2Misconceptions_of_the_Holy_Spirit

The transcription discusses various misconceptions about the Holy Spirit, clarifying that the Holy Spirit is not spooky or solely focused on emotions. It emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is a person, not an "it," and plays a crucial role in the Godhead alongside God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is described as guiding, speaking, knowing, interceding, and being closely related to God and Christ. It is involved in creation, the incarnation, and redemption, working on the intellect of man rather than directly controlling emotions or actions. I suppose that there are more misconceptions regarding the Holy Spirit than regarding most any other subject in the New Testament. I think there are many people who consider it something kind of spooky. That may go out of the fact that the King James Version uses the expression, Holy Ghost. The spirit and the ghost, of course, are the same thing, but a ghost, we think of, is the spirit of someone who has died that comes and goes bump in the mouth, or in some other way frightens and intrigues us with his presence. But the Holy Spirit is not to be thought of as something spooky any more than God the Father, who is a spirit, or Jesus Christ, who is in the spirit, would be thought of as something spooky at all. Some people think that the work by the spirit works primarily and directly on the emotions. Now, I suggest directly, I believe the spirit certainly influences and affects our emotions, but not just taking hold of our emotions and causing us to be greatly affected emotionally because of some direct operation of the spirit. Whatever he accomplishes in our emotions, he accomplishes through other means. But because people think of the Holy Spirit as working on the emotions, I think that many think of the spirit as being something like a gas, maybe like laughing gas that just affects the person who encounters it, and it causes them maybe to laugh or causes them to shout, or maybe it's something like electricity or some kind of energy that comes down and strikes an individual. And that they think of the spirit as shaking. You see people many times claiming to be under the influence of the spirit, and they're just shaking. I one time observed some individuals. I was up in a balcony looking down on a group of people, and there were people there just shaking and dancing, some of them standing up, some of them on the floor bouncing up and down, and they were just sure this was the work of the Holy Spirit. They feel that he may knock people down, and excite them, and electrify them, and exhilarate them, and stupefy them, and in various other ways cause strange things to happen in the bodies and the minds of individuals. You might search throughout the scripture, and you'll not find that kind of reaction to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit just doesn't work that way. Many people tend to think that the Holy Spirit is the mind of God, but I do not see evidence of that in the scriptures either. God and the Holy Spirit are separate. But in reaction to that, some say that the Spirit is the Bible. I've actually heard people quote from the sixth chapter of John, in which Jesus said, the words that I speak of you, they are spirit and they are life. They said, see there, the words are Christ and the Holy Spirit. Well, that's not true. I believe the words that are in the scriptures come from the Spirit. We'll be talking about that in a moment. But the Holy Spirit is not the Bible, and the Bible is most certainly not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person. Sometimes when we think about a person, we think about a body. But I'm not saying the Holy Spirit is a body, but a dictionary suggests that a person is a being characterized by apprehension, rationality, and moral sense. And the Holy Spirit certainly is such a being. We know this by several means. We know it by the pronouns that are used. The Bible really doesn't speak about the Holy Spirit as it. I think most of us on occasion do that, including myself. But it is a slip of the tongue when I do it, and I correct it when I'm aware of it. The Holy Spirit is not an it. In John, the 16th chapter, and we have moved rather rapidly, and you may not have time to turn to all of these passages as we cycle them, but in John, the 16th chapter, in verse 13, we want to notice the pronouns that are used when the Lord speaks about the Spirit. The Lord says, rather, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come. So He's a person, not a body, but a person. God is not a body. God is a Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is a Spirit, but not a body. In the 13th chapter of the book of Acts, and verse 2, as five men were ministering to the Lord in the church in Antioch, we're told in verse 2 that as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Barnabas himself, for the work to which I have called them. Who is speaking? The Holy Spirit. Not an it, but an I. I, He said. So, the Holy Spirit is a person. This is indicated by what He does. The scriptures tell us that He hears and speaks, going back to that verse we were looking at just a few moments ago, John 16 and verse 13. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He speaks, He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come. He will hear, He will speak, He will tell you. He searches and knows. Turn to 1 Corinthians, the second chapter, where the Apostle Paul is speaking about the Holy Spirit, and in verse 10 he says, God has revealed them, that is, things that were not revealed in ancient times. God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of the man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? Now, look at this. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. So, the Spirit searches and the Spirit knows. The Spirit makes intercession. If you turn back to the Roman letter, chapter 8 and verse 26, he tells us that the Spirit also makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, and He grieves. In fact, Ephesians, the fourth chapter in verse 30, says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. This instruction suggests He can be grieved when we are disobedient, when we fail to allow His influence to work within us. But furthermore, I'd like to suggest that He is related very closely to God and to Christ. You're familiar with Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20, where Jesus gave what we call the Great Commission. He said, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We find this same combination in the latter part of the 2nd Corinthian letter, chapter 13. In fact, it's the very last verse of 2nd Corinthians. Here he says, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. So he is combining these three persons and speaking of the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Now, that suggests to us then some things of interest. That must be on there twice for some reason. What are some of the general functions of the Godhead, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? It would seem from studying various factors that are revealed in the scriptures that God particularly is the planner. The Word, or the Son, is the one who accomplishes what is planned, and the Holy Spirit in many ways applies what has been planned and accomplished. Now, I think we see that in several different ways. We see it in creation. We understand that God is the great designer. The universe existed first in the mind of God. And then in John, the first chapter, John says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And then he says, By him were all things made, and without him was not anything made that has been made. Who's that? Well, that's the Word, the one who later became flesh and dwelt among us, the one we think of as Jesus. And so, though God was the great planner, the originator, yet it is said of him, of the Word, of the second person, that all things were made by him. And yet, if you turn to the book of Genesis, the very first chapter and the very first verse, you read that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and God, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And so, God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all involved in this matter of creation, and the Holy Spirit especially was doing what we might call the hands-on work that was involved in the creation of the world. But this is also illustrated in the incarnation. The Father, of course, is God, and he would be called, it was said, the Son of God. But he said that the power of the Spirit would overshadow Mary, and then that which would be begotten or would be born would be called the Son of God. And so, God was the Father, most certainly, but through the Spirit. Jesus was conceived in Mary so that Jesus is the one conceived. The Spirit was the one by whom it was conceived, but God was the Father. So, you have the Father and the Spirit and the Son involved in the incarnation, and this certainly is illustrated in redemption. God's plan was for the redemption of mankind before the foundation of the earth. This was all planned out, but it most certainly required the action of Jesus, who was born into the world, lived among us, and then died, was buried, was raised from the dead. Without God's plan, it never would have been. Without Christ accomplishing it, it never would have been. But when Christ went back to heaven, the Holy Spirit became responsible for acquiring the salvation that was obtained through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is in this age the one who is making certain that the benefits of the sacrifice of Christ are experienced by all who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. He works primarily, then, on the intellect of man. God has never intended to take over the body of a man and make him do what he doesn't want to do. God has never acted directly on the emotions of a man, for there is nothing really gained if something is purely emotional and not intellectual. God worked on the intellect to change the minds of individuals. That's what repentance is. It's a change of mind, and we can expect, therefore, that any effort that is made to change men will be accomplished through the Holy Spirit's work on the intellect of man. In Romans, the first chapter, and verse 2, "...do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." So, we want to stress the fact that the Holy Spirit's work is intended to influence the intellect, the mind, of man. Now, what is the specific work that the Spirit does? Well, he revealed and confirmed the Old Testament. Now, let's look at two passages, one in 1 Peter and then one in 2 Peter. In 1 Peter, the first chapter, beginning with verse 9, he speaks about the salvation of your souls. That's at the end of the verse, and then in verse 10 he says, "...of this salvation," that is, the salvation of your souls, "...the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you." They prophesied about this salvation, but they were searching for what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating. "...when you testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. So, the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets to foretell the suffering of Christ and the glory that would be revealed, and then the Holy Spirit led the apostles to be able to explain the fulfillment of those prophecies in the death and burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Particularly 2 Peter, the first chapter, speaks about the whole test of the prophecies that were given. He says in verse 20, "...knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation." He's not speaking about the interpretation as we usually think of it in the reading. He's speaking about the interpretation in the writing. Sometimes people say about some of Paul's writing, well, that's just his interpretation. No, that wasn't Paul's interpretation, and it wasn't the prophets' interpretation. It wasn't just their private opinion. But he says, "...prophecy never came by the will of men, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." And so, those Old Testament books were written by men. Yes, sometimes people say that, well, the Bible was written by men. Well, of course it was. I don't deny that. Nobody would deny that it was written by men, but they were guided by the Holy Spirit. That's what this says. And what they wrote, then, was inspired of God, as 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17 tells us. It was God breathing through the Holy Spirit. It came into the mind of these men, and then they wrote it. So, the Old Testament is the product of the Holy Spirit's inspiration of the apostle. But then, after the Old Testament was finished, there was a period of silence, and there was no revelation. There are no real miracles that we know about. There was a period of some 400 years. Why? Well, God's Word had been given, and the Word had been confirmed by various miracles and by the fulfillment of various prophecies under the Old Testament period. And so, when the Word ceased to be revealed, because enough had been revealed already, there was no more need for miracles to confirm the Word. Miracles go with the Word so that people will know that the Word had come from God. But when Christ came into the world, there had to be the revelation of a new covenant, and this was to be accomplished through the Holy Spirit. Yet before Jesus went to the Father, he had told the apostles that he would send the Holy Spirit, sometimes called the Comforter, upon them. Many passages in this last conversation, in fact in nearly every chapter, 13, 14, 15, 16, we have Jesus assuring them that the Holy Spirit was going to come upon them. But I'd like for you to look especially at John 16, and verse 13. In verse 12, Jesus had said, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. There was much more they needed to know than he had been able to give them because of the brevity of time and their hardness of heart. But he says, I'm not going to leave you without a full revelation of the truth. And so in verse 13 he said, however, even though I haven't been able to tell you everything you need to know, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth. Now, that just tells me that by the time the apostles died, all truth had been revealed because Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. Then he goes on and says, he will not speak on his own authority. Jesus said, all authority has been given to me, so the Holy Spirit had no authority to speak, only as he spoke for Jesus. And that's what Jesus goes on and says. Whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me. And I want to stop right here and observe this. He will glorify me, Jesus said. Sometimes people say, I don't think we've given up glory to the Holy Spirit. Well, every time we glorify Jesus, we're doing what the Holy Spirit wanted done. The Holy Spirit didn't intend to glorify himself. And I'm afraid sometimes people become so involved with the Holy Spirit and so intrigued by the Holy Spirit that they just give the Holy Spirit the honor and the glory and the worship that really belongs to Christ. He will glorify me, Jesus said, for he will take upon his mind, and Jesus is the one who has all authority, so he's the one that's going to initiate the truth. He will take upon his mind and declare it unto you. Now, here is the arrangement that Jesus has made for the application of his authority. He is the Messiah. He is the King. His subjects are down here on earth. How are they going to communicate? He said, the Holy Spirit is going to be the communicator. He will hear what I say, and he will reveal it to you, and then you will speak to others the message that I give through the Holy Spirit. This was first in the form of speech. Remember the first Corinthians, the second chapter, where the apostle Paul describes the work of the Holy Spirit in himself and in the apostle, beginning with verse, well, that should be chapter two. I'm sorry, left out the chapter number. It's first Corinthians two and beginning with verse nine. He's quoting here an Old Testament passage which said, I have not seen nor ear heard nor entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. Sometimes people say, well, that's talking about heaven. No, that's not talking about heaven. That's talking about Jesus coming and what Jesus did. It was written long before Paul told it, and at the time it was written, it was true that I have not seen nor ear heard nor entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love him. But, he says in verse 10, God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of a man which is in him? You don't know what's in me, but my Spirit does. I don't know what's in you. You can be sitting there just looking to me as though you're just listening all so intently, and I may find out later you were thinking about something else. Altogether different. Only your Spirit knows what's in you, and even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. But, Paul says, we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And so, the Holy Spirit has caused men like Paul, and Peter, and James, and Jude to write down the things that they have written down, and to speak the things that they have spoken. So that in 1 Corinthians 14, which is not listed here, the Apostle Paul says in verse 37, if anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. How does it appear the commandments of the Lord? Well, the Holy Spirit received them from the Lord, the Holy Spirit gave them to Paul, and Paul wrote them, or spoke them, and he said these things are the commandments of the Lord. This Holy Spirit also caused those men to write the things they wrote. Turn to 2 Timothy, the third chapter, verses 16 and 17, where the writer says, All scripture is inspired of God. That is, it's God-breathed. All scripture is inspired of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fairly equipped for every good work. Now, someone might observe, well, that's the Old Testament he's talking about, and that's certainly true. But he does say all scripture, and in 2 Peter, the third chapter, the work of Paul is spoken of as scripture. In 2 Peter 3, Peter makes an observation about the writings of Paul, that I'm sure all of us would agree with. He says that in the things Paul wrote, there's some things hard to be understood. Let's see what he says. Verse 15, Account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, is also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him. That's the same thing Paul claimed, wasn't it? He said he wasn't speaking out of his own mind, but he said that the wisdom had been given from God. So, Peter says the same thing about Paul, that the wisdom was given to him, and he said, as in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the scriptures. So, the things that Paul wrote were scripture, just as surely as other things were scripture, and these things that were written were inspired of God. But furthermore, the Holy Spirit confirmed its message. You might, or compare it, I wasn't saying its message. The Holy Spirit confirmed his message. Let's speak correctly. And he confirmed his message by enabling those who spoke for him to work miracles. How else could they assure their hearers that the things they were saying were spoken by God, that they were God's word? They would have to be able to do something to prove it. Now, when we want to teach what God's word says, we can just cite chapters of the Word. We can even tell you the page number in the Pew Bible and try to do that, because we understand that we have no authority in ourselves, and that we must speak God's word. But the way we prove it's God's word is by citing scripture. They couldn't cite scripture about Jesus other than the prophets, and they did cite the prophets to prove he was the Messiah, but his teaching, the things he required, his purpose for the church, they couldn't cite scripture for that because the scripture hadn't been written that described those things, the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how could they prove that the things that they were doing were approved of God, were God's message? Well, they could work some kind of miracle, and by those miracles prove that God was with them. You remember that on the Day of Pentecost we spoke some time ago at some length about the Day of Pentecost, and these people came together in Jerusalem not believing in Jesus at all, and having no idea whatsoever that he had risen from the dead. They were in Jerusalem for a feast that they attended regularly, but they came about nine o'clock in the morning, a sound of a great wind, and it was heard all over the city, apparently. They came rushing together, and what they found was a group of men who were speaking languages they had never learned, and they said, what does this mean? How can this be? And Peter said, when they had an opportunity, this is a fulfillment of the prophet Joel, and he went on to say that these things that had been done were done by Jesus, and he said that this Jesus was approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs that he did. That's the way Jesus proved who he was, by miracles and wonders and signs that he did, and then as he sought to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he said that he had poured forth this which you now see and hear. This miraculous speaking in tongue is something that proves that what we're saying is true, that Jesus was raised from the dead, and that he is now the right hand of God, and if that were not true, then these things could not be done. You remember that even Jesus himself was seen to be a prophet from God, for as Nicodemus said, no man could do these works that you do except God was with him. So the Holy Spirit not only revealed the message, but he made it possible for those who were bringing the message to work miracles and wonders and signs which would enable them to prove what they were saying. Turn to the latter Hebrews, the second chapter, and in Hebrews the second chapter, having shown in the first chapter that the New Testament is actually superior to the Old Testament, that Christ is superior even to the angels, he says in verse 1 of the second chapter of Hebrews, Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience receives a just recompensatory reward, that's the Old Testament. If every time somebody disobeyed it, he was punished, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Look at this now, "...which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, and with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will." What was he doing with those miracles that the apostles had and those gifts of the Holy Spirit? Well, he was confirming the words that were spoken by the apostles regarding Jesus and his death, burial, resurrection, and the salvation he had to offer. But miracles, then, are not necessary today, because the Holy Spirit is no longer revealing a message. All truth was revealed during the days of the apostles. They had to work miracles to prove that what they were saying was from God. We don't have to do that. All we have to do is simply cite the passage in which the truth is taught. Now, I'm not saying, and we'll talk about miracles on some other occasion, I'm not saying that God does not answer prayer today. I'm not saying God does not heal today, but I'm saying that miracles are not wrought to confirm the word because no word is being revealed. Well, let's see how he works. He accomplishes some things, according to Jesus, in John, the 16th chapter in verse 8. Go back with me to this 16th chapter where Jesus was promising the Holy Spirit to his apostles when he went away. Beginning with verse 8, he says, When he comes, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin. He'll make people realize they are sinners, but in addition to that, he will regenerate. That regenerate is to rebirth, and that's exactly what Jesus says in John, the third chapter, isn't it? When Nicodemus came to Jesus, saying, as we suggested just now, that no teacher could do the works that he was doing if he were not from God, Jesus was not flattered by this statement particularly, but just looked like it right at Nicodemus, and according to verse 3, he said, Most assuredly, I say unto you, and that unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So the Spirit is involved in the new birth without the Spirit. There could be no new birth. But furthermore, he sanctifies. Come with me to the second Thessalonian letter, where the apostle Paul is contrasting these Thessalonian Christians with the people who had rejected the truth and would be led astray in the error because they did not love the truth. And in verse 13 of the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, he said, We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth. So the Holy Spirit convicts men of sin, causes them to be born again, and sanctifies them, or sets them apart to the Lord's work. Now, how did he do this? This is a very important question. There are many who say, Well, he just reaches right down into the heart and takes some person that is out there maybe in a bar somewhere, or someone who is engaged in planning a murder, and the Holy Spirit just comes right down into his heart and just changes his whole attitude, convicts him of sin and gives him the new birth and makes him a new man, and sanctifies him and sets him apart for the work of God through no choice of his own. That would be the direct operation of the Holy Spirit. But, you know, I read about a lot of sinners that were converted in the New Testament, but I don't read about a one who has changed in that manner. Not one. Actually, the Word of God is involved in the change of everyone. The Word of God accomplishes these things. Let's just look and see. In the book of 2 Timothy, the fourth chapter and verse 2, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, and he says, Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all wrongsuffering and teaching. And that word rebuke is the same as the word convict. Convict men of sin is what he's saying. How? By the preaching of the Word. The people in Pentecost, in Jerusalem, were cut to the heart, realizing that they had crucified their Messiah, and they cried out, Men in burden, what shall we do? What convicted them of the sin of crucifying the Messiah? When they heard these things, they cried out, Men in burden. Heard what? Heard the Word. The Word that Peter preached. Not only that, but the Word is involved in regeneration. Look at 1 Peter, the first chapter again, and 1 Peter, the first chapter, and verse 23. The writer says, Having been born again, not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the Word of God that lives and abides forever. But what about sanctification? Same thing. In John 17, verse 17, Jesus prayed, Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. Jesus says people will be sanctified by the Word. Now, do we have some kind of a contradiction here? In one place it being said that the Spirit does these things, and in another place it being said that the Word does these things? No, there's no contradiction there. It's just telling us how the Spirit does it. The means the Spirit uses to convict, to regenerate, and to sanctify. That's the way the Holy Spirit works. I met a young man who, in Australia, he'd come all the way from Ireland to marry a young lady he had been cross-parting with. Her letters had brought him to Australia. Did she bring him to Australia? Well, of course she did. How did she do it? Did she go back to South Australia, Ireland, somehow, and change his mind and cause him to be an amateur? No, nothing like that. She just wrote the letters. She brought him to Ireland, but she brought him through letters. The Holy Spirit brings us to God, convicts us of sin, causes us to be renewed, sanctifies us, and sets us apart. How? Not by some kind of miraculous action, but through the Word which the Holy Spirit has inspired. It's the Holy Spirit message. Whatever I do through my letters, I do. I'm responsible for it, and you understand that. I'm responsible for whatever I accomplish through anything I write, and the Holy Spirit is responsible for anything that's accomplished through the letters that he has inspired. Well, let's ask this question. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Many people would say, well, it's a working miracle, and if they can't work some miracle, well, you just don't have the Holy Spirit. Or speaking in tongues, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can't, you don't have, if you don't speak in tongues, you don't have the Holy Spirit. That's not what's featured in the Scripture. In Galatians, the fifth chapter, verses 22 and 23, and I've put it here where I welcome your turning to it in your Bible, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. The Spirit of God through the Word of God helps you to realize you're a sinner. The Spirit of God through the Word of God leads you to know how to respond in baptism to Christ, that is, bring you to baptize into Christ. You've then been born of water and the Spirit. You're a new man. Romans 6, 4, we're born with him in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life, just like a newborn baby. It's a new life. To which we're raised, born of water and the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, sets us apart through the Word that he's given, and then as the Spirit continues within us, it leads us more and more to love, to be happy, not because of circumstances that surround us with material benefits or honor of men or anything of the kind, but joy in the Holy Spirit because we know that we belong to the Lord and have the hope of eternal life, and all these things the Spirit reveals that we wouldn't know anything about if it was not for the inspired Spirit-filled Word of God. When a person has peace within, it has to come from the Spirit. Wrong suffering is encouraged by the Spirit, and if you would let the Spirit of God work in you, then these are the things that you demonstrate in your life, and fail to demonstrate them in this Ephesian letter, is to grieve the Spirit. He's given the Word, and through the Word and the study of the Word, you should begin to express love and joy and peace, and we have to grow in those things as the Spirit increases his influence in our lives. But if we refuse to grow, if we become more and more worldly in our lives, in our attitudes, in our thinking, we grieve the Holy Spirit. He's saddened by the fact that we're not allowing him to work within us. I hope these thoughts are helpful to you. I hope that you understand a little bit better, maybe, the work of the Spirit, and if I could help you further with private conversation, or if we need a few more lessons, I'm not averse to doing that. If by so doing, we could help you to understand a little better this important message. There are so many things we haven't been able even to touch on tonight, such as the baptism of the Spirit, which I believe was only in the case of the Apostles and Cornelius. But you've seen enough to understand that the Holy Spirit is a person and that he's spoken to us through the Word, giving to us the message of our Lord, and appealing to us, pleading with us to be obedient to the Lord. God planned it. Jesus came and died for our sin, but if the Holy Spirit hadn't guided those Apostles, we wouldn't know. They probably would have gotten into some kind of a big argument about what Jesus said, if they hadn't had the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth and to bring to their remembrance the things that the Lord had revealed. They'd probably gotten into such a big argument, they'd have written books that just contradicted one another completely. But we have a unified message, and we've had it in a powerful form. It is amazing, things I have seen happen in the lives of people, in fact there's some people right here in this audience, whose lives have been changed by the power of the Word of God. But if men had written it without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it wouldn't have had that power. And the Holy Spirit couldn't have done it without the sacrifice that Christ made. But God, Christ, and the Spirit working together, reach out to lost men and women and say, come, come. And when we say, I bring my sins to thee, it's the result of the Spirit working within us, as the Spirit has revealed those precious, precious promises that are contained in this book, Ephesians 5. It is somewhat of a response. Don't read the Spirit by rejecting, refusing his call. The Spirit and the bride say, come, let him that dearest, come, take of the water of life for you.