The Gift and Infilling of the Holy Ghost
By Pastor Jim May
I want to begin this morning by asking two questions: First, Have you received the gift of the Holy Ghost? And secondly, have you been filled with the Holy Ghost?
There is a difference between receiving the Holy Ghost and being filled with the Holy Ghost. That difference is what I want to talk about this morning.
Let’s look first at what we mean by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
40 days after Jesus ascended back into Heaven the disciples were still having a prayer vigil in the upper room in Jerusalem. They had been instructed to wait there, to tarry in prayer, until the Comforter would come.
40 days of praying, committing their lives to God, searching their hearts and longing for something more that God had to offer. They already knew that Jesus was the very Son of God and that He has shed his blood for their sins. They had already accepted Jesus’ sacrifice and believed upon him as their Savior. In other words they were already saved and they were truly Christians. They had already received the gift of the Holy Ghost. What was that gift?
We can find an answer by examining one of the most popular passages of scripture that is quoted nearly every week in many of our Pentecostal Churches. It may surprise you to see just what Peter is saying here for we often interpret it to mean something else.
Acts 2:36-39, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
These verses have been quoted by many to teach about the infilling power of the Holy Ghost but if you read them and examine them you will find that there is something else that is really meant here. This isn’t really talking about being endued with power but it’s speaking about being cleansed from sin and receiving the new birth in Christ.
Peter had just finished a long sermon preaching to the Jews about Jesus and who he was. He pointed out that Jesus was truly the Son of God, the Messiah that had been sent from God to be the Savior of Israel and of all men.
Peter had proven through the scripture and shown those who were listening that Jesus had fulfilled every prophecy of the Old Testament writings concerning the Messiah. He had shown them that Jesus was very God, come down in the form of a man and that, worst of all, Israel had crucified him!
What a realization it was when those who were listening finally had their eyes opened and understood what they had done! They had literally killed God! They had murdered the Creator upon a cross and rejected his love that had reached out to them!
What a day it is when we have our eyes opened to the truth of our own sin for the very first time. We wandered in darkness and ignorance of our spiritual condition for years. We thought that everything was all right. We were no worse than anyone else, and even better than many that we compared ourselves to.
And then one day, by the preaching of the Word of God, we discover that we are not good! Then we discover that no one is truly good according to God’s standards. Then we begin to realize that we have offended Almighty God and failed to obey his Word. We are convicted of our sin in the court of Heaven and sentenced to eternal death in Hell and discover that there is nothing that we can do to right the wrongs in our lives.
Then comes that great message of hope. This is the same message that Peter is going to preach right here in Acts 2:38 and 39.
Like the Jews who heard Peter that day, after realizing the great sin that they had committed and the sentence of death that was upon them, we cry out to God, “what shall we do? What can we do?”
That’s when we must hear what Peter is truly saying. There is a way to be set free. There is a pattern that must be followed, and we have to understand that there is no other way of salvation other than that which Jesus has provided for us.
What is that pattern? Look at Acts 2:38 and 39.
First Peter says to REPENT! That’s a word that we don’t hear much in the modern church anymore. Instead we just skip right over that part and say “Believe in Jesus” as though that’s all it takes. We all know it takes more than that. Like I’ve said many times it takes more than faith in Jesus and believing that he is God. Even the devil believes but that doesn’t save him and never will.
Repentance for sin is the very first step toward salvation. Repentance means not only recognizing that you have sinned against the Judge of the Universe and a Holy, Pure and Righteous God, but then turning from that sin.
How many times have people come to me confessing that they need a Savior, wanting to accept Jesus, but then they walk out and keep doing the same sins as before and never changing. That isn’t salvation and I don’t want any of you who still commit those things that are offensive to God to belief that you will go in the Rapture of the Church and make Heaven your home if you refuse to turn away from those sins.
I can show you people who are convinced in their heart that they are saved but their heart is lying to them. You can’t believe your heart. You can’t trust your own mind and understanding. You must rely only on what the Word of God says for that is the only foundation of absolute truth in the world. Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
You can’t truly repent and keep on living together outside of marriage. It doesn’t matter if you have been living together for 20 years and the State of Louisiana recognizes you as having a Common Law Marriage. In the laws of the state you might be married but in the eyes of God and according to his law you’re a fornicator and adulterer and that’s a crime punishable by eternal death in the courts of Heaven. The only way to make it right is to either separate or get married in the sight of God before witnesses and then fall on your face in repentance for the way you have lived and don’t go with anyone other than your wife or husband ever again as long as you both are alive. That’s God’s Law, not mine.
You can’t truly repent of stealing, cheating, living for the devil and then walk out of here and go keep doing those things and expect your salvation to be real. It doesn’t work that way. I know people who think they are saved and yet there are no works of righteousness coming from their lives. They still frequent the night clubs and hang out with the worldly crowd at rock concerts and bar rooms, enjoying the party life. Somehow they have allowed Satan to deceive them into believing that God is going to sit with them while they tell their dirty jokes, drink their alcohol or take their drugs, and that when the rapture comes they are going too. What a rude awakening day that will be when they discover that they are left behind.
How can we claim to be saved and changed into the image of Christ when we don’t truly repent of our sin? Can you picture Jesus sipping on a daiquiri? Can you picture Jesus cheating on his time card or sneaking things off the job? Can you picture Jesus sleeping with Mary Magdalene like the world tries to say that he did? That’s not the Jesus I know.
I want to take this one step further and I know that we get tired of hearing it but can you picture Jesus saying, “I just don’t want to go to the synagogue this Sabbath.” I’m just too tired to go to the house of God, besides it’s too hot, too cold or too wet to walk to the temple.”
Repentance means that we change our ways to be like God’s ways. We don’t try to convince God to accept what we want to do, but we change ourselves to do what God wants us to do. That’s true repentance and we just don’t see enough of it in the church anymore. That’s why I’m convinced that many who attend our churches won’t go in the rapture. There’s never been a true repentance, just an outward show and not a heartfelt change.
Then comes the second step in the pattern to gain salvation. Look at what Peter says again. Acts 2:38, "...be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Peter did not say, “Be baptized in the Holy Ghost”. Many Pentecostals take this scripture and totally misinterpret it to say that we must be filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues before we can be saved. That’s not Peter is saying at all.
We are to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This isn’t even talking about water baptism – it’s talking about immersing yourself, giving yourself over, and surrendering yourself to Jesus Christ after repenting of your sins, and taking upon yourself the identity and ownership marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ means that you accept Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, God and everything else that he wants to be in your life. You take on his name, his identity and his ways and your life then begins to reflect Jesus in all that you do.
It means that you accept his sacrifice for your sins and you will trust in the power of his blood alone to wash your sin away.
Peter says that if you repent and you are baptized into Jesus then your sins are cleansed. He calls it remission of your sins.
Hebrews 9:22 says, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
So what we see here is that Peter is saying that when we confess that Jesus is Lord, repent of our sin and then trust in his blood, that’s when our sins are washed away. It isn’t through speaking in tongues and neither through water baptism. Cleansing of sin only comes through the blood of Jesus Christ and no other way.
Now what does Peter mean when he says, “ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”? What is that gift? Is he talking about speaking in tongues, or the infilling power of the Holy Ghost? NO- that’s not what he is saying.
The gift of the Holy Ghost that Peter is talking about here is the regeneration of the heart and soul of a man. It is the power of resurrection life that comes into your life. Jesus was resurrected by that same “gift” of the life of the Spirit.
Romans 8:11, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."
Who raised Jesus from the dead? It was the Holy Ghost that did so! Peter is telling us that the same Holy Ghost that gave life to the dead body of Jesus and raised him from the tomb is the same Holy Ghost who will give unto each of us who repent and accept Jesus that same gift of eternal life. The gift of the Holy Ghost that Peter is talking about is the gift of eternal life and the raising of that new man in Christ because the Old man is dead.
That is the plan of salvation, pure and simple. Repent of all sin and surrender your life to Jesus Christ, trust in the blood of Jesus to save you, and then you will be given the gift of eternal life by the Holy Ghost. We try to add so much to it, but it’s as simple as that. God does the work in us.
This salvation is offered to whosoever will. Jesus wants all men to be saved and he made a way for that to happen. It’s for everyone, but everyone must come the same way. There is only one plan for all mankind. All roads do not lead to Heaven, only one.
Now, let’s look back at the Christians in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost. Every one of them had already completed the pattern for salvation. They were saved, as saved as they could ever be. But they wanted more and they had been promised more by Jesus when he went to Heaven.
They knew that something more was coming. Accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior was the greatest decision that they had ever made. By that one act of will, that one personal belief they had been cleansed from their sin. It was the blood of Jesus that washed their sins away and nothing else. But Jesus had promised them more.
They needed something, or someone, to lead them to the next step, and then onward into each day of their lives. They needed a guide, a teacher, a preacher and a leader to show them the way to victory. They were fearful of the world and the power of the devil to destroy them. They needed help, power, courage and knowledge to go on living for the Lord in this world. That’s what Jesus had promised them.
Acts 2:1-4, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Now we see the difference between the “gift of the Holy Ghost” that Peter talks about and the “infilling power of the Holy Ghost”. They are not the same. The gift of the Holy Ghost is eternal life and resurrection life, while the infilling of the Holy Ghost is the endowment of power from God to live for him in this sinful world and still be an over comer.
You cannot receive this power of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as they did in that upper room unless you have received the gift of the Holy Ghost first. Salvation must precede being baptized in the Holy Ghost and power. God won’t bestow that power upon sinful man. It is reserved only for those who are already born again by the Holy Spirit.
If you are saved, thank God for it. But you need to go on from there. If you really want to live for Jesus and be a man or woman of God, then you need the Holy Ghost power. You’ve been born again, but now you need over coming power to overcome the sin in your life, to break the hold of old habits and to walk according to the will of God.
The pull of sin on this body of flesh is strong and will never go away. The only way to overcome that pull of sin is to be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost and follow the leading and teaching of the Holy Ghost.
Paul asked this question in Acts 19:2, "He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost."
I’m here to tell you that there is a Holy Ghost and you should, and must receive Him today. If you haven’t received that infilling power of the Holy Ghost, he’s here today to fill you if you want it. Before you leave this morning, you can not only have the gift of the Holy Ghost, but you can be filled with His power as well.
