The Body Of Christ Does Not Seek The Holy Spirit

We Seek Christ, And The Spirit Testifies Of Christ

1. The Saving Order In This Dispensation

God saves today by the gospel of Christ, not by an experience we must seek. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day. Read First Corinthians 15 verses 3 through 4. God set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Read Romans 3 verses 24 through 26. When a sinner believes this gospel, the Holy Ghost acts immediately.

• He seals the believer at the moment of faith. Read Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14.

• He indwells permanently. Read Romans 8 verse 9 and First Corinthians 6 verse 19.

• He baptizes every believer into one Body. Read First Corinthians 12 verse 13.

• He bears witness that we are sons. Read Galatians 4 verse 6.

Scripture never tells the Body of Christ to seek or tarry for the Spirit. Scripture tells us to believe the gospel, and then it declares that all who believe are sealed and indwelt at once.

2. The Spirit’s Assigned Work Is To Point Us To Christ

The Lord described the Spirit’s ministry with perfect clarity. He shall testify of me and he shall glorify me. Read John 15 verse 26 and John 16 verse 14. The Spirit does not draw attention to Himself. He magnifies the Son, He illuminates the written words about the Son, and He strengthens faith in the Son’s finished work.

3. Commands To The Body Today

The Body is never commanded to seek the Spirit as a second blessing. We are commanded to walk in the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit, to quench not the Spirit, and to grieve not the Holy Spirit.

• Walk in the Spirit. Read Galatians 5 verses 16 through 25.

• Be filled with the Spirit. Read Ephesians 5 verse 18.

• Quench not the Spirit. Read First Thessalonians 5 verse 19.

• Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Read Ephesians 4 verse 30.

Paul shows how the filling operates by a direct parallel. Be filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5 verses 18 through 20 matches let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in Colossians 3 verse 16. To be filled is to let the Scripture saturate the heart and mind, which produces understanding, thanksgiving, psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, and obedience. No tarrying service is required, only faith and the word working in the inner man.

4. Who We Are Told To Seek

The command is to seek Christ and to set our affection on things above. Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, set your affection on things above. Read Colossians 3 verses 1 through 2. Paul adds, that I may know him. Read Philippians 3 verse 10. The Spirit’s work is to turn our eyes to Christ, so our seeking is Christward.

5. Why Tarrying And Second Blessing Language Belongs To Another Program

Before the cross and before Pentecost the Lord told His disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. Read Luke 24 verse 49 and Acts 1 verse 4. That instruction concerned Israel’s kingdom program and the promised power that would begin at Jerusalem. After the dispensation of grace is revealed and the Body of Christ is being formed, the pattern is different. We receive the Spirit when we believe. Read Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14 and Galatians 3 verse 2. Tongues and many signs operated as signs to Israel and as apostolic signs to confirm the word. Read First Corinthians 1 verse 22, First Corinthians 14 verses 21 through 22 with Isaiah 28 verse 11, Second Corinthians 12 verse 12, and Hebrews 2 verses 3 through 4. The Body walks by faith, not by sight. Read Second Corinthians 5 verse 7.

6. Answering Common Misuses

What about Luke 11 verse 13, ask the Father to give the Holy Spirit. The Lord spoke this to His disciples before the cross and before Pentecost within Israel’s program. By contrast Paul asks, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. The answer is hearing of faith. Read Galatians 3 verse 2. In this dispensation, believers do not ask for the Spirit in order to receive Him. Believers receive the Spirit the moment they believe the gospel.

What about Acts 2 or Acts 8 or Acts 19. Those chapters record transitional events in God’s dealings as the witness went from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and outward. They do not establish a permanent rule for the Body. The doctrinal pattern for us is set in Paul’s epistles. Believe the gospel, be sealed at once, be baptized by the Spirit into one Body at once. Read Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14 and First Corinthians 12 verse 13.

What about being filled with the Spirit. Being filled is not getting more of the Spirit. Every believer already has the Spirit. Being filled is the word of Christ dwelling richly so that the Spirit controls our thinking and conduct. Compare Ephesians 5 verse 18 with Colossians 3 verse 16. The evidence is fruit and edification, not spectacle. Read Galatians 5 verses 22 through 23 and First Corinthians 14 verse 12 and verse 19.

7. What Spirit Filled Life Looks Like

• Confidence in the blood of Christ and His resurrection, which produces peace with God. Read Romans 5 verse 1 and Romans 3 verses 24 through 26.

• The fruit of the Spirit in daily character. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Read Galatians 5 verses 22 through 23.

• Mind renewed by Scripture. Read Romans 12 verses 1 through 2 and Colossians 3 verse 16.

• Charity that edifies the saints. Read First Corinthians 8 verse 1 and First Corinthians 14 verse 12.

• Prayer with understanding and thanksgiving. Read Philippians 4 verses 6 through 7 and First Timothy 2 verses 1 through 2.

• Bold yet gracious witness of Christ, not of ourselves. Read Second Corinthians 4 verse 5 and Colossians 4 verse 6.

8. Summary You Can Share

In this dispensation the Body of Christ does not seek the Holy Spirit as a post salvation experience. We believe the gospel that Christ shed His blood for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day. At that moment the Spirit seals, indwells, and baptizes us into one Body. The Spirit’s ministry is to testify of Christ and to glorify Christ, so Scripture directs us to seek Christ, to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and to walk in the Spirit. Breakthrough meetings and second blessings come from mixing Israel’s sign program with the mystery given to Paul. Our sufficiency is already complete in Christ, and the Spirit makes that completeness practical as we believe the written words of God.

Gospel Clarifier For Today

God saves by grace through faith without works. Believe that the Lord Jesus shed His blood for your sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day. Trust His finished work alone and God will save you, forgive you, seal you with the Holy Ghost, and seat you in heavenly places in Christ. Read First Corinthians 15 verses 3 through 4, Romans 3 verses 24 through 26, Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14, and Ephesians 2 verse 6.

Key passages to revisit

John 15 verse 26, John 16 verse 14, Romans 3 verses 24 through 26, Romans 5 verse 1, Romans 8 verse 9, First Corinthians 6 verse 19, First Corinthians 12 verse 13, First Corinthians 14 verse 12 and verses 21 through 22, Second Corinthians 5 verse 7, Galatians 3 verse 2 and Galatians 4 verse 6, Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14, Ephesians 4 verse 30, Ephesians 5 verses 18 through 20, Philippians 3 verse 10, Colossians 2 verse 10, Colossians 3 verses 1 through 2 and verse 16, First Thessalonians 5 verses 19 through 23, Hebrews 2 verses 3 through 4.