In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of being filled or baptized with the Holy Spirit. He emphasizes that the focus should not be on the experience itself, but on the fruit or consequence of this experience, which is being a living testimony to the risen Christ. The speaker highlights that the Book of Acts is about the actions of the disciples, not just their words or teachings. He also mentions two specific accounts in Acts: the filling of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus.

Alright, let's go to John chapter 14, and this evening we're going to deal with the third baptism. Remember, we're dealing with the doctrine of baptisms, and we said that there were four. The first one was baptism into Christ, the second one, baptism in water, and then the third one, baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is the one we're going to deal with this evening. Now, in John chapter 14, and also in John chapter 16, the Lord Jesus provides quite a lot of instruction concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, I think we need to just say by way of introduction that this is a very controversial area. There are those who are for, and those who are against the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and there are those who take it to extremes. And what we want to simply do this evening is find a biblical perspective. And so, we need to simply look at what the scriptures teach. We cannot go outside of what the scriptures teach. We cannot practice things that are not written clearly in the Word. But if it is written in the Word, then we also need to be obedient to it. And so, we cannot remove or take away from the Word. We cannot add to the Word. That is our prime responsibility. And so, we'll endeavor to look at it simply from the point of view of the Word, and not from our own experiences, whether those experiences are negative or positive. So, let's turn to John chapter 14, and let's read from verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you, and He will be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. Now, Jesus makes quite a few very important statements here. The first is, He says that He has to go away. The beginning of chapter 14, He says, I have to go to prepare a place for you. But now, here He says, don't be worried, because I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit. I'm going to ask the Father, and He will send you the Holy Spirit, and He will fulfill my place. He will be in my place, and He will teach you, He will guide you, and He will be another Comforter. And so, He speaks about Him as another Helper, or another Comforter. That word Helper there, in the Greek is Paracletos, which is the same word as someone who is your counselor in court, someone who tells you what to say, someone who assists you through the legal intricacies of a legal system. And so, someone who stands by you, and who gives you advice, and who supports you, during a court case specifically, but obviously in this case, in life in general. Now, the second thing that He says about the Holy Spirit, is very important to note in the end of verse 17. He says, but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and He will be in you. Now, remember at this time, this was before Jesus ascended, this was before the cross even. And so, He says, and this is technically part of the Old Testament. So, He's saying now, you're in the Old Testament times, and the Holy Spirit is with you at the moment. Now, we know that that is true, because the Holy Spirit is always all over, because He is God. One of the attributes of God is that He is omnipresent, He is everywhere at all times. So, the Holy Spirit was with people in the Old Testament, but He says, He's going to come to you in a different way. Not that He wasn't on the earth before that, of course He was on the earth, but He's going to come in a different way. And He says that He is with you, but He will be in you. So, the Holy Spirit, instead of just being with us, is going to be in us. Now, also, in the Old Testament you'll read that sometimes the Holy Spirit came upon men, and empowered them to do great things, or to prophesy, or to do certain things. And so, you remember Samson, for instance, it would speak about the Holy Spirit came upon him, and He would get very strong. And He would take a jawbone of an ass, and He would slay many, many men. And then the Holy Spirit would depart from Him, and He would become like any other man again. And then again, the Holy Spirit would come upon Him, and empower Him for another great miracle. But now the Lord Jesus says, that's going to change. Instead of the Holy Spirit coming on you, or being with you, He's actually going to reside within you. And so, the relationship with the Holy Spirit is going to change. This is what Jesus, essentially, is announcing here. Now, if we go to chapter 16 of John, just over the page, and I'm going to read quite a long section here, from verse 7 through to verse 15. And this is part of the same discussion, and the same teaching by the Lord Jesus on the Holy Spirit. And He says, Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they did not believe in Me. Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see Me no more. Of judgment, because the rule of the world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority. But whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said to you that He will take of Mine, and declare it to you. Now, He is saying a lot of things about the work of the Holy Spirit. But just look, let's look at some of those things very quickly. The first is, He says in verse 8, that He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. This is not His ministry to the church. So, He is saying the Holy Spirit has a ministry to the church, and He has a ministry to the world, to those who are saved, and to those who are unsaved. To the unsaved, His ministry is to convict, in other words, to work in their lives, and to make them aware of sin, and of judgment, and of righteousness. Those three things. Now, if the unbeliever becomes aware of those things, becomes aware of his sin, becomes aware of the fact that there is judgment for that sin, but also becomes aware of the fact that there is righteousness to be found, through what Jesus did on the cross, they then can find their way to salvation, and they can turn to the Lord Jesus. So, that is His function as far as the world is concerned. But now He says, He is the Spirit of truth. Now, you will see that He is called different things in the New and in the Old Testament. One of the names of the Holy Spirit is, He is the Spirit of truth. He is not the Spirit of lies, or the Spirit of falsehood, but the Spirit of truth. This is in direct opposition to the work of the devil. Remember, the devil is the father of all lies. This is His nature, this is His character. But the nature and the character of the Holy Spirit is truth. And He will lead us, He says, in truth. And so He says, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority. Now, the question is then, what is all truth? Will He tell us that it is Wednesday today? No, He is not concerned about that kind of truth. He is obviously concerned about the truth of the Word of God. The truth of Jesus. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. So, truth is to be found in Jesus. Truth is to be found in the Word. And in fact, in John chapter 17, the next chapter, the Lord Jesus says, the Word is truth. Your Word is truth. And so the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. All truth about the Word, and all truth about Jesus. That is the prime function and work of the Holy Spirit to the Christian. So, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He is, He will speak. He will tell you things to come. So, He is going to tell us about the future. He will glorify me, glorifying the Lord Jesus. For He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. Now, you will see that He is saying, the Holy Spirit will not draw attention to Himself. But He will draw attention to Jesus. Now, remember what Jesus did. Jesus never drew attention to Himself. He drew attention to the Father. And this is in the very nature of God. And this is something we battle with, because we like to draw attention to ourselves. Even from small, a little baby, even before it can speak, knows how to draw attention to itself. By screaming and acting and performing and doing all sorts of things. That draws attention. This is what we do by nature. But you see that the God, the divine nature, is not to draw attention to Himself. The Holy Spirit focuses attention on Jesus. Jesus focuses attention on the Father. And so, there you can begin to see how the Father and the Son and the Spirit work together. And so, He will glorify me. And then verse 15. All things that the Father has are mine, therefore I say to you that He will take of mine and He will declare it to you. So, He is going to take the things of Jesus. What are the things of Jesus? Not just the truths of the Word, but the character of the Lord Jesus, the personality of the Lord Jesus. He is going to take all of the things that pertain to Jesus. And He is going to reveal those things to us. Now, you can immediately see here that the focus here is not on what we get out of the deal. Or on us or what we experience or feel in the process. The focus here is on that which is of God, which is going to be made real to us. And so, you can see the beginning of the emphasis of the work of the Spirit. Now, in Acts chapter 1. Again, we are reading three scriptures here that are all the words of the Lord Jesus. And He is teaching on the subject. In Acts chapter 1. And this is just before Jesus ascends to heaven. And He is speaking to His disciples on the Mount of Olives. And verse 4 of Acts 1 says, And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, You have heard from Me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. Therefore when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the end of the earth. So, again you will see here that the Lord Jesus compares these two baptisms. He says John baptized with water. And obviously Jesus also baptized, or His disciples baptized in water. But He says now there is another baptism which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now remember this concept of baptism meaning immersed, covered in, lost as it were, dipped totally in the medium in which one is being immersed. And so in the case of water, being covered by water. But in this case, being covered by the Holy Spirit. Now there is different language that is used. Some places the scripture speaks about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now remember Jesus says He will be in you. But then also speaks about the baptism or the immersion in the Holy Spirit. Now you can see the disciples here immediately say, but now Lord what about setting up the kingdom. Now they are still thinking that Jesus has come to set up a political kingdom. Remember Israel was under the domination of Rome at this time. And they thought He was going to deliver them of the Roman oppression. And He says to them, but it is not about that. He hardly answers the question. He immediately says to them, it is not for you to know when this is going to happen. Now we know when that is going to happen. It is going to happen in the millennial kingdom which is at the end of the age, at the end of time, which is to come. But He again brings their attention on the work of the Holy Spirit. So you can see they are earthly minded. They are thinking about a political kingdom. But Jesus is thinking about a spiritual issue. And He is saying, but in fact I am going to give you the Holy Spirit. Now notice what He says in verse 8. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria. And so the Holy Spirit is there to empower us. Now we can see that from the Old Testament. When the Holy Spirit came upon men they were able to do mighty deeds. Samson was able to pull down those pillars of that great palace in which he was. And killed many Philistines in that experience. Men were able to speak great things of God. Daniel was able to prophesy the things that would come. Not only the coming of the Lord Jesus but right through to the end of the age. Now He says you will receive power. But notice the emphasis. You see now one of the problems today is that there is an over or wrong emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit for us to do all sorts of amazing things. But notice what the Lord Jesus says. What the Holy Spirit will do for us. He will empower you to do what? To be witnesses to me. To be witnesses to me. Now notice the language very carefully. He is not saying so that you may witness for me. But He says you will receive power and you shall be witnesses. Now those are two different things. Someone who gives witness or witnesses to an event or something. Or someone who is a witness. These are two different things. And so you can go into a court of law and you can testify to something. You can say this is what I saw. And your testimony may be true or may not be. That does not matter. But that is giving witness. But Jesus does not say you will give witness. He says you will be witnesses. You will be witnesses. So in other words He is saying your whole life is going to demonstrate what you are testifying to. So it is not just a vocal expression. It is not just what you say with your lips. But it is in fact what your life says. And He says that you will be witnesses. You will be living testimonies. And this is an Old Testament concept which was prophesied in the Old Testament. That this is one of the things that would happen in the New Testament. Is that the law would not just be written on tables of stone. But it would be written upon our hearts. And from our hearts it will find an expression in the way that we live our lives. And the way that we do things. The way that we act. And especially the way that we react. These things should testify to the resurrected Christ. Should testify to the Lord Jesus. Now also you will see here that the emphasis is not on the experience they would have. It does not speak about them having goosebumps or them experiencing anything. The emphasis is on the consequence or the fruit of this experience. And the fruit of this experience is that they would be living testimonies to the risen Christ. And then of course He says not only here in Jerusalem but in Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. This was His plan for the spread of the gospel. Now we know that this is true. Because when one looks at these guys in the book of Acts. One sees that the book of Acts is called the book of Acts. Not called the book of sayings. Or the book of preaching. Or the book of teaching. It is the book of Acts. It is the things they did. And you will see it begins. The book is begun by saying. The former account of Mato Theophilus of all that Jesus both began to do and to teach. And so the book of Acts is about the things that they did and that they taught. Which is a continuation of the ministry of Jesus. Notice it says the things that Jesus began to do and teach. The inference is that this book now that we are reading here, the book of Acts. Is what Jesus continues to do. But not from an earthly perspective but from heaven. Through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Empowering the church now to do those things. Which he had begun to do. And so the emphasis is on the doing. Not so much on the speaking. And you will immediately pick up that there are some people who over emphasize the speaking part. But in fact Jesus is here emphasizing the doing part. Alright. Now having established those basic principles. And these are the promises that Jesus gives in John. And here in Acts chapter 1. Now let's go to the book of Acts. And let's have a look. And there are 5 accounts in the book of Acts. Of people who were filled or baptized with the Holy Spirit. And I want us to look at each one of those 5. Because from those we will learn very valuable lessons. And the first one is right here in the next chapter in Acts chapter 2. Now we are probably going to talk a bit fast tonight. Some people complain that I speak too fast. But we have a lot of material to cover tonight. And I would like for us to get a total overall view. Now Acts chapter 2 tells us about the day of Pentecost. And it says in verse 1. That when the day of Pentecost had fully come. They were all with one accord in one place. Now remember Jesus had told them in the section we have just read. That they must go into Jerusalem. And they must wait there until this promise has come. And so there they were waiting. And verse 2 says. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire. And one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And so here was the first time that people were filled or baptized with the Holy Spirit. There was 120 of them at this occasion. And it tells us the languages that they spoke. So they began to speak in languages that they had never learnt. You will see that it says in verse 8. And verse 7 says. They were amazed. They were people in the city. And they were amazed at what they heard. And they said. Look are not all these who speak Galileans. And how is it that we hear each one in our own language in which we were born. Parthians and Medians and Elamites. Those were in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontia, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia. Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene. Visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes. Cretans and Arabs. We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. And so these men, the people, the onlookers were saying. But in fact these guys are Galileans. They don't know these languages. And then it lists all the languages which they spoke. So they spoke miraculously by God's power languages which they had never heard. That was the one thing that was happening here. The second was that there were tongues of fire that appeared on them. And the third was that there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind. These were the three visible things that happened on this occasion. Now of those the sound of the wind and the tongues of fire only appeared here. It doesn't appear in the other ones, in the other four accounts we have in the book of Acts. It is also not taught anywhere in scripture that these things are part of the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And so we cannot extrapolate that and say there is going to be a sound of wind. There could be. But there doesn't have to be. Or that there is going to be tongues of fire. There could be but there doesn't have to be. Because the only time it happens is here in the book of Acts. And when something happens like that we can say well yes that was what happened on that occasion. But that does not have to be a doctrine. It is not something that has to happen in every other occasion. This is what happened here and this was a special occasion in many respects. Because it was the first time that it happened. OK. Now let's go to Acts chapter 8 and here is the second account. And what happens here. Now remember Jesus said that there will be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and then the outermost parts of the earth. Now this is in Samaria. This is the third phase in the spreading of the message. From Jerusalem to Judea which is the area, the province just around Jerusalem. Now Samaria is a little bit further away and the gospel has now reached to that point. And let's read from verse 14. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard, that's Acts 8 verse 14, that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Whereas yet he had fallen on none of them. You see the language again here is speaking about them falling on them. And they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So they had been baptized in water but not in the Holy Spirit. You see the two things there. Now this is very important because there are other people who say no, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the same as when you get born again. It's the same experience. It's not a separate experience or a separate event. But you can see this is clearly a separate event because these people had been baptized in water. They would not have been baptized in water if they had not been born again. If they had not given evidence of having accepted Christ. So they had been, if we can speak in the language of baptism, they had been baptized into Christ. They had been baptized into water but not yet into the Holy Spirit. And so you can see that this is a third and a separate experience from the first two. And so many people get confused and they say no, no, but when you get saved, then you receive the Holy Spirit. No, you can see from this that it's a separate event. And verse 17 says when they laid hands on them they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hand the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money saying, now this was a witch doctor who had got saved. And he said well I also want this ability to give people this power. Give me this power also, verse 19, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor portion in this matter for your heart is not right in the sight of God. And so he's saying it's not something that we can buy from God. Not with money or with anything else. Now remember the first of the principles that we dealt with. The very first foundation, dead works, repentance from dead works. There's nothing we can do in order to buy anything or to bribe God into doing something for us. God gives us things because He is gracious. And we do things for God because we want to praise Him and we want to bless Him by the things that we do because we are grateful for what He has done for us. But not in a buying and a selling situation. But you can see here that this man thought he could buy this gift. And Peter says no, your money perish with you. There's no way you can buy this gift. Now let's go to Acts chapter 9, next chapter. And what happens here is Paul has now gone, or Saul as he was then, goes down on the road to Damascus. He sees this great light. He meets Jesus as his Saviour. He was a religious Jew up to this point but did not believe in the Lord Jesus. He gets saved and then in verse 17, sorry let me just fill you in before this. God then speaks to a man called Ananias. Paul had now been struck off his horse. He was blind because of this great light. He had seen something of the Lord Jesus. He is led by hand into Damascus and he now stays in the city there. And God now directs another man called Ananias to now go and pray for Paul. And verse 17 says, And Ananias went his way and entered the house, and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road that you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once. And he arose and was baptized. When he had received food he was strengthened, and then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Now I want you to take note again. You will see here that Ananias entered into the house, verse 17, laying hands on him said, Brother Saul. So was Saul saved? Was he born again at this point? Yes he was. Otherwise Ananias would not have addressed him as brother. He had met Jesus on the road to Damascus. So he was born again, but he was not yet filled with the Spirit. And again he prays for him that he might receive the Holy Spirit. Again a second or separate experience. Now let's go to Acts chapter 10. Now what happens here is that Peter now goes and he preaches for the first time to Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. And in verse 44, Acts chapter 10, verse 44. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, Can anyone forbid water, that these should be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit, just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, and then they asked him to stay a few days. So again you can see the same thing happening here. Now it's interesting about these last two events, that in both these occasions, in Paul's experience and in these of the household of Cornelius, water baptism followed baptism in the Holy Spirit. So it doesn't have to be in that order. You don't have to first receive Christ or be baptized in Christ, then be baptized in water, then be baptized in the Holy Spirit. It doesn't have to necessarily. That would be the general order. It would normally be in that order. But it doesn't have to be in that order. Obviously coming to Christ has to be the first thing. Nothing happens before that happens. But then the other two can be swapped around. In some cases people are baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit before they are baptized in water, and in other cases people are baptized in water first. And of the five occasions in the book of Acts, you'll find that two of them, they were baptized in water after they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. So the order is not important. Then let's go to the last one which is in Acts chapter 19. And this occasion now is at Ephesus. And this is also very important because this account is given to us because this is a long time. This is a lot of years after the day of Pentecost. Some people say that these experiences were only for the establishing of the church at the very beginning. But this is many years later. And this is still happening. And so we can see that this experience continues to happen amongst the believers even long after the day of Pentecost. And so in Acts chapter 19, let's read the first six verses. And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, We have not as much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. Now notice again, he finds certain disciples. So are these people Christians? Yes, they are Christians. They are called disciples. Peter says to them, Sorry, it is Paul. Paul says to them, Have you received the Holy Spirit when you believed? In other words, when you put faith in Christ. Remember the second principle. When you put your faith in Christ, did you receive the Holy Spirit then? In other words, they were believers. They were born again. And they said, No. In fact, they said, We don't even know. We have never even heard about the Holy Spirit. Now we know at this stage, we found out that Apollos was teaching about the Lord Jesus. But he didn't know everything. And he in fact is taken aside by a couple of people, a husband and a wife. And they teach him more fully. And they teach him certain things which he didn't know. At this point, he didn't know about the Holy Spirit. And in fact, he didn't even know about baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Remember in Matthew chapter 28, he says, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now you can see why Paul says, But what baptism were you baptized with? Because if they were baptized correctly in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they would have heard, at least heard of the fact that there is a Holy Spirit. But they said, We have never heard of the Holy Spirit. So he says, But there is something wrong then. You were baptized with some different baptism then. And so he questions them. And verse 3 says, He said unto them, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism. Now remember, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, which was separate, but a forerunner to the baptism of the Lord Jesus. And then Paul said, John indeed baptized with baptism of repentance. Verse 4, Saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after Him, that is the Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues, and they prophesied. And so you can see again how this happens. Now we need to move on a little bit faster. The next section I am going to deal with now is, What is the work of the Holy Spirit? What is the function and the ministry of the Holy Spirit? And I am not going to go through all of the scriptures, because otherwise we will never finish in time. But maybe let's just look at odd ones in between. But if we go back to John chapter 4, you will find that the Holy Spirit helps in worship. Jesus speaks to the woman at the well, and He says that the true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth. And so one of the things the Holy Spirit does for us is that He helps us to worship correctly. The second thing is, and we have seen that in John chapter 14 verse 26, is that He leads us into all truth. Now practically, it simply means that He opens His word to us. Now there are many people who have been born again, but not been baptized with the Holy Spirit, but they are able to understand the word. It makes sense to them. And yet others, somehow, even though they are genuinely born again, the word remains closed to them until they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and then suddenly the word opens. And when they read the word, it begins to make sense for the first time. This is part of the work of the Holy Spirit. But even on an ongoing basis, when you read a passage of Scripture, which you have read many times in the past, and it meant absolutely nothing to you, and then suddenly it stands out, and suddenly it hits you between the eyes, that God is actually saying this. Now that's the work of the Holy Spirit, because it's not an intellectual thing. You could have read through it many, many times, and you could have understood what it was saying, but in fact it never meant anything to you. The light hadn't gone on. It wasn't illuminated. It didn't become real. And then suddenly one day you read it. Now that's what the Holy Spirit does. He suddenly makes things real to us from the word. And so He teaches us. He leads us into all truth. In John 16 we saw that He convicts, and He convicts the world and so on, but He also leads Christians. He leads and guides us as Christians. And then also from John 16 we mentioned that He makes Jesus real. He makes Jesus real. In Acts 1 we saw that He gives us power to be witnesses. He gives us power to be witnesses. Now I'm going through this list again, and I'll explain why I'm doing this. Then in Acts 6 you'll see that He empowers us to serve God. He empowers us to serve God. And so sometimes we are weak in our own ability to serve God. We're tired. We just don't have what it takes to do the things that God wants us to do. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do sometimes the almost impossible. And you see men like Stephen, for instance, who becomes a martyr, and he faces those stones, and he looks into heaven and he says, Father, forgive these people. We'd say that's impossible. How could you do that? But he does that because the Scripture says he was full of the Holy Spirit. And so he empowers us to serve God, but he also empowers us to face persecution. And when you read about the martyrs and how they faced persecution, not only in the book of Acts, but right through the centuries, and you say, but this is superhuman that someone could do this. No, in fact, it was superhuman in the sense that the Holy Spirit empowered them to face that persecution and to be witnesses, even to Christ, in the face of persecution, on the fiery piles, on the ices they were put out there to freeze, on the rackers they were stretched, as these various things were done to Christians over the ages, and they continued to glorify God in the most unbelievable circumstances. This is the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. And then in Romans chapter 5, it says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And so he gives us love, a supernatural love sometimes. We say, but you know, this is a supernatural love that this person has for these people who are so unlovely, often in the mission field or in some area of ministry. That's the love of God which is poured into our lives or into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Acts 5 says. And so he pours his love into us through the work of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and again one would have to read that whole chapter, but it speaks about different gifts that he gives. Nine different gifts. Gifts of healing. Gifts of miracles. Gifts of prophecy. Gifts of tongues. Gifts of knowledge or word of knowledge or word of wisdom. And so different gifts that he gives to the church. Those gifts are not for individual benefit, but they are given for the benefit of the church. And those operate sometimes not so visibly, but they operate within the lives particularly of those who are in some form of ministry or the other. We're not speaking about ministers in the sense of those who are the chiefs of the church. But whenever we endeavor in any area of ministry, whether to visit people or to pray for people or to share the word with them, the gifts of the Holy Spirit should be in operation in those times and empower us to serve God and to serve the church and to serve the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, we read that he helps us to pray. He helps us to pray. And so sometimes we don't even know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit will lead us to pray correctly and to pray according to the will of God. Very important that we pray according to the will of God. In Ephesians it speaks about the Holy Spirit as being the guarantee of our salvation. The guarantee or the down payment, the deposit of our inheritance, speaking of that which is to come in the future. Now that's quite a mouthful and quite a lot of stuff that we need to deal with there. Hebrews chapter 6, the passage that we're actually dealing with, you'll see that it speaks about the Holy Spirit giving us a taste of heaven, a taste of things to come. And we've just recently been blessed by a tape by an Indian brother who speaks, a brother, Zak Kunan, who speaks about heaven on earth. That in fact there's a sense in which we can taste heaven on earth, and this is part of the work of the Holy Spirit. Now I've not given you all of the things. I've just given you a list and I haven't even counted. There must be about 15 different things that the Holy Spirit does for us. And you'll notice that in all of this we haven't even spoken about tongues. We've spoken about all of these things. Now to many people, the Holy Spirit and tongues, this is all there is to it. The Holy Spirit helps us to speak in tongues. Yes, that's what the Holy Spirit is. One of the things the Holy Spirit gives us, one of the gifts, one of the things that we're able to do. But there are many, many, you can see many other things that the Holy Spirit does. Now if we're going to teach on the subject, we have to teach on all of the work of the Holy Spirit. We can't just teach on the one aspect, on tongues, or on any other one aspect. We have to teach all of these things. And the work of the Holy Spirit is not just to give us the ability to speak in tongues. No, He has a far greater job, a far greater ministry in our lives. And so many people say, oh no, I just want to speak in tongues. Well in fact, that's really just such a small part of what the Holy Spirit has come to do. He's come to do far more than that. And so why do we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Because we need all of these things. We need Him to help us to worship. We need Him to teach us. We need Him to show us how to pray. We need Him to pour His love into our lives. And all of these things that we've spoken about. And so yes, tongues I believe is a valid experience. But it's only a small part of the total work of the Holy Spirit. And so we need to pray. And we need to say, God, we need the fullness of that which the Spirit is able to do in our lives. And more than that, we don't just need a once-off experience. Many people say, no, no, as long as you in 1952 were filled with the Holy Spirit, then that's all that matters. No, in fact, we need to be continually empowered by the Holy Spirit. And in fact, let's turn to Ephesians 5. And a very important verse that's in here. And so yeah, many people lay an emphasis on an experience they had a long time ago. That's not the issue. It's not whether you had an experience a long time ago. The issue is, is your life empowered to serve God today in this way? And this is really the important thing. In Ephesians 5, verse 17. Now he says, Do not be unwise, but understand what the will of God is, or the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation or excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And that word, be filled there, should literally be translated be being filled. Be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. So it's not just a once-off experience. It needs to be an ongoing experience. I need to be constantly filled and empowered by God. I need to constantly be drawing from Him. Now again you'll see that many people preach from Acts 1, verse 8 where it says you will receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you'll hear that they'll speak about that word power, is the word dunamis, from which we get the word dynamite. And they say, this is a dynamite type experience. Now, you know, I don't believe that that is correct. Because from that word dunamis, you also get the word dynamo. And a dynamo is something which constantly generates power. Now in fact, for some people, it is a dynamite experience. It's one big explosion and after that there's just a bit of ash left. And you know, there's maybe chaos all over the show. But there's nothing sustaining to the experience. But the word dunamis, I believe, is really intended to be the word dynamo, which we understand, which is something which constantly is able to generate power and give power. And so it's not just a once-off experience, it's a constant experience as we draw from the Lord Jesus. Now, last scripture I'm going to go to is John chapter 7. And here it tells us how this needs to happen. John chapter 7 and verse 37. And it says, On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Now, you remember the first verse we spoke about, where we spoke about the fact that he was with them, but he would be in them. Now you can see here that he's saying that the Holy Spirit was not yet given. Doesn't mean the Holy Spirit was not on the earth, that he was not given in a special way. But he says, where do we receive the Spirit? From the Lord Jesus. If any man thirsts, now that's the first requirement. We must want this experience. Many people say, Oh well, you know, if God wants to give it to me, he can give it to me. Now Jesus says, we must thirst. If any man thirsts, let him come to me. Not to any minister, or to any committee, or to anyone else. Go to the Lord Jesus. He is the one who gives the Holy Spirit. Yes, we see on two occasions in the book of Acts at least, where people were prayed for and they received the Holy Spirit. But those apostles who prayed for them could not give the Holy Spirit. Jesus alone is the giver of the Holy Spirit. He alone is the one who baptizes. I can baptize in water, and in fact on Sunday we will be baptizing some folk in water. That I can do. But I cannot baptize people into Christ. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. I cannot baptize people in the Holy Spirit. That's the work of the Lord Jesus. You see how the two work together. The Holy Spirit baptizes people, put them into Christ, but Jesus fills with the Holy Spirit. He says, If any man thirsts, let him come to me, and let him drink. And he says, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And he says, This he spoke about the Holy Spirit. Those who, those believing in him would receive. And so the first thing we need to do is we need to believe. The second thing we need to do is we need to go to Jesus and actually receive from him, drink from him. And the third thing we need to do is we need to believe. Those who believing on him would receive. And then he says, For the Holy Spirit was not yet given. And so, how do we practically apply this? Well, you need to go to the Lord Jesus in your prayer, in your quiet time, and say, Lord, I recognize that I don't have all of what is available to me. Maybe I've got a certain amount. Maybe I've got a little bit of the working of the Holy Spirit, but I need more. And by constantly going to the Lord Jesus and drinking from him, he is the one who is faithful to his word, and he will fill with his spirit. That's a work of God. That's not a work that anyone else can do for you. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that the Lord Jesus came to us and that he revealed yourself to mankind. He performed miracles. He spoke your word. He gave direction. He did all of these wonderful things. And then he went away, but we thank you that he didn't leave us without a counselor, but that he sent the Holy Spirit who fulfills and completes the work that he had in fact begun within our hearts and within the world and within the church. And so, Lord, we pray that we may be open to the work of your spirit, and, Lord, that we may recognize those areas in which we need the empowering of your spirit. And, Father, we pray that we may come to you, that we may come to the Lord Jesus, and that we may drink of him. Forgive us, Lord, for looking to men to fulfill these needs in our lives when in fact these are things that you want to do in our lives. And so we pray, Lord, give us grace that we may turn to Jesus, that we may thirst after him, and that we may indeed want more of him, and that by doing so we may receive that which is your promise for us. And so, Lord, as we meditate on these things, and maybe, Lord, some of us struggle with some of these concepts and these issues, we pray that by your spirit you would teach us. We thank you that that's one of the functions in the ministry of the spirit is to teach us and to lead us and to guide us into all truth. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.