Let Us Know the
Holy Spirit By Ki Dong Kim
Translated by The Semuon Translation Mission Center
BEREA PRESS
Pastor Ki Dong Kim (TH.D., S.T.D., D.Min., D.D.) * Senior Overseer, 21st Century Berea Missions Seoul Sungrak Church, Seoul, South Korea * Honorary and Founding President, Berea International Theological Seminary, Seoul, South Korea
1st Translation and Publication: 20.06.1998 3rd Revision: 25.03.2014 Publisher: CHOI, Eul Sook Publishing Press: Berea Press Registration: No. 13-69 Address: 308, Dorim-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea Tel: 82-2-831-3851~3 Fax: 82-2-831-3854 www.bereapress.co.kr All rights reserved. No part can be reproduced or copied in any way, or by any means, without prior written permission.
Š 2014 KIDONG KIM
All Scripture quotations, unless noted otherwise, are from the New King James Version (1982).
PREFACE
God created the world, but the world cannot see Him. His Son, Jesus Christ, who is in the bosom of the Father, is the only one who can see God. Jesus is the glory of the invisible Father, and His life on earth revealed the attributes of God to mankind. The life of Jesus clearly expressed the Father’s will and His personality; therefore, to know Jesus is to know God and to see Jesus is to see God. After His resurrection, Jesus sat at the right hand of God (on the throne) in heaven. He is the Lord who will soon judge the world. He is the Savior of those who believe in Him. Jesus now lives in all believers by the Holy Spirit. The world cannot see, receive, or know the Holy Spirit. However, Christians can know and receive Him. The Holy Spirit is the one who bears witness of Jesus. No one can testify of Jesus without the Holy Spirit because the authority to testify of Him belongs to God alone. Only the Father can testify of Jesus, only the Son can testify of Himself (John 8:18), and only the Holy Spirit can testify of the Son (John 15:26). God has also given this privilege to testify of Jesus to those who receive the Holy Spirit because they have received the inheritance together with Christ (Rom. 8:17). You must know the Bible. Through it, you must know the Holy Spirit, God and Jesus Christ. Without knowing the Bible, you cannot know Jesus. Without knowing Jesus, you cannot know God. Without understanding God, you cannot know the Holy Spirit. Today, many people are bound by traditional doctrines and false knowledge. This prevents them from understanding the Holy Spirit. Obeying the Holy Spirit is a foreign concept to them. Instead of religion, God gave us Jesus, who is more perfect than any religion. He gave us the Bible, more profound than a system of religious principles. Instead of theology, God sent the
Holy Spirit, who understands and reveals the deep things of God. We have to believe in Jesus alone, study the Bible earnestly, and be completely touched by the Holy Spirit. Let us know the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit edifies our faith. Knowing the Holy Spirit is our faith. Many people become dissatisfied and abandon their faith because they do not know the Holy Spirit. This book aims to share the knowledge of the understanding of the Holy Spirit with its readers. We must know the Holy Spirit! If we know the Holy Spirit better, we can better serve God, possess a solid faith, and be victorious in our spiritual life. Oh, Lord! May all readers receive this knowledge and this faith!
January 1986 Ki Dong Kim From His Office
Translators’ PREFACE
Pastor Ki Dong Kim has written over 250 books to date. Translating these books has been a true blessing for us. We know that this book will bless you too! The following are a couple of things to note as you read this book. This book is a transcript of a training seminar that Pastor Ki Dong Kim has done in the past with the theme, “Let Us Know the Holy Spirit.” Thus, we have tried to preserve even the way the pastor speaks. This book repeats many concepts for emphasis. They all have been preserved because Pastor Kim has spoken them by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This book has been written for ministers and even for laypersons who want to know how to live and serve powerfully according to God’s will. Please take a good time off out of your schedule to focus as you read through this book. We pray that you will be touched and transformed! Amen.
January 2013 From The Semuon Translation Mission Center
Table of Contents
11_ 12_ 13_ 14_ 15_ 16_ 17_ 18_ 19_ 10_ 11_ 12_
Jesus’ Introduction of the Holy Spirit 9 The Leading of the Holy Spirit 21 The One Who Enables Us to Experience the Name, Jesus 45 The Advocate of Jesus 65 The Holy Spirit and the Saints 77 The Cross and the Holy Spirit 105 The One Who Comes Upon Those Who Believe 121 The Fullness of the Holy Spirit 133 Jesus’ Introduction of the Paraclete’s Ministry 141 The Empowerment and Indwelling of the Holy Spirit 149 Jesus and the Holy Spirit 169 The Word and the Holy Spirit 179
Chapter 1 Jesus’ Introduction of the Holy Spirit
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)
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Whether you are a pastor, a Bible teacher, or a group leader, you must know the Holy Spirit. He is the God whom all Christians are supposed to rely on and obey. However, many Christians do not depend on the Holy Spirit because they simply do not know Him. The life of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is recorded in history. Anyone can read and learn about Him. However, the Holy Spirit cannot be seen. He can only be known through the testimonies and the messages of the saints. Thus, the Holy Spirit can only be understood by faith (in the word of God) and experience. Today, many people are confused whether they should share about the Holy Spirit or Jesus Christ in evangelism. Rather than sharing the Holy Spirit, we depend on Him to share Jesus to the world. However, complete dependence on the Holy Spirit comes from a correct understanding of Him.
Why Not a Pneumatology? The following introduction of the Holy Spirit is all based on the Bible, so these contents should not be entirely unfamiliar to Christians. However, careful attention is needed because our approach to knowing the Holy Spirit is very different from other books that have been written on the same subject. Over the years, many theologians have written books on pneumatology, the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit. When we examine them carefully, we can find several common limitations. First, many writers do not have any personal experiences of the Holy Spirit. Second, on the flipside, other writers overwhelmingly emphasize their personal experiences and use the words of the Bible merely as a tool to justify their experience. In addition, the term pneumatology itself contains linguistic problems. The Holy Spirit is not just a topic. Jesus was an actual person in history, so we are able to discuss about Him. But discussing about the Holy Spirit’s existence as a topic is a bit foolish
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on our part since we are just created beings. How can creation study about the existence of the eternal God? He cannot be a topic of our study or an experiment. That is why the title of this book is not “Pneumatology,” but “Let Us Know the Holy Spirit.”
The Precedence of the Words of Jesus Most current pneumatology introduces the Holy Spirit from a man-centered view of the Bible. Our approach is completely different in that we establish Jesus’ introduction of the Holy Spirit as our basis for understanding of Him. Time can be spent studying about what the apostles have said concerning the Holy Spirit. Even more time can be spent analyzing Jesus’ experience of the Holy Spirit. Definitely, it is important to study how the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the Jordan River. However, it was still an eyewitness account of the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus. It was not Jesus’ testimony of His own experience. The best way to grasp the nature of the Holy Spirit is to examine Jesus’ own teachings concerning Him. The title of this chapter, “Jesus’ Introduction of the Holy Spirit,” sharply distinguishes our approach to understanding the Holy Spirit from other approaches. Our focus should be on what Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit because Jesus, Himself, is God. From the teachings of Jesus, we can attain the purest and most essential understanding of the Holy Spirit. No theologian can teach and expound on the Scriptures like Jesus. Any other teachings can be subjected to criticism and argument. However, what Jesus taught cannot be argued against but accepted entirely for greater faith. Throughout the centuries, famous theologians and pastors have taught much about the Holy Spirit. Out of much selection, people have become accustomed to choosing what to accept concerning the Holy Spirit. This is exactly the reason why they did not experience God’s promise of the Holy
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Spirit.
What Jesus Said Simply put, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit deserves more respect than Himself. For nine months, Jesus lived inside a womb. He was then birthed into the world to live as a man. He experienced hunger and fatigue just like us. He experienced pain, suffering, and death as well. The Holy Spirit, however, did not take the form of creation to enter into the world. While Jesus came humbly as the Son of Man, the Holy Spirit came without any humbling of Himself. This is why Jesus firmly warned the people that they should never treat the Holy Spirit the same way they had treated the Son of Man. Jesus taught us first how we should welcome and receive the Holy Spirit. His teachings are actually commands. If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak (John 12:47-50). People did not take Jesus and His words seriously because they received Him just as a man. They did not think that He was God. However, Jesus clearly declared that He never spoke any words of His own accord but only communicated God’s commands. God’s commands cannot be taken lightly. Who are we to be critical of His
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commands? Anybody, even a distinguished scholar, can be challenged. However, God and His words can never be challenged or taken lightly. The word of God must be obeyed, rather than interpreted. When the words, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus” came to Mary from God, she obeyed (Luke 1:31). She said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She did not analyze the meaning of these words to see if they meant something else; she just obeyed accordingly. When God commanded Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you,” Abraham obeyed these words without hesitation (Gen. 22:2). Later, when he acted according to God’s commands and was about to stab Isaac, God ordered him to stop, and Abraham again obeyed. The words of God do not need any explanation, but only obedience. Whatever Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit must be received and obeyed, not interpreted to be something else. His teaching was not a parable or a metaphor. Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come (Matt. 12:31-32). Here, Jesus strongly warned us of treating the Holy Spirit the same way that they mistreated the Son of Man.
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The Consequence of Blasphemy The worst criminal in this world can still be forgiven. Even the sin of blasphemy against Jesus Christ can be forgiven. However, there is no forgiveness for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because there is no proper way to redeem such sin. God gave His Son to us as the redemptive sacrifice for all our sins. However, God has not given any redemption for the sin of blasphemy or offense against the Holy Spirit. Some try to excuse themselves by saying that they did not know about the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Of course, no one would deliberately blaspheme the Holy Spirit. However, no sin may be pardoned on the grounds of ignorance (Rom. 2:12). Sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be repented. To us, it makes sense that any sins should be pardoned as long as the repentance is genuine. However, God’s thoughts are different from ours. If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day (John 12:47-48). Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not affect our salvation, but it will affect our rewards at the end. So whether you blasphemed before or after accepting Jesus, you will still suffer some type of loss at the end (1 Cor. 3:13-15). The Bible tells us that God will reward each person according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; 2 Tim. 4:14). These passages are not speaking to unbelievers. Unbelievers, regardless of their sinfulness, will all be cast into the lake of fire. These passages are
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referring to those who are already saved and will receive rewards in heaven according to their deeds. Jesus said, Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come (Matt. 12:32). How serious is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Blasphemy against our Savior who suffered and died on the cross is bad enough. Yet, Jesus is willing to forgive such sin. Even the soldiers who nailed Jesus on the cross were forgiven! However, speaking against the Holy Spirit is on a different level. Jesus was saying that there is no atonement for such sin. Even though you will not be condemned to hell, you will still have to answer for such blasphemy at the end. Jesus goes further to say, But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matt. 12:36-37). Though this applies to the issue of salvation, it also applies to receiving compensation or suffering loss at the end for believers. Thus, your words are that important and should be carefully considered. The question becomes, What is the loss that blasphemers of the Holy Spirit will experience? Matthew 22:10-13 says, So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad
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and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ The outer darkness is not referring to hell because the wedding hall is not a time or place of judgment. It is a wedding feast. The judgment already took place on earth. Believers are saved and unbelievers have already received judgment (John 3:18). Only those who are saved will be at the wedding feast. They will all make it there; however, the guest without the proper garment will not be able to enjoy the feast.
How We Blaspheme How does a person blaspheme the Holy Spirit whom he cannot see? There are two ways: by speaking against the work or gifts of the Holy Spirit and by opposing or persecuting the people that the Holy Spirit uses. In result, they indirectly blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Saints in the early church received the Holy Spirit and lived powerfully. Yet, today, many Christians profess to be filled with the Holy Spirit but live powerless lives. We all know that we need the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives. However, people live in defeat because they do not even know that they have already blasphemed the Holy Spirit. When you blaspheme Him, you cannot receive His powerful help.
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Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16). The Holy Spirit has a home; it is referred to as His temple. Normally, we feel free and comfortable in our own home. No matter how welcoming a friend may be, his house can never be your home. You cannot use it like your own house. We, as Christians, are supposed to be comfortable homes to the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:9). He should be able to abide in us and use us freely. But in many ways, we actually put tremendous restraints on the Holy Spirit. Our hands, feet, mind, and thoughts should all obey the words of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, in reality, we act according to our own will. The Holy Spirit is sensitive to our choices so when we blaspheme, He will not stop us. God does not go beyond our will because He has given it to us. It is not in God’s nature to go against what He has created. If we oppose Him, then He allows Himself to be opposed. If we cause Him to grieve, then He will allow Himself to be grieved. If we ignore His inspiration, then He will stop inspiring us. Thus, the Bible strongly warns: “Do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit! Do not offend the Holy Spirit! Do not cause the Holy Spirit to grieve! Do not ignore the Holy Spirit’s inspiration!” The Holy Spirit came differently compared to the way Jesus came into the world. The Holy Spirit came into what belongs to Him. However, Jesus came and borrowed what was not His. Jesus was conceived in a woman who was not yet married. He was born in someone else’s manger, rode on another person’s donkey on the way into Jerusalem, dined with His disciples in another person’s room, and was buried in someone else’s tomb. The Holy Spirit, however, only enters His own residence, sanctified by God. He works freely and powerfully in His comfortable residence. We are His temple, we are not our own (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
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Some people get very excited when they first receive the Holy Spirit and pledge everything to God. From the beginning, they strongly receive the conviction of the Holy Spirit and obey Him. However, after a while, they begin to ignore the Holy Spirit in their hearts, not realizing that He is the rightful owner. When they continue to live in this way, their hearts become numb. Because He does not force His will on them, the Holy Spirit just stops working in their lives. Though these people have already received the Holy Spirit, His presence has no effect in them. The Holy Spirit does not govern their thoughts and actions. Soon, the Holy Spirit is grieved. If the saints offend the Holy Spirit after tasting the joy of being filled, then it will be very difficult to return to back to that initial joy and devotion. Hebrews 6:4-6 says, It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. People who once experienced the Holy Spirit but fell away will find it almost impossible to find repentance again. For example, if a marathon runner stops to rest in the middle of a race, even if he continues to run, it will not be easy for him to catch up with those who are running ahead of him. He will have too much distance ahead of him to recover. The same thing happens when believers continue to ignore the Holy Spirit. Some may fervently speak in tongues when they first receive the Holy Spirit. But if they doubt the gift later, then it will become harder to even speak in tongues at all. They will lose the zeal. Some are overjoyed when they receive
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the gift of tongues, but shortly after, they become embarrassed of the gift. Even if these people speak in tongues again, it will be difficult to rekindle that initial joy.
Heed the Warning Today, people talk about the Holy Spirit, but they do not listen to the warnings of Jesus about Him. If we take His warnings seriously, we would not foolishly blaspheme and offend the Holy Spirit as some do today. We would maintain the fullness of the Holy Spirit and live powerful, spiritual lives. In my personal life, I started to speak in tongues the day after I accepted Jesus Christ. Since I did not know about speaking in tongues, I told someone, “When I pray, I utter noises like a frog.” He then heard me speak in tongues and replied, “You may be speaking in Greek.” I felt it was useless asking others about this, so I came to God and said, “God, if this is from you, I will just continue to speak.” After that, I spoke in tongues continuously for nine hours. Then, I discovered from the Bible that speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit. I was extremely grateful that God gave such an amazing gift to an ordinary person like me. As a result, I have never stopped speaking in tongues to this day. The Holy Spirit is sensitive to our choices. As much as we limit Him, His work becomes limited. We have to be dedicated in our spiritual lives so that His work is not quenched by us. Jesus did not care if He was despised or rejected; He went to places where He was not welcomed and accomplished the ministry the Father gave Him. However, the Holy Spirit does not forcefully work in places where He is not welcomed. On the flipside, the Holy Spirit works powerfully where He is welcomed. This warning by Jesus deserves our special attention. It is one of His first teachings about the Holy Spirit. What Jesus taught takes precedence over any other doctrine. The Holy Spirit works
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powerfully when He is comfortable in us. When we honor His presence, the Holy Spirit’s ministry is limitless.