THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are far off, every one whom the lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation."

Notice that Peter did not say, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will go to heaven when you die."

If you turn to Jesus and get baptized into Him, and let His blood wash away your sins, the Holy Spirit will come on you in this life.

"You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

The proof that God has accepted you in the beloved, the proof that God has adopted you as His son or daughter, is that God sends His Holy Spirit upon you. And the Holy Spirit floods your whole being with life.

In every one of the four gospels Jesus is announced by John as the "One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit."

"I have baptized you with water; but

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Again and again our Lord explained that it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can be made alive in God.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

"God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

"It is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are life."

"But when the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father,

He will bear witness to me.....

He will teach you.....

He will show you things to come....."

After the resurrection, the risen Lord gave this promise:

"John indeed baptized with water, but before many days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

The truth is that most of us, even the Pentecostals among us, haven't tasted a fraction of what this means.

Let's be honest with ourselves.

- Are we worshiping the Father in Spirit and in truth?

- Are we hearing the testimony of the Holy Spirit in our hearts?

- Are we being taught?

- Are we being guided?

- Are we walking and living and praying and thinking and

doing the will of God by the Spirit's power?

- Are we conscious of the lordship of the Holy Spirit over us as we read these words?

- Are we aware that at this moment we are in the presence of the Holy Spirit? Listening as He conveys to us the Word of the Holy God and points to the holy blood shed for our sinful, unholy lives?

In the apostolic church, the Holy Spirit was not a doctrine to be argued over, or an impersonal force to be tapped at will, like electricity.

- He was God the Holy Ghost. Lord of the Church on earth.

- He was their life.

- He was their joy.

- He was their teacher, their guide, the ever-new and

ever-wonderful revealer of Jesus.

Peter didn't preach out of himself. He preached because the Holy Spirit inspired him to preach.

"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them......"

Ananias and Sapphira didn't die because they lied to men, but because they lied to the Holy Spirit.

The deacons were picked because they were known to be full of the Spirit.

"But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."

When Ananias of Damascus came to lay hands on blind, broken, shaken Saul of Tarsus, he said to him,

"Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

On and on through the pages of Acts, it's the same story. Salvation in Jesus' name comes to Cornelius and his house with the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on them.

When apostles are sent forth from Antioch, who gives the signal? Did they shut their eyes and finger point in their bibles looking for guidance?

As they worshiped the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

These were not a people who were caught up in their experiences, and goose pimples, and ecstasies. They were a people who were utterly awed by God, the Holy Spirit, who opened their eyes to see God the Son. And the more clearly they saw God the Son, the more clearly they saw God the Father. They were taken up, not with themselves, but with God and the doing of His will.

- They weren't feeling their spiritual pulse every five minutes –

they were too busy doing God's will.

- They weren't forever measuring their brothers spiritual stature –

they were too busy doing God's will.

- They weren't endlessly sitting on the fence trying to decide

whether they should do this or that,

they were too busy doing God's will.

And God's will was revealed to them, performed by them, done, acted on, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But how did it all start? What was the thing that opened the door and caused that flood of divine life to come rushing in?

In every case those people came to a place where they saw the alternatives. They came to the place where they saw only two possibilities.

Not five or ten, or a hundred---only two:

eternal life,

or eternal death.

Two roads. One leading to God's glory,

the other leading to a place where God's light never shines.

Those who chose the road leading to God,

who drew near and threw themselves on the mercy of Jesus Christ,

were visited by the Spirit of God.

As many as received Him, as believed on His name,

to them He gave power to becomes sons of God.

- And that power is none other than the Spirit of God.

There is no such thing as committing your life to Jesus Christ and not

receiving that power. If the power hasn't come to you, don't go to a charismatic clinic, go back to the Cross and see whether you really left your sins there.

Once you come face-to-face with Jesus Christ, two roads open before you – only two! And you choose one road or the other.

The minute you step on the road that leads to life – that minute – the Holy Spirit of God begins to move on you.

On the other hand, once you have been offered forgiveness, life, peace, from God in Jesus Christ---and you back away---the powers of Hell start working in you.

Every morning when you get up, and every moment of the day in every new situation you face, you are choosing between the way of life and the way of death.

- When you choose to practice love toward your brother in Jesus'

name, you choose life.

- When you choose to harbor hatred or to turn away from someone in indifference, you choose death.

- When you choose truth in Jesus' name, it's life.

- When you choose the lie, it's death.

As Peter ended his sermon on Pentecost, thousands of people saw the choice before them for the first time.

Eternal life or eternal death!

And, they were scared.

"Brethren, what shall we do?"

"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him. Save yourselves from this crooked generation."

And every person who responded received the Spirit. Now they had a Divine Teacher within them, making Christ real to them moment-by-moment and hour-by-hour. Now they had power working within them, helping them to do the will of the Holy God.

- If the Holy Spirit hasn't come to you in power, it's only because you haven't settled the issue of those two roads.

- Or, if the Holy Spirit seems to have withdrawn from you, it's because you've given up settling that issue day-by-day and hour-by-hour.

There is no such thing as walking on that road of life and not receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

There is no such thing as committing yourself to Jesus Christ, body and soul, and still walking this earth void of the Spirit's life.

Perhaps you won't be speaking in tongues, or prophesying, or seeing visions, when the Spirit comes. Maybe you won't be lifted into a state of ecstasy.

But by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will see Jesus as you never saw Him before.

"Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty.

They shall behold a land that stretches afar."

- You will know God.

- You will be taught of God.

- You will have power, such as you never had before---

to do God's will.

For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God calls to Him.

Do you see the two roads stretching out before you? Then get off the fence, stop hemming and hawing around, stop deceiving yourself with the lie that you'll take care of it some day - do it now!

- Repent! - Turn!

- If you've been baptized but haven't done anything about living the life of faith - start doing it now!

- If you haven't been baptized, be baptized. Commit yourself to Jesus Christ with everything that's in you and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.