In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the three basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ: grace, faith, and the Holy Spirit. Grace is described as more than just receiving something freely, but as receiving the fullness of Christ himself. The disciples' experience of being with Jesus and then facing the prospect of his departure is used as an example of the need for the Holy Spirit in the believer's life. The Holy Spirit is portrayed as the agent of God's grace, convicting, regenerating, and operating in the believer's life.

I'm going to tell you how happy I am to have this opportunity to fellowship with you. Brother J.L. Armstrong and I were commenting this afternoon, in the Lord we know the most wonderful people in the world, which we're all sinners but saved by grace, and the Lord's family is just wonderful, and it's a great delight to be able to come here, and to meet more of the Lord's wonderful family. Thank God for his saving grace, his cleansing power, his keeping power, and the life of the Lord Jesus, which has been given to us by the Holy Spirit, now and forever, so praise the Lord. I would just like for one moment to share something with you that then would help to me something of what the Lord has strengthened my own heart with, in fellowship with God's people. And that is the thing that ought to really motivate us all the time, in fellowshiping with the Lord's people. There are a lot of scriptures we could take to say these things, but I think I'll just take the very familiar verse, 1 Corinthians 12. For those of you who don't know this verse, it's a very easy one to remember, because it's 12-12. So as the body is one and has many members, and all the members being many are one body, so also is Christ. The truth that will give strength to us as the Lord's people in fellowshiping together is being deeply moved and deeply founded upon the fact that we are one body in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there will be hard times to come in many a fellowship. Sometimes it will seem dry, and those who were without this foundation will say, Well, I'm not going there again. I don't get anything. Or the ministry isn't very moving over there. So I'm not getting anything. And so we drop out. And there will be many temptations in life as you fellowship with the Lord's people to drop out because you aren't getting anything. But if the Lord gives us an understanding, not just here, but a real understanding, a real view of the fact that whether we like it or not, whether we are getting something or not, I am a member of the same body with these brothers and sisters in Christ. And every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a fellow member of Christ, and I must always interact with any other brother or sister on the basis of being one body in Christ. And I cannot drop out because I am one. Now, I was in a fellowship where we had some real testaments, and some dropped out. There were difficulties. There were misunderstandings. And the meeting sometimes didn't have much to offer. And some did drop out. But there were some who thought, I can't drop out, no more than I could drop out of the body of Christ. I can't drop out. And so they came, and they prayed together, and they hung in there. And God's blessing came because there were believers who saw that they were one in Christ. And they said, I can't drop out any more than my hands and my fingers. So that's the first thing I would underline. We are one body in Christ. We are members of Christ. What a terrific thing it is to realize that... The verse doesn't say, as Brother Kong reminded us last week, the verse doesn't say, as the body has many members, and all the members being many are one body, so also is the church, is the assembly. Now, that's what it's really referring to. But it says, so also is Christ, meaning that we, renewed in Christ, are the very person, the body of Christ. And the body is not different from the head. It's all the same person. And when we are united with Christ, we are his own life living out in the world, his new life and his good life living out in the world. So what a blessing there is when we see that. And I'm sure we all long to go on and see it more. And we need this foundation because there comes testing. And if we are looking for something for ourselves, we're going to drop out. We all want blessings, and we all want joy, but the Lord's going to have to test that to see are we really founded on Christ or on just something for me. And the second thing is that it's not just the theory of it, but there is the life of Christ. And as I used that illustration of the fellowship a while ago, because there were those that stayed because of Christ, the life of Christ, Christ then flowed, and then there was blessing. And we mustn't be satisfied with just the teaching of it, but we must have the wellsprings of Christ rising up within us and allowing Christ to make himself real through the Holy Spirit, the rivers of living water which the Lord Jesus Christ becomes to us and in us. And there will be in him a stream of living water springing up unto everlasting life. So we're not content with the knowledge. Sometimes we have to say just, I will, Lord, I will. I will stay. I will fellowship with your people. Sometimes we meet our brother or sister, and maybe we disagree, but we have to say on the fellowship that we are one in Christ. And at the same time, we want not only the head knowledge, but the springs of water, the Lord Jesus Christ willing us, showing himself to us, not only in the head, but in the heart. So I thank the Lord for the privilege of fellowship with you all this evening. I appreciate your prayer. I come from Bowie, Maryland, where a couple of families are there. We are in close fellowship with Washington, too, but we long to see what God will do in our own suburban community of Washington. So God bless you all. Thank you. When we begin, we'll come back to number 65. Instead of saying, Oh, make us one, Lord, say, We are one, Lord. 65. We give you all our praise. Oh, and we honor you by name. We give you all our praise. Oh, and crown you with mercy. With a heavenly cry we join, Lord, in thy presence divine. Oh, we are one, Lord, in that one true bond. We give you all our praise. Oh, and we honor you by name. We give you all our praise. Oh, and crown you with mercy. With a heavenly cry we join, Lord, in thy presence divine. Oh, we are one, Lord, in that one true bond. We return to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, we'll read from verse 16. But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfill flesh lust. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these things oppose one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire. But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, contentions, disputes, schools of opinions, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revels, and things like these. As to which I tell you beforehand, even as I also have said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit God's kingdom. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. But they that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with a passion and a lust. If we live by the Spirit, let us walk also by the Spirit. Let us not become then glorious, provoking one another, ending one another. Chapter 6, we begin with verse 11. See how long a letter I have written to you with my own hands. As many as desire to have a fair appearance in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not be persecuted because of the cross of Christ. For neither do they that are circumcised themselves keep the law, but they wish you to be circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast, say, in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor unto circumcision, but new creation. And as many as are walked by this rule, peace upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. For the rest, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brain of the Lord Jesus. Let us pray. Lord, we have read thy word, and now we ask thy Holy Spirit to quicken thy word to us, because thy words are life and spirit to us. O Lord, we just commit ourselves to thee for thy word. We want thy word to be magnified in our life. We want thee to be glorified. We ask in thy precious name. Amen. Some times ago, the fellowship, something on the letter to the Galatians. We mentioned that this letter to the Galatians has a very special message to us today. Because in this letter to the Galatians, we find the very basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, if we do not know this letter, our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ will not be complete. For this reason, Martin Luther considers this letter as his letter. It is on the basis of this letter that we have the Reformation. So brothers and sisters, we must, by the grace of God, enter into the very message of this letter to see the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we think that we are so far advanced, we can forget about the basics. But very often you'll find we are led back to the very basics before we can go on. Now in this letter to the Galatians, there are three basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ being presented to us equally. We have fellowship together in the past on the two of the three basics. The first, of course, is grace. And the second is faith. We are saved by grace through faith. But without the third, it will not be complete. So I feel compelled to fellowship tonight on the third basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Number one, it is grace. We say grace is more than just receiving something freely. We say grace is inherent in that one who is full of grace. And he gave himself to us freely and universally. And when we receive of his grace, that is, when we receive him, there springs out from us not only thanks to his grace, but a life that is as gracious as he is. Because it is he whom we have received. Now that is grace. In other words, grace is the substance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you take grace away, there is no gospel. There is no substance. Because grace is none other but Christ himself. And the gospel is Christ. The gospel is more than what Christ has done for us. More than what Christ will give to us. More than our experience of forgiveness of sin or even eternal life. Grace is Christ giving himself to us and that becomes the gospel. It is the substance. And then our faith. Faith is the substantiating of that substance. In other words, faith makes that substance real. It brings that substance to us, becoming a living experience. And as we mentioned before, faith is a strong conviction of the revelation of grace. And out of that conviction there is a selfless total commitment. And because of that total commitment there will be a walk accordingly. And that is faith. So dear brothers and sisters, there is grace, the substance. There is faith, the substance needed. But if the third element is missing it will not work. And what is the third element? It is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third basic of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because the Holy Spirit is the agent, the sole agent of the grace of God, which is Christ Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us and convinces us. He is the one who regenerates us. He is the one who quickens us. He is the one who operates the Holy Spirit. So, in coming to the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is the need of knowing the Holy Spirit. On the night of his betrayal, our Lord Jesus was with his disciples in that upper room. As they were finishing the Passover feast. And after they had what we call today the Lord's Supper, which our Lord instituted that night, the Lord began to talk to his disciples. You know, the disciples knew something was going to happen then. They might not be able to understand the whole thing. You remember our Lord Jesus time and again tried to tell them that he was going to Jerusalem and he will be crucified. But on the third day he was raised from the dead. But the disciples didn't seem to be able to grasp it. And even that night they certainly knew they said something was coming. The Lord was going to lead them. And they were very sorrowful. They had been with the Lord for over three years. They left everything to follow the Lord. They found great satisfaction in the Lord. During those three difficult years with the Lord, difficult. You know, it is not very easy to really be with the Lord for three years. You may think that it will be the most comforting and most pleasant life to live with the Lord. You wait and see. If you really know how to live with the Lord, humanly speaking, it is not easy. But they stuck with the Lord. And for three years they were with the Lord. They were being disciplined. They were being trained. But at the same time they were being protected, provided, comforted, shepherded, supported. They left nothing. And suddenly the Lord was leading them. They literally felt they will be left as orphans. If you try to enter into their feelings, you know, they literally had the thought of being left as orphans. Why? Because they couldn't go back to the world. They too couldn't go back to where they first began. All these had been left behind. And now suddenly a vacuum. What will happen tomorrow? How could they live for a day without the Lord? The Lord who knew human heart. He knew what was going on. So that night in that last conversation of our Lord with his disciples, he promised them that he would not leave them as orphans. He said, I'm going. But my very going is my coming. He said, I go. I will beg of my Father. And he will give you another comforter. Just as I am. Not another of a different kind, but another of the same kind. You know, in Greek, the word another, in Greek has two different words. One word means another of a different kind. But another word means another of the same kind. And what the Lord used there is another of the same kind. I will beg of the Father and he will send you another comforter of the same kind as I am. Even the Spirit of truth. The world does not know him. But you know him. Because he abides with you and he shall be in you and he will never leave you nor forsake you. You know, when the Lord was talking about these things, he was not just trying to say something nice in order to comfort us. Brothers and sisters, very often when we find someone who needs comfort, we try to think out of some sweet words to say, but empty words cannot comfort. Our Lord was not saying some empty words, sweet words. No. He was promising them something very real, very substantial, as real as he was. Another. And the Lord said, you know him. The world does not know him, but you know him. I wonder why Peter didn't interrupt the Lord and say, Lord, how do I know him? That would be like Peter. Probably he was too straight to say anything. The world does not know him. That's easy to understand. But the Lord said, you know him. He hasn't come yet. And the Lord said, you know him. Why? Because he abides with you. He is with you. Now who is with us? The Lord himself. But when another comforter shall come, he will be in. In other words, the going of the Lord is his coming back. And this coming back does not refer to the second coming of the Lord, which will happen in the future. This coming back speaks of the Lord's coming back in death. The Holy Spirit is the second self of our Lord Jesus. Not of a different kind, but of the same kind. The Lord said, yes, I have been with you for over three years and you find satisfaction with me. Good. And you feel sorrowful because I'm leaving you. But I promise you something even better. When I was with you, I could stand by you, I could support you by your side, that I couldn't be in you. I was with you, but not all the time. Sometimes the Lord sent his disciples out to buy tea. And when they were sent out, the Lord was not with them. And if they had anything to report, they had to come back to the Lord. But the Lord said, if I go and I come back, it will be different. I will be in you. When the Lord was on earth, he had a flesh, a body, just like we have. And because of that, he was not able to enter into each one of us. But when he came back in the Holy Spirit, he can enter into every one of us. And not only that, but he will be in us forever. He will never leave us, nor... You know, very often we have such... we think wonderful thoughts. Oh, if only I lived 2,000 years ago. If only I was born in Judea. If only I could follow the Lord as the disciples of his days. Then I would be a much better Christian than I am today. If you really know your privilege today, you will be a worse Christian than you are today. Why? Because with the disciples of that time, the Lord was with them outwardly. But now, the Holy Spirit is in us inwardly. Dear brothers and sisters, the point is, do you know the Holy Spirit? Strictly speaking, this promise of the another comforter is fulfilled on the day of the resurrection of our Lord. Because, you see, in that day you will be in me as I am in my Father. In other words, there is an inwardness, an inward relationship, and that inward relationship comes into being through the coming of the Holy Spirit, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through the Spirit of God coming and dwelling in us. And you know, this happens on the day of his resurrection. He appeared to the disciples. He breathed into them and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus, everyone who is born again by the Holy Spirit, everyone who has been given a new spirit, at the same time, he is given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. For everyone who is the Lord has the Spirit of Christ in him. None other but the Divine Person. Dwelling in us forever. Now this is the basic of the gospel. In our English version we use the word comforter. Comforter. You know, the Greek word parapleto is a word that is very difficult to translate into English because it is such a rich word. Yes, it means someone who comes alongside you to help. To render aid. It is like a counsellor who will represent someone in the court. An advisor. A guardian. This word is used in the gospel according to John 14. Chapter 14, twice. Chapter 15, once. And chapter 16, once. And the same word is used in 1 John 2, once. Thus, in the gospel according to John our English translation is comforter. In 1 John it is advocate. But actually it is the same word. Now when you see the word comforter, what kind of impression do you get? The impression is he is one who comes to comfort us. To console us. Well, we have our sorrow. We have our sorrow. We have our need. So he will come in and, as it were, pat on your shoulder and say, don't cry, it's alright. Everything will be taken care of. Now is that the kind of feeling you think about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, the divine person who dwells in you, he is there as your comforter. He is there to help you. He is there to console you. He is there to consulate you. He is there to make you happy. Unfortunately, this is not the meaning in the Greek. Why do we have the word comforter in our English version? Some people began to search and say, now who used that English word for the first time? And it goes back to the 14th century. When John Wycliffe translated the Bible, the English Bible, he used the word comforter for paracetamol. But do not blame him. Why? Because the 14th century English is very different from the 20th century English. Now today, when you see the word comforter, you think more of consolation. But in the 14th century, the word comfort or comforter means he who strengthens. Strengthens. In other words, it carries more of the sense of power in conflict than the sense of consolation in sorrow. It includes consolation, yes. But the emphatic meaning of the word is strengthening. How do we know? Because when John Wycliffe translated to Philippians chapter 4, that very, very famous verse, I can do all things through him who comforts me. That's what John Wycliffe means. I can do all things through him who comforts me. And by comfort me there means who strengthens me. So you know, in the 14th century, the word comfort or comforter means strengthens or strengthens. And if you read the four places in the gospel according to John, when this word comforter is being used, you'll find every time it is used with the same abstract. Why? Because the comforter is the spirit of truth. Now, when you come to the matter of truth, is it a matter of consolation or is it a matter of faith? Truth is not a weakness. Truth is strong. He is the one who leads us into all truth. And in leading us into all truth, what conflict must be involved. He is the one who bears witness for Christ. Bearing witness for Christ in this world. That's conflict. That's power. And he is one who will bring demonstration to this world to convict them, to convince them of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. Well, that's sin. That's power. So you'll find the basic thought here is that he is the one who comes in to strengthen, to empower that we may enter into all truth. That we may be witnesses of Christ. That Christ may be glorified. He is to bring Christ to us. He is to bring us into Christ. He is to make Christ real to us. And he is to make Christ known to this world. Now this is the meaning of the word brothers and sisters. We have the comforter in us. We have one in us who is here to strengthen and to bring us into God's purpose. That is the Holy Spirit. There is an English word. But it is again an old English word. Which comes to very close to the Greek word palatita. And that is the word barrister. Now in this country you don't use the word barrister. It means lawyer. Lawyer. That's what we use. But there is this English word barrister. In the old English sense includes much more than the modern sense of a lawyer. Why? Because according to the old English word barrister a barrister does four things. Not just one. Four things. A barrister represents his client. A barrister defends the name of his client. A barrister cleans the corpse of his client. And a barrister manages the property of his client. Now that's a barrister in the old sense. He not only represents his client. He defends his name. He cleans his corpse. He also manages all his affairs. That's a barrister. And dear brothers and sisters, the comforter of the Holy Spirit is that divine barrister. He represents his client. He defends his name. He cleans his corpse. And he manages his possessions. But the point is, who is his client? Brothers and sisters, who is his client? Do you answer? Hmm? Well, we often think that we are his client. But you are wrong. The Holy Spirit client is the Lord himself. He comes to represent the Lord. He does not represent you. He comes to defend the name of the Lord, not your name. He comes to plead the cause of the Lord, not your cause. He comes to manage the Lord's property because you are his property. You know, brothers and sisters, here is the great mistake. We often think of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, you know, as the oh, that good uncle. You know? Oh, he always thinks for us. He always gives to us, you know. He always protects us. He always does everything for us. Oh, he's good. That's the way we always think the Holy Spirit. But your very experience tells you this is not true. How often you want one thing and the Holy Spirit in you says no. Now you got the wrong lawyer. If you think the Holy Spirit represents you, then you got the wrong lawyer. You know, sometimes some people do. They got a lawyer, they engage a lawyer and the lawyer began to speak for the opposite party. Now you discard him, of course. Dismiss him, I mean. Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is a divine person. He dwells in you. No, he is not representing you. He is representing the Lord. No wonder. Every time something happens, you'll find he is on the wrong side. But you are on the right side. You are on the wrong side. What is the work of the Holy Spirit in us? The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring Christ to us and to bring us into Christ. All that Christ is is to be made real and living in us. Anything less than Christ, the Holy Spirit is bringing. He is managing the property of Christ. Now who are we? We are bought with a price. We are his property. His possession. And because of that, the Holy Spirit is in us to manage the possession of the risen Lord. Thank God. He is in us. Responsible. Fully responsible for all that the gospel of Jesus Christ means. It is his work. Of course, there is one who represents you, but he represents you at the right hand of the Father. Therefore you'll find in 1 John chapter 2 we have an advocate. We have a parapetal. Even with the Father, Jesus, the right hand. Oh, brothers and sisters, sometimes, you know, we have faith. And our Lord represents us before the Father and says, Father, forgive us. I shed my blood. When we confess our sins, his faithful invite us to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. He is not only our advocate, also for the whole world. Brothers and sisters, so you see the truth of it? The Lord Jesus himself in heaven is our representative. He represents us before the Father. But the Holy Spirit in us represents us. If that is the case, what we said, we should give to the Holy Spirit. Do you know a divine person is in you? Do you know he is entrusted with the most divine job? There is no job, no task more divine, more important than this job. Even to conform you to Christ. And he is intent on doing his job. And brothers and sisters, you, my brothers, you fight against him, you belay his word, you grieve him, you quench him, you will not allow him to have a free hand in your life, even that foolishness. And very quiet Paul said, oh you foolish Galatians, you are foolish. God has already made every provision for you. Here is grace, there is faith, and in between the Holy Spirit. He is the one who gives us the faith. He is the one who brings grace to us. And yet, you don't know. Paul said, have you received the Holy Spirit? Because you have done something? In chapter three. In other words, these Galatian believers, they have just received the Holy Spirit. They received the Holy Spirit by grace through faith. Not because of what they have done. It is because of grace. It is just through faith. And they received the Holy Spirit in them. And yet, they begin with the Holy Spirit and they are thinking of perfecting it. So here when you come to the letter to the Galatians, you find that the Holy Spirit is the way to perfection. Is THE way to perfection. Well, by perfection, of course. It doesn't mean in the Scripture seamless perfection. There is no one who is seamless perfect on this earth except our Lord Jesus. But by perfection in the Scripture, it means maturity. Maturity. Full growth. How can we grow? The gospel of Jesus Christ is not just we may believe in the Lord Jesus and go to heaven. That is the initial part of the gospel if we may put it that way. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the full Christ. God gave Christ to us and He wants us to receive Him in fullness. And we who have received Him will be conformed to His image. Now that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. How are we to grow in Christ? How are we to be mature? How can we be perfect? All the Galatian believers after they have believed in the Lord Jesus, they have received the Holy Spirit. So somehow they are being misled in their anxiousness to speed up their growth as it were. You know, like we are today. Everything is instant. They want to be instant spiritual. Instant perfection. So they don't know how. The work of the Holy Spirit is very patient. And they got very impatient. So someone came in the Judea diary. They came in and said, now if you want to be perfect, very easy. Very easy. You just get circumcised, do something. You keep some rules and laws and regulations. And if you do them, keep some days or seasons or weeks. Now if you simply do this or don't do that, well, if you are able to just do these few things, you are perfect. And you know, there in our flesh is always that itching to do something. If you don't do anything, well, that is very humiliating. Do you mean I cannot do anything? Even though I'm not perfect yet, I still can do something. Instead of letting the Holy Spirit do His work in there, they try to do something. What do they do? Circumcise? Very easy. What do they do? Keep some laws? Keep some days? Not too hard. And if you do these things, you are perfect. Well, you can go and say, now see what I have done. I have done it. Now I am perfect. But obviously, they have the Holy Spirit in there. But instead of listening to the Holy Spirit, instead of letting the Holy Spirit perfect His work in us, they completely set the Holy Spirit aside as it were. And they start to do something. Good news. Good news. They are not doing something sinful. From all our appearance, they abstain from certain things. They don't do certain things. They keep certain days. In a sense, it is a kind of inconvenience, you know. So, they feel, well, we are doing all these for God. And it makes us perfect. Very good. But they do not know. If they go back to the flesh, it begins with the good flesh. If there is any good, it will end up in the bad flesh, because it is the Holy Spirit. You may begin with good intentions. Well, I am doing it in order to be perfect. All right, you try to do it. And as you begin to do it, you find the whole flesh will follow. And when you look back, you are done and done. That's the reason why you find Paul said, the good of the flesh are many things. And if you read the list, it is not very pleasant. Fornication. Uncleanness. Life anxiousness. Idolatry. Sorcery. Hatred. Strife. Jealousy. Anger. Contempt. Defeat. Strings of opinions. Envyings. Murders. Frankenesses. Rambles. And things like these. As to which I tell you beforehand, even as I also have said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit God's kingdom. Who strives against the flesh? You? That will be flesh against the flesh. The good flesh against the bad flesh. You are against yourself. You will never overcome. It is the Holy Spirit strives against the flesh. It is the Holy Spirit in you that strives against the flesh. And the flesh against the spirit that you should not do those things which you desire. You see, there is a difference between here and Romans 7. Romans 7 is you cannot do what you want to do. And you do what you don't want to do. But here it is said you should not do those things which you desire. Quite. The Holy Spirit restrains you from doing that. Here you find a contrast. On the one side is the Holy Spirit. On the other side is the flesh. On the one side is work, fruit. On the other side is work. On the one side is eternal life. On the other side is corruption. If we live by the Holy Spirit we bear fruit. And that is eternal life. If we walk by the flesh even if you think it is the good flesh it is work. Because flesh is always a work. And the result is corruption. So it is insisted there is a great difference between work and fruit. Work is something that you do yourself. You apply yourself, you put effort in it, and out of what you have done you produce something that works. But fruit is different. Fruit is the overflow. It is life matured. When life is matured what is there? Fruit. It is not conscious. It is effortless. It comes from within. Work is done from without. But fruit is come from within. Oh how awful it is work. Oh we are keeping this rule, keeping that law. We think that by that we become perfect. We can boast what achievement we have made. And brothers and sisters this is the work. The end result will be corruption. But on the other hand we live by the Holy Spirit. How do you live by the Holy Spirit? Well the Holy Spirit is in you. The divine comforter. The divine strengthener. And as in 1 John chapter 2 verse 27 it says the anointing that is in you he will teach you in all things. You just follow the teaching of the anointing and you abide in Christ. He is here with you all the time. He never leaves you nor forsakes you. And he is teaching you in all things. Big things and small things. You don't go to the Lord. You don't go to the Holy Spirit when you come to a crisis. But he walks with you every day. When you are at home he is there. When you are in the office he is there. He never leaves you nor forsakes you. And in everything, in all things, big things and small things, the anointing is there. And his teaching is true. Not a lie. Follow the anointing. And you abide in Christ. As you walk in that way unconsciously fruit comes out. The fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace. Long-suffering, kindness. Neatness. Fidelity. Self-control. Which really means spirit control. That life. That eternal life. How are we going to deserve it? Not by the work of the flesh. But by the fruit of the Spirit. How important it is that we know the Holy Spirit as the divine barrister in our daily life. Do we know the Holy Spirit as such? Or do you draw upon the Holy Spirit only when you are having a problem? And you just ask him, now come come and comfort me. He is in you all the time. But are you listening to him all the time? To many believers, the Holy Spirit is a healer. To many believers, the Holy Spirit may be an experience but five years ago. But according to the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is a bailiff. How can we live a Christian life without knowing the Holy Spirit? Today. Impossible. How can we be conformed to Christ? If we try to imitate Christ? If we try to work? You'll never get there. You'll never get there. So what is the Holy Spirit in you for? He is there to bring you there. That is his job. Brothers and sisters, knowing the Holy Spirit as a divine person will transform our lives. You are not alone. Struggling along by yourself. The Holy Spirit is there bringing you. All the strain is gone. You can rest. Brothers and sisters, God has provided for us. Not only grace but the Spirit of grace. How do you know that you walk in it? How do you know that you live by the Spirit? How do you know? There is a market. There is a way. The Holy Spirit of all leads us. And the cross gives us more of His Spirit. You know, it is by the eternal Spirit that our Lord Jesus offers Himself spotless to God as an offering and is accepted. And because Christ is glorified the Spirit. You can never separate the Holy Spirit if the Holy Spirit is really working in your life. He will lead you to the cross. If there is not the mark of the cross there, it is not the work of the Holy Spirit. You know, the Galatian believers they do not want the cross. They are offended by the cross. The scandal of the cross. They want to buy back the cross to be perfect. But Paul says, buy back in the cross of our Lord. Now what is your attitude? Are there the brains of the Lord Jesus in your life? Is there any room? If the Holy Spirit is really working in your life, you will find there will be room. There will be a thank God. Out of these rooms will flow out the Spirit. People who want to avoid the cross, as in the letter to the Galatians. Why do these Judaizers want the Galatian believers to be circumcised? They themselves knew they could not keep the law. So why they demanded that they should do that? Because they could point out to people, say, now this one was circumcised for my persuasion. A ghost. But when the Holy Spirit is working, there is a spirit of humiliation, humility of me. The Spirit of Christ. So girls and sisters, as a matter of fact, it is not difficult to know if the Holy Spirit is really working in your life or not. It is not really difficult to distinguish, to know whether you are really walking in the Spirit. People sometimes think if you are walking in the Spirit, then there is no cross. It is all prosperity. No cross. But if you read the Word of God, you will find it is different. Our Lord Jesus throughout His life lived in the Spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit. But it is the cross. And out of the cross the livery of living water. The Spirit is given abundantly to us. So dear brothers and sisters, in this letter to the Galatians, Paul is trying to tell these Galatian believers the basic of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit and the cross. Thank God. Sometimes, you know, people talk about the cross. I have heard people say, well, if you talk about the cross it looks very gloomy, you know. It is dark. Negative. That is true. If everything ends at the cross and nothing beyond, then it is really a very sad end. But thank God. Everything ends at the cross of all that is natural. That everything begins from the cross of all that is There is a death sign of the cross. But there is a resurrection sign. There is life out of death. Out of the cross flows the Spirit. And brothers and sisters, that is my deal. My deal. So we do look to the Lord that we may know the Holy Spirit in our daily life. We respect him as a divine person. Learn to listen to him. Follow his anointing. Let him finish the work that he is entrusted with by the risen Lord. Yes, the cross will be involved. You cannot escape that. But thank God it does not end there. There is something beyond. Something beyond. And that something beyond is eternal. Everything that goes to the cross and cannot get through is better to be ended there. Because it cannot be brought into eternity. It will be burned anyway. But beyond it there will be eternal life. Life never ending. So this is the letter to the commissioners. And I do hope, brothers and sisters, we hold on to these statements. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for giving thee thy only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus to us. O marvelous grace, that Christ should be given to us. We praise and we thank thee, because thou dost give us the Holy Spirit. O the divine barrister, representing Christ in us, bringing us into Christ. O what a job it is! What glory it is! Lord, we want to know the Holy Spirit in our daily life. Know Him as the divine barrister. And we want Him to finish His job gloriously. And Lord, to beneath the cross teach us how to bear the cross and follow thee. We praise and we thank thee, because there is resurrection out of death. There is the river of living water coming under the threshold. O Lord, we do desire that the gospel of Jesus Christ may not only be lead, but become very real in its fullness to thy people. O glorify thyself, O Lord. Lord Jesus, we worship thee. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.