In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the difficulty of living up to God's standards. He refers to Saint Paul's personal experience in the seventh chapter of Romans, where Paul confesses his struggle to do good while evil is present within him. The preacher also highlights the importance of loving God and keeping His commandments, as stated by Jesus in John 14:15. He mentions the promise of the Holy Spirit as a comforter and guide for believers. The sermon concludes with the reminder that in our flesh, there is no inherent goodness, and we are dependent on God's grace and teaching to live according to His will.

Chapter 14, beginning in verse 15. This is our Lord Jesus talking to his apostles, and he says, If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him, ye know him, for he abides with you, and shall be in you. And then some verses from chapter 16 of the same gospel. Chapter 16 in verse 5, But now I go unto him that sent me, and none of you asks me, Whither goest thou? But because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth, 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 go, I will send him unto you. He, when he is come, will convict the world, in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin, because they believe not on me, of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more, of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth, for he shall not speak from himself, but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak. He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he taketh of mine, and shall declare it unto you. God give us, by that same Holy Spirit, a good understanding of his word. Now in this series of studies this weekend, we have been thinking of the Christian pathway. After we become Christians, our development in the things of God, our development of Christian character, our development in the school of holiness. And we began last night by considering first of all that profound Christian assurance and confidence that we have. Confidence that we shall attain the glory of God. Confidence even in face of tribulation, knowing that tribulation, when it has done its worst, can only produce faith and endurance and confidence based not in the feeling of the moment, but confidence based in the very nature and character of the love of God. And as we were thinking then of our Christian assurance, how that we may be absolutely sure, not only that we have already peace with God, but that one day shall attain the very glory of God. We found it comforting and encouraging in the extreme. This morning, however, we were thinking of the topic of discipleship. For when we become Christians, among other things, we become disciples. Or, if you like to translate it so, learners. And Christ, who is our savior, becomes also our teacher. We found that idea attractive too. Why, if we had had parents who could have afforded to have sent us to some high-ranking school, we should have felt quite happy, shouldn't we? And if they had had to pay a lot of money for our education, the world would hear of it. Do you know it cost my parents 400 a year to send me to school? I think that God's own son was prepared to become my teacher, so that I, the insignificant one that I am, am daily taught by God's own son. My heart is lifted up, not in pride, but in profound thankfulness and gratitude to God that he should even bother to try and teach me. And we were comforted to remember his words that, as he invites us to come and learn and to accept his yoke, his yoke is easy and his burden is light. We were encouraged too to think of the advantages that come from our learning, from our discipleship. In the words of our Lord, if you continue in my word, then you shall be my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Now for all that, this morning, we did sense that there was another side to this whole business. We found that the path of discipleship can be, and frequently is, very costly. And we found our Lord's demand so absolute that perhaps some of us fell to thinking, well, perhaps the cost would be a bit too much to bear. How could we really face it? We heard him say, look, if any man comes after me and hates not his mother and father and brother and sister, that is, if he's not prepared to give them the second place and put me first, then he can't be my disciple. And we heard him say again, if anybody comes after me and doesn't deny himself and take up his cross, he cannot be my disciple. And we heard him say again, whosoever he be that renounceth not all that he has cannot be my disciple. And as I say, thinking about those demands of our Lord Jesus and how absolute they are, we may well have felt, but I don't know. I don't know if I could pay the price. I don't know whether I could stick the cause. It has often been a difficulty like that that has stopped some people actually trusting Christ at the very beginning. They have found it very attractive, the idea that if you trust Christ, he gives you as a gift his salvation, gives you eternal life, gives you forgiveness, free and for nothing. And they say, yes, of course, that's marvelous. But then they know enough about Christ and the Bible to know that when we become Christians, that's just the beginning of a life that is expected to live to please God. And they say to themselves, write down honestly, yes, well that's the snag you see. Suppose I trusted Christ tonight, but what about next week? I don't feel somehow I can keep up the standard of a Christian life. They say to themselves, therefore, I'm not going to be a hypocrite. I'm not going to pretend to receive Christ today only to find that next week I can't keep the standards up and I let the side down. And one can understand that reasoning, surely. So tonight we move on to another provision that God has made for us. For it is quite true if you feel that way. It is certainly true. You cannot keep the standard up. Neither can I for that matter. Neither can anyone. And it's a lesson that we do well to get well and truly into our hearts. There is none of us that can keep the standard up. Some of us that are a little bit more prickish than others sometimes fall into the idea of imagining we can. But that is a great deception. Sometimes even after we have received Christ and we've gone on and, hey, it's been wonderful, we gradually slip into the idea that we can, yes, we're managing, we're coping, we can make it, we're quite strong. God has to teach us, even after we become Christians, that we're not as strong as we think we are. It's a hard lesson to learn. But if we are going really to enjoy and lay hold of this provision that we are to think about tonight, we shall first have to get it into our hearts and all the way along the road that in ourselves we cannot keep up the standard. St. Paul, in his seventh chapter of his letter to the Romans, bravely and courageously opens his heart to us and tells us a bit of his own personal experience. Old fellow. Some of us are not prepared quite to confess to that type of thing. He says, you know, what I have found is this, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. And the curious thing is, he says, I don't want to be a rotter, I don't want to do wrong things. In my mind, in my intellect, I serve the law of God. I read God's word. It says thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. I say, yes, of course. Why, who wouldn't? Intellectually, that's a, obviously that's the right thing to do. If we could love our neighbours as ourselves, well then there would be no atomic wars, there would be no shortages, there would be nobody starving anywhere if we loved our neighbour as ourselves. And the atmosphere in the home would be a perfect heaven. We agree with it mentally. Ooh, says Paul, agreeing with it mentally. That ain't the same as doing it. And it isn't, he says, that I don't enjoy being as I ought to be. In my inner man, in my emotions, I delight in the law of God. And what is more, says Paul, I bring my will to bear upon the subject. Now I take myself by the scruff of the neck and I say, now Paul, old boy, sit down there a minute. Now look here, old chap. Your mind tells you that the law of God is the sensible thing and you've got to carry it out. Right? And your emotions say, yes, it's jolly good when you can carry out the law of God and behave as you should. Now Paul, be a man, do. Take yourself by the scruff of the neck and preach yourself a sermon. Now tomorrow, Paul, you're going to do it. I will that you would do it. I will to do what is right. As any psychologist would tell you, intellect, emotions, will, that's a man's whole personality. Yet Paul had to discover that with every side of his personality bent on doing the will of God and keeping his law, he didn't do it. And the good he would do, he didn't. And the evil he didn't want to do, that he did. What went wrong? Well, he said, it wasn't I so much, it was the sin that dwells in me. It is a hard lesson to learn. But it remains true that in us all, unconverted, yes, and converted, a newborn Christian, an old Christian with a beard and nearly home to glory, that in us, that is in our flesh, there dwells no good thing. How then am I ever going to make progress in the school of holiness? How am I going to learn my lessons as a disciple and learner in the school of Christ? However, am I going to attain the glory of God? And the answer is, in that other gift that God has given us. God has given us amongst his innumerable gifts two outstanding gifts. The one is described in these words, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And the second is this. We've read the words together. He said, Our Lord, I will pray the Father and he will give you another comfort. Even the spirit of truth, that he may be with you forever. And all our hope of ever becoming holy and increasing in our holiness in the school of Christ and attaining the glory of God is to be found in that blessed person whom we are taught to call the holy. So I want to go over a few elementary, pretty well known lessons, at least I hope they're well known, about the person and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We may hold it fresh and with a firmer grasp the glorious succor and help that he gives to us. I want to point out first of all that God gives his Holy Spirit to everyone that trusts Christ. And my verse for so saying that is to be found in the epistle to the Romans, chapter 8 and verse 9. Let me read it to you. Epistle to the Romans, chapter 8 and verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. I'll read that verse again, particularly the first part. For it is an explicit, clear, fundamental statement. It runs like this. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. A typical wonder phase, isn't it, that you first read it and it says you are not in the flesh. And you say, goodness me, what am I in then? I sit here very much and I can pinch myself. I'm in something or other. What am I in if I'm not in the flesh? Ah, yes. But if we had time to consider the whole context, we should find that Paul means something like this. He is talking about the very roots of our being, source of our life, ground of our life. And he is saying, so to speak, you, you now, take yourself, where is your life rooted in? Well, he says if you are a believer, if you have trusted Christ, if you have believed God, and you have peace with God, you have been justified. Now listen, he says, you, the real you, you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the roots of your being have been taken by God and put into His Holy Spirit. Oh, you still have the flesh around you, but the root of your being is no longer in the flesh. One of these days your old body will die, won't it? What? Go into the grave and disappear to dust. And that old fallen body, seen of so many a defeat, is going to be left behind forever. Will you perish? Oh no, you shall, I shall perish. I shall be raised and be given a glorious changed body, a new body. Yes, do you see what that shows? That your life is no longer rooted in that old thing, is it? It's now rooted in God's Holy Spirit. A man who hasn't trusted Christ, oh what a pathetic state he's in. He has no other form of life, you know. As a fallen creature, sin has marred him, but he has no other form of life, no other source of life. Happy the man who saw his sinful predicament as a fallen creature, saw himself under the judgment of God, saw himself sentenced to die, and instead of waiting for the great judgment day, for the sentence to be carried out, ran to Christ for mercy, and seized Christ, and agreed with God, yes God, I accept your judgment. Christ is the one who died for. The man who was before in the flesh, and that's all the source of life he ever had, is changed over and God puts him in the spirit. You are not in the flesh, but you are in the spirit, if the spirit of God dwells in you. That is in one sense what it means to be a Christian, to have a new source. So let's mark it well. It is a plain, straightforward statement, true of every believer, you are not in the flesh, now listen, you are in the spirit, if the spirit is in you. There are some folks who tell us that a Christian can be in the spirit, but not have the spirit in him, and that he has to wait before he gets the Holy Spirit. That's absolutely false. That contradicts God's Holy Word. Don't you let anybody rob you, like that, will you, of your joy. The Word of God categorically states it, if you are in the spirit, the spirit is in you. Glorious, isn't it? Source. And then I want us to observe the very simple but glorious fact, that once we have received the Holy Spirit, he remains with us forever. When he said to his disciples, I will pray to the Father, and he will send you another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, that he may be with you forever. Now that was a wonderful thing. Let us think how it came to be. Our Lord was talking to his disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem, just before he died. And he was explaining to them why he had to go away. And the apostles were very down in the mouth. In fact, they didn't quite understand it really, all this talk about going away, and what he wanted to go away for, they couldn't make out, why couldn't he stay? And it felt so much better if he stayed, and they were so gloomy and down in the mouth, because he'd been talking about going away, that they hadn't really thought to ask what he was going to do anyway. So our Lord had to explain to them why it was that he had to go away. He said, if I don't go away, the Comforter will not come. If I go away, I will send him to you. What does that mean? Well, it's pretty obvious, isn't it, what it says. And when the Lord Jesus was sitting there with the disciples in the upper room, the Holy Spirit had not yet come. And if I don't go away, said Christ, he won't come. So he hadn't come then. And you say, that's queer, because I read in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit came upon Gideon. And I read David talking about his experience of the Holy Spirit all those years ago. And indeed, you say, a few verses earlier, the Lord Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit was already abiding with them. You know him, says the Lord Jesus to the disciples, for he abides with you. However, do you add that sum up and make it balanced? Because one minute he says the Holy Spirit is with you, and the next minute he says he hasn't come yet. That's a bit of a conundrum, isn't it? But it does make sense. Let me use an illustration or an analogy from our Lord's own life. If you go back into the Old Testament for a moment in your thought, you will remember that one night, one very dark night, when old Jacob had run away from his father-in-law David, like some young men do, and was going back home, and he was afraid that his brother Esau, whom he had robbed, was going to come and smite him. Jacob had got the jitters, and he was a-praying that night. He generally prayed when he got the jitters, if not other times. And then the dark shaman grabbed him and wrestled with him. And as the wrestling went off, Jacob realized he was in the grip of someone more than human. When it was over, Jacob realized the truth. He said, I've seen the very face of God. It was the one whom the Old Testament calls the angel of the Lord. It was the one whom we call the second person of the Trinity. For God the Father nobody has seen at any time. If anybody in the Old Testament saw the face of the Lord, it was the one whom we are taught to call the second person of the Trinity. He appeared similarly to Gideon and to others. But though in those different times Christ, the one whom we now call Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, visited this earth, he never stayed here. He visited and went, visited and went. And though many times he had visited the earth and gone back again, he had not yet come. Ah, but there came a moment in history Oh, so wonderful. When the second person of the Trinity came to earth, in the fullest sense of that term, Jesus, my Savior, to Bethlehem came, born in a manger, come to stay here, come incarnate in human form, leaving heaven, away from the Father, on earth, abiding there, growing up as a baby, working as a young man, going out to preach. He had come. Do you see the difference between that and those earlier visitations of comings and goings? Come in human form. In that same sense, our Lord uses the word come of the Holy Spirit. He says, now look, I've been with you these 33 years, now I am at last going, and I'm going back to the Father, and you won't see me anymore. But when I go, the Holy Spirit will come. And he's using the verb in a similar sense, isn't he? Not just visit people, not just come upon them for isolated occasions, but come to stay here, leaving heaven, coming to earth, staying on earth. Come. Oh, what a magnificent thing this is. The Holy Spirit staying here. Probably says somebody, where does he stay then? For when the second person of the Trinity, when the Son of God came, he was in a human form, and you could have seen him in the workshop at Nazareth, preaching by the seaside, or in the streets of Jerusalem. Well, if the Holy Spirit has come, where is he to be found? And the answer is, not incarnate, as our Lord Jesus was, in a body of flesh, but incarnate in another sense, in dwelling the body of every believer in the Lord Jesus. Oh, what a thrill it is when you wake up to know that is true. When you have trusted Christ, it wasn't a question of some wonderful feeling that you had that day, and then the feeling evaporated and went. Well, that can easily happen. Don't let that bother your head too much. When you trusted Christ, learn this, that the Holy Spirit came into your very body, and came to stay. He shall be in you, said Christ. Came to stay. Stay with you all the way home through life, until at last he has got you to glory. That's why he's called a comforter. That's why he's called a guide. That's why he's called an advocate. Let me use an illustration that may help you to see the importance of this coming in a sense. Way back in the Old Testament, there is a love story, and it's a love story with a difference. Abram was getting a little bit elderly, and he was looking around at his son Isaac, and he says to himself one day, you know, it's time Isaac thought about getting a wife. He was pushing up 60 or something, the man was. Goodness me, it's time he thought about getting a wife. And because he didn't seem to be making much of a move, Abram thought it politic, that they perhaps ought to make a bit of a move. Now it's a question of where is he getting a wife from? He says, I can't stick these girls around here, they wouldn't do for my son. I wonder, I wonder if there are any suitable girls down in the land I came from, my home country. Quite an attractive young man, you know, quite an attractive proposition. Look at all the wealth he's got, and I'm going to leave him in my will and have everything. Oh no, I think it would be a... Now what do you think he did to get the girl? Well he did get a girl, the Bible tells us her name, her name was Rebecca. What do you think he did? And send them down to Rebecca and say, Rebecca, dear Rebecca, when you get this letter, you will find enclosed a photograph of my son Isaac. And then you will get a map how to get here. If you would be interested in being the wife of my son Isaac, well, here's the map, find yourself here and we can arrange it. Ask your girl to come across hundreds of miles of desert, virtual desert on a caravan track, all by herself, to meet the man she'd never seen. Or even had more sense, he sent his senior servant, the steward of all his house, with all sorts of gifts and what not, down to where Rebecca lived. And he personally put the question to Rebecca, he described Isaac, you know, in glowing terms, he showed it was all real by pulling out an occasional earring here and slipping out a string of diamonds there. And then he put the question, would you care to be wife to my master's son? Sensibly enough, Isaac said, yes. The servant took her, didn't he? All through that way, he didn't leave the girl until he had her right where Isaac was. Only a story will show. God has a son and he loves him. And to that son he has given all things that he has. All that the father has in his mind, says Christ. All of it. All that there's on the other side of the story. All that the father has in his mind, he said to him, you've known me down here, for he shall take of my and show it to you. So the comforter did when he came, didn't he? He inspired a man called that this man they'd known as Jesus was in fact the firstborn of all creation in whom and through whom and for whom all things were made in heaven and in earth. That's who he was. Now seated at the hand of God, angels, principalities, and powers being subject to him, all listen to the great servant of God, the holy paraclete, come down to talk to the rebeckers of this making of all the father has because it's really Christ. Put in a proposition. God's proposition. Receive forgiveness of sin. Be joined to Christ. It stays there. And begins to lead that person home to Christ. Think what that means. It doesn't just come alongside me and quote the Bible at me and say, look here, old boy, can you have any vision of utter, do you have any vision of what Christ is now? He's absolutely perfect. Well, you try and get there. Inside me, wide deep down into my very heart, in all the complexes of my neuroses, in all the tangle of my memories, amidst all my traumas, amidst all my ignorance and twisted view of things, right where I am. He says, my dear man, we'll start here, shall we? Just where you are. We won't pretend you're nearer heaven than you are. We'll take you as you are. Right where you are and between what you now are and what you shall be. All the way along the journey. But come on, he says, we're going to do it together, you see. And he leads us thus home. Not merely to the place of heaven, but he leads us until at length we have reached the very glory of God and we are like Christ. Here it is said, then, what I had taught you here now in parable. Here it is said in the plain, straightforward statement of Holy Scripture. I'm going to read you from the Epistle to the Romans in chapter 8. And it goes like this. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, even to them that are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. There is the proposition. God's determined purpose that everyone that has been justified by faith shall at length be brought to glory in the sense of being conformed to the image of his Son. That's the purpose. How is it carried on? And what are the steps? Well, here we are. In like manner the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. That's how it happens. God has his will that I should become like Christ. Oh, but it doesn't happen automatically. You see, my dear good man, let me tell you straight. You won't wake up one of these Friday mornings and when you first open your eyes, oh, goodness me, I've become holy. Well, what a surprise. I wasn't expecting any such thing. Because I've become holy, goodness me. God sort of waved a wand over me tonight and I've become holy. No, sir, it won't happen like that. You'll have personally to walk every step of that journey. You'll have to make the decision, first of all, to trust Christ, won't you? You won't wake up one of these mornings and say, Presto, do you know, I think I became a Christian while I was asleep. No, sir, you'll have to make the decision to receive Christ. We don't even know what to pray for next as we ought to, really. What would be good for me next? A period of prosperity and peace? Allow my personality to blossom a bit? Or a period of persecution and difficulty? What would be good for me next? You don't know, do you? There is one who does know the next step of the road for me. And when I say to God, oh, help me to be a good Christian and give me a royal choice tomorrow, it's a bit wonky, that. But inside me, the Holy Spirit, yes, is interceding. He intercedes according to the will of God. And he deigns to take that little first bit of my prayer, oh God, help me to be holy. And all his divine energies go into that. And it's my prayer, and yet it's his prayer. Unless it should be meaningful for my spiritual development, but we have one. But he prays alongside of me. He doing the praying and it is me. We are told in the New Testament that as he fulfills this function to us, within us, he becomes our witness. He witnesses to us, does the Holy Spirit. For instance, Romans chapter 8 tells us that the Spirit witnesseth with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs of God. You see, it's lovely to read it in the Bible, isn't it? What the Holy Spirit does is to take that Word of God and make it real to our spirits. And where a man or woman has been born again and received God's Holy Spirit, he begins to witness to their spirit, their human spirit, that they are children of God. And as we saw on Friday night, he begins to pour into their heart the love of God and give them this confidence. Children of God, heirs of God. He begins to point them on towards home and the great inheritance. Witnesses to them. Witnesses to us directly to our spirits. So even if you couldn't read the Bible, the Holy Spirit could still witness to your spirit directly. But of course, in his witness to us, he also uses the Word of God, the Bible. Because there's no secret, is there? He wrote it. It's a mark of spirituality, not when people leave the Bible shut, you know, but when they open it and read it, because it was the Holy Spirit who wrote it. He inspired it. If you go, you should find a spirit moving you not to read the Bible. That won't be God's Holy Spirit. For the Bible was inspired by God's Holy Spirit. And so that we may not be a prey to all sorts of deceitful feelings in our own hearts, the message that the Holy Spirit would speak within our hearts, he has in his mercy caused to be put down in black and white so that I can read it there. Let's take one instance of this thing. In the epistles of the Hebrews in chapter 10, we find this statement. Verse 15 of chapter 10, And the Holy Ghost also bears witness to us. For after that he hath said, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and on their mind also will I write them. Then he says, And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Oops, I thought that was a Jeremiah. In the Old Testament, Jeremiah. It's the new covenant, isn't it? But here, God tells us it was the Holy Spirit witnessing through Jeremiah and witnessing to us through the trust of the Savior the glories of the new covenant. And they are these. He witnesses to us faithfulness of this new covenant that he's going to write God's laws on our hearts and on our mind. And our sins and iniquities God will remember no more. When a man first trusts Christ, sometimes he goes through a little bit of, the boat gets rocked a little bit. One day he reads in the Bible that his sins and iniquities God will remember no more and he can be utterly sure that he's saved and forgiven. And the next day somebody else comes along and says, Oh no, you shouldn't be sure. And you can't know. Whoever told you that, that preacher that told you that must be wrong. And the man begins to get a little bit wackety, so to speak. The boat rocks a bit and then, And now, Another likely thing is not left in the end to humans to convince. Wherefore the Holy Spirit also witnesses that he is the highest and final authority. I will write my laws on their hearts and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. All blessed testimony through our spirits directly and via God's Holy Word of the assurance of God's salvation. He's not only witness, but, says Romans 18, leads us. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God. Yes, but it should be literally, these are the sons of God. We are all children of God if we have trusted the Lord Jesus. We are all sons of God the moment we trust the Lord Jesus. Only when we first trust the Lord Jesus with baby sons. What the Holy Spirit does within us is so to lead us that we gradually grow up in the Spirit of the Father and we become grown-up sons. You, madam, have got a son, I suspect, maybe. He's ten. He's mad keen on rugger. So, he comes in in his rugby boots. He's been playing rugby. Mum, I scored a try today walking across your lounge carpet with the mum around his bootle, glorious. Yes, he's your child, isn't he? He hasn't quite got your spirit of decor in the lounge just yet, has he? Although, you have to take the appropriate measures. But you hope in your heart that one of these days the man will grow up and have a bit more of your spirit, eh? So that you won't have to tell him. He'll come in from rugby, yeah, mud, oh, glorious mud. Yeah, he'll come in from rugby still and he'll think to take his boots off. Oh, what a sport, a cardboard man. What's happened? Well, the man's grown up. He's got the spirit of his parents. So does the Holy Spirit, source of our life, witness to our salvation. He lives within to lead us. And as we are constantly led by him, you know, no, no, no, not that. No, this, look. Now, come on, not that way. This way. And as we learn to obey his leading, hey, presto, we begin to grow up. We have the spirit of God within us and we become grown up sons of God. This other gift, source of our life, the one as a paraclete always with us and in us to bring us home to God, interceding in us and alongside us, witnessing to us, leading us in our day-to-day decisions. And though there's so much more, we have to leave it there. Tomorrow, God willing, we shall get a chance to consider just a little bit more of his ministry towards us and how we may go in more deeply ourselves into the experience of God's Holy Spirit. And then we shall have to turn in the second half of tomorrow's meeting, God willing, to consider not only the Holy Spirit's work in me and to me, but his work through me to other people. Perhaps we've had enough of tonight and may that same Holy Spirit make himself real to every one of us. But just one last question. Paul once upon a time came to a place called Ephesus and as he was mixing around the folks that he met there, Christians most of them, he came across about a dozen men and as he got talking to these men he sensed, you know, something missing here. He would talk of the wonders of forgiveness and being sure you're a child of God. You know, no kind of response. Or, we do the best we can kind of business. Something missing here, says Paul to himself. But being a very nice, kind Christian gentleman he didn't say, Are you saved? He said, Tell me as a matter of interest, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Pardon, what did you say? He said, I said, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? That was serious, wasn't it? Because the Bible says that if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, he isn't a believer at all. If you haven't received the Holy Spirit you are not a believer. Huh. What's that, Paul? Well, there are a few of you. I see. Well, we'll have to look into this, shan't we? What were you baptized to, my good men? Well, they said to John's baptism. That's jolly good, yes, John's baptism, that was marvelous. But, you know, John preached the baptism of repentance. You repented? Well, of course. They were sincere men. Oh, God be merciful. Isn't that meant it? They had no assurance of salvation. The Holy Spirit had never witnessed to them that their sins and iniquities What was missing? Well, look, says Paul, you've got the first bit all right, you've repented, John. But John said to the people something else, didn't he? He said that they were to believe on him that came after him, that is, on the Lord Jesus. Go on, that's it, is that what John says? We've got to believe on the Lord Jesus. Well, Paul prayed, what does that mean? What do you mean, believe on the Lord Jesus? Paul had to tell them what it means to believe on the Lord. Not enough to repent, not enough to say endlessly, oh, God be merciful to me. You have to learn to do it. It's positively to believe. Would you be saved? Do you say, what must I do to be saved? The answer is not simply just repent of your sin. The answer is this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt. If you believe, then the Holy Spirit might be a spiritual tea. I sincerely hope that as many as possible will stay behind. It will be an opportunity to meet one another. It will be an opportunity when some might like to talk to Dr. Gooding. I'm sure he'd be very pleased. It's an opportunity to talk to any who would like to have a few words with him. Our closing hymn is number 585. And I'm going to ask if after this hymn Mr. Lennox might be so kind as to commend us to the Lord and to give thanks for his provision. Number 585. Oh, Jesus Christ, grow thou in me, and all things else receive. My heart be daily nearer thee from sin be daily freed. 585. Oh, Jesus Christ, Not only in the gift of thy beloveds to appear in the presence of God, to be in us and with us, to take the things of Christ and to be made to be written that we may be teachable and learn from thee, and that these things we have listened to may stand us in good stead in the disciplines of life that may come our way. We rejoice before thee for all thy wondrous works, and for the provision thou hast made in raising up those to take of these things and open them to us. Bless each one before thee. Remember us, Lord, as we leave this place and go our separate ways, that we may grow fortified and strengthened by thy grace and seek, Lord, more to live for the glory of heaven above us. We commit ourselves to thee. We thank thee for every temporal blessing, for the provision thou hast made for our godly needs. We pray thy blessing upon those who have given themselves to prepare in this place. Give these thanks in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul once upon a time came to a place called Ephesus. And as he was mixing around the folks that he met there, Christians most of them, he came across about a dozen men. And as he got talking to these men, he sensed, you know, something missing here. He would talk of the wonders of forgiveness and being sure you're a child of God or we do the best we can kind of business. Something missing here, says Paul to himself. But being a very nice, kind Christian gentleman, he didn't say, by you are you saved? He said, tell me as a matter of interest, he said to him, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Pardon, what did you say? He said, I said, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? I don't understand what you mean. That was serious, wasn't it? Because the Bible says that if any man had not... Well, says that Paul, well there are a few of you, I see. Well, we'll have to look into this, shan't we? Who were you baptized to, my good man? Well, they said to John's baptism. Oh, well he said, good, yes, John's baptism, that was marvellous, but you know, John preached the baptism of repentance. You repented? Of course. The Holy Spirit had never witnessed to them that their sins and iniquities God would remember no more. What was missing? And look, says Paul, you've got the first bit all right, you've repented, John. But John said to the people something else, didn't he? What? He said that they were to believe on him that came after him, that is, on the Lord Jesus. Go on, that's it, is that what John says? We've got to believe on the Lord Jesus. Well, Paul prayed, what does that mean? What do you mean, believe on the Lord Jesus? Paul had to tell them what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus. Not enough to repent, you know. Not enough to say endlessly, oh God, be merciful to me, I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner. You have to learn to do, believe. Would you be saved? Do you say, what must I do to be saved? The answer is not simply just repent of your sin. The answer is this. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.