Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1790
“He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” Acts 19:2.
IT may be well to notice what question the Apostle did not put to these Ephesian disciples of John. He did not say to them, “Have you believed?” This would have been a very important question and it ought to be settled once and for all. Our faith must either be boldly affirmed or sorrowfully denied—it should not remain the subject of question. It is a great pity that so many Christians are always saying, “Have I believed?” and allowing that most vital point to be a matter of debate—for as long as the existence of faith within our souls is the subject of question, we must be unhappy. Faith is the cornerstone of the edifice of godliness—if it is not well laid and known to be well laid—there can be no sense of security to the inhabitant of the house. We not only ought to know that we believe, but to know Whom we believe! And it would be well for us to advance beyond common believing to assurance—and then to full assurance—the assurance of faith, the assurance of hope and the assurance of understanding.
Again, Paul does not put the question, “If you have believed, how came it about? By what agencies was faith created in your souls? When did you first become Believers?” These are very proper questions if we view them as points of interest, but they do not touch the essence of salvation. A man may be saved and yet know none of the details of his conversion. No doubt there are many strong Believers who could not point to any special agency as the means by which faith was begotten within them. In general, it was by the hearing of the Word of God and by the operation of the Holy Spirit—but they do not remember, as some do, a remarkable text, or a thrilling sermon, or a striking Providence, through which they were turned from darkness to the Light of God.
Thousands in the fold of Jesus come to the Good Shepherd by degrees. Many who now walk in the Light received daylight, not by the leaping of the sun above the horizon in a moment, but as our days mostly begin in this country—a little light tinged the eastern sky and then came a rosy hue, followed by a dim dawn—and afterwards came the actual rising of the sun which comes out of the chambers of the east and runs his course till he has created perfect day. Many are gradually brought to Christ and yet they are truly brought to Christ. I say we may ask about the when and the how of conversion if we wish to be interested, as we have a right to be, in the stories of the godly, but we must not ask such questions as if they were of vital importance and should stand first.
Paul does not enquire about ways, means and times, but he does ask—“Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” Our Revised Version reads it, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” and others who are probably quite as accurate read it, “Are you receiving the Holy Spirit now that you have believed?” It does not matter one atom which way you read it—all the renderings come to this—“Do you see a connection between your believing and the Holy Spirit? Did you receive Him when you believed? Have you received Him since you believed? Are you daily receiving Him as you believe?”
That is the subject which is now before us—the Holy Spirit in our hearts as Believers. Has your faith been sealed by the impress of the Holy Spirit? This is a point of the utmost importance and upon it I desire to speak with deep and solemn earnestness in the power of the Holy Spirit, Himself. You know, dear Friends, when the Holy Spirit was given in the earliest ages, He showed His Presence by certain miraculous signs. Some of those who received the Holy Spirit spoke with tongues; others began to prophesy and a third class received the gifts of healing—so that wherever they laid their hands, disease fled before them. I am sure that if these powers were given now in connection with the reception of the Holy Spirit and your believing, you would all be anxious to possess them. I can hardly imagine a single Christian who would not put
to himself the enquiry, “Have I received the Holy Spirit in that fashion?” You would want to be healing, or to be speaking with tongues, or to be working miracles by which you could benefit your fellow men and glorify God! Would you
not?
Now, be it never forgotten that those works of the Holy Spirit which are permanent must assuredly be of greater value than those which were transitory. We cannot suppose that the Holy Spirit brought forth the best wine at first and that His operations gradually deteriorated. It is a rule of the Kingdom of God to keep the best wine for the last and, therefore, I conclude that you and I are not left to partake of the dregs, but that those works of the Holy Spirit which are at this time vouchsafed to the Church of God are, in every way, as valuable as those earlier miraculous gifts which have departed from us. The work of the Holy Spirit, by which men are quickened from their death in sin, is not inferior to the power which made men speak with tongues! The work of the Holy Spirit, when He comforts men and makes them glad in Christ, is by no means second to the opening of the eyes of the blind! Why, Sirs, men might have the gifts of the Spirit as to miracles and yet might perish, after all! But he that has the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit shall never perish—they are saving blessings and where they come, they lift the man out of his sinful state and make him to be a child of God!