Hearing from the Heart

Ephesians chapter 1 and verses 13 to 14 is where we're at today and I would like to lean in on this subject, hearing with your heart, hearing with your heart. Read with me if you would in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13. I'll be reading from the Legacy. "In him you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was given as a pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of His glory." Pause with me for a moment of prayer if you would. Thank you, dear Jesus, for the text and as we finish this long Greek sentence today, I pray that You would impart to us not only the ability to hear with our minds but to hear with our hearts as well. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.

Have you ever heard something that you thought was true but turned out to not be true? Have you ever been fooled in religious circles before? Perhaps you believed someone whom you thought was telling a truth about the Holy Spirit but were led in a wrong direction, perhaps even led astray. Some of us may have even lost years of our life to a false concept of what the role of the Holy Spirit is. In today's text we see some of what the Holy Spirit does. It's not a complete treatise of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit but there are a couple of concepts in here that I want to lean in to for our benefit today. For example, misinformation and whole denominations do great harm to God's people by promoting the possibility of losing your salvation, but we see in the text today that that's not possible — as if God's wrath would fall on you as a believer if you forget to confess one of your sins tonight before you go to sleep and perhaps if you were to die and wake up in hell. That's just terrible to think that if you were able to lose your salvation and you forget to confess one little sin that you didn't even hardly really know about, that you would end up in hell. That's terrifying. Perhaps you've been plagued by that before. It's terrifying to think that you could lose your salvation and then have to keep a perfectionist state every single day.

In verse 13, two words — look with me if you would. Take your Bibles, look with me in verse 13: "in him." It's worth leaning into this because the word "in" is a word that in the Greek denotes a fixed position. Once you're saved, you're always saved. Once you're saved, you are in Christ. It's a fixed thing and this concept is related in the Greek to the concept of rest. Turn if you would to Hebrews 4:3. This is a concept that you can gain rest for your souls. You can truly not only sleep well at night and rest but rest is a concept that is a metaphor for salvation and heavenly blessedness. In Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 3 it says, "For we who have believed enter that rest just as He has said, 'As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,' although His works were finished from the foundation of the world." Verse 1 says, "Therefore let us fear lest while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have fallen short of it." And so the idea of resting in Him is set before you and you should truly fear not having entered into that rest. Not to be in Christ is a scary thing. Not to have these heavenly blessings is a scary thing because you're apart from Christ. You're outside of His protection.

Here also in Ephesians chapter 1 and verses 13 and 14, it seems that he is addressing recently saved ones and is communicating to them that they are just as secure as mature believers, and that is true. And so if you are saved, it doesn't matter how mature you are in Christ, you are just as secure as one who has been mature for 30 or 40 or 50 years. Once saved, always saved. It's a done deal. It's a work of God inside of your heart. You're born again. You cannot unborn yourself.

So if you are in Him then you have listened to the gospel. Read with me in verse 13: "In him you also after listening to the word of truth" — okay, or "heard the word of truth" — the gospel of your salvation. So truly listening is to truly be saved and to truly be saved is to have a changed heart. Point number one, if you're taking notes, is hearing changes the heart. To truly hear means that you have had a heart change. So point number one: hearing changes the heart. "In him you also after listening" — or the ESV says "heard the word of truth" — the gospel of your salvation. If you have truly heard, if you have truly listened, then it has resulted in a heart change.

Listening in the Greek is a word that means not only to perceive and not only to comprehend but to understand. Follow my train of thought here. The seat, or the collection point of understanding, is the heart. It's more than intellectual assent. It's more than knowing — it is understanding. What you understand is what you do. What you truly believe has worked its way down into the center point of who you are and you are acting out of what is understood. The seat is the seat of understanding and so the human heart is where this gospel has got to get to, to change the heart. It's not just understanding — or it's not just comprehending. Comprehending has to do with the mind and understanding has to do with the heart. So the difference is between thinking and doing, and so from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The Bible says in Matthew 12:37, "You speak from the heart, you act from the heart" — you are from who you are, with the seat of your being. So it's thinking and doing. So when the mind and the heart are both engaged you have truly listened. You've truly understood. It's not just a head thing but it's a heart thing as well, and so you've truly perceived and it has resulted in conversion and it has resulted in conforming to Christ, conforming to His word. You're actually desiring to know what the word says to feed your soul.

Turn with me into Romans chapter 10 if you would. I want you to see that hearing the gospel with the mind and believing the gospel with the heart leads to salvation. So it is both a head knowledge and a heart understanding that is being understood here. So true Christians have a changed heart.

In Romans chapter 10, verse 8, let's start with verse 6. Romans chapter 10 and verse 6 all the way down to verse 18. "But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. 'Do not say in your heart'" — isn't that an interesting concept? You can say something in your heart. You follow it? All right. "'Who will go up into heaven?' That is, to bring Christ down. 'Or who will go down into the abyss?' That is, to bring Christ up from the dead." Verse 8: "But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.'" That is the word of faith which we are preaching — that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart. You see the mental and the emotional here. You see that you have to not only perceive but you have to understand. First of all it's knowing that you are in need of a Savior and that Christ's substitutionary death on the cross was the payment for your sin. Intellectually comprehend that, and now when it starts to seep in it is believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved.

Verse 10: "For with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness." You see, from your heart is a life of righteousness. You are now righteous in standing before God. It's great. "And with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation." Verse 11: "For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes upon Him will not be put to shame,' for there is no distinction between the Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him, for 'whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news!'" However, in verse 16, "they did not all heed the good news, for Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our report?' So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, have they never heard? On the contrary, 'Their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.'"

And so here in verses 14, 17, and 18 you see the word "hear" or "heard" five times, and so the crux of today's message is: you hear — or you truly listen and understand — from the heart. Hearing is from the heart. If you truly understand, it goes beyond the mind to the heart. Here in verses 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 the word "heart" is repeated, and then the words "heard" are repeated in 14, 15, 17, and 18. These concepts are undeniable. So hearing is not just with the ears, it's with the heart.

Parents, don't you wish that your children could hear from the heart right away and understand the words coming out of your mouth and do them? But oftentimes you repeat, repeat, repeat and it goes in one ear and out the other. And the same thing with the gospel — sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other for folks we're evangelizing to, but we keep sharing the gospel and we keep painting that picture and we keep drawing the conclusion that they are lost and dead in their sins and underneath the wrath of God for eternity unless they believe this message from the heart, believe the truth of the gospel, and are converted. And so hearing then changes the heart.

In the Old Testament, in Psalm chapter 78, the hearts of the Israelites were hardened. They had not been yielding to God's message. The fathers had not been teaching their children and they did not listen. In verse 1 of Psalm chapter 78 it's very clear. It says, "Listen, O my people, to my instruction; incline your ears to the words of my mouth." And this is the same idea of "listen" in the New Testament that I just read to you in Ephesians chapter 1 in verse 13 — "In him you also after listening." And so in Psalm 78 verse 1, "Listen, O my people" — this word "listen" in the Hebrew means to turn and yield your understanding. Turn and yield your understanding. You turn from the direction that you're going and actually put yourself in a position to listen and obey. Isn't that a great picture of repentance? You have to be willing to turn from your sin, acknowledge that it is sin — it's a sin against God — and listen. Truly hear what the message is and let it get inside of you and change you. This is the gospel. The truth of the gospel changes the heart, but you have to hear it. Open your heart. Listen. You have to be willing to understand what this is. You have to activate your faith. You have to truly comprehend this and act upon it by confession. And the faith that God is going to give you to truly move forward — speak it, confess Christ is Lord, believe in your heart. And this is a concept that is all wrapped up in the word "listening": "In him you also after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation."

Now listen to me again if you would. Furthermore, it's not your persuasiveness that is going to save somebody — it's the power of the gospel and the salvation. Romans 1:16. So you don't have to worry about messing it up. So many of us are just so gun-shy when it comes to sharing the gospel because we fear we're going to mess somebody's salvation. It's not up to you. You can stumble all over yourself, you can confuse your words, you can miss parts of the gospel — half a gospel is powerful enough to produce a whole salvation. Seriously. God is able and when whatever God uses — that faithful preacher, that faithful proclaimer, whatever God chooses to use to help activate that faith, to trigger it, to bring repentance, to bring confession — let God be God and you be faithful. And so if God places you in a position to help someone to listen, you can share with them: "The gospel needs not only to be perceived but it needs to be believed. I want to help you understand to the best that I can, but you've got to believe in your heart, and then when you believe, confess." It's kind of like here to here to here. Help them to understand the truth of God's word the best you can.

The easiest way, in my opinion, to lead someone to faith in Christ is with maybe the concordance in the back of your Bible — or a concordance, period — and just look up the word "sin," look them up, read the Scriptures, let the word do the work in their heart. Look up words like "holiness" and see how God is holy and we're not, and let the word do the work in their heart. Then look at the word "faith," look up the word "faith" all the way through, and just let people read in their own Bible what the Bible has to say about faith. And then "repentance" — look up the word "repentance" and let them see what the Bible has to say about repentance. Now you're going about 30 or 40 or 50 minutes with them, and let the word confess. And so the word is doing the work in their heart. Simply be patient with someone. Look up these key words that help to reveal the gospel and let them see it in their Bible, let them read it, and you be patient and you yield to what God is doing in their life at that moment. You're not God. You can't force it. You can't make someone say a prayer and then actually be saved. You cannot make someone believe it, but you can produce a hypocrite by forcibly pushing yourself on somebody. Outward obedience is not where this is — this is an inward conformity. It's beautiful. And when God does it, it's a done deal. Once saved, always saved. You get a new heart. It has changed. And so saved people, then, they truly have listened and comprehended with their heart and now they are obedient to the word of God and there will continue to be conformity to the gospel as we grow in Christ.

Now most of you are coming on Wednesday nights and are learning theology, and our Theology Wednesdays are going really well. And I want to see if you've been listening. So we have been studying the subjects of revelation — general revelation to begin, then special revelation — and the differences between the two, general revelation and special revelation. And so if you know the answer to the next question please just say it out loud. So for those of you who know and have been listening, perhaps even online, praise the Lord. Is hearing the gospel in a way that leads to a heart change and conversion, salvation — special revelation or general?

That'll make us feel good as elders. Thank you for listening. You got it. Special revelation has led to salvation. General just lets us know that there is a God and we are culpable.

Point number two I'd like you to see from the text today is: hearing leads to a guarantee. Hearing leads to a guarantee. In chapter 1, verses 13 and 14, the Bible says, "In him you also after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you are sealed in with the Holy Spirit of promise." And so you've been sealed. Now God's word is enough, His work is enough, but we're feeble still. We need a guarantee. We need a promise. Even after we've been saved, we doubt. Even after we've been converted, even after we have experienced the life-giving life of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need assurance. We need an oath. We need a pledge. And in this verse the Spirit is the Holy Spirit of promise — that's the last word in verse 13.

Now beyond that, the word "sealed" means security and it speaks to ownership. And so the security of the believer is based upon the promise of God, who has given you the Holy Spirit of God. Now the doctrine of the security of our salvation is one of the most comforting doctrines that there is. It brings you security. It brings you comfort. Some of life's worst tortures come from those who have believed that they can lose their salvation, and they oftentimes abandon the faith. The ones who are most sincere in trying to keep their salvation but believe that they can lose it cannot find it in their heart to believe that God would, after all this effort, pour out His wrath upon them, and it exhausts them. It's just torturous trying to go to sleep at night wondering, "Have I done something wrong today that God would equate as sin and He's going to damn me to hell if I die in my sleep?" You can't go to sleep with that. Well, that is simply from not understanding what the word of God has to say.

Turn to John chapter 10 if you would. I want you to see in the book of John just a wonderful passage on the security of the believer. John 10:27 and following. "My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me." Now just a little caveat here — this is not you hearing God. "My sheep hear My voice" — the gospel call. They hear God's call drawing them into salvation. God knows them and then they yield and follow Him. In verse 28, "I give them eternal life" — He doesn't give them life and then take it back. "He gives them eternal life and they will never perish." This is absolute language. Once you're saved, you're always saved. "You will never perish, and no one" — as if He needed to add to this concept — "and no one will snatch them out of My hand." And so God has a grip on you, and He says your life is secure, but then He grabs it with both hands and He says, "No one can snatch you out of My hands." It's kind of like my daughters with a dollar headed to the ice cream — no one can snatch that dollar out of their hands. They're going to get that ice cream. I'm just kidding, I like to keep the kids involved. God is a God of security and He gives you a word picture to say that you're doubly secure: "Here, I've got you, and no one — not even Satan himself, a mighty angel — can get to you now. I've got you." It's very comforting. Verse 29: "My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." John chapter 10 and verses 27, 28, and 29 help us to understand the guarantee that is being mentioned in Ephesians here.

Some of the worst torture comes from those we've witnessed to regarding feeling like they can lose their salvation, and I hope that perhaps if you are in that, you are coming out from underneath that false doctrine and into the light of Christ and experiencing His fatherly comfort. If you've lived in that then you know what I'm saying is true, and perhaps you're still shedding off some of those fears — and those fears are not from the Lord.

So another concept that you can cling to is back in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, regarding the security of the believer. You have a guarantee, which is the Holy Spirit. You're sealed. He owns you and it's not going to change. And if you worked for your salvation then you can stop working and lose your salvation, but what if you didn't work for your salvation? What if it was a work of God? In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, it says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works" — you see that? — "so that no one may boast." This gives us security because salvation is by grace through faith, not of yourselves, not of works. It's been said like this before: it's by grace through faith plus nothing. By grace through faith plus nothing. You can't do anything to earn it or to deserve it. And so your salvation is unmerited — God gave it to you because of His merit. You did not deserve it. He gave it to you. Doesn't that make you so grateful unto God for your salvation?

Now to further drive home this point, if you would like to turn to Romans 8:35 with me — I want you to see that you cannot be separated from the love of God. In Romans chapter 8 and verses 35 all the way down to the next chapter, chapter 9, verse 1, you will see that we cannot be separated because we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. We have security in our salvation. In Romans chapter 8, verse 35: "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or turmoil or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?" "Just as it is written, 'For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were counted as sheep for the slaughter.' But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This concept is beautiful. Those who are in Christ Jesus, you are underneath His lordship, His power. You're in Him and you cannot be separated from His love. He didn't choose to love you because you were lovable, and when you become unlovable He's not going to separate Himself from you, because He didn't choose you because you were lovable — He chose you because He is love. Out of the love that He has, He chose you. And so that would then prompt you to be more lovable, right? Not unlovable. Paul said, not that grace may abound — "I want to sin some more?" — heavens no. We don't want to offend the One or disappoint the One who has graciously saved us. Praise God.

And so the Holy Spirit has then taken up residence in your heart and He is our guarantee. He is a gift. He's our helper to empower us for ministry. He is our authenticity — it's none of our works, lest any man should boast. And we're actually His property. We belong to Christ. And so we are possessions of God. The seal declares that the transaction in fact happened: our sin debt was paid and we've been adopted, and now we have this seal on us and we've been delivered. Now we, on behalf of God and His authority, spread the life-changing gospel.

Point number three, if you're taking notes, is hearing means safety. Back to Ephesians chapter 1: hearing means safety. Safety in verse 13 — "In him you also after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed, you were sealed with him in the Holy Spirit of promise." The gospel of your salvation — you've been saved. Lost people should ask Christians: "Saved from what? What does that mean?" Christians, you should answer this: saved from the wrath of God. Saved from the wrath of God. The good news of the gospel, the gospel of your salvation — those of you who have been saved — not only did Christ die in your place, and not only has He paid your ransom, your sin debt, not only has He transferred you out of eternal darkness into the eternal light of Christ, which is the good news, but now you're safe from God's wrath.

Turn to Romans chapter 5, verse 9. Romans chapter 5, verse 9. You are saved now from the wrath of God. One of the reasons why people do not come to Christ is because they do not realize that the punishment for their sin is God's wrath abiding on them. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 9: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood" — if you're justified you're saved — "we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." Through Him you're saved. Saved from what? Saved from the wrath of God. We need to portray the gospel in all of its entirety — not just the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also you must be saved lest you be in hell forever. Luke 13:3 says repent or you shall likewise perish. Define what "perish" means. What does that mean? What does it mean to be in hell forever, separated from God, while the wrath of God abides upon you? Does it really abide upon you? Does God's wrath actually rest on — or punish eternally — those who are not believers? Well, yes. In John chapter 3, verse 36, He says, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." God's wrath abides on non-believers in eternity, forever and ever and ever.

And so if you truly hear — not just know, if you truly hear what the gospel has said — then it means that you are safe. Hearing means safety. You are safe from God's wrath, safe from His judgment, safe from His punishment. And you're also — by the way — safe from Satan in eternity, and you're safe from — even perhaps some of you struggle with this — self-destruction. You're safe. You're owned and operated by God now and you are in His will. So hearing means safety.

Point number four, if you're taking notes: hearing means glorifying. In this text, in verse 14, we see the third time Paul mentions "to the praise of His glory." So hearing means glorifying. Now the big idea in the Bible is God's glory. God has revealed Himself to humanity and the reason why humanity is here is so that God would have someone to reveal His glory to, and so that we in turn can glorify Him back and give Him praise and to give Him honor. So the big deal in the Bible is that God is revealing His glory, and therefore the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

About 400 years ago, some Puritan preachers got together and studied and prayed and drafted the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and this catechism was to equip their parishioners, their parents, and their people to be able to catechize themselves and catechize their children and their youth. Catechizing is teaching repetitiously — teaching repetitiously, not only teaching repetitiously and saying the same things in order that they may know these sound doctrines, but also stating them in the form of a question so they could regurgitate a memorized answer. And so question number one is: "What is the chief end of man?" And the answer is: "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." This first question — "What is the chief, the highest end of man?" In other words, why am I here? Only Christians have an answer with substance. A meaningful answer. No other religion, no other atheistic standpoint, no agnosticism, no other thing has an answer to why you're even here. Why do you exist? What is my purpose as an individual? But in Christianity you have purpose: it's to glorify God. You've been given a gift. You've been given a ministry of reconciliation. You have been given a part in a local church, and your presence matters. Glorifying God and worshiping God matters. God not only wants it, He expects it from us. And so we give Him due praise and we glorify Him in every single way that we possibly can.

And when you look at the text here, back in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 all the way to 14, we're going to finish this long sentence today — if you stick around for a couple more hours. In this long sentence we see the phrase "to the glory of God" or "to the praise of His glory" three different times. In the beginning part it is to the glory of God the Father, in the middle part it is to the glory of the Son, and in the end here it is to the glory of the Holy Spirit. Paul is overwhelmingly overwhelmed with praising God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And so you in your life can follow likewise and use this as a pattern to praise God, to praise Jesus, and to praise the Holy Spirit. And we're learning today some aspects for which you can, on the way home even today, praise the Holy Spirit of God — for the security, for sealing you, for drawing you, for saving you. It's amazing. So verse 6 is praise to God, verse 12 is praise to Christ, and verse 14 is praise to the Holy Spirit. "To the praise of His glory" — verse 6. "To the praise of His glory" — verse 12. And "to the praise of His glory" — verse 14. This is the chief end of man, to praise God. No wonder Paul does it three times in one long sentence. I wanted to do it again when I meet him in heaven. Take a deep breath, Paul, and give me verses 3 all the way to 14. Oftentimes in our English translations there are more periods than there are in the Greek and so sometimes you think there's a break up there but there's not — this is just one amazing thought. And I challenge you perhaps to go home and try and say verses 13 to 14 in one breath and glorify the Lord.

Now as we wrap up the end of this sentence I want you to know a few other things, but one personal thing in which I really enjoy the Holy Spirit — personally, I enjoy help from the Holy Spirit. I know my limitations and I know when God shows up to help me. I know when I'm at the end of myself and then He helps me finish the race. I know when I'm getting ready to fall short but then the help of the Holy Spirit kicks in and helps me. The Bible says in Psalm 121:2, "My help comes from the Lord," and I acknowledge that when He helps me.

We have lots of you who are going out and evangelizing on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, and I know that you sense the same thing — the trepidation, perhaps even the fear of sharing your faith up front. Getting over that is hard, but then once you step out in faith the Holy Spirit of God helps you. You have an amazing ability to not only be okay with rejection but also to experience a wonderful conversation. You look back and you say, "The Lord helped me," and I am so grateful for that. And it leaves you in a state of awe. You go home saying, "Lord, this is just amazing. No wonder You commissioned us to go therefore and to make disciples. No wonder we're commissioned to go. This is how You made us. We are to embrace our faith, to verbalize our faith, to actualize our faith, to be dynamic disciples on display." "How will they hear without a preacher?" And then God rewards us when we are obedient. This is just amazing. I acknowledge when the Lord helps me and I pray and I say, "Thank you, dear Jesus." Hebrews 13:6 — "The Lord is my helper." Hebrews 13:6: the Lord is my helper.

And now may I offer not only what the Holy Spirit is but also what He is not. I want to offer what He is and what He is not — one point by way of doctrine for the Holy Spirit. What He is: He is the inspiration of Scripture. And so you can trust God's holy word. This is divinely inspired. And so Paul wrote Ephesians but he was underneath the inspiration of God. The same with Paul — he wrote First and Second Timothy, and in Second Timothy 3:16 he says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." And so the Holy Spirit of God has inspired this text. Second Peter chapter 1, verse 21 says, "Men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." And so this divine document — all 66 books — are all of God's inspired word. Holy. It reveals who He is, reveals His attributes, and reveals everything we need to know. And so the term "inspire" comes from the Latin word meaning to breathe, and so God breathed this out. God breathed Scripture through selected men to pen His words, and so God was, in a technical form, speaking in the superlative — which means there's no greater way to speak. It is the highest, the greatest, the most absolute way to communicate. It's perfect, without error. God spoke His word through inspiration, breathing it out in perfect form. We have God's word. And so the Holy Spirit is the inspirer — He is the inspiration behind what we have. And that is just one point of perhaps six months' worth of teaching on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. You all won't stay here that long, so I've got to move on.

Here's one point for which He's not, and this is important for our day as well. Not just what happened on January 20th, 1994 — the Toronto Blessing. First off, I'll just simply say it up front: the Holy Spirit is not chaotic. He's not chaotic. The Toronto Blessing was led by the false preacher Randy Clark, and Randy Clark held charismatic meetings in Toronto, Canada. He was preaching for a pastor whose name is John Arnott at what's called the Airport Vineyard Church. And at the Airport Vineyard Church there was this massive movement that was attributed to the Holy Spirit's movement, but it was not that. This movement there in Toronto, Canada — which is now understood to be known as the Toronto Blessing — led to other huge chaotic so-called revivals that led to the Latter Rain movement, which is in the holiness Pentecostal arena, and then it led to the Brownsville Revival right below us, in Pensacola, in 1995 all the way to the year 2000, and then in 2008. So the Brownsville Revival in '95 to 2000 and the Lakeland Revival in 2008 — many of you probably remember that craziness in Lakeland. I do.

Now all of this supposed revival stuff, led by the supposed Holy Spirit, included supernatural manifestations and experiences that are not found in the Word of God — for example, uncontrollable laughter; for example, falling backward; for example, acting like animals, literally; for example, dog barking; for example, roaring like lions — which, by the way, do you know that in their mind that is symbolically taking back ground for God that Satan has gained in the church, and so they are roaring like a lion to take back ground, as if you can face off with Satan. And when they also have these supernatural manifestations and experiences that are not found in Scripture — such as speaking in tongues or gibberish, fake healings, hours of dancing, shaking violently, flopping on the carpet, et cetera, et cetera — all along with this mood-manipulative music that goes from intense to soft and mood-manipulating. So the Holy Spirit, I'm telling you, is not of chaos. This is not of the Lord.

And perhaps you have been fooled by this in times past. It's not of the Lord. Our authority is the Word of God. And we are human beings — we can be fooled. Someone can tell you something in a genuine way but they can be genuinely wrong. They can be sincere but they can be sincerely wrong. And so, like the Bereans, whatever you hear, take it to the Word of God and test it before you accept it. You take something that perhaps sounds a little strange and you verify it. Be a good Berean believer and you verify it with the Scriptures — even what preachers are saying, even what pastors are saying, even what elders are saying. Study yourself approved. Seriously. This is a skill that is developed over time and you need to learn this skill — how to observe, interpret, and then apply the text, not just read and respond. This crazy charismatic movement will take things out of context and make you read and respond to things, and they will say things that perhaps were descriptive in the book of Acts and descriptive in the Old Testament and make them prescriptive for today. Listen — when the Holy Spirit of God worked in miraculous ways in these short little periods of time in history, it is not normative for all of Christendom. God worked miraculously in short little periods of time — three different short periods in time — not only to establish His word, not only to do miracles as in the case of Jesus incarnate, but also in the prophets and the apostles to do healings. But that is not normative for today.

You need not to be subject to thinking that you need to roar like a lion to gain ground. Your life can be victorious in Christ. You don't need to speak in tongues to verify that you're saved, but denominations will tell you that. And you don't need to bark like a dog and flop like a fish on the floor in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you get saved you are filled with the Holy Spirit. And you have all of the Holy Spirit that I've got and I've got all the Holy Spirit that you've got. I don't have a lockdown on more of God — neither does an evangelist or a preacher or a self-titled apostle. A self-titled — you know — Reverend, whatever they add. All these different names. And all of what you see perhaps in Africa — that is not genuine Christianity. There are a lot of testimonies out there today, mass revivals — these guys that I listed today mark off numbers in the hundreds of thousands in results. That's the broad road, not the narrow road, guys. So this is something that you want to be skeptical of.

To bring yourself underneath the authority of the Holy Spirit and the authority of His word and walk with the Lord — He is orderly and He's peaceable. He's lovely and He's kind. And by the way, He is not chaotic. He is not a God of confusion.

And so hearing from the heart: first of all, changes the heart; second of all, leads to a guarantee and security in the heart; then it leads to safety in the heart — you feel secure with God, you are not going to be underneath His wrath; and then it means that you're glorifying from the heart. No one can come to the Father unless the Holy Spirit draws him. John chapter 6 and verse 44 says this, and then in verse 47, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life."

And so by way of invitation: if you here today have never truly heard the gospel — not just with your mind but with your heart — never responded to the gospel call by repenting of your sin and placing your faith and trust in the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross in your place, and He paid your punishment, He took on God's wrath on the cross in your place, you don't have to pay for your sin — if you've never responded to the gospel, I plead today: repent and believe the gospel. Just like Mark pleaded with his listeners in Mark chapter 1, verse 15: "Repent and believe the gospel." You've heard the gospel. I'm going to pray with you now, and if you want to do business with the Lord you do business with the Lord between Him and you. You don't need me to be saved. I have put forth the gospel today. You respond in a way that would be pleasing to the Lord. And if you're saved, I pray that now you'd utilize this time of invitation to do business with the Lord and perhaps align yourself more fully with these concepts and walk closer with Him.

Let's pray together. Lord, we do love You. We thank You for the precepts today that You have set before us. And I pray, God, that now as we have drawn close to You and finished up this section, I pray that we would be in awe of You, God. Help us to go home today and to praise You just like Paul did — and praise You for the security that You give us, and praise You for the safety, dear God, and praise You and glorify Your holy name for all that You have done. And Father, I pray that today would be the day of salvation for those who are here. I pray, Father, that You would draw them by Your good Holy Spirit and make their hearts to be sorrowful for the sin that they know they have committed against You, and that that sorrow, dear God, would lead them to simply repenting of it and turning from their sin and calling out to You and asking You to save them. Father, I pray that the godly sorrow that You provide for them would lead them unto repentance unto salvation, just like Your word says in 2nd Corinthians 7:10. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.