While you're turning there, some
years back I asked Henry Mahan what meeting that he preached
in that he thought was the one that the Lord had blessed the
most in his opinion. And he said it was a meeting
back in Mission Springs, California back in 1993 or 94 when he went
and preached the gospel in a conference there. And I have met a lot of
people over the years that have said they learned the gospel
during that time. And a gentleman by the name of
William Neely has sent me something that I gave to Susan. She's gonna
put those five sermons up on our website. And I would suggest
we all listen to those. And if anyone needs CDs, I guess
she can figure out a way to make CDs too. Nobody listens to CDs
anymore, I don't think, or not much. no more than they listen
to cassette tapes. Verse two, Paul says to these
people, and this is an unusual question, have you received the
Holy Spirit since you believed? Now what would you think if someone
asked you that question? If you're anything like me, you'd
think, do I speak in tongues? That's generally what I would
think if somebody asked me that question. Do I have the gifts
of the spirit? Do I speak in tongues? Am I able
to perform healings? And so on. That's what the charismatic
movement considers as the evidence of having received the Holy Spirit. Do I speak in tongues? The people in that movement have
not received the Holy Spirit, nor do they know him. That is a anti-Christ movement. There's nothing true in it. And I've had people say to me
when I made that statement, they said, you better watch out. You're
in danger of sinning against the Holy Spirit and making a
claim like that. You know, I'm not a bit worried about that.
I know that's not of God. Why does Paul ask this question
to these people? Have you received the Holy Spirit,
since you believed. And let's look back at verse
one. And it came to pass that while
Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper
coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. Now it says
they were disciples. You know what else? John chapter
six, verse 64, 65 says, when the disciples heard this, they
went back and walked no more with him. Now it's one thing
to be called a disciple, and it's another thing to be a disciple. He found certain disciples. Well,
the Lord said in John 8, verse 31, if you continue in my word,
then are you my disciples indeed. Evidently, there are some who
are not his disciples indeed. He says it's only those who continue
in his word that are his disciples indeed. Now, evidently, Paul
saw something that he didn't feel comfortable with. in these
people who are called disciples. And he asked this question, have
you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? It's evident that something bothered
him in seeing these disciples. And that is why he asked that
question. And his suspicion was verified
in their answer. We never even heard of the Holy
Spirit. We don't have any idea who you're talking about. We're
completely ignorant of the Holy Spirit. Now verse three, we've
not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And
he said unto them, unto what then were you baptized? Evidently
they told him we'd been baptized. And he said, well, what kind
of baptism did you have? You know, in baptism, if I'm
baptized, I'm baptized in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. If you've been baptized, you've
heard of the Holy Spirit. He said, what kind of baptism
did you have then, if you've never heard of the Holy Spirit?
It certainly doesn't seem like Christian baptism. And they said
unto John's baptism. Now, wait a minute. If they heard
John preach, they heard John speaking much of the Holy Spirit,
didn't they? He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. I baptize you with water, but
there comes one mightier than I, the lachet whose shoes I'm
not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. If they heard John the Baptist
preaching, They heard of the Holy spirit. So John spoke to
them of the Holy spirit, if they heard him. And so look how Paul
replies to that. Paul knew that verse four then
said, Paul, John, barely baptized with the baptism of repentance.
saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should
come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. Now he says here's what
John did. He baptized with the baptism of repentance. a change
of mind, and that change of mind is seen in believing on Him who
should come after Him. That is on Christ Jesus. People
try to make such a big difference between John the Baptist's baptism
and Christ's baptism. Well, Christ had not died yet
when John the Baptist was preaching, so there was a small amount of
difference, I suppose, just because Christ had not yet died, but
it meant the same thing. He preached the baptism of repentance,
a complete change of mind, saying you should believe on him that
is to come. You should believe on him that is to come. The reason
he is to come is because God purposed his coming. He came
in the flesh. He did what he came to do. He
is Christ Jesus. You should believe on him. And that is John's baptism. It
wasn't something devoid of the knowledge of the Holy Ghost.
It wasn't something devoid of the knowledge of faith in Christ. You should believe on him. You
should look to him only as everything in your salvation. Verse five,
when they heard this, they were baptized. Somebody says, were
they re-baptized? There's no such thing. They had
gone through the, of being dunked in water before,
but they had never really been baptized because baptism is believer's
baptism. And now for the first time, they're
baptized as believers. They now heard the gospel and
they confessed Christ in believer's baptism. And I'm sure Paul expounded
more on this as he talked to him. He said, why you should
believe on him that is to come because he's the eternal son
of God. He was before he came. I'm sure he expounded on all
of that, preaching the gospel to him. And now they did believe
on him who has come, who has died and who has been raised
from the dead. And they confessed him in believers baptism. And when Paul had laid his hands
upon them, Now this is talking about the
transfer of gifts. The apostles, and only the apostles,
could lay their hands on men and give them these gifts of
the Holy Spirit where they could speak in tongues, in different
languages. And that's what that's talking about, the ability to
speak in different languages. And they could drink And they
could handle snakes. They could raise the dead. They
were given supernatural gifts. Only those who the apostles laid
their hands on could do that. And that's what took place. And
these men did, in fact, begin to speak with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about 12.
And here we have the beginning of the church at Ephesus. And
like I said, in another 10 years, Paul would write the epistle
of to the Ephesians to them, that glorious letter. But let's
go back to this question. Have you received the Holy Ghost? Have you received the Holy Ghost
or the Holy Spirit? Well, first, who is the Holy
Spirit? They said, we've not even heard
of such a being. How can we receive him if we've
never heard of him? Who is the Holy Spirit? Now turn back to
Acts chapter five. Acts chapter five, verse three. Peter said, Ananias, why hath
Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep
back part of the price of the land? Why was it remained? Was it not thine own? And after
it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived
this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men,
but to God. When they lied to the Holy Spirit,
they lied to God. The Holy Spirit is the third
person, a distinct person, God. God the Holy Spirit. Just as much God as God the Father. Just as much God as Jesus Christ
the God-man. The Holy Spirit is God and he
is just as necessary in the salvation of the sinner as the Father and
the Son. Now the Father is utterly necessary
in the salvation of a sinner, isn't he? And the Son is utterly
necessary in the salvation of a sinner, isn't he? He's the
Redeemer. The Father's the Elector, the
Son's the Redeemer, but God the Holy Spirit is Him who gives
life. And He is just as necessary in
my salvation as God the Father and God the Son. And in reality,
God the Holy Spirit is more mysterious to us, really. than God the Father
and God the Son. Yet everything we experience
of God the Father and God the Son comes through God the Holy
Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit. Now he's introduced to us in
creation. Remember when the Spirit of God
brooded upon the face of the waters. We hear of him in the
very opening lines of Genesis. He is called the Holy Spirit.
He's called the Spirit of God. He's called the Spirit of Christ. He's called the Spirit of Truth.
He's called the Spirit of Grace. He's called the Spirit of your
Father. He is called The Spirit of His Son. He's called the Spirit
of Grace. He's called the Spirit of Life.
He's called the Spirit of Glory. I love this name. He's called
the Comforter. Any comfort you and I have in the gospel, you
know what it is to be enabled to believe on the gospel and
believe that God accepts you for Christ's sake. And you know
why you experience that? The Comforter. Comfrey, comfrey
my people. God the Holy Spirit is the one
who comforts and he is the one who brings Christ to us to see
that he is our salvation. He's called the comforter. He's
called the eternal spirit. He's called the Lord. I love
that scripture. The Lord is that spirit. He's
called the Lord. You know, we call the Father
the Lord, we call God the Son. The only way we address Him is
Lord and Master when we speak of Him. I tell you, I despise
it when people use Jesus' name so flippantly, and it just, it
makes me uncomfortable. He's the Lord. He's the Lord
God. And God the Holy Spirit is the
Lord, now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. It's God the Holy Spirit who
wrote the scriptures. That book you have in your lap
that we're looking at right now. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1 21,
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Every word in this book is what
God the Holy Spirit wrote. He is the author of this book. It was the Holy Spirit who came
upon the Virgin Mary and caused her to conceive the Son of God. Listen to this scripture from
Luke chapter one. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. And that holy thing, even when the Holy Spirit is
riding, it's almost, that holy thing That's what God the Holy
Spirit calls him. That shall be born of thee, shall
be called the Son of God. God the Holy Spirit is the author
of the new birth. Except a man be born of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now I want you to
think about this thing of being born of the Spirit, birthed,
given life. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Can
the Spirit give birth to anything sinful? Now the reason we believe
in two separate natures, one nature that does not sin and
one nature that does nothing but sin, is because that new
nature is God the Holy Spirit birthing spiritual life in the
believer. And they have this nature that
is actually divine. The scripture says partakers
of the divine nature. Somebody says, are you saying
we're little gods? No, but I'm saying we're born of the Spirit.
And we have a spiritual nature that does not sin. And that's
what the Bible teaches. He that's born of God cannot
sin, the scripture says. He lacks the ability to sin,
that holy nature. The wind blows where it wills.
You hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whether it winds
it cometh or whether it goeth. Even so is everyone born of the
Spirit. That is speaking of the sovereignty
of the Spirit and giving the new birth. Just as God the Father
is sovereign, Just as God the Son is sovereign, God the Holy
Spirit is sovereign. He gives life to whom he will. He's the author of spiritual
life. I love what the Lord said in
John chapter six, verse 63. He said, it's the spirit that
quickeneth. It's the spirit that gives life. The flesh profits
nothing. The flesh doesn't have anything
to do with spiritual life. Not at all. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. When Adam ate
of the fruit, he became spiritually dead and he's going to stay dead.
You and I were born dead until God the Holy Spirit births us
and gives us life. This is such a supernatural thing.
It's such a glorious birth by the Spirit of God, given life
by the Spirit of God. And Romans chapter 5 verse 5
tells us He is given to us. He is given to us. He's the gift
of God, the promise of the Spirit. Now, you can't receive Him unless
He's given to you. And if he is given to you by
God, you will receive him. And you'll receive him very much
like a baby receives life in the womb. Did the baby decide,
well, I'm going to receive life? No, the baby's given life, the
baby receives. That's the way someone is born
of the spirit. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, the
natural man. Now, when I was born, September
9th, 1959, there's a birthday I remember. Isn't that ridiculous? You know, Lynn says, you know,
so-and-so's birthday? I'm supposed to look in that
thing, and I forget to. You know, happy birthday when I missed
your birthday. That's awful. I wish I wasn't
like that. Somebody says, why don't you quit being that way?
Okay, I will, I will. I'll try to never forget anybody
again. Well, the point is, where am I going with that? That wasn't
in my notes, I'll assure you. But September 9th, 1959, I was
born a natural man. The day you were born into this
world, you were born a natural man with a fallen, sinful nature,
dead in sins that had no love for God at all. And you know
what the scripture says about the natural man? We read in 1
Corinthians 2.14, the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. Neither indeed can he know them. He is unable to know them. Scripture says there's foolishness
unto him. How many people will you come across, if you told
them what you believe, they'd say, well, that's foolishness, that's crazy.
You expect me to believe something like that? No, not if you're
a natural man, you won't do it. You're unable to. You can't figure
this out. Only if you're born of the Spirit
can you discern the things of the Spirit of God. Now, this
life comes through the preaching of the Word, which God the Holy
Spirit is in. Peter spake of preaching the
gospel with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. And you know,
when we quote that scripture, it pleads God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Well, it's only God
the Holy Spirit takes the word and blesses it. It's not through
the eloquence of the preacher or his ability to make things
plain. It's only through God the Holy Spirit taking his word
and making it effectual to where we believe. Everything we experience
of the gospel comes through the power of the Spirit of God. Of his own will begat he us through
the word of truth. Being born again, Peter said,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter
3, verse 17, the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of
the Lord is. There's liberty. Now, what is
this liberty? It's the liberty of knowing that
everything God requires of you, he looks to his son for, and
you're complete in him, and you do not owe anything. You don't come up short. You're
complete in Christ. What liberty there is in that?
Liberty. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight for a moment. Verse 13, for if you live after
the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit. mortify the deeds of the body,
you shall live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you've not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit
himself beareth witness with our spirit. We are the children
of God. Now, I don't know how many times
I've looked at that 13th verse and wondered if I'm saved. If you through the spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. And if what that
means is through the spirit, I am enabled to put to death
sin and sinful passions and sinful actions empowered by the Spirit
of God. If I can, by His Spirit and by
His grace, mortify the flesh, put it to death, make it to where
it has no more influence, then I live. Now, for one thing, if
you read Romans 7, you know that's not what it means. I mean, he
said that just a few verses before this. He gives that whole Romans
chapter seven, but here's what it means. If you, through the
spirit put to death, any hope of being saved by the deeds done
in your body, you shall live. And that's exactly what that
means. If you, by the spirit of God put to death, and the
only way you'll do that is by the spirit of God. If you, by
the Spirit of God, just put to death, mortify any hope of being
saved by anything you do, you shall live. And the only way
you can do that is by the Spirit of God. In Ephesians 1, verses
13 and 14, we read of being sealed with the Spirit. You know, when
you have the Holy Spirit, you're sealed. you're preserved. There is no way that you can
be lost because you've been sealed. by the Holy Spirit, and he's
actually called the earnest of our inheritance in the 14th verse.
The sealing of the Holy Spirit, when you have the Holy Spirit,
you're preserved. You've got eternal life that can't die,
it can't go away. And he is your earnest, he is
the down payment of that future glory you're going to experience
because you have God, the Holy Spirit. And then we read in Colossians
3, there's a knowledge. which we have when we have the
Spirit of God. Listen to this scripture. We
are renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created
Him. And that's what the new birth
is, it's creation. It's not you responding to anything. It's
Him creating life in you. Now, we're renewed in knowledge
after the image of Him that created Him where there's neither Gentile,
Jew nor Gentile, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all. That is the knowledge
of the Holy Spirit. You really believe in every respect. that Jesus Christ is all, he's
all God is, he's all to God, he's all in this book, he is
all in my salvation. Now somebody that believes that,
it's because God the Holy Spirit has given them that knowledge. He, the Lord said regarding the
Holy Spirit, shall glorify me. For he shall receive of mine
and show it unto you. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians
2, 12. I know I'm giving you a lot of scriptures, but they're
very important. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, 12, now we have received not
the spirit of the world, but the spirit, which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God. Now, when you have God, the Holy
Spirit, I know this, you know everything you have from him
is his free gift. It's not his response to anything
you've done. It's his free, free gift. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Good question. Well, there are
two things that are paramount when someone has received the
Holy Spirit. First of all, if you have received
the Holy Spirit because it's been given to you and when he's
given to you, you receive him, you receive him. But here are
two things that are always paramount. When someone has received God,
the Holy Spirit, and this is so simple, but it's so true.
If you've received God, the Holy Spirit, here are two things,
you know, you're a great sinner. and he is a greater savior, that's
what you know. You see, a man without the Holy
Spirit doesn't know anything about sin. All he knows about
guilt and he knows about, it's just a superficial view of sin.
He doesn't understand sin as a nature, as a principle, that's
what he is. Not just what he does, but it's
what he is. And only someone who has God the Holy Spirit can
see what sin is because he's the Holy Spirit. You don't have
the Holy Spirit, you don't have really any understanding of sin.
None at all. It's only when you're given this
new nature that you have any understanding of sin at all. You know, the man of Roman seven
is a man who has the Holy Spirit. Two separate natures, a holy
nature and the sinful nature. And a man who has the Spirit
of God sees the excellency, the glory, and the sufficiency of
Jesus Christ, even though I am so sinful. And I don't understand
how sinful I am, but I know I am. And I tell you what, I'm fine
with the knowledge that I have. I don't want to know any deeper
than I do know. But with what knowledge I do know I have of
my own sinfulness, I really believe that's no hindrance in my salvation.
grace greater than all our sin. I believe in the absolute sufficiency
and completeness of the salvation that's in Christ Jesus. I need
no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. Now anybody who has the
Holy Spirit knows something about their own sinfulness enough to
make them know that there's no hope of them saving themselves.
And they really believe that Jesus Christ not only is all,
he's all I need, he's all I have, and he's all I want. That is
the experience of everyone who has God the Holy Spirit. David read Philippians chapter
three. Well, I thought, this is where I'm going to end this
message. I didn't think when he read it, I had this in my
notes ahead of time. God, you know, somebody that
has God, the Holy Spirit turned to Philippians chapter three. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And that's not talking about
the same word of rejoicing in Christ Jesus in verse three,
which means glory in Christ Jesus. Listen, my dear friends, every
believer has every reason to rejoice all the time. Rejoice in the Lord. We spend way too much time not
rejoicing. Rejoice in the Lord. And to write the same things
to you, to me, indeed is not grievous. If you've heard, I don't think
that I would be wrong in saying this, if you've heard one sermon,
you've heard them all. You know, as far as what to preach. You've heard one, you've heard
them all, but you know what? That's not grievous to me. That's
not irksome to me. It doesn't get old. The gospel
is new. It's good news. And it's not irksome, it's not
grievous for me to preach the same things to you. But look
what he says next. That for you, it's safe. That's all there is that's safe.
The gospel. Now, if I'm preaching something,
well, he had not preached that before. Your antennas ought to
go up. Something's not right. Something's not right. It's the
same things that are safe. I love what Brother Henry said. There was a fella playing a bass
and he just kept hitting the same note, didn't hit anything
else. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And the fella said, why aren't you like these other people?
Their hands are all over the strings. He said, well, they're
looking for the right note. I've got it. And that's so. That is the preaching of the
gospel, the same things. Now he says in verse two, beware
of dogs. He's not talking about canines.
He's not talking about dogs that go bark. He's talking about false
prophets. A lot of times they do wear collars. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. Now
that is a play on words made up by Paul. He's talking about
these people who talk about circumcision. What they are is mutilators.
That's all they are. And he makes up a word to describe
these people who said, except you fill in the blank, you cannot
be saved, except you'd be circumcised, except he said they're mutilators. And then he makes this statement
in verse three, for we are the circumcision. We're it. We're the true Jews. And he gives three marks. First of all, we worship God
in the Spirit. Don't you know that you cannot
worship God in your flesh? There's no worship that comes
from the carnal natural man. The only worship there is, is
that worship which is in the spirit, caused by the spirit
of God. Anytime you worship Christ, anytime
you are in awe of who he is, it's by the Holy Spirit. That's
not the product of your flesh. You can only and I can only worship
God in the spirit. We can only really hear the gospel
in the spirit. You can't really hear the gospel unless God the
Holy Spirit enables you to hear. I can't really preach the gospel
unless God the Holy Spirit blesses the word. And the only worship
there is, and I love to say this, you only worship a sovereign.
There's no worship if that's not understood. You're in his
hand. You can only worship by the Holy
Spirit. Now what happens when someone
is enabled by the grace of God to worship God through the Holy
Spirit? Well, here's what always happens. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now the word rejoice here in
verse three is not the same word translated rejoice in verse one. The word in verse one has something
to do with joy, being happy, being thankful. It's a feeling
of joy, but here the word is literally glory. Have confidence
in both. It's the same word that Paul
used when he said, God forbid that I should glory, save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's all I glory, and that's
all I have confidence in, what he did, what he accomplished
on Calvary. I don't have any confidence in
anything else. I don't have any confidence in anything I do,
you do, what anybody else does, I glory only in the cross. Now, if somebody is worshiping
God, Here's what they'll do. They'll glory in Christ Jesus. He is my confidence. And every
time somebody does glory in Christ Jesus, now here's the worship
of God in the spirit. You rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And when someone rejoices in Christ Jesus, this comes with
it, or you're not rejoicing in Christ Jesus. They have no confidence. no confidence in the flesh. Anything that comes from my flesh,
anything that comes from me naturally, my thoughts, my efforts, my works,
whatever comes from me, I have absolutely no confidence in. There's nothing to have, it's
filthy rags. And when you have the Holy Spirit,
you really believe that. You know that you can only worship
God by His Spirit. And the only way you worship
God is by rejoicing only in Christ Jesus. And when you rejoice only
in Christ Jesus, you have no confidence in anything you do. You look to Christ only. Now that person has the Spirit
of God. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Well, do you worship God only
in the Spirit? Do you rejoice only in Christ
Jesus? Do you have no confidence in
the flesh? Then you have received God the
Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your spirit. We thank you that he's the author
of our life. We thank you that he is the one
who reveals the glory and the sufficiency of your son. Lord,
we confess that any Love we have to you, any faith
we have in thy gospel. Any zeal we have for your glory.
Any rejoicing we have in Christ Jesus. And the no confidence
in our flesh. Is because of thy spirit, the
spirit of the living God. And Lord, we thank you for him.
We thank you for your son. We thank you for who you are,
Lord. What? blessing of grace for you to
reveal yourself to us. Bless this word for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.