The Holy Spirit changes us

The end of term always reminds me of the story of one former JPC member (I'll not mention his name, but some of you may remember him): he wasn't a Christian, but he started coming to church, and kept coming for a good while. Week after week, he heard more and more of the gospel, and after a good while he was sat in church one Sunday morning listening to a sermon on Amos 7-8 (those well-known evangelistic verses), and he was overwhelmed by a sense of God's judgement. And he trusted in Jesus, so he came in the door of church that morning not-yet believing, and he walked out the door a Christian.

What changed? What clicked? What did he ‘get’ or understand that he hadn't before? What made the difference? What got into him? Better question: who got into him? The Bible's answer is: the Holy Spirit did. God himself entered his life. And this evening's passage in the book of Acts is all about that: what the Holy Spirit does in us, and what Jesus did for us. So, before we get stuck in, let's pray…

1. Knowing and trusting in something of Jesus is not enough for anyone (Acts 19.1-4)

Paul continues his journey around the ancient world sharing the gospel, and he arrives in Ephesus and (Acts 19.1):

…there he found some disciples.

Disciples was the standard word used for Christians. So, at first, to Paul, these folk must have appeared to be Christians. But, before long, he was clearly unsure where they stood. Which prompted the line of questioning that begins in Acts 19.2-3:

And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.”

We don't know what exactly, but there must have been something about what they said or how they behaved, that made Paul think, "the Holy Spirit hasn't come into these people's lives" because Paul knew that for anyone to believe (to trust) in Jesus they must have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. He knew you can't be a Christian without receiving the Holy Spirit because it's God himself, through his Spirit that creates in us the Christian response of repentance and faith. And Holy Spirit given repentance and faith equals a changed life (not a perfect life, but a changed one). So, perhaps Paul just didn't see that in them. And he was on to something because they say they haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit! Now, I take it to be unlikely that they'd never heard of the Holy Spirit's existence because Paul's next line of questioning in Acts 19.3 reveals they were baptised into John's baptism. John the Baptist functioned as the last signpost of the Old Testament era. He was urging people to repent with a view to trusting in Jesus, the promised saviour. So, in Luke 3.11, we read that John said:

I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

I.e. John had said "I'm preparing the way for someone infinitely greater. And he'll be the real deal, because the baptism that comes with following him will symbolise that God himself has come into your life".

A while ago I read a story about a Japanese soldier on a remote island in the Pacific, he was still fighting in 1972 cut off and unaware that WWII had ended. Well, what these people have missed is even greater because they were still ‘stuck’ at the end of the Old Testament. We don't know exactly what they knew. Had they heard about Jesus' ministry at all? Some think they hadn't! They probably hadn't heard that Jesus had died and then risen from the dead, and they surely couldn't have heard that there was a great outpouring of God's Spirit at Pentecost that we read about in Acts 2. Whatever they knew, they knew something of Jesus, and to their credit, they'd clearly responded to it in some way. But they hadn't understood the full gospel story; what they knew was incomplete and inadequate, and therefore, whatever their response was, it was not enough. So, Paul does what he always does, he preaches Christ, Acts 19.4:

And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

Notice Paul's method: get to know people, suss out what they believe by asking them questions, and in this case, respond directly to their understanding with the message of Jesus. Can't we learn from that? Paul is saying in Acts 19.4, "the promised saviour Jesus that John pointed towards has come!" And I guess he went on to ‘fill in the gaps’ in their knowledge; to tell them how Jesus had lived a perfect life, how he went to the cross where he'd said he'd take the punishment our rejection of God deserved, so that we could know God, how Jesus rose again from the dead, showing that all he said and did must have been true, and how Jesus' promised Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and the Christian church began to explode as more and more people began to follow Jesus. All through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I wonder, maybe you're here this evening and you can relate to these disciples that Paul encountered? I guess you're probably not a follower of John the Baptist, but maybe you're slowly coming to terms with the reality that your understanding of what it is to be a Christian has been incomplete and inadequate. Perhaps you're from another culture, and your understanding of living as a Christian equals trust in God and you will live a prosperous life. But, that's completely inadequate – if you read Acts and you'll see that being a Christian involves both blessing and hardship. Maybe you used to think living as a Christian equals living a good life, going to church, being part of a community. But (on it's own), that's an inadequate view. Trying to do good, going to church isn't enough. Or maybe you're pretty new to all of this, and you're getting your head round what the gospel really means. You don't yet have the complete picture. We know it can be a slow process piecing it all together.

Some of you might say you're slightly further on; you're onboard with the Christian worldview (in world that increasingly finds it unacceptable), you've heard the gospel, you've heard who Jesus is, you've heard what Jesus did, it all makes sense, you've even partly turned towards Jesus, you've partly changed how you live but, it's still incomplete; you know and believe something of Jesus but, you haven't responded to him personally. Maybe, for whatever reason, you'd actually say you feel close to following Jesus but, you're not there yet.

I knew someone many years ago (he's not at this church): he had been involved in church life for a long time. He was there every Sunday. He knew people well. He was well known. Look at him from the outside and you'd have said "he's a disciple". And one Sunday in conversation after church I remember him saying, "I haven't personally trusted in Jesus". I so hope he has now! But at that time, he knew all too well the truth of this passage – it isn't enough to be onside and inside. It isn't enough to be sympathetic. It isn’t enough to agree with Christian morals. It isn't enough to be there intellectually. He was so close but, he knew knowing and trusting in something of Jesus isn't enough. That's why what he said is etched in my mind, and it made a deep and profound impression on me. Growing up in a Christian home, coming to church as a student, spending time with Christians, coming to Focus, knowing and believing something of Jesus isn't enough. A partial turning towards him isn't enough but, the example we see in Acts 19.5 will show you what is enough. And, that brings us to the other thing we're going to see this evening, that:

2. Trusting in the risen Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is enough for everyone (Acts 19.5-7).

Acts 19.5-7, here is how these people respond to Paul's message:

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.

So (Acts 19.5) it's dramatic; immediately they were baptised! Because when they heard the whole gospel story, they trusted in the crucified-and-risen Lord Jesus for the first time. They'd become Christians! And, they were baptised as symbol of what had happened in them – that their rejection of God had been washed away, and that they'd begun a new life living for him. So, to be a Christian you need to personally receive what Jesus did for you. Which means accepting, and trusting, him as your Lord (with the right to rule your life) and as your saviour (from the consequences of rejecting God). Simply put: this is the complete gospel message! Receiving this is to be a Christian. And, only Jesus can do this in you by his Spirit – only he can give you that faith, give you that desire to live for him, and joyfully transform your life to make you more like him.

When we share the gospel with others we need to remember this: God's Spirit changes people. We can't. Isn't that important to remember if you catch up with unbelieving friends and family this summer? We need to ask God to do what only he can do. And, maybe, if you're not yet believing this is the place to start – to ask God, through his Spirit, to open your eyes to want to trust and live for him? You can do that whoever you are, whether you've been coming for ages or whether you're here tonight for the first time. Maybe you're here with a friend following the spikeball tournament. Whether you've heard the gospel for the first time tonight, or a million times before personally trusting that Jesus died for your sin is enough for you to come into relationship with God and stay there forever. Like the guy I mentioned at the beginning (because of the Holy Spirit), you can trust in Jesus this very night and begin to live a joyful and new life in him. Because next, in Acts 19.6, Paul lays his hands on them and:

…the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Now, I don't think this verse proves there is a two stage process of i) coming to faith, and, ii) receiving the Holy Spirit. Because in most other places Acts we see the pattern most of us have experienced: that becoming a Christian, and receiving the Holy Spirit happen at exactly the same time. Nor do I think speaking in tongues and prophesying is to be the experience of every Christian today (though it may be the experience of some Christians), because if you look at the whole of the book of Acts it wasn't the experience of coming to faith that everyone experienced back then. And, fundamentally, the book of Acts is descriptive not prescriptive. It's describing unique, one-off events that happened – that we can learn from, of course, but as a book it's not setting out exactly what should happen today. But why is there a two-stage coming to faith here followed by the gift of tongues and prophecy? Well, we don't have time now, but flick back in Acts and you'll see two other significant moments of the Holy Spirit being given. In Acts 2 for the first time, at Pentecost, and in Acts 10 when the Spirit is given for the first time to the non-Jewish Gentiles: both occasions included the gifts of tongues and prophesy. And in our passage, Paul intentionally and visibly lays his hands on these new believers, and the Holy Spirit comes because Acts 19.6 is the account of a kind of mini-Pentecost. As these new Christians are filled with the Spirit of God, this experience assures them, in their unique situation, of their relationship with Jesus. They are filled with joy, and it's another underlining, a visible demonstration, that the gospel is for everyone and will continue to spread unstoppably through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Anyone can come into relationship with God if they trust in Jesus; Jew, Gentile, people with incomplete understanding, or no understanding. The gospel is for everyone. Do we really believe this when we speak about Jesus? The Holy Spirit is powerful. Anyone can believe the gospel. So, this passage isn't telling us these exact experiences are to be expected and yet, Paul would have wanted to see evidence that the Holy Spirit had given repentance and faith. We assume that's what he didn’t see in these people at first. So, how do we know we've received the Holy Spirit? Well, it's helpful to ask: what do we see the Holy Spirit is doing in the book of Acts, and in the New Testament as a whole? The simplest answer is: he gives the gift of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and gets to work transforming lives to become more like Jesus, and that's still this primary work today.

So, if you can look at Jesus' death on the cross, and say "Jesus, I know that on the cross you died for me and for my sin", you couldn't possibly say that without the Holy Spirit. And, the Bible would say that if (however inconsistently) you can say "Jesus I want to live for you and serve you as Lord", you couldn't possibly say that and mean it without the Holy Spirit. So friends, let's believe this; it's the Holy Sprit that got you trusting in Jesus in the first place, you couldn’t have done it without him, you can't do the Christian life now without him, he is living in you, he's with you this summer, he's with you forever! As Paul would go on to put it (Romans 5.5):

God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us

To be a Christian is to have the Holy Spirit, and you can't be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. What then should our experience of the Holy Spirit be? What will him living in us feel like? What will the evidence of it be? Well, again Paul would go on to write (Galatians 4.6):

because you are sons [i.e. because we are heirs to all God has promised us, and given us, in Jesus], God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

I've a 16 month old called Simeon, and he shouts "Da da" at me often. It's a great joy to me when he does because he knows he has access to me, it changes his cry, it alters his behaviour. As Christians, we are given the gift of confident and joyful access to God. He is our perfect heavenly Father. We can pray to him. We have unhindered access to him. Of course, we won't feel that perfectly. Of course, we don't have the sense of it we would like all of the time. But, it does change everything about how we try to live. It fills us with joy! Joy that is experiential, visible, real and that is like nothing else in this world. Joy that only the Holy Spirit can give us. So, let's ask him for more; for more of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, for a strengthening of his work in us – to renew, refresh, intensify all that he's been doing since we came to faith. And may each one of us (together as God's church) be ready to tell others what Jesus did for us on the cross, and what he does in us now by his Spirit. Some will believe, some won't (as Acts 19.8-10 which we don't have time for tonight show us) but, that doesn't stop the gospel moving on, and moving forward by the unstoppable power of the Holy Spirit. More on that in two week's time. Let's pray.