Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): How does God want to use ordinary you in an extraordinary way? How is he set you apart? Today on Telling the Truth, Jill Briscoe continues her series about unlocking the mystery of the Holy Spirit, and she'll get started in just a moment.

So many people read their Bible, go to church, serve on mission trips, and go through the motions. Yet, still struggle to find God. Jill Briscoe has a surprising and deeply encouraging answer to this dilemma, which she shares in her three-message series titled Finding God.

In this inspiring series, you'll discover how you can stop spending so much energy on finding God and let him find you. The Finding God series is our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. And here's Jill to start her message, "The Dove that Can Be Abused." It's today's Telling the Truth.

Jill Briscoe: Today we're going to talk about the gentle dove. Actually, we're going to deal with two symbols: the dove and the seal. But we'll give the title as the dove because I'm going to be talking most about the dove or the symbol of the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

The passage that we see this very clearly defined for us is in John 1, starting to read at 29: "The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, "A man who comes after me has passed me because he was before me." I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.'"

"Then John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove, remaining on him. I wouldn't have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, "The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit." I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.'"

So here we see very clearly defined some shape, some manifestation of the Holy Spirit appearing over the head of Christ as he was baptized, beginning his earthly ministry. This is what we term the anointing of Christ, the anointing of the Messiah. It's a term used throughout the Bible to designate God's selection and commissioning at the point where he gives the authority to the person for a particular service.

Most of the commentaries I read as I read around the subject matter today led me back to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah 61, of course, is the very familiar passage speaking of the Messiah and what he will do when he comes, that begins like this: "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from the darkness for prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God," etc.

So Jesus is anointed by John, and God in effect tells his little world that he has selected, commissioned, and given authority to Joseph's son, Jesus of Nazareth, for a special task. He is anointed as the Christ, and the name Christ means the anointed one. Jesus means Savior. The word is the Logos—the thought, the word, the idea of God made flesh and appearing amongst us.

Christ means God's anointed one, same word as Messiah—the Messiah, the one that would come, that would be anointed to open the blind eyes and to set the captives free and to bring redemption to the world. So Christ was saying, "You know me as Jesus, you've known me as Joseph's son, but now I am telling you, today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears: I am the Messiah!" Ta-da! They didn't like that. In fact, they found that that bordered on blasphemy, and they tried to throw him over a cliff because of his statement.

Now the incredible thing is this, folks: the same anointing is to be experienced by the believer. You and I are come to the realization of this after we have become a Christian. It's a sort of doctrine that you can't really grapple with until you have become a believer yourself. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 21: "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ, in the anointed one. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

1 John 2, verse 20: "You have anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I don't write to you because you don't know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It's the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. But you," says John, "have anointing from the Holy One."

And look at verse 27: "As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you. You don't need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit, just as it has taught you, remain in him." But it says something more here, back in that Corinthians passage, 2 Corinthians 1:21: "It is God who gives you your firm standing in the anointed one. He anointed us."

It is no mistake that the word Christ is used there. He could have used Jesus, but he put the two words next to each other, and again it is lost a little bit in our translation. What he is trying to do is to draw an idea from the two words: in exactly the same way that God anointed the anointed one, he has anointed us with the same anointing.

In exactly the same way that God anointed Christ, the anointed one, he anointed us. He is talking to ordinary Christians—very ordinary Christians. He is talking to the Corinthians! And yet he says to these people that are carnal, that are worldly, that are not the sort of Christians you would expect them to be after all this wonderful teaching that Paul has been giving them and are into all sorts of unmentionable things: "God anointed you in exactly the same way he anointed Christ. He commissioned you. He set you apart. He consecrated you, and he gave you a seal of this. He sealed you. He made it sure."

Now this is very exciting to me. And when we get into the picture now of the seal that you saw in that verse—"He has sealed us"—then it even gets more exciting. The anointing is for you and the anointing is for me. Secondly, there is not only the anointing of the Spirit, there is the assurance of the Spirit—the assurance of the Spirit.

The seal, which we will investigate now, speaks of this. Now a seal was the signature of the person. Often it was engraved on a big ring, and this would be the ring that the people did business with. Remember when the prodigal son came home, he put a ring on his finger? The ring was supposed to be the father's signature given to the son that the son might run around the world and do the father's business for him.

But this was very, very common practice in the East. In the Old Testament, it was common practice. It spoke of authenticity. And when the dove comes into our lives, when the Holy Spirit, who is like a dove, comes into our lives, he is the seal of God on our life. He stamps us. We are branded believers with the stamp of genuine authenticity upon our lives.

And if that is not there, then I ask you: has the dove come? Are you sure there is the stamp of the genuine mark of Christianity upon your life? Because that is what the Spirit does. That's what the dove does when he comes. He is the seal.

Guest (Male): Don't go anywhere. There's more life-giving truth from the Briscoes headed your way. tellingthetruth.org and the Telling the Truth app are great resources to help you grow in your spiritual life. Packed with videos like "Ask the Briscoes," articles from Stuart and Jill, and encouraging audio teaching content, you'll find a treasure trove of resources to encourage you and others in your faith.

And while you're there, you can also request this month's featured resource when you give a gift to help more people around the world experience life in Christ. So visit us online or download the app today. We look forward to connecting with you. Now here's more from Jill about the dove that can be abused on today's Telling the Truth.

Jill Briscoe: Secondly, the seal speaks of ownership, and that is where the assurance of the Spirit comes in. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God—and not only children, but heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now the Spirit himself bears witness inside with our spirit that we are his. There is a sense of "I belong" once the Spirit comes into your life.

It might be that you lack the assurance of your salvation and the dove really has come, but make sure because there should be an assurance from within. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And therefore if children and Christ our brother, then heirs with him—joint heirs with Christ, heirs of God. The assurance of the Spirit, ownership.

The seal speaks of a finished transaction. We are bought, we are paid for, we are signed, we are sealed in front of witnesses. So the Holy Spirit is the stamp of ownership. It is the seal and the deeds of your security—your eternal security—are safe. The Holy Spirit is the deposit of that. It's a little bit of the payment of what you will finally receive when you get to heaven.

So the seal speaks of ownership and security in a very real way. How secure are we? Now this is a big subject. Some people say, "Well, you can lose your salvation." Other people say, "You are eternally secure." All I am doing is telling you one of the pictures in the Bible and I will let you make your own minds up. But I tell you, if God has sealed the transaction between us by giving me the Holy Spirit, then I believe that this bought, purchased possession—myself, my soul—is safe in him. I believe that.

I believe it is eternally secure, and that one day I have the deposit, I have God's signet ring stamped upon my life, but then I will in heaven open the clay pot and enjoy the fruits of what has been bought here on earth.

Thirdly, the anointing of the Spirit, the assurance of the Spirit, there is unfortunately the abuse of the Spirit. And leaving the picture of the seal, we come to the picture of the dove—the gentle, loving, peaceful, innocent, good, vulnerable bird. The poor man's sacrifice, open to abuse—open to abuse.

Did you know that the dove was the poor man's sacrifice, but it was the only animal in the whole of the temple menagerie that offered its neck to the knife? Its whole nature was that of sacrifice. You know, when John, the fiery, strong preacher, saw Jesus walking along, he did not say, "Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah!" Although he could have done. He said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"

He used another picture of an animal—not a bird—to depict the sacrificial nature of the anointed one, the Christ. Here again, in the picture of the dove, there is a symbol of its nature. And therefore it leads us to understand that we—you and I—can abuse the Spirit. "The one whom God has sent," said John in John 3:31-36, "speaks the words of God. To him God gives the Spirit without limit."

I love that phrase. I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks: the Spirit without limit. God gave Jesus the Spirit without limit. God's anointing on you and I is the same, remember? He has given us this anointing, the anointing of the Christ, without limit. The Spirit without limit. You and I have the Spirit without limit. When you receive Christ, you receive all you are going to get. He did not receive all he is going to get of you. That's the problem.

Because though you are given the Spirit without limit, the Holy Spirit as a person, we can limit him. And when you limit God, you are abusing the dove. You are abusing the Spirit. Now we hear a lot about abuse: child abuse, wife abuse, husband abuse, old people's abuse. There is such a thing as Holy Spirit abuse that we don't hear too much about.

But the nature of the Holy Spirit makes him vulnerable to abuse. First of all, you can quench the Spirit, the Bible says. And the word means to suppress, to subdue, to limit him in your life. However, when Christ comes in—it is a lovely picture—into our house, we can limit him. He comes in without limit. He comes in by his Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that one, remember, exactly the same as him, the Godhead, enters our life without limit.

We are told the fullness of Christ dwells in us. We're told we have the mind of Christ. In all sorts of ways in the New Testament, we are told: all of God in all of us—certainly all of God. The Spirit without limit. That is involved in the anointing, in the sealing, and this deposit, as he is called, into our life of all his fullness we will experience in heaven. But unfortunately, we abuse him by suppressing him, quenching him, subduing him in our lives.

Secondly, we can grieve the Spirit. We're told we can grieve the Spirit. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit," the Bible says. That is a command, and if we do not obey the command, then we are sinning. We are sinning. Grieve not the Spirit. Be careful in case you give him limited access. Keep him in the hall or let him in the dining room, but don't let him in the living room or let him in the bedroom, but don't let him in the cellar or the attic.

Don't grieve the Spirit, for the dove is innocent, pure, and sin grieves the gentle dove. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't resist the Spirit. Don't limit the Spirit. Don't use the Spirit for your own ends. If we want some power or we want some position, or we want to be known for a great teacher or a great preacher or a great leader or a great committee whatever, or a great singer or a great anything, and we want to use the Spirit's gifts for our own ends, then that's a very dangerous thing to do.

And of course we must never, never, never blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And this again is very inadequate, but let me try and sum up the two schools of thought on what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy itself is slandering or insulting someone. It can include an action or a gesture or any word that devalues another person who is living or dead.

In religious terms, it means to insult, mock, or doubt the power of your God. To insult, mock, or doubt the power of a God. Now in the Old Testament, it is the opposite of praising God. Idolatry is the ultimate blasphemy in the Old Testament, punishable by stoning—Leviticus 24:10-23. In the New Testament, there is a wider Greek meaning to the word. People as well as God could be blasphemed—Romans 3:8.

Christians were blasphemed—insulted, mocked, etc. Backslidden Christians were warned of this because they had done that before they became Christians. The other school of thought says that the unforgivable sin or the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—which Jesus said is not forgivable in this life or the next—is really opposing what God wishes to reveal through your conscience by the Spirit.

And it's talking about the unregenerate person. An attitude of heart closed to God's self-disclosure. An eternal sin, unpardonable in that such persistence will never hear God's call of grace and therefore the person can never be forgiven. One blasphemes the Holy Spirit when he repudiates the Spirit's call to Christ as the one way of salvation.

Augustine said all who are finally impenitent are guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Oswald Sanders says it's not a sin of ignorance. God hasn't set a mysterious line over which one might unknowingly cross. It is a sin of the heart, continually hardening the heart against the wooing, the gentle cooing of the Holy Spirit within.

And why is there no forgiveness for it? There must be two parties to forgiveness: the forgiver and the one to be forgiven. The sin is unforgivable because it rejects forgiveness, and therefore there is no provision for it. Let all who as yet have not yielded to the wooings of the Spirit, therefore, says this writer, cease to gamble upon the goodness of God and yield at once lest they cross the fatal line.

You can only come to God when the Spirit draws you, we're told. That is a mystery I don't understand what it means. But if you sense God wooing you and calling you gently to himself, presenting Christ as your only way of salvation, then do not continually harden your heart against that. Because if you do, there might come a point where the Spirit ceases to draw.

"My Spirit will not always strive with man," says the Lord. Then you might find yourself in that terrible position while yet here on earth where you have blasphemed and are blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and at that point you are so hardened there is no way you will come to repentance. You cannot come to God just when you choose, in other words. Let the Holy Spirit be working in the hearts of men now and perhaps in your heart.

Guest (Male): Jill's with us now to answer a question about today's message. Jill, what are the signs of a false teacher?

Jill Briscoe: My husband was a bank inspector. They'd take him into a bank, close all the doors unexpectedly. Everybody would have to stay there and they would count all the money—used to take hours. He would sometimes go down to the vault and he would count the money in the deepest part of the safest part of the bank—the cash, huge piles of it. How he was trained was interesting.

He was trained by a huge pile of a thousand notes, pounds—pound notes, he was UK inspector. And he would sit there and count a thousand notes. Then there would be another pile next to it, another thousand, and in that had been put one or two false notes. But because he'd been looking at the right thing, he would count at the same speed, but his eye would catch it: "That's not right."

So what you do is count the right notes. What you do is soak yourself in scripture so that when you hear something that's the wrong note, you see it immediately. So you don't learn error by studying error. You learn error by studying the right thing. And the better you know the scripture, the more quickly something will sound "Eh, off, that's not a right note."

And I think that's the illustration that's helped me more than anything else. And so that's up to me. I need to be soaked in the word of God. I need to be knowledgeable. I need to do my homework, however young I am, however old I am. I'm not talking about going to seminary, I'm just talking about getting knowledgeable about the scriptures, which all of us laypeople and trained people alike can do.

Guest (Male): Thanks for being with us today here on Telling the Truth. We pray today's message encouraged you and helped you experience life in Christ. So many people read their Bible, go to church, serve on mission trips, and go through the motions. Yet, still struggle to find God. Jill Briscoe has a surprising and deeply encouraging answer to this dilemma, which she shares in her three-message series titled Finding God.

In this inspiring series, you'll discover how you can stop spending so much energy on finding God and let him find you. By slowing down and putting yourself deliberately in his presence, you'll recognize that he's already there waiting for you. You'll be uplifted as Jill explains how God worked in the lives of men and women in the Old Testament and how he works in your life too, even when you don't see him and feel his presence.

The Finding God series is our thanks for your gift today to help more people around the world experience life in Christ. So request your copy when you give today: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks so much for listening to Telling the Truth today. We hope you'll join us next time for more biblical truth to help you experience life. That's right here on Telling the Truth.