Acts 15:4-9
What Believers Need: Holy Spirit Purity
I. Introduction
-What more do you need?
-...as a Christian?
II. Scripture
III. Background
-Peter's vision
1. Sheet w/ unclean animals comes down from heaven.
2. Kill & eat.
3. It's unclean, I've never done that, I will never do that.
4. God said: "What God has made clean do not call common."
5. This happened three times.
-As Peter was trying to figure it out, a knock on the door.
1. Cornelius, a centurian, had also had a vision from God.
2. Note: God will bring true seekers to our church if we will truly seek God.
3. He sent three men to find Peter.
4. The Spirit told Peter to go w/ the men.
-These were Gentiles! (Non-Jews)
-You see how God works things out?
-Can you see God's fingerprints in your life?
-I want to point out a few things about the passage we read in Acts 15 referring to 10.
IV. A Specific People
-The Holy Spirit doesn't just fall on anybody.
-This wasn't just a group of ppl pulled in off the street.
-Cornelius "pastor"
1. Acts 10: he brought his relatives & friends together.
2. They were having church.
-Who is He?
-Acts 10:1-2 "At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, [2] a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God."
-Note a few things about him:
-First, He was a devout man.
1. Definition of devout: devoted to God.
2. He worshiped the true God.
3. He did not worship all the Roman gods.
4. Lived for the Lord.
5. He was an earnest seeker.
-Second, He feared God.
1. We don't have any fear of God.
2. We treat Him like a Teddy Bear.
3. No awe, reverence, or fear of the Lord anymore.
4. Always remember you are unworthy for everything God has done in your life.
5. You don't deserve someone dying for you, you haven't earned heaven, you're not good enough for God.
6. Fear Him!
7. Fear of God reduces fear of other things. (Death, humanity, poverty, etc.)
-Third, that fear was in his whole house.
1. Cornelius was a spiritual leader in his home.
2. Men, you have a responsibility!
3. This is the most effective preaching that can take place: your family says you live out your faith in Christ.
4. That is a testimony!
-Fourth, he gave alms.
1. He gave from a large heart, liberally.
2. Stingy, self-centered spending rules today.
3. Debt, economic crisis, all spending on self.
4. Giving is an act of worship.
5. Not only to God/church, but to other ppl.
6. Be a spender on other people.
7. Give stuff away to others. (Not junk, but valuable stuff to you.)
-Finally, he prayed continually.
1. Ppl would find him on his knees in prayer.
2. At lunch hour, on breaks, in the morn, in the evening, before meals, in the midst of decisions.
3. He was continually in the "spirit of prayer."
4. Times I'm w/ Sarah, but not talking to Sarah, but we are still constantly communicating & enjoying the bond we have.
-These were ppl, though lacking much knowledge about Christ, were Christian.
-Only Christians receive the Holy Spirit, not sinners.
V. How They Received the Spirit
-First, it was instantaneous.
1. It was not something they grew into.
2. The Spirit fell on them.
3. This is not a spiritual discipline or an issue of maturity.
4. It is an issue of purity.
5. This is not something worked for, it is something sought for.
6. It is not something earned, it is something received.
-There are no degrees of Spirit baptism; you either have received or haven't.
-Second, God knew their hearts. (15:8)
1. When the heart is ready, the Spirit is given.
2. You will never be on a waiting list.
3. You will never be stalled or delayed.
4. God knows your heart & knows when it is ready!
5. Genesis 6:5 "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
6. 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.""
7. Matthew 15:19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."
-Your heart is either a catalyst or a road block for God's work in your life.
1. Hearts are hard to judge.
2. "Is your heart in it?"
3. "Close to my heart."
4. "What does your heart tell you?"
-Apply the perception of the heart to spiritual matters.
1. Your heart might tell you that things aren't right.
2. Listen to it.
VI. The Effects of the Spirit
-Hebrews 10:14-16 "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. [15] And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, [16] "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"
1. Law on hearts is in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Romans, & Hebrews.
2. There is something about your heart that God wants.
3. Hosea 6:6 "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
-Acts 15:9b "...having cleansed their hearts by faith."
1. God wants your heart.
2. If He has that, He has all of you.
-We would rather give God things...
1. Time, money, work in the church.
2. But heart is different.
-Even if we give our heart, God cannot accept it like it is.
1. It loves you.
2. We are our own greatest lovers.
3. Me, my way, what I want, vying for power, demanding our own way, insisting on my preferences, fighting for my reputation/ rights.
4. All that must be cleansed.
-Point: I find that among Nazarene, a "holiness" people, we have failed to allow God to cleanse our hearts.
1. "Preacher, I don't believe that's possible."
2. ...cleansed their hearts by faith...
3. You don't believe, it will never happen (just like justification).
VII. Conclusion
-In the last few years we have had a number of new ppl begin attending our church.
1. For the first time, in a long time, we have began baptizing ppl who have been born-again.
2. It's time for us to be a holiness church.
3. To you new Christians... seek a pure heart.
-After becoming a Christian you will feel the pull.
1. The love of self/world.
2. Conflict spiritually.
3. "I need something more."
-You need to be forgiven, and then to have a heart cleansing.
1. It comes in what Jesus promised as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
2. Nazarenes sometimes call it what Paul does in the epistles to the Thessalonians... entire sanctification.
-1 Peter 1:16 "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
1. God does not say we are to be holy as He is.
2. God says we are to be holy b/c He is.
-Ill. Witnessing models...
1. Often ask: "Have you been forgiven?"
2. That's a good question for someone who has not been born-again to think about.
-Ill. Holiness question...
1. Let me ask you a question.
2. Has your heart been purified by the Holy Spirit?
Response
