PART 4 CHURCH TEACHINGS

What Does It Mean to Be under the Spirit’s Rule?

PART 4 CHURCH TEACHINGS

CHAPTER 4

To Learn What It Means to Be under the Spirit’s Rule

This is when our spiritual walk with God begins to get very exciting. At salvation, we have become new creatures in Christ. We are changed forever. We are excited that the God of the universe has not only taken notice of us, but resides within us. We are so thankful to embark on a new journey. But all of a sudden, we might think in our own personal way, where do I go from here? We pray to God, help me. I need guidance as to this new walk. Where do I begin?

I would suggest getting grounded in the Foundational Doctrines of the faith. Through God’s guidance we will find a church where these teachings are brought forth. As such, we will learn incredible truths about the trinity, the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy Spirit, the deity of God the Father, the gospel, salvation, the atonement, redemption, the blood, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of Christ, there is only one way to get to heaven, and eternal security. And we will come to realize that it is upon the persons of the Godhead, their particular roles in the plan, and our unmeritorious response to the gospel that our faith stands secure.

As we continue to attend to the assembly of the saints, we recognize other Biblical topics being brought forth from the teachings of leadership, which we will call Intellectual Doctrines.

I have already mentioned some of these, but let’s add a few more just so you are aware that there is so much to learn about our faith which is up to us to listen for when we attend to the teachings of leadership such as: The doctrine of Bitterness; Baptisms; The doctrine of Creation; The doctrine of Divine Discipline; The doctrine of Divorce; The doctrine of Divine Attributes, The doctrine of Compassion; The doctrine of Authority; The doctrine an Ambassador; The doctrine of Abortion; The doctrine ofAngelic Observation; The doctrine of Foreknowledge; The doctrine of Election; The doctrine of Predestination; The doctrine of Faith Rest; The doctrine of Grace; The doctrine of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit; The doctrine of the Human Spirit; The doctrine of Inspiration; The doctrine of Lukewarmness; The doctrine of a Mediator; The doctrine of the Rapture; The doctrine of Prayer; The doctrine of Rebound; The doctrine of the Old Sin Nature; The doctrine of Sanctification; The doctrine of the Devil; The doctrine of the Unlimited Atonement; The doctrine of the Soul; The doctrine of Tongues; The doctrine of Witnessing; The doctrine of Baptisms; The doctrine of Blessings; The doctrine of the Crowns; The doctrine of Demonism; The doctrine of Evil; The doctrine of Giving; The doctrine of Idolatry; The doctrine of Positional Truth; The doctrine of Patience; The doctrine of Reversionism, The doctrine of the Virgin Birth; The doctrine of Undeserved Suffering and much more. You might be thinking, isn’t this a bit of overkill. Maybe. The point I’m trying to make is when you go to church you should be learning, learning, and learning. Are you?

If we have found that the teachings from leadership present the Foundational and Intellectual truths of the faith, then hopefully there will be further teachings on another group of doctrines which I have decided to call the Spiritual Growth Doctrines. These involve confession of sin and recovery from sin. If this third category of doctrine is also being presented, then you have just hit as they would say in goldmining, the motherload.

You are now in a place where a huge gold vein is ready for your appropriation. What the name of this spiritual gold vein is and what it provides you with is ready to be revealed. However, before this is disclosed to you, I would like to remind you that there was another person in the New Testament, a very well-known person, who was having difficulty with the Spiritual Growth Doctrines. And like us, it took an awareness of what the problem was and what the divine remedy is in order to address it. Let’s take a closer look at this. Please go to the book of Romans.

When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died

Suggested Reading: Romans 7:1-8:3

Romans 7:7-9 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Before his conversion to Christ, Paul was a Pharisee. This was the strictest sect in Judaism. He adhered to the duties of keeping the Mosaic Law and the interpretive traditions of the scribes without fault (blameless). The moral aspects of the Law (e.g. thou shalt not covet; thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not kill, etc.) expressed to him what he should and shouldn’t do. In that sense, the Law was good in that it expressed what sin is. However, when he became born anew in Christ, he was having a very difficult time in his walk with God. You might ask, I don’t understand what you are saying, please explain.

Romans 7:23-24 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

We know that the Ten Commandments expressed to the Jews what they should and shouldn’t do. Don’t steal, don’t covet or desire what someone else has, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, etc. If these commandments were kept, then God would be pleased with them. But I believe what was happening with the apostle Paul was that if in his mind he thought in a covetous way, he simply thought that not actually committing the action of coveting would take care of the issue. But, it didn’t. In other words, the Law didn’t address the root cause of sin, i.e., the sin nature and the thoughts generated from it.

Romans 7:5-6 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

What he began to realize was that this new walk with God was no longer relegated to being obedient to not breaking any of the Ten Commandments, which was the protocol under the Old Testament. This new walk involved addressing the thoughts of the sin nature so that he could serve God in what he termed in newness of spirit. What these words mean is to serve God in the power of the Holy Spirit, under a new energy and control.²⁷

Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

So, he cried out in despair and asked this question about needing help. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This was the condition of a mind in deep distress, and conscious of its own weakness, and looking for aid.²⁸

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

God gave him the answer to his prayer by means of revelation from the Holy Spirit. It was by operating in the law of the Spirit of life that would set him free from the law of sin and death. The words law of the Spirit means the rule of the Spirit. It was by the rule of the Spirit that him and each and every Christian would be set free from the persistent control of the sin nature.

There you have it. The name of this spiritual gold vein is the law of the Spirit or the rule of the Spirit. There is another name for this spiritual gold vein that we will find out about in the next section of Scripture. Please go to the book of Ephesians.

Be filled with the Spirit

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit

     The apostle Paul is conveying to the believers at Ephesus to stop engaging in that which will not benefit them, i.e., being drunk with wine, but rather be filled with Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? The word filled refers to the believer being under the Spirit’s control. So, there it is, the other name for this spiritual gold vein is the filling of the Spirit.

It suggests the idea that this condition occurs because the believer has submitted themselves to Him. As we said earlier, a believer is submitted to Him by confession of sin and recovery (renewal of the mind). When we are yielded to Him, He is said to control us in our mind, emotions, and will.²⁹

When this Spiritual reality takes place in the life of any believer, the Spirit will be furnishing or supplying us with Himself and because of such He will guide us in His own unique ways. This begs the question.

In what ways does the Holy Spirit interact with us?

What this is really all about is what is called the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is God being personally involved with us in our walk with Him. This is about one of the persons of the trinity being unveiled to us while we live in this natural world. This is a spiritual connection that takes place in our life for personal edification. This is a spiritual communion that takes place in our life that evidences to others God’s redemptive concern for them.

Are you ready to take a look at the specifics of the ministry of the Holy Spirit that He wants to take place in your life? Are you ready to read about this exciting news? Let’s go forward.