In this sermon, the speaker addresses the issue of false prophets who manipulate people for their own financial gain. He emphasizes that this is not the true baptism in the Holy Spirit. The speaker then focuses on the "law of the Holy Spirit" mentioned in Romans chapter 8. He explains that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross fulfilled the righteous requirements of God's eternal law, allowing believers to walk in the Spirit rather than according to the old laws or man-made rules. The speaker concludes by highlighting the importance of discerning counterfeit manifestations of the Holy Spirit and recognizing that God judged sin on the cross in order to bring forgiveness and fulfillment of His law.

One of Satan's masterpieces in the 20th century has been to bring confusion concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We have two extremes in Christendom. Both are absolutely convinced they are right. On one extreme we have those who speak about a baptism in the Holy Spirit which, if you really analyze it, as I have, is only a baptism in the soul. And because they're not able to distinguish between soul and spirit, they imagine it's a baptism in the Holy Spirit. You see, our emotions are a part of our soul. And if you're not able to distinguish between the moving of our emotions and the moving of the Holy Spirit, you can confuse the baptism of the soul with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And they can look down on those who are mere students of the word, as they say, intellectual, not realizing that intellectualism is another part of the soul and emotionalism is just another. But each despises the other. The spirit is something completely different. And then you have, and you see the result of this type of deception is that it never produces in them who have imagined that they are baptized in the Holy Spirit the type of results that the Holy Spirit was meant to bring in their lives. That's the great tragedy. And then there are others who see the result of this type of baptism in the Holy Spirit and they say, well, if that's going to be the result, we don't want the baptism in the Holy Spirit at all. And so the devil has succeeded with both groups. What's the solution? We must never let our understanding of doctrine be a reaction to the foolish extremes that certain Christians have gone to with that doctrine. Whatever it is. If some people have gone to an extreme in the matter of the Holy Spirit and gone into counterfeit, that doesn't mean there is no such thing as the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Maybe they haven't got the genuine thing. So what? The two things that John the Baptist, as a forerunner, pointed to Jesus was, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, we all want to see Him as that. Then he also said, behold, the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit on fire. Why don't we want to see Him as that? That is because, I mean, if you have a prejudice against that term, a term which John the Baptist used, the phrase baptized in the Holy Spirit occurs right at the beginning of the first five books of the New Testament. It's in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Jesus mentioned it in Acts of the Apostles. It's one of the last things He mentioned before He went up to heaven. You shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit. So we have to steer, get away from a reaction to that term which can hinder us from receiving something from God which the devil doesn't want you to receive. Look at the emphasis, as I said. The first five books of the New Testament begin with that expression, baptized in the Holy Spirit. And then look at the first two promises in the New Testament. The first is, you shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. First promise in the New Testament, Matthew 1, 21. We need that. Not to know Him as forgiver, but Savior. Many people use the word saved in a wrong way. There was no such thing as salvation in the Old Testament. It's Jesus who is our Savior. They didn't have a Savior in the Old Testament. God was their forgiver. Psalm 103 says, David could say, Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all your iniquities. He was their healer, who heals all your diseases. But He was not their Savior. There are prophetic references to God as our Savior in Isaiah, etc. But that was always looking forward to the future. When Jesus came, there was a Savior. So what's the difference between a forgiver and a Savior? Most of us would say, Jesus is our Savior. Really? Has He saved you from anger? Has He saved you from gossiping? Has He saved you from the love of money? Has He saved you from strife and conflict and bitterness and an unforgiving spirit and many, many other things? You say, no, no, no. He hasn't saved me. You mean He's forgiven you. Call Him forgiver. Be honest and say, I don't know Him as Savior. God loves honest people. And the reason why many Christians never enter into the life God wants them to have is because they are not honest about their condition. They don't acknowledge where they are. Then He won't do anything for them. If you keep saying, He's my Savior, but He saved you from nothing. You say, well, He saved me from hell. But do you know that the expression saved from hell is never found in the whole Bible? That's an invention of preachers. If you read the Bible, you'll never find it. I mean, go and search a concordance. And yet most Christians say, I'm saved from hell. Where did you get that from? Jesus came to save us from our sins. That's the first promise. And the second promise in the New Testament, Matthew 3, 11, is He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit. He who will save you from your sins will also baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Those are the first two promises as soon as you turn to the pages of the New Testament. Why is it that these are the very two things about which so many Christians have so much controversy and conflict Why are we afraid of being saved from all sins when it says Jesus came to save us from our sins? Why are we afraid of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire? Why are there counterfeits in these areas? To call Jesus Savior when He's not saved as His counterfeit salvation. To say He has baptized us in the Holy Spirit when it's only emotionalism is another counterfeit. We need to have a genuine experience of Jesus as our Savior and as our baptizer. He is the one who saves us. He is the one who baptizes us. And yet I see so often that when it comes to salvation an evangelist will lead a person to Christ as the Savior. Ask Him to save you. But when it comes to the baptism in the Holy Spirit a lot of people say come here I'll lay my hands on you. Are you the baptizer? I say I can't do that. I'm not the baptizer. I can't save you from your sin and I can't baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Those are the prerogatives of Jesus Christ. But many have tried to take that unto themselves. We got to be humble like John the Baptist and say I can baptize you with water. If you want the baptism in the Holy Spirit go to Him. He is the baptizer. And it's because so many of us go to man that we get a counterfeit. And we're satisfied with something less than the real thing. If your purpose in being baptized in the Holy Spirit is so that you can testify to it in a church where other people are testifying to it then be honest. Say Lord I want to be a member of the club. That's why I want this. So that I can also be included. I feel little left out in this club where everybody seems to have this badge. That's another reason why a lot of people produce something in order to imitate some others who maybe have a genuine gift of tongues and say I joined the club. And they're happy. And I've seen in my own life so many cases of people who have that type of baptism in the Holy Spirit. They're backsliders a little later. And they are more worldly than they were before. In every way. They are bigger lovers of money thereafter than they were ever before. When I observe many who all the different types I mean I've had the opportunity in the last 52 years that I've been a believer to see the whole range of Christian denominations from one extreme to the other. My observation among those whom I have met I haven't seen everybody in the world all the preachers in the world but among those whom I have met in India other countries is the one who claim to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and who speak in tongues who are the biggest lovers of money among preachers that I've seen in the world. If you don't believe that just watch Christian ask people who watch Christian television. They are the ones who are always asking for money begging for money living off poor people and becoming wealthy and millionaires themselves. Is this the baptism in the Holy Spirit? I don't want it. But don't let your reaction against that turn you away from what John the Baptist said. Behold Him. He baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire. So I want to speak about the law of the Holy Spirit. That expression is found in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 I want you to look at the first 4 verses of Romans chapter 8. We want to read very slowly and carefully. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Why is there no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Because the word for means because the law of the Spirit there is that expression the law of the Holy Spirit which is life in Christ Jesus has set you and me free from the law of sin and death because again because what the law could not do or we could say what rules and regulations could not do. In the Old Testament I read somewhere that there was 613 commandments in the law of Moses. We know 10 of them but there were 603 others. You know in Exodus numbers and so on. But all those 613 commandments could not do what God wanted to accomplish and today we have churches who also made numerous rules and regulations those rules and regulations also cannot accomplish what God wants to accomplish. What the law could not do what any number of rules and regulations cannot do God has done. How did He do it? First of all by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh not in sinful flesh He could not possibly take sinful flesh. There was no sin in Him. But in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin God condemned sin judged sin in the flesh of Jesus on the cross. And the whole purpose of that now we we say if you were to ask people why did God judge sin on the cross? You say so that my sins can be forgiven so that I can go to heaven. Isn't that the main thing most people say my sins are all forgiven I'm on my way to heaven because Jesus died on the cross. But notice what it says here God judged sin in the flesh. Where did He do that? Where did God judge sin? On the cross. There was no other place where He judged sin. In whose flesh? In the flesh of Jesus on the cross again so that in order that our sins may be forgiven. That He's finished with in chapter 3. In order that we might be justified He's finished with that in chapter 4 and 5. In order that this righteous requirement of God's law the standards of God's law have never changed. We're not talking about the 613 commandments in the Old Testament. But the standards of God's eternal law. That those standards might now be fulfilled inside us. And the important word there is in I N God judged sin in the flesh of Jesus so that the righteous requirement of God's law could now be fulfilled inside of me because I do not walk we do not walk like in the olden days according to the flesh or we could say according to the law of Moses or any number of rules and regulations other people make but we walk according to the Holy Spirit according to His law. You read that carefully. If you read Scripture carefully I can guarantee before you go away this weekend you'll have a new Bible. We read it so casually carelessly I mean even some of the things I pointed out to you just now in the last few minutes you probably never seen in your whole life some of you even though you read that so many times. How is it? Because we treat God's word so carelessly. To me this is one of the greatest contradictions I find among Christians. They say we believe the Bible is the word of God. They say there's no other book in the world which is God's word except the Bible. Well then you should be reading that more than any other book. You should be studying it more than any other book. You should be spending more time with that in your spare time than watching television or watching sports and games. There's nothing wrong in all that if it's clean. But I'm saying not at the cost of neglecting the only book that God gave for man to show him what his purpose was. It's because we have neglected the study of God's word that we don't see these things. And that's why we're deceived by so much of counterfeit all around us in Christendom today. And what the Lord has told me is that those who do not I mean if you don't have the Bible in your own language that's another thing. But if you have the scriptures in your own language and you do not study the Bible you deserve to be deceived. You deserve to be deceived by all the false preachers that there are so many of them in the world today. The Bible says very clearly that there'll be an abundance of deceitful spirits in the last days. It speaks of those who will come with lying signs and wonders false signs and wonders. It was there in the first century but it's going to be much more in the last days. And I've sought the Lord about it. I mean I as a loving father I would never allow a deceiver to go in the midst of my children. Which father would allow someone he knows to be a deceiver to go into the midst of his innocent children? Why does a supremely loving father like we have in heaven allow deceiving spirits to operate in Christendom? There are plenty of them even among those who claim to be born again. And I believe the reason is because God wants to test us. See an example from the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy. Please turn with me in Deuteronomy and chapter 13. This is not only in the New Testament times that God allows it. Even in Old Testament times. Listen to this and see what application it has for us today. Deuteronomy chapter 13. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams or we can say in today's terms a preacher someone who calls himself a prophet someone who claims to see many visions and angels and all that. Plenty of them in Christendom today who keep talking about the visions they have seen. Arises among you not among those heathen nations right in your midst my people. And on top of all that he gives you a miracle and a wonder. And the miracle comes true. It takes place. It's not a counterfeit miracle. He's really done a miracle. But then he says let us go after other gods and let us serve them. Do you know that Jesus said that there was only in the Old Testament they had Jehovah and the other side of Jehovah was Ashtoreth and Beal and numerous other gods in all the nations of the world. But in the New Testament Jesus said it's not Christ or Buddha or Christ or Krishna. He said it's Christ or money. That's what he said in Luke 16, 13. It's easy to turn away from the leaders of other gods. But those are not the gods that Christians are tempted to go after. He said there are only two masters God and Mammon. Mammon means everything related to material wealth. Those are the only two gods. And when a preacher I want to apply this to the New Testament. When a preacher comes into your midst and he says he's filled with the Holy Spirit and he babbles something and makes you feel that that's unknown tongues because you don't know what tongue sounds like and he fools you. And then he says and he does something maybe he does a miracle. And then he tells you to love money. Tells you that Jesus has come to make you rich. I mean He can't save you from anger and things like that but He can make you rich. He tells you let us serve this God. Go out and live for this. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet. You shall not listen to that man with all his dreams and his visions. And here is the reason. Then you say Lord why have you sent this man in the midst of Christendom? The Lord your God is testing you. He's testing the whole world through television preachers today. The whole of Christendom across the world. He's allowed these false teachers to have more money than any other Christian preacher. Have you noticed that? That Babylonian preachers have far more money to get into every country with television which other preachers can never afford. They think they are reaching millions. With what? The Lord your God is testing you. To find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul. A man who loves God with all his heart and all his soul cannot love money. Cannot love himself. Cannot love the things of the world. It is impossible because all his heart and all his soul is taken up with Jesus Christ. The Lord your God is testing you. That's why He's allowed these people because He wants to test His people. The Bible begins with God creating man and as soon as He's created man and got him married He says, I've got to test you now. Go into the garden. I've got to test you. That's how the Bible begins. That's how the old creation began. As soon as Adam was created he had one day of rest with God then began a test and he failed. And the new creation is exactly the same way. God brings us to new birth then He's going to test us. The Lord your God is testing you. And what's He testing you? What was He testing? Eve and Adam in that garden. God, the Creator or what He has created. Which do you want? That's the test in every temptation. This beautiful tree which God has created or the Creator Himself. And Adam and Eve said, I think I'll take what's created. That's the same thing when Jesus said about God and Mammon. Mammon is what God has created. God or what He has created. Think of fine young men who could become prophets of God. And the devil says, I'll trip that guy up. That guy is too wholehearted that he's going to be a threat to my kingdom. The devil says and he brings along some pretty thing. God has created in front of his eyes and that young fellow who could have been a prophet of God falls. He says, I'll choose what is created. And marries that girl and that's the end of God's plan for his life. That has happened numerous times. Or if that doesn't succeed the devil says, I can attract him with something else God's created. Money. And some fall for that. The whole aim is to get the person away from loving God with all his heart. Get him taken up with some other thing like King James Version only or some crazy thing like that. So long as he doesn't love God with all his heart. Some others take them off on a tangent on some other thing and make him a fanatic for that. Oh the devil is cleverer than anybody. He knows how to trip people up. So long as you don't love the Lord your God with all your heart. And then he says, you shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him and you shall keep His commandments listen to His voice serve Him and cling to Him. There are so many things there when you love God with all your heart here are the results that will follow. You will follow Him. You will fear Him. You will keep His commandments. You will listen to His voice. You'll serve Him and you'll cling to Him. There it is. All of that in verse 4. And that prophet that dreamer of dreams in the Old Testament you put him to death. In the New Testament we cut him off from any connection with us. I don't want to listen to him and I'm not going to let anybody in my church or children listen to that false prophet who's going to lead people astray to worship another God. So God tests us. Why is there so much of counterfeit of the Holy Spirit? Because He's testing us. Now what was it that the law could not do? Let's turn to Romans and chapter 7. You know Paul was the apostle who said that according to the righteousness that is in the law he was blameless. Now maybe I should show you that verse first if you don't know it. Philippians chapter 3. He says about himself Philippians 3.6 According to the righteousness which is in the law that is the law of Moses I was found blameless. Now there are not many people in Israel who could say that. Paul was one of those obviously who was brought up by God fearing parents that from childhood he was brought up in a God fearing way so that he could look at God's laws and say imagine he's inspired by the Holy Spirit. He's not just boasting. He's speaking the truth otherwise the Holy Spirit would not have allowed him to write that in scripture. I have been found blameless according to that law. And you say well Paul you mean you kept all the commandments? Well he says I want you to be I want to be honest with you according to the standards that were expected in Israel I was blameless but he says there is one of those commandments that always bothered me. And that's what he mentions in Romans 7. He says out of all those commandments in the law I could keep all of them but when it came to this one commandment out of the 613 I couldn't keep it. Romans chapter 7 and verse 7 in the middle he says I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said you shall not covet. I didn't even think that coveting was a sin. I mean I knew that murder is a sin adultery is a sin in the 10 commandments nobody could keep all 10 the best Israelite in history could keep only 9 because those 9 commandments were external. Everything was external to have only the Lord your God is God don't worship idols don't take the Lord's name in vain.