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Chadron SDA Church

Eric Walsh

3 The Holy Spirit’s Final Work

So our talk this afternoon, scripture reading comes from Isaiah 59.

So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

Our message for this afternoon is entitled, The Holy Spirit's Final Work.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

We thank you Lord for your truth and for your love.

We ask now Lord that your Holy Spirit will lead us into truth.

Remove the distractions Lord, bind Satan.

Allow us Lord to hear you speak to us Lord.

Then was brought unto him 1 possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

The demon and the man at the same time is blind, unable to communicate.

Jesus heals him, and the man begins to see and speak.

Verse 23 says, and all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David?

So the people see this miracle and the people say, this has to be the son of David.

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devil.

You can see and hear the jealousy in the tone of how they speak and they see that this man who was bound for so long and remember the Pharisees and Sadducees probably walked past this guy 1000000 times probably looked down upon him said he was a sinner never deserved to do good like they did with the quadriplegic a gentleman later on.

And when Jesus heals them, they accuse Jesus of healing using the devil.

You know, It's interesting because we were talking about fake healers at church on Wednesday night and A guy some of you remember may remember a guy.

I'm telling you and fill auditoriums all across this country.

And of course, it turns out it was all just, seems like it was all really just fake.

And really, he was a shaman if you watch him carefully, meaning he almost practiced like a form of witchcraft or whatever.

People want this power to heal, but in order to have it, you know, you really would have to be submitted to God.

The Pharisees were not submitted, and so when they saw Jesus doing these works, they were upset because they might lose their control and influence over the people.

If you didn't know that Jesus was divine, here's the proof.

So Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand if Satan casts out Satan he is divided against himself how then then his king out and does his kingdom stands and he says listen there's no possible way that I'm doing what I'm doing by the power of the devil, because if so, the devil's kingdom would fall apart.

He says, and if Beelzebub cast out devils by whom do your children cast them out?

He said, if Beelzebub is what I'm using, then who are you using?

Then Jesus says, but if I cast out devils, here it is, by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

This gives you a window into spiritual warfare.

Jesus actually says here, He casts out devils by the Spirit of God.

So here's the thing, we are all in spiritual warfare.

Some of us feel it because the deeper into God you get, the more like Christ you seek to become, the more the devil gets angry, the more he turns his weapons against you, the more fiery darts he throws, and you feel it like I felt it in my life.

Other people say, well, you know, nothing ever happens to me.

Well, if the devil's not mad at you, you're doing something wrong.

But when Jesus needed to deal with the devil, he says here, the Holy Spirit is what would cast the devil out.

If you want to win spiritual warfare, you've got to understand the final work of the Holy Spirit.

If not, there's no transformation of character, there's no seal of God, as we're going to talk about all these things, there's no way to fight the devil, you're going to be walloped.

To misunderstand the work of the Holy Spirit is very dangerous.

They try to make the Holy Spirit impotent.

They deny the personhood and the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

Make the Holy Spirit something people control rather than the Holy Spirit controlling people.

I talked a little bit about that earlier.

This is 1 of the things I really am concerned about even today in some of our churches.

He said the greatest threat to the black church, black Adventist church, is neo-Pentecostalism.

It means you move to, and it's not just the black church.

My wife is Latina, and we sometimes go to Spanish churches and Portuguese-speaking churches, and you're starting to see the same move where it's more like neo-Pentecostalism.

The church service is more about how you feel than actually having an experience with God that moves you to a place of conviction and the desire to give up things and become more like God.

To have the Holy Spirit transform your character.

So a lot of people go to church every week and I hear people say, I went to church to get my praise on.

Just like back when I was in college, we would say, I'm going to get my club on, they're going to a nightclub.

Church is not supposed to be an emotional exercise.

It is a coming together so that we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we grow in Christ.

I read this 1 earlier today, Evangelism 617, The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness of our spirits, and with our spirits that we are the children of God.

He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God.

For what man knows the things of man save the spirit of man, which is in him, even so the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God." Manuscript 20, 1906.

And so here Ellen White is speaking to understanding that the Holy Spirit is a person.

She's speaking to the fact the Holy Spirit is divine and what people say now is well the Ellen White estate messed that up.

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3 The Holy Spirit’s Final Work

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