Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: We need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to overcome and have victory in our lives. For we walk not in the flesh but we walk by the Holy Spirit every day. We want to be spirit-filled every day of our lives. That’s what Jesus desires. The comforter to come, and He’ll be with you and He’ll be in you.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio. The Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Raul will begin a new series today exploring the identity and work of the Holy Spirit. We’ll begin with a look at the key roles of this third member of the Trinity.

You’ll see that while He can feel mysterious, the Holy Spirit is present and very much at work in the lives of believers. Today’s study is titled "The Introduction to the Holy Spirit." Here is Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: And so when Jesus was there in chapter 14 of the Gospel of John, He’s on His way to Jerusalem. And all of a sudden He begins to talk to them about His departure. And they of course start becoming pretty worried about that because they’re thinking, "Okay, Lord, if you’re going to leave, that means that we’re going to be left alone. And then what are we going to do? We need a leader."

And so Jesus in John 14, beginning with verse 15. He says, "If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you."

Now one of the most beautiful things about Jesus is His bringing comfort and assurance to them. Look, you’re not going to be alone. I’m going to leave. And the Lord, in chapters 13 through 17 of John’s Gospel, it’s the last week of Jesus on the earth. And so in chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, in that week period, He gives them an intense seminary study about Himself and the Holy Spirit.

He sits down with them and begins to share with them the importance of the Holy Spirit. And then look again in verse 26 of chapter 14. "But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance. Whatsoever I have said unto you." Did you know that the Holy Spirit is the teacher?

Let’s say you just got saved and you only read the Gospel of John and you never read the whole Bible. Well then the Holy Spirit, the only thing that He can bring to your remembrance is what? The Gospel of John, chapter 14. That’s why we encourage people to read the whole Bible.

And it’s so neat because as you read the Bible, not only do you encourage yourself in the Lord, but God will give you the wisdom and the knowledge that you need to have. So whenever you get caught up witnessing to somebody or you’re studying for a lesson, all of a sudden the scriptures begin to click in your mind. That is those books and scriptures that you have read line upon line and precept upon precept.

You see, the Holy Spirit keeps that memory, which is so cool. Now it’s interesting that the Holy Spirit here is called again the comforter. The word *parakletos* in the Greek. Why? It means one that will come alongside to do what? To assist you. That’s what it means. One that will come alongside to assist you.

So when Jesus was here and He’s talking to them, He says, "Look you guys, I’m going to leave. But when I leave, the Holy Spirit will come and He will become your assistant." That’s why Paul the apostle, in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 3:16-17, and in chapter 6:18 and 19. He says, "Know you not that you are the temple of the living God and if any man defile the temple of God, God Himself shall destroy that person."

And when he talks about the temple of God in the book of 1 Corinthians 3:16, he’s talking about the holiest of holies, which is your body now. Your body now has become the place where the Holy Spirit hangs out permanently. He lives there. And that’s why whenever you lie or whenever you do something that is wrong or you watch something that is wrong and immediately the Holy Spirit convicts you.

But you’re convicted but you go ahead and you continue to hear it or to watch it, what happens to the Holy Spirit? Because He is a person, He becomes grieved. Paul said, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." Sin grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Lying grieves the Holy Spirit of God.

And the word grieve in the Greek means to bring pain to the personality of the Holy Spirit because He’s a person. He cannot do His effective work when He’s grieved. Pretty interesting. That’s the Holy Spirit’s power. One of the things that I recognize is that when you look at the church today, and I can share this with full confidence.

That when we read the book of Acts, I don’t know if you’ve read it yet, but you need to read it. When you read the book of Acts, right before Jesus Christ actually ascended to heaven, the church didn't really have any power. That’s why when Jesus Christ died on the cross and resurrected, He said, "Look you guys, I want you to wait."

For 10 days. When He resurrected He was here for 40 days. And after 40 days He went to heaven. But before He ascended He said, "Look, you guys wait 10 more days. Don't go anywhere. Wait 10 more days. And I will send the Holy Spirit and when He comes, He will baptize you with power so you can be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world." The Holy Spirit’s power.

Peter, James and John were totally different disciples than we find them in the book of John into the book of Acts. They’re totally different people, full of the power of the Holy Spirit. We find Peter in the Gospel of John denying the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Acts, we find Peter standing up in a time of persecution and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ with full power. That’s the difference.

Don't you remember in the book of Acts chapter 19? Turn for a second there. Paul the apostle, he comes over to Ephesus. Look what he says. "And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples there, he said unto them, 'Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?'"

Now when Paul came to Ephesus, it’s like we can walk around here tonight and we can talk with a lot of you. And probably we could see a distinction in some of your lives where we could actually say, "Hey, have you heard of the Holy Spirit?" You say, "Well why would you say that?"

Because what Paul did here is he saw these 12 men that had been born again of the Holy Spirit, but they had not heard anything about the power of the Holy Spirit. There was a lack of power in their lives. They were dull. No power in their lives. So he’s asking the question, "Have you guys heard of the Holy Spirit?" Look what he says.

And he said unto them, "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Spirit." You see, they hadn't been taught the full Gospel yet. They only had had the teachings of John the Baptist about Jesus. So they were pretty honest and said, "You know what? No we don't have any power. We don't even know who the Holy Spirit is. We’ve never been taught that."

So what does Paul do? Paul then said to them, "John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on Jesus, which should come after him, and that is on Jesus Christ." And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Paul had laid hands on them. Now notice that.

Sometimes people receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit without laying on of hands and sometimes it’s the point of contact, laying of hands. Or here we have the laying of hands upon them and what happened? Look what he says. "And when Paul had laid hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." Notice that. Is that something weird? No, it’s not anything weird.

In this occasion here, because a lot of times people say, "Well you know I have the Holy Spirit." And every believer has the Holy Spirit. He’s with you before you’re a child of God, He’s in you when you become born again of the Holy Spirit. And then the *epi* or the uponic experience is when the power of the Holy Spirit gives you the power and victory over sin daily in your lives. We need that. We need that every day of our lives.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com to look through our full range of scripture-rich resources. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10:00 AM West Coast time. Let’s continue now with more of our introduction to the Holy Spirit.

Raul Ries: And then at the same time when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, there are certain times where people receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they will speak in tongues. But at the same time many people don't speak in tongues. So you say, "Well can you be baptized?" Yes. Without speaking in tongues? Yes. Why? What’s the evidence of a true baptism? Love.

Without love, you can speak in tongues, you can prophesy, you can do anything and you're what? It’s empty words and empty songs. Love is the key to the Holy Spirit and to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus was teaching them, "Look you guys, I’m going to leave. But when I leave, I’m going to send the *parakletos*, the one that will come alongside to assist you and to teach you and to lead you and to bring everything into your remembrance that I have told you."

You see, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. Go back to John chapter 15. Look what else He says. John 15, beginning with verse 26. "But when the Holy Spirit, when the comforter is come, whom I, Jesus, will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of who? Of me, Jesus."

Hey, you’ve heard Holy Spirit revival nights and you’ve heard people give glory and honor to the Holy Spirit. We can't do that. The Holy Spirit glorifies who? Jesus Christ. Glorifies Jesus. We’re not to glorify the Holy Spirit. We glorify Jesus. You see? "He will glorify me," Jesus said.

And yet there are so many times where people get emotional and they get into the Holy Spirit and it becomes something like a mystic thing. And yet it’s really open. Where God wants to move among us and God wants to pour Himself upon us. And God desires to do a tremendous work in each one of our lives.

And many of you might be struggling with drugs or alcohol or sexual things, whatever it is. Or even evil thoughts or anger, whatever it may be. We need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to overcome and have victory in our lives. For we walk not in the flesh, but we walk by the Holy Spirit every day. We want to be spirit-filled every day of our lives.

That’s what Jesus desires. The comforter to come, and He’ll be with you and He’ll be in you. And He’ll teach you and He’ll guide you, He’ll lead you, He’ll bring things to your remembrance. But then there’s something else about the Holy Spirit in chapter 16, verse 7. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away," notice what He says, "the comforter, the Holy Spirit, will not come unto you."

He couldn't come. "But if I depart, I, Jesus, will send Him unto you." So they were waiting for Jesus to die so that the Holy Spirit could come. Yet here look what He says, verse 8. "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment." Interesting. That when the Holy Spirit would come, He would be the reprover.

You see, we're not the reprovers. We don't convict people. There’s nobody that I can convert to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can share with them, I can talk to them about it. But there’s no possible way that anybody can ever be saved unless it is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of that person as the Holy Spirit reproves that person.

And notice what He said. He reproves what? Of sin, why? Reproves the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Here it is why, number 9. "Of sin because they believe not on who? Jesus." Of sin because they don't believe in Jesus. "Of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more." Why? Because we believe by faith.

And through faith what do we have? Through faith we become righteous through Jesus Christ. It’s not my own righteousness, it’s His righteousness that I have received. How? By believing by faith in Jesus Christ. And then check this out, verse 11. "And of judgment because the prince of this world already is judged." Who’s the prince of the world? Satan.

Satan already has been judged. He already knows that he’s going to the lake of fire. He already knows. He’s lost the battle. That’s why in the last days, Satan is going to become a great warrior against the world. Why? Because he knows that Jesus is coming again. And he wants to get as many people as he can, young and old, to go with him to hell.

That’s why we have so much evil today. So much evil, man. It’s incredible. And look what else He says. "Of judgment because the prince of the world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth is come," notice here it is, "He will guide you into all truth."

"For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak and He will show you even things to come. And what will He do? He will glorify Jesus Christ and He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you." Notice how great the work of the Holy Spirit before us.

So what we need to do is we need to make a commitment to God. And how do we do that? Well Jesus said it real simple in the Sermon on the Mount. He says if you want to be a child of the kingdom, okay, if you want to be a child of the kingdom, what’s the first thing you have to do? Turn to Matthew chapter 5, beginning with verse 1.

This is the Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon not to the multitudes but to His disciples. And He’s going to speak about kingdom things. Verse 1. "And seeing the multitude he went up into a mountain and when he had sat down with his disciples he came unto him, he opened his mouth and he taught them saying, 'Oh how happy are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'"

The first beatitude is negative. Why? The first three are negative. Why? Because what He’s talking about, He says if you want to be a happy person, then first of all you have to do what? He says, "Oh how happy are the poor in spirit." It doesn't mean that you don't have money. Poor in spirit speaks of poverty of spirit, which means what? Is there a true repentance in your heart?

Are you really sorry for what you’ve done? Poverty of spirit. Emptying myself completely before the Lord. Because when you empty yourself before the Lord, what happens? He says this, when you empty yourself before Him, then what will He do? Then He can fill you with Himself.

Secondly, look what He says in verse 4. "Oh how happy are they that mourn for they shall be comforted." What’s He talking about mourning? He’s talking about mourning over your sin, that you're ashamed before God that you have sinned against Him. It’s not just "I repented and that’s cool" and there’s no change of attitude.

No, when there’s truly a repentance, there’s a mourning in my life. I feel bad. How could I ever have done that before the Lord? Then you can receive the true comfort of God in your life. Thirdly, He says, "Oh how happy are who? The meek for they shall inherit the earth." It means to be humbled. Meekness. Are we meek? Are we truly humble before the Lord?

And then verse 6. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness." Notice what He says. The child of God, the kingdom child does what? He hungers and thirsts after righteousness, how to do what’s right. You see? And then what happens? "And then you shall be filled." You’ll be satisfied.

You won't have to be seeking for alcohol and drugs and all these things because Jesus will bring true satisfaction to your life when you really pour yourself out to Him. Hungering, thirsting. These are the attitudes that the Holy Spirit brings to the child of God as we are submissive to the Holy Spirit. Then we become salt of the earth.

Then we become light, you notice in a dark world. And the progression goes on and on and on all the way through the Sermon on the Mount. So when the Holy Spirit comes, what does He want to do? He wants to reign and rule over my life. You see? He wants to rule and reign over my life.

Guest (Male): As you consider the wisdom and instruction God’s Spirit can pour into your life, we encourage you to remember His power to conform you to Christ’s likeness. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to hear today's study in its unedited form, we’ll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of $5 or more. To get that, just call us at 800-634-9165.

We’d also like to enrich your faith with Raul’s seven-part series titled "Filled, Empowered and Equipped." It’s conveniently available on both CD and flash drive. Further establishing the Holy Spirit’s identity as a member of the Triune God, this study will inspire you to maximize the spiritual gifts He gives you while allowing Him to guide you in kingdom-building work.

Visit us online at somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul’s seven-lesson series. We’ll send you "Filled, Empowered and Equipped" on CD for $20 or on thumb drive for just $11. The number again is 800-634-9165. To order by writing, our mailing address is Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765.

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Don't forget we're a listener-supported ministry and your partnership enables us to keep sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Join us next time as we continue our study of the Holy Spirit with more insight into the many ways He can direct and enrich our lives. We’ll find that the Lord’s great love for us is poured out through His Holy Spirit as He convicts us of sin and points us in paths of righteousness. Now with a closing comment, here is Raul once again.

Raul Ries: And maybe there are some of you here tonight that you've been actually seeking for the Holy Spirit. Well if you're born again, the Holy Spirit already is in you. But maybe you want to go a step further and maybe you desire to have the power of the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit now is going to come to my life and He’s going to take government over my life.

But listen, before He can do that, you have to be willing to yield and to submit your whole life into His hands. That’s why in Matthew chapter 6:33 in the Sermon on the Mount, what did He say? He said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be added unto you." God cannot add anything to you unless God is first in your life.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.