Receiving the Holy Ghost

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Acts 19:2-7

He said to them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said to him…

1. It may be well to notice what questions the apostles did not put to these disciples. He did not ask —

(1) "Have ye believed?" This would have been very important, but it ought to be settled once for all, and should not remain the subject of question.

(2) "If ye have believed, how came it about?" A man may be saved, and yet know none of the details of his conversion.

2. But he does ask, "Have ye received?" etc. Consider —

I. THE QUESTION.

1. In some respects it is a vital question. For the Holy Ghost is the Author of —

(1) All spiritual life. If, when you believed, you had not a life imparted by the Holy Spirit, your believing was a dead believing, and if He has not been with you since your conversion, your religion is a dead religion.

(2) All true instruction. To be taught of the minister is nothing, it is only the Spirit of God who can engrave the truth upon the fleshy tablets of the heart.

(3) Transformation. By Divine grace we are not now what we used to be: we have new thoughts, wishes, aspirations, sorrows, joys, and these are wrought in us of the Spirit.

(4) Sanctification. A faith which works not for purification will work for putrefaction. A holy man is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit.

(5) Prayer. Prayer without the Spirit is as a bird without wings, or an arrow without a bow.

2. But where it is not vital it is nevertheless greatly important. I do not think we ought always to be asking the question, "Is this essential to our salvation?" Those are miserable souls who would be saved in the cheapest possible way. But I would remind the children of God that there is in the Holy Ghost not only what they absolutely need to save them, but much more. He is —

(1) The Comforter. Why, then, go ye mourning? You whose hearts are distracted receive the Spirit of consolation.

(2) The Enlightener. Do you understand little of the Word of God? Why is this? Should you not seek more of the Guide into all truth? How much happier and more useful you would be!

(3) The Spirit of liberty. If ye have received the Spirit, wily are ye the slaves of custom, fashion, etc.?

(4) A power moving and impelling to holy service.

II. THIS QUESTION IS ASSUREDLY ANSWERABLE. There is a notion that you cannot tell whether you have the Holy Spirit or not; but you can. Give a man an electric shock, and he will know it; but if he has the Holy Ghost he will know it much more. "Oh," says one, "I thought we must always say, 'I hope so, I trust so.'" I know that jargon; but men do not say, "I hope I have an estate," or, "I trust I have twenty shillings in the pound," or, "I think I have a wife and children."

1. There are many professors to whom this question is inevitable. I will pick out certain of them.

(1) There is the brother with the long dreary face whose favourite hymn is — "'Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought." Have you received the Holy Ghost? Poor soul, he is perplexed. Here is a hymn for him: "Why should the children of a King go mourning all their days?" Surely, if we have the earnest of the Spirit, the firstfruits of heaven, we ought to rejoice in the Lord always.

(2) Another brother is a member of the Church; he is a born grumbler, and since he has been new born he has not given up the habit. I have sometimes thought that certain unfriendly friends must have been baptized in vinegar instead of water. Surely the Spirit of God is a dove full of love and kindness, and not a bird of prey. Let me ask that brother, "Have you received the Holy Ghost?"(3) Here comes another who flies out into great tempers and is very sorry for it afterwards. Many a man boils over and scalds his friend, and then in cooler moments expresses his regret. All very fine; but fine words cure no blisters. The next time you are in a great temper, ask yourself, "Have I received the Holy Ghost?"(4) Here is a brother who cannot be happy unless he indulges in worldly amusements. The next time you are coming home from a gay party, I should like to meet you and inquire, "Have you received the Holy Ghost?" You cannot expect the Holy Spirit to continue with you if you play with the devil's children.

(5) I would like, when the avaricious man is totalling up his gains, to put to him the question, "Have you received the Holy Ghost?"

2. I know some to whom the question is needless. You meet them in the morning, soaring aloft, like the lark, in the praises of God. See them in trouble: they are resigned to their heavenly Father's will. Mark how they spend their lives in hallowed service. You do not ask them if they have received the Holy Ghost; but you stand still and admire the work of the Spirit of God in them.

III. LESSONS.

1. We are not to look for salvation to one single act of faith in the past, but to Jesus, in whom we continue to believe.

2. We must continue to live by receiving. We received Christ Jesus our Lord at the first, and now we receive the Holy Ghost.

3. We may not despise the very lowest form of spiritual life; nay, not even those who have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

4. The Holy Spirit always keeps sweet company with Jesus Christ. As long as these good people only knew John the Baptist, they could only know water baptism. It was only when they came to know Jesus that then the Spirit of God came upon them.

5. The Holy Ghost can be yet more fully possessed by all believers.

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