Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. New American Standard Bible Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. Departure means "The act of going away; a moving from or leaving a place". Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The present age enjoys the ministry of this restrainer whose presence and ministry make impossible the manifestation of the man of sin. #motivationalspeech #motivationalquotes #motivational #motivationalvideo #motivation #inspiration #inspirational #inspirationalquotes #highvaluemale #highval. By the wife; literally, in the wife.The bond is still holy; its holiness rests in the believing wife or husband. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Of himself or of someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. The will of man, however, in itself has no power to transcend its natural ability as found after the fall any more than it had power to transcend its natural ability before the fall. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. Certainly, the Holy Spirit can use the words of an unbeliever as part of His work of convicting an individual of his sin and need of salvation. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Now to the crux of this commentary. Satan stands already convicted, doomed, and waiting the execution of the sentence. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.. The love, joy, peace, and other fruit of the Spirit are never found in those who have merely experienced common grace. The importance of this doctrine, therefore, justifies a careful study. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Are they the same thing? He retains ability to understand natural things and may rise in this realm to unusual heights. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. The importance of this ministry of the Spirit must be recognized before the necessity of prayer for the lost can be realized. They have no ability to worship or serve God. J Lutheran theologians have overemphasized the living character of the Word of God (Heb 4:12) to the point where it is claimed that the Bible has power in itself, and no attendant work of the Holy Spirit is necessary to make it effective. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Charles Hodge writes, for instance, Unrenewed men in the Bible are said to repent, to believe, to be partakers of the Holy Ghost, and to taste the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come.5 There are no doubt stages in the work of common grace from religious instinct and a fear of God which is almost universal to the experience of those who understand clearly the condition of salvation. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. The cause of spiritual blindness is made quite clear in the Scriptures: "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" ( 2 Corinthians 4:4 ). When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Man's triunity . Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin in the world is most important, however, though few direct references are found in Scripture. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that, God had sworn to him with an oath to seat, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that, He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. NCV A person who does not have the Spirit does not accept the truths that come from the Spirit of God. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet, Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christthis Jesus whom you crucified., Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?. G The spirit of an unsaved man is aware and knows about the things of man (man's thoughts and interests and activities) but he is totally insensitive and blind when it comes to the things of God (God's thoughts and ways and works)--see 1 Corinthians 2:11,14,16 and Isaiah 55:8-9. Some have advanced another view which contends that Satan himself is restraining sin lest it manifest its true character. So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.read more.Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go up and join this chariot. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Do you understand what you are reading? And he said, Well, how could I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. To him the gatekeeper opens. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. The unsaved must see Christ as judged and executed for them, and their judgment for sin as already past. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? Paul perceived the matter and told him to quickly repent. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself., And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation!. The subject of the passage is the coming day of the Lord in which the man of sin will be revealed (2 Thess 2:3). Also, the prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13) is a reference to an evil spiritual entity . Death is a moving out from one place to another. Z. C There is one body and one Spiritjust as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call one Lord, one faith, one baptism, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. Everyone will stand before God in judgment. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Throughout the Old Testament, then, the power of the Holy Spirit guided human events into the path of divine providence. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. V The doctrine of the work of the Holy Spirit in revealing the Gospel to the world is most important not only in its relation to the plan of God but also in carrying out effectively the preaching of the Gospel. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Ministering To The Unsaved. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The character of this work of restraining sin varies slightly in different ages, however. The judgments which followed rejection of His striving against sin (Isa 63:10-11) had their effect. Common grace must be sharply distinguished from any work of God which is efficacious in bringing the unsaved to salvation. As Charles Hodge summarizes the Lutheran position, This divine efficacy is inherent in, and inseparable from the Word.4 The chief difficulty with this view is the obvious fact that many unsaved men are completely unaffected by hearing or reading the Bible. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. In humiliation His judgment was taken away;Who will relate His generation?For His life is removed from the earth. The eunuch answered Philip and said, Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? unsaved man walks after the flesh his spirit is dead. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Lutherans explain this by conditioning its power on their faith, but it is difficult to see how they can believe what they do not know and understand. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? He thinks they are foolish. In this course, you'll get four lessons on the following topics: Being Hospitable to Jesus. Ecclesiastes 12:7 speaks of the time of death as the time when the "spirit shall return unto God who gave it." God gave the spirit and the spirit will return to God. N Some were saying, What would this idle babbler wish to say? Others, He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.read more.And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? Apart from this work of the Holy Spirit, God would continue to be unrevealed to a lost race; the death of Christ would be inapplicable to men; and the purpose of God to save the elect would be impossible of fulfillment. Man and beast are distinguished in this way. For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean., (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.). 13. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 12 Bible Verses about Ministering To The Unsaved. U None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. God has called you to peace. 2 Timothy 4:6 "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.". So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. When we are regenerated, we are made alive together with Christ ( Ephesians 2:5) and renewed by the Holy Spirit ( Titus 3:5 ). Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. He asks, " First Corinthians 12:3 says that 'no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.'. His work in revealing truth through the prophets, particularly the warnings of judgment to come, and the work of inspiration of the Scriptures with their power helped to restrain sin. Second, the unsaved must understand the righteousness of God as belonging to the Person of God and as made available for the sinner through Christ. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.. The reasoning would remove any scruples which Jewish Christians might derive from Deuteronomy 7:3, etc. And I answered, O Lord GOD , thou knowest. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. The Holy Spirit presses upon the heart of the unsaved the fact of God's judgment. Serving Wholeheartedly. In Luke chapter twelve, it is recorded that Jesus said he came, not to bring peace on earth, but division; even in one's own household, two against three and three against two. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. Proverbs 20:27 - The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:read more.And it shall be in the last days, God says,That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,And your young men shall see visions,And your old men shall dream dreams; Even on My bondslaves, both men and women,I will in those days pour forth of My SpiritAnd they shall prophesy. Common grace is related almost entirely to revelation on the one subject of salvation with a view to providing an intelligent basis for faith. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.. For David says of Him,I saw the Lord always in my presence;For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. So it is God by His Spirit that restrains the development of lawlessness.2. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. To the Holy Spirit, also, is committed the task of making known the way of salvation to a race which has no natural capacity to receive it with understanding. Water! 11. While the ministry of the Holy Spirit is ever primarily directed toward the Christian, it is evident that He is working in the world as well, bringing to pass the will of the Father and the Son. That person thinks they are foolish and cannot understand them, because they can only be judged to be true by the Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit in relation to the unsaved world is most important for a number of reasons. 430, 431. The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD , and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. Why Jesus said He Came to Bring Division. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. The doctrine is, therefore, important in its significance and necessary to a full appreciation of proper Gospel preaching. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. E. W. Kenyon states that "It is necessary that we understand how the Holy Spirit deals with an unsaved man, so that we can let Him . In fact, such things cant be understood without the Spirits help. These three parts constitute the man. The unbeliever does not welcome the Word of God. Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.. From preceding discussion it is evident that common grace falls far short of efficacious grace. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit: the Unforgivable Sin. The presence of the individual Christian, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, constitutes a force to hinder the world in its sin. While the Word of God is not necessarily related to the general works of God in restraining sin, in providence, and in acts of sovereignty, the revelation of the truth of the Gospel comes only through the Word of God. This is the second death, the lake of fire. The act of God whereby He makes us alive from spiritual death is called regeneration. Geocoding Attitudes While Waiting For Second Coming. American King James Version ). The Scriptures do not enlarge upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin. Some were saying, What would this idle babbler wish to say? Others, He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. In addition to natural inability is the work of Satan blinding the hearts of the lost to the light of the Gospel (2 Cor 4:4). This took discernment. The Scriptures bear constant witness to the inability of man. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Of himself or of someone else?. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Two unsaved men may understand the Gospel equally, and yet one never comes to the point of saving faith while the other trusts in Christ and is saved. The work of the Holy Spirit in revealing the Gospel to the unsaved is peculiarly a ministry of enablement to understand the way of salvation. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. No one comes to the Father except through me. he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The convicting power of the Holy Spirit is at work in the world "because they believe not in [Christ]." Once a person responds to the Spirit's conviction and turns to faith in Christ, the other sins he practiced will be taken care of. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. The Scriptures reveal that it is characteristic of the Holy Spirit to minister in scenes of disorder and sin. We begin now the study of the present work of the Spirit, in this article discussing the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to the unsaved world. I encourage us all to stay focused and sober in our assessment of current events, prophecy, and the realities of the present time and to pray without ceasing as we serve the Lord and hold the line. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. John F. Walvoord, long-time president of Dallas Theological Seminary, was one of the most prominent evangelical scholars of his generation. A popular view of this passage is that human government is this restraining force. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. (This is a desert road.). A devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. Romans 11:14. if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades,Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, Look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. A study of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 indicates that the one who restrains is removed from the scene before the man of sin is revealed. Job 32:8 - But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. But people who arent spiritual cant receive these truths from Gods Spirit. The wicked generation of Noahs day was opposed in its mad course by the striving of the Spirit (Gen 6:3). It is important that we understand what the Spirit seeks to accomplish in the lives of unbelievers so that we can cooperate with His agenda and thus be used by Him in the lives of non-Christians. Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. Interpreters of Scripture have not all agreed on the identity of the one restraining lawlessness. H But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of Gods Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Even his aversion to the good and inclination to the evil, while springing from his fallen nature, has its origin in his utter inability to appreciate the Person of God and the inherent loveliness of righteousness. Christ said the Holy Spirit would convict the world "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:11). Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. Because death is departure not cessation, not annihilation. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.. THE SPIRIT OF AN UNSAVED MAN IS DEAD AND DESPERATELY WICKED When person is no born again, he has what I call an unsaved spirit. Through the Bible, the Holy Spirit describes the redemptive work of Christ. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. The Holy Spirit presses upon the heart of the unsaved the fact of Gods judgment. As the Word is preached, the Holy Spirit attends with power to make it known to those who naturally are blind to the truth and unable to comprehend it. Jesus specifies it as unbelief. 12:8 ). T Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. The extreme position which makes the Word of God unnecessary to common grace is supported by two opposite schools of theology, the rational and the mystic. M When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. But the natural man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God. OpenBible.info And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Try Bible Gateway Plus free today! Publication date: Mar 2, 2023. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, We shall hear you again concerning this. So Paul went out of their midst. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. (This is a desert road.) Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. The deists, of course, assume that God is not immanent in the world, and trace all spiritual experience to a normal process of human mind. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit by virtue of His holy character was conducive to restraint of sin. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. This could hardly be said of Satan. By the husband; rather, in the brother. and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Will God forgive me for losing hope and the will to live? Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. What does scripture mean-Man and wife same pocketbook? The cross is the power of God over Satan. "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD" (Jeremiah 17:7). These things are foolish to them. First, the unsaved must understand that salvation depends upon faith in Christ. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, Look! This is what in theology is called common grace.3 The work of the Holy Spirit revealing the Gospel to the unsaved is, therefore, an important aspect of a larger program of God in dealing with the need of a lost world. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. 5:18; John 16:12-13). But should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. An unspiritual person refuses to accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him such things are foolish. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Human governments, ordained of God, are a means to divine ends. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
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