If you believe it, get in the wheelbarrow.

Steve Brown:
If you believe it, get in the wheelbarrow. I’ll explain, on this edition of Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was Steve Brown, and this is Key Life. We’re dedicated to the teaching that the only people who get any better are those who know that if they don’t get any better, God will still love them anyway. Steve is an author, seminary professor, and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re talking about the Holy Spirit, and we’re doing a multi week, maybe multi month study in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We’ve talked about the Holy Spirit and sin. And now we’re talking about the Holy Spirit and the relationship of the Holy Spirit to truth. And if you were listening yesterday, we noted that there is a necessary connection between truth presented and truth received. And that connection is the Holy Spirit. And when we believe things that seem to be unbelievable, and are willing to die for them, the reason we believe them is because of the Holy Spirit. And there’s some people who think what we believe is nonsense and they are not going to believe it, no matter what the evidence is. And the difference between us and them is the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit takes truth and then enables us to receive it and make it work in our lives. You probably have, maybe I’ve told you about the atheist talking to the little girl. He said to her, do you really believe in God? She said, yes, I do. And he said, do you believe that a big fish swallowed a man? And she said, well, yeah, I think that happened with Jonah and the big fish. How can a fish swallow a man? The atheist said. She said, I don’t know. But when I get to heaven, I’ll ask him. And the atheist said, What if he isn’t in heaven? And she said, then you ask him. The difference between them and us, the difference isn’t in our goodness or our purity or our faithfulness or our religiosity. The difference between you and your atheist friend is the Holy Spirit who has taken truth and applied it in your life. Now, let me show you something else. There’s a necessary connection, not only between truth presented and truth received, there is a necessary connection between truth accepted and truth internalized in the heart. And you call that the Holy Spirit too. I Corinthians 2:10 through 12.

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of him who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

In other words, we can internalize the truth that has been revealed. You’ve heard this story, every preacher in America has told about the famous rope, tightrope walker who walked across Niagara Falls. And man, a big crowd gathered. You ever been there? Man, I even stayed away from the rail, man. I didn’t want to even get close to it. But I’ve been there a number of times. And anyway, this famous tightrope walker stretched a rope across those falls and walked on that rope across the falls. Then he came back, and he got a wheelbarrow, and he put it on the rope, and he walked again across the falls, pushing that wheelbarrow on the rope as well as himself. Then he got back, and he says, How many of you believe that I could put a sack of potatoes in that wheelbarrow and go across the falls. Well, they had seen what he did. And they all shouted, we believe, we believe. And he did, put a sack of potatoes in the wheelbarrow, made his way across the falls successfully. Then he came back to the crowd and said, How many of you believe that I can put a person in this wheelbarrow and go across these falls? And they had seen him. I mean, they’d seen what he did and they said, we believe, we believe. And he said, good. And he pointed to a man in the front row and he said, get in the wheelbarrow. You know what happened? All you could see were heels and elbows as that man ran as far away from that wheelbarrow as he could possibly get. Now, to take that silly illustration and apply it, Christians are people who get in the wheelbarrow. We’re people who trust in Christ. And it’s not because we’re so smart or so good looking or so bright or so gifted. It’s the Holy Spirit. It’s the business of the Holy Spirit. Let me tell you about my first meaningful Easter. I was a pastor of a little church down in Cape Cod. And I was beginning to accept some of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith because some dear people in the church that I was serving, this little church in East Dennis on Cape Cod, some of the people were praying for me, and I didn’t know it. They knew that I was a liberal this side of whacko, and they’d seen me begin to change, and I’m talking about theological liberal. And they began to pray for me, and I was beginning to change, I was beginning to see it. And I remember that first Easter when it all became real to me. I was sitting in the little study in that church, and it really was a little study. And I was thinking about the sermon I was going to preach. And then I noticed the ushers were bringing chairs and putting them in the sanctuary, and that ticked me off. And I said something, what are the chairs for? They said, we’re going to have a big crowd this morning, it’s Easter. And I said, man, that really makes me angry. I’m going to tell them too. And then the janitor of that church, and his name was Ralph Richardson, came into my study and shut the door. And he said, Pastor, You get one shot at these people, and that’s all you get, so don’t mess it up. And then with that, he turned and he left. And as I sat there, I thought about my sermon, and about Easter, and about graveyards, and about Jesus. And at that moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I was not in that study alone. Not only that, that when I got into the sanctuary to preach that sermon, there was one more person that the ushers didn’t count. I realized that a dead man got up and walked. And he not only got up and walked, he was there that morning in that church. You should have heard the sermon I preached, it was a great sermon, frankly. But it happened because what had been, or was becoming, a true truth to me was internalized and applied in a way that God could use. That is the Holy Spirit. What I experienced that morning on the Easter, when Jesus came, when I understood, when the hair on the back of my, that’s when I had hair, stood up. All of that was the work and the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the questions that we get at Key Life is how does one go from head knowledge of the truth, to heart knowledge of the truth? How do you do that? You can’t, there’s no five step process that you can make what’s in your head, get to your heart and feel it and experience and know it, it’s an impossible task. It’s crazy. And if you’re reading books that tell you how to do that, they’re not telling you the truth. You don’t have whatever it takes to have that happen. It’s called assurance, but it happens. And when it happens, every time, you can file it under the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Quit worrying about it. Quit obsessing about it. Quit reading the books that tell you how to do it. Quit trying to do something that you can’t do, or to fix something that isn’t fixable. Just go to Him and say, God, I believe. Help my unbelief. And then things begin to happen and it becomes real. That is the Holy Spirit. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. And thus we wrap up another fantastic week of learning about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. What a great series, right? As always, thanks for joining us and do join us tomorrow as well for Friday Q&A. Tomorrow, Steve and Pete will tackle this question. Do I have to forgive my enemies? Ah, see, you think you know the answer there, right? But there’s way more to it than you might think. So, hope you will join us. Well, I’m happy to let you know that the newest edition of Key Life magazine is here and it is bigger and better than ever with a newly redesigned format. It is packed with encouraging and thought provoking articles from Steve, Chad West, Alex Early, Kendra Fletcher, plus a whole lot of other stuff. Do you have your copy yet? No? Then let’s do this! Claim your free copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for the magazine. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for your free copy of Key Life magazine. And finally, if you find value in the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You could charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or just give through your phone, pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two, doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.