Thank you very much. It's always lovely to be at Toukley and meet all you lovely people from New South Wales. I bring the greetings of Peter Hill, who we all enjoyed last year. I couldn't say it when he was here, but I can say it now. I believe that Peter Hill is one of the finest young men that Victoria ever produced. Godly fellow, doing a great job down in Warragul, and it was a joy to fellowship with him, as you know, last year. I always like coming up here to see my old friend Eric Reid, who we sent up from Victoria to evangelize New South Wales, and I know he's made a great impression, and we're all very thrilled about that. That's right. And he brings me... and he always brings me up to date with another Irish story. Uh, it, uh, is to do with the Olympics, actually, so I think it's very, uh, I don't know if you're going to get the Olympics. I think Jack Kennett will steal them back just before they open, but, uh, there we are. This, uh, three men, an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman, came to the door of the Olympics, and they couldn't get in. They didn't have a pass. So the Englishman was very resourceful and clever, as they think they are, I mean, as they are, and uh, he said, that's all right, and there was a building site across the road, and so he went there and he got a long pole, and he went up to the fellow who was letting them in, and the fellow said, he, what are you coming for? Oh, he says, I'm a pole vaulter. Oh, on you go, in you go. So the Scotsman, being very resourceful, looked around, and he saw a manhole in the road, and he went and lifted it up, big strong fellow, and he went up to the entrance, and the fella said, and what are you? He says, I'm a discus thrower. In you go. Now, the Irishman is very clever, and he went across to the building site, and he picked up a coil of bired wire, and he went in, and the fella said, and what are you? He said, I'm in for fencing. Well, I think that's fair. We come to the thrilling story of the Holy Spirit. You know, I think as we get older, we need to get excited again about the Holy Spirit. I don't mean that in any effervescent way. I'm a doer Scott, not given to excitement, stiff upper lip, and all the rest of it. But it's a tremendous thing to meditate and to think upon the fact that the God of all creation firstly sent his son to die on Calvary's cross. And we sing that wondrous hymn, in open eyes survey the wondrous cross on which the young prince of glory died, is the first words of that hymn that were altered. Just a young man of thirty three and a half years of age, the Lord Jesus. And then he gave his Holy Spirit to him be implanted in the hearts of each true believer in Christ. Wonder of wonders. And that same Holy Spirit is doing his work. He's the third person of the Trinity. Now, I say in my notes here in introduction that the Charismatics were not the first to discover the Holy Spirit. I don't say that in any nasty way, but it seems in to my way of thinking, and simple way of thinking, that time we seem to think that they've commandeered the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, of course. The brethren discovered the reality, in many ways, of the Holy Spirit in their gatherings. As Sidwell Baxter said to me, the Christian church has every cause to thank the brethren, and the movement of the brethren has been called Brethrenism. I don't know if I like the ism, but brethren, that they discovered a new body life in the church. And as we meet around that table Sunday by Sunday to remember him, what do we do? We ask the Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us, to touch hearts that they may render praise and thanksgiving and worship to him. And then, of course, the Holy Spirit was emphasized again in Keswick, in the little village, in the little town of Keswick, but an Anglican clergyman became concerned that the church of that day had lost the emphasis of the spiritual life in the believer, and he started the Keswick Convention, and all convention ministry, more or less, that stands for the deepening of spiritual life traces its origins back to that little town of Keswick. So as we look at the Holy Spirit again, let us come to it with freshness, with excitement, and with a thrill. Now, let me say something here that I've written already. Uh, you're not learning anything new from me, and I was greatly encouraged as I read a commentary by John Stott, who has been mentioned already at this conference, lovely man, who in his, uh, commentary on Titus, and I was speaking on Titus at one of the churches in Melbourne, says this: All conscientious teachers, once they have been delivered from the unhealthy lust for originality, take pains to make old truths new and stale truths fresh. And when we come to the Holy Spirit, there is no originality in in in that way. We are coming to make old truths fresh and to be excited by them and to be thrilled by them. Now I'll try, by God's help and through the power of the Holy Spirit, I trust, to make these truths fresh. Many years ago at a Keswick convention, a big part of the Belljay Heights convention, talking to Dr. Andrew McRae, who I was brought up with in Scotland in Baptist Church, and another American preacher whose name just slips me, but I'll probably remind myself at two in the morning and wake you all up and tell you. They said that they had no cause, with all the talk and reading of the Holy Spirit today, to alter their fundamental beliefs on the teaching they received as young men. God has taught us about the Holy Spirit. Now, let us just look at, uh, first, we're going into the Old Testament. I want to dwell just for a moment on the promise of the indwelling Spirit. As you all know, because you're all well taught Christians here this afternoon, that God's Spirit came on men and women in the Old Testament for specific tasks. David prays in the Psalms, you know, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. A prayer that no modern Christian, New Testament Christian need ever pray, because we are sealed for time and for eternity by the Holy Spirit. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Sidwell Baxter, talking of the death of his wife and his loneliness, said this, lonely, yes, alone. And we are never left alone because God the Holy Spirit resides in our hearts. So where is the promise of this spirit? We find it in Jeremiah in chapter, let me get me a bit of paper here, chapter thirty one and verse thirty four. Thirty one and thirty four. That's the end of it. Just a moment. Takes a little time for my age to catch up. The time is coming, verse thirty one, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. I will not be like the covenant I made with our forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make for the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother, saying, know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. I will put their laws in their hearts. Now, I know this prophecy also pertains probably to a day to come to Israel, but it pertains to the great secret of God the Holy Spirit in the heart. And then looking at Ezekiel, and in Ezekiel chapter thirty six and verse twenty six, the prophet says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will move from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land to the Jew I gave your forefathers. You will be my people. And so some six hundred years before the Lord Jesus' feet touched this earth, the great promise of the indwelling Spirit is given in the Old Testament. God has promised his Spirit to dwell in the hearts of every true believer. And then we turn, of course, to the New Testament and John's gospel. We find the Lord Jesus in that upper room ministry preparing his disciples for his departure. I wonder if we could realize, perhaps, the desolation these men must have felt. Twelve, and then one was a traitor who sold the Lord for thirty pieces of silver and went out into the night. And these eleven men who had followed him, simple fishermen, not the intelligentsia of Palestine or Israel, but honest men who followed him day in and day out for three and a half years, and suddenly says, I'm going to leave you. The desolation that must have come upon them, that this their leader is reflected in what the one spoke of on the road to Emmaus. We thought it was he who would have delivered Israel. And so we find a group of eleven men desolate, forlorn, with broken hearts. Their leader is going to be taken from them. Now, if you turn to John fourteen, uh and never start John fourteen in the first verse, always go back a bit. It says here in verse, eh, thirty six, dear Simon Peter, that one who was so compulsive and yet brave and energetic and loyal. He was a real man's man, was Peter. He could have passed for an Australian any day, but he didn't. Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied, where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later. Peter asked, Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you, and he meant it. Then Jesus answered, will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. Now, dear friends, when you read the thirteenth chapter of John, never stop there. I think it's a travesty of justice that there was a chapter opening there, because poor Peter is left there in that chapter with a rebuke, with a somber rebuke to a man who loved his master, because the words that follow are the words of grace and truth and love. Peter, and this is to whom he's addressing it first, do not let your heart or hearts be troubled. Trust in God, also trust in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not, were not so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. And so we see the Lord Jesus preparing his disciples for his exit, his exodus, the way he would die. He had discussed it on the Mount of Transfiguration in the presence of James and Peter and John, and probably like some people in audiences, that they had fallen asleep. He discussed his exit then with Elijah and Moses. And so we see him preparing his disciples. What's he going to tell them? How is the work going to be carried on? And there goes through this chapter very troubled people. There is Philip who said, Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us. That's been quoted already by John. And Jesus said, he has seen me who's seen the Father. And they're troubled hearts. And then it comes again to one, and he comes from this promise. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. And so there is in the hearts of the disciples this great quandary, this great evidence of them being completely and utterly shaken at Jesus's departure. Well, of course, he gradually takes to them, and in verse twenty five he says this: All this I have spoken while still with you, this upper room ministry, these three and a half years of following the Master, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid. And so the Master, in saying farewell to his disciples, said, the Comforter is coming, the Paraclete, the Advocate, who will walk with you and talk with you and be in you, and he will remind you of all the things that I have told you. Beloved in Christ, let us remember, those who know the Lord Jesus as their own personal Savior, indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, we meditate upon him, we think upon him. The world outside never turns its mind to Jesus. The wonderful thing is that the Holy Spirit is still the teacher. Now, I'm a great believer that God speaks through his word, fundamentally. God may speak in other ways, God may give people certain experiences, but fundamentally and in the main, God speaks through his word. Speaks to you in his quiet time, in your quiet time, speaks as you read the scriptures, and that is God the Holy Spirit working through the believer in line with the word of God. Remember one time I've got three boys, eh, all very healthy and strong. One's a sergeant in the police, so I have to behave myself. And every time I got get caught speeding, it's not so much now because my foot's not as heavy as it used to be. Eh, I never tell him because I get a lecture, and the first thing he says to me, Dad, don't you know the law? Well, you know, from time to time, with three boys of that sort of age, you have little bits of confrontation. Maybe that's too strong a word, or differences of opinion. All you fathers here are sitting looking at me as though it never happened to any of them, and I believe you. Never had a difference of opinion with your son. Well, I had a difference of opinion with my oldest son, and I was getting a bit upset, and he was getting a bit upset, and I went and slept, and I get up the next morning, and I open my Bible. You know my how my reading started? I can't even remember what it was. Don't quarrel. That was it, just two words. Don't quarrel. God speaks through his word, and we should be a people that, when we go to our quiet time, are excited about it, that God is going to speak to me today. God is going to leave something of himself in my heart as I open and ask him to open the word of God to me. This is the living word of God, and who makes it live, and who makes it excited? God the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer. Now, uh, there we are. Turn, will, will you with me to chapter fifteen and verse twenty six. And what does the Lord Jesus say to these poor men and lonely men as they're going to be? In twenty six, when the counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. The authorized version says it very quietly. He says, he will testify of me. And the main function, and the function that I believe the scripture teaches us fundamentally, is the Holy Spirit takes us to Jesus. He testifies of Christ. He brings the remembrance of Christ to us as we walk the street, as we drive the car, as we're in the office, it's the remembrance of Christ through God the Holy Spirit. And we are such a dumb, not you, I'm such a dumb person that I don't always get excited about it. When you've been on the Christian pathway for fifty-odd odd years, I think you take, we take a lot of things for granted, and maybe we shouldn't. We need an injection sometimes of enthusiasm about the facts of scripture, that they grip us. You know, the exciting thing about the word of God is this, that you can read a chapter for twenty years, then all of a sudden God the Holy Spirit does something, and you see something in that verse, in that chapter that you've never seen before, because God the Holy Spirit is in our hearts. And so we see the promise of the indwelling spirit, first in Ezekiel, then in Jeremiah, then the Master in his upper room ministry, saying very clearly to him, I'm not going to leave you alone. You're never going to be alone again. I will never leave you nor forsake you. My Holy Spirit is going to come, and when he comes, he will remind you of all things. Now then we turn, and from that promise of the indwelling Spirit, here's the heavenly paraclete coming. Dear old Sidwell Backston, pardon me if I quote him, he's about ninety four years of age, but he was my pastor for something like fifteen years, and I revere him as one of the greatest communicators of the Word of God, making it live. Fancy a little boy like me, stupid country boy, coming to the big city of Edinburgh and going along to Charlotte Baptist Chapel, not because my mother was a Christian, but because two dear ladies took mercy upon us and reached out and took us along there. And I liked going to church at eleven years of age and listen to Sidwell Baxter preaching. And the great thing about preachers today is the great preachers are the preachers that make things simple, not profound, make things simple and make the word of God live. Oh, may God help us through his Holy Spirit to make it live and be excited about it. Well, he said this, I remember, you know, when that day came that the Lord Jesus went up into heaven, the Lord went up, the Spirit came down, and the church went out. And that's exactly what happened. These poor disciples, you know, were left waiting, waiting. I don't know what patience they had. I don't know what doubts they had. I don't know what situation they got into. They chose another disciple, if you read that first chapter. Didn't wait for the Spirit's coming before they did that. Now, I don't know what the theologians say about that. I'll ask John afterwards. And then it says this, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven, filled the whole house where they were sitting. They say what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest in each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, the crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Fancy, the Aussie would hear an Aussie voice, the Scot would hear a Scottish voice, the Englishman would hear a Polish voice, and the Irishman wouldn't be able to understand at all. And when they heard the sound, the crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans, simple Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? My friends, I believe that Pentecost was a once for all, never to be repeated experience. When God the Holy Spirit came down, these people heard quite clearly in their own language, and the tongues that were spoken were foreign languages, and God indicated in a remarkable way that his Holy Spirit had come down, never to be repeated. My dear wife, who was a nurse, and I am an only child, rather thought that only children were spoiled. She used to refer to me that once I was born, there was a label on my leg which said, this offer cannot be repeated. But the Pentecost was never repeatable. There's experiences of the Holy Spirit, but this is unique. This is God himself coming down and identifying in these eleven men and all around that God had come to earth in the power of God, the Holy Spirit. What was the function of the Holy Spirit? The transforming of lives. You know, people talk about miracles of healing, and God bless them. God does heal. But it's not a... God can heal and does heal, but sometimes he doesn't heal. And people get excited about these miracles. The greatest miracle on earth is a changed heart and a changed life through God the Holy Spirit. There's no greater miracle than that, that takes young men and young women and older men and older women and transforms them and sends them out in service for Christ. Never get depressed, older man. Never get depressed. God's still doing his work. God is calling men and women to serve him, and he's transforming lives in a remarkable way. You want to go back in he- in in history, think of Hudson Taylor, that young Englishman who wept on the sands of Brighton because the passion for China was so great in his heart, God called him. Think again of Dear Livingston, that great Scot who walked down with his father to the boat at the Brumilaw, up at four in the morning. His father said goodbye to him as he got on the little ship and sailed for Africa, and they never met again because God called him and God had transformed his life. Think of Judson of Burma, who stood on the deck of a little ship and watched the white cliffs of Dover disappear behind the horizon, never to see them again because God had called him and transformed his life. Think of Mary Slessor, the mill girl of Dundee, not an educated lassie. Think of your own dear Australian Flora MacDonald, who at a girl of eighteen went to her elders of the church and said, God's called me to Africa. I think I quoted her here last convention. I won't apologize for quoting her again. And they said, dear Flora, when you get out to Africa, everybody will forget about you, nobody will remember you. She went home, a broken-hearted girl opened her Bible, and the word of God said quite simply, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. God's Word lives, and she served in Africa and died in Africa amongst the people that she loved. The Holy Spirit is essentially and primarily a life-changing power that focuses on Jesus. Now, let us see what the security is, and we turn again to, you know, I had a great disaster the other day. I went to preach somewhere, and I forgot the first page of my notes. You ever had that experience? I want to tell you it's the most frightening experience you can have, because you start shuffling your notes like a pack of cards. Then when you get home, you found you'd left it on your desk. If you turn to two Corinthians one and twenty two, we find this word seal. Two Corinthians one and twenty two. Two Corinthians one and twenty two. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. This is Paul writing to Corinthians. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. He has sealed us unto the day of redemption. He's marked us for eternity. And there is no truth, my dear friend, in the doctrine of saved today and lost tomorrow. You are sealed for time and for eternity. And as your salvation does not depend upon you, but depends upon the sacrifice that was offered on Calvary's cross for time and for eternity. And Paul writing to this Corinthian church that had terrible sin amongst it and terrible degradation, he says, listen, he has set his seal of ownership on us. Now, looking around the room here, if I was God, I don't think I'd have chosen many of you people. And obviously, looking up at the platform, you would say, well, we wouldn't have chosen you, chum. But he chose us. Not for any good in us, but because he loved us. And as John has been telling us this morning, the great love of God that is shed abroad, that God's love reaches, and he takes the unlovely, and he tries to make them through his Holy Spirit lovely people. I talked to an old missionary at Belgrade just two years ago. An old lady who had served in China, Mrs. Kitchen, Eric Reid knows her well. And she said, you know, when I first came and volunteered to be a missionary and went to training in London, it was, I went into headquarters there, and I spent a year there in training. The thing that really touched me, I was working and moving with such lovely, wonderful people who were dedicated to Jesus and reflected Christ in their lives day in and day out. What a testimony. What a te- your seal and the mark of ownership is on you. Let's look at Ephesians, which confirms that in one and fourteen, as I go and talk about the seal for all time and for all eternity. Ephesians one and chapter, eh, chapter one and verse fourteen. Paul says to these Ephesian believers, having believed, verse to thirteen, rather, and you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession for the praise of his God. Now, the seal is ownership, but it's like an engagement ring. The engagement ring on a girl's finger as she smiles and shows it around. All it's saying is there's a wedding coming. There's a wedding coming. There is the assurance that there's a wedding coming. That's what it says. You're marked, you're sealed with God the Holy Spirit because he's placed his mark upon you. Now, there are two other words that I just want to briefly mention in the question of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in the heart. In Ephesians chapter four, we're now talking about the grieving and quenching of the Spirit. Ephesians chapter four uh, verse thirty. What did he say here? And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you are sealed, sealed again, for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, as we were reminded this morning, just as Christ in God has forgiven you. Now, that word grieve is a love word. I had an old aunt in, uh, England who was a real lady. Not that my other aunts weren't ladies, but she was a super lady, I think. And anytime I stayed with her and I did something naughty, it was only once, I think, that I ever did anything naughty. She would say to me, you know, Stuart, you grieve me. My mother and my father had much more direct Scottish words for correcting me, which I couldn't mention from this platform. But she was a lady, and she used to say, you grieve me, Stuart. It's a, it's a love word. And what Paul is saying here, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. And the idea of grieving is like mourning. So what's happening? He says, I'll tell you how not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Don't have any bitterness. You know, bitterness is a very cruel thing. I meet people who are bitter, and they've been bitter for ten years because something's happened to them ten years ago. Now, I'm not saying they're right or wrong, but let me say this, that if you are bitter, eventually the only person that suffers is you. That bitterness eats like an acid into the whole soul, till you can't see straight, think straight, and you're miserable. What he says here, get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you. You don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit? That's what he says. Don't get angry. Don't be bitter. Don't brawl and slander along with every form of malice. Now, the great secret of any church and any assembly is that the congregation love each other. And I've come to realize that probably in the last ten years more than ever before, when I've been in an assembly for some years which has turned to a very legalistic attitude, not the legalism of old Brethrenism, but the legalism of, I don't know, they come from America, that's all I'll say. And things like you must believe in six literal days, otherwise you really do not, you're not a Christian. And young girls, when they get married, must not work. It's their job is to build houses and be housekeepers. Now, I believe that young girls getting married or older girls getting married, they make the home. That's their duty. Scripture says so quite clearly, but it doesn't say thou shalt not work. And when you get into a legalism like that and a hardness, love goes out the window because love and legalism cannot work this walk the same path. And if we want to see our assemblies revolutionized, and many of them are, love must be the abiding power that they love one another. What did Jesus say? By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. If you go to Bible school and you get a degree and you're a bachelor of divinity, and that's very good. Or, uh, if you really sacrifice morning, noon, and night, or if you make your life so rigid that you obey every little thing in the word of God. No, no. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples, if you love one for another. And love is the great magnet that will draw people, because we live in a cruel, hard world where out there people are suffering and lost. The only thing that draws them to a living, loving Jesus is the love of people exercising that love in a church fellowship and reaching out. You know, some years ago, and if I'm repeating myself, my dear friend Graham will correct me immediately. I became concerned that I had no Christian young friends. I had old, I had young Christians that I grew up in Bible class with, at least I taught them. I suddenly discovered that I had no non-Christian young friends. I've got four now. They come from different walks of life. There's a Jew who's a musician who plays in an orchestra in Spain. I haven't got time to tell you how I came across them. There's an actor who acts in, uh, Melbourne when he gets a job. There's a dancer with the opera company, and he's all got girlfriends, because the girlfriends seem to change over the years. The fellas are still there, and so I get about seven friends because it was with four couples, and then there's breakups and splitups, and I try to keep contact with them all. But it's been a great revelation to me as an old, doddery old Scot, just what's going on out there, and the problems they face, and the loneliness they face, and the hurt they're experiencing because they know nothing of the love of Christ. So how do you bring the love of Christ to them? I suggest to you, you do it by kindness and caring for them, and showing that you love them and care them to go the second mile. I was very impressed when John spoke about trying to find non-Christian friends, because I was brought up like he was brought up, is love not the world, and keep yourself as far away from it as you possibly can. I couldn't keep myself very far from the world when I was a sailor at sea. There was no meeting at eleven o'clock in the morning and no gospel service at night on a tanker with thirty two people, and I was the only Christian that I knew. I mean, there might have been some other believers, but certainly they didn't voice it. It's the love of Christ that constrains us, and the love of Christ may by must be our incentive for service under the guise and power of God the Holy Spirit. Now, maybe I'm getting off on a tangent here, for which I apologize profusely, but if I get off on a tangent occasionally, anybody who's asleep will waken up, and then I can go on because the chairman said that everybody was going to go to sleep. So grieve not the Holy Spirit, grieve him not. Then the other word we find in the relation to the Holy Spirit is quenching. And if you turn to one Thessalonians five and nineteen, you find this word used here. It's in that great catalog at the end of the epistle, where, uh, one Thessalonians five and nineteen. Here we are. You know, he's saying about be joyful, pray, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the spirit's fire. That's the translation in the NIV. In the author's eyes, it says do not quench the Holy Spirit. Now, quenching the Holy Spirit, by what I can understand and and read about it in commentaries like Stott and others, is it really refers to corporate worship, as it were, or the body meeting together, where the spirit can be quenched, or the fire put out by division, by problems. You know, do not put out the spirit's fire, I think is a much better way of saying do not quench the spirit or choke it or stop it or stifle it or suppress it. Let us have the flexibility to walk with the spirit, to be led by the spirit, to be guided by the spirit. John Stott says one of the dangers he believes in, in quenching or suppressing the fire is having a, it's interesting coming from an Anglican, this, a liturgical service where everything is so structured and so fixed, there is no freedom. Now, beloved in Christ, whether we think so or not, some of our brethren assemblies can be very structured and can have a, a, a liturgy, just like a Church of England, a complete order of service where there is no alteration at all in any way. Now, Stott says that he believes that somewhere between an ordered service and complete freedom is the balance. You know, we all think we're balanced, don't we? And I don't suppose any of us are completely balanced, but we all think we're balanced. But it's this question of letting the Holy Spirit freedom to operate within the church. Do not put out the fire. You know, I remember going to an assembly in, in South Australia, and I was to minister there in the morning after the breaking of bread, and it was discovered that the breaking of bread only took place at a certain time, and I would miss my plane to Melbourne. And they were very free and easy. They said, well, you just minister before the breaking of bread. And we must be careful, I suggest to you, without going overboard, that our services do not become so structured that we can't give or move or allow things to happen. I remember in Scotland once, just when I was home some time ago, uh, a man got up and he gave thanks for the wine instead of the bread. Now, I don't know what would happen in Australia, but that really threw the Scots into absolute turmoil. But they didn't worry because they went ahead and gave out the bread. And then he got up, he then he got up, a- a- and he said something like this. I'll never forget it. He's quite a simple brother, like me. He said something like this. He said, Dear Lord, you are the only one who never made a mistake, and I'm sorry I made a mistake. Lord, I just want to thank you for the cup. Wonderful. And you know, it electrified the meeting. It did, in a peculiar sort of way. Something different had happened. Now, I don't say that we go out making things different all the time. God forbid. But, but let us be careful that we don't get hidebound into some such a, a, a routine, an order that we stifle and put out the fire of God, the Holy Spirit. Now let us come to that exciting portion, and we find it in the Ephesians, the filling of the Spirit. Now I'm galloping through, and John, in his great graciousness, because he's a very gracious fellow, I've just discovered that, said that I was to go on until I finished. Well, I'll finish in good time, so don't get too worried. Ephesians chapter five It's this great thing on relationships. But what does he say here, Paul? He says quite simply in five and eighteen, do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Now, I believe there can be a difference between sealed with the Holy Spirit and filled with the Holy Spirit. I know people come to the Lord Jesus, and they are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and they're believers, and gradually as they grow into Christ, they surrender, as it were. And it's not them that have the spirit, but the Spirit has them, and I would say that is the difference. A person coming to Christ has the Spirit. He's sealed for time and for eternity, and when a person in surrender and complete surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ on a daily basis is filled with God the Holy Spirit, it's a change from the Spirit having him or her to he, sorry, the Spirit having, I'll try all that again, and I'll just relax. It is the difference between the spirit, he having the spirit, and the spirit having him. That's the difference between sealing and filling. Now, what does Paul says? He says, do not get drunk on wine. All right, this is a, a verse that says you've got to get drunk on wine, but I believe he's illustrating it. He says, which leads to debauchery. One way leads to debauchery, and half the crime and half the sadness and that goes on in this country today, I suggest to you, is caused by alcohol and drugs, but alcohol in a great extent. Drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Quite a statement. You see, what he's saying here, when a man or woman gets under control of wine or alcohol, he's not in control of his faculties. He's under the influence of an evil spirit, as it were. Now he says, instead, be filled with the spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. I want you, says Paul, to be influenced by God, the Holy Spirit. For him to control your life, and what, how do will you know that you are filled with God the Holy Spirit? Well, for one thing, you'll speak to one another with psalms and hymns. Scott says of this verse, it's meant to be in corporate worship, and he quotes, you know, uh, Psalm ninety five, come, let us bow down together before the Lord, and people are singing it to each other in praising. You see, here are the symptoms of the Holy Spirit. You know what symptoms are. I remember going on holiday once in Scotland. I was very unfortunate because being at sea, I didn't always get my holidays in the summertime. My family have never forgiven me because we had to go in the winter in Scotland on holiday. We used to pick a hotel where there was a swimming pool, indoor swimming pool, but usually found it was shut during the winter because even the everything didn't work in the winter in Scotland. But we used to go tobogganing and ride horses in the winter. My family never quite forgave me, but one time we were on holiday there. During the night, I, I, I, I didn't feel very well, and I shuddered and shake, and my wife wanted to make me a cup of tea. She was a nurse. Nurses come in two species. There are either those that will never call a doctor unless you're just about death's door. They've been do- brought up in hospital to believe that they must never disturb the doctor because he's God. Now, my wife was one like that. There's others that the minute they see a spot in your forehead, call the doctor because they're quite sure you're going to die. My wife was so slow to call doctors. I once said to her, if I'm really ill, dear, and you're going to call the doctor, I wouldn't bother, just get the undertaker if I'm that ill. But I woke up in the middle of the night, and I wasn't well at all. And in the morning, I sat up in bed, and she started to laugh. Typical nurse, started to laugh. I said, what's the matter? She said, you're covered in spots, you've got chickenpox. And I said, why are you laughing? Well, she said, I thought you were really ill. You're not ill at all, you've only got chickenpox. But that was the symptoms. That was the symptoms. The spots were the symptoms of my illness. And the symptoms of being filled with God the Holy Spirit is that you're going to be a people that are happy, and you sing. You're going to be a people that make music in your heart to the Lord. You speak to one another, and you sing, and you give thanks to God. You know, you praise the Lord that God has ordered you. You ever gone home at night, had a really good day, and you say, thank you, Lord, for a wonderful day. Now, every day is not like that, I know, but you praise the Lord. And then he says, and you give thanks for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some of the expositors, they don't like that word everything, and it's a rather frightening word, but basically you're giving thanks. You've got an attitude of praise and thanksgiving, and it's automatic because God the Holy Spirit is controlling your life. And then it says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Do you submit to one another? Do I submit to the people I'm not too keen on in the meeting? Isn't it lovely to be in a meeting where you submit one to the other because you respect them and you love them? That's what he's saying. A person who's filled with the Spirit is a person who submits, a person that's not always after his own way. And I suggest to you that troubles in meetings or churches must be caused. Would you please turn the tape over at this point? And I suggest to you that troubles in meetings or churches must be caused by people that are not filled with the Spirit. Because by my Bible, it says if you're filled with the Spirit, you're going to submit one to another. That's the evidence of being filled with the Spirit. And then, of course, in all this chapter, he talks about relationships, and he talks about wives submitting to your husbands, and we have problems with that. And husband is the head of the wife, and so husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. How can any lady have any problem in submitting to her husband, as long as the husband loved his wife as Christ loved the church? No problem there, because it was a sacrificial love, and it was a giving love, and it was a love that took him to death for us. That's the love of Christ. And through all this chapter, it's on relationships. But the key to relationships, I suggest to you, is quite simple. Be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. Now, in this paper here, I've said, and remaining full. Remember, years ago, I went to hear a lady preacher. I wasn't in the brethren there, so I had great liberty and license, and I was taken to hear this wonderful missionary lady, Ruth Paxson, who wrote a book called Life on the Highest Plane. And really, you know, her whole control of God the Holy Spirit was a remarkable thing. And she said, you know, I've read many books on being filled with the Holy Spirit, but I've never read a book on how to remain filled with the Holy Spirit. And then she promptly told us how to remain filled. The simplicity of it staggers. It's a daily dying, a daily coming to him, I suggest to you, and surrendering your life afresh, of confessing sin that has come between you and God, or putting right what you have to put right with others, and so God the Holy Spirit keeps there, filling you. Moody used to say, you know, we're leaky vessels, we need many fillings. One baptism, many fillings. We are baptized into the body of Christ, but as far as the Holy Spirit is concerned, we need many fillings. We're leaky vessels. And so we come day by day, morning by morning, or evening by evening, to have a quiet time, and that's the time that we should put things right with God and with others. Now, there may not be very much, maybe a pebble that's got to be moved from a stream, not a great big rock, but you remove them, and God gives you the opportunity because God's word has said if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. Forgive us and take us back. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, beloved, we turn to the last portion today, and that is the fruit of the Spirit, and it's found in Galatians five and twenty two. Now, regardless of what spiritual progress any of us have made in the years between our conversion and now, if we are not people that are practicing and showing forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit, we fail. This is the touchstone that God is looking at, fruit of the Holy Spirit. Now, of course, Paul is saying here in Galatians, quite simply, but the fruit of the Spirit, first of all, he gives all the sins of the sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry in the previous verses, and then he says, I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is never the fruits of the spirit. In other words, you can't pick the fruit bowl ho- here and say, well, I'll have kindness, I'll have joy, I'll have, uh, faithfulness, but I don't really want the rest. It's a package, if I may say, in modern terms. Nobody talks about a package salary or a package trip. It's a package which everything is catered for. It is the fruit of the spirit. Now, it's three ways of nine aspects here. Uh, the expositors, they suggest this, and I think it's very helpful. The first three— love, joy, and peace, are heavenward. Love for God, as God has loved us. Joy, joy in Christ through God the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Peace through God. It's the peace that he gives us. Love, joy, peace. Secondly, he said, the next three are manward. Patience, kindness, goodness. Are you patient with people? Are you showing kindness to people? Do you have that goodness? Goodness is a great quality. You know, it's great when people say, Joe so and so, he's a good man. Or Mary Wilson, she's a good woman. You can't give any higher accolade than that. They're good. That word conveys it all. And Paul says here, goodness. Peace, patience, kindness. Then he's a goodness, then faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's to the person themselves. Faith, gentleness, and self-control. You see, he's recited all the terrible sins of the flesh, and then he comes down and he says, self-control. And he's talking to a people that he's arguing with about legalism. He said, that's not the way at all. You want laws and regulations. I want you to be a people that produce the fruit of the spirit. Then he says in verse twenty four, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking, envying each other. You see, we need to run a, a, a check on ourselves, I suggest. Are we really producing in our lives the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit? Because nothing else counts. This is your report card, if I may use that term, and I ain't no school teacher. It says quite simply that these are the qualities of the living Lord Jesus, and these are the qualities of the Lord Jesus that's got to be shown in our lives, otherwise we've missed the mark. We've missed the mark. Now he goes on in the next part of the chapter, and I'm coming quickly to a close, a- and it's all related this. Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently, but watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Very interesting here. He they've been arguing about law and regulations, and Paul says in this closing part, he's, I'll give you a law. You want the law, you Galatians? Here it is. Carry one another's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions, then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to someone else, for each one shall carry his own load. Now, there are burdens that we can only carry ourselves. Different words are used there, I understand. When we talk about carrying one another's burdens, that's a very large burden. Or you can go and help and put your shoulder under the pack, as it were. But when it comes to that other one, for each one shall carry his own load, like a soldier's pack, and he's carrying. It's very interesting in that verse there, in going back to verse twenty three, when he talks about the fruit of the Spirit, and he's arguing with these people about law. He says, against such things there is no law. There's no law against love and joy and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law, no restriction. You're going along in the car and you get a stop sign on the road. This says, quite simply, there ain't no stop sign. You know, coming up here, the traffic was very heavy, and halfway up the road or somewhere in Mel- in Sydney just before we got the freeway, we had that noise of the siren and the fire brigade. And all these very obedient New South Wales people just drew over to the side of the road, and I did too, and in back went the fire brigade. In it went. Now, I did something which I thought was very clever. I nicked in behind the fire engine, and on it went, and I followed it, and I went very fast and very clear, and I didn't disobey the law. The only time I had to stop was when the red light was there and the fire brigade could go through. But it says here, there is no law. There's no law. There's no restriction. There's nothing to hold you back in cultivating the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. Shall we pray? Our Father, we thank you for the third person of the Trinity, the heavenly paraclete, the one who has come to dwell in our hearts by faith. And we ask our Father, old and young, may grasp afresh and speak it with greater emphasis, the truths of the Holy Spirit, that we may be people that are filled with your Holy Spirit and practicing the love of Christ and attracting people to us and to our Savior. When men and women will ask us, what causes you to be like this? And we can say quite simply, dear Lord, we are like this because Jesus died for us and placed his Holy Spirit in our hearts and transformed our lives that we may serve him. Help us so to do for his name's sake. Amen.