Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: If you're a real true child of God and you've been truly born again of the Holy Spirit, you and I can never get away with anything that we do ever because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life and in your life.

So here Jesus is making that great invitation to the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. It’s so good to have you with us today as we continue our study of the Holy Spirit with a look at why He’s such an amazing gift from God.

We’ll see that as followers of Jesus, we can look to the third member of the Trinity for comfort, wisdom, direction, and peace. We’ll hear today that He’ll also fill us with power to do the will of God in ways that would be impossible with mere human strength. Here is Raul Ries with our study, the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Raul Ries: John chapter seven, beginning with verses 37 through 39. Let me begin by reading those verses. We find Jesus here at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles on the seventh day, on the eighth day. What’s happening here is that Jesus is not only recognizing what’s happening around Him, but He recognizes that the crowds that are following Him are very empty and very hungry and seeking for something that is real.

This is what Jesus said. On the last day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and He cried out saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” That word flow there in the Greek language is literally translated this way. He says, “He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly or out of his heart shall flow or be gushing out, overflowing rivers of living water.”

Thank the Lord, not only that He said that, but the Holy Spirit through John the Apostle, He gives you the interpretation of what Jesus meant by saying that in verse 39. “But this He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit whom those believing in Him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was yet not glorified.” Notice what the scripture is saying, that Jesus was in the midst of the people, but Jesus had not died and resurrected yet, so the comforter or the Paracletos had not been given out yet.

There’s something that I picked up as I was reading through the scriptures. And that is that as Jesus is making the statement again, “If anyone thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink,” I feel that as Jesus was looking out into the crowd, even as we look out into the crowds wherever you may be working, wherever you go to school, wherever you live, when you shop, or when you go down to the malls, you can see the emptiness in the life of people.

There’s a vacuum. There’s an emptiness that does not fill up even though people may have money, possessions, and whatever they have in life. They may have a husband, a wife, children, cars, whatever it may be. It doesn’t seem to fill their hearts like the Holy Spirit will fill the life of the believer. Jesus here is making a proclamation, and He’s actually giving an invitation, an invitation to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is with, in, and upon. That is, the Holy Spirit is with you before you came to Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit began to work in your life as people began to pray for you. Somebody witnessed to you, they began to pray for you, and as the Holy Spirit began to work in your life, He began to bring conviction to the things that you were doing, to the things that you were saying until He brought you unto repentance.

Remember I told you two weeks ago that there’s not one of us here or outside of this building that has ever, ever converted anybody to Jesus Christ. It always has been the work of the Holy Spirit that convicts and brings people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His truth. So it’s important that we understand that as the Holy Spirit is with you and then as you face the facts that you have sinned against God and you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, then the Holy Spirit is invited to come in.

He comes in to dwell with you. So now the Holy Spirit takes residence in your body, which now according to First Corinthians chapter 3:16 and 17, has become the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is something that we need to come to understand, that your body, if you’re a child of God... if you’re not a Christian, then you don’t have to worry about it. But if you are a Christian, your body and your soul and your spirit now belongs to God.

Your body is no longer your possession. You have no rights to yourself any longer if you have submitted your life to Jesus Christ. It’s very important that you understand that because when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell within me, then the Holy Spirit takes residence over my life and He begins to rule in my life. And then the Bible speaks not only of the within, but also the Bible speaks of the upon experience that we have in Acts chapter one verse eight.

That power of the Holy Spirit is given to us so that we can become witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world. But also the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the upon experience is given to us so that we can overcome this world, so that we have power over sin. And this is something that is surely lacking today in the church of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, when Paul the Apostle is talking to the Ephesians, he has been speaking to them on how the believer has been sealed with the Holy Spirit.

When you come to Jesus Christ, God takes His seal of ownership and He actually seals your heart, and that speaks that you now are His possession. You have become the possession of God. That’s why you have to submit to Him. Here Jesus Christ is dealing in the Gospel of John. He’s not only making an invitation here, but it’s amazing that also in that invitation He is promising the work of the Holy Spirit that will come in the life of the believer when He would depart, when He would be glorified, that He would send the Holy Spirit, the Paracletos, the one that would come alongside to assist.

And that you and I would never, ever be left alone, but the Holy Spirit would take residence upon our life. Many times when you have been born again of the Holy Spirit, you become a Christian. How many times you felt like God was no longer with you, His presence is no longer over your life? Sometimes the reason that when you first get saved and you have all that excitement, you have all that feeling, is because you know God wants you to feel that He’s close to you.

But as you begin to read, as you begin to pray, as you begin to fellowship, as you begin to grow, it seems that now God wants you to trust Him and you begin to walk by faith and not by sight or by feeling. Many times, young and old, when they don’t have those feelings that they had when they first came to conversion, they feel like God has departed. And God cannot depart out of my life. The Bible says He abides forever. When you sin against God, when you sin against the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is a person.

And because He is a person and He’s living in me, the Bible says in the book of Ephesians in chapter four verse 30 that the Holy Spirit becomes grieved with sin in my life. And that word grieve in the Greek means to bring pain to the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. See, that’s why Christians cannot get away with sin. If you’re a real true child of God and you’ve been truly born again of the Holy Spirit, you and I can never get away with anything that we do ever because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life and in your life.

So here Jesus is making that great invitation to the promise of the Holy Spirit. We want to study tonight how Jesus not only promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples to give them literally power to live the Christian life and to be satisfied with Jesus Christ. Something that I’m not only recognizing, but what I’m seeing, it seems to me that one of the greatest problems that not only you see, but I see among believers today in America and the world is the problem with dissatisfaction in the Christian life.

Dissatisfaction with their lives, wanting to be like the world and yet the world cannot fulfill your life. Think of how many people you know in your own life that are not Christians. They may have a lot, they may have a little bit. And you know that people that are drinking and taking drugs and they’re in a sexual relationship with somebody else is because their life does not have satisfaction. But they’re empty, they’re trying to fill it with those other things. They will never bring true satisfaction until they truly submit their life to Jesus Christ and ask God’s Holy Spirit to come upon their life and fill their life.

That’s what Jesus was talking about. A life of satisfaction. A life where the Holy Spirit will give you the power to live the life of Christ, which is something that is very, very hard today to do among many believers today. There seems to be a lack of power and true commitment and loyalty to Jesus Christ today. Look around. It just seems to happen everywhere.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Connect with us anytime at somebodylovesyou.com for resources to grow your faith and deepen you in your relationship with the Lord. Raul’s Holy Spirit study titled Filled, Empowered, and Equipped is available on CD and USB. Now back to more of our study, the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Raul Ries: One thing that I just really feel in my heart, and as I was going through the scriptures this morning and just studying this week and getting my thoughts together concerning the lesson, it came to my mind where John the beloved, the same John that wrote the Gospel of John, when now when he was real old, he was in the island of Patmos as he had been persecuted. They took him, before they put him in the islands of Patmos when he wrote First and Second and Third John, they put him in a big pot of oil and they actually tried to cook him alive.

God spared his life. And then because they couldn’t kill him, they took him and they put him in this little island of Patmos in the Mediterranean where there’s nothing. And there is where God revealed Himself to him and he wrote the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible concerning the last things before Jesus would come again. That’s where God spoke to him. In the first chapter he gives an introduction, and then in the second and the third chapter he begins to share concerning the seven churches.

Seven types of people in the church. And when he comes to the first church, which is the church of Ephesus, desired ones in the Greek, listen to what he says to this church in verse one through seven. You don’t have to turn to Revelation chapter two. He says, “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write this. These things saith He who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks in the middle of the seven golden lampstands.” That’s Jesus in the center of the church.

“I know your works and your labor and your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them to be liars. And you have preserved and have patience and have labored for My namesake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have something against you. And this is what I have against you, that you have left your first love.” Listen to what He said. “You have left your first love.”

That is, Jesus Christ is no longer the most important thing in your life. Something else has replaced it. It could be your wife, it can be your husband, it can be your children, it can be anything that takes the place of Jesus Christ. That’s when you lose your first love, actually you leave your first love. What He’s saying here in the exhortation, He says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” Notice, “I didn’t leave you, you left Me.” Jesus never leaves us nor forsakes us.

We’re the ones that make the choice to leave. To go do something else. To love something else. And then He says this, “I want you to remember, I want you to go back. Go back, remember therefore from where you have fallen. Go back and take an examination in your life and go back and see how you backslid. How I became last now in your list and not when I used to be first in your list. Think about that. Is Jesus Christ first in your life? Does He dominate? Is He ruling over your life? Is He Lord of your life? Is He everything that you ever desired in your life?”

He has to be first. You see, in Matthew 6:33 it says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be added unto you.” As He’s exhorting the church of Ephesus, He says, “Remember therefore from where you’ve fallen and repent and do your first works. Come back to what you were doing. That is worshiping the Lord. Spending time with Him, praying, reading, discipling. Whatever you were doing at first when you were so happy and you were so joyous and nothing could separate you from the love of Christ.”

There was no emptiness in your life, and now you feel like this emptiness has come back into your life. And the reason is because Jesus is not first in your life. So important to understand this. Because look what He says. He says, “Repent and do your first works or else, if you don’t do this, or else I will come to you quickly and I will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Notice what He says. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

But here He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Notice that even in that exhortation He gives you a reward if you truly repent and you come back to your first works. This is what Christ is calling us to do tonight constantly. And then He said this, Paul the Apostle, he warns us about this great apostasy that is coming in the last days.

That is this departure of people, going after the world, the things of the world. Christ no longer becoming number one in my life. He said this, “Now the Spirit, here again the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit expressly says that in the last days some will depart, not all, some will depart from the faith. Giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

But know this, that in the last days, hard times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves. You see that today? I see that today. Lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And listen, having a form of godliness but denying its power. From such people turn away from them.

That’s the warning of the Holy Spirit through Paul the Apostle. These are the things, these are the kind of people that we’re going to begin to see in the last days. People that are not loyal, people that are traitors to their friendships. Traitors to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Traitors to the fellowship, to be with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You see, this is one of the reasons that today we need more of the Holy Spirit in our lives than ever before. Paul the Apostle commands us to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5:18 to 21.

He says, “And do not be drunk with wine, which is in dissipation, but be you filled with the Holy Spirit. Speaking to one another in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual song, singing and making a melody in your heart to the Lord. And giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another in the fear of God.” That’s what the scripture says. That’s what God wants each one of us to do as we submit our lives to Jesus Christ.

Listen to A.W. Tozer. He died in 1963. One of the greatest writers in the 60s and the 50s way back into the 20s. He said this, “I think there can be no doubt that the need above all other needs in the church today of God at this moment is the power of the Holy Spirit. More education, better organization, finer equipment, more advanced methods, all are in vain. It is like bringing a better pulmoter after the patient is dead. Good as these things are, they can never give life.”

“We may be sure of one thing, that for our deep trouble there is no cure apart from a visitation. Yes, an invasion of power from above. Only the Spirit Himself can prescribe the cure. Only the Holy Spirit can save us from the numbering unreality of spiritless Christianity. Only the inworking of the Spirit’s power can discover to us the solemn majesty and the heart-ravishing mystery of the triune God.” Listen to that. He wrote this way back in the 60s.

I want us to open our hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit. That we may submit our lives to Him completely so that Jesus Christ can rule over our lives. So that He can rule over my life, so that He can rule over your life.

Guest (Male): It is reassuring to know that when we step out in service to the Lord, we don’t have to operate in our own wisdom and power. The Holy Spirit will fill us with all that we need to carry out God’s will. You’re listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you’d like to hear today’s message, the promise of the Holy Spirit, in its unedited form, we’ll be glad to send you a copy for a donation of five dollars or more.

Just call us at 800-634-9165. As you think about the eternal work that you may be called to accomplish, we’d like to offer you Raul’s seven-part series, Filled, Empowered, and Equipped. It’s available on CD and thumb drive. Further illuminating the many ways God’s Spirit works in the lives of those who listen for His leading, this resource will inspire you to honor Him with daily surrender.

Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul’s seven-message study titled Filled, Empowered, and Equipped. We’ll send you the CD set for 20 dollars or the flash drive for 11 dollars. That’s 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

We’re so grateful for your partnership. Every tax-deductible gift helps us keep sharing the good news of the gospel from God’s eternal word. Join us next time as we return to our study of the Holy Spirit to see how the third member of the Trinity is an ever-present blessing in our lives. Here is Raul once again with a closing comment.

Raul Ries: You see, when Jesus was on this earth at this particular time in the Gospel of John, it was actually the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was actually observed for seven days. Seven days, the number of perfection. It followed up by an eighth day, and on the eighth day it was actually a spiritual observance including an offering given to God.

And the priest would go down to the pool of Siloam there in Jerusalem, they would get actually a whole thing of water, a pitcher of water, and they would take it back up to the Temple Mount, and then they would take it and they would actually drop it into the floor. They would pour it out. And it was not only a sign of their wandering through the wilderness and how not only God provided for their needs, but also the times that they had a need but they didn’t have any food and no lack of water, but God had supplied all their needs.

But at the same time, it was symbolic of this water falling to the ground of the outpouring of the coming of the Holy Spirit, just as God had said. And this is why Jesus here is speaking of the Holy Spirit to the people. They did never realize that, but here Jesus Christ was telling them, “Look, you guys, I’m getting ready to leave. And when I leave, the Holy Spirit is going to come and He’s going to come and empower you for power.”

Oh, how we need the Holy Spirit tonight in our life. We need it so desperately. Yes, we’re Christians now, we have the within, the with, and within. How we need the upon every day. We need to ask God, “Lord, empower me. Empower me every day with Your Holy Spirit.”

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