For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet, Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christthis Jesus whom you crucified., Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?. Human government, however, continues during the period of tribulation in which the man of sin is revealed. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This could hardly be said of Satan. Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. It is important for you to be aware of the condition of the human spirit. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 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. 12. We could get a parrot to say "Jesus is the Lord" and he might say it over and over, but it would not be a sign that our parrot is speaking by the Holy . The doctrine is, therefore, important in its significance and necessary to a full appreciation of proper Gospel preaching. Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. God has called you to peace. Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. The trophies of the grace of God which some day will stand complete before God in glory will bear witness to the power of the Spirit in ettectively accomplishing the task given to Him by Christ. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. Paul refers to Satan as the "god of this world." Some have advanced another view which contends that Satan himself is restraining sin lest it manifest its true character. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. The Bible says that the human spirit is the very breath of Almighty God and was breathed into man at the beginning of God's creation: "Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" ( Genesis 2:7 ). By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? It is essential to intelligent faith, however, that the unsaved understand that through Christ it is possible for God to deal with them as those who are righteous. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD , and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. While these elements may not be always seen clearly, they form the principles which combine to bring the unsaved into the knowledge necessary to place saving faith in Christ. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. The cross is the power of God over Satan. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. D And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. For they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. The spirit of a man can endure his sickness,But as for a broken spirit who can bear it? The work of the Holy Spirit in restraining the world from sin is found in every age, except during the period of unprecedented sinfulness during the great tribulation, when it is Gods purpose to demonstrate for the first time what unrestrained sin is. What prevents me from being baptized? [And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.] And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. A person who does not have the Spirit does not accept the truths that come from the Spirit of God. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. The Scriptures bear constant witness to the inability of man. Needless to say, the subjects included in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the unsaved should constitute an important part of effective Gospel preaching. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, Look! While the ministry of the Holy Spirit is ever primarily directed toward the Christian, it is evident that He is working in the world as well, bringing to pass the will of the Father and the Son. It all sounds foolish to them and they cant understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. What Does the Bible Say About the Prince of Darkness? Matthew 18:11 Verse Concepts [For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. The convicting power of the Holy Spirit is at work in the world "because they believe not in [Christ]." Once a person responds to the Spirit's conviction and turns to faith in Christ, the other sins he practiced will be taken care of. The wicked generation of Noahs day was opposed in its mad course by the striving of the Spirit (Gen 6:3). The word rendered "corrupt" expresses not so much pollution as disintegration and decay, much as in 2Corinthians 4:16 ; and so carries out the idea implied in the epithet . So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. While in the providence of God, Satan is allowed great freedom and power in this age, his end is sure, and those who reject Christ will share his destiny. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. While the Lutheran church has fully supported the immanence and power of the Holy Spirit, they regard His work as being limited in some sense to the Word itself. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. In fact it can be said that the whole Bible is evangelistic, because it focuses on the salvation that Christ vicariously provided. Mary & Martha: We Need Both. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Religious instinct and fear of God are no doubt related to common grace, though they may not be connected definitely with the Scriptures. He cannot understand them because only people who have the Spirit of God can test them. S For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. The entire work of the Holy Spirit on behalf of the unsaved world is sometimes given the terminology common grace, including in its scope the restraining work of the Holy Spirit in addition to the work of revealing the Gospel. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. A third revelation is given the unsaved by the Holy Spirit concerning the relation of the cross to judgment and Satan. Am I not an apostle? The Godhead But test everything; hold fast what is good. While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. The work of the Holy Spirit in revealing the Gospel to the unsaved is peculiarly a ministry of enablement to understand the way of salvation. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:He was led as a sheep to slaughter;And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,So He does not open His mouth. The Bible, wherever it has gone, has produced its attendant effect not only on those who believed it but also indirectly has influenced the thought and action of the unsaved world. While the Word of God is not necessarily related to the general works of God in restraining sin, in providence, and in acts of sovereignty, the revelation of the truth of the Gospel comes only through the Word of God. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. The reasoning would remove any scruples which Jewish Christians might derive from Deuteronomy 7:3, etc. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that, God had sworn to him with an oath to seat, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that, He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did. Ecclesiastes 12:7 speaks of the time of death as the time when the "spirit shall return unto God who gave it." God gave the spirit and the spirit will return to God. The degeneracy of the period of the Judges had its Samson who was empowered by the Holy Spirit. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. The view of the mystics is based on speculation rather than Scripture or experience, and must therefore be dismissed. The Bible gives an illustration of the spirit of man. By the husband; rather, in the brother. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. Just as it is written, . Third, the unsaved must face the fact of judgment and find in Christ One who was judged and executed as their substitute. The unsaved need to know that sin was judged in the cross, and for those who trust in Christ there is deliverance from judgment upon sin and deliverance from condemnation. This revelation is inseparable from the Gospel. The work of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin as found in the Old Testament continues in the present age. Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. And Saul approved of his execution. So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. Because of it, sin was imputed to the race; men are spiritually dead apart from Christ; men possess a fallen nature which issues in manifestation; and, important to our present study, men are unable to comprehend the truth of God. The indwelling Holy Spirit opens to the yielded Christian the storehouses of truth in the Word of God. The work of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin is seen, therefore, to be an important work of God, essential to divine providence, and a part of the work of God for His own. This is what in theology is called common grace.3 The work of the Holy Spirit revealing the Gospel to the unsaved is, therefore, an important aspect of a larger program of God in dealing with the need of a lost world. While Isaiah 59:19 is not as clear a reference, it infers a similar ministry of the Holy Spirit. American King James Version ). But people who arent spiritual cant receive these truths from Gods Spirit. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The Holy Scriptures We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matt. Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. The person without the Spirit doesnt accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. Throughout the Old Testament, then, the power of the Holy Spirit guided human events into the path of divine providence. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. The Scriptures represent him as being cast into the earth and venting his fury during those tragic days (Rev 12:9). There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. For David says of Him,I saw the Lord always in my presence;For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. New American Standard Bible Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. Common grace is related almost entirely to revelation on the one subject of salvation with a view to providing an intelligent basis for faith. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Section 1. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. To answer the question, we can turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself., And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation!. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. (This is a desert road.). By the wife; literally, in the wife.The bond is still holy; its holiness rests in the believing wife or husband. C Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. J He does not grasp God's Word, he misunderstands and misconstrues it. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. comprehend very imperfectly the nature of this imputed righteousness. The Scriptures do not enlarge upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin. But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. An unspiritual person refuses to accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him such things are foolish. Lk 12:10 ). Abstain from every form of evil. He is unable to understand them because they can be discerned only in a spiritual way. The Holy Spirit presses upon the heart of the unsaved the fact of Gods judgment. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The church corporately has done much to influence the world, even though it has failed to measure up to Biblical standards itself. The Holy Spirit presses upon the heart of the unsaved the fact of God's judgment. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. The doctrine of the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation and in the spiritual life of the Christian will be treated in future articles.]. NCV A person who does not have the Spirit does not accept the truths that come from the Spirit of God. Apart from this work of the Holy Spirit, God would continue to be unrevealed to a lost race; the death of Christ would be inapplicable to men; and the purpose of God to save the elect would be impossible of fulfillment. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror and said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. John F. Walvoord, long-time president of Dallas Theological Seminary, was one of the most prominent evangelical scholars of his generation. So in the end, 1 Corinthians 2:14 is not about an unbeliever's inability to understand the things of God, but about the incapacity of reason and emotions to understand the things of God on their own. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. For the natural man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God. He thinks they are foolish. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Regeneration is accomplished only by the Holy Spirit, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul referred to his impending death as "departure". Peter said to them, Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Continued from the January-March Number, 1941), [Authors Note: In previous articles the Person of the Holy Spirit, His work in the Old Testament, and His relation to the Person and work of Christ have been considered. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 1 Blessed is the man. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. But while human governments may be agencies in the restraining work of the Spirit, we believe that they in turn are influenced by the Church. Paul perceived the matter and told him to quickly repent. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men. You have not lied to man but to God. When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. Man, as created by God, and living on earth in mortal flesh, is a triune being, composed of "spirit and soul and body" (1 Thess. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. N They have no ability to worship or serve God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin in the world is most important, however, though few direct references are found in Scripture. They will receive the greater condemnation.. 13. The love, joy, peace, and other fruit of the Spirit are never found in those who have merely experienced common grace. Attitudes While Waiting For Second Coming. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. The revelation of common grace can never rise higher than the plane of the natural man even in the realm of salvation truth. T If it be conceded that the Holy Spirit undertook to strive with men to restrain sin in the Old Testament, it is even more evident that a similar ministry will be found in the present age in which the Spirit is present in the Church.