Faith working through Love

GC Maynard
01/29/2009

John the Baptist, so named, because he baptized Jews into repentance and they confessed their sins. Jesus had just begun to come on the scene. In fact, Jesus had John baptize Him, because He was a Jewish man, and the Son of God it was only right that He go through it as well, but most importantly to fulfill all righteousness. This all took place before His death, burial and resurrection. His work was not finished yet, as it was just about to begin.

After Jesus was crucified, buried and rose again, before He ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they be endued with power from on high. They (the 120 in the upper room) received the outpouring, or baptism, of the Holy Spirit. You can read about this in Acts 2. Then in Acts 10, Peter is told to go to Cornelius, a gentile. At that time the Holy Spirit was poured out on the gentiles. There are only two times in scripture that this happens. Why? The first time was to the Jew, then the Gentile. Paul went to the Jew first then to the gentile, when he began his ministry.

In Acts 19: 1-8 Paul had met up with some disciples on his way through the upper country to Ephesus. He asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. They responded by saying that they had never heard there was a Holy Spirit. When asked into whose baptism they had been baptized, they told him, “into John’s baptism.” Remember, John’s baptism was only confession of sin and repentance. Then Paul laid his hands on them and they received and began to speak in tongues and magnify God.

Back in 1985, when we came into a deeper relationship with our LORD, we too, had hands laid on us to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and have laid hands on many others to receive as well. However, now I see how much in error that is. OH, the Holy Spirit is not in error or receiving Him. What is in error is the fact that we do not need hands laid on us to receive anything.

What we do need is……… to become receptive as a little child and then to simply trust God.

FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE
Galatians 5:16

FAITH

God gives us a measure of faith. Romans 12:3 There is nothing we have to work for, He’s even gives us the faith we need….

TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power for salvation….Romans 1:16
Now I make known to you brethren, the gospel which I preached….which you received….which also you stand…by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. I Corinthians 15:1-4
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved (what an awesome promise from God) ; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says,” Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek (gentile); for the same LORD is LORD of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. Romans 10: 9-12ff
This is the only salvation gospel there is for all mankind today….Jew and Gentile alike have to walk through this door by faith, believing in the FINISHED WORK of Christ.
So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:17
That is, hearing the true utterance (life giving Spirit) of the Lord, not just someone talking.

There is only one way to receive this salvation and that is…..


By Grace through Jesus Christ

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8
He saved us not on basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior….being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3: 5-7

At the very moment we believe, we then become……

Sealed with the Holy Spirit…

who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. II Corinthians 1:22
In Him, you also after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians 1:13
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30

In this dispensation of Grace, we are not “baptized in the Holy Spirit”….but rather, we are “SEALED IN HIM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT”

Now that we have salvation and are sealed with the Holy Spirit we must……

Seek to know Him

For this reason….having heard of the faith…which exists among you…I do not cease…making mention of you in my prayers….that the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him…..that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 5:15-18
Or you could ask this way, “spirit of revealed wisdom in the knowledge of Him”
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 KJV
Therefore, beloved, …be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation….Paul according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters…some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction. You, therefore, beloved, be on your guard…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. II Peter 3: 14-18

When we ask for the spirit of revealed wisdom in the knowledge of Him, the answer is always YES. If we are diligent in our seeking to know our Lord, our spiritual eyes and ears will be opened. God is Spirit and spiritually is the only way we will come to know Him, not with our mind (soul). With all this we then come to the place where we…….

Grow into Maturity

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. I Corinthians 13: 9-12
He gave some as apostles…..for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the Body of Christ…..attain to the unity of faith…and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ….we are no longer children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine….Ephesians 4:11-14ff
Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Hebrews 6:1

Once we have grown into that maturity, the fullness of Christ, then we are able to…….

Walk by the Spirit

But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 There is no more “trying to clean yourself up” or “having to behave” or “trying to make yourself do the right things”, it then comes naturally.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14
Regardless of where, how, when and yes, even in the “hard to understand” things He wants you to do.
When we come into the maturity, and even as we are growing, we can truly see then that it’s not at all a “feel good” gospel. There are many hard times, but that’s why He gave us His Grace. We don’t always see how things are really supposed to be. We only know of what we’ve been told by others. That’s why we must grow and not stay as children that accept anything and everything that comes along. In the mature man is the true…..

Operation of the Spiritual Gifts

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit…..differences of administrations, but the same Lord…..diversities of operations, but it is the same God that works all in all. But, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to man to profit withal. I Corinthians 12:4-7 KJV
And He gave some to be apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelist; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the Body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things unto Him, who is head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in due measure of each several part, makes the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. Ephesians 4:11-17

The gifts of the Spirit are not given to us for our entertainment and fun, but rather so we can grow thereby into that mature man in Christ. If we are not walking by the Spirit, mature as we should be, we have only the power of the soul in operation. We walk by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7) not by “goose bumps” or any other feelings, not by seeing angel feathers or gold dust or any other such apparitions. That’s nothing more than the flesh, which is purely entertainment.
We are given the gift of Grace from God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The gifts, administrations and operations are in that one gift. As John Wesley said in one of his commentaries on I Corinthians 12,”There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit-Divers streams, but all from one fountain.”
All is done in…..

Love

If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. I Corinthians 13: 1-3ff

All scripture given is from the ASV and NASV unless otherwise noted.