WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
John 14:15-20

“How amiable are
thy tabernacles…”

THE SPIRIT’S INDWELLING OUR PRECIOUS HERITAGE (I)

In “25 Questions and Answers About the Holy Spirit” published by a Charismatic church we read the following:

Question 1: Does one receive the Holy Spirit at conversion?
Answer: No.
Question 4: Is speaking in tongues the only sign for receiving the Holy Spirit?
Answer: Yes.

When false doctrine is respectably dressed in crisp black and white print, backed by liberal misquotes of Scripture, “if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matt 24:24). How subtle is the enemy of our souls! Did not the Holy Spirit warn specifically “that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim 4:1)?

Did you receive the Holy Spirit at conversion? Is it possible for anyone to be converted without receiving the Holy Spirit? Answer: it is absolutely impossible for a person to be converted except by receiving the Holy Spirit. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom 8:9).

There are a dozen other Scripture passages affirming this basic truth. Remember our Lord’s words to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit”? Then the words of Paul: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body… and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).

Finally, the Charismatic “tongues” are not the tongues of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost, which were known languages. They are meaningless “gibberish” no different from pagan tongues. How then can they be the sign for receiving the Holy Spirit?

THOUGHT: (Read John 14:18.)
PRAYER: Lord, may I always go to Thy Word for the truth.