This is the Truth Network. In this series, we've already learned that the fire that fell at Pentecost had many different effects on the church. But did it also repel people from coming to the church? And did it possibly consume sinning Christians? Oh, my goodness, stay with us, listen, and learn.
You're listening to Until He Comes, a blend of prophetic and practical biblical studies with Dr. Greg Hinnant, author of The Second Coming of Christ, His Appearing, His Return, Our Preparation. And now, author and teacher Greg Hinnant. Welcome to the broadcast, my friend. Today we're going to finish our series on tongues of fire.
Before we begin this episode, I want to share with you some wonderful news. This September beginning on the fourteenth and extending through the twenty eighth, For five different nights and ten different sessions, I will teach the book of Revelation in depth At the First Baptist Church in Kernersville, North Carolina. That is centrally located in the Triad from High Point, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem. It's 15 minutes in either direction. Very easy to get to.
The venue holds over 600. We hope to fill it up. And I would encourage you to come today for this very timely conference. Everyone who registers will receive a copy of my Revelation Notes, which is a 758-page in-depth commentary on the book of Revelation is also in the Logos Library online. and you will also receive a hundred and fifty page study guide, which will track the ten sessions.
We will be taping these sessions and we will also be zooming them.
So if you are not able to come in person in September, please sign up as a Zoom student. you will also receive the same materials by PDF.
Now, we encourage you to come. We're going to be plumbing the depths of this book. We're going to be looking at Jesus as you have never seen him before. And we're going to explore not only the events in heaven when the church has been translated to heaven, what happens there. We're going to explore the tribulation period in detail and in chronological order.
And we're also going to explain what happens after the tribulation when Christ returns to earth, how the world will be severely depopulated and then necessarily repopulated by surviving people who have come through that time. And also, the saints who have overcome in this life, Christians, will rule and reign with Christ along with overcoming Jews in the millennial age. It will be a glorious period, a precursor to, an orientation to, if you will, the eternal state which follows. And we'll discuss the new world cosmology in depth. You don't want to miss this conference.
It will definitely inspire you to be. ready for Christ's coming.
Now today We're going to talk in this final session about this fire that fell at Pentecost and see that it consumed. Wilfully sinning Christians Oh, my goodness Many Christians don't realize that. It also repelled those who had no intention of committing to Christ. This same fire consumed heresy when it entered the church, and heretics. and it also ignited wonderful fires of discipleship, Disciples' hearts were set aflame when they heard this message and received the Holy Spirit.
Revivals were ignited. And also, persecutions. We need to know that because that's part and parcel of the package of the true gospel.
So, today, let's dive right into it. This fire consumed willfully sinning Christians. We have the stunning story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, verses 1 through 11. I'm going to read it now for you. But a certain man, now notice this begins with the conjunction, but, because it is in contrast to what we're told in chapter 4 of the church being so generous, selling their properties, giving the proceeds to the apostles to distribute to the poor, and also the visitors who had stayed behind from other countries to take in the apostolic teaching.
That was the generous part of the church. But a certain man named Ananias, with Safari his wife.
sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it or being aware of it. being a part of it. and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart? to lie to the Holy Spirit.
Here we have an amazing Phenomena. We have, in the midst of a spirit filled church, a Satan filled man. Hmm. Why has Satan filled your heart? To lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land.
He goes on to say: While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied unto man, that is, man merely, but unto God. You see, the Holy Spirit was present in Peter and the other apostolic leaders.
So in lying to the leadership, they were lying to the Spirit that indwelt them. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost.
Now I want to point out to you this was a miracle of judgment. What happened? Was it a heart attack? Was it a stroke? No, none of that.
God just took his spirit. And the man fell over. The body fell over. A miracle of judgment. This is a different kind of miracle.
a supernatural divine act which just took back the soul which God originally breathed into this man at birth.
Okay, now, when this happened, The Bible says that great fear came on all them that heard these things. My goodness, the awe of God spread. They understood they weren't dealing. with a God who would Tolerate. ongoing sin, and falsehood in the midst of his people.
And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in, and Peter answered unto her, Tell me, whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it? How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?
So apparently. They decided privately that they would lie about this and see. if God could find them out, and He did. Why have you agreed together to lie, and tempt the Spirit of the Lord. Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
Then she fell down straightway at his feet, And yielded up the ghost, and the young men came in and found her dead, and carried her forth, buried her by her husband.
Now, notice. Ananias fell dead when he heard Peter's words. Those words out of his mouth were just like the words which will come out of Christ's mouth at Armageddon. He will speak a word of a miracle of divine judgment, and Antichrist's armies will suddenly. Parish.
In the same way this powerful word was spoken by Peter. and Ananas and Sapphira, each one, and each one were given their chance to tell the truth. And they both. We're judged in the midst of the church. This fire.
That came at Pentecost. had a dangerous element if you were going to try to tempt God. If you're going to try to fool God. If you're going to try to practice sin knowingly, willingly, stubbornly in the midst of a holy church.
So this is quite a story. It was just as much a miracle of judgment as the plagues of Egypt. Jay Vonner McGee said that This happened early in the history of the church, so as to warn all Christians to not presume That they can sin with impunity. You can sin. But you won't mock God.
Ye will repurchase so. If you sow to the flesh, you reap to the flesh. If you sowed the spirit, ye'll rape to the spirit. You know, Paul examined, ordered us to examine ourselves in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. He said in verse twenty eight, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
He was giving instruction to the Corinthians for the Lord's Supper. They had misbehaved. And he was telling them this is a This is a solemn occasion, a joyous but solemn occasion. And don't come to the table drunk and disorderly. Examine yourself before you come and take the elements of the Lord's Supper.
Then he goes on to say, For he that eats and drinks unworthily, that is, in an unworthy condition, that is, in an irreverent manner, or in an unworthy state of being, meaning holding sin that's unconfessed in your life. He that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks. Damnation or condemnation to himself or judgment, not discerning that he is. partaking of the Lord's body. And again, I will add, which is holy.
So we're in a holy church. Communion is a holy thing. We're put in touch by the Holy Spirit with the actual Spirit of Christ.
Now, verse 30 says, For this cause, that is, for taking the elements in an unworthy way, many are weak and sickly among you, and some Excuse me. Mini. Sleep. What did he mean? Many Christians had died early because they weren't respecting the holiness of the Lord's table, and also they weren't confessing their sins.
Friends, are you confessing your sin? When did the curse? You know, none of us intend to sin if we're serious about Christianity, but sin may happen. Our carnal nature. Maybe burst out If we're not walking closely with Christ and we may say something or do something, that's wrong.
And we sin. But God has made a provision, in first John one, through the blood of Christ, He says the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. And also in verse 9, 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Why?
So He can restore fellowship. Sin breaks the believer's fellowship, but doesn't change the relationship. But confession of sin. restores the fellowship immediately.
Now, if you want to look at that, the Schofield Study Bible has an excellent note on 1 John 1:9. I encourage you to read the notes in that section. Walking in the light is so important.
So here we see this fire that came at Pentecost was not to be played with it would consume you.
Now, of course, we know the same is true. If you light a fire in your cabin in the mountains at night, And you got a bed? But you have inadvertently laid some other flammable materials near the fireplace. That thing may spark Catch fire, and you may be consumed. In the same way, The fire of the Holy Spirit.
which is intended to be so productive in the believer's life can be deadly. Just ask. And on us. and Sapphira.
Now The fire of the Holy Spirit also repels those who are unwilling to commit to Jesus. You know, many people today. Say they're Christians, but they have no intention of committing their whole lives. That is. Casting over all their lives into the hands of Jesus.
This month, for a gift of any amount, receive Dr. Hinnan's book, Precious Pearls from the Proverbs. This book is an in-depth examination of 33 wisdom sayings from the book of Proverbs. They will enrich your spiritual walk with practical and spiritual pearls of truth.
Some of the topics addressed are attitudes, motives, speech, parenting, mercy, faithfulness, leadership, laziness, and many others. Give and get your copy today. For a gift of $60 or more, we'll send you the complete four-volume Hinnan End Times Prophecy Collection: The Second Coming of Christ, The Tribulation Story, Revelation Notes, a verse-by-verse commentary on Revelation, and the Day of the Lord commentary, which interprets all Old Testament prophecies and foreshadowings of the end times. And if you are a Logos Bible software user, you may purchase all four. These books from the Logos Online Bookstore.
You may give your gift today by visiting the donation page at greghinnantministries.org or sending your checks to Greg Hinnant Ministries, P.O. Box 788 High Point, North Carolina, 27260. Or by calling 336-882-1645.
Now, again, Dr. Hinnant. They will go to church. They will sing a hymn. They will cast in a few dollars in the plate.
They may participate in some programs. But they're not committed. Every Christian who's born again should thereafter commit As a disciple of Jesus Christ. What is a disciple? A disciple is.
A deeply serious They play serious. SELF DICIPLINED Student follower. of the Son of God. They are very serious about their walk with Christ. They're irrevocably committed.
They're not going to turn back. They're self-disciplined. No one has to tell them what to do. They seek the Lord. They take time for Bible study.
They take time for prayer. They take time to come to church. They love to come to church. And then They are a student follower of the Lord. You know, the word disciple simply means pupil, learner, or student.
But. A first century disciple was wholly committed. to his rabbi if he was a Jewish disciple or to his philosopher if he was a Greek or Roman. Disciple, and we should be wholly committed to our Christ. And the purpose was to learn and imbibe their teaching and then go out and live it.
to the honour and the reputation of their master. This is what a New Testament disciple should be in Christ. But some Christians are not willing to commit to that. They have too much to do in this world, and Jesus just does not mean that much to them. They have one foot in the world, and one foot in Christ.
You know you've heard that metaphor used so many times, but it is true. These people, when they see the fire of revival breaking out. they stand back from it. They stand back. They don't come to the revival.
They step back from the revival. You know, people flee before a raging fire. If you're in the western United States and one of these terrible Raging forest fires breaks out as they do. almost annually in certain areas. You would not run to it, you would run from it.
Absolutely, and you would be wise to do so.
However, when the Wildfire of true revival of the Holy Spirit burning in the church. you should come to it. What do you mean just to observe and like you're going to the To the county fair? Nope, not at all. To surrender yourself to what God is doing there.
And all. Revival fires begin with repentance. The salient feature, the unquestionable mark of genuine awakening, revival, renewal, whatever you want to call it. When the Holy Spirit manifests in the midst of His people, the one salient feature is conviction of sin. A willingness to reconcile with God.
And whoever we have wronged. This is the mark that the true Holy Spirit is working. You see, Jesus said, He shall convict. The world of sin. Then Often there are the manifestations of Christ among His people.
The same thing Jesus did when He was in His corporeal body, He does again by His Spirit and His fullness and this Wonderful holy fire through the corporate body. There is the teaching of the marvelous truth of the Word of God. There is grace, there is compassion, there is forgiveness, there is restoration, and there is powerful healing and miracles, yes, and deliverances from demonic. imp uh possession or oppression. Yes, these still occur.
So When this fire breaks out, some run from it We see in Acts five We're told there Um that When this happened, Many did not come to this revival verse 12 says, And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, and they were all of one accord in Solomon's porch, that is, in the portico of the temple. And of the rest, durst no man join himself to them. That is, no other people joined themselves to the disciples. But the people magnified them.
So they were aware that this was quite a different company of people. And there were some awesome things happening. And if they weren't ready to commit, they stood off.
So let me say something to you. If you've had a church, you've been. Meeting and worshiping God and teaching the word and caring for your children, the pastor staff taking care of the people and the teaching. And when heresy has come up, they've addressed it. When sin has come up, they've addressed it.
But yet you're not growing in numbers. Don't worry about it, because some people will come to, but some people will keep from your assembly for this same reason. Because there's too much of Christ there. And they're not ready. to commit.
Paul said this would be one of the marks of apostasy in the end times. Let me give you his text from Second Timothy Chapter 4, verse 3 and 4. For the time will come, and my friends, the time has come, When they will not endure sound doctrine, that is, doctrine that is rightly dividing the Word of God, that cannot be refuted because it is so clearly correct. interpretation of Scripture. But after their own lusts, that is, personal desires, they will heap to the sub teachers having itching ears.
That is, they will choose teachers who excused their selfishness or their lust or their sins or their worldiness. and encourage them in it. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth. That is the whole counsel of God. and they shall be turned into Fables.
Now, friend, that word in the Greek means That word of the Greek simply means a myth, a fable.
Now what do we have today? There's a growing interest in Christian fiction. I'm not against Christian fiction. But if you only read Christian fiction, I'm against that, because you're not getting the the straight word of God. You need to feed on the word.
Then if you want to read fiction, that's fine. But don't feed on fiction. Feed on the Word of God. Because if you don't, it's going to lead you away from Christ and you will eventually apostatize. Paul wrote sadly of the abandonment of one of his dear friends, Demas, and he said, Demas had hath forsaken me.
Having loved this present world, 2 Timothy 4:10.
So the worldly Christian or carnal Christian, as Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 3 and 5. We'll draw back. when the Holy Spirit is training people to walk as spiritual Christians. not holier than now, but Seeking genuine, humble holiness before Christ.
Now, this fire also will consume heretics and heresy. You know, in the early church, After the church began to teach the teachings of Christ, there came along a group of former Pharisees called the Judaizers. You bet I'd have heard that particular term. But these were former Pharisees who claimed to be believers in Jesus. who wanted to Be sure that the Gentiles were converted to Judaism first before they could receive the grace of God.
This meant they had to work to become a Jew so they could receive salvation. By grace. False soteriology, false salvation doctrine, it is the worst kind of heresy. Friends, there's a lot of ways that we disagree in interpreting certain Biblical texts. Don't be quick to call a pastor, a teacher, a heretic just because he disagrees with you about a minor point of Biblical interpretation.
That is so unchristlike. I mean, my goodness. that there are certain debatable things in the Bible.
However, when it comes to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, you must be uncompromising.
So when Paul heard these fundamentals, Former Pharisees coming in and teaching, as they were in the young Gentile church in Antioch, they were teaching that these. Gentiles who had already been born again and filled with the Spirit had to then become proselytes to Judaism. They had to be circumcised, they had to keep the law, they had to worship on the Sabbath, etcetera. on and on and on and on. And then they could be saved by grace.
Paul said, wait a minute, and of course I'm paraphrasing here, and he objected. There in Antioch, and the leaders agreed that they needed to take this matter to James and the church in Jerusalem. They did so, and you can read the record in Acts fifteen, where they decided then that the only thing that were required of the Gentiles was that they not commit fornication, that they not uh drink things with blood in it, and they not eat meats offered to idols. And that was it. They did not have to become Jews.
So today there is a growing trend among Christians to sort of Judaize, that is to do Jewish things and pray Jewish prayers. That's all right as long as you don't get it mixed up with your salvation. I had many, many wonderful Dear Messianic Jews, who are my friend, you know, who are friends of mine. and uh compatriots, but Um I let them worship their way, I worship mine. Um Who believes in Christ and is saved by the grace of God alone?
So let's keep these matters clear.
Now, there are many other. serious issues in the way of Heresy which we cannot Tolerate one occurred. In the church at Thyatiron, Jesus addressed it in Revelation 2, verse 20 through 23. Let me read this for you. This is very important.
Jesus said when he addressed that church, notwithstanding that is, he had already complimented them on some things, but he said, Nevertheless, I have a few things against thee, because you suffer that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed in the idols.
Now, what does he mean? First of all, he's saying this woman who he called Jezebel, now understand this, that was not her name. Jesus can be sarcastic. He can use some caustic wit when he gets ready to. He called this woman Jezebel because, like the ancient Jezebel, she was leading God's people into idolatry and sin of every kind.
This Jezebel was encouraging the Christians in Taitara telling them that it was all right if they went to the local idol shrines and ate the sacrificial meals once a month, and then committed fornication as an act of a supposed act of worship to this false God, and that that was permissible, that was all right, they could worship Jesus and worship the idol too.
So, Jesus, of course. pointed this out, and he rebuked the leaders for allowing her to teach. Pastor, elder, who are you letting teach in your church? Just be sure their doctrine is sound. If they're not teaching sound doctrine, then call them aside and talk to them, and maybe they're not ready to teach at all.
Certainly they need to be corrected on their doctrine.
Now he goes on to issue this severe warning in verse 21. 3.23. I gave her space to repent of her fornication.
So Jesus spoke to this woman. He rebuked her. How, we don't know. He may have sent a prophet to do it, or a pastor, or an elder. But she didn't respond in the Period of time he allowed.
Space. to repent. And she repented not. He said, Behold, I will cast her into a bed and then they commit adultery with her into great tribulation.
Now was He literally going to throw her into a bed? Absolutely not. Jesus again, using metaphor here, He's saying, I'm going to put her in the tribulation, and that's going to be her bed, not a pleasure, but of pain. Except they repent of their deeds. Then he goes on to say, This: Listen to your Lord speak here.
I will kill her children with death. Friend, do you realize that Christ has the power of life and death? over you and me. And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the hearts. the range, and that I will give unto every one of you according To your works.
There he is reiterating what Paul teaches so clearly in the New Testament that we will be rewarded by our works.
So here we see that the fire of the Holy Spirit is a powerful force not to be played with. This power can consume believers' sins. Then it can consume believers who will refuse to forsake their sin. It will repel Christians who are not ready to commit, and it will consume heresy. And if they don't repent, it will consume heretics as well.
So this concludes our series on the fires of the Holy Spirit. If this message has blessed you, tell your friends and please consider helping us stay on the air by sending your tax-deductible donation to Greg Hennett Ministries. Also, remember, you may download the Until He Comes podcast from your preferred podcast app. May you walk closely with Christ and trust and obey Him in your daily tests of faith and patience until He Comes. This is the Truth Network.
Mm-hmm.
