Living in the Holy Ghost
Acts 2
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
There is absolutely no spiritual life without the ministry of the Holy Ghost. Jesus spoke often of the results of His Spirit to be sent by the Father once He was back in Heaven. How does our church world treat the manifestation of the Spirit so cheaply? It’s either His power in our midst and our lives or it is flesh. Our flesh is helpless in spiritual matters. The church cannot experience renewal and “the faith once deliver to the saints” (Jude 3) except by the visitation of the Spirit.
There are two Spirits/spirits that operate in the world. One is the spirit of darkness and evil and its master is Satan. He will coerce, deceive, manipulate, titillate, lie, etc. to get control over your life. This spirit and the spirits that do his bidding are all led by the devil. They are extremely religious, quote Scripture, and are quick to fringe almost every activity in the true church. The world of divination is not an insane ward, although it certainly leads a multitude into that trap. It is often extremely intellectual, fuzzy warm, and very intriguing. It is the fruit that we often expect to see upfront that causes us to misread the real truth about the world of evil.
The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit represents the spiritual world of truth and righteousness. He is the third member of the eternal Godhead. He is omnipresent so that His presence is universal. Satan has a legion of demons or spirits, but the Holy Spirit is Sovereignly One over the entire universe. He is life and light and is the Revelator of truth. Jesus Christ is the Revelation of the Bible, but the Holy Ghost is the Revelator. The Holy Ghost never speaks of Himself, although He liberally saturates the Holy Bible with His life-giving supernatural power. The truth revealed is always Jesus Christ.
One of the first ways to discern between the spirit of error and the Spirit of Truth is by where the emphasis is directed. The spirit of error will emphasize emotions, feelings, the means of transmitting these experiences and the individuals that this spirit of error is using. The Spirit of Truth is absolutely pure of all self-emphasis and leads the individual to honor the Holy Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ above everything. The emphasis of the pure Spirit (the Holy Ghost) is so clean and life transforming that the subjectivity of experience is almost totally lost in an objective abandonment of self to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Yes, we do have experiences in the subjective realm, but never do they take precedence over truth as established in the Bible. Living by the world of the subjective experiences, or great emotional feelings is the most dangerous area of the believer’s life. The Bible speaks of “joy unspeakable” (I Peter 1:8) and “peace . . . which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). The Scripture talks about “times of refreshing . . . from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Nothing on the face of this earth can match the life of wonderful delight in our Lord and Saviour. We must not cheat people out of the experiences of true worship, but we must stay in the absolute confines of Holy Scripture and never become victims of running to the hype of some religious circus.
While the Pentecostals have been guilty of hyper preachers who fan the crowd into pandemonium, the more modern churches do it with entertainment religion and show biz Sunday specials, etc. Both are equally repulsive to God. We have created a atmosphere in the church that demands religious events that titillate the flesh. The reason for this is the absence of prayer, fasting, and the authorized proclaiming of eternal truth that feeds the souls of men. We have created a climate where a Toronto or Pensacola could capture the entertainment mindset of the modern church.
The whole excitement of much of the church world is depending on which church in town has the best show. PTL didn’t just build a religious playground, they started a religious revolution. The result of that revolution is that most churches gear everything to an attractive list of events that bring the people to church. What a farce!
Romans 8
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Spiritual Life Is Living In The Spirit
The true life of a Bible believer is a life lived in the power and beauty of the Holy Ghost. Apostle Paul laid it on the line in Romans, chapter eight. Let’s look at this picture. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:1-6).
Those verses show a life so transformed and complete that the apostle spoke of “no condemnation”, “free from the law of sin and death”, and “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” This certainly does not sound like the crippled expression of the believer’s life we hear and see today.
Apostle Paul then made a crowning statement in verse eleven. “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11).
The emphasis of this verse is the words, “If the Spirit . . . dwell in you . . .” We must rediscover the Biblical truth of the Spirit in the believer’s life. I do not speak here of what we Pentecostals label as the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. I’m afraid that our emphasis on this baptism has blinded us to the life which the Holy Ghost imparts to every believer from the moment of conversion or the born-again experience.
Born Again Believers Have The Holy Spirit
The born-again believer is a new creature. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17b). This does not occur by the strength or good works of the repenting sinner, but by the Holy Ghost of God. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” (St. John 3:5). Every believer receives the person of the Holy Ghost at the very moment of their transformation into the kingdom. Please do not misinterpret me. When we are converted, we receive all of the person of the Holy Ghost; but when we are baptized in the Holy Ghost, He receives all of us. At the new birth He is resident, but at Pentecost He is president.
This Biblical Truth Excludes The Pensacola Impartation – Apparition Theories
Everything the Holy Ghost does in us from the moment of our born-again experience is an inner work arising from the heart. It is faulty and dangerous to invite a spirit to impart something into or upon your life. Yes, the gift or gifts of the Holy Ghost are received or manifest in the believer as He grows up and obeys the Word of God. That is clearly witnessed in the Book of Acts and I Corinthians 12 and 14. We must not deny the church the mighty power of the supernaturals of the Spirit. Peter stated unequivocally on the Day of Pentecost, “. . . Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38).
John 14
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
We have filled Christendom with arguments over the schematics of our Christian life and how the Holy Ghost does His wonderful, supernatural work. Our Pentecostal world is filled with “emotion chasing cripples” trying to find another super saint to lay hands on their head. The Holy Ghost is not a disembodied spirit floating around in the air looking for someone to zap. He is the paraclete (helper, counselor, guide) that has made His residence in the true church. He dwells in the church, not in the air. Demon spirits led by Lucifer are called the “powers of the air.” When you open yourself up to floating spirits, you will get more than you are asking to receive.
Ephesians is a breathtaking book to settle this wonderful need in our life. Paul warned of our spiritual warfare with spirits that are mighty to deceive. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12).
Yield Yourself To The Holy Ghost
The secret of this wonderful Spirit-filled life is to yield yourself to that wonderful Spirit that has renewed you in Jesus Christ. If He can renew a sinner dead in trespasses and sin, then He is absolutely ready to also fill that life with power for service in His kingdom. Look at this great promise to the Ephesians, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with mighty by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” (Ephesians 3:16-20).
The emphasis is on the Spirit that dwelleth in you being allowed to finish the work He began in salvation. Notice the words, “by His Spirit in the inner man” and then “according to the power that worketh in us.” Never does the Apostle deal with waiting for some external power to fall on us, but rather the work of Him who dwells in us. The apostle continues this theme in Romans, chapter eight, where He stated, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Romans 8:16). The only vehicle that God has ordained by which the Holy Ghost witnesses to man is man’s spirit. The Holy Ghost does not speak into our natural ear or zap us with emotions that have bypassed our reasoning, mind or thought processes. The Holy Ghost witnesses the revelations of God to our God-breathed human spirit.
Our human spirit is a creation of the Creator and is designed to recognize both the truth of Scripture and the witness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not bypass His foreordained plan. Any spirit that invites you into a relationship by another method is foreign to the operation or manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Impartation Or Apparition: Demonic In Nature
The entire premise of this strange new theology is false. The Holy Ghost is a person. He cannot be dissected and distributed in parts. It’s like trying to dissect a human person and sending him to someone a leg today and an arm tomorrow. The illustration is crude, but the fact is clear. A person is a person and you have them or you do not have them. The same is true of the Holy Ghost. He is in your life or He is not. No one can impart a part of a person. It is theological insanity.
Everything the Holy Ghost does in our life is at the invitation of the individual. If God was imparting the Holy Ghost in this fashion, all He would require is your surrender and invitation. He would not give the glory of imparting His power to men. Simon the sorcerer is an excellent example of a man trying to acquire the power to give God’s anointing to others. Peter said to Him, “. . . Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.” (Acts 8:20-21).
1 Corinthians 12
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
The Spirit And The Bride (Church) Say, “Come!”
“And the Spirit and the bride say , Come.” (Revelation 22:17a) The invitation from the Holy Spirit and from the indwelt church is an invitation to come; to come and take of the waters of life freely. We do not drink from an imaginary river, which is sheer heathen or voodoo theology; we drink from the waters of life, clearly taught in Scripture as the cleansing and healing flow from the finished work of the cross. Amy Ward, one of the defining examples of the Pensacola event (so stated the pastor) said that she questioned the spirit that was shaking her body beyond description. “Why are you doing this to my body?” This spirit answered her by saying, “I’m cleansing you up.” That spirit showed his source and the source of this false river. We are not cleansed by a spirit shaking us, but by the Blood of Jesus, the true water of Life.
Yield your life to Jesus Christ and He will totally change you. His Spirit will transform you by renewing a right spirit in you. That same Holy Spirit will seal you as His child and continue a good work in you until you are fully mature. He will possess you and empower you to live out the testimony of the new creature you have become. His supernatural gifts will be manifest as you walk in His Spirit-directed fullness. Jesus is your model and His Word is the girdle about your loins and the Sword of the Spirit. (Ephesians 6:11-18).