Here is an exceptional situation: twelve men - 'the Ephesian dozen' - who know almost nothing. They had received the baptism of John, which ought to have led them on to Christ, but they had not yet known Christ.
Repentance and faith are two sides of one coin: one implies the other. Yet in repenting of our sin we must know of Christ, for otherwise we are turning away from our sins without anything or anyone to turn to.
The whole purpose of John the Baptist's ministry of repentance was to prepare the way for Christ. You cannot have the Spirit without Christ - and you cannot have Christ without the Spirit. Lacking the Spirit, these men lacked Christ; they had not yet been soundly converted. They were spiritual monsters.
Could we function if there were no Spirit? True conversion requires his work, for apart from him we are dry bones. He is the Spirit of sanctification as well as of justification - of holiness, of unification and communion with Christ. There is no other way of experiencing his love and becoming part of his family.
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