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Text File | 1993-08-06 | 20KB | 786 lines

C:\LESSON\KINGDOM\SPHERE.DOC 15.09.91 THY KINGDOM COME PART 2 THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 Acts 2:1 to 8 read -- Last week we had the disciples in Solomon's Porch -- and the Holy Spirit had just come upon them -- and then entered into them -- The people nearby thought that they must have been drunk They were drunk alright -- but it was with the Spirit of God -- Life in the Holy Spirit had just begun for them --- This coming of the Holy Spirit within them is the beginning of the fulfillment -- for it is still being fulfilled even today -- Many prophecies of the Old Testament describe life in the Holy Spirit -- Just look at Isaiah -- he is seen as a great man of God But Jesus said -- There is none greater than John the Baptist -- and he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he -- In the twlight of the gospels -- that is before this had happened to his disciples -- Jesus said -- Your eyes have seen - what the prophets and kings have longed to see -- The Old Testament lived in a kind of holy darkness -- they did not see everything -- The prophet Isaiah -- trys very hard to express in this world's terms -- this Kingdom that is going to come-- And we find him groping for words -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 All that we can do is to take things as we now understand them -- things that we can hold onto -- things that are a part of this world -- Then use them to try and describe that which is coming - that which is not yet part of our world --- Let us for a moment take a man who lives in a very remote part of the African jungle -- and you just happen to meet him on a jungle pathway -- You ask him where he comes from - and how large is his village -- He says -- Just at the end of this path -- there is a large village of ten huts -- He then asks you the same questions that you asked him - You say -- I live a long way from here -- Now how can you explain to him the size of your village -- because the man can only count to about 20 -- So you say -- About twenty huts -- His reply was -- Twenty huts -- how could you fit all them in -- how do you build your huts --- How are you going to describe a high rise building to a man in Africa who cannot count beyond 20 -- and has only lived in the jungle all his life --- All that you could say is -- We put the huts on top of each other -- You are not telling this man the truth -- because he is not capable of understanding the truth -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 All that I could do is take what was in front of him -- things that he was familiar with -- Then make them as near as I could to what I was trying to tell him -- For this man the day may come -- that he visits my village - and sees the huts upon huts -- but until this day comes he will have to live with what he can understand -- Isaiah says -- They shall come to Zion with singing with rejoicing and leaping and dancing and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads Here is a man groping for words -- What is Zion - in David's time -- Zion was man in the immediate presence of God -- who leaped with great joy -- Isaiah is saying -- They are leaping and dancing on the highway of holiness -- with a hat called everlasting joy -- He says -- As I stand on the highway - sorrow and mourning flee away -- This is a picture -- this is a cartoon The prophets grappled to say -- A joy -- that would be heaven's own joy dropped into man's own heart -- a joy that would be everlasting in nature -- That is -- it never began - and will never end -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 All that man has ever known is happiness -- and happiness always depends on happenings -- If the happenings are to my liking then I am happy -- If I desire them to be unhappen then I am unhappy -- I therefore have a joy - that is not really a joy -- because it always begins - and shortly will end -- begin again - and then end again -- Everlasting joy means -- A joy that is not dependent upon any happenings -- This is the joy that God has in his own self -- It is the delight that God has in himself -- When the Holy Spirit came upon these men -- then the joy that God has in himself - which cannot be affected by any happenings -- became theirs -- While this was happening -- he was the fulfillment of the Day of Pentecost -- You will notice in Acts -- It says -- When the Day of Pentecost was fully come -- when it was fulfilled -- This is what it has always been about -- The two loaves that are made of fine flour -- and on this one occasion it is made with leaven - mixed in oil -- and the cake made -- What is happening It has just happened here on the Day of Pentecost -- Man in all his imperfections has been mixed with the THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 risen glorified life of Jesus -- and done so by the Holy Spirit -- the oil of God The oil of God has caused the very risen life of Jesus to be united to us in our present imperfections -- So from now on - the description of a Christian is -- I live yet it is not I -- it is Christ that lives in me -- I am a cake made of leaven and fine flour -- and all this comes about by the power of the Holy Spirit -- Not only this -- We are raised -- the two cakes are raised -- The two cakes were part of the offering of praise -- The two were showing forth the glory of him who called them out of darkness - and into his glorious light -- What is our chief aim and end in life -- It is to be a praise to God -- That you might show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness - and into his marvellous light -- Whatever you are involved in - it flows out of praise -- this is being a believer this is being Spirit filled That I am part of the eternal peace offering -- That I am ever being offered up as an offering of praise to him who has saved me and has brought me out of darkness -- Two cakes -- In the law it demands that every word shall be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses - THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 Here the two cakes state -- that these people are all that the church consists of right now -- These people who are dancing and leaping - They are the perfect witness to the truth that Jesus is the Messiah -- They witness that the Kingdom has come - They are the true church - They are the believer in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit --- These believers all join together - and form the perfect witness in the world to the fact that Jesus Christ has come - What was Pentecost -- It was the celebration of the law being given -- And I have said -- The coming of the Spirit is much greater than the law -- It is the answer to the law There is nothing wrong with the law - When people do not understand the grace of God -- They always say -- We are not under law - we are under grace -- By this statement you are saying -- that as soon as I am under grace I tear up the Old Testament -- Again I say -- there is nothing wrong with the law -- the trouble is human flesh -- There is nothing wrong with the law - it is us who can not keep it --- Now that the Holy Spirit has come he does in one act that we found impossible to do --- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 Romans 5:5 says -- The Holy Spirit sheds abroard the love of God in our hearts -- The New Covenant says -- He will write the law upon your heart -- He does not say -- Stop keeping the law -- He says -- I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways -- The law is no longer a drag in this sense -- It is no longer out there - and you are struggling and sweating to keep the law -- It is now in your heart - and the love of God is in your heart -- so now you can keep them and even more -- The law says -- An eye for an eye -- This is perfect justice -- you knock out one of my teeth - now I can knock out one of yours -- not two teeth for one -- This is why man hated justice -- you knock one of my teeth out -- I will knock out your mouth -- this is what man wants -- The law says -- An eye for an eye -- Jesus said -- Love your enemies -- do good to those who hurt you -- pray for those who curse you -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 This is now God's love shed abroad in our hearts -- It goes beyond the law It overflows the law Now the Holy Spirit has come -- and it causes us to walk in the ways of God --- God has invited us to fellowship with him in the high and lofty places of his holiness -- but so often in my own strength -- I try -- I struggle -- I sweat to climb up there by the ten commandments - but I find I cannot make it Look at it this way I stand outside of a mighty sky scraper - and I need to get to the top where there is a restaurant -- a place where there is abundant food -- So anxious to get there I start to climb up the drain pipe with its many bends and twists -- I find I slip - and fall -- hurting myself many times -- In the end I find I cannot make it I give up in despair I become a defeated person This is the same as trying to climb up the ten commandments -- But if I enter into this high building -- and get into a little box -- and in total rest I am taken in a power beyond myself to the very top -- On the Day of Pentecost God said -- You do not have to shin up the drain pipe -- I have another way of getting you there -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 When we rest in the box When we rest in the Holy Spirit we are taken in a power beyond ourselves - to live in the high and lofty presence of God -- This took place on the Day of Pentecost -- The scripture says -- They were all filled with the Holy Spirit -- all this was happening at once -- We are just dividing it up into pieces -- They were all filled with the Holy Spirit -- The tense here is -- To enter into a state or condition of being -- That is -- it does not need to be repeated -- I could not describe this tense in us being here right now -- because we are here today and gone tomorrow -- here and gone -- here and gone --- When I enter my house to dwell there -- then I can use this tense -- Every other time we hear of the people who on the Day of Pentecost were filled with the Spirit -- It never uses this tense again -- Later on in Acts it says Peter who was filled with the Spirit -- This is saying -- Peter who at a point in the past had been filled with the Spirit -- now continues on in that state saying -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 These disciples did not have to get filled every week -- Once you have entered into the Holy Spirit -- you have entered into the Holy Spirit -- Once you have entered into your house -- you have entered in -- You cannot enter into your house if you are already in there -- You have already entered into the Holy Spirit -- You have not partly entered in -- anymore than you have partly entered into your house -- Once I am in the Spirit -- I may be being filled - and being filled -- That is -- I am continuing on in the state of that -- I am living in his power -- but not continually returning to be filled -- like taking back my gass bottle to be refilled - When I am filled with the Spirit I enter into that condition -- and there I am -- and there I stay -- He fills us - that is -- he does not only affect us -- it is not that I felt the Spirit -- He fills me - not just affects me -- When people say -- I need another filling -- They mean -- I need some more effects -- They make the Holy Spirit some feeling that they have -- Whereas being filled with the Spirit is not -- an on again -- off again thing -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 He does not come on casual visits -- the Holy Spirit does not just drop in for morning tea --- He comes into a committed dwelling -- He is there whether I feel him or not -- All that the world of religion can do - is to stand by with their mouths open wondering what is going on -- God made sure that the whole religious world was there at the Day of Penetcost to see what was going on -- When they went back home they would carry the good news that the Kingdom of God has come -- They are seeing people who are part of this world - and are acting with a power from another world -- Religion - no matter how devoted it is does not know how to handle the supernatural -- If all that I have is religion it will back off and laugh -- poke fun - and the nearest they can say is they must be drunk -- Others who are not prepared to accept whatever it is -- are not prepared to mock -- They say -- What does this mean -- these people are Galileens peasants -- and yet they are speaking in languages that they have never learnt -- The first hours of the church the first beginnings of the Kingdom of God Not only caused religious Jews to mock - because they did not know how to handle the supernatural -- but it left behind a wake of questions -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 A believer who is living in the Holy Spirit leaves behind a wake of questions -- Wherever a Spirit filled believer goes -- he leaves question marks that arise from the fact that he is operating from an invisible power - that they cannot understand -- The very first result of this was when Peter stood up and proclaimed to all what was going on -- He began to preach to them -- he began to exalt Jesus Christ the risen Lord -- This is the first mark that the Holy Spirit is there -- Jesus says -- When the Holy Spirit comes - he will glorify me -- When Peter stood up and glorified Jesus - he did not do it speaking in tongues -- He did it I would say speaking in Aramaic -- for this was the language that they all needed to know to be there in Jerusalem Acts 2:14 says -- And Peter - standing up with the eleven -- This is a lovely verse - for they all knew what Peter had just done -- 50 days before this man had said that he did not know Jesus -- he cursed and swore to this effect -- John was a witness to this for he was there -- Peter stands with the eleven -- how did he get away with it - he did not even get six months probation -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 When the blood of Jesus Christ was shed -- It now cleanses us from all sin -- and our iniquities he remembers them no more -- The Holy Spirit does not give us probation time before he comes -- The Holy Spirit comes and Peter does what Jesus said he would do -- and that is he turns the keys of the Kingdom of God -- and the first batch of Jews stepped in and stopped being Jews -- and become members of the Kingdom of God --- They are no longer Jews or Gentiles -- but all one in Christ -- This is the Day of Pentecost When Peter proclaims -- This Jesus who you crucified has now been made both -- Lord and Christ -- Because he is Lord - because he is Christ -- the Holy Spirit is given to prove this -- Men now enter into union with God through Christ -- We begin to live - yet not us it is Christ that lives in us -- We begin to move in a dimension for the rest of our lives through the Holy Spirit -- Then we begin to do things that causes the world to realise that these people are operating out of another dimension -- Peter was announcing that an alternative Kingdom had come -- THE SPIRIT IS HERE PART 2 Rome was there - and Peter says -- Here is another Kingdom -- another Lord -- and he is seated on the throne in Heaven -- and you can actually enter into this Kingdom -- Repent - be baptised and you also will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit -- About 3000 all at one time entered in from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God's dear son Jesus Christ This was just the beginning -- The Kingdom is now here Jesus Christ is now Lord Let us take this and manifest this to others --- AMEN.