Thought forToday - September 2, 2023
God's Promise Of The Holy Spirit
By: Robert A. Searles
When
Jesus, after his resurrection, left the earth and ascended into heaven,
he promised the apostles and other disciples
who were present and witnessed his ascent, that in the manner as they
saw him go into heaven, he would one day return and
receive them unto himself, and while they waited for his return, he
would send to them another comforter, the third person of
the Godhead, the Holy Spirit to be their comforter, teacher, and
guide.
He commissioned them to go into all the world and
preach the gospel, but to wait in the city of Jerusalem until they
received the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another comforter, that he may abide
with you for ever, 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. I will not
leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while,
and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live, ye shall
live also.” John 14: 15-19
“Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures, and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus
it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached
in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are
witnesses of these things, And behold I send the promise of
my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be
endued with power from on high. Luke 24: 45-49
“And being assembled together with them, he commanded them that they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise
of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence.
When they therefore were come together, they
asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know
the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own
power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the utermost part of the
earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld,
he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And
while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, ye men of
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as
ye have see him go into heaven.” Acts 1: 4-11
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with
one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house
where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at
Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were
confounded, because that every man heard them speak in
his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to
another, behold are not all these which speak Galileans?
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”
Acts 2: 1-8
“And they were all amazed and in doubt, saying one to another, what
meaneth this? Others mocking said, these men are full
of new wine.” Acts 2: 12,13
“But Peter standing up with the eleven,
lifted up his voice, and said unto them, ye men of Judea,
and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken
to my words: for these men are not drunken, as ye suppose,
seeing it is but the third hour of the day But this is that which was
spoken by the prophet Joel.” Acts 2: 14, 15, 16.
“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And
also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days
will I pour out my spirit.” Joel 2: 28, 29
Unless we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we cannot know God,
and we are not saved. We can know when we are truly
saved because the Holy Spirit which dwells within each believer,
bears witness with our spirit that we are indeed the children of God.
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2: 14.
When we are born into the world, we are born naturally – dead to the
spirit of God because of an inherited sin nature.
Jesus said: in order to know God and be saved and have the Holy Spirit
of God dwelling within us we must be born again .
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him,
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do
these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother'swomb and be born?
Jesus answered , 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. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye
must be born again.” John 3: 1 -7.
If any one is to be saved it must be the work of God alone to draw that
person to himself, not by the mere choice of the person's will,
or of his good works, or good intentions, or the will of others.
“Jesus said: Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise
him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall
all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath
learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” John 6: 43-45.
“And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2: 21.
To be saved means to be born again by the power of God when we are
willing to confess to God that we have sinned and want his
forgiveness, and believe that Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins
by his death on the cross, and that we are justified before God
by his death and resurrection. When this happens, we become new born babes in the
family of God, and his Holy Spirit enters our lives, and
we become spiritually alive to the things of God.
When we are saved, we
are saved forever and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and we
are promised eternal life – that is we will enjoy God's quality of life as long as God lives, and that is
forever.
“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in
Christ in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1: 12-14
“How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Hebrews 2:3
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