🔥 THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (PART 1) 🔥

Mike Balloun teaches today. 09/23/23

🔥 THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (PART 1) 🔥

VERSES: Acts 2:16-21; Leviticus 14:24-29; Jeremiah 31:31-33; John 15:26-27

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Points to ponder: Restoration of the ruined Creation depicted in Genesis 1 was a collaboration of God/Elohim the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This restorative work of God is typical of the Restoration of fallen Man. The Holy Spirit did His part in Re-Creation…. “And the Spirit of God moved (brooded) over the face of the waters…” It is the Holy Spirit who re-births the spirit of man effectively achieving the desire of the Father and Son. It is the Holy Spirit Who also empowers the redeemed person unto the Father’s and Son’s glory. The Scriptures reveal the work of the Son, Who came from Heaven to Earth and fulfilled His pivotal part in Man’s salvation. His death fully atoned for sinful Man, and He ascended back unto Heaven. The Holy Spirit has come to the Earth, sent by the Father, not to atone but to work in accord with the Son’s atonement, to anoint the Word of faith, to activate the repentant Man’s spirit with the eternal divine nature and then come and dwell in the redeemed body and grant by warrant degrees of holiness by His Divine influence upon the soul unto its salvation, which is determined at the Judgment Seat of Christ, to be manifest at the First Resurrection.

That sequence of the Old Testament Believer being born again in their spirit by the Power of the Holy Spirit, and then additionally the Holy Spirit then might rest upon the redeemed (or indwell as is the case of the New Testament redeemed) is easily determined from Scripture. (Numbers 11:25)

THE FIRST WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
God had shown the first Man and Woman, and all their seed to follow, His loving mercy by making provision for propitiation for redemption from the penalty of sin and death; that provision being the substitutionary soul/blood of an appointed animal for the one who would exercise faith/trust in Him. (Genesis 3:21)
So it was with Adam, so Eve, and Abel (Genesis 4:4), Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the newly formed entire Nation of Israel, David, etc… all were blood-bought and ‘born again’… right on down to the Disciples of Christ, having received the gracious eternal life provision in the sacrificial blood offerings… and that being before the Death and Resurrection of Christ (this does not mean every Jew was born-again, in that the blood Sacrifices always required a contrite heart).
So it was that the Holy Spirit’s work of rebirth of a man’s spirit with the gift of eternal life was an Old Testament Truth. And it is a New Testament Truth based upon the same Old Testament established principle of meeting God’s justice requirement for redemption; that being soul for soul, blood for blood. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” [Leviticus 17:11]

THE SECOND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Seen typically in Leviticus 14:24-29… in that it is first the blood that must be applied, and then the oil upon the blood. “And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot: And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand: And the priest shall dip -- his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD: And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering.”
Typically what is seen is that in the New Testament, there is to be a greater provision and application work of the Oil/Holy Spirit, that first must answer to God’s Justice beyond redemption blood, and the greater work of the Holy Spirit upon the redeemed soul. This rests unalterably and unquestionably upon the far greater propitiation efficacy of the Blood of Christ.
The additional Work of the Holy Spirit upon the redeemed of Christ in the New Testament is first seen in Acts 2:4… “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” To be filled or the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” means the Holy Spirit, by way of His power, takes up residence within the redeemed, there poised ready to change the redeemed soul into Christlikeness based upon the redeemed person’s yieldedness. His indwelling Presence ready to comfort, lead, instruct in the Word of God, reprove, cleanse, and in all ways made possible by the Atonement of Christ to empower him; in the overcoming of the sin nature within, the devil, and world without, into spiritual maturity, unto the goal of God and our faith; “the salvation of our soul”. (1st Peter 1:9)

This gift of the power of the Holy Spirit could only come and abide in a redeemed child of God after the greater Soul/Blood propitiation of the Son of Man was offered and accepted by God; that which was His Sinless life and Death, Victorious Resurrection and Ascension unto Glory and the office of Heaven’s High Priest Mediator for His redeemed. (John 7:37-39, Acts 1:5,8 with 1st Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)

But this Baptism/infilling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) answers to an inward indwelling that was not the immediate experience of every redeemed/born-again person. This is made clear from Scripture, as was the case of Christ’s disciples, who were Jewish believers in God, and then also believers in His manifest Messiah, and His disciples, and were no doubt born-again. Yet they did not receive the Baptism/indwelling of the Holy Spirit until Pentecost. (John 14:17) So also, was the case of those redeemed believers in Acts 8 and those 12 redeemed men of Acts 19, and Paul some 7 years after Pentecost receiving Christ as His Messiah on the road to Damascus, yet it was 3 days later that he received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The types in the Old Testament, which we shall look at, and the realities seen in the New Testament, show clearly that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate and 2nd blessing, that may not come for shorter or longer periods of time on the redeemed, or may come immediately after regeneration on the redeemed in Christ, as it appears to be the case with Cornelius’s family and close friends. (Acts 10:44-46)

It first should be understood that the original “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4) was the appointed empowerment for the Nation of Jews, in that they were the progeny of Abraham. And was granted in order to fill them with power to proselytize the Gentiles and rule in the Earth in holiness as God’s chosen people, and had nothing to do with the ‘Church’ at all. (Acts 2:16-21) “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And -- on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

This pre-Crucifixion offer of Christ was in answer to God’s irrevocable promises to Abraham. (Genesis 22:16-18) “And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done -- this thing, and hast not withheld -- thy son, -- thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply -- thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess -- the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

And now at Pentecost, after the Jews having Crucified Christ their Messiah, the Lamb of God, He then being Resurrected and having ascended to Heaven, the Nation was called to repentance and again was offered the promises of Abraham and the fulfillment of the prophetic word of the Prophets. These being supernaturally on display on the Day of Pentecost in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Jewish disciples of Christ. Note that if the Jewish leaders of the Nation had repented and accepted Jesus as their Messiah, then on the Day of Pentecost, or at any point over the next 30-year time period documented in the Book of Acts, the redeemed Nation would have received this empowering Baptism of the Holy Spirit, thereby being the supernaturally empowered witnesses of God and would have ruled in the multiple displays of gifts and power, over the Nations of the Earth.

Willing, obedient Holiness in order to be His Theocratic Government in the Earth has always been the desired goal of God for the redeemed Jews. (Isaiah 1:-2:5)… “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it…… And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

This promise, which was deferred for 2000 years or more, will be fully and eternally realized upon Christ’s Second Coming and then Israel’s glad reception of Him will come to pass, followed by the New Covenant sealed in the second and greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Nation of Jews will take their rightful preeminence in the Earth over the Gentile Nations in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. The “rain” of the Holy Spirit shall come again upon Israel, in that Millennial period which answers to the festival of Tabernacles. They will be God’s witnesses, and live in the Earth with supernatural gifts, peace, provision, and healing with long life, and abundant prosperity in the power of the Holy Spirit. All this shall be the norm in Israel in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you -- the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month…” [Joel 2:23,27-29]

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which -- my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put -- my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:31-33 and Hebrews 8) See also Acts 1:8; 2:4, John 1:33-34, and Zechariah Chapters 12-14.

But such is not the case with the calling out of another Nation more worthy than Israel to rule with Christ. Theirs is not to rule on the Earth, but to co-rule in the first heaven with Christ at His Return. “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” (Matthew 13:11) See also Matthew 21:43… “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” That Nation of the One New Man would follow on the heels of the Nation of Israel’s rejection. This happened in 62 AD when Paul said, “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.” [Acts 28:28]

These of the nation of the One New Man would gladly receive the Redeemer and the greater work of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the soul. This Nation being one wherein there would no longer be the emphasis on the ‘seen’ or in having preeminence in the Earth, with outward displays of power in signs and wonders to the Jews (for “Jews require a sign” - 1st Corinthian 1:22). Rather, the redeemed in Christ with rebirth of spirit and the gift of eternal life, being then no longer among the “Commonwealth of Israel”, but citizens of the New Nation of the One New Man. They, having been made aware of the battle for their soul by the Apostles of Christ, and the necessity of overcoming their sinful nature, are to be also Baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s work becomes redefined appropriate to the heavenly calling and Bride of Christ. The Work on the Nation of Israel and the Jews now deferred. The emphasis being a greater internal work in the redeemed, to be based upon contrite yielded service in loving faithful service to Christ only. Without any necessity in seeing outward signs, wonders and miracles… “because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”. (John 20:29) And that in the Holy Spirit’s indwelling power fight an appointed spiritual battle that would require suffering under test and trial while alive on the Earth in the overcoming the flesh, devil, and world. They are to be thereby always subservient to Christ and to his brethren and fellow man, not by ruling over them, while in this World. (2nd Timothy 2:12… “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us .” See also Romans 8:17… “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Luke 22:24-27… “And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.”)

Again, in TYPE, the event of redemption and the further process of holiness is to be understood by the New Testament redeemed as two different experiences; the first in the bringing the Jews out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb; but the 2nd being the glorious dwelling of God in their midst, which came later, and came only after wholehearted preparation and dedication. (Exodus 36:3-5; “And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made; And they spoke unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.” Exodus 40:34-35… “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”) This type speaks to the New Testament first work of the Holy Spirit followed by the 2nd the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with indwelling power unto faithful witnesses. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me: and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” [John 15:26-27] (See also Acts 1:8)

Continuing with the type; Israel having desired and sought after God’s dwelling Presence among them, obtained it, but yet His dwelling Presence was later lost by their persistence in sin. (Jeremiah 7:12) But in Old Testament type, the dwelling Presence is also shown to be remediable, as His Presence was later regained, but only by repentance and wholehearted consecration. (1st Kings 8:10-11) 400 years later, that glorious Presence in Israel was lost again through rebellious unbelief, and was offered again in its reality in Christ… but unbelief persisted, and the Presence was lost, even as it is unto today.

So again, what may be typically understood from the Old Testament which were realities presented in Christ and the New Testament, are that 1) the redeemed did not automatically experience His glorious indwelling at the same time of His redemption work. 2) that His glorious Presence was an additional experience for a greater work of holiness after redemption to be His witnesses in the Earth. 3) that His Presence, having been granted, must be wholeheartedly desired to remain, in that His Presence may be withdrawn due to persistence in unrepented sin 4) that His Presence may return upon heartfelt repentance. (Next week, in Part 2, we will get more in-depth as we look at the Greek usage in regard to the Baptism/infilling of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Nature/Divine Life, and the power of the Holy Spirit.)

Scripture shows that not all the Gentile redeemed in Christ were Baptized in the Holy Spirit. Although in the vast majority of Christendom today it is declared that if one is redeemed, he must be by necessity also “Baptized in the Holy Spirit”. This false doctrine coupled with the false doctrine of ‘Grace Only’ is promoted by the enemy and is extremely injurious to the redeemed. In that it is falsely declared unto the redeemed soul, whose practical living belies the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (or at least His continuing indwelling power unto holiness is still there), that he already has inside him that which he actually is in vital need of… and encourage him to go on as he is (religiously blind and spiritually unequipped) in the assurance of God’s unearned and unconditional loving grace.

It would be hard to imagine that Israel could have been overcome by any other Nation while the Glorious Spirit of God yet resided in their midst. (1st Samuel 4:21 with Revelation 3:20; 2:5) So then a Christian must have this vital perspective, and must open the Laodicean religious door, and invite the power of the Holy Spirit within his body (or fill him again), and maintain that union through willing obedience, watchfulness, prayer and quick repentance, this is the assurance of overcoming victory… unto the declared worthiness at the Judgement Seat of Christ, for the First Resurrection at Christ’s Return, to rule with Him in this Realm’s heaven over the Earth.

In the first Verses of 1st Corinthians, there are 9 distinct gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Immediately followed by the Holy Spirit’s declaration of “the more excellent way” of manifesting the Holy Spirit, and that as the redeemed witnesses of Christ; that of Agape/Love…in the growing maturity in that which He Himself had in measure “…shed abroad in the heart”. (Romans 5:5, 2nd Thessalonians 3:2)
The Holy Spirit, in Baptizing the redeemed Gentiles and manifesting Himself through them in signs, wonders, and miracles in a short period of time between about 33AD to 62AD answers to Old Testament prophesy (Deuteronomy 32:21… “They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation”) in order to “…to provoke them (the Jews with right of ruling inheritance Romans 9:4) to jealousy”. Nevertheless, the leaders of Israel would not repent and receive the promised Messiah and the prophesied outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them as the Nation chosen by God. (Romans 10:19; 11:11) Now the Holy Spirit, with a view to the cutting off of the Jew (Romans 11:17 with Acts 28:28), a people who must have a ‘sign’ (1st Corinthians 1:21-22), the declarations of the last of Corinthians Chapter 13 doctrinally lays the groundwork for the Nation of the One New Man in their heavenly call; who soon will become the exclusive witnesses of God in the World. A witness not to be based upon the manifesting of the outward supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit on Man, but manifesting the power of selfless love, the internal work of the Holy Spirit on the yielded redeemed soul in the Nation of the One New Man. This advanced objective of the Holy Spirit developing selflessness in Christlikeness in His redeemed brings greater glory to Christ. Loving selflessness is the greatest evidence of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit inside the body of a redeemed soul. (2nd Corinthians 3:18)

Author G. H. Lang wrote:
“The chief present work of the Spirit of God is to glorify Christ, even as the Lord said, ‘He shall glorify Me’ (John 16:14) Man glorifies himself, the Spirit glorifies Christ. “Whoever, therefore, desires the fulness of the Spirit let him devote himself unreservedly to the work the Spirit is here to do, for then the effective co-operation of the Spirit is assured; that is, let him dedicate his body, mind, and spirit, his whole personality, to the single all-inclusive end of living to the glory of Christ.  This will carry with it the watchful use of time, the thoughtful use of words, the unrestricted dedication of all possessions, the ordering of business, of home, of children, the concentration of life entire to the honour of the Son of God.”