Yahweh does not give His Spirit to the wilful sinner.
The Scriptures testify to this fact:
Acts 5: | 32: “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” |
John 14: | 17: “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
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Verse: | 23: “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” |
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...” |
Note:
Unless one has his/her eyes opened to spiritual realities by the
Holy Spirit it is impossible to appreciate spiritualconcepts and
truths.
Verse 26: continued: | “...and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” |
John 15: | 26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” |
John 16: | 7: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient vfor 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. 8: And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” |
In other words the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin when they break Yahweh's law, when they sin. (1 John 3: 4). He will not only point out disobedience (sin), but He also directs people to do what is right (righteousness) and how to obey God. He will then go on to warn of the coming Judgement; when every soul on earth will be judged according to his/her reaction to such awesome prompting.
The Holy Spirit's work goes even beyond those critical lessons.
John 16: | 13: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” |
Note:
These are vital lessons which the Holy Spirit of Yahweh teaches with untiring efficiency.
Are you responding to His sacred work?
Every believer is given at least one gift - some have several. The gifts are: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation.
Note how the Apostle Paul classifies the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
He also places the receivers of these gifts in a hierarchic order
of importance.
Verse 28: First: | Apostles
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Second: | Prophets
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Third: | Teachers
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After that: | Miracle workers, Healers, Helps, Governments and speakers in tongues. |
Let those who try to reverse this order by placing speakers in tongues at the head of the list - beware!
Ephesians 4: | 30: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” |
Psalm 51: | 7: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8: Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9: Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11: Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12: Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” |
Galatians 5: | 16: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17: For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18: But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20: Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21: Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23: Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” |
The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is the reality to which water baptism
points. Water baptism symbolizes a death to sin, a burial of the old sinful
nature and a resurrection to walk in newness of life. Water baptism is a
meaningful drama, a shadow, a type. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is
the substance, the real thing! When the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
takes place in a believer's life he dies to sin. He/she doesn't knowingly
sin any more. His old evil nature is slain and buried. A new, nature then
takes over. Every believer who enters the Kingdom of God is, at some soon-
coming date, going to be baptized by Christ in the Holy Spirit - yes every
one of us. The one who does the baptizing will be Yeshua the Messiah -
Jesus Christ. Of him
John the Baptist said:
Mark 1: | 8: “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” |
See Lesson 20 where the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is dealt with in more detail. What about the Trinity?