How is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit manifested in the lives of believers? In this sermon, Paul Washer teaches that the miraculous sign gifts are not the primary and ongoing evidence of the Spirit but instead boldness for Christ, love for God and ongoing sanctification are the true evidences of the power of the Spirit in the Christian.

Let's open up our Bibles to the book of Matthew to begin. Verse 28, chapter 28. Verse 15. And they took the money and did as they had been instructed, and this story has widely spread among the Jews and is to this day. But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. I'm going to talk about the Holy Spirit. I'm going to talk about the Day of Pentecost. I usually don't use notes, but I'll be doing a lot of reading today, following my notes very carefully. I want to be very clear about the things that I say.

Now, you may wonder going to the Great Commission, why I would start in verse 15 and why I would end in verse 17, because I want to talk about the disciples and a transformation that occurred in their life. First of all, I just want to take a look for just a moment at the disciples prior to the resurrection. That is during the three year ministry of Jesus. They were often rebuked for their hardness of heart and their unbelief. Jesus referred to them as men of little faith in Matthew 16.8.

They argued about who among them would be the greatest in Mark 9.33. In their self-righteousness and prejudice, they wanted to call down fire from heaven upon the Samaritans in Luke 9.54. Once Jesus said they were stumbling blocks to Him because they set their mind not on God's interest but on man's in Matthew 16.23. At the crucifixion these men abandoned Jesus and Peter even denied him before a little servant girl. It's important to remember that a servant girl, he denied Christ before a servant girl.

And finally, all in all, they were not great men of value, of valor, virtue or insight, but in the very words of Jesus, they were foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets had spoken. These were the men who were called by Jesus Christ to change the world. Now let's look at them for just a moment after the resurrection from this passage. Before we do, look in verse 15, talking about the soldiers who bore false testimony with regard to the resurrection of Christ. It says, and they took the money and did as they had been instructed.

And this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day. And then you see 16, but the 11 proceeded to Galilee. Here we see a great division that still goes on even to this day. You see a group of men who seek to do nothing more than to discredit the witness of the Gospel and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, we see an entire world system that unbeknownst to itself is within a great satanic conspiracy to restrain and press down the Gospel.

And it is against this entire world system which opposes the Gospel that eleven men, eleven men like the men I just described, are called upon now to go out into that world like sheep in the midst of wolves and give testimony to Christ. Now, they've seen Christ. By the time we get to Verse 16, these men have seen Christ. They've seen the resurrected Christ. But what do we find in this passage?

We find a mixture of the reality of the resurrection, and worship, and reverence, and unbelief. First of all, I want you to look at verse 16. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee. We see obedience. The Master commanded them, the resurrected Lord commanded them to go on to Galilee, and that's what they did.

We also see reverence, our worship. When they see Him again, they worship Him. So we see obedience, we see worship, everything is looking good. But then another word is used here. It says in verse 17, "...but some were doubtful." The word doubt here comes from the Greek word distazo, which means a double standing.

They did not know which foot to stand on, A foot of belief that this is the resurrected Christ. A foot of unbelief. It's the same word used of Peter when he's called upon to walk upon the sea. And he's filled with doubt and begins to sink. So even after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And they're visibly beholding him. We can see that it has an impact upon them. But we see something very, very important. Not even the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is enough to transform these men. They are still doubtful.

They are still unsure. Now, what am I trying to say? There is a need for Pentecost. There is a need for Pentecost. Because when We get to Pentecost, we no longer see any wavering among these men.

We see nothing. Here is Peter. Now, I want you to think about this. He denies Christ, the Messiah, before a servant girl, a little girl. Now, before I go on.

Have you done that? You called upon to witness in a gas station, hand a track to someone. Just one individual. And you can't muster up enough courage, you walk out of there ashamed. Can you identify with Peter?

Well, let's go on. After Pentecost, we no longer see this type of wavering. What do we see? We see the very thing that Jesus promised. And here's what he promised.

Luke 24, 49. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power. Acts 1 18, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest parts of the world. So here we see Peter denying Jesus Christ before a servant girl.

After Pentecost, we see Peter standing before the entire Jewish nation, all of its leaders, the very men who crucified the Lord and boldly proclaiming Christ. Now, my dear friend, it may be good if we just dismissed right now and you simply tried to wrap your mind around that. This is cataclysmic. This is unexplainable. This is phenomenal what has happened to this man.

He has become a different man. Even the way he deals with Scripture. Do you notice? Even when Jesus was with him, he dealt with Scripture in a stumbling sort of way, in the mount of transfiguration. He totally misinterpreted everything that was going on there.

But when You see Him after Pentecost, you see a different man, different boldness, different knowledge. You see a different man. You see something more than a man. Now what happened on the day of Pentecost? The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and they were clothed with power.

Now, the word clothed is translated from the Greek word, Enduo, meaning to induce someone with, to be clothed with, to be arrayed in. We're talking now... I don't want you to look at this just figuratively or in a poetic manner and take the meaning out of it. They were literally clothed in power. They were arrayed in power.

As a king might array himself in royal robes, as a soldier might array himself in the garments of battle, in the weaponry of battle, these men were clothed in power. They were arrayed in it. They were dressed in it. Now, I want to read something. Here's the debate.

I know there is great debate, a great deal of debate, regarding the subject of the baptism or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to get into all the nuances of that debate, but I do have a question for you. I just have a question for you. Now don't pass over this question. Just ask yourself how does it apply to you?

Would you describe your life, would you describe your ministry as endued with power, clothed with power, arrayed in power? Would you describe your life that way? And if you would say no, Then I would ask you the question, then what is the difference between them and us? Can you say with the apostle Paul, my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Now let's change that a little bit around so that it applies to every believer.

That my life did not just consist of persuasive words of wisdom or knowledge, but my life itself is a demonstration of the person of the Spirit and power. Now don't try to explain this away. Just ask yourself this question. I mean, be honest. Now, what does this teach us, all of this?

I want to read again. The resurrection was a great vindication or demonstration of Christ's claims. Yet even this great event could not produce the needed results in the hearts of the apostles apart from the supernatural work of the Spirit. The greatest knowledge, the greatest knowledge, and the highest degree of certainty regarding the Christian faith is not enough to propel a universal missionary endeavor. It's not enough.

The smartest men, they're not enough. Like the disciples of the first century, do we not need greater and greater infusions or empowerings of the Holy Spirit? Now I want to make something very clear that this does not just apply to ministers, It does not just apply to men. As I have watched homeschooling endeavors in my own home, and watched the burden and the strain that it puts upon my wife, and the virtue that it drains from her, I know that my wife's greatest need is to be clothed in power, to be arrayed in power, to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We don't like to talk this way because we get afraid.

Because the great majority of all the conversation we hear about the Holy Spirit, especially in media, is heresy. But you cannot live the Christian life apart from not just the converting power of the Holy Spirit, but the continuing, endowing, authorizing power of the Holy Spirit in your daily life. And this is something that we have shied away from to our own detriment, and because of it, we see 235 pound, 40 year old men denying Christ before a gas station attended. We need power. Now, I want to talk about a few things.

We must, first of all, avoid being reactionary. We cannot build our theology by reacting against the heresies of our day. If we do, we will have committed some of the same exegetical fallacies as those against whom we are reacting. For example, if you go to the book of Acts 2 and you study Acts 2 only to be able to show people what it is not teaching. What are you doing?

If you go to Acts chapter 2 just to say, well, it doesn't mean what He says and it doesn't mean what He says. Yeah, but the question is, what does it say? What does it say? Secondly, we should not let heretics steal our inheritance. The life and power of the Holy Spirit, this is the inheritance of every Christian.

And we should not allow a group of heretical TV evangelists and others who do not understand this doctrine cause us to shy away from the very thing that is one of our greatest inheritances. And that is the life and the power of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. Just listen to some of these passages. Just listen. Joel 2, 28 and 29.

It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days." That's a New Covenant promise. But instead of listening, relishing, and expecting, the moment you heard me read that, you're trying to figure out how it doesn't mean what most people are saying it means. You're scared I'm going to talk about prophecies and visions and all kinds of things, and because of that, you don't really look at the text to see what it's saying. Matthew 3.11, As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Have you sought to figure out how that is a reality in your life? Or how it should be a reality? Acts 1, 8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth." Now these are promises. New covenant promises for every believer.

Every believer in Jesus Christ. Now, I want to look at some essential truths gleaned from these passages. Now I want us to go to Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, of course, starting in verse 14, what has happened? The day of Pentecost has come, there's been the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the disciples, in a magnificent expression of God's power, they speak in tongues.

I believe that they were speaking in languages, real languages, phonetic languages that people could understand, and that was the miraculous aspect of it. And then some accused them of being drunk. Now, we should not walk around with such confusion and mystery and emotion in our lives that someone would accuse us of being drunk. But I will say this, I would rather be accused of being drunk in the Holy Spirit than dead without the Holy Spirit. In verse 14, Peter gets up and he gives an explanation, a defense of what has just happened.

Verse 15, For these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel, and it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my bondservant, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of my spirit, and they shall prophesy." Now, go on, we could read more, but time is very restrictive here today. I want to look at some essential truths from what we see here. First of all, with regard to Pentecost, it was a unique event in the history of the church.

It is undeniable that there are certain aspects of Pentecost that are unique. Even those who would claim today of speaking in tongues and dreaming dreams and visions and everything, rarely do I come across the person that talks about tongues of fire on their head. Because that is actually something that can be substantiated. It can be seen or not seen. There were certain aspects that were unique.

Now let's look at them. First of all, it was unique as a direct fulfillment of scripture in Joel 2, 28 and 29. Peter is, of course, quoting Joel. It was unique in that it was the initial or inaugural moment in which the Spirit of God was poured out upon the church. You can only have one inauguration.

It was the beginning and that makes it unique. Also, it was accompanied by unique circumstances. Tongues of fire, speaking in tongues, which are not recorded again in Acts 4 when the Spirit is poured out. So there were some things that were unique. Now I'm not here to argue tongues or visions or for or against or ceasing or not ceasing.

I just want to point out that anyone, everyone has to recognize there were certain aspects of the Day of Pentecost that were unique. It was a unique event in history. Another thing that we need to recognize about the Day of Pentecost, now listen very carefully, because it relates to the language I've just used. It marked, Pentecost marked the beginning of an extraordinary work of the Spirit that was to last throughout the entirety of the church age. Through it out its entirety.

Now, the pouring out of the Spirit in Pentecost marked the beginning of the new age of the Messiah and the new age of the Spirit. It was the beginning, the initiation. It says, in the last days here represents that time between the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ and His second coming. You see here in Peter, in verse 16, But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel, and it shall be in the last days." The last days began with the coming of the Messiah, with His death, with His resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father. We have been in the last days for 2, 000 years.

Now, it marked the beginning of the new age of the Messiah and the Spirit. But listen, listen to my language. It marked the beginning of the new age, and not the beginning and the end in a singular event. I hope you're understanding what I'm saying. A lot of people when they say, well, Pentecost is unique.

It marked the outpouring of the Spirit. It's a unique thing. Yes, there are many things unique about it, but what you need to realize is that fulfillment, that promise in Joel was inaugurated at that moment, but it was not inaugurated and completely fulfilled so that it would never happen again. It's not saying, the Spirit's come, it's fulfilled, it's done, now you're going to walk a different way without the power of the Holy Spirit after the apostolic age. It's not what it's saying.

It is wrong to think that the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, or even in the first century of the church, or that it terminated with the apostles. To think this is to redefine the last days. Joel said in the last days, God would pour out His Spirit. The last days began with the ascension of Christ and will end with the coming of Christ. So this prophecy of Joel, although it was fulfilled there in the book of Acts 2, it should be continuing to be fulfilled throughout the history of the church.

It still applies to us today. Also, It is wrong to think that the promise is only for the apostolic era. The amazing thing about Joel is not that the Spirit would be poured out on the leaders or poured out on the apostles, but that would it be poured out on the least among the people of God throughout the entire church age. I guess my question is this. How does this prophecy of Joel relate to you and relate to the church today.

Whenever I hear people talking about the prophecy of Joel, they talk about it in the context of Acts chapter 2 as an initial event that never occurs again. But Joel himself is saying, or God through Joel, that this promise is for every believer throughout the age of the church. Now, let's look at some things. If the outpouring of the Spirit is to mark the entire church age, then so should the results of that outpouring mark the entire church age. Now, I want to get to the center of what I'm trying to say, and some of you who have very, very worried looks on your face, I hope to give you peace.

When we look at the prophecy in Joel and the repetition of that prophecy in the book of Acts. I think we are looking at the wrong thing. We are most certainly looking at it in the wrong way. Now, what scares us about this text? It scares us that they spoke in tongues.

That scares us. Now what else scares us about this text? It scares us that it says, your daughter shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. That in those last days I'll pour forth of my Spirit and they shall prophesy." That's what scares us. Because we say to ourselves, well, we've seen people who claim this.

They prophesy all kinds of things and they're contrary to Scripture. They're talking about dreams and visions, but they seem to despise the very written Word of God. What does this mean? That's our problem. We're focusing on this.

We're focusing on this. Now, I want to read some things so that I can be as clear as possible. What does it mean? When we read this passage in Joel, does it mean that dreams, visions and tongues should be the norm in our Christian experience? Absolutely not.

It's not what it means. We read through the epistles, we even look in the book of Acts, We see that these things are not the norm. The error is this. The error I believe that most sincere believers make regarding this issue is that they fix their attention on one minute and non-essential aspect of a greater promise or reality. They are focusing on a particular means of communicating the gift rather than the gift itself.

When Joel prophesied and saw this new covenant promise that it would happen in the future. Here's the question. Is Joel delighting in the fact that the people of God will dream dreams, see visions and speak in tongues? No. That's not what got Joel excited.

Was Joel delighted that one day the people of God were going to be able to experience supernatural phenomenon? No. This prophecy of Joel is one of the many New Covenant promises which look forward to the anticipation of very similar things. Now I'm going to draw all this together in just a moment. You look at this passage and you read it.

And what stands out to you? Dream dreams, see visions, Tongues, all these things going on. That is not the principal thing or even the important thing of this promise. And it's not the thing that should be continuing on in every believer's life. What Joel is talking about is the same thing that Jeremiah is talking about and the same thing that Ezekiel is talking about.

He is saying simply this, there will come a time after the Messiah when the Spirit of the living God will be poured out on the people of God, all the people of God. And these people will have a supernatural, intimate knowledge of God. And this people will be able to live in a supernatural power. The idea of visions and prophecy is only Joel's way of speaking, that when the Messiah comes, the church will be marked by an intimate, true knowledge of God, a reality of that knowledge, and great power to live out that knowledge. We're always looking at these phenomenal means here that are not the basis of the promise.

And it causes us to forget about what the promise is really saying. The promise for the church age is not tongues, it is not prophecy, and it is not visions. The promise for the entire church age out of the book of Joel is that the Spirit of God would be so indwelling and so available, His person and His power, to every child of God, that every child of God would know God in an extraordinary way and be able to live for God in an extraordinary way. That's what it's teaching. Now, what I would like to do if I knew how to do those overhead projector things that everybody does now, PowerPoint or whatever they call them, what I would like to do is take some of the Old Testament prophecies of New Covenant promises and explain to you how Joel fits right in there with the rest of them.

Look, let's go for just a moment, just to a few of them. Well, let's go to one of them because we have so limited time. Hold your place in Acts and then go to Jeremiah. 31. Verse 33.

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days. He's talking about the days of the Messiah, the new covenant, declares the Lord. Now what will he do? I will put my laws within them, and on their heart I will write it. He's saying the law is no longer going to be just these tablets of stone, completely external to the people, but I will supernaturally, through the power of the Spirit, I will write these laws upon their hearts.

I will internalize the truth. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Me from the least of them to the greatest of them." So what is he saying? There's a time that is going to come when the Messiah comes, the Spirit of God is going to be poured out on the people. I will internalize My law in their heart.

I will make it a part of them. I will write it upon them. They will know Me in a supernatural way. I will be their God. They will be My people.

They will understand Me. They will go forth. They will not be like rebellious Israel. They will live for me. They will walk with me.

Then just go back to Acts 2. And it shall be in the last days that I will pour forth my Spirit in all of mankind. Now he goes on, he says, he says, sons and daughters shall prophesy, and young men shall see visions, and old men shall dream dreams. The marvel of this is not that we're all going to get to prophesy or we're all going to get to see visions. The idea is the same as in the book of Jeremiah.

The people of God are going to have an extraordinary knowledge of God. That every one of us, not just the preacher, not just the evangelist, not just the church planter, but every child of God would have an endowment of the Holy Spirit and that every child of God would understand the great things of God. And we combine this with Acts 2 and Acts 1-8, not only would they have a great knowledge of God, but they would have the power of the Holy Spirit to live out that knowledge. Joel speaking of visions and dreams and all these things is just his way of saying that even though these things occurred supernaturally in Pentecost, And at times in the early church. That's not his idea.

That's not what he's excited about. He's excited about that through all the years of the church, the people of God would be a supernatural people. They would be indwelt with a supernatural God. And they would have the law written on their heart. And they would know Him and have the ability to know more and more of Him.

As a matter of fact, their ability to know Him would only be limited by their desire to seek Him. And they would be filled with the Spirit of God to live out these truths. That's what He is teaching us. So this prophecy in Joel is simply one of the many new covenant promises that we would be this kind of people. Now, dear friend, I've had to condense so much, it's confusing even to me to try to put this all out before you.

Now I want to ask you a question. Is this a reality in your life? Are you growing in the knowledge of God? Learning extraordinary things about Him, from Him, about His will. Let me ask you another question, which is the most important.

Do you have a sense of the power of the Holy Spirit? Would you describe yourself in any manner as clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit? Would you describe yourself as carried, empowered, authorized by the Holy Spirit? Is it not the greatest complaint I hear coming out of people with very good theology, I just seem to have so little power? The homeschool mom who has just literally spent herself, feels like she can't go on.

The preacher who is so tired, it seems like everything in his ministry are cogs and wheels. Just the grinding of a machine. No sense of life, of power, of spreading the sails, of the Spirit of God filling those sails and carrying us. Here's some things that I want to share with you, and again, I apologize for having to speak about these things so briefly and so incompletely. At the moment of conversion, a person is regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. However, our completeness in Christ is not grounds for passivity. Nor does it indicate that what we have in Christ does not need to be appropriated. You have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. You have been given the knowledge of God.

But do you not want more of the knowledge of God? And in the same question, do you not desire greater and greater empowerings of the Holy Spirit. I want you to listen to the Apostle Paul. He says, Now take out the poetry. Just listen to the truth.

This is propositional truth. For this purpose also I labor. Does that describe you? Laboring as a homeschool mom, laboring as a homeschool dad, laboring in your job, laboring in your ministry. But look what he says.

For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. Is that kind of language foreign to us? Is it? Is it foreign to you? Listen to 1 Corinthians 2.4, My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in a demonstration, something you could actually see, a demonstration of spirit and of power.

Do not take these words and turn them into a meaningless cliché. Listen to what he's saying. Paul said he labored, but he recognized that he labored with a power that mightily worked in Him. And I am of the belief that that power, that power of the Holy Spirit laboring within Him sometimes would leave Him almost worn out. Now what do I mean?

If you remember Jesus is walking. Someone touched Him. He immediately noticed that virtue went out from Him. That power went out from Him. When a man filled with the Holy Spirit is ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit.

It can even take a toll upon His body. And that is one of the reasons why the manifestations are not just continuous. Even a people of God, when a true, genuine Spirit revival breaks out, They do not last forever because not even the church can sustain such power. It would wear the people out. That when a man is ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit, he knows that virtue goes out from him and he can hardly walk when He comes down from the pulpit.

We're talking about the supernatural which we must not deny. And that we need this knowledge. We need to appropriate it. We need greater and greater manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It's undeniable.

Now, when someone ever asked me, and I brought it here today because I knew I wouldn't be able to teach but a few minutes on this topic, When someone asked me, Brother Paul, what do you believe about the Holy Spirit, the idea of Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and everything? I would have to say that summarizing my view of the Holy Spirit better than anyone else on this planet, and a person that I've learned a great deal from about the Holy Spirit, is Ian Murray, the church historian Ian Murray. Pentecost Today? The biblical basis for understanding revival. I highly recommend this book.

I recommend it to all students, I recommend it to everyone. This book. The companion book that goes before it, Revival and Revivalism, points out all the false fire in America. But this book comes back with a healing balm and tells us this is true spirituality. Now, I want to read many of the things from this book as quickly as I possibly can.

I want you to hear now this is Ian Murray. OK, it's not Paul Washer. This is Ian Murray, Probably the most respected church historian alive today. Now listen to what he says, speaking about his book. I have sought to argue...

Now listen, leaving aside the question of miraculous gifts. Why? Because that's not the issue. I've got the Word of God. I could care less about prophesying something to you that I've seen in a vision.

I've preached to you the Word of God. I'm not excited about little things like that. I'm excited about the full counsel of God and wanting to be able to live it out and proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit. I have sought to argue, leaving aside the question of miraculous gifts, we cannot suppose that everything which marked the church at Pentecost is a permanent part of the Christian experience. The high degree of boldness, joy and assurance, which then and later mark disciples, is not duplicated in every regenerate person today.

He's not saying that's okay. He's just pointing it out. You look at that early church, even apart from miraculous gifts, you just look at that early church and compare it to the church today. Do you see some differences? You look at Peter and some of those men in the boldness of some of the smallest Christians throughout history who stood against the world.

And you ask yourself, is that empowering that they have, is that seen in me? Christian ministers may be very deficient in the authority which marked preachers of the early church. Remember what they said about Jesus? They taught with great authority, not as scribes, who were just quoting other scribes. There was a sense of authority.

There are many ministers today who can give you a perfectly exegeted sermon, and there seems to be no authority and no power behind it. He said, but how can this be explained? How can this difference between the early church and us be explained if what happened to the church at Pentecost now happens to every person when they become a Christian. Because of the heresy that surrounds us today, we basically tell almost all our converts, okay, you've been converted, the Holy Spirit dwells in you, you are complete in Christ, you don't need to seek out a second blessing or something to make you more spiritual. All that is true.

But the question is, what do they need to do? It is true that we shouldn't be seeking out miraculous gifts, we shouldn't be seeking out tongues, we shouldn't be seeking out second blessings that set us apart from other believers. But let me ask you, what do we tell the new convert to do? To live in the same lack of power that most of us are demonstrating? Let's go on.

Can being filled with the Holy Spirit really be the same as just being Christian? Rather, is it not apparent that an individual may genuinely belong to Christ and yet have little assurance? He says, is that not true? Are there not people who genuinely belong to Christ and yet have little assurance? And that a preacher may be orthodox and lack unction, lack the Spirit's power?

It is hardly convincing to say in reply that such Christians did possess the same Pentecostal fullness at regeneration, but they lost it later. After long pastoral experience, Charles Vaughan came to a more probable conclusion. He said this, Many a truly regenerate and painfully sanctified child of God never reaches, apparently at least, the sweet blessing of the Spirit's unction. In other words, we may be regenerate and yet not resemble Spirit-filled preachers and Christians of the apostolic era. And that is truth.

It cannot be denied. We can see people that are orthodox, we can see people that are even very moral, even people very, very dedicated, but the idea of the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the boldness, the unction, the authority, that is lacking. Now, I want us to read for just a moment, Luke chapter 11. And again, I know I'm winding down here. Luke chapter 11, verse 13.

Jesus talking, giving instruction on prayer, He says in verse 13, If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Now, you say, well, Brother Paul, I thought you just said that at conversion we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and indwelt with the Holy Spirit and complete in Christ. Yes. Well then, why is this text saying that we should pray that God would give us the Holy Spirit? What does it mean?

Well, instead of trusting me on the matter, I want to read to you some of the Puritans, some of the early Baptists, what they said. George Smeaton on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, one of the most respected books on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. He says, no more mischievous and misleading theory could be propounded, nor any more dishonoring to the Holy Spirit than the principle that because the Spirit was out poured at Pentecost, the church has no need, no warrant, to pray for infusions of the Spirit of God. On the contrary, the more the church asks for the Spirit and waits for His communications, the more she receives. And the whole idea here is this, I have received the Holy Spirit.

He is a person. I did not receive part of Him. But the cry of the believer is for greater and greater fillings, greater and greater manifestations, empowering of the Holy Spirit to meet the challenges of our daily lives and ministry. How many of you, how many of you homeschool moms, how many of you preachers faced with being worn out and tired, seeing the task at hand, almost fearful by it, have gone and cried out, fill me with the Holy Spirit? Not just with perseverance, not just with the ability to grind the gears and make it through this desert.

No! Crying out! Pour out Your Spirit within me! Greater and greater infusions, greater and greater manifestations. Fulfill Your covenant promises!

Let the Spirit be like a river. Listen to Jonathan Edwards. The Scriptures do not only direct and encourage us in general to pray for the Holy Spirit above all things else, but it is the expressly revealed will of God that His church should be very much in prayer for that glorious outpouring of the Spirit which is to be in the latter days, and for what shall be accomplished by it." Thomas Boston, the famous Puritan. Therefore, breathe, pant, and long for the Spirit of Christ. Does that describe you?

Does that describe your church? Now listen to Spurgeon and Spurgeon's wit. Listen to him. He said, Did we not hear some time ago from certain wise brethren that we were never to pray for the Holy Spirit? I think I heard it said often, we have the Holy Spirit, and therefore we are not to pray for Him.

Like that other declaration from certain men of the same brotherhood that we have pardon of sin and are not to pray for it, just as we have never to pray for what we have. If we have life, Spurgeon says, we are to pray that we have it more abundantly. If we have pardon in one respect, we are to pray for a fuller sense of that pardon. And if we have the Holy Spirit so that we are quickened and saved, we do not ask Him in that capacity, but we ask for His power in other directions and for His grace in other forms. I do not go before God now and say, Lord, I am a dead sinner.

Quicken me by Thy Spirit. For I trust that I am quickened of His Spirit. But being quickened by the Spirit of God, I now cry out, Lord, let not the life Thou hast given me ebb down till it become very feeble, but give me of Thy Spirit, that the life within me may become strong and mighty and may subdue all the power of death within my members, that I may put forth the vigor and energy which comes from thyself through the Spirit. O you that have the Spirit, " he's talking to his church, "...you are the very men to pray that you may experience more of His matchless operations and gracious influences, and in all the benign sanctity of His indwelling, may seek that yet more and more that you know Him, you have this as your encouragement, that God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him." Brothers, listen to John Owen, the technician of all theologians, possibly the greatest. This is the daily work of believers.

If therefore our life to God or the joy of that life be considered large, in this we are to abound, to ask Him of the Father as children do of their parents' daily bread, to ask Him the Holy Spirit. He's saying that this is the daily work of the believer. Let me ask you, is this your daily work? Do you know that when Spurgeon... Most people do not understand Spurgeon.

They attribute everything of Spurgeon to his great mind. No! Photographic memory? Absolutely not! Do you know that many times Spurgeon, the night before, still did not have a sermon and would actually throw up, being so nervous, throwing countless sermons in the trash can, and have nothing when he walked up into the pulpit?

And when he walked up into the pulpit, It was the practice of Spurgeon to pray this way, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Or when you are coming to anything in your life, you just see a child has been disobedient. Lord, a greater outpouring for me for infusions of Your grace, for infusions of Your empowering in Your Spirit that I may deal with this wisely.

Lord, I am tired of the daily routine. Separate yourself for a moment and go and cry out for greater measures, manifestations of the Spirit of God in your life. Regarding the anointing of the Holy Spirit, John Owen writes, It is there that is believers' duty to pray continually, listen to me, to pray continually for its increase and farther manifestation of its power in them. Yea, it is their duty to labor that their prayers for it may be both fervent and effectual. Are your prayers for greater endowments of the Holy Spirit fervent and effectual?

For the more express and eminent the teachings of this anointing in them are, the more fresh and plentiful is their unction. And one of my favorites, Richard Sibbes, Take a man that has the earnest of the Spirit, and you shall have him defy death, the world, Satan, and all temptations. Take a man that is negligent in laboring to increase his earnest with regard to the Holy Spirit, and you shall have him weak." My brothers and my sisters, My brothers and my sisters, there is such an inheritance of the Spirit of the living God that is yours, but you do not. But you do not. There are the Holy Spirit, there are as you go on throughout your life, you are to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

You are to seek to not offend the Holy Spirit. That's why I spoke about being cautious the first day. That men must not only be passionate, they must be cautious. That the Holy Spirit within them not be offended by sin, because it's all, it's all. The only thing you can do is that which is done in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to offend Him is to cut off all life.

We ought to be filled with the Holy Spirit, seeking constantly to obey the Holy Spirit, to submit to the Holy Spirit, I want you to also know something. There are visitations of God. This is not charismatic language. There are visitations of God. There are outpourings of His Spirit.

There is Him giving you anointings to carry out the ministries that He's given you. And most men never seek for such. And they find themselves grinding or stroke grinding themselves through the desert like the Christian life was a machine, or just perseverance and nothing more. They find themselves worn out. They find themselves fearful.

They find themselves all these things, and these things cannot be hindered by greater knowledge. They are put away once and for all by outpourings of the Holy Spirit. And I know that there are great extremes and I know that there are dangers, but there are great dangers of being dead. Very dead and without power. Men talk a great deal today about preaching.

Men talk a great deal about expository preaching to the point where it's almost an idol. They feel like if they correctly interpreted the text, they've preached. I want you to know something. I get very tired of words. So many words.

So many sermons. Where's the power? Where's the demonstration of power in the conversion of souls, in saints becoming godly? In my young years, going out on the streets preaching, terrified, walk around on the streets wanting to preach but so afraid, Afraid of my own shadow, afraid of a little servant girl, handing out tracts secretly. Coming home, looking at the book of Acts, looking at my own life.

Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is this sense? I don't want to be a boy of God. I don't want to be this little boy playing soldier, but not really involved in any war, not having any ammunition, not being anything. And I know it was a work of grace, but God set me to seek Him for weeks, and at times hours a day, like a crazy man.

Crying out for one thing, I want, I just want to know You. And I want to have a sense of Your presence that I be like Elijah who says, the God before whom I stand, that Your reality would be greater to me than the reality of any physical man, or any mountain. And God answered, pouring out His Spirit. Still struggle with sin? Yes.

Still the same practices of sanctification, devotion I must complete? Absolutely. But knowing that the Spirit of the living God and the outpouring of the Spirit and the anointing of the Spirit, whatever you want to call it, can raise up a man and fill him with power so that he becomes something he was not. But then there is a great stewardship to walk in that. Leonard Ravenhill once gave me a track, Others can, but you cannot.

What it meant was other Christians may have the liberty to do this and do that, but you cannot. Others may have the liberty to watch things and do things and see things, but you cannot. You have a stewardship within you and upon you. I am so sick and tired of hearing people say, I wish I lived in the time of the Old Testament when you could really know God. The end of all things has come upon the church!

Our knowledge of God is to so far surpass Moses. John the Baptist was greater than he and we are greater than John. The living Spirit of God indwelling us, anointing us, empowering us to see the miraculous, that the Word of God goes forth, and when it goes forth, God speaks to the hearts of men and says, let there be light and there is light and there are conversions and there are works of sanctifications and there are believing God in prayer. Oh, don't neglect your inheritance. Don't try to carry out these impossible tasks of raising godly families, of ministering in a church, apart from the Spirit.

The Spirit of God can come so strongly upon a man that it rips him in two. That's your inheritance. Let's pray. Father, I pray that first of all, you would remove all misunderstanding, any tendency toward extreme. That we would seek you.

And seek for your sake greater and greater empowerings, dependence upon the Holy Spirit. That every weakness, that every seemingly insurmountable obstacle would lead us to cry out, Oh God, pour out your Spirit. Amen. Anoint me for the task. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Wow. I pray that we're all challenged and convicted by those words. May it be so in our hearts and our lives. May we cry out for this. Just considering the words of Mr.

Washer last night, even in not wasting these times and going so quickly as something else Having this role is very difficult Because you're always pointing to the next thing but I pray that God would make this Reality so true in our hearts that We would consider these things throughout the rest of the day and our lives moving ahead. The next announcement is we're released for a 25-minute break and we'll be gathering back together. There's going to be two keynote sessions, one happening here in Spillman, not keynoted sessions, but breakouts, but the larger breakouts, one happening here in Spillman and one happening in The Arc. Doug Phillips will be speaking here on contextualization, and Jeff Pollard will be in the ARC auditorium speaking on All things to all men, so we'll gather back together a few minutes before 11 o'clock for those messages. Thank you.