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[0:00] The Lord Jesus speaks in John 16 verse 7.

[0:30] And of judgment, of sin, because they believe not in me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more, of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged.

[0:43] I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.

[0:56] For 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, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.

[1:15] Please be seated. The Word of God speaks of the Holy Spirit. Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine. One of the doctrines of the Bible is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

[1:26] The person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The person and the ministry. Firstly, the person. The person. Of the Holy Spirit.

[1:37] The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. He is a person. He is a person. With mind. And will. Some make the mistake of.

[1:48] ! Some make the mistake of. depersonalizing the Holy Spirit and regarding the Holy Spirit as some force or influence that's not personal.

[2:01] But God in His Word clearly shows us that the Spirit of God is personal. He is a person. A personal being. And not just a force or an influence.

[2:14] For example, verse 13, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. He shall not speak of Himself.

[2:27] But whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. It's very clear, isn't it? He is a person.

[2:37] And He was active right back in the very first chapter of God's Word. Genesis 1, verse 3, we read, of the earth's forming.

[2:51] The Holy Spirit was there right at the stage 1 of the universe. Genesis 1, and verse 2. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

[3:12] Right when there was nothing, it was void, it was emptiness and darkness. The Spirit of God moved and was part of the work of creation. He was at work at creation.

[3:22] He was at work in the life of Christ when Christ was conceived in His birth, in His baptism, in His work and ministry. The Holy Spirit was evident throughout the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:34] And the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, there's many comforter, there's many names we could give to this one, this Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of holiness, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

[3:52] Comforter, it's just one name, as we read here. Comforter, just one name. What does it mean? It means one who comes alongside to help, one who comes alongside to encourage, to support, to advocate as a lawyer, one who comes alongside to lend aid, a counsellor, a helper, an intercessor, an advocate, a strengthener.

[4:13] I know there's some people helping with this legal case coming up, and they're coming alongside to help. They're being like the Holy Spirit, being aiding, comforting, strengthening, speaking for, advocating for.

[4:25] These are the works of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, we see symbolised throughout the Word of God in various fashions. For example, the Holy Spirit is compared to clothing.

[4:38] Clothing. In Luke 24, 49, it says, tarry ye, or wait, in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with, or clothed with, power from on high.

[4:52] This is the Greek word of being clothed with, power from on high. So we can see the sense of the Holy Spirit is something that comes upon us, that overshadows us, that cloaks us, and clothes us, and covers us.

[5:08] The clothing. The Holy Spirit is symbolised also as the shape of a dove. In Matthew 3, verse 16, it says that the Holy Spirit was like a dove.

[5:19] It wasn't a dove of itself, but it was like a dove. It was in the form of a dove as the symbol of the Holy Spirit at Christ's baptism. And we know that the world popularly uses a dove as a symbol of peace, as we know the dove that came to Noah and brought the sprig of green, the symbol of peace.

[5:41] And yet, really and truly, it's much more. It's the one who brings peace, isn't it? The comforter, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is symbolised by fire. Also, as we know at Pentecost, there was the cloven tongues as of fire.

[5:56] And we know that at the burning bush, as Moses was met with God at that personal encounter, as the fiery burning bush was there, that it was a sign of God's presence, of His approval, of His visitation.

[6:11] The Holy Spirit is compared to oil in Zechariah 4. Oil, we could think of as empowerment, as illumination, as cleansing. Oil, there's another symbol.

[6:23] Water, water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. I'm getting thirsty, aren't you? John 7, John 7, 37, it says, Out of my belly shall flow rivers of living water.

[6:36] And He spake of the Holy Spirit. John 7, 37 and 38, that overflowing presence, that overflowing flow of God at work in lives.

[6:47] And John 3, 8, we read, the Holy Spirit is compared to as wind. The Lord Jesus speaks of being born again. And He says, the Holy Spirit is like the wind that blows where it wants to, where it lists it.

[7:01] And we see, we don't know where it's going or coming from, but yet, the Holy Spirit is like that. It's like that. In John 3, verse 8, He's got a sovereignty to His movement, to His will, to His effects on earth as wind.

[7:18] We can't control it. You know, we can put a sail up in our boat and hope it's blowing in the right direction, but we've got no control, have we? We've just got to go with the wind, as it were.

[7:29] And like that too, with God's Spirit, we need to submit to that almighty power of the person, of the Spirit of God.

[7:39] And we see those symbols then of all those things we referred to, clothing, dove, fire, oil, water, wind. And not only is the Holy Spirit a person, He is the person of the God, the Holy Spirit, of God, the Holy Spirit.

[7:58] The Holy Spirit is God. He is God. He is not something less than God or aside from God as we read in 1 John 5, verse 7.

[8:12] If it's in your Bible, 1 John 5, verse 7, it says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.

[8:23] And these three are one. These three are one. The Father, the Word, or the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is God. God. Ananias and Sapphira.

[8:35] In that account, in Acts 5, we see the Holy Spirit in verse 3 and 4 of Acts 5, the Holy Spirit is termed to be God there. I'll just refer to that.

[8:49] Where Peter challenged Ananias, Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? And then in verse 4, he refers to that, Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

[9:02] So in referring to the Holy Ghost that Ananias lied to, by keeping back part of what he claimed to be giving, he was lying to God. And the Holy Spirit is called Lord in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18.

[9:16] He has an equality with the Father and the Son, as we see in Matthew 28. in that commission our Lord gave where he says, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature, teach and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

[9:38] So the three are one, the three are equal, the three are in united reference there in an equal position in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

[9:50] The Holy Spirit, He is omnipresent as we see the Spirit of God is at work across the planet in lives and hearts in communities and churches as people are ministered to and minister, the Holy Spirit is at work.

[10:06] He is omnipresent and He is the giver of everlasting life. The one who resurrects us at the end of our days. The resurrection is a working of the Holy Spirit.

[10:17] And not only that, the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. He is the one who authored the Bible. Of course, human pens wrote it, human hands moved, but the Holy Spirit moved them as we read in 2 Peter 1, 21, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

[10:42] Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So the Holy Spirit through the writers penned the words. The Holy Spirit led them and moved them to write.

[10:56] And it's the Holy Spirit who gives us life. He breathes life into us. As we know, the word Spirit in both the Greek and Hebrew is a word meaning wind or breath.

[11:07] And we know the Holy Spirit breathes life into us. He breathes life as we're born again, as we receive that gift. as He gives us His very breath of everlasting life.

[11:19] As we receive Him at salvation, there is a wonderful enlivening, a wonderful receiving thanks to His wonderful grace. And He draws us to Christ.

[11:30] He draws us to Christ. He tugs on us. He pulls us. He drags us. He draws us. He moves and He convicts. He draws. He... moves on every life.

[11:49] He testifies of Christ. He testifies of the Saviour. As we read in John 16, 14, He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine and shall show unto you.

[12:01] So the Holy Spirit, He has a working of glorifying the Saviour. He shall glorify me, says the Lord. So we've seen the person, the person of the Holy Spirit.

[12:14] We've seen His person in those names that He has, in the divine qualities, the deity of the Holy Spirit, the Godhead, the symbols of His working as through the Word we see evident.

[12:31] We see His person as the Godhead, as the God, the Spirit, as the author of His Word, as the glorifier of Christ.

[12:42] So think now, not just of His person, but of His work. Think of His work. What does the Holy Spirit do? How does He work? How does He activate? How is He at work, operating now, here amongst us and amongst the believers of the world, in the salvation of the sinner?

[13:01] We see, firstly, He convicts. He convicts, as we see there read in John 16, if you're still there, verse 8. John 16, verse 8. When the Gospel is preached, the Holy Spirit awakens the heart of those open to the Gospel.

[13:19] He awakens them to a consciousness of their sin and a need of forgiveness as we read in verse 8. And when He has come, He, meaning the Spirit of God, He will reprove the world of sin or convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

[13:40] There's a reproving, there's a convicting word. He convicts. It's the very start of salvation, isn't it? At the very, whilst we're still lost and dead in our trespasses and sins, He convicts.

[13:55] He convicts. And someone has described conviction as this. Conviction is when the Holy Spirit shines His flashlight into the dark area in my heart.

[14:07] It's when God gets your attention and shakes you and shows you your sin. He shows me my sin.

[14:18] That's the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And this conviction is twofold. He convicts the sinner of his sin. He convicts the sinner of his sin to realise they need a salvation.

[14:31] So that at that moment the light goes on in that darkened mind. The light goes on, the conviction happens, the Holy Spirit prods and pricks and cuts and smites the heart of man.

[14:45] That hard, stony heart stabs it. The Holy Spirit penetrates that darkness. And secondly, not only does He convict the sinner, He convicts the saints.

[14:58] The saints, the saved of sin in your life. Of sin. That you might confess it and be forgiven. That you might have it removed. That you might have it dealt with.

[15:09] Of course, as believers, we know our sin was dealt at Calvary. But your walk, God's interested in your walk and your fellowship. Don't neglect to be committed to Christ.

[15:21] Don't neglect that great salvation. God forbid that we would do so. Conviction of sin in the life of the sinner to save them in the life of the saint for our walk and fellowship with God.

[15:35] A preacher, Baxter, said, what God chooses, He cleanses. What God cleanses, He moulds. What God moulds, He fills.

[15:46] What God fills, He uses. It starts with conviction, doesn't it? That's the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. He exposes us for what we are. For our shame, our shame, our loss, our lack.

[16:00] He calms, He frauds, He points. He presses that we might get right with God. He convicts. Secondly, He regenerates.

[16:12] He regenerates. The work of the Holy Spirit is the work of regeneration, of new life. As we read in John 3, verse 5 and 6, that familiar one where Nicodemus came by night, not really wanting to expose that he was half interested in the gospel.

[16:31] It was kind of a bit of a sneak, wasn't he? John 3, 5, but at least He came. At least He came. Others didn't even come at night. But at least Nicodemus came at night and Christ confronted him there with His state, with His standing.

[16:45] John 3, 5 and 6, Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

[16:56] That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It's got to be two births. Now I know people see this differently from different circles but as I understand it, we're born of the water.

[17:13] At childbirth, every man is born of water. As he comes out of the mother's womb, you're born of water but you must be born of the Spirit not just naturally born, born of water, born in childbirth of the mother's water as it breaks, not just as you're born physically as Christ relates here in verse 6.

[17:34] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It's got to be that spiritual birth, not just a natural birth but a spiritual birth, a second birth to be born again.

[17:46] He regenerates. It's of the Spirit. It's of the Spirit. He convicts. He regenerates. Thirdly, He indwells. He indwells. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer.

[17:57] He dwells in those that trust Him, those in whom He is their Saviour. In Romans 8 verse 9, the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer.

[18:08] That's our wonderful privilege to know His indwelling presence. Verse 9 of Romans 8, But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If so be that, the Spirit of God dwell in you.

[18:21] Now if anyone have not the Spirit of God, he is none of His. The Spirit of God dwelling in you.

[18:32] If any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of His. Now there's some, I suppose you could say they're well-meaning people. I've had some correspondence in the past with some, but saying, unless you speak in tongues, you're not saved.

[18:48] And that's a laughable idea, really. Even if you could conceive of that as being a biblical doctrine. Because one of the thousands of people who've lived over nearly 2,000 years who've never done such a thing through church history, and yet they've trusted Christ, they've bled as martyrs, they've trusted His work of Calvary's cross, I'll be saved in grace.

[19:14] And we know that this teaching of Latter-day tongues is really only about the 1900s that it surfaced in any degree, in any noticeable fashion.

[19:26] And so it's quite a crazy idea. And I just urge folk here today to be wary of that. This is happening, it's a man from the Ukraine, he said these Aussies have come over and they're teaching this stuff, and it's a very sad thing, it's happening all across the world, where there's some absolutely false teachings as we know that is such a teaching.

[19:51] But there is a truth that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So every true believer has the Holy Spirit at salvation, there's no question of that.

[20:06] Our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, our body becomes his dwelling place, his sanctuary, his residence. He comes and resides, he dwells permanently within the believer.

[20:20] We see he convicts, he regenerates, he indwells, and he seals. He seals. In Ephesians 4, verse 30, there's another wonderful truth that as God's people, the Holy Spirit does a wonderful work.

[20:34] Listening now, Ephesians 4, verse 30, it says there, and grief not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

[20:46] It's a wonderful truth where God's people are sealed until the day of redemption. It's talking about your resurrection effectively, isn't it?

[20:58] I would understand that to me. But until that point of your entry into glory, effectively, as we know, the full glorifying occurs at that moment, you are sealed unto that end time of that reception point, effectively, in glory.

[21:17] I would understand that to signify. And think of a seal as we might think of a letter that's sealed, something that has a seal, just like that.

[21:28] Someone's broken that seal. There was a seal on this envelope that's now broken. But God says the seal that he puts on your life is a seal that will be there until the day of redemption.

[21:42] So effectively, the Holy Spirit has sealed your sign sealed and you're going to be delivered when you get there. So that day of redemption, it's marking you.

[21:54] It's saying you belong to Microsoft. It's saying what you belong to. Amen? And the Holy Spirit is saying you belong to the Spirit of God.

[22:06] It's saying you have the mark of God's ownership over your life and that seal will not be broken until glory. You are God's property, it's what it's saying. You are under his trademark.

[22:18] You are under his ownership. It's a mark of his ownership. It's like I'm told ranchers in Texas round up all their young cars and they brand them. They get a red hot iron and burn that brand on that part of the body, on the flank.

[22:37] The brand is marking the ownership of that calf. And no one can dispute that that calf belongs to that rancher, to that farm because the calf is branded with the ownership mark.

[22:53] God has placed his mark likewise on you as the mark of his ownership by the sealing of the Holy Spirit. That's a wonderful assurance that you can have today as God's people that God's mark of ownership, his mark of authority is stamped on you.

[23:10] It's stamped on you. No one can remove that until the day of redemption. Another working of the Holy Spirit, of the ministry of the Spirit of God, is he assures us. He assures us.

[23:22] In Romans 8.15, it tells us that we can have a wonderful witness. Elsewhere it talks about that we've got a witness that we are his children.

[23:33] In Romans 8.15, alike to that, it says, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage against fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

[23:47] And there as it goes on, verse 16, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. We cry, Abba, Father. There's a witness there, there's an evidence there, there's the spirit at work there.

[24:03] He assures you, he assures me, you are his son, you are his daughter tonight, because of the blood shed, because of the working of God's spirit, because of salvation's gift.

[24:15] You can thank him for that, and you can have the assurance of that, and you can cry, Abba, Father, as a term of endearment, of love to the Father, as it were, Daddy, Dad, Abba, that love, that closeness, that relationship.

[24:32] That's what the Holy Spirit can assure you of today. He leads believers in the ways of righteousness. And so we should be mindful then, if you have the Spirit of God indwelling you, if you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, should we want to quench, should we want to grieve the Spirit?

[24:53] God forbid, we must not do so. We want the Spirit of God to work in every heart and life, by his truth, in accordance with his word, that God's Spirit would be glorified, that Christ would be glorified, as the Spirit would work, as would want, as Christ instructs us that the Holy Spirit has come to glorify him.

[25:15] And we read, not only then does he convict and regenerate, indwell, seal, ashore, he empowers us, he empowers us, it's a wonderful truth, but that same power of the person, of the Spirit of God, as he was at work in creation, and he's at work in recreation, in regeneration, in rebirth, at the new birth, he empowers the believer, he empowers you, brother, sister today, he gives you power to live and walk in truth.

[25:48] In Luke 24, 49, we read of how the disciples, as our Lord instructed them, he says, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.

[26:02] Luke 24, 49, as we said, clothed, endued with, clothed with, and it's got the sense of to clothe someone. It's interesting, just by, as an aside here, in Luke 24, 49, I'm told that it's in the passive.

[26:19] So it indicates that the individual does not clothe himself, but someone else does it for him. That's an interesting thought, isn't it? It's as if Julie were to come and put my coat on.

[26:33] We're just like that, aren't we, with the Holy Spirit. We just want God to clothe us. It's not our trying and trying and some would teach or think that some kind of striving or some kind of agonising or some ceremony or ritual for some second blessing or whatever they might think of.

[26:56] But as God's people, we are endued, we are clothed with, we are empowered with the Spirit of God. Now, there's many views about such things as, I know, the second blessing concept or the baptism in the Holy Spirit, there's various views about that's subsequent to the believer being saved.

[27:16] But as I read the Word of God, we read that we are all baptised with one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, every believer is baptised into the body of Christ by one Spirit.

[27:29] But that's not to say that there can't be fillings and refillings and empowerment and re-empowerment. I'm sure that we would all consider that as moments in our Christian life when our power gets a little bit low.

[27:43] Amen? When that battery gets a little bit drained. If we don't, you know, use the car for a while, it's a bit like that with our Christian life sometimes, isn't it?

[27:54] We need that empowerment, we need the battery recharged, brothers and sisters, and we need to wait on God and be empowered to ask God to, as it were, that He would clothe us, that He would empower us, that He would enable us, which is His work, the Holy Spirit's work, and needful for our growth and maturity, for us to walk in the Spirit.

[28:17] And we read of how we are to be filled with the Spirit, as that passage in Ephesians 5, 18, to be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with.

[28:28] And it's the sense of being filled, there's a sense of a continuing, of a continuity of filling, of that refilling, of that filling again.

[28:40] And the context there is be not drunk with wine. We think of a drunk person, they're controlled by the alcohol, the alcohol has the grip on them, the alcohol has the bondage over them.

[28:54] An alcoholic is under that constraint, under that control, under that direction, under that bondage. And yet for us as God's people, be not drunk with wine, don't be under that bondage, that control of that drunkenness, but to have that freedom, that liberty of God's control, of God's control over us.

[29:18] We know as God's people, that we're not in a bondage situation, but we're in a freedom, a liberty. There's a liberty. Where the Spirit of God is, is liberty. There's liberty.

[29:29] You don't have to come here to church tonight. that you're not under any bondage to put anything in the offering. You're not under any law or ritual or observation of man.

[29:40] But you are here because of the liberty that you have in Christ. You are here because He has set you free. Free indeed. And as free indeed, we want to be liberal with our liberty.

[29:54] We want to be empowered. We want to be at that which would please Him. And He gifts us too. He gifts us. And of course we read of the gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12.

[30:08] There's many gifts and empowerments, equippings, enablings. Now for some, they were for a reason and a purpose and a time and a season. But some sadly go off on tangents, some over emphasis on particular ones or so, or even particular ways of acting that it's just not even in here.

[30:33] And I dared to question some at times and was told all manner of things about my lack of spirituality. But I just said, look, we've got to get to the word.

[30:46] It's got to affect with this. Otherwise, there's no point to it. And there's so much frivolity. I was watching some crazy stuff on the video, on the net, of wacko things going on, of this mass deception out there.

[31:03] And that's not to say we can't be sometimes deceived. We're not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. But you could see there's one church where there was these children and the children were carrying on, laying hands on the people and the people were gibbering and jabbering and thrashing and flaying and frothing at the mouth just about.

[31:27] Just the madness of it, the foolishness of it. And brothers and sisters, I can read in vain in here to find anything of such a thing of slaying in the spirit, so-called, of people falling on the ground backwards.

[31:42] There's really no scriptural grounds for that. And so we need to be guarded and guided by the word because there is much deception out there. Now that's not to say that God can do wonders, and he does do wonders.

[31:57] The wonder of salvation, that a man can be saved by the blood of another, the wonder of the new birth, and the wonder that at times in godly prayer we can see people healed by his grace and mercy, according to his divine will.

[32:16] And people tonight, it's about balance and wisdom and care. And in particular, the subject of tongues is one that some have just got total, they're just totally dominated by that particular teaching.

[32:35] And yet, tongues were for a sign. In 1 Corinthians 14, 22, this people of Isaiah's prophecy of Isaiah 28, 11, this is critical to understand what tongues is all about.

[32:49] Just understand Isaiah 28, verse 11. It makes it all make sense because it tells us why he gave tongues. The reason was for a judgment on his people Israel.

[33:01] And 1 Corinthians 14, 22, clearly correlates with Isaiah 28, 11. It was a tongue, was a sign for the Jews, speaking in tongues of other nations, in the Gentile tongues.

[33:15] God never spoke in Gentile tongues. He only spoke in Hebrew up until that time of Pentecost. Yet the Jews requested a sign and God gave it to them. And tongues were that sign.

[33:26] And in every instance of tongues in Acts, where the Jews were present, and at least one apostle was present, and they were addressed to men, not to God.

[33:37] And yet, we see sadly, where there's this misunderstanding of what they call tongues, but really it's not. And it's not addressed to Israel, to unbelieving Jews.

[33:52] It's got no correlation with judgment to the unbelieving nation or people of Israel. And so it's totally inappropriate.

[34:02] And we see that through church history, there was this great gap, this great chasm, where no tongues appeared. Because in AD 70, the temple was destroyed, judgment came on the nation of Israel.

[34:18] There was no tongues after that point, until it resurfaced in the 1900s or thereabouts. Yet God's word says it shall cease, it means stop, it means stop, finite, end, period, full stop.

[34:33] If you look at the sense of that verse in 1 Corinthians 13, I've lost the track of that one, our tongue shall cease.

[34:50] 13, 8. 13, 8. Yep, that's the one. 1 Corinthians 13, 8. It says it shall cease. And that word cease, it means stop. So we shouldn't try to restart something God has stopped if that's not His will.

[35:06] Certainly not why He gave it. So friends, yet there is gifts, there are gifts, there are empowerment, and the Holy Spirit fills the believer and enables us for spiritual service and for His guidance and control.

[35:20] Now the question is, are you filled with the Spirit of God? You might be a believer tonight, you might be a little bit like that car that won't start, people tonight, we need to be filled, to be being filled, so we can be used of God for His spiritual service and maturing.

[35:37] And D.L. Moody once said, he held up a glass and he said, how can I get air out of this glass? How can I get air out of this glass?

[35:47] He asked the audience and various people, put their hands up and they said, get a vacuum pump and you can suck it out with a vacuum. Now like a vacuum cleaner or something, suck the air out of it so it's just a vacuum in there.

[36:01] And D.L. Moody said, well if I do that, likelihood is I'll shatter the glass, I'll break the container. And Moody said that would create a vacuum with shatter the glass.

[36:13] And there's a number of other things, people said all kinds of things, how they could get the air out of the glass. And then he just picked up a picture of water and he filled the glass. He filled the glass and he said as that glass is filled then the air will be removed.

[36:29] And he says that's like the Christian life that it's not about sucking out the sin here and there but by being filled with the Holy Spirit. As we're filled by the Spirit there will be less of our flesh, there will be less of our sin, there will be less of our selfishness, there will be less of our carnal nature, the Spirit of God.

[36:49] But we need to be filled, brother, be filled, sister. Ask him to fill you tonight, ask him to fill you afresh. As Dion Moody further said, I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts.

[37:10] But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition in the world, there is no room, no room for the Spirit of God. We must be empty before we can be filled.

[37:21] So take that challenge I pray tonight. Think of how the Holy Spirit convicts, he regenerates, he indwells, he seals, he assures, he empowers and lastly he guides.

[37:35] We can be guided into all truth. As we read earlier that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. And John 15 26 it says, But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

[37:56] He guides, he helps us pray, he glorifies Christ, he produces fruit in our lives. Friends, tonight I just want to leave you with the challenge to think of your relationship with the Holy Spirit.

[38:11] If you're a believer tonight, you're saved, you're sealed, and you're being sanctified, God willing. You're being made more like Christ day by day. It's the working of God's Spirit, all of that.

[38:23]  And he's wanting you to be closer to him. He's wanting us to be led by him, to walk in the Spirit.