Cooperating With the Holy Spirit - Part Ii — Phil Beach Jr.

Keeping Our Eyes on Jesus in Life's Storms

Everyone remembers the story in the Bible, where Jesus bid Peter to walk on the water. And Peter stepped out of the boat and began to walk on the water. And it wasn't until Peter's eyes were taken off the Savior and fixed on the circumstance that was surrounding him, that he began to sink.

May I suggest that Jesus permitted that to happen, not so that we could expect to be able someday to be out on a lake and jump off the boat and say, Hey, look, I'm walking on water. No, my friends, I don't believe that that's why the story was recorded in the Bible.

I believe the story was recorded in the Bible to be an everlasting testimony as to the importance of looking unto Jesus at all times, particularly when there is a storm that is brewing in our life. Now, see, this sounds to be so elementary.

It appears to be so basic. But, friends, this is the most important lesson that you will learn as a Christian, to keep your eyes upon Jesus Christ, your spiritual eyes, your heart's gaze. And as your heart's gaze is fixed upon Jesus Christ, then He becomes the author of your faith.

He becomes the increaser of your faith. And He becomes the perfecter of your faith as your eyes are fixed upon Him. I want to invite you this evening to open up your Bibles, if you would, to John chapter number 16.

John chapter number 16. This message is basically the second message following the one that we ministered on Sunday night. Now, you who were here on Sunday night, remember that we ministered and taught from the Word of God a message regarding the things that we do not do to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit as a Gentle Companion

It is essential for us to understand that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a companion. And as a companion, we are to become acquainted with the Holy Spirit. We are to learn about the Holy Spirit.

Now, one of the attributes of the Holy Spirit, or, excuse me, not one of the attributes, but one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is a dove. And the reason why God chose to symbolize the Holy Spirit as a dove is because the characteristics of a dove are similar to the characteristics of the Holy Spirit in that a dove is very gentle and a dove can easily be frightened away.

And this is why the Holy Spirit is seen as a dove. Because the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. The Holy Spirit is a person that lives and abides with us. And just as a dove would easily be fluttered and easily be fluttered away, likewise, the intimate relationship of the Holy Spirit, an intimate relationship with God can easily be fluttered away if we do not properly understand how to get acquainted with the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, last week, and we're just going to mention them, we're not going to go into them, last week we mentioned several things that we are not to do in relation to our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit Through Speech

Number one, in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30, we learned that we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Now, in context, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30, we discover that to grieve the Holy Spirit has to do with our language.

If you read Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 29, which is the verse prior to verse 30, you'll discover that the Apostle Paul is exhorting the Ephesian Christians not to permit any unwholesome talk to proceed out of their mouth.

So therefore, to grieve the Holy Spirit is to permit our tongue and our words and our sentences to be that which does not edify and that which does not build up. And I remember on Sunday night that most of us recognized that to be a challenge within itself, and we didn't seem to need to go any further, but we all could definitely work on just that one spiritual discipline.

So we are to grieve not the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit is a person. And if any of you are truly a Christian, and you have the Holy Spirit within you, and you went into a place that was vulgar, wouldn't the sound of vulgarity grieve you?

If it didn't, I would question whether or not you really, really have an experience with Jesus. Well, if vulgarity would grieve you as a mere human being, how much more is the Holy Spirit grieved when we permit our tongues to gossip, to slander, to assassinate someone's character?

You know what a murderer is? You know, James says that the reason why the Christians were not receiving from the Lord is because they were murderers. Do you think that they really went around and cold-blooded murdered people?

Of course not. But you know, Jesus taught that when we attempt to assassinate someone's character in the presence of another person, we are in fact committing murder. And one quick way to grieve the Holy Spirit is to do just that.

And I know we oftentimes justify our words, and we feel God's appointed us as our brother's judge, and we judge their motives, and we criticize them. But friends, we grieve the Holy Spirit. The Bible says we're to speak evil of no man, and to speak the truth in love.

Do Not Quench the Spirit by Ignoring His Prompting

So always remember, grieving the Holy Spirit is in relation to our speech. Okay? Number two, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 19. Quench not the Holy Spirit. Now, to quench not the Holy Spirit implies to put out what the Holy Spirit is trying to do.

For example, you would quench fire by putting water on it, unless it was a grease fire. Isn't that right, Tom? So, now see, there's a difference here. To grieve the Holy Spirit is to say that which is not wholesome.

To quench the Holy Spirit is to do something to put out the fire, or the inspiration, or the leading of the Holy Spirit. For example, the Lord puts it on your heart to read the Bible, and instead you pick up a magazine or something.

Just a simple illustration. But you're quenching the Spirit. Mary's pointing to herself. This isn't just a pointer, it's a clobberer. Now I'll get her. So, grieving the Holy Spirit has to do with words.

Quenching the Holy Spirit has to do with little things that we do to sort of put aside the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Friends, it is so important, it is so vital in the Christian life to learn that God's way is always the best way.

Listen, don't look for God to be speaking to you to sell your home and go to China. Not that he won't tell you to do that. But see, the Holy Spirit first sees how faithful we are with little things. Now, listen closely.

How are you with money? With the natural things that God has entrusted you with. If you are faithful with these things, then no doubt you would be faithful with the true riches of heaven. Which consists of being told by God to do things and then you do it.

But let me tell you something, friends. Don't ever expect God to entrust you with the riches of heaven. And with the glories and joy of really experiencing his leading when your natural life is in chaos because of misproper appropriation of what you have.

Faithfulness, Submission, and Spiritual Stewardship

Learn how to be faithful stewards of your natural things. Learn to be faithful at your job. Learn to be faithful with another man. Learn to work for someone who is unfair and not go and bicker about him.

And complain about him. Come on now. Learn to work for somebody that you know doesn't have it together. And not always feel like you can do it better. Learn to submit to people. You know the Christian church has lost this revelation.

When God puts you somewhere, he doesn't put you there to be a judge. He doesn't put you there to be a critic. He puts you there as his child to learn to be a servant. And to be humble. You have to be broken.

You have to learn to submit. You have to learn to be thankful. You have to learn that God is in control. I know when the Lord was teaching me these lessons, I was under a ministry way on the west coast in Phoenix, Arizona.

And I was under a pastor who was very old. He was about that time, he was about 74. And I could remember while I was preaching, he would stand up in the back of the church and begin to correct me. And I had to wrestle with that.

Until I can remember that when he would stand up and correct me, I would have tears in my eyes because I was so happy that he was trying to help me. Rather than go home. Who does this guy think he is?

And then this minister told me, after about 30 minutes of preaching, after I brought the people from step 1 to step 2, and I was in the process of consummating my message, to stop and take an offering.

Because you'll get more money. And then after the offering, finish the message. I wrestled again. But I heard God. And I understood what he was doing in my life. So, I'd get up and preach. And now, we're going to take a moment to give you an opportunity to give.

And then, we're going to finish this message. And by the grace of God, I could say it. That I didn't have resentment toward that man. Because I understood there was something greater going on than a man telling me, first of all, publicly correcting me.

Then secondly, telling me to do something that I didn't want to do. I knew there was something great. It was God, sticking his finger in the depths of my pride. Showing me that if I wanted to be used by him, I had to be willing to be broken.

I had to be obedient. I had to be teachable. I had to know that I was nothing. And I can remember, we were under the tutorship of these pastors for a couple of years. And I can remember Collette and I would leave our apartment.

Hey, they owned the apartments. It was their apartment. They were being very gracious to us. We would leave the apartment and come back and find a little note on the table. They had gone into our apartment while we were gone.

Checked things out and told us things that they didn't like. Once again, once again, I was tested and went into conflict. Who do they think this is no fair? God would put a zipper on my mouth. Then I can remember when I went to Mississippi and I was there working with a pastor.

And for a whole year, I dug ditches as an associate pastor. Four o 'clock in the morning. Rise and shine. Couple hours of prayer. Down to the property. I was under authority. The superintendent. What a cranky guy he was.

He had no respect. I was a minister of the gospel and he treated me like a nobody. I didn't like it. But the Lord did. The Lord loved it. You can't do anything right. Look at this ditch. Do it over again.

A preacher? My God. If you preach like that, I don't want to come hear you. Oh. What was I going to do? I'll tell you what God did. Through many hours of prayer and weeping, when it was time to leave Mississippi, I was sad.

Because I loved my boss so much. And I loved being under his authority. I loved it. God's ways are not our ways, friends. But when you touch God and say, Lord, I want your best for my life. Watch out.

Watch out. He's going to get you. The Lord is. And you're going to blame people. You're going to blame circumstances. You're going to point your finger at your enemy. But if you keep an open heart, and if you keep a humble spirit, the Lord will say, you're pointing your finger at me.

You're angry at me. Submit yourself. Bless them that curse you. Learn to be a servant. Learn to be under authority. You cannot and will not be entrusted by God with the true riches until you have proven yourself.

Joseph had very flattering dreams, didn't he? But his dreams turned into nightmares when God decided it was time to prepare him. If you belong to Him, He is orchestrating the people that meet you. He is orchestrating the lives that you touch.

He is putting you over people and He's putting people over you. And He's watching. And His purpose is to put to death your flesh and your pride and your arrogance and your way and your vengeance and your righteous indignation when most of it's nothing but your wounded pride.

Resisting the Holy Spirit

So that you can just serve the Lord in gladness, be humiliated, and rejoice anyhow. That's when God makes His jewels. He really does. Grieve not. Quench not. Acts chapter 7 verse 51. Resist not the Holy Spirit.

The difference between quenching the Holy Spirit and resisting the Holy Spirit is this. To quench the Holy Spirit is to just put out the flame or inspiration of the Spirit of God in your life. To resist the Holy Spirit is to adamantly and rebelliously oppose God.

To resist the Holy Spirit is to adamantly and rebelliously oppose the Holy Spirit. Often times when we quench the Spirit we are not adamantly opposing or rebelling against God. But quenching the Spirit can lead to resisting the Holy Spirit if we don't allow God to break our will.

And you know you can see this in children. At first they just quench your desires as parents by doing their little tricks and their little manipulative ways. And if that will is not broken, if discipline does not break that will, you'll find a child will defiantly look at you in the eyes and oppose you and rebel you right to the face.

We do the same thing to the Holy Spirit. That's why the Lord chastens us and rebukes us and corrects us so that Paul said, so that we won't be condemned with the world. So, we grieve not, quench not, resist not.

Do Not Provoke the Holy Spirit to Jealousy

And number four, provoke not the Holy Spirit. Like I said, I'm not going into these. To provoke not, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 22. Actually the scripture says don't provoke the Holy Spirit to jealousy.

God is a jealous God. Not the jealousy that we know as being jealous of someone, but he's jealous in that he wants our love exclusively for himself. And in context, to provoke the Holy Spirit to jealousy is to follow after another lover.

To challenge God's love for you and to challenge your love for God. The Lord wants your love. He wants that special spot in your heart that is able to give affection and emotion and tenderness. He wants that reserved for himself alone.

You know, each one of us have a special spot in our heart where we can be so caring and loving to people. We can just melt. Even the hardest person has that spot in their heart. You could be just so kind and so thoughtful and so affectionate towards someone.

You agree there's that spot in your heart? Well, that spot God put there for himself. He wants that spot. So don't give that spot to anyone. Give it to him. Serve the Lord with that spot in your heart.

Now see, the Holy Spirit knows our heart. And whenever he sees us doing these things, he arranges circumstances to show us and then gives us an opportunity to come to him that we might be delivered. Now, another one.

Do Not Tempt or Lie Against the Holy Spirit

Acts chapter 5. We didn't give you this Sunday night. It was brought to my attention later. Tempt not the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 5. Tempt not and lie not against the Holy Spirit. That's the story of Annias and Sapphira.

We know the story in the Bible where they sold a piece of property for a certain amount of money. Then they went to the apostles and told them they sold it for something else. What is that really? Alright, listen.

What that is, premeditated deception. Listen. We all have weakness. Peter deceived the girl. I don't know him. But let me tell you something. He was not lying against the Holy Spirit. He was falling in a moment of weakness.

God understood his heart. He was rebuked. He was chastened for it. But he did not premeditate it. See, his heart was, Lord, I won't deny you. See, he didn't want to lie. He fell through weakness. But the reason why God dealt so strongly with Annias and Sapphira was because they laid together and planned this.

They agreed to tempt and to lie against the Holy Spirit. If there's one thing that God despises, that's premeditated deception. The book of Proverbs is full of this. The evil heart is characterized by going to bed at night planning what mischief we can do the next day.

So to lie and tempt the Holy Spirit is to premeditate evil. That grieves the Lord very much. So these basically are the 2, 3, 4, 5 things that we are not to do in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Maturity Through Honest Confession

And as you have an ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit, as you become more and more acquainted with the precious Comforter, you will discover, and this is the, listen, this is the acid test that you are indeed growing in your relationship with God and you've gone beyond just an intellectual confession where you, hallelujah, I'm a Christian, I know the Lord.

And not that that's discredited, but God wants us to go on to know Him. Here's the acid test. When you become aware that you are resisting or quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit and you become honest enough with yourself and with God to where you can confess, oh, when you become honest enough to be able to look at your wife on Tuesday and say, you know, or your husband or your friend and say, you know, I said something to you and I grieve the Holy Spirit.

I'm sorry. You're getting somewhere with God. You're getting somewhere with God. When you can be honest enough to admit when God deals with you about quenching or resisting or grieving, you're getting somewhere with God.

Because one of the first signs that is evident in a Christian's life when they're growing in grace is they're aware of the things that they do that displeases the Holy Spirit. But their awareness is not God ministering condemnation.

It's God ministering His loving correction so that you can be partakers of His holiness. Hey, what's the healthiest sign in a marriage? When couples sit down and grow up enough where they can talk about each other's weaknesses, each other's strengths, they can admit when they're being a turkey and they can work things out.

Until couples get to that place, they're living in a dreamland and they're deceiving themselves. That's not the sign that your marriage is in a crisis and that you are immature. No, that's the sign that you guys are growing up.

It's when that doesn't happen that you're on an ongoing crisis. That's true with any kind of relationship. I don't want to limit it to marriage. Any kind of a relationship. Honesty. Being willing to admit.

And when we can get to the place with God when our world doesn't revolve around our idea that everything is so great and we're doing so good, but we can see the areas in our life. That's why you should always have quiet time with the Lord.

And say, Now Lord, take me through my day. Ah. I thought that wasn't good. The Lord will commend you. The Lord will reprove you. And sometimes He'll laugh at you. But that's healthy. You see, if you don't spend time with someone, you're never going to get to know them.

You've got to spend time with the Lord. You've got to spend time with the Holy Spirit. And He'll start talking to you. He's not going to get weird. Some people say, I mean it. Some people, man, God's talking to me.

And you talk to them about what God's talking. You go away saying, I don't know what God's talking to them, but it's not the one I know. You know, God doesn't come and tell you how great you are. I mean it.

Some people, you know, God tells me I'm a special anointed person. Hey, God doesn't come and give you that. Holy Spirit speaks of the Lord. Holy Spirit, He glorifies Jesus. Holy Spirit shows you how much God loves you.

The Holy Spirit shows you how special you are to Him. The Holy Spirit doesn't inflate your ego. The Holy Spirit puts everything in proper perspective. You're loved, you're special, and you're a vessel that He wants to express the person of Jesus.

And He wants your attitudes and your actions and your lifestyle to glorify God. We need to come out of our ivory palaces, our theology and our knowledge and our perfect understanding that we think we have.

And we need to walk in the real world. What are you doing to people? What are you saying in your bedroom about people? This is where God wants to take our Christianity and make it work. That's where. See.

What are you doing? I heard one minister say, the true test of being spiritual is think about what you can do if you could get away with it. And that'll show you how, where your heart is with God. Think about what you could do if you could get away with it.

If nobody could see you, what would you do? I bet you if Jesus was asked that question, He'd say, I'd go pray and seek my Father in heaven. Don't you think so? You bet He would, because He's Jesus. But you know what?

He wants us to know that He is able to purify our heart so that when we're asked what we would do, we could say, oh, I want to seek Jesus because I've already sought the lust of the flesh. I've already sought the pride of life.

Beholding Christ for Spiritual Transformation

I've already sought everything else. And it turned bitter. Oh, it was sweet at first. But boy, how that which is sweet can suddenly turn into that which is bitter. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse number 18.

2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse number 18. Let's begin with verse number 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. We're going to discover right now that spiritual discipline that I was talking to you about at the beginning of the lesson tonight.

If you can learn this spiritual discipline, your Christian life will be absolutely revolutionized. When everyone is sinking, you'll be standing. When everyone is shaking and falling, you'll be steadfast upon the rock, Jesus Christ.

And that's surely where I want to be. Verse 12. Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech. Not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face, that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away, but their minds were hardened.

For until this very day, at the reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. To this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. Verse 16.

The central truth of this chapter. But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. The action here, that constitutes spiritual sight, is turning to the Lord. The spiritual discipline of looking, beholding, with the eye of the heart, with the eye of the soul.

A .W. Tozer says, the gaze upon the lovely Savior. I like that. When you learn from Jesus, at all times, this is what happens. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord, there is liberty.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. To behold the Son of God on a daily basis, enables three things to take place.

Listen, the act of beholding fulfills three things. You ever notice Christians always struggling with, I've got to abide in Christ. I've got to obey Christ. I've got to be changed. I've got to grow in Jesus.

Legitimate desires. Thank God when Christians want to do those things. But the problem is, they miss how to have these things happen in their life. These three things, abiding in Christ, obeying Christ, and being changed into Christ's image, are all wrought, listen, when we behold the Lamb of God.

Beholding Christ Produces Obedience and Abiding

Listen, it is impossible to behold Christ without obeying Him. Oh, you can look at Him intellectually. You can behold Him with your natural eye. For I submit to you that thousands of people looked at the Son of God as He walked on the earth, but they all didn't obey Him.

But the ones that saw Him with their inner eye and saw Him as the Savior, as the Son of God, they obeyed Him. Therefore, remember, the secret of being an obedient Christian, the secret of being an abiding Christian, one who abides in Christ, and the secret of being a transformed Christian all lies in one spiritual discipline.

Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Every time I behold the Son of God, I am cleansed from my sin. Every time I see Him, I have grace and mercy and truth imparted to my inner man.

Therefore, I can say with Paul, though my outer man is perishing, yet my inner man is being renewed day by day. I am being strengthened. I am being nourished. I am being sustained by the Christ who I am gazing upon.

Why is it that Moses cried out in the wilderness, Look to the brazen serpent. Everyone who sees the brazen serpent will be healed. And Christ is the one who heals us. He sanctifies us. He justifies us.

And He keeps us. And as we behold Him, those powers are assimilated on a daily basis. And I suggest that those Christians whose faith becomes shipwrecked, those Christians who follow the way of Demas, who loved this present world and departed from Paul and went to Thessalonica, Why, you say?

We say, I thought God can keep us. Why do those who are really Christians end up in a place of spiritual delinquency and they become shipwrecked in their faith and they begin to follow after the things of this world?

One reason and one alone. Because somehow, someway, their gaze and their focus got off the blessed Son of God and got on to something else. The word transformed is a Greek word where we get the word metamorphosis.

Now you know what a metamorphosis is, the old typical example? A caterpillar to a butterfly. Did you know that in Adam we're all caterpillars? We're earthbound. We just crawl in the dregs of sin. But when we look to Jesus we become a new creature in Christ.

All things are passed away. We are transferred out of Adam and we are put in Christ. Then the process of being changed into His image as we behold Him becomes a lifelong joy. So you're being made into spiritual butterflies.

Don't you want, listen, many Christians are in Adam but they're still earthbound. They're caterpillars. They're still bound to the flesh. They walk around bound. But see, God wants to change us so that we can get our wings.

Pointing Others to the Lamb of God

You know higher ground? He doesn't want us to live in the realm of the flesh. He wants us to soar, listen, in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. To behold the Lamb of God. John chapter 1 verse number 29.

John chapter 1 verse number 29. Does anyone know the scripture offhand? It's the awesome testimony of John the Baptist. Let's read it. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him. I'm telling you, when you see Jesus, this is what you ought to be telling people.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The true test that a person really sees Jesus is when they get around other people. Guess who they're pointing those people to? Themself? Jesus.

When the soul catches a glimpse of Jesus, it tells everyone. What did the woman, the lady do who was at the well of Samaria? She went back to her hometown and what did she do? She told the whole town about this man called Jesus.

John the Baptist saw him and he cried out, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. You find me a Christian that God has seasoned so that everything they do in their relationships with people, they're pointing them to Jesus.

Not Bible banging. You gotta do this, you gotta do that. But you show me a Christian that just points people to the Lamb of God. I'll show you someone that really sees Jesus. I asked you to turn to John chapter 16 at the very beginning.

We haven't even got there. And I'll tell you what, we're not gonna get there. We're just gonna continue this message as God leads and we're going to discover, Lord willing, first of all, we learned what not to do.

Grieve not, quench not, resist not, provoke not, tempt not. Then we learned what we ought to do is behold the Son of God. Then as we behold the Son of God, now we're gonna learn in our future lessons all of the beautiful privileges that we have in cooperating with the Holy Spirit in relation to our Christian life.

Cooperating With the Holy Spirit in Christian Life

We learn to walk in the Spirit and by the Spirit. We learn to sing in the Spirit and by the Spirit. We learn that we are sanctified by the Spirit. We are saved by the Spirit. We witness by the Spirit.

We have compassion by the Spirit. You learn to begin to have an ongoing relationship where you cooperate with the Lord enabling you to do all of these things so that you can truly, truly grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen? Amen. I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you. Begin to ask the Lord to teach you. I want a relationship with the Holy Spirit. I want to get to know this precious person that's like a dove that lives with me.

I want to get to know Him. The more you get to know Him, the more you'll know Jesus. And the more you know Jesus, the more you know the Father. And the more you know the Father, the more you bow your knees to the Father.

As Paul said, I bow my knees down to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank You for the privilege we have as Your children washed in Your blood to be a partaker of the divine nature and to have the Holy Spirit live with us.

Lord, it's my prayer that You would so lead each one of us in such a way that we could indeed learn of the Holy Spirit, have a love relationship with Him, and be changed by His power. We pray, Lord, that You would do this work in us.

In Jesus' name, Amen. And Amen. Well, I want to encourage you to give someone's hand a shake. And God bless you. We love you. Amen. Hey, guys. Good.