Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.
Here's Adrian Rogers. 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. Now, 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.
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 10 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 two. 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 whatever one 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 pillow, it's lights out. But I woke up and looked in the backyard, and I've 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. Wind is an emblem of the Holy Spirit of God.
As a matter of fact, Jesus taught us that. Remember in John chapter three and verse eight, 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 three. 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?
Fire upon each head. And the fire also is an emblem of the Holy Spirit. And just like wind, it has its special significance.
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 four. 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 glasalelia 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 in Egypt and all the parts of Libya round about Cyrene and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Crete 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?
And the 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 language that they've never learned. Now, again, I want to remind you, this was primarily a sign to the Jews and 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. He says 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 has 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's 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. 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. There'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 in 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 believe, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Over in the book of Esther, we read that the king's sealed, no man can break. The king has put a seal upon you and that seal is not to be broken. It is a sign 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. I want you to dwell more about the filling of the Spirit.
Acts chapter two and verse four 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 four 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 is no definite command for you to be filled with the Spirit. That is in Ephesians chapter five 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. 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. The Bible says be filled with the Spirit. 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 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 apostle said the promise is to you and to your children with 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. As a matter of fact, you can read 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. 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. When I was studying, I came across an interesting passage. It's in Isaiah chapter 4 and verse 4.
Don't turn to it, but listen to it. It's talking about the time when God is going to come to power upon the nation Israel. But here's what it says, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.
God is going to purge away sin from Israel with the spirit of burning. That is the Holy Spirit of God. Now, when I was a younger preacher, I so desired to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God and I had an erroneous idea. I thought if I could be pure enough, if I could be holy enough, if I could be clean enough, then God the Holy Spirit would fill me. If I could only live victorious, then I might be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I had it 180 degrees backward. I could never be clean and pure and victorious until I was filled with the Holy Spirit of God. 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. You know how the bankers are.
If you can go to the banker and prove that you don't need any money, he just may loan you some. Sometimes I had the idea, dear God, if I could just prove to you that I am good, supernatural enough, pure enough, holy enough, good enough, then maybe you'll fill in the Holy Spirit. No, dear friend, I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God before I don't have what it takes. That doesn't mean that I can cling to my sin and expect God to fill me, but it does mean that the only way that I will ever be victorious over sin is to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. 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 then the Holy Spirit is the empowering fire of God. Fire gives power. Remember Acts chapter 1 verse 8, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Don't you want power in your life?
In churches, no fire, and because there's no fire, there is no power. Can you imagine a factory? Everything in this factory is perfect. I mean, all of the machinery is in place. There are mighty wheels and great pistons and conveyor belts and chains and hoists and everything is there in the factory, but the factory is cold and dead and nothing is happening, and somebody says, maybe we need to put some stained glass windows in the factory. Maybe we need to put a steeple on top of the factory.
Maybe we need to put a big sign out in front of the factory. Maybe we need some rope choirs in the factory, and then somebody says, wait a minute, there's no fire in the boiler. That's what we need is a fire in the boiler. There's where the power comes, and so many churches today, they have everything except fire. Fire is power.
Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and rationalism and ritualism and traditionalism and formalism will not do it. It is not form. It's not facts.
It's not fashion. It's fire. The Holy Spirit is the empowering fire of God, and then, folks, the Holy Spirit of God is the attracting fire of God. The Bible says here in the 2nd chapter of the book of Acts, when these things began to happen, it was noised abroad. Something was so supernatural that people came. They wanted to see what was happening. One thing about a fire is you don't have to advertise it.
A fire, it advertises itself. I was preaching in Brooksville, Florida, in the First Baptist Church of Brooksville, Florida, many years ago. I was a college student, and it was a rainy night. We were supposed to be having a revival meeting, but there were just a handful of people there because it was raining, and I wept and preached and poured my heart out, but not very much happened, and somebody kind of put their arm around my shoulder and said, well, Adrian, don't worry.
It's a rainy night, and, you know, you can't expect folks to come on a rainy night. As I was walking outside that church, I heard a clanging and a siren, and a fire truck went by, and another fire truck went by, and then the fire chief with his siren screaming went by, and I looked down about a half a mile from the church, and I saw a red glow on the horizon. I got in my car, and I went down there, and myself and a number of other foolish people were standing out in the rain watching a house burn, and I thought to myself, there's a much bigger crowd here standing in the rain watching this house burn than there was inside that church where I was preaching, and I've never forgotten it. You don't have to advertise a fire.
People are going to come. Do you know that John Wesley used to say this? He said, you know, I just set myself on fire, and people come to watch me burn. Fire has power.
Too many of us are reading the Bible like it's a math book rather than a love story. By the way, if dead wood starts fires, I know a lot of churches that are ready to burn. These early Christians, they had a fire that water couldn't drown and swords couldn't kill and jails could not hold. All of this is the fire of God, and that's the reason on the day of Pentecost, God gave these great emblems of wind and of fire. Now, I'm not talking about wildfire, and I'm not talking about painted fire. I'm talking about real fire. Sometimes when you talk about getting on fire, people are afraid we're going to become fanatics.
Well, an average church, there's not much danger of that and be like putting a cauldron of policeman around a graveyard to keep a wild demonstration from breaking out from those who sleep there. I believe the reason that the cults are getting many of the members of Bible-believing churches is because there's an empty place in people's heart. They want something that is real. They want a passion. They want a fire. Now, I've just mentioned all of the things that fire does, and you need to keep the fire burning in your heart because this church is not going to stay on fire until the members, pastor and people and staff and deacons and teachers till we ourselves are on fire.
So, I want to give you four things, three of them negative and one of them positive, if you would keep the fire burning. And they all deal with the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of fire and the spirit of burning. Number one, principle number one, don't lie to the Holy Spirit. Don't lie to the Holy Spirit. If you lie to the Holy Spirit, you're playing with fire and you're going to get burned.
In Acts chapter 5, let me give you an example of somebody who lied to the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 5, I read this, but a certain man named Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it. That is, she was in on the deal and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. They were having a love offering, see, and so she brought it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
Just underscore that, to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? What it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not of thine own power? That is, you didn't have to give it.
Nobody twisted your arm. Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost. That means he died. The ghost was the spirit that was in him. And great fear came upon all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up and carried him out, and they buried him. They carried this man out of the church service.
Now, what had happened is this. There was a great wave of revival that was sweeping the early church. The number of the disciples is being multiplied. First there was addition, then there was multiplication, and the devil wanted to cause division and subtraction. The devil wanted to get in on the arithmetic also. And so what he did, he began to work through the people in the church, particularly Ananias and Sapphira. He'd already tried to stop the church by persecution and found out that only made it to grow. So Satan said, if I can't stop them, I'll join them and I'll work from the inside.
And so he got into the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira as we're going to see. Now, what caused Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Ghost? The root of their sin was pride.
Now listen to me. What caused you to lie to the Holy Ghost? The root of their sin was pride. There was a man named Barnabas who gave an exceptional love offering gift and people were grateful for it. Barnabas didn't do it to show off, but Barnabas was not ashamed to let it be known what he had done. The Bible says we'd have let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. And what Barnabas did was a spontaneous show of love.
Ananias and Sapphira wanted to get in and bask in the glow of that. So they sold a piece of real estate, told everybody they were going to give everything they received to the Lord. Now they didn't have to do it. Peter said it was in your power. You didn't have to give anything. You could have given part.
But don't lie and say that you've done something that you've not done. The reason that they did this simply was pride. They wanted to be praised.
They wanted to be petted. And nothing puts a man more in jeopardy in spiritual things than pride. There's nothing that will put out your spiritual fire quicker than pride because the Bible says that God resists the proud and He gives grace to the humble.
The Holy Spirit of God has poured out the spirit of grace upon people who are humble. Now the root of their sin was pride and the fruit of their sin was pretense. They pretended more than they had. They wanted credit. Again, I want to say it's not that they refused to give.
That was in their power, Peter said. But they were acting as hypocrites. Read the Bible and you're going to find out that Jesus Christ reserved His sternest words for hypocrites. Frankly, I had to search my heart before I could preach this message.
I mean on my knees. I had to ask myself, Adrian, do you pretend to be more holy than you are? Are you telling people things that you don't believe or even worse, things that you do believe and don't practice?
You see, that'll put out the fire. There's pride that leads to pretense. And I believe that many of our churches are filled with that. I've seen congregations stand and sing, I surrender all, all to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.
And frankly, that's a lie. They have not surrendered all. They have not given all freely to the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing, take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. How many congregations do you believe really mean that? Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Then we hold it with all our might. I've seen congregations sing on Sunday morning, faith of our Father's holy faith, we will be true to thee till death.
You ever sing that? And don't even come back Sunday night. I mean, they'll stay home to watch the Sunday night movies, but they will sing on Sunday morning, faith of our Father's holy faith, we will be true to thee till death. That's hypocrisy, is lying to the Holy Spirit.
Now, who caused that? Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira, why has Satan put in your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? It's a strategy of Satan to sabotage the spirit of revival. And again, I say he tried intimidation and persecution.
That didn't work. The cause of Christ had been hurt far more by hypocrites within the church than by enemies outside the church. Now listen to me, I'm talking about how to keep your spiritual fire burning. If you lie to the Holy Ghost, you're playing with fire. It is serious to tell a lie to anybody. More serious to tell a lie to a judge, thrice serious and much more than that, lie to the Holy Spirit of God to lie to God.
It's not only serious, but folks, it's foolish. Let me tell you why it's foolish. Because the Holy Spirit was there when the deal was made. The Holy Spirit was on the inside.
The Holy Spirit knew everything. You can't fool God. Abraham Lincoln said you can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. You can't fool God any of the time. I mean, why did he try to lie to God? It's serious. It's foolish. And you say, well, was God capricious when God struck Ananias dead and later Sapphira dead?
No. God had warned them. As a matter of fact, he said, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? That means that the Holy Spirit of God had been speaking to them because he is the illuminating fire of God.
Their error was an intentional error. It was willful and it was inexcusable and God made them an example to coming generations. Have you ever wondered why he didn't strike hypocrites dead today in the churches?
Why did he strike Ananias and Sapphira dead? Why doesn't he strike the hypocrites dead in our churches today? Because God took certain individuals and he made them an example.
Let me give you some examples of examples. Jude chapter 7, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities round about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. How does God feel about sodomy? How does God feel about sexual perversion?
Go see Sodom and Gomorrah. He left Sodom with its smoking ruins as an example. In 1 Corinthians 10 verses 10 and 11, how does God feel about murmuring? Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now, all these things happened unto them for examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world have come. When God killed those people in the wilderness with poisonous serpents, why doesn't he kill people who murmur today with poisonous serpents? God has given an example.
Why did God strike Ananias and Sapphira dead? Why doesn't he strike every hypocrite dead? God has given the example. We need to learn. We need to be on guard against hypocrisy.
Ask yourself this question. Is there any hypocrisy in me? Am I pretending a devotion to Jesus Christ that I don't really have? Are you going in and out among your brethren, serving as a deacon, serving on the staff, singing in the choir? Don't sing what you don't mean.
That's hypocrisy. That's lying to the Holy Ghost and you're playing with fire. Number one, don't lie to the Holy Ghost. Number two, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Now, if you grieve the Holy Spirit, you're going to dampen the fire.
Well, what grieves the Holy Spirit? Unconfessed, unrepentant of sin in your life. Turn this time to Ephesians chapter 4 and look, if you will, in verse 25.
Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. That is, don't give a beachhead, a campground to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more. But rather, let him labor, working with his hands, the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Now, watch verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And he says here, don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
And then he prefaces that and follows that with a litany of sins, sins of the flesh, sins of the Spirit, everything from malice to an unforgiving spirit. And he says, this grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Now, when you grieve the Holy Spirit of God, you dampen the fire of God. You see, the Spirit of God is burning love.
He is passionate love. The word grieve is a love word. Did you know that you can only be grieved by somebody that you love?
You think about it. When the neighbor's kids do wrong, that vexes you. When your kids do wrong, that grieves you.
There's a difference. Only is a person grieved if they love the person who is doing wrong. I have been grieved by people when they do wrong, so grieved. Somebody told me a while back about a preacher who'd fallen into immorality. I'm not ashamed to tell you, when I heard it, I fell to my knees and I wept like a baby.
I could not stop crying when I heard about what this man had done because I loved him, I admired him, and I grieved. Now, the Holy Spirit of God loves us so much that when we have filthy sin in our hearts and in our lives, unconfessed, unrepentant of sin, that grieves the Spirit of God, and it dampens the fire. I don't have any unconfessed, unrepentant of sin in my life that I know of. I would be a fool, a fool to try to live the Christian life while harboring sin in my heart and in my life. You say, well, who do you think you are, somebody? No. That's normal Christianity.
That's not abnormal. Don't get the idea that we're all supposed to have our little pet sins. Yes, we fail.
Yes, we stumble. That's the reason why he says, Be ye angry and sin not, and don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. Get it right. Don't harbor that sin. Don't go to bed with that sin.
Don't wake up with it. I'm so grateful that I can wake up in the morning and not carry the baggage of yesterday's sin into this new day. How wonderful to start a day clean and pure, to lift your hands and praise the Lord and not grieve the precious, blessed Holy Spirit of God who loves us so much that his heart is broken.
We don't confess sin in our lives. Now, if you want to keep the fire burning, listen. If you want to keep the fire burning, don't lie to the Holy Ghost.
Don't pretend something that you're not. And if you want to keep the fire burning, don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Don't lie to the Holy Spirit. Number three, don't quench the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 19 says, Quench not the Spirit. Now, if you quench the Spirit, you just put the fire out. We need that fire, that illuminating fire, that energizing fire.
We need that purging, cleansing fire. The Holy Spirit is sent by God the Father to guide us, to lead us. He gives us fire to light our path. And we need to be very sensitive to the Spirit of God because he is so easily quenched. And there have been times in my life when I've worried that I've quenched the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God has spoken to me, and I've not obeyed the Spirit of God. I can remember a time with deep remorse, the first little church ever pastored. I had told the Lord, I will talk to every person in this town that I can about you.
I will go to at least every house. And I had worked and worked and worked and worked, and there was one house kind of down the road a long distance. And the Holy Spirit seemed to be moving my heart, saying, go to that house.
And I thought, well, I've done enough, and I won't go. I was driving later down the street. I saw a woman coming, driving her automobile, both hands in the air. Her hands were not even on the steering wheel. She was screaming at the top of her voice.
I pulled over and asked her what was wrong. She pointed to the orange grove there in front of that very house and said, he's dead, he's dead. I went into that orange grove, and there I saw that man with a high-powered rifle had put it up to his head, reached down and pulled the trigger. And there he was.
His body was already blue, and rigor mortis had come where he'd gone out in that field and shot himself. I can see that scene in my mind right now. And I wondered, did I quench the Spirit? That was the one house I did not go to, and that has stayed with me. All of these days, don't lie to the Holy Ghost. Don't quench the Holy Ghost. Don't grieve the Holy Ghost. When God's Spirit speaks to you, be quick, my soul, to answer him.
Be jubilant, my feet. Is God speaking to you about something? Somebody you need to get right with? Some money you need to give?
Some restoration you need to make? Some witness that you need to bear? Then do it, do it, because you can put out that flame, you can quench the Spirit. Now listen, don't lie to the Holy Spirit. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit, but let's come right back to our verse again in Acts chapter 2, verse 4, be filled with the Spirit. They were all filled with the Spirit. Now remember again, Ephesians 5, verse 18, be not drunk with wine, we're in a success, but be filled with the Spirit. Now don't get the idea that you are a vessel and the Holy Spirit is some sort of liquid power that he pours into you, like you would fill a jug.
No, no, no, no. You are a temple, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit means that he has the key to every room. First Corinthians 6, 19, what know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which you have of God? Have you given him the key to every room, to every closet? How are you filled with the Spirit of God? Just be completely committed. Where the Spirit is Lord, there's liberty. Just simply say, here I am, Lord, take my life. Every ounce, every inch, every nerve, every fiber, every possession, it is yours.
I give you the key to every room, every closet. Complete commitment and continual control. In this verse of Scripture, the one thing I left out when I told you that it was the imperative mode and it's passive voice and plural in number, it is in the present tense. It means it is continual action. Actually, be being filled is what it says.
Be being filled. Why does he say don't be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit? Why didn't he say don't steal but be filled with the Spirit? Why didn't he say don't commit adultery but be filled with the Spirit? How does a person get drunk with wine?
He's speaking here not only in contrast but comparison. How does a person get drunk with wine? He drinks. How does he stay drunk? He has to keep drinking. Be being filled.
He's talking here in comparison. Just constantly be being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. It is the present tense continual action as we are letting God's Holy Spirit fill us. So how do you fill the Spirit? Well, there's complete commitment.
There's continual control as we are drinking and letting him have his life in us and then there is constant claiming. You just say, Lord, I claim your power right now. That's what I did on my knees before I came out here to preach this message. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples went out.
On the day of Pentecost, the lost came in and God was glorified by that New Testament church. I want the fire to burn brighter and greater than it has ever burned. Are you with me? Holy Ghost, let's keep the fire burning.
Thank God there's the fire and there's the wind to spread it. What would happen if everybody who comes on Sunday morning were a Spirit-filled believer and would let Holy Ghost fire burn in them? Well, you say by God's grace, I will be at least one. I will by the grace of God. Holy God, I pray that you will help us, that we will learn to let you have your way. Come, Holy Spirit. Be continually cleansing and filling me and fill us individually and corporately. Father, help us not to play games, not to pretend, not to lie to the Holy Spirit, not to grieve the Holy Spirit, not to quench the Holy Spirit, but to be filled. Thank you, Lord. Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org, or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
