Tag: spirit

November 1, 2023 Pastor Jason Gilbert | Menomonie

Many of us know what it is like to feel convicted, especially after sinning. Even non-Christians experience some level of conviction in their conscience because of sin (John 16:8, Rom 2:15). Though we may try to drown our guilt by taking substances and medications; or distract our troubled minds with hobbies and activities; or absolve our sins through self-improvement and religious penance; the Spirit of God has very different goals in mind when it comes to the convicted sinner.

I find it ironic, in our modern age of medicine and self-help, that a Puritan writer from 1662 could offer such insight into this issue today. Yet William Gurnall in The Christian in Complete Armour outlines four timeless goals that the Spirit of God has for the convicted sinner.

The Evil of All Sin…

First, a convicted sinner is convicted not of one particular sin only, but of the evil of all sin. It is a bad sign when a person passionately condemns one sin but ignores another (James 2:10) … The Spirit of God is uniform in His work.1

The State of Sin…

Secondly, the convicted sinner is convicted of the state of sin as well as of acts of sin. He is affected not only by what he has done – this law broken and that mercy abused – but also by his present condition… (Acts 8:23). While many people are willing to confess they have sinned, they would not think of admitting they live in a state of sin and death. The convicted soul, however, freely accepts this sentence of death and owns up to his condition…1

A Condemned Prisoner…

Thirdly, the convicted sinner not only condemns himself for what he has done and for what he is, but he realizes he cannot do anything to save himself. Although many condemned people will go so far as to confess their sin and wickedness, they hope to cut the rope from their neck at the last minute by repentance and good works. They want to redeem their credit with God and recover His favor. This attitude surfaces because the plow of conviction has not gone deep enough to tear up those secret roots of self-confidence which entangle the heart of every sinner.

The sinner who is thoroughly convicted by the Spirit, however, sees himself like a condemned prisoner held by so many irons that escape is impossible… If you cling to the self-confidence of repentance and reformation, they will betray you into the hands of God’s justice and wrath. But if you have turned away from this religious self-confidence, you have escaped one of the finest snares that the wit of hell can weave.1

The Full Provision…

Fourthly, not only is the convicted sinner so convicted that he knows he is helpless, but he welcomes the full provision laid up in Christ for him… Without it the soul convicted of sin is more likely to go to the gallows with Judas, or fall on the sword of the law, than to run to Christ.1

And what is the full provision… laid up in Christ… for the convicted sinner?

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” – Romans 3:23-24

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:8-9

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – 2 Corinthians 5:22

References:

  1. William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, Volume 3, 1662.
June 1, 2021 Pastor Jason Gilbert | Menomonie

Imagine sitting down in a lawn chair in a beautiful backyard on a temperature-less afternoon. You have the best job in the world… doing what you love every day. You come home to a beautiful house and property that you wouldn’t trade with anyone. You are married to the spouse of your dreams. You are healthy and have money in the bank. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the squirrels are playing, and the rabbits are resting in the cool of the pines. You lack nothing. You have everything you could ever want… and much, much more…

Yet there I was… miserable. Not because of any external circumstance. Not because of any known sin I needed to repent of. I was just sitting there… sad and frustrated. I didn’t know why or at what. It didn’t make any sense. And then it did…

The Problem

The bible says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). Often we think the cause of our problems is outside of ourselves. If we could only have that job, or own this property, or be married to that person, or be this healthy, or have that much money, or go to this kind of church… then our problems would… well… be negligible…

Yet Solomon availed himself of all these and more (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). He was King, built a magnificent palace, married anyone he wanted, was healthy and wise, was the world’s wealthiest, and was the chosen head of God’s people, with their full support. He writes, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure” (Ecclesiastes 2:10). Yet in the next verse concluded, “Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

Do we know this Christian? Will we concede that no career, no person, no church, no external circumstance can fix what is wrong with us? Can we just admit it? “The problem is me… I’m the problem!”

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9

The Solution

If the problem is me… how do we solve it? Just because we can say, “I know… I need to change…” doesn’t help matters. We don’t have the ability to change. Paul said, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:19). We can’t change ourselves. It’s impossible! That’s the point. Romans 7 ends with “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?“

Thankfully, Paul continues on in the next verses to give us the solution. He tells us the answer to our problems is “through Jesus Christ” (Romans 7:25) in the form of the “Spirit of life” (Romans 8:2). Through Jesus Christ’s death, we can now have His Spirit, His vitality, His mental disposition, His power, His life… We don’t have to be us. We can be Him, completely changed from the inside out.

But even as Christians, we are never free from the conflict between our flesh, and His Spirit. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other” (Galatians 5:17). The Holy Spirit is not pushy. We must continually choose to go His way, to be led by Him, to live according to His will. We can experience his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. But these results will only come by killing our flesh… with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:16-25). They cannot both survive…

“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Galatians 6:8

We must surrender all…

Imagine

Imagine sitting down in a wet camp chair. It’s cold. You are a long way from snuggling up in your warm home. You brought your tent and are committed to camping, though it has all the potential of being a miserable night. And your spouse isn’t too excited about the idea either. A lot of your friends have already bowed out of this adventure (and for good reason). Then you realize you forgot your pot for heating your coffee in the morning… And on top of that, all the food items you brought are cold serve (i.e. salads, nuts).

Yet there I was… perfectly content. Not because the weather was going to change. Nor because of any external circumstances. I was just sitting there… so thankful and so blessed. It really didn’t make any sense. And then it did…

November 1, 2019 Pastor Jason Gilbert | Menomonie

What do people see when they look at us? Scripture tells us that we are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, His poem (Ephesians 2:10). We are God’s letters of recommendation. But how do those around us actually see us? Would we be described as a masterpiece, an intriguing story, to be read and told to others? Or would we be depicted as a rough draft, as a ‘piece of work’, to be discarded in a recycle bin?

The first-century church in Corinth, like many of us, was sending mixed messages. The Apostle Paul reminded this church of:

  • The means God uses for communicating His message
  • The medium God uses for recording His message
  • The resulting effects of beholding His message

Paul’s instructions were left for us today, that we might be letters of recommendation to the world around us.

The means God uses for communicating His message

What means do we use to hear from God? Many of us hear from God through bible devotions, Christian books, journaling, memorizing scripture, and bible apps. We can distinctively hear from God through His word (Psalm 119:105, 2 Timothy 3:16). We find God’s word alone to be living and active (Hebrews 4:12).

But by what means does God use… to communicate to us? According to Paul, we are a letter… written not with ink, but with the Spirit of God… not of the letter, but of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:2-6). God communicates to us, not through the letter (i.e. grammar, words, scripture, books, epistles), but through the Spirit.

Is it possible we are mistaking the means for the end? Jesus warned the Pharisees of searching the scriptures, but failing to see who the scriptures pointed to (John 5:39-40). Elsewhere, Paul warns of those who are always learning, but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7). Is our end goal to know scripture? To be proficient with the gospel? To practice correct biblical doctrine? Or is our end goal to communicate with God? To have communion with God’s Spirit?

Paul says such is the confidence we have… not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The Spirit is who gives us confidence in our relationship with God (Romans 8:16, 1 John 4:13), not our knowledge, our understanding, our biblical doctrine. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). The Spirit is the means God uses to communicate His message.

The medium God uses for recording His message

What medium do we use for recording God’s message? Perhaps we use our bible margins, our journals, our memories, our phones, the cloud, etc. But what medium does God use… for recording His message?

Paul writes, “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ written not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). God writes his message on our hearts.

Why would God choose the human heart? No canvas is more contaminated, no backdrop more corrupt (Matthew 15:19). No environment is more fragile, with no storage more transient (Jeremiah 17:9). Yet God chooses to write his masterpiece in the most volatile of habitats, the human heart.

When the bible refers to the heart, it is referring to more than the organ. It is referring to the thoughts, feelings, middle, center; the entire mental and moral activity, including the emotions, reason, and will; the hidden springs of the personal life (Proverbs 4:23). God chooses to pen his poem on the medium of our hearts.

When hearing God’s message, where are we storing it? In our memory, in our thought life, in our journals, in the margins of our bible? Or do we allow God’s Spirit to inscribe his message into our hearts, our wants, our desires, our will? God wants more than our bodies, our obedience, our intellectual agreement. God wants the hidden springs of our personal life. Does our heart belong to God today? The heart is the medium God uses for recording His message.

The resulting effects of beholding His message

When we turn to the Lord, through the Spirit, in our hearts, the veil is removed and we experience freedom (2 Corinthians 3:16-17). We are freed from condemnation, guilt, shame, judgment, selfish desire, restlessness, and wantonness. We are feed to a new life provided by God, with patience and quietness of soul, being fully satisfied with the presence of God. Have we been liberated by this freedom today?

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). Beholding refers to a prolonged gaze, not a quick glance, as to something remarkable with wide-open eyes. Where are we looking today? Are we looking on our phones, at social media, to relationships, to our careers, for approval, for success? The old hymn says,

Turn your eyes upon Jesus... 
Look full in His wonderful face... 
And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim... 
In the light of His glory and grace...

Are we beholding His glory, today? If the light is not getting through, it is because you are not looking at Him long enough. You do the beholding. He does the transforming. There is no short-cut. This comes from the Lord, who is Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Letters of recommendation

What will people read when they look at us as Christians? Will they see someone whose communicating with God’s Spirit? Someone whose heart is filled with His divine presence? Someone whose face is beholding the glory of God? Will they see someone being transformed… to reflect the glory of His image?

We are God’s workmanship… His masterpiece… His poem…

May we be His letters of recommendation… to be known and read by all…