Peter Brandon emphasizes the necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit, illustrating that true satisfaction and fulfillment come from a deep relationship with God rather than worldly pursuits. He explains that just as physical thirst indicates a need for water, spiritual thirst reveals a longing for God, which can only be quenched through Christ. Brandon encourages believers to recognize the power of the Holy Spirit within them and to actively seek a deeper connection with God, highlighting the importance of surrendering to His will. He concludes with a call to action, urging individuals to come to Jesus and drink from the living water that leads to eternal life.

Now we're going to speak tonight on the indwelling of the spirit and I want to take just two or three verses and we shall speak about them just for a few minutes. John's gospel chapter 4 verse 30. And Jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And the word never thirst there means a strong negative and it could be translated as follows shall never never never never never never never never thirst so it means never thirst and that's clear isn't it. Now let's turn to John chapter 7 in the last day verse 37 that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink he that believeth on me as the scripture hath said out of his belly or his inward being shall flow rivers of living water but this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the holy ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified. And God will bless to us the reading of his precious word. Tomorrow evening our subject will be the liberating Christ. Now let's have a little prayer and ask God father we pray as we open the scriptures that thou wilt now come and open our hearts and we pray that thou wilt do a twofold work tonight. First of all we pray that thou wilt cause us who are thy people to see the tremendous power that God has invested in us in the power of the spirit and we pray that we may use that power that God has given to us. We pray too that those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord may really come to know him tonight in a personal and intimate way. Lord this is our prayer and we ask thee to do this for thy glory and for the extension of thy kingdom amen. If you were alive during this great time of the feast of tabernacles the whole of Jerusalem would have been in a state of excitement. Some people were livid with anger they had listened to one particular message that the Christ gave and they just couldn't believe it and they were mad. Others were almost killed with curiosity and they were saying will he come up again and perform the miracle. Others were beginning to think seriously and they were beginning to say perhaps he is the Messiah the truth. Some were prepared in their anger to actually put him to death. Some wanted the spectacular and they were longing to see a miracle but there were some that were really hungry for him but they didn't basically know him. Then came the last day of the feast and quite frankly most of them had been camping for eight days and they were quite dirty. They were living in booze there was a very little water to wash in. In fact probably some of them had an offensive odor and you know what it is when thousands of people assemble in a very hot climate with a very little water and then came this great last day of this great feast. When they were thinking of a time when the Israelites came out of Egypt and they were camping in the wilderness and that's why they used the living booze so that they might commemorate those days. And all of a sudden the news sprang out it's in the temple and thousands flocked then suddenly Jesus stood up the last day of the feast and instead of speaking quietly and with that dignity of heaven he raised his voice like thunder and he cried out with all the pathos that the spirit of God could give him. If any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink and out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. I want to speak to you now on a great subject. Firstly I want to show you man's thirst. Then I want you to look at God's fountains and then quickly we shall close by taking up the challenge being treated a drink. First of all man thirsts. Here they were thirsting for water but Jesus was saying look you have a greater thirst than water. There is something in your inner being that's not being satisfied. There's an aching void within you. You know that money hasn't given it to you. You know that religion hasn't given it to you. You know that pleasure hasn't given it to you and there is that insatiable desire within you to fill up the vacuum that's within your life. So what did he basically mean? We only thirst when there's a difference. A man would be a fool to thirst if he had a tap in his house. You would be foolish to thirst if you had a well in the garden. People only thirst when they're in the midst of the Sahara and there's no water. Or a man might be in a boat at sea and he drinks his last drop of water and for three or four days he goes without water and there's water all around him but there's not a drop to drink. He will be thirsty. So you can see that thirst comes because of a distance. What does it mean thirst because of distance as far as God is concerned? Let me explain. When God created the first man he created the first man so that he could enjoy life and really enjoy. Now I want to say this as clearly as God can give me the power to do so. God is not a killjoy. Can I repeat that? God is not a killjoy. God has one desire and one complete desire and that is basically to make you a happy fellow or a happy girl. He does not want to see misery. Now this doesn't mean to say that when you become a Christian you go around with a shashia smudge. It doesn't mean that. But it means this that God wants to give you a deep seated joy and therefore when God made man he made him in such a wonderful way that creation would satisfy him but more. You see God not only gave man a body he gave him a soul so that he needed something else to satisfy him. He needed his emotions to be satisfied and God gave him something that was absolutely brilliant that brought him into contact with God. He gave him a spirit so that he could enjoy God. When a man sits down to a meal he does one thing. The food is before him and he feeds his body. The food goes into his mouth he masticates it and it drops right into his stomach and he feeds his body and that's all. When he is eating food he is not feeding his mind and he's not feeding his soul but he's feeding his body and that's essential. Secondly when a person listens to a lovely piece of music he's not feeding his body he's feeding his soul. Now let's face it you could listen to music all the days of your life and you could then starve to death couldn't you if you didn't eat? Or you could eat food and just food and go stark raving mad if you did not have an emotional outlet. So can you see what I'm driving at? You need food for the body you need food for the soul but you need food for the spirit and that is why wherever you will go in this world you will see in the human family there's an instinct to worship. I remember during my naval days we went to Nacikunda that was one of the most primitive parts in our world and quite frankly when I saw how these people were living it really shook me that this is what I observed. They knew nothing about western culture. They knew nothing about the one true God but they had an instinct to worship and they were worshipping a particular instinct. You see the whole of the human family has this worshipping instinct. Now man will never really be satisfied until he really comes into contact with God. And it doesn't matter who the man is or who the girl is that girl will never find satisfaction until they're made right with God. And that's why Jesus was here to show men and women how to get right with God and that's why he told them to come to him if they thirsted. But more. Thirst comes because of disease. I knew of a family unfortunately that had drinking diabetes and it was painful to watch. Children would drink almost a pint of water and then within 10 minutes they would crave for the water again. And after 10 minutes they would crave for it again. And sometimes the craving was so great it was almost painful to watch. And of course all kinds of problems accrued because of this. And as I watched those children and also the parents I could see that they were alcoholics for water. Craving but never being satisfied. Why? Because of a disease within them. Now we in the human family have an awful disease within and it's not drinking diabetes it's that filthy disease called sin. And we've all got it. And may I say this to you as clearly as I can. It is a killer. Some diseases like palsy cause weakness and so does sin. You see the human family is so weak that it can't even keep the thing come on. Some diseases like leprosy causes uncleanness. I once saw some lepers coming out of their leper camp in India and I shall never forget it. And when I took one look at those lepers it scarred my memory for life. To see the lion like appearance. To see the loss of their fingers. To see blindness. To see ulceration that was bulging on the body. And also the profuse smell was sin. And quite frankly when God looks inside us and he looks at the function of our minds he sees our imagination he says inwardly we're all unclean. As though we were lepers in the sight of God. And then there is a particular disease that creates restlessness it's called malaria. Have you ever seen a man caught in the vortex of malaria? When the fever is on him the whole of that body shakes. There's no rest. It turns over. Struggle. Sweat. You see restlessness comes because the fever has gripped him. And that's a picture of sin. It takes away all peace and it brings restlessness. And isn't that a picture of the world today? Thousands of people are struggling and striving to get happiness but they can't find it because of the restlessness of sin. And therefore that comes because of disease. But it lastly comes because of drought. What a dreadful thing it would be to be in the heart of Australia without water. Can you visualize it? Doesn't it frighten you? Nothing growing. All palm. Growth. No water. And dear friends that's a picture of a life that's without Jesus and without God. It's a life of drought. You see God wants to put into your life those lovely seeds of the spirit tonight. So that he can develop within your life a beautiful garden. So that he can produce within you the fruits of love, joy and peace and patience and happiness. So that you become a beautiful person. A lovely person. But sin makes a person barren and full of sin. I remember a young man that came under the gospel in London. He was about 19 years of age and then he turned it down. And he plunged himself in this dark wicked world. And unfortunately he went from drink into sex, from sex into drugs. And like thousands of other young people he got stuck on herring. And I shall never never forget seeing that boy when he was 25 and he looked a lad of 84. Skin torn, totally bald, eyes bulging, arms pressed. And as I looked at him this is what I said with tears. A desert, drought, barrenness, death. Don't you be like that. Let Christ come into your life and he'll make the desert bloom again. He makes the desert blossom again. Now God's fountain, what is it? If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. Now first of all he has a fountain for our unclean. When Jesus Christ went to the cross he went to the cross in order to deal with the sins of the world. He knew man was at a distance from God. He knew that we were diseased by sin. He knew that we were guilty before God. And out of pure love for the human race he came into this world so that he might die on that center cross for the sins of the whole world. And when he died upon that cross the scripture tells us that he bare our sins in his own body on the tree. John the Baptist in order to clarify the meaning of his coming said with great authority look behold the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. And when our savior was on the cross sin was not only laid upon him but the judgment of God for those sins came upon him and he exhausted it all on the cross out of pure love for us. And when he died the writer to the Hebrews tells us once in the end of the age as he appeared now note this to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. You see God can now forgive sin why because his judgment has fallen not on us but on his lovely son and through his precious blood all our sins can be forgiven. So there's a fountain for uncleanness open to us at the cross and God now is able to bring us near to himself why because Jesus Christ is there is one God and one mediator between God and man and that is the man Christ Jesus and therefore there is someone now that stands between you and God is here tonight and he wants you to come to him so that he can take you right into the presence of God and through his death plead your cause so that no longer you are at a distance from him. Secondly he wants to come into your life and cleanse you from all sin so that the uncleanness of sin is removed once and forever. You know I think it's lovely to tell people this especially young people that God can clean up your life so beautifully that when he has done it there is a perpetual and an eternal forgiveness and when he forgives he never has to forgive again. He forgives because of the once and for all sacrifice for sin and that forgiveness is once and forever and when you have been cleansed not only can you not see one sin in you neither can and I know this is going to be hard for you to understand but you are as clean and as pure as the angels in heaven when you are forgiven through the blood of Christ but that's not all. When you become a Christian God not only has a fountain for uncleanness but he has another fountain for dealing with your deadness and weakness. Now watch this when he cleanses you from all your sin through his precious blood in comes the Holy Spirit. That Spirit of God he comes right into your life and he brings into your life the gift of eternal life so that you have eternal life within the confines of your little body but more. He not only brings life right down into your body but he brings power to live the Christian life. You know there is one verse in the Acts and I love it. Oh every time I quote this I feel like saying hallelujah in my heart. You listen. You shall receive power. Beautiful isn't it? Power. Dynamic isn't it? Power. Marvelous isn't it? You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. The moment he cleanses your life he not only puts within you the Holy Spirit who gives you eternal life but he puts power in your life to live and that power can revolutionize the whole of your life. Someone might say well Mr. Brandon how do you know you have that power when you become a Christian because it's a power that changes. Now we mustn't be rugged tonight but if the Spirit of God has not changed your life it's a sure proof he hasn't come in. My dear friend my dear senior brother and sister if the Lord hasn't changed your life you have never been converted. Never. How can you have within you the mighty power of the Spirit and be unchanged? Look at the book of the Acts see the dramatic change there. Admittedly some people have changed more than others. You say why? Let me explain. Supposing we all had a packet of seeds each right? Let's say there are people and I gave you a packet of seeds, you a packet of seeds and you a packet of seeds and you a packet of seeds and you a packet of seeds. Good old bee seeds. Do you have them there here? Bee seeds. Ah they're great seeds. You want to get some from the old country. Every seed you'll get two beetroots from it. Bee seeds. Now what do we do? You plant your seeds. You plant your seeds and you plant your seeds. Now watch this. Some of the beetroots grow better than others. Why? One person has cultivated them more than the other. The watering, the fertilizer, the weeding. Another person just put them in and left them. And all he's got are weeds and a few spindly old beetroots that wouldn't feed a donkey. But look at this other man. He's got beetroots like pumpkins. Have you ever seen them like that? You see he's cultivated them. And when you look at some of the Lord's people they just look lovely. Why? Because they have cultivated the seeds within them and Christ is growing in them. Whilst you look at some of the Lord's people they even haven't got a hallelujah. As I was saying the other night they constantly look as though they were in a dentist's chair just before final extraction. You see there isn't the joy of the Lord in their life. Now beloved can you see what we're striving at? First of all man's first and God's glorious planting. There's a planting for uncleanness. There's a planting for our deafness and weakness and praise God there's a planting for power. And with this I close. There's an entreaty centering. Now what would you think of me if you gave me an invitation of my beloved wife to come to your house for a meal. Then you put before me some lovely tomato soup with some of those lovely rolls. And I said oh dear what lovely soup and isn't this roll delicious and then didn't take it or eat it. If you know anything about good old-fashioned cockney you would say all flannel. And then supposing you put before me some beautiful steak, peas and carrots and cauliflower all with that lovely sauce and I said oh dear I've never seen a meal like it. This is absolutely out of this world. This is like the manna that came from heaven. This is absolutely delicious and then I didn't eat it. You would say that's all patter, lot of nonsense. Just imagine inviting him in and then supposing you got me that lovely sweet lovely tropical fruit salad, lovely cream, double cream with a little tinge of chocolate all over it. Then I look at the fruit salad and I say now isn't this lovely isn't this delicious oh dear oh dear we do not see this in England. And then I didn't touch it. Now what would you say? We shan't invite him again. There are hundreds of people like that with the Lord Jesus. We show through the gospel that God has a pounting for our uncleanness. He wants to come into our life and give us eternal life. He wants to give us the power to live and people say lovely delightful. I mean you say this to them have you received God? Oh well very nice but that's it. Now would you mind if I point it? Have you received him? Have you received him? Have you received him? If not receive him now. Now how do you come and drink? First of all I come with a thirst and you know what that means? I say this Lord I know I've sinned. I know I'm unclean. I believe that Christ died for me on the cross and I'm coming to receive but more. You see the Holy Spirit was not yet given because now note the word Christ was not yet glorified and when he was glorified God made him Lord and when a person becomes a Christian and I'm going to say this slowly and loudly and please grasp it you do two things. You make him your savior because you want your sins to be forgiven and then you make him Lord because you want to be in his kingdom and the kingdom of God is the place where the of God is acknowledged and submitted to. Oh you see if I make him Lord what does that mean? It simply means that you read the Bible and you do what you're told. You say well where's the scripture for that? Here it is. If thou shalt confess with thine mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. Oh you say but what about that other one Mr. Brandon? What's that act 16? What must I do to be saved? Believe yes on yes go on the Lord Jesus Christ and you know what that means? Believe into his Lordship. Believe into his Messiahship. Believe into his Saviorhood. Now I know this is going to come as shock. This is not for the young people. This is for the older ones but you listen. If you have not made Jesus Lord and just Savior and you've missed out Lordship you know you're not saved yet. Now grip it. This is the clear teaching of God's word. Now look shortly the Lord is going to come and we don't want anyone to be left behind. Is Jesus Christ your Lord? Now some have made him more lordly than others agreed but you never get into the kingdom until you repent of your sin and that basically means where sin reigns Christ reigns and you make Jesus Savior and Lord and when you have done that you have drunk and as you open your heart and you receive him as Savior and Lord he comes into your life and then listen out of your innermost being shall flow river of living water and you know what that means God will use you to lead others to Christ. On one occasion in my life I was terribly nervous and probably I had the best suit I've ever had in my life on and I walked down the center of this large building and sat down and fear gripped me and then all of a sudden in this large building people started to assembly this was not a dream this is a fact until the place was packed to capacity and as it got nearer to the time a sense of fear came upon me and then all of a sudden I heard a beautiful organ started to play it was playing Handel's Lager and then all of a sudden I stood up and I was conscious of another person standing and then suddenly quietly like a ghost someone all in white that was veiled stood by my side and I heard a man saying Peter John Brandon will you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife and I just said this I will now I want to say this in the presence of everyone that little darling there was the greatest gift that God has ever given me outside of Christ and we were joined together in that now listen in this room tonight there is the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God is saying to many of you will you take Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord now don't raise your hand answer this in the shrine of your own being who's going to say right now I will and come and drink let's pray Lord we do pray that thou will work now in this room tonight and we pray that thou will bring son to the feet of the Savior Lord Jesus we bless thee for the boldness that marked thee when thou didst say with a loud voice if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink and Lord in this 20th century we believe thou art saying that as loud as thou didst say it on the day when thou didst stand in the temple oh Lord whisper that right down into someone's heart and in this room again we would ask that bring someone to the faith make it clear make it plain give them the grace to come now in the name of the Lord Jesus amen tonight we're going to speak on a vital subject the subject of the fullness of the Spirit and because of the tremendous implications and the importance of this subject I must refrain from giving past headaches. But may I say this brothers and sisters for your prayers I do really believe that we have reached a very important stage in our mission when we're going on or we're going back. Now quite frankly I have been rather disappointed regarding the response after the meeting. I feel that if the Lord really touched us many more would want to pray many more would be upstairs on their knees and let us really pray that the word tonight may not just be an intellectual exercise that may come to us in such power that we shall want to do something about what God is saying. Now I believe this is ever so important. Now regarding the conference at Wynnum it is a historical occasion for us all supposedly it's the last and that could be sad but it could be a beginning and let us pray that we shall not only hear the word of the Lord but we shall do something about it. I am sure God is not concerned so much about us hearing the word but putting it right into practice. Now let's pray that we might begin to see that in operation in our midst. Now that's all I feel I can say. I shall continue these studies on the Holy Spirit the Caribbean. We shall be talking about growth in the Spirit and we shall be discussing that and then I want to speak on the great subject of the fruits of the Spirit and then we shall turn from the work of the Spirit in the believer to the work of the Holy Spirit in the church and then I want to give two addresses on the operation of the Holy Spirit in the world and let's pray that as we go on with this study it might be a real blessing to us all. Now let's turn to Ephesians 5 and we shall read from verse 8. Ephesians 5 reading from verse 8. For ye were sometimes darkness but now are you light in the Lord. Walketh children of light. Ephesians 5 I am now reading from verse 9. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove or expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light for whatsoever does make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead. That literally means the dead ones. And Christ shall give thee light. Now please note there are three couplets in that verse that he quotes from Isaiah. Wake up, get up and then light up. And you will notice that the word light there is a different word to the word that's used in verse 13. The light there is the light of exposure. The light of verse 14 is the light of radiance. And that means when we are awakened out of the dead of ease. Then God will give to us the radiance of the joy of the Lord. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the spirit. Now you will notice that there are two commands in that one verse. That we are commanded not to be drunk with wine. And in the same way in which we are commanded not to be drunk with wine. We are commanded to be filled with the spirit. So we can see that the spirit filled life is not just for a few. It's for all the children of God. In fact a believer who is not spirit filled is a disobedient believer. And therefore this is not just for a few of God's children. This is not just for a few of extra spiritual Christians. This is a command for all the children of God. Be being filled with the spirit. Then you will notice he goes on. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And that submission goes right the way through this chapter. Right into the sixth chapter. And the Lord will bless to us the reading of his precious word. We have seen in our study on the Holy Spirit that the word baptism is mentioned seven times in scripture. And five of those times were given to us by John the Baptist. And then we have seen once by the Lord Jesus and then just once by the Apostle Paul. But when it comes to the filling of the spirit and the fullness of the spirit and the subject of fullness. The word is much more profuse. The word filled is actually mentioned 13 times in scripture. The idea of the word fullness is approximately 40 to 50 could be by connotations 60 times in the New Testament. For instance when the scripture speaks about being filled with the fruits of righteousness it's the same thing. When it speaks about being filled with the fullness of God it is the same idea. When the scripture speaks about being filled with joy the same principle. And therefore if you go through the epistles you will find over and over again this word fullness coming in. Now right at the beginning we must try and understand what the Apostle means by fullness. Now first of all it means total control. It simply means that when a person is filled he is led by the spirit. And that is why when you read of the Lord Jesus being filled with the spirit in Matthew 4 he was led by the spirit into the world. And therefore the first idea of the word to be filled means to come under the control and influence of the Holy Spirit. And that is why he uses the analogy. Do not be drunk with wine. Why? Because a man that's drunk with wine is under the total influence of drink. And therefore we are told not to be under the influence of drink or alcohol we are told to be under the influence of the spirit. So the first meaning is control. The second meaning is obviously maturity. When the scripture speaks about being filled with the fruits of the spirit and when the scripture talks about being filled with all the fullness of God it literally means to be filled out. Well what does that mean? Sometimes we have been through an orchard and we have seen an apple filled out, large, ripe, ready for picking. And then we have seen another apple all with us almost dying on the tree. Or we have seen a banana plantation and those at the bottom are large filled out. They have come to maturity. Those at the top are much smaller. In fact some have with us. And therefore the idea here is coming to maturity and some of the Lord's people are beautiful. They are filled out with Christ and some are just with us. And therefore the idea of fullness and being filled simply means to come into the maturity of Christ. Sadly it has to do with the commencement of real growth. And that is why there is no such thing in scripture as a once and for all fullness. And therefore if you understand the meaning of the verb here to be filled it basically means to be filled and filled and filled and filled and filled with all the fullness of God. You blow a balloon up and it is full. If it is a good one and it is stretchable you can keep on blowing it up. But there is a difference between you and the balloon. The balloon can burst but praise God you can't. You have the capacity within that soul of yours to be filled out with all the fullness of God. And therefore the moment we look back to a point of history and we say ten years ago I was filled. Be sure of this you are in a poor spiritual state. It is a constant filling, refilling, filling out with the mighty fullness of God. Now having made that statement let's go on to the basic subject and let's search the scripture to see what the book says about this fullness. What is the fullness of the spirit? And I believe it's true now to ask the first question under that heading is every Christian possessed with the spirit. Now if we went through the book of the Acts we would be in serious trouble. Now why? Every manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the book of the Acts was different. Everyone Acts 2 they repented and they were baptized and they received the Holy Spirit. There's not a person in the room that receives the Holy Spirit like that. The moment you repented and believe you were a recipient of the Holy Spirit. But now he says repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. When we come to Acts chapter 8 we find this that Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ to them and they believed and there was great joy in that city and he baptized them but as yet they had not received the Holy Spirit. And therefore they believed and were baptized but they had not received the Spirit. Then the apostles came and confirmed the work and laid their hands upon the convert and they received the Spirit of God. Now that's another order. When we come to Acts 10 there's something different. Whilst Peter was preaching the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word of God. In other words he was rather surprised because when he was preaching the Spirit of God came upon them and they all received the Holy Spirit and they spoke with tongues as they did right at the beginning. Now then my dear friends if we are going to build a doctrine on the book of the Acts on the Holy Spirit what coming upon are we going to base our doctrine on? And therefore I want to say this all of us would be in serious trouble if we had to build the doctrine of the fullness of the Spirit on the book of the Acts. But when we come to the epistles it's clear and it's final. In Romans 8 we are told if we have not the Spirit of Christ we're none of his that means we're not a Christian. In Galatians chapter 3 he says how did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive it by the works of the law or the hearing of faith? Meaning the preaching of the gospel. And therefore the argument is conclusive they received the Spirit of God when they heard the preaching of the gospel. When we come to Ephesians 1 he says after or since you believe you were filled with the Holy Spirit which is the earnest of your intelligence or you were filled with the Spirit of promise which is the earnest of your intelligence. And therefore by those three clear scriptures we can see that the moment we were saved we received the Spirit of God. Now that's clear. Now the second question is this. Is every Christian aware of the Holy Spirit? Now there are two differing scriptures that we must now observe. When Paul went to Ephesus he found a group of disciples who were following John the Baptist and he could not decipher whether they were Christian or not. Now what was his attitude? Have you been baptized by a merchant? No. Do you break bread every Sunday? No. Have you a letter of commendation? No. Do you say your prayers? No. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your saviour? No. Now what was his attitude? Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believe? And then they reported we have never heard if there is a Holy Spirit. And then he knew that they were not complete in the full Christian faith. But now when he is writing to the Corinthians who unfortunately at least some were living a sinful life what does he say? Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believe? No. Now notice the difference. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? In other words hasn't it dawned upon you yet that the Holy Spirit is within you? Now my dear friends when God opens your inner eyes by divine revelation to see that the Holy Spirit is within you don't please call that the baptism of the Spirit. Nor must you call that the infilling of the Holy Spirit. It is just a way. Let me explain. Supposing now I'm digging in my garden and the ground is hard and brittle and then all of a sudden I hit a gigantic stone and I say no wonder my King Edwards didn't grow. Do you have King Edwards potatoes here? Yes. You don't you don't know what a lovely potato that is. And when you taste it it's eyes look at you. Well I'm digging and there's this enormous stone and I'm very annoyed with it. And as I'm digging round the stone I notice now it's not a stone but a box. And now my interest is growing. And then all of a sudden I get to the lid of the box and I can see it's a powerful chest. And now all the Jewish instincts are coming out of me. And then all of a sudden I break the seal and lift the box open and it's full of fuel. Now what do I say? Peter an angel put it there last night. Of course not. It had been there for 200 years. But you see people like myself were planting potatoes and corn on it. And now I've discovered it. Beloved when you discover that the Holy Spirit is in you don't imagine he's just come. He was there the moment you were saved. But now you have rediscovered him. Your eyes are open by divine revelation that is there. Now is this indwelling an awareness? The fullness? No. What then is fullness? Well there is one particular chapter in the Bible and we shall turn to it. Where a group of people prayed and they were filled with the Spirit. And therefore we must see the secret of how they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 4. Acts 4 verse 24. And when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said. Lord. Sovereign Lord. Thou art God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is. Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said. Why did the heathen rage and the people sing? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child or servant Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel did turning before to be done. And now Lord behold their threatening and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. Now that was their first request. The second is seen in their second. By stretching forth thy hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child or servant Jesus. Now look at verse 31. And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with love. And therefore when they prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and every single believer in that upper room was filled with the Holy Ghost. And yet this is the strange thing. In their request to God they never even asked to be filled. They prayed number one that they might have boldness to preach in the name of the Lord Jesus and that sign gifts should be given to their preachers. And yet when they had prayed they were all filled. Well what's the secret? The way in which they addressed the Lord. You go back right to the beginning. Verse 24. And when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord, Lord. Now the word there is sovereign Lord. Now so that you can see the force of the word. Would you turn with me please to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke, that means many slaves that were under the yoke of bondage count their own masters worthy of all honor. Now that word masters there is exactly the same word and it means sovereign absolute Lord. Now what does all this mean? If you were a slave in the time of the apostles you would always address your master by this word absolute sovereign Lord and master. If you were a man that was a hired servant and you were paid a wage you would always address your master with the word foreman, overseer. And therefore when the word absolute master sovereign Lord was actually used it always denoted slavery. Therefore when these early Christians came together they looked up to God and they called him sovereign absolute Lord. We are total slaves, we are sold out to God. We recognize that we have been bought with a price and that is the precious blood and our bodies are not our own and we have laid ourselves upon the altar of sacrifice and thou art sovereign absolute Lord. And when we are there we are filled with the sacrifice. And beloved if we were to go through Romans 6 and yield up our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. If we were to go into Romans 12 and present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God every one of us would be filled with the sacrifice. And beloved that's our problem. So few of us are laid upon the altar. Now someone might say well Mr. Brandon that's a very very big step to take isn't it. Surely there are movements to war back. Yes there are. And so I want to speak secondly how is the fullness of the Holy Spirit procured. Now first of all there must be a hunger. No one will be filled with the Spirit unless there's a hunger. Now these are the scriptures. The psalmist said as the heart pangs after the water brook so pangs my soul after thee. In other words he was looking at the gazelle in the desert. And he had often seen the animal because he was once a wilderness man. Billowing for water. And it's believed that an animal when crying for water could be heard at least five miles. And therefore the psalmist was saying just as the heart cries out for water my heart cries out for God. I thirst for him. Again when we come to the New Testament we find the Lord Jesus saying blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Again in John 7 the Lord Jesus says if any man starts let him come unto me and drink and out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Now here is a sad fact. Sometimes we go to an area and we have to cease speaking about the Holy Spirit. In fact sometimes we have to stop the meeting. Do you know why? There's no hunger, no thirst, no desire. What's happened? They have been so caught up with the material things of God that thirst has all gone. And beloved sooner minister the great doctrines of the Spirit to that lent all than to some of God's people. The thirst has gone. Can I ask a question? Have you got a thirst? Let me explain what that means. Are you beginning to say now look there's something missing in my Christian life. Are you beginning to say well if what I have is all that Christianity can do for me then there's something wrong with Christianity. Are you beginning to look around and say well if this is Christianity what I'm seeing in my local assembly then it doesn't fit in with the New Testament there's something wrong. And are you beginning now to stop being critical with others and now you're using a sharp knife upon yourself and you're beginning to say oh God I long for you. Beloved could I share this with you. In some parts of my own country now there are Christians and they're praying prayers like this. Lord we would sooner die and not be filled with the Spirit. And beloved I've heard men and women praying Lord take us take us to heaven now if we're going to hinder the working of the Holy Ghost. They mean it. And could I share something with you. That's why I've been so hurt this time. Because I've come away from groups of Christians who are hungering for God. And you know it's so difficult when you come into a desert. Now look can I ask you a blunt question. Do you hunger and thirst and long for a deeper experience of God. Then God will meet that hunger. And he'll meet that. But secondly there must be exposure. Now there are five words. There's lying to the Spirit. There's resisting the Spirit. There's quenching the Spirit. And there's grieving the Spirit. And there's one other expression that I'm almost afraid to use. And I think perhaps I should hold back from using it. And I just want to talk now about the quenching of the Spirit. Can we turn to Ephesians chapter 4. Or grieving the Spirit. We are begin with that. Verse 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use of edify. That it may minister grace unto the hero. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tremor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Be kind one to another one to another. Tenderhearted forgiving one another. Even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Now you see what he is trying to put over. Just imagining that we human beings living on this earth have actually received into these little bodies of ours the Holy Spirit of God. Think of it. And think of the tremendous gift that's been given to us from the church. Think of the cost of the gift. That it cost the Lord his precious blood before the Holy Spirit could ever be poured out. Think not only that the Spirit of God dwells in us. But we are sealed. We are marked out as his. Until that day comes when he's going to fully redeem us. So that not only soul but body will be completely redeemed. And we shall become experimental sons of Lord. Having given to us the mighty majestic Spirit of God. Think of this. We can grieve him, sadden him in our lives. For that's what the word grieve means. Now this is interesting. We read of the wrath of God. We read of the anger of the Lord. But you will never read of the wrath of the Spirit. But you can grieve him, sadden him. And that is why God's people are not happy. If you look at the Lord's people today you will notice immediately they begin to discuss spiritual things. There is a sense of depression. In fact there is a sense of being morose. There isn't joy there. Now why? Because the Spirit of God is being grieved. With one of our families I had to use psychology. It was the psychology of the slipper. In fact one of my sons was writing to me while I was here and he said, I think our little boy father has got genes of his uncle in him. And could you give me some information on child training? Well thank God this boy is being used of God at this moment. But when he was a boy he was like his father. He needed having hands laid on him often. And on one occasion he did something that was wrong and I had to give him three of the slippers. And after I had given him the slipper he looked up unafraid, seemed unhurt. And it was a twill. And he seemed to say well don't you let me knock it in. And then he went into the lounge, I shall never forget this, and he went right up to his mother and he looked right into her face and there was a tear. And he just said this, Is that for me now? And she said yes. And he just broke down and wept. The slipper hardened him. The tear broke him. Very rarely will the Holy Spirit use a slipper on you. But you can grieve him and sadden him. And that's what we do. The one that's being poured out because of that great love gift from heaven is the one that we constantly grieve. And therefore when a person is going to be filled with the Spirit he must get alone with God and he must say oh God touch me. Show me those things in my life that are grieving the Spirit. I want to be done with it. And the first thing he'll show you is this. How little time you spend with him each day. Can I repeat this? 50% of the Lord's people do not have a serious quiet time with the Lord. And that great thing. Then he will go over your life and he will show you the roots of bitterness and wrath and anger that are there. Bad relationships. Then he will go over your life and show you those worldly manifestations that constantly grieve him. The things that you look at and read that you know are a hindrance for your spiritual life. And beloved there cannot be a filling of the Holy Spirit until there is real exposure. But more. Let's turn to Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. Now what does it mean? Quench not the Spirit. It means to resist him. It means to become a repellent to what he wants to do. In fact the word quench has three connotations. It means to put water upon a burning flame. Two. It means to put a boulder upon a very powerful offspring, a phantom. Three. It means to dam a watercourse. And therefore if you can see those three connotations you can see what it means to quench the Spirit. He wants to burn as a fire but we hold it out. He wants to spring up in worship but we hold down the flame. He wants to flow out in mighty power but we dam his course. You say do we do that Mr. Brandon? Yes. In our meetings anyone with spiritual discernment can see that he is perpetually quenched. Can I give you a case in point? In one local church in London that was then about 350 in fellowship, one of our large assemblies in London that had a Sunday school of over a thousand children had a visitation from the Lord. And the young people of this particular assembly spent nights in prayer. And God was humbling them. One young man who was about 35 who was the choir leader of this particular local church was having deep dealings with God and his wife who at that time was dying of cancer. And she is now in the floor. And he and his wife had special intimate dealings with the Lord. And it was beautiful to see it. One Sunday morning before we started to worship he got up in a very fashionable assembly and he read the scripture. This people honoured me with their lips but their hearts were far from me. And with tedious running down his cheek he just said this. Brethren and sisters I do not believe that we are in a fit state to worship. I believe we should tumble ourselves before the Lord. And he quietly said this. For years we have been coming here saying our part but it's become all mechanical and it's been less selfless. And we all know it. And now God wants us to tumble ourselves before him so that we can really worship in spirit and in truth. And I watched and this is what I saw. Some Christians broken. Some Christians living with anger. In fact four responsible brethren would have pulled him to the ground if they were near him. To think that he could interrupt a morning service that was for worship. Beloved many times we shouldn't be worshiping. Do you know why? We cannot worship when there is unconfession in the local church. And if you read the old testament carefully you will see that some of their offerings that they offered for worship were obnoxious to God. Sacrifice and offering the wood is not. In Psalm 51 he says you require not that offering and sacrifice if you're broken in the contract. And it would be wonderful if one local church came together and broke before the Lord and confessed their sin and even sustained from worship. It would be a tremendous moment for that local church. But that word was totally rejected. I saw it. It came from the Lord. Rejected by spiritual leaders. No wonder that assembly has almost disappeared. They quenched the spirit by resisting the word of the Lord. Oh beloved, beloved am I. When people are going to be filled with the Spirit they must get alone right into the presence of God. And they must ask God to thoroughly search them through and through. And there cannot be a fullness of the Spirit unless wisdom. And then what happens after the searching? Do we go on asking and pleading and groaning and groveling, waiting for the Spirit now? We quietly yield ourselves to God when we have dealt with our sins. And we claim the fullness of the Spirit.