Holy Spirit, His Supply — Mike Attwood

Channel: Sermon Index

Let's turn in our hymn books to number 330, 330. Take the world but give me Jesus All its joys are but a name But his love abideth ever Through eternal years the same O the height and depth of mercy O the length and breadth of love O the fullness of redemption Pledge of endless life above Take the world but give me Jesus The sweetest comfort of my soul With my savior watching o 'er me I can sing the billows roll O the height and depth of mercy O the length and breadth of love O the fullness of redemption Pledge of endless life above Take the world but give me Jesus Let me view his constant smile Then throughout my pilgrim journey Light will cheer me all the while O the height and depth of mercy O the length and breadth of love O the fullness of redemption Pledge of endless life above Take the world but give me Jesus In his cross my trust shall be Till with clearer brighter vision Face to face my Lord I see O the height and depth of mercy O the length and breadth of love O the fullness of redemption Pledge of endless life above

Tim, would you bring us before the Lord in prayer? We are going to this session, we'll go till about, well, you can take till about 25 after, we'll sing another song and give thanks for supper. And so at this point, we'll turn it over to our brother.

The Earnest of the Holy Spirit and the Believer’s Security

Well, I am very grateful for the invitation. Thank you, brethren, for inviting me to be at this conference and to share from the word of God. And I'd like us to continue on as we're looking at the verses that pertain to the Holy Spirit and the believer's security.

And we want to think about the earnest of the spirit, the earnest, and so again, we want to look at 2 Corinthians, please. A couple of verses in 2 Corinthians, one in Ephesians that talk about this matter.

And so one of them we've already read in context of the sealing, 2 Corinthians 1, verse 22, it says, who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. Chapter five, please, and verse five.

Now, he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit. And then please, the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians one, verse 13.

It says, in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance and the redemption of the purchase possession unto the praise of his glory.

So three times in the epistles, twice in Corinthians, once in Ephesians, we're told that we have the earnest of the spirit, has given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. 1, 22 of Corinthians, hath also given unto us the earnest of the spirit, 5, 5 in Corinthians.

And then again, verse 14 in Ephesians, which is the earnest, he's given us this, sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. So what exactly is the earnest? Well, it's a pledge, a foretaste of the inheritance, a part payment, if you like, when we purchased our house, the first process in purchasing a house is you have to put down earnest money, which is usually kind of a reasonably substantial amount.

And what you're saying to the sellers is, I'm really serious about this. I intend to go through with the deal, okay? And so isn't it wonderful to say that when God gives us the Holy Spirit, he is telling us, I'm really serious about this.

I intend to go through with the whole deal. In other words, everything that we're gonna enjoy, our eternal inheritance, we already got the down payment, the spirit of God lives within us, right? He's given us the earnest, which is the spirit.

And so putting his spirit within us is God saying to us, I intend to fulfill everything that I have promised in all the promises that I've made to you, giving the spirit is my down payment, my assurance, I'm committed, I'm going through with this deal all the way.

I don't know about you, but I'm thrilled. He's going through with the deal all the way. He's not gonna pull back. He's not gonna say, oh, I've got buyer's remorse here. If I had realized what this Mike Atwood was gonna be like, in fact, I'm pulling out with a deal.

No, no, the fact that the day I got saved, the spirit of God came to live within me. God is saying, I'm committed all the way, not turning back. I'm gonna bring him into the fullness of his inheritance.

It's the earnest of our inheritance. It's the saying that everything that is gonna happen in the future, our eternal joy in the presence of the Lord, our inheritance that's laid up for us in heaven. This earnest is the pledge.

God is going through with the deal. One of our hymns says this, and we to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given. More happy, but not more secure, the spirits departed to heaven. Isn't that good to know?

Those that are already in heaven, they're happier than us. They don't have the sin issue anymore. They're in the presence of the Lord where there's fullness of joy, but they're not more secure than we are.

Isn't that good to know that? Because we got the down payment and he's going through with the deal. It's part payment in kind. Full payment would be the same character as the earnest. So we've received the first fruits of the spirit and there's a full harvest coming.

And it's wonderful to think about those things. Now I want to think about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Again, one of the security issues that we've looked at the baptism, the sealing, the earnest, the indwelling.

The Permanent Indwelling of the Spirit

John 14, please. John chapter 14. And this was very revolutionary when the Lord Jesus said these words, verse 16 of John 14 and verse 17. John 14, 16, John 14, 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever.

That's another security verse there, isn't it? He's not going to leave us. He's going to abide with us forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.

So as the Lord talks to the disciples, he says, the Holy Spirit is with you, but something new is coming. The one who is with you shall be in you, right? What we call the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, a permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit because he's going to abide with you forever.

Now there's a real contrast here with the experience of the Old Testament saint. The Old Testament saint did not enjoy the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In fact, in the Old Testament, it would be clear to say that the Holy Spirit came upon individuals for certain acts of service, but he could also leave them.

And so he came upon kings and priests and craftsmen who were connected with service in the house of God. And so some examples that we could look at, look at the book of Exodus. We're just thinking of the Old Testament believers experience and his experience wasn't a permanent indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Exodus 31 and verses two through five. So it says, see, I have called by name, Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship to devise cunning works, to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in cutting of stones, to set them and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

And so I suppose what you could say is the Spirit of God came upon this man, Bezalel, and his job was making the furniture for the tabernacle and making all the different aspects of it. So his job was to build and beautify the house of God.

And in order to build and beautify the house of God, the Spirit of God came upon him, filled him and enabled him to do that. And could we say this, that by way of application, what a wonderful way for us to use our lives to be involved in building and beautifying the house of God.

And in order for us to be part of that building and beautifying the house of God, we must know something of the filling of the Holy Spirit in order for that to happen. But he wants that to happen. He wants to use us in that way.

And so we might go to meetings and ask ourselves, how can I build up this testimony here? How can I make it a beautiful place for God's people to be? What can I do that would affect it in that way to make it more beautiful and to be involved in the process of building?

Now, of course, the Lord says, I will build my church, but he uses human instruments in that process. And he wants to use us. And so here's Bezalel, he's doing that. Chapter 35 and verse 30. Again, similar ideas communicated to us.

Verse 30, it says, and Moses said to the children of Israel, see, the Lord has called by name, Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Her, of the tribe of Judah. And he had filled him with the spirit of God, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, so on and so forth.

Very same language that we saw earlier. So this man, 36 verses one and two, then wrought Bezalel and Aholihab, and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work, all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded.

And Moses called Bezalel and Aholihab, and every wise-hearted man in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come onto the work to do it. So the equipping came from the spirit of God, but their hearts were stirred up to do it as well.

So there's a human element right there. Their heart was in this. They were wanting to do it. But basically we see this particular pattern, chapter 38. Again, same picture, but it's just good to see the details.

Verse 22, and Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Her, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses. What a successful ministry. He did it. The job he'd be to build and beautify the house of God.

And according to the pattern that had been commanded by Moses in the Holy Mount, there was no room for artistic license or man's initiative. It was to build it according to the pattern that had been given in the Holy Mount by Moses.

And again, if we're gonna be builders, we have to follow the pattern in the word of God. There's no room for artistic liberty. We must follow the pattern that God has given in the word of God. And certainly these people did.

Paul, I think, would give credence to what I've just said in 1 Corinthians 3, in verse 10, where he talked about our activity. And he says in chapter three, verse 10, according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I've laid the foundation, another builder thereon, but let every man take heed how we build thereon.

It must be built according to the plan that has been given by the master himself. If we're gonna be wise master builders, you know, if you've got a builder and you told him the design of your house and he did something completely different, you might be a bit upset with him because, well, he said, I've got this artistic streak and I know that the plan said this, but I thought this wall would look a lot better curved than straight.

And you might say, hold on a second, I'm paying you to follow the plan. God, he wants us to follow the plan. He wants us to follow the plan, the pattern, the design, and a spiritful man will always build according to the master design.

He won't do it different to what God designed. But this task, the Holy Spirit came upon these men for specific acts of service that they did, but he could leave them. And we know that from examples. Look at 1 Samuel now, where we're gonna see that when a man failed to do what God had told him to do, the spirit could be taken away from him.

So we have the story of Saul and it says in verse 13, then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him, this is David, in the midst of his brethren, and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.

So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Now verse 14, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. Now that's a verse that's troubling, right? But what do we see?

From our purposes, all we're trying to show is that in the Old Testament, there was not such a thing as a permanent indwelling. David, when he slew Goliath, that was before the spirit of God came upon him in 1 Samuel 16, right?

It comes upon him at his anointing. Saul, when David is anointed, the spirit of God, it says departed from Saul. Now look at Psalm 51, Psalm 51 and verse 11. Psalm 51 and verse 11, this is David's penitential Psalm.

This is after Nathan has confronted him concerning the sin of Bathsheba. And remember what he says is thou art the man, you're guilty. And David, when he finally comes to this place of repentance, he prays this prayer.

And in verse 11, he says this, cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, hold me with thy free spirit, so on and so forth. Now, again, here's the interesting thing.

He knows what's happened to Saul. Why did it happen to Saul? Saul was disobedient. What's David just done? He's been disobedient. The difference between Saul and David, and this is a big difference. When Saul was confronted, he always tried to justify his sin.

When David was confronted, he was broken over his sin. Big difference. But David's concerned, he's scared. He's seen what's happened to Saul, and he cries out to God, take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Now, there was a very popular song. I think it was Keith Green that sang it. And sometimes it's sung in meetings of believers. And part of it, it's a kind of a rendition of Psalm 51. And part of it says, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

And I can't sing it. I won't sing it. I absolutely, stubbornly, and maybe I'm becoming a grumpy old man, but I absolutely refuse to sing that line. Because I can sing it till I'm blue in the face, and he will never take his Holy Spirit from me.

Different dispensation. See, songs not only have to be right, they have to be in the right dispensation, right? We're not in that dispensation. Something new has happened. John 14, he shall be with you, and he shall be in you, and he will abide with you forever.

You're sealed with the Spirit of God until the day of redemption. He's not leaving. No matter how passionately you sing, he's not going anywhere. And so it's important for us to realize that. This wonderful truth of the permanent indwelling of the Spirit of God.

It's unique to the church age. And it's a marvelous truth that we're indwelt, and he's with us forever. John 14, again, verse 16. It says, and I pray the Father, he'll give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.

You know, the uniqueness of this dispensation is that there's a real man in the glory at the Father's right hand, and there's also a divine person on the earth living in the hearts of every believer. And that's a unique feature of this dispensation.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

So what about, could I be guilty of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? See, that's a question people ask. In the issue of security, right? Is it possible? Let's just look again at that. We read it earlier in a different context.

We talked about it as evidence of his divinity, that he's divine, because you can only blaspheme a divine person. But let's look at Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12, verse 22. It says, this is giving us the context of this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

And so it says in verse 22, then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him in so much that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David?

And so when the common people see this miracle, the magnitude of it, this man, both blind and dumb, and the Lord heals him, they make a deduction based on the evidence. And it's a very biblical deduction.

How do you know the Messiah's here? Well, he's gonna do these miracles. He's gonna, you know, the blind will receive their sight. The lame will leap as a hawk. And so the people say, this is the son of David, and they're dead on.

They're absolutely accurate in their pinpoint deduction from what they witnessed. But notice when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.

So what they say is, even though the evidence is absolutely undeniable, they say, he's doing it in the power of Satan. It's Satanic, the prince of the devils. That's what he's doing. And so they're attributing Jesus' actions to that of Beelzebub.

Pretty, pretty serious statement. And so verse 25, Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. Every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.

And if Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges.

Then he says this, but if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Now, what does that tell us? Jesus performed these miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit.

If I, by the spirit of God, cast out demons. And again, we got to think about this, that the Lord Jesus was here as the second man, the last Adam, and he's the first Adam acted independently. The second man, the last Adam, is in full dependence.

And you see it in Luke's gospel, primarily more than any other, where the Lord Jesus spends more time in prayer than is recorded in any of the gospels because he's the dependent man. And he spends more time talking about his ministry in the power of the spirit because he's the dependent man.

But here we see it again. He's doing these miracles. He's doing them in the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's evidence the kingdom of God has come to you. Or else, he says, verse 29, how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man?

And then he'll spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.

By the way, just stop there. Isn't that wonderful? All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. Isn't that wonderful? I mean, that's pretty broad, isn't it? All the things that we could have done that we can be forgiven.

Praise God for that. But then he says, but whoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, or literally this age, neither in the age to come. Now let's just look at Mark's account for a moment.

We're gonna compare the two. And then we're gonna see how we can explain this. Mark's gospel, chapter three. Very much a parallel account. Mark 3, 28, verily I say unto you, all sin shall be forgiven unto the sons of men and blasphemies wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme.

But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiven us, but is in danger of eternal damnation. Now notice verse 30. Verse 30 is critical to a right understanding of what this literally means, the baptism, or the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Verse 30 says this. Because they said he hath an unclean spirit. Because they said he hath an unclean spirit. So if I can put it this way, I believe that this is a unique dispensational sin. What I mean by that is, for this sin to be committed, Jesus has to be on the earth doing miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit, and somebody to see that and say he has an unclean spirit.

Because isn't that what it says in verse 30? Tying it with verse 29. He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost shall never forgive us, in danger of eternal damnation, because they said he hath an unclean spirit.

And so it requires Jesus to be present, Jesus to be doing these miracles, and somebody to actually willfully see that and say he has an unclean spirit. And that can only happen in this age, and then he says, and in the age to come.

What's the age to come? The Messianic age, when Jesus is back on earth, doing amazing things. But now he's at the Father's right hand, right? And so I don't believe that it's possible in this dispensation.

And the reason I say all that is because some Christians get very nervous when they read that verse, and they wonder, could I, in my unsaved days, have inadvertently blasphemed the Holy Spirit? And if so, then am I forever lost?

Can I never be forgiven, you see? And the answer is no. That's not right. You have to see it with your own eyes, witness it, and then come to the conclusion, he hath an unclean spirit. And so I believe that it's a very unique dispensational sin.

And again, just saying this to say that I believe we're absolutely secure as a believer in Christ. He will abide with us forever. He sealed us, he's the earnest. All of these things, and we have absolute security.

Being Filled With the Spirit

So now we want to move on to the Holy Spirit. And we wanna think about his supply. And I wanna think of more on the subject of the filling of the spirit. Because we're commanded in scripture to be filled with the spirit.

If you look at Ephesians chapter five, in verse 18. Ephesians five and verse 18. And we'll look at it in its context here. This is very fresh in my mind because I spoke on this in Malaysia at 6 .30 on Wednesday morning.

It was there 8 .30 their evening, but 6 .30 mine. And they wanted me to do Ephesians 5 .17 to the end of the chapter. So it says in verse 17, wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

It's always good to understand what the will of the Lord is. And one of the things that I've said many, many times is that I believe that from scripture, the will of God is primarily moral. It's not where you are, but what you are.

This is the will of God, even your sanctification, right? That's moral. If you're sanctified wherever you are, God will use you. In everything give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

If you're a thankful person, you will be a blessing everywhere you go because everybody's complaining. And you'll stand out like a sore thumb. You'll be so different, right? And so we see it again that here, understand what the will of the Lord is.

Then he goes on and he says, and be not drunk with wine. Well, one thing I can say is it's not God's will for a Christian to be drunk with wine, never. And again, maybe I'm extreme in this, but I grew up around drunkenness.

I've seen a lot of it. I've seen what it's done. And I'm petrified of drink. I'm absolutely petrified of this stuff because I've seen the damage it's done. And I found the best way for me not to be drunk with wine is not to drink wine.

I mean, that's the simplest solution as far as I'm concerned. Every drunkard started with one glass, with one taste, right? So it's just for safety. I mean, I can't from scripture say, thou shalt not drink.

Jesus turned water into wine. I understand all that. But I'm just saying this, why do you need it when you have the spirit of God living within you? There's two places I think where it's acceptable, the medicine cabinet and the memorial cup.

That's where it's legitimate. Medicine cabinet, memorial cup. But I see no place for it in the Christian life because we don't need artificial stimulants when you have the spirit of God living within you.

But he says, be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess. That word excess is the same word that's used at prodigal. And it literally means the inability to save. It's the idea of this, that if you become a drunkard, you won't save much.

The breweries will do really well and the liquor stores will do really well, but you won't do very well because it brings a man to poverty. Wonderful, wonderful story of, I think it was a Welsh revival and the teacher in the school was talking about the miracles not being true and Jesus didn't turn water into wine and all this kind of stuff.

And this little girl put her hand up and she said, well, in our family, Jesus turned wine into furniture. And the teacher said, what do you mean? Well, she said, my dad was a drunkard and he trusted Jesus.

Before he was a drunkard, we had no furniture. We hardly had food. Now we have furniture in the house. We have food to eat. Jesus turned wine into furniture. Isn't that wonderful? That's the power of the gospel.

So basically he says, be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess. And so then he says, but in contrast, a stark contrast, he says instead, be filled with the spirit. Now, if you were reading it in the Greek language, what it would say is, but be ye being continuously filled with the spirit.

Not a one-off thing. It's a continuous thing, okay? Continuous filling. We need it constantly, to be constantly filled with the spirit. So what does it mean? What are we talking about? So let's talk about, for instance, the drunkard, because there's clearly an analogy here.

Some said that it couldn't be that this analogy, but I think it's a perfect analogy, that the drunkard, the ways that you know somebody's a drunkard is that it affects their speech. They have slurred speech.

They talk rubbish, right? I mean, pontificate about nothing, right? So it affects their speech. It affects their walk. Before the breathalyzer tests, these technology things, in England, anyway, you had to walk on the white line.

And the police officer will watch you. And when you're drunk, you're like, what does it say? You're like a man on a ship in a storm. You're going from this side to that side. You can't walk in a straight line.

Even if your license depends on it, you can't do it, because it affects your walk. And then the third thing is it affects your inhibitions. People's inhibitions are lowered. They do things under the influence of alcohol they would never do when they were sober.

They wouldn't have the courage to do it. And that's why they call it Dutch courage. So how do we make that application with the spirit of God? Well, he's gonna show us here that a man who is full of the Holy Spirit is gonna certainly affect his speech.

In fact, what does it say about his speech? It says, verse 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, right? Psalm 40, he brought me out of a horrible pit, put my feet on a rock, and what did he do?

He put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. And so an evidence of a spirit-filled life is we'll be speaking to ourselves. This is to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody.

And this idea of making melody, it's the idea of the stringed instrument. But the idea is this, that God is pulling the strings of our hearts and we're worshiping God private. This is not public worship here.

This is private worship. This is that new song that's in our hearts that we sing because the spirit is in control. Just like the Song of the Drunkard, because it talks about the Song of the Drunkard in scripture, well, the man that's under the control of the Holy Spirit certainly affects his speech.

It certainly affects his walk. His walk is affected if he's under the control of the Holy Spirit. He'll certainly walk uprightly or walk in holiness. It affects his inhibitions. Instead of them going down, the standards will rise higher because it's the Holy Spirit who's in control.

And he, first and foremost, is the Holy Spirit. So he's not gonna have you doing things that are unholy. So there's some clear things. But the other thing we wanna notice here, just by way of observation, is that there are three characteristics here of the spirit-filled Christian that are brought to our attention.

We've already seen the singing or speaking in psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Second thing is giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the third thing is submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. So three evidences of a spirit-filled life, the singing, the thankfulness, and the submission. And you think of it. If somebody's controlled by the flesh, you don't want to sing necessarily the songs of Zion.

Right, you just don't want to because you know what you're doing is wrong anyway. And so it would almost be pure hypocrisy for you to sing those songs. You're not thankful. In the flesh, what are we? We're a bunch of grouchy complainers, aren't we?

Like the weather in Missouri. You know how it is, right? We could just go, it's just the beginning, the politics, right? We could go on and on. But the spirit-filled man is always giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The all things is a bit challenging, isn't it? Some things, I got COVID again. Can I be thankful? I'm still here. Praise God, I can be thankful for that. I got a lot of good rest. Really thankful for that.

I slept really well. Lots of good things. I lost some weight. Could be thankful for that. Praise God, there's blessings coming out of this, right? It's amazing how you can be thankful. Matthew Henry, you probably heard this before, but it was wonderful.

He'd been robbed. And so he says, I thank you, Father, that I've never been robbed before. That's good. He said, and Father, I also thank you that even though he took my all, I didn't have much. And thirdly, he says, Lord, I'm really thankful that I was the one being robbed, not the one doing the robbing.

It's hard to discourage a guy like that, isn't it? Because he's thankful. Is he filled with this? I think he was filled with a spirit when he responded to being robbed like that. That was not a fleshly response, was it?

It was actually a supernatural response. The Spirit of God is in control. And then submission. When I'm in the flesh, somebody, and again, it's to one another. And the word submit is a military term. It means rank under.

Take your place under, right? The military's not gonna work unless those that are under obey those that are over. It's just not gonna work. You've gotta have order. You've gotta have submission, right?

So you rank under. But this is to one another. And when I'm in the flesh, I say, if somebody comes up and speaks to me, I say to them, who do you think you are telling me what to do? That's the flesh.

Spirit, filled believer, will say, well, that's a good point, brother. I never thought of that. And does it, you see? So again, submitting one another. Now, look at Colossians just for a second. Colossians chapter three, where it's kind of a parallel because you get the same evidences, but you get a different cause.

But is it a different cause? So verse 16 says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Then it says, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. And so you can see clear parallels.

Husbands, love your wives, so on and so forth. You see the parallels between, I mean, if you were to put them side by side, Ephesians 5, 18 following, Colossians 3, 16 following, you'd see the very same results, but a different cause.

One says, be filled with the spirit. The other says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Now, what we have of the word of Christ, we've already learned, it's part of that all scripture that is given to us by inspiration of God.

Holy men of God spoke as they were moved. So that would include Matthew and Mark and Luke and John as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So as I allow that word to dwell in me richly, what does that mean?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It means that to dwell means to be at home. So the word of God comes to me and it finds a willing lodging place in my life, not just in my head, but it affects my emotions, it affects my will, it becomes part of who I am.

And the more I allow that word of Christ to dwell in me richly, the more my life comes under the control of God, the Holy Spirit, who's the author of the word of God. And therefore the consequences are the same, okay?