Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 17 – June 1992

 

The Gift Of The Exalted Lord

 

Sermon by Rev. Leo Douma on Acts 2:33-36

Reading: John 7:37-39; Acts 1:1-11

Singing: 217, 331, 335, 351, 330.

 

Beloved congregation,

Do you remember the last time you were thirsty?  You were so dry you just had to have a drink.  Sometimes my youngest comes marching in after being out in the sun and says, ‘drink Mum’.  He takes the full cup of cordial, and drinks the whole lot down in one go, taking great big gulps.

When you are really thirsty, your mouth is dry and dusty your throat is so dry you can hardly swallow.  You have an aching, yearning feeling in your chest.  You have this longing, this desperate longing for a drink; something long, cool and refreshing something to make you feel alive again.

A lot of people feel that way in their spiritual lives.  They are thirsting and longing for something to refresh them, something to give them joy and peace, love and warmth.  They are longing for something to help them praise their God and to love those around them; something to help them witness freely and spontaneously.  Our Lord Jesus promised: “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says ‘streams of living water will flow within him.”  If we come to Jesus and drink then He not only satisfies our thirst but ‘living water’ will ‘flow’ from us.  We will be a fountain of joy and hope to others.

Such is the promise of Christ that if we believe in Him, we will be ‘filled’ to overflowing with His Spirit.  And yet, many feel this is not their experience.  Maybe you have been going to church for years, but have never felt the joy, or warmth or power of God’s presence in you.  Maybe you sometimes doubt you even have the gift of the Spirit.  Perhaps you look at other people, or other churches and you hear them talk of the joy of being filled with the Spirit.  You perceive a joy and spontaneity, their love, fellowship and witnessing and you feel you are missing out.  Maybe you do not have the Spirit, you think.  Maybe it takes more than a simple faith in Jesus to be filled with the Spirit.  Maybe there is something more like a second baptism as the charismatics say.  They seem joyous enough.

Well, let us have a close look at how we receive the full measure of the Spirit.  Upon what basis has the Spirit been given to the Christian?  How can I know I have the Spirit?  Let us have a look at Acts 2:32-36.  We will set aside verses 34 and 35 for the moment.  They are a quote from Psalm 110 and form a parenthesis.  Verses 33 and 36 go together to make up Peter’s argument.  In 33 Peter says that Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God.  The result of that was that He received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit.  And what followed then was that He has poured out what you now see and hear.  So, upon what basis was the Spirit given to Jesus to be poured out upon His people?  It was upon the fact that Jesus was exalted into heaven when He was glorified.  That, is precisely John’s comment in John 7:39.  Speaking of the living waters, he said ‘By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.  Up to that time the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’

Peter makes quite clear that the Holy Spirit was poured out because Jesus was exalted.  So the question, ‘How can I receive the Spirit?  How can I be sure I have the Spirit?, does not begin with me.  It does not begin with who I am, or what I have done, or how I feel.  It begins with Christ; who He is, and what He has done.  Jesus has conquered sin.  He has ascended into heaven and is glorified therefore the Spirit is poured out.

All that we have is from Jesus.  Jesus died on the cross hence we have received forgiveness.  Jesus rose from the dead we therefore have received new life.  Jesus has been exalted we have received the Spirit.  This is all because of Jesus.  Nothing is because of us.  The Holy Spirit has been poured out on the children of God not to show how good they are but to prove the greatness of the Son of God.

Look at verse 36.  It begins with a very important little word ‘therefore’.  We use the word to refer to something already stated.  ‘Because of such and such, therefore this’.  What is the ‘therefore’ in verse 36 referring to?  Back to verse 33.  There Peter has just referred to the ‘outpouring of the Spirit’ on the disciples which the people now see and hear’.  And he says because of what they now see and hear, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

So Peter says in effect that this outpouring of the Spirit, which you have now witnessed, proves that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord.  The Holy Spirit was poured out on earth to prove what had taken place in heaven namely, the exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God.  Christ has ascended in victory.  He is King and Lord of the universe and has showered His people with His gifts.

Now, if the gift of the Spirit depends only on the exaltation of Jesus and not on any of our doing, is it possible for Christ to be glorified and one of His people not to receive His Spirit?  No!  On what basis did you receive forgiveness of sins?  Was it because you prayed so hard?  Or because you read the Bible from cover to cover?  Or because you went to church twice every Sunday?  Or because of all your good works?  No, never.  You received forgiveness because the blood of Jesus was shed on the cross.

Now the principle by which we receive the Spirit is the very same by which we receive forgiveness.  The Lord has been crucified.  Therefore our sins are forgiven.  The Lord has been glorified.  Therefore the Spirit has been given.  Jesus has done it all.  And we receive it by faith.  If we repent and are baptised.  Then we have also been forgiven and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  There is no doubt about it.

Now some of you may say: I agree with all this, but I have no experience of it.  Am I to sit smugly and say I have everything, when I know perfectly well that I do not feel a thing?  No, we need to have that subjective, inner experience of God’s presence as well.  But that experience will only come as we rest upon the facts of Scripture.  It comes about when we accept what the Bible says and begin living on the basis of those facts.

Think again of forgiveness and justification.  How were you made right with God?  Not by doing anything but by accepting it.  By accepting the fact that Christ has gained life.  When you accept it for yourself, by faith, you then experience the relief of forgiveness.

If a man prays: ‘Lord Jesus, I believe you died for sin, and that you can forgive my sin, and I know you will.’  Has he accepted the forgiveness in Christ?  Has he experienced peace and forgiveness?  No.  He knows the facts but he has not accepted it yet for himself.  But if he prays: ‘Lord I thank you that I have been forgiven, that you have died for me’.  Then you can hear by his thanksgiving that he has experienced forgiveness.  He has accepted the promise of Christ.

In the same way, you can pray and wait for years and never experience the Spirit’s power.  But when you stop pleading with the Lord and accept that the Spirit has been given, then your problem will dissolve.  When you accept the Spirit as your gift, because Jesus has been glorified then you live with the Spirit.

Jesus said in John 7, ‘If a man is thirsty let him come to me and drink’.  Too many have come to Jesus but are not drinking.  They are not putting their heads back and drinking, long and deep of the life-giving water.  We must take in and accept what Jesus has given.  Believe it, accept, it, and live out of it.

For example, I know God lives in me, so I talk with Him, and share myself with Him.  My joys and problems, my thinking and planning, my problems and frustrations.  I know God lives in me, so I am careful about what I think, or say or do, so as not to offend Him.

I know God lives in me, so I am not fearful when I have to witness for Him.  I accept His promise that He will give me the words.  I know God lives in me, so I need not fear this world, its pain and loneliness because he is there.  I know God lives in me, and has gifted me, so I will serve my brothers and sisters with those gifts.

People of God, you are immensely blessed.  You have God almighty in your midst.  Believe it, accept it, and live out of that fact.  Praise God, no single child of His needs to agonise or even wait for the Spirit to be given.  It is all a question of faith that comes by revelation.  When our eyes are opened to see it, our prayers turn to praise.  Are you thirsty?  Come to Christ, drink, and from you will flow streams of living water.

AMEN