The Bible, the Preacher, and the Spirit (12)
As with the conversion of the eunuch in Acts 8, sometimes human instruments can be quite involved in the process. In that instance, Philip ran up to join the chariot and then spent some time expounding Christ to him from the Scripture. But sometimes it pleases God to reduce or even minimize the role of human instruments.
A certain young man had spent years seeking for spiritual truth and reality. He had heard hundreds of hours of sermons, and read not a small stack of books. But his spirit remained lost and dead. Then, one day he was reading a book and came across a Bible quotation: "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him'" (John 7:37-38). Immediately he broke down and wept, and was converted. What made the difference? He wanted this living water, and he sought it daily for many years. By God's design, he had been made to seek, but what he was seeking eluded him. Then, suddenly, the Spirit opened his eyes, and what years of seeking could not produce was given to him in an instant.
The role of the human instruments is sometimes reduced or minimized, but this cannot be said of the Spirit, whose work is always necessary and decisive. William Barclay wrote about the story of Signor Antonio from Minas, Brazil, who bought a New Testament so that he could burn it. "He went home and found the fire was out. Deliberately he lit it. He flung the New Testament on it. It would not burn. He opened out the pages to make it burn more easily. It opened at the Sermon on the Mount. He glanced at it as he consigned it to the flames. His mind was caught; he took it back. He read on, forgetful of time, through the hours of the night, and just as the dawn was breaking, he stood up and declared, 'I believe.'"
Paul calls the word of God "the sword of the Spirit." It is placed into the hands of Christians, and as we mentioned, this sword can be used with more or less wisdom and skill. This is why he exhorts Timothy, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Then again, sometimes the role of the human instruments is reduced or minimized, and the Spirit of God wields the sword all by himself, breaking all resistance, and driving it deep into the hearts of men.
Again, Barclay writes, "Vincente Quiroga of Chile found a few pages of a book washed up on the seashore by a tidal wave following an earthquake. He read them and never rested until he obtained the rest of the Bible. Not only did he become a Christian; he devoted the rest of his life to the distribution of the Scriptures in the forgotten villages of northern Chile."
In no way am I urging us to neglect our role in the ministry of the word, since we must be diligent in developing our skill in handling Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15), so that we can ably deal with whomever we encounter, "as the Lord has assigned to each his task" (1 Corinthians 3:5). What I am urging is a stronger confidence in the Bible and a genuine dependence on the Spirit to work powerfully and effectively, to produce conversion in the elect and sanctification in the believers, at times in conjunction with our exposition, and at times almost completely apart from it.
(to be continued)
The Bible, the Preacher, and the Spirit (11)
The decisive factor in the effectiveness of preaching is the sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. Although God uses men as instruments to proclaim his word, they lack the ability to directly transform the hearts of the listeners. On the other hand, the Spirit exercises active and direct control over the minds of all men, causing thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and motives in them according to his own will. The Bible is the usual instrument – the intellectual content that he works with as he controls men's hearts – that he uses to convert and to sanctify, but also to harden, the hearts of men. And men are the usual instruments by which he propagates the contents of the Bible.
Paul realized that men were "only servants, through whom you came to believe" (1 Corinthians 3:5). Paul planted, Apollos watered – they could not do more than that – but "God made it grow" (v. 6). This knowledge was a controlling factor in Paul's preaching ministry. It caused him to depend on the Spirit for effectiveness, and he rejoiced when the Spirit came in power as he preached: "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction" (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5).
In a way, all that I have said so far is to lead to this point, which is often acknowledged on paper but far too often neglected in practice. That is, the mature minister or believer is marked by his ability to handle the Bible with wisdom and skill, but this must include a genuine dependence on the Holy Spirit to work with the Scripture to render it effective. He knows his role. He knows what he must do, but he also realizes that there are some things he must not even try to do – instead, he must count on God's Spirit to make them happen.
A non-Christian businessman once met with a preacher in a hotel lobby. The meeting was arranged by a mutual friend, which was probably the only reason he agreed to it. Even then, he gave the preacher only several minutes, perhaps fewer than ten. Throughout their short conversation, the preacher repeatedly said to him, "The way of transgressors is hard." This is half of a verse from Proverbs (13:15, KJV). As he got up to leave, the preacher said it again.
Some time after that, he ran into this preacher again at a conference of some sort. And he told the preacher, "After we spoke, I could not remember anything else that you said except, 'The way of transgressors is hard.' And it kept on coming back to me. I was tossing and turning on my bed that night. That statement was repeating itself over and over again in my mind. I woke up the next morning, and it was as if those words were standing at the end of my bed, looking straight at me and saying, 'The way of transgressors is hard.' I went to work, and it was as if that statement was speaking to me from everywhere I looked: 'The way of transgressors is hard.' I was about to do something that I knew was wrong, and that verse came to my mind: 'The way of transgressors is hard.' That verse haunted me. It almost drove me insane. And then finally I realized…finally it hit me – the way of transgressors is hard! I knelt by my bed in the hotel room, repented of my sins, and received salvation through Jesus Christ."
The preacher replied, "Let me tell you my end of the story. I was disappointed that you did not give me an opportunity to say all that I wanted to say. But after you left, I prayed, 'Lord, I did not have time to say all that I wanted to this man, but still, I have preached your word to him, and you said that your word will not return to you void. Now I pray that you will use what I said to him and pursue him with it. Lord, work on his heart, even haunt him day and night, and let your will be done in him.' Evidently, God was faithful to honor his word and perform exactly what I asked of him."
Spurgeon said, "I have noticed, that if ever we have a conversion at any time, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the conversion is rather traceable to the text, or to some Scripture quoted in the sermon, than to any trite or original saying by the preacher" (sermon no. 172). In our example, of course the preacher told the businessman about the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, but the key that turned everything around was nothing more than half a verse from Proverbs. It was delivered to the man by a man, but it was driven into his heart by the Holy Spirit.
Elsewhere Spurgeon mentioned a man who was converted by an Old Testament genealogy in which the biblical passage repeated the words, "and he died…and he died…and he died." The man suddenly realized his mortality, that one day he would die like the rest, and after that he would either be caught up to heaven or thrown into hell. Right away he was converted and received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
(to be continued)