How to Keep Your Spiritual Fire Burning | Part 1

The Bible says the Holy Spirit is like a fire.

Listen closely as Adrian Rogers explains why. Fire gives light, and the Holy Spirit of God is there to illumine you. Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truths simply stated by Adrian Rogers. The day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 marked the birth of the church and the burst of the holy flame that is the Holy Spirit. Adrian Rogers said these early Christians had a fire that water couldn't drown and swords couldn't kill and jails could not hold.

One of the most important things we can do is learn how to kindle that fire. And if you have your Bible, turn now to the book of Acts chapter 2 as Adrian Rogers begins part 1 of how to keep your spiritual fire burning. Take your Bibles, God's holy word, and turn to the second chapter of the book of Acts. And as you're turning to the second chapter of the book of Acts, may I tell you that a New Testament Spirit-filled church is a mighty weapon in the hand of a holy God.

And the pattern for that church is found in the book of Acts, and I want to read several verses in Acts chapter 2. And when the day of Pentecost was 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 all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it set upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, the passage that I just read to you took place on a Jewish feast day called Pentecost.

For 1,500 years, the Jews had kept this feast of Pentecost, but there was never another just like this. It took place 50 days after Passover, and what they would do is this. They would take wonderful grain, and they would crush it and make flour out of it. And then they would take that flour and mix it with oil, and the priest would bake that flour mixed with oil into two loaves of bread. Now, you know that oil represents the Holy Spirit. The wheat represents the church of the living God. There were two loaves there on the day of Pentecost because now all of those individual grains were becoming one loaf, but there's both Jew and Gentile becoming one new body. 120 disciples on the day of Pentecost went up into an upper room as individual grains of wheat, but they came together at Pentecost, and we had the birthday of the church. And it was a wonderful illustration that now something new, something supernatural was happening.

The Holy Spirit was coming in great power to abide in the church. On that day also, they sacrificed on the day of Pentecost in the old Jewish feast day, seven lambs and two rams and one young bull were all sacrificed that day. That is, there were ten animals that were sacrificed.

Ten is the complete number, and I believe that pictures the complete perfect blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, God is teaching a lesson here, and it's full of symbolism. And so this mighty power that came on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the infant church, it symbolized several ways. First of all, it was symbolized by sound. Look, if you will, here again in verse 2, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind.

I've been in two tornadoes in my life, and I can attest to what everyone says. It does sound like a freight train. The sound of a rushing mighty wind. One time in Florida, Joyce and I were asleep in the middle of the night, and I'm a sound sleeper. When I put my head upon the pillar, it's the lights out. But I woke up and looked in the backyard, and I'd never seen anything like that.

The grass was lying down flat. And there was that sound, that roar, and we ran to get the children away from the windows, but by that time the sound had passed on by. We looked out in the backyard, and two mighty oak trees were lying down flat, but not a shingle was lifted on our house, thank the Lord. As that tornado passed by, and I've often thought of the sound of a mighty rushing wind. And wind is an emblem of the Holy Spirit of God.

As a matter of fact, Jesus taught us that. Remember in John chapter 3 and verse 8, he says the wind blows where it will. You can't tell from where it comes or where it's going, but you can hear the sound thereof. And wind, therefore, is an emblem of the Holy Spirit of God because it comes from heaven. It moves at its own will.

It is commanded by nobody except God himself. It's mysterious. We don't know from whence it comes or where it goes, and it is invisible but very powerful. What a wonderful emblem of the Holy Spirit of God. There was the symbolism of the sound and then the symbolism of the fire.

Look again, if you will, in verse 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it set upon each of them. They looked like human candles. Can you imagine 120 people with a flame just flickering over their head just like that, that fire upon each head. And fire also is an emblem of the Holy Spirit, and fire spreads, fire consumes, fire warms, fire purges, fire illuminates, and fire energizes. And so you have wind and fire. There is fire and wind to spread it, and it's set upon each of them. It's set upon the apostles, and it's set upon the lowliest believers because there are no super saints.

This was to be a universal thing, the wind and the fire. And so first of all, this power was symbolized, but then this power was vocalized. Look, if you will, now in verse 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. They are speaking now with strange languages, languages that they have never learned.

Well, I think it's important that we just continue to read this. They spake with other tongues, and the word tongues means languages. It's the Greek word glasa. And so speaking in tongues is called glasa lelea, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, this was not something that they learned. It was something that the Holy Spirit of God did. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews. Now, underscore this because tongues are primarily assigned to Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and they were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. By the way, this was a known language, not an unknown language. They all heard them speak in their own language. When you go to the book of 1 Corinthians and it speaks of an unknown tongue, read it carefully because the word unknown is italicized, and it means that's not in the original. The translators put it in there to try to make it read more clearly, but there they obfuscated the meaning. Everybody is hearing them speak in their own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?

By the way, the Galileans were the hillbillies of that day. They basically were thought of as backward and unlearned. How here we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers of Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia and Pontus and Asia and Perga and Pamphylia and Egypt and all the parts of Libya, roundabouts, Irenae and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues, that is, in our languages, the wonderful works of God, and they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine, that is, they're drunk. So the power that was symbolized by fire and by wind is now also vocalized, and they're beginning to speak in languages they've never learned. Now, again, I want to remind you, this was primarily a sign to the Jews. Put in your margin 1 Corinthians 14 verses 21 and 22. Paul was explaining to the Corinthian church about tongues, and he says, In the law it is written, with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, he's talking now about Israel, to this people, and yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. So tongues are a sign to unbelievers. Sometimes people think that speaking in tongues is a sign you fill the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues is not a sign to God's people about anything. Speaking in tongues is a sign to unbelievers, primarily this people, that is, the Jews.

Tongues are mentioned three times in the book of Acts, and every time they mention Jews are present, and unbelieving Jews are in the background. Now, the true mark of spirituality is not that you speak in a foreign language or speak in an unknown tongue. The true mark of spirituality is that you control the one tongue that you have. That's serious.

I mean, I'm deadly serious about that, and I'm trying to be funny. If you are filled with the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love. The Corinthian church was carnal and divided and childish and immature, and they were making merchandise of the, what they thought was the gift of tongues, but it was not of God. Now, there is a biblical gift. The biblical gift of tongues is a language known by others, but unknown by the speaker. It is a miracle gift, primarily to convince unbelieving Jews. This power was symbolized by wind and fire. This power was vocalized as they're speaking in strange languages that they've never learned.

And then this power was actualized. Go back again, if you will, to chapter 2 and look in verse 4, and here's the key, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the abiding miracle of Pentecost. Sometimes people say we need another Pentecost.

Well, be careful. Do you think we need another Pentecost? We couldn't have another Pentecost without an indoor cyclone and tongues of fire sitting on everybody's head. It's not another Pentecost that we need. We don't need another Pentecost any more than we need another Bethlehem or another Calvary. Bethlehem was God with us. Calvary is God for us. Pentecost is God in us. We need to enjoy Bethlehem, enjoy Calvary, enjoy Pentecost. But Pentecost was a special day. It was the birthday of the church and the miracles that were given, the mighty rushing wind and the flames of fire.

These things were illustrative of the mighty power, the filling of the Spirit of God. There are four distinct works of the Holy Spirit, and I want you to pay attention to what they are. First of all, there is the baptism of the Spirit. Jesus said ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

That's before he ascended to heaven. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is what we're talking about. When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, and these individual grains now have become one loaf, they are baked together by love. They have become one, just as those of us in this congregation are not many.

They are one, and Paul tells us about that. This is the baptism of the Spirit put down in your margin, 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Where many become one, for by one Spirit are ye all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For by one Spirit are ye all baptized. Now, ever so often somebody will ask you, have you received the baptism of the Holy Ghost?

And they might mean by that, have you had some esoteric experience? If you are saved, you have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. When you become a child of God, you are placed by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, and that is the baptism of the Spirit.

It doesn't happen to some and not to others. For this verse of Scripture says, by one Spirit are ye all, the Greek language literally says, for by one Spirit have ye all been, every one of you, baptized into one body. Every child of God has the baptism of the Holy Ghost. There is not one Scripture, not one Scripture that ever commands a New Testament Christian to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Not one, not one. No, we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. We are already baptized with the Holy Spirit the minute we receive Christ. For by one Spirit have ye all been baptized into one body. That is the work of the Holy Spirit of God that takes many of us and makes us one when we get saved and are placed into the mystical body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Then there is the indwelling of the Spirit. He also says, we've been made to drink into one Spirit. He now comes into us. He lives in us and dwells in us. Jesus said in John 14, when the Comforter is come, he will abide with you forever. He dwells in me. He lives in me.

He is the abiding possession of every child of God. Some people erroneously have the idea that you get saved and after you get saved later on subsequently, you may receive the Holy Spirit. Put it down big. Put it down plain.

Put it down straight. If the Holy Spirit is not in you, you are not even saved. There's no such thing as getting saved and later receiving the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. And then Paul says, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

You don't belong to him. If you don't have the Holy Spirit of God, how do you call yourself a Christian? Because Christ is not in you. How is Christ going to come into you except by the Holy Spirit? Do you think Jesus in his body is literally going to come into you? I mean that his physical body is in you?

No. The only way that Jesus can be in you is through the Holy Spirit. And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If Jesus is not in you, you're not saved. And the only way that Jesus can be in you is by the Holy Spirit.

Do you understand that? So by one Spirit, we're all baptized into one body. That's the baptism of the Spirit, where we're placed by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. But then, thank God, the Holy Spirit is into us. We've been, all have been made to drink into one Spirit. So there's the baptism of the Spirit.

There is the indwelling of the Spirit. And then, thank God, there is the sealing of the Spirit. Now, what happens there is this, that once you are put into the body of Christ, you are sealed into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit of God. Put down Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13.

Paul speaks of Jesus, and he says, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Over in the book of Esther, we read that the king's seal no man can break. The king has put a seal upon you, and that seal is not to be broken. You are signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit of God. It means a finished transaction in biblical days when there was a deal done.

There would be a stamp called a seal in melted wax. It was affixed to a document, and it meant it is done, it is finished, it is paid in full, and we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. There's the baptism of the Spirit. There's the indwelling of the Spirit. There is the sealing of the Spirit, and there is, fourthly, the filling of the Spirit. And we're going to dwell more about the filling of the Spirit.

Acts chapter 2 and verse 4 says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Now, that is the abiding miracle. Move aside the symbolism.

Move aside the emblems. Move those aside and understand what the abiding miracle is. It's in verse 4. And they were all filled with the Spirit. I told you, there's no command in the Bible for you to be baptized with the Spirit, but there's a definite command for you to be filled with the Spirit. And that is in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18.

The Bible says, Be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. I don't want to be too technical, but I want to tell you that is the imperative mood. And if I were to tell you, get up out of here and leave this place right now, it's imperative that you do it. Do it. That's not a suggestion. That's imperative. And the Bible says, Be filled with the Spirit. That's imperative. That means this is not just something nice. This is something necessary.

This is not just simply a blessing to enjoy. It is a command to obey. And it is passive in voice. It doesn't say get filled. It says be filled. That is, it's something that God does.

It is supernatural. Be filled with the Spirit. It is plural in number. It literally says, Be ye being filled, all of you. The apostles said the promise is to you and to your children and to as many as the Lord our God shall call. Everybody is to be filled with the Spirit, not just the pastor, not just the evangelist, not just the choir leader. We are all to be filled with the Spirit, young and old. If we're saved, we're to be filled with the Spirit. When we are saved, he comes into us as resident, but when we're filled, he becomes president.

He comes not only to abide, but to preside in us. And so we are to be filled with the Spirit. Now, the filling of the Spirit is conditional. The filling of the Spirit comes when we meet God's conditions. And the filling of the Spirit comes to turn weaklings into witnesses.

And Jesus had said in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Ye shall receive power after that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me. Now, among the illustrations of what the Holy Spirit does, he's like wind and he's like fire. There's a fire and there's wind to spread it. And I want to remind you of what fire does, because the Holy Spirit of God is to your life what fire is. And fire illuminates.

I want you to write these things down now. The Holy Spirit is the illuminating fire of God. Fire gives light. The light that's shining down upon us is coming tonight from fire.

Whether it's the light of the sun, the light of a candle, or the incandescent light, whatever it is, fire gives light. And the Holy Spirit of God is there to illumine you. It was the Holy Spirit of God that gave the Scriptures. And as a matter of fact, you can read in Acts chapter 1, verse 16, you're right there in the neighborhood. Just look at verse 16 and you'll see, men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake. Who was speaking when David wrote the Psalms, the Holy Ghost?

This is illuminating fire. And not only did the Holy Spirit give the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit helps you to understand the Scriptures. When I prepare a sermon, I soak it in prayer.

I pray and say, God, give me understanding. For Jesus said in John 14, verse 26, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. The Holy Spirit is the teacher.

He teaches us and shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have commanded you. And so the Holy Spirit is the illuminating fire of God and the Holy Spirit is the consuming fire of God. Not only does fire illumine, but fire consumes. Our God is a consuming fire. And it is the Holy Spirit of God that burns away the dross of sin. You know, sometimes we have the idea that being filled with the Holy Spirit is an attainment.

It is not. It is receiving a gift from God very much just like you were saved. The Holy Spirit of God is the illuminating fire of God. The Holy Spirit of God is the consuming fire of God. The Holy Spirit of God is the transforming fire of God. Another propensity of fire is that fire transforms, and what fire does, it transforms whatever it is burning into its own likeness. It turns whatever it is burning into the fire itself, and the fire just transforms. You put a poker even in the fire and let it stay in the fire, and if the poker stays long enough in the fire, you look at it, and the fire will be in the poker.

When you are with the Lord Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, you are being transformed from glory into glory, and because the Holy Spirit of God is the transforming fire of God, fire not only consumes, it transforms. And coming up on Monday, we'll hear part two of this important message. Maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is, what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

There you'll find resources and materials that can answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio, and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD, and please mention the title, How to Keep Your Spiritual Fire Burning.

You can also go online to order at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Now, if you'd like to start receiving daily devotions and links to our program, be sure to sign up for our daily heartbeat emails at lwf.org slash radio. And join us Monday for the conclusion of how to keep your spiritual fire burning right here on Love Worth Finding. We received a powerful message from a listener that said this, Pastor Rogers is the courageous tongue of fire I've listened to each morning for years. He expounds on scripture with such clarity, passion, and conviction. That's a beautiful tribute to the ministry of Adrian Rogers. We are honored to hear how these messages have helped you grow in your faith. And when you donate to the ministry this month, we want to send you a hard copy of our new resource, Good Morning, Lord. Acting as an accessory to your daily quiet time, this book provides beautifully crafted devotions from trusted pastor, author, and teacher, Adrian Rogers. Request this book when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD, 1-877-568-3463, or give online at lwf.org slash radio. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.