And so you are quite impressed with the
various publications that have called, and you line
them up one by one to come and
talk with you.
Now please, I speak a little bit tongue
-in-cheek tonight.
All of these publications that I will mention,
I take and I read and I appreciate
them.
But the first one that comes is Muddy
Monthly.
Muddy Monthly asks for an appointment with you.
But when the reporter comes, he doesn't want
to talk about you, the author.
He asks the most insignificant question, at least
to you.
Can I see the pen which wrote that
book?
You say, you mean the pen I used
to write?
May I see the pen that wrote that
book?
Well, yes.
I wrote that book with my paper mate.
My paper mate, Pan, wrote the book.
And so the reporter from Muddy Monthly sits
there and researches hours and hours asking you
all about your paper mate, Pan, that wrote
that book.
And the next issue of Muddy Monthly has
an article not about you, but about your
pen telling in what factory it was made
and when it was sold and what store
and how many parts of ink it had
in it to begin with.
When you started writing the book and how
many parts of ink it had when you
finished writing the book, you think to yourself,
there's something wrong here.
My pen's only the instrument and they're recognizing
and honoring my pen.
Next you notice that Christianity Tomorrow honors your
pen by running a picture of it in
their periodical.
And they named your pen the author of
the year.
And you say, my pen didn't write it,
I wrote that book.
And the rod of God writes a scathing
article against your pen because it wrote a
book on the five points of Calvinism.
Now you realize I speak with tongue in
cheek.
And then the funny mental journal refuses to
advertise your book, but they write an article
on your pen, analyzing the qualities of your
pen, trying to somehow create or dig out
a method whereby their readers can take a
pen and write a book just like yours
that will sell eight million copies.
They're interested in the final result, millions of
copies.
And then the seminary journals, they begin publishing
articles that ask the question, could any other
pen have written such a book?
Could a Pilot pen have written such a
book instead of the paper mace?
Could a Gripso pen have been used?
Could a Pentel pen have been used?
How about a Schaeffer?
And then all of the received John Calvin
into your heart journals debated the subject of
the freedom or the non-freedom of the
pen as it wrote the book.
Now wouldn't you somewhere along the line stand
up and say, this is silly.
Stop it!
Surely you must understand that pen didn't write
the book.
I wrote the book!
Could this not be the feeling of God
at times?
He looks down here upon this earth.
He sees human, sinful, incapable, powerless creatures such
as you and I taking credit for his
work through our lives.
There are times in my heart I think
it probably is the same with you and
I see revival services so man-centered, television
programs, religious programs so man-centered.
I just cry out in my heart, Stop
it!
Stop it!
Where's God in all of this?
When I watch one certain television program, it's
not very often, and they show what they
have raised millions of dollars to build.
My heart cries out, Stop it!
Stop it!
When it all centers on a man, even
a woman, my heart cries out, Where's God?
Where's God in all of this?
Do these people not realize that they're only
the instruments?
Do you and I not realize that in
doing the work of God we are only
the instruments?
I speak to instruments tonight and I ask
very simply tonight, What is your motive when
you get into the pulpit?
Do you realize that when you get into
the pulpit that the Spirit of God must
do the work if it's to be done?
When you get into the pulpit do you
preach and proclaim the Word of God for
His glory?
Or do you get into the pulpit that
you might exalt yourself, that people might pat
you on the back, tell you what a
great preacher you are, that your church might
grow?
Lately when I'm getting ready to preach and
I pray, Lord, may the Holy Spirit rest
upon me and anoint me and grant me
power.
The thought has been coming to my mind,
What's your motive?
And I have to search my heart and
I have to reply, God, my motive is
that you might be glorified.
And then the thought comes to my mind,
What if it will glorify God for you
to get in the pulpit and stumble all
over yourself and make a fool out of
yourself?
And people would say, What a terrible preacher.
What would happen if you get in the
pulpit and just stumble and stutter and fall
all over yourself and yet that would somehow
glorify God?
Would you pray, Lord, do whatever you wish
to do in this pulpit tonight that would
glorify you even if it's my stumbling, even
if it's my failure, even if it's my
weakness, so that men would see God and
not the instrument.
I'm afraid that many, many, many, many spend
their lives trying to manipulate God.
Let me tell you, you cannot manipulate the
Holy Spirit.
He is a divine person.
He's completely God.
He convicts of sin.
He offers the new birth.
He indwells the believer at the hour of
his salvation.
He seals the believer at the hour of
his salvation.
He fills the believer at the hour of
his salvation.
And he does all of this according to
God's sovereign purpose from eternity past.
He's also the agent of sanctification.
And part of his work in sanctification is
to send revival to his people.
And he does all of this, as tough
as it is for us to admit it
sometimes, he does all of this in accordance
with his divine purpose and will from eternity
past.
Some people spend all their lives trying to
manipulate the Holy Spirit to do their thing,
their work, trying to harness him, dictate to
him, negotiate with him, trying to mechanize him,
so the Spirit of God will get moved
by their spiritual gimmicks.
You cannot, you cannot manipulate, you cannot control
the Holy Spirit.
You can only come to the end of
yourself from the flatness of your faith.
Cry out, O Spirit of God, thou art
sovereign.
May I not try to manipulate or control
you, but Spirit of God, bring my heart
and mind in union with your purpose and
your will and accomplish your will through me,
not Holy Spirit, you accomplish my will.
Whatever it is, even if it's apparent failure
in the eyes of man, if it will
glorify God, Spirit of God, accomplish your work,
will we recognize you as sovereign?
Even if you say that doesn't leave any
room for prayer, you wait until Thursday night,
because there's always the balance, human responsibility.
And we'll balance it up, the Lord willing,
Thursday night.
Let's pray.
Precious Holy Spirit, forgive us for our rebellion,
for our manipulative ways and means, for our
seeking to harness you.
Instead of bowing to you, we want you
to bow to us.
Instead of listening to your voice, we want
to dictate to you, oh, what worms we
are, to think that we could negotiate with
you, oh Holy Spirit, that we could somehow
mechanize you because of our hard work or
our long prayers, to think that we could
accomplish your work by human gimmicks.
Oh God, give us that assurance of faith
whereby we might know that you are at
work in this world, that you're calling out
a people, and you're applying the work of
the Son to that people.
Those people who were called from the foundation
of the world, elected according to the divine
sovereignty of our God.
Give us that assurance.
You are calling out a people.
You are at work in your church.
You're at work not to perform our will.
God, help us to be finished with our
desires, our will for you, blessed Holy Spirit.
But may we tonight bow to whatever you,
Holy Spirit, want to do in our lives,
in our church, through us.
Even if it means loss of reputation, even
if it means financial suffering, may we be
bowing to our sovereign Holy Spirit of God
who is working the will and purpose of
the Father.
May we, Father, take our place as instruments
in the hands of your Holy Spirit.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.