Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 07 - Be Filled With Spirit Part 1 - The Spiritual Life - Andrew Murray

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07 - Be Filled With Spirit Part 1 - The Spiritual Life - Andrew Murray · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Be filled with the spirit. First lecture. You will find
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  Speaker 1: the words of my text in the Acts of the Apostles,
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  Speaker 1: second chapter, fourth verse, and they were all filled with
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost. Along with that, look at Ephesians five,
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  Speaker 1: verse eighteen, be filled with the Spirit. The first of
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  Speaker 1: these words is history, the one hundred and twenty disciples
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  Speaker 1: were filled with the Holy Ghost. The second is a
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  Speaker 1: command be filled with the Holy Spirit. There are often
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  Speaker 1: very difficult questions suggested in connection with the question how
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  Speaker 1: can we be filled with the Spirit? I do not
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  Speaker 1: think there is any better way to answer these than
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  Speaker 1: by looking at the disciples and seeing how they were
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  Speaker 1: prepared for receiving the Spirit and being filled with him.
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  Speaker 1: And I know of nothing more instructive. Christ does not
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  Speaker 1: give the Spirit to an unprepared soul. He could not,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore it is of extreme consequence to ask the
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  Speaker 1: question what is needed if I am to be filled
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  Speaker 1: with the Spirit. I tried to point out from God's
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  Speaker 1: word this morning as we studied the Epistle to the
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians in its teaching on the Spirit, that to be
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  Speaker 1: filled with the Spirit is what every Christian needs and
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  Speaker 1: needs for his every day life. And I repeated what
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  Speaker 1: I had said before that it is not enough to
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  Speaker 1: look for the Spirit as a spirit of power for work,
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  Speaker 1: but we ought to long above everything that our inner
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  Speaker 1: life be filled with the spirit. The power for work
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  Speaker 1: will come out of this. If I want an apple
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  Speaker 1: tree to bear apples, I take care that the apple
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  Speaker 1: tree has as good and as strong and as healthy
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  Speaker 1: a growth as can be given. The apples come spontaneously.
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  Speaker 1: If I have the Holy Spirit strengthening and filling my
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  Speaker 1: inner life, the fruit of power will come. The disciples
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  Speaker 1: were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Just look at
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  Speaker 1: the most important points in connection with their preparation. Who
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  Speaker 1: were they? What had they done? What had Christ done
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  Speaker 1: for them? First? They were men who had forsaken all
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  Speaker 1: for Christ. It was three years before this time that
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  Speaker 1: Christ had taken them into his school of preparation for Pentecost.
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  Speaker 1: John the Baptist said he will baptize you with the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost and with fire. And when Christ called them,
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  Speaker 1: it was with the special thought of training them for
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  Speaker 1: the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Missionaries often take candidates
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  Speaker 1: into their class for baptism for three months or a year.
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  Speaker 1: They come to them and say they want to be baptized.
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  Speaker 1: They appear earnest, but there is no satisfactory evidence that
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  Speaker 1: they are regenerated. The missionary says, come to the class,
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  Speaker 1: I will teach you, and I will see if you
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  Speaker 1: are prepared to be baptized. So did Christ take these
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  Speaker 1: men for three years into his baptism class, and at
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  Speaker 1: the end of three years he baptized them with the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost. What was their condition on entering the baptism class.
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  Speaker 1: They had given up all for Christ. They had to
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  Speaker 1: give up their fishing nets, Matthew had to leave the
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  Speaker 1: receipt of the custom. They had to forsake all. Christ
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  Speaker 1: often repeated the truth, except a man hates father and mother,
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  Speaker 1: except a man forsake houses and lands, he is not
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  Speaker 1: worthy of me. On one occasion, Peter said, Lord, we
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  Speaker 1: have forsaken all and followed thee My dear friends. It
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  Speaker 1: was this that was the first step in their preparation
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  Speaker 1: for the baptism of the Spirit. At Pentecost. Christ could
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  Speaker 1: not impart his own heavenly life and spirit except to
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  Speaker 1: men who gave up all to receive him. He took
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  Speaker 1: these men to prepare them and teach them to give
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  Speaker 1: up everything for God so they could be his disciples.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ comes to us with the same demand. Except
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  Speaker 1: a man forsake all, he cannot be my disciple. There
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  Speaker 1: are many who try to be filled with the spirit,
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  Speaker 1: and it is better to try than not try. Still,
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  Speaker 1: many try who have yet no conception of what it
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  Speaker 1: is that has to be given up. I must let
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  Speaker 1: go the world. I must let go family and friends,
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  Speaker 1: so far as the supreme place in my heart is concerned.
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  Speaker 1: I must be prepared to let go possessions, honor of men,
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  Speaker 1: and opinions of men. I must be prepared to let
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  Speaker 1: go everything I have. I must be prepared to let
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  Speaker 1: go self, my intellect, my heart's affections, everything must be
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  Speaker 1: sacrificed and made subordinate to this wonderful blessing, the Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit to come and dwell in me. The Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: is not something I can merely own or have at
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  Speaker 1: my disposal, but in him. Christ is a divine master
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  Speaker 1: coming to take charge of me, and he wants every
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  Speaker 1: breath of my life, every word of my tongue. He
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  Speaker 1: wants the whole of the self life deposed to make
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  Speaker 1: room for his life. Christ comes and tells me that
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  Speaker 1: the most important, the only thing on earth worth living
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  Speaker 1: for is to be filled with the spirit. The man
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  Speaker 1: who possesses him, Christ lives in him and has complete
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  Speaker 1: dominion over him. He possesses Christ. Dear friends, there are
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  Speaker 1: many of you who have done it, who have forsaken
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  Speaker 1: all for Christ. Have you not often attended a consecration
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  Speaker 1: meeting and taken your vow over and over again and
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  Speaker 1: sung the words here I give my all to thee friends,
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  Speaker 1: and time and earthly store, and all I have I
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  Speaker 1: leave for Jesus. Have you not sung this evening anywhere
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  Speaker 1: everywhere with Jesus. I speak to you, who are earnest Christians.
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  Speaker 1: Have you not forsaken all? Have you not vowed to
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  Speaker 1: forsake everything? Have you not vowed to forsake every selfish thing,
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  Speaker 1: your own pleasure, your own self profit, and the world
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  Speaker 1: and be holy for Jesus. I tell you have taken
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  Speaker 1: the first step to be filled with the spirit. Trust
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  Speaker 1: God he will do it. If you have done it,
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  Speaker 1: then I want you to come under the solemn conviction.
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  Speaker 1: I can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and I
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  Speaker 1: am going to take every step God shows me. But
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  Speaker 1: if there is anything in which your heart condemns you, beware.
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  Speaker 1: If your secret conviction is I have not forsaken all.
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  Speaker 1: There are little sins I have never given up. There
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  Speaker 1: is my temper, my own will, which I dare not forsake.
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  Speaker 1: Then I ask you, how can you expect to be
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  Speaker 1: filled with the spirit. It cannot be. Oh, brother, come
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  Speaker 1: to night, Do not hesitate any longer. There is the
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  Speaker 1: everlasting God in heaven waiting to fill you with His holy,
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  Speaker 1: blessed divine spirit. And will you, for the sake of
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  Speaker 1: something in the world, or for the sake of the
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  Speaker 1: flesh and its pleasure, or for the sake of your
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  Speaker 1: own will hold back and say no, I cannot be
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  Speaker 1: filled with the spirit. I must give up too much.
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  Speaker 1: I wish I could plead with you to come. Come
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  Speaker 1: for God's sake. Let us all say to night, I
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  Speaker 1: forsake all to follow Jesus. I long to be filled
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  Speaker 1: with the Holy Ghost. I want the heavenly life to
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  Speaker 1: live in me fully. Every moment I want to pray
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  Speaker 1: that I may have this pearl of great price. The
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  Speaker 1: first condition of receiving the Holy Ghost, then, was that
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  Speaker 1: these men had forsaken all, and the second condition they
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  Speaker 1: had been brought to utter self despair. It was at
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  Speaker 1: the very beginning of Christ's teaching, that he taught them
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  Speaker 1: to forsake their boats and fishing nets. But later on
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  Speaker 1: they found they had a very difficult lesson to learn
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  Speaker 1: to forsake self. We had that in the words to
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  Speaker 1: Peter last night, let a man deny himself. They did
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  Speaker 1: not know how terrible the power of self within them was.
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  Speaker 1: They were never brought to utter self despair until they
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  Speaker 1: came to the cross of Jesus. I cannot but remind
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  Speaker 1: you of the Lord's Supper. Two things took place. One
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  Speaker 1: was they had a dispute among themselves as to who
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  Speaker 1: should be chief. There was pride. They were thinking of
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  Speaker 1: their own glory and of the place they would have
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  Speaker 1: in the new kingdom which was going to be set up.
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  Speaker 1: The other thing was when Christ was led away to
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  Speaker 1: be crucified, they all forsook him and fled. Every one
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  Speaker 1: had said, I will never forsake THEE. So self confident
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  Speaker 1: were they. Peter had said, though all men forsake THEE,
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  Speaker 1: yet will not I? And when Christ said you will
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  Speaker 1: deny me, Peter said, though I should die with THEE,
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  Speaker 1: yet will I not deny Thee. They were filled with
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  Speaker 1: a self confident spirit, and it was with that spirit
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  Speaker 1: that Christ took them to Gathsemone. There began the time
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  Speaker 1: of trial. They all fell asleep. Even the three who
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  Speaker 1: were taken into the inner garden could not watch with
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  Speaker 1: Jesus what happened. Then when the soldiers bowed Jesus, they
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  Speaker 1: all forsook him and fled. Peter and John, after a
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  Speaker 1: little recovered their courage and went to the house of
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  Speaker 1: the High Priest. And there Peter denied his lord, and
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  Speaker 1: Jesus looked upon him, and he went out and wept bitterly.
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  Speaker 1: When Christ was condemned and taken to Calvary, there a
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  Speaker 1: great distance off, they stood and looked how their hopes perished,
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  Speaker 1: how they were brought to utter self despair. Just think
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  Speaker 1: when they saw their Lord crucified and dying, and dead
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  Speaker 1: and buried. What must have passed through their heart. They
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  Speaker 1: had hoped for a kingdom, and all hope of the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom was gone forever in their eyes. They had hoped
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  Speaker 1: their lord was to reign in glory, and now all
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  Speaker 1: was lost. Their hope was gone. Worst of all, they
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  Speaker 1: had trusted in themselves that they loved Jesus and would
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  Speaker 1: be faithful to him, And now they were all ashamed
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  Speaker 1: and hardly dared to look at each other. We have
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  Speaker 1: forsaken him and fled. We never knew we were so wicked.
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  Speaker 1: We never knew ourselves was so strong and sinful. We
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  Speaker 1: have forsaken our beloved Lord in his hour of agony
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  Speaker 1: and death. I do believe that that Sabbath day of
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  Speaker 1: rest was a day of unutterable anguish to those disciples,
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  Speaker 1: like a day of death. Why in order that they
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  Speaker 1: might be broken down from all trust in anything external
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  Speaker 1: and anything in themselves. These two things had so broken
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  Speaker 1: them down that on earth there was no help at all.
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  Speaker 1: They were in utter despair, and thus prepared for the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit must come to take the
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  Speaker 1: place of self. Life so consuming it that a man
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  Speaker 1: can say, the life that I now live in the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: I live by the faith of the Son of God.
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  Speaker 1: It is only out of the grave of self that
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  Speaker 1: the spirit life can rise. The Holy Spirit must work
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  Speaker 1: this in me with no human help. With the hope
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  Speaker 1: of everything on earth, Broken empty, hopeless, helpless, they turned
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  Speaker 1: to Christ. Why did God allow all this? That they
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  Speaker 1: might be empty to receive the new life the life
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. Christ came on the Resurrection day
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  Speaker 1: to breathe upon them the Holy Spirit. They then began
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  Speaker 1: to see something of what was coming, though during the
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  Speaker 1: forty days he was with them, they did not quite
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  Speaker 1: understand all. For what they did not understand, there was
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  Speaker 1: nothing to do but trust. When He went back to
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  Speaker 1: heaven and the Holy Spirit was poured out and filled
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  Speaker 1: them at Pentecost, then they were fully delivered of all
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  Speaker 1: self confidence. I trust there are many here whom God
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  Speaker 1: has brought to the end of self. Oh, it is
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  Speaker 1: a blessed thing. Are there not some who say, I
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  Speaker 1: want to find out whether I am prepared to be
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  Speaker 1: filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you brought to utter
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  Speaker 1: self despair? Perhaps many of you have asked and received
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  Speaker 1: what you thought was a baptism of the Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: but you did not know the dangers. You have said, well,
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  Speaker 1: that is a wonderful thing. I have got a wonderful blessing.
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  Speaker 1: God has done a great thing in me. And there
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  Speaker 1: was a secret self satisfaction and a great want of humility,
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  Speaker 1: and a great want of utter nothingness. Before God come
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  Speaker 1: and say I want to be forever done with self.
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  Speaker 1: I will denyself. I have asked God to cast it
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  Speaker 1: out and my heart may be empty and broken. That
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  Speaker 1: is the second step to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Get down, lower down. Do not be in a hurry
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  Speaker 1: to get up, my brother, Get lower down and become nothing,
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  Speaker 1: and let self be cast into the depths the lowly,
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  Speaker 1: truly humble, self despairing one is prepared for the baptism
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  Speaker 1: of the spirit. Are there some souls who say Self
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  Speaker 1: is still the great force in my life? Self is
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  Speaker 1: ruling me, He is a hard master. Self is working
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  Speaker 1: in me every day, And I have not been brought
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  Speaker 1: to utter self despair? Then I ask you, are you
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  Speaker 1: going to miss the blessing? Are those who are in
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  Speaker 1: utter self despair about getting the blessing? Are you going
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  Speaker 1: to try for years to improve self, to bind self
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  Speaker 1: with chains, to make self something not so very wicked
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  Speaker 1: as it is? Or will you not say there is
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  Speaker 1: no help in self. I will trust Christ to come
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  Speaker 1: in and take possession. Your father longs to have as
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  Speaker 1: children a church of believers filled with the Holy Ghost.
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  Speaker 1: And he has got the residue of the Spirit in
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  Speaker 1: great abundance. He has purposed to give it to you,
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  Speaker 1: as he gives the water and air freely and abundantly
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  Speaker 1: the river of the water of life is flowing full
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  Speaker 1: from the throne of God. He wants you to say,
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  Speaker 1: I long to have my whole being saturated, fully dominated, ruled,
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  Speaker 1: possessed by the Holy Spirit of God. Brother, if you
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  Speaker 1: have despaired of yourself, thank God that it is so.
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  Speaker 1: If you have not, are you willing here to cast
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  Speaker 1: self at the feet of Jesus and to fall in
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  Speaker 1: utter helplessness and say, Lord, I cannot conquer self. I
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  Speaker 1: have been fighting, but I have failed. Have mercy upon me.
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  Speaker 1: Let it. Henceforth, be none of self, but all of
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  Speaker 1: thee come and take the place of the disciples, and
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  Speaker 1: you will be prepared for the fullness of the Spirit. Third,
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  Speaker 1: they were men in whom there was an intense personal
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  Speaker 1: attachment to Jesus. You know, the Holy Spirit is the
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  Speaker 1: spirit that the Father gives, and he comes through the
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  Speaker 1: son Jesus Christ. He is the spirit of God's Son.
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  Speaker 1: And it is by getting united to the Son of
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  Speaker 1: God that I get the Spirit of God. Christ taught
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  Speaker 1: his disciples to cling to him, to love him, to
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  Speaker 1: delight in him, and to lean their whole weight, as
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  Speaker 1: it were, upon him. In living three years with them,
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  Speaker 1: he had taught them to love him. With all their failures.
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  Speaker 1: They did love Christ, truly, there was ingratitude with it.
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  Speaker 1: The failures were terrible, with all the self confidence and
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  Speaker 1: sins of the flesh. Yet they loved Jesus. But was
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  Speaker 1: that enough that they loved Jesus? No, it was not
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  Speaker 1: without the spirit. How continually they failed to obey Christ.
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  Speaker 1: It was his blessed work to lead them on to
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  Speaker 1: a better life, where they would have power to conquer
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  Speaker 1: self and sin. For over three years he walked with
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  Speaker 1: them as a friend. How he loved them, how he
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  Speaker 1: served them, How all his kindness and goodness were exhibited
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  Speaker 1: in their presence. Oh, how he loved them, it is written,
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  Speaker 1: having loved his own, he loved them unto the end,
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  Speaker 1: and he had won their hearts. They loved his teaching,
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  Speaker 1: and they loved him amid all their unfaithfulness. They clung
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  Speaker 1: to him when he died, though they had gone and
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  Speaker 1: left him, and they believed him dead. Still they loved him.
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  Speaker 1: Their hearts were attached to him. Here is our third
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  Speaker 1: step in the preparation for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: It is when the heart of a believer clings to
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  Speaker 1: Jesus with an intense and continual love. There are some
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  Speaker 1: Christians in whom there is very little personal attachment to
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus. A man may preach sermons about Christ,
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  Speaker 1: talk about him, work for him, and give liberally, but
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  Speaker 1: this is not what I am speaking about. What was
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  Speaker 1: the charge of Christ against the Church at Ephesus? Thou
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  Speaker 1: hast left thy first love? There was no personal tender
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  Speaker 1: love to Jesus. There are some people who talk about
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  Speaker 1: being filled with the spirit and pray for it, but
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  Speaker 1: I am afraid they will not get it. They do
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  Speaker 1: not know what it is to be clinging to Jesus
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  Speaker 1: as a personal friend. Before the soul is filled with
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  Speaker 1: the spirit, there is a tenderness of feeling, a preparation
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  Speaker 1: for it. In the intensity of love for Jesus, there
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  Speaker 1: is a clinging of the heart to himself. The soul
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  Speaker 1: is longing for him and longing to love him better.
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  Speaker 1: There are some of you I trust who can say
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  Speaker 1: I do love Jesus. He knows how I delight in him.
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  Speaker 1: He knows that he is the joy of my heart
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  Speaker 1: and to night. He knows that I burn for him.
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  Speaker 1: He knows I ask what can I sacrifice for my Lord? Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Is there anything I can do for Jesus. He knows
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  Speaker 1: that amid failure, I am seeking to keep every commandment.
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  Speaker 1: And my heart's prayer is, Oh that I could see
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  Speaker 1: Him and know him better. Oh for the time when
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  Speaker 1: God has all my heart and nothing there but Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus only praise God. For every soul that is broken
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  Speaker 1: who says in faith towards God, Lord, Thou knowest all things.
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  Speaker 1: Thou knowest that I love THEE. Take courage and say
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  Speaker 1: it with boldness as Peter did, or say it sorrowing,
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  Speaker 1: but say it. You are in the right path to
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  Speaker 1: be baptized with the Holy spirit. Jesus wants people who
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  Speaker 1: are intensely full of love to him. We often hear
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  Speaker 1: the complaint my religion is more in my head and
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  Speaker 1: in my work than in tense love to Jesus, O,
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  Speaker 1: Lamb of God, who loved us. We see we have
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  Speaker 1: been so busy with ourselves, with our study, our preaching,
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  Speaker 1: our visiting, our working for THEE, so busy with these
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  Speaker 1: that for THEE Blessed Lamb of God, we have had
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  Speaker 1: little time, so little time for meeting with THEE. So
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  Speaker 1: little heart and longing for close union. Let us fall
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  Speaker 1: down and make confession. Lord, thou canst not give me
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit? I am wanting this mark. I have
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  Speaker 1: so little love. Oh tell me when can I get it?
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  Speaker 1: How long must I seek this love? You can get
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  Speaker 1: it to night if you see your sin and shame
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  Speaker 1: and confess the want of this personal, clinging love, and say, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: let my love now be a tender, intimate fellowship. I
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  Speaker 1: want my whole being to be filled with the love
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  Speaker 1: of God. Say it in humility, and say it in faith.
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  Speaker 1: He accepts that when the soul has pledged itself to
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  Speaker 1: begin loving him holy, he will accept it and will
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  Speaker 1: send down his Holy Spirit upon you. Sister brother, are
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  Speaker 1: you ready? Jesus wants to fill us with his Holy Spirit. Fourthly,
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  Speaker 1: they had accepted the word of Christ about the coming
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit in faith. They were men who believed
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: those ten days after Christ's assension were passed in waiting
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: and prayer, that is faith. What did they believe about it?
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Ask them. They could not tell exactly. They had read
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament of the Holy Spirit coming down
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: on prophets, but about the Holy Spirit dwelling in the
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: believer all day, and the Holy Spirit bringing the joy
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: and presence of Jesus into their hearts. They did not know.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: They just believed our Master said that he would send
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. They just clung to that word. He
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: said it, and we are sure of it. How foolish
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to think of the Holy Spirit coming from heaven for
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: the sake of people like you, Someone might exclaim. Their answer,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: is he said it? If people had said, you fools,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: You denied him, you forsook him, you unworthy creatures. Do
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: you believe you are going to be the elect men?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: They would answer, he said it. Now are you resting
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: upon the word of God? This morning we had the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: picture of the wonderful life that the child of God
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: can live, all those twelve aspects of the walk in
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the power of the blessed Spirit. That is what the
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Bible says can be my life. Some of you were
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: here when we spoke about the fruit of the Spirit
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: being love. Have not all of you said, I believe
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: that my life can be a life of love all
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the day long, Love to the most unlovable, to the heathen,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: love to all I meet. Have you said that in faith?
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Have you said the Holy Spirit can be in my soul?
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: I can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Can you
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: say I have the filling every morning at night? Oh,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: take care, don't let unbelief tell you that this is
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: too high for a man on earth, that a man
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: in the flesh cannot live filled with the spirit. That
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: is unbelief. Another says, my temperament. There are people who
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: have a kind temperament, but you know I have such
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: a temperament. I could never have this fullness, and so on.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: In a hundred forms, there is the thought we must
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: be content to live without the spirit. Belived children of God,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: take care of unbelief, and come now to night and say,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I do believe what Jesus says that the Father delights
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: to fill a child of his with the Holy Spirit.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: I do believe that the life of the Holy Spirit
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: is meant to be lived in me every day in
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the week, and every moment of my life. I do
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: believe what the scriptures say, that the Holy Spirit is
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: able to fill me with God's love, so that my
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: life shall be one of humility and tenderness, giving glory
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: to God and the Lord Jesus. If you will believe
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: what God has said and what God is willing and
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: waiting to do, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Though you don't feel it yet, say that you believe it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: If you believe there is a God in heaven, and
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: there is a blessing waiting, and God is willing to
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: give it, will you say that it is an unutterably
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: solemn thing. To come into contact with God, a man
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: must stand and give an answer to God. Many turn
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: round to think about it and will not give an
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: answer to God. Oh, come and do something. Set your
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: heart upon it and say I will have it. Some
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: are thinking of their business and how it would look
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: for them to go down to morrow morning if they
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: were overflowing with the Holy Spirit. Just imagine it. They think,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: I cannot do it. I could not manage it. You
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: have not got to manage the Holy Spirit. He will
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: manage you. He will teach you how to live when
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: you are full of Him. Fifth, they not only believed,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: but they longed and thirsted for it. I believe that
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: with the shock of that earthquake that came to them
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: when Jesus was crucified, in their utter despair of themselves,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and with inexpressible shame and disgrace for having treated Jesus
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: as they did, they learnt to long for something better,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: and the Son of God in the forty days when
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: he was upon earth, worked in their hearts an expectation
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: that filled them with assurance. During the ten days in
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: which they waited, these one hundred and twenty men and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: women appeared contemptible in the eyes of the world, but
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: they waited for the promise of their Lord. They were
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: assured of this above everything. Are you willing to do this?
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: May God bring us to it? It struck me as
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: a solemn thing. This is the last evening service this week,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: and how far have we got? Friend? Would you be
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: ready to say, God fill me with the Holy Ghost?
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I am ready? Are you ready to say that? Some
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: people think it must come as a great emotion, stirring
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: their whole being. It does not always come that way.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: It may come as the night dew on the grass,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: quiet and gentle. They think people must talk and shout. No,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: what is it it is to have my whole being
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: placed at His disposal, and then in faith to receive
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: the gift of God, the Holy Spirit taking possession of
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: me as an empty vessel, to separate myself to be
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: filled with the Holy Spirit, and believe then the Lord
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: has given this life to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I claim it from him. I trust him for it.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: You know, a river can be filled in two ways.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: In South Africa we have terrible valleys, which might be
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: called dry rivers, And then high up the course of
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the river, there come immense thunderstorms, and the water comes
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: pouring down with such a rush that it causes the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: stream in these lower reaches to rise eight or ten
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: feet high at once, and it keeps on rising until
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: it overflows its banks. How did it get full suddenly
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: with violence? But sometimes rivers get full in quite a
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: different way. There are great snow mountains, and the snow
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: melts gently, and the water flows and fills the river.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: There is very little commotion. The stream rises slowly and
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: gradually the river gets full until its banks overflow. How
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: different from the former. There are souls in whom the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: filling of the Holy Ghost comes with great emotion. There
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: are other souls who come trembling and full of fear.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: They are prepared, and they say to God, O God,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: it is thy will that I should be filled with
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. It from morning to night, I long
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: for it. I believe thou art give it. They say
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: it quietly, and they claim it in faith. Lord, I
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: believe thou hast done it. Oh my brother, are you
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: ready for it to night? Remember the Holy Spirit is
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the heritage of God's Church. It is not meant for
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: something extraordinary. Each of us may say, the fullness of
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is mine. It is mine for my
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: daily life to enable me to live a holy life
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: every day. Are you ready? Shall we bow before God?