If you want to find you a Pew
Bible, you might need it tonight. I'm going to really work it tonight
because you're going to want to turn to several Scriptures.
Some of you may have difficulty finding them, so I'll give you
the page. If you can't find them, find a Pew Bible there or something.
Let's begin reading here in Titus chapter 3 and in verse 4. Verses 4 through verse 7. Paul would just begin telling
us there what we were, what we had been, how foolish we were,
disobedient, how deceived we were, serving our lusts, living
in malice, and so on. Then he comes to verse 4 and
says, But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appear. It has appeared. Thank God for
that. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, But according to His mercy He saved us, and
here is the way He saved us, by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
And I think our subject this evening, if we want to entitle
it, would probably be Saved by the Holy Ghost, Saved by the
Holy Spirit. That is what He is teaching us
there in our text. You and I know that the Scripture
teaches and we believe in a triune God, three Persons manifested
in this one glorious God, God our Father and God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. And one man said they are co-equal
in our common salvation. It's impossible to be saved without
the Father. It's impossible to be saved without
the Son. And it's impossible to be saved
without the Holy Spirit. Just one God, one Savior manifested
in three glorious persons. And here Paul attributes salvation
in verse 4 to the kindness of God. We looked at that last week,
and the love of God and the mercy of God. After that, the love
of God, our Savior, towards man appeared. And you know a person
can't be saved apart from that, can he? It's impossible. If God doesn't appear to a person,
if He doesn't come to a person, out of kindness and out of His
love and out of His mercy, the person can't be saved. There's
no sense talking about salvation apart from God's kindness and
His love and His tender mercy. That's the very cause of our
salvation, isn't it? The very cause of our salvation.
And then, of course, He tells us here that in chapter 2, look
in chapter 2 and verse 13. He tells us here that we're saved
by what's done for us. That is the work of the Son.
Look in chapter 2 and verse 14. speaking of Jesus Christ, who
gave Himself for us, for our sins, to redeem us from our sins,
that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself
a peculiar people, zealous of good works. So we are saved by
a work done on our behalf, completely apart from ourselves. Two thousand
years ago, Jesus Christ suffered for our sins. That was absolutely
necessary for us to be saved. But here in our text, here's
this other way. Here's this Holy Ghost. And He's saving us. And He's
doing a work in us. And that's what Paul is talking
about in our text here. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. You and I saw last week that
the Holy Spirit comes to us and He does two things for us. He
washes us. He washes our conscience in the
blood of Christ, purges our conscience. He loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood. And He regenerates us. He gives
us life. And it's the life of Jesus Christ.
That's what regeneration is. It's life. It means He gives
us life. And the Bible says this about
the blessed Holy Spirit. It calls Him the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. And listen to this. You talk
about washing and being saved. Listen to how He attributes salvation
to the Holy Spirit. He said, such were some of you.
You were adulterers, you were murderers, you were drunks, and
so on. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you're justified
in the name of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. So who is it that comes to save
us? It's the Spirit, isn't it? By His Spirit He saves us. And
everywhere we're told in the Word of God that the Spirit of
God begins the work in our heart, and the work that He begins is
life, a new birth. Listen to what the Lord Jesus
said, ìExcept a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. That which is flesh is flesh,
and that which is Spirit is Spirit.î We must be born of the Spirit,
and thatís what it means to be saved, isnít it? Born of the
Holy Spirit. And everywhere we're told that
this Spirit, when He comes into our hearts, He's called the Spirit
of Adoption. Listen to these passages of Scripture.
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His
Son into your hearts, crying, Father, Father. See how He saves
us? You have not received the spirit
of bondage to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption
whereby we cry, Father, Father, the spirit of adoption. The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. Now listen to these passages
as I read them, and you'll see what part the Spirit has in our
salvation. Listen to this one. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself." That is the Spirit. Hereby we
know that we dwell in Him and He dwells in us by the Spirit
which He has given to us. Listen to this one. A new heart
will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I'll take
the stony heart out of your flesh. I'll give you a heart of flesh
and listen, I will put my spirit in. and I'll cause you to walk
in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them. Listen to this one.
Know you not that you're the temple of the living God, and
the Spirit of God dwells in you? Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we may know what is freely given to us of God. So you see why
Paul said without the Spirit of Christ we're none of His?
There's no salvation apart from the Holy Spirit. He saves us. No wonder David said, Lord, don't
take your Holy Spirit from me. There's no life apart from the
Spirit. There's no grace to believe apart from the Holy Spirit. There's
no washing apart from the Holy Spirit. There's no assurance
that we know God apart from the Holy Spirit. So in this sense,
He has saved us by His Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit testifies
to the reality of His work because we read scriptures like this.
The Spirit bears witness with our spirit. He testifies to the
fact that He's within us and He's working within us. The Father
has given to us the earnest of His Spirit. That means a down
payment. The earnest. And we read that
we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.
So we are saved by the Holy Spirit. He bears witness of His work
within us. But when I say He bears witness,
I don't mean to tell you that He comes down and you hear a
voice whispering, I'm the Holy Spirit and you're a child of
God. I'm scared when people start hearing voices, aren't you? That
just scares me when people talk. When He witnesses to us, He witnesses
through the Word. He uses the Word to witness and
He always witnesses of Jesus Christ. He never comes and says,
listen, I'm the Holy Spirit. He always points to Christ. He
glorifies Jesus Christ. And here is where I want to show
you some Scriptures. I want you to turn to some passages
of Scriptures. Look over in John's Gospel. Let's
begin with John's Gospel in John chapter 16. It's on page 1172. If you have a Pew Bible, page
1172, John 16. Our text says this, God shed on Him, God shed the
Holy Spirit on us abundantly through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit comes and bears
witness to Christ. He comes on these bases that
Christ has already finished the work and Christ is in heaven. He always comes through Christ. And you know, without the redemption
that's in Christ, the Holy Spirit never would have come to this
earth. That's the only way He can come and save us is through
the person of Jesus Christ. He tells us that here in John
16. Look at John chapter 16. Look in verse 12. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you can't bear them now. Howbeit when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you unto all truth,
for He shall not speak of Himself, But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify Me, for he shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto
you. All things that the Father hath
are Mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of Mine, and show it unto you." See what He does when He
comes to our hearts, our minds? He speaks of Christ. He glorifies
Jesus Christ. God has given everything to His
Son, and that's what the Spirit tells us when He comes. Look
in another place. Look up in verse 6. Look in verse
6 and verse 7 of that same chapter, chapter 16. But because I have
said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. He said,
I'm going away. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient
for me, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart,
I will send Him unto you." He said, I have to go away. If I
don't go to the cross, if I don't die, if I don't ascend back to
the Father, the Comforter will not come. Christ must first atone
for sin. He must first please the Father,
satisfy for our sins, ascend back to heaven, and then He says,
I'll pray the Father, and He'll give you another comforter. Ain't
that what He said here in this text? Look in chapter 14. Just back to your left, look
in chapter 14. Look in verse 17. Look what he says in verse 16,
I will pray the Father and He will give you another comforter
that He may abide with you forever. Who is that? Even the Spirit
of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him, but you know him. For he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless,
I will come unto you." And look in verse 26, But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name,
He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." So see when Paul
said he has shed this Holy Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Lord. The Spirit never works to save
us and keep us except He does it in the name of Christ and
on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's
what he bears witness to. Let me show you another passage
just on to your left a little bit more in chapter 7 of John. Look at John chapter 7. And look in verse 37. John chapter
7 and verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this he spake of the Spirit,
that they which believe on him should receive, for the Holy
Ghost was not yet given. Why? Because Jesus was not yet
glorified. So see what had to take place.
Jesus had to suffer. He had to die. He had to go to
the cross and obtain redemption. Then He went back to the Father
and prayed to the Father. The Father sent the Spirit. The
Spirit comes in His name and regenerates us, saves us on this
basis of what Christ has done for us that He has redeemed. And you know, who does He come?
Let's get a little bit more specific. Who does He come to regenerate
but the redeemed? He's not regenerating everybody,
is He? He's regenerating the redeemed. The redeemed. That's what He
teaches us. Boy, when He comes to us and
gives us life, He points us to Christ and gives us this assurance. You've been redeemed. You've
been loved and you've been redeemed. That's what He teaches us. In
this last verse I read to you here, we see these two things. He comes on the condition of
Christ's finished work. We see that. The Lord said, He's
not come yet because I'm not yet glorified. But we see something
else in that too, the Lord Jesus said here. Whose hearts does
He come to? Believers. Believers. He comes to our hearts when we
believe on Christ the Son of God. Ain't that what He said?
He that believeth on Me out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. And in verse 39, He says they
that believe on Him should receive. You know there's no such thing
as believing in Christ savingly in a scriptural sense and not
having the Holy Spirit. It's impossible. If you're a
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit has given you
that faith to believe. He's given you that grace to
believe. And as soon as you believe, He comes to abide in your heart,
crying, Father, Father. Paul said this, Received you
the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? It's by the hearing of faith,
ain't it? We receive the Spirit by the hearing of faith. He that
believeth on the Son, he hath the witness in himself. We believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ. Do you believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe on Him? Do you trust Him? Do you trust
Him with all your salvation? Is He all your life, your redemption,
your acceptance with God, your righteousness? your hope? Is
He everything? Do you trust Him? Then you have
the Holy Spirit in your heart. He has regenerated you. He's
washed you. And He's come to abide in your
heart forever. And the way you know, one of
the ways you know that He bears witness of Christ and the work
of Christ, the offices of Christ. He's your prophet, your priest,
your king. And He's your mediator. That's
our first point. Paul said, He has shed on us
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then he makes another
statement here in our text. If you want to turn back over
there and read it, I'll read it to you if you don't want to
turn back over there to it. But this is the second point
about our text in verse 6, which He shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Lord. This word, to shed, means to
pour out. Several times in the New Testament,
they translate to pour out. In Acts chapter 2, we'll turn
over there in just a second, remember when the Holy Spirit
came, the coming of the Holy Spirit. That's what they said
there that He did. I will pour out My Spirit upon
all flesh. But here's the question I want
us to ask in looking at some of these passages. What's the
evidences of this? And I know that we don't see
the manifestly pouring out in our time like they did in
the New Testament. And I personally believe we don't
see that and they haven't seen that since the New Testament
time. The Holy Spirit was given in a mighty way. He was poured
out in a mighty way. And there's when the miracles
and signs were wrought in the New Testament. But when the apostles
died, those miracles ceased. So often you see in the New Testament
when the Holy Spirit filled somebody, they spake with tongues. Those
tongues ceased. But you know the miracle of the
Holy Spirit coming and saving us and abiding in our heart,
that hasn't ceased. That's the greatest miracle of
all, isn't it? And what is some evidences of
that, that He has been poured out? I want to show you just
two or three evidences of that. I want you to turn over to where
He was first, the Holy Spirit, well, not the first time, the
second time He came in a mighty way in Acts chapter 10. And I
tell you the way that we can know in our own selves that the
Holy Spirit has been shed on us, that He has been poured out
into our hearts, I tell you one of the ways, it's the effects
that it has upon us. We hear and believe the Gospel. That's the effects that it has.
Our gospel came not to you in word only. It has to come in
word. But He said, not in word only,
but in power and in much assurance and in the Holy Ghost. When the
gospel comes to us in the power of the Holy Ghost, you know what
it does? It affects our hearts. It gets our attention. And we
believe it. We believe. And I want to show
you an example of that here. Let's start in chapter 10 and
work our way back over to chapter 2 of the book of Acts. Look in
chapter 10 and look in verse 43. This is where Peter went
down to the Gentiles' house and was preaching Christ to them.
He began preaching this message by saying, God sent peace by
Jesus Christ. He's Lord of all. Then he went
ahead and told them that the Jews had crucified Him and God
had raised Him from the dead. And look in chapter 10 and verse
43. To him gave all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive forgiveness, remission of sins. And while Peter yet
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard
the word. And they of the circumcision,
which believed, were astonished as many as came with Peter, because
that on the Gentiles also were poured out the gift of the Holy
Ghost. For they heard them speak with
tongues, and magnified God. Then Peter answered and said,
Can any forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" Look what effect
that had upon these men. They heard and they believed. And look what Peter says in chapter
11 when he was rehearsing. The Jews came down, got upset
with him, said, Why did you go preach to the Gentiles? He rehearsed
that God told him to go down and preach to them. And then
in verse 17, look what he said, Forasmuch then as God gave them
the lack gift, as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God. What's the evidence that the
Holy Spirit has been poured out? We hear. We hear. Somebody say, Bruce, I've heard
all my life. No, you haven't. You haven't. Hear and your soul shall live. These men had never heard until
Peter was preaching. And while he was preaching, the
Holy Ghost fell on who? Those who heard. And they believed. Isn't that the way He works?
He came with power and opened their hearts. And they heard.
They heard. Now look on back to chapter 2.
Almost the same thing happened the first time. But look back
in chapter 2 of Acts. It's on page 1182. Look at this. You can probably see yourself
in some of these places. I'm not saying it happened to
you exactly like this, but I'm telling you this, you never did
hurt here until the Holy Spirit began His work in you. That's
when you really heard the Gospel, and you never did believe until
He came. That's His work in us. That's
an evident that has been poured out. Here Peter was preaching,
and you know if you've read the second chapter of the book of
Acts, he began preaching to thousands of Jews. and he told them why
the Holy Spirit had come and it had been prophesied that He
was coming. And here in verse 22, you men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst
of you as you yourselves know. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked
hands you have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that
he should beholden of it. And then we go down in verse
34, and he said, For David is not ascended into heaven, but
he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Set on my right
hand, till I make your foals your footstool. Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ, and notice
what happened. Notice the result here. Now,
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said
unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what
shall we do? They were pricked in their hearts. This word means to be pierced
thoroughly through, to sting to the quick. When they heard
that Jesus had been crucified and they were the ones who crucified
Him, boy, they were cut. They were pricked in their hearts.
But here's the thing. Can you imagine Peter preaching
this message to these Jews? without the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit had come and filled them. He filled Peter and the
120 people there. And Peter began to preach. But
can you imagine how they would have received this message if
Peter had not have been filled with the Holy Spirit? If the
message wasn't going forth in the power of the Holy Ghost,
that alighted him to scorn, wouldn't it? That alighted him Are they
to have been so indifferent? What's that old Galilean talking
about? Are they to have whipped Him?
Why were they pricked in their hearts? Why were they cut to
their hearts? Why did they throw up their hands
and say, Oh no, what have we done? Why did they do that? The Holy Spirit. There's just
absolutely no salvation. I don't care how good a preacher
He is. apart from the Holy Spirit doing
His work. It's Him that has to do it. He is the One that makes
it effectual to our hearts. He's the One that awakens us.
That's what happens here. I can almost imagine these fellows
saying here, you know, we've killed the Lord of Glory. That's
what He told them, wasn't it? He's slain the Lord of Glory.
You slain the man who went about doing good. You slain a man approved
of God. You slain a man that God raised
him up and exalted. You have slain your friend. That's
what He told them basically, wasn't it? You have slain your
friend, the best friend you ever had. And what happened? Boy,
their hearts were so full of sorrow. What have we done? What have we done? What shall
we do? What shall we do? Their best friend had died so
they could live. And when they found that out,
they were so thoroughly pricked in their hearts that they cried
out in sorrow. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? What shall we do? You know, we
have this foretold in the Old Testament about this happening
and their attitude of what was really going on in their hearts.
And I want you to turn back over and let me read that to you right
quickly. If you go to the first book of the New Testament, Matthew,
and just keep turning to your left, you'll see Malachi, and
then you'll come to Zechariah. It's on page 1028. I want you
to look at this. You'll see here the work of the
Holy Spirit and what happens in our hearts when He begins
His work. And I tell you, it's not just
a fear of hell. It's a sorrow. It is a sorrow,
a godly sorrow. Look at what he says in Zechariah
chapter 11 and verse 12 and verse 13. Here
is the value they had put upon him. Verse 12 of chapter 11,
And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, and if
not, forbear. So they weighed for my price
thirty pieces of silver. We know what that's about, don't
we? That's what Judas betrayed Him for. They said, Let's set
a price for Him. How much do you want to value
Him for? Thirty pieces of silver. And in verse 13, And the Lord
said unto me, Cast it unto the potter a goodly price, that I
was prized at of them. That's what they prized Him at,
thirty pieces of silver. Now look in chapter 13. We'll
put these together in just a second. Look in chapter 13 in verse 6.
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in your hands? And then he shall answer, Those
with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." He is speaking
here to these very Jews that were going to betray Him, sell
Him, and then on the cross said, Crucify Him! Crucify Him and
spit at Him! And then one was going to say
to him, where did you get these wounds? In the house of my friends. In the house of my friends. Can
you imagine? Can you imagine having the best
friend, just one, one good friend, the best friend anybody could
ever have. That friend was so patient with you, loved you unconditionally,
put up with you, never got angry with you, and one day you found
him murdered. Somebody had slain him. Can you
imagine the sorrow of losing your best friend? But what if
you find out that you, in some ignorant, drunken rage, hit the
very one that killed him? How would that make you feel?
You've killed your best friend. That's what he's saying here.
That's what he's saying here. Won't you get those wounds? My
friends, they killed me. They killed me. You say, Bruce, I wasn't there
at Calvary. I didn't lay a hand on him. No,
but I tell you this, our sins did. I love that old poem, "'Twas
you my sins, my cruel sins, His chief tormentors were. My sins
became the nails and unbelief the spear. I had a part in his
murder. I had a part in him hanging up
on the tree. If I don't take my blame, I can't
share in his benefits. There is a sense in which I killed
the best friend I could ever have, the Lord of glory, the
Son of God. And boy, when Peter said, you
have taken, and by wicked hands you slain the Lord. You slain
your best friend. That's where he got his wounds,
in the house of the friend. They were cut to their heart.
They were filled with godly sorrow. What have we done? And now you
add to this our killing Him, and He didn't resist us. And he did that so we wouldn't
have to die. Ain't that what he says in verse
1 here of chapter 13? In that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. And what is that fountain? It's
a fountain that that soldier opened up when he stuck his spear
in the Savior's side. I was wounded in the house of
my friend. That's where he was wounded. and opened up the fountain
that washed the sin of murder away, even the murder of the
Son of God. But you know, you can tell people
this and it won't have any effect upon them until something happens.
Until something happens. The message Peter preached was
not in Peter's power. It was not in Peter's might.
It was not in Peter's wisdom. But by my Spirit, saith the Lord. And when the Spirit came down
and took the Gospel to their hearts, they were filled with
sorrow and repentance. And look what he says now here
in chapter 12 of Zechariah. This is exactly what happens
here. Look in verse 10. I will pour upon the house of
David," that's it, isn't it? "...and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication." And look here
what happens. Here's the evidence of the Spirit
being poured out upon us. "...And they shall look upon
Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one
that mourneth for His only Son." and they shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." A heart full
of sorrow when the Holy Spirit comes. He points us to Christ. He proves our guilt. Then turns
right around and says, look to the fountain open for sin and
for uncleanness. He saves us by giving us eyes
to see a crucified Christ. Our last point is this, and quickly
in our text. He said, "...which He shed on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord." He shed on us abundantly. Abundantly. That word abundantly
means to give richly. The Lord is rich unto all that
call upon Him. It means plentiful. It means
abounded. were sin abounded, grace did
much more abound." It means a full supply of His fullness of all
we receive and grace for grace. It's right the opposite of grudgingly,
not grudgingly. God is not a grudging God, is
He? It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Fear
not, little flock. Listen and see if this ain't
so. In our own eyes, it may seem like we're just going to squeeze
through a little crack in heaven's door. Ain't that the way we feel
sometimes? But listen to what Peter says.
That entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly. Abundantly. into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior. The triune God doesn't give a
skimpy salvation. He doesn't give a skimpy salvation. He doesn't give a life that's
malnourished and ready to die. He doesn't give partial forgiveness. He doesn't justify from most
things. He's not waiting and putting
us on probation before He'll receive us. So He'll see how
good we are. Listen to these passages. Israel,
God's Israel, shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation. World without end. Does that
sound like a cheap salvation to you? Doesn't that sound like
a skimpy salvation? That's abundance, isn't it? In
the Lord with an everlasting salvation, world without end. They're saved now. They're saved
when this world will be destroyed. They're saved in that world that's
to come. Everlasting salvation. Listen to this. I am come that
they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. He hath quickened you together
with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses. He doesn't leave some trespasses
there unforgiven. It never happens. He forgives
all or none at all. The blood of Jesus Christ God's
Son cleanseth us from all sin. Listen to this. He that believeth
is justified from all things. All things. God has made us accepted in the
Beloved, and you are complete in Him. Now that's abundance,
isn't it? That's abundance. He hath shed
on us abundantly of rich and full and free and eternal salvation. Our problem today, brothers and
sisters, is not that we have too much assurance and it's bleeding
off into presumption and we're just living any old way. That's not our problem. Our problem
is not we have too much assurance. Our problem is unbelief. Our
problem is a shallowness of understanding of how rich our God is towards
us. That's our problem. Our problem is we somehow got
it in our heads that our God is poor and He has to ration
His blessings out. And so he gives grudgingly and
bestows skimpedly. That's not so. Abundantly. Abundantly. And how do we have
it? Through the Holy Spirit. Through
the blessed Holy Spirit. Be not drunk with wine, that's
excess, but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. And He's begun His work, I think
He's begun it in some of you. And everything you have in this
life, every spiritual thing that you have worth having is His,
it's from Him. You believe in Christ? That's
His work in you. You have the graces of God in
your heart? joy, peace, love, goodness, long-suffering, faithfulness.
That's His work in you. That's His graces in you. And
listen, He has a work yet to do. He has a work yet to do. There's coming a resurrection.
And this is our hope of the resurrection, that the Spirit of Him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in us. And if that Spirit dwells
in us, He that raised up Christ from the dead will also quicken
our mortal body. Laying there in the grave without
any hope, He'll quicken that mortal body and He'll live with
Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, fill us with Your Spirit.
Fill us with Your blessed Holy Spirit. Shannon, would you dismiss
us?