Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children… For every moral virtue, for the first germ of spiritual life, for growth, development, usefulness and increase we are dependent on the Holy Spirit. The great want of the times. I. Is THE HOLY SPIRIT AVAILABLE? Can His presence be secured? Surely. 1. If we consider the character of God, His universal beneficence, His desire to make His sentient and intelligent creatures happy, we need have no doubt. 2. This argument gains force in the light of God's great love in giving His Son for the reclamation of His lost race. If willing to make the greater sacrifice, will He not be willing to make the less? 3. Our argument as to the availability of the Holy Spirit becomes absolutely conclusive when we consider that He is the promised and special gift both of the Father and of the Son. II. HOW SHALL WE CONSCIOUSLY REALIZE THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT? 1. Common interest and sympathy, and united prayer. 2. Avoidance of all known sins. 3. A sense of need, of dependence, of meekness, of unworthiness, of penitence, and an earnest heart-cry for help. (S. D. Burchard, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? |
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