Derek Prince explores the nature of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing its dual aspects: the external immersion of the Holy Spirit and the internal reception of His presence. He explains that while many may receive the baptism, it does not guarantee they are filled with the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by the varying impacts on individuals' lives. Prince highlights the importance of personal responsibility in yielding to the Holy Spirit and the necessity of applying the principles of the cross to one's life. He warns against assuming that speaking in tongues equates to being filled with the Spirit, urging believers to examine their relationship with the Holy Spirit and the areas of their lives that may still be under the influence of the old nature or even demonic forces. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper commitment to allow the Holy Spirit to take full control of every aspect of life.

We're going to pursue, continue with a study that we have been going through. This is really the relationship between the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We pointed out that the baptism really contains two essential aspects. There's the external and the internal. External is the Holy Spirit coming over people, overshadowing them, immersing them, enveloping them. That's the baptism. There's the internal, the drinking in of the Holy Spirit. The taking in, and as I said, through the mouth. That's what the Bible says, and the Bible means what it says. Open my mouth wide, saith the Lord, and I will fill it. Put these two together, we have the experience. Called seven times in the New Testament, being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Essentially, I believe, from the point of view of what we're going to consider this morning. We could take the key word as receiving the Holy Ghost. Receiving a divine person into our life in a new relationship. Of course, we have known the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost that sanctified us, that drew us. We are elect through the foreknowledge of God, according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. The Spirit begins to sanctify us, before we know Jesus as the Saviour. Some people are sanctified from the mother's womb, the scripture says, but they're not saved from the mother's womb. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, draws us, begins to set us aside, draw us out from the things of the world, speak to us of the things of God, begins to reveal Jesus to us. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. When we come to the cross and receive Jesus, the Holy Ghost administers to us the new life which is in Jesus Christ. We are born of the Spirit. But the baptism of the Spirit is a new relationship to the Holy Spirit, in which he as a person is given a special position within us, which is his by right, and which shouldn't be given to anybody else. Corresponding to the Shekinah glory, which in the tabernacle came in, to occupy the place over the mercy seat where the blood had been sprinkled under the wings of the cherubim that overshadowed. And when the presence of God came there into the tabernacle, then a voice spoke out from inside the holiest place. And Moses, who was on the other side of the veil and couldn't see into the holiest place, knew that the Lord was there personally, because he heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him. Likewise, within you and me, there is a place corresponding to the holiest of all. The very center of our being and personality. The Holy Spirit desires to occupy that place. And when he comes in personally to occupy that place, through the veil, that is through the flesh, we will hear the voice of the Spirit speaking. This is the evidence that he has come in. He gives an utterance which no human being could give. An utterance in an unknown tongue, in a language we haven't heard and haven't learned. And then we know that the Lord, the Spirit, has suddenly come into his temple, the scripture says. This is, I believe, the essential nature of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now then, yesterday we went through the fourteen cases in the New Testament where we find the phrase used, being filled with the Spirit, or full of the Spirit. We're not going to go through those again this morning. But we now find twenty-one instances where the Bible, the New Testament, speaks of either being baptized in, or being filled with, or being full of the Holy Spirit. Seven places where it speaks of being baptized in the Spirit, fourteen places where it speaks of being filled with, or full of the Spirit. Now this morning let's relate the two together. This is very interesting. How often do they coincide? This is a kind of mathematical question. I mean there's nothing subjective about it at all. Purely objective. We just have to look at the text. And this is the most remarkable thing. Actually there's only one place where they absolutely, clearly, and definitely coincide. And that's Acts chapter 2 and verse 4. Acts chapter 2 and verse 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. We know that that was the baptism in the Holy Spirit Jesus had told them. John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Ghost not many days hence. This was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. They were baptized in the Holy Ghost. It says they were also all filled with the Holy Ghost. Now the only other place where we could assume that these two things were simultaneous and coincidental would be in Acts 9 and 17. Now this is in some measure an assumption. But I think most of you here this morning would go along with it. Some might not. Plymouth Brethren would probably not agree. But Acts 9, 17. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. So we know that at that time, Paul was filled with the Holy Ghost. Did he speak in tongues? Well, if you don't want to believe that, no one can force you to. But to me, it seems the only reasonable conclusion. We know that his testimony after that was, I thank my God I speak in tongues more than all of you put together. Which is what it means in 1st Corinthians 14, 18. However, I'm not contending for that this morning. I'm just pointing out that these are the only two places where the fullness of the Holy Spirit is directly related to what we would call the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is remarkable. Out of 21 instances, there are only two. And even one of them is not absolutely certain. So you see, we're coming to a conclusion, if you've followed me. The conclusion is this. That you may have genuinely received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But that is not sufficient evidence that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm perfectly well aware, probably better than most of you, of the serious significance of what I'm saying. But I believe that this is the time that the Pentecostal movement has got to face this fact. It has been assumed, generally, I don't know that it's always been preached, but by and large it has been assumed that everybody that had the baptism in the Holy Spirit, spoke with other tongues, was necessarily filled with the Holy Ghost. I say no, they have received the Holy Ghost. How much of them the Holy Ghost has actually taken possession of, is another matter. I know ministers in the Pentecostal movement that have almost gone out of the movement. Because they've been so tremendously disappointed with the results of people being baptized in the Holy Ghost. They've said well we don't see much change, they still live carnal lives, they're still bickering and envy and jealousy and backbiting and carnality in many forms in their lives. There are things in their lives, they say, which are positively satanic. And I, I have encountered ministers that have actually lost all confidence in this experience that we preach, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Because they say we've seen things in people's lives afterwards, which simply cannot be equated with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I imagine any minister that has been in this experience five years or longer would have to say that's true, I can think of cases. I think the only mistake is that we assume that everybody that has spoken with tongues and received the baptism was necessarily filled. I say no. There's no evidence in the New Testament to cause us to say that. If we examine the New Testament in an objective way, the conclusion is no. Some were, some weren't. The mere fact that they spoke in tongues is tremendously significant. On the basis of that, I believe we have the right to say they have been baptized in the Holy Ghost, they have received the Holy Ghost. He's come into them, to dwell in them personally, in a new relationship. No matter what they had before, this is something new. But the results that will follow are not guaranteed. They are highly conditional. They're conditional on our relationship to the Holy Ghost after he has come in. And there is no guarantee of anything except one thing. That the person that's had this experience has a much greater responsibility toward God and man than they had before. That's all. That's the only one thing you can guarantee. Let's just consider, let's be practical for a few moments. Let's look at things. The people in the Arbor Room on the day of Pentecost, who were baptized in the Holy Ghost and filled with the Holy Ghost. Let's think about them for a moment. These were, we believe, approximately 120 people. Who had, most of them, renounced all to follow Jesus. And most of them had followed him, witnessed his ministry, and heard his teaching for probably three or more years. They had been witnesses of his death and of his resurrection. And then, on top of that, they had spent ten days together in prayer in the upper room. Until they came to the place where they would have completely won accord. No wonder they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Now let's contrast the people in the household of Cornelius. Who were Gentiles, with pagan traditions and backgrounds and associations. Maybe some of them had got several wives. Some of them were living with women that were not their wives. They'd never heard the Christian gospel before the day that Peter went to the house of Cornelius. They only heard maybe ten minutes of preaching. God did a supernatural miracle of grace. They believed the record that through the name of Jesus, whosoever believes on him shall receive remission of sins. That's at that point that the Holy Ghost started. He couldn't have fallen a moment before that. Because their sins were remitted at that point. See, you don't have to go forward to an altar. All you have to believe is that in his name there is remission of sins. And you have remission of sins. At that moment you'd be sitting in your chair, it doesn't matter. As soon as their sins were remitted, the Holy Ghost fell. They all began to speak with other tongues. They were baptized in the Holy Ghost. They received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gloria that is spoken of up there. But it never says they were filled with the Holy Ghost. And it's really utterly illogical to suppose that exactly the same results would follow in the lives of those people who had never heard the gospel message ten minutes before. As would follow in the lives of Jews that had known the scriptures since childhood. And had spent three and a half years in consecrated following of Jesus. Listening to his teachings. And then got together for ten days in an upper room and spent ten days waiting upon God. It would be totally illogical to suppose that all the effects would be the same in the household of Cornelius as they were in the upper room. And the Bible doesn't say they were. Furthermore, we don't know very much more that happened in Caesarea. We know from history, not from, really it's hardly from the book, the Bible, that there was a Christian church in Caesarea. But how much of an impact there really was, we do not know. But we know that when the Holy Spirit fell in the upper room in Jerusalem, there was such an impact that the whole of Jerusalem was shaken. And I pointed out to you yesterday, and you can check for yourself, there's scarcely one place in the New Testament where the phrase to be filled with or full of the Holy Spirit is used. Where there is not a very definite and positive marked impact. And I don't believe that it's scriptural to speak about people being filled with or full of the Holy Ghost, if there's no impact. That's my firm conclusion. And there are places today where the Pentecostal movement is in existence, and people have been baptized in the Holy Ghost, but there is virtually no impact. Britain is one of them. Some places, there have been Pentecostal assemblies, 10, 20, 30 years, that haven't grown to more than 30 people. And they meet on Sunday mornings, and they have the gifts of the Spirit, and they prophesy and speak in tongues. And shake one another by the hand, and go out and come back next Sunday and do the same thing. And the people just down the street don't even know they exist. I don't believe that's the fullness of the Holy Ghost. I believe wherever there is the fullness of the Holy Ghost, there's going to be an impact. Things are going to happen. Satan's going to get mad. The world is going to be turned upside down. Things are going to happen. One of our brother missionaries in Kenya, Canadian, brother in the Lord, he said, when we arrive in a place, let, let people be mad or let them be glad, but let them know we're there anyhow. And I say the same. If they don't know we're there, we're failing. Something wrong. So I come to this conclusion. Actually it's quite interesting. If you look at the cases of the people of whom it is stated that they were filled with or full of the Holy Ghost. There are eight individuals mentioned, just in the order that they come. It's John the Baptist, Elizabeth the mother of John, Zacharias the father of John, Peter, Paul, Jesus, Stephen, Barnabas. Out of those eight people, we know at least five sealed their testimony by their death. So there's quite a lot being involved, involved in being filled with the Holy Ghost. It's not exactly the easiest kind of life to live. You're going to challenge the very gates of hell. And hell is going to fight back. Don't be in any doubt about that. If you don't want opposition, don't be filled with the Holy Ghost. Because there'll always be opposition. Things will always happen. Says Jesus full of the Holy Ghost walked into a synagogue in Capernaum. There wasn't many minutes before there was a demon possessed man in the synagogue saying what am I going to do with thee though Jesus of Nazareth. We know thee who thou art. I don't doubt that man had sat in that synagogue every Saturday for months and years past. But nothing had ever happened until Jesus walked in full of the Holy Ghost. And then the opposition manifested itself. And I say praise the Lord that's one of the greatest compliments the devil can give us. Take note of the fact that we've arrived. If he ignores us, that's an insult. That's condemnation. If the devil can afford to ignore us, we're not where we ought to be. Now I don't know whether I've succeeded in making this plain to you or not. Because I have been into this subject for the past say 12 months, very very carefully. I've studied the scripture, prayed over it, meditated on it, and tested it out. And experienced it in various different ways. But I want to come back and make this statement, which I believe I started with. That the Holy Ghost is not a dictator. He doesn't come in and automatically take control. And now do this and clear this out and move over there. No. Some Pentecostal people have acted and spoken as if he was a dictator. You've heard Pentecostal people doubtless disturb a meeting and exercise the gifts out of order and somebody reproves them. They say brother I couldn't help it. The Holy Ghost made me do it. I don't believe that. I don't believe the Holy Ghost makes anybody do it. If you've moved by a spirit that makes you do things, you're moved by the wrong spirit. The Holy Ghost is a comforter. He's a teacher. He's the spirit of grace. See we've got, you must acknowledge, I know the Pentecostal movement inside out and I'm identified with it. But you must acknowledge many of us have had a false picture of our relationship with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost takes what you give. You don't give, he doesn't take. Now in the experience of a Christian, there are various different things that we cannot ignore. I have a little list of them somewhere. If I can find it, I'll read it out. If I won't, I don't. I can't, so it doesn't matter. But let's just take some obvious examples. One thing important in the Christian life is obedience. Another is consecration. Another is the study of God's Word. Another is the right fellowship. Pursuing the wrong fellowship and keeping the right fellowship. Now the Baptism in the Holy Ghost is no substitute for any of those things. See, in God's provision, one thing is not a substitute for another. Here's another tremendous area of loose and sloppy thinking. People assume, and most of all today I'm praying, when they get the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues, that's it. No, I've got it. Well you've got that. But what else have you got? See, if you consider just a little picture, the armor of the Christian. Maybe we should look at that. In Ephesians chapter 6. This is just a little example of this principle. Ephesians 6. And we could read verse 12 through 17. Ephesians 6 reading verses 12 through 17. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. But the Bible says spirits of lawlessness in heavenly places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Now the armor is enumerated and consists of six pieces. Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery doubts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now there are six pieces of armor. The first is the girdle of truth. And I do believe that this is basic. We, when we want anything from God we've got to begin on the basis of truth. As a minister that's often asked to help and counsel people with their problems. I've learned one thing, the person that's fully honest is the easiest to help. The person that's completely frank, covers nothing up, excuses nothing, calls nothing by the wrong name, but just puts all the cards on the table. You can guarantee that God will help them. There's no question, the moment a person becomes really honest, God is going to do something in their life. But the trouble is, religious people are the people that are least prone to be honest. That may sound hard, but it's true. Religion tends to give people a double standard. One is what they believe, and the other is what they live. And it's very hard to get them to see the conflict and the discrepancies between the two. I'm a religious person myself, so I'm speaking just as much about myself as anybody else. I was a pagan. I was a Christianized, educated pagan for years. And I laughed at religious people. I could see their inconsistencies, their silliness, their ineffectiveness. I laughed at them. And even after God saved me and baptized me in the Holy Ghost, I was still making fun of religious people. One day the Lord spoke to me and said, remember you're a religious person now, and you've been one for a long while. And I thought, well I'd better be careful now. And it's true. It's true. The first thing is the girdle of truth. In eastern lands, men as well as women wear long hanging garments. And if ever a man is going to be active, the first thing he'll do is take the bottom of his garments and tuck them up into his girdle. Then his legs are clear for action. And so Paul says, until we become frank and honest, until we put away the little lies and hypocrisy and self-deception, we can't begin to move. That's the first step. Gird up your loins with truth. Then, the next one is having on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is a condition of the heart. Therefore it's in the area of the breast. It's not a condition of the head, but the heart. With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. A lot of people believe with the head, but it doesn't produce righteousness. It produces a denominational label. That's 15, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The shoes, boots, the preparation of the gospel. Don't run till you have a message. A lot of people leave Bible school, they've been trained in Bible school, but they don't have a message. They've got nothing on their feet. They don't get far. You can't march without a boot. Then, we have verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith. That's the great big, there are two Greek words for shield. This is the big one that will cover the entire person. With it you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. Which is the word of God. The helmet, covering for the hand. Then the sword, the only weapon of attack. Every other one is a weapon of defense, protection, except the sword. Now you'll observe how wonderful the Bible is, when you have all that. You are protected from the crown of your head, to the soles of your feet. But you leave off only one piece of armor, and your protection ceases to be complete. And no one piece is a substitute for any of the other pieces. Now the way in which I've learned this, and seen it in the lives of so many Christians, is they do not have the helmet. That means their head is unprotected. Their thought life is open to the enemy. And you see a person wounded in the head, becomes more or less incapable of wielding the sword, or marching on his feet. This is happening to thousands and thousands of Christians, even Christian ministers and missionaries. Their thought life is unprotected. And this wound in the head, renders them incapable really, of making full use of the other pieces of armor. I've learned all this by hard experience. I learned it the hard way. I learned it in my own experience. The helmet of salvation. Now you might say, as I said, well what is the helmet of salvation? Just because there's a helmet of salvation, it doesn't tell us what it is. But it does. You keep your finger there, and you turn to 1st Thessalonians 5 and verse 8. 1st Thessalonians 5 and verse 8. But let us who are of the day, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love. And for an helmet, the hope of salvation. See, so you are told what the helmet is. It's the hope of salvation. This is a wonderful truth, which you can prove in your experience. It's not just a doctrine. The protection of the mind is hope. It's an attitude of hope. It's an attitude of optimism. You become a pessimist, you're sunk. You'll be wounded in the head. See. No Christian has got a right to be a pessimist. All Christians have to be optimistic. Amen. Now some of us, like me, we were born pessimists. I was born a pessimist. It's in my family. It runs right back, I can trace it back. And that was one of my big problems. But God showed me that my head was unprotected. I was open to thoughts of failure and defeat and discouragement, continually. God showed me this isn't Christianity. You've got to be changed. Then I learned to put on the helmet. I used to suffer particularly from tremendous moods of depression, that used to come over me. And as I travel around, I meet one in every ten or twenty people in every congregation that have had the same problem. I learned through Isaiah 61 verse 3, that I was dealing with the spirit. The spirit of heaviness. I wasn't wrestling with myself, I was wrestling with an enemy. An agent of Satan. It was troubling me. I then discovered Joel 2 32. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered. I called upon the name of the Lord and I was delivered. Then I realized that I had to keep my deliverance. God showed me the two means to keep free. Isaiah 61 3, it says in place of the spirit of heaviness, the garment of praise. Put on the garment of praise, the spirit of heaviness won't come near you. And then put on the helmet of hopeless salvation. Change your way of thinking. Be an optimist. All things work together for good to them that love God. So how can you be a pessimist? See, there's this, it's unbelief to be a pessimist. Abraham, because of his faith, which was in his heart, against hope, believed in hope. He had the helmet. See, as well as the breastplate. Hope is a tremendously important thing. Up to this time, in my experience, I'd never heard a sermon preached on hope in all my life. And I was just amazed to discover how much there was about hope in the New Testament. Colossians 1 27, Christ in you, the hope of God. No hope, no Christ. Romans 8, I think it's 28 or something like that. Not 28, but somewhere around there. We are saved by hope. And then Ephesians 2 12, when we're without God and without Christ, we're without hope. Hebrews 5 at the end of the chapter, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, steadfast and sure, and that entereth in within the veil. See, not only is hope your helmet, it's your anchor. You, you can be tossed and baffeted to and fro in the ways of life, but if you've got hope, that anchor holds you firm. It's an anchor that's fastened in an eternal rock. Part is out of time into eternity. You can't get on without hope. You put on the garment of praise, and that demon of heaviness comes back, you'll bother him more than he bothers you. You really want to bother the devil, you praise the Lord. Amen. And I'll tell you one particular thing to praise the Lord for, that Jesus is exalted, far above all principality, and power, and dominion, and might. And every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And if the devil is still hanging around, then you go on and remind him. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And you keep that up for a little while, the devil will find somebody else to bother. Because you bother him more than he bothers you. Amen. This, this is true. Amen. This is the garment of praise. The helmet of hope. But what I, what I went into that study for, was not to tell you this, but to point out to you that in God's provision, one thing is not a substitute for another. This is perfectly true, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Fine, you've, you've received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you've spoken with other tongues. Thank God it's wonderful. It's the greatest single help that God can give a Christian, to be a good Christian. But it's no substitute for the other things that God requires of a Christian. That's the point. No substitute for obedience, for consecration, for study of the word of God, for right fellowship. See, you can't keep up in wrong fellowship and have the right result. Come out from among them, be ye separate, touch not the unclean things of God. You've got to have fellowship with somebody. So the choice is between having it with the right people and having it with the wrong people. And that's a clear choice, isn't it. You could, you, you, you, you couldn't be baptized in the Holy Ghost, but if you keep the wrong company, you'll lose all that God has given you. And more. You'll be worse than you were before. Don't imagine that this does something that something else is intended to do. No. You see, as I understand it aright, if we look at the history of the Pentecostal movement, and the Pentecostal movement has a history. It's not a long history, but it has a history. And I think it's a pity sometimes that some people from the other denominations that are coming into this experience don't take a little while to study the history of the Pentecostal movement. Because it's much less painful to learn by other people's mistakes than to make your own. But I find little evidence that most of them are learning by our mistakes. See, when the, the, the dramatic outpouring took place in Azusa Street in Los Angeles, which kind of marked the official beginning of the Pentecostal movement. Although this thing had been going on for maybe 40 or 50 years before that. There had been outpourings in Russia, Armenia, Finland and so on. But nevertheless they didn't make the headlines in the religious news, but Azusa Street did in a way. Now you consider the people that went to that Azusa Street prayer meeting. Because I wasn't there, I mean I'll tell you that. But on the whole, I think you could say they were the cream of the crop. They were people that had been in various different denominations, they were consecrated, well-instructed Christians, who were dissatisfied with the formality and the powerlessness of their own movement, and were drawn to seek God for something more. Now when those people received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, remember what else they had. They had a background of Bible-believing Christianity. They were consecrated. In many cases they were people with rich spiritual experience, and the knowledge of the Word of God. But today, thank God for what God is doing. But multitudes of people that are receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit don't have any of those things at all. You couldn't, if you told them to look for epistles of the Hebrews, they'd look in the Old Testament. Well it would be utterly foolish to imagine that the baptism in the Holy Spirit will produce the same results in the lives of those people as it did in the lives of the people of the crucifix. It would be utterly inconsequential. It will if it's united with this, with the other things that the people have. God has got no favorites, he doesn't care about denominations, but he does impose conditions. And he does demand obedience. Now this isn't aimed at people somewhere else. This is a personal issue for you and me here this morning. Just what is our relationship to the Holy Ghost this morning? Is he really Lord in our lives? We've received him, we've spoken with other tongues, maybe we speak with other tongues. But does he really possess us? Somebody said, and it's quite a good way to put it, it's not a question of how much you have of the Holy Ghost, it's a question of how much the Holy Ghost has of you. Now there is no question whatever that multitudes of people that have been baptized in the Holy Ghost are not fully yielded to the Holy Ghost. There's no doubt about this. The evidence is in their lives. The situation reminds me somewhat of Samuel when he came to see Saul. After Saul had been sent off on a divine errand to wipe out the Amalekites. To kill their king and their cattle and their sheep. And Saul returned and Samuel went to meet him. And Saul said, blessed be thou the Lord thy God, I have fulfilled the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, in a very simple practical way, well then what meaneth the lowing of the oxen that I hear? And the bleeding of the sheep in mine ears? Dead oxen don't low and dead sheep don't bleed. There's a very manifest, obvious evidence all around you that you haven't obeyed the commandment of the Lord. And that's true of multitudes of Pentecostal people. No matter what they say, the evidence is right there. It's shouting at you. They aren't yielded to the Holy Ghost. He isn't effectively Lord of their lives. They've received him, very graciously, because his spirit of grace, he's come in. But what has, what has followed, what has transpired after that differs in every case. Every person is an individual. It's up to each one of us to decide personally, what is my relationship to the Holy Ghost? How much of me does he control this morning? What areas of my life have I excluded him from? I believe you can speak about being filled with the Holy Ghost when every area of your personality and of your life is permeated with the Spirit of God. That's what I, that's how I understand it to mean the fullness of the Holy Ghost. The logical application of the word. Now, going on further, if I have succeeded in convincing you, I don't know whether I have, that you can be baptized in the Holy Ghost and yet not be filled with the Holy Ghost, or fully yielded to the Holy Ghost, or not have the Holy Ghost in real control of every area of your life. We now face the next question. What about the areas of your life that aren't under the control of the Holy Ghost? What about them? And I venture to suggest to you, when I suggest this on the basis of scripture and experience, there are two possibilities with regard to those areas of your life that are not effectively under the control of the Holy Ghost. One is simply the old carnal form of nature still prevails. The old flesh. What the Bible calls the old man, the flesh or the body of sin. I believe those three phrases are used interchangeably for what we are apart from the grace of God and the effective work of salvation in our lives. Now the old man is totally alien and opposed to God. Romans 8 says the carnal mind is enmity against God. The old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lie. He's pictured in Isaiah as wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. From the crown of the head to the sole of the feet there is no songness in it. That's the old nature. So hopeless is the old nature that God decided not even to try to repair him or improve him or patch him up. But he pronounced a sentence of death upon him. This sentence of death was executed and carried out in Jesus. Because he identified himself with our fallen nature. He who knew no sin was made sin with our sinfulness. For us. This is not bearing the penalty for our sinful acts. This is identifying himself with our sinful nature. That's why Jesus said concerning his death on the cross that Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up. In other words the snake on the pole is a picture of Jesus. How can the snake typify Jesus? It typifies Jesus made sin with our sinfulness. It typifies our old man being crucified in him. Now it doesn't matter who you are. Makes no difference. Your old man is an enemy of God. There's no good in it. Paul said I know that in me that is in my flesh. Well it's no good thing. The whole is corrupt. There may be much talent, much brilliance, much ability. But it's all corrupted. There is nothing pure, nothing clean, nothing acceptable to God. Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And in the margin it is incurably sick. Whose heart? Everybody's heart. The heart of natural man. Hopelessly, incurably sick. Thou hast no healing medicines above us. There's nothing that can do it. All right it's under sentence of death. Nothing you can do, no religion, no good works, can recommend the old man to God. He will not accept him. The place for him is the cross. Nowhere else. That's what he deserves. He's Barabbas. Jesus took the place of Barabbas. Jesus took your place and my place. That's the same thing. All right now if there's any area of your life in which the cross has not been applied that's the old man. That's the flesh. That's the body of sin. And in Galatians 5 24 Paul says this And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. Now that's a tremendously important verse. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. This is the mark of those that belong to Jesus Christ. They that are Christ. It's a general statement about all that belong to Jesus Christ. Precisely the same phrase is used about the resurrection of the just and the rapture. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Paul says concerning the resurrection. Christ the first fruit. Then they that are Christ at his coming. For whom is Jesus coming? They that are Christ. You see Jesus is coming like a thief. But he's not going to do what a thief does. Because a thief takes that which is not his. But Jesus is going to come and take that which is his. And he's only taking that which is his. And he's not taking anything else. And when he comes he's coming for they that are Christ. And here it says they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. Now in Calvary's transaction this was done by God. Romans 6 says our old man was crucified with him. That's finished. But it's got to be made effective in the life of each one of us individually by the act of our own will and faith. This does not say that God has crucified our flesh. God will not do this. They that are Christ have crucified their own flesh. In other words they have put their fallen carnal nature up on the cross. With the affections and lust. With all its attitudes, its emotions, its desires. They belong to the cross. There's nothing good in them. They're not acceptable to God. Nothing can commend them to God. This is what we have to do. This isn't done for us. We do this. Paul says in Colossians 3. Colossians chapter 3 verse 3 and following. I would like to take a little more but I won't. For ye are dead and your life is paid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Mortify in simple English means put to death. Make them dead. Keep them dead. You do this. God doesn't do this to you. God has made it possible for you to do it but you will have the responsibility to do it. Mortify. What does Paul mean by our members? It's perfectly plain. He specifies fornication, uncleanness in all forms, inordinate affection, every uncontrolled and unbridled desire. Whether it be for popularity or applause or money or sexual gratification or whatever it be. Any uncontrolled affection and desire is of the old nature. Covetousness, evil concupiscence and so on. All these things. God has made it possible by the atoning death and substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But we have to do it. We crucify ourselves. We mortify our members. Now the Holy Spirit is the one that gives us the greatest help to do this. But he does not do it for us. Romans 8. We read verse 11, 12 and 13. You can read verse 14 too if you like. It wouldn't do any harm. Romans 8. 11, 12, 13 and 14. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. As I understand it, Paul is writing to people who are indwelled by the spirit of God. People that have received the Holy Ghost. People that have been baptized in the Holy Ghost. Now listen to what he says to them. Therefore brethren we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die. Notice to whom he's speaking. To people who are indwelled by the spirit of God. But he still warns them, if you live after the flesh you will die. You'll lose your life. It will not be affected. The baptism in the Holy Ghost is not for those that are living after the flesh. I mean it's when in this sense I mean that it doesn't do anything for you. The Holy Ghost is not going to revive the old nature. That would be contrary to the whole plan of God. If you want God to bless your old nature then don't take the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Because he won't do it. But it says, if ye through the spirit that's the Holy Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live. Notice. The Holy Spirit comes in to help us to mortify the deeds of the body. But we have to do it. We have to do it. If you don't know this and if you don't exercise your will, it will not happen. A great deal of Pentecostal preaching is directed to the emotion. And the results are purely emotion. But God isn't concerned primarily about our emotions. He's concerned about our will. When God has got your will, your emotions will fall into line. You won't be an unemotional person. I don't mean that. Emotion is important. But it's not primary. The will is the thing that matters. That's what God is thinking. Your will. When he has your will, he has you. The rest will all fall in the line. You have to make up your mind. You have to make a mental decision. Decision of the will. To put these areas of your life on the cross. To put them down. In a sense it's all done. But we have to do it individually. Not merely do we have to do it individually. But we have to do it in respect to particular areas of your life. Of our life. Each one of us. I was talking to a young man last night who had a certain problem. And I said to him, the Bible says laying aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. That's usually called the besetting sin. I, my conviction is every Christian has a besetting sin. At least I know I have. And I know what it is. But I'm not going to tell you. It doesn't matter. My wife knows what it is. She's going to live with me long enough. But everyone has got some particular thing that comes more easily to our nature than anything else. We've lived so long with it, some of us wouldn't know how to live without it. Become a kind of part of it. We don't feel angry about that sin in us as we do in others. But we've still got to get rid of it. We've got to take it, identify it, call it by the right name. It belongs on the cross. I put it there. All right. Now in some, and in not a few, that have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. There are areas of their life that have not been. The principle of the cross has not been applied. I think that's the fairest way to say it. The unregenerate, fallen, rebellious, carnal nature is still manifesting itself very actively. And the more the Spirit of God moves, the more active is the opposition. The greater is the clash. These two are contrary, one to the other, the Spirit and the flesh. They lust against one another. The things the Holy Spirit wants, the flesh wants the opposite. And as long as you have this flesh undealt with in your life, the more the Spirit moves, the greater will be the conflict. So the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit doesn't always make things easier in this respect. It brings things to the light. It shows us certain things in their true light, that before we could accept and call by some other name. But the Holy Spirit shines the searchlight upon them and we find that these things are revolting. They're unacceptable to God. Some of us, we didn't know what it was to be really angry till we were baptized in the Holy Ghost. It's quite a remarkable thing, but that's fact. Now, I've got my eye on that talk. Anywhere that is not yielded to the Holy Ghost, I believe this applies. The old nature still asserts itself. The best person to find out if you're married, is to ask your wife or your husband. If you're not married, well that's another matter. Ask your parents or your brothers and sisters. People that know you closely. Somebody said to Billy Graham once, if someone told a good Christian, Billy Graham said, well I don't know, I haven't met his wife yet. We can cover these things up in church, but we can't cover them up at home. I mean, I'm talking about that kind of thing, do you understand? I mean, we're all familiar with people that have a tremendous reputation in the church, but at home, they're wisely the miserable kind. Not uncommon. You'd be surprised how common it is. Now, this is an awful thing to say when I'm going to close in seven minutes, but in addition to this possibility, now hold on to your seat, there is a further possibility. And the further possibility that there remains an area of your life that is actually controlled by a resident representative of Satan. Even though you have been baptized in the Holy Ghost. You understand what I mean? There can be an actual area in your personality in life that is occupied by an evil spirit. Now you say, how will I know the difference? And I venture to offer you this today. When you've honestly taken your stand against this thing in your life, and you've applied the teaching of the scripture, you said I reckon myself dead. I put this thing on the cross. And you're sincere and obedient to the scripture. And still you face this rebellion, this opposition, this insurrection within your own life, and you cannot get victory. Then what you are dealing with is a demon. And you need, not merely to know the principles of the cross, you need deliverance. See, there's two totally distinct things. You don't cast out the old man, you can't do that. You reckon him dead. But you don't reckon demons dead, you cast them out. You can reckon demons dead as long as you like, but they aren't dead and they won't be dead. Now this is not exactly popular and some people would consider it heretical, but the thing about it is, it's true. And I have never preached this anywhere. And I don't preach it until I feel impelled by the spirit of God to do it. I don't do it. But anywhere I have done it, without exception, it has never failed that people have come to me afterwards and said Brother Prince, you've described my condition. And I never knew it. All these years, I didn't realize what I was dealing with. And when people come face to face with reality, there's deliverance. Sure. But if people won't acknowledge that they need deliverance, they can't have it. This is why I find it necessary to present the truth that I'm speaking to present to you this morning. Because I find more people than I can counter-estimate, that are living in need of deliverance. But they just have been brought up to believe that it couldn't be true that they need deliverance, imbued with things that have happened in their lives. I, there are people sitting here this morning whom I wouldn't embarrass them, but I could cause them to stand up and bear testimony of the truth of what I say. That in spite of every experience, salvation, being baptized in water and baptized in the Holy Spirit, there are things in their lives that have been there since childhood, that never were evicted until they were dealt with specifically. Strangely enough, this is the commonest thing. That people have things in them from childhood. I have to be careful now, because I never want to betray anybody's confidence. But this is amazingly common. People that come, especially from a divided home, where father and mother have been in opposition. All the more so if Christianity was professed in that home. Usually what happens is that division, and a little frail child finds itself in opposition to one of its parents. That's a hopeless position for a child to be in. And sooner or later there will build up in this child resentment against its parents. Resentment will be followed by hatred. And there develops something within that personality that controls it, irrespective of its own will. And then, this will be transferred outside the family at just such different times. And in any moment of crisis or distress, there's something in that person that will assert itself. Cause them to feel tremendous unreasoning resentment and hatred. That's a demon. You need deliverance. Another of the commonest of all is fear. And again, many times this goes back to childhood. See, there are two types of personalities that tend to be weak. There's children and women. And the devil does not respect weakness. Christians should, but the devil doesn't. The Bible says concerning husbands and wives, giving honor unto the wife as the weaker vessel. And Peter says to married women, who are concerning Sarah, whose daughters he are, as long as he do well and are not afraid with any amazement. Have you ever noticed that? Modern English, you don't give way to any shock. To any hysterical experience. That's how it would be. Because these moments of shock are the moments when this thing enters. And once it comes in, it's got to go out. There's no alternative.