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As we get closer to celebrating the Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, which is the birthday of the church, I want us to understand an aspect of salvation and being filled with the Holy Spirit. I mean that’s kind of what Pentecost is about. It’s the birthday of the Church and when things changed for Christianity.
In the OT, we see in different places where God imparts – or gives - His Holy Spirit to people. Bet you didn’t realize that but He did. Often times it was in response to their obedience, He imparts to them His righteousness in response to their obedient faith. After the death and resurrection of Christ things obviously changed dramatically, and we see the Holy Spirit poured out upon all who will believe.
Acts 2:16-21 (NIV) No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
The social and demographic circumstances of your life are not hindrances to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit isn’t limited to a certain social class or demographic of the population. The Holy Spirit is for “all” people, that is, all segments of the population so, children, young adults, and the elderly can receive God’s Spirit. Those who can afford servants and those who are servants can receive the Spirit. Because of this gift, anyone who cries out to God can also receive salvation.
Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV) And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Who receives the Holy Spirit? The answer is whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and is saved. Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit’s function In this world bringing us to the conviction of sin in our lives and that brings us to the point of repentance. It’s the Holy Spirit Who begins to regenerate our souls, and continues to work in us and through us until that day we are indeed glorified with Jesus in eternity.
So, who receives the Holy Spirit? Whosoever believes…