The River

 

A  person  cannot believe in Jesus Christ without  the  Holy Spirit  in  him. According to Scripture a person cannot  in honesty  proclaim Jesus is God nor can he or she understand the  Scriptures. Receiving the  Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit is the first step. To receive Him we first have to know that we are not saved and have to recognize that we need a Savior because we have sinned and can't save ourselves. Next we have to realize that Jesus Christ of Nazareth paid the penalty for our sins. We have to accept Him completely as our Deliverer. After we fully accept Jesus Christ with the understanding that He is God in the flesh, we receive the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit takes the throne in an individual's heart communication begins between the person and God begins through the Holy Spirit. We have become reconciled to God at that point. And after that Luke 4:4 states that we are to live by every Word of God. Matthew 4:4 "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by  bread  alone, but by every word that proceedeth  out  of  the mouth  of  God."

The New Testament,  the  Word of Jesus, was written by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles and it is the river of pure water which flows into our hearts to heal us and cleanse us. Opting for any other teaching is pollution  that contaminates.

The `River' is a popular trend today which is misrepresented and tends to be confusing. There is no life in artificial  food, no more than there is life in artificial Gospel. "Jesus answered and  said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words:  and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make  our abode  with  him."  (John 14:23)

`Will' is  future  tense.  Jesus implies that we open the door to Him first. How can a man or woman  keep His words if the Bible is gender neutral as the new Bibles are proposed or has  been tampered with in any way to make it politically correct. It  will mean darkness to potential believers.

Here  is  why  we must do what He says or  take  the  consequences.  "For  even Christ pleased not himself; but,  as  it  is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me." (Romans 15:3) How can we tell that we have the Holy Spirit? He grieves  in our hearts (see Romans 9:2) as well as brings joy (John 9:2).  

He witnesses  the  truth through us on occasions. Some of  His  nine gifts  will  be active and most of all, a  conversion  has  taken place. We indeed have become new creatures in Him. Paul so eloquently states exactly how we ourselves can  know we have the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 "For the love of Christ  constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one  died for  all,  then were all dead:

"And [that] he died for  all,  that they  which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,  but unto  him which died for them, and rose again.  Wherefore  henceforth  know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have  known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we [him] no more.

"Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature:  old things  are passed away; behold, all things are become  new.  And all  things  [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to  Himself  by Jesus  Christ, and hath given to us the ministry  of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world  unto Himself,  not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath  committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [you] by us: we pray [you]  in  Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For  He  hath made  Him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we  might  be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

 

The Holy Ghost Is The Final Call

 

Why did Jesus also call the Holy Spirit "the Comforter"? The Greek  word used here is Parakletos (#3875), to call hither,  the Greek  writing of a legal advisor, a pleader, proxy or  advocate, one  who comes forward on behalf of and as the representative of another.  Thus in 1 John 2:1, Christ is termed our  substitutionary, intercessory advocate.

Christ designates the Holy Spirit  as "Paraclete",  equal  with Himself, God. (1 John  2:1).  This  new Paraclete,  the  Holy  Spirit, was to  witness  concerning  Jesus Christ (John 14:26; 16:7, 14) and to glorify Him. The Holy Spirit is  called a Paraclete because He undertakes Christ's  office  in the world while Christ is away from the world as the God-Man.  

He is also called the Paraclete because He acts as Christ's substitute on earth. When Christ, in John 14:16, designates Himself  at the  same time as the Paraclete, the word must not be  understood as  applying to Christ in the same sense as in 1 John 2:1,  where it is used with the meaning of our substitutionary Advocate,  but rather  as He who pleads God's cause with us (see  John  14:7-9).

(a) "He will reprove the world of sin. The word reprove in Greek is  Elegcho; to reprove with conviction upon the  offender (Luke 3:19;  Eph. 5:11, 13)

(b) "Reprove" means to speak to  in  disapproval.  In  this scriptural case the Holy  Spirit  convicts the world  of  its sinfulness in rejecting Christ, because  there  is still  hope  for unbelievers. Because of God's mercy  and  Jesus' willingness to intercede and His forgiving heart, Jesus quoted in Matthew  12:32

"And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son  of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this  world, neither  in the world] to come." The Holy  Ghost is  the final call. If we reject Him, we can't be forgiven  after that.  If He doesn't convict us, there is no one else to  convict us.

"Jesus  .. said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep  my words:  and my Father will love him, and we will come  unto  him, and make our abode with him." (John 14:23)
when  He said my yoke is easy (see Matthew 11:30) he  meant  that our lives would run so much smoother if we let Him do the directing  and  coaching. He is omniscient and a God of  miracles.  Who could take better care over our affairs? He brings down the hills and  brings up the valleys, by which He becomes as real to us  as our  image in the mirror.

Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father unto me, so I speak." (John 12:44-50)

 

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