Acts 19:1-7 “Have You Received the Holy Ghost Since You Believed? 23/5/04S&C
Paul had encountered a dozen disciples on his journey through Ephesus, but something about them-- or perhaps it was the leading of the Spirit-- caused him to inquire. They had likely been in the Jerusalem area on business when they heard John the Baptist preaching, and responded to his message. His message is found in Mathew 3:11, 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: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: It would appear, then, that they knew about the Holy Spirit, but not about His availability to help them live the Christian life.
1. If you are a Christian, you already know that the Christian life is impossible to live without the Spirit’s help. No matter how much you want to follow Jesus, without the Spirit, you find yourself failing regularly. Old habits continue; temptations are irresistible; and you feel awful. You know you shouldn’t do it, but try as you might, you can’t seem to stop.
He had finally got his chance to make the Really Big Sale. He was going into the final interview on the biggest contract he had ever written. As he was ushered into the office of the executive buyer, an assistant brought her coffee and left. The atmosphere was cordial, and he knew he was giving his best presentation ever.
Then the assistant tapped on the door, re-entered the office and spoke briefly with the executive. She stood and said, "I apologize, but I have to tend to a matter. I’ll just be a minute or two." And she followed her assistant out of the room.
The sales representative looked around the beautifully appointed office. He saw her family pictures on her desk. Then he noticed a contract on her desk. She had evidently been studying a bid from a competitor. Leaning forward, he could see the column of figures, but it was obscured by a diet soda can.
He was tempted to move the can and see the bottom line of his competitor’s bid. What harm possibly could there be in reading her private information? After all, she had left it out in plain sight, almost. After wrestling with himself a while, he finally decided to take a peek.
As he lifted the pop can, he discovered that the can wasn’t filled with soda at all. Instead it was a bottomless can filled with 1,000 BBs which gushed out, ran all over the desk, and cascaded onto the carpet. His attempt to short-cut the competition was exposed.
Moses said it this way in Numbers 32:23, “Be sure your sin will find you out!” Not every temptation is so obvious; but every temptation is a challenge. It’s a choice. Do I do it my way, or God’s way? My favourite prayer when I’m tempted is, “Help!”
And He does, but I have to do my part. Each temptation I conquer makes it easier to deal with the next one.
One of the best defences against temptation is simply to decide beforehand how you will respond when the inevitable temptation comes. Both Job and David give us examples. In Job 31:1, he says, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.”
Perhaps he realized that he had a weakness there, and he took steps to deal with it. David says, in Psalm 101: I will be careful to lead a blameless life- I will walk in my house with blameless heart. 3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. If you’ve already decided how to respond, the pressure’s off, but only if you follow that decision. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. He’ll help you ‘stick to you guns’, as my mother used to say.
I’m not sure if Romans 7 is talking about Paul, before and after he discovered the answer, but it sure sounds like it. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Contrast that with Chapter 8, verse 1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. ie. If you walk in the Spirit, you won’t have to feel guilty anymore; you won’t be guilty.
That doesn’t sound like the same man talking, does it? What has changed? I believe that the phrase, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Holds the answer. Gal 5:16,17 says 16 Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Our natural spirit is at war with God’s Spirit-the Holy Spirit-so we must follow where He leads, not where we want to go.
2. Helping you live the Christian life is one part of the Spirit’s job, and it’s an important one, for if you aren’t living what you’re preaching, you won’t make much of an impact on your world. As a matter of fact, they’ll probably laugh when you try to tell them about Jesus. It’s obviously not working for you, so why should they try?
As I was reading this week, 1 Cor 4:20 jumped off the page at me. It says, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.” Unless your life backs up what you’re saying, then you are spiritually impotent. But that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. Do you recall that verse, “you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you.” (Acts 1:8) “Oh great! I always wanted a little power. Now I won’t have to be afraid of that bully. Every day that bully chases me and calls me names. Now that I have the Holy Spirit, I’ll just stand up and tell her, ‘You leave me alone, Linda!’” No. That’s not the kind of power. He gives us power to be martyrs. That’s the Greek word, marturea; we translate it, ‘witnesses’. The Spirit’s primary task is to help us tell others effectively about Jesus.
When you accept Jesus as your Saviour, you receive the Holy Spirit as a birthday gift for being ‘born again’. And you don’t just receive a little of Him; you receive all the Holy Spirit you’ll ever have. He doesn’t come in pieces; He’s a person. It’s kind of like buying a car; you don’t just buy the hood this week, and the fender next week. It comes as a package. Then you learn how to drive it, and how to get the most out of it—especially the most mileage these days.
Some people, when they’re born again, give their whole lives to God immediately. The old-timers used to call it being ‘sold out’ to God. Driving the new car just seems to come naturally to them. Most of us notice that, although we’re saved, and on our way to Heaven, we still have serious trouble with temptation and habits. Sometimes, we have difficulty telling our friends and family what Jesus has done for us. It’s then that we realize we’re only using the trunk, the hood and one fender of our new car. As we study the scriptures, we learn that God wants all of us, just as we want a car that runs, with windows that go up and down, and air conditioning, and brakes.
This next step in our Christian life is called sanctification, or being filled with the Holy Spirit. ‘But I thought we already had the Holy Spirit.’ Yup. But He didn’t have all of you. More than that, it’s a continuing process. Ephesians 5:18-21 says, “be filled with the Spirit.” On the surface, we think we know what that means, but if we look at the Greek construction, we realize that the verb is in a present continuous tense, that is, the sentence could more accurately be translated, “be being filled”, continually. That’s the heart of Christianity; that’s where the power is. We can stumble along in our 1.3 litre Suzuki, and probably still get to Heaven, or we can buy into a V 10 Chrysler hemi, and get there in style. All we have to do is ask, give Him our all, and HANG ON!
You see, in the Christian life, you never really ‘arrive’ until you get to Heaven. There is always more work to be done, and more growing to do. (Sounds a bit like farming.) Even Paul, who wrote almost half of the New Testament, said, in Phil 3:12, near the end of his life, 12I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize. 13My friends, I don’t feel that I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. 14I run toward the goal, so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize that God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done. 15All of us who are mature should think in this same way. And if any of you think differently, God will make it clear to you. There is always more growing-- more work to do.
I’m not sure what you think about Heaven , but I suspect there will be more work to do there. God disapproves of laziness, and there is a certain satisfaction for a job well-done. The difference in Heaven, I believe, is that there will not be any weeds! Our labours there will be pleasant and productive. But, until then, we have work to do here. Gal 6:9,10 encourages us, 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. All people need Christ, but most of them have other needs we could help with, as well; the smelly, the homeless, the hungry, the sick, the lonely, the drunk… Take your pick. They all need your help.
Jesus said, in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” In verse 23, He says it again, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” How? By the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the Father, is the Holy Spirit.
But what commandments is Jesus talking about—the Ten Commandments? In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus answers this very question asked by a lawyer. 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. The whole message of the Bible is tied up in these two, short verses, for if you love God with all your heart, you will not sin against Him, and if you love your neighbour as yourself, you will help him, and not sin against him.
We scoff at Adam and Eve, who could not keep the only rule they had in the Garden, but how far short do we come in following these two, simple commands? We cannot do it alone, but we don’t have to. God has already supplied a great, roaring V10 Powerhouse that we just need to tap into. Are we serious about our Christianity, or are we just playing games? Jesus didn’t say, “Try a little Holy Spirit if you want to.” He said, “ BE BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT!” Why was He so adamant? He knew we couldn’t do it on our own. And He doesn’t want us to fail!
“Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?”
When I was a teen, we went to an independent, charismatic church, and God was there in power. The only problem was that there was a shortage of girls there, and for a teen, that was serious. So, on occasion, we would go across the street to the Pentecostal Church. After the formal service, they always had a prayer service at the front where they would pray for healing, deliverance from habits or addictions, and for the filling or baptism of the Holy Ghost. Well, I went forward to be prayed for to receive the Holy Ghost several times. There was a problem; to the Pentecostals, you weren’t considered ‘baptized’ until you spoke in tongues. And I couldn’t. I had people talking funny in my ear and telling me to repeat what they were saying. I had others laying hands on me and praying loudly that the Holy Ghost would come. At first, I believe, I was honestly seeking to be filled with the Spirit; later, I came to realize that I had been side-tracked into seeking the gift of speaking in tongues, and that mostly to impress the Pentecostal girls. You see, they couldn’t go out with ‘pagans’ who didn’t speak with tongues.
The Holy Spirit has many gifts that He gives to help us be more effective Christians, but they are gifts. You don’t ask for a gift. He alone decides who should have what gift and when. About six months later, I was alone in the dungeon washroom of Evangel Temple in Toronto, and I was talking to God. I said, “God, I need the Holy Spirit in my life. What am I doing wrong? Why isn’t He coming? You said you were more willing to give Him to me than I was to ask; and I have asked. What’s up? He replied, “What makes you think I didn’t give you the Holy Spirit when you first asked? Now, listen to Him, lean on Him, and live for Me.” Almost as an after-thought, He said, “Here’s a prayer language for you to use.” There were no fireworks, no emotional outbursts, and no witnesses, but I began to thank Him, and it wasn’t in English.
I found I could use this new prayer language any time I wanted, but I have largely used it only when I was in deep trouble, or searching, or when I didn’t know how to pray for someone or something. It occurred to me that perhaps this is what Paul meant when he said in Romans that the Spirit prays for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, when we don’t know how to pray. (8:26) I don’t believe the prayer language has made a great difference in my spirituality. It’s simply a tool the Holy Spirit has given me for when I’m over my head and floundering. I value far more highly the love He has put in my heart for others, for “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” (1 Cor 13:1)
“Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” Not the gift of tongues or prophecy, or healing, but the Holy Ghost Himself? Are you sold out to Him?
“Be filled with the Spirit,” continually, Jesus said.
(We have to keep being filled because we leak.)
Are you obedient to His command?
Have you ever given Him full control of your life?
If not, why not now?
PRAYER Before we pray, is there anyone who would ask for special prayer to be filled this morning? Just raise a hand, and I’ll include you in my prayer.
Father, You have commanded us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You know if we are; we can’t hide anything from You. Convict us even now if we need a fresh filling this morning. Hear our cry, Heavenly Father, and fill us today. Cleanse us, and empower us for your service. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
