You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.  Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. Acts 7:51-52 (NASB)

 

These were not the key verses that Bro. Ted shared with us this weekend regarding sending roots downward and bearing fruit upward which was the sign the Lord gave the prophet Isaiah to tell Hezekiah as the city of Jerusalem was under siege by the Assyrian army. (Isaiah 37) Yesterday, the burden the Lord gave our brother was on the practical sending roots downward (in Christ) in the matter of abiding. (John 15) And within this aspect of abiding, one portion our brother led us to read was from Acts 7. At the end of Stephen’s discourse as he stood falsely accused of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin, he powerfully gave this indictment of the Jewish religious leaders. “Always resisting the Holy Spirit.” That is reason that the prophets of old were persecuted, the Lord Jesus was disbelieved and crucified, and Stephen and the others were tortured and killed.

 

Resisting the Holy Spirit. When he read these verses, I saw the application of the indictment towards me for the first time. When was the last time I “quenched” or resisted the Holy Spirit? This week? Yesterday?  Did I ignored his nudgings, promptings, still small voice? I never saw my brushing aside the Spirit’s speaking in such a serious light. I either obey Him or resist Him. There is such a peace when I obey, and a lack of peace when I resist, but have I considered my resisting much more than me losing peace or losing an opportunity to grow in faith? The consequences are greater. Though Bro. Ted did not belabor this point very much yesterday, I was considering the Sanhedrin. They were the “upstanding” religious leaders in their time, in their ranks was a “blameless” law-keeping zealous young Benjamite named Saul. But outward law-keeping is never enough. Did these religious ones one day suddenly find themselves stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear? I believe the resisting of the Holy Spirit happens one disobedience at a time until it becomes a practice, and then, instead of worshipping God as it would appear outwardly, the Holy Spirit-resister would even be blind to being used as an instrument to persecute God. God forbid it in us.

 

What can we do? We who believe have the life of Christ in us, so, to obey is possible! Can we yield to the life of Christ, the ever-obedient One who lives in us, one act of obedience at a time? Can we repent of our resisting the Holy Spirit? Can we ask God to make the reality of our disobedient “old man” being crucified with Christ so real to us? As our Bro. Ted shared, our position as a branch in the vine is given to us, (John 15:5), but Jesus commands us to “abide in Me and I in you” (vs. 4) and states, “IF you abide in Me, and my words abide in you (vs. 7). That means that we sometimes don’t abide, the abiding is not a given. What a tragedy to be a branch and yet not enjoy abiding in Him. The Lord have mercy on us and forgive us for our careless acts of resistance towards the Holy Spirit.

  

I will post links to listen to the entire messages as links become available.