Loving the Holy Spirit

We're going to read two short passages from the Holy Scripture. You'll find an authorised version in the English language in the Bible in front of you in the pew. If you pick it up and turn with me to John's Gospel at the chapter fourteen.

Fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel for this first short passage. And as these are short passages, I'll just read them to you. We usually read together, but as these are just two short passages, I'll read them myself this morning.

John chapter fourteen, and we're reading at verse eleven, on to verse twenty-one. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Or else believe me for the very work's sake.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.

Even the Spirit of truth from 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. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.

Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me. Because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them. He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father. And I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

And then we're turning over to the last chapter, or the 15th chapter of Romans. The book of Romans, at the chapter 15, and we're reading from verse 30 to verse 33. Romans chapter 15, and we're reading at verse 30.

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. And that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be.

And God shall stamp with his own divine seal of approval and blessing this reading from his very own infallible book. I take to the promised Holy Ghost, the blessed power of Pentecost, to fill me to the uttermost, I take. Thank God he undertakes for me.

And the people of God said, Amen. You may be seated. I admitted to say that we're very glad this morning to have our good friend and brother, Dr. Bill Woods, MBE in our service.

And we welcome him to the service. He's just home for a few days, but I was telling him that I was talking about him to the president of Brazil. And he said, I wish you had asked him for better pay for the work that I'm doing.

Well, I said, if you want me to do that, I would write to him and tell him that he should be better paid. We're glad to have our brother, and on the last Wednesday of this month, he will be speaking to us at our midweek prayer meeting. Romans chapter 15 and verse 30.

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Great emphasis is left, is laid in the Bible on the role of a Christian as a servant of Christ. Service for Christ is the number one obligation of the child of God.

Am I really, truly, wholeheartedly a servant of Christ? Am I like the apostle Paul, who used the word servant so often, and the word he used in the Greek text was slave? I am the slave of Christ. I have no will, but Christ will. I have no way of living, but Christ's way of living.

I have no urge, but the urges that come for Christ. I have no desires, but the desires that are born in my heart by the Spirit of Christ. Is that the way we as believers operate in the service of Christ? Motivation as a servant of the Lord is all important.

No human resolve can do it. There must be a divine operation which daily, and hourly, and minutely, and momently, drives us to truly labor in the Lord's great harvest season. There are far too many loafers around in the church.

We're not looking for loafers. Christ is looking for dedicated and profitable laborers. I challenge you today.

Can you say, I am a true laborer for Christ? Romans 15.30, my text, is the secret of the driving power which puts every Christian to their full power and energy for Christ. There are two great incentives mentioned here. One is for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake.

And the other is for the love of the Spirit. It was sad to think that in the days of the great apostle, in the post-Pentecostal arena of the church, that he still had to plead with the early Christians to be motivated to be slaves of Christ for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. And for love of the Spirit.

The first motivation is easily understood. Everything we do should be done for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the second one, please note, is the love of the Spirit.

I have heard messages about the love of God the Father and the necessity of our love to God the Father. I've heard many messages on the subject, the love that we should have for Christ. For all He came to do for us.

For all He did for us. And for all He is at present doing for us in heaven. And the fact He's coming again for us in His second coming.

I have never listened to any preacher preaching about the love we should have. I've never heard one sermon on the topic, love the Holy Ghost. I remember learning a chorus in revival days in this province.

I love Holy Ghost meetings down here. But heaven will be better. We should have not only love for the Lord.

We should not only have love for the Son. But we should have love for the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit alone can reveal Christ.

And surely the revealer of Christ and the only revealer of Christ should have the love. We should love the Spirit of God because of His glorious work of revealing Christ. The day you were converted, if you're a converted person.

Was a day when the Spirit of God brought to your mind and soul and heart a vision of Christ. I saw one hand which enabled us to look to Christ. Not the Christ of man.

The Christ of the Spirit's revelation. Paul said, I'm fighting a battle. I'm in the midst of strife.

I'm calling you to waken up. Arise from your sleep. And start to love the Holy Ghost.

Pray to Him. I'll see continually the Savior. And in seeing Him, I will be renewed in heart and soul and mind to serve Him.

The evidence of the love of the Spirit is very great. As we look through the Bible, we find it is emphasized over and over again. The love of the Spirit is equal to the love of the Father in the giving of His Son.

And we must never lose sight of the love of the Spirit. Who was responsible for the incarnation of God's Son in human flesh. The Virgin Mary conceived.

The Spirit is set forth in conjunction with the Father as the one who sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Look up Isaiah 48 and 16. And you'll read there these words.

Come ye near unto me. Hear ye this. I have not spoken in secret from the beginning.

From the time that it was, there am I. And now the Lord God and His Spirit sent me. The body of our Lord Jesus. The making of Him in the flesh were the special work.

Luke 1 and 35 tells me that the angels answered and said unto Mary. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. And the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.

Therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. When Christ came to 30 years of age, He preached His first sermon. And what was the text of His first sermon? It was a text of the Old Testament scripture.

The prophet Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. To preach deliverance to the captives. And recovering of sight to the blind.

And set in liberty them that are bruised. So Christ could not preach without the love of the Spirit. It was the love of the Spirit that drove the Son of God on His spirit filled boat to the baptismal waters of Jordan.

And there you will read the words that Jesus when He was baptized went up straightway out of the water. And all the heavens were opened. And He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him.

And He heard a voice saying, this is my beloved Son. In whom Christ was sealed in His baptism by the revelation. He was then driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

And it was in the triumph of the Spirit's power that He overcame the devil. In Hebrews chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 I read, Wherefore in all things it behold Him to be made like unto His brethren. That He might be a merciful and faithful high priest.

In things pertaining to God and to make reconciliation for the sins of His people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted. The endearment of the Spirit was on Christ's ministry.

He returned from His temptation, we read. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, we read in Acts 10 verse 38, with the Holy Ghost and with power.

And He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. For God was with Him. In that dark cross Jesus, Hebrews 9 and 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ.

Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God. Let me emphasize that. There could be no Calvary apart from the power of the Spirit of God.

The blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot. And when the New Testament Church was born, what happened in the upper room? The Lord Jesus said, ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.

The Holy Spirit had a peculiar place in the ministry. He needs to have a peculiar place in the service of all those that call themselves Christian. We need the Holy Ghost.

We need to love the Spirit of God. We need to love His presence. We need to love the book that He wrote.

We need to love the Christ that He reveals. We need to love the commandments He teaches. We need to love the Gospel that He has called upon us to declare.

But secondly, let me say the demonstration of the love of the Spirit has been the unwearied work of the Holy Ghost in every age. Go back to the earliest, to the beginning. You know I laugh at these fools on the radio and television and they tell you the world began 500 million years ago.

The world I know, it began in the beginning. And that's beyond all the mind. In the beginning God created.

And in the second verse we read, The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. The Spirit commenced His ministry then. It has been going on ever since.

The unwearied Spirit of God. And of course when you read and turn over the book of Genesis, You come to that pre-flood area of apostasy. And devils mingled with human flesh.

When the world was aflood with the darkest of sin and the most damnable of blasphemies. But the tender, dove-like Spirit unwearyingly strove with man. My Spirit shall not always strive with man.

He was striving there in those days before. And so He could go on. He strove with sinners after the flood.

He strove with Israel for generations. He strove with the generation that was upon earth when Christ commenced His earthly ministry. He strove on the day of Pentecost.

And every era since there has been the blessed striving of the Holy Ghost. In 1859 in this Ulster of Ours, He strove with mighty power. In 1920 under W.P. Nicholson, He strove with mighty power.

In the early days of our own church, we saw His striving with mighty power. I remember preaching in Philomena. And a man came to me and he said, He said, I am a sinner, Mr. Peasley.

And he said, I thought I would go and hear you preach. For they were talking about your preaching in the place where I worked. So he said, I took my bicycle and I rode from Cully, Blackhead, the capital of the world, to him, to the meeting.

He said, it was a terrible job getting into the meeting. It was packed. And you said that night, half of you would need to breathe in, and the other half of you breathe out, and then squeeze in as best you can.

And he said, I listened. I didn't think much of your preaching. And he said, it came away.

And he said, I rode back to Cully, Blackhead, rode over the river. And when I took my way up on the right hand side to the creeks, he said something happened to me. He said, God struck me off that bicycle.

And I found myself on the ground crying to God to have mercy on my soul. The work of the Holy Spirit. He strives with man.

He's unwearied. How easily wearied God's people are in their quest for souls. But the blessed Holy Spirit doesn't slumber or doesn't sleep.

Oh, how great is the love of the Holy Ghost. What infinite patience He exercises towards stubborn, hard-hearted, and careless sinners. Instead of giving up sinners at once to the hardness of their hearts, and giving them up to the vengeance of everlasting eternal fire.

The Holy Ghost is long patient with them. He strives with them repeatedly after they have resisted Him for years. He bore with the wickedness of the Andalusians for 120 years before the flood.

He bore with the Israelites who provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert. The Holy Spirit was full of compassion. He forgave their iniquity.

He destroyed them not. Many a time He turned His anger away and did not stir His wrath against them. He remembered they were flesh, and that as a wind passeth over the grass, so it withereth.

He knew they were a stiff-necked and uncircumcised people, yet He strove with them. The love of the Spirit has been as great to us as it was to Israel. And every child of God can thank God that the Spirit did not give up on them.

I remember once preaching in this house to a man who had sat under my ministry in the second seat there, where our brother the organist is sitting at the moment. He came every Sunday, never missed it, but he was as hard as can remember. One night as I preached, he rose from his seat.

He ran into that room, and when I went in he was upon his knees, and he was sobbing. And all I could hear amidst the sobs was this, Thank you, thank you, you didn't give up on me. I rejected you for twenty years.

I left the church on a Sunday night with a hard heart. My wife didn't give up on me. She prayed for me.

Thank you Lord, you haven't given up on me. He got gloriously sealed. It was a good thing he did.

For in a year's time we buried him, sitting in his home. It took a heart of time. He died.

Gone. But thank God the Spirit didn't give up on him. The Spirit strives with man.

Had the Spirit taken your word when you said no to Jesus? If the Spirit had taken your word when you kicked against the bricks? If the Spirit had taken your attitude when you resisted His love and His mercy and His grace, you would have been damned. But God in great mercy strove with your soul. Should you not go out and strive with man? Should you not show the same attitude to poor sinners that the Holy Ghost showed to you? Should you not have the same courage and the same stickability to keep at it? Though days are hard and things have changed, our love for souls should be more on fire for God than ever before.

When I look back over the years, I find the Holy Spirit's love keeps the same. He still delivers His people from the power of sin. He still forgives their opposition to divine truth.

He still sheds abroad the love of God in their heart. He still witnesses to the fact that they are personally Christ's. The Spirit answers and bears witness to our spirit that we are the children of God.

He still sanctifies those that trust in Christ. He still saves and delivers them from the power of the enemy. He helps their infirmities.

He is the great comforter of God's people. He purifies from all sin. He imparts strength to our weary hearts.

And He is the divine seed of God upon our souls. Surely the Spirit should be loved. We should love the Holy Ghost.

The love of the Spirit should cause us to honor Him. We should honor Him by fully believing in His ability and willingness to help us at all times and in all places and in all circumstances. We should honor Him by asking Him for larger measures and an outpouring of His power.

We should honor Him by making known His excellence and grace in our hearts and testifying to His goodness to us. We should honor Him by ever living and walking in the light. If we walk in the light, this He is in the light.

We have fellowship one with the other in the blood of Jesus Christ. God's Son cleanses us from all sin. We should ever remember it's not by might nor by power, but it's by my Spirit.

And we should look not to man for the salvation of souls, but we should look to the blessed Holy Spirit. He says He will pour Himself out upon all flesh. And when the Spirit is poured out from on high, then the hardest centers are broken, the toughest areas are evangelized, the most wicked of men are converted.

I remember a time on this road when we saw wicked men, the vilest, hideous in their abominations, and in the filthiness of their fornications, broken and smashed by the power. What you need and what I need is a revival of true religion in our souls. And the only person that can bring a revival is the blessed Spirit of God.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh in me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh in me.

Let's bow our heads and let's sing that chorus. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh in me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.