Brethren, have you ever watched someone get set free from a jail cell, only to see them walk right back in and lock the door behind them? Sounds absurd, doesn’t it?
Yet this is exactly what millions of Christians do every single day. They’ve been gloriously baptized in the Holy Spirit, filled with power from on high, set free from the crushing weight of religious rules and regulations, and then they turn around and chain themselves right back to the very bondage Jesus died to destroy.
I remember standing before a congregation years ago, watching as the Spirit of God fell like fire.
People were speaking in tongues, prophesying, experiencing the glory of God in ways they’d never imagined.
But when I returned months later, something had changed. The fire was gone, the liberty had vanished.
They’d gone back to measuring their spirituality by how well they kept a list of do’s and don’ts.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But these precious believers had traded liberty for legalism.
Let me tell you what happened when God opened my eyes to this tragic mistake most Christians make.
The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 6:1 that we are to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.
Think about that for a moment. What would you think of a builder who spent his entire life tearing down his house and laying the same foundation over and over again?
You’d think he’d lost his mind. The house would never be built. He’d waste his entire life on the foundation.
Yet this is precisely what millions of believers do. They get saved. They get filled with the Spirit. They experience the glorious liberty of sons and daughters of God. And then what happens?
They start looking back. They start questioning. They start trying to perfect themselves through keeping rules and regulations that God Himself has declared done away.
I’ve seen it happen countless times. A man gets baptized in the Holy Spirit, and for weeks he’s on fire for God. His face shines with glory. He speaks in tongues, morning, noon, and night. He walks in such power that sinners come under conviction, just being in his presence.
But then, someone whispers in his ear, you know, you really should be keeping the Sabbath. Or true holiness means you must wear certain clothes and avoid certain foods and like.
The Galatians who Paul said, ran well at the beginning this believer starts trying to perfect in the flesh what God began in the Spirit. God is not pleased with this. The Holy Spirit showed me something powerful God has no place for the person who has lost the vision.
If you’ve been tripped up on any line There’s only one thing to do. Confess it out and look to God to bring you to a place where your whole walk will be in the Spirit.
Let me share something that will revolutionize your understanding. Every single person who is born of God has the same power living inside them that casts Satan out of heaven. Did you hear that?
The very same power that God used to throw the devil and all his demons out of the heavenly realm’s dwells in you right now if you’re born again.
I remember the first time this truth gripped my soul I was dealing with a person who was clearly under demonic oppression. The enemy was manifesting and in times past I might have been intimidated but the Holy Spirit reminded me of what John writes in 1 John 4 4 you are of god little children and have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world
I looked that demon straight in the eye and asked did Jesus come in the flesh? Silence. They can never answer in the affirmative and at that moment, I knew with absolute certainty that I had authority.
I commanded that evil spirit to leave, and it had no choice but to obey. Why?
Because the power living in me is greater than any power of darkness.
But here’s what most Christians don’t understand. You can’t walk in this power while you’re trying to live under the law.
The moment you go back to trying to keep a list of rules in your own strength, divine life ceases to flow.
Your Christian life becomes one of helplessness and frustration.
1 John 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him. and he cannot sin because he has been born of God.
Now listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying here. There is life and power in the seed of the word that is implanted within you.
God is in that word, cannot. And there is more power in that single word from God than in all your human objections and excuses combined.
God’s thought for every single one of us is that we shall reign in life through Jesus Christ.
You must come to see how wonderful you are in God and how helpless you are in yourself.
These aren’t opposite truths they’re two sides of the same coin.
I’ve watched people fall flat on their faces, trying to live the Christian life in their own strength. They make resolutions: I won’t lose my temper anymore. I won’t look at that sin anymore. I’ll read my Bible every day without fail. And within a week, they’ve broken every promise. Why?
Because they’re trying to live in the flesh what can only be accomplished in the Spirit.
Now here’s where most Christians struggle to comprehend what God has done.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:6-7 that God made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious…
Wait a minute. Did Paul just call the Ten Commandments, those holy laws that God Himself wrote with His finger on tablets of stone? Did he just call them the ministry of death? Yes.
That’s exactly what the Holy Spirit is declaring through Paul. And if that shocks you, you haven’t yet understood the glory of what Christ has accomplished.
Moses went up on the mountain and came down with those two tablets of stone, and the glory of God was so strong on his face that the people couldn’t even look at him.
But Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3: 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
The glory of the law, as magnificent as it was, has been completely eclipsed by the exceeding glory of the Spirit. Think about it.
The law came through Moses, and it was glorious. But all heaven was moved when Jesus, the very Son of God, came down from glory to bring us into this life of the Spirit.
The glory of Sinai pales in comparison to the glory of Pentecost.
Those tablets of stone with their thou shalt not never brought life to anyone.
But Jesus brought in a New Covenant putting his law in our minds and writing it in our hearts.
I can never fully estimate what the baptism of the Holy Spirit has meant to me these past years.
Every year seems to have multiple years packed into it because of the intensity and fruitfulness of life in the Spirit. And I’m telling you, it gets better all the time.
Let me tell you about one particular incident. I was traveling by train to a convention in Ireland, and I couldn’t get there fast enough. I was so excited about what God was going to do.
During the journey, I stepped out of the railroad carriage to wash my hands. While I was there, I had a season of prayer, and the Lord just filled me to overflowing with his love.
When I got back into the carriage, I believed the Spirit of the Lord was so heavily upon me that my very countenance must have shone.
Now, I can’t tell myself when the Spirit transforms my faith. No person can, but others can see it.
There were two clergymen sitting together in that carriage, and the moment I sat down, one of them cried out, You convict me of sin!
Brothers and sisters, within three minutes, every single person in that railroad carriage was crying out to God for salvation.
I didn’t preach a sermon. I didn’t hand out tracts. I didn’t quote a single scripture.
The manifest presence of the Spirit of God that was upon me brought such conviction that hardened sinners couldn’t bear to be in my presence without getting right with God.
This has happened many times in my life and I share it not to boast if I glory in anything, it’s only in the Lord who has been so gracious to me.
But to show you what this ministration of the Spirit can do when you’re truly filled with the Spirit even the people in the stores where you shop will come under conviction.
Your very presence will reprove wickedness because Christ lives in you.
Let me give you an illustration that will help you understand the difference between law and spirit.
The law is like a pump, but the baptism in the spirit is like a spring. Think about an old water pump. It works for a while, but eventually the parts wear out. Things rust and corrode. The leather washers dry up and crack and the well itself can run dry. The letter kills but a spring oh glory to god a spring is ever bubbling up with fresh living water there’s a ceaseless flow coming directly from the throne of God, there is life abundant life, overflowing life.
Jesus declares in John 7 38 he who believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
The psalmist writes in Psalm 1: 2-3 that the blessed person delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night and notice what happens he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper.
That’s not a pump that’s a spring. That’s the life of the Spirit flowing from within.
Now, at this point, someone always asks, does a man who is filled with the Spirit stop keeping the commandments?
Are you saying we can just sin all we want?
Listen to what the Spirit says through Paul in 2 Corinthians 3: 7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
He calls the Ten Commandments, written and engraved on stones, the ministry of death, that is, done away. Done away.
The very thing that religious people cling to as the measure of spirituality, God says is finished, abolished, done away with.
But here’s the glorious truth. The person who becomes a living epistle of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living God in their heart, has ceased to be an adulterer or a murderer or a covetous person. Why?
Not because they’re white-knuckling it and trying really hard to keep rules.
But because the will of God has become their delight. I love to do the will of God. There’s no burden to it. It’s not difficult for me to pray. It’s a luxury. It’s not a trial to read the word of God. It’s my sustenance. It’s not a hardship to go to church.
I cry out with the psalmist in Psalm 122. 1- I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. How does this work? Paul explains it in Philippians 2:13.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure.
God works in you the very desire to do his will. It’s not you trying to drum up enough willpower to obey. It’s God creating the desire in you and then empowering you to fulfill it.
Let’s go deeper into what Paul is revealing to us in 2 Corinthians 3.
The entire chapter is a contrast between two covenants, two ministries, two ways of living.
On one side, we have the Old Covenant, the law written on tablets of stone. Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 3:7, the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones.
Now this ministry was glorious. Moses’ face shone so brightly that he had to put a veil over it. But notice what Paul says in verse 13: Moses put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
The glory of the law was a fading glory. It was temporary. It was designed to show us our sin and our inability to save ourselves.
Romans 3:20, By the law is the knowledge of sin.
The law was never meant to give life it was meant to show us we need life.
But then came Jesus, and he ushered in the New Covenant, the ministry of the Spirit.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:8, How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? And then in verse 9, For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
The word exceeds doesn’t even capture it.
Verse 10 says, For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.
It’s like comparing a candle to the sun. Yes, the candle gives light, but when the sun rises, the candle’s light is completely overwhelmed and made invisible by the brilliance of the sun.
Here’s the revolutionary truth that will set you free.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:3 Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
Do you see what God has done? Under the Old Covenant, the law was external. It was written on stone tablets outside of you. It could tell you what to do, but it couldn’t give you the power to do it. It could show you your sin, but it couldn’t cleanse you from it. It could condemn you, but it couldn’t justify you.
But under the New Covenant, God has written his law on your heart. The Holy Spirit lives inside you. The very presence and power of God dwells in your innermost being.
Jesus said in John 14:17, Speaking of the Holy Spirit, he dwells with you and will be in you. This is why Jesus could say in John 14:12, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do. because I go to my Father.
How is this possible?
Because the same Spirit that empowered Jesus now lives in you.
Paul makes another crucial point in 2 Corinthians 3:14-16. He says that when the old covenant is read, a veil lies over people’s hearts. They can’t see clearly. They’re in bondage to the letter.
But then he writes, Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Oh, glory to God. When you turn to the Lord, when you stop trying to live by external rules and allow the Spirit to live through you, the veil is removed. You begin to see clearly.
You understand what Jesus meant when he said in Matthew 11:28-30, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Religion is heavy, the law is a burden, but the Spirit brings rest, peace, and liberty.
This is what Paul means when he says in 2 Corinthians 3:17, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
And here’s the beautiful culmination of this truth. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
This is a life of continuous transformation. You’re not trying to change yourself, you’re not striving to become holy in your own strength. You’re simply beholding Jesus, gazing upon His glory, and the Spirit is transforming you from one level of glory to another.
It’s like looking at the sun. You don’t have to try to get a tan. Just stand in the sunshine. The sun does the work.
The same is true in the Spirit. As you behold Jesus, as you walk in the Spirit, as you allow Him to fill you continuously, He transforms you into His image.
Now I want to speak to something that most Christians never grasp. God means for you to be in a place of overcoming.
He’s put a force within you whereby you can defeat the devil every single time.
Let me be clear about something. Temptations will come. If you’re not worth tempting, you’re not worth powder and shot.
The devil isn’t wasting his time on people who pose no threat to his kingdom.
But here’s what you need to understand. God will never allow you to be tempted beyond what you can handle.
1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Job understood this. He said in Job 23:10, But he knows the way that I take. When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
God allows the temptation, but he’s already prepared the victory.
Right in the midst of the test, he makes a way of escape.
But here’s what most Christians don’t do. They don’t walk in their authority. They don’t recognize the power that’s within them.
They’re like a king’s son who goes around begging for bread when he has access to the entire royal treasury.
I’m going to give you a challenge that most Christians will never accept. It’s something the majority of believers struggle with, make excuses about, and ultimately refuse to do.
But if you want to walk in the fullness of the Spirit, you must embrace this.
I want you to make a covenant with God right now that you will never look back to the law of sin and death from which you’ve been delivered.
Never again will you try to measure your spirituality by how well you keep a list of rules.
Never again will you allow anyone to put you under bondage to religious regulations that Christ died to abolish.
The Spirit of God declares it, Done away! Done away! Done away!
The ministry of death, the ministry of condemnation It’s finished. and if you keep running back to it, you’re insulting the work of Christ.
You’re saying that his sacrifice wasn’t enough. You’re declaring that the Holy Spirit isn’t sufficient.
Most Christians will never make this commitment. They’ll keep one foot in law and one foot in grace. They’ll claim to be filled with the Spirit but live like legalists. They’ll talk about liberty but live in bondage. Don’t be one of them.
Here’s another challenge most believers avoid. Being continuously filled with the Spirit.
Paul commands in Ephesians 5:18, Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.
The Greek tense here implies continuous action. Keep being filled, keep being filled, keep being filled. It’s a luxury to be filled with the Spirit, but it’s also a divine command.
No Pentecostal person ought to get out of bed without being lost in the Spirit and speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.
No one should walk through their door in the morning without speaking in tongues, or having a psalm, or lifting a note of praise.
I maintain that, with a constant filling, you will speak in tongues morning, noon, and night.
As you live in the Spirit, when you walk down the steps of your house, the devil will have to flee before you. You will be more than a conqueror.
Why don’t most Christians do this? Because it requires surrender. It requires dying to self.
It requires admitting that you can’t live the Christian life in your own strength. And most believers would rather struggle in their own power than surrender completely to the Spirit’s control.
Here’s the practical reality.
You are meant to be a living epistle of Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:2 You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
People are reading your life. They’re watching how you respond to trials. They’re observing how you treat others. They’re noting whether your words match your actions.
And here’s what should happen. Just like Jesus, whose very presence convicted sinners and drove out demons, your life should be a constant reproof to wickedness.
You should be so filled with the Spirit that when you walk into a room, the atmosphere changes. When you speak, people should hear the voice of God. When you love, they should feel the love of Christ. This isn’t arrogance.
This is what Jesus promised when he said in John 14:12, Greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.
It’s what John meant when he wrote in 1 John 4:17, As he is, so are we in this world.
So, here’s my challenge, and it’s not optional for serious believers. Will you covenant with God never to go back? Will you refuse to allow yourself to look back to that which the Spirit has declared is done away?
I made this promise to the Lord years ago, that I would never allow myself to doubt his word.
And I’m telling you, it has transformed my entire life.
When the enemy comes with condemnation, I remind him that the ministry of condemnation is abolished.
When religion tries to put me in bondage. I declare my liberty in Christ.
When my flesh tries to drag me back to self-effort, I yield again to the Spirit.
Most Christians will not make this commitment. They’ll hedge their bets. They’ll keep a little bit of law, just in case grace isn’t enough. They’ll maintain a little bit of self-effort, just in case the Spirit doesn’t come through.
Don’t be one of them. The glory of Sinai has been surpassed by the glory of Pentecost.
The ministry of death has been replaced by the ministry of life.
The law, written on stone, has been superseded by the Spirit writing on your heart.
This is not about doing away with righteousness. It’s about God producing His righteousness in you by His Spirit. You’ve been brought from glory to glory.
Every day can be a day of heaven on earth. You can live in such a place of rest that the whole of life becomes one continuous Sabbath. This is the only life that can truly glorify God.
Would you rather struggle under law or soar in the Spirit? Would you rather pump with all your might or let the spring flow freely?
Would you rather read about glory or be transformed from glory to glory? The choice is yours.
But remember, never look back, never return to bondage. Never try to perfect in the flesh what God began in the Spirit. He who has begun a good work in you will complete it, but only if you yield to the Spirit and refuse to return to the law.
God has no place for the person who loses the vision. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep walking in the Spirit. Keep being filled with his presence, and you will experience a life of power, purity, and liberty that exceeds anything you could accomplish in your own strength.
The law says, Thou shalt not. The Spirit says, I delight to do your will, O God. Which voice will you follow?
Oh, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I thank you for delivering us from the ministry of death and bringing us into the glorious liberty of the Spirit.
Lord, I pray for every person who has been trying to live the Christian life in their own strength.
Right now, break the chains of legalism off their lives. Remove every veil that keeps them from seeing your glory. Fill them afresh with the Holy Spirit so they overflow with your power and love.
We covenant with you today, never to look back, never to return to bondage, never to try perfecting in the flesh what you began in the Spirit.
Transform us from glory to glory as we behold your face. Make us living epistles that declare the excellency of your grace. Let our lives be such a manifestation of your presence that sinners come under conviction just by being near us.
We refuse the ministry of condemnation and embrace the ministry of righteousness. Let the rivers of living water flow from within us continuously. In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
I believe with all my heart that as you’ve learned about life in the spirit today, you’ve been activated into a new level of spiritual liberty.
The understanding you’ve gained about the difference between law and grace is already producing freedom, joy, and power in your life that will transform everything.
Today we are done with religious bondage. We embrace the Spirit.
Where have you been trying to perfect yourself by rules instead of yielding to the spirit?
Your declaration might encourage someone else to break free today.
Here’s a practical step you can take today: Every morning when you wake up, before your feet hit the floor, speak in tongues and declare, Today I walk in the Spirit. The law has no power over me. I am a living epistle of Christ.
Let this become your daily practice of staying filled and refusing to go back.
But understanding you’re free from the law is just the beginning.
What happens when you’re actually filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing?
What could God do through an ordinary person, chosen just to serve tables, who became so full of the Spirit that He performed great wonders and miracles?
Why does persecution always follow those who are genuinely filled with the Holy Ghost?
And what did Stephen see in his final moments that caused him to forgive his murderers with supernatural love?
Meditate on the incredible story of a table server transformed into a miracle worker, the undeniable signs that you’re truly filled with the Spirit, and how this same divine power can operate through your ordinary life to accomplish extraordinary things for God’s kingdom.
By Smith Wigglesworth