130 The Promises of God - Talk 11 - The Promise of the Holy Spirit - a podcast by Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal

Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 130

The Promises of God Talk 11

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

 

We finished our last talk by saying that, although God’s promise of a wonderful inheritance is something we have to wait for, there is a foretaste of it available to us right now in the promise of the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds the Ephesians that after they had heard the gospel and believed in Jesus they were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it (Ephesians 1:13-14). Luke actually gives us a detailed description of how this happened for the first Ephesian converts in Acts 19:1-6, which we will come back to later. But first let’s consider:

 

• How Jesus himself refers to the Holy Spirit as a promise
• How the promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost
• What we can learn from Acts 2 about the promise
• How the promise continued to be fulfilled afterwards

 

How Jesus himself refers to the Holy Spirit as a promise.

Luke records how, immediately before he ascended into Heaven, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

 

Luke 24:46-49

46. (Jesus) said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
47. and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48. You are witnesses of these things.
49. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

 

Acts 1:4-5, 8

4. And while staying with them he (Jesus) ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
5. for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

 

8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 

These passages make it very clear that the promise of the Father is the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus’ disciples empowering them to be witnesses to the end of the earth. Jesus described it as being clothed with power from on high or being baptised with the Holy Spirit. It was so important that they receive this power before setting out on the task of world evangelisation that Jesus ordered them not to depart from the city of Jerusalem until they had received it. Now let’s remind ourselves of how the promise was fulfilled ten days later on the Day of Pentecost.

 

How the promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost

 

Acts 2:1-8

1. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
2. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
3. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
6. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
7. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
8. And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?”

 

In response to this question, and to the criticism of some who thought the disciples were drunk, Peter stood up and stated that they were not drunk, but that what they were experiencing was the fulfilment of God’s promise in Joel 2:28

 

17. ...‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
18. even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy...’

 

Peter went on to tell the people that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified, had been raised from the dead and was now exalted at the right hand of God (v33). Jesus had received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and had poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. Peter concluded by saying:

 

36. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

 

37. Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38. And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

 

What can we learn from Acts 2 about the promise of the Holy Spirit?

In one short podcast it would not be possible to cover this in as much detail as I would like, but if you visit my website you will find much more in five podcasts first made in December 2018. Alternatively, see my book, A New Dimension.

 

So today I just want to highlight four main things:

 

• It happened suddenly
• It was accompanied by miraculous phenomena which were seen and heard
• It was received by those who were already Jesus’ disciples
• It was made available to all who were later to become Christians

 

It happened suddenly

There were ten days between Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit did not come gradually over ten days. He came suddenly (Acts 2:2). This is further confirmed by the tense of the Greek verb used in verse 4. They were all filled is in the Aorist tense which is never used for a gradual action.

 

It was accompanied by miraculous phenomena which were seen and heard

 

Acts 2:1-4 speaks for itself:

 

1. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
2. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
3. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

 

Compare Acts 2:33

Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

It was received by those who were already Jesus’ disciples

It was to those who were already his disciples that Jesus said:

 

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49).

 

...wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now (Acts 1:4-5).

 

Jesus had already pronounced them clean (John 15:3). Their names were already written in heaven (Luke 10:20). So the purpose of the promise was not regeneration.  It was empowerment (Acts 1:8)

 

It was made available to all who were later to become Christians

 

38. And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

 

How the promise continued to be fulfilled afterwards

 

As we have already seen from what happened at Pentecost:

 

• the promise was received by those who were already Jesus’ disciples
• was accompanied by miraculous phenomena which were seen and heard
• was fulfilled suddenly

 

And as we read on in Acts we and see how others received the promise of the Spirit, we discover the same thing.

 

The promise was made to those who were already Jesus’ disciples

In Acts 2:38-39 the promise was made to those who would repent and be baptised. In fact, with the exception of Cornelius and his household (Acts 10), the order of events seems to have been:

 

• Repentance and faith in Christ
• Baptism in water
• Receiving the Spirit through the laying on of hands.

 

For examples of this, see the Samaritans in Acts 8, Paul in Acts 9, and the Ephesians in Acts 19. What’s clear in all these cases is that receiving the promise of the Spirit does not refer to the Spirit’s work in conversion but to the Spirit coming on those who had already come to faith in order to empower them for service (Acts 1:8).

 

The promise was accompanied by miraculous phenomena which were seen and heard

At Pentecost, as we have seen, the coming of the Spirit was accompanied by a sound like a mighty rushing wind, tongues as of fire, and the disciples speaking in other tongues (languages). Although the wind and fire were not repeated in Acts, the ability to speak in tongues is mentioned in the case of Cornelius (Acts 10:46) and the Ephesians (Acts 19:6) and may well be implied in the case of the Samaritans for Simon the sorcerer saw that the Spirit was received when the apostles laid hands on the new converts (Acts 8:17). However, this passage clearly does not offer us a full description of events, but what is clear in Acts is that, whenever Luke gives us a full description of people receiving the Spirit, the first thing he mentions immediately afterwards is that they spoke in tongues. And, as we consider Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 on the importance of prayer in tongues, it is perhaps not surprising that this is the first ability we are given when we receive the promise of the Spirit.

 

The promise was fulfilled suddenly

The most dramatic example of this is seen in the case of Cornelius. Acts 10:44 tells us that while Peter was still preaching the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. It was the same with the Samaritans and the Ephesians who received through the laying on of hands. There is no suggestion that it was a lengthy process. The apostles laid hands on them and they received the Spirit:

 

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17).

 

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying (Acts 19:6).

 

My point is simply this. In all these examples, one minute they had not received the promise. The next minute they had! And, if you have not yet received it, the same promise is available to you right now (Acts 2:39). How do you receive it? Paul tells us that we receive it by faith (Galatians 3:14). Jesus said that our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to his children when they ask him (Luke 11:13). Ask him, and expect to speak in tongues - and much much more!

 

Father, I pray that your Spirit will come upon your children who are listening to this podcast right now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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