Would you turn with me to the Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, chapter 1?
We will read from verses 12–14:
For which cause I suffer also these things: yet I am not ashamed;
for I know Him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard that which I have committed unto Him against that day.
Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
That good thing which was committed unto thee guard through the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us.
Then, if you will turn to another letter by the Apostle Paul, his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5. Verse 15:
Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise;
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;
speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.
Lastly, in the Gospel of John, chapter 7, from verse 37:
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.
He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Beloved Lord, we come before You concerning this ministry of Your Word. We need You, Lord.
We do not just want to outline through those truths. We want, Lord, that You will meet with us. To that end, Lord, we ask that the anointing which You won for us at Calvary be upon the speaking, the translating, and the hearing of Your Word.
Then we know, Lord, that Your purpose for our time this morning will be fulfilled. We should be careful to give You all the glory, all the praise, and thanksgiving of our hearts.
We ask this in the name of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Well, I think everybody knows that the theme of this conference is found in the Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, chapter 1, from verses 12–14. I think many of you will know that my responsibility in the theme is verse 14:
That good thing which was committed unto thee guard through the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us.
Last Wednesday night, I spoke in general about the Person of the Holy Spirit. I can sum up everything we said in one simple sentence: without the Holy Spirit, there can be nothing.
Everything is dependent upon the Holy Spirit. He is the custodian of the Word of God. He is the custodian of the testimony of Jesus. He is the custodian and supervisor of the fulfilment of the purpose of God.
It does not matter on what level we look at this matter: personal conversion, being born again, growth, transformation, and the completion of the Lord’s purpose in us personally—it is all related to the Holy Spirit.
The birth of the church, the development of the church, the fulfilment of the Lord Jesus’ words—“Upon this rock I will build My church”—and the completion of the church are all related to the Holy Spirit.
The work of the Lord, those who serve Him, their gifting, the equipment they need, the power they need, the anointing—it is all related to the Holy Spirit. There could be nothing more simple than this.
This morning I want to talk about the practical side. How can we guard that good thing, that good deposit, that treasure which has been entrusted to us? Only by the Holy Spirit.
Take a look at verse 14. “That good thing” is the way the American Standard Version of 1901 translates the Greek: that good deposit. Interestingly, the New American Standard Bible translates it, treasure: “That treasure entrusted to you.”
Actually, when you deposit something in the bank for guarding, it is normally treasure—especially in these days when people are going into gold and diamonds, if you have got that kind of money. Where do you put it? In safe keeping, in the bank.
What is this good thing, this good deposit, this treasure? When you were saved, God, by the Holy Spirit, placed treasure in you. He made a deposit. He deposited something in you.
When the church was born at Pentecost through the finished work of the Lord Jesus, God deposited something in the church. He deposited treasure. He deposited that good thing: the testimony of Jesus, the whole counsel of God.
This Greek word is interesting. It simply means, as it is translated in most versions, “guard.” But it also has the idea of keeping watch over, or even tending.
In other words, this deposit, this good thing, has to be tended. It has to be watched over. You do not just bury it somewhere and leave it. You have to keep it. You have to guard it.
And how are we to keep it? How are we to tend it? How are we to watch over it? How are we to guard it? It is by the Holy Spirit alone.
Grieve the Holy Spirit, and there is no guarding. Quench the Holy Spirit, and the matter is finished. By the Holy Spirit alone can we guard this.
This means that every child of God, every worker in the vineyard, needs to experience the Holy Spirit. The church of God can never be static.
Look at the history of the church. It is a whole matter of ebb and flow, flow and ebb. The Lord is building His church, and by the Holy Spirit there is a flow. Then, before long—normally, essentially by the third generation—it has died: crystallised, traditionalised, institutionalised. The life has been organised out of it.
It has become lifeless, a routine, a liturgy. Then the Lord gives the Word, and there is a new movement forward. But the same thing happens again and again and again.
First, the Holy Spirit recovers truth. Then the truth becomes lifeless. What was once a living experience becomes just an inanimate, static matter.
The testimony of Jesus is all to do with the building of the church. It is all to do with the whole counsel of God. It is all to do with reaching God’s end—not being stuck at the beginning, or at some development along the way. It is to do with the end.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are standing at a crossroads in world history. We are standing at the point where the Antichrist will finally appear. We need to guard this treasure entrusted to us.
We must not guard it with our clammy hands. However tremendous the truth is, once we reduce it to something we must hold, somehow the life goes out.
We make the same mistake that every movement of the Holy Spirit has ended in. We need to guard it by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is life. The Holy Spirit is power. The Holy Spirit leads us into all the truth. The Holy Spirit applies the truth. The Holy Spirit is all the time realigning us with the Lord Jesus.
This is the first thing I want to say this morning: by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
It is amazing to me that you and I have become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. It is stunning. It is so incredible. Can you imagine it? He dwells in us.
How are we to guard this treasure, this good deposit entrusted to us? I can answer that immediately: by being filled with the Holy Spirit.
It is as simple as that. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we shall be enabled to guard that good thing entrusted to us. You cannot guard that treasure entrusted to us unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let me ask a few questions to bring this home. Should every believer—let me say it again—should every believer be filled with the Holy Spirit?
The answer is simple: yes. Every believer, no matter how uneducated you are, how little you know—every believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit.
What does the Apostle Paul say in this amazing letter in which the Holy Spirit used him to reveal the eternal purpose of God?
Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise;
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Most people understand this as, “What college should I go to? What university should I go to? Whom should I marry? Where should I live?” Well, those are valid questions. They are very practical. It does come down to that.
But do you not think the apostle was referring back to the whole question he had already written about in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3: the eternal purpose of God? Understand what the will of the Lord is, and half your questions will be settled.
Whom should I marry? What career should I take? Well, you see what the eternal purpose of God is, and you have the infrastructure. Then the Holy Spirit can begin to apply it to your personal circumstances.
Do not be foolish. God has given, in this book, a revelation of His eternal purpose. It is folly to have this book and not understand what God is driving at: why He created this world, why this amazing universe exists, why, when it fell, He persevered, what His original plan in man was, why He sent His own Son to redeem and save us.
Are we so unwise that we have a book and have no understanding of the purpose of God? Then listen to the apostle:
And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit.
Always be full of the Holy Spirit—overflowing. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, “Everything is in the overflow.”
When a person is filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing, men and women get saved. They see Jesus. They see the beauty of Jesus. They see the truth as it is in Jesus. They see something that makes them realise how rotten and squalid and imprisoned is the life they are living.
Should every believer be filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes, without exception—from the youngest to the eldest, elders and workers—everyone should be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Book says so. It is not what I am saying; it is the Word of God.
If we are not filled with the Holy Spirit, we are living an abnormal, defeated, miserable Christian life. And if the church is not filled with the Holy Spirit, it is already beginning to die.
Here is my second question: can you see when a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit? Apparently, some people believe you can be filled with the Holy Spirit and nobody can tell it. How can you be filled with the Holy Spirit and others not see it?
Why did the apostles say, as recorded in Acts 6, “Search out men full of the Spirit”? They did not say, “Full of Bible knowledge.” They did not say, “People with titles before their name and degrees after their name.” They did not say, “A successful businessman.”
Do not get me wrong: there is nothing bad about being a successful businessman—much better than being an unsuccessful businessman. But the only stipulation made in the Word of God for serving in the church, serving in the work of the Lord, is to be full of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, it is implied that there is a way you can tell someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit and someone who is not.
You look through the Book of Acts, and you will find that everyone who was anything in the fulfilment of the purpose of God was full of the Holy Spirit.
What does that mean? It means this: they were filled with the Lord Jesus. You could see the beauty of the Lord Jesus. You could see the life of the Lord Jesus. You could see something of the truth as it is in Jesus.
I can only tell you from my own experience. All through my life, I have met people filled with the Lord Jesus—so beautiful. Even when they got old, there was something so beautiful.
In at least two or three, I actually saw the glory of the Lord before they died. To this day, I remember Maria Monson of Norway, who had served the Lord so faithfully in Northeast China.
When I went to see her, she was very near the end. She had prayed that I would come to Norway, and I had gone. When I saw her, she was so weak she could not even lift the cup to her mouth. But there was around her a light. That is the only way I can describe it: a light. I have never forgotten it.
That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You may not feel that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. You may be conscious of yourself, of your weakness, your brokenness, and all the things you feel are wrong. But others see Jesus. That is what it is to be filled with the Spirit.
Here is another question: on what basis does God fill us with the Holy Spirit? Upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus—upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus alone.
I know people who want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and they fast and pray. Then they come and say, “Why?” I will tell you why: you are making your praying and your fasting a good work.
You say, “Well now, Lord, You see I am going without food—which, for the Chinese, is unbelievable. I am going to fast. Now You should fill me with Your Holy Spirit.” And you block the Lord from doing it, because you are adding something else.
It is not your devotion, though that is good. It is not your knowledge of the Bible. It is not your fasting. It is not your praying. It is the finished work of the Lord Jesus, and that alone.
Upon that basis, the Lord Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit. Calvary and Pentecost are essentially linked. There is no Pentecost without Calvary.
Let me go a step further: there is no continuous experience of Pentecost without Calvary. No matter who you are, the basis upon which the Lord fills you and me with the Holy Spirit is the finished work of the Lord Jesus at Calvary.
That is why sometimes people who are pretty well all over the place get filled with the Holy Spirit, while others who seem so good and so righteous do not.
The reason is very simple: a person who is all over the place knows he is all over the place. When he comes, he cannot say, “Lord, I am fasting, I am praying, I am very devoted to You, and You should fill me with Your Holy Spirit.”
When you are very good and very devoted, without realising it, you can become self-righteous. You say, “Well, Lord, I do this and I do that and I do the other. I think You ought to fill me with Your Holy Spirit.” Not on your life. It is on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus that God provides the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It is on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus that the anointing is given to us.
Fourthly, my fourth question: how does this happen? When the Holy Spirit touches the eyes of your heart—that is how it happens.
You feel everything is impossible. You do not know where to turn. Perhaps through the Word of God, in some way, the Holy Spirit touches your heart, and you see.
I have never forgotten how it happened with me. Everything was so impossible in my life, so miserable. I tried to be such a good Christian. I dressed myself up.
I got on my knees in a dreadful old parish church. No one was there—that is why I went to it. It was next to the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London.
I got on my knees and said, “Lord, I am supposed to be a Christian, and I do not have this Christian life.” Suddenly, I saw something, and I felt the Lord say in my heart, “I have given you My Holy Spirit, but you have ignored Him.”
Then that voice said, “Give Me the keys.” I said, “Lord, I did not even know about the Holy Spirit.” But in that moment, the Lord filled me.
There was more to it than that, because I had been witnessing to people in the School of Oriental and African Studies, and they were all terrified of me. I always got a place in the students’ common room because nobody wanted to sit near me. They knew I would start: “Are you a Christian? Have you seen the light? How do you know you are going to hell?”
It was a dreadful way to evangelise. But when I saw that I had been crucified with Christ, and the Holy Spirit was there as the vice-regent of the Lord Jesus to do the work in me and to live the life in me, it was amazing.
I did not feel very different. But within a few days, a great big fellow—the captain of the rugby team—came across in the common room and said to me, “Do you mind me asking you a personal question?”
I said, “I do not mind.” And he said, “There is something different about you. We have been talking. You are different to us.”
A few weeks earlier, I would have said to him, “Oh yes, I am going to heaven; you are going to hell. I am a child of God and you are not.” But I was so amazed that I simply said to him, “Well, you are a human being and I am a human being. But maybe you have not met the Lord, and by the grace of God, I have.”
Then he said, “How can I become a Christian?” I explained it to him: “Ask the Lord Jesus to become your Lord. Confess that you are a sinner.”
With tears, he said, “Where do I do it—in a chapel, a church?” I said, without thinking, “No, anywhere.” He bowed his head in the crowded students’ common room and said, “Lord, You know how great a sinner I am. I need You. Be my Lord and Saviour.”
I did not feel anything, but it was evidence that the Holy Spirit had taken the keys.
How does this happen? When God touches the eyes of your heart, and by living faith you receive. The Holy Spirit is poured out. You only have to stand under the pouring. It is a continuous thing.
There are many other things we could talk about: being led by the Spirit, hearing what the Spirit says, overcoming by the Holy Spirit—so many things. There is no way that you and I can guard that treasure entrusted to us except by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
We read that wonderful word in John 7. It is interesting: that was the water festival. In Hebrew, we call it Hoshana Rabbah. It comes at the end of Sukkot, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
On that day, the day of the water festival, Jesus stood up and said:
If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.
You might think that is the Christian life, but that is only the beginning. He went on to say:
He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
It is really, “He that believeth into Me.” On the basis of His finished work, out of your inner man, your spirit, shall flow rivers of living water.
Filled with the Spirit: when you are filled with the Spirit, you worship. When you are filled with the Spirit, you speak to one another. When you are filled with the Spirit, you become a person full of thanksgiving. When you are filled with the Spirit, you subject yourselves one to another. That is the church.
Beloved Lord, there is not one of us here this morning that does not need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We praise You and we thank You that You have died for us, that we might be filled with the Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, this morning, make the Word we have heard real in our lives by the Holy Spirit.
Where we are holding on to the keys of our life, bring us to the point where we are prepared to surrender them to You. We want You, dear Lord Jesus, to live Your life in us to the full.
We want, Lord, that rivers of living water flow out of us. We want Your church to be filled with life, filled with the beauty and the glory and power of the Lord Jesus.
Lord, hear our cry. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.