Address—B. Anstey
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52.
Thine.
Ourselves.
Do they? We hold.
We live for our hearts.
From you.
I know.
Let's ask God's bless.
Let's turn to John 14 for an introductory verse, the 14th chapter of John's Gospel, and verse 16 and 17.
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Tell my heart to speak this afternoon about the power and presence of the Spirit of God and how that this great resource of a divine person dwelling within us is present and willing and able to help us in our Christian pathway. You know we've been blessed with many.
Provisions in the pathway, we're told, and for Second Timothy, chapter one, that he has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness. And though we could stand here this afternoon, this afternoon, and enumerate these many things, one particularly that I like to look at is the Presence and the power of the Spirit of God.
Now, this verse, this passage that I've read here by way of introduction, really brings before us the thought of the Spirit's coming. Thank you.
The Lord Jesus was about to go back to heaven.
And he announced to the disciples the coming of the Spirit of God as the Comforter. And he speaks here of how that the Spirit of God would be with them in two ways. He would dwell with them and would be in them. And we know that this is the two capacities that the Spirit of God is functioning in this world today as a resident. It's not my object to speak about how the Spirit of God dwells among the Saints. I would like to speak about his presence in the believer and how that he is able and willing and eager.
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To take up with enabling us in the Christian pathway. And so with that in mind, I like to look at some of the functions of the Spirit of God and see how that God has made great provision with this divine guest within, and then make some practical exhortations based on these various truths. So let's look first of all at Ephesians.
Chapter One.
This was quoted in the meeting before us, Ephesians Chapter One.
And verse 13.
In whom ye also trusted. After that ye heard the word of truth.
The gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that ye believed.
You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Here we find, perhaps we could say, the first great function of the Spirit of God indwelling the believer, and that is the feel of the Spirit.
And when the Spirit is spoken of as a seal, has to do with giving the believer assurance as to his salvation, as it says here, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And this, I hope, is something that every young person and every person in this audience, old or young.
Has done They have heard and believed the gospel of their salvation. They know what it is to say that Jesus Christ died for them on the cross.
And he has borne their sins away, and they know what it is to be forgiven. The Spirit of God, as soon as the person believes the gospel of their salvation comes in to seal that person and to dwell in them thereafter.
And so we have the residing presence of the Spirit of God present in every believer. It's not an experience. It's not some tingling, warm feeling that one might get. And when they receive the Lord Jesus as their Savior and are sealed. But it is the power and presence of the Spirit there, dwelling in our bodies for the capacity to help us and lead us, guide us, comfort us, and so on. In the past, there are many confused ideas with regard to how the Spirit of God is received.
Mr. Barker wrote a few books. Maybe you've seen them. I know there's a reprint here on one of the tables.
Said many years ago when he was young, and I don't advocate anybody do this, but he went to a meeting that was advertised 3 hours with God. He was intrigued by that and so he decided he would go along. Now I say again, I don't advocate any of the young to do that, but he went as a young person and he listened to people praying and crying and calling upon God that he would give them their spirit next to him. He said there was a man that had his.
Big trench coat and he had it opened and he kept on crying out to God.
Give me the Spirit. Give me the Spirit. And he just repeated that as his prayer, over and over and over again.
The man was sweating profusely and earnestly, crying out that God would give him the Spirit.
But I can tell you today, this afternoon, that's not the way the Spirit of God is received. As we said here, the Scripture settles that it's received upon He's received upon the believing of the gospel.
Of our salvation. It reminds me of our old brother, now with the Lord in our meeting, Mr. Coleman.
When he was a young man, before he knew the path of the truth where the Lord is in the Neds, he went along to a similar type of meeting and they advertised great and made great promises. And after the meeting was over, there was a good deal of the same kind of thing as Mr. Barker described. After the meeting was over, they they announced that there would be a Terry meeting, an after meeting. So he thought, well, maybe he should go to that too. So they went downstairs and there was a woman down there preaching and telling people how they could earnestly.
Beseech God that they may get the Spirit, and she said she gave her testimony.
And it was that she prayed so honestly on her knees that she lost the sense of her presence, didn't really know where she was. She prayed so earnestly that she was starting to move around on the floor. And as she moved, she moved so far she got into the corner and she said, I ended up with my head in the waste paper basket. But praise the Lord, I got the Spirit anyway. Again, dear young people, we say.
That's not the way in which the spirit of God is received. It is not some warm feeling. It's not something we need to plead God with.
The spirit of God comes in at the seal, and the believer is indwelled on that moment.
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Now the seal of the Spirit is mentioned in scripture with regard to giving the believer assurance, and I believe this is the first thing that the Spirit of God would seek to do for a believer and that is to give him the assurance of his salvation and acceptance in Christ.
To give us to know that we belong to him.
It's just like a farmer that may go to a market and buy cattle and put his seal upon it and it's marked out as his and all know that that animal belongs to that particular farm and that particular farmer. And so the first work for the spirit of God as he indwells the believer, is to give him a sense and a knowledge that he belongs to Christ that that the assurance of his salvation.
Now, it's true, a person may lose a sense or the joy of their salvation, but they don't lose the knowledge of the fact that they have been saved. That's connected with state, which we'll speak of in a minute. This is the first great function and work of the Spirit of God. I ask you this afternoon, do you have that blessed assurance in your soul as you belong to the Lord Jesus? Do you know beyond a doubt that you are safe?
For eternity.
Because of the blood of Jesus Christ his Son.
Well, it comes upon believing the gospel of our salvation. This is more than just believing in Jesus.
This is believing what he is, what he's done on the cross, his finished work, and resting in that.
That the Spirit comes in to reside in the believer.
Now let's look at another, and that is the Earnest of the Spirit. We look at verse 14.
Which, and I understand that could better be translated Who? Because they're speaking about the Holy Spirit.
Who is the earnest of our inheritance?
Until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
And so another great work of the Spirit of God, if he comes to reside in the believer.
Is to give him a Forte of heaven. Give him a foretaste of the inheritance that is his and the portion that is his. And for this scripture speaks of the earnest of the Spirit. He is called the earnest of the Spirit, because he is there to give the believer that Forte.
Mention a number of places. I think it's in Second Corinthians chapter one as well.
The earnest of the spirit the word earnest is taken from.
The Old English Land offices. When a person would make a purchase on a piece of property, they would put the down payment down, but it can be used as a token of anything that may be ours in the future. And so here it is used in such a way as to speak about the Spirit of God being the earnest of our inheritance, the great object of the Spirit of God having taken up His residence in US and given us the assurance of our salvation.
He immediately would seek to occupy us with our portion in Christ to give us to know how richly we've been blessed.
And to check before us the whole range of objects that are ours that we might enjoy.
Our portion in Christ.
What a wonderful privilege and blessing it is to have the Spirit of God dwelling.
Within.
A Mr. Barker.
Again, I quote from him. He was to make a journey from England to America many years ago, and he took his boy with him.
And.
He decided to buy his boy a gift, and that was a telescope, a real good and strong, powerful telescope, not a toy that they would use on that trip when they went to America. And so as they were passing across the Atlantic and they got closer to the land, word went around the ship that they were now coming close to the shore. The boy got out that telescope, and he began to look through that telescope, and he described to his father the many things that he saw, which the rest of the people on the ship saw nothing of, but just the outline of the horizon.
He could see the trees, he could see the houses, and he described it with joy, with excitement as they got a little closer. He said, Dad, I can see people walking on the pier, what was happening as he looked through that telescope. He was enjoying that land to which they were going before they got there. And that to me illustrates very beautifully the spirit of God Is the earnest taking of the things of Christ and showing them to us while we're now here in this world, giving us that foretaste.
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To enjoy him.
Mr. Cutting has a beautiful illustration on this too. He described a farmer going to the market and he's bought some sheep and he comes home and he turns them over to their farmhand and says put them in the pen at the front of the house and go around to the back and cut some some armfuls of sweet Clover and put them in the pen for them tonight. In the morning we'll set them free into the field itself. I think that's a beautiful illustration. You know, that's what the Lord is doing with us in the morning. We're going to be set free, so to speak, when the Lord comes.
Into our portion, in our glorified state.
But in the interim, the Spirit of God is taking sweet handfuls of purpose.
Of the things of Christ and are giving to us, giving them to us, and feeding us.
Those things. Even now, while we're here, what do we know about our blessings? What do we know about how richly we have been blessed? I believe that if we really got ahold of some of this, we would not be seeking to find our satisfaction and our pleasure in the things of this world. And we're going to speak about that in a minute. But I just want to speak now of at least five different things.
That the Spirit of God is present in this body of ours to give us the capacity to live for the glory of God. We've looked at 2. Let's look now at the unction of the Spirit, which was also quoted, I believe, in the meeting this morning. First, John, Chapter 2.
These things that I'm looking at pertain to normal Christianity.
First John, chapter 2, verse 18. Little children. It is the last time, and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come even now there are many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time of the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. But ye have the unction from the Holy One, and you know all things.
Let's drop down to verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that what she have heard from the beginning remain in you, ye also shall continue in the sun and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you or lead you astray. But the anointing, or the unction which you have received of him abide within you, and you have need of no any man teach you.
Not that any man teach you, but as the same unction teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him.
Here we have the unction of the Spirit of God.
And the Spirit of God looked at in the capacity of the unction, is to give us discernment for the pathway.
And I believe power too. We could look at some passages to illustrate that as well. But here in this passage, it's more to do with the discernment in the pathway. John has been speaking to the the family of God here in a parenthesis beginning at verse 12, and he has spoken to the fathers and to the young men. But now he's speaking to the little children or the babes in the family. And you'll notice that he has quite a bit more to say to them than he does to the others. I would suspect it's because the dangers are greater for the young believers.
But it's very interesting to see what he does. He tells them at least three things. First of all the hour in which they were living. He says it is the last hour or the last time, and he tells them of the ruin of the Christian testimony. He reminds them that there is failure and there is many evil teachers that have gone out and they are seeking to lead astray any believer that is unaware, and so how careful the believer needs to be.
He speaks of how that they have the unction of the Spirit of God.
And it's not need that they have any man teach them for the Spirit himself dwelling in.
But give them to know truth from error now the capacity of the Spirit of God to teach us.
The truth is not exactly that the babes in Christ knew all the doctrines of Christianity for that that was the case. He would have set them to be teachers in the assembly, No, because they didn't really know the scriptures that well. And I believe that's the reason why he didn't say, test those evil teachers that you may come in run into with the word of God. Why didn't he say that? Again, it's because I believe.
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That they didn't have a gospel or an outline. I saw an outline of the word of sound words.
Of the scriptures.
But he did tell them that they had the Spirit of God dwelling within in this capacity, so that when the Spirit, at least when the these things are presented to them, they would have that capacity to discern whether it was truth or error.
Whether it was truth or error, and I've seen this before, there have been those who come around and you've probably seen them two by twos, usually with little booklets trying to tell you that you want to go into the Kingdom and this sort of thing.
And I've seen young believers, new converts, be confronted with them. And yet they somehow.
Are not stumbled by their false doctrine. They somehow come away saying, I don't think that was right. I just don't know what I could do to show them from the Bible. But it's not right. But I have a sense in my soul that that's just not right. It doesn't sound right. It doesn't have the sense or the of the shepherd's voice.
And so he throws them back on the fact that there is the Spirit of God dwelling within that will give us to know these things.
But then he conditions it in verse 24 to tell them that they need to abide in that which they have heard from the beginning.
Which is to abide in communion with the Shepherd and his voice.
Because there are many young, many old as well, that have been LED astray.
There is no guarantee, just because the Spirit of God dwells within that we are not going to be LED astray by those that would seduce us.
There needs to be communion with the Blessed Lord himself and a state of soul.
Neither shall we look at these verses and think that we do not need the gifts that God has given to us in the Church to instruct us and help us in the learning of the truth. There are some that try to excuse their their, their, their laziness, to dig into the Scriptures and to avail themselves of the written ministry, the gifts that God has raised up to instruct us. To say that I just need the Scriptures and the Spirit of God will be enough to teach me. I don't need books. I met a man one time who said that he kept his books.
I asked him one time, where are you? Do you have any books in ministry? He said over there, and he pointed to the corner where there was a fireplace and there was some wood. I didn't know what he meant, so I said, well, there's no bookshelf over there. He said right over there on top of the wood pile, because that's where I keep all my books. On the wood pile, there's only one book, he said. That's the book that I read, the scriptures. I don't need what men say about it. I have the spirit of God. Now I want to just warn each one of us here that that's not a good attitude to have.
If God has raised up teachers to instruct us in the past and in the truth.
We need to avail ourselves of it. That's why we come to the meeting, to hear the word expounded.
Why? If it was true that all we needed was the Spirit of God, we could just stay home and be ministered to by opening the scriptures.
And I'm not minimizing the power of the Spirit to do that. But when God has given to us these gifts, whether it be by written ministry or oral ministry, captured by tape or an actual meeting.
And we set that aside to excuse our laziness. God cannot bless that. And so I would just like to.
Get rid of that idea that any may have from verse 27 that we have no need for those to teach us. What are you saying here is that when error or truth is presented to us, there is the capacity within to be able to discern whether it's right or wrong, because we have a sense in our souls. If we live in communion of the shepherd's voice, the spirit of God will make it known to us.
Well, let's look at another passage. Now let's turn over to Roman's.
Chapter 8.
In the first couple of verses.
Romans 8.
1-2 and three.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And now the next series of verses to the end of the first verse are not to be found in the text. Most young people know that. But I have asked the question to them why, and many of them don't know why, and the reason for it. He's speaking about our position of acceptance in Christ.
And surely our position of acceptance in Christ is not dependent upon our walk. It's dependent upon faith in Christ and the Spirit of God's indwelling.
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It's our position.
Let's go on to verse two. And for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free, or set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin or sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, That the righteousness or the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in US, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now you'll notice at the end of verse four is where those words come in.
That were in the first verse. Here we have another capacity of the Spirit of God.
And spoken of as the law of the spirit of life.
The Spirit of God is not only indwelling us to give us the assurance of our salvation, and also to give us a foretaste of heavenly things to set before our souls, and also to give us the sermon in the past so that we would not be stumbled by those who would seek to lead us astray. He's also here to give us power to live and walk for the glory of Christ.
And the subject is in discussion. Here is deliverance from sin, that is the indwelling fallen nature that every.
Person in this world has freedom from the indwelling sin nature.
And His presence? None can know while we live here in this world. But freedom from its power all can know.
If we follow the advice of these scriptures that we have here.
So first of all, he speaks to us of how this great deliverance and power can be active in our lives.
It begins in verse one and tell in these verses to bring before us the Spirit of God. And he sets the forest, the normal Christian state. And we see in this in this chapter, the Spirit of God mentioned many times, giving us all that we need to for the past, controlling our past, leading us, comforting us, and so on as you read through. It's a wonderful passage.
On the Spirit of God it's in contrast to the 7th chapter where the Spirit of God is not mentioned at all and we see a soul struggling with the sin nature. But now when we come into the 8th chapter the Spirit of God is mentioned.
As having a proper place, the first verse is mentioned here.
Because it shows us how the Spirit of God is received, and it's when the child of God sees his place in Christ. Immediately the Spirit of God comes in and dwells in the believer. There is now, therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's a favorite expression of the Apostle Paul in Christ Jesus mentioned many times in his epistle, and it describes to us the Christian position.
If you're a child of God. If you're a Christian.
You are in Christ before God. It doesn't describe what we are. It describes where we are. We're in Christ, place before God, and it's true of every Christian, whether his state is good or whether his state is bad. All of us have an equal standing before God as being in Christ. And as I say, as we see that place as the soul understands his place in Christ, the Spirit of God comes in.
To make his residence in the believer. Now the capacity that the Spirit of God is seen here in is to give power and freedom from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death is that principle of the fallen nature that wants to do its own thing and to live for sin, and it produces nothing but death.
And so God has brought in this great principle of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to aid us to live above the propensities that the fallen nature produces. We see how that God has made a full provision to forgive those sins and to bring us into a standing before Christ, and that's all by the blood of Christ. But here we have the death of Christ applied with regard to the sin nature itself, SIN.
And when sin is mentioned in Paul's writings particularly, it's to do with.
The sin nature that we all have, it has its propensities. It has its desires, it has its.
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Lusts.
And how is the believer going to be live above these propensities?
So that he might live a holy life, a life for the glory of God. God has supplied that in the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, and we thank him for it. So now it says here the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The very fact that he resides there there is a capacity to set us free from the law of sin and death. Mr. Hejo illustrates it this way, and I pass it on.
It's like the principle of gravity. It's something that is throat creation. And regardless of where we go, we could take anything. We could take a hymn book, for instance. We could hold it out over the floor, conduct a scientific experiment. We could let go of it, and the law of gravity would take place. It would pull that hymn book to the floor. We did it 10 times in a row, 10 times in a row. It would fall to the floor because of the principle of gravity.
The word law in this second verse could be translated to principles, not talking about the Law of Moses, but the great principle upon which sin acts and lives in. Just like the principle of gravity, it pulls the book downward.
But suppose we wanted to have that book so that it would not pull down to the ground with the power of gravity.
Well, as Mr. Hale illustrated it, suppose we were to take a bunch of helium balloons, and there was enough of them. Then we tied it to the book, and then we let go of the book. What would happen?
Why? The book would stay buoyant, maybe even rise up, but it wouldn't fall to the ground. Why is it? Is it because that the principle of gravity has been taken away? No, it hasn't. It's still there. But God, what we have brought in and attached to the book, A overriding principle, a more powerful principle of helium. The law of helium is stronger than the law of gravity, supposing there's enough of it.
And we find that the book is held up now that illustrates really what God has done with the believers.
He has seen fit not to take the fallen nature away.
He has left us here in this world, and our state is tested by it, but He has made provision that we may live above it. And so we find here that the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has been brought into our lives so that we can live free from the propensities.
Of the fallen nature, Verse three is brought in to tell us that God has given up on the fallen nature. He's not seeking to look and looking for anything good in it, and he's condemned it in the death of Christ. And that shows us that we should not be looking for anything in the fallen nature ourselves, and should we should not be.
Surprised or disappointed on the nature acts up. We need to understand that God has judicially dealt with it at the cross, and He's no longer looking for anything from the flesh. But he's given to us the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God will give us to walk the holy life, as it says in verse four that the righteous requirements of the law may be fulfilled in this. Now the law here is the law of Moses might be fulfilled in US who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
It doesn't say that we're under the law, but those things that are the requirements of the law.
They are fulfilled in us. When we have Christ as our object, we do those things and more we go beyond. But the law requires, and we're given that power when we walk in the Spirit. And so that's another tremendous function of the Spirit of God. Now one more before we make some practical applications, let's turn to Galatians Chapter 5.
Galatians, chapter 5.
Verse 22 The fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy Peace.
Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such.
There is no law.
And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections thereof.
And if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And let's turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, Second Corinthians chapter 3.
2nd Corinthians 3 verse 17 Now the Lord is that spirit.
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And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, but we all with open face, beholding as in a glass, so that could read. We all, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The point I want to mention here now is that the Spirit of God is also indwelling the believer.
To produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Many times you'll hear people saying fruits of the Spirit, and my brother-in-law has corrected me on that before. No, scripture never says that It speaks of fruit in the singular, although there's nine different parts to it. It's one fruit. And what the Spirit of God would love to do in your life and mine is to produce moral conformity to Christ. That the fruit of the Spirit would be seen in us. That the character of Christ would come out in us as believers in this world. And how he does it is that the Spirit of God writes Christ on our fleshy tables of our heart.
A second Corinthians 3 tells them.
And as Christ is impressed upon the heart by the Spirit of God and our affections, it comes out in the character of our life and we become more like him. Now what he's saying here in verse 17 of 2nd Corinthians 3 is that the Lord is the Spirit of all of the Old Testament Scriptures. And when we take up the Old Testament scriptures, we need to see Christ there, because when God wrote the scriptures, he had Christ before him. And if we're going to get the the, the meat out of the Scriptures, we need to have Christ beforehand us when we read the Scriptures.
Lord is the Spirit of all those Old Testament passages. He's talking about the reading of the Old Testament passages here in the synagogue verse 14 And he is the Spirit of it all. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We now have the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, and gives us liberty to look on the blessed face of the Lord Jesus, where he is now in the glory. And as we are occupied with Christ and our place in Christ, it tells us here that the Spirit of God performs a silent work in US.
Writing Christ upon the heart.
And thus we are transformed into his image, that same image from glory to glory. That means it goes step by step, a little bit here and a little bit there. And as we grow and progress in our Christian pathway, we've become, well, we should become more like Christ.
An illustration of that comes to mind and Song of Solomon the the the bride there is occupied with the the features of the bridegroom in chapter 5 and she lists all these wonderful things and talks about this is my beloved and then in the 6th chapter.
The daughters of Jerusalem, they look at her and they say, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? And she begins to describe him again.
And she's still taken up with his glories and his beauties. Finally, they say.
Oh, Shulamite, Shulamite, and so on. And I've been told that the word Shulamite really is the feminine form of Solomon.
And so Solomon in the feminine form is what they called her. And I take it that she was so occupied with him that they looked at her and they said, oh, you're just you're just like Solomon, you're a Shulamite.
And that's exactly what will happen. When we get taken up with our Blessed Lord Jesus, we'll become like him. In fact, we know from Acts 11 That the the believers were first called Christians in Antioch because they were taken up with Christ in such a way that the world looked on them and gave them that name.
And so this is how we are transformed. This is how.
Moral conformity to Christ is produced in the believer, and this is one of the many capacities that the Spirit of God.
Is seeking to perform in the believer and that is to make us more like the Son of God. It's been said that God loves his son so much and the beauties that he sees in him that he's purpose to fill all heaven with sons just like his own son. And so now the Spirit of God is performing that work in US.
And in the measure in which we are occupied with Him, that transformation takes place. And so I've looked at 5 different things at least, in which the Spirit of God being present in US does gives us the assurance of our salvation, gives us the earnest of the Spirit. He gives us to discernment, for the pathway gives us power to live a holy life for the glory of God, and He transforms us into the same image of the Blessed Lord Himself.
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Now the question may be asked. This is what I really wanted to get to.
Is if that's the case, why is it that there's so little of Christ in me? Why is it that I enjoy so little of my blessings?
And why is it that I have such little power to live for Christ?
In my life.
Well, let's turn to Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Verse 18 Be not drunk with wine wearing his excess.
But be filled with the spirit.
Speaking to yourselves and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God. Here we have the answer, I believe, and that is that we need to be filled with the Spirit. It's not enough to have the indwelling presence of the Spirit. We need to be filled with the Spirit. There is no exhortation in Scripture that we be engulfed with the Spirit, for that is an automatic thing upon believing the gospel of our salvation as we've had.
But there are exhortations in the Scripture that we would be filled with the Spirit, and that's quite a different thing.
It's one thing to possess the Spirit within and another thing to have the Spirit of God possess us and have control in our lives. And So what it is to be filled with the Spirit is to have the Spirit of God having control over every part of our lives. Sometimes you hear people expressing how that we need to give more to Christ. In this way they talk about how that we have our lives for Christ, but we hold back some corner in our heart and we reserve that for ourselves and our own interests.
And it's holding us back from really honoring the Lord. Well, that's certainly true if that be the case. But you know, we're living days when there isn't even that. To say that. More accurately, perhaps, I would say that what it is that many lives of Christians are more like there is all for self in the in the life, and only just a little bit for Christ. The life is filled with our own interests and ambitions, and that is what is hindering the spirit of God from working in us in these blessed capacities that I've been looking at for the last 40 minutes.
The filling of the Spirit is something that we all need. It means to be yielded to His presence so that He can fill every part of our life and He takes control over it. I've given this illustration before.
In Germany I believe it is. Or is it Switzerland at any rate. In Freiburg there is. There was many years ago.
A world renowned organ, a pipe organ built right into the cathedral where it was, it was and it was a magnificent thing.
And one day there was a visitor that came to the Chapel where it was and asked if he could play that organ.
The man that was there to look after the Chapel told him that he was not allowed to. He didn't just let strangers come in and sit down at this magnificent piece of of work in the organ anyway. At any rate, the visitor insisted and persisted, and finally the man let him sit down at the organ, and immediately there was the most beautiful music that came forth out of that organ.
They fill the room.
And it just made that man the caretaker of the place, just rooted to the very spot where he was as he listened to this magnificent music being played out of his organ. And after the man played for some time, he's about to leave. When he got up from the organ, the caretaker went over and asked him who are you? And he said Mendelson. It was a great composer himself.
Think of it, he said. And I was refusing you, a man of your stature and ability, as the greatest composition in Europe at that time, to sit down at this organ. I'm ashamed, he said. And I like to think of that with regard to the presence of the Spirit of God, far greater than any composer, for he's a divine person.
He's been given entrance into our hearts because we have been sealed and indwelt with the spirit. We've talked about that.
But have we? Just like the man has let the man inside the building, the caretaker let the visitor inside the building. But he wouldn't let him sit down at the control panel of that organ and create some beautiful music.
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And you know, that's where it is with many Christians lives. If we're honest, we'll say that we've held back.
And so that the Spirit of God has not had an opportunity.
To fill our lives with that which would be for the glory of God.
And so may we be surrendered to the Spirit and allow him to have his rightful place in our lives. He'll take the things of Christ, and He'll make us the happiest and most satisfied believer in this world.
But now to speak a little bit more as to how we're filled with the Spirit of God. I've noticed in the book of the Acts, and I'm not going to ask you to turn to it, but in chapter 2 you'll find that the filling of the Spirit is associated with fellowship. In the 4th chapter, it's filled with prayer in the word of God.
And 7th chapter the filling of the Spirit is associated with testifying for Christ in the as we've had here in Ephesians chapter 5. The Spirit of God being, filling, filling the believers associated with singing, making melody in the heart. Acts Chapter 11. You'll see that it's being associated with serving the Lord.
But let's turn back to Romans chapter 8 for a minute and we'll just see a little bit more as to how.
We are responsible to let the Spirit of God.
Do his work in us by filling us.
Romans chapter 8 and now I'll read from verse 5 to 14 Romans 85.
For they that are after the flesh are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh.
But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, for to be carnally minded is death.
But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is empathy against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed be so. Then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit of life, because the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.
By a spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not the flesh, to live after or according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, ye shall die, and if ye through the Spirit do mortify or put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as that are LED of the Spirit of God, they are of they are the sons of God.
What the apostle is doing here now in these verses, is he setting before us?
How? Or the way of sustained practical deliverance? It's one thing to have the Spirit of God come in and give us the power as the principle of the life, the principle of the spirit of life in Christ. But it's another thing to have a sustained life of practical deliverance. And what he's setting before us here is 2 domains or two spheres. The sphere of those things would pertain to the flesh, and the sphere of those things that pertain to the Spirit.
And he's showing us here that we have to live in the right sphere if we want the power of the Spirit to be evident in our lives and the things of the Spirit and the sphere of the Spirit.
Are to do with those things that pertain to Christ's interest in this world, whether it be reading the Scriptures, whether it be singing and making melody in our hearts, whether it be going to Bible meetings or writing letters to Christians or visiting people who are preaching the gospel or passing out tracts. Those are the things of the Spirit because they are to do with the range of objects that are connected with Christ, who is the center of all.
That is the things of the Spirit, and He speaks of it in a very abstract way. Then He speaks of the things of the flesh.
In an abstract way. And he says that these two spheres are absolutely opposition with one another. And then he draws this conclusion in verse 12 and 13. Which of these two spheres are we living in? And this is what I want to put before you, dear young people. You know, if we live our lives from morning to life, morning to night, in the sphere of those things that pertain to the flesh, we cannot expect to have the flow of the spirit of God in our lives. Notice it says in verse five that they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
Never could really understand that until I went to England one time when we got off the subway down in the main part of London, there is this loudspeaker that comes as the doors open up. It says mind the gap, mind the gap. And I said to Kathy, what on earth are they trying to tell us? Mind the gap. I know it's English, but we figured it out that what they meant was, watch out where you step. There's a gap and you don't want to put your foot in there when the train is stopped, you want to step over it.
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And that's the idea, I think, that the Old English way of using the word mind, and that is to pay attention to. And if you think of that in this way here, that will help those that pay attention to the things of the flesh, that is, they mind those things. And as I say, if we spend our lives from morning to night in that sphere, we cannot expect to have the spirit of God in our lives.
Working to bring about these practical results that we have been Speaking of, you know, if you spend all day.
Playing ball and then after that you go to a pizza parlor where there's just something rock music going on and maybe on the way there you've got something inside your car, so the car is shaking as you go down the road.
And then after that's all over, you go home and get the TV on for a while. And then when you got a little bit more time before bed, you see, well, let's play a little computer games. And so you get this computer going around with a man chasing another man with a club, usually.
And then you get into bed.
What's happened is that you've lived your life.
In a sphere that really is to do with the flesh, though I would not stay in any of those things that I've described, that there's something sinful and wrong, yet it is not in the sphere of the Spirit of the things to do with Christ. And so if you want the practical power of Christ in our lives and the flow of the Spirit of God, we need to take up with those things of Christ. And he's saying here, and if you live verse 13, if you live after the flesh, ye shall die.
Now, the way in which death is spoken of here and this verse is different from most other places in the Bible. Death always carries the idea of separation, and what the idea here is is that fellowship and communion with God is broken and life becomes a failure.
It's not talking about physical death, not talking about spiritual death that a person is in before they have the the new birth is talking about a moral death that takes place in the believers life, whereby there is nothing but failure.
And he is saying here, if you live in that sphere of the flesh, you can expect it. It's going to bring forth death. If we live in the sphere of spirit, there's going to be plenty of power to live for the glory of God. This is what it is to be filled with the Spirit, to be occupied, to be given to or to mind the things of the Spirit. We spend too much time over here. Young people, what is the object of your life? What is the main main substratum of your life, so to speak? The what?
Occupies your life.
This is the reason why there is such a power failure. And you know, it's been said that if we pamper the flesh, we'll hamper the Spirit. That is, we'll pamper the flesh, we'll hamper the Spirit in His truth, we go in for the things in this sphere. Here we can't expect to have the Spirit of God working the way in which Scripture speaks. Now the scripture speaks of these various capacities of the Spirit of God. As we've been reading for the 1St 40 minutes or so, as normal Christianity, it's normal that the Christian walks the police God and to have the things of Christ before him and all that we've spoken of.
But we as Christians so very often live so far below it, because we have not allowed the Spirit of God his place. Let's turn back the second Kings, chapter 4, and we'll get another illustration of this very thing. Second Kings, chapter 4, verse one. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, thy servant, my husband is dead, And now knows that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditor has come to take him unto him my two sons to be bondsman.
And Elijah said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy house? And she said, Thine handmaid, hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil? Now let me say here, Oil in the scripture is always a type of the Spirit of God. You know that.
Then he said, go borrow 3 vessels abroad of all thy neighbors.
Even empty vessels borrow not a few, and when they were, when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
So she went from him, and shut the door upon her, and her son, who brought vessels unto her, And she poured out. And it came to pass, that when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And they said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And they all stayed. And she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go and sell the oil, and pay the debt, and live thou my children of the rest. Why did I read that passage? Well, you find here that there was a state of poverty, and this woman needed help, but she had a pot of oil.
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As we said it to figure a type of the spirit of God and a miracle was performed here by Elisha. And we find that she had a little bit of oil in there. But as she kept on pouring, it just kept on going and going and going and going and as many vessels that the boys had brought to her, it filled every one of them.
But I want to ask you this question. What was it that started the oil?
To flow in that House.
It was when she shut the door.
He insisted that when you go home, shut the door when you're inside, then start pouring and you'll have plenty of oil.
And so it says when she went home, she shut to the door.
And then the miracle performed. And you know what that teaches us? It teaches us that we need to have our doors shut to the world and to those things that pertain to the flesh. And when our door is shut to those things, the Spirit of God will be have plenty of power and freedom in our lives to pour out what we need for the journey and for the way. One last verse before we close. Deuteronomy 33.
Deuteronomy 33, verse 24.
And of Asher, he said, Let Asher be blessed of the children, and let him be acceptable to his brethren.
Let him dip his foot in oil. It's an odd thing, you may say, but when you understand the type, it makes perfect sense. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy day so shall thy strength be so. Here was an expectation that Asher should dip his foot in oil.
This is a little picture for us of walking in the Spirit, of course, as we have in Galatians 5 Walk in the Spirit as we read.
And what was the great result?
Well, when his foot was dipped in oil, it says that his shoes would become like iron and brass.
Now that brings before us the thought that there is going to be a very stable walk. If you walked around with brass and an iron shoes, I know you wouldn't walk very fast, but they would be very steady on your feet, wouldn't you? And that brings before us the stability.
Mr. Dodds used to tell us that it also brings before us the fact that there's going to be leaving a track behind us. If you had very heavy shoes on and you walked across the ground behind you, there would be tracks, wouldn't that? And that's what happens when a man is walking in the power of the spirit of God. He leaves a testimony behind him.
For all to see. And so it's very obvious that we can when a person is filled with a spirit.
You don't need to try to describe it. You can see it and that's why it says in Ephesians chapter 5.
Be not drunk in the wine where it is in excess, but be filled with the spirit, because just as a man that's overcome with wine, you can see it in a way in which he walks and moves.
Staggering around as he moves or whatever. And so it is in the realm of the Spirit. You can, you can tell a person whose life is filled with the Spirit, and it's all related to having Christ really in his proper place as Ruler and Lord over us all. And so I just would insist here, young people, as we close this meeting, that if you want to have these things in your life, it is dependent upon you living in the right sphere.
And then you'll be filled with the Spirit of God. And then your life is going to count. For the glory of God. Let's pray, Father, we thank thee for thy word.