Part 25- Baptism of the Holy Spirit (1994)

when the day of Pentecost the feast holiday of the Jews had come the disciples have been waiting there in an upper room in Jerusalem according to the command of Jesus they have been waiting for the promise of the Father the promise that in the last days God would pour out his spirit upon all flesh their sons and daughters would prophesy their young men would dream dreams old men young men would see visions old men would dream dreams and upon God's servants and handmaidens he would pour out of his spirit in those days so the promise of God was fulfilled the Holy Spirit descended upon the waiting church about a hundred and twenty of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit there was a sound like as of a mighty rushing wind there were cloven tongues of fire that was sitting upon each of them the supernatural phenomena that accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit drew a crowd of people who were wondering just what's going on some mocking said all that they probably got some new wine someplace and so Peter stood up in the midst of them and he called for the people to hearken to him he said for these men are not drunk anatta suppose it's only nine o'clock in the morning but this is that which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel when God promised he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh when Peter had concluded his message concerning Jesus Christ his death burial resurrection ascension into and the sending of the Holy Spirit the people were convicted and they said men and brethren what shall we do seeing that we're guilty of having crucified the Lord of glory and Peter said repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for this promise is unto you and to your children and to those that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit is for all all believers in all generations throughout the history of the church this is God's promise to the believers the gift of the Holy Spirit no it is referred to as the gift of the Holy Spirit and as a gift it cannot be deserved or earned God does not give you the gift of the Holy Spirit as a reward for your being good and your being faithful or for your achieving or attaining a high degree of holiness it is not a reward it is not given to you because you have achieved a degree of holiness because the Holy Spirit is given to you to make you holy so that every one of you tonight in your present state of spiritual development whether you've just started on the path or you've been on it for a long time in your present state of spiritual development you can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit it's for you it's available to you no matter how incomplete that spiritual development might be in your life the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Holy Spirit is God's gift for you one of the greatest hindrances in receiving the Holy Spirit is our looking at our own unworthiness the minute a person begins to seek the gift of the Holy Spirit Satan begins to point out your shortcomings and your failings he's always condemning us he's always telling me that I'm not good enough to receive God's gifts and in a in a sense he's right I'm not good enough and so he can make a real strong point as he begins to point out my failings my shortcomings my sins and he said and he says to me look you don't deserve it you're not worthy of it God doesn't want to do that for you because look at you and he gets us looking at ourselves and there is nothing more devastating than to be honest in our looking at ourselves Socrates it was that cried know thyself man know thyself but the Bible tells us that we really can't nor our selves because our heart is deceitful and desperately wicked who can know it now God knows our hearts God said I the LORD to search the hearts and David recognizing that God knew all about him he knows more about me than I know about myself David then prayed search me O God and know my heart try me and see if there be any way of wickedness in me Lord show me what's there self-knowledge is number one the hardest knowledge that you'll ever come come about I mean it's just to know yourself is difficult we are so clever and deceptive and trying to make people think we are something other than we really are that we oftentimes deceive ourselves we're so good at it you know and over and over the Bible tells us don't be deceived but not only is it the most difficult knowledge you'll ever come to attain it is also if you should come to attain it the most painful knowledge you'll ever experience so and so if you listen to Satan's accusations and he can find a lot wrong then the result is often I listened to him that I am not worthy and I don't even ask God I get to the place where I don't expect God to bless me because how could he bless me as imperfect as I am and thus many people are in the very position that James spoke about when he said you have not because you ask not and it's just that simple you could have if you would ask but Satan by pointing out your flaws your weaknesses has bullied you into not even asking and thus you have not because you ask not as a gift it cannot be discerned or earned or also it can only be received jesus said to his disciples receive ye the Holy Spirit John 20:22 and when Jesus in the seventh chapter of John was inviting those that were thirsty to come unto him and drink John in making his commentary on the statement of Christ said and when he said and he that drinks the water I give out of his innermost being there will flow rivers of living water John made his commentary said this spake he of the Spirit which they that believed on him should receive he cannot be earned he must be received when Peter and John went to Samaria to the new believers that had come to Christ through the preaching of Philip it said they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit so a gift is not something that you beg for it is something that you simply receive the Holy Spirit is God's gift to you in order that you might have power in your own life to overcome sin and to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ and in order that this power working through your life might enable you to be a real witness for Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit is not given to us to make us feel joyful that we might have a static spiritual experience but he's given to you in order that you might have power to witness for Jesus so it is a gift it has to be received but you must ask for the Holy Spirit jesus said if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him God is not going to force on you something that you do not want there has to be that desire God will not violate your free will he has given you a free will if he would violate it then there is really no free will so you must ask the Lord for the gift of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible we are commanded to ask Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said your heavenly father knows what you have need of before you ask him and then later on in the sermon he said now ask and you shall receive seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open but we must initiate we must ask we must seek in Matthew 21:22 jesus said and all things whatsoever you shall ask for in prayer believing you will receive in John 14:13 he said and whatsoever things you shall ask in my name that will I do that the father might be glorified in the son and if you ask will ask anything in my name I will do it John 15:16 you have not chosen me but I've chosen you you should be my disciples that you should bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name he may give it to you and Paul said unto the Ephesians now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think so God has many things for us we must ask James tells us that we must ask in faith nothing wavering now I have to confess that there are many things I ask God for that I have difficulty asking him faith the difficulty lies in the fact that I'm not certain if it's God's will and if it really is that God's will then I don't want it I have an unwritten kind of an agreement with God that anything I ask for in prayer if it's not according to his purpose and my best then Lord don't do it underwriting every prayer it's a given I yeah I don't have to say just a given God knows that I want his will above everything else and I often offer my prayers only as suggestions Lord if you're open for suggestions this is what I like to see happen but you do what you know is best I think that any man is a fool who asked with no regard to the will of God I do not want anything that God does not want for me and through my lifetime I have prayed earnestly and fervently for many things that I did not receive later on as time went by I realized the hand of God and I became thankful that God in His wisdom and in his love did not give me those things I was asking for because as a wise father knowing much more than I knew he was helping to avert a tragedy that could have happened had he answered my prayers John and his First Epistle said and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us so when I'm asking for something that I know is according to the will of God then I have great confidence tremendous confidence in prayer I know this is God's will and thus it gives me confidence because we know that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if he hears us then we have the petitions that we have asked of him I mean it's a slam dunk if I'm asking according to his will then I have the petition that I've asked of him so the issue is is my being filled with the Holy Spirit according to the will of God and I see you're nodding in the affirmative trust that it's not just going to sleep but you are agreeing because the scripture tells us in Ephesians commands us actually not to be drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Holy Spirit so it is a command of God and thus I can be assured I can be confident that it is God's will that I be filled with the Holy Spirit therefore when I ask God for this gift of the Holy Spirit I can be very confident that I am asking according to his will and if we ask anything according to his will he not only hears us but then we have received that which we have asked of him and so how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him so we ask God in faith and in confidence for the filling of the Holy Spirit now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen I think a great hindrance that many people have in asking for the Holy Spirit is that they are expecting or wanting some kind of supernatural evidence that God has answered their prayer it seems to be very difficult to just by faith believe the promise of God I want God to give me a sign give me some kind of sign Lord that you have given me the gift of the Holy Spirit there seems to be a lot of Thomas in all of us who said I will not believe until I can see the prints of the nails in his hands and put my hand into his side you're not gonna convince me I'm not gonna be hurt oh I can see it and so when Jesus appeared to the disciples and Thomas finally was with them he said look Thomas go ahead and touch you to be light go ahead and feel the side here don't be unbelieving and Thomas said oh my lord and Mike God and Jesus said you see and you believe but blessed is he who believes though he is not seen now I think that many times when we are seeking some particular sign that God has filled us with His Holy Spirit and if we do get that kind of supernatural sign that we are longing for desiring for that many times God says to us well you've had the Holy tingles and you believe but blessed are they who believe without the Holy tingles those who just take God at His Word those who do not require a sign now we read testimonies like dr. Finney's and we read of that waves of liquid love flowing over him until he finally cries out god I don't think I can take any more please stop and then this sounds and I'm certain it was absolutely glorious a glorious experience for him and and we then looked for some kind of similar experience we hear others testify of their experiences and and we want to have an experience as sort of correlates with theirs and we are looking so often for signs rather than just by faith receiving the gift of God because he has promised it and not requiring a sign and this would go also for the sign of speaking in tongues now as you walk in the spirit as you develop in your relationship with the Holy Spirit as he takes over more and more of your life it is very likely and quite possible that you will begin to have all kinds of glorious supernatural experiences as God's Spirit is working in your life and you are responding to that work of the Spirit and sometimes there is a responsive of weeping sometimes there's a response of tremendous joy an overwhelming love and there are many different kinds of responses that we can have as we are walking in the spirit and as we are being led by the Spirit it's always a glorious thing to to realize that God's hand was upon you and God was guiding you and and God was working his perfect plan and you see it and you say the Lord was leading me now at the time you may not realize it but then as as the event then begins to come together and suddenly you realize God's hand is directing me several years ago I was called to visit one of the ladies from the church here who had been in a serious car accident and had broken her back and so I went over to st. Joseph's Hospital to pray for her and there in the ward 6 bed ward there were two other ladies from calvary chapel and so i was able to minister to all three of them i didn't know the other two were there but when I came in they got all excited and and and thought I'd come to visit them and so I prayed for them all and as I was leaving the room and walking back to the elevator I was just I was excited I said Lord I love your efficiency I mean well I don't know how many rooms are in st. Joseph's Hospital an awful lot but here Lord you're so efficient you put the three ladies from Calvary in the same room so that I can get three with one visit you know this is great efficiency Lord I love it I just and I was just you know just loving the Lord's ain't that so wonder aw that's so I just love that kind of efficiency and I got in the elevator and push the button for the ground floor when the elevator opened suddenly I looked and I was lost there was a nurse's station it wasn't the lobby and I I stepped back in I thought oh you know it probably stopped on someone else stopped the elevator you know on this floor and I but it said gee ground floor so I was really confused then and a nurse there saw my confusion she said are you looking for the lobby I said yes what did they do with it she said well you took the service elevator and I looked up service elevator employees only you know I said oh I'm sorry I said I wasn't paying any attention upstairs I just you know that's all right I said well how do I get the lobby said it's very simple just go down there to the first hallway turn right and then you know you'll be right out turn right again you'll be in the law and the lobby said thank you and as I went on I thought what a stupid mistake but as I turned down this little corridor there was a girl standing there weeping and she looked up and she screamed Chuck and she came running up and just began to sob almost hysterically and I finally got her calmed enough and I said what's what's wrong what can I do tell me let's pray but tell me what can we do what can we pray for and she said Chuck my dearest friend in the whole world the man who led me to Jesus Christ is this very moment having brain surgery she said this man is such a wonderful Christian he's been a missionary over in Africa and they sent him home to have this surgery and the doctors give him very little hope for being able to walk again brain tumor but they think that it's affected already his walking ability and they feel that and she said I can't bear the thought of such a beautiful man of God being crippled she said I'm just devastated and so we prayed together and I gave her some scriptures pointed her to Jesus and she said I was so desperate I was just here praying God I can't handle this please send someone along to help me to pray with me you know and she said I looked up and here you came walking down the road and you know the light goes on it wasn't a stupid mistake you suddenly had that rush God's hand is on me even though he's leading me by his spirit you know it's that it's that exciting feeling of God was directing me God's hand is on me and and talk about a rush talk about a an exciting thing that realization that God used you got you so excited upstairs about his efficiency that you're not paying any attention to signs on elevators to get you down this corridor because had I gotten in the main elevator been out the lobby and gone but he had to get me in this corridor to meet the need of this young girl who was crying out of desperation to God for help so as you walk in the spirit and as you continue in the things of the Spirit yes you will have exciting experiences that will thrill you to the core of your being you will have blessed experiences and you'll see the power of God and you'll see the various manifestations of the Spirit which are always thrilling to be a part of what God is doing but that isn't the proof that you have the Holy Spirit and that that isn't what we were to look for these estatic kind of experiences we just want more of God and we want him to have more of us Lord fill me with your Holy Spirit and as you ask then you receive by faith and properly you should then begin to thank him for this gift I mean quite ungrateful that someone gives you such a glorious gift and you just go ugh you know instead of thanking him and as you begin to thank him many times it is when a person takes that position of faith like Abraham who staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but being rich in faith he gave glory to God and as you begin to give glory to God give thanks to God for his glorious gift of the Holy Spirit because you see if you have asked according to his will then you have received that which you have desired of him and thus if you ask for the Holy Spirit it is according to as well thus it would only be for for you to begin to thank the Lord for the power of the Spirit for the filling of the Spirit and it is in that position of Thanksgiving through faith that so often people begin to then experience some of those supernatural glorious ecstasy's of experiencing the power of God in a very real way in your life it's yours it's a gift God has given it to you why don't you ask him and then just receive and then begin to thank him and praise Him shall we pray father how we thank you for the Holy Spirit that you did not leave us comfortless orphans me shall we stand next week we want to start a study in the book of Ephesians which one writer has called the Alps of the New Testament take you to the heights of the life in Christ and so looking forward to just a glorious experience together as we explore the book of Ephesians and find out the wealth walk and the warfare of the believer may the Lord be with you keep his hand on you and guide you by his Spirit as you are led by the spirit as you walk in the spirit and as you experience the joy the blessing the glory and the power of God's Spirit to be his witness in this world the Lord bless thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance on the and gay Phoebe you

Channel: Pastor Chuck Smith

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Length: 38min 46sec (2326 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 23 2019