In this sermon, the speaker begins by discussing Revelation 1 and 10 and shares their interpretation of what it means to be "in the Spirit." They then move on to Romans 8:10, explaining that God will quicken our mortal bodies when Jesus Christ returns, and this transformation will be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. The speaker uses an illustration from their personal experience working in a mine to emphasize that the power for this transformation is already present within us. They highlight that just as the Spirit gave Jesus His physical body, the same Spirit will give believers a new spiritual body like His. The sermon concludes with the anticipation of the Spirit's final ministry, which will be to give believers a body like Jesus' when He returns.

Before we begin the subject of the evening, I've been asked to explain Revelation 1 and 10 and give my views on what it means to be in the Spirit. This reminds me of the fact that we could have had a question box all this week if you thought of it in time. Oftentimes, oftentimes we minister and still do not answer people's questions. Forgive me for being thoughtless on that subject. In the ninth verse of the first chapter of Revelation, I, John, who also am your brother and companion and tribulation in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, the Ephesus, and the Smyrna, and the Pergamos, and the Thyatira, and the Tardis, and the Philadelphia, and the Laodicea. What does it mean to be in the Spirit? I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Well, I should think we would have to answer that from Galatians chapter 5. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to another to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law. I think that to be in the Spirit as he was on the Lord's day is to be led of the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit. To walk in his Spirit. We know what that means to act in the flesh. We know what it means to walk in the flesh. To walk in the wisdom of the flesh, to walk in the energy of the flesh is destructive for our Christian experience. But walking in the Spirit, it would seem to me, and being in the Spirit on the Lord's day, being led by the Spirit, is in the sphere of the Spirit. Under his influence and enjoying that sphere. I don't know whether that satisfies the question, answers the question in the mind of those, the person who asks it or not. But it means to be in the sphere of the Spirit under his influence. That's what it means to me. Now this evening we would like to talk about the ministry of the Spirit through us and its promotion. And then also we would like to give some time to the Spirit's ministry in developing Christian graces within us. And we have been given three injunctions as to in which we have a responsibility. And those three commands are, breathe not the Holy Spirit, then quench not the Spirit, then lastly be filled with the Spirit. Now you and I have a responsibility in fulfilling each of these commands. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 4, first of all, where we have been given the admonition to breathe not the Spirit. For sake of time, let's begin at verse 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And breathe not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. How may we grieve the Holy Spirit of God? Well, certainly he can be grieved. We can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. I would say that we do not disappoint the Holy Spirit. We do not disappoint God at any time. If we were to disappoint God, then we would, we would be, he would be disappointed because we weren't what he had expected us to be. Now God knows what we are. He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but dust. We do not disappoint God. He knows what we are, ever and always. And we never take him by surprise. But I'll tell you something we can do. We can grieve him. Though we don't disappoint him, he does suffer grief. And we can grieve the Holy Spirit of God by the things which we do. Now you can only grieve those people that love you. We can make other people angry at us. The fellow that we try to beat, beat through the four-way stop, or beat through the revolving door, or some such thing as that. We can make him angry, but you grieve those who love you. And the Spirit of God loves us. It is said that he loves us in Romans chapter 15, for the love of the Spirit. He loves us. And so we can grieve him. We grieve those that we love oftentimes. Now grief generally suffers in silence. And I think that that's true of the Holy Spirit of God when we grieve him by the things that we do. It isn't that we are severely rebuked, but nevertheless he feels it. And we grieve him. Now how may we grieve the Holy Spirit of God? Well, it is interesting to me, and I don't think without signification, or significance rather, that it's mentioned in connection with all these injunctions in the fourth chapter of Ephesians. The one immediately before it, it seems to me, would grieve him. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but let that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may administer grace unto the hearer. We can grieve him by the things which we say, by wrong things which we can say. That's the context. The next verse says, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. Then it says next, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all mettle. Now these are the products of hatred. Bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking are all the products of hatred, whereas the Spirit of God, the fruit of the Spirit, is love. And when we do these things, I'm sure that we grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We can grieve him with an unforgiving spirit. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. I think we can grieve the Spirit of God with an unforgiving spirit. Now, I suppose we could go through the whole fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians and say that anything that we are enjoined not to do, or anything that we're enjoined to do, that we fail to do, would be grieving the Holy Spirit of God. I think we grieve the Holy Spirit of God when we do not enjoy the Lord. He would put Christ before us. He would bring Christ before us. He would bring us into the good of all that Christ has for us. And when we fail to do that, when we're too busy with the things of this life, I think we grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Now there are other things to consider which we are enjoined to do. Quench not the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Verse 16. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesying. Spoof all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Quench not the Spirit. Don't throttle the Spirit. Don't quench Him. Now the Spirit of God is indwelling us, and He would speak through us. Now we may quench Him by what we fail to do. When we fail to speak for the Spirit of God, we quench Him. We grieve Him by the things which we do. We quench Him by the things which we do not do. He would have us speak a word for Him. The Spirit of God is dealing with men around us. And He uses our lips. He indwells our body. Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And He would use these lips of mine, these lips of clay, to speak to those that are around us. He would have me praise the Lord. I think that's a part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God within me. When I'm filled with the Spirit, my heart will be filled so, as we will notice presently in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. I think the immediate context shows one way that we could grieve the Spirit, or quench the Spirit rather, despise not prophesying. We are not to despise prophesying we are not to despise those gifts which He gives in regard to the future and in regard to the present too for that matter. Because they are revealed to us by the Spirit. We'll talk more about the New Testament prophets. Shall we turn to the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Verse 29, Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sit it by, let the first hold his feet. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Now he said let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sit it by, let the first hold his feet. Now who reveals? Who does the revealing here? Well we saw that the other night in 1 Corinthians 2, that as it is written, I have not seen, nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. So it's the Spirit that reveals these things to our minds and to our hearts. Now if a brother is speaking and somebody else gets a fresh revelation from the Lord, the first man at the holy seat, now by all parliamentary rules, he has the floor. Are we going to take the floor away from him? He should continue speaking. But the scripture says, told the Corinthians, and I think there's a reason for it, if anything be revealed to another that sit it by, is not on his feet, but the first hold his feet. Why? He has the floor, he has a right to speak, doesn't he? Let him finish his speech. Well I think God wants us to get our messages just as fresh from the throne of Greece as we can get. Now I don't know, I don't know how long this other brother, we'll take the hypothetical case of a brother that's speaking at Corinth, and he's speaking something that the Spirit has revealed to him maybe the morning before. There's another brother that's sitting by and he has a revelation given to him, and it's from the Lord. Remember this was before the Word of God was written to him. And that first man, if the brother tries to interrupt him and shows very evidently that he's being led by the Spirit, he's to get away. We want our messages fresh from the throne of Greece. And now the New Testament prophet was not the same kind of prophet as Elijah and Elisha, but he spoke by the leading of the Spirit of God, and I think in that sense we still have a New Testament prophet. Because although we have the mind of God revealed in the Word of God, we will not understand it, we will not get the truth of it until the Spirit reveals it to us. And I think if the Spirit reveals the truth through one of his servants, and I mean really reveals the truth from the Word of God, it's just as if we've never seen it before. I know I'm amazed. I'm amazed at what some of my brethren, and this is not, I'm not speaking facetiously or sarcastically, but I'm amazed at what God gives some of my brethren. And I often ask myself the question, why didn't I see that before? I've read that, and I've said that, and I've read that, and I'll tell you something else that the Lord does with me. Sometimes I'll puzzle over a certain truth of the Scripture. I'll puzzle over a certain pathway, perhaps, a certain question, and I can't seem to get the answer, and I search in the Scriptures, and I search the Scriptures, and I can't seem to get the answer. And perhaps I'll go to a conference many hundreds of miles away. Perhaps a brother is on the platform. Perhaps he is not so highly esteemed by me as he should be. And that brother speaks up, and he has the exact word to answer my question. And I have to bow my head in worship. And acknowledge that the Spirit of God gave it to him. And perhaps the Spirit of God gave it to him just to kind of put me in my place. And you know God has a way of kind of smoothing things out. He has a way of kind of evening things up. And I am forced to admit that he to quite a degree has been a New Testament prophet. Because he is speaking by the inspiration, by the leading, by the guidance, by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Now we should get, and our ministry should be of that quality. It really should be. We should be Spirit led. Now the things that we get from the Lord are the best. But don't decide the things which the Spirit gives us through our brethren. Years and years ago a dear servant of God whom I have heard here in this very, very auditorium many, many, many years ago was asked after a particularly moving and effective message how he could have such scripture at his fingertips or on his lips. And he says, oh he says I get a little bit from here and a little bit from there. A little bit from this brother and a little bit from that brother. And he says the Lord gives me a little. And that was his way of putting it. Now the Spirit of God gives us all that we know about the Lord. Now Spirit breathed ministry is that quality of ministry which the Spirit of God gives. And though it's not due to human ingenuity, it's not human reasoning at all, it's the result of the Spirit. Now the Spirit can do it. The Spirit can do this just as well. He can suggest things to our hearts and our minds. Now we're getting into a highly subjective field. I'd better say a few words about this while we're talking about it. The Spirit can bring things to our mind just the same as he can recall things to our mind. Now we know that's true. We've seen it too many times during this week that the Spirit shall recall the things to our minds. Well he didn't. The Lord told his disciples the Spirit will bring these things to your mind that I have taught you. We remember that then the disciples, after the Lord was risen, then they remembered when certain things were brought to their attention that the Lord had said these things. And the Spirit of God has access to our minds and he gives us thoughts. Now God forbid that after the Spirit of God gives us these thoughts, and he does. He does indeed. That we should take the credit that because of our ingenuity, our spirituality, and our deep desire perhaps we have obtained them ourselves. They are revelations from God. Now this is highly subjective because I think sometimes the things that we get, that we are so enthused about perhaps, and we spring them upon the people of the Lord. And some dear well-thought brother has to come up and tell us that we have not spoken the truth. We have not expounded the truth. Oh what then? What then? Well there is the energy of the flesh you know. And the scripture does say let the judge. Because they are spirit filled too and they can certainly recognize when they can hear what the Spirit has given to a man. So we must accept the judgment of others in regard to our own ministry and oftentimes as we mentioned in regard to our own gifts. Now this may discourage us a time or two when we find out that we have gotten something we have been very enthused about. And we've given it and we have perhaps been rebuffed. And oh that it was not the true explanation of the scripture. Well what then? How do we recognize? How do we recognize when the Spirit has really given us something? Well I'll tell you. When the Spirit has really given us something, the saints of God will recognize it and the Lord will be glorified and the church will be edified because it is the business of the Spirit of God to edify the church of God. And when that is accomplished we have been speaking under the power of the Spirit of God under his leading. We have been in its sphere. Now we may be as I said discouraged once or twice. Ministry can be of such a quality that it's almost like the magician who pulls the rabbit out of the hat. Now he can pull the rabbit out of the hat because he put the rabbit in the hat. Now it's very, very possible that in our dealing, in our speaking the word of God, that we read things in there, in our zeal, that we don't belong there. Now the test will be, are we trying to seek our own aggrandizement? Are we trying to raise our own stock among the people of God? What is our motive? Is it a humble motive? Do we seek to be led by the Spirit? Are we quenching the Spirit? Are we grieving the Spirit in any sense? Now I think when you grieve the Spirit that oftentimes he will withhold his blessed ministry in these respects and let us know that he's grieved. Now I think sometimes I grieve my wife and somehow or other I get the message. By a thing that is said that I get the message. Somehow she can connote to me that she is grieved with what I say and what I do. Now I think the Spirit can do that. Now this is in a highly subjective area. But I think that you and I, especially as we grow older and especially as the Spirit of God does use us on occasion, thank God for every occasion that he does, we become used to recognizing when we have spoken for the Lord and certainly the saints of God are the last court of appeal. They are the final court of appeal in regard as to whether or not I have spoken in the Spirit of God. Were they antithetized? Was the Lord Jesus Christ exalted? Was there that air, that freshness that comes with the fresh air of the Spirit? And here I am again using that figure, highly suggested by the very Greek word for Spirit. Now in quenching the Spirit, oftentimes he wishes to speak to us. Now after what I have said there may be a reticence on our part to speak up for the Lord. Now wait just a minute. I better not speak because if I do I'll be seeking my own glory. I'll be trying to raise my own stock and maybe I just better not do it. Well offsetting that is the admonition quench, not the Spirit. Now we can quench the Spirit by failing to speak to an unfaithful person about his fault. I quenched the Spirit on one occasion. I'm sorry to tell that, but I'll tell it to you because the scripture says confess your fault one to another. And so I have scriptural authority for saying this and being personal when I do it because my fault are my fault. And too often we confess each other's fault to one another. But the scripture is confess your fault to one another. Well I saw a gentleman sitting out that I knew on a bench in Boulder, Colorado one day. His name was Bill. He was a taxi driver. Bill was retired. He used to come into my brother's tire shop and I knew Bill. And I saw Bill sitting there alone and I was rushing by. And I said to myself, you know you ought to speak to that man about his soul. Here he is. He's wide open. He hasn't got a thing to think about. You could sit down there on that bench and talk to him a little while about his soul. But I had a lot of things to do. And I said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll, I'm so busy now I couldn't get any satisfaction out of talking to him. I'll find him here in another day and I'll really sit down and talk with Bill. So you know I looked for that day. I walked by that bench and Bill wasn't there. And I kept walking by the bench and somebody, someday I asked Bill, someday, one day I asked where Bill was. Somebody said, oh he passed away. He passed away. Do you know when I should have spoken to him? Do you know when I should have spoken to him? The time I thought about it, I'm afraid that I clenched the spear. Oftentimes I think that we supply, and rightfully so, this verse to the morning meeting. The Lord would have us, perhaps, get up and give a word of praise and a word of thanksgiving to the Lord and express the attitude of our hearts to the Lord. And we sit like the proverbial bump on the law. They don't say a thing. And there's a long silence. Instead of somebody blaming, blaming everybody for not being in a spiritual condition on this particular morning, the thought comes to you. Why aren't you up there on your feet? Why aren't you praising the Lord? Why should there be a silence? Because you don't do a thing about it. I don't do a thing about it. I think we're clenching the spear. The spirit would glorify the Lord through our voice and he would have us speak a word for him. Now somebody says, oh I can't do it. I have no gift. I just get up and make a fool out of myself. That's what I do. Well, if the spirit is really exercising us to do it, really putting us on our heart to do it, I believe that he would give us the strength to do it. We might be surprised. Now I think that if we keep on clenching the spirit, and if we keep on grieving the spirit, that we will find ourselves not alert to his promptings, and we will find that we will just go through our Christian experience, perhaps just coasting with no particular exercise and no particular benefit, shall I say to the church of God, just filling a seat. There's nothing wrong with just filling a seat. But brethren, do be exercised about these things. We can clench the spirit. And the very next verse is, despite not prophesying, we should be willing ever and always to receive something from our brethren. And we can clench the spirit by refusing to receive things from our brethren. I heard a sermon of the Lord say once, years and years ago, that Christians oftentimes have their favorite drinking cup. And he said that harkens back to the time when you had your cup with your name and gold on your drinking cup. And you just can't take a drink unless you drink out of your drinking cup. And I believe that sometimes there are some Christians, though I doubt if there are any of them here tonight, that fall into this category, but sometimes there are Christians that just won't receive anything from the Lord except from their favorite drinking cup. They do not seem to realize that the Spirit of God has given many gifts, and he has gifted many people. We ought always to be listening for the voice of the Lord when anybody is on the platform. And above, let's say we're getting very, very practical here, I hope not too practical. And we should never criticize that person for his lack of unction, or his lack of expression, and especially if we didn't pray for the brother before he got on the platform. Now, if you didn't pray for the speaker, don't blame the speaker for being dry. Above all things, be fair enough not to blame the speaker for being dry if you didn't get down on your knees and pray for him before he spoke that night. But be sure not to despise his prophetry. Listen for the voice of the Lord, and don't have your favorite drinking cup. Because God is able to use any of his servants, and he does use them in a most marvelous, marvelous way. And sometimes you get the sweetest things, the things that do thrill your heart from the most unexpected sources, and that just thrills me. And don't falter in unbelief to think that God can't use you, just the same as he can use anybody else. We're all of clay, our lips are of clay, and the Lord can use us, and we ought to be exercised not to quench the Spirit. Now we are enjoined, in the fifth chapter of Ephesians, to be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18, Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Don't be filled with spirits, be filled with the Spirit. Now, when we're filled with Spirit, when I say we are, when a man is filled with Spirit, that may point to an exuberant form, and he may be very lavish, and I wouldn't say that he sets an example for us, but he is very often at times a happy person. And when you and I are filled with the Spirit, and I believe that this injunction we must obey. That's kind of like the sixth chapter of Ephesians, where we're told to be strong in the Lord. Just as if a man, if somebody says, well isn't that mockery to tell a person to be strong in the Lord? It can't be, or the apostle wouldn't have told us to be strong in the Lord. It's within our power to be strong in the Lord. We can own our weakness, we can depend on the Lord, and we can be strong in the Lord. We think it's ridiculous because of a man lifting a cake of nails and straining to his utmost extent to get that up on the table, and we say, be strong, be strong. We would think that was mockery, naturally, but when we are told to be strong in the Lord, that's an admonition we can obey. And when we're told to be filled with the Spirit, that's an admonition that we can obey. We're told to be filled with the Spirit. Now, this is not the baptism of the Spirit. There are some in Christian circles, there is some confusion about being filled with the Spirit, and being baptized with the Spirit. Some feel that being baptized with the Spirit is accompanied, is a second blessing, and is accompanied by the power to speak in tongues, etc. etc. That's not being baptized with the Spirit at all. When I was baptized into the body of Christ, I didn't even feel it. I didn't even know it had happened until a long time after it had happened. But, believe me, we do know when we're filled with the Spirit, and we're enjoined to be filled with the Spirit of God. I think being filled with the Spirit is a matter of making room for the Spirit. He's already incited. We don't need to invite Him in. He's there. He was there the moment that we believed. A servant of the Lord once wrote a little booklet on the 38 things that happen the moment that we trust Christ. I haven't had a chance to get a hold of that little booklet, but someday I'm going to do it. And this is what happens. The Spirit of God comes and involves this body of mine, and I didn't even realize it. You see, the manifestation has become very evident. The Word of God opens up. My heart is filled with joy. My heart is filled with love. My heart is filled with peace. This is all a product of the Spirit of God. And I didn't even know it when He came in. But the evidences are there, just as the evidences are there when the wind passes through the trees. We don't see the wind, but we see the evidences of the wind. Now, when we are filled with the Spirit, I think it's a matter of making room for Him in our heart. He's already there. Let's let Him occupy. That may result in doing a lot of things like Hezekiah did when he began his revival. Do you remember what he did? He went into the temple, and he carted a lot of stuff out of the temple. And this also was done in Nehemiah's day. Nehemiah's day, I mean, Nehemiah and Hezekiah, both men. Their names were similar, but they both did. And then they brought in the great saints. They brought in the offerings. Now, when I make room for the Spirit, it may be that I'll take a lot of things out of my life that don't belong there. And I'll give the Spirit time. I'll be occupied with praise, as He would always occupy me with praise. I'll be filled with the Spirit of God because I make room for Him. That's hard to do in this day and age. This is a busy day and age, and I fear that we crowd the Spirit up into one little old corner of our lives. Perhaps we'll give Him an hour on Lord's same day, and that's about the extent of what He gets out of our lives for the whole week. Oh, the Spirit of God would occupy us with our blessings. He would fill us. And it's going to take some discipline on our part to make room for Him. But remember, the injunction would not be given unless we could do something about it. Be filled with the Spirit. Now, there are certain evidences of being filled with the Spirit that I believe are a part of the context here. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Now, singing perhaps loudly so as to be heard in the meeting. And I couldn't do that if I wanted to. But it's not necessarily an evidence of the Spirit of the Lord. Perhaps it is. Perhaps it's an evidence of a buoyant spirit. But what I'm bringing out is, if you can't sing loudly and sweetly with a trained voice, don't feel bad about it. Look at the verse. Please. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Now, that's evidences and evidence of being filled with the Spirit. Is having a heart full of music. And a heart full of thanksgiving incidentally. The next verse. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think that a Spirit-filled heart will be a thankful heart. It will not be only a singing heart. It will be a thankful heart. Then it will be a submissive heart. We have the injunction in verse 21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. We have wives submitting themselves unto the husbands. The children in chapter 6 are told to obey their parents. And the servants in verse 5 of chapter 6 are told to be obedient to your masters and serve them with fear and trembling. And the masters are told to respect their servants. The husbands are told to respect their wives. It's a submission. Now, being filled with the Spirit of God is having a certain flash in your eye, a certain snap in your step, and a certain air of command. Actually, I think that if we're filled with the Spirit of God we will be submissive, we will be quiet. And we will indeed have a song in our heart and a word of thanksgiving for the Lord. Now, we haven't touched on this to any degree, but we must leave it. Now, these injunctions are given to you and to me in regard to our responsibilities toward the Spirit. Let's not grieve him by what we do. Let's not quench him by what we don't do. Let's be filled with the Spirit so that he may occupy us with Christ. Now, let's speak of the Spirit's ministry in developing Christian graces. Galatians 5. Verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest. You can't hide them. Which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, and so on. We would never get to the end of the list because he ends this category here, this catalog, and such life. But he does say in verse 22 that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. Now, the Spirit's ministry in developing the Christian graces is a slow process. It's a quiet process. It is a process that is best explained by growth, because fruit grows. It's the fruit of the Spirit. Now, the works of the flesh are, they make a lot of noise. They make a lot of, of what shall we say, rafting. The flesh is very evident. I think everybody else needs to know it's evident too. But the fruit of the Spirit, it develops so quietly. I remember hearing Mr. C.W. Roth explain this scripture, and I couldn't do better than what he did. He speaks of the works of the flesh. That's the factory of the flesh. And oh, the odious things that are produced in this factory. All the hammerings, all the smoke, all the fire. It's the works of the flesh. And then he says, over against that, there's the fruit of the Spirit. And Mr. Roth says, did you ever go out and enter the orchard on a nice, lovely day and listen to the apples grow? Well, of course, you don't go out in the orchard and listen to the apples grow. But they do grow. They grow so quietly. But they grow. And there they are. They're beautiful. Now, the fruit of the Spirit is developed in you and me. And it starts out with love. As a matter of fact, this is the fruit of the Spirit. It does not say the fruit of the Spirit. It's not fruit, plural. It's the fruit. And all of the other things spring out of love. This is not original with me. Love is the great source of all the good things that come out of the heart. When the Spirit is in control, when he is leading, when he is guiding, then these things come out of the heart. Joy is love exulting. Peace is love resting. Long-suffering is love's aberrance. Gentleness is love's very character. Goodness is love's result. Faithfulness is love's consistency. Meekness is love's attitude. Temperance is love's restraint. And love does restrain. They are all the fruit of the Spirit. And that fruit is love. And these various things that follow. The first three of these, and I'm being very, very brief with this, love, joy, and peace is broad words. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness is church words. Faith, meekness, temperance is man words. These fruits are in three, as we have already pointed out. And others will see when we have been indeed under the influence of the Spirit of God. Now really, what is happening here is the Spirit is producing Christ. These things, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, were seen in their most highest developed character in our Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is the one who always manifests love. He is the one whose heart was filled with joy. He is the one who could fill others with joy. His peace he speaks of in John 14. His long-suffering is so great. These are all the characteristics of our Lord Jesus, and the Spirit is trying to produce them in us. And what lovely fruits they are. In this connection, please turn to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 17. Now, the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open faith, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed, transformed, transfigured, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, if we will behold the Lord, and that's what the Spirit would do, is to bring Christ before us, then we will be changed into his image. We shall become like him as we behold him. To know the Lord is to become like the Lord. And it's the Spirit's work to change us into his image. If we're in the presence of the Lord, if we admire him, we shall certainly become like him. And the Spirit will see to it, because he affects the change, and are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, this dovetails completely with Ephesians 5, 22 and 23. It's the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. He is bringing Christ into our lives. Now, this will not be happening. This will not be happening if we quench him, if we grieve him, if we are not filled with him, if we crowd him out of our lives and don't make room for the Spirit, the fruit will not be an evidence to the extent, at least, it would be if we would be submissive. Now, if you'll forgive me, you'll have to go on. I have just one more thought. In the 8th chapter of Romans, we see the last ministry of the Spirit has gone through us. The last ministry in our experience in connection with this world, connection with this body. Romans 8, verse 10, And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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. Now, God is going to quicken these mortal bodies when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again, and he's going to do it by his Spirit. The Spirit is going to give me that new body. Now, the power is already here. The power is already resident within my body that's going to change my body, like to his body of glory, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. I may have given you this illustration before, but there was one time in my life as a schoolboy that I worked in a mine, and we used to load the hold with dynamite. We used to blast out drifts to reach the oar, and then blast the oar down. Now, oftentimes the expression would be used, well, we're loaded, let's get out of here. The power was in the hold all ready to go. Perhaps the fuse were to be ignited. Well, may I use that expression, may I borrow that expression from a miner's term? You and I are loaded. The power is already here, only the fuse is a sonic fuse. Now, there is such a thing as a sonic fuse. A fuse that will detonate with a certain vibration. And the fuse that I've got inside of me, if you'll let me carry this illustration on out, is a sonic fuse. What will set it off? A certain shout from the right person. And the power transforms me just like that, and the power is already here. I'm loaded. I'm ready to go. Nothing has to happen except one thing, and that's a shout from the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm chained to the moment, and the power is right here, already, right now. Isn't that a gracious ministry? Won't that be a wonderful ministry of the Spirit? Won't that be the climax of all the good and gracious things that he does for you and for me, down in this life below, to change these bodies? Had you ever thought of the Spirit in connection with giving our blessed Lord Jesus Christ his body? Remember that the Lord, the angel rather, Gabriel told Mary, that which is conceived in thee is of the Holy Ghost. Now, the Spirit of God gave my blessed Lord Jesus Christ his body. And the Spirit of God, praise God, is going to change this body, like unto his body of glory. The same Spirit that gave my blessed Lord his body. And if you want to carry out the thought a little bit farther, he is also giving Christ his spiritual body in the church. For we are all, by one Spirit, baptized into one body, even as by the Spirit of God. He is the one that's giving the Lord his body, the church. Now, this is the last ministry of the Spirit to us, and it is the climax we wish by day, when the Spirit of God shall do his final service for us, his final work, in giving us a body like unto the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a day of rejoicing that will be, shall we pray. Our Father tonight, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we do thank thee for the time which we have enjoyed together around the Word of God this week. We do thank thee for the many encouragements that we receive from the Word of God. Lord, help us to lift up the feeble hand. Lord, help us, strengthen us as we wait upon the Lord to mount up with wings as eagles, to run and not be worried, to walk and not faint. That the Spirit of God may have his way in our lives, that he may have full sway, that we may make room for him, that he may be priestly for us and develop those graces that were so displayed in our Lord Jesus in us. We pray, Father, that we shall be sinlesses and that we will not resist his efforts, we will not quench him, we will not grieve him. Lord, bless us as we separate and keep us all close to thee, we pray, and take up our thanks for the Lord Jesus and for the ministry of the Spirit of God as we ask, as we give thanks in our Savior's precious name.