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2018
Hi—my name is Keith Petersen.
I am a fundamental Christian—brought up in a fundamental Christian household. I have lived my entire life on the East Coast of the United States. I am a writer and a businessman in a local, family-owned business. I am married to a wonderful, beautiful Christian wife—and, have the further blessing of two great kids—both of whom know the Lord as their Savior.
For many years I have been considerably and constantly pressed in mind and spirit as to the fact that, throughout Christendom today, there is great confusion and division. We see that the Lord and the apostles foretold this decline; but, that doesn’t diminish the reality as to how it currently affects us all as Christians. The concerns as to this are everywhere among Christians around the world. In my own town there are undoubtedly many thousands of true, believing Christians; yet, very few of us, relatively speaking, are together in a proper Christian fellowship according to the Bible.
However, in spite of all this, it is written in the apostle Paul’s 2nd epistle to Timothy that “the firm foundation of God stands.” What an important scripture—and, it is greatly encouraging to understand that God has made provision for us in broken times. Christians are absolutely provided with necessary, Biblical guidelines as to what to do in the face of so much confusion. Thus, a primary reason for this book.
I quite believe that you will find enjoyment and spiritual benefit from reading “The Unspeakable Free Gift”. Below is an excerpt from one of the chapters if you should like to read it. The book itself can be ordered from Amazon via the link at the top of this webpage.
As I wrote this book, I had not entirely anticipated the extent of the Christian joy—and, serenity—I experienced as I looked more deeply into the Bible regarding the infinite place of the Holy Spirit. I think you will find the same joys as you read about His place as being the greatest of all God’s gifts to men.
Chapter: The Holy Spirit’s Presence (extract)
We have now come to two fundamental, intertwined truths. The first is that the Lord is clearly not here on the earth – having ascended prior to the day of Pentecost.
The second truth – prophetically foretold in Joel 2:28 and as to which the Lord discoursed in John 16 – is the advent of the Holy Spirit. The Lord was careful at that time to distinctly highlight these two truths: “I did not say these things unto you from [the] beginning, because I was with you. But now I go to him that has sent me, and none of you demands of me, Where goest thou? But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I say the truth to you, It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you.”
When the Lord was here He explained to and taught His disciples concerning the kingdom of the heavens—the spiritual realm into which the Christian is brought. He said to them, “Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given.” However, it is abundantly clear from scripture that the Lord is now no longer here on this earth. “Now a summary of the things of which we are speaking [is], We have such a one high priest who has sat down on [the] right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens” (Hebrews 1:8). Who, then, shall teach us here on earth?
John 16:13 gives us the answer in the Lord’s own words, “But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth”. How important, then, is the indwelling place of the Holy Spirit? Romans 8 shows that “they that are in flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God's Spirit dwell in you; but if any one has not [the] Spirit of Christ he is not of him.” However, we are concerned now with the practical effect of the Holy Spirit as indwelling the believer. The Lord said in John 16:13 “But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth”. We must notice the phrase “all the truth.” Pilate said, “What is truth?”; but, we know that Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Here, then, is a cardinal/vital statement—the Holy Spirit always leads the Christian to what is of God and centered in Christ. The Lord said, “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce [it] to you” (John 16:14).
The simple reality is that we cannot navigate, speaking reverently, in the realm of what is Divine if we do not have the indwelling presence and the lead of the Holy Spirit. The prophet Isaiah says in chapter 30, “And when ye turn to the right hand or when ye turn to the left, thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” We can see from Isaiah 30 and John 16 that the Holy Spirit is the indwelling Guide for the Christian. Of course, “God is one” (1 Timothy 2:5) and the Lord speaks extensively in John 14 as to the unity of the Godhead in respect of the believer being indwelt; however, we must distinguish between the abstract and the practical in that the Bible is explicit that the Lord has ascended to Heaven to prepare us a place, has sat down at the right hand of God the Father, and has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell the believer.
This following hymn writer well understood the blessed place and service of the Holy Spirit:
Holy Spirit, gift divine,
Praise and thanks be ever Thine;
Thou dost guide us here below,
Christ, our life, through Thee we know.
What a joy it is to be,
Blessed Spirit, here with Thee!
As to follow Thee we learn,
So Thy wisdom we discern;
Thou dost all our journey through
Teach us what to say and do;
To our minds the thoughts divine
Clear and plain before us shine.
Holy Spirit, Thee we bless;
Comforter Thou art to us!
Death o'ershadows all the scene,
But on Thy support we lean.
Thou dost bring the glory nigh,
Help our faith to look on high.
All that Christ in love has giv'n,
All the Father's wealth from heav'n,
Richly through Thy service flow;
Help divine through Thee we know.
Leader, Thou, the desert through—
Thanks to Thee is ever due!
We repeat the question of some paragraphs ago: How important is the place of the Holy Spirit for the believer? The answer, as we are seeing in Scripture is all-important! It might be said, `Any and every Christian knows that’ (true enough); but, the practical difficulty is in fealty to—obedience to—affection for—this same Holy Spirit. The apostle James writes in the first chapter of his epistle, “But be ye doers of [the] word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves. For if any man be a hearer of [the] word and not a doer, he is like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror: for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like.”
Is this not like ourselves? We can acknowledge scriptural truths—give the nod to them—and then, perhaps, casually implement (or, worse—ignore) them in a practical way. The prophet Jeremiah said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” That is the end result of fully appropriating Divine truths—joy. The Lord spoke as to the good and faithful bondman in Matthew 25, “enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Do we not wish the approval of the Lord, and to enter into His joy? There is no joy like that.
We must notice, too, as a lateral consideration, that those addressed in this chapter of Matthew 25 are addressed as “bondman”. Do any Christians think that they are exempt from having been discipled to the Lord—whatever other blessings are shown in scripture to be the believer’s place—as a bondman? What more does the Lord say as to this? He says—and, very direct language it is—in Luke 17, “But which of you [is there] who, having a bondman ploughing or shepherding, when he comes in out of the field, will say, Come and lie down immediately to table? But will he not say to him, Prepare what I shall sup on, and gird thyself and serve me that I may eat and drink; and after that thou shalt eat and drink? Is he thankful to the bondman because he has done what was ordered? I judge not. Thus ye also, when ye shall have done all things that have been ordered you, say, We are unprofitable bondmen; we have done what it was our duty to do.”
Why does the Lord phrase His words this way? He is certainly impressing us as to two things: