"Indwelling and Infilling"

Pastor Bob Yandian

Luke, chapter 10. Last week we began discussing the parable of the Good Samaritan. We began in verse 30, so let's begin there.

"And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead."

Now, who was the man that went from Jerusalem to Jericho? Adam. We pointed that out, that he was placed on this earth. Notice "a certain man." He's speaking of a specific individual. And we found out this man that was placed there is Adam, and Jesus in this parable is giving a breakdown of dispensations all the way from the time of Adam till the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in a short story, he brings about man's fall and man's redemption. He went from Jerusalem, the city of peace, to Jericho, a place called the bloody way, and there he was attacked by thieves.

Now, who is the thief? Satan is the thief, and notice that the thieves, Satan and his demons, did three things to this man and that's the threefold curse of the law. First of all, they stripped him of his raiment. That's poverty. Next of all, they wounded him. That's sickness. And finally, thirdly, they departed, leaving him half dead.

Remember that God told Adam and Eve, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." And we know that when Adam partook of the fruit and Eve partook of the fruit, they died spiritually but they were still alive physically. And so we know that at the moment they partook of the fruit, they were half dead.

My friend, there are half dead people walking all over this earth today, alive physically but dead spiritually, and you see, not only did that represent Adam in the road, but from that point on, it's going to represent all of humanity. The Bible says, "For as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, for that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

And so this man laying there in the road not only represents Adam, it represents all of mankind that was fallen in Adam.

All right, the next verse goes on to say, "And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

"And likewise a Levite, when he was come to the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side."

Who are the priest and the Levite a type of? The law. And the law couldn't help. Notice the law had nothing to offer. The law could only pass by on the other side, but thank the Lord for the next one that came along ­ the Good Samaritan.

Who is the Good Samaritan? Jesus. And when the Good Samaritan saw him, the first thing it said of him, it said, "Came where he was: and when he saw him, had compassion on him.

"And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine...." Notice the Good Samaritan had something to offer. Jesus always comes with something to give. The law always comes demanding something out of you. Notice, the law wants you to give. You obey this and you obey that, but my friend, when a person is spiritually dead, he can't keep the law. He can't give anything because he has nothing to give. So where the law made demands, the Good Samaritan came along and had something to give. Aren't you glad Jesus had something to give to you? And again, the text said He offered two things. He offered oil and wine, both of them being a type of the Holy Spirit.

My friend, we live in the dispensation after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we live in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. If there's anything that separates the Church age from the age of the law and the age when Adam was here and Adam fell, my friend, if there's anything that marks our dispensation over all other dispensations, it is the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Now, people have argued today about the Holy Spirit and the warfare still rages over those who believe that the new birth offers all the Holy Spirit there is and those that are charismatic or Word churches or Pentecostals who say there is more to the operation of the Holy Spirit than just the new birth. My friend, there are two major operations of the Holy Spirit in the dispensation that we live in and both of them are brought out here in the oil and the wine. Both of them are types of the Holy Spirit. The oil is a type of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, and the wine is a type of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

But let's go on and we'll come back to that in just a moment. He said, "He poured in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and bro ught him to an inn...." Now, what is the inn? The Church. Once a person receives the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior, he is put into the inn or to the Church. And I'll tell you, the inn that the Holy Spirit puts us into, you'll never find a sign outside that says, "There's no room in the inn." There's always rooms available. Praise God! There's never a no vacancy sign out there. The vacancy sign is always lit up and the Bible says that anyone that thirsts can come and drink of the water and come and find a place at the inn.

I want to tell you what, when you come there, the Holy Spirit puts you in there, He always has a room available for you. Now, one of these days, the last room in the inn will be filled. The Body of Christ will be complete, and Jesus is going to come back for us. Amen. Praise God!

So it says there in that verse again, it says, "Brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

"And on the morrow when he departed...." Now see, Jesus had to leave. He couldn't stay. After His resurrection, the n He ascended into heaven, but aren't you glad when He ascended into heaven He turned us over to somebody else? He said, "I will not leave you orphans. I will not leave you comfortless, but I will give you another Comforter, and He will abide with you fore ver." Who is that other Comforter? The Holy Spirit.

So here we see that in the story, too, that when He left, it said, "He took out two pence, and gave them to the host...." That is, the innkeeper, "and said unto him, take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee."

He's turned us over to the keeping of the Holy Spirit, but bless God, He's promised to return for us again. And notice, in the meantime He said, "Whatsoever he spends more," he said, "when I come again, I will repay thee."

My friend, we're not living off the world's economy. We're living off His riches in glory by Christ Jesus while we're here, and praise God, I want to tell you that His riches in glory are more than adequate and if it seems like you're running up a big bill, Jesus will pay for it when He comes back. Hallelujah!

But again, He poured in oil and wine into the man's wounds. Oil and wine again speak of the twofold work of the Holy Spirit in this earth that we live in today, in the time period we live in today.

You see, oil and wine speaks first of all of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. That's oil. Throughout the Word of God, oil has always been a designation of rank. Now, under the Old Covenant, remember that again, three individuals were anointed by the Holy Spirit. Can anybody tell me what those individuals were? What was the first one? The prophet. What's the next one? Priest. And what's the next one? King.

Now you see, all of those were fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to this earth as a prophet. When He arose from the dead and was seated in heaven, He became our priest after the order of Melchizedek, and then when He returns to this earth, He's going to come back as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. All of them are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, but under the Old Covenant, certain individuals were anointed ­ the prophet, priest, and king ­ and they were anointed because they were the highest in rank. Anointing with oil was always a designation of rank. The prophet was considered to be the seer of God. The priest was the one that all the people brought their sacrifices to, to represent them before God, and the king ruled over the nation.

It's stated back in the book of Psalm, chapter 133, it says, "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity...for brethren to dwell together in unity." How many of you consider yourself to be brothers and sisters in the Lord? All right, now it says, "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." What is it that makes us brethren? The new birth. My friend, it's not the baptism of the Spirit that makes us brethren. It's the new birth that makes us brothers and sisters. All right?

It says, "How good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity." It then goes on to say, "It is likened unto...." The precious anointing oil that was placed upon the head of Aaron, that ran down upon his face, onto his beard, and then on to the skirts of his garment.

My friend, Jesus, when He arose from the dead, became our High Priest, and that's why Aaron is used. Aaron was the Old Testament priesthood, and they poured oil upon his head when he became the priest, but my friend, when Jesus arose from the dead and became our High Priest, Hebrews, chapter 1, tells us, "He was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows." Now, the fellows there are angels. The day that Jesus arose into heaven, He was given a position in heaven above all the angels, above Michael, above Gabriel, above the archangels, above all the seraphim and cherubim. He was placed in the highest order above them on a level with God Himself and anointed that day above their level as a man.

My friend, Jesus is the highest name in the universe, but bless God, not only did it start on the head, it flowed down upon the beard and the Bible says it went down into the skirts of the garments.

My friend, on the day of Pentecost, the oil hit the garment. It's now flowing down into the Church, and bless God, day by day that oil has been flowing downward, downward, downward, into the skirts of the garments and one of these days it's going to hit the bottom of the garment. The last person will be put into the Body of Christ. The end will be complete and praise God, Jesus is going to come back for His Church. Glory to God! But in the meantime, the oil is still flowing.

But notice again, it wasn't just oil. It was also wine. You see, oil again is a type of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. You know, those poor virgins over in chapter 25 of Matthew, we've kicked them from pillar to post. We've made every kind of doctrine out of them, every kind of weird philosophy about them, but my friend, I want you to know that the only reason, the only reason they couldn't enter the Kingdom was because they didn't have oil. The new birth is the only prerequisite for entering the Kingdom of God. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess Him as your Lord and Savior, and you shall be born again." That's what gets you into the Kingdom of God.

But my friend, not only did the Good Samaritan pour in oil, He also poured in wine. Now, let me ask you a question. Which element came first? Oil. Then came wine. You see, oil always has to come before wine. In other words, the new birth has to come first, then the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The infilling of the Holy Spirit or the wine is only given to believers. It's not for the world. It's for God's kids. But my friend, you become a child of God. You become part of the brethren through the oil of the new birth and then it flows upon you. Then you're prepared also for the wine.

I want you to turn to the book of Joel and I want you to notice the prophecy that was written concerning the Holy Spirit's outpouring. You remember that on the Day of Pentecost that Peter quoted Joel, chapter 2, beginning in verse 28, that "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel."

You see, wine is always a type of the Holy Spirit in the infilling. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. But Brother Yandian, isn't wine also a type of the blood of Jesus? Yes, it is. I agree. Blood is a type of the Holy, or of the, wine is a type of the blood of Jesus, but my friend, that is when you come to the Lord. After you come to the Lord, wine takes on a whole new meaning, and the new meaning becomes, "Now that you've come through the blood of Jesus, now it's time for the wine of the infilling of the Holy Spirit."

Remember on the Day of Pentecost when Peter and the disciples came down from the upper room, that the Jews, the devout men out of every nation under heaven, came to those men and said, "You men are drunk on new [what?] wine." Now, Peter didn't refute the fact that they were drunk. He just said, "We're not drunk like you think we're drunk." You ever been drunk in the Spirit? Hey, listen, that beats wine any day. Amen. Doesn't leave a hangover either! Amen.

In fact, this one says it brings rest and refreshing ­ not hangovers and throwing up. You know, all the things that getting drunk in the natural does.

But the wine of the Holy Spirit, the New Testament also tells us in Ephesians 5:18, "Be not drunk on wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." Again, being filled with the Spirit is likened unto drinking wine in the natural. Wine produces a good feeling, and actually will get you to where you know you don't quite know what's going on around you. You know, I bet some people could walk out of here after a prayer line thinking a lot of people got drunk up here at front ­ passed out on the floor, were out for quite a while, got up dizzy, didn't know where they were at, disoriented. Amen. But again, wine is a type of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

On the Day of Pentecost, we have both instances occurring. Remember that the Good Samaritan poured in two elements that had never been available before. The priest and the Levite couldn't offer it. Only Jesus could offer it and He brought two elements: oil and wine.

We often think about on the Day of Pentecost that all that happened was the infilling of the Holy Spirit. But my friend, the new birth also occurred on that day. Those that had believed on Jesus long before that, they now became born again on the Day of Pentecost. Their spirits were recreated.

And you know, we again often refer to Joel 2:28 where "It will come to pass that sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall [you know] dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." But I want to go back further and read from verse 23.

It says, "Be glad then, ye children of Zion...." Now, how many of you are children of Zion? I didn't get very many hands on that. I'm going to ask you again. How many of you are children of Zion? All right, now Zion refers to the Church. All right, it's a future prophecy. It says, "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately...." Now, that's the Old Covenant, but I want to tell you what. We're not under the Old Covenant.

"And he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month." My friend, we're in the day of the latter rain. That which is abundant, that which is coming for the harvest. Glory to God!

It also goes on to say in the next verse, "And the floors shall be full of what, and the fats [or the vats] shall overflow with wine and oil."My friend, the floor is the earth. The floor is the footstool of the Lord. In fact, it's going to be read later where John the Baptist said that He will sweep up the floor and He will clean off the floor and He will gather the wheat into the garner, and the chaff will be burnt up.

My friend, the earth is the footstool of the Lord. This is the floor of the Lord, the threshing ground, and he says that it's going to overflow with wine and oil. My friend, on the Day of Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit was poured out, and praise God, not only was the wine of the Holy Spirit poured out on the Day of Pentecost, but also the oil of the Holy Spirit was poured out and the new birth and the baptism have been available since that time. Praise God!

I want you to turn over to Matthew, chapter 9. Matthew, chapter 9. Probably one of the most graphic illustrations here of oil and wine, in Matthew, chapter 9, verse 17. It says, "Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved."

Now, when we read that verse of Scripture, so often we think of, you know, a bottle is a Coke bottle or a Pepsi bottle, but that's not the bottles that were spoken of back there in the Bible. In fact, many of your translations render the word "bottle" as wineskins. And that's a correct translation.

You see, back in the day in which the Bible was written, they took the hides of animals and they made, they used those skins and sewed them up and made wineskins out of them. In fact, many of the South American countries today still use wineskins.

All right, but what happens with a wineskin. It's good while the wine is in it. The wine keeps it soft and pliable and usable, but whenever the wine is used up, if a person doesn't put wine back into it quickly, it will lay there and become dry and hard and parched, especially laying out in the dry weather and in the sun, which was so much available over there in Palestine at that time. And once it became hard and dry, you certainly didn't pour new wine into it again, because the acid in the wine would eat right through it. It would burst open. You would lose the wine and the bottle or the wineskin would perish.

I think it's interesting here that in the Greek, it really brings out a tremendous explanation of that verse. In the Greek, there are two words for "new." There is one word that means brand new and there's another word that means renew. And both of those words are found in this verse. And in fact, if you have any other translation beside the King James, it will probably say this. It says, "But they put brand new wine into renewed wineskins." Or, some translations say, "They put new wine into freshened wineskins." One translation says they put brand new wine into wineskins made like new. And you know, that started me, when I started reading that, that started me on a study. How in the world do you refresh? How in the world do you renew a wineskin? And my friend, hold on. The way that you renew a dried, parched wineskin is by rubbing it with oil. Oil is used to soften up the wineskin and make it pliable again so that you can pour in the wine again.

My friend, I was that old, dried, parched wineskin laying in the road that had been stripped, that had been put under the curse, and praise God for Jesus who walked by one day and didn't see me as a dried, parched wineskin. He saw me in faith and He knew what the oil of the new birth would do to me. He rubbed the oil of the new birth onto me. I became soft and pliable again, and then He poured His wine into me and I became filled with the Holy Spirit. Praise God! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

You know, if you say, "Well, Brother Yandian, I'm born again, that's all the Holy Spirit there is." Now, my friend, I'll agree with you that you have the Holy Spirit. You have Him in His personality. You have Him living within you. You don't get part of the Holy Spirit when you're born again and the other part of the Holy Spirit when you're filled. He's a personality.

You know, I heard so many people get filled with the Spirit and they say, "I've got it." My friend, the Holy Spirit is not an "it." He's a person. He's a personality of the Godhead. He's as much God as the Father and as much God as Jesus Christ Himself. And He comes to live in you. When Jesus turned us over to another Comforter, He didn't turn us over to somebody inferior. It was just part of God turning us over to part of God. All the attributes in Jesus are available in the Holy Spirit. He didn't say, "I'll send you, you know, a second-rate Comforter." He said, "I'll send you another Comforter," and my friend, I think that the fact that He turned us over to the Holy Spirit, we have a lot more things available to us today than the time when Jesus walked here in the flesh. In the flesh He could only be one place at one time. The Holy Spirit can be everywhere.

And so again, you know, you say, "Well, I think I got all the Holy Spirit when I got filled, when I got born again." My friend, that's like saying, "Once you rub down a wineskin that that's all there is to it." My friend, can you see something? Once it's been rubbed down with oil, it's ready to be used. It's prepared to be used, but it's not being used for its full function till it's filled with wine.

My friend, when you get born again, you're prepared unto all good works, but my friend, Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you to be my witnesses."

You know, I often think of when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He said, "Lazarus, come forth." And right then, Lazarus had life in him. Lazarus was filled with the life of God. His spirit was brought back into his body. His body was now healed, but you know how he came out of there? He didn't come out like this going, "Glory to God!" You know how he came out?

You know, we often think, you know, he just came running out of there. No, he didn't. He probably came hopping out. You know why? He was still bound up with graveclothes. I'm going to tell you what. When you got born again, you still had graveclothes. You were alive on the inside, but my friend, you need power to get rid of those. The next thing Jesus said was, "Loose him and let him go."

My friend, the oil will get the life into you. It's the wine that looses you and lets you go. Amen. Hallelujah!

So you see, you know, how many of you were bound by denominational graveclothes even though you were born again for many years? All right. Thank God for the Holy Spirit that when you got that you went, "Wo-oh, do I feel different! Glory, do I feel different!" Sure, that's the power to go out and witness. That's the power to set men free. Amen.

All right, I want you to turn to the book of Matthew, chapter 3, and I want you to see where this was prophesied, and I want you to see the twofold work again of the Holy Spirit. Matthew, chapter 3, you were in chapter 9, so just turn back to chapter 3.

John the Baptist is prophesying about the coming of the Lord Jesus. Jesus even made a statement about John the Baptist. He said, "Listen," He said, "there is not a man been born under the Old Covenant that's greater than John the Baptist."

You know, a lot of people say, "Well, I don't understand that. How could John the Baptist be greater than Isaiah? How could he be greater than David? How could he be greater than Jeremiah?" All those men wrote tremendous scriptures, part of the Word of God, and John the Baptist didn't write anything. In fact, we only got a couple, three chapters that even describe his life and Jesus said, "He's greater than all those put together." That's right, my friend, because David, Jeremiah, Isaiah, all the prophets wrote of the coming of Jesus and John literally got to stand beside Him. He got to see with his eyes the manifestation of what Isaiah spoke about. In fact, he quoted Isaiah when he said, "There's One coming after me." He said that it's written of Him, he says, "Behold," he said, "that he shall be a voice, as one crying in the wilderness." He said, "Behold, the coming of the Lamb of God." This was what Isaiah spoke of. This is what he prophesied of, and what a privilege. When he saw Jesus coming, he felt so humble. He thought, Here's the one that's been prophesied by the prophets and all the sages and the patriarchs of the Old Covenant, prophesied that He was coming, and my Lord, I get to stand beside Him.

No wonder he said, "I'm not worthy to even bear His shoe. I'm not even worthy to tie up His shoelace." As he stood there right beside Him, we had such a tremendous event when those two men met. Even from their mother's womb, they leaped within their mother's womb. Why? Because one was the end of one dispensation. The other one was the starting of the new dispensation and they stood right beside each other. The old dispensation came right up to John, and the new dispensation started with Jesus to carry it on to the new dispensation. That's why He said, "There is none greater than John the Baptist." He's standing here, right here at the threshold of the New Covenant coming in.

But I want to give you something good. Jesus also went on to say, "But, but, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist." My friend, as great as John the Baptist was, you might feel like a toe in the Body of Christ, but if you've been born again, you're greater than John the Baptist, Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, the prophets of the Old Testament. Praise God! Why? Because you've been lifted up and seated in heavenly places with Jesus Christ Himself. Glory to God!

Now again, under the Old Covenant, people believed on Jesus. Now, they called Him Jehovah, but my friend, you know, I wish people could wake up to this. Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Whenever Jehovah appeared, He was always the manifested member of the Godhead. God the Father didn't appear. The Holy Spirit didn't appear, except in different forms and types. But the One that appeared all the time in visible form was the Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared as the angel of the Lord. He appeared as the rock that followed the children of Israel. He was called Jehovah. He was the object of faith. He's always been the object of faith. Under the New Covenant, He's still the object of faith.

The Bible says Abraham believed in Him. It was accounted to him for righteousness.

But my friend, under the Old Covenant, it was accounted for righteousness. Under the New Covenant, we have been made the righteousness of God in Him.

And so, as good as John the Baptist was, he still didn't compare to those disciples and those who came through and saw the day of Pentecost occur and were literally recreated in their spirit, offered the oil and then the wine, something that had never been offered under the previous dispensation. And so he talked about that and prophesied of that coming.

And so John the Baptist says in verse 11 of chapter 3, "I indeed baptize you with water unto [what?] repentance...." Now, my friend, repentance here is speaking of believing in the Lord. Now, I want you to notice something. He says, "I indeed baptize you [Y-O-U], you...." Now, who's the "you's" he's talking to? Believers. Those who had repented. He's not talking to sinners. John the Baptist didn't go around baptizing sinners. He baptized those that believed that Messiah was coming. They put their faith and trust in Jehovah.

And so he says, "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 [or literally to latch up]: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."

Now, many arguments rage today about that verse of Scripture, but I want you to notice something. He said, "You believers, you that trust in Him, I baptized you with water unto repentance, but one is coming after me, who 's mightier than I. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost."

Now, much controversy rages, and you know, I took Greek and, you know, I studied all the different things in there and probably the greatest controversy in Greek comes over the prepositions. I didn't know that until I started taking it, and it seemed like nobody has a good, accurate definition for the prepositions. Does this word mean "in" or "through" or "over" or "under" or "around"? You know, they weren't quite sure. And with this word right here, a lot of controversy rages over the word "with." You know, it's amazing how people can split hairs. You know, they'll take one word and sit and, you know, split it for years trying to figure out, "What does it really mean?" you know.

But I mean, you know, I think that any two year old could figure out that word. You know, people are saying today, "Well, did Jesus baptize them with the Holy Ghost, alongside of the Holy Ghost, on top of the Holy Ghost, through the Holy Ghost?" What's that word mean? You know, what does it mean, "I'll baptize, He'll baptize you with the Holy Ghost?"

And I'll tell you what I think. Any two year old could figure out what that means, because it's the same word John used when he said, "I indeed baptize you with water." Now, what did John do? Baptize them alongside water? Did he lay them on top of the water? Did he hold up some water and slide them through water? Same word, and they argue over the last one. Why don't they just look up here at the first one?

John put them "in water." He baptized them in water, submerged them in water, and my friend, that's all he's saying here, "There's One coming after me, He'll grab you by the nap of the neck and plunge you in the Holy Spirit, dunk you down into the Holy Spirit and leave you there." Glory to God!

Now, many of you in your translations, many of you in your King James, if you have marginal notes in there, there's probably a reference there to First Corinthians, chapter 12, and verse 13, and most people say that these two verses are saying the same thing, but I want us to go over and show you something that they are not.

One is speaking of the oil and one is speaking of the wine. One is speaking of the new birth and one is speaking of the baptism in the Spirit, and I want you to turn over now to First Corinthians, chapter 12, First Corinthians, chapter 12, and let's take a look at that verse.

Let's begin in verse 12 - "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body: so also is Christ."

Now, let me ask you a question. What is it that makes you a member of the Body of Christ? The new birth. Is it the baptism in the Spirit? Is it speaking with other tongues that makes you a member of the Body of Christ? No, it's the new birth. Amen. So my friend, stop and think about it. In these verses, we're going to talk about right in here in the middle of the chapter, we're not talking about the baptism or the infilling of the Holy Spirit ­ not at all. That's not the subject at all. The subject here is what it takes to get us into the Body of Christ, which is strictly the new birth. All right, so the new birth is the issue here.

Verse 13 says, "For by one Spirit...." Now, is that the Holy Spirit or what? Yes, that's the Holy Spirit. Notice, it's got a capital "S" on it. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

"For the body is not one member, but many."

Now my friend, what he's saying here is, when you got born again, you got baptized. Now, my friend, the new birth is a baptism. There are many baptisms seen in the New Testament. Remember that Hebrews, chapter 6, talks about one of the fundamental doctrines of the church is the doctrine of baptisms (plural). There are more than one. And he's saying here that the new birth is a baptism.

But my friend, I want you to notice something. It says,"For by one Spirit [that's the Holy Spirit] are we all baptized into one body...." Now what body is that, that we're baptized into? The Body of Christ. So notice, we've got two individuals. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into Christ. You say, "Well, that's exactly what John the Baptist was talking about over there in Matthew, chapter 3." No, it wasn't. He said, "There's one coming after me who is mightier than I." He said, "He shall baptize you into the Holy Ghost." But this verse says, "The Holy Ghost shall baptize you into Christ."

In other words, my friend, they're exactly the opposite. When you got born again, the Holy Spirit picked you up by the nap of the neck and He plunged you into the Body of Christ, and He probably put you in one of those rooms of the inn. He made you an elbow or a knee or an arm or a leg or a foot. He put you in there, and glory to God, this is one of those baptisms where you didn't come back up. He left you there. He plunged you into the Body of Christ, and then He let go of you. That's the oil of the new birth. But my friend, after that experience, Jesus desires to baptize you into the Holy Ghost. He desires to pick you up by the nap of the neck and plunge you into the power baptism that makes you come out witnessing. Glory to God!

Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you to be My witnesses." Oh, glory to God! I'm glad I got both. I'm glad I came out of the grave one day and I'm glad they loosed me and let me go. Hallelujah!

Well, look over at the book of John. Let's look at what Jesus had to say personally about the oil and wine. John, chapter 4, John, chapter 4. John, chapter 4, Jesus is discussing here. We'll take this rapidly. All right?

He's talking to the woman at the well. I think it's interesting Jesus always used object lessons. He just looked at whatever was around Him. She's the woman at the well, so He says, "Let's just use a well." She was sitting there beside the well and you know the story, how that He came and asked for some water and she said, "That's kind of strange. You're a Jew and I'm a Samarit an. I'm supposed to be a dog in Your sight. What are You asking me for?"

And He says in verse 13, "Jesus answered and said unto her,Whosoever drinketh of this water [that's in this natural well] shall thirst again.

"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Now, was the woman at the well saved? When He met her, I mean, she was about as far from saved as anybody could be. Had been married five times, living with some guy, didn't know the Lord. All right? He began to tell her through a word of knowledge all the things that had happened to her, and now He discerns that she is not born again, and He says to her, "Listen, this well right here that you've come to, when you drink of it, you're going to get thirsty again, but I want to give you a well of water springing up on the inside of you that you'll never thirst again." Now, my friend, that's the new birth.

I want to tell you what, the world has a lot of water to offer, but the Bible says that there is pleasure in sin for a season. You get thirsty again. Jesus has some water to give to you this morning that not only do you get the water. You get the well complete with it that never quits. And not only that, you know, have you ever been to some place you looked for a water fountain? You ever notice in the natural, you have to go to the water, but with Jesus, He brings the water to you and places it on the inside. It's always there, springing up, springing up, springing up into everlasting life. Oh, glory to God!

My friend, listen, the well is for you. Do you know, your well isn't good for anybody else? Just because you're saved doesn't mean your neighbor is saved. You ever asked anybody, "Are you born again?" They say, "My parents go to church." My friend, their well is for them. It's not for you.

All right, they need a well themselves. You've got to go to the Giver of the wells. All right. And He'll give you plenty of them. He's got a lot of them left over, and He'll give you a well and give you a well and give you a well and it keeps springing up into everlasting life. But my friend, did you know the ultimate goal of the new birth is not just so you'll be satisfied. It's not just so you'll be blessed. It's so you can turn around and be a blessing. That's the ultimate goal, but my friend, the new birth alone isn't enough. You need to go on one more step and receive the wine. You need to receive the power so that you can become a witness and you can begin to be a blessing.

And notice in chapter 7 of the book of John, John, chapter 7, and verse 37. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." Sounds like somebody else we ran into, too, doesn't it? Now, notice, He's speaking to sinners. He's saying, "Hey, come here, sinners. Any of you thirsty? Come unto Me and drink."

Now, once they drink, what are they going to receive? The new birth. The y're going to receive in them a what? Well. He's saying, "Anybody lacking a well? Anybody needs a drink, come to Me and you'll receive the well." He says, "Let him come unto me and drink."

Notice this, but after you drink, after you receive of the new birth, there's more. He goes on to say, "Now that you've believed on me, he that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of him." Not in him, but "out of him shall flow rivers of living water."

My friend, is there a difference between a river and a well? I would think so. My friend, the difference is, one brings you a well springing up for yourself personally, but the other one becomes rivers flowing out of you to effect others.

Now what, can anybody tell me in one word, one word, what's the difference between a well and rivers? Power. Oh, if there's one word that describes the difference between rivers and a well, it's power.

Have you ever noticed, they don't build hydroelectric power plants beside wells? Even little bubbling ones, they don't do it. There's not enough power to turn the big wheels. But my friend, they build up beside a river, even better if they can find a place where many rivers come together. That's enough power to light a whole city. Light a whole, you know, community. And that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be the power. Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, to be My witnesses."

And finally, turn over to John, chapter 14. Jesus spoke of it again, and here Jesus is speaking to His disciples. He says in verse 14, "If ye ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

"If you love me, keep my commandments."

He's speaking to His disciples ­ those who have received Him.

Verse 16 - "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive...." Now, I want you to see something. He's saying here, "There is an experience of the Holy Spirit that the world can't receive." Now, my friend, He's not discussing the new birth, because the Holy Spirit is available to the world in the new birth, but He's saying to you believers, "There's a special experience." He said, "Because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwe lleth with you, and shall be in you."

My friend, did you know we live in the time period when the Holy Spirit lives in us? He dwelt with them under the Old Covenant, but praise God, under the New Covenant, He's come to live and abide with us forever. The Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

You know, under the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit lived in temples made with hands, and I'll tell you what. We often try to portray the temple and it looks kind of ridiculous ­ some of our pictures of it. But I want to tell you what. Solomon's temple was so beautiful, there's no way today we could even estimate how much it cost to build it and maintain it for all the gold and silver that was in it, and the presence of the Lord was there in the Holy of Holies.

Under the time of Herod, it was restored and rebuilt and remodeled and it was beautiful beyond description. No way we could even estimate the cost today, but I want to tell you, when Jesus went to the cross, the veil of the temple was torn from the top to the bottom. My friend, the Holy Spirit moved out. He found something more costly than a temple made with hands. He found us.

Do you know He thinks you're more beautiful and more costly than millions upon billions of dollars that the world has to offer? My friend, there is no price that could be put on your spirit. And He considers your spirit to be even more important. Jesus went on to say in Matthew, chapter 24, He looked at His disciples and said, "See this temple?" And they went, "Yeah." He said, "You think it's beautiful?" They went, "Yeah." He said, "Listen, not one stone will be left upon another."

I want to tell you, while that one was being torn down, another one was being built up. We as lively stones are being added to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen.