The Holy Spirit

Sermon notes from November 2014

Jeremiah 17 verses 1 – 10

Here in the book of Jeremiah we see a young prophet who was set against a rebellious nation.  God had a plan for the nation of Judah at this time.  God would deliver them into the hands of the cruelest enemies ever to come against the nation, would hand them into the hands of the Babylonians.  We live in an age of great deception, great belief that all roads lead to God and to heaven.  There is much deception that everyone is a Christian no matter how they live, still on way to heaven and home.  Here is the contrast that God makes.  Verse 7 there is a difference in people.  Look at the man who trusts in God and in contrast there is a man who trusts in man.  Which category do you and I fall into?  Are you trusting in God as Saviour because he has saved your soul?  God is here contrasting these 2 men.  The picture here is of a man trusting in the Lord.  Verses 7 and 8 what a picture.  God takes Jeremiah’s heart and mine and says see the picture I am painting for you.  This is the man trusting in the God of heaven, nothing else.  Wherein lies the great truth – “by the waters”.  Here’s the source of the tree – water that was plenty.

The symbol of the waters

God explains here very carefully that the man or woman who is trusting in the God of heaven is like a tree.  A lesson of stability.  Your roots need to be really down, don’t be like Paul says “blown about by every doctrine.”  He is the only sacrifice for sin.  He is the one who said “I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.”  Once we open the door and allow the Lord to come in the roots have to go down.  Only by reading God’s word, getting into place of prayer and seeking God’s face daily.  We have the symbol of water which is a picture of the Holy Spirit.  The tree is like a man positioned right beside the waters, best place to be drawing from the water.  So the man or woman of God is drawing from the Holy Spirit.  The third person of the Trinity.  The one who came into the world to guide us to the Lord himself.  Our roots have to be in him because he will not lead us into anything that is wrong.  Water washes, cleanses, purifies, empowers us.  Acts 2 the disciples in the upper room, band of people couldn’t even agree with one another, so afraid, in behind closed doors in case anyone found out they were followers of Christ.  They were gathered together when something special happened.  The Holy Spirit came from heaven, purified their hearts and lives and made them clean then he empowered them.  He took them out into the streets to preach the word of God.  Jesus spoke to Nicodemus “verily, verily except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3 verses 5 and 6).  The woman at the well “whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever shall drink of the water I give shall never thirst again” (John 4 verses 13 and 14).  John 7 at the feast of tabernacles Jesus said “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 shall flow rivers of living water.” (verses 37 and 38)  “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.”

The secrecy of the water

What the tree displays is not down to itself.  It is the waters that brings forth fruit and greenness.  Everything it gains is through the waters.  Verse 6 “heath” a bush in the desert, dry and barren which bears no fruit – why – because it is barren.  The secrecy is in the water.  Verse 8 Jesus spoke of 2 crops growing together, good and bad.  Both grew together in the one field.  God gives some idea here in Jeremiah of how it was growing.  There was a certain amount of life there but the man trusting in God is trusting totally in him.  Standing stable maybe or you as a Christian this has been hard times.  Problems, things come against you but you are still standing.  You know why, because of the Holy Spirit in your life.  Bringing exactly what you need.  The secrecy of your life is not down to one person.  It is the Holy Spirit working in our lives.  He makes the difference.  God points to the waters flowing past it.  The tree is drawing from it.  You and I are drawing from the Holy Spirit to keep us alive.

The supply of the waters

The water was there.  The source of the water was God.  The source of your life and mine as a believer is of God.  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity.  God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  It is God who grants the Holy Spirit into our lives.  Remember Saul in his day.  The people of God were turning against God, they wanted a king and it grieved Samuel’s heart.  Here was a nation turning their backs on God.  God has been so good to us and we need to be careful we don’t neglect him and turn our backs on him.  1 Samuel 12 verse 17.  It was in the hand of God. God was dealing with Ahab the wicked king.  God sent Elijah into him and was told to say “I will close the heavens for 3 ½ years, there will not be one speck of rain on the land for 3 ½ years."   After that time he tells his prophet in 1 Kings 8 verse 1 “I will send rain upon the earth.”  It was in God’s hands alone to send the rain.  Imagine if God decided to close up the heavens and not send rain for 3 ½ years then decided to send it again.  The gifts of the Holy Spirit are from God himself when he told them in 16 verse 7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you.".  Are you getting the roots down or are you just living here day to day?  Are you getting them down into God’s great love and mercy and into the Holy Spirit?  As Christians sometimes we neglect to draw from the Spirit of the living God.  God just wants us to drop on our knees and cry unto him and draw from him the Holy Spirit.

The sufficiency of the water

How the tree fares and looks is down to the flow of the waters – “by the river”.  When I think of the river I think of a gentle running stream clear and clean running past the tree but its roots are going out to it.  Going out not to a stagnant pool but clean and clear waters.  Acts 2 when the disciples met together, filled with the Holy Spirit going out to preach the word of God “and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Greatest business for any Christian is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and power.  Peter in Acts 4 verse 8 “then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost”.  That is what we need to be praying for – for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Paul said “for me to live the Christian life, it cannot be done under our own strength.”  “Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Holy Ghost.”  He is speaking to believers when he says this – Galatians 5 verse 18.  It is possible to have the Holy Spirit but another thing to be filled with the Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit gives us love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith, meekness, temperance,.  God says do you see that tree with its roots well down drawing from the waters running past it?  That is like a man trusting in God.  There is nothing false here.  Drawing from the Holy Spirit.  It will not wither or fade away.  We will produce the fruits we have been reading about here in Galatians 6 verses 22 and 23 – why – because it is the Holy Spirit that is within us saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 44 verses 1 – 11

It tells us in verses 3 “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”  This had come at a point in the nation of Israel when if you read chapter 43 it seems as if God has set his people aside.  They had rebelled against him, given into so much evil that it seems as if God turns his back on them.  Verse 1 “yet now hear O Jacob my servant.”  He wants to speak directly to them, wants them to open their hearts to hear the voice of God.  God desires one thing, for someone who is thirsty for the things of God. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.”  Water is something that washes, purifies, cleanses, empowers with great force and might.  The Holy Spirit is someone not something!  He comes to the child of God and purifies our hearts and thoughts, empowers our lives to live for Christ in these days.  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  Don’t think there was a time when the Holy Spirit wasn’t around.  Just as simple as this – until Jesus was taken out of this world the Holy Spirit could not come into the world.  He could not lead us as child of God.  The Holy Spirit only came when Jesus went back to heaven.  The refreshing nature of the Holy Spirit.

A recognition of the condition

That should really search our hearts to day.  We come into his house saved by the grace of God, washed in his precious blood, are we content enough to be here today or is there a hunger and thirst upon our soul today?  If there is then God says ‘I am prepared to pour out my Holy Spirit on you.’  You must show a thirst for the things of God.  That is what you must do.  If you were in the Middle East water is not just such a commodity you would know something about what it was to have a deluge of rain.  It is a parched land.  When we begin to thirst after God then we will know what it is to have a deluge of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Is there a recognition in our hearts for God today?  That you don’t have that power any longer?  Remember the Old Testament story of Hannah in 1 Samuel chapter 1 and her situation.  She recognised her condition in the home she lived in.  There was another woman who had children but Hannah had no children.  She was hurt and grieved about that.  Something she was embarrassed about.  Hannah felt she was barren and dry.  She didn’t go and complain to her husband, she took it to the God of heaven.  She began to bear her soul to God because of the condition she felt in her heart.  Do we pour out our hearts this morning?  Because there is a barrenness when I come to the things of God, the word of God has no meaning to me any more.  What a wonderful situation.  Once we recognise it then God is able to do something for us.  Just like the day when we were saved.  Remember that day.  You felt in your heart you were not right before God.  Conviction of sin, poured out your heart to God.  God did something for you – he reached down into the depths of your heart, removed your sins, forgave you and made you a new creature in Christ.  You might look back and see a void in that heart.  Christians can be grieved and get out of touch with God, focus on the hurt rather than on God.  God says I am waiting to pour out my spirit on you today.  Samson - not a razor was to come on his head.  The Philistines couldn’t deal with him because of his strength in his hair.  Samson married Delilah and the Philistines asked her to find out the source of his strength.  Samson told her “there hasn’t come a razor on my head ,if there was one on my head I would become as any other man and have no strength.”  Delilah shaved his head and the Philistines came in on Samson.  He rushed out to face the battle.  He didn’t know the Lord had departed from him.  Are we guilty of rushing out into the day, forgetting to seek the Lord for the day ahead?  God says if you are hungry to day I will pour water on you.  Are we living just on past blessing or are we all up to date on the Holy Spirits empowering?

The refreshing purpose that God has

Your land that is hard baked is the picture before us.  Once you recognise that then I will pour water on you.  When you realise your need of the Holy Spirit then I will pour my spirit on you.  Maybe we need to confess our weaknesses, confess that which we have between one another and bring it before the God of heaven and lay it before him.  I will pour water on you, bring the Holy Spirit on you.  Prayer is more than asking for safety and protection on individuals but rather that God will pour out his spirit if we are willing to pray for it.  The Laodicean church was neither hot nor cold.  What did God say he would do?  “I will spew you out of my mouth for you are neither hot nor cold.”  Are you thirsty enough for God to open the windows of heaven and pour out his spirit on you?

The request that God awaits to know

Our condition is not enough.  Laodicea did not see the inner most depths of heart.  In Acts 2 a group of people sat around waiting on God.  I can ask myself what are they waiting for?  Can hear everyone of them saying ‘we are waiting for the power of God’. “But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you.”  They had a mission but God knew they needed the Holy Spirit.  They were instructed to wait until that power came.  Luke 11 verse 13 Jesus “if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”  It is critical that we know the condition, confess that condition, request that God do something about it.  Here’s a picture of a man presenting himself before God hungry and thirsty.  God says I will pour out my Spirit on him.  We must do as James said ask in faith.  Hannah went into the house of God and prayed about her condition.  She prayed ‘if you give me a man child I will give him back to you.’   We are not praying for something to give us a head start to the Christian life but give us solace day by day to take us through difficult times.  He will give the Holy Spirit.  W’e give it back to him that he might be able to use it for the extension of his work.  There’s a gift God has given to you.  Paul said to Timothy ‘stir it up."  God waits for you to present yourself to God today.  When we pray are we saying ‘Lord if you answer this prayer for me I will give it back to you.’  When we go out into the world do we pray for the salvation of our family and ask the Lord to do what he wants?

What will be the results that God gives?

If God can find one person who is thirsty for God "he will pour water upon him that is thirsty … and flood upon the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”  If you are ready to confess you are thirsty for God then he promises to pour blessing upon our seed or our family today.  When the disciples would receive that Holy Spirit blessing they would be blessed throughout their families.  Peter had been a fearful unbelieving disciple, sitting in that room in Act 2 he was scared in case he would be taken and put to death.  When the Holy Spirit came and filled them with power Peter went out into the streets and he preached the word of God.  As a result 3000 souls were saved.  Cornelius was sitting on his knees in his house thirsting for God.  He believed in prayer, gave to the poor, helped everyone he could.  When Peter came into his house Cornelius had brought his whole family in there.  He knew he would hear something mighty and powerful.  When the word of God grips our hearts and the Holy Spirit is given to our hearts others will be reached.  I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.  Only for those who are thirsty.  When I get that man or woman I will send floods on a dry province.  Maybe that is what God is waiting for today – just one person so he can use mightily.

John 14 verses 16 – 31

In Acts 1 Luke the physician, the great doctor now in Acts 1 speaks again.  Theophilus is a man, a person, a good friend of Luke.  Verses 1 and 2 here’s Luke the physician taking pen to paper.  He wants to write a record for Theophilus, wants to tell him about Jesus.  He wants to introduce it in a special ink.  He wants to show how things have now changed.  In the books of Acts changes his role because times have changed.  The Lord has gone back to heaven but his work is still going on on earth in and through the Holy Spirit.  “Until the day in which he was taken up after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.”  I showed you his miracles, teachings, doctrines, healings all through my book, now I want to show how Jesus is working on the earth through the Holy Spirit.  Jesus Christ is still trying to communicate with you and I the things of God.  Jesus’ work was still continuing through the administration of the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we are guilty of thinking that the Holy Spirit has no real role.

The reality of the Holy Spirit.  When we talk of the reality of the Holy Spirit got to tread carefully lest we fall into trap of false perception.  Some would say he is no more than a mere influence but he is more than that – he is a person.  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the godhead, the Trinity.  The Trinity is made up of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  He is a real person not an influence.  They will try to tell us the same about Jesus.  They will say he was a very good person who died on the cross of Calvary but not dying as the Saviour.  They will twist it around then will tell us he didn’t die at all in the tomb.  People stole it away.  They will not tell us he is the Saviour.  That is why we have to tread carefully.  It is the Holy Spirit who takes the things of God and applies them to your heart.  He is not an influence.  When Jesus spoke here he refers to the Holy Spirit as such – John 14 verse 16 “give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever.”  I will not leave you as orphans.  Jesus is using the word as that – “comfortless.”  When Jesus left his disciples on that particular day he taught “I will not leave you as orphans, I will send you another comforter.”  It means an advocate, someone to defend you, protect you, instruct you in all the ways I have been doing.  I am sending the Holy Spirit.  One little word stands out in reference to the Holy Spirit – “that He may abide with you for ever.”  He doesn’t say “it”.  If it had been a mere influence he would have referred to it as “it”.  It is important to grasp that.  In Acts 8 we read of the eunuch coming up from Jerusalem.  He was mighty under Candace the Queen.  As he sat in his chariot he opened up the word of God and began to read all about how the Lord had suffered and died for him.  “The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip” that angel was none other than the Holy Spirit.  I have never heard of an influence speaking before.  The Lord gives the Holy Spirit utterance here.  Acts 5 verse 3 shows that people began to murmur a little so they devised a plan to split the money, give to the house of God and give to those in need.  Ananias and Sapphira were one couple who had a bit of land and decided to sell it but only give some to the disciples and keep some back.  Ananias offered the money to Peter and Peter said to him “why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost”.  He is a real person, not an influence, the person of the Holy Ghost.  Paul in Ephesians 4 verse 30 said “grieve not the Holy Spirit.”  How can you grieve an influence?  How can you lie to a person?  We can grieve the Holy Spirit by the things we do or say, by our attitude, by what something is done to us or says about us.  We find that he is a person, that is the reality of the Spirit.

The relationship of the Holy Spirit.  This is a wonderful relationship enjoyed within the Godhead which we cannot put interpretation to.  Ephesians 4 verses 4 – 6 the Holy Spirit enjoys a relationship within the Godhead.  One Holy Spirit, one God, one Father.  These 3 are together.  By one Spirit we are baptised into one body.  There are many names for the Holy Spirit.  Chapter 14 verse 17 “the Spirit of truth”, “Spirit of righteousness”, “Spirit of wisdom”.  When Jesus was baptised at the River Jordan he went straight away out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  When he went to Nazareth brought up in front of the synagogue turned to portion of scripture that said “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach unto the poor.”  The relationship of the Spirit to Christ.  He presents Christ to the church.  He gives us the word of God and applies it to your heart.  That is the relationship the Holy Spirit has to the word of God.  What is his relationship to the church?  He is the one who gives the gifts that we can use them to function in the church.  What is the Holy Spirit in relationship to man.  The Holy Spirit gives saving grace.  The Father is the one who came into the Garden of Eden.  He was the one from the foundation of the world, created everything we have.  God planned the redemption story through his Son.  It is none other than the Holy Spirit who reveals that to us today.  Notice the harmony of that relationship – Genesis 1 verse 2 “and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.”  There was God the word, God the Father and now God the Holy Spirit working together. 

The role of the Holy Spirit.  It tells us in John 14 verse 26 “he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.”  When the Spirit of God came on the Day of Pentecost coming to abide with his children forever.  John 7 verse 39 “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.”  Only on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to dwell in all his fullness.  1 Samuel 10 the Spirit came but did not remain.  1 Peter 2 verse 12 the moment you bow your knee and take him as Saviour the Spirit comes to your heart, dwells in that heart of yours, leads you, instructs you in the things he would have you to know.  It is the Spirit of God keeping you and keeping you in touch with him.  He came in the act of salvation.  John 16 verse 8 “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment.”  When Paul stood in the throne room of Felix and spoke to him of righteousness, temperance and judgment the Holy Spirit took that to Felix’s heart and he trembled as a result because God was speaking to him.  When God came He showed you your sin, the righteousness he had for you and the judgement to come.  We are still in the day of grace, still in the day when the Holy Spirit is revealing to men and women their great need of salvation.

Acts 2 verses 1 – 18

It is to this wonderful portion of scripture of the Holy Spirit coming on the people of God that we turn to today.  For every child of God the Holy Spirit takes up his residence today.  John 14 verse 17 “even the Spirit of truth”.  Another name for the Holy Spirit.  There are different names for the Holy Spirit “whom the world cannot receive.”  Only those who are saved by God’s grace can receive the Spirit.  We need to be open and sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  In Revelation 3 verse 20 we see the picture of the Laodicean church.   Jesus was on the outside of the door trying to gain entrance into the church.  A church that thought they had everything yet Jesus saw them blind, poor and naked.  It is a wonderful picture of the sinner.  Jesus only knocked, he never barged his way in.  He waited for an invitation to come in.  Will not come into your heart and life and save you from your sin until you ask him.  That means you have sinned and need him to take away your sin to live within you.  The Holy Spirit speaks to us, tells us wrong from right.  Elijah in the Old Testament sitting in the cave heard the thunder and lightning.  God wasn’t in any of those mighty acts of nature.  God came to him in a still small voice.  John 14 verse 26 “but the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.”  He will teach us what we need to be and what need to be doing.  He will bring all things to your remembrance.  That is why it is so important to read the scriptures and study the scriptures.  Somehow the Holy Spirit can bring it to your mind and help you through difficult circumstances.  Want to think about this day when the Holy Spirit came.  Chapter 2 verse 1 the disciples have made their way back to the upper room in Jerusalem, waiting for God to do something mighty “and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”  The arrival of the Holy Spirit.  This is not the birth of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is the third person of the triune God.  God the father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Holy Ghost – not his birth but his arrival.

The ceremonial nature of this day.  One of the main feasts of the Jewish nation when people came together.  That is why there was this crowd in Jerusalem on this particular occasion.  Pentecost means 50 and comes from Leviticus 23 verse 15.  The fiftieth day, the day after the seventh Sabbath.  God sent forth the requirements of coming to worship God and expects certain rituals for use.  There is a danger in our worship, a slackness in our worship when we don’t pay detail to what the Lord might require of us.  When Moses wanted to take the Israelite people out of Egypt he told Pharaoh that God was asking them to go 3 days into the wilderness to sacrifice.  Pharaoh told them “take all you need but leave the animals here.”  Moses replied “no I cannot do that, I don’t know what God would ask of me to give.”  We need to come with a heart open to God.  Need to be ready to give what he wants from us.  God has been putting something in that heart of yours, asking you to give it to him.  Are we willing to let him have it?  Verse 15 notice the priest was asked to come in before the Lord and bring a sheaf of corn before the Lord.  When the time came that the children of Israel were brought into land of Canaan and it came to harvest time they were to take the first sheaf and bring it in before the Lord and wave it before the Lord.  It was the first fruits of the land.  It was promising them there was more to come.  When Jesus rose from the dead he was promising that all those saved and in the grave would rise again from the dead.  Jesus was the first fruits of those who had died.  All those who had died and were saved by God’s grace they would rise again.  When the priest stood with that one sheaf of corn then the people were to count 50 days after that.  They were to take and bake 2 loaves and bring them before the Lord.  This was the day of Pentecost.  Ceremonially speaking these 2 loaves pictured the church of Jesus Christ.  The  sheaf of corn had separate ears of grain.  God was picturing for you and me something far richer.  One of those loaves represented the Jewish people.  Acts 10 Peter took the gospel to Cornelius a Gentile.  Peter opened up the door of saving grace to give it to the Gentile people.  The 2 loaves were united together.  The church of Jesus Christ.  The birth of the church of Jesus Christ.  Verse 16 “and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.”  The priest was to offer something new.  On the day of Pentecost God was going to do a new thing, bring about the church of Jesus Christ, making one people on this day of Pentecost.  The apostles offered the first fruits of the offering of the Holy Spirit.

Notice the celebratory nature of this day verse 21.  Not just to be one day only.  It was repeated yearly.  That is why the word of God says “throughout your generations”.  On this day of Pentecost they were gathered together to remember what God had done for them.  God promised the children of Israel “I will bring you out of Egypt and into the land flowing with milk and honey.”  Now centuries later the people were gathered together that God would do something special on that day.  They were there to celebrate.  We come today to celebrate what God has done for us.  If it had not been for God sending his great love on us, looking on us with sympathy and grace we would be lost for ever in Christless hell.  He took the best he ever had, sent his son into the world to suffer and die for you just to save you.  That is what God has done.  We need to take some exhortation from the word of God.  The Hebrew Christians were suffering persecution, going through hard times and got their eyes off the Lord.  It is easy to get our eyes off the Lord, very easy to do that, to put our eyes on difficulties, disappointments and before you know it eyes are off the Lord.  The Hebrew Christians were in danger of complete backsliding.  Many do not gather together for public worship.  Hebrews 10 verse 25.  On the day of Pentecost the believers were gathered together and as a result God sent the Holy Spirit.  Wouldn’t it be awful if your seat was vacant and God came to do something special and you missed it?  Remember Thomas he missed the Lord’s coming to them.  The disciples told him about his visit.  He didn’t believe it but the following week when they met together he was also there.  God can still do a marvellous thing.  Leviticus 23 verse 16.  The Lord is calling out men and women from the world, saving them, baptising them into God’s family, giving them the Holy Spirit to live within them.  In Acts 20 verse 7 when Paul was in Troas on the Lord’s day “the disciples came together to break bread.”

There is the characterised nature of this day.  A supernatural day.  Verse 2 “and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind.”  Speaks of the functions and power of the Holy Spirit.  Let’s not doubt God today.  He can still work today.  Verse 3 “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them.”

The challenging nature of this day.  They were to go out into the streets and deliver what the spirit had done to them on the Day of Pentecost.  Peter took that challenge and went out on that day and preached.  As a result of 3000 were saved.

Galatians 5 verses 13 – 26

The problem in the church at Galatia was this.  The disciples had proclaimed the word of God and many were saved.  However there were those who came in and disturbed the people so that they decided to go down the road of legalism ie obeying the rituals for the sake of doing them but not really believing in what they were doing.  Chapter 1 verses 6 and 7.  Now in chapter 5 verse 1 he says “stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

We have been thinking much in these past moments of the battle Paul had raging here in the church of Galatia.  Verse 25 was his answer.  “If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit.”  Here we see the outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  That is something we must always look to.  Paul speaks now specifically of a renewed nature and a reformed character.  He is talking of the fruit that needs to be continuously nurtured.  Here he makes the comparison of the old nature residing in and the Holy Spirit now coming to live and settle in their heart.  We may have been religious and good living but still had the nature against God and it would take us to lost eternity.  The moment we bow the knee and take the Lord as Saviour and Lord something really specific happens.  The blood of Christ cleanses us.  We become new creatures and we are given the Holy Spirit.  This fruit only comes when we walk with the Holy Spirit.  His inner voice leading us and directing us.  CH Spurgeon gave the illustration of a tree that he had watched outside his study window.  He watched it every day and as he studied the word of God through the changes of the year.  The spring time shows buds coming on the tree and then through the summer its leaves and foliage were produced.  Autumn time leaves began to blow off the trees.  Not every leaf would fall from the tree.  Some would hang on as winter season comes.  Something very special happens.  The sap rises on the old and the leaves have to fall away, to lose their grip.  The more the Holy Spirit takes a grip on you and me the old nature dies.  Sometimes it takes a little while but the old things will pass away as the Holy Spirit comes.  This is only as we give way and give credence to the Holy Spirit.  There are 3 sets of triplets in verse 22.  The first triplet is love joy and peace, the second is longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and the third triplet is faith, meekness and temperance.  The first triplet is my communion with God – love, joy and peace through my relationship with God.  The second triplet is my relationship with you, your relationship with me and our relationship with others.  The third triplet is the innermost character we produce.

Look at the first triplet and our communion with God.  That indwelling of God in my life.  What does the Bible tell me about love?  Remember John writing in chapter 4 verse 10 “herein is love, not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  When we were born into the world we were sinners, had no love for God.  We may have had respect for him and respect even for his day but no love.  He saw us as helpless sinners.  God sent Jesus into the world to be our substitute for our sin.  That he had such a love for you and I that he would do that.  Paul writing of love said in Romans 5 verse 5 “hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”  The Holy Spirit imparts this love in our hearts, cultivates it day by day by studying his word.  He is the great example.  By praying with him, talking with him.  Have we that great love for the Lord?  Do we love him with all that we have?  Jesus said “I go and prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself.”  The Christian Paul says when writing to the Colossians in chapter 4 verse 6 “let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.”  When you and I speak lets have this love in our heart.  There is a taste to it.  That others might see what you are saying.  It doesn’t pull them down but builds them up.  In Acts 15 Paul and Barnabas were visiting the church “they caused great joy unto all the brethren.”  Second aspect of the triplet is joy.  Not talking here about fits of laughter every moment of the day.  For the Christian suffers like any other but the Christian has a secret and it is the Holy Spirit in our heart that brings forth joy no matter what the situation is.  I know the Christian suffers sickness, tragedy, pain and they are not immune from them. Thankfully the Holy Spirit can give us joy as we go through the Christian experience.  In the city of Samaria the people were given to such tremendous sickness.  Philip came down to that city and began to preach the word of God.  Others looked on his face and realised there was something they hadn’t got – joy.  One by one they began to believe, came to saving knowledge in Christ.  Acts 8 verse 8 “and there was great joy in that city.”  In Acts 13 the Christians were being persecuted but it says “the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.”  Many Christians do not give joy but cause hurt and division.  Third part of the triplet is peace.  This is our communion with God.  Only God gives peace.  Paul was able to say he gave him a peace that passeth all understanding.  He proved it time and again.  Ridiculed, thrown into prison, proved it when he sang praises in the Philippian jail.  Love, joy and peace.  Peace of a renewed fellowship with God.  Gone is the dread of judgement.  “It is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgement.”  Each and every one of us stands in judgement.  Our sins will be judged on that day.  Jesus Christ took our judgement, our penalty upon him.  Every sin was laid on him, that he died to pay the price, might take God’s perfect peace and set it upon our heart today.  When I close my eyes in death it is absent from the body and present with the Lord.  Paul said have you that peace because Jesus has taken your judgement, you stand with no judgement looming.  A peace revealed by those who have gone through great time of suffering and persecution.  Romans 8 “there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.”  Have we got that peace today?  The Spirit of God indwelling in us.  Love, joy, peace comes from the spirit within.

The second triplet – peace, longsuffering, gentleness.  This is my company with others.  That is what others see as look on me or is it all it is?  Some may have to suffer longer than others but God gives us longsuffering.  When things are not going right we through the Holy Spirit of God can persevere without throwing in that towel or flaring up in front of others.  That is the Holy Spirit.  Dwelling within you and I, producing fruit in us that others may recognise they don’t have that life.  Job is a great illustration of that.  He was the earliest man recorded who knew God personally.  The devil tried to bring him down but God held his servant up as his great example.  The devil asked God to let him at him for a few moments and he would show you who he really loves.  God gave the devil access.  Remember how one day Jesus said to the disciples “Satan hath desired to have you but I have prayed for you.”  God allowed the devil to tempt his servant Job but he restricted him.  He took his herds, flocks, family then smote Job with illness.  Imagine the pain Job was in.  Through all this tragedy – why has God allowed all this to happen.  When things happen to us what do we think?  Job didn’t know what was going on in the heavenly places.  Job was living his normal life until one day it all changed.  Job was brought into the most awful trials and sufferings but he did it with longsuffering.  His 3 friends came in to Job but not to encourage him.  They told him he had sinned, broken God’s commands and there was no way God would allow this to happen.  James said “remember Job’s patience.”  God brought Job through his suffering.  That is the fruit of the spirit.