![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2017\/12\/tombstone-2331172_1920-e1514720860537.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jesus clearly promises that he will send the Holy Spirit and commanded us to receive Him<\/strong>. Yet this clear instruction is left off many lists of Jesus commands. Perhaps it is ommitted because we cannot fill ourselves Holy Spirit. Yet if we have been paying attention throughout this series so far we will have seen that \u00a0by ourselves we cannot obey most of the commands of Jesus<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the verses below we see that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son, but must be received<\/em> by us<\/strong>. Think of him as a house guest that is sent to us. Will we receive him warmly? Will we welcome him into the very centre of our lives? Or will we grudgingly allow him to camp outside near our house? Will we speak with him? Will we enjoy his company? Will we become friends with him?<\/p>\n There are many who think receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit is automatic, that it happens at conversion. Lloyd-Jones claims that this teaching quenches the Holy Spirit more than anything else, explaining that some people say,<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing for me to seek, I have got it all\u201d. Got it all? Well, if you have \u2018got it all\u2019, I simply ask in the Name of God, why are you as you are?<\/strong> If you have \u2018got it all\u2019, why are you so unlike the Apostles, why are you so unlike the New Testament Christians?<\/p>\n The teaching that I have just mentioned is false<\/strong>. The apostles were regenerate before the day of Pentecost. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not identical with regeneration; it is something separate. It matters not how long the interval between the two may be, there is a difference; there is an interval, they are not identical. But if you say that they are identical, you do not expect anything further<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And if you do not believe that it is possible for you to experience the Spirit of God bearing direct witness with your own spirit that you are a child of God<\/strong>, obviously you are quenching the Spirit. That is why so many Christian people are miserable and unhappy; they do not know anything about crying out, \u2018Abba, Father\u2019; or about \u2018the Spirit of adoption\u2019<\/strong>. God is a Being away in the far distance; they do not know Him as a loving Father; they do not know that they are His children. They may believe it intellectually, theoretically; but Paul says, \u2018You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear\u2019.<\/p>\n David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13<\/em>, 280 (Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA, Banner of Truth Trust, 1976).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lloyd-Jones argues that the disciples must have been born again before they received the Holy Spirit. \u00a0They had chosen to follow Jesus, leaving everything for him. Some of them had made bold declarations of faith in the identify of Jesus. They were already described as children, brothers, and friends. They had listened to Jesus preaching for three years. They had been discipled by him for three years. They had even been sent out to preach the gospel and performed healing miracles. And yet they still required a special anointing from the Holy Spirit. They still needed to consciously receive him and his influences in their lives. They needed another Comforter.<\/p>\n We see from the passages above that Jesus is the baptiser in the Holy Spirit. He and the Father send the Spirit as another Comforter or Helper. The Father gives the Spirit as a gift to his children. \u00a0The promise of the Holy Spirit was for all Christians throughout all generations. It is described as a mark of the last days and we surely don\u2019t live in days after<\/em><\/strong> the last days!<\/p>\n Through the Spirit the Son manifests himself to us. But notice that we have to ask for the Holy Spirit in prayer. <\/em><\/strong>We have to\u00a0come and drink. <\/em><\/strong>We are the ones who must receive. <\/em><\/strong>Sometimes the Holy Spirit seems to come on a corporate group of people at once. Notice that this happened at least twice to the Apostles. \u00a0And Paul clearly distinguishes faith from receiving the Holy Spirit when he checks if some converts had received when they had believed.<\/p>\n It is not enough for us to look back at some experience of the Holy Spirit at some point in the past. We need multiple and ongoing fillings of the Spirit.<\/p>\n The Apostle Paul also commands us using the continuous imperative:<\/p>\n This can be translated also as \u2018be being<\/em> filled with the Spirit\u2019 <\/strong>or\u00a0paraphrased as<\/p>\n Billy Graham at the height of his ministry was asked \u201cwhat one question would you ask God\u201d, Billy\u2019s reply<\/a> was, \u201cto fill me with his Holy Spirit and give me the ability to do his work every day.<\/strong>\u201d That should surely also be our regular prayer and expectation.<\/p>\n TO BE EMPOWERED TO LIVE AS A CHRISTIAN.\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n The Holy Spirit is very much God (see The Trinity and you<\/a>). He is not a force or a power, but a person. As such, the Apostle Peter invites everybody who has repented and turned to Jesus to also receive the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n Every Christian has Jesus living inside of them by the Holy Spirit. Christ\u2019s resurrection power is at work in us all, transforming us from the inside out, and producing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).<\/p>\n When Peter talks about \u201creceiving\u201d the Holy Spirit into our lives, this refers to us becoming aware of the Spirit as a person, and entering a relationship with Him.<\/p>\n Like the wind, we cannot see the Spirit, but we can see evidence of His presence by what He is doing. However, we can experience the work of the Holy Spirit in a dynamic way. All Christians are invited to consciously, and continuously welcome the Holy Spirit, and invite Him to work in our lives<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It is very possible to become a Christian without much in the way of an emotional experience. We are not saved because we cried, or because something dramatic happened. Everybody\u2019s story is different. However, over time, you should expect to become aware of the effects of the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in you, some of which are outlined as follows:<\/p>\n TO BE ENABLED TO SPEAK ABOUT JESUS WITH OTHERS<\/strong><\/p>\n The disciples had been told to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit to take the gospel all over the world (Acts 1:8). He equips and empowers us in all kinds of ways to serve God, and gives us boldness to do works for God today (Acts 4:31).<\/p>\n TO FEEL SURE OF YOUR PLACE AMONG GOD\u2019S PEOPLE<\/strong><\/p>\n The Holy Spirit confirms that you are really a Christian, giving us assurance of our\u00a0<\/strong>salvation\u00a0<\/b>:<\/p>\n And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, \u201cAbba! Father!\u201d (Galatians 4:6)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The outpouring of the Spirit is one of the marks that identify God\u2019s people (Acts 2:39). We are born into His family, and the Holy Spirit gives us a sense of belonging. No longer does God\u2019s Spirit only rest on specific individuals as in Old Testament times; now He is available to everyone.<\/p>\n A RESTORED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD<\/strong><\/p>\n Through the Holy Spirit, God speaks to our hearts. He lives within us. \u201cGod\u2019s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us\u201d (Romans 5:5).<\/p>\n It is very possible to become a Christian without much in the way of an emotional experience.<\/p>\n There is so much more that the\u2028Holy Spirit can do for you if you ask.\u2028The work of the Spirit will further establish you in your walk with God. You will grow in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5).<\/p>\n I encourage you to find out more about Him, and to invite the Spirit to work in you to glorify Jesus, revealing Him to you (John 16:14).<\/p>\n These experiential encounters with God through the Holy Spirit, help us feel we know<\/strong><\/em> Jesus. Many teachers of previous generations referred to this as receiving \u201cFull Assurance\u201d<\/strong> of our salvation. \u00a0This requires an experience, not mere intellectual assent, Spurgeon elaborates:<\/p>\n Give me, then, a man of tender heart, who, at the same time, mixes full assurance with his tenderness.<\/strong> He is the man who will bring forth fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.<\/p>\n Once again, our text suggests to us the blending of experience and knowledge<\/strong>. Read the Westminster Assembly\u2019s Confession of Faith; by all manner of means get a clear view of the doctrines of grace<\/strong>, so that you can state them to others, and know why you hold them firmly yourself; but, remember, if you do not experience them in your own heart, if you do not know the power of them in your own life, you know nothing at all about them.<\/strong> Dry doctrine, without the damping of the Spirit of God, may only make fuel for your eternal destruction. When a man accommodates his religion up in the garret of his head, and never takes it down into the parlour of his heart, that man\u2019s religion is vain. We must experience the power of the gospel in our own souls<\/strong> if it is to be of real service to us.<\/p>\n \u201cTrue religion\u2019s more than notion,<\/em><\/strong> It is very nice to talk about Christ; but do you trust him as your Savior? It may be very easy to speak about the new birth; but have you felt it? <\/strong>When you get these two things together, first the rain of gracious experience, and then the clear shining of intellectual knowledge of Scripture, then will you bring forth fruit unto God.<\/p>\n Charles H. Spurgeon, vol. 38, Spurgeon\u2019s Sermons: Volume 38<\/em>, NO. 2284, electronic ed., Logos Library System; Spurgeon\u2019s Sermons (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This concept of experience giving us confidence of our salvation is very biblical. For example:<\/p>\n \u201cBy this we know<\/strong> that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.<\/strong>\u201d (1 John 4:13)<\/p>\n \u201cIn him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed<\/em><\/strong> with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee<\/em><\/strong> of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.\u201d (Ephesians 1:13-4)<\/p>\n \u201chope does not put us to shame, because God\u2019s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit<\/strong> who has been given to us\u201d (Romans 5:5)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Note that this experience of assurance is not something that necessarily happens at the moment a person becomes a Christian. \u00a0Spurgeon also explains this:<\/p>\n Note also that this sealing does not necessarily come at once with faith. It grows out of faith, and comes \u201cafter that ye believed.\u201d We are not in every case sealed at the moment when we first trust in Jesus. I am persuaded that many who believe in Jesus enter into peace directly, and perceive at once the blessed assurance which is involved in their possessing the Holy Spirit; but with many others it is not so . . .<\/p>\n I, being a sinner, believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and I rest my soul upon him, believing that he will save me; this is to be my standing, seal or no seal, token or no token. My dependence is not to be upon the seal of the Spirit, but upon the blood of the Son. The Spirit of God never takes the place of the Redeemer, he exercises his own peculiar office, which is to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us, and not to put his own things in the place of Jesus. The foundation of our hope is laid in Christ from first to last, and if we rest there we are saved.<\/p>\n The seal does not always come with faith, but it follows after.<\/strong> I have said this because I am afraid lest in any way whatever you should leave the simple, plain, and solid ground of confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and in that only. Recollect that a man who believes in Jesus Christ is as truly saved when he does not know it as he is when he does know it; he is as truly the Lord\u2019s when he mourns in the valley of humiliation as when he sings on the mountain top of joy and fellowship. Our ground of trust is not to be found in our experience, but in the person and work of our Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n \u201cI dare not trust the sweetest frame;<\/em><\/p>\n But wholly lean on Jesus\u2019 name:<\/em><\/p>\n On Christ the solid rock I stand,<\/em><\/p>\n All other ground is sinking sand.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Charles H. Spurgeon, vol. 22, Spurgeon\u2019s Sermons: Volume 22, Sermon 1284 \u201cThe Sealing of the Spirit\u201d electronic ed., Logos Library System; Spurgeon\u2019s Sermons (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The depth of the spiritual experiences felt by many Christians of the past should provoke us to slow down so we can meet with God.<\/a> I have collected some accounts of experiences of God in previous generations into a free chapter from my book Raised With Christ<\/em>:<\/p>\n A Relationship with the Risen Jesus: Christian Experience<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nJesus Commands us to Receive<\/em> the Holy Spirit<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2018\/07\/220px-Martyn_Lloyd-Jones.png\")
If the Apostles and even Jesus needed to receive the Holy Spirit how much more do we?<\/h2>\n
\n
\u201cKeep on being filled with the Spirit.\u201d Eph 5:18, ISV<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him.(The Message)<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n
WHY WE SHOULD RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2014\/07\/emotionalexp.jpg\" "\\"emotionalexp\\"")
<\/a>The Holy Spirit is at work in every Christian, not just a select few. We learn in John 3:8 that the Holy Spirit causes us to be born again. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is at work in you even before you decide to become a Christian, showing you your sin, and drawing you to Jesus (John 16:8).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2016\/01\/dovepixabay.jpg\")
\u00a0YOU CAN KNOW JESUS<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2016\/10\/CHSat23-186x300.jpg\")
\nSomething must be known and felt.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n