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And I will grant wonders in the sky aboveAnd signs on the earth below,Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. Because of it, sin was imputed to the race; men are spiritually dead apart from Christ; men possess a fallen nature which issues in manifestation; and, important to our present study, men are unable to comprehend the truth of God. that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, For we also are His children.. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? 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. So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 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. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The presence of the individual Christian, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, constitutes a force to hinder the world in its sin. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Salvation is God's gift provided by His grace. 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. Even so no one knows the things of God except [by] the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:11 1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. S And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. Serving Wholeheartedly. Many an unsaved judge has told many a young drug addict standing in his courtroom, "You must change your ways or you will . The phrase "the old man" (found also in Romans 6:6; Colossians 3:9) is here illustrated by the description following: which is being marred in virtue of the lusts of deceit. In Mk 3:29 Jesus says that "whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin" (cf. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. The work of the Holy Spirit in revealing the Gospel to the unsaved is rather a sovereign operation of God, not conditioned upon the receptivity of man. 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, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, For we also are His children. Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. R 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.. In the case of Balaam, God even used a donkey to communicate truth (Numbers 22). 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. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. The Holy Spirit presses upon the heart of the unsaved the fact of Gods judgment. P H There are many different ways the Bible describes a non-Christian. Searching all the innermost parts of his being. Jesus specifies it as unbelief. 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?. He thinks they are foolish. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Z. 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. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter began and explained it to them in order: I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. And again, back of human government is God Who instituted it (Gen 9:5, 6; Rom 13:1-7) and controls it (Ps 75:5-7). For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. The Godhead and there they continued to preach the gospel. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 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. Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? The work of the Holy Spirit in revealing the Gospel to the lost is essential to the whole program of completing the purpose of God to call out the Church in this age. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. To answer the question, we can turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. Third, the unsaved must face the fact of judgment and find in Christ One who was judged and executed as their substitute. Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. Geocoding Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Needless to say, the subjects included in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the unsaved should constitute an important part of effective Gospel preaching. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. No one comes to the Father except through me. - Is sanctified; literally, has been sanctified, the status has been rendered (so to speak) theoretically clean. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit: the Unforgivable Sin. 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. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.. Reason would point, however, to a number of contributing factors all of which are used of God to check the course of sin. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. This took discernment. The doctrines of providence and of the sovereignty of God demand that the power of God be effective not only in the saved but also in the unsaved world. For they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. If an unsaved man cannot understand before he believes, and is unable to believe what he does not understand, how can he ever be brought to saving faith? And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). It is closely parallel to the idea of moral and intellectual persuasion, constituting an influence, but in itself not resulting in decision. He is considered perhaps the world's foremost interpreter of biblical prophecy.John is perhaps best known for his bestselling work on Bible prophecy, Armageddon More. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:He was led as a sheep to slaughter;And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,So He does not open His mouth. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. (Continued from the January-March Number, 1941), [Authors Note: In previous articles the Person of the Holy Spirit, His work in the Old Testament, and His relation to the Person and work of Christ have been considered. 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. Christ addressed this issue in John 16:8-11, during His Upper Room Discourse . Paul perceived the matter and told him to quickly repent. The prophets of the period of Israels decadence before the captivities were living examples of the power of the Holy Spirit to minister in the midst of sin and unbelief. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. K The work of the Holy Spirit for the unsaved world constitutes another proof that God is a God of infinite grace and condescension, working in those who are the objects of His righteous judgment, striving to bring them to the knowledge of Christ as Savior. 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. 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. 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. 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.). Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 Systematic Theology, Vol. But a natural person does not receive the things of the Ruach Hakodesh of Hashem, for they are narrishkait (foolishness 1:21-24) to him, and he is not able to have personal saving daas of them, because they are discerned in the Ruach Hakodesh. It is stated flatly in 1 Corinthians 2:14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him. Again in 1 Corinthians 1:18, the Gospel is declared to be foolishness to the lost, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. The unsaved Gentiles are declared to walk in spiritual darkness, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart (Eph 4:18). 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. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? It would seem a preferable interpretation to view all restraint of sin, regardless of means, as proceeding from God as a ministry of the Holy Spirit. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. He is unable to understand them because they can be discerned only in a spiritual way. In relating the Word of God to the doctrine of common grace, two extremes in doctrine may be observed. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 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. F These three parts constitute the man. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. This could hardly be said of Satan. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. TopicalBible Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. We receive it by faith, experiencing the salvation only God can provide. 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.. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 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. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers. and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Seek Ye First. Summary Before a person becomes a Christian, Scripture calls them the natural man. The Net Pastors Journal, Eng. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. It provides for the inability of man and makes possible the salvation of souls. And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. For a beastly man perceiveth not those things that be of the Spirit of God; for it is folly to him, and he may not understand, for it is examined ghostly [for it is examined. Romans 11:14. if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 1 Corinthians 8:9. He does not grasp God's Word, he misunderstands and misconstrues it. To him the gatekeeper opens. I Paul refers to Satan as the "god of this world." The degeneracy of the period of the Judges had its Samson who was empowered by the Holy Spirit. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. In this course, you'll get four lessons on the following topics: Being Hospitable to Jesus. B W American King James Version ). "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD" (Jeremiah 17:7). From preceding discussion it is evident that common grace falls far short of efficacious grace. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Man, as created by God, and living on earth in mortal flesh, is a triune being, composed of "spirit and soul and body" (1 Thess. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.