FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 6, number 36, September 6, 2007

. . .the mystery of Christ. . .as it has now been revealed. . .in the Spirit, Ephesians 3:5.

Honor The Holy Ghost

D.L. Moody, the great 19^th century evangelist, was born in Northfield, MA and, due to his family’s poverty, received only a third grade education. As a teen Moody moved to Boston and became a shoe salesman, hearing the gospel from another worker, and being wonderfully converted. Immediately Moody began to work with the local YMCA in preaching the gospel to children. He later moved to Chicago and did the same thing with increasing notoriety. There were two Methodist women who often attended Moody’s meetings, who afterward would say, “We are praying for you Mr. Moody.” After hearing this several times, Moody, a bit miffed, asked them, “Why are you praying for me? Why don’t you pray for the conversion of the lost?” They said that they were praying for Moody to receive the power. Moody began to pray with these women and a few months later, while walking down Wall Street in Manhattan, a few days before his departure for London and evangelistic preaching, the power came upon him. He says that he was so overcome with the glory and power of the Holy Spirit that he thought he may die on the spot. He immediately went to the house of a nearby friend and spent several hours in a bedroom, communing with God. D.L. Moody’s ministry was never the same after this baptism with the Holy Spirit. He became a powerful and useful preacher of the gospel in England, Scotland, and America, being responsible, in a human sense, for the conversion of thousands of people and for the establishment of three schools. From that point onward Moody always said that we must honor the Holy Ghost.

In light of the fact that only 1 % of Connecticut is evangelical and 16.7% claim to be atheist or agnostic, since only 8 % of Americans are evangelical, in light of the erosion of a Biblical consensus through modernism and post modernism, and since our denomination, the PCA, grew by only 1 % last year, surely we ought to be asking ourselves the question- do we have the power? Should we not be praying earnestly for Holy Ghost power in our pulpit ministries and churches?

Paul, in Ephesians 3:5, says that the mystery of Christ- His promised incarnation, humiliation, and exaltation for the sins of His people, has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the One who called, equipped, and empowered the New Testament apostles and prophets to preach Christ crucified, opening the eyes of the blind to see the light of Christ. God has since called men to preach Christ crucified to the nations, drawing millions to Himself through the convicting and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. It ought to be clear to us that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is essential to Biblical ministry in the church and world. I fear, however, that most of us merely pay lip service to His ministry, foolishly thinking, in our pride and professionalism, that our plans, programs, and personalities will promote prosperity in ministry.

Who is the Holy Spirit? Since He clearly has divine perfections, should we not, therefore, confess Him to be God? He is omnipotent, I Corinthians 12:11; omniscient, Isaiah 40:13, 14; omnipresent, Psalms 139:7-10; and He is eternal, Hebrews 9:14. Should we not, therefore, honor Him? What does He do? Consider His work of creation, Psalm 33:6; preparation, Luke 1:35; inspiration, II Peter 1:21; regeneration, Titus 3:5; resurrection, Romans 8:11; application, I Corinthians 12:13, sanctification, Romans 1:4, and formation, Ephesians 1:22, 23. And what do we mean by the Spirit’s presence and power? I mean two things. First is His ordinary presence. The Holy Spirit indwells all believers, powerfully working regeneration and sanctification in them, bringing conviction of sin and comfort in times of sorrow. But second is His extraordinary presence where He does something far more dynamic that the ordinary. Acts 4:31 is a case in point where the place they were gathered was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking the word of God with great boldness. The awe filled presence at Enfield, CT in July, 1741 when Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God; and the felt presence of God in 1949 on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides off the coast of Scotland are both examples of the extraordinary presence of the Holy Spirit.

And why is the presence of the Holy Spirit so needed in our day? Why is He so essential for our ministries? For four reasons. First is the depravity of the sinner, Romans 3:10ff. He cannot and will not come to Christ through any coercion or manipulation which Pelagian or Arminian preachers bring. I, for one, am not at all impressed by the rock and roll, mega churches of our day which claim to be mighty movements of God. They are fundamentally flawed at the beginning, working on the dreadful assumption that man holds the cards, that man has the ability to decide for Christ, and that the evangelist’s job is to find the key to his heart. Pastor, church leader, do you really believe in the total inability of people to believe the gospel? Are you praying with total dependence upon God, clearing the sinful debris from your life and church so that the Holy Spirit may come with awe filled power upon your ministry? Second is the frailty of the saint. The very thing we wish to do we do not do, and the thing we do not want to do, we do, Romans 7:15ff. You cannot grow in holiness without the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work. And third is the fact that the church is prone to folly. Paul rebuked the Corinthians in his severe letter, II Corinthians 7, probably because they did not come to his defense when falsely accused. We continue to go after the folly of fads and formulas, forgetting what we already know- that only the Holy Spirit can convert and sanctify. And fourth, those in the world are prone to pride, unbelief, and rebellion. Do we not see this today in New England? People generally reject Christianity because they do not see it as relevant or because it is found wanting in intellectual rigor. Pride in our plans and programs takes us away from God and our lust fastens us to the world and its methods.

What, then, are you to do? You are to honor the Holy Ghost. How? Believe in Him. Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high, Luke 24:46ff, Acts 1:8. Do you believe in the Holy Ghost? Do you really believe in Him? Are you truly desperate for Him? Have you come to see your need of Him in your ministry and family? Do you really expect the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin and to regenerate them? Second you must seek Him. Be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18; do not grieve the Spirit, Ephesians 4:30; do not quench the Spirit, I Thessalonians 5:19, and do not resist the Spirit, Acts 7:51. Will you honor the Holy Ghost?

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.

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