Lesson
10 May 5, 2002
There is an ongoing controversy concerning
the Holy Spirit's active ministry in
the life of the believer.
Introductory observations:
What about the current emphasis on the
filling of the Spirit?
Introduction: Background
Dr. Chafer centered his
Christian life teaching upon what he termed "spirituality." [many
definitions today]
For this filling of the
Spirit and the resultant instant spirituality, Dr. Chafer laid down three
conditions:
- (1) repentance and confession of all known sin (1 John 1:9);
- (2) yielding and dedication of all to God (Rom. 6:13);
- (3) reliance upon, and walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16).
Couple of problems.
- The first problem with this is that it deals
with symptoms (sin) and neglects to take into account the source, sin nature.
-
It fails to lead the believer to consider as true, to count on the reality of our identification with
Christ in His death [Rom.6] as God's remedy/provision for the root cause of
sins committed, the sin nature.
- There's also another problem, that of who is the center of focus?
The teaching of Ephesians
5:18 as a source of Spirituality
Dr. Bright for the most part
has taken over Dr. Chafer's teaching on "spirituality" and condensed
it by outlining three conditions for the filling of the Spirit.
You can appropriate the
filling of the Holy Spirit right now if you;
A. Sincerely
desire to be controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 5:6; John 7:37-39;
B.
Confess your sins.
By faith thank God that He
has forgiven all of your sins--past,
present, and future--because Christ died for you (Col. 2:13-15; 1 John 1; 2:1-3; Heb. 10:1-17).
C.
By faith claim the fullness of the Holy Spirit, according to:
1. HIS COMMAND--Be filled with the Spirit.
"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be
filled with the Spirit"
(Eph. 5:18).
2. HIS PROMISE -- He will always answer when we pray according to His will... (1 John 5:14,15).