July 24

"Have ye received the Holy Ghost?"—Acts 19:2.

MANY who sit under the preaching of the Gospel, and profess to believe, are ignorant of the saving operations of the Spirit of God. We have an instance of this in the context. This is a very important question; let us put it to you, in reference to the various offices of the Spirit.

HAVE YOU RECEIVED HIM AS A SPIRIT OF CONVICTION? He convinces us of sin, in its dreadful nature. He tells us what sin is. Sin is never felt as a burden till the Spirit has discovered it to us in its true and hideous deformity: then we exclaim, "Behold I am vile." In its alarming consequences. Thus he tells us what sin does, and what it will lead to if persisted in. It has robbed us of the Divine image and favor, and exposed us to the Divine wrath and displeasure.

HAVE YOU RECEIVED HIM AS A SPIRIT OF INSTRUCTION? He is given to impart light to the mind as well as conviction to the conscience. What does he teach? He shows to us the Saviour in the glory of his Person. Christ can only be seen in his glory, as he is beheld in the light of the Spirit, through the glass of the word. The fulness of his grace. The Spirit teaches us not only what Christ is, but what he has, and what he has done. He points out to us the suitableness of his grace, the plenitude of it, the consummation to which it leads, and the freeness by which it is characterized. The sufficiency of his righteousness. He first shows us the insufficiency of our own, and then the all-sufficiency of the Saviour's. The reasonableness of his requirements. He discovers to us the nature of those duties and exercises demanded at our hands, and assures us of the blessings and privileges associated with his service.

HAVE YOU RECEIVED HIM AS A SPIRIT OF CONVERSION? Thus he turns and changes the heart. It is a turning—from the world to religion. The Spirit teaches us the vanity of the pleasures, riches, honors, and expectations of the world, and the importance, necessity, and desirableness of religion. From ourselves to Christ. Then we renounce all ideas of obtaining salvation by our own deeds. Christ is all and in all. From the service of Satan to God. Thus the thraldom of sin is exchanged for the liberty of the Gospel, and the hard yoke of Satan for the easy yoke of Christ.

HAVE YOU RECEIVED HIM AS A SPIRIT OF CONSOLATION? He is styled the Comforter—the idea of comfort implies the existence of sorrow and trouble. He comforts the penitent sinner with a sense of pardon; the tried believer with an assurance of God's love to him; and the dying Christian by the supports of the Gospel. Reader, have you received the Holy Ghost?