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Sermon on the Holy Spirit 4
When Does the Holy Spirit
Come?
< Acts 2:1-4 >
“When the Day of Pentecost had
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 the whole house where they were sitting. Then 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.”
When Did the Holy Spirit Come to This Earth?
Now, I would like to explain how the
Holy Spirit comes to people.
The main passage of Acts 2 tells us
that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.
Does this mean that they, who had already received the Holy Spirit,
received more fullness of the Spirit? We must find out about this
first.
Some people claim that after believing
in Jesus, we must once again receive the Holy Spirit such as the
phenomenon shown in Acts 2. We must ponder upon this claim and examine
how nonsense such a claim is.
As a matter of fact, those who make
such a claim do not know the truth revealed in the Bible. We receive
the Holy Spirit as a gift simultaneous to the remission of sin that
we receive when we believe in Jesus (Acts 2:38). How can we receive
the Holy Spirit separately, only after a considerable lapse from
the time when we first believed in Jesus? Such faith is not the
correct faith. Even now, there are many people who, despite believing
in Jesus as their Savior, are yet to receive the remission of sin
that can wholly cleanse their hearts as white as snow. These people
are sinners, and therefore, the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in them.
You must realize that those who believe in Jesus in this way believe
in Him in vain. You must then also realize that the Holy Spirit
comes to only those who believe in Jesus within the true gospel
and are born again.
The Holy Spirit was sent to this earth
after the resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus was on this earth in
the New Testament’s time, the Holy Spirit had not descended on the
disciples yet. Jesus said, “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. (John 7:37-38)” And the
Apostle John clearly interprets this, saying, “But this He spoke
concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive;
for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet
glorified” (John 7:39).
As such, it was only after His Ascension
that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as He had promised (John 16:7).
Acts 1:4-5 backs this interpretation: “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.’” This
was true that the Holy Spirit had not yet come to this earth and
into the hearts of the disciples, up until the Day of first Pentecost
in the Early Church period.
To whom, then, has Jesus given the
Holy Spirit? He has given the Holy Spirit to those who believe in
His baptism and the blood of the Cross, for this truth is the truth
of the remission of sin. Jesus has given the Holy Spirit only to
the saints and the Apostles who believed in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the hallowed Spirit of God. The
word “holy” means “separated from sin.” As such, the Holy Spirit
cannot dwell in the hearts of sinners.
The disciples of Jesus were the ones
who had followed Him and heard His Word while He was on this earth.
They believed in Jesus as their own Savior and Lord who blotted
out all their sins with His baptism and death on the Cross. The
disciples also heard all that Jesus told them when He appeared before
them after His resurrection: “You shall be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.” They believed that all their sins were passed onto Jesus
when He, coming to this earth as their Savior, was baptized. Because
Jesus was their Savior, He was baptized, shouldered the sins of
the world, was crucified and died on the Cross, and thereby saved
them perfectly from all their sins. Those who likewise believe together
with the disciples in the gospel of the water and the Spirit have
received the Holy Spirit as a gift.
We Receive the Holy Spirit as a result of Believing
in the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit
Human beings can receive the Holy
Spirit as a gift by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. The Holy Spirit, in other words, is a gift of God that He
gives only those who have been forgiven of their sins. Let’s assume
for a moment that I gave a pair of sunglasses to someone as a gift,
saying, “Enjoy your summer vacation! This is a small expression
of my thanks for your help.” If this person were to say to me, “I
only have $10 right now, but here, have it for now,” what would
all this mean? It would mean that the sunglasses were not a gift
but a good he just purchased. A gift is something that is given
freely, 100 percent. If we had paid a price for it, no matter how
small, then it is not a gift at all.
Because the Holy Spirit is given only
to those have received the remission of sin, when people’s sins
disappear from their hearts by believing in Jesus, the Spirit of
God then simultaneously and automatically comes into their hearts.
In short, the Holy Spirit is given
to the born again the same time they truly believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. Jesus has perfectly saved those who
believe that Jesus accepted all the sins of our entire lifetime
passed onto Him when He was baptized, and that He bore all the punishment
of sins by shouldering all our sins and all the worldly sins of
mankind and being crucified. It is to those who believe in this
that Jesus Christ gives the Holy Spirit as a gift.
Because the Spirit of God is a gift
given to those who have received the remission of sin, all that
people have to do is just accept Him. Because the Holy Spirit is
a gift given to any saint who has received the remission of sin,
He dwells in the hearts of the saints. Those who have the Holy Spirit
in their hearts have the witness of the Word to the remission of
their sins.
The Holy Spirit does not come in a
hot and electrifying sensation. Nor is He felt emotionally. Far
less does the Holy Spirit descend in the state of complete absence
of ego as demons are summoned by witchcraft. Because the Bible says,
“Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and
one sat upon each of them,” some of you may think and claim
that a certain feeling arises when the Holy Spirit descends on you.
However, you must know that such an experience is nothing to do
with the Holy Spirit, but is merely the sign of being demon-possessed.
There used to be a professor at a
seminary who claimed that when the Holy Spirit descends, He descends
through the electrified hands. But this is not how the real Holy
Spirit descends. You must therefore realize that if there is any
spirit that comes into you like this, then this is not the Holy
Spirit. Some people mistake demons descending on them as the Holy
Spirit. They misunderstand and misbelieve these demons to be the
Holy Spirit. When demons come in, people can feel them, but the
Holy Spirit cannot be felt. The Holy Spirit quietly descends on
us, together with the remission of sin, when we believe in the gospel
Word of the water and the Spirit.
Absolute majority of today’s Christians
have not been born again by the gospel of the water and the Spirit
even as they believe in Jesus somehow. They are still trying to
receive the Holy Spirit after a few and even more years since they
first believed in Jesus. But, you must realize it is wrong to try
to receive the remission of sin and the Holy Spirit separately after
believing in Jesus. Trying to receive the Holy Spirit separately
after believing in Jesus, they climb up some mountain and pray,
and do all kinds of crazy things in church, crying and wailing.
These are all symptoms of the demon-possessed.
If we cannot receive the remission
of sin once for all when we believe in Jesus, then we cannot receive
the Holy Spirit separately later on. If people try to receive the
Holy Spirit separately afterward without the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, they will be possessed by demons instead. Often,
when people go to such places as prayer houses and fervently pray
to God to give them the Holy Spirit, they do receive something.
But what they receive is not the Holy Sprit, but demons that feign
to be the Holy Spirit. You must realize that such happenings are
frequent, and that you cannot try to receive the Holy Spirit without
the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
To lead a biblically sane life of
faith, one must believe in the gospel Word of the water and the
Spirit. First of all, receive the remission of all your sins by
the faith in the true gospel! You will then receive the Holy Spirit
as a gift. When Jesus has blotted out our sins of the world with
His water and blood, if you remain ignorant of this and only pray
ardently to receive the Holy Spirit, you will then end up being
seized by demons.
People misunderstand the gospel of
the water and the Spirit, and just believe that Jesus has blotted
out their sins only with the blood of the Cross. What would have
happened had Jesus died on the Cross without first accepting all
our sins passed onto Him through His baptism?
The Old and the New Testaments match
with each other perfectly. In the Old Testament, sins were passed
by laying hands on the head of a sacrificial animal. Likewise, God
made Jesus take upon the sins of the world by being baptized by
John. Had John not passed the sins of the world to Jesus through
baptism, these sins would have still remained as they were, even
until now. This is why like the Old Testament’s laying on of hands,
Jesus Christ had to take upon all the sins of the world by being
baptized by John, the representative of mankind, prior to His being
crucified. It was because Jesus Christ was baptized by John that
He could go to the Cross and shed His blood.
Everyone must all believe in Jesus,
who has blotted out the sins of the world with His baptism and blood,
and he/she must thereby be remitted of all his/her sins. Only when
one’s sins are remitted can he/she receive the Holy Spirit. If someone
still has sin in his/her heart even as he/she believes in Jesus,
then the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in this person’s heart.
We Can Receive the Holy Spirit Only When We Have
the Righteousness of God
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The remission of sin and the Holy
Spirit are not received separately. Those who are ignorant of this
do not know the whole truth, and so they go to prayer houses or
other such places, fast and pray. What do they do when they become
too weak to finish that fasting? They think about Jesus’ crucifixion
and bear with their hunger, saying to themselves, “My hunger means
nothing compared to Jesus’ crucifixion!” There are many such people
who are trying desperately to receive the Holy Spirit while living
their spiritual lives with their sins remaining intact in their
hearts.
What you must know clearly is that
fasting per se is not what is important. What is truly important
is to know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
given by God and thereby have all your sins be remitted by faith.
God wants you to know and believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit more than to pray and fast with devotion. Why? Because
this is what would bless you.
If someone prays, “Lord, give me the
Holy Spirit,” does the Holy Spirit then come to this person even
when his/her heart still remains sinful? How can the hallowed Holy
Spirit dwell in the hearts of the sinful? Only demons can dwell
in such hearts of the sinful. Demons make the hearts of the sinful
their houses, while the Holy Spirit makes temples out of and dwells
eternally in the hearts of those who have received the remission
of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the blood
of Jesus Christ.
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