Acts 19:2-7 He said to them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said to him… I. WHAT IS THIS BLESSING? The Lord Jesus is the life of His people, for in Him they are "complete." But the teaching here does not exalt God the Spirit by giving a lower place to God the Son. For the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. To have Him, therefore, is to have the Spirit of Christ — 1. Becoming our spirit. We think of our Lord, "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," and it is almost startling to read, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus"; yet that is precisely the result of the reception of the Holy Ghost; "the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth." 2. Revealing Him to us. We often wish we had seen Christ "after the flesh." We can think of nothing better. But it was as something better that He promised the Comforter. "It is expedient for you," etc.; "a little while, and ye shall not see Me, and again a little while and ye shall see Me." Pentecost opened the eyes of the apostles; they knew their Lord then as they had not known Him; He was a hundredfold more to them from that hour than when He walked with them on earth. It is on the baptism of the Spirit that ever-growing perception of the wondrous fulness of His glory and trace depend. "Neither will I hide My face any more from them, for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel." 3. Qualifying us to serve Him. It not only gives us more of Christ, but Christ more of us. The coming of the Holy Ghost was a baptism of power; it was a new zeal, a new perception of truth, a new utterance, a new force. II. IS THERE REASON TO THINK WE MAY RECEIVE THIS BAPTISM? No doubt this must be answered in the affirmative; there is a reception of the Holy Ghost which corresponds to what we need. For consider that the bestowment of the Spirit on the New Testament Church was — 1. Greatly to exceed what was given before (John 7:38, 39). "The Holy Ghost was not yet"! That is a remarkable expression. All spirituality is from Him; under His influence patriarchs worshipped, psalmists sang, prophets wrote, and holy men of old lived saintly lives. That must mean that the measure of the Spirit's bestowment after Jesus was glorified would be such that His previous bestowment would be as nothing. And the favourite Old Testament expression "pour" points to an overwhelming abundance, far beyond what preceded the time to which it refers. 2. Set forth as the Crowning Gift of the Risen Lord. This was strongly emphasised by His herald. As our Lord's ministry neared its close His thoughts were fixed on this. And after He rose it was His frequent theme. Does it not seem as though He regarded it as the end of His incarnation and that which, having made the atonement that secured it, He hastened to grant! If so, it is the undoubted heritage of all for whom that atonement avails. 3. Plainly declared to be possible to all believers. That is the point we fail to grasp. We think this was fulfilled once for all, but Pentecost was repeated even in the history of the apostles (Acts 4:31); nor was it limited to them, nor to the Church at Jerusalem, it was repeated in the household of Cornelius, whilst in the incident before us it is repeated again in Ephesus. And doubt is finally removed as we still listen to Peter (Acts 2:39). III. WHY, THEN, HAVE WE NOT RECEIVED IT? "Have ye received the Holy Ghost," as the apostles did? If we answer that our spiritual state is more like theirs before than after Pentecost, that may be due, in part, to — 1. Lack of knowledge. "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost," or, at least, such a possible reception of Him as this. We have thought of the Pentecostal blessing as power to speak with tongues. 2. Failure in prayer. For prayer is a condition of its bestowment. Those to whom it was first given had "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication." A second time, "when they had prayed,...they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Christ Himself received it thus — when being baptized He was praying. And He said, "Your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him." 3. Lack of consecration to Christ. Before Pentecost the apostles placed themselves at their Lord's disposal. Then the blessing came. Nor will it ever come otherwise. The world spirit cannot receive it, for He is "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive"; the disobedient cannot receive it, for He is "the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him"; lack of love cannot receive it, for we mark the connection: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God; let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger," etc.; self-seeking cannot receive it (for, alas! like Simon the sorcerer we may desire the baptism of the Spirit for personal ends), for "when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall glorify Me." Conclusion: To prayer and consecration this sorely-needed, all-inclusive blessing is never far off. There may, indeed, even then be a time of waiting. Nor may it come as we expect, for its recorded manifestations were not in every case alike. It may come to us as the dove, peace bringing; or as a baptism of fire, consuming our dross; or as the pouring out of rain, sweeping away our evils, and making buried seeds and drooping graces revive; or as the withering wind, making the goodliness of the flesh to fade, but the final issue will be the same; we shall be filled with the mind of Christ, and growingly transformed into His likeness; we shall live in fellowship with Him; and our words and works, yea, our very life, will become channels of grace to men, so that on every side they will cry "What must we do to be saved?" (C. New.) Parallel Verses KJV: He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. |
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