Mark O'Grady - Born of the Spirit - Class 5 - The Spirit Mind

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   We’re going to start, I guess, really looking at the role of the Spirit in terms of our own personal lives and how the work of the Spirit can can occur in our own personal hearts and minds. And I think it’s really important for us to to make sure that we’re really clear that the Spirit does need to be involved in our lives.

2. 0:20

   I mean, this passage here, Romans 8, verse 14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And when it comes to verse nine, yeah, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. And sometimes there’s a risk that because we’re so keen to explain to Pentecostals that the Holy Spirit position they’re talking about is not a thing, we can shy away from actually recognising the fact that the Spirit of God needs to be in US. It needs to dwell on us and we need to be led by the Spirit of God.

3. 0:54

   So we need to be clear that the Spirit of God is continually actively involved in the life of the Saints. And what we’re going to be focusing on this morning is the Spirit mind. What we’re going to look at tomorrow, God willing, in our final study is the way in which God himself is active in our lives through the work of the Spirit. The question for us is this morning, in what way does the Spirit of God dwell in us?

4. 1:19

   In what way does the Spirit of God lead us? Now just a bit of a recap. To begin with, in the Old Testament with the word roac, in the New Testament we have the word pneuma. They both come from an idea of movement of air, the concept of breathing something which is breathed out. And it’s based on this, this idea that everything is sourced from God and it breathes out of God himself. It’s his energy that created all things. It’s his mind and his values also which define the way he works with the earth and because of that, the word spirit. Ruach and Yuna convey many different things. There’s different aspects of the way in which God works with His creation as He takes us through the journey of the Spirit, so that not only do our minds change to become the mind of the Spirit, but ultimately, God willing, we become spirit beings full of His Holy Spirit power.

5. 2:14

   Now in yesterday’s study, we looked at the idea of the Holy Spirit power which was given not only to the Lord Jesus Christ, but to the believers in the 1st century for a particular period of time and for some particular purposes. And it was a spectacular outpouring of the Holy Spirit power so that they could achieve the things which God needed them to do. But the question for us is, how does the Spirit dwell in US and work in US today?

6. 2:45

   And we’re going to be looking this morning at the fact that the Spirit is used of God’s way of thinking, his character, his values, his mind. And we’ll see, therefore, that it broadens out to become an expression of, of God’s word and in fact, even of the truth itself working with us. It’s very closely linked to the gospel.

7. 3:04

   That’s the sense in which the Spirit of God works in US today. All right, So what does the Bible say about the way in which the Spirit of God works in US today? And we’re going to go on a little journey through Scripture to build a profile of how this works. First thing is to note, of course, that the word spirit is used in relation to the mind of living beings.

8. 3:26

   So a wise man rules his spirit. Proverbs 16 verse 32 or blessed are the poor in spirit in Matthew 5 verse 3. So we know that this idea of spirit is the is the thinking process including of human beings in that context. Unfortunately, we also know only too well by bitter personal experience that the natural heart of man automatically inclines to things that are evil.

9. 3:58

   So Jeremiah 17, verse 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So there’s this natural bias of a human mind unenlightened by the things of God to deteriorate in terms of the way it thinks. Mark 7, verse 21. For within, out of the heart of men precede evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications and murders. Now this, this natural way of thinking is actually described in Scripture in quite a few ways, and one of those is the expression the carnal mind.

10. 4:34

    So we find that in Romans 8 through 7, the carnal mind is enmity against God. It’s not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So the carnal mind is a phrase that’s used in Scripture of the natural thinking of a human mind which is at variance or enmity even with the things of God.

11. 4:55

    It’s not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. Notice the phrase enmity there. There’s a real strong conflict now between these completely two different ways of thinking. All right, that’s the phrase carnal wine. Can anybody else think of another expression used in Scripture of the carnal wine just to see if we can.

12. 5:19

    The flesh, did you say? Is that what I do? Excellent. Thank you, Brother Paul. The flesh, the thinking of the flesh, It’s a, it’s a synonym, as it were for the carnal wine. So we have the thinking of the flesh or the mind of the flesh. So Romans 8 and verse 5, they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but those who are after the spirit do mind the things of the spirit. And then in verse 6, he describes that as being calmly minded or spiritually minded.

13. 5:50

    So now we see that the word spirit can be used sometimes in Scripture of just the thinking. But as we start to look at some of these passages in the New Testament, actually the idea of being spiritually minded or the thinking of the spirit or the mind of the spirit is now being used as an expression of the way God thinks because that’s what he wants to have our minds become. And it’s an intimate of your it’s an opposing force from the mind of the flesh or the carnal mind. So this is quite simple.

14. 6:22

    It simply says that actually the thinking of God is the thinking of the spirit mind. The natural thinking of man, the thinking of the flesh is the carnal mind, and it’s the opposite of the mind of the Spirit. So what does that tell us? And this is where it goes from technical doctrine to something that’s quite personal.

15. 6:43

    What does it tell us? It actually says our minds need to change. It’s simple, it’s fundamental, our minds need to change and thankfully that’s the process of the truth. So 2nd Corinthians 7 verse one having therefore these promises dearly, but I would let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

16. 7:09

    So now the spirit can be changed, the thinking process can be changed from a filthy one to actually a holy one perfecting holiness in the fear of God, or is described in Ephesians 4 as a making you a renewing of the spirit of our minds. We put off concerning the former way of life, the old man. It’s a natural thinking, corrupt according to the sea for lust be renewed in the spirit of your mind putting on a new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So we’ve got these two different ways of thinking and the wonderful thing that Scripture tells us is it’s possible to change.

17. 7:51

    We can actually change from one to the other. The way our spirit mind thinks, our spiritual mind thinks can be cleansed and renewed and changed to become a spiritual mind or the thinking of the spirit, a reflection of God’s ways. I like the ESP translation. Actually I haven’t got it there. I’ll read it out to you. Of the of the latter part of that verse, he said to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

18. 8:26

    So people now who are ruled by the mind of the Spirit are reflecting the character of God. And so therefore, not surprisingly, they’re described as being spiritual. So in Colossians one, verse 9, he talks about us being filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Pneumaticos Colossians 3, verse 16 talks about us singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

19. 8:54

    Brother Tim showed us last night what spiritual songs actually are. They’re hymns which are based on the beauty of the Word of God. And so collectively as an ecclesia, we get built up as living stones, as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So in this very real sense, we are led by the Spirit of God.

20. 9:24

    In this very real sense, the Spirit of God has to dwell in US. It’s a way of thinking. There’s nothing particularly mysterious about that, is there? It’s actually quite straightforward. The concept of the Spirit of God dwelling in us in the New Testament is shown to be the result of a changed mind that changes from the thinking of the flesh to thinking of the ways of God. Now this is actually a very old battle. Does anybody know where the first reference to the Spirit in the flesh comes up in Scripture?

21. 10:05

    It’s very odd. Genesis Oh, good guess is you’ve got you’ve got the right book. But the two words spirit in flesh and actually the conflict between them.

22. 10:21

    Brother Daniel, Genesis 6 And he puts his hands up like that. Is that a guess? It’s a good guess. OK, Genesis 6, I’ll read it to you. Verse 3. Yahweh said my spirit shall not always strive with men for that. He also is flesh in his days shall be 120 years. So actually it’s a very whole battle. It’s the thinking of man versus the ways of God, this conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. OK, so now the key question for us this morning is how is that change going to take place?

23. 10:53

    Because once we know how the change takes place, we know what to do with our daily lives, we know where to put our priorities, we know what to put our effort into because we’re given the tools to help that change take place and effect permanent change in terms of of our daily life.

24. 11:10

    So the question for us, and this is a question actually, which I’m going to ask out loud as it were to all Christianity, does this require God’s Holy Spirit power to be placed into us, to dwell on us as a mystical force, as an external agent or supernatural power to change the way we think, to dwell and abide in us so that all we have to do is surrender and submit and allow God’s Holy Spirit power to change the way our minds operate? In other words, an external tweaking by an external agent that comes inside us and makes us understand, enables us to resist some in temptation, because that is probably 98% of Christianity’s view.

25. 12:02

    Or is there some other way to change the way our natural mind thinks? So let’s go on a bit of a journey through Scripture now and build up a clear scriptural process that shows to us what it is that actually changes our mind. But I’d like you to come with me to 1st of Thessalonians chapter 2, where there’s a rather simple but beautiful little statement that the Apostle Paul makes, 1st of Thessalonians 2. He says that he’s thanking God for them. He’s been hoping that they would walk worthy. In verse 12 of God who’s called them to his Kingdom and glory. And in verse 13, first of Thessalonians 2, verse 13 for this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is the word of God, which effectually works also in you that belief. So Paul says when he visited Thessalonica and spoke to them, they listened to what Paul was saying and said, ah, that’s not the words of man, that’s actually the words of God. He said, so you truthfully received it as being what God spoke.

26. 13:18

    And look at that beautiful expression which effectually worketh also in you that belief. So that tells us that there’s something about the word of God which can effectually work inside everybody that actually believes. We won’t turn it up, but there’s a passage which has been referred to many times this week. Second Timothy 3, verse 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. So God breathed Numa Theo Neustos breathed from God. All scripture is breathed out from God and is profitable for doctrine, for a proof for correction, instruction and instruction and righteousness, etcetera. I haven’t gotten quite exactly right, but what an amazing list of things that the word of God is actually profitable to do. Suggestion by the way, is that’s drawing on the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

27. 14:15

    When He says that words, the flesh prophets nothing. The words I speak to you, they do achieve certain things. We’ll look at that again shortly, that passage. So it’s God’s Word which is breathed out. It’s the work of the Spirit. That’s what is profitable, to change the way in which men and women work.

28. 14:34

    So it’s actually really simple. The word is God’s spirit. It breathes out of Him and it accomplishes His will. Of course, always remember the Spirit is not something separate from God. So it’s God’s power, it’s God’s energy. So in this context, it’s being breathed out of God and it’s effective to change the way we think. The Word is the Spirit.

29. 14:59

    Now let’s prove that John 663. Our Lord says it’s the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. That’s probably the passage that’s being drawn on in second of Timothy when he says it’s profitable for doctrine, correction, instruction and righteousness and so forth. He said the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you, they are spirit, their life.

30. 15:27

    So when we think about the spirit, it’s not a scary thought. Actually God’s words are spirit. It’s breathed out of God. Or David, when he’s writing under inspiration, he says in second Samuel 23 verse 2, the spirit of Yahweh spake by me. His word was in my tongue. Or an interesting the Wonder Woman of wisdom in Proverbs, one which we know is used as a symbol of of the teaching of God as she’s entreating people to come and take of that wisdom.

31. 15:58

    She says, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. See the parallelism there? I’ll pour out my spirit, I’ll make known my words unto you. Well, the apostles, the Lord said that when they went speaking, it would be not you that speak, but the Spirit of the Father who speaks in you.

32. 16:24

    So brothers, sisters, have you got the Spirit of God in you? But if you’ve got the word in you, the answer is yes. It’s quite simple. It’s quite beautiful. All right, What we’re going to do now is watch this subject grow. I’d like you to come with me to 1st of Peter chapter 1, because now we have the concept of a new birth being introduced into this discussion.

33. 16:49

    First of Peter, chapter 1 and verse 22. The context, one Peter one verse 22. Seeing you’ve purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfounded love of the brethren, and notice that connection of ideas, there’s a purification of you as an individual because you’ve obeyed the truth through the Spirit. This is the work of the Spirit.

34. 17:16

    How does it work? Well, he said in verse 23, that’s because you have been born again. It’s interesting. I was talking to the teens and I said to people around you, the churches, do they use the phrase born again to talk about Christianity? And there was a blank look from most of the Canadian young people and those that have come up from the States said, yeah, we hear the comment reasonably frequently.

35. 17:40

    So obviously it’s a it’s a strong expression in the US. It certainly is at home. If you’re a new Pentecostal, you’re born again and you’re born again because the spirits coming to you. Well, what does Peter say? Well, you’re born again, not of incorruptible, see, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. So here’s a process of a new birth, which starts because there’s a seed which gets planted and it brings forth new life.

36. 18:08

    And what’s the seed? The seed that’s being planted is the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Actually, the theme of this new birth continues in chapter 2 as newborn babes in verse 2 desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. So again, there’s an emphasis on the role of the word, not just bringing a new baby into existence, but then helping the baby to grow.

37. 18:35

    Or James, one similar concept. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, comes down from. Note the phrase the father of lights. So now we’ve got this theme being built of a father and children, a father and begettal. Here’s a father who’s going to bring forth light with whom is no variable.

38. 18:56

    It’s not a shadow of turning of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. You should be kind of first roots of his creatures. So this new way of thinking is like a new child which comes to the birth. That’s the idea of being born again and we’re begotten with the word of truth, or as he says in verse 21, receive with meekness the implanted or the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. So it’s very clear from the New Testament writings that the thing that brings off the new, brings about the new birth, is the word of God.

39. 19:35

    All right, now, armed with that understanding, we’re going to go to John chapter 3, which is one of the main passages used by the Christian world to say you have to have the Holy Spirit to be a believer. And when they talk about having the Holy Spirit, they’re talking about the indwelling of the mystical presence of the Holy Spirit being whatever that might actually be. John chapter 3.

40. 19:58

    Yeah. This is the work, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the discussion. We’re from Nicodemus, John 3. Nicodemus comes and says, Well master, we know you’re from God, because no one can do these miracles except God be with them. And Jesus somewhat obliquely says in verse 3, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except the man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. OK, say the Pentecostals, you have to be born again, Christian, or else she can’t see the Kingdom. Nicodemus scratches his head.

41. 20:31

    He can’t quite understand what the Lord’s saying. He said How can he be born again? Verse 4? How can a man be born when he’s already an old person? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? And you can see that he’s just looking blinkered at the absolute literal interpretation of the phrase born.

42. 20:53

    How can you be born again? Can you go back into your mother’s womb? And then Christ says, verily I say unto you, except a man be born of water and born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. So the Pentecost will say, there we are. We have to be born of the Spirit.

43. 21:11

    That means we have to receive the Holy Spirit power to come into us, or else we can’t see the Kingdom of God. So what’s our answers here? Well, we’re not going to have time to go through a detailed exposition, but there’s just a couple of keys that make this quite straightforward. The first one is context. Let’s turn back a page.

44. 21:33

    John chapter 1 having spoken about the Lord and about the role of the word in verse 12, it says as many as received him to them gave the power to become the children of God, even to those which believe on his name, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

45. 22:00

    So there’s a contrast here between a natural beginning process which is by the will of man and by the power of of the human body, and that’s a natural birth. He said, no, no, this is a different thing that I’m speaking about altogether. The second key is the one we’ve already noted from Peter and John, that the process of begettal starts with the word of God and that then brings forth this new creature. And the third thing which helps with John chapter 3 is to look at those two words.

46. 22:35

    When he says in verse 3, the Lord says except the man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. It’s quite helpful to have a look at the word born and the word again, those two words in the Greek, the word born is the word judeo, the word again. And I think, and you know the really intriguing thing, both of those words, both of them have two different meanings in the original.

47. 23:08

    So the word to be born can mean to bigot, to conceive, to gender, the start of the process, or it can mean the actual physical process of birth nine months later to be born or to give birth. So when we see the word jenaeo, it can mean a reference to the begettal process or to the actual birth. And when it comes to the word again, and I think it can literally mean again or it also literally means above that when we say above, let me give you an example that we’ve already looked at the Father of lights.

48. 23:51

    See, I’ve got a key. Let me read it out. Every good and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. And that word above is an effect again. So literally the word can mean again or it can mean above. Every good and perfect gift is from above. So what we have is a statement here from the Lord, which is except a man be begotten from above, he will never see the Kingdom of God.

49. 24:23

    Now that makes absolute sense. How do we get begotten from above? Well, Peter tells us that we get begotten by the word of truth. James tells us that the Father of lights begets us through the Word. That’s a process of being begotten above. Nicodemus can’t think on a spiritual plane. He takes it literally. He said, well, you can’t be born again because that means you have to go back into your mother’s womb. And Christ then picks up this concept of birth, and he extends the subject further to say, actually, when it comes to birth, there are two births needed now. You’ve already had a natural one. We now need a birth of water and a birth of spirit. And Paul Nicodemus at this stage is really struggling. So let’s have a look at what the Lord’s actually saying. You know, there’s a principle established in it’s in first of Corinthians 15 and verse 46.

50. 25:20

    First that which is natural and then that which is spiritual. So we have a a natural example of a birth and then we have a spiritual application of that as a set of principles. And that’s a general principle that comes up a lot in Scripture. But let’s look at the spiritual application. Well, then there needs to be a spiritual begettal. How does that take place?

51. 25:44

    Well, we’re begotten by God. How does that take place with the Word? So God starts the process by begetting us from His Word. That then leads on to a spiritual birth and actually our birth of the Spirit, our new birth is actually a birth in two stages. There’s first of all being born of water, which is baptism.

52. 26:11

    And then we have the concept of being born of the Spirit. Now, what’s this birth of the Spirit? Sometimes it suggests that, well, our spiritual birth is our baptism as well because we’re now a new creature in Christ. And you know, actually in a moral sense that is true. We’re born again as a new creature in Christ, but the fullness of the concept of being born of the spirit is when we ultimately become spirit beings. So Christ is described in Colossians one verse 18 as being the first born from the dead after the resurrection, immortality.

53. 26:54

    So we have this concept here of a birth of water, which is baptism, and then a birth of spirit, which in a moral sense does start after our baptism. But actually really the full birth of spirit is when we become spirit beings. Now if we think about it, one of those is the spirit mind and the other is actually when the spirit power transforms us or another way of looking at it, mental and moral and ultimately a physical rebirth when we become spirit beings.

54. 27:30

    So when you ask the question, well, what is the birth of the spirit? Is that in our baptism? Well, in a sense, yes, because we’re begotten as a new creature. But in its ultimate sense, actually it’s really when we come to birth as a full spirit being. So Brother Thomas refers to it as being. This being begotten from above them leads to a twofold birth from below, first from water and secondly from the grave. And that’s just simply taking the concepts of begetal and birth is they’re used in Scripture and overlaying them over the top of this little passage here in John chapter 3. We don’t have time for this.

55. 28:08

    I’m going to say it anyway. Verse 8, the wind bloweth where it listeth. And thou hearest the voice, the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it comes. What’s that talking about? It’s the only place in the New Testament where the word numa has been translated is wind. It should be spirit because that’s how it’s translated through all the rest of the New Testament.

56. 28:29

    And the word blow is neo, to blow or to breathe. So the spirit breathes wherever it chooses. This is God’s work. And you can hear sound or literally means the voice. You can hear its voice, but you don’t understand it. Nicodemus. It pops up in John the Baptist. You didn’t get it. It’s now in the son of a Carpenter from Nazareth.

57. 28:55

    You don’t understand it. And you as a ruler in Israel are hearing the sound of the voice of the Spirit that is struggling to understand what it’s actually saying. And what our Lord’s doing is elevating Nicodemus’s mind, a journey which he had just begun. OK, all right, let’s keep going. Building up a picture of the of the renewing of the power of the Word. I’d like you to come with me to Ephesians 5 and verse 26. It’s the passage where the Lord Jesus Christ describes himself as being the the husband who cares for the bride. And it becomes that beautiful set of of verses which we use to to teach husbands the principles of of a godly or a Christ like spirit of care for our wives.

58. 29:46

    Ephesians 5, verse 26 Well, 25 Husbands, love your wives. As Christ loved the ecclesia, and gave Himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present him to herself with glorious ecclesia, not having spot, or wrinkled, or any such thing, holy and without blemish. So now we have this concept of the word being used not just to forget, but to cleanse, to sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

59. 30:22

    Sometimes the translation has the idea of the washing in the labour of the word as well, washing and cleansed in the labour of the water by the word. So here we have the word now being used as the process that cleanses our minds. And there’s some beautiful lessons that draw from that we don’t have time to look at sadly this morning.

60. 30:45

    Husbands, for us in terms of asking the question, are we consciously doing that in our homes, washing the minds of our wives with the word, which sanctifies and cleanses? But notice the phrase that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the word. Well, that’s interesting because Second of Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13, which we won’t turn up, says that that sanctification is done by the Spirit. We’re bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God from the beginning has chosen you to salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.

61. 31:29

    And that passage is sometimes put forth to say you have to have the Holy Spirit power come unto you because it sanctifies the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Well, it gets more complicated because in John 17 verse 19, he says that they may be sanctified through the truth. So are we sanctified by the water of the Word, or are we sanctified by the Spirit or are we sanctified by the truth?

62. 31:57

    Which one of those are you going to choose? Well look at this. Is it the Word or the truth, the words I speak? Is it the Word or the Spirit? The words I speak to you? They ask her, or is it the Spirit or the truth? The Spirit is the truth, 1 John 5, verse 7. Or is it the truth?

63. 32:14

    Or is it the Word via word is truth. John 17, verse 19. What does that tell us, brothers and sisters? It simply says that actually God’s word is the Spirit expressing God’s thoughts. What’s the truth? The truth is God’s thoughts expressed in His Word, and we see the way in which these concepts work together. So when when we read passages which speak of the need of the Spirit to be working in us, we don’t need to be confused or concerned or puzzled as to what it might mean. What we’re being told here is the work of God through His Word, through the truth, through the Spirit. It’s all the same process.

64. 32:56

    It’s God sanctifying us through what He has said and that creates that power to work in our own personal lives, which is why the word is described as being the power of God in Mark 12 verse 24. You know, not the Scriptures, neither the power of God. Well, Peter there has the words of eternal life he says to the Lord in John 6 verse 68, or it’s described as the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in Ephesians 1 and verse 13 or Paul refers to in Acts 20 as the word of his grace, which is able to build up and give an inheritance. So on that basis, if it’s the power of God’s word, then what’s our role?

65. 33:45

    What do we actually do? And Christianity at large says at this point, you surrender, you just submit, and you let the Holy Spirit do what it does. What does God teach us is our responsibility to the work of the Spirit? And we’re going to turn briefly, very briefly, to Luke chapter 8, a very familiar passage. It’s the parable of the soul, Luke chapter 8. Now we’re told that in the parable of the sower, the seed is the word of God.

66. 34:19

    So we’re right on top of here. This is the impact of the word of God. We know the parable well. We know there are four types of ground. So in the parable, what’s our responsibility? Actually, the question is what type of soil am I going to be? Am I going to be the hard hearted rock that won’t even listen? Am I going to be the, the, the rock that’s very shallow, the soil that’s very shallow?

67. 34:42

    So the word takes root, but it doesn’t last. Or am I going to be the ground that’s filled its filled its life up with the the the cares and deceitfulness of riches, the cares of this life and the lusts of other things? Or am I going to be the good soil? So actually the parable is about personal responsibility in terms of how we respond to the word. And I’d just like to pick up the phrase in Luke chapter 8 and verse 15 that on the good ground are they? And I just note these words, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit, patience.

68. 35:30

    So our responsibility here, brothers and sisters, is to have a good and honest heart. It’s interesting as you read through the works of our, of our earlier brethren, many, many different brethren, actually, the phrase they keep using in terms of how we respond to the work of the Spirit is they keep using the phrase of good and honest heart.

69. 35:52

    You just see it over and over and over again, a good and honest heart, a good and honest heart. Because what that’s telling us is we have a responsibility in terms of how we receive the word and how we respond to it. We have to have a good and honest heart which having heard the word keeps it and therefore brings forth good fruit.

70. 36:12

    So that’s our responsibility. That’s why, for example, in in Joshua 1, Joshua was told this book of the more shall not depart out of thy mouth. Thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou shalt have good success make thy way prosperous. Well, what about the Bereans? Well, we know in Acts 17 verse 11, they were more noble than the than the verse in Thessalonica.

71. 36:39

    They searched the scriptures daily. It’s an interesting little phrase. They searched the Scriptures daily with all readiness of mind. So actually there is a responsibility. It’s how we listen to and receive the word of God. We don’t have time to turn it up, unfortunately. But Romans chapter 10 is, is a magnificent passage in your own time.

72. 37:03

    Read through from verse 4 right through to verse 17 because he’s talking about belief or faith. And what he sees is there’s a preacher who preaches the word and he said, and that’s the word that we receive that’s nigh us. It’s near to us. The word he said, it’s in our mouth, it’s in our heart.

73. 37:23

    It’s the word which we believe. It’s the word that brings righteousness. And as he goes through there, he shows not that the Holy Spirit gifts and power to come into us to make us believe, but it’s our closeness to the word of God, which is in our hearts and our mouths. We express it in our faith. It’s the power of the word.

74. 37:42

    And then he goes on to say faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Scripture is so delightfully clear in telling us what it is that makes a difference. The Word is the medium that God is using to develop the mind of the Spirit or the Spirit of God in us as individuals.

75. 38:05

    And that’s why the New Testament is so full of the concept of faith. Faith is not something we just sit there and the Holy Spirit comes and puts faith in what is faith. It’s so simple. God speaks and we listen to believe. God made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham heard it and he believed and it was counted to him for righteousness.

76. 38:34

    That’s why the New Testament is actually written for us. John 17 verse 20. Our Lord says, I pray not for them only for the apostles, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their words. And they wrote down, they first of all spoke to those they met, and then thankfully for us, they wrote down their witness of what they’ve seen and heard. And we come along and we believe through their words. That’s the power of faith.

77. 39:08

    Faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of the things that we didn’t see. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ came and walked on earth. We believe He lived the perfect life. We believe he made a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins of those that would come to the Father, and we believe he’s in heaven and will shortly return. It’s the evidence to us, the certainty of the things that we haven’t seen right.

78. 39:37

    What I’m going to do for a few minutes now is completely switch. Switch this and have a look at what the churches teach and it will drive home to us brothers and sisters the preciousness of the truth that we actually have. Remember they believe in the Trinity. Remember, they’re described as the hard system and the mystery of iniquity which was already working, who have changed the truth of God into a lie. They have a triune God here, which has very old roots way back in the Egyptian mythology.

79. 40:09

    The concept Plato, the Greek philosopher picked up this this three person concept and a lot of his philosophies have been incorporated into the teaching of the Trinity. So we won’t go through this in any detail, but there are clear instances of Plato’s influence upon the 2nd century Christian writers. They talk about the interaction of the world with the Holy Spirit.

80. 40:34

    We just go down to the section here. Platonism became ingrained in Christian discourse about God. Therefore, Christian Trinity, or the inner dynamics of the relationship between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have been formulated using Plato’s distinction between the good, the Naus and the Newman. So Greek philosophy is a fundamental part of Christian teaching.

81. 41:00

    So what do you get as a result? The Moody Institute. The Holy Spirit today plays a major role in the application of salvation to the individual. It’s the Spirit who brings conviction to the unbeliever. Get that In comes the Holy Spirit and it brings conviction. What have we just been seeing brings conviction? Us reading and believing the word of God? No, the Holy Spirit will come in and bring a conviction to the unbeliever and cause him to see the light of the truth of the gospel in a clear light.

82. 41:33

    The Holy Spirit unites the believer with Christ. It places him in the body of Christ, the church. He unites the believer with Christ. In Christ’s death, you notice, enabling the believer to live victoriously over sin. You can conquer sin. The Holy Spirit comes in and does it for you. The Holy Spirit, note those words, controls the believer who yields to God. You get the sense of what’s being talked about here, that the Holy Spirit comes in and controls you, and your role is simply to submit to it.

83. 42:08

    The CS Lewis Institute, The Spirit’s ready and willing and eager to reign in US. Get the idea of the Spirit being a different thing. It’s a being and it’s going around and it’s looking for a home and it’s wanting to get inside you. No, the Spirit is actually God at work. So they talk about the Spirit as if it’s another being wanting to get inside you, but its power is blocked until we surrender fully to God.

84. 42:33

    Once we surrender to God and ask the Spirit to fill us, then it changes our life in ways that will amaze and delight you. The Holy Spirit will actively carry forward the process of transforming you. But for now, let’s be clear that as we allow the Spirit to influence directly empower us, we can overcome the flesh. Certainly about this is crucial.

85. 42:58

    Uncertainty is self defeating. God’s given us the Holy Spirit because they see it as being a power that will actually come into you. And in the process, what you’re blurring together is all differentiation between the Holy Spirit power of God and the Spirit mind. The mind of Christ, the Spirit, the Holy, it’s all merged together and they take quotes that refer to different aspects of the work of the Spirit, and they put them all together into one. They actually teach that you have to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to mediate the influence of God and Jesus, and that the Holy Spirit dwelling in you is proof that God is dwelling in you.

86. 43:44

    Our community from its inception has been fundamentally opposed to that teaching. And it’s been very clear. It is probably close to the number one thing that differentiates between the truth and false Christianity, and it’s been foundation of our community from its beginning. So Brother Tony Benson and Brother Reg Carr in the book Built upon a Rock. What is distinctive about the Christadelphian view is that they accept the Holy Scriptures as the very words of God and as their sole authority.

87. 44:22

    They believe that an understanding of God’s will and purpose can be obtained from the Bible without the need for any additional guidance by the Holy Spirit or by any spiritual authority operating extremely to the Word of God.

88. 44:38

    Brother Thomas in the Apostolic Advocate, 1835. The Scrutiny of the Testimony, reading the Bible, OK, the scrutiny of the testimony and a conviction that it is true is faith. That is the Lord putting His law into our minds and inscribing them on the hearts. It’s by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, written all spoken, that the world is convinced of. So we are built on the testimonial, the testimony of the apostles and prophets.

89. 45:09

    Faith then results from the examination of the testimony, the witness, the Bible, what we read. It’s not an infusion, and therefore it’s not wrought in the heart by any supernatural and indefinable process. Those who profess to have been the subjects of that process are courageous, their theological system. Superstition. Brother Robertson, The Christadelphia in 1877. The Orthodox idea, which has so completely nullified the Scriptures and superseded the study of the Bible, is that the Spirit of God acts directly and physically on the minds of men in order to enable them to be obedient. This idea cannot be too strongly reprobated as containing the seeds of spiritual decay and death. It’s really clear the Spirit of God as a moral power does not come to us directly, not at all as a physical or constraining power.

90. 46:06

    It comes to us in the ideas, what it has embodied in the Word. And it’s only in proportion as these ideas obtain and abiding place in our minds by the constant companionship of the Word that we become spiritually minded seasons of comfort. It’s wise, therefore, though disagreeable, to repudiate the popular claim to the possession and guidance of the Holy Spirit. It’s a false claim and a mischievous one. It leads people to look to the wrong direction. It leads them to attach great importance to the changeful moods and tempers of the human mind. If I’ve got the Spirit in me guiding my thoughts, then I’m now captured by how I feel.

91. 46:51

    On the other hand. On one. On the other hand, it leads them to practically make light off and neglect the Bible, which is the only safe and sure guide. Like the lighthouse on the dangerous coast. In fact, the result of the popular era on this point cannot visibly describe that in the language of the prophets.

92. 47:08

    They forsake in the fountain of living waters, and hewed themselves out systems broken systems that can hold no water. They neglect the true counsel by which God guides His people in the Scriptures of truth, and they run after human thoughts, feelings, and sentiments which lead away from that council. Or by the CC Walker. Men have so much of the Holy Spirit in them as they have of the Word of God and their understandings and affections. To that extent, they’re not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, as Paul testified to the Romans.

93. 47:42

    And so in the BASF Doctrines to be rejected, clause six, that the Holy Spirit is a person distinct from the Father, and clause 25, that a man cannot believe without possessing the Spirit of God. It’s been fundamental in our community since its inception that it’s the power of the word transforms the minds of men and women.

94. 48:04

    It’s not the Holy Spirit coming into people that actually does that as some sort of a remote power. What about this little book familiar with that, a guide, the ecclesial guide. You know that often the those earlier writings have a short title and then they have a longer title when you look inside the front page.

95. 48:24

    So there’s the longer title on the inside of the front page. I’ll just expand. This is so, this is the ecclesial guide which we’re so familiar with. This is what it actually says. A guide to the formation and conduct of Christadelphian ecclesias in the characteristic circumstances of an age when the truth is apostolically delivered has been revived in the ways of divine Providence without the cooperation and living guidance of the Holy Spirit as enjoyed in the Apostolic age. So this has been really clear in our community right since the beginning of its inception, and yet describe this being incredibly clear in Scripture and a fundamental position of our belief and understanding.

96. 49:19

    Incredibly, every few decades, church teaching on the Holy Spirit comes back into the brotherhood and gets raised up again. And when it does, it’s a fundamental challenge to the most basic of the doctrines of the truth. And it’s certainly the case today around the ecclesial world, the concepts of the need for the Holy Spirit to come into us and dwell on us to help us understand. I’m hearing those expressions being used again around the ecclesial world, and it’s driven by the same errors that the churches make.

97. 49:54

    All right, it’s going to be our responsibility, brothers and sisters, to defend the integrity of the truth and the doctrines which are so clear in Scripture. So let’s ask ourselves the question, does it really matter in what is the impact? And it actually cuts right to the core of many of our fundamental doctrines, and it cuts right to the core of our beliefs and our foundation on the rock of infallible scripture. I’m just going to look very briefly at these four areas. The impact on our attitude and approach to the scriptures, the impact on our personal responsibility and accountability, its implications when it comes to resisting temptation and the implications of thinking that I have Spirit guided decision making and understanding. All right, So what about our attitude towards the Word of God?

98. 50:47

    And this is where it cuts straight and deep. If I think that God’s Spirit is now inside me, guiding me, it lessens my dependence on the veracity of the Word of truth. In fact, as Brother Rich Kahn notes, almost all Christian donations hold the view that the Holy Spirit, as a coequal person of a triune Godhead, acts directly on the minds of men and women to inspire influence and control.

99. 51:17

    With such a view, the written Word of God inevitably takes a subordinate place. And when these doctrines come into the brotherhood, that’s exactly what happens. Now, these are phrases that I have heard in recent times. When you keep talking about having to read the Bible, you’re doing what Paul warned about, focusing on the letter of the law rather than the Spirit. Now that’s a fundamental misquote of the ideas of Paul in Romans 7 verse six, in second of Corinthians 3, verse 6, when he’s contrasting the law of Moses with the gospel. Or try this one.

100. 52:02

     If you just say we need to be reading the Bible, well, Paul at the feet of Gamaliel showed that that doesn’t help. Actually, it wasn’t the Bible that was the problem back then. It was the fact that there was a veil over the eyes of the Jews when they read the Bible. Or try this.

101. 52:24

     Well, for the last 150 years, the Brotherhood’s got it wrong, saying you need to burn the midnight oil reading the Bible. Really. How does that work when we look at the passages that we’ve just looked at? We’ll try this. Your emphasis on reading the Bible is salvation by works. Really. It’s listening to what God says and believing Him.

102. 52:50

     That’s faith. That’s not salvation by works. Or are you think you can do it all yourself by reading the Bible? That’s just internal. What we rely on is the Holy Spirit, something which is external. Hang on a moment. It’s actually the inverse. What we’re saying is what helps us resist temptation is God’s Word.

103. 53:10

     That’s not natural to me. That’s is something external. But if I start believing, I’ve now got the Holy Spirit in me. And so I’m guided when I make decisions, well, that’s me internally. See how it gets reversed? But these are all comments, brothers and sisters, which I’ve heard. Well, by all means, read the Bible, but it’s not enough. And you see how it underlines the importance of the word in terms of it being our foundation. Brother Roberts faced the same He had people that said, oh, you’re just, you’re just that’s just a passive relation of things implied in the mere position of a book. That’s what Brother Roberts faced back in 18 in seasons of comfort actually in one of his ex or said. But the subtle impact of it actually goes even further than that.

104. 53:58

     What’s the impact of inferring that we need the Spirit to come into us to enable us to understand? What’s the implication of that? The implication of that is that men and women can’t pick up the Bible and read and understand. That underpins the claim of authority for the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. They have the Spirit, therefore they’re the ones that should actually expound what Scripture is to their followers. Whereas the concept of scripture is that actually it’s there for men and women to be able to read and to thrill to and to learn from and to understand.

105. 54:39

     There’s not a particle of scriptural evidence. This is the book Spirit in the New Testament by brother Edward Whitaker and brother Reg Carr. There’s not a particle of Scripture evidence to suggest that the understanding and acceptance of the spoken or written Word of God ever depended on anything other than a good and honest heart to receive it and to bring forth fruit to salvation.

106. 55:03

     The Word of God can be understood by any or all who will make the effort to listen with careful attention to the voice of the Spirit which speaks from its pages.

107. 55:18

     As God Himself said to this man, will I look even to him? It is poor and have a contrite spirit who trembles in my word. Isaiah 66. All right, well, let’s think about responsibility and accountability. What happens if there’s a teaching which says that the spirit comes down into me and by its indwelling in an indefinable way, it changes the way I think and it gives me the power to live a godly life. It removes the responsibility.

108. 55:54

     Listen and obey God’s simple commands and right from the Garden of Eden, the concept of choice is a fundamental principle. The idea of free will or voluntary submission is a fundamental principle of the structure of God’s interaction with the human race. He sets forth two ways. Moses says I’ve set before you life and death. Choose life, but you have the power not to in the Garden of Eden.

109. 56:24

     Here you are. I’ve provided all the trees to eat. Don’t eat that tree. Here’s the tree of life. But if you eat that tree, it will bring death. But they have the choice. Joshua, choose you this day whom you shall serve. Moses, Deuteronomy 28. If you do these various things, these are the blessings. If you do these things, these are the curses. But the way God works is that men and women have the autonomy to choose whether they will voluntarily obey Him or not. That’s because it’s voluntary submission which brings honor to God.

110. 56:58

     Men and women who say I love you and I want to obey you. And so the concept of the Holy Spirit coming in, and you saw the word before controlling, completely undermines the basis on which God works with us in the Christadelphia in 1877. Free will is the basis of the whole work of God with man or Alps Israel, page 176. The principle lay down on the Scriptures is that man honours God in believing His Word and obeying His laws. There is no other way in which men can honor their Creator. This honor, however, consists not in a mechanical obedience or mere action without intelligence and free will, such as matter yields to natural laws, but an enlightened, hearty, involuntary obedience, while the individual possesses the power not to obey if he thinks best.

111. 58:00

     If the Holy Spirit comes in and changes the way we think, make us believe, and obey, the concept of voluntary obedience is fundamentally undermined. It’s actually so typical of modern Christianity. Jesus loves you. Salvation’s automatic. All you have to do is let go. You don’t actually have to do anything other than just surrender. And the Holy Spirit then does it for us. Fact.

112. 58:31

     It is, as I said, the update, the equal opposite of the doctrine of the devil. If I do something wrong, it’s not my fault the devil made me do it. If I have to do what’s right, actually go out and do it. I don’t have to have a responsibility or accountability myself. And that flows straight into the next one, which is the concept of resisting temptation in sin.

113. 58:50

     And you saw the passages there. When wrong doctrine comes up even in the Brotherhood on this, it heads straight down that line of being able to overcome sin and resist temptation because God’s power enables us to do it. I’m going to use the word carefully, supernaturally and actually has very significant implications as far as the atonement is concerned as well.

114. 59:15

     So what overcomes the power of sin in our lives? How did the Lord overcome sin in this temptation? What did he say? It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone. It is written again. Thou shalt not tempt the law. Get the hints safe and for it is written. Thou shalt worship the law. How do we overcome temptation?

115. 59:41

     Brothers and sisters, it is written, it’s the influence of the word of God which helps us to resist the impulses of the flesh. All right, we need to wrap it up. I’m not going to look at the the implications of thinking I’m Spirit guided. You’ll be able to work out for yourself pretty easily what happens once we start thinking that actually I’ve got the Spirit in me governing the way I think in my beliefs and my understanding. I just want to finish.

116. 1:00:10

     We want. I’m just going to skip over there. I want to finish with this. What’s the essence of the issue? And I thought a lot about this actually, because I, you know, there’s so much information, there’s so many books written on this subject and, and the debate comes up in so many different actually actual places.

117. 1:00:31

     For example, you can argue about what the word gift means. What does it mean when there’s a promise of the Holy Spirit? Well, how does the work about the comfort of work? Well, what about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? What about the moral qualities of the Holy Spirit? What about the phrase? There’s so many areas you can argue. They’re all sideshows actually to the real issue. And the real issue, when you boil it all down, comes to this. It’s the difference between, on one hand, our minds believing and responding to what God says to us in his word and therefore changing to become like his spirit mind, or the alternative, which is that God puts an external agent of His power into your mind to change how you think. And you just surreal and actually when you boil it all down, that’s the essence of what this is. Now just look at those two and step back and helicopter and what do you get?

118. 1:01:31

     In the first one, there’s a recognition that my mind needs to change to become like God. In the second one, God does these things to save me. God manifestation or humans being saved regardless. Or as Brother Thomas put it so succinctly, men weren’t ushered into being for the purpose of being saved or lost. God manifestation, not human salvation, was the great purpose of the eternal Spirit.

119. 1:02:07

     And that actually is the key difference with our understanding of Scripture and of the subject of the Spirit. I’ve gone slightly overtime, brothers and sisters, I’m going to have to stop there. But the key thing for us to remember is we have the most beautiful and precious heritage in the Word of God and our families and our community.

120. 1:02:26

     And our own spiritual development is fundamentally based on us understanding and absorbing the Spirit of God from His Word. And that way we will be led by the Spirit and have the Spirit of God dwelling in US.