The ministry of the Holy Spirit to the unsaved follows three specific lines, then. It is closely parallel to the idea of moral and intellectual persuasion, constituting an influence, but in itself not resulting in decision. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. It is essential to intelligent faith, however, that the unsaved understand that through Christ it is possible for God to deal with them as those who are righteous. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter began and explained it to them in order: I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself., And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation!. The Holy Spirit presses upon the heart of the unsaved the fact of God's judgment. It is founded on a desperate need for enablement to understand the Gospel. Man's triunity . The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. The unspiritual man rejects the things of the Spirit of God, and cannot attain to the knowledge of them, because they are spiritually judged. Am I not an apostle? For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. - Is sanctified; literally, has been sanctified, the status has been rendered (so to speak) theoretically clean. Another gift is that of showing mercy ( Rom. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Verse 14. The condition of man is hopeless apart from divine intervention. In this course, you'll get four lessons on the following topics: Being Hospitable to Jesus. The wicked generation of Noahs day was opposed in its mad course by the striving of the Spirit (Gen 6:3). 1 Bibliotheca Sacra, 1940, pp. The fact remains that the Spirit of God brings conviction and understanding to many who never believe, who turn from the Gospel even after the way of salvation is made plain to them. Another extreme in the doctrine of common grace is found in the viewpoint that the Word of God is unnecessary. N This revelation is inseparable from the Gospel. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. E. W. Kenyon states that "It is necessary that we understand how the Holy Spirit deals with an unsaved man, so that we can let Him . The cross is the power of God over Satan. This is what in theology is called common grace.3 The work of the Holy Spirit revealing the Gospel to the unsaved is, therefore, an important aspect of a larger program of God in dealing with the need of a lost world. Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Common grace is related almost entirely to revelation on the one subject of salvation with a view to providing an intelligent basis for faith. While it is not in the purpose of God to deal finally with the world while the Church is in the world, the sovereignty of God overrules the wickedness of men and the power of Satan to make possible the accomplishment of His purpose to call out a people to His name. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean. (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.) They are foolishness to such people, you see, and they cant understand them because they need to be discerned spiritually. The work of the Holy Spirit for the unsaved world constitutes another proof that God is a God of infinite grace and condescension, working in those who are the objects of His righteous judgment, striving to bring them to the knowledge of Christ as Savior. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. Just as it is written, . Without this preliminary ministry, the work of efficacious grace would be impossible. The love, joy, peace, and other fruit of the Spirit are never found in those who have merely experienced common grace. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. The natural man is an unsaved man, who views excess indulgence in the desires of the flesh to be a good thing. First, the unsaved must understand that salvation depends upon faith in Christ. Some were saying, What would this idle babbler wish to say? Others, He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go up and join this chariot., Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Do you understand what you are reading?. 1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Many an unsaved judge has told many a young drug addict standing in his courtroom, "You must change your ways or you will . Nor can he perceive them, because they are spiritually examined. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, In humiliation His judgment was taken away, The eunuch answered Philip and said, Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? You have made known to me the ways of life;You will make me full of gladness with Your presence. Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Inability on the part of man has its rise in ignorance of God and His grace due to corruption of mans whole being, perversion of his sensations, feelings, and tastes, and blinding of his understanding. The Scriptures do not enlarge upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin. The doctrine is, therefore, important in its significance and necessary to a full appreciation of proper Gospel preaching. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. For they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit by virtue of His holy character was conducive to restraint of sin. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Everyone will stand before God in judgment. Psalm 1: The Saved and the Unsaved. The deists, of course, assume that God is not immanent in the world, and trace all spiritual experience to a normal process of human mind. Satan stands already convicted, doomed, and waiting the execution of the sentence. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. Genuine salvation is never found except among those who have heard the Word of God. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. T S But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in relation to the unsaved world falls into two categories which are not necessarily independent. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. The trophies of the grace of God which some day will stand complete before God in glory will bear witness to the power of the Spirit in ettectively accomplishing the task given to Him by Christ. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD" (Jeremiah 17:7). It is important that we understand what the Spirit seeks to accomplish in the lives of unbelievers so that we can cooperate with His agenda and thus be used by Him in the lives of non-Christians. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. While the Word of God is not necessarily related to the general works of God in restraining sin, in providence, and in acts of sovereignty, the revelation of the truth of the Gospel comes only through the Word of God. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Regeneration is accomplished only by the Holy Spirit, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. Most of the attention of theologians during the Christian centuries has been directed to the latter ministry, that of revealing the message of salvation to the lost and providing enablement for saving faith. This article was taken from the Theological Journal Library CD and posted with permission of Galaxie Software. For the natural man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is given the ministry of resisting evil and restraining the world in its manifestation. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. But people who arent spiritual cant receive these truths from Gods Spirit. Ministering To The Unsaved. In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.. The Holy Spirit presses upon the heart of the unsaved the fact of Gods judgment. In this regard, the spirit of man is the part of man that comes from God, relates directly to God, and returns to God. When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. The Godhead For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet, Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christthis Jesus whom you crucified., Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?. There are many different ways the Bible describes a non-Christian. While the ministry of the Holy Spirit is ever primarily directed toward the Christian, it is evident that He is working in the world as well, bringing to pass the will of the Father and the Son. A third revelation is given the unsaved by the Holy Spirit concerning the relation of the cross to judgment and Satan. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. It is antecedent to the effectual call of God to the elect. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in restraining sin in the world is most important, however, though few direct references are found in Scripture. This is the second death, the lake of fire. To the Holy Spirit, also, is committed the task of making known the way of salvation to a race which has no natural capacity to receive it with understanding. Also, the prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13) is a reference to an evil spiritual entity . When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. He thinks they are foolish. Cite this page: Editor: Stephen Smith. J He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.