Works and Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Works and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Virtually every person here today, when asked, what is the day of Pentecost about, they would say, well, it's the day that God sent his Holy Spirit not to just dwell with man, but to dwell in man. So what do you really know? What do I really know and understand about the Holy Spirit? Just sit there and contemplate for a moment. If you have repented, exercised faith in Christ, been baptized, received the laying on of hands, that you have, abiding in you the very essence of God, the very essence of the divine of God in Christ.

So let's note what the Holy Spirit is. It is the essence of God. If you would look at John 4.24. John 4.24, God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That is his essence. If we're talking about physical things, we might say that is his substance. With human beings, we say that his essence is flesh, or he is flesh. That is his substance. We've had sort of a robotic kind of utterance concerning the Holy Spirit through the years in the church and saying, the Holy Spirit is the power of God. The Holy Spirit is the power of God. The Holy Spirit is his essence, and through it, it is his essence, and through it, he does works of power. I want you to look at Zechariah 4 and verse 6. In Zechariah 4, verse 6, of course, as you remember here, Haggai and Zechariah were sent to Judah at that time to help them, to motivate them, to stir them up so that they would build the Second Temple, the resurrection, the restoration, the temple, in Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 6.

Then he answered and spoken to me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto his rebel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. God does his wonderful works, his works of power, through his spirit. The word power is associated with the Holy Spirit because it is through God's Spirit that he does works of power, and so can we. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. If you look at John chapter 15 and verse 26, John 15 and verse 26, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. The great schism that occurred between the Latin Church and the Western Church, the Church at Rome, the Church at Constantinople, resulted somewhere around circa 1000 AD over the question of the procession of the Holy Spirit. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from just the Father, or does it proceed from the Father and the Son? The Western Church, the Catholic Church at Rome, declared that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Whereas the West of the Eastern Church said the Holy Spirit only proceeds from the Father. The Bible says in John 15 and 26, but when the Comforter is come, and John 14 and 26, which we'll read later, it says that the Comforter is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is come, or the Comforter, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, it shall testify of me. Holy things have God's active presence within them. So we see from this verse that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and sometimes of liking it unto a great power station, with all the lines and trunks going out. Just think of the thousands of people around the world who have the Holy Spirit abiding within them. We are to be the light of the world. A city set on the hill not to be hidden, but to glorify our Father who is in heaven. So holy things have God's active presence in them. Moses was told to take off your shoes because the ground upon which you stand is holy ground. Why was it holy? Because God's presence was there in a special way. The Holy Spirit is shed on us through Christ. Now the Holy Spirit shed on us through Christ. Somehow Christ plays a role in it, and we'll read a few scriptures here related to that, exactly how that occurs. It is a spiritual matter. I don't know exactly how it occurs. I don't know if anybody does. But let's go to John chapter 14 and verse 15. What did it say? The Holy Spirit is shed on us through Christ. John 14.15, If you love me, keep my commandments, then I will pray the Father. I will pray the Father. He shall give you another comforter. And once again, verse 26 here says it is the Holy Spirit, that He shall abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, knows Him, neither knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. So Christ plays a role in receiving the Holy Spirit, as we note here. Now let's note further in verse 23. Verse 23, Jesus answered and said unto them, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him. And we, we, too, the Father and the Son, will come unto him and make our too, Father and Son, abode in him. He that loves me not keeps not my sayings, but the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. Time after time, Christ said He came to do the will of the Father and that what He is doing, the Father's doing the works through Him. These things have have spoken unto you, being present with you. But the coveter, which is the Holy Spirit, third time for that whom the Father will send in my name, it shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Also note further with regard to Jesus Christ playing a role in us receiving the Holy Spirit. Look at Acts 2 in verse 32. Peter's inspired sermon on the day of Pentecost in which the Holy Spirit was sent. Peter eventually stood up and began to speak. This is a part of that sermon that he gave in Acts 2 and verse 32. What we're talking about, we're talking about that Jesus plays a role in sending the Holy Spirit. Acts 2 and verse 32. This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. They saw him after he was resurrected, some 500, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15. Therefore, in being by the right hand of God, exalted, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this which you now see and hear. And then another place in Titus chapter 3.

Beginning in verse 4, we also see this terminology of being shed on us through Christ. If Christ had not come and paid the penalty for sin, died for our sins, been resurrected, now sitting at the right hand of the Father, we would not be recipients of the Holy Spirit because he says in John 16 that if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. And so he played, he being Jesus Christ, plays a mighty role in us receiving the Holy Spirit. In Titus 3 verse 4, but after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward him appeared not by works of righteousness which you have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. The Bible says there is one Spirit. Just like all humanity is flesh, he is made of all nations from one blood.

Paul said in Acts 17, in the Holy Spirit there is one Spirit. So you look at Ephesians chapter 4 where Paul is admonishing the Ephesians to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. So let's read a few verses here in Ephesians chapter 4. What are we talking about today? We're talking about the Holy Spirit. How much can we learn about the Holy Spirit, the works of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and just consider that that essence of God and Christ are in you. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherein you are called. He calls it a vocation. It's like a full-time job. It is a 24-7 venture, the walk with God in Christ with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. The Bible speaks of three baptisms, but the context here is of the Spirit. There is the baptism by water, which man can perform, and there is the baptism of the Spirit, which God is the one who begets you with his Spirit. And then there is the baptism by fire. But there is one baptism into the body of Christ, and that baptism is of the Father.

And it is a result of the laying on of hands, which man plays a role in. We'll read something about that in Acts 8 a little later. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all who is above all through all, and in you all. So we see clearly here one Spirit. Furthermore, let's look at another scripture concerning one Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

Some people get confused with a couple of verses there in Romans 8 verses 9 and 10 where it says, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. It's the same Spirit. It's the same essence, but they are separate and distinct beings just as you are separate and distinct beings. In 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12, for as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ for by one Spirit.

And so we read from Ephesians 4 what was it verse 3 or 4, that there is one Spirit. For by one Spirit, we're all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, have been all made to drink of that or drink into or baptized into one Spirit. So we can conclude safely that the same Spirit that is in God as in Christ is in us. We're all baptized into that one Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the active power and presence of God.

It is living. It enables us to understand spiritual knowledge. I'm going to be giving here several works of the Holy Spirit. What I would encourage you to do is write the scripture down in just a little notation to the side. You study this in more depth in the coming days. The Holy Spirit enables us to understand spiritual knowledge. If you would turn there to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We're in 1 Corinthians, just back to verse 10 or 11 there in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians chapter 2. We'll start in 10. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. Of course, in the world they talk about how man receives knowledge. There is what's called empirical knowledge, that knowledge that you receive through the five senses. There is the knowledge that one receives through putting two and two together, human reasoning, and there is the knowledge that comes to us through experience. As the old saying goes, some people say, well, experience is the best teacher. Well, it is better to learn it without having to go through the experience oftentimes because the experience gives the test first, and the lesson afterward.

If we could learn the lesson beforehand, we wouldn't maybe have to have that experience. Verse 11, for what man knows the things of man save the spirit which is in him? So man looks to those ways for receiving knowledge, empirical knowledge, human reasoning, experiential knowledge, but there is a fourth way of receiving knowledge which the world denies, and that is reveal knowledge. Even so, the things of God knows no man but by the Spirit of God.

Now, you have not received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God. That's important. I'll talk a little more about that later, about Spirit of God. It's not God of the Spirit, it is the Spirit of God. It is His essence, the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that you might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So we see very clearly here that the Holy Spirit enables us to understand spiritual knowledge.

Now, the next thing is the Holy Spirit is one of the convicting agents of sin. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness, judgment. Let's turn to John 16 now. John 16, please, verse 7. I paraphrased this verse earlier about Christ saying He had to go away before the Holy Spirit was sent. If I go not away, I will not... you won't receive it. It won't be sent.

In 1 John, not 1 John, the Gospel of John 16, Gospel of John chapter 16, nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the confeder will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. So we read those three or four scriptures about the Holy Spirit and shed on us through Christ. And when it is come, it will reprove... the Greek word is elyncho, e-l-e-g-c-h-o, and that G has an in sound, elyncho.

And when he has come or it has come, it will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. It will convict. Elyncho means convict. What is conviction? Conviction means to lay awake, a knowing upon your mind that a certain thing is true. And the Holy Spirit works in concert with the Word of God. Part of the scripture was read in the author if you would, the sermonette message.

Turn to Romans 10 and verse 14, the Holy Spirit works in concert with the Word of God. The Holy Spirit does not go around audibly speaking to people, though a lot of televangelists will say today that it does. We notice here about the Holy Spirit and the role of the Word in Romans 10 or verse 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? So one of the reasons that God and Christ raised up the church was to go You therefore and all the world, disciple all nations, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you.

Lo, I'm with you to the end of the aged. The Word of God has to be preached. As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings to good things. Verse 17, faith comes by hearing. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Spirit of God and the Word of God working in concert convicts you. Yes, what is being said about the Word of God is true.

I am a sinner. I have done this. I have done that. I need God's forgiveness and I am willing to respond. The Holy Spirit can come upon you without you being begotten. The Holy Spirit begins to work with you and draw you before you repent. As you repent and the Holy Spirit brings you to repentance and you respond, I liken it to a tennis game.

The kind of tennis I maybe I could play where someone serves a soft lob over to me. I have the racket. All I got to do is return the ball. So God, through His Word and His Spirit, serves it into your mind and convicts you and says, all you got to do now is respond. To repent. To exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ for remission of sins that are passed, be baptized, receive the laying on of hands.

So the Holy Spirit working in concert with the Word of God convicts us. As we will note later, this response and the necessity of choosing the right way is ever with us before you're baptized and receive the Holy Spirit and after you're baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will show things to come. Of course, we talk about prophecy. Turn, please, back to John 16 again. John 16, verse 12, the Holy Spirit will show you things to come. And there are many prophetic books and prophetic sayings in the Bible. In John 16, verse 12, I've yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.

This is Christ speaking, verse 13, Howbeit when it, the Spirit of truth, Talmuma, has come, it will guide you into all truth, for it shall not speak of itself, but whatsoever it shall hear. What does the Holy Spirit hear? The Holy Spirit hears the truth, the Word of God. John 17, 17 says, Your word is truth. Sanctify them through Your word. Your word is truth. It shall speak whatsoever it shall hear, and it shall show you things to come. And so there's a great deal of prophecy in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit helps us to understand prophetic things.

Verse 14, It shall glorify me, for it shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. The things of God are laid before you, so that you can understand them, embrace them, live them all things that the Father has, are mine. Therefore said I, that He shall take of Him, or take of mine, and shall show it unto you. We've already read John 14, 26, that says that the Holy Spirit will teach you and bring things to mine. So another work of the Holy Spirit is to teach you. Let's read that again.

John 14, 26, we're in John, so just back page or two. Not all that long ago, over within the last two years, I gave a sermon about is the Holy Spirit your teacher. See, when you're reading and studying the Bible, and you really are meditating, and you are focusing and studying, there things come to mind. You can ask the minister here, you ask the elders, he can speak those who speak, you're preparing a sermon.

And as you begin, certain thoughts come to mind and you go, oh, let's turn to Matthew, let's turn to 1 John, let's turn wherever it is, let's pursue that. And God, through His Spirit, can teach you and lead you in the paths of righteousness through His Word. John 14, 26, but the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, it shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I've said unto you.

But see, you have to have heard it or read it. It's not zotted in supernaturally. So you need to read and study, and we'll talk about renewing the spiritual man on a daily basis. The Holy Spirit imparts life. It is a new life. It is life from above. It is from God. It is of God. The Holy Spirit imparts life. Look at John 6, 63. The first phrase, which we often overlook, I think, not always, in John 6, 63, it is the Spirit that quickens.

This word quickens, in the King James it means, makes alive. It is the Spirit that makes alive. It is the Spirit that brings you to life in a spiritual sense. It is the Spirit that quickens. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. They are spirit, and they are life. Now, note further with regard to this in John 7, verse 37. The words of Jesus, once again, in John 7, verse 37.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Notice it's living water. Spirit gives life.

He spoke of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. He had not been crucified. He had not been resurrected. And then, in 2 Corinthians 3, 6, and it just makes this, I guess you would call it, flat out statement there about the Spirit being life. So, the spiritual life essence that is in you is the Spirit of God. In 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 6, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 6, Who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. So, that is one of the great works of the Spirit, is to give us spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is a gift. Now, we go back to Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, and Peter's inspired sermon. In Acts 2 and verse 37, after they had heard Peter preach his powerful sermon, they were pricked in their heart. They were stirred up. They were convicted.

What shall we do? We have killed the Prince of Life. And Peter's response in Acts 2, 38, Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sin, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

See, the gift is conditional. What is the condition? Repentance. Forgiveness, then, is based on repentance and exercising faith in the sacrifice of Christ, because the wages of sin is death. And Jesus Christ went our stead so that we did not have to die. So there are conditions for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. So what we have just noted are some of the awesome and wonderful enabling powers of the Holy Spirit. And once again, have you ever just meditated on the fact, say for a minute, that I have, abiding in me the very essence of God, the Holy Spirit, which gives life out of his belly shall flow living waters.

In many ways, the Holy Spirit conforms to the laws of biology. One of the great laws of biology is use it or lose it. I've lost most of it, but my arms now look like pencils, my legs like chair legs. It's amazing, though, your weight remains the same because you become top heavy.

But atrophy is an awful thing, and my hands are, well, they say, work your fingers to the bone, and what do you get? Bony fingers. You renew the inward man. You receive spiritual nourishment. And one of the main reasons why people, quote, fall away is because they don't renew the inward man. Second way, praying and beseeching God to give you the Holy Spirit.

Praying to God. Let's look at Luke chapter 11 and verse 9.

In Luke 11 and verse 9, these things seem so simple, but are so often neglected. Luke 11 verse 9, and I say unto you, ask, and you it shall be given you.

Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be opened. Jesus speaking, if a son asks any of you for bread, or ask his father for bread, will he give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? He then, being evil, we all have human nature, and yet we would do anything for our children.

We would walk the last mile. We would give a right arm.

How much more then, if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? So I try to pray daily. Of course, another thing we'll maybe get to a little later is that the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts, asking God to give you the Holy Spirit and the gifts that are necessary to fulfill whatever He has called you, whatever role He has called you to fulfill in His body, the Church at this time.

Then the other way is obedience. And once again, Acts 5.32, God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him. If you continually resist and quench the Spirit, then the Spirit grows dimmer and dimmer, the light less and less. The five foolish virgins did not redo the inward man on a daily basis, and their lamps were going out. When the bridegroom knocked on the door, it was too late.

Oh yeah, they grabbed their lamps and all of that. So once again, after you are begotten of God's Spirit, you must still decide whether you will be submissive to that conviction that comes to you through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. You must yield to the Spirit and Word of God. As we have already stated, the Holy Spirit is the essence of God. It is what God is.

Yet, in some cases, works of the Holy Spirit are presented as personal.

These examples of the personal work of the Holy Spirit are similar to referring to various things in the personal sense, such as the ship Chi. But just as the ship is not a person, neither is the Holy Spirit.

Yet, the Holy Spirit is not a person. It is divine. It is the essence of God.

And since it is the essence of God, it is under His direction.

The Holy Spirit is not just out freelancing on its own, apart from God and Christ.

Let's notice some scriptures along those lines to illustrate that. Look at Genesis 1-2, the second verse in the whole Bible. I'll read chapter 1, verse 1. As we turn there, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, 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. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Now, look at another scripture along these lines with regard to the Holy Spirit under the direction of the Father and Christ, Psalm 104, verse 30. Psalm 104, verse 30. Psalm 104, verse 30.

This scripture was quoted many, many times, or has been quoted many, many times, in the Church of God, Psalm 104, verse 30.

You send forth your Spirit. They are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

You send forth your Spirit. The Spirit is under the direction of God and Christ.

Notice in James chapter 5. This is, to me, quite sobering.

James chapter 1, verse 17, with regard to you receiving the Holy Spirit.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no wearableness, neither shadow of turning, for of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation.

The Holy Spirit is of God. It is not the same as is God. It is of God. We've read several verses along those lines that the Holy Spirit is of God, and we have also noted that there is one Spirit by one Spirit, and we all baptize into one body.

The key is that the Holy Spirit is of God, and it is of Christ. A substance or essence cannot be of and yet be separate and distinct from. Why would I even bring this up? Because a lot of people, a lot of the religious world, talks about the Holy Spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit is out freelancing on its own, as a separate person. The Holy Spirit is of God. The Holy Spirit is of Christ.

The same Spirit is in God, is in Christ, is in each one of us. And the Holy Spirit is under the direction of God in Christ. In our own lives, we have that Spirit abiding within us, and the word of God illuminating our path. We have a conviction that is taking place, a knowing within, of what we should do. So the Holy Spirit is of God, and it is not separate and distinct from God.

You cannot say that God is of the Holy Spirit, but you can say the Holy Spirit is of God.

The Holy Spirit can be personified by the Son. The Son is not personified by the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit can be personified by the Son. Let's demonstrate that by 2 Corinthians 3.17.

I know some of this, a little bit of what we're talking about now, can sound technical and tongue-twisting, perhaps. But it's important to understand that the Holy Spirit is the essence of God. It is of God. It is under the direction of God. And then, when it comes unto us, we have the benefit of it, but we still have to choose which way that we are going to go. Let's think of 2 Corinthians 3.17.

In 2 Corinthians 3.17, the Lord is that Spirit. So, in some cases, the Holy Spirit is personified, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, notice the Spirit of the Lord, there is liberty or there is freedom. As it says in John 8, if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.

Now, let's notice quickly 1 John 5.12. Once again, what we're saying is that sometimes the Holy Spirit is personified by Jesus Christ. And here's a case in 1 John 5.12. 1 John 5.12.

He who hath the Son has life. And we read a scripture, 2 Corinthians 3.6 earlier, said that the Holy Spirit is life. The Holy Spirit gives life. He who hath the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Once again, the Holy Spirit is shed upon us through Jesus Christ.

For us to be begotten of God, we have to be called, convicted, and respond, as we have noted, by repenting, exercising faith in the sacrifice of Christ, being baptized, and received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. Look at Acts chapter 8. When did the, what I would call, the nominal church, the Christian professing church, get away from laying on of hands?

The Old Covenant Church, I meant to say the New Covenant Church, and the preaching and teaching there, taught the laying on of hands. In Acts chapter 8, briefly the background, there was a great persecution after Stephen was stoned and killed in Acts chapter 7, and Saul, who became Paul, was a great persecutor of the church, and great persecution came upon the church. They were scattered abroad, and one of the deacons, Philip, went out preaching after that persecution.

And we'll pick it up in verse 12 of Acts 8 and verse 12.

But when they believed Philip's preaching, the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. Then Simon, or Simeon, or Simon himself, or Simon the Sorcerer, believed also, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Philip, a deacon, went and did this powerful preaching, and a lot of people were converted and turned to God and Christ, and were baptized. Yet, now when the apostles, verse 14, which were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word, the word of God, they said unto them, Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet it was not fallen upon any of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when they laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. So one of the great doctrines of the church is receiving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. Hebrews 6, verses 1 and 2. In Hebrews 6, it says, therefore, leaving the principle of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection. So going on to perfection is a great doctrine. Then it says, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection and judgment. And this will, we do, that is, go on to perfection, God permitting. So going on to perfection is one of the great doctrines, and we see here that laying on of hands is one of the great doctrines and receiving of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit provides us with a new spiritual mind that is supposed to rule over the flesh. However, even with a new mind, this is so important. However, even with a new mind, a spiritual mind, God never removes freedom of choice. You have to exercise which way you're going to go even after you've received laying on of hands, after you've received the Holy Spirit. So even with the spiritual mind, we must choose to obey the mind of the Spirit and rule over the carnal mind. A radical change of mind is possible through that new life that we receive through the Holy Spirit. Let's look at Hebrews 9 verse 14. Hebrews 9 verse 14. Hebrews 9 and verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, compared to, contrasted to the blood of bulls and goats, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God to purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? To purge your conscience. So let's focus very intently for two or three minutes on the fact that the Spirit can purge your conscience.

The Greek word is cenidasis, cenidasis, and it means conscious awareness of anything. Conscious awareness of anything, that's one meaning. We will ask the question, well, was he conscious? Did he lose consciousness?

Means did he lose awareness? And going hand in glove with that meaning is, especially in the spiritual sense, we talk about your conscience. And some people say, well, let your conscience be your guide. Well, if your conscience has not been trained and you grow up in New Guinea, you might be a headhunter and feel very safe about it.

So the conscience has to be trained. So another meaning here is the ability to distinguish between what is morally good and bad. It prompts one to do the good and condemn the bad.

When the Spirit of God comes in, the Word of God, and you're convicted, and you know the difference between right and wrong. In everyday language, conscience means knowing within oneself of what is right and what is wrong.

In this verse, let's read Hebrews 10 and verse 2.

Remember, the first meaning we gave was conscious awareness. So look at Hebrews 2, I mean 10 verse 2. 10-2. For then would they have ceased to be offered because that the worshippers once purged would have no more conscience, awareness of sin.

See, through the sacrifice of Christ, the conscience can be purged.

In Psalm 103 and verse 12, it says that God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west.

In our consciousness, we can dig things out of the subconscious and drag the sins of the past up, which I believe is a stench in the nostrils of God.

All of us have probably done that. I know I have.

For some reason, it's like, well, if I feel bad about what I did in the past or become bitter or whatever it is about what I did in the past, and maybe that will help pay for what I did in the past. See, there's only one remedy for the sins of the past, and that is repent and exercise faith in Christ.

He removes our sins as far as the east is the west. That is, we should no longer have a sense of guilt.

You know that your sins have been blotted out. They've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

But we often drag our bag of old sins and wallow in the old sins of the past, which, of course, is self-defeating. Now to the other meaning of Sunnidesis, conscience, the ability to distinguish between what is morally good and bad. It prompts one to do the good and to condemn the bad. The Spirit imparts to us a new knowing through the Word of God of what is wrong and what is right. From the Garden of Eden to the present day, God exhorts us to look to Him for the knowledge of good and evil. Remember the tree of life represented what? Well, it represented the Holy Spirit, the great bridge between life and death.

So this new mind provides one with spiritual awareness, a new mind, a spiritual mind.

Paul explains this in Romans 8. So let's go there. Romans 8.

You could read and read Romans 8 and glean more and more as long as you live. Romans 8.1, There is therefore now no kind in nation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, this new mind, this new knowing within, this new conscience. It provides an awareness and a knowing within. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. We're no longer dwelling on that. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. How did Christ condemn sin in the flesh? He perfectly obeyed the law of God. He showed that it could be done. Christ had the Holy Spirit without measure. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It's not the law that did it, it's us, the flesh. But upon receiving the new mind and walking after the Spirit, the righteousness of the law is revealed. As he writes in chapter 7, the law is good, just, holy.

Verse 5, For they that are of the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are of the Spirit, things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Can the carnal mind do what is called good works? Of course it can. But there is more. It cannot forgive sin. It does not repent. You have to look to God and repent. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But if you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. I said some people get confused of that. They're like they're two different spirits of God and Christ. We have hopefully made it clear there is one Spirit essence. But of course, we are individuals ourselves, and we have the Spirit of God and Christ in us. We will both come and make our abode in him. John 14 23. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also make alive your spiritual, your mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. Verses 13 14, very key. For if we live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you threw the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, in other words, those who take heed to the conviction, who act upon the conviction, who seek, who knock, who ask, seek not ask. But if you threw the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. To really understand that and to live by it is so important.

God expects us to use the Holy Spirit. Use is probably not the best word, but to exercise it, to respond to it, and to bear fruit. We heard about the fig tree in the offatory. That fig tree was not bearing fruit, and so what happened to it? It was dried up. It would never bear fruit again.

And of course, with God, He will go a certain distance with us. He's merciful, long-suffering, not willing, that any should perish. But He gives us His Spirit that we may glorify Him.

How do you glorify God?

You glorify God when you manifest God's righteousness in your life.

That's how you glorify God. Manifest God's righteousness in your life. Look at 2 Corinthians 3, 17. In 2 Corinthians 3, 17, now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. We read this already, but we didn't read this. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed in the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

In other words, we are as a mirror, and what God has revealed to us, we reflect back. And thus, we glorify our Father who is in heaven. We can bear the fruits of godliness through God's Spirit and power. We cannot on our own produce true love, joy, peace, just on our own. But through the unseen power of God, we can produce fruit. Now, we must never confuse good works with spiritual fruit. There's no telling how many good works programs they are throughout the world, and God says we should do good works.

But that alone will not save us. We know that lesson, I believe, quite well. And you can do many good works without the Holy Spirit.

You know, I've in the past counseling baptism, people for baptism.

I would finally get down to the question, we don't have this much anymore, maybe 40 years ago.

Maybe less.

People would say, I'd ask the question, why do you want to be baptized? Well, I want to receive the Holy Spirit so I can stop smoking. You know that there are people who have starved themselves to death through willpower. You can do almost anything. People have starved themselves to death. Diogenes, one of the great, historic Greek philosophers, lived in a barrel. He did it all in a barrel. So willpower is a powerful thing, but willpower alone won't do it.

Willpower cannot pay for your sins. Willpower in and of itself will not convict you of sin.

So we need God's Spirit and we need to respond to that Spirit.

We can strictly observe the Sabbath. We can tithe. We can fast. We can give our goods to feed the poor.

But as it says in Corinthians 13, if we're not becoming as God is, it prophets us nothing. So let's ask ourselves, is what I am doing what you're doing of God? Is it from God and for God and of God? And we could say the same thing about is what you're doing of Christ, from Christ, of Christ. If they aren't, your works are just that. Your works.

Every celebrity gets up there from Hollywood to those in the field of athletics or music.

They talk about, oh, I have this foundation in which I'm helping, and then they tell whatever group it is that they're helping. But as far as really knowing God and responding to the Word of God and the Spirit of God, they don't know that. So they are doing good works, yes, but it's their works. So we need to be hungering and thirsting for righteousness, renewing the inward man daily, praying, studying, meditating, obeying, calling upon God.

And that needs to be done really every day.

So let's ask another question. Are you fearful, anxious, or apathetic?

Do you have vague feelings that things are not quite right?

Are you lukewarm? Are you indifferent?

When you lose the ability to care, then you will have lost it all.

If you don't care, and if you're going to want to show the world you don't care, that's easy to do.

But you better be careful, because you remember the story of Esau.

Esau cared more for his worldly need, fleshly need, than he did for the birthright.

Then when he sought repentance from God, he could not find it. In Hebrews 12 it says, he sought it bitterly with tears and found it not.

So it is so important not to quench the Spirit.

We can turn to God, crying out, repenting, turning to God with our whole heart.

Am I? Are you? Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, praying, studying, obeying, fasting, meditating, seeking God with our whole heart.

Are we bearing the fruits of God's Spirit? Love, joy, and peace.

The last six fruits focus more on God and neighbor. The first three focus more on our internal being, love, joy, peace. The others, on God and neighbor, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. These can be a reality in your life if we're filled with the indwelling presence of God's Spirit. But you cannot quench the Spirit and expect to bear fruit.

So I leave you with, seek him while he may be found, call upon him while he's near, knock, and he will open.