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[0:00] Well, we are looking at what does a godly man look like from Thomas Watson's book, The Godly Man's Picture. This morning we are looking at two more features. Two more features. The godly man loves the Word of God and the godly man has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.

[0:20] So he loves the Word of God and he has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Take your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 59 and verse 20.

[0:32] Isaiah 59, 20. We actually looked at this verse on Wednesday night, but I want to look at it again. The whole of Isaiah 59 is basically the Lord is going to come to Israel.

[0:48] The Lord has come to Israel and he was looking for justice. He was looking for righteousness and he didn't find any.

[1:00] He came looking for good fruit and he found nothing but bad fruit. He found people loving lies, hating justice. And this is what it says in 59 verse 5.

[1:15] They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Their plans are like snake eggs, poisonous snake eggs.

[1:27] And their clothing, their righteousness is nothing but spider webs. It doesn't cover them. But the Lord is coming. And in the Old Testament, the Lord's first and second coming are not yet distinguished or differentiated.

[1:44] That's why when John the Baptist came, he said the Lord is going to bring, he's going to baptize with fire, with judgment, and with the Holy Spirit.

[1:57] So the Lord is coming. He's coming to judge and to save. And when he comes, everything is going to change. The Old Covenant is going to give way to the New Covenant. And things are going to be different.

[2:10] Now that's the context. Now look at verse 20, 59-20. The Redeemer will come to Zion and to those in Jacob who repent of their sins, declares the Lord.

[2:25] As for me, this is my covenant with him, says the Lord. My spirit who is on you and my words that I have put in your mouth. So in other words, the spirit that made a prophet, a prophet, is going to come on them.

[2:43] And the words, the word of God that I have put in your mouth, I have put in your mouth, will not leave from your mouth or from the mouths of your children or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever, says the Lord.

[2:56] So my spirit will come and he'll never leave you. And my word that I have put into your mouth will be in their mouths.

[3:09] So they're going to have the Holy Spirit in them and they're going to have the word of God in their mouths. Now that's why godliness is going to come to Israel.

[3:21] Remember, nothing before that was godly. They're hating justice. They're loving lies. They're hatching the eggs of vipers. That's why godliness is going to come to Israel. That's how godliness comes to the souls of men, because God's spirit and God's word comes into a man.

[3:40] First, the Holy Spirit, and then he prepares the ground for the word of God. And so the godly man we're going to look at first. He loves the word of God.

[3:50] He loves the word of God. Are you a godly man? One test. We're looking in the mirror.

[4:02] We're looking at this picture of the godly man. The godly man loves, actually, the word of God. John Bunyan described the true pastor, and he said he has the best of books is in his hands.

[4:18] The best of books is in his hands. And Watson is saying that is true of all of the godly. It's not just true of godly pastors. It's true of all godly men. They love, they use, they care about the word of God.

[4:33] It's Psalm 100 in 1997, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. It's what I'm thinking about.

[4:47] God's word is like the godly man's lover. It's always on his mind. He's always thinking about it.

[4:58] He can't get it out of his head. He loves the word of God. And when you love something, your mind dwells upon it. And the godly man's mind dwells, rests, delights in the word of God.

[5:13] John Chrysostom, who was one of the greatest preachers of the early church, he said the word of God is a garden filled with all kinds of beautiful and different flowers.

[5:29] And the godly man loves to walk in the garden. And the godly man loves to smell all the different kinds. They're different. But he can stop and he can smell and he can enjoy any part of the word of God.

[5:45] So he loves, the godly man loves what the Bible teaches. The Bible's teaching, the Bible's counseling. How may the young direct his path?

[5:57] That's the question Psalm 119 asks. How may the not so young direct their path? Well, it's the word of God.

[6:09] It's the word of God. God's word will be his guide, telling him where to go. GPS has changed my life for the better.

[6:22] Maps are good. GPS is better. In half a mile, turn right. And in half a mile, turn right. Okay, I'm ready.

[6:34] And I don't have to wonder. And I don't have to have a hundred different maps. I just have to have my phone. Half a mile, turn right on Sanford Street or whatever.

[6:46] And I don't have to worry about getting it wrong. Because Google has figured it out. And very rarely, very, very rarely is it wrong. I think it used to be a little rougher back in the day.

[6:57] But they have really perfected it. It's done the calculations. It knows how I should go. It knows how, if I want to avoid tolls, which way I should go. And it knows if I don't want to avoid tolls, I just want to get there as quickly as possible.

[7:12] It knows which way to go. It knows where the speed traps are. Have you ever done that? You're driving around and all of a sudden there's a speed trap warning on your phone.

[7:23] And you say, oh, I've got to slow down because someone has reported there's a police officer nearby. I'm sure you never have done that. That's why I love it.

[7:35] It teaches me the way to go. It shows me the way to go. No more getting lost. And the best thing of all, it's no more worry and fretting and arguing with my wife about which way to go.

[7:50] The godly man loves God's word because that's what God's word is to him. It teaches him how to live. It's a map of life.

[8:01] It's a rule of life. And so John Wesley, you remember, he said, then give me that book. Then give me that book. If this is the way, if this is telling me how I should live, then give me that book.

[8:16] And that's what every godly man says. Now, the godly man loves the teaching parts of God's word. The godly man loves the warning parts of God's word. So going back to that, hey, there's a police officer ahead.

[8:29] That's a warning. And it scares me. And so I slow down. And it keeps me out of trouble. The godly man loves the warning parts of God's word.

[8:41] By it, your servant is warned. The warning parts can be fearful. It can be fearful. And that's what they're supposed to be.

[8:53] We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

[9:15] The word of God says, pay attention or you are not going to escape. You're not going to escape. You are going to receive punishment.

[9:26] You will be destroyed like those who didn't listen to the word of God when it came to Moses on Mount Sinai. That message was attended by angels. And that's what he's talking about. And if they didn't escape when angels came, Hebrews is saying, how will we, even greater than that, how will we escape when the Son of God came?

[9:49] So that's threatening. That's warning. And it's not like a mild slap on the hands. He's talking about death, destruction, utter ruin. How will we escape?

[10:01] Now how can I love it when it's telling me something like that? Well, by it, your servant is warned. If you've been to the Grand Canyon, you know all along the edge there's signs.

[10:16] There's guardrails telling you to stay back. Stay back from the edge. Don't go any closer than this. And it's good that they're there.

[10:30] It's supposed to be threatening. It's supposed to create some fear in you. And that's good because it keeps you from falling off the edge and never coming back.

[10:44] And so a godly man knows that there is love. There's love. There's mercy in every threat. This is what Watson says.

[10:58] God, therefore, mercifully threatens us so that he may scare us away from sin. God's threats are like the buoy which shows the rocks in the sea and threatens death to all who come near.

[11:16] Do we hate the lighthouse? Do we hate the buoy because it's saying there's rocks there? Or do we have a proper fear and respect and we're glad that it's there? That's how the godly man feels about the word of the warnings.

[11:32] There's mercy in every threat. So he loves it. The godly man loves the promises of God. That's one of the best things that we do here from time to time.

[11:44] Is we talk about what are some promises. And we have you echo back some and you tell us your favorite promises. We talk about, okay, here's the situation. What promises do we have?

[11:57] And you talk about it and we get a lot of feedback when that happens. The godly man loves the promises of God. God, because they aren't voices coming from far away, he's now taken them into his heart.

[12:09] He's put them on his lap. These things are good. And I count on them. I live with, he lives with them. He cradles them in his heart. He lives with them day by day.

[12:19] Watson says they are the cure for all of his troubles. Whatever trouble we have, there's a promise. And the godly man loves those promises. The godly man loves the gospel, which is the central message of the entire Bible.

[12:38] The whole Bible is pointing to Jesus, the Messiah. Remember at the very end of Luke, Jesus is walking with his disciples and he goes and he tells them everything that was written about him and Moses and the prophets.

[12:53] The whole message of the Bible, the hub, is Jesus. So he saves his people from their sins. The one who was born, the one who lived, the one who died, the one who lives again and lives again for them.

[13:10] The godly man can't get over the gospel. That's a bellwether thing. That's a thermometer.

[13:22] Am I in good shape? What do I think about the gospel? How do I feel about the gospel? Do I wish I loved it? Do I wish I believed it more? Or is it take it or leave it?

[13:33] I love that about many of you. You never get tired of hearing the gospel. I never get tired of preaching the gospel. I love that you never get tired of hearing it. It can be new every time.

[13:44] It can be happy every time. And the godly man is always going back to that gospel. Tell me that old, old story. It's his encouragement when he's overcome with sin.

[13:59] It's his encouragement in days of trouble. It's his encouragement in everything that he faces. It's how he sees God. I can't think of, it was maybe three or four years ago, we talked about the cruciform life.

[14:13] And what that meant was looking at all of life, looking at God, looking at ourselves, looking at everything around us through the lens of the cross, through the cross.

[14:26] That's the cruciform life. And that's how the godly man really looks at everything. When he thinks of God, he thinks of him through the cross.

[14:37] Is my God a terrible enemy, a brooding judge, or is he my father, my loving father, who so loved me that he gave up his son as a sacrifice for me?

[14:52] He looks at God's heart through the cross, through the gospel. So again, tell me that old, old story. The godly man loves the gospel.

[15:02] Now, how does the godly man show that he loves the word of God? Again, this is a lot of information.

[15:14] Watson is very thorough. But again, test your own hearts and look at yourself. See which way you have grown, which you are growing.

[15:29] How does he love God's word? How does he show it? Well, he reads it. He reads it. You'll find the godly man reading God's word.

[15:42] The noble Bereans searched the scriptures daily. Apollos was mighty in the scriptures. Paul said, bring me my parchments, especially my scrolls.

[15:54] He said, here I am in prison. I have time. I want the word of God. I want the word of God. I want to read God's word. The word shows what is truth and what is error.

[16:09] It's the field where the pearl of price is hidden. So how should we dig for this pearl? A godly man's heart is the library to hold the word of God. It dwells richly in him.

[16:21] Is your heart a library of God's word? A godly man loves to hear the preaching of God's word. The preaching of God's word is the great sort of equalizer.

[16:34] Because honestly, we're not all as good of readers as others. For some folks, that's harder. I think even back in history when illiteracy was a major problem and people couldn't read the word of God.

[16:49] The godly man, even if he can't read, he loves to hear the preaching of God's word. He loves to hear the expounding and the explaining of God's word.

[17:02] The godly man meditates on God's word. It's not that he knows that he should. He actually thinks about it. And so whenever a situation comes up, he is thinking of the word of God.

[17:15] He's thinking about a proverb. He's thinking about a psalm. He's thinking about something that happened in the gospel. He meditates on the word of God. And so he has deep thoughts.

[17:26] He has slow thoughts. The word of God is the crock pot of his mind. And his mind is slowly cooking in the word of God.

[17:38] Or another way to look at it. Jeff, Gertner, what happens when you put meat in your smoker? What happens to that meat? It cooks? How's that different from just putting it on the stove?

[17:54] How does it enhance it? Oops, sorry. I'm not sure what you're learning. Like, does the smoker add flavor? How does it add flavor?

[18:07] With the wood. And what happens to the wood and the smoke? Does it go into the meat? Yeah. It permeates the meat. I've got to scratch that off my notes.

[18:20] Never to do it again. It permeates the meat. So the meat is not like... Sorry, I just thought of something about the British and boiling beef.

[18:34] It's not that. It adds flavor. And the word of God is now permeated this godly man. The godly man delights in it.

[18:47] He enjoys God's word. It's not a love without a delight. It's not a delight. Sometimes the best thing it does is say...

[18:59] What is so wonderful about it sometimes is what it says. Sometimes the fact is, this is the truth. It's just the truth. And I love it.

[19:11] Because it's telling me what's real. Maybe I don't like what it says. Maybe I don't understand it all. But it's true. And I love it.

[19:23] How does he love it? He delights in it. He hides it in his heart. And Watson does something very interesting. He doesn't say this is memorization.

[19:35] I think we naturally assume that's what it is. But he doesn't make that equation. Watson says, Many hide the word in their memory, but not in their heart.

[19:47] They hide it in their memory, but not in their heart. Now, I don't know if there's one without the other, but it's not much good if it's just up here.

[20:00] But you have it hidden in it like a treasure in your heart. The godly man hides it in his heart. It's like the rings, your rings in a jewelry box, or how you keep your precious pictures or your most important documents in a safe.

[20:18] You say, These are special. I have to put them away where they'll be safe. And the word of God, he hides that in his heart. So his heart is the safe.

[20:29] His heart is the treasure box. His heart is the whatever those things are at the bank, the lock boxes. It's that. And he puts the word of God there because it's precious.

[20:39] It's valuable. When I was in Ethiopia, it was the only time I really traveled in a foreign, very different, and somewhat frightening.

[20:52] And you just needed to make sure that all your stuff was there and on hand. I carried all of my precious things, my ID, my passport, and one of these secret belt things.

[21:07] And you tuck it into your pants. And so what do I have in there? I have my passport, and I have my credit cards, and I have a big stack of cash, and I have things that I cannot lose.

[21:20] Like, I can afford to lose things. I can afford to have stuff stolen out of my room. I can afford to have some things pickpocketed if that were to happen. These things I cannot lose.

[21:31] So they're in there. They're tucked in there. And so I kept them close all the time. And that's what the godly man does with the word of God. He treasures it up. He puts a high value on it, and he hides it, and he protects it in his heart.

[21:45] The godly man shows that he loves it by talking about it. A businessman loves to talk about business. A rich man loves to talk about riches. A sports fan loves to talk about sports. And he loves to talk about the word of God.

[22:06] So what does the godly man look like? Well, he loves the word of God. It's his friend. It's his touchstone.

[22:17] It's his lover. It's his guide. It's his GPS. It's his medicine. He loves all of it. He loves the law. He loves the gospel.

[22:27] He loves the promises. He loves its directions. He loves its warnings. He reads it. He loves to hear it preached. He loves it for what it is.

[22:39] Every word from your mouth. Oh, if it's from your mouth, I love it. He loves it for what it does. It comforts him and warns him and protects him and teaches him and encourages him.

[22:54] They said, John Bunyan, again, he bled Bibleen. In other words, he was just filled up with the word of God. And he was a godly man.

[23:07] He was a godly man. So what does the godly man look like? He loves the word of God. What does the godly man look like? He has the Holy Spirit living in him.

[23:20] The Holy Spirit lives in him. He's not. The Holy Spirit in the godly man is not a dormant resident.

[23:34] He's not some sort of dormant bacteria that doesn't do anything. That has no effect on him. The Holy Spirit in the godly man is not a sleepy, inactive resident.

[23:49] That you can't tell he's there or not. No, he lives inside the godly man. And the Holy Spirit is always working in him. So you go to the godly man and you listen.

[24:02] And you know what you hear? You hear construction. You hear saws and drills and hammers. The Spirit of God is at work making a home for himself. And he's renovating.

[24:13] And he's renewing. And he's refurbishing this man so that he's now a good place for the Holy Spirit to live. And so you go to the godly man and you know what you hear?

[24:24] You hear construction. You know what you hear? You hear a teacher teaching. So you hear a mother teaching. You hear a father teaching.

[24:34] You hear a friend encouraging. A mother comforting. A father warning. You go to the godly man and you know what you see? You see the Holy Spirit shining out of him. The Holy Spirit is a star in this godly man's heart.

[24:47] And he comes. You can see the Holy Spirit at work. I'm just thinking of Christine Peterson again.

[25:00] Maybe some of you didn't know her all that well. But if you did know her, the thing that would strike you was her joy. Her joy.

[25:11] And I asked her daughter Marcy, what was she like? And what I thought of when I was thinking about doing the funeral and what I need to say and what do I think about Christine? I thought of joy.

[25:22] That was number one on my list. And then I asked Marcy, what was your mother like? And you know, I didn't know what to, maybe it was something different. And she said, oh, she was so joyful. She wasn't a complainer.

[25:34] She was so friendly and kind. The Holy Spirit was glowing out of her. That's what the Holy Spirit is inside the godly man.

[25:50] You can't help but see he's present. He's present. So he's working. How do you know the how do you know the spirit is in this godly man?

[26:02] The spirit moves him to action. He is this. He moves this godly man to action.

[26:13] He again, he's not an inert force living, but not making his presence felt or known or seen. When he when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, it was clear.

[26:27] And when the Holy Spirit comes into a man, it's clear there. Once there was death and darkness and deceit. And now there's lie or there's love and there's joy and there's peace.

[26:38] The fruit of the spirit. That's not the flesh at work. That is not the same old, same old. That is the Holy Spirit at work.

[26:49] Changing a man's mind. Changing his heart. Changing his affections. There's no lived out godliness. Other than through the work of the Holy Spirit on reliance on the Holy Spirit.

[27:04] So the godly man or the spirit teaches the godly man. How do you know the godly man when you see him? The spirit is teaching him. Again, the Holy Spirit is not just silence.

[27:16] He's not just this inert thing living in us. He's a person. And he has a ministry. And the godly man is his student. The godly woman is his student.

[27:29] His charge. The spirit is the teacher or the tutor. John 16.8. He doesn't just teach vaguely and generally. He teaches convincingly. Remember what Jesus says.

[27:40] The Holy Spirit makes us really get it. That's something that no teacher really can do. The Holy Spirit can though. When he comes, Jesus says, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.

[27:59] He will convict. That means he will convince. He's a teacher that convinces us of the truth. The new covenant promises that they will all know the Lord.

[28:10] And so Jeremiah says, No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother saying, Know the Lord. No more of this.

[28:22] You don't know the Lord. There won't be any brother saying, You should know the Lord because they will all know me from the least to the greatest. The least to the greatest.

[28:35] They all know. The spirit teaches. The spirit teaches the youngest, The least saint. Maybe there's a five-year-old little boy who the Holy Spirit is inside, And that little boy is just beginning to learn what godliness is.

[28:55] The Holy Spirit is teaching him at a kindergarten level. And this Holy Spirit isn't just teaching at the kindergarten spiritual level. He's an upper-level Ph.D. candidate, college-level professor.

[29:10] To some, he's teaching upper-level godliness. And to some, he's teaching the ABCs and the 1-2-3s. But the Holy Spirit is at work.

[29:21] Why aren't you what you used to be 20 years ago? Is it really all your effort? And all your work? You have to say, No, the Holy Spirit is at work in me.

[29:34] The Holy Spirit is giving him life. Reviving. Reviving. Bringing life to the soul of man.

[29:45] When your heart is bowed down. You have no energy. You have no life. You're listless.

[29:56] You're discouraged. And you're feeling weak and maybe anxious. Does the Holy Spirit just sit back there and say, Well, I hope he digs himself out of that hole.

[30:08] No, the Holy Spirit lifts him up. The Holy Spirit revives that man. So he doesn't stay down. You know in Ezekiel, that picture of the valley full of dry bones.

[30:22] That's what we all were in our sin. But in another way, that's what we can get back to. Where we have so little life. We're just like those skeletons.

[30:35] And the Spirit blows. And he brings life. So it's not just once at the beginning. But it's again and again. And this reviving. This encouraging.

[30:46] Oh, I don't have desires. But now I do. I'm so discouraged. I'm weighed down because of my sin. And now, oh, he lifts me up. I'm so tired.

[30:58] I just don't have what it takes to live this anymore. I just want this to be over. I want to go on a vacation. And the Holy Spirit comes in. And he brings Christ. In a new, fresh way.

[31:10] Into that man. And that man is encouraged. That woman is encouraged. The Holy Spirit rules. In the godly man. He rules. Like a governor.

[31:22] He brings every thought captive. To Jesus Christ. So in one sense. Jesus is the king. And the Holy Spirit is. Is the governor. Of that province.

[31:33] And he is in your heart. And he's saying. You need to obey the king. And he brings every thought captive. To Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit softens. The godly man. He.

[31:46] He says. I will give you a heart of flesh. As opposed to a heart of stone. And again. That's not just. One time. That. That's. Ongoing.

[31:58] And so he takes a flinty heart. A hard heart. A heart of granite. And he turns it into a fleshy. Soft. Receptive. Receiving. Heart. You know.

[32:12] It's the difference between. Trying to. Carve. A piece of hard marble. And. And then. A child.

[32:23] Molding. Her play-doh. At the kitchen table. The Holy Spirit. Makes our hearts. Soft. And receptive. You can't very well.

[32:34] Make a. A snake. Out of. Granite. Or out of marble. But. The four year old. Can take. Her play-doh. And roll out a snake. In 15 seconds.

[32:44] The Holy Spirit. Takes our hard hearts. And makes them. Soft. And receptive. To the word of God. And so you've been there. You're. You're. You're. Hard against God.

[32:57] As good as dead. On the ground. Log on the ground. And. And God's judgments. Don't scare you anymore. And God's love. And God's promises. Don't move you anymore.

[33:08] Oh. What can help this. Poor sinner. What can help us. When we're. In that state. Well. The Holy Spirit. He doesn't just move out.

[33:19] He comes in. And he softens us. So now we're receptive. Again. And the word of God. Comes in. And it finds us. A home. You remember.

[33:32] David. After Bathsheba. He. He was hard. After his sin. With Bathsheba. And his. The murder of Uriah. He was hard. And then the spirit.

[33:42] Came with Nathan. The prophet. And softened. David's heart. To receive. The warning. To receive. Nathan's. Words.

[33:55] You know. As pastors. Or as parents. Or as teachers. You just. You become. More and more. More convinced. That all you can do.

[34:07] Is say words. I think. In the beginning. Of things. You kind of think. That your words. Are going to have. Some sort of. Omnipotence. And you just.

[34:18] Realize. After a while. They don't. We can bring. A word. And we are supposed to. And God. Uses. Those words. But all we can do.

[34:29] Is bring the word. The spirit. Has to soften. The heart. Heart. The spirit. Has to make the heart. Receptive. And to soften it. So that. The word. Can find a home.

[34:42] What else. We have to keep going here. Really quick. The spirit. Lives inside the man. And helps him. And strengthens him. Again. It's not just us.

[34:55] Just. It's not just us. Alone. Second. Timothy. One. Seven. He is the spirit. Of power. Remember. Timothy. Is maybe. Maybe a little.

[35:05] Of a timid. Kind of guy. He's. He's. He's not going to. Thrust himself. On there. He's not the most. Confident person. That's going to just. Make people. He doesn't have. An overpowering. Personality.

[35:16] But. This is where Paul says. Timothy. Remember. You haven't received. A spirit. Of timidity. And fear. You've received. A spirit. Of power. The Holy Spirit. Ephesians 3. 16. Paul says.

[35:27] Strengthened. With might. By his spirit. In the inner man. The Holy Spirit. Has access. To the engine. Of our heart. And he can. Turbocharge it. So that we have.

[35:38] Might. In our inner man. We might. Just be. Little yugos. In ourselves. But. He makes us. Into. Big engines.

[35:49] He can. Strengthen us. In our. And so. In our. In our inner man. And so. Duties. Meet the godly man. Hard duties. Sudden duties. Surprising duties. And.

[36:01] The first thing is. Is it feels like. The bottom. The floor gets. Taken out from under you. And you feel like. Oh no. What can I do? I don't have what it takes. You weren't ready for it.

[36:13] I wasn't ready for the funeral. I wasn't ready for that phone call on Monday. And on top of everything I had else to do. And Wednesday night and Sunday school.

[36:23] And I'm preaching later. And on top of everything else. But you know what? Praise God. And I mean this absolutely sincerely. Praise God. The spirit has enough strength.

[36:34] And the spirit knows how to hold up the one end of the cross. The spirit upheld Jesus while he was on the cross. He helped and sustained Jesus in his greatest weakness.

[36:46] In his greatest hour of need. It says who through the eternal spirit. Offered himself up to God. The spirit sustained the man Jesus.

[36:58] And strengthened the son of God on the cross. To bear the weight. To finish the task. And so it was with the spirit's help and might. Jesus was able to say it is finished. And so it was with Christ.

[37:13] So it is with all of his people. So it is with us. The spirit is not dormant. He's living in us. And he's active. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

[37:24] The spirit of wisdom and understanding. The spirit of counsel and might. So bring your hard surprising duties. Whatever they are.

[37:36] The things that feel so demanding. Bring them. And realize the Holy Spirit is in me. And he is strong. There's more.

[37:47] The spirit comforts the godly man. The godly man has comfort that no man knows. There are places in the man's heart. That other people cannot know.

[37:57] Cannot reach. But the Holy Spirit is called the comforter. So when that man is sinful. And fallen into sin. The Holy Spirit brings precious comfort. 1 John 1.9.

[38:09] The Holy Spirit says remember it. Oh remember Jesus on the cross. The Holy Spirit knows. How to comfort the sinner. He comforts us by assuring us.

[38:23] By saying God is my father. God is your father. Remember that. I'm a child of God. I'm a child of the heavenly father. And so the Holy Spirit is the spirit of adoption.

[38:36] And sonship. And so when we feel insecure. And afraid. And alone. Or threatened. Or we're remembering bad things that happened. And we're growing fearful. The spirit can comfort us.

[38:49] And he comforts us by pouring out the love of God into our hearts. The love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5.5.

[39:02] What comfort. When the Holy Spirit says. This is how much God loves you. And it's not just with words. But it's actually with a felt sense.

[39:13] Spiritual sense. He pours it out into our hearts. And like the woman. Who broke open that jar of oil. And the scent filled the room. The Holy Spirit knows how to fill the heart of a man.

[39:25] With the love of God. And so you can't help. But notice. Oh he loves me. So.

[39:39] That's what the Holy Spirit is doing in the godly man. There's a lot going on inside of a godly man. That you just can't see on the outside. He has depth.

[39:52] That other people just don't have. So. You see the spirit is living. And he's active in the godly man.

[40:02] And I want to say. If you're a Christian here. This is true of you. This is true of you. To one degree or another. This is true of you. This is the promise.

[40:14] And. Either God's an absolute liar. Or it's true of you. So. Godly man. Godly woman. This is who you are. This is who you are.

[40:26] And so I want you to. To take heart. Take heart. And treasure. What. God has given you. Treasure it. You've been sealed.

[40:38] With the Holy Spirit. So this is God's sealed. His promise. His guaranteed covenant. With you. You have his spirit. Inside of you. And you have his word. In your mouth.

[40:49]  Well. Go in the joy of it. Go in the joy of it. We're dismissed. Go in the joy of it.