Building on the previous week’s teaching that faith is the foundation for receiving and retaining the Holy Ghost, this message traces the growth process from justification through sanctification, using Peter’s failures and eventual restoration as a case study, then walks through the Acts 2 account of Pentecost to correct the common expectation that a specific sensation is required to confirm receiving the Holy Ghost.
Scripture Reference
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Key Points: A Growth Process, Not Instant Perfection
- Both receiving and retaining the Holy Ghost are described as operating by faith rather than works, meaning mistakes made after conversion do not mean the Holy Ghost was never received.
- Peter’s life, from bold confession to denying Christ three times to eventual restoration by the lake, is used to show that even a committed, sincere believer can lack the Holy Ghost until it is received by faith rather than by intellectual conviction.
- The Acts 2 account of Pentecost is examined closely: the sound was like a rushing mighty wind rather than an actual wind, the tongues of fire were shaped like tongues rather than being languages, and those gathered heard each speaker in their own language rather than the speakers learning new languages themselves.
- Believers are warned against requiring a specific sensation as proof of receiving the Holy Ghost, since sensation may or may not accompany the experience, and looking for one turns reception into something other than faith.
- The Holy Ghost’s work is described as a gradual process, entering the mouth first to change speech, then the eyes, then the mind, rather than producing instant perfection, so young believers should not be discouraged by ongoing struggles.
- A personal account of doubting a childhood salvation experience, because old habits and music did not disappear immediately afterward, is shared as an example of the damage caused by expecting instant transformation.
- The distinction between gifts, fruit, and virtues is explained: gifts can be given to a believer at any stage or even to someone not yet converted, the fruit of the spirit is a single characteristic that grows as one abides in Christ, and virtues develop progressively through deliberate spiritual growth.