I believe No.11 in the Holy Spirit

I say as you're turning to this, those of you, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature, have their minds set on what that nature desires. But those who live in accordance with the spirit, have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace.

The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the spirit. If the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die.

But if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because those who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship.

And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

If indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory. Well, that's a majestic chapter of scripture. And I would well advise that you read the concluding verses, because they are the chapter Father, we ask for a sense of your presence now as we look into your word and pray that it may be so broken in small particles that all shall be able to follow.

And this we pray for Jesus' sake, Amen. Now one of the hardest areas in which to try to teach, not only from the creed, but even if one was dealing with a specific verse of scripture, is in the area of the Holy Spirit. Christian people believe that God exists in three persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

And it's reasonably easy to understand what is meant by Father, because all of us presumably have known, maybe there are one or two exceptions, our own earthly fathers, and the vast majority of us have had good fathers. So it's easy for us at least to begin to understand a little of what the creed means and what the Bible means when it talks about, I believe in the Father. Similarly, the Son.

Some of you are parents and you have your children. Others who are young people know that being related to their parents, a son or a daughter, gives them a very privileged position. And it's reasonably easy therefore to grasp at least, in part, what the scripture means when it talks about God the Son.

But now we run into difficulties. God the Spirit. It's that word Spirit and Ghost which sometimes causes most weird pictures in the minds of young folk in particular.

I used to be, as many of you know, a school teacher and I had to learn quite early on in my teaching career to be very, very plain, particularly when dealing with things that I thought everyone knew. Like the little boy who, referring to the Lord's Prayer, really thought that it was harrowed and not hallowed that was conveyed in the prayer, which makes an utter nonsense and yet that's what he thought. And actually Mr Wilson was Prime Minister at the time so maybe there was a sort of subtle meaning built into his misconception.

But the idea of the Holy Ghost, some celestial spook, some eerie figure, very difficult for us to grasp what the Bible means. And what we're saying when we say in the Creed, I believe in the Holy Spirit. Well, let me just for a moment, before going into an enlarged explanation and application, say this.

That the work of the Father is shown in Scripture, as we've seen, as the one who is the Creator. God speaks and the world comes into existence. And when we were looking at the doctrine of the Son, we found that he went to the cross of Calvary for our redemption so that you and I might have our sins forgiven.

And you will find on many occasions in the New Testament, at least on several occasions, that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God whereby people like you and me are recreated. You say, what do you mean by that? Well look, if you're a sinner, then you're less than you should be. When God originally made man and woman, they were perfect.

And Jesus came into the world because they sinned. And when he died on the cross of Calvary, he died so that their misdeeds might be put right. And the value of the death of Jesus, this is what I'm trying to say, the value of the death of the Lord Jesus is made real to you and to me by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

So the Spirit of God is as important as the Son of God and indeed the first person of the Trinity. We believe in God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. And if you were to extract one of those persons from the Trinity, then we wouldn't have the work of salvation because you are forgiven as a result of Father, Son, and Spirit and the concern of the Triune God for you and indeed for me.

Well, having said that, we're going to be looking now particularly at the Holy Spirit. Who he is. Who he is.

And I want to repeat what I said a moment or two ago. He is a person. He is not a thing.

He is not a liquid that's sort of poured out from some celestial jar so that he fills your heart until it overflows and it comes out of your personality. Neither is he just some sort of heavenly electrical current that is directed to believers who when they plug in, get a shock that sends shivers up and down their spine. Now the Holy Spirit, when he has his ministry in our lives, he certainly causes some remarkable things to occur.

But basically we have to think of him not in terms of an it, the authorised version of the Bible, never got it more wrong when on one occasion the translation of the pronoun of the Holy Spirit is rendered it and not he. Thank goodness that has now been put right in some of the more modern versions of Scripture. The Holy Ghost is a person.

And when you read the New Testament, you discover that as a person does certain things, so the Holy Spirit does. We read of him, for example, and I could give you chapter and verse for every instance but that would be a little wearisome. We read of the Holy Spirit searching the heart.

The Holy Spirit looking down. We read of the Holy Spirit teaching. We read of the Holy Spirit being grieved.

Do you ever get upset? Somebody's done something that is wrong, they've utterly misunderstood you or maybe you deserve to be insulted by them and you've got to know and although you deserved it, you felt rather upset, couldn't they have forgiven you? And the Bible says that the Holy Spirit sometimes is grieved. So we're told in Galatians to grieve not the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, when he spoke about the Holy Spirit coming into this world, used a word that described the Spirit in the same terms as he described himself.

To the extent that you would think that the Holy Spirit was a carbon copy of the Lord Jesus and in one sense he is. Because though mathematically we can't understand it, God is three persons, he's also one person. And the Holy Spirit is of the same essence as the Lord Jesus.

Someone has neatly put it like this. Jesus came in his incarnation to show the love of the Father to the world. And when he was raised and taken back into glory, he allowed the Holy Spirit to come so that the power of God could be manifested in our world today.

Who is the Holy Spirit? Well, I first emphasise the fact of his personality and then of course his purity. Time and time and time and time again in Scripture you come across this, the Holy Spirit. Incidentally that's a characteristic that the Spirit has with the Lord Jesus and also with the Father.

Because the Father, the first person of the Trinity, is sometimes referred to as Holy Father. When Mary discovers that she's pregnant, the angel says about the Lord Jesus Christ, that holy child who is within you. And when we come across the third person of the Trinity, invariably the adjective that's used to describe him is the adjective holy.

He is pure. So we've learnt what so far this evening? Regarding who the Holy Spirit is, his personality, he is an individual with feelings. His purity.

But one more thing that I want to show you regarding the Spirit is his power. Now that's the way that we often think of the Spirit and maybe we preachers are guilty at stressing the power of the Holy Spirit to the end that you forget that he's a real person. Now in one sense it's a most understandable error to make that particular emphasis.

Because the Spirit, he brings the dynamic of God, that's the word in the original language that I've tried to get into the nearest English one that you can. The dynamic of God released in this world, his power. When you come across the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, he's always on the move.

When God creates, he creates by the power of the Spirit. When you come into the New Testament, what do you hear the Spirit describe in terms of, just as an illustration, well as oil that bubbles, as water that cascades down, as fire that burns, as wind that whips across with some hurricane force. The power of the Holy Spirit.

Do you know what the most powerful thing in the world today is? It's not that that's been unleashed by the splitting of the atom. And if you were to bring together all the stockpiles of those obscene nuclear weapons and you could concentrate them into one mighty weapon and explode it, that would be only a fragment of the power that the Holy Spirit has in himself. You see, it's the Holy Spirit who brings the world into existence as God the Father speaks.

And it's that same power of the Holy Spirit that is so necessary in your life and in mine. Look, at this point, if you've followed me, and thank you for your attention thus far, it really is quite remarkable. At this point, if you've followed me, you should have been drawn to make a conclusion as to what a Christian is.

A Christian is not just someone who believes the creed. In fact, you could believe the creed and not be a Christian. A Christian goes beyond that.

He doesn't just say, I believe that, that, and that. But he says, I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to the end that the dynamic of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is in my life and I am created afresh. There was a day in my experience, so long ago I can hardly recall it or identify it, back in the north of England where I was born and brought up as a lad, when I put my trust in Jesus Christ.

And do you know what happened? The Holy Spirit moved into my heart. Divine energy is shared by every Christian. I go so far as to say that you can't be a Christian, because that's what Paul says, without in some measure knowing the dynamic of the Spirit in your heart, in your life.

So, that is who the Spirit is. We've learned something about His purity. We've learned something about His personality and something about His power.

But my second question, and I've got three so you can work out with this aid just how long I'm likely to carry on this evening. My second question is, what He does? What He does? And I seek to supply an answer to that little comment. What does He do? Well, He convicts.

Again, no prizes for my artwork, but there is a man who, even if you didn't recognise it, is under terrible conviction. And if you look like that, then we might too believe that something was wrong with you. What is conviction? Well, conviction is when your conscience starts to play you up.

You might read way back in Genesis about a man called Noah. And if you read of Noah later on in the New Testament, you discover that in his day, the Holy Spirit was striving with men and women to try to convince them that if they continued to live the sort of life they were living at that time, they would come under the judgment of God. It was the Spirit who was convicting men and women in those days.

And in New Testament times, you find that the Apostle Paul, and indeed other apostles, when they're proclaiming the Gospel, they're utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit to do what? Well, to convict people. You say sometimes you feel rotten. That maybe you're not a Christian at this particular moment, but you will confess, yes, there are times I don't really understand it, when I've done something that's wrong, and it doesn't really amount to much in my book, but I can't get it out of my mind.

It goes round and round and round and round. Shall I tell you what that is, my friend? It's the Holy Spirit playing upon your conscience. It's the Holy Spirit who always goes before the Gospel message is actually explained.

Because no preacher, even if we had Billy Graham here this evening, there is no preacher in the world who can convict somebody else of the fact that they're sinners. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. He convicts.

And not only does he convict of sin, but he converts. If you were to look up that reference, which we won't at the moment, John chapter 3 and verse 5, you would discover that the Lord Jesus is engaged in conversation with a rabbi who was a great student of the Old Testament, but he got a theological problem. He got it all right in his mind, but he got it all wrong in his heart.

And Jesus said to this man, look, unless you're born again of the Spirit, you can never enter into the kingdom of God. So it's the Holy Spirit who not only convicts a man, but causes him to be converted, so that he becomes absolutely new inside. There might be some visible change in that he looks happier.

We do trust that the Christian is a happier entity, a happier being than the non-Christian. But basically the change is internal and not external. But the change internal is so drastic, because the power of the Spirit is operative, that that person becomes absolutely new.

Now you know some remarkable things have happened when the Holy Spirit has had full liberty in services. There was a man by the name of William Haslam, who lived some hundred or a couple of hundred years ago, about the same time as Billy Bray, who was a very quaint preacher from Cornwall. However, William Haslam was an Anglican minister.

And although he was a preacher, he didn't really believe the Gospel. And he becomes one of the first people on record who is converted, convicted, as a result of his own preaching, by the power of the Spirit. You don't believe it? Well listen, this is Haslam, well not talking, it's me talking, but I'm reading Haslam's book.

The sun was shining brightly, and before I could make up my mind to put off the service, the bells struck out a merry peal, and sent their summons far away over the hills. Now the thought came to me that I would go to church and read the morning prayers, and after that dismiss the people. There was no preparation for the Holy Communion that day, and I had deputed the clerk to select the hymns, for I was far too ill to attend to anything myself.

The Psalms and hymns were especially applicable to my case, and seemed to help me, so that I thought I would go on and read the anti-communion service, that means the communion service afterwards, not that he was opposed to it, and then dismiss the people. And while I was reading the Gospel, I thought, well, I will just say a few words in explanation of this, and then I will dismiss them. So I went up into the pulpit and gave out my text.

I took it from the Gospel of the day. What think ye of Christ? Matthew 22 verse 42. As I went on to explain the passage, I saw that the Pharisees and scribes did not know that Christ was the Son of God, or that he was come to save them.

They were looking for a king, the son of David, to reign over them, as they were. However, something was telling me all the time, you are no better than the Pharisees yourself. You do not believe that he is the Son of God, and that he has come to save you, any more than they did.

I do not remember all I said, but I felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul, and I was beginning to see what the Pharisees did not. Whether it was something in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know not. But all of a sudden, a local preacher, who happened to be in the congregation, stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out in Cornish manner, The parson is converted! The parson is converted! Hallelujah! And in another moment, his voice was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred of the congregation.

Instead of rebuking this extraordinary brawling, as I should have done in former times, I joined in the outburst of praise. And to make it more orderly, I gave out the doxology, Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. And the people sang it with heart and voice, over and over again.

My churchmen were dismayed, and many of them fled precipitately from the place. Still the voice of praise went on, and was swelled by numbers of passers-by, who came into the church, greatly surprised to hear and see what was going on. Well, that's the most extraordinary illustration of a man converted by the power of the Spirit, as a result of the Spirit playing upon his own ministry.

The Spirit convicts. The Spirit converts. The Spirit convinces that we belong to God.

Romans 8 verse 16, which I read earlier, says, It's the Spirit poured into our hearts. There the metaphor is used of liquid, but we know that it's only an illustration of the personality of the Spirit, poured into our hearts, causes us to say, Abba Father. And that means, simply this, that if you got rid of every Bible, and every Christian in Worthing had been shot as a result of mammoth persecution, and you were left with no preacher to help you, whatsoever, with no help at all at the human level, you would still believe, because the Holy Spirit has convinced you, that the Father God is your Father, and you belong to Him, and there's no one, not even the power of persecution, that can rob you of that.

But the last thing is, the Spirit charges. Ah, you thought it had to come to money sooner or later. But it's got nothing to do with that, it's just that I was exhausting myself trying to find another C this afternoon.

And really the idea is, He empowers. But chargers will do, because you charge a battery up with electricity, if your car battery's gone flat, don't you? And this is precisely what the Spirit does. Acts 1 and verse 8, speaking about the descent of the Spirit in the first instance, at the beginning of the history of the Christian Church, says, You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.

Power for what? To whip up enthusiasm? To have an emotional high? No, those weren't the objectives, although emotions will certainly be stimulated, when the Spirit comes in all His power, and in all His authority. But you shall receive power, to take this Gospel to the ends of the world. Because the man who has been changed by the energies of the Spirit, can do nothing else but communicate.

That's what Haslam did in Cornwall, and a tremendous revival broke out as a result. When the Spirit comes in power, He charges men and women, and they have a desire to serve Him. You tell me that you're full of the Spirit, you're baptized with the Spirit, you're sealed with the Spirit, I don't mind what terminology you use, the acid test is this, if you have partaken of divine energy, if the Spirit has moved into your heart, into your life, let me see what you're doing about this.

And that will be the greatest demonstration, the greatest proof, that you have had a naked experience of God, the Holy Spirit. He charges, He empowers, He gives an enthusiasm, for those whose lives He has invaded. So we've looked at who the Spirit is, and what He does.

But the next thing, the final thing that I want us to see this evening is, what He wants. What is the Spirit of God? I hope that using this visual aid has been helpful, and in no way tended to present to adult minds, that what I'm sharing is a little bit too simplistic. If that was the case, then I'd destroy every visual aid, that I've ever been inclined to use.

This is for real my friend, this is for you. What does the Holy Spirit want from you? We're talking now about the third person of the Blessed Trinity. What does He want? And the answer is easy to supply in the first instance.

He wants your repentance. He wants your repentance. The cross of Calvary, is something in which the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are involved.

The Father sends the Son, the Son comes, and it's by the power of the Spirit, that the blood of Jesus, is enabled on the authority of the Godhead, to erase your sin. And when you are confronted with the story of the cross, and the fact that God died for you, the Spirit wants your repentance. And repentance means this, turning right round, no longer going that way, but going this way.

An absolute change, like moving from black to white, from the rain to the sunshine. It's absolutely irreversible, when you change under the compulsions of the Holy Spirit. That's what He's asking.

And that, my dear Christian friend, for those who perhaps have moved into other areas of understanding of the Spirit, let me bring you right back to this basic principle. The first ministry of the Holy Spirit, in glorifying Jesus, is to bring about repentance. And that church is a Holy Spirit church.

That is seeing men and women, and boys and girls, one to Christ. And if we're not seeing that here, in any degree, then for goodness sake, let's get down on our knees and pray. Let's change the preacher.

Let's change the elders. One of the tests that is fundamental, for a Holy Ghost assembly, as to whether it's moving in apostolic times, is this. Are there people, who are being changed, as a result of Gospel proclamation.

The ministry of the Spirit bringing repentance. Well, that's what the Spirit wants. He wants our repentance.

And what is more, He wants our obedience. Acts 5 and verse 32, tells us that the Spirit is given, to all those who obey Him. Who obey the Father.

Who obey the Son. I was trying to say to a young fellow last night, a young man I love very dearly, one of the things that would put your life back together again, is just this. Discipline.

Discipline. Bringing yourself, your lifestyle, its pattern, under one conformity, to a set objective, in life. I pray God, that what I had to say, got home to him.

But you know, in a slightly different area, that's exactly what God, the Spirit, wants of us. Obedience. If I am to know, the dynamic of the Spirit, in my life, increasingly, because there is a sense, in which we can think of Him, in terms of a liquid, that fills up, and fills up, and fills up, until we're overflowing.

If I'm going to know that overflowing, that overwhelming, there must be obedience. I'm not saying that you can earn it, but I am saying that you can prepare, for the great fullness, of the Spirit, in your life, increasingly, as a Christian. He wants, our repentance.

He wants, our obedience, the destruction of the self-will, so that He is in control, what's more, and He certainly got this, this evening, on a physical level, from me. He wants, our thirst. Our thirst.

The Bible says that, if you hunger and thirst, after righteousness, you shall be filled. What I'm referring to now, who I'm referring to, are Christian people. All this in part, you know.

But the real empowering, of the Spirit, in all His majesty, that you're still seeking after. And I would be the first to say, press on. Press on, until you have more, and more of Him.

For the Spirit is like the ocean. And however much, you try to drain the ocean, with a bucket, there's always as much left, after you're finished, as what there was, when you started. There's always more, of His empowering.

There are always more, of His graces. But you have to thirst, after Him. And sometimes, in the slaking of the thirst, He'll come in all His power, and in all His glory.

And He can lift you up, into a state of ecstasy, when you can know, in fullest measure, something of the glory of God, in your own personality, on this earth. But we don't seek the Spirit, purely for experience sake. We seek the Holy Spirit, and to know the empowering, of the Spirit, so that we might be made, more like the Lord Jesus.

Because it is the Holy Spirit's longing, to glorify Jesus, and to bring honour to the Father, through our salvation. And so I'm virtually through, this evening. Three questions, or three comments, I've posed to my subject, concerning the Holy Spirit.

Who is He? Well, He's a personality. He's not a thing. He's not an it.

He's one who is all purity. He's one who has great power. What does He do? Well, the Spirit of God, convicts and converts, and charges us, with His own energies.

What does He want? He wants our repentance. He wants our obedience. He wants our thirst.

Now I want to ask you this. Are you cooperating with the Spirit of God? The important thing is, that you respond immediately, I really mean that, immediately, to the Gospel. And the very will to respond, is granted you by the Holy Spirit.

You know, one of the most extraordinary things, in these open airs, that we've been having, is just to see how some people, are already sort of primed, to receive the message. The vast majority go by, and they look on us as being idiots. As the message is preached, as illustration is given, sometimes the brothers or even sisters, give testimony.

And they think, you know, that they're fanatics. The very people who say, why does the church always keep its message to itself, when you take it outside, a Montague precinct, they say, why don't those church people, get back in the churches? You just can't please them all. But there are some, and praise God, we've had contacts with a few, over these weeks, who've been already primed, who are so ready, just to receive the explanation, of the Gospel.

And upon them, we impress the need to repent, and to be converted. And that same impression, we leave with you, right now. Know something of the great glories, of the triune God, the Father who sent the Son, the Son who came, the Spirit who applies the benefits, of Calvary to your heart.

Know something of the redemptive work, of the Trinity, as the Holy Spirit woos you, into the Kingdom. And as you acquiesce, and say, yes Lord, I want to be yours, forgive me, for my sinfulness. Let us pray.

Last week, I repeated a little prayer, and I'm led to understand, that there were, those in the congregation, who found it helpful, to pray it through, in their minds, with me. And for one, it was the first time, anything like this, had ever, left his heart. Let me pray again.

It's a penitent prayer, just so that you're primed, to know what's coming. It's a prayer, of someone who, wants to have his past, forgiven. Who wants to know, a new start.

Who wants to know, the ministry of the Spirit, effectively, in his life. Heavenly Father, I confess my sins. I recognize, that Jesus Christ, your son died, on the cross of Calvary, to save me.

I now have come to realize, that your Spirit, unwittingly on my part, has already commenced his ministry, for I've often felt guilty, and dirty, and wretched. I now come, and ask for cleansing. Forgive my sin.

Apply the blood of Calvary, to my heart. Fill me with your Spirit, in such a fashion, that I know it, not only in my mind, but within my emotions. And make me, from this night, your child.

Amen. Father, those who prayed that prayer, may they know something, of the great infilling of the Spirit, and the benefits of the glorious Gospel, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Amen. I so love you, Israel, Israel, Israel, my God, my God, Israel, my God, my God, my God. Let the Lord, my God, be kind, in mercy, and in mercy, all mine.

Give me, my heart, and soul, a sign, that I may be kind, Give me, my heart, and soul, a sign, that I may be kind, in mercy, all mine. Give me, ♪ Father God in thee ♪ ♪ Light of day I see thee ♪ ♪ Holy infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪ Holy infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪ Yes, I am, yes, I am, yes, I am, yes, I am ♪ ♪ I am, yes, I am, yes, I am, yes, I am, yes, I am, yes, I am ♪ Father, we're so, so grateful for the simplicities of the gospel. We praise you that you have given us a witness to confirm the truths of the evangel in our hearts.

In obedience to Him, ever thirsting for more of Him, let us experience to a greater degree than we have before the empowering of the Holy God, so that our lives may be lived differently, so that there may be a purity and a joy that others don't have, that we possess, that ultimately shall be a means of attracting them to us and pointing them as a result to You. So, bless Your ministry amongst us this night and use us in the days to come for Your service. And this we ask, pleading as our final request, the blessing of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and until Jesus returns.

Amen.