In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the sacrifice of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. He emphasizes the depth of Jesus' sacrifice, from his trials to his resurrection. The speaker also highlights the importance of unity among believers and the need for a worthy walk in our relationship with the Spirit of God. He concludes by discussing the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus and how it delivers us from the sinful world and beautifies our lives. The sermon references Ephesians 4 and Galatians 1:4 to support these teachings.

Because the Holy Spirit is the chief agent in revival, and because I think it is important that we should understand the One with whom we are in partnership, I want to talk about Him again tonight. I realize that in talking about revival it is usual to talk, as we have done, about the meaning of revival, the principles of revival, preparation for revival, prayer for revival, and so on, and so on, and so on. But I do believe that we must understand that without the Holy Spirit there could be no revival at all, and that therefore it is important, it is vital, that we should understand the kind of person with whom we are in partnership, and from whom we expect the answer to our prayer when we pray that God will send revival in our time. We know there are varied operations and ministries of the Holy Spirit toward the Christian. We are born again of the Holy Spirit. Many of us are baptized with the Spirit. We pray in the Spirit. We sing in the Spirit, a song as it may be. We are led of the Spirit. And all these various manifestations and ministries and operations of the Spirit of God are scripturally based, and therefore they are important. But I think you will agree that there is no one title of the Spirit, and no one emblem of the Spirit that can express exactly what He is. Just as all these varied experiences through which we pass can give to us a measure of understanding of the kind of person with whom we have to do, this is on a personal level. So when it comes to our understanding and our comprehension of the agent in revival, then we must pay attention not simply to one title or to one emblem, but to the titles and emblems under which He is presented to us. For instance, He is the Spirit of Power. We all know this. But do we know Him as the Spirit of Grace? Have we discovered Him as the Spirit of Supplication? Do we know Him as the Spirit of Wisdom and of Might? You see, it's important, isn't it, that we should have more than one aspect presented to us, even under the titles of the Spirit, of who and what the Holy Spirit is. So were the emblems of the Spirit. I don't think there is one emblem which in itself presents to us the perfect picture of the kind of person with whom we are in partnership. They're all limited, every one of them without exception. And although there are some more than others that seem to express various aspects and facets of His personality, yet not one of them in itself is sufficient to explain who this person is with whom we have to do. Now, some of these emblems we have studied together already, and I cast them as a result of our contemplation of the Spirit of God under these figures of speech, that at least we have gained some knowledge, some understanding of the kind of person the Holy Spirit is. I'm not so much concerned about what He does. I'm concerned about who He is. His character is important. And I feel that in Pentecostal circles that this is so very often missed. Not completely, I would say, but very often missed very largely in the contemplation of other aspects of the Holy Spirit's ministry, especially in the ecstatic manifestations and in the utterances of the Spirit through the voice gifts in the church. So why should we major on these things when the important thing, the vital thing for us is to walk in daily partnership with the Spirit of God as a person, and to know Him in this glorious intimate personal relationship. This is my concern really. And so again tonight, I think it is necessary to say that there are some emblems which are limited in their expression of what and who the Holy Spirit is. One of these limited emblems, I would suggest, is water. Because, you know, in different parts of God's Word you'll find that water symbolizes not the Holy Spirit directly or even indirectly, but other things. In the case of Noah and the flood, there surely the waters as they mounted spoke of judgment. In Ephesians 5 and 26, we read about the washing of water by the Word. So here the Word of God is represented as water and symbolized in this way. In Psalm 69 verses 2 and 14, used in the plural sense, it signifies distress and tribulation and trouble for the people who are concerned. So you see quite clearly, do you not, that it isn't possible to take water, say, as a symbol or emblem of the Spirit exclusively and comprehensively throughout the Word of God. But remember that something has to be done with a context and with the contextual interpretation in order to grasp the significance of what God is teaching us concerning this symbol or this emblem of water. I'm mentioning this tonight because I feel that it's such a large and varied aspect of the Holy Spirit's ministry. It appears to us in so many forms, as the rivers, as the springs, as the floods upon the dry ground, and as water in many aspects and manifestations, and as the dew from heaven. So varied, so vastly varied, is this emblem. It seems to me to be about the fullest possible representation of the person and work of the Holy Spirit under these figures of speech. And I must confess that when I started studying some time ago now, in preparation for tonight, I was amazed to discover so much that is said about water in these various aspects and manifestations in the Bible related directly or else implied to the Holy Spirit as a person and to the work that he does. I suppose that in connection with this figure of speech, that the Holy Spirit's work and ministry would be that of reviving and refreshing and regenerating, if you like, the people of God. I don't mean in the sense of being born again, but regenerating us in the sense of giving us new vitality, revitalizing us. Jehati quickened, not slowed, Jehati quickened, and the impartation of this life by the Spirit of God comes to us very largely, I think, under this figure of speech. And so as I began to study, I saw quite clearly and almost at once, it would be impossible to convey all that the Scripture teaches concerning the Holy Spirit if we were to take into consideration the rivers and the pools and the springs and all the rest of it. So I decided in the end that I would talk about the Holy Spirit as the dew. Now, I guarantee you have heard many sermons on the Holy Spirit as the rivers, or as the floods on the dry ground, or references in this way, but to the Holy Spirit as the dew. You know, as I began to look into this, I found my own heart was touched, my own spirit enlarged, and I began to rejoice in God at what He was able to show us under this one figure of speech. We look at it, of course, in the Old Testament, but we try to see how its application is in the New Testament, too, because so much is implied by this one figure of speech. As the dew. Now, the first thing that you notice about this, that I notice anyway, is that the dew is divinely given. When Isaac blessed Jacob, part of the blessing was, God give thee the dew of heaven. That's Genesis 27, 28, for those of you who may be taking note. It's a gift from God, then, a free unmerited gift. It cannot be manufactured, nor can it be manipulated. You can't switch it on, and you can't turn it off at will. I can't think of any possible technique that can produce the dew of the Spirit, although there are many in these days, it seems to me, who seem to think that they have some special faculty in this direction. No, when the dew came, it came as a gift from God. It came down from heaven. It came from His almighty hand, and it came according to His promise. How many promises do you think are in the Bible? I mean, specific promises? Well, in case you don't know, I'll tell you. 31,000. 31,000 specific promises in the Bible, but only one of them is called THE promise. That's Luke 24, 49. Behold, I send THE promise of my Father upon you. The only one out of the 31,000 that is called THE promise concerns the Holy Spirit, and so I don't think it's by chance that He is called, in Ephesians 1, 13, the promised Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit of promise. The dew from heaven, then, is the gift of God's grace, divinely promised, divinely imparted. Only He can send it, and not only is the Spirit as the dew divinely given, but it is specifically called one of the precious things of heaven. I loved that when I read it. It's in the blessing which Moses pronounced on the tribe of Joseph. Blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven, for the dew. So the dew is one of God's precious things. Of all the emblems under which the Holy Spirit is presented, I think this one is singled out as possessing special preciousness. I wonder whether we've got our priorities right. We do so want the rushing mighty wind. Many of us, we do so need and feel a desire for the searing, searching flames of the fires of God. But I wonder whether we are still concerned about the Holy Spirit coming as the gentle dew, or do we want the demonstrative? Does it always have to be this way, that unless there's something demonstrated, something manifested, something unusual, something out of the ordinary, that God isn't there at all? The dew that came from heaven was precious in the sight of God. It's one of the precious things of heaven. I wonder whether it is really precious to us. Are we really putting our premium on the demonstrative? Are we doing this almost unconsciously? Because we want to feel and sense and know that God is moving. Remember the dew which came as a gift from God, a gift from heaven, and a gift of exceeding preciousness. You see, we do need very much, I know, the vision of the Spirit's power that brings us to our feet in shouts of ecstasy and the praise. But I think we also ought to be prepared for the vision of the Spirit's gentleness, which brings us to our knees in prayer, in worship, in adoration. And how I long for this in the Pentecostal circle, this sense of quietness and waiting and silence that God may brood by His Spirit, if you like. And not only the demonstrative and the expressive. I said the last time I spoke to you that I can shout with a vest when it's something worth shouting about. But I do believe there are times when we must feel and know the coming of the dew from the hand of God, the precious thing that God gives from heaven, alighting upon us as we bow in His presence. You know, when it's the dew that is falling, there must be stillness, otherwise it never falls at all. In Newcastle on Tyne some years ago, I knelt with a minister friend of mine, praying for a young woman who wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We were on either side of her, praying quietly. And she was just whispering, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, just whispering. And suddenly she began to sing in the Spirit, but only in a whisper. I shall never forget that experience as long as I live. I looked across at my friend, and he was in the same condition as I was. The tears were rolling down his cheeks just as they were rolling down mine. And the only thing that I could think of, and I chatted with him afterwards, was the only thing that he could think of in that moment was, Thy gentleness hath made me great. Thy gentleness hath made me great. Oh, that we knew this aspect of the Holy Spirit's ministry! Would to God we understood that out of the dew of the Spirit comes this sense of gentleness which makes us great in God. The dew is a precious gift from heaven. As the dew, the Spirit is associated with unity. You have this in the well-known Psalm 133, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirt of his garment, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. How good, how pleasant to dwell in unity like the dew of Hermon, like the dew upon the mountains. You see how the dew of the Spirit is associated then with this sort of unity. And if we want to know the fellowship of the Spirit of God as the precious dew of heaven, then surely we have a responsibility as God's people. What is it? It is surely in the light of New Testament Scripture that we should be always found endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That's Ephesians chapter 4, isn't it? And verses 1 to 3. You know, it seems to me that it's part of the whole concept of our relationship with the Spirit of God that there is a worthy walk required of each one of us. Paul says it in the first verse of Ephesians 4, I therefore the person of the Lord beseech you that he walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Then in verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and so on. I'm not going to rush over this. Why should I? I'm going to take my time. You see, there's so much I want to say that I feel that I've got to get on with it, but there's some things you can't get on with. You've just got to be quiet and patient and get down to it. That's right, isn't it? Well, I'm glad you agree. I therefore the person of the Lord beseech you that he walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. The word worthy is axios. It means to weigh one thing against another, so it's balanced. And the idea is that the Holy Spirit wants to come and abide as the due where he finds a balanced walk among the people of God. Axios, worthy, balanced, weighing one thing against another. In this very chapter, the fourth chapter of Ephesians, there is an indication all the way through the chapter of the value of balance. Balance in practical conduct, verses 1 to 7. Balance in ministerial control, verses 5 to 11. He gives some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers, and so on. There's the apostle like the thumb, you know, governing. And there's the prophet like the index finger pointing on. And there's the evangelist reaching out beyond the others into the world to gather in the soul. And there's the pastor guarding the flock of God. And there's the teacher grounding the saints in the word of God, in the will of God, for the work of God. So you've got grasp and control. You've got balance. For no one type of ministry can ever perfect the saints of God. You need this balance concept even in ministry. And then further on, in verses 12 to 16, you've got this balance in spiritual character, what this five-fold ministry is intended to produce and so on. Now, we tend to swing to extremes. That seems to be part of our trouble as believers. We do tend to swing to extremes at times. Like the Corinthian church, unbalanced, surely, on the question of ecstatic utterance, and so swinging to this extreme. But the church of the Thessalonians was unbalanced on rigid adherence to law and order. And so, you see, they tended to quench the spirit. I've said this before, that there are some movements who are long on experience and short on doctrine, and some who are long on doctrine and very short on experience. Now, those who are long on experience and short on doctrine, they swing to the experiential as the criterion of spirituality. And so if you've had an experience, brother, you've arrived. It doesn't matter about the scripture. It's the experience that really counts. And you'll find people like this. I heard someone say the other day, oh, there's no time for doctrine in these days. Man, God's working, God's moving. I thought God hadn't been moving for all the centuries. How remarkable. Other movements are long on teaching and short on living. With this group, the exposition is all right, but the translation is a bit off. Because, you see, if the end of all doctrine is practice, then they often fail to translate in terms of practical Christianity the doctrine with which their heads are stuck. And after all, doctrine itself is useless, meaningless, because doctrine as such is only the skin of truth set up and stuffed. It's lifeless. But when the Spirit of God comes to breathe life into it, then you've got a different situation altogether. Now, I'm not deriding anyone, or I'm surely not decrying those who make a stand for the authority of the Word. It's an important thing. But the first group will be inclined to stress the liberty of the Spirit and become fanatical. The second group will stress the authority of the Word, and they'll become legal. Yet, you know, both concepts are valid and are complementary, surely never, never contradictory, or competitive. They ought not to be. You must have the Word, you must have the Spirit, you must have both working and moving together. This is the concept of the New Testament Church. But now you'll notice how careful the Apostle Paul is to show the requirement in a balanced walk in relation to our fellow saints, fellow Christians, before ever he attempts to explain anything about keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. What does he say in verse 2? Ephesians 4, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. This is toward each other, so that he doesn't begin by saying, I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, endeavoring to keep this. No, no. He comes down to the practical, personal level, and this is so very important, isn't it? With all lowliness, this is a long word in the Greek, soprano prosune, it means running low, running low. A correct estimate of our true selves are seen under God's searchlight. Have you ever seen yourself in that situation? Lowliness is the result of it. It is recognizing the depths from which he brought us in view of the heights to which he calls us, lowliness. It is seeing the extent of our smallness in the light of his greatness. It is realizing the reality of our colossal ignorance in the full blaze of his perfect intelligence. And if this doesn't give us a correct estimate of ourselves and produce a lowliness of mind, then surely nothing ever will. If we evaluate ourselves in this way, we will see very clearly we have only been enabled, we have only managed to climb the hill of God because we've been leaning upon unseen helpers, that no one ever makes it alone. This is lowliness of mind. Not that we have arrived because of our own spirituality or our own determination or our own willpower, but that we have reached some height in the purpose of God because others have helped us in the journey of life. In our Christian experience and pilgrimage, it's because of this, a lowly estimate of oneself. And meekness. Toward God, this is sincere self-abasement. Toward others, it is the ability to accept the contradiction without retaliation. Have you got that? Not easy, is it? But what's the use of talking about keeping the unity of the spirit unless we are prepared to see what leads up to it? And this is what leads up to it. Meekness. The ability to accept a contradiction without retaliation. The Greek word is praotēto, an inwrought grace of the soul toward God and toward man. Long-suffering, makrosumia. Makros, long or distance. Sumos, or boiling up. Long-suffering. This is the expression of patience with regard to person. The word translated patience in the New Testament, hypomone, is patience with respect to things. But this long-suffering is with respect to people, to persons. And you know how the classic chapter reads, don't you? Love suffereth long and then loses its temper. Love suffereth long and is kind. This is long-suffering. And it goes on to explain what it's all about, forbearing one another in love. Forbearing is the word anecho, and it means this, lovingly bearing up under the weaknesses, failings, and irritating faults of others. Forbearing. This is a balanced walk in relation to the saints, and this expression is of the love of God, but of our own human love, which doesn't last long enough or go deep enough. But the love of God. You can never love the unlovely with human affection, or you'll find it very difficult to do so continually. You wouldn't find a place for the unwanted if all you've got is human sentiment. Nor will you embrace the polluted, for his dear sake, if all that you possess is simply a kind of brotherly kindness toward other people. But where we, as the people of God, are concerned in our relationship, one with the other, these qualities, these principles, are simply the outcome of the love of God, shed abroad in our hearts, and, thank God, shed abroad from our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It's out of this that it all comes. And so this is a balanced walk in relation to the saints. And now, you see, we are ready for verse three, to which we've been aimed. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We are nowhere commanded to make the unity of the Spirit. Praise the Lord, it's been made. We're only commanded and exhorted to keep it, and to keep it in the bond of peace. And this is our responsibility. Endeavoring is spoudazo, giving diligence to, making all haste to do so. It has within it the idea of effort, striving, and discipline. So it's not an easy thing. Endeavoring. It amounts to one thing, balance. Walking worthy of our vocation. Balancing precept with practice. Thinking with doing. Doing with being. And learning with living. Balancing these things. Balancing one against the other. For to return to our original idea, the Holy Spirit, as the dew, is associated with unity of this quality, of this kind, of this character. And no man can make it. The Spirit of God Himself has produced it. All we are called to do is to preserve it in the bond of peace. And it's in this atmosphere that the dew descends, the Spirit of God comes down to dwell and to abide. For He will never settle down upon discord. That then is the second thing that I learn about the Holy Spirit as the dew. That His coming is associated with unity. The third thing is this. As the dew, the Spirit is saturating in His influence. We're reminded, of course, that the dew in Palestine was much heavier than the dew in the West. And, in fact, it was almost like rain, so copious was it. Remember how Gideon, in the book of Judges, 637-38, said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor. And if the dew be on the floor only, and if it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou shalt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said. And it was so. For he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water. By the way, Gideon's fleece was not a sign of his faith, it was a sign of his unbelief. People forget this sometimes. We aren't concerned with Gideon just for the moment, we are concerned with the dew. And out of this wringing came a bowl full of water. The dew was completely saturating in its influence. And if we desire to have fellowship with the Spirit as the dew of God, then he must be allowed to have his right of way into every single part of the life. For he is not prepared to have fellowship with us if all we want is that he should flavor our lives. He comes to saturate the whole life, to possess the whole life completely. And I'm sure that this is taught by this figure of speech. Like the breath of God which penetrates, so the Spirit as dew penetrates too, as he saturates. Percolate through till all is possessed of the dew. Oh, hallelujah, what a life to live, isn't it? Where your whole being is taken up and your whole life is absorbed by the Spirit of God as the dew that saturates and at the same time penetrates. The other night we concluded what I had to say with a reference to the second Ephesian prayer and to the fact that Paul begins praying, strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, with power penetrating to your inmost being, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. And that occurs again and again. It shows the connection. Without the penetration of the Spirit of God, then the second part of the request couldn't become effective. Christ could not settle down and be at home in our hearts. And without that happening, then the principle of love about which the Apostle prays could not become a fact and experience. And if that were not so, then how could we possibly know and experience the plenitude of God, the fullness of God as something personal and something precious to us as believers? In other words, it is the penetration that is important to begin with. And it seems to me that just like the breath of God, so the dew of God must penetrate into our lives. I wonder how far this saturation goes. How deeply does it go? We touched already on the opening verses of Ephesians 4, and if only there were time to look at the whole chapter, I think we would have the answer to our question, how deeply does the dew penetrate? But we haven't time for that. I recall too that on a former occasion I mentioned briefly in passing some of the verses in this chapter. And even now, I've got to be content with just touching upon one or two expressions here to get over the idea that is in my mind. I wish we had more time to get to it, but we haven't. I've got so many other things to say. At least I think I have. Now, from verse 17 to verse 32 of this fourth chapter, we are shown the saturating effect of the dew in practical holiness. Practical holiness. It's not religion with a heel or it's Christianity with a purpose. Practical holiness. To the spiritual man, the possibility of practical holiness is a constant attraction. But to the carnal believer, it's a perpetual reproof. And the very thought of the possibility of it is enough to turn him off. But as the dew saturated Gideon's fleece, so would the Holy Spirit saturate the Christian's life until it becomes a life of holiness. Paul mentions three main steps in developing a walk in holiness in this chapter. I'll just mention them. First, through forsaking impurity, that's verses 17 to 19. Second, through renouncing carnality, that's verses 20 to 24. Third, through cultivating spirituality, that's verses 25 to 32. Which is another way of saying, through cultivating fellowship with the Holy Spirit who wants to saturate the whole of life. Hear me? Now, out of this last section, I've taken one or two verses, because this is all I felt I could do tonight. And these verses that I have chosen show us this new man, the spiritual man, the pneumaticus man, as we mentioned the other night, shows us this man in certain positive relationships. First, in relation to conduct, this is verses 25 to 28. These are the verses I want to talk about. Paul explains here how the prevailing influence of the Holy Spirit enables the Christian to react in his conduct in certain situations. For instance, how he reacts when lying appeals to him. Verse 25. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Wherefore, those wherefores and therefores are very important. Never skip over them. They point back, they point on. Wherefore, in view of the fact that you have been empowered to strip off and fling far from you the outmoded type of humanity, the old man with his nature and his work, seeing you've done this, in view of the fact that you are being now renewed by the penetrating Holy Spirit of God in the inner man, in view of the fact that once and for all you've put on the clean garments of this new humanity, because it's the Christian who is up to date, it's the non-Christian who is outmoded, you've put on these clean garments of the new humanity, in view of this then putting away lying. It's very strong here. It's an artist's participle. Having stripped away the lie. Paul's argument is that the habit of went with a renunciation of the old nature. To the unsaved man, to the crooked businessman, to the social climber, the people keeping up with the drones who aren't going anywhere anyhow, to these people a lie is a very pleasant help in time of need. But to the Christian, to the Christian, I think it is right that he should ask, has the dew of the Spirit saturated here? Am I guilty of white lies, or business lies, or social lies, or anything of that nature? Or do I know the saturation of the dew of God in this area of my life? I heard a Christian some months ago say to me, well what I said, he said, it was based on fact, but I exaggerated a little to the glory of God. Have you ever heard anything like that before? It staggered me, I tell you. It was based on fact, but I exaggerated a little to the glory of God. As long as you tack that on, it seems everything's all right. But no, speak every man truth with his neighbor. Truth, what is truth? Truth is what God says about a thing. And how should the truth be spoken? Well, surely it should be spoken in love. And by love we don't mean spoken in a way of compromise with the truth. Not any dubiety, or deception, or duplicity at all. When you speak the truth in love, it simply means a loving way of expressing the truth. It wouldn't be a bit like the servant, the Indian servant, whose master complained to him at the end of a day's shooting. He said to his servant, it doesn't seem, he said, that I've been very good today with a gun, does it? I'm a real failure. And the servant said, ah no, sahib, he said, you were excellent. God was simply kind to the tiger, which was a way of speaking the truth. But hardly speaking the truth in love, in the New Testament concept of the idea. Now the reason why the truth should be spoken is for we are members one of another. If my eyes lie to my feet, I'm going to stumble. And because we are members one of another, then let everyone speak truth with his neighbor. And be sure that you are speaking the truth when you speak it. Be sure of this. Take time, because it's a great deal easier to jump to conclusions than it is to dig for facts. So when you speak the truth in love, be sure it is the truth. This too, I think, is important, isn't it? When the Christian is saturated with a dew of the spirit, this will be his reaction when lying appeals. What about when anger burns? Verses 26 and 27. It's getting down a bit now to the nitty-gritty, isn't it? Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your wrath. There are three main words in the New Testament for anger. The first one is tumos. It's a boiling agitation of passion. The second one is translated wrath, par orgismos, prolonged exasperation leading to bitterness. That's that word. And the third word is orge. It's our word angry in the text here. Be angry and sin not. So that under certain circumstances, this can be a righteous indignation, as in the case of Jesus in the temple. And indeed, there's a lot of it around, even in these days, I find. Righteous indignation. When the dew of the spirit saturates your life, you can be absolutely sure that you won't be apathetic, indifferent, apologetic where evil is concerned. But you will have to do as Jesus did. Take a positive stand. Because I think it's virtually impossible to love the good unless you hate the evil. The two must truly go together. There is an anger, of course, which is not sinful, as we have said. This righteous indignation is for a just cause. It's not out of wounded pride or because of a surly temper. But notice what the apostle says. Be angry and sin not. Do not allow righteous anger to pass into sinful anger through overindulgence. And isn't this where we fall into a trap time and time again? We begin with what is righteous and just. But then it gets the better of us and we go to extremes. It's going to extremes that then we are guilty of the sin. I heard Dr. Bob Jones Sr. speak in the Baptist Tabernacle in Auckland many years ago. And I recall one thing out of his sermon. You know, you usually remember illustrations, don't you? And this was an illustration that he used. He said he was talking about discipline and the state of the world today and so on. And he spoke about a text. In fact, it was a verse of a hymn that his mother had had framed and hung in the passage. And over this text was the strap, which was faithfully applied from time to time. And, of course, the text was, I need thee every hour. He didn't say on the hour. You know, just about. And this is the kind of thing, isn't it, where anger can become sinful through overindulgence unless we are careful. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. This is our second word, parorgisma. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Dismiss immediately the tendency to exasperation and embitterment which may insist on lingering on. That's the meaning of what we're told here. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. It doesn't mean, well, it's all right, you can lose your temper provided you make it up before night time. Doesn't mean that at all. It means just what it says. Because it goes on to say in verse 27, neither give place to the devil. You see, if you are not careful when anger burns, you can give the devil a foothold in your life. You can give him an inch of ground of which he will take full advantage. But if you have due regard for what is said here, if you are prepared to have this area of your life saturated by the dew of the Spirit, then God is able to keep you even here without falling into sin, without becoming guilty, without giving the devil an inch of ground in your life. We're only human and natural. And we have human and natural temptations. But praise God, we have a supernatural Holy Spirit who can give us power and enablement in the time of death. Hallelujah. Good to know that, isn't it? How deeply does the dew penetrate in our lives in its saturation when seething tempts? Verse 28, let him that stole steal no more. According to heathen practice, stealing was nothing at all like lying in Japan. Nothing to tell a lie but to be impolite is unforgivable. I've heard even Christian workers tell the most awful lies because they didn't want to hurt your feelings, rather than tell you the truth which would certainly have hurt your feelings. But they would not think of that as being a sin at all, but to be impolite to you, that's sinning. So in the time of the New Testament, stealing was not considered to be anything out of the ordinary. But our spirit-filled beliefs are those who claim to be filled with the Spirit of God. Then surely, although we may never be guilty of stealing from men not consciously, are we guiltless of stealing from God? Do we steal time from Him? Do we steal from Him our talents that belong to Him? Do we steal our ties which are ours anyhow? This is the question that goes deeply. And don't you see, if we're asking how deeply, how thoroughly, how penetratingly does the dew of the Spirit go into my life, it's no use putting up barriers and closing doors and shutting this off and shutting that off away from the influence of the Spirit of God. It must all come under His control, every bit of it, every part of it. This is what the apostle is saying. Remember, my brother, my sister, that no one ever succeeded in making an impact for good by making a compact with evil. However we may look at it, there is no right way of doing a wrong thing. There never is. In vain we call old notions cuts and send our conscience to our dealing. The Ten Commandments will not budge, and stealing will continue stealing. But rather let him labor, working with his hands that which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Paraphrase would be that he may not merely recover his character, because the fellow to whom Paul is writing was guilty of thieving at the time, but be able to share the fruit of his honest toil with a man who is in need. Has the dew of the Spirit saturated even to this part of the life, so that we toil on with a purpose, remembering all the time it is love's prerogative to give and give and give again? That to us who love God, who serve the living Christ, who know the blessed Holy Spirit, that to us life is not a cup to be selfishly drained, but a measure to be filled. We are not here to get and to gain, but to give and to give and to give again. This surely is how the Spirit of God comes to show himself to us. The totally unselfish Spirit of God will never tolerate in our fellowship that which is contrary to his own nature. So we have to learn. I remember in the tail end of the Depression days, when I first came to New Zealand, a long time back now, no one seemed to have any money. There wasn't very much work around either. And I remember receiving through the mail this morning a five-pound note, and the little note attached to it, from the giver, an anonymous giver, I want you to use this money in the way that you see fit, either for your own needs or for the Lord's work. I thought, right, that's what I'm going to say, because man, I had a need, all right. I had a need. And I thought, well, this is it, you know. And while I was contemplating when I would go and buy what I had to buy with this money, it came a knock on the door. And there was a man, a friend of mine, an elder in the church, actually not from the church where I was minister, but from another city. And I saw by his face that he was in trouble. He came in and he said, look, I'm in difficulty. He said, I've taken on a job of selling from door to door. He said, because of the need at home being so desperate, he said, I used some of the money that I should have handed over just temporarily. And he said, now, he said, I can't repay it. What am I going to do? What are my testimonies as a Christian? Oh brother, he said, will you pray with me? I said, I'll do more than that. I said, tell me how much it is. He said, five pounds. I said, here you are. I realized his need was greater than mine, but I wonderfully got supply. You know, there is a principle here, isn't it? We often say quite glibly, you can't outgive God. Sometimes we don't try. We've never put it to the test. It's easy enough to let it fall off the tongue. It's not quite as easy when it comes to the place of sacrifice. But again, the unselfish spirit of God will never tolerate selfishness in his people. And so when it comes to this question of doing what God wants you to do and being what he wants you to be, laboring with your hands if necessary, you may be able to give to others. Part of the proof, the spirit of God, like the dew, has come to saturate and to penetrate your life as a Christian. One thing more about me, a militant, as the dew, the spirit is beautifying in its content. God made a wonderful promise to Israel. I will be as a dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots like Lebanon. That's Hosea 14.5. The dew here is not the early morning dew that vanishes quickly, but so copious that it frequently took the place of rain in the east. He shall grow as the lily. And I'd looked this up. This lily is beautiful with its pure white leaves, six in number, opening out like a bell. And it's the lily to which Jesus referred when he said, consider the lilies, how they grow. And I learned too that the eastern lily is the most prolific of all plants. That one root usually produces at least 50 boughs. And this to me was quite a, not a revelation, but quite an insight as to how the Holy Spirit, as the dew of God, comes to beautify the life of the believer. And of course, when we think of the beauty of the Holy Spirit, we think of the graces of the Spirit, do we not? And you're all familiar with the list, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and so on, and so on, and so on. If we take these graces in their entirety, what we have in the end is a beautiful portrayal of the character of the Holy Spirit himself. This is the kind of person he is. And yet, it is this beauty which God desires to see reproduced in your life and mine. Galatians 1 and 4 is good enough as a text. Who gave himself for us that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father? What a staggering thought. He gave himself for us in a redemptive sacrifice that was voluntary, and personally, and of necessity, so that love might be manifested, and that law might be vindicated. What a staggering thought it is that he gave himself like this. What a thrilling purpose. That he might deliver us from this present evil world, from its emptiness, its deceitfulness, its sinfulness, from all the fashion of the world, all the conduct of the world, from every bit of that which John describes as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. To deliver us from this, and to beautify our lives. What a thrilling purpose. And what a revealing fact. This is according to the will of God and our Father, so that no one need be lost, so that anyone may be saved, and so that everyone should be sanctified. This is surely a great and wonderful thing, even to contemplate. So the beauty of the Holy Spirit as the Dean, in contact with the life of the Christian, is revealed, it seems to me, in these graces of which I would like sometime, if it were possible, to speak about all these graces of the Spirit, because they're all important, but that's not tonight. Now, what is the most beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit to you? I'm going to tell you, the most beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit to me, is the intensity of His love for Jesus Christ. That to me is the most beautiful thing about the Spirit of God, the intensity of His love for Jesus Christ. He cannot dare to be apart from, conceived of the Spirit. At the very beginning, you say, controlled by the Spirit, in the birth, the babyhood, the boyhood of Jesus, by the stars, the dreams, the wise men, the whole picture, confirmed by the Holy Spirit, coming like a dove upon Him at the moment of His baptism, constrained by the Spirit, led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tried and tested of the death, charged by the Spirit, and He returned in the power of the Spirit. Can't you just see Him coming out from that temptation, more than conqueror, mighty to save? And cherished by the Spirit, in Gethsemane, when He sweared as it were, great drops of blood. And a physician friend of mine told me that the reason that that happened was that Christ's heart was literally ruptured, broken. And I said to my friend, who was a structuron, I said, how long could He have lasted in that condition? He said, not for more than a few minutes. But he said, He went right through the judgment hall, right through the trial. How is it possible? How is it possible? Listen. Who, through by means of the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without thought to God, cherished by the Spirit of God, preserved and kept for the place in God's appointment, the place in God's purpose? How is it? Then what happened? On the morning of the resurrection, can't you picture the scene? As the hosts of darkness and the powers of evil seem to crowd around that dead body of Jesus, can't you imagine how the Spirit of God is there, standing on guard? And how He is saying to the powers of disillusion and the powers of decay, one side, stand apart, away with you. I will not suffer my holy one to see corruption. And one touch of His mighty finger laid upon that inert body of Christ. Jesus arose from the dead. As He ascended up to the hosts of darkness, be to one side the powers of evil that encroached upon Him, the Spirit of God is there with Him, seeing Him right up there to the Father's throne. Then He came back to tell us all about it. Hallelujah! The most wonderful thing to me and the most beautiful thing to me about the Holy Spirit is the intensity of His love for Jesus. There's only one moment when He left Him. That was on Calvary, when He cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? My God to the Father, My God to the Holy Spirit too. Because you see, in the sin offering there was no frankincense, because that was a symbol of prayer to the Father, and there was no oil. That was a symbol of relationship with the Spirit. And so as the sin offering, there could be no sense of the Father's presence, no sense of the Spirit's presence, but only for a moment. And all the way through from conception to ascension, the intensity of His love for Jesus Christ comes shining through. And to me, to me, this is the most beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, that we might be able to say, from our heart, the love of Christ constraineth me as it constrained the Holy Spirit of God. Then indeed the Spirit of God, like the dew, would certainly be beautifying its conduct in our lives. I will be as a dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily cast forth his roots of Lebanon. You know, the roots of the cedars of Lebanon went as far down into the ground as the planks of the trees arose above the ground. So here is stability as well as beauty, and all of it connected with the Spirit of God as the dew which comes from heaven. So progressive fellowship includes knowing the Spirit as the dew of heaven, and the dew, as I said, falls only when the night is still. Are we willing for it? Are we prepared for it? Are we ready to say that we will take heed to the command of the Lord, Be still and know that I am God. Be still. Dew will never fall until there is stillness. I will be as a dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily cast forth his roots of Lebanon. God gave me these words on my knees. I will pass them on to you. Lord, in the stillness I would adore thee, Lost in thy presence, giving thee praise, Thy love a measured Savior enthroned. Lord, I would love thee through endless days, And as I wrote those words, I was very, very conscious of the settling of the dew of God upon my own spirit. For I was, for a few moments at least, in the face of stillness. I've often said you have to be alone to know that you are not alone, but that God is there. And you have to be still in order to know what God is like. And certainly you have to learn stillness to know the descent of the Spirit of God as the dew of God that comes from heaven, one of the precious things, saturated, penetrating, and at last controlling and beautifying and strengthening. Thank God for the dew. Let us pray. Our gracious, loving Heavenly Father, we are so deeply conscious again this night of thy presence with us and of thy nearness, especially in this moment of communion and fellowship, one with another, but most of all with thee. We pray that there shall be nothing in our lives of discord that would disturb the unity of the Spirit, and so cause the Spirit of God not to descend upon us as the dew from heaven. We thank thee for the little that we have seen tonight of his ministry and his character under this emblem, for it is only a little compared with so much that we need to know. But Lord, we thank thee for what thou hast shown us, and we pray that thou would help us to be responsive to the revelation of thy word and of thy will, and at all times to be prepared to allow thee to work out thy plan and thy purpose in our lives. We ask this for Jesus' name. Amen.