Whatever Happened to the Holy Spirit?
Whatever Happened to the Holy Spirit?
by
John MacArthur
All Rights Reserved
(A copy of this message on cassette tape may be obtained by calling
1-800-55-GRACE)
Galatians 3:1-3 Tape GC 90-30
Introduction
When I was a young man preaching around the country, I received constant
requests for messages on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Christians talked
about walking in the Spirit and what it was to be filled with the Spirit. The
manifestation and use of spiritual gifts was a topic of great interest.
However that has changed. The Holy Spirit now seems to be the forgotten member
of the Trinity. Therefore the priority of the Holy Spirit in the life of the
church must again be asserted. Galatians 3 does just that.
A. The Passage
In verses 1-3 the apostle Paul says, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched
you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is
the only thing I want to find out from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the
works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by
the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"
B. The Problem
All Christians acknowledge that life in Christ begins by the work of the Spirit.
It cannot be perfected or brought to maturity through the flesh. Yet many in the
church today seem to believe that it can. In Galatians 3:1-3, Paul wants his
readers to understand that sanctification comes by trusting in the power of the
Holy Spirit by faith. He called the Galatians foolish for trusting in God for
salvation, yet compromising the gospel of grace by relying on human effort for
personal holiness and spiritual maturity.
Paul asks in verse 1 whether the Galatians have been "bewitched" (Gk., baskaino
[baskaino], "to fascinate" or "charm someone in a misleading way"). They had
been mislead by people who told them that sanctification was something they
needed to accomplish on their own. The Galatians had by faith received and been
empowered by the Holy Spirit, but were now willing victims of a flesh-pleasing
brand of sanctification.
C. The Point
If a person receives eternal salvation and the fullness of the indwelling Holy
Spirit through wholeheartedly trusting in the crucified Christ, why in the world
would he trade in supernatural power for human effort? That's what Paul wanted
to know in Galatians 3. You cannot achieve a spiritual goal by natural means.
The Holy Spirit produces spiritual life initially and He also sustains it. The
Holy Spirit is to the Christian what the Creator is to the creation.
Without God the world would never have come into existence. And without His
sustaining it, the world would go out of existence. Similarly, without the Holy
Spirit none of us would ever become saved. And without His constant sanctifying,
sustaining, and preserving work, the spiritual life of the Christian would drop
back into the spiritual deadness whence it came. Paul said, "He who began a good
work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Indeed,
"we live by the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).
In the evangelical church today so many are attempting to perfect in the flesh
what was begun by the Spirit. Systematically and subtly, the Holy Spirit is
being eliminated from the matter of sanctification. That poses a monumental
threat to the church. Unless we are perfected by the Holy Spirit, all our
efforts are in vain.
Lesson
I. CONFUSED CREED
A. A Misrepresentation of the Spirit's Work
The Charismatic Movement has contributed to the current deemphasis of the Holy
Spirit's role in sanctification by misrepresenting the ministry, baptism,
filling, and illuminating work of the Spirit. That has led many to attempt to
perfect in the flesh what was begun by the Spirit. We need to understand what
the Bible teaches about the Spirit's work if we're to grow spiritually.
B. An Overemphasis on the Miraculous
A chief way that the Holy Spirit has been misrepresented is His exclusive
association with miracles, signs and wonders--anything extraordinary. He is
presented as the magical member of the Trinity who moves in ways that are either
seen, felt, or heard. As a result the internal, sanctifying, purifying work that
the Spirit does in the heart has been severely downplayed.
C. An Unwillingness to Confront
Many Christians are now fearful of speaking the truth for fear that someone
might be offended. Therefore there's very little talk, teaching, or preaching
about the Holy Spirit anymore.
II. CONFUSED CONFIDENCE
A. The Rise of Pragmatism
Pragmatism has replaced supernaturalism in many of today's churches, and our
reliance on the Spirit has correspondingly suffered. A pseudo-Christian humanism
has infiltrated the church and we have become man-centered. That development is
paralleled in history.
From about A.D. 500 to 1500 according to some reckonings, Western culture
experienced what is known as the Dark Ages. The Roman Catholic Church as a
political and religious authority dominated Western civilization. It controlled
what men thought. The printing press was invented only toward the end of that
period, so the distribution of information was very restricted.
The Reformation changed all that. There was an explosion of independent thinking
and the chains of Romanism were shattered. The invention of the printing press
made large quantities of information available. People could see, study,
analyze, criticize, and evaluate biblical and other issues. In the Enlightenment
man moved away from theological issues and focused on himself. The Industrial
Revolution confirmed man's brilliance through his creativity and invention. The
child of those developments was rationalism. Man came to worship his intellect.
One example of that trend is Thomas Paine's Age of Reason, in which the
eighteenth-century political theorist debunked the Bible and exalted the human
mind.
Out of rationalism came liberal theology. Theologians examined the Bible in the
light of human rationality and threw out the parts they deemed irrational. Man's
mind became his own divine standard. When man focuses on his own achievements,
he turns from the supernatural to the natural. We're in such a time right now,
with achievements far surpassing those of the Enlightenment. Our present time
has seen tremendous progress, and the result has been narcissistic self-worship.
Many have come to believe that man has all the answers, a form of humanism that
I call pragmatism.
B. The Results of Pragmatism
1. A disinterest in prayer
We understand the theology of prayer, that we are
commanded to pray, and the various elements of prayer. The problem is that we
have come to believe we don't need to pray. Who needs to pray for their daily
bread in a society of plenty? We have developed systems to deal with practically
everything. Desperate people don't need lectures on prayer--only those who think
they have the solution to everything.
2. Spiritless programming
We often act as if "the weapons of our warfare are ... of the flesh" (contrary
to 2 Cor. 10:4). People who tell others to solve their problems by getting in
touch with themselves, rather than the Spirit of God, are using the pragmatic
approach. They are attempting to solve problems by programs and methodology
rather than spiritual power.
3. A preoccupation with church growth
I am often asked what I think about church growth techniques. My standard answer
is that I have absolutely no desire to build the church. That generally
surprises people until I remind them that Christ said He would build the church
(Matt. 16:18). I don't want to compete with Him.
When people talk about church growth, they generally mean some methodology by
which the church grows through human ingenuity. But Scripture says it is the
Lord who adds to the church (Acts 2:47). Man never adds to Christ's church
through his own cleverness. There is great danger when the church thinks it is
rich and has need of nothing (Rev. 3:17), when it replaces supernaturalism with
pragmatism--a sophisticated methodology to deal with every issue in the church,
the family, and our personal lives.
4. A decline in God-centered preaching
Today's preaching reflects the pragmatic approach. So much of it is
man-centered, dominated by a relational mentality that reconciles man to man,
not man to God. It's directed at teaching you techniques to implement in your
life so you can get what you want.
5. A lack of biblical understanding
a. Theological error
1) The sovereignty of God
Pragmatism is a failure to understand basic theological truth. The pragmatic
approach to problem solving does not account for the sovereignty of God. Because
He is sovereign, only God can solve problems.
2) The depravity of man
Pragmatic problem solving also fails to account for the depravity of man. Man
can't solve his problems. His only hope is to get in touch with God. Two people
working together will not help each other unless one has God working through him
on behalf of the other.
b. Methodological error
1) The problem
Man is a fallen creature. Human depravity is so deep and pervasive that we
cannot do anything for ourselves in the spiritual realm. So the use of human
means to solve spiritual problems will inevitably result in failure.
2) The solution
However if you understand that God is absolutely sovereign and that man is
totally depraved, then you're going to seek a supernatural solution to your
problems. The weapons of your warfare will be spiritual not fleshly.
III. CONFUSED COUNSELING
A. Psychology: The New Approach to Problem Solving
A new approach to spiritual problem-solving is what I call psychological
sanctification. A product of humanism and pragmatism, it is the belief that
deep-seated problems will be solved only if you go to a counselor. The counselor
supposedly helps you get in touch with your problems, and then helps you reach
inside yourself and dig out the answers that are there.
* Is Biblical Counseling Valid?
Absolutely! There are many wonderful people who counsel from the Word of God,
intercede in prayer, and are used by the Holy Spirit to help the heavy hearted.
The gift of exhortation is a wonderful gift by which the Holy Spirit ministers
through believers to other believers. We are all called to help, stimulate, and
encourage one another in the Body of Christ.
However this new definition of sanctification is outside the Bible and operates
apart from the Holy Spirit. I have noticed that in many seminaries pastoral
majors have been replaced by psychology majors. Biblical emphasis has been
replaced by an emphasis on psychology. The ministry of the Holy Spirit has been
disregarded. Self-esteem, self-worth, and a man-centered orientation have led
many into a greater confidence in their own ability than they should have--a
greater confidence in themselves than in the Holy Spirit.
B. Scripture: The Final Authority for Problem Solving
1. The Psalms--David wrestled with every imaginable problem in life. He had
happy and sad times. He wrote of experiences in his life where the pain was so
deep he could hardly bear to live--as when his son Absalom tried to kill him. He
suffered from horrible guilt because of immorality and murder. He wrestled with
understanding his heart and the nature of God. Of God he said, "Holy and awesome
is His name" (Psa. 111:9), while of himself he said, "Wash me thoroughly from my
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psa. 51:2). He told God what he felt and
cried out for relief--though he admitted God had the right to punish him.
Sometimes at the end of one of David's psalms you see the window of hope, and
sometimes you don't. But David went to God because he understood the sovereignty
of God and his own depravity.
2. Jeremiah 17:9-10--"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is
desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test
the mind." In verse 10 we see "heart" and "mind" used interchangeably, which
means our capacity to think, ability to analyze, and competence for evaluation
are all producers of deceit. Problem-solving by self-examination results in
deceitful answers. The sin that is in us is biased in our favor against God, and
lies to us about what we are really like. It exalts us in our own eyes, and
absolves us of responsibility for sin. The answer to Jeremiah's rhetorical
question, "Who can understand it?" is in verse 10: "I, the Lord."
3. 1 Corinthians 4:4--Paul said, "I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet
I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord." Paul
couldn't find anything against himself, but he knew he couldn't rely on that.
4. Proverbs 16:2--"All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the
Lord weighs the motives."
5. Proverbs 14:12--"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is
the way of death." When we reach down inside ourselves to get answers, we get
lies. That's why we have to depend upon the Holy Spirit and not ourselves.
* Who Are We Kidding?
What happens when we substitute therapists for the Holy Spirit? We may reason
that if we shouldn't trust ourselves, perhaps we can trust other men. But if we
can't get the truth out of our own hearts, how will someone else who also has a
deceitful heart be able to help? We can fool a therapist all day long while we
fool ourselves. While we sit trying to discover what's inside of us, our hearts
tell us lies. Can we expect a therapist to figure out the lies he is being told,
and then tell us what we ought to do with our deceitful hearts? Who are we
kidding?
6. Psalm 7:9--"Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the
righteous; for the righteous, God tries the hearts and minds." Only God can
test, evaluate, and know the truth of a man's heart.
7. Psalm 26:2--"Examine me, O Lord, and try me; test my mind and my heart."
David didn't want a human counselor. He turned to God and wrestled in prayer. He
was repentant, broken, and contrite.
8. Psalm 139:1-7--"O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know
when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar.
Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted
with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou
dost know it all. Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, and laid Thy hand
upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain
to it. Where can I go from Thy Spirit?" God doesn't get any skewed signals--He
knows everything about you. If you want to get in touch with the real you, get
in touch with the Spirit.
9. Psalm 32:6-8--"Let everyone who is godly pray to Thee in a time when Thou
mayest be found; surely in a fl ood of great waters they shall not reach him.
Thou art my hiding place; Thou dost preserve me from trouble; Thou dost surround
me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which
you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." Before trouble the
godly pray to God, and in the midst of trouble they turn to Him. They are
assured deliverance, instruction, and counsel from God. If you want
accountability, only God will do it absolutely. If you want counsel, only God
will give you advice you can fully trust.
10. 1 Corinthians 2:12--"We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by
God." The Holy Spirit is the source of our supernatural resources. When we want
to know the truth about ourselves and the solutions to our problems, we need to
go to the Holy Spirit.
11. Job 12:13--"With Him [God] are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and
understanding." We substitute human counsel for God's truth because we believe
we can solve our problems by our own cleverness, ingenuity, and systems. But
that is to substitute our own abilities for the power of the Spirit.
12. Job 12:17-20--"He [God] makes counselors walk barefoot"--He strips
them--"and makes fools of judges. He loosens the bond of kings, and binds their
loins with a girdle. He makes priests walk barefoot, and overthrows the secure
ones. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of
the elders." The wisdom of God is so far beyond man's that the greatest
counselors are stripped naked before God's glory.
13. Job 12:24-25--"He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth's people,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste. They grope in darkness with no light,
and He makes them stagger like a drunken man."
Conclusion
Our counselor must be God. The great tragedy of the church today is that it
is filled with sin and weakness--a situation that will continue to get worse
until we realize that spiritual warfare is fought with spiritual weapons.
Techniques, theories, and therapies will never restrain the flesh because they
appeal to the flesh. Solutions to personal, family, and church problems are
found in God's counsel ministered through the Spirit of God. We must turn to the
Spirit of God and learn to walk in the Spirit and know the power of the Spirit.
We must reject man-centered, humanistic, psychological solutions to problems.
Built into such solutions are false impressions of man's ability, which create
the illusion of sanctification by intellectual achievement. The Galatians tried
to perfect in the flesh what began in the Spirit, but it was a false solution
then and it is a false solution now.
Focusing on the Facts
1. According to Paul, how is sanctification accomplished in the life of a
believer?
2. What led Paul to ask if the Galatian church had been "bewitched"?
3. What does it mean that the Holy Spirit is to the Christian what God as
Creator is to the creation (Gal. 3:1)?
4. What monumental threat faces the evangelical church today?
5. What movement has led to the practical elimination of the Scriptural emphasis
on the internal sanctifying work of the Spirit? How did that happen?
6. Instead of reliance on the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, what
philosophy of problem-solving has infiltrated the church today)?
7. What did Thomas Paine do in his The Age of Reason?
8. What happens to the prayer life of a self-reliant Christian?
9. How does church growth occur according to the New Testament?
10. What two theological errors does the pragmatic approach fall into? Explain
each.
11. Psychological sanctification promotes self-esteem, self-worth, and
man-centeredness. What happens to our reliance on the Holy Spirit when we accept
such systems of thought?
12. Where are the answers to man's problems to be found? Support your answer
with Scripture.
Pondering the Principles
1. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones summed up the plight of man in this way: "Man believes
in his own mind and his own understanding, and the greatest insult that can ever
be offered to him is to tell him, as Christ tells him, that he must become as a
little child and be born again" (The Plight of Man and the Power of God [Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1982], p. 23). Paul asked the "foolish" Galatians if
they thought they could perfect in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit
(Galatians 3:3)? If man's plight is so bad prior to conversion, what effect will
self-reliant strategies for spiritual growth have on those who profess
conversion? What or whom do you rely on as your guide for spiritual growth?
2. In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, the character "Shameful" says that
it is "a pitiful, low, shameful business for a person to surrender his will and
life to become a servant of [Christ]; that a tender conscience was an unmanly
weakness; and that for a person to watch over his own words, attitude, and
conduct, tying himself down to rules that destroyed his liberty ... would make
him the ridicule and laughingstock of present-day society" (Pilgrim's Progress
in Today's English, James H. Thomas, ed. [Chicago: Moody, 1964], pp. 73-74).
Many in the church today agree with Shameful, and promote the idea that the
fundamental problem with mankind is lack of self-esteem. However Jesus said,
"The greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall
be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted" (Matt. 23:11-12).
Where is your sense of worth centered--in yourself or in Christ? What effect
does your answer have on a true sense of self-worth?
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Bible Study Guide Collection" by:
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