"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:11-12).
We see how the Spirit purges things, always has--always will.
And Hebrews 9:14 is something you ought to memorize or consider. What a blessing! When you grow in the Lord, you are not going to know everything right away--sometimes it gets confusing--but you just ask God and tell Him that you need some understanding, and it will be like a light bulb that turns on. Things will start to become clear. Just like His will for your life--when you surrender to it--there will be a time when you will know it.
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14).
A lot of argument about who wrote this--I'm still sticking with Paul. I'm telling you what, just think about Paul on the road to Damascus. Very religious man, putting people in prison, consenting to the death of people because of this Messiah, Jesus Christ. And Who meets him on that road, Jesus Christ. And what is his first prayer? "Lord!" Almost like the thief on the cross, "Lord!" Right?
Now, you think about his ministry. Him going hither and yon . . . throughout the continent over there. He might have even made it to Spain. And going to all those places on the boat and everything. Do you think for a minute that faces didn't flash through his mind of people and families being torn apart? How about Stephen? He was holding his garments while they were stoning him to death. You don't think that the devil didn't bring that stuff up? And then the verses that Paul talks about on how he learned stuff. What did he learn how to be? He learned to be content. Always remember that word, "learned" . . . if they took that word out, you'd just say, 'My goodness, I must not be saved because I'm sure not learning this.' But what you think is, when you got the whole ball of wax, after you got saved, "Why aren't you content?"
Paul said he 'learned' it. That's experience. That means that there was a time when he was not content. And when it talks about how he glories in his infirmities--that's plural, folks--that's not just his eyeballs. They theorize-and it makes sense-that he saw a great light, everyone around him was blinded. His eyes were probably messed up. He was blinded because of that light. He probably had some kind of eye disease, because he said that the letter he was writing now-I'm writing in my own hand-giant writing. But Paul didn't say a 'infirmity', he said 'infirmities.' But he did have a specific 'thorn in his flesh'given him by the devil, and he sought Christ thrice Who said, 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
Now you and I are human. Paul is human. Why might Paul have been burdened down to have to come to God for that. Why would he even do that? Because he had the power to heal people. Do you understand that? If I'm going around and I'm healing people, and I got this problem, "Lord? Hey! I'm down here. What's going on! I'm healing everybody--how about me? A little help here. And then for God to tell him that . . . and Paul says, "Okay, It's sufficient." But he learned to be content.
We see how the Spirit purges things, always has--always will.
And Hebrews 9:14 is something you ought to memorize or consider. What a blessing! When you grow in the Lord, you are not going to know everything right away--sometimes it gets confusing--but you just ask God and tell Him that you need some understanding, and it will be like a light bulb that turns on. Things will start to become clear. Just like His will for your life--when you surrender to it--there will be a time when you will know it.
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14).
A lot of argument about who wrote this--I'm still sticking with Paul. I'm telling you what, just think about Paul on the road to Damascus. Very religious man, putting people in prison, consenting to the death of people because of this Messiah, Jesus Christ. And Who meets him on that road, Jesus Christ. And what is his first prayer? "Lord!" Almost like the thief on the cross, "Lord!" Right?
Now, you think about his ministry. Him going hither and yon . . . throughout the continent over there. He might have even made it to Spain. And going to all those places on the boat and everything. Do you think for a minute that faces didn't flash through his mind of people and families being torn apart? How about Stephen? He was holding his garments while they were stoning him to death. You don't think that the devil didn't bring that stuff up? And then the verses that Paul talks about on how he learned stuff. What did he learn how to be? He learned to be content. Always remember that word, "learned" . . . if they took that word out, you'd just say, 'My goodness, I must not be saved because I'm sure not learning this.' But what you think is, when you got the whole ball of wax, after you got saved, "Why aren't you content?"
Paul said he 'learned' it. That's experience. That means that there was a time when he was not content. And when it talks about how he glories in his infirmities--that's plural, folks--that's not just his eyeballs. They theorize-and it makes sense-that he saw a great light, everyone around him was blinded. His eyes were probably messed up. He was blinded because of that light. He probably had some kind of eye disease, because he said that the letter he was writing now-I'm writing in my own hand-giant writing. But Paul didn't say a 'infirmity', he said 'infirmities.' But he did have a specific 'thorn in his flesh'given him by the devil, and he sought Christ thrice Who said, 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
Now you and I are human. Paul is human. Why might Paul have been burdened down to have to come to God for that. Why would he even do that? Because he had the power to heal people. Do you understand that? If I'm going around and I'm healing people, and I got this problem, "Lord? Hey! I'm down here. What's going on! I'm healing everybody--how about me? A little help here. And then for God to tell him that . . . and Paul says, "Okay, It's sufficient." But he learned to be content.
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