The Holy Spirit's work in believers is the central theme, establishing them in Christ, anointing them for service, sealing them for security, and providing an earnest of future glory. The sermon explains that believers are established in Christ through pre-conversional sanctification and the new birth, which is accomplished by the Spirit through the Word of God. The anointing of the Spirit serves as an inner teacher and bestows spiritual gifts for edification, while the sealing provides assurance of salvation and conformity to Christ's image. Finally, the Spirit acts as a foretaste of heavenly inheritance and offers a daily filling, urging believers to confess sin and yield to God's Word to experience His fullness.
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My subject tonight is the Holy Spirit in relation to believers. I recognize that there may be some here tonight who are not yet believers, but I hope that in the study of the Scriptures and pointing out what the Holy Spirit does in bringing a soul to Christ, that this may enable you to see how you can become a child of God. And then I should like to show you what the Holy Spirit will do for you, well as you may know, that becoming a Christian is not simply making a resolution that you're going to be a better man or woman.
Becoming a Christian is not attempting something that you're afraid you might not be able to keep up. But that becoming a child of God means that God himself comes to live within you and to energize you and to lead you and to teach you so that the one who becomes a child of God is not left alone and is not self-supporting and is not self-sufficient and is not self-sustaining but that he is cared for day by day from the moment he becomes a child of God until the Lord takes him safely home to glory. Second Corinthians the first chapter.
In order to get the sense, I'm going to drop back to verse fourteen, verse thirteen. For we write none other things unto you than what ye read or acknowledge, and I trust ye shall acknowledge, even to the end. As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit. Now this passage has sometimes been used to show that the coming of the Holy Spirit is a second blessing.
I'd like to establish that these people had all the blessings of the Holy Spirit, but that they were to have a second benefit, that is, by Paul stopping the second time. He was to return... as he came back through to pass by you into Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. When I therefore was thus minded, did I use likeness, or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea, nay, nay, that is yes and no, wishy-washy, But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay, for the Son of God Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me, and so vain as in Timothy's, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
It was positive doctrine. Now we live in the days of very unpositive thinking. We live in the days when even those who teach in college are a little bit reluctant to say that even two and two is four. They allege that it quite possibly might be, but of course there may be other viewpoints and we want to take them all into consideration. Now that's utter nonsense. Two and two are four, and they always have been, and they always will be. And there are some facts that we must face up to in the Word of God. And one of these facts has to do with the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us.
You can be positive when it comes to stating the truths of Scripture. You can be positive in stating that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again the third day, can't you? You can be positive of this. You can be positive that those who receive the Lord Jesus as their Savior are born of God, can't you? And you can be positive as we shall see the night that those who belong to the Lord Jesus also have all the blessings that the Spirit of God can bring to us. For all the promises of God, verse twenty says, in him are ye and in him amen.
And amen may mean so be it, as when we add it to our prayers, or it may mean it is so. In the Roman Catholic translation of the New Testament, Verily, verily, I say unto you, reads, Amen, amen, I say unto you. Meaning this is a certain fact. And so he said, Not only did the word of God come to you as a yea, but it came as an amen. It is true. Amen. It is true. The Lord Jesus said it is finished on the cross. God said amen on the third day and raised him up again from the dead.
You have many other examples of just this. And this is under the glory of God by us. Now, and the now follows all of this foundational teaching. Now, he which establishes us with you in or into, as the critical text all read, he which establishes us with you into Christ and hath anointed us is God. who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Four things. And each of these four we will subdivide. Let's get the four things firmly in our minds.
Number one, established into Christ. Verse twenty one, number two, anointed. Number three, sealed. And number four, the earnest. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet under Corinth, not so that we would have dominion over your faith, but our helpers of your joy, for by faith you stand. Would you like to be a happy Christian? Well, let's go through these four things which the Holy Spirit does for us, and I think you will be most glad, because we're going to subdivide these four things into the ten things which the Holy Spirit does for every believer.
Now, number one, established into Christ. What does it mean? How are we placed and established into Christ? When God told Noah to build an ark, he told him to make a door on the side of it, and then God himself invited Noah into that ark. And when he came into the ark, God shut the door. That's a good picture to us of what it means to be established into Christ. As Noah was settled in that ark, in perfect safety, so when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you are established into Christ.
Now, this was done by three acts of the Holy Spirit. One, by his pre-conversional sanctification. This was mentioned twice in the New Testament. I'd like you to read them. Second Thessalonians, chapter two, and verse thirteen. Sometimes go a friend of mine, and I have some very dear friends among those who don't agree with me on everything, if we belong to the Lord, we ought to learn to live together. We ought to try to help each other. He said to me one day, John, I think a lot of you, I know that you're a believer, I know that you are justified. I feel so sorry that you hadn't been sanctified.
Why? I said, I have been sanctified. Well, he said, wonderful. I hadn't heard about it. When did it happen? I said, I was sanctified before I was saved. He said, come again. I said, yes, I was sanctified before I was saved. Well, he said, tell me about it. Maybe you have something I don't have. No, I said, if you belong to the Lord, you have the same thing I have. Here it is, second Thessalonians, chapter two, and verse thirteen. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now, it's the destiny. To salvation through sanctification.
Now, if you're going to get to some city up in the mountains, you'll have to go through the tunnel to get to the city. If you're going to come to salvation... You will have to go through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And sanctification of the Spirit comes before belief of the truth. Now get this order. Through sanctification of the Spirit. One. And belief of the truth. Two. We arrive at salvation. Three. Now look at First Peter with me. The first chapter. First Peter. And here you have practically the same thing.
In somewhat different words, beginning at the first verse, the first Peter one, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pardis, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethany, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Now see what happens. Through sanctification of the Spirit, you come to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ.
Through the sanctification of the Spirit, you are led to the place where you receive the Lord Jesus and His finished work on your behalf. This is as plain as Scripture can be given. What are we to understand by it? We have to understand, first of all, the sovereign elective choice of God. And I make no apology at all for teaching this. The Word of God is full of it. I also believe in the responsibility of man. I believe that whosoever will may take of the water of life freely. Someone has said that when you come up to the door of salvation, you see the Word of whosoever on the outside. And when you pass through that doorway and you come into the enjoyment of what it means to be a child of God, you turn around and you see up over the door chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
You didn't know that before you received the Lord Jesus, but God did. The very fact that God is God means that he must know everything from the beginning. And it plainly says that he does. He sees the end from the beginning. And because God looked down upon me and saw me as one who in the future would come to know him by his Holy Spirit, he began to deal with me long before I was saved, and with you too. Now, I think most of you who are believers here could look back over your life and point out some very exact points where the Spirit of God dealt with you.
Perhaps he even began to take you out of the world before you were saved. Perhaps he even began to separate you from some of your bad habits before he was saved. I didn't save you, but the Spirit of God began to set you apart. The Spirit of God caused you to hear the word. A man was telling me a while back how that he decided one day that he wasn't getting anywhere in his job. So he thought of two different places where he might get a better job. He was not a Christian. He took a quarter out of his pocket and flipped it. He said, heads I go to such and such a place, and tails I go to the other. And he said, tails, and so that's the town he went to.
And when he got off at the depot at that time, he saw two signs that said that they were hiring men. He thought this would look better, and so he walked over to it. No particular reason. He asked the man for a job, and the man gave him a job. The first day that he was there, when he was having his lunch, There was only one empty place to sit down. He went over and sat down beside this man. And he said to the man, do you know any place where I could get a room? He said, yes. My wife told me this morning that the fellow that was staying with us was going to move out. He said, we have a room in our house. I'd be glad to have you. You can ride back and forth to work with me. So he said, fine. That's just me.
Just okay. So he went home with this fellow. And when he got home and looked out around the backyard, looked across the alley, and he saw a nice-looking girl come out of the house across the alley, and he said, Say, that's a nice-looking girl. I'd like to meet that girl. And the fellow said, Well, I can introduce you, but he said, you won't get any place with her. She's a religious fanatic. Well, he said, I can overlook a lot of things. I'd like to meet her. And so he just, the girl's out in the backyard, and so he said, This is Joe Blow, or whatever his name was. He's just moved in. He's going to live here. And so he stood and chatted a little bit with a girl. And then a little while after that, he said to the girl, you know, I'd like to take you out somewhere.
Well, she said, I'm going to the gospel meeting Sunday night. Why don't you come with me to the gospel meeting just down the block here, down the street here, two blocks? And we could just walk down there to it. Well, he said, I wasn't quite ready for that. But I thought, well, you know. You have to take things as it comes. So he said, I walked down to the gospel meeting with her. And the man was preaching that night. He said, before he'd been preaching for ten minutes, I was brought under conviction. And I received the Lord Jesus as my Savior that night. He said, I didn't get along quite as well with the girl. It took me a year and a half to talk her in to marry me. But he said, I got saved the first Sunday night I was there, the first Sunday night I was there in my town. Now he said, I know that the Spirit of God made that come up.
And I went to that town. I know that the Spirit of God led me to go to that place where I'd get acquainted with a man, and that he had an opening in his house, and they led me to meet that girl and get to that place and hear the gospel. That's what I'm talking about, the sanctification of the Spirit. And it happens in all of our lives. Now, the second thing that the Holy Spirit does is by means of the new birth, establishing us into Christ as the children of God. The new birth takes place by the action of the Spirit of God upon the Word of God. We're told this in First Peter. You're right here in Peter anyway, so will you please look at First Peter. The close of the first chapter.
At the close of the first chapter we read this. Verse eighteen, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation or your empty way of living, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Let me just stop here and say, if you're not saved, you have nothing you can offer to God but what is full of blemishes and spots. But here is one who is a sacrifice acceptable. The Lord Jesus is without spot or blemish, and his precious blood has been offered up, and God has accepted.
that sacrifice. And He would gladly accept you on the basis of that, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, for you, for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. And we read a little bit ago that it was through sanctification and to obedience to the truth. And so he said, You have obeyed the truth through the Spirit unto one fain love of the brethren.
See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. That is, you have nothing. The grass withereth and the flower there all falleth away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And so the Holy Spirit takes the word of God and produces eternal life in your spirit. Now in John's Gospel chapter one we read this.
but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe in his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. You were born of God when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and received him as your Savior. Now that hasn't happened. You are not yet God's child. You're God's creature. He's very kind and good to you. but you are not yet born into his family unless you have personally received the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't tell me when you got baptized. Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
It would be just as wrong to pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit as it would be to pray for the Lord Jesus to die for your sin, because both are historical facts. Both have already happened. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, historically, took place on the day of Pentecost. And you can read about it in Acts chapter two. Then it becomes true of each believer immediately upon our acceptance of Christ as our Savior. Because he plainly says, By one spirit are we all. And this included the most carnal Christians of the first century. You couldn't find worse Christians than these at Corinth.
They were guilty of everything, from immorality to drunkenness at the Lord's Supper. And yet those among them who were born again, every saved one of these Corinthians, was baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body. Now we're told back in the book of the Acts that only God can put us into the family of God. For instance, he says in Acts two forty-seven, the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved. Whenever the Lord had you, you're in there to stay. In the fifth chapter of Acts, he says, of the rest, there's no man joining himself to them. You see that thumb that was born right there on my body, as far as I can remember, is born right there on that body.
It had nothing to choose about what body it would be on. It was born in situ, right where it is. It would be silly for it to talk about joining my body. And it would be useless to me if it joined some other body. And you and I are members of the body of Christ. How did we get there? The Holy Spirit established us into Christ. And so we were put into the one body. Now because we are members of the body, he tells us in First Corinthians twelve that each of us have a function. And in Ephesians chapter four, he tells us more about these functions, how that we are interdependent upon each other and that each of us are to help each other.
to grow and to go on well for God. Now the anointing of the Spirit, for that was the second one of the four that we read about here in Second Corinthians, chapter one, the anointing of the Spirit accomplishes two things for us. In the Old Testament, anointing was used in three different ways. It was used for personal comfort. You remember the twenty-third psalm, thou anointest my head with oil. And then it was used for burial. You remember that the Lord Jesus said that Mary had anointed his body to the burial. And then it was used as preparation for service.
Three kinds of people were anointed with oil in the Old Testament in order to prepare them to serve. And these were prophets, priests, and kings. Our Lord Jesus is all three. And perhaps this is the reason why he is called the anointed of God. In the Old Testament he's called the Messiah. That's the Hebrew word. In the New Testament he is called the Christ. That's the Greek equivalent of the word Messiah. In English we call him the anointed. For that's the English equivalent of Christ or Christos and Messiah or Amashia. So the Messiah, the Christ, is the anointed of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ was given a special job to do by his Father. He was sent into this world to save sinners. He came into this world to bring us a message. So he is the prophet of God. He came to offer himself without spot to God, and then to become our high priest. So he is the priest of God. And one of these days he's going to reign, and we shall reign with him. And so he is the anointed king. King of kings and Lord of lords. So you see, the Lord Jesus is called the anointed. Now because the Holy Spirit intends to make use of all believers, he anoints all believers.
What are the two meanings of anointing? Well, first of all, we're told in First John chapter two. that the auction of the Holy Spirit and the anointing, and it's exactly the same word, they occur in this same chapter, I John chapter two, the auction, he says, which you have, the anointing, which is of the Spirit, teaches you, so that you need not that any man should teach you. By means of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, all believers have inside them a resident teacher. You don't have to pray for this.
It would be unbelief to ask the Holy Spirit to come in. It would be unbelief to ask the Holy Spirit to become your teacher. Because the Lord Jesus said in John fourteen and verse twenty-six, When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall teach you all things. And so the Holy Spirit came to be our teacher. Now there's really no excuse for ignorance. With a teacher like the Holy Spirit present. The only thing I can say is some of you have been playing hooky. You have not been in school. The Holy Spirit will bring back to your remembrance whatever you read in this book. But let me tell you, if you're too lazy to read this book, even the Holy Spirit can't help you very much.
You've got to get into this book. You've got to read what God says here. And when you do so, the Holy Spirit will teach you. He'll make these things plain to you. Now, the second thing... that happens in the anointing is the giving of gifts. And this was plainly brought out in First Corinthians chapter twelve and in Ephesians chapter four. In First Corinthians chapter twelve, which is a much earlier book than Ephesians, there are nine gifts listed. And these include the sign gifts. According to First Corinthians thirteen, the sign gifts ceased at the coming, the completion of the Word of God.
And the Apostle Paul plainly says in Colossians chapter one that he was chosen of God to complete, to fill through the full, to complete the Word of God. And so now we do not need the signed gifts. The signed gifts were given for the Jews, never for the Gentiles. The signed gifts were given in order to convince unbelievers, not believers. and the sign gifts are no longer needed since they were the credentials of the Messiah, and they have been presented, and it's an insult to ask for a re-presentation of those credentials. What do I mean to that? If we sent an ambassador to Russia, his first official act would be to visit the Secretary of State or the equivalent of that in that country and present his credentials.
And once they were presented, and he had been accepted as the ambassador from the United States, they would never again bring up that matter of credentials. If he should go back next week and they would insist that he presented his credentials again, and the week following, and every time he came there he had to present his credentials, he'd get in touch with Washington, D.C., and they'd say, come on home, they're just insulting you. And that's what's happening now when people are demanding the re-presentation of the credentials of the Messiah. You remember that when John the Baptist came to the Lord, or sent his men to the Lord Jesus, to ask him, are you the one we look for? Are we looking for another? He didn't answer him. Yes, I'm the Messiah.
He said, go back and tell John what you see happening. And these were the miraculous things that were happening. He said, that'll tell John. He'll know, he'll understand. And when he gave him this list, he was quoting verbatim from the book of Isaiah. He was quoting exactly what Isaiah said would happen when the Messiah came into this world. So, the work of the Holy Spirit, then, is to give to us the gifts that we need. What gifts do we need in the present time? Well, according to Ephesians chapter four, we need the gifts that have to do with the Word of God. In fact, when you come into the fourteenth chapter of First Corinthians, he plainly tells us, that while the same gifts were needed for a special purpose, we now have the greater gift, and he said, covet the best gifts, we now have the greater gift of prophecy, which means the teaching of the Word of God.
And this, he says, is for the purpose of edification and exhortation and comfort. That is to build up the people of God and to stir up the people of God and to cheer up the people of God. And we get this by means of the teaching of the Word of God. Now, the third thing that the Lord said that he was going to do or did do through the Holy Spirit was the sealing. The sealing produces three things in the life of the believer. One, it makes us secure. You know, of course, that if you ship something by railroad, You put it in the car and a man comes along and puts a seal on that door and no one dares to break it.
A simpler illustration, when you mail a letter, you seal that letter and it's against the law to break that seal. When I was in the jewelry business, we used to ship a great deal of valuable material by registered mail. We always sealed it with wax. After the package was tied, then we put wax on the string, both ends, both sides, top and bottom, and we put the seal of our own store upon that. And nobody dares to break that seal. It's going by registered mail, and it must not arrive at the end with any seal broken. And we read it in the fourth chapter of Ephesians and verse thirty that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.
Is that long enough? That suits you, brother and sister. You're as safe as God himself can make you. You're sealed unto the day of redemption. There's no such thing as being saved and lost again, saved and lost again. It's poor salvation if that's all you've got. Now, not only are we safe unto the day of redemption, but we are safe against all of our enemies because the Lord Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And then he said, My Father, which gave them me is greater than all, and no man shall be able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Is that safe enough? The hand of the Son and the Father, protecting us. In that chapter he speaks about Satan. He speaks about the highlings. He speaks about the wolf. He speaks about the enemies. And sheep are very defenseless. Sheep are not able to keep themselves. And yet our blessed Lord has sealed us against all enemies. And then he has done so forever. Forever. John fourteen, verse sixteen. When he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he shall abide with you forever. When I go to heaven, I'm going to go to heaven with the Holy Spirit still sealing me.
Now the second thing that he does in the sealing is to conform us to Christ. I said a little bit ago that we could pour some wax on a box, and then we could put a stamp, a seal upon that. When I do that, I make the exact design on the seal to appear on the wax. Do you know that's what the Holy Spirit is doing for us day by day? He is putting the impression of the likeness of Christ upon believers. I'm not talking about missionaries. I'm not talking about... quote, full-time servant, unquote. There isn't any such thing anyway. We all sleep eight hours a day, longer if we can find it.
I'm not talking about that at all. I'm talking about what it means to be, to have the impression of the likeness of Christ placed upon us. What do you think the Apostle Paul meant in Galatians four in verse nineteen when he said, My little children of whom I travail again in birth until Christ be formed in you. What did he mean? Does he need to be saved again? Why no. Paul travailed in birth at their salvation, for he led those Galatians to Christ. But now he said, I'm travailing again because I want to see you not only the children of God, I want you to be the sons of God. I want you to be like the Lord Jesus.
Now, some Christians who think it would be very... Nice to be like the Lord Jesus, but it's just so unattainable that they forget all about it. One man said to me, Well, I'm always been a sinner, and I suppose I always will be. Well, I said, Aren't you a saint? Well, yes, I guess so. I said, Ninety-three times in the New Testament, he calls the saints. And you say you're always the sinner. The Lord never intended you to be characteristically a sinner. Of course you may do some things that you ought not. He said, I like these things to you that sin not. And if any man sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. God would like to make you like the Lord Jesus.
If you're like the Lord Jesus, you're going to love God's people, not be constantly lambasting them, not be constantly running them down. That means all of God's people, not just those that meet with you. If you really belong to the Lord Jesus, you're going to be concerned about the unsaved. He wept over the city of Jerusalem. We look out over his city and say, My, isn't that pretty? Look at all the bright lights. That isn't what he saw. He saw what was going on under those roofs. He saw the broken hearts. He saw the sin against his father, and he wept. And if you're like the Lord Jesus, you'll weep over souls, and you'll spend a little of that money to see that they get the gospel too.
If the Spirit of God makes you like the Lord Jesus, you will be doing exactly what the Father planned because He said whom He foreknew. He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. God is so pleased with the Lord Jesus that He wants a great many more exactly like Him. He would like to make you just like the Lord Jesus. Do you want to be? Well, you say that's going a little far. A lady said to me, I wish you'd pray for my sister. She said, you know, Daddy was a wonderful Christian.
We came home from Daddy's funeral. She said, we were sitting around talking about him, and I said, Daddy was the most godly man I ever knew. And my sister said, well, yes, I think that's true, but he was pretty radical. And she said, I said, what do you mean by that? Well, she said, he just went overboard. He just didn't have any time for enjoyment of anything. He never tried to accumulate anything. He just went overboard. She said, I'm a believer and I want to live a good, respectable Christian life, but I don't want to be radical like that. She said, I wish you'd pray for my sister. I wonder if she's even saved. And I think she had reason to wonder.
Anybody who does not want to be like the Lord Jesus certainly does not love the Lord Jesus very much. Do you want to be like him? Well, Christ is formed in us when we are occupied with him. Second Corinthians chapter three, the Spirit of God, he says there in the eighteenth verse, the Spirit of God occupies us with the Lord Jesus, and we are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. You become like the one whom you admire. That's why husbands and wives get to where they think alike and talk alike and even look alike.
That's something to think about before you get married girls. Now let's run to the third thing which the Holy Spirit does in the sealing of the Holy Spirit, and that is He shall eventually glorify us. This is part of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Why do I say that? Well, look at Romans chapter eight and the twenty-ninth verse. Romans chapter eight. Well, first of all, let's look at a little earlier in this chapter at verse ten. Verse nine. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwells in you, now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he has none of his.
If you're still praying for the Holy Spirit, you're saying to God, I've not been born again. I'm not really saved. Because 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 is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, and he does, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. You know what's going to happen when these days... Look down now at verse twenty-nine. For whom he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified. Now I have all of that up to that point, and so have you if you're a child of God. But there's one thing more, and whom he justified Then he also glorifies. Why does he put this in the past tense? Well, because where God lives, there isn't any past, present, and future anyway. In eternity, you don't think of time. And from where God sits, he sees the whole thing as though it were already accomplished. And so he says, every believer in the purposes of God is already glorified. Glorified. God is going to make you physically like the Lord Jesus.
Now you think that over a little bit. It's marvelous to think that God has made such complete provision for us that He has left His Holy Spirit within us so that in case we die, the Holy Spirit Himself will raise us up again from the dead. But you say, isn't it the voice of the Lord Jesus? Yes, but you see, the Trinity cooperated in everything that is done. The Lord Jesus was the one that created, of course, and yet we read of the creation by the Spirit and the creation by the Father. And then it was redemption by the Son, and yet it was redemption by the Trinity. And it's glorification by the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Father also is going to glorify His children, and the Holy Spirit is going to glorify us.
And the resurrection takes place by the means of the Holy Spirit, as well as by the Father and the Son. Now he says in John seventeen that we're going to be glorified with the Lord Jesus. That's what he prayed for. He prayed for four things in John's Gospel, and the last one of these was that we might be with him to behold his glory. You're going to be like the Lord Jesus at his return. And the final thing is the earnest of the Spirit. Now there are two things here. The first thing is a foretaste or sample of what God has for us still in store. That's the meaning of the word earnest.
In Ephesians one, verse eleven, he says that the Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. Now, it's a nice thing to get an inheritance. I recommend this very highly. If there's any way you can work it out, arrange to get an inheritance. I got one one time for four hundred and seventy-five dollars. That's the only inheritance I ever got. I was very pleased with it. It came at just exactly the right time. And it's a nice thing to receive an inheritance. Sometimes inheritances are not paid all at once. Sometimes there is some provision in the will whereby a certain amount will be given, and then there will be an annual payment.
Or there will be a payment when you reach age twenty-one. Or something else. In this case, the Lord has given us an inheritance. We have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and faded not away reserved in heaven for you. Just like you reserve a table, you've got a right to expect that that table will be ready for you when you go there to that restaurant. God has a place reserved for us in heaven. And the Holy Spirit is the sample or foretaste of that inheritance. Brothers and sisters, if it is so wonderful to enjoy fellowship with the Lord now, and we do this by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, You have no fellowship with God before the Holy Spirit came to live within you, because you were totally dead to God.
We're told you hath he made a lion who were dead in trespasses and in sins. And a good definition of death is simply lack of correspondence with surroundings. A dead man knows nothing about what's going on. It's never too hot or too cold. He doesn't get hungry. He doesn't get weary. He doesn't know if the house burns down. He has nothing whatever to do with his surroundings because he's dead. And you as a sinner had nothing whatever to do with God because you were dead to God. You were very much alive to this world, but dead to him. But since you have received Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit has enabled you to have sometimes, anyway, of fellowship with God.
You have been able to talk to him, and he has talked to you. My friend, Brother Dave Horn, said... When he's reading the Bible, sometimes a verse stands about an inch off the paper. To me, that's the best explanation I've ever heard of, the teaching of the Holy Spirit. He just makes it stand about an inch off the paper. You know that God has spoken to you through that scripture. Now, these things happen to us as believers. These are only samples of what are ahead. Well, they tell about a Scotch brother, and this is really something, if a Scotch brother gets as worked up as this, you know, because they pride themselves in being dear buddies. The Scotsman said he was enjoying so much what the Lord had given for him.
He just had to tell the Lord to turn off the tap. He couldn't hold any more. Isn't that marvelous? Well, I'll tell you, brother and sister, this is what happens when the Spirit of God has the opportunity to give you a foretaste of things to come. That's what he says he'll teach you. In John sixteen and thirteen, he shall show you things to come. My how wonderful it will be when we're in his presence. In thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. The last verse of Psalm sixteen. And the last thing is an offer of a daily or even, might say, momentarily filling of the Holy Spirit.
Look at Ephesians chapter five. I'm a little worried at some Christians who think that they are keeping away from some kind of false doctrine when they say, well, we're not interested in all this Holy Spirit business. Well, my dear friend, the Holy Spirit is God. And God, the Holy Spirit, is doing some marvelous things for you, and He would do something more for you if you'd give Him a chance, and here's what it is. Verse eighteen of the fifth chapter of Ephesians, And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, But be filled with the Spirit. Now this is in the imperative. This means you do it.
In fact, the word is even stronger than it is in our King James Version. And we might read it like this. But be ye being filled with the Spirit. Make it a habit to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now what do we do to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, first of all, the Holy Spirit is not going to fill you. He is not going to take possession of you. He is not going to take you up and use you if there is unjudged, unconfessed sin in your life. That's the first thing. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
When I want a good cold drink of water... I don't go get an old rusty can out of the trash barrel. I want a clean vessel. And God is looking for clean vessels, and most of us are dirty. It's been so long since we confessed our sins that we can't remember half of them. It'd take you a long time, really, to catch up, maybe. But you better get into the presence of God and see that the things in your life that don't belong there are cleaned out. And that goes not only for the confession of sin, but for the judging of self. which is another thing. If I judge the nature that is behind the sin, I might avoid making the same mistake again. And then it involves giving of yourself into the hands of the Lord.
What does he mean when he said, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice? Romans twelve and one. What does he mean when he says that you yield your members as instruments unto righteousness? When did you ever say to God, Here are my hands, Lord, I give them to thee. Here's my voice, I give it to thee. Here's my ability to make money. I put it into thy hands. When did you ever say it? I don't say this is something you can do once and for all. And it certainly isn't something that happens in the candlelight service when you get a gooey feeling and you think you're entirely consecrated. That is what I'm talking about at all.
I'm talking about a down-to-earth daily dealing with God. You get up in the morning, you ought to say, Lord, I belong to thee. I was brought by the precious blood of Christ. I'm not my own. Chapter three, and I'd like you to turn to this. Colossians chapter three where he tells us exactly the same things that happen as happened here he says in the sixteenth verse let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord notice I moved the commas commas were added by the translators in an attempt to make it read smoothly in English.
I believe it reads better as I read it. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse eighteen, wives submit yourselves. Verse nineteen, husbands love your wives. Verse twenty, children obey your parents. Verse twenty-one, fathers provoke not your children in anger. Verse twenty-two, servants obey. And verse one of the fourth chapter, masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal. Now if you look back at Ephesians five, you'll see that all of these things follow the command to be filled with the Spirit.
So being filled with the Spirit is tantamount to being filled with the Word of God. You see, you can't leave a vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum. I say, well, I've got a lot of things in my life that don't belong there. I'm willing to get rid of these. So here I sit. What do I do now? Well, the Lord says now, fill it up with the Word of God. Do you remember in the case of the turning of water into wine what the Lord said to do? He said, fill the water pots with water. And then he turned it into wine of joy. And your business and my business is to get into the Word. How much time do you spend in the Word? As much time as you spend feeding your carcass?
You spend half as much time trying to get something for your spirit as you do filling up this body? If you do some of you, you ought to be pretty fat and flourishing. Now listen to me, friends. You've got a responsibility to do your part in this if you're going to be filled with the Spirit. And you must do this. You must let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. That doesn't leave any room for self. Many years ago I was in a conference with old Brother McClure, W.J. McClure. If you're old enough to remember him, don't tell anybody, because you've got to be pretty old. Brother McClure said to us, if I take a glass and dip it down into one of the great lakes, will it be filled with water?
I was sitting on the front seat, and I nodded my head. He said, Not necessarily. He had a heavy voice. And then he said, If that glass is full of lard, you won't get a drop of water in it. Then he looked right down to me again, and he said, The trouble with some people is they're full of lard. Brothers and sisters, you're not asked to pray for the Spirit of God. You're asked to make room for him in your life. All of these blessings are yours. This is what God does for us in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is here to make your Christianity real and happy.
The Spirit of God is here to make you a useful, well-taught Christian. The Spirit of God is here to feel you that you might be of use to God. God grant that you might cooperate with him in it. Let's pray. Blessed Lord, we acknowledge with grateful hearts that we deserved nothing from thee. We might have been turned into hell with all the other nations that forget God, but we thank thee that thou hast loved us and sent thy Son to redeem us. We thank thee, Lord Jesus, that thou hast taken our place at Calvary, paid our debt with that precious blood and risen again from the dead, and gone back to the Father and sent the promise of the Father unto us, another comforter.
like unto thyself. Lord, we thank thee that thou art interceding for us there, and he is interceding for us here, and we thank thee that we are blessed with all that God could bless us, with all of the spiritual blessings in the heavens, in Christ Jesus. We thank thee, our Father, for the offer of the filling of the Spirit of God, that we might enjoy the things of God, and that we might be of use to thee, and that we might be more like our blessed Lord. We ask this blessing, the blessing of salvation for those who are not saved, the blessing of godliness for those who are, in the precious name of our Savior. Amen.