We'll continue on our series on testing the spirits, and we are up to test number six. The first test was the nature of God. The second, the sufficiency of Christ. The third was the authority of God's word, that we reject all extra biblical revelation. The fourth was the authority of God's word, Does it exert supremacy over God's Word? In other words, there are people who will accept the authority of God's Word, they just say that their apostolic authority exerts supremacy over it. And the fifth, or does it simply ultimately contradict God's Word? Let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? O Lord God, this is your holy, eternal, inherent, written Word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord God, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your word this hour to set us apart for your service and for your glory. O Lord God, use your word to draw us near to Jesus. Show us great and mighty things. which we do not know. Father, the sower sows the word. Protect both the one who speaks and the one who hears from error. Let your holy word reign supreme in all that is said and heard in the coming hour. Protect us, O Lord, from Satan, letting not snatch the sown word of God. Keep us from the world's cares and the delight of wealth, and the passion for other interests, which enter in and choke the word, causing it to prove fruitless. Keep us from discouragement in the face of persecution and opposition, that the word would fall on rocky ground, again being fruitless. Rather, Lord, plow up the hard ground of our hearts. Grant us good soil, that your seed might send roots downward and bear fruit upward. Let not your word go out and return void, but accomplish that purpose for which you have called us together and for which you have sent us out. O Lord God, we live in a dark and wicked time. Broad is the way and many are on it that lead to destruction. There are ways which seem right to men, but these ways end in death. Make your word to us a lamp to our feet and a light to our path that we might see clearly that narrow way in which we should walk. Spread your word before us as a banquet table. Feed us from the pure milk of your doctrines. Give us meat to eat that we might discern good and evil. Grab us the heart of the prophet who cried, Thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Unsheathe, heavenly Father, the sword of your spirit. Cut now to the divining point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of those who hear. Father, make your word to us, a mirror that we might see clearly who we are and what we are about. Let us not be forgetful listeners, but active doers as you drop the plumb line of your holy, eternal, and unwritten work against our lives. Grant grace that we might conform to it. O Lord, because of our fealty to you, because of our undying love and devotion of our risen Savior, we pledge our total submission to your word and our unquestioning obedience to its commands. In the name of our resurrected Savior, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay. Test number six. This has to do with the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit. Turn with me, if you would, to Galatians. And let's look. The fruit of the Spirit. Now, Ian, what is the first fruit of the Spirit, the foundational fruit? That's right, love. Will God the Holy Spirit ever move you to hate? No, because the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, will never violate one of the fruits of the Spirit. Therefore, God will not lead you to hate. That is why our early Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ were deceived when they burned witches. homosexuals, when they would ransack the churches of Catholics and beat up the priests and burn them alive and throw them into prison and attack them violently. They were wrong, weren't they? They have been deceived. It was a combination of three things. One is a failure to distinguish between old covenant and new covenant doctrines. Thus, they sought to apply the commands of capital punishment in the Old Covenant. That's wrong. We don't look to the Old Covenant law to establish capital punishment. We look to Romans 13 to do that, a new covenant teaching. The Old Covenant law, those commands concerning death, were to show, they were a work picture to show that sin kills. Christ fulfilled that. Christ fulfilled the law in that area. Then they combine that with a misuse of historical revelation. We have examples in Scripture of Joshua going in and killing every man, woman, and child, of Samuel commanding, but in the name of God, that people be slaughtered by Saul. And we see that in Scripture, and so there was a It was a combination of misuse of old covenant doctrine, misuse of historical revelation, and spiritist zeal, whereby deceiving spirits created this feeling of satisfaction, and a feeling of righteousness, and a feeling of being led by the Spirit in the lives of these men. And as a result, terrible things were done. Things which needed to be recognized and repented of. Well, that is the foundational fruit of the Spirit. Now, what is the capstone fruit of the Spirit? Self-control. And a work and ministry and manifestation of God the Holy Spirit will not violate the foundational fruit of love, but nor will it violate the fruit of the spirit of self-control. So, we always ask, does this manifestation, does this teaching, does this experience when we test the spirit, does it violate the fruit of the spirit of self-control? Now, the first aspect of the fruit of the spirit of self-control that I would use there Does the gift or experience take on an animate life of itself? So, number six, fruit of the spirit of self-control, colon, animate life. Does it take on an animate life? Gifts of the Holy Spirit are not spirits. They are gifts. of tongues talking about their tongue as if it was a spirit rather than a gift. My tongue came upon me. I was waiting for my tongue as if it was an animate spirit. We know that not all spirits are of the Holy Spirit, 1 John 4.1. Gifts are not animate spiritual life as angels are. demons are, as the person of the Holy Spirit is. Gifts, rather, are things God gives us to be used by the individual. They, however, do not use the individual. Does that make sense? A spiritual gift is something God gives to you to use in your ministry. A spiritual gift is not a spirit that uses you. That's very different, isn't it? One of the illustrations that's often used for the spirit-controlled person is the hand in the glove. You know, we just need to let go and let God. We need to be the glove. God's gifts, God's spirit will be the hand. No, the Bible doesn't teach that, does it? The Bible uses, in terms of our relationship with God, animate illustration, a shepherd and his sheep. a father and his sons, a master and his slave, doesn't it? It is never an inanimate object that empties itself and then is filled like a glove in a hand, is it? That's because when we are spiritual, we never lose self-control. And yet, people in the Pentecostal charismatic movement would say even the word self is bad, don't they? Even though the Word of God says love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, even though the Word of God says self-control, people in the Charismatic Pentecostal movement would say, no, self-control is there. We want spirit control. I think it would be an interesting discipline for y'all to go to the Bible and find all It's far too easy to drift from Spirit-controlled to Spirit-controlled, isn't it? Now, what does 1 Corinthians 14.32? Ian, if you will look at 1 Corinthians 14.32, and Jay, if you would turn to Matthew 17.15-18. 1 Corinthians 14.32, if you are a prophet, Does your spiritual gift of prophecy control you? What does it say? That's right. The spiritual gift of prophecy is subject to whom? To the prophet. Now there were old covenant prophets whom the Holy Spirit would descend upon, wouldn't it? But that's an old covenant model, isn't it? In the Old Covenant, where did the Holy Spirit dwell? In the temple. It anointed men, didn't it? It would fall upon them, but it did not dwell in them. They might lose control when they were anointed by the Holy Spirit, but was God's temple, the Holy Spirit, a place of a loss of self-control? It was very orderly and very controlled blessing. Now, where is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Yes, in our lives, 1 Corinthians 3.16. Do you not know that you are God's temple? God's Spirit dwells in you. We don't wait for a mounting of the Holy Spirit. He's already there, isn't He? So, if a Spirit comes upon you from the outside, if it falls upon you, it's not God the Holy Spirit, is it? It's already there. Billy, you're at home, you're working at your desk, working on your sermon. Your wife is fixing dinner. She hears a knock at the door. She goes to the door, and a voice outside sounds just like you. And it says, it's me, honey. It's Billy. Open the door. Your wife thinks. I thought you were in your study. No, no, it's me, honey. It's me, I need to come in. What should she do if she opens the door? Yeah, that's right. It's some deceiver trying to gain entrance, isn't it? She should know better, shouldn't she? Why are you knocking? Why don't you have the keys? Why don't you say something that clearly identifies who you are? Why don't you show yourself in the window? There's a lot of questions that should be asked. Why doesn't she go back and look at you and believe you? You call out from the study. Don't open the door, honey, it's me. I'm already here in the house. She thinks, well, yeah, but... That's what these demonic spirits are doing. We're outside. We want in. It's us. It's me. It's the gift. It's the gift of prophecy. It's the gift of tongues. It's the gift of miracles. I want in. I will make you powerful. I'll make you rich. I'll make you prosperous. It's me, the Holy Spirit. I'm out here. You don't have me. What did Jesus know? What do the apostles know? It's me out here. Let me in. That's very seductive, isn't it? And when we have children, we have to teach them how to protect themselves from people who would snatch them, don't we? And when we have a wife, we have to teach her caution, don't we? And when we have spiritual children, we have to teach them caution also, don't we? Spiritual gifts do not take on animate roles. However, demons do. What does Matthew 17, 15-18 say? Matthew chapter 17 then verses 15 through 18 and please read so we can all hear please. Lord have mercy on my son he says he has seizures and he is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples but they could not save him. Oh I am living in a vast generation. How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. Jesus rebuked the demon and came unto the boy and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Why could we retrieve it out? He replied, Because we have so little faith. Yeah, that's alright. We see several truths here. One is, apostles should just throw demons out any time they wanted to, couldn't they? People say, well apostles could do it. I go, oh really? Not apparently. The winds and the waves obey Jesus, the Amonite spirits obey Jesus, we have no such complements. So that's one thing, but the other thing here is that we see that here is somebody who was like a glove filled with a hand, wasn't he? But he was demon controlled, wasn't he? And he was thrown down by this demon, wasn't he? Was this boy experiencing self-control? Was he able to control this spirit who had a hold of him? No, he wasn't. And we should keep that in mind. Spiritual gifts are used by the disciple in his ministry. Spirits use people. That's one of the ways we differentiate them. Spiritual gifts are not animate spiritual life. They are not angels, they are not demons, they are simply gifts, abilities God gives us. One of the tests of the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit of self-control, does the gift exhibit or take on a life of its own? Side question that we can look at is, has the person developed an emotional relationship with this gift? Many people do. I've seen this especially with women when it comes to speaking in tongues. They have an obvious emotional attachment to this gift and guard this gift jealously. I have the gift of teaching, but I don't have an emotional attachment. to my gift. I have an emotional attachment to the Word of God. I have an emotional attachment to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I have an emotional attachment to the students that I teach, but I don't have an emotional attachment to my gift of teaching. I don't even think about it. I just use it, which is how it should be, which is how it should be. Fruit of the spirit of self-control. Does the spirit bring glory to itself or take on itself showmanship? Fruit of the spirit of self-control. Does the spirit bring glory to itself or take on a showmanship nature in how it presents itself? We've all seen the circus atmosphere, haven't we? TV talk shows, you know, the talk show host comes running down, he's got the microphone, he makes people laugh, he makes people cry, music's playing in the background, you know, showmanship, isn't it? a variety show, price is right, come on down, get your healing, get your blessing, this, that, you know. On stage four over here we're having healings, on stage three over there we're having prophecies, down here on center stage Jesus may appear at any minute, come on, you know. Showmanship, a temple type experience. Holy Spirit, fill this temple. Is the Holy Spirit going to fill the temple? No, first place, the temple's been destroyed, hasn't it? The Holy Spirit's not going to, no. Old covenant theology, isn't it? Holy Spirit, bring your Shekinah glory. Fill it with your fire. Wash over us. Fill your temple! Bring your tithes and offerings into the temple. Well, there's no temple to bring them into, is there? The temple's been destroyed. Where's the Shekinah glory? It's too late. It's already in the lives of the believers. We pray for the Shekinah glory to fill the temple. That's called personal evangelism, isn't it? That's how that takes place. Holy Spirit crusade, Holy Spirit temple, Holy Spirit filled, Holy, Holy, Spirit, Spirit, no. The Holy Spirit has been called the bashful member of the Trinity. He's not interested in self-promotion. He has his work, and he goes about it quietly. John 15, 26, Macau, John 16.8, Pastor Billy, John 16.14, Ian, and 1 John 5.7, Geshuke. We'll run by them again. John 15.26, who has that? Yeah, the Holy Spirit isn't interested in a big tent being set up with a Holy Spirit miracle crusade banner on it. The Holy Spirit testifies, and what does he testify? About Jesus. And Acts 1.8, what do people filled by the Spirit testify about? But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and what will happen? You will be one. And what is the witness? God. That's right. And this life is in His Son. That is it. We're going to have a testimony service. I got my miracle. My car. I got my miracle. My healing. I got my miracle. My job. I got my miracle. And I won the lottery. That's not biblical. That's not the testimony. The testimony is not you getting things, is it? The testimony is that God gave you something eternal life in Christ Jesus the Son. John 16.8. When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regards to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Yeah, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit crusade occurs, what will happen? People will be convicted of sin, righteousness, judgment, and come to Christ. That will be it, won't it? Now, there have been periods They were known in America as the Great Awakening of movements of the Holy Spirit. And people did weep, and did drop down on the ground, but it wasn't for wealth and power, it was under the conviction of sin. Jonathan Edwards, Charles Wesley, Greenfield would be preaching, and in the middle of their sermon, someone would cry out, but what, you know, what, tell us now. What must we do to be saved? And people would begin crying, weeping, I am a sinner. I do need to repent. And then the ushers sometimes would lead these people out of the church, where they would pray to receive Christ. And many of them would be so convicted of their sins, they would be faint. and they would need to be helped, and they would be so impressed with the presence of God that they couldn't wait until the end of the sermon, and they would run forward and throw themselves on the ground and say, be merciful to me, the sinner. That was the movement of the Holy Spirit in these places. It wasn't people speaking in unknown tongues, it wasn't people claiming their miracles and their wealth and their prosperity. It was a movement of the Holy Spirit as defined by John 16.8. And so if you were preaching and somebody cried out, oh, but what must I do to be saved? Oh, I'm so wicked. Oh, I'm afraid of the judgment. Well, that would be a work of the Holy Spirit. It conforms to the Word of God, doesn't it? Now, we know that sermons must be places of order, so you would send a deacon or someone with the gift of evangelism to see that person out and deal with them, wouldn't you? Bring them to Christ, and then what would their testimony be? I'm saved. I'm born again. God has given the eternal life. This life is their son. He who has the life He has the Son and the life. He does not have the Son, does not have life. You too come and be saved. Now that's a movement of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? If you read the book of Acts, the consistent manifestation of God the Holy Spirit was always evangelism and convergence. Particularly manifested in the work of the Holy Spirit is the conviction of sin, repentance from sin. John 16, 14. Does God the Holy Spirit want a big banner over a church? Holy Spirit miracle crusade. Get your miracle now. Is that what He wants? Does God the Holy Spirit want people seeking Him? Praising Him? glorifying Him. What does He want people to do? What does it say? He wants people to glorify Christ. If you are spirit-filled, you're not praising God for spirits and miracles and spiritism and apparitions and visions. You're talking about who? That's who the Holy Spirit talks about. He glorifies Jesus. 1 John 5.7 For there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater, because it is the testimony of God which He has given about His Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his son. And this is the testimony. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Okay? In 1 John 5, 7. John 5, 7, for they are feeling they are justified. Okay. What? First John 5. Yeah. And, and the spirit who bears witness, because the, I wonder if that is John 6. Oh. It's not 6. And it is the spirit who testifies. Okay. The spirit is the truth. Yeah. That's what I want. Yeah. No, no. That's my fault. First John 5. First John 5, 6. Yeah. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is true. God the Holy Spirit enables us to witness. He convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment. He brings glory to Christ. He bears witness of Christ. That is His work. He never takes upon a showmanship nature. You never see in the book of Acts than getting together all the people who've been raised from the dead and having a big miracle crusade, do you? God can do miracles. He heals who He wills at the time He wills it. And that's it. What our job is to do is to be a witness and to use His spiritual gifts to His glory. But God the Holy Spirit will never manifest himself in a circus atmosphere, in a TV talk show, variety show atmosphere, in a temple atmosphere. It simply will not happen. So we test the Spirit, the Spirit that is work in this meeting. What is taking place here? Is the central event, conviction of sin, and the glory of Christ, or is the central event around miracles and spiritism? That's the question. Let's look at test number eight, shall we? The fruit of the spirit of self-control, does its manifestation violate this spirit? Let's see, Macau, 1 Corinthians 9.25. 1 Corinthians 14.32, Pastor Billy, 1 Corinthians 14.33, Gesuche, 1 Corinthians 14.40, and Julie, 2 Peter 1.6. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 9.25. What does that say? They do it to get a crown that will not last forever. Yeah, strict training is that same Greek word, self-control. Whoever competes in a game exercises self-control in all areas. Self-control is a moral virtue. 1 Corinthians 9.27, it says, but I discipline myself, my body, and make it serve me, so that while preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. Self-control is a moral virtue. Look at 1 Corinthians 9.25, 1 Corinthians 14.32. Yeah, to the what of the prophet? Control. Self-control in the use of a spiritual gift is a moral virtue. Demons control people. Disciples control their gifts. Big difference, isn't it? 1 Corinthians 14.33. For God is not a god, but is God as much as a chief, as is all the congregation of saints. Yes, a spirit-controlled worship service is not one that is out of control. It is not one of chaos. That's what happens at discotheques. That's what happens at rock concerts. That's what happens at parties, isn't it? Things get out of whack. The police are watching this teenage event, maybe it's a party in a gym, maybe it's a rock concert and somebody gets a deal on this walkie-talkie. What do you think? I think things are getting out of control. Let's take control of this situation. That's not a description of a spirit-filled meeting, is it? Does it mean it has to be boring? It doesn't mean it has to be dull, but it does mean there will be no loss of control. People aren't throwing themselves on the floor, people aren't running around, people aren't screaming, people aren't howling, people aren't contorting, people aren't being carried out shaking. Those are all things that represent demonic activity. I'm not saying those people are demon possessed, I'm saying they've just allowed themselves to be deceived by demons. 1 Corinthians 14, 40. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. Yeah, that manifests the work of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. And we should think about that. Are things being done in an orderly manner? Is it fair? Is it proper? Are men and women behaving properly in how they are worshipping God? Is it being done with modesty and decorum? We should think about those things. I always think, you know, how on a rock stage, women rock stars, they hold up their arms like this and begin clapping and jumping up and down. They've got the mic in their hand. Come on everybody, let's get your hands up in the air. Why are they doing that? It's a lascivious exhibition of their bodies, isn't it? Isn't it? They know exactly what they're doing. They know exactly the changes that take place in the female body in terms of its anatomical makeup when they put their hands above their heads, clapping their heads and jumping up and down in place. They know that, don't they? And they do it to arouse the people who are there, particularly the males. So why are our female worship leaders doing the same thing? at Christian rock concerts. Fine, why would you emulate that? And then when it's over, they go and bend over and put their mics down by the speakers, and what do you see? That's wrong, isn't it? That's not the fruit of the spirit of self-control, is it? That's not everything being done in an orderly manner. And then the young men are running up and grabbing the sisters and hugging them. That's not being done with decorum, is it? And the young men are gyrating and moving, you know, and emulating the moves of pagan rock musicians. What's that done? Long hair, just like pagans, even though God the Holy Spirit says, even nature itself teaches that long hair is a disgrace for a man. And yet we supposedly have these spirit-filled evangelists and these spirit-filled rock musicians in direct violation with the written holy word of God? Where does that come from? They know that's to attract women, isn't it? Loud clothing, jewelry, shirt undone, long hair, flashy clothes, rock moves. That's what it's for, isn't it? That's wrong, isn't it? Let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner. 2 Peter 1.6. Julie, did you read that? To our knowledge, what do we act? Yes, we have never been supposed to know certain things, have we? The fruit of the spirit of self-control, it puts a hedge on our knowledge, doesn't it? What are we supposed to know? The holy, eternal, inerrant, written word of God. And we're not to go beyond that, are we? We're not to go beyond that. And to our knowledge, the Holy Spirit exercises the fruit of the spirit of self-control to keep us centered upon the revelation. of God's Word, and we do not go beyond that, and we do not manifest a loss of self-control. And I'll say it again, many of the people in the current Pentecostal movement harken back to the time of the Great Awakening in America and in England during the times of Wesley and Whitfield and and men like that, where there was a movement of the Holy Spirit. But those manifestations of the Holy Spirit always had to do with the conviction of sin, of weeping and repentance, and changed lives, not health and wealth and prosperity. And they would never, and those great revivals were never turned in to miracle crusades and rock concerts. where people were promised anything as long as they would give money. That was never the case. So in summation, let's look at the eight tests of the Spirit. One, it's a doctrinal test, the nature of God. That's clear, right? Two, a doctrinal test, the sufficiency of Christ. Three, the authority of God's Word. Does it exercise supremacy over it? Are they saying, sure, this is God's word, but now we have a new period of revelation? Four, five, authority of God's word, does it contradict God's word? God told me that my priest should no longer marry. Well, no, God didn't tell you that, a deceiving spirit told you that. God led me to divorce my wife and marry someone else. No, God didn't lead you to divorce your wife. Christ loves the Church. Sixth, fruit of the spirit of self-control. Does the gift have an animate life of its own? Is the gift being used dispassionately by the disciple, or has the disciple developed a relationship whereby the gift is using him? Fruit of the Spirit of self-control. Does the gift bring glory to itself? Does the manifestation bring glory to itself or to Jesus? Does the gift result in a conviction of sin? Does the manifestation result in a conviction of sin leading to repentance? Or is it like Satan, or saying, if you'll just involve yourself in this movement, the whole world, all the wealth in the world is available to you. And number eight, fruit of the spirit of self-control. Does it violate the fruit of the spirit of self-control? Being slain in the spirit, does that violate the fruit of the spirit of self-control? Yes it does, doesn't it? Laughing hysterically out of control. Does that violate the fruit of the Spirit? Yes, it does. Throwing yourself violently into your brothers and sisters in Christ, knocking down chairs, does that violate the fruit of the Spirit of self-control? Yes. Walking up in center stage where everybody can see you, and swooning where people just happen to be there to catch you. That's showmanship, isn't it? Does it violate the fruit of the Spirit of self-control? Yes. Dancing and gyrating wildly with no thought of decorum and modesty. Does that violate the fruit of the spirit of self-control? Yes, it does. Weeping hysterically that leads to indiscriminate embracing and physical affection as opposed to on your knees confessing your sins. It does. Speaking out in church, shouting out loudly, standing up and waving your arms where everybody can see you. Does that violate the fruit of the spirit of self-control? Is that being done in an orderly manner? No, it's not, is it? Having a gift which speaks through you, you do not know what it is saying, why it is saying, how long it will say, And it just comes upon you and then leaves. Does that violate the fruit of the Spirit of self-control? Yes. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit will not violate a fruit of the Spirit. Now that's very clear to us when it comes to love, isn't it? It's less clear when it comes to self-control because we live in a licentious, uncontrolled spiritist world, don't we? And being self-controlled is viewed as a dead work, isn't it? Disciplined, self-controlled, dead works. But self-control is a virtue. Being a self-controlled person is a virtuous person. Hey, we'll stop here and take a break.