JESUS said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." (John 3:5,6)
JESUS invited those who were thirsting, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39).
JESUS promised, "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:16,17).
JESUS breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." (John 20:22)
THE HOLY GHOST IS SO ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION THAT THE BIBLE PLAINLY SAYS, "IF ANY MAN HAS NOT THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NONE OF HIS." (Romans 8:9).
OH
HOW WE NEED A FRESH OUTPOURING, AND INFILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
It
is the SPIRIT who invites us to God. (Revelation 22:17)
It
is the SPIRIT who convicts and convinces sinners of their sin. (John 16:8)
It
is the SPIRIT who breathes spiritual life into those who are dead in sin. (John
6:63, Romans 8:10).
It
is the SPIRIT who empowers the believer over sin. (Romans 8:6)
It
is the SPIRIT who enables the believer to witness. (Acts 1:8)
It
is the SPIRIT who fills our hearts with love. (2 Timothy 1:7)
It
is the SPIRIT who comforts us in all our trials. (John 14:16)
It
is the SPIRIT who teaches us. (John 14:26)
It
is the SPIRIT who guides us. (Romans 8:14)
It
is the SPIRIT who makes us disciples—disciplined (2 Timothy 1:7)
It
is the SPIRIT who bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of
God. (Romans 8:16)
It
is the SPIRIT who gifts God’s people to do God’s Work. (1 Corinthians 12:4)
It
is the SPIRIT who graces God’s people to walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22).
It
is the SPIRIT who sanctifies, and purifies the heart. (2 Corinthians 2:13, 1
Peter 1:2)
It
is the SPIRIT who hallows worship. (John 4:23)
It
is the SPIRIT who satisfies the heart of man.
The Jews celebrate Pentecost as the
day that Moses received the 10 Commandments, written by the finger of God on
tablets of stone at Mt. Sinai. (See Exodus 20)
The Christians celebrate Pentecost as the day that God
baptized the disciples in the Holy Ghost and wrote His Commandments on their
hearts as they prayed in the Upper Room.
(See Acts 2).
Filled with the Holy Ghost, the first Christians testified, “God purified our hearts,” (Acts 15:9),
and with great grace and great power (Acts 4:33) they went everywhere speaking
the Word of God with boldness, to everyone both Jews and Gentiles. Pentecost changed them. Pentecost created the Church. And Pentecost changed the world.
Pentecost changed the disciples inside and out. Human hearts—or human wills—are incomplete,
incapable, and impure without the Spirit of God.
Without the Spirit we cannot clearly see or understand God’s
will.
Without the Spirit we tend to resist God’s will—even though
we know we shouldn’t.
Without the Spirit our love is self-centered.
Without the Spirit our judgments are biased and we are
unteachable.
Without the Spirit our lives are intemperate and sense
driven.
But when the Spirit of Holiness is welcome into our hearts we
are altogether different. We sing, “I
once was blind but now I see.” We gladly
testify, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”
We love selflessly, judge lovingly, and walk in the Spirit joyfully.
Those who
are filled with the Spirit,
led by the
Spirit,
and
sanctified by the Spirit are truly free to do what they please
—and what
they please is
to please
the Lord.
Without constraint, demand, mandates, or rules—the Spirit
filled, Spirit-loving people of God, hunger for holiness, crave
Christ-likeness, and live prayerful and careful lives without regard to what
the world is doing or saying. They are,
“Filled with His goodness, lost in in His love!
Surely this is the need of our day—people who will do what
they ought to do and love doing it.
We ought to forgive—and when the Spirit reigns we love
forgiving.
We ought to give—and when the Spirit abides we love giving.
We ought to obey God—and when the Spirit rules we love
obeying God.
We ought to love everyone, our friends and enemies—and when
the Spirit has filled our hearts we love loving our friends and enemies.
We ought to live holy and separate from the world—and when the Spirit prevails we love living holy and separate
from the world.
We ought to be teachable—and when the Spirit leads we love
being taught.
We ought to be disciplined—and when the Spirit corrects we
love being disciplined.
We ought to be led by the Spirit—and when the Spirit prompts
we love being led by the Spirit.
We ought to live as citizens of heaven—and when the Spirit
satisfies we love living as citizens of heaven. This world is not our
home. With reckless abandon we reject
the expectations and demands of this world’s culture and we joyfully embrace
Christian culture.
But how can this be?
How can we who are born with a self-centered, prideful, sensual, and
sin-loving nature be so changed that we not only know what we ought to be, but
can truly be what we ought to be?
THERE ARE
NO SHORTCUTS TO THE UPPER ROOM.
I have often wondered why so many years passed from Adam’s
fall to Abraham’s call. Why was it that
so many generations passed before Moses
walked down Sinai with the Commandments?
And why did God wait more than a thousand years after King David before
sending that notable “Son of David”— “His only begotten Son into the world,”
paying the price so that whosover will could be “born of the Spirit?”
The answer must lie in our Creator’s omniscient understanding
of human nature. God knows people. He knows our abilities and our
capabilities. He knows that we are
spiritual beings, created in His image, having a physical experience.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s law1 they
died. They didn’t die physically, but
the Spirit of God which brings life to the spirits of men was withdrawn. They died spiritually. Before the Spirit of God could be fully restored to the sons and daughters of Adam they would have to know the wage of sin. Tragically, their sin metastasized immediately. By the 4th chapter of Genesis we have the first murder. We need to experience and understand the depravity of lielf wrote them to us. We need Sinai—to know God’s law.
Before the Spirit of God could renew a right spirit within
us, we needed to loathe the wrong spirit that is within us. So the Prophets were sent to expose sinful
hearts and to exalt a day when God would, “…give them one heart…put a new spirit
within them…and take the stony heart out of their flesh.” We need God’s perspective and we need
God’s promise.
Before the Spirit of God could perfect our sin ridden souls,
we needed a spotless Lamb who would not only show us the face of God, but show
us the heart of God. We needed a perfect
Savior who would shed His perfect blood and rise again in His perfect
body. Then Jesus came! Oh the glory of
His Presence, Oh the beauty of His face!
We need a Savior.
And then, we need an upper room! In Acts 2 at that first Christian Pentecost,
the disciples were in one accord in one place—in the Upper Room! We need a place where we resign to do God’s
will in God’s way. We need a place
where we are at one with Him—where we love Him without any reservation.
Then the day of our personal Pentecost will come. A day when “the Spirit answers to the blood and tells me I am born of God!” A place where “His Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am the child of
God.” A place where we “receive power after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon us.” A place where our
hearts are “purified by faith.”
We need a personal Pentecost.
THIS IS OUR NEED. THIS IS OUR PRAYER. AND THIS IS OUR EXPECTATION.
Pentecost can be repeated, for the Lord is just the same!
Yesterday today forever, glory to His precious name!
Saints of God can be victorious, over sin and death and hell,
Have a full and free salvation, and the blessed story tell!
Pentecostal fire is falling! Praise the Lord it fell on me!
Pentecostal fie is falling, falling! Brother let it fall on thee!
