Page 8
How do you know if you’re being led by the Spirit? Let me ask this, “How do you know an orange tree is an orange tree?” By the fruit. Look at the fruit. So in Galatians 5, Paul contrasts the acts of the sinful nature, also called the deeds of the flesh. In the New American Standard Version, it’s called deeds of the flesh. In the NIV, it’s called the acts of the sinful nature, and they are: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, and factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. (View Diagram) Now you listen to some of those and you say, that’s not me. Some of these are pretty outrageous. Look at the third set. Discord. Is there discord in the church? Is there pettiness? Dissention? Faction and envying in the church? Sure there is. Is that from the Spirit? No, it is deeds of the flesh, or acts of the sinful nature.
It is proof that much of the church is right here, walking in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. By the way, this is the only slide, probably, that is to scale; where it is proportional as to what percentage of this church is walking in the Spirit. Doesn’t that look more like 5% vs. 95%? That’s probably the only slide we have where it is proportionate. Now in Galatians, we contrast the fruit of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Let me make a point about this. This is us when we are here opposed to us when we are here. When I’m here, I want to get my way (walking in the flesh). When I’m here (walking in the Spirit), all I want to do is serve Christ. So, another thing that you say is how do we usually try to produce love, joy, peace, etc. in our lives? I know I find myself trying to control my circumstances, or control the people who are in my life. I want to get the people I like in my life, and the people I don’t like out of my life. Are you like that? I want to get all the circumstances right. I want the pleasures and conveniences, everything organized right so that my life is convenient and pleasing, and I am assuming that that will produce joy. It can produce some happiness for a little while, but does it produce joy like Christ does? No. He does not intend for it to. He wants everything in this world to be disappointing and disillusioned so we’ll turn only to Him.
(View Diagram) The key word on this diagram is: Your reward…..how do you know you are being led by the Spirit? Look at the fruit. Do a little fruit inspection. If you have this fruit, that tells you that you are repentant of sin, believing in Christ, surrendering to the Father______ and you will be filled with the Spirit, and receive passively, as a byproduct this fruit. We try to produce it ourselves. We are not meant to produce this fruit; this comes only from an abiding Spirit-filled life.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was upon us, okay? We’re talking about the Spirit filling us. We go back to the Old Testament the Spirit was upon us. Judges, for instance, the Spirit was upon Gideon. The Spirit was upon Sampson, the Spirit was upon Saul, upon David. Those were the exact words that were used—all the way through the Old Testament. The Spirit was also ON people. The Spirit was on Moses and the 20 elders, and it was ON Isaiah. Here’s a really unique one. I believe this is the only time in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit filled a man. I’m not sure how to pronounce this it exactly, Bezeolelle, and interestingly enough, what did Bezeolelle, do? He was building the tabernacle. He was doing intricate parts of Heaven??? (View Summary) (View Summary Part II)
What is the Tabernacle? That is the place that God resides. So, who is the Temple now? You and I are the Temple of God, and so God only filled, as far as I can tell, one person with the Spirit in the Old Testament, and it would be the one making God’s house—making God’s home. If you want to see the Temple of God today, you don’t go to Jerusalem, the Temple is not there. If you want to see the Temple of God today, look in the mirror. As a believer, you are the Temple of God. He has built you, and He is always filled with the Spirit, and He has built you, just as Boezelle built the Tabernacle had to be filled with the Holy Spirit, God built you to be His Temple. (View Summary)
In the Old Testament, the Spirit can leave. (View Examples of Scriptures) 1st Samuel 16:4, the Spirit departed from Saul, and Psalm 51:17 David said, “Take not your Spirit from me.” Ezekiel says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities, and from your idols. I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you, and move you to follow my decrees, and be careful to keep my laws.” (View Ezekiel 35:26-27) In that promise from God in the Old Testament, doesn’t that sound a lot like repenting, believing, surrendering, and abiding? In this promise He is going to put His Spirit IN you. That is a promise in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit would no longer be upon or on, but would be in us. The Holy Spirit was upon a select few in the Old Testament—in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit was with all of the Disciples. In John 14, Jesus said, “I am with you and will be in you.” From Pentecost until today, He is in you, so we live in the age of the Holy Spirit. (View Summary)
Jesus in Luke 4:1 says, “Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.” In John 14 with His last night with the Disciples, Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit. He kept saying, “I’m going to….I live with you. I Jesus live with you, but I’m going to in you. My spirit is with you, but I’ll be in you even though I am leaving.”
I like this verse in John 14:23 “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching, my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” The Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. Jesus, on His last night was promising them that we will come and live in you—no longer will be on you or upon you, we will be in you. The Counselor that Jesus is talking about on the last night in John 15. “When the Counselor comes whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth. He goes out from the Father, and He will testify about me.” In John 16 He says, “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him, the Counselor, who is the Holy Spirit, the Helper. I will send the Holy Spirit to you to live in you.”
(View John 14:15-20)
(View John 14:3-27)
(View John 15:26)
(View John 16:7-11)
(View John 16:12-15)
