The picture to the left is an artist's depiction of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a true prophet of the Lord. On last time we ended our conversation talking about the fact that salvation is a work of the Spirit of God. We briefly looked at Ephesians 1:13-14. Let's pick up where we left off.
After an individual places his trust in Christ subsequent to hearing the gospel message, belief in Christ is birthed, immediately following that sequence of events, that person is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. (I am itching to deal with the promise of the Holy Spirit and the significance of its sealing, but it will take me somewhere I don't want to go, I digress...argh!)
This begs the question, when does an individual receive the Holy Spirit? Because if I don't have it then I am not able to claim that he will lead and guide me into all truth. I will be just as susceptible to error as I am to truth and I will ultimately be left up to my own will to choose what is right. If that is the case then inevitably I will choose a path that is contrary to the will of God because I cannot do anything in my flesh (of my own effort) that will please God. In fact without the Holy Spirit, I can't even claim Jesus as Savior. See here and here.
Clearly, we see that this doctrine is fundamentally implausible and subjects one to eventual legalism. We could go further, but we won't. Our subject is how to identify false teachers and prophets and the focus of this discourse of preface was to ensure you that you DO have the Holy Spirit if you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus, now it's time to learn how to employ his function as Helper.
Jesus stated in Matthew 12:33 that we will know the tree by the fruit that it bears. In short, what people do and say reveals who they really are. At one point or another a person's REAL character will show up. How many relationships were we in and found that out? I always said before I got married that my wife not only had to be a good thing, but she had to bring me favor! If she brought hell, she wasn't the one! With that in mind we want to look at the the characteristics of a false teacher/prophet. It is in his characteristics that we will be able to discern if he is of the Lord. Stay tuned for part 3.
2 comments:
This is a great post. I'm particularly interested in the question raised...When does an individual receive the Holy Spirit? As young as I was, I was completely aware of the steps I was making toward giving the preacher my hand when the doors of the church were opened and what it meant. Because of fear there was a struggle within my spirit. Who was the author and divine entity of my six year old mentality prior to turning my life over to God? What was the initiating force that prompted my decision?
Be blessed
Sounds like you are chewing on a big piece of meat. I admire your courage to tackle such a pertinent subject. I will be sure to follow along to see where we end up. All I know is that if we keep God's Word central, we will not go wrong.
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