The Holy Spirit's ministry is essential for believers to experience the power and effectiveness seen in the early church. While the Spirit indwells all believers upon salvation, a lack of His demonstrable power in many contemporary Christians suggests a disconnect. The sermon clarifies that sign gifts ceased with the completion of Scripture, but the Spirit's ongoing work includes guiding believers into truth, testifying of Christ, and convicting the world. To be filled and controlled by the Spirit, believers must be 'fillable' by confessing and repenting of sin, allowing Christ's likeness to be evident to the world.
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Oh, my voice is almost gone. I want to go back to the subject that I left off on. This was a part of our Ephesian study about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And you notice that I left off not declaring or not speaking on how to be filled. And that was somewhat purposed in hopes that I'd have this opportunity. It really wasn't planned that we were going to leave before this meeting. We had planned that we would be leaving and going into Michigan. after the meeting tonight, but because of various circumstances it looks as though you have to tolerate us until sometime tomorrow. And maybe a special grace will be given and a special dispensation.
But I am convinced there's a great deal of confusion in the minds of many believers about the subject of being filled. I think, first of all, we have not been so realistic about the doctrine. Thanks, Pop. We've not been so realistic about the doctrine of being filled. I think that we've been a bit silent on this subject, and somehow I believe we have lacked in power in that most practical sense. I believe there's been a dearth. Peter went out and preached on the day of Pentecost, and about three thousand were converted to the Lord Jesus. And sometimes we wonder if we're going to preach three thousand messages to see one convert.
It's like a dearth of evangelism. There was a time when You could have gospel meetings or evangelistic meetings. Call them what you will. In some circles they call them revival meetings. And really it turns out it's evangelistic. Many a person is saved like that. I have to admit that any more in gospel meetings I see very few saves. I was down in Raleigh, North Carolina last year. My wife and there, we'd been there one week and as a result four adults profess to be saved. We were so thankful to see any result. And yet there was a time when that would have been a minimum. of people being saved. Now, I'm not the judge of all this. God is, but I want you to respond now.
We're just sort of letting our hair down, loosening our ties, and how many of you remember the days when you'd have gospel meetings and you'd see quite a number of saves? That's right. And yet, not to say God can't save them now, or not to say that it's not happening in certain places, but I think many of us have to admit we're not seeing it like we used to see. Would you agree with that? I think most of you will agree. And I'm wondering if if there's not something missing in our life. Now, you know, and I know, that if you're born again, the Holy Spirit is residing in you. Romans eight sixteen. He says there, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. It shall be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And all this nonsense that after you're saved, sometimes subsequent to that, you're to receive the Holy Spirit. He is non-biblical. Matter of fact, it's error. It's false doctrine. That's why Paul challenge those men, those twelve men. You remember in Acts nineteen, Paul having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have you received the Holy Spirit? Having believed. That's a better rendering, said of sense you believed. It's not a matter of sense, it's having believed. It's an eras participle. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Having believed. They said unto him, We've not so much as heard whether there'll be any Holy Spirit. He said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized? They said unto John's baptism. Now, what he's essentially saying is, don't blame that on John. No problem there.
He said, John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord. When Paul laid his hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues and prophesied. Now, all I'm saying about that is this, that Paul discerned they should have had the Holy Spirit. If they had Christian profession and baptism, they should have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And there was a dearth, there was a famine. Millions in our day have had baptism and Christian profession. And do not have the Spirit lost in their sins.
I'm convinced that in our country, these United States of America, some more than two hundred million strong, there are literally millions of people who profess to be Christian who have never been born again. Millions. I can't explain all those things. I don't have the answer for all those things, but I think one thing we have to admit, we're not sensing or seeing a demonstration of the Spirit of God in power today like we read in the Acts account. Now I do realize there was a transitional period. There was a time when certain things ceased. You remember in chapter thirteen of the book of First Corinthians? He says, Love never fails. But whether it be prophecies, they shall fail.
Whether it be tongues, they shall cease. Whether it be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part should be done away. When as I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known. Now abides faith, hope, love these three, but the greatest of these is love. And you'll notice that the now refers to this dispensation. Throughout this dispensation, faith, hope, and love will abide. I'm not saying they will abide in the age to come. It seems to me that hope will surely be gone. And maybe there's no room for faith.
I'm not going to go that far and say that. I'm just saying, though, I'm convinced that hope won't be needed according to the definition of Romans chapter eight. So, beloved, in this age of grace, we know that faith, hope, and love will continue. Some things that won't continue this age of grace are the sign gifts. And that took place, that ended when that which is perfect has come. The perfect is the word teleos. It's the same word that our Lord used when he's hanging on the tree and he cried out. And our English translation says, it is finished. You know, it's the same word that you have here, perfect. Same word. What does the word mean? What it means, having come to completion, he had completed the work of suffering for our sins.
Some have said salvation was completed. Let me remind you, that's not complete until there's a resurrection. Without the resurrection, according to First Corinthians, there will be no salvation. And so, beloved, he's not talking about salvation is completed. What was completed? His suffering. He had borne our sins in his own body on the tree. God had judged him rather than us. And don't you love that verse in Psalm one-oh-five? Thou hast not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. You know why, don't you? You know why he hasn't? Because he dealt with him. And aren't you glad that he didn't deal with us? He dealt with him. He loved us, and he dealt with him. So you can see, obviously from those things that...
When the Lord said it is finished, He had ended all the suffering of God's righteous judgment against our sin so there was not one sin left to have to be dealt with, that was completed. So when Paul could say that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away, that which is perfect is the full revelation of the mind of God, we will not be getting new revelations. A group called the Latter-day Saints, or sometimes commonly called Mormons, believe that there have been some revelations since the time that John penned the Apocalypse. But I would suggest to you that's for us and it's not valid. Have a copy of their so-called Bible.
And may I say to you, it's just an absolute farce. Just put it down in your daybook. It's a farce. It's not God's word at all. It's a jumbling up of the King James Version of the Bible with a lot of other things that they've added to it. And all it is is just a hoax. It's not of God. And the whole system stinks. Their origin says that God was once a man like Adam and God had sex with Mrs. God, and it goes from there. May I say to you, it's a wicked, immoral thing down to the core. And don't you believe all their PR that talks about family? It's wicked to the very core. It's a cult. Now, some of you may be offended. May I say to you, I believe we should speak out against the cult.
It's false. God hates it because it's unclean. It's full of spiritual vermin and darkness. and yet on the outside it's that old fighted sepulchre, you know. That's the appearance that it has. We read where we're to be filled in spirit. Now you may not take that in, but I would challenge you to study any Greek text that you can get your hands on. You'll find the word Z is not there in verse eighteen, adjoined to the word spirit, Numa. And you'll find that the preposition is literally what I've told you. It's in, be filled in spirit. Obviously it's the Holy Spirit who's to come in and control Our human spirit, that's Ephesians five, eighteen. We did not get into the aspect of how to be filled, and I would like to deal with that, and I'll try to be done with my part.
I'll just take a very brief time tonight because there's so little time left. I think we're supposed to be over there at eight thirty. But I want us to, no, why is it? Anyway, I want us to look at just for a few moments on some other ministries of the Holy Spirit ending up with how to be filled. and giving just a few seed thoughts from the Old Testament, maybe some pictures of type, if you will. Turn with me, if you will, to the book of John chapter fourteen, please. John chapter fourteen, you'll notice that the Lord Jesus says in verse fifteen, if you love me, keep my commandments. Keep is an imperative statement in the English, but may I say to you that the verb keep that you find in verse fifteen will be found to be the exact same grammatical word, letter by letter, and structure as is found in verse twenty-three.
If a man loved me, he will keep. So be sure when you go over to verse fifteen that remember it's will keep. It's not keep. It's will keep. It's future and it's indicative. It's not the imperative move. You can check that out for yourself in any grammar you like. If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees and not needs an ocean. But you know him, for he dwells with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Verse twenty-six. But the comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.
We notice that the coming of the Holy Spirit to be in us is to take those things that the Lord spoke, bring all things to remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Now, I've got a question, beloved brothers and sisters. Do you think that the Lord was saying that's only for those apostles in that day? What did the Lord say? Well, John says if he wrote everything that the Lord said, the world wouldn't contain the books, but the Holy Spirit saw to it that we had some of the things the Lord said. You suppose the Holy Spirit could bring those to us? I think He's referring to us. And the things that the Lord Jesus said to them, at least in part, were written down, divine inspiration caused those men to write those letters that formed those words, and we have them today in our own native tongues.
And I really believe that's one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that this idea of sleeping with your head on your Bible and through osmosis are some of the process that the Word of God is going to get in there is a forest. People have asked me for years, Donald, how do you quote so many scriptures? And I just have to say, well, as far as I know, I just had to go over it and over it and over it and over it and over it and keep on going over it. I ran for fifteen years. I liked running. I used to run those six-mile races. And when I was out running, I'd be quoting verses of Scripture and praying. Now, I'm not trying to act like some hero or some spiritual giant.
If there ever was a weak person in this room tonight, it's got to be me. I know good and well, aren't we? I'm so weak I'm scared half to death at times. I'm going to stumble and fall and ruin the name of the Lord in my life. And he just makes me tremble to think about it. But I am saying there's no shortcut for getting it in there. It's not enough to read, though Paul could say to Timothy, give attendance to reading. John who wrote the Apocalypse, he says, Blessed is he that read it. So reading is important. It's not enough. We're to study. And the word study in Second Timothy chapter two-fifteen is really not our modern day study. That's the word for be diligent. They searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so, the Bereans.
Jesus said, Search the Scriptures. That's study, comparing verse with verse, passage with passage. It's not enough to study. We're to meditate, meditate upon these things. Give thyself holy to them. Paul could say to Timothy in First Timothy chapter four, In his law does he meditate day and night as a psalmist. Thou shalt meditate, Joshua said in Joshua one. So meditate. It's to read, study, meditate. We're to memorize. And how do you do that? Well, beloved, I think you put it in your heart. Thy word of the hidden heart, just keep going over them until first thing you know it's just coming out. And then we're to obey, obviously. That's a good bottom line, isn't it? But I believe if we'll go over it enough, first thing you know, it'll be there.
Now, I believe the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to take what we put there and bring it to our remembrance. There'll be occasions when you're going to need a verse. You're going to need a divine principle. You're going to need some encouragement. You're going to need direction. And the Holy Spirit can do that for us and wants to do that. But He does not want us to put this under our pillow and think for some reason or other. It's going to transmit into our brain right on through that pillow, whether it be foam or goose down or whatever. It's just not going to work. No conductivity there. And I believe, beloved, that that's one of his ministries. Notice, if you will, in chapter fifteen, he says in verse twenty-six, But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me.
I believe one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to testify of the Lord Jesus. The word for witness or testify in our English Bible usually translates the word martyrius. We call it martyr. Now, you ask a junior or sophomore in high school what a martyr is, and about nine times out of ten, they'll tell you that's somebody that dies for a cause. Most of us would probably go along with that. But don't forget, that's not the origin of the Greek word martyrius at all. A martyrius was someone who told what he knew. He was a living person. But you understand that over a period of time for Christians, when they told what they knew sometimes, Right about here, real smooth.
I mean, they cut their heads right off. They were martyred, as we call it today. See? He shall testify of me. So we find that what the Holy Spirit knows about the Lord Jesus, He wants to minister to our hearts. And, beloved, there's nothing whether Bible conference series of gospel meetings, regular meetings of the local church or the assembly, or whatever, there's nothing that God wants in our life more than Christ ministered to us. The Lord Jesus is what we need ministered to us. And that's one of the ministers of the Holy Spirit. Chapter sixteen. Verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you.
But if I depart, I will send him unto you. Now who will be our encounter? Glenn, why don't you help me? Verse seven. How many times do you see the word you, the plural pronoun you, second person plural? I count four. Would you agree with that? Do you not believe that refers to those believers, those saints of God that are with the Lord Jesus in the upper room? Don't you think that's what's happening? Don't you think he's referring to them in the most immediate contextual sense? You would agree with that, wouldn't you? I don't think anybody disagrees with that. But now look, he says, I will send him unto you. But look at verse eight. And when he has come, he will reprove you of sin, righteousness.
No. He'll reprove the world. Now, I'd like to suggest that God, to me God is saying, He wants His Holy Spirit in you and I convincing the world of sin. When a famous evangelist years ago, over a hundred years ago, was invited to this country, had a specific invitation to go to a factory in the eastern seaboard of this country by a Christian who owned the manufacturing corporation. and had already a foretime told his workers they would be allowed to take off from work at a certain period of time and not work at all and be paid while this evangelist spoke to them about Christ.
And the historical account seems to indicate that when that man walked into the building, some of the men at their job positions broke out in weeping and under conviction were crying out to God, and the man hadn't spoken a word yet. And he said, Donald, I wasn't there, didn't see it. That's right. Maybe it was I. I may look old enough, but I know I wasn't there. But you know what? I don't doubt that. Because look at the verse. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is exceeding for you that I go away. For if I go down the way, the comforter will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world. It's in us. Not exclusive of that.
But God wants to use us to bring about conviction in the hearts of those who are unconverted. It should be so much so that when they see you and I, they see something of the Lord Jesus. One day, Leonard Lynch said, and I used to travel a lot and preach together. We were traveling along, and he said, Donald, see that station over there? It was one of those stations called Peester Derby. We were going through Northern Candors, heading on up into Iowa for some meetings. He said, I was coming through this town one time and I stopped to get some gas, but I was in my old Pontiac. Leonard seemed to like Pontiac real well. And he was pretty tall and lengthy and gangly, you know, and he's been over and he was pumping the gas and selling one of those surrogate cell stations.
And the fellow that was operating it wasn't very busy. And so after he came out and he was talking to Leonard, and while Leonard was putting the gas in that car, he heard the man say, there goes Jesus. Of course, for a big tall, sweet lot of energy. You talk about the show mistakes. You had to just... I mean, Leonard's attention was that he was just... His ears were bigger than the garbage channel is, you know. I mean, what do you say? He said, there goes Jesus. He said, I don't understand what you mean. He said, see, that man going across the street right there? He said, yeah, I see. He said, that man is the most like the Jesus of the Bible that I've ever seen in my human life. And wouldn't that be good if it was said of us, beloved? The ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, my brothers and sisters, if we don't allow the Holy Spirit to do that work in us, we're not going to be able to bring or see conviction wrought when it could be. You see, we ought to be so different. I'm not talking about being freaks now. I'm talking about being different. I think I mentioned this to the RV class, but I'm just sure that I didn't. Y'all stop the ears. I had got to repeat this little story. We were living not in poverty, but we were just, you know, just shoulders distance from it. We were nudging the edge, living out in Clay County, Texas on a little farm and just barely getting by economically. I mean barely.
And one day while I was in town, one of the Christians in the local little church there where I was preaching said, Brother Don, we want to give you some little brooder chicks. little hatchlings. And so I said, well, boy, that'd be great. And they said, now you'll have to buy your own feed, but said, we'll give you a discount. So they were just going to do everything they could to help us. And we got these chicks, and we were so happy about that. I don't think we lost over two or three as we were bringing them up. We just, you know, we kind of, she and I brooded over them too, you know, we were really watching those little chicks, had a little light in there, you know, to keep them warm at night, and all those things you were supposed to do. And the day came when those things were getting up, and man, our chops would begin to drip with You know, we could see Southern fried chicken. Oh, mercy.
Finger-looking good, you know. Anyway, one day we're going into town about twelve miles away in Debris to get some things. And I said, Gloria, I said, boy, when we get back, we're going to kill one of those chickens and dress it, and we're going to have cooked fried chicken fresh right up. You know, just really enjoy that. And I said, I'll tell you what I think I'll do. Won't you take some of those old rags that you got in there and tear me off some little strings? And I'll go out there and I'll mark that one. And we'll go in the town. When I get back, that's the one I'll kill. So I went out there and looked at one over I thought was the nearest ready. And I put that thing around, caught him finally. And that had put around him, put him back in there. And when we got back from town, let me tell you, I didn't have to kill him. There was hardly anything left of him. They were white legons, and they're fierce.
You see, the reason they killed that chicken, he was different than they were. And the Lord Jesus was different than any other person, and they hated him without a cause. And brothers and sisters, I am convinced that one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit in you and I is to make us different than the world. different than the unconverting. The shameful thing today is that so many of us as Christians look so much like the world, people can hardly tell who we are. In the first century they seem to know, because they sought them out and persecuted them. And do you think that verse in Second Timothy Chapter Three, when the Apostle Paul said this as the Spirit inspired him, Yea, and all who will of Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution?
You think that's for our dispensation? You know it is, isn't it? Sure it is. And I believe if we will live godly, another work of the Holy Spirit to help us to that end, we will suffer persecution. You'll notice that he says, when he has come, he will remove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sometimes we pray, Lord, convict him of their sins. May I say to you, beloved, I think I can help you there. We don't have to pray that prayer. He's going to do that anyway. Be nice if we say, Lord, help me to be used in that conviction. Help me to live so godly it can be used to bring about conviction. But the Holy Spirit will reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, of sin because they believe not only Jesus sin, of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this age is judged or has been judged.
Then he says, you'll notice, in the next verse, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot receive them now or bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. Notice, he will guide you into all truth. There's so much today that's not true. I picked up a pamphlet one day written by some of our dear brethren. Proving why that the bread that we eat at the Lord's Supper had to be a loaf, had to be leavened bread. If you love it, all you've got to read is verse twenty-six of chapter eleven. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, first Corinthians chapter eleven and verse twenty-six.
And if you read your Greek testimony or do your study, you'll find that he's saying, as often as eat this cup, the bread. The definite article is there. And drink this the cup. And even to get a hold of that principle of grammar, you don't even have to learn Greek. Just read John chapter one, verse one, in English, and it'll give it to you. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was not a God or not the God. Without the definite article, it's the character and quality that's being emphasized. So he says, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was, characteristically, qualitatively, God. The Word is God in every essence, my beloved friends.
And so there you have a clear picture that without the definite article in Greek, you have the essence and character emphasized. And with the definite article, you don't have it at all. The cup could be fermented or unfermented, fruit of the vine. The bread could be leavened or unleavened. And yet some of our brethren come along and say, it's got to be this. I can't just burns me. Down inside I just grieve. He will guide you into all tradition. No, beloved, we are eat up with it. Right after it is hindering us. It's hurting us. He'll guide you into all truth. He's the spirit of truth. And he says, he shall not speak of himself. But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me.
He's going to show us things to come. Not extra biblical things. Biblical things, beloved. We're going to get in there and read what the Lord said, and he's going to show that to us. And then he says, notice, he should not speak of himself. Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He will show you things to them. He shall glorify me. May I say that when you see the evidence of the work of the Spirit of God, it's always glorifying to the Lord Jesus. Not to the saint, but to the Lord Jesus. That's a clear mark of his ministry. Notice what he says. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore said I, he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you.
One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to take the things of our Lord Jesus, brothers and sisters, and show them to us. And there's nothing to the believer like the picture of the Lord Jesus. There's nothing that we can hear or see that really does us so much good as seeing Christ. and having Christ ministered to us. And that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit to take the things of our Lord Jesus. You see, the Holy Spirit is not someone who attracts attention to himself. And yet today in a lot of preaching and teaching on the radio and TV, I don't have a TV, but I've been in a lot of homes that's got it. And you'll see that the Holy Spirit seems to be lifted up. And people are praying to the Holy Spirit.
Where do you ever get that in the Bible? slain in the spirit. Where'd you ever get that in the Bible? Huh? My beloved friends, it's not of God. The Holy Spirit's not the slayer. He's the life giver. He's the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the Bible says. Just the opposite. And so what we've got to do, beloved, in love, speak the truth, hold up the truth. We're living in a time of tremendous error. God must greatly be grieved over these things. And so we see another ministry of the Holy Spirit is to write the Scripture. When these things were taking place in the first century, all the Scripture had not been written. When Paul penned Ephesians five, eighteen, all the Scripture hadn't been written.
You see. Second Timothy hadn't come into being at that time and other writings of the Scripture. So we would realize that the Holy Spirit, one of his ministries, is to inspire or breathe upon men that they write down words. Now as I said the other night to some of the group, I said we have to go back to First Corinthians chapter two, starting at verses twelve and thirteen there where he says, Now you receive not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that you might know the things that are freely given to you, God which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual with spiritual. The Holy Spirit gave words. And I tried to convince you, I hope that you're convinced. He not only gave the words, but he gave the letters that formed the words.
Now, if that's one of his ministries, notice one of those things that he did if he takes the things of Christ and shows them to us. You remember that, and we won't take the time, my time is already up. We won't take the time, but going in your mind back to the Genesis portion where we had the flood. It's chapter eight. Moses lets the raven and the dove out, and the raven stayed, didn't he? You know why? He had his billbone, tooth picking his claw, and he was really faring well, wasn't he? I mean, he was at a feast, because all those things floating out there were just the thing he delighted in, all that death, right? But the dove is a seed-eating bird, and she came back because she found no place for the soul of her foot.
You remember that after a week, he lets her out, and she goes out a second time. And this time she came in that evening with an olive leaf plucked off in her beak. You know what that tells Moses? It says, Moses, look, I've been to a tree. Now get this, please. I've been to a tree, and I'm coming back with a message from a tree. Now, the Holy Spirit is a type of what in the Scriptures? The Holy Spirit. I mean, the dove. Sorry, the Holy Spirit's type of the Holy Spirit. Pardon me. You know I was confused. The dove is a type of the Holy Spirit. Because when the Lord Jesus was baptized, it was the voice of the Father from heaven. The Spirit in the form of a dove came down, and, of course, there's the Son right there.
So we see the dove, at least typically, in that sense, as the Holy Spirit. So when the dove returns from the tree, the dove comes back with a message from the tree. And I'd like to suggest to you, that's exactly what he's done. He's been to the tree on Calvary's Hill. He says, I've got a message for you. Judgment has passed. The Lord took it all. What a beautiful picture. So one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit, he's visited the tree and he's come back and let us know judgment's past. It's divine revelation. We call it the Word of God. And then you'll see that another ministry that he has is to seal us until the day of redemption. Now that's the picture of a ring, a specific ring of some authority that was placed into some warm and non-totally jailed calo.
And when that was placed in there, that was to signify that had the authority of the one who signant it stood for, that it was sealed and was an official message. And beloved, one of the evidences to the world that the Holy Spirit is in us is Christ likeness. That's to be the mark there to see. They're not to see the Holy Spirit. They're to see Jesus Christ in us. And so that's another word. You see that we're sealed at the Day of Redemption. We have the earnest of the Spirit. The very giving of the Holy Spirit is God's guarantee that we're going to be glorified, raised to be in His likeness. And you will remember there are sins against the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy, you see in Matthew twelve and other places.
You see... where I guess it's Stephen was his name when he's standing there preaching he said you always do resist the Holy Spirit and then of course for Christians there's grieving and quenching so those are sins against the Spirit but closing out now on the important part that I wanted to stress not that it's more important than others but the one that I wanted to stress is how to be filled in spirit by the Holy Spirit I said to you earlier you don't have the record that anyone prayed to be filled you don't have the record that anyone said I am filled however We're to pray about everything. And I would suggest, if you're going to be filled, all you and I need to do is get fillable. Let's don't make some big complex thing out of it.
Get fillable. As long as there's any sin, unconfessed, unrepentant, un-lamented in my life, be sure the Holy Spirit is not going to be in control. It's that simple. But when you and I can, in genuine repentance, in biblical repentance, confess our sins to the Lord, name them, you know, that's what that means, confessing to the Lord, I sin. It's almost like heaven says, so what? Tell me something new. It's naming that sin. Lord, I was angry without a cause. Lord, I was jealous. Lord, I envy. Lord, I got drunk. Lord, I murdered. Whatever, we've got to name it. That's confession, you see. So once we've, in repentance, named that to the Lord, He has promised He will forgive and cleanse.
And may I say to you, when there's an ungrieved, unquench spirit in our life, He is in control. It's not complex. It's just get fillable. When I was in engineering at LTV, I found when I go up in the drafting room where our drafters were, They never reached in that little compartment on their drafting board that was a round thing and they had a bunch of instruments in there. They never reached in there and got an instrument that wasn't really usable. And if they did, they rejected it and picked up one that was. Be it a pencil, a pen, any other kind of apparatus that they had. They always chose the one that was functional and usable. And may I say, we don't need to pray the prayer, Lord, use me. I would suggest one, though.
Lord, help me to get usable. And I believe when we do, God will wear us out if it's possible. He'll use us in the power of His Holy Spirit to show something of Christ to the whole world that surrounds us. Shall we pray? Father, we just would thank thee that we have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. We thank thee that we have been placed as sons. We've received the adoption of sons. We've been placed in that wonderful position. that we're heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ. And someday soon, perhaps, perhaps even sooner than we can even imagine, we will be with and like our Lord.
Our race will have been run. Our work will have been done. Help us to be so urgent about it that we don't let a moment pass without having our eyes glued to Him, thinking about our Lord, keeping our hearts upon Him, knowing that the more we look at Him, the more we can begin to look like Him. Oh, that that transformation might come. We long to see this, help us to, as we were singing earlier, turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face. Oh, God, give us and stir us with hearts that yearn to be with and like Him and to be more and more like Him, that we may be used of Him in a marvelous way to bring about conversion of lost ones as well as the strengthening and building up of saints of God.
And now we thank thee for the good time that we've had today. We go now for some refreshment as well as hearing some things that will encourage us. We give thee our thanks for all of this through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you.