Now, we are taking up the study of the fullness
of the Holy Spirit. Call it whatever you wish.
Call it the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the
fullness of the Holy Ghost, or being filled with
the Holy Spirit. I believe in it. I must accept
this experience because the Bible clearly teaches
it. Believe me. I want you to see something,
though, and that is the Scripture, the biblical
evidence of having been filled with the Holy
Ghost. There are those who say that the scriptural
evidence of having been filled with the Holy
Spirit is the speaking in an unknown tongue.
In other words, how does one know? that one has
been filled with the Spirit. What is the evidence
of having received this experience? There are
precious children of the King who say that the
Scripture evidence is speaking in an unknown
tongue, that one will definitely that the Holy
Ghost will announce His own incoming through
the speaking in an unknown tongue. Beloved, even
though I believe with all of my heart, I believe
it both because it is God's Word, it is the promise
of Jesus, and also because of my own promise.
personal experience, I still cannot go along
with those who contend that speaking in an unknown
tongue is the evidence. Do you want to know why?
Because Jesus never said that speaking in tongues
would be the evidence. of having received this
experience of being filled with the Holy Ghost.
This is what Jesus said. Ye shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and
ye shall be witnesses unto me. the speaking in
an unknown tongue was to have been the evidence
and is to be the evidence of this marvelous experience
of being filled with the Spirit, Jesus would
have said so. He would have said, Ye shall receive
power and speak in an unknown tongue. After that,
the Holy Ghost has come upon you. He did not.
He gave but one evidence of being filled with
the Spirit. Just one. Ye shall receive power.
After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
Pause me just... a moment, beloved. Remember
something. By his coming, by the coming of the
Holy Ghost, he was able to give his own the power
to show to a lost world the real value, the actual
value of Christ's death. And remember something.
You and I are the Only Christ. The world ever
sees. You and I. Represent him. Here on earth.
You and I. Members of the body of Christ. Members
of his church. Are on exhibition. We represent
him. Therefore. Through the coming of the Holy
Spirit. And by means of this marvelous experience
of being filled with the Spirit, we receive power
for service, power to represent Him, power to
show to a lost and dying world the real power
that there is in the person and in the shed blood.
The actual value of Christ's death. That was
the reason. Exactly the reason that Paul said,
watch it. Oh, sure, he said, I speak with tongues
more than all of you. Yet, in the church, I had
rather speak five words with my understanding
that by my voice, I might teach others also than
10 ,000 words in an unknown tongue. In just the
next few minutes, you and I are going to do something.
We are going to see the difference that this
power that Jesus promised would be ours when
we were filled with Spirit. The difference that
the Holy Spirit makes. in the life of a believer.
Turn, if you will, please, to the 26th chapter
of Matthew. Begin with about the 69th verse.
I shall give you a picture of the before. And
Mrs. Stevenson always carries them around with
her. She has now for the past seven, eight, nine
years. You have the picture of Mr. Stevenson
before he was healed. Skinny, bony, emaciated
fella, weighing around 100 pounds. And then she
says, now look at him. Look at him after he was
healed. Look. And there you see a fella who's
taken on at least 50 more pounds. Healthy, robust.
There he is. What is more convincing than the
before and the after? All right, I shall give
you the before of a man. Oh, you know him, Peter.
We had the before recorded in the 26th chapter
of Matthew. Now Peter sat without in the palace,
and a damsel came unto him, saying, With Jesus
of Galilee. Can't you see this little dame coming
up to him? And she says, and there he is, all
crouched down, ashamed, afraid of being discovered.
Perhaps his arm over his head, hoping and praying
that no one would recognize him. Here she comes,
tantalizing him. Thou also wast with Jesus of
Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying,
I know not what thou sayest. And when he was
gone out into the porch, another maid saw him.
Here came another one. And said unto them that
were there, This fellow pointing to The fellow
that was all crouched down in the corner, ashamed,
afraid of being discovered, this fellow was also
with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with
an oath. This time he swore, I do not know the
man. And after a while came unto him they that
stood by and said to Peter, Surely thou also
art one of them, for thy speech. betrayeth thee.
Then began he to curse and to swear, saying,
I know not the man. And immediately the cock
crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus,
which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou
shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept
bitterly. Did you? ever see a man who was more
of a weakling than this fella, ashamed of Jesus,
ashamed to be numbered among the disciples, absolutely
denying him, what was it? A weakness of character,
a weakness of the flesh, afraid, a great big
yellow streak right there. down his backbone.
Here's the before. There he is. Ah, I'm even
ashamed to be a part of the family that he belongs
to if that's the way he's gonna act, you know?
Now watch. What did Jesus say would happen? What
did Jesus say would be the evidence of having
been filled with the Holy Ghost? What did he
say? Ye shall receive power. After that, the
Holy Ghost has come upon you. Now I shall give
you the after. The same man, the same personality,
the same body. Only one thing has happened to
make him different. He had been filled with the
Holy Ghost. on the day of Pentecost. Here he
is. Watch it now. But Peter, standing up with
the eleven. Watch it. He's standing up now. He's
not all crouched down there in the corner. He's
not ashamed. Oh, you can't find one trace of
that yellow streak in his backbone. you can find
no timidity whatsoever. No, ma 'am. He's standing
up with the eleven and lifted up his voice and
said unto them, Ye men of Judea and all ye that
dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you and
hearken to my words, for these are not drunken
as ye suppose, seeing it is but... the third
hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel, and he's quoting now the
Old Testament. And it shall come to pass in the
last days, saith God, that I will pour out of
my spirit upon all flesh. and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams, and all my servants and all my handmaidens,
I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and
they shall prophesy. Oh, this is glorious. Go
on down to the 22nd verse. Here's some more of
the evidence of having been filled with the Holy
Ghost. He's still speaking. To meditate? Oh,
none whatsoever. He's bold. He's given the Holy
Ghost boldness. He's being given the power to
witness that Jesus said believers would have
as an evidence of having been filled with the
Holy Ghost. He continues. Ye men of Israel, hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and
signs, which God did by him in the midst of you.
As ye yourselves also know, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holden of
it. Now, what was the result? What was it? This
now is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians, I would
rather speak five words. With my understanding
that by my voice I might teach others also, than
ten thousand words in an unknown tongue, why,
in speaking in an unknown tongue, what profit
would it be to those who hear me? If they cannot
understand what I am saying, how can they be
converted? Here is Peter speaking in the tongue
that they could understand. Speaking with Holy
Ghost boldness. Speaking with firmness. Speaking
with Holy Ghost knowledge. What was the result?
We have the result right here in the same portion
of God's word. There it is, second chapter of
Acts. He continued. And with many other words,
did he testify and exhort. saying, Save yourselves
from this untoward generation. Here's the result.
Then they that gladly received his word were
baptized. And the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand salts. Isn't that thrilling?
Oh, to me, there is no place for argument. It's
as simple as can be. Just take the word of God,
that's all. It all adds up. Jesus said after
I'm gone away, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit.
I'm going to send the third person. He shall
give you an experience the likes of which you've
never had before. For he is with you, but he
shall be in you. He will fill you with himself.
And the evidence of having received this experience
is that you shall receive Not of yourself. A
supernatural power. His power. The power to witness.
And he will use that witness. He will use your
vessel. And through the work of the Holy Ghost,
there shall be definite results. And the result
will be the conversion of men and women. We see
that in action in the life of Peter. Peter before,
weak. Peter before, spineless. Afraid. A weakling.
After he was filled. There was a power not his
own. There was a boldness not his own. It was
the boldness, it was the power, it was the result
of that experience of having been filled with
the spirit. And what was the result? I'll tell
you. There were added unto them about three thousand
souls. who heard him speak under the anointing
of the Holy Ghost and received the Lord Jesus
Christ as their personal Savior. Do you want
to know what we need in our pulpits today, spirit
-filled men and women? Do you want to know what
the believer needs today more than anything else?
To be filled with the Holy Spirit. It will be
then that the unsaved man, the unsaved woman,
will feel our influence as Christians. And not
until. Amen.