Judgement is God’s business. Love is your business.

Steve Brown:
Judgement is God’s business. Love is your business. Let’s talk on 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 coming very close to the end of the teaching on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I said to Jeremy, our producer, that the reason this was going so long was because God knew he needed it. And he said, probably. And then I thought, that’s not true. The reason this has gone on so long is because I needed it. But we’re getting close to the end and we’re talking about evangelism. And how the Holy Spirit works, and we’re living in the Book of Acts again, and we’re looking at those places where the Holy Spirit is moving people to change the world. The Holy Spirit still does that, and he does it not with evangelists or pastors or preachers or leaders. Well, I guess occasionally he uses even us, but he mostly does it with you, just the way you are. And we’ve seen that the first thing you do is that you run to Jesus, not to other people. You say, Jesus you’ve got to make it real to me before I can be real to other people. And sit there and be loved until you know. And once you know, then you can go. Then secondly, to whom do we go? We go where we live. Jesus said, go first to Jerusalem because Jerusalem was where they raised their kids, where they lived, where they went to school, the people they knew and had grown up with. Bloom where you have been planted. Your mission field is right where you are. And how should you go? You should go broken. And we talked about it. A Christian who goes to share Christ, without being broken, will find that sometimes the fire is gone. I’ll give you some Scripture. Isaiah the prophet said something we all need to remember.

For thus says the high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in a high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.

That’s Isaiah 57:15. I would suggest that the humble spirit is none other than the Holy Spirit. In Psalm 51, David asked God.

To uphold me by your generous spirit.

Verse 12. Then later in this Psalm, he says.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, these O God, you will not despise.

I would suggest that, again, the Psalmist is talking about the reality of the Spirit of God and the results, brokenness, humility, and we have a lot about which to be humble and a contrite heart. That is a sign of the Spirit’s indwelling. One of the very real problems with much of our witness is that there is an arrogance and an elitism that has no place in a Biblical witness. Ruth Graham is, was a friend of mine. And her daughter, and Billy and Ruth’s daughter, Gigi, is a close friend of mine. She is, she’s wonderful. She pretty much works at the Cove. The Billy Graham Training Center where I sometimes teach. And sometimes I get time to spend time with her. I may have told you that one time my wife and I were having dinner with her and some other friends. And she said, Steve, I’ve decided I’m not going to judge anybody about anything anymore. And I said, Oh really? She said, Yes. I’ve decided that that’s not my business, that’s God’s business. And that’s way above my pay level. And so, I’m just going to love people. I don’t care who they are or where they’ve gone or what they’ve done, I’m just going to love people and let God do the rest. And I said, I like that. And she said, not only am I going to do that? I asked my father and she had asked Billy Graham and she said, my father said I was right, so there. That’s really true. Phil Yancey has a great book. I think one of the best he’s ever written titled What’s So Amazing About Grace? He writes this.

Recently I’ve been asking a question of strangers, for example, seatmates on an airplane, when I strike up a conversation. When I say the words, Evangelical Christian, what comes to mind? In reply, mostly I hear, political descriptions of strident pro life activists, gay rights opponents, or proposals of censoring the internet. I hear references to the moral majority in an organization disbanded years ago. Not once, not once, have I heard a description that referenced grace. Apparently, that is not the aroma Christians give off in the world.

Okay, I repent, I’m going to try not to go there anymore because of what I’ve taught you about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings brokenness. The Holy Spirit brings knowledge. The Holy Spirit sends us to places where He’s already prepared the way, but the Holy Spirit sends us not as anybody’s judge, but because of love. Our Lord the Holy Spirit works in a mighty way when God’s people share the fire of the Holy Spirit with humility and brokenness. We are after all, only beggars telling other beggars where we found bread. Now, I’m not, and we’re not former beggars, by the way, we are present beggars who still need bread. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have any convictions. I think Christians have to also be clear about truth. As you know, I’m political and to the right of Genghis Khan. As you know, I have certain convictions that are very strong and I’m probably the most opinionated person you have ever met, and I’m not going to change, that’s a part of the Holy Spirit’s work in me. However, above all of that, way above all of that, my prayer is God grant that I would manifest the love with which you have loved me. You can’t love others until you’ve been loved, and then you can only love to the degree to which you have been loved. And we have been loved greatly. That means that if you’re a Democrat, you’ve got to deal with Donald Trump. It means if you’re a Republican, you’ve got to deal with Joe Biden. And the followers of both because they are created in the image of God and we have been loved and our main business and our witness. It’s not only to be broken, to go home, to see the fire built in us, but to love the world, the world for which Jesus died. Okay. That’s it. I have, I’m never going to teach on the Holy Spirit again. I want you to know, I’ve told you everything that I know about the Holy Spirit. And now, it’s up to me to live what I say and for you, if you check it out in the Bible and you find out it’s true, for you to do exactly the same thing. Bottom line, we are a cadre of ambassadors who have been commissioned by the King of Kings to live in a world that needs to hear the message that God has given us. That message is that God is not angry at us, that he loves us. And if you, no matter who you are, what you’ve done, the sins you’ve committed, the people you’ve hurt, if you’ll go to him, you’ll find that he will love you just the way he loved us. And he will never be angry at you again because on the cross, the blood of Christ was finished and sufficient. That’s our message. That’s the message that we take to the world. And if you go. If you’ll be faithful. If you’ll be you, the Holy Spirit will go with you. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. And that’s it. We have now landed the plane on our study of the Holy Spirit. Remember that you can re listen to and share any of these episodes on our website, keylife.org and do join us again tomorrow for the nearly world famous Friday Q&A with Steve and our good friend, Pete Alwinson. Tomorrow they’ll address this question. Why isn’t Easter in the Bible? Tune in for their answer. And speaking of questions, I think you’d agree that some are tougher than others. Easy, who was the first U.S. President? A bit harder, questions like. Why does God allow bad things to happen? Is He really a loving God if He allows suffering? We’ve all asked questions like these and if you’d like some answers to those questions, then check out a classic sermon from Steve called When Bad Things Happen. We’ll send you that entire sermon on CD for free, if you’ll call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD called When Bad Things Happen. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.