Logos

Interpreting the Logos In Greek philosophy, the logos remains an impersonal force, a lifeless and abstract philosophical concept that is a necessary postulate for the cause of order and purpose in the universe. In Hebrew thought, the Logos is personal. He indeed has the power of unity, coherence, and purpose, but the distinctive point is that the biblical Logos is a He, not an it. All attempts to translate the word Logos have suffered from some degree of inadequacy. No English word is able to capture the fullness of John’s Logos when he declared that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Attempts have been made by philosophers to translate Logos as logic, act, or deed—all of which are inadequate definitions. God’s Logos does include action. The Logos is the eternal Word in action. But it is no irrational action or sheer expression of feeling. It is the divine Actor, acting in creation and redemption in a coherent way, who is announced in John’s Gospel. That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us is the startling conclusion of John’s prologue. The cosmic Christ enters our humanity. It is the supreme moment of visitation of the eternal with the temporal, the infinite with the finite, the unconditioned with the conditioned. Coram Deo Reflect on this truth: God became flesh to accomplish your redemption. Have you accepted His gift of salvation? Passages for Further Study John 1:1–2 John 1:15

Hearing God Open Bible

Hearing God John 10:27 ESV / 70 helpful votes My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Romans 10:17 ESV / 63 helpful votes So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. John 14:16-17 ESV / 30 helpful votes And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Hebrews 4:12 ESV / 29 helpful votes For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. John 16:13 ESV / 23 helpful votes When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 8:47 ESV / 23 helpful votes Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” John 6:63 ESV / 22 helpful votes It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Jeremiah 33:3 ESV / 22 helpful votes Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. 1 Kings 19:11-13 ESV / 22 helpful votes And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Isaiah 30:21 ESV / 20 helpful votes And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 16 helpful votes All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. James 1:19-27 ESV / 15 helpful votes Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ... Romans 8:14 ESV / 14 helpful votes For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 12 helpful votes 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. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Psalm 32:8-9 ESV / 12 helpful votes I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. John 14:26 ESV / 10 helpful votes But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Luke 11:28 ESV / 10 helpful votes But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Galatians 6:6 ESV / 9 helpful votes One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. 1 John 1:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. Hebrews 2:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. John 10:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. John 3:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 1:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 5:30 ESV / 7 helpful votes “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. Proverbs 3:30-32 ESV / 7 helpful votes Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. Psalm 5:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. Hebrews 1:1-5 ESV / 6 helpful votes Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? 2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, Ephesians 2:8 ESV / 6 helpful votes For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Galatians 5:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 3:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— Acts 16:6-10 ESV / 6 helpful votes And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Isaiah 30:19-22 ESV / 6 helpful votes For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!” Psalm 119:1-176 ESV / 5 helpful votes Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! ... Suggest a Verse

sermon on gospel of John by R C Sproul

Logos “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). - John 1:1–18 The various names for Jesus tell us a great deal about who He is and what He came to do. Thus far we have looked at three different titles used for Jesus in the New Testament: “Christ,” “Lord,” and “Son of Man.” Today we will look at the title given to Jesus in the prologue to John’s gospel: “Logos.” In English translations, John 1:1 reads, “in the beginning was the Word.” The Greek term translated “Word” in this verse is the word logos. We see this word incorporated into a variety of technical terms such as biology (a word about living things) and theology (a word about God). Though the translation of the term logos is the simple term word, it must be noted that logos carried a lot of philosophical baggage in the ancient Greek world. Ancient Greek philosophy was concerned with answering the ultimate questions of reality. They were seeking to find ultimate truth. They wanted to find the ultimate reality that lies behind all other things. Over time, as the ancient philosophers pondered these questions, they came up with a term to describe this ultimate reality, and the term they came up with was logos. The logos came to be understood as that which gave life and meaning to the universe. Within the realm of Greek philosophy, however, this logos was largely understood to be an impersonal force, not a personal being. When we come to John 1, we see that the apostle has done two things with the term that would have been unthinkable to Greek philosophers. Rather than an impersonal force, the logos of John’s gospel is a personal being who can be received or rejected by other people (vv. 11–12). This logos also became incarnate as a human being and manifested the glory of God (v. 14). The logos is the personal God revealed to us in the Old Testament. John, moved by the Holy Spirit, tells us this indirectly by starting 1:1 with “in the beginning,” just as Genesis 1:1 begins. He also tells us this more directly when in 1:1 he writes, “the Word was God.” This logos, which gives meaning and purpose to all things, is far from being an impersonal principle. Rather, this logos is Jesus Christ, the very God of the universe. Coram Deo Eastern religions point to a god who is a nebulous force or impersonal substance. However, the Bible tells us that God is a personal God who gives meaning and purpose to all things. Pray that you would not let our culture’s infatuation with Eastern religions make you forget that we serve a personal God. Passages for Further Study Gen. 1:1 Mic. 5:2 Col. 1:15–17 Rev. 1:8

A preacher from the dead by Charles Spurgeon

A Preacher from the Dead July 26, 1857 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892) "And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.—Luke 16:31. Man is very loath to think ill of himself. The most of mankind are very prone to indulge in apologies for sin. They say, "If we had lived in better times we had been better men; if we had been born into this world under happier auspices we should have been holier; and if we had been placed in more excellent circumstances we should have been more inclined to the right." The mass of men, when they seek the cause of their sin, seek it anywhere but in the right place. They will not blame their own nature for it; they will not find fault with their own corrupt heart, but they will lay the blame anywhere else. Some of them find fault with their peculiar position. "If," says one, "I had been born rich, instead of being poor, I should not have been dishonest." "Or if," says another, "I had been born in middle life, instead of being rich, I should not have been exposed to such temptations to lust and pride as I am now; but my very condition is so adverse to piety, that I am compelled by the place I hold in society, to be anything but what I ought to be." Others turn round and find fault with the whole of society; they say that the whole organism of society is wrong; they tell us that everything in government, everything that concerns the state, everything which melts men into commonwealths, is all so bad that they cannot be good while things are what they are. They must have a revolution, they must upset everything; and then they think they could be holy! Many on the other hand throw the blame on their training. If they had not been so brought up by their parents, if they had not been so exposed in their youth, they would not have been what they are. It is their parent's fault; the sin lay at their father's or their mother's door. Or it is their constitution. Hear them speak for themselves, "If I had such a temper as so-and-so, what a good man I would be! But with my headstrong disposition it is impossible. It is all very well for you to talk to me but men have different turns of mind, and my turn of mind is such that I could not by any means be a serious character;" and so he throws the blame on his constitution. Others go a deal farther, and throw the blame on the ministry. "If," say they, "at one time the minister had been more earnest in preaching, I should have been a better man; if it had been my privilege to sit under sounder doctrine and hear the Word more faithfully preached, I should have been better." Or else they lay it at the door of professors of religion, and say, "If the church were more consistent, if there were no hypocrites and no formalists: then we should reform!" Ah! sirs, you are putting the saddle on the wrong horse, you are laying the burden on the wrong back; the blame is in your hearts, nowhere else. If your hearts were renewed you would be better; but until that is done, if society were remodelled to perfection, if ministers were angels, and professors of religion were seraphs, you would be none the better; but having less excuse for your sin, you would be doubly guilty, and perish with a more terrible destruction. But yet men will always be having it, that if things were different they would be different too, whereas, the difference must be made in themselves, if they begin in the right place. Amongst other whims which have occured to the human mind, such an one as that of my text may sometimes have arisen. "If," said the rich man in hell, "if one should arise from the dead, if Lazarus should go from heaven to preach, my hardened brethren would repent." And some have been apt to say, "If my aged father, or some venerable patriarch could rise from the dead and preach, we should all of us turn to God." That is another way of casting the blame in the wrong quarter: we shall endeavor, if we can, to refute such a supposition as that this morning, and affirm most strenuously the doctrine of the text, that "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Let us proceed with this subject. Suppose a preacher should come from another world to preach to us, we must naturally suppose that he came from heaven. Even the rich man did not ask that he or any of his compeers in torment might go out of hell to preach. Spirits that are lost and given up to unutterable wickedness, could not visit this earth; and if they did they could not preach the truth, nor lead us on the road to heaven which they had not trodden themselves. The advent of a damned spirit upon earth would be a curse, a blight, a withering blast, we need not suppose that such a thing ever did or could occur. The preacher from another world, if such could come, must come from heaven. He must be a Lazarus who had lain in Abraham's bosom, a pure, perfect, and holy being. Now, imagine for a moment that such an one had descended upon earth; suppose that we heard to-morrow a sudden piece of news—that a venerable spirit, who had been a long time buried, had on a sudden burst his cerements, lifted up his coffin-lid, and was now preaching the word of life. Oh! what a rush there would be to hear him preach! What place in this wide world would be large enough to hold his massive congregations! How would you rush to listen to him! How many thousands of portraits would be published of him, representing him in the dread winding-sheet of death, or as an angel fresh from heaven. Oh! how would this city be stirred: and not this city only, but this whole land! Nations far remote would soon hear the news; and every ship would be freighted with passengers, bringing men and women to hear this wondrous preacher and traveler who had returned from the bourne unknown. And how would you listen? And how solemnly would you gaze at that unearthly spectre! And how would your ears be attent to his every word! His faintest syllable would be caught and published everywhere throughout the world—the utterances of a man who had been dead and was alive again. And we are very apt to suppose, that if such a thing should happen, there would be numberless conversions, for surely the congregations thus attracted would be immensely blest. Many hardened sinners would be led to repent; hundreds of halters would be made to decide, and great good would be done. Ah! stop, though the first part of the fairy dream should occur, yet would not the last. If some one should rise from the dead, yet would sinners no more repent through his preaching than through the preaching of any other. God might bless such preaching to salvation, if he pleased; but in itself there would be no more power in the preaching of the sheeted dead, or of the glorified spirit, than there is in the preaching of feeble man to-day. "Though one should rise from the dead, they would not repent." But yet, many men would suppose that advantages would arise from the resurrection of a saint, who could testify to what he had seen and heard. Now, the advantages, I suppose, could only be three. Some would say there would be advantage in the strength of evidence which such a man could give to the truth of Scripture; for you would say, "If a man did actually come from the pearly-gated city of Jerusalem, the home of the blest, then there would be no more dispute about the truth of revelation. That would be settled." Some would suppose that he could tell us more than Moses and the prophets had told us, and that there would be an advantage in the instruction which he could confer, as well as in the evidence which he would bear. And, thirdly, there may be some who suppose that it would be an advantage gained in the manner in which such an one would speak, "For surely," say they, "he would speak with great eloquence, with a far mightier power, and with a deeper feeling than any common preacher who had never beheld the solemnities of another world." Now, these three points one after another, and we think we will settle them. I. First, it is thought that if one did come from the dead to preach, there would be A CONFIRMATION OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL, and a testimony borne at which jeering infidelity would stand aghast in silence. Stop, we will see about that. We do not think so. We believe that the resurrection of one dead man to-day, to come into this hall and preach, would be no confirmation of the gospel to any person here present who does not believe it already. If, my friends, the testimony of one man who had been raised from the dead were of any value for the confirming of the gospel; would not God have used it before now? This shall be my first argument. It is undoubtedly true that some have risen from the dead. We find accounts in Holy Scripture of some men who by the power of Christ Jesus, or through the instrumentality of prophets, were raised from the dead; but ye will note this memorable fact, that they never any of them spoke one word which is recorded, by way of telling us what they saw while they were dead. I shall not enter into any discussion as to whether their souls slept during the time of their death, or whether they were in heaven or not. That would be a discussion without profit, only gendering disputes, which could yield no fruit. I only say, it is memorable that there is not a record of any one of them having given any description of what they saw while they were dead. Oh, what secrets might he have told out, who had laid in his grave four days! Do ye not suppose that his sisters questioned him? Do ye not think that they asked him what he saw—whether he had stood before the burning throne of God, and been judged for the things done in his body, and whether he had entered into rest? But, however they may have asked, it is certain he gave no answer, for had he given an answer we should have known it now; tradition would have cherished the record. And do ye remember, when Paul once preached a long sermon, even until midnight, there was a young man in the third loft named Eutychus, who fell asleep, and fell down, and was taken up dead? Paul came down and prayed, and Eutychus was restored to life. But did Eutychus get up and preach after he had come from the dead? No; the thought never seems to have struck a single person in the assembly. Paul went on with his sermon, and they sat and listened to him, and did not care one fig about what Eutychus had seen; for Eutychus had nothing more to tell them than Paul had. Of all the number of those who by divine might have been brought again from the shades of death, I repeat the assertion, we have not one secret told; we have not one mystery unravelled by them all. Now, God knoweth best; we will not compare our surmises to divine decision. If God decided that resurrection men should be silent, it was best it should be; their testimony would have been of little worth or help to us, or else it would have been borne. But again, I think it will strike our minds at once, that if this very day a man should rise from his tomb, and come here to affirm the truth of the gospel, the infidel world would be no more near believing than it is now. Here comes Mr. Infidel Critic. He denies the evidences of the Bible; evidences which so clearly prove its authenticity, that we are obliged to believe him to be either blasphemous or senseless, in that he does so, and we leave him his choice between the two. But he dares to deny the truth of Holy Scripture, and will have it that all the miracles whereby it is attested are untrue and false. Do you think that one who had risen from the dead would persuade such a man as that to believe? What? when God's whole creation having been ransacked by the hand of science, has only testified to the truth of revelation—when the whole history of buried cities and departed nations has but preached out the truth that the Bible was true—when every strip of land in the far-off East has been an exposition and a confirmation of the prophecies of Scripture; if men are yet unconvinced, do ye suppose that one dead man rising from the tomb would convince them? No; I see the critical blasphemer already armed for his prey. Hark to him; "I am not quite sure that you ever were dead, sir, you profess to be risen from the dead; I do not believe you. You say you have been dead, and have gone to heaven; my dear man you were in a trance. You must bring proof from the parish register that you were dead." The proof is brought that he was dead. "Well, now you must prove that you were buried." It is proved that he was buried, and it is proved that some sexton in old times, did take up his dry bones and cast his dust in the air." That is very good now I walls you to prove that you are the identical man that was buried." "Well I am, I know I am; I tell you as an honest man I have been to heaven, and I have come back again." "Well then," says the infidel, "it is not consistent with reason; it is ridiculous to suppose that a man who was dead and buried could ever come to life again, and so I don't believe you, I tell you so straight to your face." That is how men would answer him; and instead of having only the sin of denying many miracles men would have to add to it the guilt of denying another but they would not be so much as a tithe of an inch nearer to conviction; and certainly, if the wonder were done in some far-off land, and only reported to the rest of the world, I can suppose that the whole infidel world would exclaim, "Simple childish tales and such traditions have been current elsewhere; but we are sensible men, we do not believe them." Although a churchyard should start into life, and stand up before the infidel who denies the truth of Christianity; I declare I do not believe there would be enough evidence in all the churchyards in the world to convince him. Infidelity would still cry for something more. It is like the horse-leech; it crieth, "Give, give!" Prove a point to an infidel, and he wants it proved again; let it be as clear as noon day to him from the testimony of many witnesses, yet doth he not believe it. In fact, he doth believe it; but he pretendeth not to do so, and is an infidel in spite of himself. But certainly the dead man's rising would be little worth for the conviction of such men. But remember, my dear friends, that the most numerous class of unbelievers are a set of people who never think at all. There are a great number of people in this land that eat and drink, and everything else except think at least, they think enough to take their shop shutters down of a morning, and put them up at night; they think enough to know a little about the rising of the funds, or the rate per cent. of interest, or something like how articles are selling or the price of bread; but their brains seem to be given them for nothing at all, except to meditate upon bread and cheese. To them religion is a matter of very small concern. They dare say the Bible is very true, they dare say religion is all right; but it does not often trouble them much. They suppose they are Christians; for were they not christened when they were babies? They must be Christians—at least they suppose so, but they never sit down to enquire what religion is. They sometimes go to church and chapel and elsewhere; but it does not signify much to them. One minister may contradict another, but they do not know; they dare say they are both right. One minister may fall foul of another in almost every doctrine; it does not signify, and they pass over religion with the queer idea—"God Almighty will not ask us where we went to, I dare say." They do not exercise their judgments at all. Thinking is such hard work for them that they never trouble themselves at all about it. Now, if a man were to rise from the dead to-morrow these people would never be startled. Yes; yes, they would go and see him once, just as they go and see any other curiosity, the living skeleton, or Tom Thumb; they would talk about him a good deal, and say, "There's a man risen from the dead," and possibly some winter's evening they might read one of his sermons; but they would never give themselves trouble to think whether his testimony was worth anything or not. No, they are such blocks they never could be stirred; and if the ghost were to come to any of their houses the most they would feel would be, they were in a fearful fright; but as to what he said, that would never exercise their leaden brains, and never stir their stony senses. Though one should rise from the dead, the great mass of these people never would be affected. And, besides my friends, if men will not believe the witness of God, it is impossible that they should believe the witness of man. If the voice of God from the top of Sinai and his voice by Moses in the book of the Law, if his voice by the divers prophets in the Old Testament, and especially his own word by his own Son, who hath brought immortality to light by the gospel, cannot convince men, then there is nothing in the world that can of itself accomplish the work. No, if God speak once, but man regardeth him not, we need not wonder that we have to preach many a time without being regarded; and we should not harbour the thought that some men who had risen from the dead would have a greater power to convince than the words of God. If this Bible be not enough to convert you, apart from the Spirit? (and certainly it is not) then there is nothing in the world that can, apart from his influence; and if the revelation which God has given of his Son Jesus Christ in this blessed book, If the Holy Scripture be not in the hands of God enough to bring you to the faith of Christ, then, though an angel from heaven, then, though the saints from glory, then, though God himself should descend on earth to preach to you, you would go on unwed and unblest. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." That is the first point. II. It is imagined, however, that if one of "the spirits of the just made perfect" would come to earth, even if he did not produce a most satisfactory testimony to the minds of sceptics, he would yet be able to give abundant information concerning the kingdom of heaven. "Surely," some would say, "if Lazarus had come from the bosom of Abraham, he could have unfolded a tale that would have made our hair stand upright, while he talked of the torments of the rich man; surely, if he had looked from the gates of bliss, he might have told us about the worm that dieth not and the fire that never can be quenched: some horrible details, some thrilling words of horror and of terror he might have uttered, which would have unfolded to us more of the future state of the lost than we know now." "And," says the bright-eyed believer, "if he had come on earth he might have told us of the saints' everlasting rest: he might have pictured to us that glorious city which hath the Lord God for its eternal light, the streets whereof are of gold, and its gates of pearl. Oh! how sweetly would he have descanted upon the bosom of Christ, and the felicity of the blest. He had been 'Up where eternal ages roll; Where solid pleasures never die, And fruits immortal feast the soul.' Surely he would have brought down with him some handfuls of the clusters of Eshcol; he would have been able to tell us some celestial secrets, which would have cheered our hearts, and nerved us to run the heavenly race, and put a cheerful courage on." Stop, that is a dream too. A spirit of the just descending from heaven could tell us no more that would be of any use to us than we know already. What more could that spirit from heaven tell us of the pains of hell than we do already know? Is not the Bible explicit enough? Did not the lips of Christ dreadfully portray the lake of fire? Did he not, even he who went over men, did he not in awful language tell us that God would say at last, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels?" Do you need more thrilling words than these? "The worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched." Do you need more terrible warnings than these,—"The wicked shall be cast into hell, with all the nations that forget God?" Do you want more awful warnings than this—"Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" What! do you want a fuller declaration than the words of God. "Tophet is prepared of old; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it?" You cannot want more than Scripture gives of that. Even that you try to run away and escape from; you say the book is too horrible, and tells you too much of damnation and hell. Sirs, if you think there is too much there, and therefore reject it, would you stand for an instant to listen to one who should tell you more? No; ye do not wish to know more, nor would it be of any use to you if you did. Do you need more details concerning the judgment, that day of wrath to which each of us is drawing nigh? Are we not told that the king "shall sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all people; and he shall divide them the one from the other, as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats." Suppose there were one here who had seen the solemn preparation for the great assize—one who had stood where the throne is to be planted, and had marked the future with a more piercing eye than ours. Yet of what avail would it be to us? Could he tell us more than Holy Writ hath told us now—at least, any which would be more profitable? Perhaps he knows no more than we. And one thing I am sure of, he would not tell us more about the rule of judgment than we know now. Spirit that hath returned from another world, tell me, how are men judged? Why are they condemned? Why are they saved? I hear him say, "Men are condemned because of sin. Read the ten commandments of Moses, and you will find the ten great condemnations whereby men are for ever cue off." I knew that before, bright Spirit; thou hast told me nothing! "No," says he, "and nothing can I tell." "Because I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was sick, and ye visited me not; I was in prison, and ye came not unto me; therefore, inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me. Depart, ye cursed!" "Why, Spirit, was that the word of the King?" "It was," says he, "I have read that, too, thou hast told me no more." If you do not know the difference between right and wrong from reading the Scripture, you would not know it if a spirit should tell you; if you do not know the road to hell and the road to heaven from the Bible itself, you would never know it at all. No book could be more clear, no revelation more distinct, no testimony more plain. And since without the agency of the Spirit, these testimonies are insufficient for salvation, it follows that no further declaration would avail. Salvation is ascribed wholly to God, and man's ruin only to man. What more could a spirit tell us, than—a distinct declaration of the two great truths.—"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help found!" Beloved, we do solemnly say again, that Holy Scripture is so perfect, so complete, that it cannot want the supplement of any declaration concerning a future state. All that you ought to know concerning the future you may know from Holy Scripture. It is not right to say with Young— "My hopes and fears start up alarmed, And o'er life's narrow verge look down, On what? A bottomless abyss, A dread eternity." It is not right to say that, as if it were all we know. Blessed be God, the saint does not look down upon a bottomless abyss; he looks up to the celestial "city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Nor do even the wicked look down upon an unknown abyss; for to them it is clearly revealed. Though "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," the tortures of the lost yet hath Holy Scripture sufficiently told us of them to make it a well-mapped road; so that when they meet with death, and hell, and terror, it shall be no new thing; for they heard of it before, and it was distinctly revealed to them. Nothing more could we know that would be of any use. Tattlers, idle curiosity people, and such like, would be mightily delighted with such a man. Ah! what a precious preacher he would be to them, if they could get him all the way from heaven, and get him to tell all its secrets out! Oh! how would they love him—how would they delight in him! "For," say they "he knows a great deal more than anybody else; he knows a great deal more than the Bible tells us; he knows a great many little details, and it is wonderful to hear him explain them!" But there the matter would end. It would be merely the gratification of curiosity; there would be no conferring of blessing; for if to know more of the future state would be a blessing for us, God would not withhold it; there can be no more told us.-If what you know would not persuade you, "Neither would you be persuaded though one rose from the dead." III. Yet some say, SURELY, IF THERE WERE NO GAIN IN MATTER, YET THERE WOULD BE A GAIN IN MANNER. Oh, if such a spirit had descended from the spheres, how would he preach! What eloquence celestial would flow from his lips! How majestically would he word his speech! How mightily would he move his hearers! What marvellous words would he utter! What sentences that might start us from our feet, and make us quiver with their thrilling influence. There would be no dulness in such a preacher; it would be no fatigue to hear him; there would be no want of affection in him, and surely no want of earnestness; we might well be pleased to hear him every day, and never weary with his wondrous speech. Such a preacher earth hath never heard. Oh, if he would but come! How would we listen!"—Stay! that too is a dream. I do believe that Lazarus from Abraham's bosom would not be so good a preacher as a man who has not died, but whose lips have been touched with a live coal from off the altar. Instead of his being better, I cannot see that he would be quite so good. Could a spirit from the other world speak to you more solemnly than Moses and the prophets have spoken? Or could they speak more solemnly than you have heard the word spoken to you at divers times already? O sirs, some of you have heard sermons that have been as solemn as death and as serious as the grave. I can recall to some of your memories seasons when you have sat beneath the sound of the word, wondering and trembling all the while. It seemed as if the minister had taken to himself bow and arrows, and were making your conscience the butt at which his shafts were levelled. You have not known where you were, you have been so grievously frighted and smitten with terror that your knees did knock together, and your eyes ran with tears. What more do you want than that? If that solemn preaching of some mighty preacher whom God had inspired for the time—if that did not save you, what can save you, apart from the influence of the Spirit? And oh! you have heard more solemn preaching than that. You had a little daughter once; that child of yours had been to the Sabbath-school; it came home, and was sick unto death you watched it by night and day, and the fever grew upon it; and you saw that it must die. You have not forgotten yet how your little daughter Mary preached you a sermon that was solemn indeed: just before she departed she took your hand in her little hand, and she said, "Father, I am going to heaven; will you follow me?" That was a solemn sermon to you. What more could sheeted dead have said? Ye have not forgotten yet, how when your father lay a dying—(a holy man of God he had been in his day, and served his Master well)—you with your brothers and sisters stood around the bed, and he addressed you one by one. Woman! you have not forgotten yet, despite all your sin and wickedness since then, how he looked you in the face and said, "My daughter, 'twere better for thee that thou hadst never been born than that thou shouldst be a despiser of Christ and a neglecter of his salvation." And you have not forgotten how he looked when with solemn tears in his eyes he addressed you and said, "My children, I charge you by death and by eternity, I charge you, if you love your own souls, despise not the gospel of Christ; forsake your follies, and turn unto God and live." What preacher do you want better than that? What voice more solemn than the voice of that of your own parent upon the confines of eternity? And you have not yet quite clean escaped from the influence of another solemn scene. You had a friend, a so-called friend; he was a traitor, one who lived in sin and rebelled against God with a high hand and an outstretched arm. You remember his death-bed, when he lay near to death terrors got hold of him; the flames of hell began to get their grip of him, before he had clean departed. You have not yet forgotten his shrieks, his screams, you have not yet quite got from your vision in your dreams that hand through which the finger nails were almost pierced in agony, and that face, contorted with direful twitchings of dismay. You have not clear escaped yet from that horrid yell with which the spirit entered the realm of darkness and forsook the land of the living. What more of a preacher do you want? Have you heard this preaching, and yet have you not repented? Then verily, if after all this you are hardened, neither would you be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Ah! but you say, you want some one to preach to you more feelingly. Then, Sir, you cannot have him in the preacher you desire. A spirit from heaven could not be a feeling preacher.-It would be impossible for Lazarus, who had been in Abraham's bosom, to preach to you with emotion. As a perfect being of course he must be supremely happy. Imagine this morning a supremely happy being preaching to you, about repentance and the wrath of God. Do you not see him? there is a placid smile ever upon his brow; the light of heaven gilds his face, he is talking about the torments of hell, it was the place for sighs and groans; but he cannot sigh, his face is just as placid as ever. He is specking of the torments of the wicked, it was the time for tears; he cannot weep; that were incompatible with blessedness. The man is preaching of dreadful things with a smile upon his face; there is summer on his brow, and winter on his lips—heaven in his eyes, and hell in his mouth. You could not bear such a preacher; he would seem to mock you. Ay, it needs a man to preach a man like yourselves, who is capable of feeling. There wants one who, when he preaches of Christ, smiles on his hearers with love—who, when he tells of terror, quails in his own spirit whilst he utters the wrath of God. The great power of preaching, next to the power of God's Spirit, lies in the preacher's feeling it. We shall never do much good in preaching unless we feel what we utter. "Knowing the terrors of the Lord we persuade men." Now a glorified spirit from heaven could not feel these things; he could show but little emotion. True, he could speak of the glories of heaven; and how would his face grow brighter, and brighter, and brighter, as he told the wonders of that upper world! But when he came to cry "Flee from the wrath to come," the voice would sound as sweet when he spoke of death and judgment, as when he spoke of glory; and that would make sad discord, the sound not answering to the sense—the modulations of his voice being unfit to express the idea upon the mind. Such a preacher could not be a powerful preacher, even though he came again from the dead. And one thing we may say, he could not preach more closely home to you than you have had the truth preached to you. I shall not say that you have had preaching put very close to you from the pulpit. I have striven to be very personal sometimes: I have not shunned to point some of you out in the congregation, and given you a word of rebuke, such as you could not mistake nor if I knew that any of you were indulging in sin would I spare you. I bless God that I am not afraid to be a personal preacher, and to shoot the arrow at each separate man when he needs it. But, nevertheless, I cannot preach home to you as I would. Ye are all thinking your neighbor is intended, when it is yourself. But you have had a personal preacher once. There was a great preacher called at your house one day; his name was Cholera and Death. A terrible preacher he! With grim words and hard accent he came and laid his hand upon your wife; and then he put his other hand on you, and you grew cold and well-nigh stiff: You remember how he preached to you then. He made your conscience ring again and again; he would not let you lie still; he cried aloud concerning your sin and your iniquity; he brought all your past life to light, and set all your evil conduct in review. From your childhood even up till then he led you through all your wanderings: and then he took the whip of the law, and began to plough your back with furrows. He affrighted you with "the wrath to come." You sent for the minister; you bade him pray; you thought you prayed yourself; and after all that, that preacher went away, and he had come on a fruitless errand; no good had been done to you; you had been a little startled and a little stirred, but you are to-day what you were then, unsaved and unconverted. Then, sir, you would not be converted, though one rose from the dead. You have been wrecked at sea; you have been cast into the jaws of the grave by fever; you have been nearly smitten to death by accident; and yet, with all this personal preaching, and with Mr. Conscience thundering in your ears, you are to-day unconverted. Then learn this truth, that no outward means in the world can ever bring you to the footstool of divine grace and make you a Christian, if Moses and the prophets have failed. All that can be done now is this: God the Spirit must bless the word to you otherwise conscience cannot awaken you, reason cannot awaken you, powerful appeals cannot awaken you persuasion cannot bring you to Christ. Nothing will ever do it except God the Holy Spirit. Oh! do you feel that you are drawn this morning? Does some sweet hand draw you to Christ, and does some blessed voice say, "Come to Jesus, sinner; there is hope for thee." Then that IS God's Spirit. Bless him for it! He is drawing thee by the bands of love and the cords of a man. But oh, if thou be undrawn and left to thyself, thou wilt surely die. Brethren and sisters in the faith, let us lift up our prayers to God for sinners, that they may be drawn to Christ—that they may be led to come, all guilty and burdened, and look to Jesus to be lightened, and that they may be persuaded, by the coming power of the Spirit, to take Christ to be their "all-in-all," knowing that they themselves are 'nothing at all." O God the Holy Spirit bless these words, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen and Amen. Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by: Tony Capoccia Bible Bulletin Board Box 314 Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022 Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com Email: tony@biblebb.com Online since 1986

The Holy Spirit and Prayer by Ray Stedman

The Holy Spirit and Prayer Series: Jesus Teaches on Prayer Author: Ray C. Stedman Read the Scripture: John 14:12-17 It is significant to note that, though Jesus never taught his disciples how to preach, he did teach them how to pray. Much of his teaching on prayer is found in this rich and fragrant passage, which is called The Upper Room Discourse, found in John, Chapters 13 through 17. It is a passage that is filled with astonishing concepts. I know of no more challenging part of the Word of God than this. It is a vast area of mystery and beauty and glory. I never read it without feeling tremendously humbled in the experience of it. Perhaps in this place, more fully than anywhere else, our Lord unfolds to us the unique secret of Christianity, that aspect of life that has been called "the exchanged life." This is the secret of a Christian: He is not living his own life, he is living another's life. Or, more accurately, another is living his life in him. Until you have grasped that as the mystery and key of Christian living you have not graduated from the kindergarten level of the Christian life. It is time now in our study of prayer to relate the subject to the total spectrum of Christian living. There is no passage that does it more effectively than the passage before us. In Verses 12 through 17, three revelations are given of the life of Jesus Christ at work within us: In Verse 12 we learn that the character of a Christian's work is "borrowed activity"; in Verses 13-14 we shall find that the basis of a Christian's prayer is "borrowed authority"; and in Verses 15-17 it is revealed that the secret of a Christian's living is "borrowed deity." This is the actuality of an exchanged life. That is our program for this study, So let us take it in detail. In Verse 12, the character of a Christian's work is borrowed activity: Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father." (John 14:12 RSV) Each of these divisions in this passage consists of a staggering promise of tremendous possibility, and linked with it is a statement of a limiting or qualifying condition. Frequently as we read these great passages of the Scripture, we are either so dazzled by the promise that we fail to heed the condition, or we are so frightened by the condition that we pay little heed to the promise. But it is necessary that we take very seriously both aspects of what our Lord has said. Perhaps our greatest problem is to be so awestricken by these promises that we fail to heed the condition. There is a little sign, seen occasionally in offices, which says: When all else fails, follow directions. Sometimes when we try to lay hold of a promise of God, and it seemingly does not work, the reason is we have never followed directions. Thus, a conditioning statement is always the road to fulfillment. Now, in Verse 12, the promise is tremendously plain. Jesus said "He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do." That frightens and staggers us. It is theoretically acceptable, but it is practically unbelievable. We refuse to accept it at face value. We wonder if there is not a catch somewhere. There must be, we say, for is Jesus really saying that Christians living today, in this 20th century, do not only the works which he did but greater works than these? Is that what he is saying? The promise is so staggering that we attempt immediately to soften it. We say to ourselves, "Can this be true of me? After all, I am not Jesus Christ, and, therefore, I cannot be expected to do what he did." But how do you square an excuse like that with a verse like this? For in it Jesus plainly says, "He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do." Here is where we need to listen very carefully to exactly what it is he is saying. For Jesus is not saying here that a sincere, dedicated Christian of 1964 will actually be able, in his sincerity and his dedicated religious effort, to do what Jesus did in the 1st century, let alone do greater works than he did. In other words, he is not contrasting our labors now with his labors then. He is not saying that dedicated Christian men and women are really going to transcend what he accomplished as the Son of God Incarnate among men. What he is saying is, as the Risen Christ, he will do through us greater works than he did as the Incarnate Christ living among men. Do you see the difference? Notice what he links with this: "because I go to the Father." What does he mean? Why, it was his going to the Father that released the full potential of the Godhead for human lives and affairs. While he was here on earth the fullness of God was available to man only in one human body, the body of Jesus. By the strength and indwelling life of the Father he did all the works that we marvel at as we read the story of his life. But what he is saying now is, that as the Risen Christ, ascended to the throne or the Father, he himself will do through us, in terms of our personalities, and by the activity of our lives, greater works today than he did in the days of his flesh. That is what he is saying. It is rather startling to realize that the work of the Incarnate Christ, that is, Jesus Christ of Nazareth working and walking among men, was, at its end, apparently a total and complete failure. We marvel as we read the story or the beginning of his ministry. Those miracles he did, astonishing things, raising men from the dead, healing the sick, opening the eyes or the blind, delivering men, women and little children from the oppression or demons, touching with his hand the withered arm of a man and immediately it springs into full growth and life again. We read the tremendous words that came from his lips,The Sermon on the Mount, the parables beside the seashore, these mysterious, marvelous, compelling things that he said. And we do not wonder at the crowds that followed him, hounding him, following him even into retreat, insisting upon his ministry, so that the news spread like wildfire throughout the land of Israel that here was a prophet risen in Israel again. Men left their work and their cities and their ordinary activities of life and went out to hear what he had to say, following him hours upon end. That was the beginning. But when you come to the end, where are the crowds? Long before, they had already begun to diminish. "Many went back and walked no more with him" John 6:66 KJV), the writers of the gospel tell us. Already many of the searching things that he had been saying had separated the weak from the strong, and many had gone back and refused to follow with him anymore. By the last week the actual number of disciples had been reduced to a comparative handful. And even these, in the hour of his capture and appearance before Pilate, forsook him and fled. In the time of his need they left him. There was only a tiny band of one man and three or four women that gathered around the foot of the cross. That was all the Incarnate Christ had to show for the marvelous ministry in the power of the Spirit which he had manifested among men. A total failure! That is the value of the works that he did. Now do you see what he means when he says "greater works than these will you do, because I go to the Father?" His ministry among men, as a man, was a failure. It did not remain; it had no enduring effects. Those who came, attracted by the things they saw, faded back into the shadows when persecution began to grow. No one stayed with him. But there is a very significant promise uttered in the midst of thisUpper Room Discourse that he addresses to these disciples. In John 15:16 he says to them, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain." John 15:16) Your fruit should remain. What you do in the power of the Spirit will not fade away. Those that you win to Christ, those that are brought by the ministry that you will be ministering will abide, and this cause will nourish in the earth and spread unto the uttermost parts till every nation shall hear the word, and out of every tribe and nation of earth shall come, at last, fruit that shall remain. This is what he means, "Greater work than these shall you do, because I go to the Father." It is his work in us. I was down this weekend at Newport Beach speaking at the Mayors' Breakfast held in Balboa Bay Club, a lavish setting with yachts and pleasure boats anchored right outside the window. It was a great temptation to be there. There were gathered at the breakfast some two hundred men from that area, many of them non-Christians, and with us were the three mayors of the cities of Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Norman Nelson was there and sang beautifully. After he had finished singingHow Great Thou Art, I saw one of the mayors wiping the tears from his eyes. God moved in a visible way at that meeting, and when we had finished, I overheard two men discussing it. One man, evidently a Christian, said to the other, "Well, you know, I think God was pleased with what happened this morning." The other man said, "He ought to be, he did it!" That seemed to me to capture exactly what Jesus is saying here. A Christian's true work is borrowed activity, it is never his own, and when he begins to think it is, he defeats every possibility of success. He sabotages the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a condition to this, however. Remember, I warned you of that. These great promises have a condition linked with them that qualifies them, and without the fulfillment of the condition the promise will never work. What is it? "He who believes in me." That is the condition. Now that does not mean "He who is a Christian." You say, I am a believer. That means, so many months or years ago I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and now I am a believer. That is not the sense in which he is using it here. He is not saying everyone who is a Christian, and, in that sense, a believer, will automatically be able to do these things. He uses here a verb in the present tense which means "he who is continually believing in me." He who is appropriating by faith that which I am will do these things. In the Christian life, faith is always the operative word. He is not saying, he who holds the truth, but he who acts upon it, is the one who will do these works. God gives power and ability only to faith, and it is only when we learn that that these promises come alive in our life. This is the reason why, though we know these promises must be true because of him who spoke them, yet we see so dismally little evidence of it in our living. It is because we are not ready, simply, to take God at his word, and expect him to do these things. Expectation is the condition by which this becomes realized. There is another passage, Verses 13 and 14, which sets forth the fact that the basis of a Christian's prayer is borrowed authority. "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:13-14 RSV) Whatever, anything, I will do it. We sense immediately that this is too wide. If we take this as absolutely unlimited, a sort of magical Aladdin's lamp that we can rub and ask for any possible thing in the world, certainly we have missed the true point of this passage. It is too wide to take unreservedly. We sense also, almost instinctively, that it is too contradictory if taken without limit. We can see problems arising. What if a Christian athlete is praying for clear weather and a Christian farmer is praying for rain? Which one wins? When our friend, Mr. Hendricks, was a single young man in college he met a young lady whose mother immediately had designs on him. It came to his ears that this woman had told some of her friends that she was praying that he might be her son-in-law. I remember Mr. Hendricks pausing and saying to us, with great significance, "Have you ever thanked God for unanswered prayer?" No, this promise cannot be limitless. There is a condition here. Our Lord means exactly what he says but we must understand what he says. This is a magnificent promise of vast scope, of tremendous encompassment, but what he says is "if you ask in my name." This is the condition. That certainly means a great deal more than a magical formula to tack on to the end of our prayers. There is nothing quite as pagan, or silly, as this meaningless phrase, "this we ask in Jesus' name," added to our prayers without any understanding or regard as whether or not the prayer is actually being asked in Jesus' name. We do this because: it is traditionally acceptable, and we do not understand what "in his name" means. "In Christ's name" means in his authority, on the basis of his character, in the value of his work. Let me illustrate: All of us are familiar with the phrase, "In the name of the law." Policemen do their business "in the name of the law." Now, supposing a policeman goes into a cheap slum area of the city at three o'clock in the afternoon. He is called there because of some murderous activity that is going on, and he comes up to the address that has been given him, and knocks at the door, and says, "Open in the name of the law." No one opens the door, so after he knocks again and requests that it be opened in the name of the law and there still is no answer, he breaks it down and goes in and makes his arrest. Now, we will say, at ten o'clock that night, that same policeman is drunk. He is out in a residential area and for some reason on his own, in his drunken stupor, he stumbles up the steps of a house, and knocks on the door, and says, "Open inna name of the law." Those within hear the thick voice and recognize that it is a drunken policeman and refuse to open. So the policeman breaks down the door, and when he does, he is arrested and taken to jail himself. Why? It is the same action, and exactly the same man. What is the difference? One was truly done in the name of the law, the other was done outside the law, even though the same words were used. One was authorized activity, the other was unauthorized. That is what Jesus means. When we ask in Jesus' name we are to ask within the realm and scope of his work and his character. Whatever he is interested in having done on earth, then we, as the instruments of his activity, are involved in accomplishing it. "Whatever you need," he says, "ask for it and it shall be done." Whatever! Anything! If it is a need within this limit, you can ask for it and it shall be done, without failure. Let me illustrate again by referring to the breakfast in Newport Beach: It was my responsibility to bring a message there, and, as I frequently do in a time like that, I felt very inadequate, helpless. Here was a wealthy, affluent area. The meeting would be held in lavish surrounds, I knew, and in such a resort area, oftentimes great religious indifference abounds. Present at the meeting, I knew, would be scores of men who were not in any way outwardly identified with Christian faith and many of them would be typically shallow, rootless, unconcerned modern pagans. It was a challenging meeting, an opportunity to speak in the name of God to men who would otherwise never give an ear, and I felt it. I felt inadequate, I felt the tremendous challenge and my own inability. I have learned, by long experience and by the Word of God, to recognize that that feeling of inadequacy is an excellent thing. I welcome it now, because I know it is designed to lead me to ask for what I need. So, before the meeting began, I simply asked. I asked for three things: I asked that what I said might be relevant, that it might come to grips with the situation in which these people found themselves. Second, that it might be challenging, that I might say something that would awaken these men; and third, that it might be powerful, that its effect would not diminish, that it would not be lightly swept aside but come home with power to the heart. Now what I said was neither clever or profound, it was very simple. I simply tried to call attention to the moral revolt that is widespread in the United States today and the fact that it is eating away at our national life and destroying the very foundation of our government, things that you read and are hearing today on every side. I tried to point out something of the moral emptiness of a life like that, and how futile and meaningless and purposeless life seems to be, and what the Christian answer is. Immediately after the meeting two Chiefs of Police who were present from the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa came right up to me, visibly moved, and shook my hand and said, "We know what you are talking about. This is the first time we have ever heard anything that seems to suggest an answer. This is what we desperately need down in this area." And one of the mayors who had, before the meeting, insisted, with some asperity, that he would have absolutely no participation in the meeting, volunteered at the end to get up and say that this was something that he felt had sounded out the crying need of that area and he hoped that this would be an annual event. He welcomed our team to come down the next week and hold Breakfast Meetings throughout that entire area. What is the explanation of that? "Whatever you need, ask, and it shall be given you," that's all. If it lies in the direction of the moving of Christ in the affairs of men today, whatever you need, ask. It will be given. Anything! If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now let us come quickly to this last passage, the fact that the secret of the Christian's life is borrowed deity. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you." (John 14:15-17 RSV) What a staggering promise this is! Our Lord is promising here that the One who will come to make his home in every Christian's heart and life is nothing less than God himself! The One who comes is the third Person of the Trinity, who supplies to us the fullness of God. "Filled unto the goodness of God" Ephesians 3:19), is Paul's prayer for us, that in the possession of the Holy Spirit we may understand and realize that the One who comes is God himself indwelling us. The names that he uses here suggest the richness of this promise. He said that he will be "another Counselor." I like the old translation better, the word is "Comforter," but we should understand it in its original meaning. It comes from the wordfortis, that is, "to make strong," andcom means "with." Someone who stands with you and makes you strong; that is a Comforter, one who gives strength. In this word, Jesus is saying that he who comes will be the One who has within him the fullness of power, all the strength that we could possibly need, that is the first thing. Then he is called the Spirit of Truth, and that is a wonderful statement. Don't you hunger after truth sometimes? In this bewildering world, this perplexing age in which we live, don't you sometimes almost physically hunger for someone, somewhere, somehow, who can tell us the truth? Well, that is who this One is, the Spirit of Truth, the One who unfolds reality, who exposes error, who tears away the veils, who dissolves the mists that confuse us and blind us, who removes the doubts and brings us face to face with things as they really are in life. I read a wonderful testimony by Dr. Emile Caillet concerning his discovery of the Bible as an agnostic young man. At the age of twenty-one he had never seen a Bible and it was years later, as a married man, that he finally was given a Bible. He began to read it and he discovered that this was the answer to his life-long search for what he called "a book that understands me." As he read, he discovered that this was the book because it revealed the One who understood him. His testimony was to a life-long experience of delving deeper and deeper into the marvels of a Book that understood him, because it was revealed by the Spirit of God who is the One who understands us. And note, this privilege is exclusively Christian. Only the Christian can be led by the Spirit of God into the nature of reality, into truth. Jesus said, "... even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him." This is exclusively Christian. The world will never be able to understand reality, never! As long as men remain worldlings they are blinded to the ultimate nature of things. They will never understand them because man is both the specimen to be examined and the examiner, and the problem is that the error that is in the examiner affects the examination! Man reasons continually in a vicious circle of unbelief that prevents him from discovering ultimate reality. But when the Spirit of Truth is come, he takes away the veils, he dissolves the mists. Little by little, gradually, we begin to understand who we are, and what we are, and why we are what we are, and why others are what they are, and what this world is and where it is going and what its end is going to be. The Spirit of Truth -- there is nothing more magnificently Christian than this ability to see truth clearly. But now we come to the condition, for the brutal fact is that, though every true Christian has the Spirit of Truth, thousands walk in darkness and understand no more about themselves than the most blind pagan around. Though we have the Spirit available to us, we are as deluded and as blinded as any worldling living next door. Though we have the potential he does not have, we are not getting into it. We may be Bible-taught, but we are not Spirit-taught. Why not? Because Jesus says "... he dwells with you, and he will be in you," and there is a vital distinction there. Now, please don't nail me to the mast for heresy. I know as well as you do that every believer, when he receives Jesus Christ, receives the indwelling Spirit of God, that He is in us from the beginning. We do not need later to pray for his coming. He is there right from the start. Historically, it was true that these disciples were not to receive the indwelling of the Spirit until the Day of Pentecost. He dwelt with them before but he was to be in them on the Day of Pentecost. But, having said all that, it is still true that, positionally, though the Spirit of God is dwelling in you, as far as you are concerned, experientially, it is as though he only dwelt with you. You are not laying hold of his indwelling life, and for all practical purposes he is not there, he is only with you. This is the explanation for the prevailing weakness in Christian living. The other night at our Board of Elders meeting we were wrestling with this problem. We were asking ourselves this question, "Why is it that though truth seems to be poured out continually in this place, through our teachers, in the pulpit and in so many ways, yet in many of our peoples' lives there is such a superficial shallowness? There is so little reflection of the truth our ears are hearing. Why is this? How is it that Christians can know so much and experience so little?" We were wrestling with this problem. I commented how disturbing it is to sit down with a group of people and mention some great promise of Scripture or Christian life that ought to be ours and to have everybody nod their head in agreement with it, and then to see the look of shock come into their eyes when you propose some action on it. They look amazed that you intend to take these words seriously, and act on them. As we talked about this, one of the young men who was with us said a very helpful and insightful thing. He said, "You know, I think I know what it is. I have found it in my own life. When I simply give up arguing back, and start obeying the Lord, I discover all these things begin to work. In my experience I have discovered it is possible to have God at arm's length, dwelling with me. And when he is out there, nothing works; but when I yield to his sovereign direction in my life, and I begin to act on what he says, then he is in me and things begin to happen." He put his finger right on the point. This is what Jesus says. "In you" means that you are under the control of the Holy Spirit, and yielding obedience to his totalitarian sovereignty. It means the total collapse of all your rebellion against him. "Oh," you say, "I'm not in rebellion against the Spirit of God. Why, I'm a Christian. I don't rebel against him." Let me ask you: "What kind of life are you living? Is it God-centered, or is it self-centered? Is it to please yourself that your activities are done and your desires aimed?" Then you are in rebellion against the Spirit of God, and to have him dwelling in you means the total collapse of all that revolt until you are saying, "Lord Jesus, whatever you say, your word is my command. I am ready to obey." It is not our relationship with Jesus Christ which counts before the world, it is our resemblance to him. Prayer Holy Spirit, we ask thee to search our own hearts on this day, and save us from this damnable perfidy of talking truth and not living it, of echoing orthodoxy but refusing to submit in practical ways, or shepherding our resources and protecting our lives and refusing to fling them into thy cause and abandon ourselves to thy purposes. Lord God, what hypocrites! Keep us from this, that we may know the fulness of the glory of these promises fulfilled in our lives in this day and age. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Title: The Holy Spirit and Prayer Author: Ray C. Stedman Series: Jesus Teaches on Prayer Date: April 19, 1964

A Response to John McArthur’s Teaching on Tongues

In his exposition on 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s chapter on love, John McArthur begins with a critical analysis of tongues. It is very evident from his introduction that he speaks from a bias against the modern phenomena of glossalalia, or speaking in tongues. As he progresses through his lesson, he clearly states his rejection of the tongues movement of today. At the same time, he seems to approve of the New Testament version of tongues. Ancient tongues-speaking was legitimate, according to McArthur, but modern tongues-speaking is counterfeit. He does not offer any reason for this shift from approved tongues to non-approved tongues nor does he say when it happened. (He may do this in later studies.) 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (KJV) 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. McArthur makes a great deal of the definition of tongues as “languages.” He emphasizes that the Greek word used for tongues is glossa, which is normatively translated as languages. This is correct. No Greek scholar would dispute this. He does, however, extrapolate the idea that the languages were human languages from the way the word is used throughout the Bible, especially the New Testament. Although he does not say this directly, he strongly implies that because the languages were human languages, the spiritual aspect of speaking in tongues is diminished. In fact, he excoriates, brutally I think, the Corinthian church for operating the spiritual gifts in the flesh, rather than in the Spirit. In one instance, he even implies that the Corinthians were paganistic in their practices, if not beliefs. But the core of McArthur’s case against the modern tongues movement turns out to be little more than a straw man. He cites the main reason for rejecting tongues is that it is babbling or gibberish, and not a real language. Now, we see why he spent so much time showing that glossa is a human language. Legitimate tongues, or languages, are uttered in accordance with all the rules of language. A language has structure, meaning and content. Regardless of the family of languages, substantive ideas must be conveyed through the use of language. Babbling and gibberish have no such structure. Babbling is merely a hodgepodge of nonsensical syllables strung together and called a “prayer language” or a “devotional language.” Although he claims he could cite more sources, he refers to one linguistic scholar who researched the glossalalia movement for several years and never one time came across anyone who was “speaking in tongues” using a proper language. On this basis, McArthur dismisses the entire tongues movement today as illegitimate. This dismissal is far too sweeping. It is estimated that over 600 million people have experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit as they did on the day of Pentecost. The roots of the practice and teaching go back to the era of the church fathers. Eusebius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Chrysostom of Constantinople and Augustine of Hippo all provide evidence of the spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues. Traces of the gift, although suppressed and discouraged, appear throughout the middle Ages. Prior to the reformation, groups such as the Albagenses and the Waldenses were reported to speak in tongues. Later, tongues speaking was reported among the Quakers, Pietists, Moravians and even the early Methodists. In the nineteenth century, a renewed interest in spiritual gifts began building, especially in England and the United States. Then, the Azusa Street Revival broke out at the turn of the twentieth century, starting a tidal wave of belief and experiences in the gifts. McArthur seems to brand all of the above as unscriptural and illegitimate. He does not cite one reference to theologians or scholars, of which there are many, who take the opposite view. He does not cite one instance of speaking in tongues that satisfies his definition of a language. He evidently believes that all tongues speaking after the Apostolic age is in error. My view is that tongues as the Spirit give the utterance is indeed a language. It is not babble or gibberish. There are hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects, however, and some of them are so strange that classifying them as a language is difficult. Certain African tribes, for example, have clicking sounds for words. Many Oriental languages rely more on tones than phonemes. Many languages are now extinct. The Holy Spirit does speak through us today in tongues. Some tongues are unknown, as defined by the Apostle Paul. Yes, the word unknown was italicized by the King James translators. McArthur simply dismisses this as well, but does not provide a good reason for doing so, except that it doesn’t fit his paradigm. This is not an acceptable position for a Bible teacher to take. Check out the following websites: http://www.av1611.org/jmelton/italics.html http://www.chick.com/reading/books/158/158_11.asp I must pause in my response because of time, but there are more problems with McArthur’s teaching on 1 Corinthians 13 that I see. For example, how can he demonstrate that there is a definitive difference between the tongues of the disciples in Acts, or even the Corinthian church, and the tongues of this modern age? Why does he not differentiate between the baptism of the Holy Spirit accompanied by tongues and the gift of tongues as practiced in the church in Corinth? How does his position square with the Apostle Paul’s admonition that the church was not to forbid speaking in tongues? These and many more questions deserve answers. I hope to get back to this in the coming week. Posted on Friday, February 19, 2010 at 06:46PM by J. Mark Jordan | 2 Comments View Printer Friendly Version Email Article to Friend Reader Comments (2) I grew up as a child in the UPCI, and attended church basically every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Thursday night (we didn't have Wednesday night services) service since I was a child until I was 18 years old, and I never once heard a discernible human language when people were speaking "in tongues", and that was a very, very common phenomenon. It's thus not hard to understand the difficulty people have in believing that "speaking in tongues" is anything beyond a euphoric utterance that has no discernible meaning, i.e., how does one distinguish between joyful babbling (and I am not making light of that, it can be quite wonderful!) and actual language? The truth is, you can't, unless you recognize the language to some degree, at least. Neither my father, my mother, my pastor, nor any particular person I can even think of currently in my history with Oneness Pentecostalism, ever received the Holy Ghost with speaking in tongues that were confirmed by another person present to have been truly a bona fide language. I heard occasional third-hand stories of speaking in tongues that were verified by others present to have been actual human languages they recognized, but apparently it's so rare that it's not required, even though "speaking in tongues" is supposedly the required evidence for receiving the Holy Ghost, according to traditional Apostolic doctrine. This makes the "speaking in tongues" requirement a rather shaky foundation for salvation, indeed! In that case, I know no one personally who is saved, because I have never known personally (though I believe there are some!), anyone who has spoken in another language miraculously. October 11, 2010 | Tim Garcia You claim this: "It is estimated that over 600 million people have experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit as they did on the day of Pentecost." However, on the day of Pentecost, these were *confirmed known tongues* that were *real languages*, because they were confirmed by unbelievers to be their own languages. I truly doubt 600 million people have had similar experiences of speaking in tongues that people around them (particularly unbelievers who would not have any stake in the game either way) said, "hey, they're speaking MY language!" That is the true experience of the day of Pentecost (known tongues confirmed by people who recognized their language), and I know no one in the UPCI church I grew up in that ever experienced the true Day of Pentecost experience, pastor included, and he was and is still a presbyter in the South Texas district.

To Bring Forth Fruit by Ray Stedman daily devotion for April 4

To Bring Forth Fruit
Daily Devotion for April 4
From the Writings of Ray Stedman
Read the Scripture: Genesis 1:9-13

And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. And it was so (Genesis 1:9).

God's act in calling the land up out of the oceans seems to mark the period of evening in this third day. During this period we have the rising of the continents, the weathering of the rocks, and the soil forming gradually to make preparation for the plant life that is to follow.

But remember that all this on the physical level is but a manifestation of the parallel spiritual and moral reality, and every view of nature ought to speak volumes to us about who God is, what He does, and what He intends. These things are at once real and visible and, at the same time, the picture of something unseen that relates to our inner life.

We learn that this human life on earth, between the period of birth and death, is itself divided. This is pictured for us by the rising of the land out of the ocean. The waters are a picture of human life. Rising up out of the ocean of human life is land, which has the capability of producing fruit. Thus, there exists that which is capable of producing fruit and that which is totally incapable of doing so.

There is an old humanity that, by nature, is incapable of fulfilling what God desires; a new humanity, called out of the old, is capable of producing the fruit God envisions. The old humanity is all one fallen race--blinded, darkened, confused, restless, and, as the ocean is one yet divided, so fallen humanity is separated into divisions: nations, peoples, and tongues. The prophet Isaiah says, the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud (Isaiah 57:20).

You are asking, Do you mean that all who are not Christian are wicked? We need to bear in mind that there is a respectable form of wickedness as well as a notorious form. You can be knowingly wicked, and you can be ignorantly wicked. People who are exposed to the knowledge of God's purpose, His love, and the program He has for the deliverance of humanity from its bondage and resist God's work, rejecting the Savior whom God has sent and refusing to yield to His gracious call, are clearly wicked and oppose God's will. They are raising their fist in a defiant act against their Creator. That is also why they are restless. The restlessness of our age is directly due to the fact that it is wicked. It is pictured by the ocean, with its wild, surging waves that are never still.

But out of that ocean there comes a new humanity, the earth, a fruitful race of those in Jesus Christ, all one originally in Him as the continents were once, but now divided and fragmented by the forces that have come in since to separate us from one another. Yet there is an ever-present underlying unity that we discover when we come together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, thank You that You are bringing a new humanity out of the old, and that as part of that new humanity I can bear fruit for You.

Life Application: The natural world speaks to us metaphorically about the inner life of our humanity. Can we see a distinction in our lives between the old, fallen race & new life in Christ?

Related Message: This daily devotion was inspired by one of Ray's messages. Please read "To Bring Forth Fruit" or listen to Ray for more on this portion of scripture.