Turn back to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. I was thinking as Frank was praying
there, we had much to pray about, don't we? We could stay continually
in prayer. Just continuous. Continual supplication. Our Lord did. He did. I want us to look at this chapter
in the first ten verses, all I'm going to try to deal with
this morning. I titled this message, Have Ye Received the Holy Spirit
Since Ye Believed? Now, the Pentecostals have tore
that all to pieces. I have no doubt about that. But at the same time, we recognize
His presence. I sure want His presence here
this morning. And I know you hope that I'm
not preaching here, up here preaching by myself. I want Him to speak
through me this morning, using me, this clay pot, this cracked
clay pot this morning. I know I need Him. I need His
power, preaching the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul said in
one place, he said, the Word of God, the Gospel came not unto
you in word only, but in power and in demonstration of the Spirit. You know, the Scripture says
He will not speak of Himself. That doesn't mean we don't speak
of Him. We don't go the opposite end of the spectrum and never
speak of him. He's God. He's as much God as
Jesus Christ is. He's as much God as the Father
is. We heard a good portion of that this morning. There's only
one God. Only one. Let's look at these few verses
here. Paul visits Ephesus again. While he's there, he meets some
disciples, twelve disciples. He meets them, and he asks them
this question, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? These disciples were John's disciples,
John the Baptist. They were converted under his
ministry, and they were truly converted. These men are just
like Paulus. They were saved. They were baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ only. When John baptized them, they
were baptized in the name of Christ only. As one writer said,
they were not misinformed, just uninformed. It's like Aquila
And Priscilla took Apollos aside and taught him the way of God
more perfectly. Hopefully, that's what happens
here every week. I hope we'll learn something.
It's not I've learned it, now I'm just trying to remember it.
I did that in school. That's been 31 years ago and
I forgot most of that. But we are ever, ever learning
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the wisdom of God. Can you
exhaust that? We cannot exhaust the wisdom
of God. Can't do it. But they were just
uninformed. As I said, they were saved. I
believe this. They were saved. They walked
in the light that they were given. And when John pointed to the
Lamb of God, he pointed to the Lamb of God. the Lord Jesus Christ,
the only one. He didn't point to another lamb
or another gospel. He pointed to Christ, and they
believed Him, and they looked to Christ. But they needed some more preaching
done. They needed to be taught. We
all grow in grace and in knowledge. Paul speaks of this in his epistle,
to grow in grace and in knowledge. Grow in knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We can know a lot more than we
know. I believe that. I believe we
can know more than we know. By experience, we can know more
of the peace. We can know more of the joy.
We can know more of the comfort by growing in knowledge of Him. Now, they possessed the Holy
Spirit. They possessed, or they would not have believed. You
would not believe the Gospel If the Holy Spirit were not in
you, you wouldn't believe Him. No man can believe the gospel
of Christ apart from the Holy Spirit. He said no man can call
Him Lord apart from the Holy Spirit. Not seriously, not mean
it. I know there are some who go
around calling Him Lord and don't know anything about Him. They
don't know Him. They said, Lord, we preached
in your name, cast out devils in your name. He said, depart
from me, I never knew you. But those who truly call him Lord
do so by the Holy Spirit of God. But they had not heard that he
had come. They knew about him. They knew
about him. Look over here in John chapter
1. It's not as if they did not know
he existed. They knew that. But I believe
what he's saying is they did not know he had come, that he
had been given. Let me get over here in John
chapter 1. In John chapter 1, look in verse
33. This is John the Baptist speaking.
Well, it's in verse 32. And John bear record saying,
I saw the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, descending from heaven like a
dove, and it abode upon him. You and I know he had the Spirit
without measure. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost." So they knew that. They knew of his person. This is written in the Old Testament. God said, I will pour out my
Spirit upon all flesh. So they knew that. They knew
that. They just hadn't heard that He had come, that He had
been given. I find it interesting that Paul
did not question them about their faith in Christ. He didn't talk
to them at this point about their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was evident that they believed. They believed on Christ, but
they believed John. But here's what he questioned them about.
Have you received the Holy Spirit? And he's talking here about the
gifts that was given to the early church to confirm their ministry. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about that. But let me say a few things. And
Frank covered some of these things this morning on the importance
of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who quickens. It's the Holy Spirit who gives
life. He's the agent in the new birth. Look over in John chapter
three. Over here in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, this is our Lord speaking to
Nicodemus. He says over here in John, chapter
3, in verse 5, Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water, that is the word, and of the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
He's not saved. That man who is not born of the
Word and the Spirit is as lost as the day he is born. It's necessary,
isn't it? Absolutely necessary that he
come. Christ said, it is expedient
for you that I go away, because if I don't go away, the Holy
Spirit will not come. And this whole matter won't be
finished up. It won't. It will not be finished up. God
is a God of order. And it has to follow the order.
The Father chose us, the Son redeemed us, and now the Holy
Spirit is regenerating those whom the Son died for. It says in Ephesians 2 that we
are created in Christ Jesus under good works. He's the one who
created us in Christ Jesus. And the good works are of Him.
It's the work of Him in you. And then it's the Holy Spirit
who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. If you
understand the gospel this morning, if you are enabled to lay hold
of eternal life, He gave you that understanding. He enabled
you to do that. If you find comfort in Christ
this morning, if you can find some real joy in Him this morning,
it's evident He's given you that. He's worked that in you. If you
don't find this interesting at all, if you do not find the gospel
to be interesting, if you find this to be, I hope how soon this
is over, your mind stays on something else, you don't have it. Don't have it. He takes the things of Christ.
He takes the work of Christ, the person of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ, all that we have in Christ and reveals it to us. That's how I come to know this.
It's not that I'm more intelligent than someone else. He reveals
it. He makes it known. He's the one,
the Lord said, He will guide you. He will guide you into all truth. Aren't you glad you're not left
up to me? Really? I'm glad I'm not left to a man
standing in a pulpit to guide me. And that man's not left to
himself to guide. He will guide his people. He guides the church into all
truth. Look over in John 16. Our Lord
had a lot to say about it. Over here in John 16. 13. Our Lord said in verse 12, I have
many things to say unto you, but you can't receive them now.
You're not ready. You know, there are things, you've
got these little children. They can only receive a few things,
can't they? There are a lot of things they
can't receive now. They've got to grow up, mature.
How be it when He, The Spirit of Truth. Who is that? Who's the Spirit of Truth? Who
is it that guides you into all truth? It's the Spirit of Truth
who is the Holy Spirit. When He is come, He will guide
you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear. You know, that's what our Lord
said. He said, As I hear, I speak. They did nothing by themselves
except when Christ died alone. He died alone. But other than that, they do
nothing by themselves. Our Lord said, My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work. But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify me, For he shall receive of mine that which is mine, that
which is mine, belongs to me, my person, my work, and he'll
show it to you, he'll reveal it to you. That's his work. The Holy Spirit is the one who
will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He's the one who
does this. I don't convict you of sin. I might make you feel
bad. I can make you feel bad. I'm
sure I can do that. That's not conviction of sin.
Conviction of sin is not just feeling bad over something. God's
given us a conscience with the law written on it. It'll make
you feel bad. But there's a real conviction
of sin, a real knowledge. You begin to understand what
sin is. It's not a bad habit. It's not a flaw of my character. It's a wretched nature I was
born with. And He convicts you of that. And you see that. And
a man's not saved because he feels bad because he did this
or that. I mean, it may... The Lord may
use something like that to bring you to this place. But I'm telling
you, it's an understanding. It's a conviction of who and
what you are. Sin. Sin. Until then, we see ourselves
as pretty good. I'm telling you. We think we're
not too bad. Our neighbors are, but not us. He convicts us of sin. Look there
in John. You're in John 16. In verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. Because it's evident I didn't
complete the work. And He has nothing to comfort
you with. Why would he come if Christ does not go away? If Christ
goes away, it's because, he said, it's finished. It's finished. He said, if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you. And when he is come, here's his
work. He will reprove the world of
sin and of righteousness, the lack of it and their need of
it. Don't you see that? You don't have any righteousness,
do you? We don't have righteousness. We need righteousness. Without
it, no man will see God. And we have that in Christ, and
he teaches us that, and of judgment. Do you understand what happened
at Calvary? Judgment. Judgment fell on Jesus Christ
for the sins of His people. Judgment. He said, I've sinned
because they believe not on Me. There's your sin. It's not because
you stole something or told a lie. Here's your sin. You want to
know your great sin? You want to know the root of
it? You don't believe God. Light is coming to the world.
And you love darkness rather than light. And He convicts us
of that. of righteousness because I go
to my Father and He's seen me no more, and of judgment because
the Prince of this world is judged. This is His work. He's the one
who enables us to worship God in spirit and in truth. Spirit of truth, and we worship
Him in spirit. Not apart from the spirit, in
spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one who applies the blood
of Christ to the heart. He's the one who applies the
blood. He's the one who cleanses the conscience. That speaks up
there in Hebrews. We have a clean, clear conscience.
He does that. The Lord Jesus Christ. You know
those soldiers, when they took Him down from the cross, you
know they got His blood on them. It didn't save him. That blood, I know they got that
blood on him, taking him off that bloody mess. What a mess
he was. What a bloody mess he was. But blood on my hands doesn't
save, it's blood on the heart. And it's the Holy Spirit that
applies the blood to the heart. And He's the one who gives faith
that looks to the blood and sees the blood. He's the one. He's the one who
creates faith in the heart. He's the one who creates a new
heart. This old heart doesn't believe God. This old heart that
I was born with, the only thing that can be done with it is bury
it. But that new heart, God said,
I'll give you a new heart. He's the creator of it. You would not love Christ You
would not believe Christ if it were not for the work of the
Holy Spirit of God in you. You wouldn't do it. The Scripture
says the love of God is shed abroad in our heart now by the
Holy Ghost. And then he makes intercessions
for us. We prayed this morning. But there's one who prays that
goes far beyond what we are capable of doing. He prays for things
that we don't know. We don't have enough sense. I
don't want to be so blunt about it. We don't have enough sense
to pray for. Spiritual sense. We should have. There's no reason
not to have. But we don't have. But he does. He prays and he makes intercessions
for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. He speaks in a language that we have no words for. We
have no earthly words for the language He speaks in. Groanings. He prays for us, and listen,
He prays for us in groanings. Now, you know how it is when
you groan Something really hits you to the heart. Well, just
think what it is when He groans. He prays for us in groanings. Look over in Romans 8. Over here in Romans 8. Let me see where I'm at. Look in
Romans chapter 8, look in verse 26. He says, likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. He's helping our infirmities
when we don't even realize it. He's carrying us, bearing us
when we don't even realize it. We know not what we should pray
for as we ought to. I wish we knew what to pray for,
don't you? There have been many a times
I have found myself not knowing how to pray, or on a subject
not knowing how to pray about it. He knows. He helps our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit, the Holy Spirit itself,
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Listen, and He that searches the hearts. He knows your heart.
Oh, you say, oh, if you knew how I felt right now. He does.
He that searches the heart. Hearts. Not just one heart, all
our hearts. Knowing what is the mind of the
Spirit. He knows what's the mind of the
Spirit because He maketh intercession for the saints, and here's the
best part of it all, according to the will of God." You could
probably toss most of what I pray for out the door. Because so much self is in it.
But He is always according to the will of God. I'm glad that when I pray, it
goes through Christ, When it gets to God, it's according to
the will of God, so to speak. Now, we do not put the work of
the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit,
listen, in competition with one another. Now, I've been accused
of that. I've been accused of putting
them in competition. No, we don't. They are not in
competition. Not at all. However, we give them the due
honor that's due unto their name. Give unto Him the glory and honor
that's due unto His name. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. It doesn't mean we cannot speak
of Him. The Bible speaks of Him. And
when we come across it in the Word of God, we don't jump past
it. We deal with it according to the Word of God. This is why we are baptized.
Paul said, unto what name were you baptized? And he said, unto
Jesus Christ. Paul said, well, there's a little
more to it. He is. He said there's just a little
more to it. What names are we baptized now?
Now that we have the complete Word of God, we are baptized
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's how we baptize now. So
Paul informed them, he preached to them the way of God more perfectly,
just like Apollos was preached to. This is it. And they said there, we haven't
heard whether there be any Holy Spirit or whether He has come.
The very fact that He has come, here's how important this is.
The very fact that He has come is evidence that Jesus Christ
finished the work and that Jesus Christ is glorified and seated
at the Father's right hand or He wouldn't be here. That's important. It declares that Christ has finished
His work, and now He's come to apply it to me and you, to His
church. All that Christ has accomplished
is applied by the Holy Spirit. And Paul says here, and I'll
wind this up, I don't know if I'll go through all ten verses
or not, He said, unto what were you baptized? And they said to
John, there in verse, let me look, let me get back to your
mind. Scripture. And he said unto them, unto them,
what were you baptized? And they said, unto John's baptism.
Then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people that they should believe on him which is
come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. John's message was right.
That's why I'm saying they were saved. They just needed more
teaching. They needed to be taught. And
when Paul's talking here about the Holy Spirit, he's talking
about the gifts. He's not talking about his presence.
He's talking about the gifts that they needed. And Paul laid
his hands on these men. He says here, when they heard
this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now,
listen, they were not rebaptized. That's not what that's saying.
When they heard John the Baptist preaching about Jesus Christ,
they were baptized. That's what that's saying. It's
not saying that when they heard Paul, it'd be like every time
we learned something, we'd be baptized again. No, there's growth
in grace. There's growth in knowledge.
We're not baptized every time we learn something. They were
baptized. What he's saying here is that
they were baptized when they heard John preaching. John pointed them to the Lamb
of God. They believed and they were baptized. And when Paul had laid his hands
upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues
and prophesied. They spake with languages, known languages, not known to
them. It would be like me standing
here speaking in Spanish and German. that I had not gone to
school and learned. It was given to them, and it
was given for the church to confirm their ministry, their message,
confirm their message. You know what confirms our message
now? This. They didn't have that New
Testament. Can you imagine not having the
New Testament? Do you know how blessed we are
to have all this in front of us? We don't need the gifts. People get impressed And they
try to, they get impressed with gifts and these things. And then
these people, they want to reenact. You ever reenact anything? Reenact.
That's what they're trying to do. They're trying to reenact
these gifts that don't even exist now. This thing, I don't need
to speak in tons. We have the complete Word of
God. If anything confirms the message
I'm preaching, it's the Word. Just take the Word. I'd rather
have the Word than the gifts. I'm telling you the truth. We're
far better to have the Word of God than gifts and miracles and
healings and all that. All that. Much better to have the Word
of God. Because you can read it for yourselves. You can read it. And they spake,
he said, with tongues, and they preached. And that's what happened
with those twelve men. And all the men were about twelve. Exactly is what I'm saying. There
was exactly twelve disciples there. And they received the
gifts of the Holy Spirit. And these men went out and preached.
These men went out and they preached the gospel. And God confirmed
their message, just like He did the apostles. And these gifts
could only be bestowed by the apostles. When they died, these
gifts were gone. They're gone. I'll just wait until next week
and finish the rest of it. It's already been about 30 minutes. Really, that's the message in
itself. I was going to deal with it down through verse 10, but
we'll pick up there next week. Verse 8 and carry on from there.