You Either Got It Or You Don’t

Glass is your life, water’s the Holy Spirit. No illustration does it perfectly. This one fails a little. No matter how much water’s in the glass, that’s all the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit’s a person. So you either got the Holy Spirit or you don’t got the Holy Spirit. That’s terrible English, but it’s good theology. You don’t get half the Holy Spirit or three fourths, you either got him or you don’t got him. Oh, there’s an oil spout right here. It’s the onion part of you. It’s the sin nature and it’s always squirting dirty motor oil. So is oil lighter or heavier than water?

Oil. You have to see the spout. Do you see it? Look carefully. You do? All right. Now, when you are filled with the Spirit, water has a surface tension on it. It’s called a meniscus. And it’s got a little curvature on it, so there’s now more water in the glass than there is glass. So where’s the oil going?

Down the side. Now I’m filled. See how that works? And when you sin… And it’s just a little sin, don’t need a great big sin. It’s just a little sin. I still look pretty filled, right? Except God doesn’t look at it this way. He looks at it this way. And what’s he see?

Oil. So the only way to get rid of the oil is 1 John 1:9. That’s your sin. He’s faithful, just to forgive your sin cleanse you of all unrighteousness. That’s how you fill up. Okay? Got it?

Okay. So when you sin, and you don’t do anything about it, have you ever noticed that sin is a lot like fouls in basketball? If you keep thinking about your last foul, you’ll foul again before you even think about it. And then pretty soon you do a big one. Oh no. Sin’ll get all over you. And it kind of has a tendency to get all over anybody who happens to be close to you, too. Aw, 1 John 1:9. “Confess your sin, He’s faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.” You glad 1 John 1:9 is in there?

Huh, are you? Are you? Old sin, oop, 1 John 1:9. What’s the difference between that time and the time before? I didn’t sin as much. Yeah. What else? I confessed it faster. You mean, I can lengthen my time between stumbles and decrease my confession time if I want to? Yeah. Ope, filling that. Spiritual person can’t stand to not be filled.

My wife and I had had a fight. We would usually do the three day silent treatment to each other. But this night as we went to bed, I said, “Mary,” I called her that because…

I said, “Mary, I’m sorry I did that. Will you forgive me?” And she laughed at me. I said, “Are you laughing at me?” And she said, “No, no, I’m really happy.” I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “It’s been a long time since you’ve done that.” So why don’t we put a date on tonight to see if we can make it even longer before it happens again. And we did that. And instead of that evening being a point of defeat, it was a point of great victory because the challenge was to lengthen my time between stumbles, and if I messed up to confess it even faster and faster so that enmity doesn’t exist between us very long. See how that works?

Now when you’re full… This is fun. Every now and then I live my life this way, two or three weeks at a time. Folks, I’m telling you that is a great way to live. You know what I mean? Where you’re just walking so close to the Lord, just a little constant trickle, there’s not a chance any oil when you’re doing that.

Now when this happens, and you’re not sure what it is, ask yourself three questions. One, who am I mad at? Did a root of bitterness creep in? Toward whom do I have a grudge? Another person, God or myself? Number two, did I cross the subtle lines of propriety with someone? Did I cross my boundaries, those established guidelines for my sexuality? Number three, phone check. Just take a look. Did Christ move? Confess it, no eclairs in your refrigerator. No double mindedness. 1 John 1:9, confess your sin, He’s faithful and just to forgive you and will give you love joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness and self control. Here’s to you on that one. That is good. Little blast of the Spirit. Perfect.

Okay, John chapter nine. We are winding down. Shekels. I’m a beggar. I’m blind, too. You can tell by my eyes. Shekels. you know, I’ve never seen a color, never seen a shape, never seen a person’s face, never have. Well, I’m blind. Blind as a bat, whatever that mean. Billowy, white cloud, blue sky. I don’t have a clue. Shekels. I sit outside the temple. Temple’s back there, you come down a few steps, hang a right, hang a left, come down eight steps. Right here. There’s the promenade. I sit right in the middle of the promenade and people walking by going to the, and I beg for shekels. Shekels. Need a couple each day just to eat. It’s tough for me. If I don’t get a shekel, I can’t eat. That’s why my clothes are old and tattered. I’m filthy. I can’t bathe. I’m a street person. It’s hard when it rains. I have lice. It’s hard. Shekels.

But every now and then one of those pharisees come by, one of those religious dudes, you know. Huh? He beats a drum and he toots a horn and he bangs a tambourine. Calls attention to himself, gets a big old crowd around. I kind of hold my cup down as low as I can. Because what he likes to do is hold the shekel up as high as he can and play bombardier with it. Makes a loud noise if you drop it from there. And then when it hits the cup, everybody applauds and he kind of struts off. I can hear it. Big deal. It’s okay with me though, I need the shekels. Shekels.

A disturbance at the temple. Men yelling at each other. I don’t recognize their voices. All right, new men in town. Whoo hoo. Shekels. One of them says, “That man over there, that blind man, is he blind because of his sin or because of his father’s sin?” Probably won’t get a shekel from him. I don’t know why, I’ve never seen him before. But the other one with the great voice says, “Neither. It’s so that his Father in heaven might be glorified.” Guy likes me. Shekel. And the guy with the great voice walks over to him, up close, really close, close, close, in his face. If you know what I mean. Doesn’t even know I have lice. And he squats down right in front of me. Sinks to his haunches. You hear his knees crack and the robe run over his legs and he’s right in front of him.

Get blind with me. You have to close your eyes to get blind, so just close your eyes. Don’t elbow the person next to you, just close your eyes. That’s all you have to do is close your eyes, and don’t give me that squinty little peeky kind of thing. I’ll point you out to everybody. Just close your eyes. And put your cups out. Get your cup out. No, no, no. You just punched them in a nose. That guy is really close to you. He’s right here. Close your eyes, get your cups up. Now don’t open them. You’re blind. You can’t see.

This is what happens. Keep your eyes close. You are so rebellious. Still have your cups out? He’s going to put in there, he spit twice. Close your eyes. Hits right between your feet. You feel the over spray on your ankles. Then you hear a little sound, mush, mush, mush, mush, mush. Guys making mud pies right between your feet. A little more spit, little more mush, mush. A little more spit, little more mush, mush. And then all of a sudden, wacko, here’s mud in your eye. Then wacko, here’s mud in your other eye. Okay. Open your eyes.

Have you ever thought about that from the Beggar’s perspective? My son went to Cal Berkeley. Played basketball there. Lots of street people, lots of fried brains from the ’60s, tons of them. I have never met one that I could walk up to, spit in his face, and not have a consequence. And Jesus went beyond that and turned it into an art form. He made enough mud out of spit to cover both eyes. Some people say he did it like this. No, no, no. The Greek doesn’t allow it. Covered both eyes, with mud. Folks, you have to do some serious spitting to do that. Maybe even a loogie or two. You know what I mean? Well, he could do it if he wanted to. He’s God in a bod. God wrapped in flesh, that’s who he is. And so he spits and he rubs it and he covers both eyes with mud and the beggar took it. Because there’s something about the guy and you don’t have to see him to know he’s something special.

Like the guy at the base of the cross. “Surely this man must be the son of God,” he said. We don’t know if he was saved or not. Said it with his head, no. Said it with his heart, yes. See your head knowledge of Christ is like kissing your sister. It doesn’t do anything for you. Have you ever kissed your sister? Nothing happens. I kiss your sister, might be pretty good. I don’t know. See Jesus will endure intellectual scrutiny, but if that’s all the further it goes, if it doesn’t drop 18 inches on me, 12 on you, no go.

Pilot, Jesus probably punched around a bit. Thonged at the wrist, standing in front of the governor of Judea, procurator of Judea, the man who decides whether he lives or dies, and after a minute and a half’s conversation, the guy who has control over his life says, “What is truth?” You see, he didn’t let him go, but he couldn’t wash his hands of the incident after he killed him, because when you encounter Christ, you will never be the same. Your heart will either be harder or it will be softer, but you won’t be the same.

And my favorite story is the cohort of soldiers, marching into the Garden of Gethsemane before daylight that morning a cohort. In the Roman army, it was at least 50. On one instance, it was 50. On one instance it was 600, but usually it meant 300. This is not a cohort of Roman soldiers. It’s a Jewish temple guard. A detail it’s called, a cohort. We don’t know how many. 300’s good, I’m an exhorter. You can hear them all over town. Little hobnail sandals, little leather mini skirts, little red tassels on your head. Kind of sounds like San Francisco to me. I don’t know.

“Halt, one, two. Are you that guy Jesus?” And Jesus says, “I am he.” No, no, no. Bad translation. You know what he really said? “I am.” He didn’t say, “I am.” No. He said, “I am.” You need to know the significance of that. It’s the name Yahweh. And a Jew would never speak it. It’s too holy a name to come off the unclean lips of men and women. That’s why it’s not spelled with vowels. It was a name that was only written, never spoken. And when Jesus screamed, “I am,” it’s like saying, “I’m God, and you’re looking at him.” And the power of that made bowling pin out of a cohort of soldiers, knocked them on their macho, soldier behind. See one of those guys getting up. “Wh, wh, what was that?” “I don’t know. It came out his mouth.” And Jesus said, “Okay, you can take me now. I just wanted you to know what you were messing with.” You think those guys would ever be the same?

I don’t know if they came to Christ. I don’t know if any of them did, but I know their heart would never be the same. It’ll be harder or it’ll be softer. And so Jesus says to the man, “There’s a pool just inside the south wall of Jerusalem. It’s called the Pool of Siloam. And it’s two thirds of a mile, so you never been there before. It’ll take you a while to get there. You’ll bump your shins and bark your toe and fall. And it’ll be a tough walk. You’ll dodge donkey carts and there’ll be camels and white cane with a red tip, doesn’t mean a thing. And you’ll have to give up your spot and you won’t get any shekels. But if you’ll go and bathe right there, you’ll get your sight. Now I know this sounds like a flyer to you because you don’t know me from Adam, if you’ll excuse the expression. But I know what I’m talking about. And if you’ll take a hike, you’ll get your sight.”

What’d he say? “Well, there’s something about the guy.” So the beggar takes off. It’s tough. Donkey cart hit him. Oh, hit him into the wall and oh, double hit pointer. Ah, oh, ah. And the breath on that camel, oh mama. It wasn’t easy. Was it easy for you to get here? You know, it’s been tough hadn’t it? I mean, think of the things that have happened to you recently because you’re Christian and think of the things that could have kept you from being here tonight and you know, look at your toes, really, just look down at your toes. They’re right over the Pool of Siloam. You got here. It was a hot day. The mud dried rather quickly. And it itches like great ladies. Have you ever had a mud pack on your face?

Yeah.

No, no. Don’t admit it. We do don’t know if it worked or not. But I’m told right here, it itches like crazy. I mean it dries and then you got to leave it on so it’ll do its thing, but it itches. Do you think the beggar thought about rubbing the mud off before he got to the pool? Absolutely. Do you think he dwelled on the thought? I submit to you if he did he never would’ve got there. He must have had a polar bear alert. Because when your imagination comes in conflict with your will, you’ll do what your imagination dictates, not what your will. And so he must have taken that thing captive, because if he didn’t, he never would’ve made it to the pool. And congratulations. Look at your toes. I’m serious. Look at them. They’re right over the pool. Folks, you got here. And he didn’t jump in. Nope, nope, nope. Blind men don’t jump. Step at a time, until you get to here and then you have to go from here to here quickly. You just have to.

And now he’s standing up to his rear end in stale pool water and thinking, “What kind of a guy would send a handicap person on a wild goose chase and go have a laugh at my expense with his friend? Why would he do that? And what kind of a guy would be sucker enough to fall for? I feel like such a fool. Oh my hips are sore. My hands are cut up. I barked my shins. I stubbed my toe and I got this dent right here from hitting that wall. I feel like such a fool. Oh I hope it works.” And he didn’t open them as he bent down and rubbed that mud away. He didn’t see the mud drifting off into solution. His heart’s probably going, you know. And then he opened them.

Can’t imagine it, can you? Color, depth, shape, perspective. He could see. And the experts say when that happens to a person, their world is undone. Because have you ever called somebody on the phone and you’ve never met them and you kind of assume what they’re going to look like and then you meet them and have they ever looked like their voice on the phone? Never. That’s a camel. Looks like a horse that’s been designed by a church committee. Look at that thing. And he wouldn’t know Him when he saw Him, but he would worship Him when he found Him and the beggar became God’s bond slave.