Section 10

10. A godly man has the Spirit of God residing in him, 2 Timothy 1:14. The Holy Ghost who dwells in us.** The Schoolmen move the question, whether a man receives the Holy Ghost himself or not? Montanus held that the godly have so God's Spirit in them, that they partake of His Essence, and have become one person with Himself; but this amounts to no less than blasphemy; then it would follow, that every Saint were to be worshipped.

I conceive the spirit is in the godly per modum influxus, they have the presence, and receive the sacred influences of it: When the Sun comes into a room, not the body of the Sun is there, but the beams that sparkle from it: Indeed, some Divines have thought, that the godly have more than the influx of the spirit, though to say how it is more, is ineffable, and is fitter for some Seraphic Pen to describe than mine. The Spirit of God discovers itself in a gracious soul two ways.

1. By its motions: These are some of that sweet perfume the spirit breathes upon the heart, whereby it is raised into a kind of Angelical frame.

Question. 1. But how may we know the motions of the Spirit from a delusion?

Answer. The motions of the Spirit are always consonant to the word; the word is the Chariot wherein the Spirit of God rides; which way the tide of the word runs, that way the wind of the spirit blows.

Question. 2. How may the motions of the Spirit in the godly, be distinguished from the impulses of a Natural Conscience?

Answer. 1. A Natural Conscience may provoke sometimes to the same thing that the spirit does, but not from the same principle. Natural Conscience is a spur to duty, but it puts a man upon doing duties for fear of hell; as the Galley tugs at the Oar for fear of being beaten: whereas the spirit moves a Child of God from a more Noble Principle; it makes him serve God out of choice, and esteem duty his privilege.

2. The impulses of a Natural Conscience, put men only upon more facile duties of Religion, wherein the heart is less exercised; as perfunctory reading, or praying; but the motions of the spirit in the godly go further, causing them to set upon the most irksome duties, as self-reflection, self-humbling; yea perilous duties, as confessing Christ's Name in times of danger: Divine motions are in the heart like new wine which will have vent: When God's Spirit possesses a man, it carries him full-sail through all difficulties.

2. The Spirit discovers itself in the godly by its virtues. These are various.

1. God's Spirit has a teaching virtue, the spirit teaches convincingly;John 16:8. It does so teach, as it does persuade.

2. God's Spirit has a sanctifying virtue, the heart naturally is polluted, but when the spirit comes into it, it works sin out, and grace in: The Spirit of God was represented by the Dove, Emblem of Purity; the spirit makes the heart a Temple for pureness, and a Paradise for pleasantness: The holy Oil of Consecration, was nothing else but a prefiguring of the spirit: The spirit sanctifies a man's fancy, causing it to mint holy meditations; it sanctifies his will, biasing it to good: so that now it shall be as delightful to serve God, as before it was to sin against him: Sweet powders perfume linen; so God's Spirit in a man, perfumes him with holiness, and makes his heart a Map of Heaven.

3. God's Spirit has a vivifying virtue 2 Corinthians 3:6. The Spirit gives life: As the blowing in an Organ makes it sound, so the breathing of the spirit causes life and motion: When the Prophet Elijah stretched himself upon the dead Child it revived 1 Kings 17:22. so God's Spirit stretching itself upon the soul infuses life into it.

As our life, so our liveliness is from the spirit's operation, Ezekiel 3:14. The Spirit lifted me up. When the heart is bowed down and is listless to duty, the Spirit of God lifts it up, it puts a sharp edge upon the affections; it makes love ardent, hope lively; The spirit takes off the weights of the soul, and gives wings, Song of Solomon 6:12. Or ever I was aware, my Soul made me like the Chariots of Amminadib. The wheels of the soul were before pulled off, and it did drive on heavily, but when the spirit of the Almighty possesses a man now he runs swiftly in the ways of God, and his soul is as the Chariots of Amminadib.

4. God's Spirit has a Jurisdictive virtue it rules and governs; God's Spirit sits paramount in the soul, it gives check to the violence of corruption, it will not suffer man to be vain and loose as others: The Spirit of God will not be put out of office, exercises its authority over the heart, bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:5.

5. The spirit has a mollifying virtue; therefore it is compared to fire, which softens the wax: The spirit turns flint into flesh, Ezekiel 36:26. I will give you an heart of flesh. How shall this be effected? Verse 27. I will put my spirit within you. While the heart is hard, it lies like a log, and is not wrought upon either with judgments or mercies, but when God's Spirit comes in, it makes a man's heart as tender as his eye, and now it is made yielding to Divine Impressions.

6. The spirit of God has a corroborating virtue, it infuses strength and assistance for work, it is a spirit of Power, 2 Timothy 1:7. God's spirit carries a man above himself, Ephesians 3:16. Strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man: The spirit confirms faith, animates courage, it lifts at one end of the Cross, and makes it lighter to be borne: The spirit gives not only a sufficiency of strength, but a redundancy.

Question. How shall we know whether we act in the strength of God's Spirit, or in the strength of our own abilities?

Answer. 1. When we do humbly cast ourselves upon God for assistance; as David going out against Goliath, did cast himself upon God for help, 1 Samuel 17:45. I come to thee in the Name of the Lord. 2. When our duties are divinely qualified, we do them with pure aims. 3. When we have found God going along with us, we give him the glory of all, 1 Corinthians 15:10. This does clearly evince, that the duty was carried on by the strength of God's Spirit, more than by any innate abilities of our own.

7. God's Spirit has a comforting virtue; disconsolacy may arise in a gracious heart; as the Heaven, though it be a bright lucid body, yet has interposition of Clouds; This sadness is caused usually through the malice of Satan, who if he cannot destroy us, he will disturb us, but God's Spirit within us does sweetly cheer and revive; he is called the Comforter, John 14:16. These comforts are real and infallible: Hence it is called the Seal of the Spirit, Ephesians 1:13. When a Deed is sealed, it is firm and unquestionable: so when a Christian has the seal of the spirit, his comforts are confirmed; Every godly man has these revivings of the spirit in some degree, he has the seminals and initials of joy, though the flower be not fully ripe and blown.

Question. How does the Spirit give comfort?

Answer. 1. By showing us that we are in a state of Grace: A Christian cannot always see his riches; the work of Grace may be written in the heart like shorthand, which a Christian cannot read; The spirit gives him a Key to open these dark Characters, and spell out his Adoption, whereupon he has joy and peace, 1 Corinthians 2:12. We have received the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God.

2. The spirit comforts, by giving us some ravishing apprehensions of God's love, Romans 5:5. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. God's love is a box of precious ointment, and it is only the spirit can break open this box, and fill us with the sweet perfume of it.

3. The spirit comforts, by carrying us to the Blood of Christ; as when a man is weary and ready to faint, carry him to the water, and he is refreshed: so when we are fainting under the burden of sin, the spirit carries us to the Fountain of Christ's Blood, Zechariah 12:1. In that day there shall be a Fountain opened, etc. The spirit enables us to drink the waters of Justification which run out of Christ's sides: The spirit applies whatever Christ has purchased, it shows us that our sins are done away in Christ, and though we are spotted in ourselves, we are undefiled in our head.

4. The spirit comforts, by enabling Conscience to comfort; the Child must be taught before it can speak: The spirit opens the mouth of Conscience, and helps it to speak, and witness to a man that his estate is good, whereupon he begins to receive comfort, Romans 9:2. My Conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. Conscience draws up a Certificate for a man, then the Holy Ghost comes and sets his hand to the Certificate.

5. The spirit conveys the Oil of Joy through two Golden Pipes.

1. The Ordinances.

2. The Promises.

1. The Ordinances: As Christ in prayer had his countenance changed, Luke 9:29. There was a glorious lustre upon his face; so often in the use of Holy Ordinances, the godly have such raptures of joy, and soul-transfigurations, that they have been carried above the world, and despised all things below.

2. The Promises: The Promises are comfortable: 1. For their sureness, Romans 4:16. God in the Promises has laid his truth to pawn. 2. For their suitableness, being calculated for every Christian's condition. The Promises are like a Physic-garden, there is no disease but some herb may be found there to cure it; but the Promises of themselves cannot comfort, only the spirit enables us to suck these Honeycombs: The Promises are like an Alembic full of herbs, but this Alembic will not drop, unless the fire be put under: So when the spirit of God (which is compared to fire) is put to the Alembic of the Promises, then they distill Consolation into the soul. Thus we see how the spirit is in the godly by its virtues.

Objection. But is this the sign of a godly man to be filled with the Spirit? Are not the wicked said to partake of the Holy Ghost? Hebrews 6:4.

Answer. Wicked men may partake of the spirit's working, but not of its in-dwelling; they may have God's spirit move upon them, the godly have it enter into them, Ezekiel 3:24.

Objection. But the unregenerate taste of the Heavenly Gift? Hebrews 6.

Answer. It is with them as Cooks, who may have a smack and taste of the meat they dress, but they are not nourished by it: Tasting there, is opposed to eating: The godly have not only a drop or taste of the spirit, but it is in them as a river of living water, John 7:38.

Use 1. It brands them for ungodly, who have none of God's spirit, Romans 8:9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his: And if he be none of Christ's, then whose is he? To what Regiment does he belong? 'Tis the misery of a sinner he has none of God's spirit: Methinks 'tis very offensive to hear men say, Take not thy holy spirit from us, who never had God's spirit: Will they say they have God's spirit in them, who are drunkards and swearers? Have they God's spirit who are malicious and unclean? It were blasphemy to say these have the spirit: Will the blessed spirit leave his Celestial Palace, to come and live in a prison? A sinner's heart is a Jail, both for darkness and noisomeness, and will God's free spirit be confined to a prison? A sinner's heart is the Emblem of Hell, what should God's spirit do there? Wicked hearts are not a Temple, but a Hogsty, where the unclean spirit makes his abode, Ephesians 2:2. The Prince of the power of the Air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.** We would be loath to live in an house haunted with evil spirits; a sinner's heart is haunted, John 13:27. After the sop Satan entered. Satan ventures upon the godly, but enters into the wicked when the Devils went into the herd of swine they ran violently down a steep place into the Sea, Matthew 8:32. Whence is it men run so greedily to the Commission of sin, but because the Devil has entered into these Swine.

2. This cuts them off from being godly, who not only want the spirit, but deride it: Like those Jews, Acts 2:13. These men are full of new wine: And indeed so the Apostles were, they were full of the wine of the spirit: How is Gods spirit scoffed at by the sons of Belial? These (say they) are men of the Spirit. O wretches, to make those tongues which should be Organs of Gods praise, instruments to blaspheme: Have you none to throw your squibs at but the spirit? Deriding of the spirit comes very near to the despiting of it: How can men be sanctified but by the spirit? Therefore to reproach that, is to make merry with their own damnation.

Use 2. As you would be listed in the number of the godly, labor for the blessed indwelling of the spirit; pray with Melancthon, Lord inflame my soul with thy holyspirit; and with the Spouse, Awake O Northwind, and come you South, blow upon my garden, Canticles 4:16. As a Mariner would desire a wind to carry him to Sea, so beg the prosperous gales of the spirit; and the Promise may add wings to prayer, Luke 11:13. If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that ask him? Gods spirit is a rich Jewel, go to him for it, Lord give me thy spirit, where is the Jewel thou didst promise me? When shall my soul be as Gideon's Fleece, wet with the dew of heaven?

Consider how needful the spirit is, without it we can do nothing acceptably to God.

1. We cannot pray without it; it is a spirit of Supplication, Zechariah 12:10. It both helps the invention, and the affection, Romans 8:26. The spirit helps us with sighs andgroans.

2. We cannot resist temptation without it, Acts 1:8. Ye shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: He who has the tide of corrupt nature, and the wind of temptation, must needs be carried down the stream of sin, if the contrary wind of the spirit does not blow.

3. We cannot be fruitful without the spirit. —Aureus imber sitientia caelo corda rigans.—

Why is the spirit compared to dew and rain, but to show us how unable we are to bring forth a Crop of Grace, unless the dew of God fall upon us?

4. Without the spirit no Ordinance is effectual to us; Ordinances are the Conduit-Pipes of Grace, but the spirit is the Spring: Some content themselves that they have a Levite to their Priest, but never look any further; as if a Merchant should content himself that his ship has good tackling, and is well manned, though it never have a gale of wind: The Ship of Ordinances will not carry us to heaven, though an Angel were the Pilot, unless the wind of Gods Spirit blow: The Spirit is the Soul of the Word, without which it is but a dead letter: Ministers may prescribe Physic, but it is Gods spirit must make it work: Our hearts are like David's body, when it grew old, they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat, 1 Kings 1:1. So though the Minister of God ply us with prayers and counsels as with hot clothes, yet we are cold and chill till Gods spirit comes, and then we say as the Disciples, Luke 24:32. Did not our hearts burn within us? Oh therefore, what need have we of the spirit?

3. You who have the blessed spirit manifested by its energy and vital operations: 1. Acknowledge Gods distinguishing love; the spirit is an ear-mark of Election, 1 John 3:4. Christ gave the bag to Judas, but not his spirit: The spirit is a Love-token; where God gives his spirit for a pawn, he gives himself for a portion: The spirit is an Epitomizing blessing, it is put for all good things, Matthew 7:11. What were you without the spirit, but as so many carcasses? Without this Christ would not profit you; the Blood of God is not enough without the Breath of God: Oh then, be thankful for the spirit; this Loadstone will never leave drawing you, till it has drawn you up to heaven.

2. If you have this spirit do not grieve it, Ephesians 4:30. Shall we grieve our Comforter?

Question. How do we grieve the Spirit?

Answer. 1. When we unkindly repel the motions of it: The spirit sometimes whispers in our ears, and calls to us as God did to Jacob, Genesis 35:1. Arise, go to Bethel. So says the spirit, Arise, go to prayer, retire yourself to meet your God: Now when we stifle these motions, and entertain temptations to vanity, this is a grieving of the spirit; if we check the motions of the spirit, we shall lose the comforts of the spirit.

2. We grieve the spirit, when we deny the work of the spirit in our hearts; if one gives another a token, and he should deny it, and say he never received it, this were to abuse the love of his friend: So Christian, when God has given you his spirit, witnessed by those meltings of heart, and passionate breathings after heaven, yet you deny that you ever had any renewing work of the spirit in you; this is high ingratitude, and is a grieving the good spirit; Renounce the sinful works of the flesh, but do not deny the gracious work of the spirit.

10. A godly man has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. 2 Timothy 1:14: The Holy Spirit who dwells in us. The scholastic theologians debate whether a person actually receives the Holy Spirit Himself. Montanus held that the godly have God's Spirit in them in such a way that they share in His very essence and have become one person with Him — but this is nothing less than blasphemy, since it would follow that every saint should be worshiped.

I believe the Spirit is present in the godly through His influence — they have His presence and receive His sacred workings. When the sun enters a room, the sun itself is not there, but the beams that radiate from it are. Indeed, some theologians have thought that the godly receive more than merely the Spirit's influence — though to say exactly what that more is goes beyond words, and would require a far more elevated pen than mine to describe. The Spirit of God shows itself in a gracious soul in two ways.

1. Through His movements. These are something like the sweet fragrance the Spirit breathes upon the heart, by which it is lifted into an almost angelic condition.

Question 1: But how can we tell the movements of the Spirit from a delusion?

Answer: The movements of the Spirit are always in line with the Word. The Word is the chariot in which the Spirit of God rides — whichever way the current of the Word flows, that is the direction in which the wind of the Spirit blows.

Question 2: How can the movements of the Spirit in the godly be distinguished from the promptings of a natural conscience?

Answer: 1. A natural conscience may push a person toward the same actions the Spirit does, but not from the same source. A natural conscience spurs a person to duty, but drives him to do it out of fear of hell — like a galley slave pulling at the oar for fear of being beaten. The Spirit, by contrast, moves a child of God from a far nobler source — it causes him to serve God freely and gladly, and to regard duty as a privilege.

2. The promptings of a natural conscience lead people only to the easier religious duties, where the heart is not deeply engaged — such as going through the motions in reading or prayer. But the movements of the Spirit in the godly go further, driving them to the most demanding duties — like self-examination and self-humbling — and even to dangerous duties, such as confessing Christ's name in times of persecution. Divine movements in the heart are like new wine that must find an outlet. When God's Spirit takes hold of a person, it carries him at full sail through every difficulty.

2. The Spirit shows itself in the godly through its powerful effects. These are varied.

1. God's Spirit has a teaching power — the Spirit teaches convincingly. John 16:8. He teaches in such a way that He also persuades.

2. God's Spirit has a sanctifying power. The heart by nature is polluted, but when the Spirit enters it, He works sin out and grace in. The Spirit of God was represented by the dove — a symbol of purity. The Spirit makes the heart a temple in its purity and a paradise in its pleasantness. The holy oil of consecration was nothing other than a picture pointing forward to the Spirit. The Spirit sanctifies the imagination, causing it to produce holy thoughts. He sanctifies the will, bending it toward what is good, so that serving God becomes as delightful as sinning against Him once was. Sweet-scented powders perfume linen — in the same way, God's Spirit in a person fills him with the fragrance of holiness and makes his heart a reflection of heaven.

3. God's Spirit has a life-giving power. 2 Corinthians 3:6: The Spirit gives life. Just as air blown into an organ pipe makes it sound, so the breath of the Spirit brings life and movement. When the prophet Elijah stretched himself over the dead child, the child was revived, as 1 Kings 17:22 says. In the same way, God's Spirit stretching itself over the soul breathes life into it.

Our spiritual energy, as well as our spiritual life, comes from the Spirit's work. Ezekiel 3:14: The Spirit lifted me up. When the heart is weighed down and reluctant to pursue duty, the Spirit of God lifts it up and puts a sharp edge on the affections — making love intense and hope alive. The Spirit removes the weights from the soul and gives it wings. Song of Solomon 6:12: Before I was aware, my soul had set me over the chariots of my noble people. The soul's wheels had once been pulled off and it moved along heavily — but when the Spirit of the Almighty takes hold of a person, he now runs swiftly in the ways of God, and his soul is like swift chariots.

4. God's Spirit has a governing power — He rules and directs. God's Spirit holds the highest place in the soul, holding the violence of corruption in check and not allowing the person to be as loose and careless as others. The Spirit of God does not vacate His office but exercises authority over the heart, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, as 2 Corinthians 10:5 says.

5. The Spirit has a softening power — which is why He is compared to fire, which melts wax. The Spirit turns flint into flesh. Ezekiel 36:26: I will give you a heart of flesh. How will this happen? Verse 27: I will put My Spirit within you. While the heart is hard it lies like a log, unmoved by either judgments or mercies. But when God's Spirit enters, He makes a person's heart as tender as his own eye, and it becomes responsive and yielding to divine impressions.

6. The Spirit of God has a strengthening power — He pours in strength and help for the work. He is a spirit of power, as 2 Timothy 1:7 says. God's Spirit carries a person beyond his natural limits. Ephesians 3:16: Strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. The Spirit strengthens faith, stirs up courage, and lifts one end of the cross — making it lighter to carry. The Spirit gives not merely enough strength, but strength to spare.

Question: How do we know whether we are acting in the strength of God's Spirit, or in our own natural abilities?

Answer: 1. When we humbly cast ourselves on God for help — as David did when going out against Goliath, casting himself on God for strength: 1 Samuel 17:45: I come to you in the name of the Lord. 2. When our actions are rightly motivated — we do them with pure aims. 3. When we have found God working alongside us and give Him all the credit: 1 Corinthians 15:10. This clearly shows that the work was carried out by the strength of God's Spirit rather than by any natural ability of our own.

7. God's Spirit has a comforting power. Discouragement can arise even in a gracious heart — just as the sky, though it is a bright and luminous expanse, still has clouds passing through it. This sadness is usually caused by Satan's malice — if he cannot destroy us, he will disturb us. But God's Spirit within us sweetly cheers and revives — He is called the Comforter in John 14:16. These comforts are genuine and certain. This is why the Spirit is called the seal, as Ephesians 1:13 says. When a legal document is sealed, it is firm and unquestionable. So when a Christian has the seal of the Spirit, his comforts are confirmed. Every godly person has these revivals of the Spirit to some degree — he has the seeds and beginnings of joy, even if the flower has not yet fully opened.

Question: How does the Spirit give comfort?

Answer: 1. By showing us that we are in a state of grace. A Christian cannot always see his own spiritual riches — the work of grace may be written in the heart like shorthand that he cannot read. The Spirit gives him the key to unlock these unclear marks, so he can spell out his adoption. From this comes joy and peace. 1 Corinthians 2:12: We have received the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given us by God.

2. The Spirit comforts by giving us overwhelming awareness of God's love. Romans 5:5: The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. God's love is a box of precious perfume, and only the Spirit can break open this box and fill us with its sweet fragrance.

3. The Spirit comforts by bringing us to the blood of Christ. Just as a man who is weary and about to faint needs only to be brought to water to be refreshed, so when we are sinking under the weight of sin, the Spirit brings us to the fountain of Christ's blood. Zechariah 13:1: In that day a fountain shall be opened. The Spirit enables us to drink the waters of justification that flow from Christ's side. He applies everything Christ has purchased — He shows us that our sins are removed in Christ, and that though we are stained in ourselves, we are spotless in our Head.

4. The Spirit comforts by enabling our conscience to speak comfort to us. A child must be taught before it can speak. The Spirit opens the mouth of conscience and helps it speak — to declare to a person that his spiritual condition is good, and from this he begins to receive comfort. Romans 9:1: My conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. Conscience draws up a certificate for a person, and then the Holy Spirit comes and signs His name to it.

5. The Spirit delivers the oil of joy through two golden channels.

1. The ordinances.

2. The promises.

1. The ordinances: Just as Christ in prayer had His face transformed with a glorious radiance, as Luke 9:29 says, so often in the use of the holy ordinances, the godly experience such transports of joy and transformation of soul that they are lifted above the world and look down on everything in it with indifference.

2. The promises bring comfort in two ways. First, for their certainty — Romans 4:16. God has staked His truth on His promises. Second, for their suitability — they are fitted to every Christian's condition. The promises are like a medicinal garden: there is no ailment for which some remedy cannot be found there. But the promises cannot comfort on their own — only the Spirit enables us to draw the sweetness from them. The promises are like an alembic full of herbs, but the alembic will not produce a drop unless heat is applied. So when the Spirit of God — who is compared to fire — is applied to the alembic of the promises, they begin to distill comfort into the soul. This is how the Spirit dwells in the godly through His powerful effects.

Objection: But is being filled with the Spirit really a sign of a godly person? Are not the wicked also said to partake of the Holy Spirit, as Hebrews 6:4 says?

Answer: Wicked people may experience the Spirit's work, but not the Spirit's indwelling. They may have God's Spirit move upon them; the godly have it enter into them, as Ezekiel 3:24 says.

Objection: But the unregenerate do taste of the heavenly gift, as Hebrews 6 says.

Answer: It is with them as with cooks — they may taste and sample the food they prepare, but they are not nourished by it. There, tasting is contrasted with eating. The godly do not merely have a drop or a taste of the Spirit — He is in them like a river of living water, as John 7:38 says.

Application 1: This marks as ungodly those who have none of God's Spirit. Romans 8:9: If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if he does not belong to Christ, then to whom does he belong? What army does he march with? It is the misery of a sinner that he has none of God's Spirit. It is deeply troubling to hear people pray, Take not Your Holy Spirit from us, who have never possessed God's Spirit. Will drunkards and those who take the Lord's name in vain claim to have God's Spirit in them? Do the malicious and impure have God's Spirit? It would be blasphemy to say so. Would the blessed Spirit leave His heavenly home to take up residence in a dungeon? A sinner's heart is like a jail — dark and foul — and would God's free Spirit be confined there? A sinner's heart is a picture of hell — what would God's Spirit be doing in such a place? Wicked hearts are not a temple but a pigsty, where the unclean spirit makes his home. Ephesians 2:2: The prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. We would be horrified to live in a house haunted by evil spirits. A sinner's heart is haunted. John 13:27: After the bread, Satan entered into him. Satan only makes attempts on the godly, but he enters into the wicked. When the demons entered the herd of pigs, they ran violently down the steep bank into the sea, as Matthew 8:32 says. Why do people run so eagerly toward sin? Because the devil has entered into these swine.

2. This also removes from godliness those who not only lack the Spirit but mock Him. Like those in Jerusalem who said in Acts 2:13: These men are full of new wine. And indeed the apostles were — full of the wine of the Spirit. How God's Spirit is ridiculed by the wicked! These, they say, are the spiritual people. What wretches — to use the very tongues that should be instruments of God's praise as tools for blasphemy! Is there no one else at whom you can throw your scorn but the Spirit? Mocking the Spirit comes very close to insulting Him deliberately. How can people be sanctified except by the Spirit? To ridicule the Spirit is to make sport of their own damnation.

Application 2: If you want to be counted among the godly, pursue the blessed indwelling of the Spirit. Pray as Melanchthon prayed: Lord, set my soul ablaze with Your Holy Spirit. And as the bride prayed: Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, as Song of Solomon 4:16 says. Just as a sailor longs for a wind to carry his ship out to sea, so beg for the favorable breezes of the Spirit. God's promise can give wings to your prayer. Luke 11:13: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? God's Spirit is a precious jewel — go to Him for it. Lord, give me Your Spirit — where is the jewel You promised me? When will my soul be like Gideon's fleece, soaked with the dew of heaven?

Consider how necessary the Spirit is — without Him, nothing we do is acceptable to God.

1. We cannot pray without the Spirit — He is a spirit of prayer, as Zechariah 12:10 says. He helps both what we say and how we feel. Romans 8:26: The Spirit helps us with sighs and groans.

2. We cannot resist temptation without the Spirit. Acts 1:8: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. The person who faces both the current of a corrupt nature and the wind of temptation will inevitably be swept away into sin, unless the opposing wind of the Spirit blows against them.

3. We cannot be fruitful without the Spirit. A golden rain refreshing hearts parched by heaven's drought.

Why is the Spirit compared to dew and rain, if not to show us how utterly unable we are to produce a harvest of grace unless God's dew falls on us?

4. Without the Spirit, no means of grace is effective for us. The ordinances are the pipes that carry grace, but the Spirit is the spring. Some people are content simply to have a minister to preach to them, and never look further — like a merchant who is satisfied that his ship has good rigging and a full crew, yet never concerns himself about whether there is any wind. The ship of the ordinances will not carry us to heaven — even if an angel were the pilot — unless the wind of God's Spirit blows. The Spirit is the soul of the Word — without Him the Word is nothing but a dead letter. Ministers can prescribe the medicine, but it is God's Spirit who makes it work. Our hearts are like the aging David's body — they covered him with warm clothes, but he could not get warm, as 1 Kings 1:1 says. In the same way, though God's minister may wrap us in prayers and counsel like warm blankets, we remain cold and unmoved until God's Spirit comes. Then we say as the disciples did in Luke 24:32: Did not our hearts burn within us? How greatly we need the Spirit!

3. To those who have the blessed Spirit, shown by His active power and vital work in your lives: 1. Acknowledge God's distinguishing love — the Spirit is a mark of election. 1 John 3:24. Christ gave Judas the money bag, but not His Spirit. The Spirit is a love-token: where God gives His Spirit as a pledge, He gives Himself as the portion. The Spirit is a concentrated blessing — He stands for all good things, as Matthew 7:11 says. What would you be without the Spirit — nothing but a corpse? Without the Spirit, even Christ's blood would not benefit you — the blood of God is not enough without the breath of God. Be thankful for the Spirit then — this magnet will never stop drawing you until it has drawn you all the way to heaven.

2. If you have this Spirit, do not grieve Him. Ephesians 4:30. Shall we grieve our Comforter?

Question: How do we grieve the Spirit?

Answer: 1. When we coldly push away His movements. The Spirit sometimes whispers in our ear and calls to us, as God called to Jacob in Genesis 35:1: Arise, go up to Bethel. So the Spirit says: Arise, go to prayer; draw aside and meet with your God. When we smother these promptings and give way to temptations toward emptiness and distraction, this grieves the Spirit. If we suppress the Spirit's promptings, we will lose the Spirit's comfort.

2. We grieve the Spirit when we deny His work in our hearts. If someone gives you a gift and you deny ever having received it, you have insulted the love of your friend. In the same way, Christian, when God has given you His Spirit — shown by the meltings of heart and passionate longing for heaven you have known — yet you deny that any renewing work of the Spirit has ever happened in you, this is the worst kind of ingratitude and grieves the good Spirit. Renounce the sinful works of the flesh, but do not deny the gracious work of the Spirit.