Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: It is so important that we understand that if we are going to be committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ and we are going to be wanting God to do everything and anything that he desires to give to me in my life, that God desires that we would be clean vessels. Vessels that would bring glory and honor to his name.

Narrator: Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today, as we resume our examination of living a spirit-led life, Raul will challenge us to turn more of our daily decisions over to the Lord. You'll see that when you commit to obedience and submit to God's will, he can do mighty things in and through you by the power of his Holy Spirit. Today's study is titled Spiritual Gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Paul is writing, and he is writing to a bunch of people in Corinth, which the city was a very carnal city. They had a lot of idolatry going on. There was a lot of prostitution. There was a thousand prostitutes that would come down on the weekend and would seduce people to the temple of Aphrodite. And there was believers living in the church in the city of Corinth that really wanted to know God, but at the same time, they had the same problem that we have today: the problem with carnality, the problem with the flesh.

I thank God that I was able to be part of the Jesus people movement and to be able to see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit like I have never seen it before. Hundreds and thousands of people were being saved. People were being baptized by the Holy Spirit. People were willing to lay down the lives for Jesus Christ, wanting to forsake all and to follow Christ.

And at the same time, there were problems in the church, people that were unfaithful to the Lord. There were many people that were not only just coming for the experience, but many of them really didn’t believe that Jesus was going to come again. Once that happened, people began to really get into carnality and began to really forget about the coming of the Lord and the gifts that God had given to the church of Jesus Christ.

Now, there are those that are called dispensationalists, and usually they lie upon the Baptist, which do not believe that the gifts are for today. They literally believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit stopped or they ceased at the time after Pentecost. And that was the end of all of the gifts and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They believe that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, it's one time and it's for everything you need once and for all. They do not believe in the within and upon experience that the Bible talks about.

So if you were to ask me where do we lie, because you have the extreme Pentecostals and then you have those that are dispensationalists. The dispensationalists are over here, the Pentecostals are here, and I would say probably Calvary Chapel is right in the middle. And then there’s the Pentecostals that believe that the gifts are for today, and they believe everything and anything goes at any time. They're very emotional. They really don't believe in order.

And yet when you look at Calvary Chapel and you look at what God is teaching in his word, we believe that the gifts are for today, but we also believe that they have to be activated in order. There has to be order in the church. That is, we do not believe that people should speak in tongues during the service, which Pentecostals believe that it's okay.

I've been in Pentecostal churches where the pastor was teaching a sermon and he was really anointed by the Lord, and right in the middle of his point, all of a sudden somebody in the congregation stood up and began to give an utterance in tongues. And then the whole congregation began to pray and wait to see what was going to happen next. And then all of a sudden somebody else would stand up, and now they would give the interpretation to the tongue.

And at that time I was a very young convert, and I used to say, "Man, God is really speaking. God is really moving." Every time about 12:00 noon, the same person would get up and give the message, and then the interpretation would come forth. But then as I began to study the Word of God and I began to attend Calvary Chapel and be under Calvary Chapel and go through Pastor Chuck's tapes and go through the studies that he was giving, especially when he came to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, my confusion became very clear.

And I began to see that God is a God of order. God is a God of order. That is, he doesn't create confusion. First of all, what I found out is that when anybody would get up and give an utterance in tongue and then somebody else would get up and give the interpretation, it wasn't a true interpretation, especially when I read Paul, especially chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians. Because usually this would be the thing: somebody would speak in tongues, and then the next person would say, "My little children, thus saith the Lord God," and they would go into a prophecy instead of the true interpretation of tongues.

It is so important that we understand that if we are going to be committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ and we are going to be wanting God to do everything and anything that he desires to give to me in my life, that God desires that we would be clean vessels. Vessels that would bring glory and honor to his name.

This is why Paul the apostle in the book of Romans in chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, he says, "Therefore, my brethren, I beg you by the mercies of God that you would present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your minds, for this is the will of God."

Now, what I love about that verse is that Paul the apostle in the New Testament, he’s asking you not for an animal sacrifice or a dead sacrifice. He’s asking you that you would take your body and that you would consecrate it to God as a living sacrifice, one that God can use to bring glory and honor to himself.

Then Paul the apostle again in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, he says, "Know you not that you are the temple of the living God? And if any man defile the temple of God, God himself shall destroy that person." We become the temple of the living God. In the Old Testament, the tabernacle is where God dwelt and the people met God as the priest would come out and speak to the people.

But now in the New Testament, those of us that have been born again of the Holy Spirit and we have accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior by faith, the moment we put faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit now comes into my life and he makes himself at home.

That means that now my body, this temple, does not belong to me any longer to do as I please. But I bring my body into submission. That is, under the submission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is no longer my will, but it is now his will. And I say, "Lord, whatever you want to do within my life and however you want to fill my life, go for it because I’m open for you to do whatever you want because I’m at your disposal, O God."

That’s what God desires. Everything that God did in the early church, God wants to do it today. But I personally believe that as I study the Scriptures, one of the reasons that God can't really do a lot that he wants to do is because the Holy Spirit is being grieved because of sin in the church. Sin brings a hindrance to the work of the Holy Spirit. It grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Why? Because he's a person.

And so it's important that we understand that God desires to do whatever he wants to do, but he’s looking for vessels that are open to be filled with the Holy Spirit and with power. There is no possible way any one of us here can ever stop smoking, if you have a problem with smoking, or you have a problem with drinking, or you have a problem with sin. There’s no possible way you’re ever really going to take care of those carnal things unless you’re Spirit-filled, unless you have the power of the Holy Spirit over your life.

And unless, like Paul the apostle in the book of Romans, unless you come to that place in the sixth chapter of the book of Romans and you reckon the old man to be dead. That is, you don't yield your body and your mind and your heart and your life any longer to sin. Why? Because now sin is dead in my life. Sin no longer is reigning over my life. It used to, without question it used to. I didn't even think about it, I just did it.

But now that the Holy Spirit has come and the Holy Spirit has been given to us and he’s here to convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, because the prince of this world is going to be judged: Satan. Of righteousness, because by faith I have come to believe in Jesus Christ. And again, convicting of sin. Why? Because sin is the major issue that hinders the work of God.

As we begin to yield our bodies to God, as we begin to yield our minds to God and our hands and our feet and our eyes and our ears, God desires to cleanse us and to wash us and to use us to the fullness. God is not looking for perfect people, if you think about that, not perfect people but imperfect people. People that are willing to count the cost.

It’s so neat because when you look at the life of the disciples, they were not perfect people. They were imperfect. They made mistakes. They sinned, just like you and I. But I think that as we get closer to the coming of the Lord, if we don't have a revival even within our own lives, then what is going to happen to the church? As the church begins to lose its power, instead of gaining ground, we’re losing ground today.

God desires to fill. God desires to baptize. God desires to overflow your life with the Holy Spirit. And yet let me take you back in some of the settings here that you would understand what God is trying to do even within this fellowship here at Calvary Chapel. Our desire is to wait upon God. Our desire is that as we study God’s word and we worship the Lord in song and in music, as we listen to the music and we participate in worshipping the Lord in music, that God would begin to touch some of your hearts physically, emotionally, spiritually, and that as God begins to do a tremendous work that some of you would not only be baptized with the Holy Spirit, but you would be called to assist the Holy Spirit in the work that God intends to do in this world through your lives.

When you go back into the Old Testament, the first time that God made the promise of a revival is in the book of Joel chapter 2. He made the promise, the same promise that was fulfilled in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon all 120 people. Turn with me to the book of Acts, keep your finger here, turn to the book of Acts for a moment here. I’m going to point out to you all those scriptures so you can take notes if you want to.

In the book of Acts chapter 2 beginning with verse 1. In chapter 1, he’s giving you the introduction and he’s talking about how God wants to baptize you. And in chapter 1 in verse 4, he says, "And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said you have heard from me. For John truly baptized you with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Does that mean that the disciples were not Christians? No, it doesn't mean that. They were Christians already. In the book of John’s Gospel, the previous book, in chapter 20, verse 22, he says, "And when he had said this thing, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive you the Holy Spirit.'" At that particular moment they were born again of the Holy Spirit. The with experience and in came upon them.

And on the day of Pentecost, the promise was given to them to wait for the promise that was coming upon them. Why? Verse 8 of chapter 1 of Acts: "But you shall receive dunamis power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." There is the epi experience. "And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the whole earth or unto the end of the earth."

You notice that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for God to give you power to witness so you can tell people about Jesus Christ. It is power to overcome sin. It is power to walk in the Spirit. It is power to walk in fellowship with God in unity to the Spirit of God. That’s the promise that has been given to us.

Right before I read chapter 2 and verse 1 of Acts, turn real quickly to Joel chapter 2. Going backwards in the Old Testament: Hosea, and then the first book of the minor prophets Hosea and then it’s Joel. Beginning with verse 28. Here is the promise 2500 years before. He says, "And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. And also on my male servants and on your female servants, will I pour out my spirit in those days.

And I will show wonders in the heavens and the earth: blood and fire and pillar of smoke. And the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great terrible day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance as the Lord had said among the remnant whom the Lord calls."

So God makes the promise that there’s going to be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit not only on the day of Pentecost, but he says right before he comes again, he’s going to pour out his Holy Spirit upon all flesh. That’s what we have to start praying for.

Now turn to Acts chapter 2, verse 1, and let’s look at the promise fulfilled. Chapter 2, verse 1: "And now when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place." Notice that first of all, as they were in the upper room and Mary the mother of Jesus was with them, they were all sitting together. Notice there were no divisions, but they were all of one mind and one heart. I like that. There was unity among themselves.

And they were just kind of kicking back, waiting upon the Holy Spirit to come. And then it says, "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And then there appeared unto them divided tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them the utterance."

Make a note on this: the word utterance there literally means the ability. The Spirit gave them the ability to speak. It wasn't a message in tongues. The Spirit gave the ability to speak through the Holy Spirit. Now, so you can understand when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues.

And as 120 of them were speaking in tongues, at this particular time during the time of Pentecost or time of Passover before Pentecost ten days later, what happened? There were over two million people in Jerusalem during Passover time. And they were there from all over the world. So when they were in the upper room and they were actually praying, all of a sudden people that were downstairs begin to hear them speak in their own dialekta, in their own dialect.

And it wasn't a message in tongues, but check this out: what they were saying was the wonderful praises and works of God. They were worshipping like a psalm to the Lord. It wasn't "thus saith the Lord, my little children," it wasn't nothing like that. Watch what the Scripture says, verse 5: "And now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound happened, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speaking in their own language or dialekta, in their own dialect."

What did they hear? Here it is: "And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, 'Look, are not all these Galileans who are speaking? How is it that we hear them each in their own dialekta or their own dialect in which we were born?'" And then he gives the cities that were actually represented there.

And then verse 11: "And Cretans and Arabs, we hear them," here it is, and I want you to underline this, "we hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." Notice it’s not a message in tongues. There are no messages in tongues. It was the wonderful works of God. It was like a psalm. They were expressing their praise and their worship to God. And they heard them clearly without confusion as they were honoring and praising the Lord.

And check this out, verse 12: "And so they were all amazed and perplexed, saying one to another, 'What could this mean?' Others was mocking and saying, 'These guys are a little tipsy, they're full of wine.'" But what does Peter do? Peter stands up with the eleven, he raises his voice and says unto them, "Men of Judea and all of you who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to my words. For these are not drunk as you suppose since it’s only at 10:00 in the morning. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel."

So what’s going on? Prophecy is being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. What’s happening? The Holy Spirit is falling upon them, just as Jesus said it would happen. They’re being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then he reads off the same prophecy from the book of Joel chapter 2 that we just read in verses 15 all the way down to verse 21.

Now let me say that whenever God is doing something and whenever there’s an experience that you go through like speaking in tongues or prophecy or a miracle or a wonder, you always have to back it up by the Word of God. And if you cannot back it up by the Word of God, then it’s not a true experience. Remember that. Because that’s what Peter did.

For every experience we have in the Lord, you have to have Scripture to back it up. That’s what Peter did in this whole chapter. He did a whole exegesis on what happened and why it happened and how it was promised not only by the Holy Spirit, but by Jesus himself. And this is what brought not only unity to the church, but this was the beginning and the birth of our Lord and Savior’s church. This is the beginning of the birth of the church as the church begins to explode.