As I travel to new areas during missionary work, I frequently ask fellow believers this question, "Dear friends! God has promised to pour His Holy Spirit upon us; then will He give it to the pure, holy and blameless ones or to the wicked, filthy, abominable sinners?' And most of them reply in unison, "of course to the pure, holy and blameless ones."
As I hear such replies from my fellow believers, I feel so sorry. And the discussion leads us to open the Bible. Let us look to the Bible now and see whether He has truly said that He would give it to the good and blameless ones. Let's open Luke chapter 11 and we will have a period of interesting Bible study.
In Luke chapter 11 Jesus said, [If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ... How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!] (Luke 11:11-13). [And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened] (Luke 11:9, 10).
To whom did He say, " Ask and it will be given you?" Let's look this up in detail.
[If you then being evil ... your heavenly Father (will) give the Holy spirit to those who ask Him] (Luke 11:13). We are assured that He has promised to give His Spirit to the evil. Yes, it is true. When the Holy Spirit, the third God, comes to the sinner by grace, he realizes that he is a sinner and is led to repent of his past sinful life. Then his life becomes pure and regenerated, and he is sanctified into a spotless person.
On the contrary, if a sinner attempts to make himself pure and good enough to receive the Holy Spirit on his own before he comes to God first, he will never become good enough to receive it nor have an opportunity to receive it, ever. Trying to become holy without God is an absurd and presumptuous sin.
[For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters (Holy Spirit), and hewn themselves cisterns- broken cisterns that can hold no water (Holy Spirit)] (Jer. 2:13). Toward these people God says, [You fool!] [Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots] by themselves? [Neither can you do good,] without the help of the Holy Spirit, [who are accustomed to doing evil] (Luke 12:20, Jer. 13:23).
[O foolish man,] neither say in your heart, [Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, it its season ... Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good things (the Spirit of the former and latter rain) from you.] [Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have a harlot's forehead, you refuse to be ashamed] (James 2:20, Jer. 5:24, 25, Jer. 3:3).
They at last become like those who have forever lost the opportunity to be saved and dry out, [The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!] (Jer. 8:20). While they are spending foolish time in striving to make themselves pure and holy enough to receive the Holy Spirit, the merciful God is earnestly waiting for them to come to Him to receive the Spirit, allowing them so much time and opportunities with perseverance, but they persist and do not go to Him.
Therefore He says, [I will scatter them like stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness ...This is your lot, the portion of your measures from Me, says the Lord, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in (your own) falsehood] (Jer. 13:24, 25).
[And if you say in your heart, `Why have these things come upon me?' (It is) for the greatness of your iniquity] (Jer 13:22). [Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?] (Jer. 13:27).
The greatest sin of those who profess to be Christians is that they neither seek the Holy Spirit nor open their heart to receive it. Desires for goodness and holiness are good as far as they go; but if you stop there and do not seek the Holy Spirit, they will avail nothing. Many will perish while only hoping and desiring to be true Christians.
[There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews] (John 3:1). He was truly a man who endeavored to keep the laws, to live a pure, holy, and pious life, trying to become a sanctified man all by himself. But contrary to his diligent efforts and aspirations, his life was only a succession of bitter disappointment, distress and disillusion resulting from continual atrophy and failure. At last He determined to meet Jesus of whom he had heard so much of through rumors.
As he came to Jesus one night, he did not expose his miserable state before Him but concealing his true heart said, [Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him] (John 3:2). But He who clearly knew the miserable state and sympathized with the agony of this desperate soul, did not respond to his meaningless speech but rather gave him the very answer to the cry from the deep of his heart - "Lord! What should I do to be sanctified and join the holy people of God's kingdom?" And so He answered, [Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God] (John 3:3).
To say again, "Truly I teach you aright: unless one first receives from God His Spirit to be born again by it, and becomes a regenerated person by receiving a new life from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." But Nicodemus failed to comprehend Jesus' words and retorted with an absurd question unworthy of a well-informed Jewish ruler, [Nicodemus said to Him, `How can a man be born when he is old?'] (John 3:4). And more specifically [Jesus answered, `Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of ... the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God'] (John 3:5). That is to say, 'Truly I teach you again, unless a sinner receives from God His Holy Spirit to be transformed into holiness by His power, and becomes born again, all his efforts to become sanctified by himself and to enter heaven will avail nothing and prove impossible."
From that hour on, this struggling soul settled all is hidden problems after only one precious interview with Jesus, to become one of His most faithful disciples who from then on, began to live a regenerated life by submitting to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And after His crucifixion, although all the other disciples had forsaken Him and run away, Nicodemus alone brought [a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds] (John 19:39) and bravely received Him with sorrow upon His death.
Many today lust for the Spirit, [and do not have; You murder and covet and cannot obtain ... you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spent it on your pleasures] (James 4:2, 3).
Truly the Spirit does not come by force or compulsion like the evil spirits do into the heart of those who neither feel need nor seek for it. It is a pure as a dove and only comes to those who invite it with kindness. The Holy Spirit is not given in answer to the prayers of those who seek to use it for display, show and other selfish motives, but only to those who are willing to obey it with the humility of a child.
Today, Jesus proclaims to the humble, [If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive] (John 7:37-39).
Isaiah exclaims, [Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters (Holy Spirit); and you who have no money, come, buy and eat... without money and without price] (Isa. 55:1).
Peter exclaims,[ ... everyone of you .. in the name of Jesus Christ ... shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call] (Acts 2:38, 39).
Apostle Paul exclaims too, [When the kindness and the love of God or Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life] (Titus 3:4-7).
The Holy Spirit itself exclaims, [The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!' And let him who hears say, ‘Come!' And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.] [Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick... For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners] (Rev. 22:17, Matt. 9:12, 13) who are not yet sanctified.
Our heavenly Father is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who serve Him than are parents to give good gifts to their children. When the Spirit of God takes possession of the heart, it transforms the life. If all were willing, all would be filled with Spirit and have the experience of regeneration and attain to the state of sanctification.
[As the body without the spirit is dead,] [if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His] (James 2:26, Rom. 8:9).
The promise of the Holy Spirit is not limited to any age or to any race. Christ declared that the divine influence of His Spirit was to be with His followers unto the end of the world. From the day of Pentecost to the present time, the Comforter has been sent to all who have yielded themselves fully to the Lord and to His service. The lapse of time has wrought no change in Christ's parting promise to send the Holy Spirit as His representative. It is not because of any restriction on the part of God that the riches of His grace do not flow earthward to men. If the fulfillment is not seen as it might be, it is because the promise is not appreciated as it should be. If all were willing, all would be filled with the Spirit.
The children of God are not those whose hearts are sometimes touched by the Spirit, who yield to its, power now and then. It is only those who are led by the Spirit always that He acknowledges as His children. It is time to receive the Spirit today when whoever seeks for it can receive. Seek and pray earnestly for the blessing of the Spirit, and believe it. We must have it, and heaven is waiting to bestow it.
[And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!] (Luke 11:9-13).
[He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not be with Him also freely give us all things?] (Rom. 8:32).
[Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full] (John 16:24).
Praise the Lord! Glory to our real Father in heaven who bestows His Holy Spirit upon us sinners!
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