The holy spirit and joy

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND JOY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filledwith joy and
with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 13:52 The Message (MSG)
50-52 Some of the Jews convincedthe most respected
women and leading men of the town that their
precious way of life was about to be destroyed.
Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabasand
forced them to leave. Paul and Barnabas shrugged
their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium,
brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy
disciples.
The Holy Spirit Giving Joy
MostRelevantVerses
Luke 1:41-45
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice
and said, "Blessedare you among women, and blessedis the fruit of your
womb! "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would
come to me?read more.

Luke 1:67-68
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied,
saying: "Blessedbe the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and
accomplishedredemption for His people,
Luke 10:21
At that very time He rejoicedgreatlyin the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise
You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things
from the wise and intelligent and have revealedthem to infants. Yes, Father,
for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Hebrews 1:9
"YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESSAND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFOREGOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU WITH THE OIL
OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."
Acts 13:52
And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 16:25
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise
to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
1 Thessalonians 1:6
You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having receivedthe word in
much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
1 Peter4:13-14

but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keepon rejoicing, so
that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you
are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory
and of God rests on you.
RAY STEDMAN, "And the word of the Lord spreadthroughout all the
region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the
leading men of the city and stirred up persecutionagainstPaul and Barnabas,
and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their
feet againstthem, and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy
and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:49-52 RSV)
This indicates that Paul and Barnabas were there for an extended time,
probably severalweeks,during which the word of God went out into all the
regionaround. This marvelous, powerful word, which relieves the awful sense
of human guilt, reachedout. But many of the Jews were disturbed by this,
and, as they could not prevail openly, they went around behind scenes and
stirred up a Women's Liberation Front. They went to devout women of high
standing and through them they reachedthe Roman authorities (the leading
men of the city) and thus drove them out of their district.
Dr. Luke, with his ability to deliver quick, precise summaries does not give us
all the details. Paul tells us that there were three times in his life when he was
beaten by rods, an official actionof the Romans. Once was laterin Philippi,
and many scholars feelthat here was anotheroccasion. Pauland Barnabas
may have been brought before the Roman authorities and beaten with rods
and thus driven out of the district. Luke does not sayso, but this could well be
the time when that first happened to Paul. In any event, they shook offthe
dust of their feet againstthem, and went to Iconium.
The lastsentence is beautiful. The disciples who remained in this area "were
filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." There is no mention of the gift of
tongues in connectionwith the filling of the Holy Spirit, but there is mention

of the fruit of the Spirit. They were filled with the joy of the Lord and the love
of God. This is the great signof the Spirit of God in the human heart -- it
floods the heart with love and joy. If we are Christians our hearts cannot help
but be moved at the mercy of God toward us, who deserve nothing at his
hands. Yet how much he has given! It would be fitting if we would join
togetherin a prayer of thanksgiving."
Controlled by the Spirit
Acts 13:52
Delivered06/14/2009
We ended chapter 13 last week with the disciples filled with the Spirit:
(Acts 13:52 NASB)
For our study this morning we are going to look at the subjectof being "filled
with the Holy Spirit." To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with joy. Last
week I said, "WhenChristians are filled of the Holy Spirit, their
circumstances do not matter. Bad things may happen to them. But the Holy
Spirit gives them joy. It is joy that nobody can take away. When you are
controlled by the Spirit you will be controlledby joy." If this is true, and I
believe it is, this tells us how important it is to be filled with the Spirit.
So for our study this morning lets see if we can come to a working
understanding of just exactly what it means to be filled with the Spirit. To
start let make sure we understand the distinction betweenthe baptism of the
Spirit and the filling of the Spirit.
The baptism with the Holy Spirit is the work of Jesus Christ in putting us into
the church, the Body of Christ, through the agencyof the Holy Spirit. A
believer is baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment of his conversion. It is
not a secondexperience, it is not subsequent to salvation. The moment we are

saved, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, we don't do anything to receive it
exceptbelieve the Gospel.
Paul teaches this in 1 Corinthians. In chapter 12, verse 12 Paul begins to deal
with the conceptof the church being the body of Christ:
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members
of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. (1
Corinthians 12:12 NASB)
We are the body of Christ, and within that body there is unity and great
diversity:
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1
Corinthians 12:13 NASB)
Here Paul answers the question, "How did we getinto that body?" We were
not born into it as infants; the Body of Christ does not consistof everybody in
the world, only certainindividuals are in it. So how do we getinto the Body of
Christ? His answeris clear, "Forby one Spirit we were all baptized into one
body." That is the "baptism with the Holy Spirit"
"We were all baptized"-past tense. It happened at salvation. That is why there
is no command in Scripture to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. There is no
exhortation to receive the Holy Spirit-you already have Him.
All Christians have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, but not all Christians
are filled with the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit places us into the body of
Christ it is a positionalact of God. The filling of the Spirit gives us power day
to day to live in joy and victory.
(Acts 13:52 NASB)
We saw lastweek in our study of this verse that when Christians are filled of
the Holy Spirit, their circumstances do not matter. The Holy Spirit gives them
joy. It is joy that nobody cantake away. When you are controlledby the Spirit
you will be controlledby joy. So let's try to understand how we are filled.

Believers who have the Spirit are commanded in Scripture to be controlled by
Him.
And do not getdrunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the
Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18 NASB)
When Paul says, "Be filled with the Spirit" he is giving a command to
believers. The word "filled" is the Greek word pleroo, which means:
"controlledby." If we are not controlled by the Spirit what are we being
controlled by? The flesh.
Paul tells the Galatians that there is a conflict betweenthe flesh and the
Spirit:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:16 NASB)
Here we see a contrastbetweenthe Spirit and the flesh. This struggle is made
clearin the next verse:
For the flesh sets its desire againstthe Spirit, and the Spirit againstthe flesh;
for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things
that you please. (Galatians 5:17 NASB)
What I want us to see from this verse is that struggle is a normal part of the
Christian life. Many Christians prefer not to hear this truth, because they
want a Christianity that proclaims "allvictory all the time." They want a
guarantee that all their problems will be solved if they will follow the right
formula. But the conflict betweenour flesh and the Spirit is continual and
inevitable.
Thus, with the same mouth we curse, and we bless. We love, and we hate. We
serve, and then we steal. We proclaim Christ, and then we lie to our friends.
We read the Bible, and then we watch vile movies. We sing in the choir, and
then we commit adultery . And so it goes. The manifestations differ, but all of
us feel the struggle in one way or the other.
When the children of Israel enteredthe PromisedLand, God did not allow
them to conquer it all at once. Becausethere were many entrenched enemies

in the hills of Canaan, the Jews had to fight for every inch of it. Then they had
to fight to keepwhat they conquered. It took them many years to possessthe
entire land. I believe this is a picture of the Christian life. There is victory to
be had, but it will not come easilyor quickly. We are in a warfare with the
flesh, which will not easily yield its ground. Whether we wish to admit it or
not, we will struggle with sin and temptation as long as we live.
Too much contemporary teaching on this topic seems to imply (if not to state
directly) that a Christian may reacha place or a state where the struggles of
life disappearaltogether. Sucha teaching is both false and unbiblical. It is also
dangerous, because by promising what it can never deliver, it sets up
Christians for failure and immense discouragementwhenthey cannot achieve
the promised "victory" over sin.
The Quietists were mystics of the late seventeenthcentury who believed that a
one-time surrender to God would initiate a passive union with God. The
Quakers were influenced by the Quietists. Hannah Whitall Smith's The
Christian's Secretto a Happy Life (Old Tappan, N.J.:Fleming H. Revell,
1952)and the sermons of Charles Finney both promote the idea that a
Christian needs to do very little but rely on the Spirit. Quietists believe that
walking in the Spirit does not require any effort on our part, and when there
is effort, we hinder the holiness that God wants to accomplish. The conceptof
surrender in quietism is vital to living a virtuous holy life. Some believe that
when one completely surrenders, he receives a secondwork of grace so that
the sin nature becomes eradicated, and the Christian supposedly never sins
again.
But Galatians 5:17 should make it clearthat no one escapesthe conflict. No
one canavoid the struggle betweenthe flesh and the Spirit. No one gets a
Christian life free from outward pressure and inward turmoil. And there is no
secondblessing or spiritual experience that canmagically propel you to a state
where you no longerstruggle with sin. That won't happen until we getto
heaven. Betweennow and then, we walk the hard road, fighting every day to
stay on the right path.

What are we battling? The Flesh! What is the flesh? Paul uses the word
"flesh" to mean: "something that is totally human, with no specialgrace
attached." In Paul's use of the term "flesh" in Galatians, he does not simply
mean: "possessedofa physical body"; rather, he means:"limited to only a
physical body and the physical strength it contains."
So the flesh is what you do in your ownpower, in your own strength, what you
can do yourself-which is legalism. Legalismis anything that I think I can do in
order to make myself more righteous before God. It is human achievement;
it's a form of self-righteousness.
In Paul's view, flesh and Spirit fall into redemptive-historical categories,
serving to elucidate the contrasting natures of the two covenantages. Seeking
to live by law really boils down to seeking life independently of God, which
was the basic sin of Adam. To walk after the flesh is to seek life in terms of
what man can accomplishof himself.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked;for whatevera man sows, this he will
also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap
corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap
eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8 NASB)
If we take "flesh" here to refer to a sinful life, then sowing to the Spirit would
mean living a holy life. This would mean that everlasting life is a product of
living right. This would be salvationby works. We know that salvation is not
of works.
But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is reckonedas righteousness, (Romans 4:5 NASB)
What Paul is saying in Galatians 6:7-8 is: when a man seeks to gain the gift of
God by human possibility, the very actitself is sin, because it bears the fruits
of self-righteousness. You cannotearn a right standing with God by what you
do.
Walking after the flesh was not a problem only facedin the first century.
Many today are walking after the flesh, they are trying to gain favor with God
by their works. They are trying to please Godby the things that they do. A

goodexample of this would be Catholic theology, which says:"By my deeds I
can not only earn merit for myself, but if I earn more merit than I need to get
into heaven; my extra merit goes into the treasury of merit to be applied to
someone else to get them our of purgatory." What that says is not only can I
by my merit earn my own salvation, but I can over earn it and apply what is
left over to someone else'ssalvation. Thatis walking after the flesh. And to
walk after the flesh is to be condemned. If you are trusting in something that
you've done to getyou into heaven, you'll never getthere.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:16 NASB)
What does it mean to "Walk by the Spirit"? This is very important for us to
understand. To "walk by the Spirit" is the same as being "filled with the
Spirit" which is the same as "abiding in Christ". So let's see if we can
practically define what these mean.
All of us have heard preachers say, "Let the Spirit lead you," or "Allow the
Spirit to controlyou," and have gone awaypuzzled as to what that means
practically. How do we walk by the Spirit? You walk by the Spirit when your
heart is resting in the promises of God. The Spirit reigns over the flesh in your
life when you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself
for you and now is working everything togetherfor your good.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything,
but faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6 NASB)
Living faith always produces love. But Galatians 5:22 says love is a fruit of the
Spirit. So if love is what faith necessarilyproduces, and love is a fruit of the
Spirit, then the wayto walk by the Spirit is to have faith:
But before faith came, we were keptin custody under the law, being shut up
to the faith which was later to be revealed. (Galatians 3:23 NASB)
The coming of faith liberates a person from being under law. But what does
5:18 say? "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." How
then are we led by the Spirit? By faith. By meditating on the trustworthiness

and preciousnessofGod's promises until our hearts are trusting in Him. This
is how the Holy Spirit fills and leads:
Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among
you, do it by the works ofthe Law, or by hearing with faith? (Galatians 3:5
NASB)
The Spirit does his mighty work in us and through us only by the hearing of
faith. We are sanctifiedby faith alone. The way to walk by the Spirit and so
not fulfill the desires of the flesh is to know the promises of Godand trust
them, rest in them.
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longerI who live, but Christ
lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20
NASB)
Who is the Christ who lives in Paul? He is the Spirit:
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:6 NASB)
How, according to 2:20, does the life of the Son produce itself in Paul? How
does Paul walk by the Spirit of the Son? "The life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God." Day by day Paul trusts the Son. Day by day
he casts his cares onGod and is borne along by the Spirit. How, then, do we
walk by the Spirit? The answeris plain. We walk by faith. And we do this by
meditating on His unspeakable promises day and night and resting in them.
We should be trusting in Him all the time. The more we think about our
dependence on Him, the more consistentwe will be in trusting in Him and in
walking by the Spirit.
Listen to what Martin Luther had to say: "When the flesh begins to cut up the
only remedy is to take the swordof the Spirit, the word of salvation, and fight
againstthe flesh. If you setthe Word out of sight, you are helpless againstthe
flesh. I know this to be a fact. I have been assailedby many violent passions,
but as soonas I took hold of some Scripture passage, my temptations left me.
Without the Word I could not have helped myself againstthe flesh."

Paul put it this way to the Colossians:
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and
admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians3:16 NASB)
"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you"- the word of Christ can be
either the subjective genitive (the word delivered by Christ) or the objective
genitive (the word about Christ). I think we can take it both ways-we should
let the word delivered by Christ and the word about Christ richly dwell in us.
"Dwell" is from the present active imperative of enoikeo, andmeans: "to live
in," or "to be at home." Paul calls upon believers to let the Word take up
residence and be at home in their lives. We are familiar with our home; where
all the closets are, where we have items stored. We must thoroughly acquaint
ourselves with the Word. The Word should become so familiar to us that we
know it like we know our homes. The idea is to let the Word of God dwell
inside and live at home in our lives. The Word of God needs to inhabit us.
This is more than just reading the Bible.
Paul adds that the word is to "richly" dwell in us. "Richly" is from an old
adverb plousios, which has the twofold meaning of quantity and degree;it
means: "abundantly, applying it and using it in all its teaching, but also using
it constantly, at all times and in all circumstances."
Now, I want you to see something about this text in Colossians thatis very
important. Look with me at:
And do not getdrunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the
Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18 NASB)
Paul tells the Ephesians to "be filled with the Spirit," then he says:
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all
things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christto God, even the Father;21 and
be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. 22 Wives, be subjectto your
own husbands, as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19-22 NASB)

Paul tells the Colossians, "Letthe word of Christ richly dwell within you...,"
then he says:
... with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks through Him to God the Father. 18 Wives, be subject to your
husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Colossians 3:16-18 NASB)
It is clearthat these two concepts, "letting the word of Christ richly dwell
within you," and "being filled with the Spirit" are identical, because the
passagesthat follow eachare so similar. The result of being filled with the
Holy Spirit is the same as the result of letting the Word richly dwell in one's
life. Therefore, the two are the same spiritual reality viewedfrom two sides.
To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by His Word. To have the Word
dwelling richly is to be controlled by His Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit is the
author and the powerof the Word, the expressions are interchangeable. In
other words, the WORD-FILLED CHRISTIAN is a SPIRIT-FILLED
CHRISTIAN.
The Word of Christ is the only source oftruth we have about God:
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness;(2 Timothy 3:16 NASB)
Paul is saying to Timothy that the Bible comes from God. He is its ultimate
author. The Bible provides information that is not available anywhere else.
The Bible is divine self-disclosure.In it the mind of God is revealedon many
matters. With a knowledge ofScripture, we do not have to rely on secondhand
information or bare speculationto learn who God is and what he values. In
the Bible, God reveals himself.
For this is the love of God, that we keepHis commandments; and His
commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3 NASB)
We love God by living in obedience to Him. How canwe possibly do this if we
don't spend time in the Bible to know what obedience is?

He is our Creatorand Redeemer. If we are going to live a life of purpose, we
must know who He is and what He expects from us. The only place that we
can getthat information is from the Word of God. And I believe that the only
way we can walk by the Spirit is to have the Word dwelling in us.
We grow in our Christian walk as we read and study the Bible. The only place
where we are going to hear God's voice is in His Word. The world around us
will always be giving us the view of the flesh, but we'll only get God's view as
we spend time in His Word letting it abundantly dwell within us.
Paul is not saying:Let the Word of Christ have a few minutes of your time.
He is saying, "Let the Word of Christ LIVE in you!" God's Word should
permeate every aspectofyour life. When something happens in life, a
scripture should come to your mind as to how to respond to the circumstance.
When this happens, and we yield to the Scripture, we are walking by the
Spirit.
The Greek wordfor "walk" in Galatians 5:16, is very ordinary. It means to
walk from one place to another. It's in the present tense, which means: "keep
on walking." To walk means: "to take a series of small steps in the same
direction over a long period of time." Walking implies steadyprogress in one
direction by means of deliberate choices overa long period of time. To walk in
the Spirit means something like: "let your conduct be directed by the Holy
Spirit" or "make progress in your life by relying on the Holy Spirit." It has
the idea of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide every part of your life on a daily
basis.
Walking is slow compared with driving a caror flying in a plane. It's not
flashy at all. And sometimes walking canbe tedious, slow, dull, drab, and
downright boring. And yet if you've got to getfrom point A to point B,
walking will getyou there eventually. All you have to do is just start walking
and don't stop until you getthere.
Every day all of us make thousands of decisions. Mostofthem seemtiny and
inconsequential.

Certainly most of them seemto have no moral component. They are just little
decisions we have to make. Will I getout of bed? Will I take a shower? Will I
eat breakfast? Ifso, what will I eat? Will I drive to work? If so, what will I
listen to while I drive? Who will I talk to today? How will I relate to my
coworkers?Where will I eat lunch? What time will I leave work? What will I
say to my spouse as soonas I walk in the door? Will I sit down, or will I go
play with my children? And on and on it goes, allthe way down to something
like: Will I tie my shoes and tuck in my shirt today?
The crucialinsight is this. There is no such thing as a truly neutral decision.
Becauseeverychoice we make is intricately linked with every other choice
before it and every choice we will make later; all our "little" choices are not
really little at all. Every choice we make either takes us a step towardthe
Spirit or a tiny step toward the flesh. And even the "meaningless"choices lead
us in one way or the other. The factthat we can't always see the implications
of a decisiondoesn't mean they aren't there.
To walk by the Spirit implies that we are maintaining an ongoing communion
with God. We are exercising those spiritual disciplines that keepour hearts
focusedupon the Lord, that turns our feet awayfrom sin, that warms our love
for Christ. How are you going to walk by the Spirit if you are not in any sort
of communion with Him?
Paul goes onto saythat if we walk by the Spirit - "You will not carry out the
desire of the flesh."
Paul's use of a double negative in the Greek could be expressedin Englishby
saying: You will absolutely not gratify the desires of your flesh. This is a
promise, but the fulfillment of this promise depends on the implementation of
the command - walk by the Spirit. What a greatpromise! This promise should
make us be very desirous of walking by the Spirit.
For the flesh sets its desire againstthe Spirit, and the Spirit againstthe flesh;
for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things
that you please. (Galatians 5:17 NASB)

We could interpret this as grace and legalismare opposedto one another;
they're two completely different belief systems. Legalismis ultimately an issue
of the heart. It actually has to do with your core belief; and the only place
where this can really be changed is deep down in your heart; what you believe
to be true.
Either you believe: I can make myself more like Jesus;I canaccomplishmy
own righteousness;I cancomplete my own salvation, therefore I live that way.
Or you believe: My flesh cannotmake me more righteous; therefore I am
totally dependent on the Spirit of God within me to accomplishthis. It is going
to have to be Him, because I can't do it. Those two views are opposed to one
another.
That is why Paul says I cannot, then, just do as I please;because my natural
bent, my natural momentum is to do it myself. That's what comes easily;
that's what comes naturally. And if I just do as I please, that's the path I'm
going to go down. Paul says basically, that you have to make a consciouseffort
if you're going to walk by the Spirit. It has to be an intentional choice that you
make to acknowledge:I cannot do this myself; I must be yielded and
dependent upon Him.
A missionary and a Native-AmericanIndian Chief were talking when the
missionary asked,"How are you doing? What has the Lord been doing in your
life and the life of your people?" The Chief told his friend about those who
were coming to know Christ, and how God had been faithful, when he stopped
in mid-sentence. He said, "I have seenthe Lord work in marvelous ways
among our people, but I have to be honestwith you - it is like there is a war
going on in me. It is like there is a gooddog and a bad dog that are living in
my heart, and they are always at warwith one another." The missionary
knew what the Chief was talking about, because he was describing his own
life. The missionary reachedout, grabbed the hand of his friend, and asked,
"Which dog is winning?" The Chief said, "The one that I feed the most."
Think about that, believer, do you find that to be true in your own life? Do
you find that it's the one you feed the most that wins the battle? What
happens when we feed the flesh? And what happens when we feed the Spirit?

So many believers want to feed the flesh, and then wonder why they have no
victory in the Spirit.
To live by the flesh is depending upon the resourcesand abilities of the
physical body, or humanness. To live by the Spirit is depending upon the
resources andabilities of the Spirit, whom God gives by grace through faith.
In both cases,the fundamental issue is "depending." The critical difference is
the objectof the dependence. In "living by the flesh," the person who is living
is depending upon what he is and has as the result of his physical heritage
(genetic composition, intelligence quotient, education, etc.). In "living by the
spirit," the personwho is living is depending upon what the Spirit of God is
and has - and what God has promised to do through Him.
Walking in the Spirit is not some mystical experience reservedfor a few
specialChristians. It's God's designfor normal Christian living. It's nothing
more than choosing (by God's grace)to take tiny steps toward the Spirit day
after day after day. Those tiny steps do not remove the struggle, but they
allow you to walk by the Spirit evenwhile you feel the pull to go in another
direction. The pull of the flesh is always with us in one form or another. But
we can choose to walk by the Spirit every day." www.bereanbiblechurch.org/
Hillsong Live Lyrics
Play "JoyIn The Hol…"
on Amazon Music
"JoyIn The Holy Ghost"
I've found a friend oh such a friend

And He made my heart His home
God Himself is with me
And I know I'm never alone
I know all my tomorrows
Will be better than all my hopes
We've got love grace peace andpower
And joy in the Holy Ghost
(We've gotlove)
My God is never wrong
And He makes time for me
(We've gotgrace)
He blew apart my chains
And setthis sinner free
(We've gotpeace)
It's like a river
And you'll never run it dry
We've got powerover fear and death
And hearts filled up with joy
Holy Spirit fills me up
And I need Him every day
For fire faith and confidence

And knowing what to say
I gave my heart and all I am
To the One who loves me most
We've got love grace peace andpower
And joy in the Holy Ghost
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Spiritual Joy
R.A. Redford
Acts 13:52
And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. At the
conclusionof a narrative descriptive of varied experiences both of the
messengersand of the Church.
I. THE JOY OF TRUE DISCIPLES IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLES.

1. Joyof personalfaith, which is promoted by discipline. If all went smoothly
with us we should lose strength by the ease and self-indulgence which we
should be apt to cherish.
2. Joyin the spread of the GospelThe world opposes, false religionopposes,
but the truth makes way.
II. THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY GHOST IS THE CHURCH,
independent of human guidance, Paul and Barnabas expelled, but the
disciples taught and led by the Spirit. We must not glory in men. The great
resource ofthe Church is fellowship. Even the spread of truth largely
independent of particular agencies. The Word speaks foritself. The Spirit
works often without apparent use of human instrumentality.
III. THE UPLIFTED HEART AND THE UPLIFTED TESTIMONY. Joyand
the Holy Ghost. We should show the world that religious joy is above all
other. Victories, if given, should be recounted. We should often meet together
to tell of Divine wonders. The bold and joyful spirit especiallyneedful, as the
present day is full of growing unbelief and indifference. - R.
Full of Joy and of the Holy Ghost
A. Maclaren, D. D.
Acts 13:50-52
But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men
of the city, and raisedpersecutionagainstPaul and Barnabas…

(Acts 8:39): — There is a striking resemblance betweenthe condition of the
eunuch deprived of his teacherand of these raw disciples, in Pisidian Antioch,
bereft of theirs. Both were very recentconverts;both had the scantiest
knowledge;both were left utterly alone. Now this phrase, "full of the Holy
Ghost," is not an uncommon one in the Acts of the Apostles;and the Writer is
fond of connecting with it other graces, ofwhich it is declaredto be the cause.
So they were to be "men full of the Holy Ghostand of wisdom"; and of
Stephen we read that "he was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." The text
traces the joy of these solitary Christians to the complete possessionofthat
Divine Spirit. So filled, we shall have an all-sufficient Teacherforall our
ignorance;a Companion for all our solitude; a fountain of joy in all our
sorrow. And the stories before us may help to illustrate these three things.
I. First, then, note here, THE ALL-SUFFICIENT TEACHER FOR OUR
IGNORANCE. Think, for instance, of that Ethiopian statesman. An hour or
two before he had said, "How can I understand exceptsome man guide me?"
And now he is going awayinto the darkness, without a single external help,
knowing only the little that he had gatheredfrom Philip. He had not a line of
the New Testament. He had nothing but a scrollof the prophet Isaiah, but he
went awaywith a glad heart, quite sure that he would be taught all he needed
to know. And these other people at Antioch, just draggedout of the darkness
of heathenism, with no teaching beyond the rudimentary instruction of the
two apostles fora few days — they, too, were left by their teachers without a
fear. We trust far too little to the educating and enlightening powerof God's
grace in the hearts of men who have no other teacher. And if Christian people
more really believed the promise of their Master, "He will guide you into all
truth," they would be more likely to realise the promise, and be all taught of
God. Only remember the instrument of that Divine Teacheris the Word of
God. And if we, as Christians, neglectour Bibles, we shall not getthe teaching
of the Spirit of God. And remember, too, that that teaching is granted to us on
plainly defined conditions. There must be a desire for it. And there must be
patient waiting and solitary meditation. Let us take the lesson, and

whosesoeverscholars we may be, let us enroll ourselves in the schoolof the
Master, and learn from that Spirit who will guide us into all truth.
II. Now, note, secondly, THE COMPANION IN ALL OUR SOLITUDE.
Think of the loneliness of this man on the Gaza road, or of that handful of
sheepin the midst of wolves atAntioch. And yet they were not alone. "Full of
the Holy Ghost," they were conscious ofa Divine presence. And so it may be
with us all. We are all condemned to live alone, howevermany may be the
troops of friends round us. Every human soul, after all love and
companionship, lives isolated. There is only One who can pass the awful
boundary of personality which hedges off every man from every other.
Besides the natural, necessarysolitude in which every human soul lives there
are some of us, no doubt, on whom God, by His providence, has laid the
burden of a very lonely life. God's purpose in making us solitary is to join
Himself to us. Left alone, nestle close to Him. Beside the natural and the
providential solitudes there is yet another. We must make a solitude for
ourselves if we would have God speaking to us and keeping us company.
Solitude is the mother country of the strong. To be much alone is the condition
of sanity and nobleness of life. No man's religion will be deep and strong
unless he has learned to go into the secretplace of the Most High, and shut his
doors about him, and there receive the fulness of that Spirit.
III. Lastly, notice THE JOY IN ALL THE SORROW. "Fullof joy and of the
Holy Ghost," says the latter of the two texts. That collocationis familiar to the
student of the New Testament. You will remember the apostle's great
enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit, "Love, joy, peace."And in another
place he speaksto the members of one of his Churches, and tells them that
they had "receivedthe Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost."
So then, whoeverhas this Divine Guestdwelling in his heart may possessa joy
as complete as is its possessionofhim. I need not remind you how that Divine
Spirit, that enters into our souls by faith, brings to us the consciousness of
forgiveness and of sonship, nor how it fits the needs of every part of our

nature, and brings all our being into harmony with itself, with circumstances,
and with God. But I may remind you that not only does this Divine Spirit in us
make provision for joy, but that, with such an indwelling Guest, there is the
possibility of the co-existence ofjoy and sorrow. It is no paradox that the
apostle gave forth when he said, "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Evenin
the midst of the snow and coldand darkness of Arctic regions the explorers
build houses for themselves of the very blocks of ice, and within are warmth
and light end comfortand vitality, while around is a dreary waste. But
remember that this joy from the Spirit is a commandment. I am sure that
Christians do not sufficiently lay to heart that gladness is their duty, and that
sorrow unrelieved by it is cowardice andsin. We have no business to be thus
sorrowful. But remember the conditions. If you and I have that Divine Spirit
within us we shall be enlightened, howeverignorant; companioned, however
solitary; joyful, howeverringed about with sorrow. If we have not, the
converse will be true.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Holy Joy
WeeklyPulpit
Acts 13:50-52
I. THE PROSPERITYOF THE WORD OF GOD IS A SPECIALSOURCE
OF REJOICINGTO CHRISTIANS. It was not an ordinary gladness, but the

specialand overflowing joy which can only be stirred up by extraordinary
manifestations of the grace ofGod. We are full of joy —
1. Becausewe are saved. Deliverance from dangerand death is ever a source
of gratitude. A soul rescuedfrom the powerof sin and the consequences
thereof, is a theme of the highestinspiration, whether we think of the value of
the soul, or the price of deliverance. The brave rescuerrisks his life to save
others. Jesus died to save mankind.
2. BecauseJesusseesof the travail of His soul.
3. At the prospectof seeing the glory of the Lord filling the earth. Every step
onward which the Word of God takes, revives the hope of universal
restoration.
II. THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY GHOST IN THE HEART IS A
SPECIAL SOURCE OF SUPPORT TO CHRISTIANS. The Comforter
sustainedthem in their trial.
1. They were full of holy courage. The circumstancesofthe disciples at
Antioch were depressing. Devoutand honourable women, with the chief men
of the city, had raisedthe storm of persecution. The apostles were driven out
of the city. The number of believers was small, and probably they were poor;
but the source of their strength was the power of the Spirit in their heart.
They could not be castdown while they were under such influence. There
could be no darkness while the glory of the Lord shone within them.

2. They were full of consecrationto their work. They were resolvedto labour
on until the name of Jesus would become universal. The light which shone on
their path revealedthe triumph of faith.
3. They were full of assurance thatJesus'name would become glorious in the
earth.
(WeeklyPulpit.)
Joy a Christian Evidence
H. W. Beecher.
Acts 13:50-52
The ordinary idea is that a Christian is sombre, but that is a perversion of the
gospel. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy in the Holy Ghost, and if God
comes into the soul, we may expectthat the result will be the imparting of the
element of joy which is so eminent in him. Sometimes through secular
instruments God makes us joyful, for He employs the whole world to work out
His purposes;but sometimes, by seeminglybreaking upon the spirit of His
people, He makes them joyful. You cannot tell why you are so musical at
times. On some days you are full of music. There are some hours that are
radiant above all other hours. And when these transpire among God's people,
it is not an unfair thing to infer that they are signs of Christ's presence with
them.

(H. W. Beecher.).
Joy in the Holy Ghost
Dr. Boyd.
Acts 13:50-52
When I was a country minister in Scotland, some time ago, the most joyous
person in my parish was a poor old woman whose every joint was knotted
with rheumatism; her husband was a poor labouring old man, her home a
crowdedhut, yet her life was bright and cheerful. When I was dejectedI used
to visit her, and after ten minutes conversationmy load would be tightened.
She diffused gladness wherevershe was, becausethe Holy Spirit dwelt in her
as a temple.
(Dr. Boyd.)
Persecutionnot Inconsistentwith Joy
Cawdray.
Acts 13:50-52

As if a man should throw precious stones and jewels atanother, with intent to
kill him, and the other should gather them up and enrich himself with them;
even so do persecutors enrichthe children of God, that they may rejoice being
worthy to suffer for Christ's sake.
(Cawdray.)
Spiritual experience
J. P. Allen, M. A.
The description is brief but noteworthy.
I. IT RECORDSAN EXPERIENCE— SPIRITUAL, REAL, AND
EXEMPLARY. There was emotionalism, high and holy; and it was visible.
The elements were simple, but grand.
1. "Joy."
2. "The Holy Ghost." Eachis suggestive,and both were prominent features of
those early times. They are, too, co-related. Insteadof spirituality and
gladness being antagonistic, the soul is joyous just because it has the Holy
Ghost; and the fruit of the Spirit's influence is a more perfect, joy, so that the
more largely we possessthe Spirit, the greaterbecomes our joy.
II. THE DEGREE AND MEASURE OF THIS EXPERIENCEdeserves
consideration. It was not the possessionofa favoured few, but of the
"disciples." Bythem it was possessed, not scantily, or partially, they were

"filled" with it. These emotions did not spring from external circumstances,
but were independent of them and superior to them: they were, despite
outward adversity (see vers. 50-51, andActs 14:22).
III. THE ATTAINMENT OF LIKE EXPERIENCEcannever be deemed
impossible when we remember the exhortations of Scripture, and the
testimony of "disciples" — learners in the schoolofChrist. "If ye being evil
know how," etc. If possible, how advantageous to us would such an experience
prove! joyous in itself; an evidence;an energy; a foretaste.
(J. P. Allen, M. A.)
Alexander Maclaren
'And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.' -- Acts
xiii.52.
That joy was as strange as a gardenfull of flowers would be in bitter winter
weather. Foreverything in the circumstances ofthese disciples tended to
make them sad. They had been but just won from heathenism, and they were
raw, ignorant, unfit to stand alone. Paul and Barnabas, their only guides, had
been hunted out of Antioch by a mob, and it would have been no wonder if
these disciples had felt as if they had been takenon to the ice and then left,
when they most needed a hand to steady them. Luke emphasises the contrast
betweenwhat might have been expected, and what was actually the case,by
that eloquent 'and' at the beginning of our verse, which links togetherthe
departure of the Apostles and the joy of the disciples. But the next words
explain the paradox. These new converts, left in a greatheathen city, with no
helpers, no guides, to work out as best they might a faith of which they had
but newly receivedthe barestrudiments, were 'full of joy' because they were
'full of the Holy Ghost.'

Now that latter phrase, so striking here, is characteristic ofthis book of the
Acts, and especiallyof its earlier chapters, which are all, as it were, throbbing
with wonder at the new gift which Pentecosthad brought. Let me for a
moment, in the briefest possible fashion, try to recall to you the instances of its
occurrence, forthey are very significant and very important.
You remember how at Pentecost'all' the disciples were 'filled with the Holy
Ghost.'Then when the first persecutionbroke over the Church, Peter before
the Councilis 'filled with the Holy Spirit,' and therefore he beards them, and
'speaks with all boldness.'When he goes back to the Church and tells them of
the threatening cloud that was hanging over them, they too are filled with the
Holy Spirit, and therefore rise buoyantly upon the tossing wave, as a ship
might do when it passes the bar and meets the heaving sea. Then againthe
Apostles lay down the qualifications for electionto the so-calledoffice of
deaconas being that the men should be 'full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom';
and in accordancetherewith, we read of the first of the seven, Stephen, that he
was 'full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' and therefore 'full of grace and
power.'When he stoodbefore the Council he was 'full of the Holy Ghost,'and
therefore lookedup into heaven and saw it opened, and the Christ standing
ready to help him. In like manner we read of Barnabas that he 'was a good
man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.' And finally we read in our text that
these new converts, left alone in Antioch of Pisidia, were 'full of joy and of the
Holy Ghost.'
Now these are the principal instances, andmy purpose now is rather to deal
with the whole of these instances of the occurrence ofthis remarkable
expressionthan with the one which I have selectedas a text, because I think
that they teachus greattruths bearing very closelyon the strength and
joyfulness of the Christian life which are far too much neglected, obscured,
and forgottenby us to-day.

I wish then to point you, first, to the solemn thought that is here, as to what
should be --
I. The experience of every Christian,
Note the two things, the universality and the abundance of this divine gift. I
have often had occasionto say to you, and so I merely repeat it againin the
briefest fashion, that we do not graspthe central blessednessofthe Christian
faith unless, beyond forgiveness and acceptance,beyond the mere putting
awayof the dread of punishment either here or hereafter, we see that the gift
of God in Jesus Christ is the communication to every believing soulof that
divine life which is bestowedby the Spirit of Christ granted to every believing
heart. But I would have you notice how the universality of the gift is
unmistakably taught us by the instances which I have briefly gathered
togetherin my previous remarks. It was no official class onwhich, on the day
of Pentecost, the tongues of fire fluttered down. It was to the whole Church
that courage to front the persecutorwas imparted. When in Samaria the
preaching of Philip brought about the result of the communication of the Holy
Spirit, it was to all the believers that it was granted, and when, in the Roman
barracks atCaesarea, Cornelius and his companion listened to Peter, it was
upon them all that that Divine Spirit descended.
I suppose I need not remind you of how, if we pass beyond this book of the
Acts into the Epistles of Paul, his affirmations do most emphatically insist
upon the factthat 'we are all made to drink into one Spirit'; and so convinced
is he of the universality of the possessionofthat divine life by every Christian,
that he does not hesitate to saythat 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ
he is none of His,' and to clearaway all possibility of misunderstanding the
depth and wonderfulness of the gift, he further adds in another place, 'Know
ye not that the Spirit is in you, except ye be reprobates?'Similarly another of

the New Testamentwriters declares, in the broadest terms, that 'this spake he
of the Holy Spirit, which' -- Apostles? no; office-bearers?no;ordained men?
no; distinguished and leading men? No -- 'they that believe on Him should
receive.'Christianity is the true democracy, because it declares thatupon all,
handmaidens and servants, young men and old men, there comes the divine
gift. The world thinks of a divine inspiration in a more or less superficial
fashion, as touching only the lofty summits, the greatthinkers and teachers
and artists and mighty men of light and leading of the race. The Old
Testamentregardedprophets and kings, and those who were designatedto
important offices, as the possessors ofthe Divine Spirit. But Christianity has
seenthe sun rising so high in the heavens that the humblest floweret, in the
deepestvalley, basks in its beams and opens to its light. 'We have all been
made to drink into the one Spirit.'
Let me remind you too of how, from the usage ofthis book, as well as from the
rest of the New Testamentteaching, there rises the other thought of the
abundance of the gift. 'Full of the Holy Spirit' -- the cup is brimming with
generous wine. Not that that fulness is such as to make inconsistencies
impossible, as, alas, the best of us know. The highest condition for us is laid
down in the sad words which yet have triumph in their sadness -- 'The flesh
lusteth againstthe Spirit, and the Spirit againstthe flesh.' But whilst the
fulness is not such as to exclude the need of conflict, it is such as to bring the
certainty of victory.
Again if we turn to the instances to which I have alreadyreferred, we shall
find that they fall into two classes,whichare distinguished in the original by a
slight variation in the form of the words employed. Some instances referto a
habitual possessionofan abundant spiritual life moulding the character
constantly, as in the cases ofStephen and Barnabas. Others referrather to
occasionalandspecialinfluxes of specialpoweron accountof special
circumstances, anddrawn forth by specialexigencies,as when there poured
into Peter's heart the Divine Spirit that made him bold before the Council; or

as when the dying martyr's spirit was floodedwith a new clearness ofvision
that pierced the heavens and beheld the Christ. So then there may be and
ought to be, in eachof us, a fulness of the Spirit, up to the edge of our
capacity, and yet of such a kind as that it may be reinforcedand increased
when specialneeds arise.
Not only so, but that which fills me to-day should not fill me to- morrow,
because, as in earthly love, so in heavenly, no man can tell to what this thing
shall grow. The more of fruition the more there will be of expansion, and the
more of expansion the more of desire, and the more of desire the more of
capacity, and the more of capacitythe more of possession. So, brethren, the
man who receives a spark of the divine life, through his most rudimentary and
tremulous faith, if he is a faithful stewardof the gift that is given to him, will
find that it grows and grows, and that there is no limit to its growth, and that
in its limitless growththere lies the surestprophecy of an eternal growthin
the heavens.
A universal gift, that is to say, a gift to eachof us if we are Christians, an
abundant gift that fills the whole nature of a man, according to the measure of
his presentpower to receive -- that is the ideal, that is what God means, that is
what these first believers had. It did not make them perfect, it did not save
them from faults or from errors, but it was real, it was influential, it was
moulding their characters, it was progressive. And that is the ideal for all
Christians. Is it our actual? We are meant to be full of the Holy Ghost. Ah!
how many of us have never realisedthat there is such a thing as being thus
possessedwith a divine life, partly because we do not understand that such a
fulness will not be distinguishable from our own self, except by bettering of
the works ofself, and partly because ofother reasons whichI shall have to
touch upon presently! Brethren, we may, every one of us, be filled with the
Spirit. Let eachof us ask, 'Am I? and if I am not, why this emptiness in the
presence ofsuch abundance?'

And now let me ask you to look, in the secondplace, atwhat we gatherfrom
these instances as to --
II. The results of that universal, abundant life.
Do not let us run awaywith the idea that the New Testament, or any part of it,
regards miracles and tongues and the like as being the normal and chiefest
gifts of that Divine Spirit. People readthis book of the Acts of the Apostles
and, averse from the supernatural, exaggerate the extent to which the
primitive gift of the Holy Spirit was manifested by signs and wonders, tongues
of fire, and so on. We have only to look at the instances to which I have
already referred to see that far more lofty and far more conspicuous than any
such external and transient manifestations, which yet have their place, are the
permanent and inward results, moulding character, and making men. And
Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians goes as far in the wayof setting the
moral and spiritual effects of the divine influence above the merely
miraculous and external ones, as the most advanced opponent of the
supernatural could desire.
Let us look, and it can only be briefly, at the various results which are
presentedin the instances to which I have referred. The most general
expressionfor all, which is the result of the Divine Spirit dwelling in a man, is
that it makes him good. Look at one of the instances to which we have
referred. 'Barnabas was a goodman' -- was he? How came he to be so?
Becausehe was 'full of the Holy Ghost.'And how came he to be 'full of the
Holy Ghost'? Becausehe was 'full of faith.' Get the divine life into you, and
that will make you good;and, brethren, nothing else will. It is like the bottom
heat in a green-house, whichmakes all the plants that are there, whatever
their orders, grow and blossomand be healthy and strong. Therein is the
difference betweenChristian morality and the world's ethics. They may not
differ much, they do in some respects, in their ideal of what constitutes

goodness,but they differ in this, that the one says, 'Be good, be good, be good!'
but, like the Phariseesofold, puts out not a finger to help a man to bear the
burdens that it lays upon him. The other says, 'Be good,'but it also says, 'take
this and it will make you good.'And so the one is Gospeland the other is talk,
the one is a word of goodtidings, and the other is a beautiful speculation, or a
crushing commandment that brings death rather than life. 'If there had been
a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness had been by the
law.' But since the clearestlaying down of duty brings us no nearerto the
performance of duty, we need and, thank God! we have, a gift bestowedwhich
invests with power. He in whom the 'Spirit of Holiness'dwells, and he alone,
will be holy. The result of the life of God in the heart is a life growingly like
God's, manifested in the world.
Then againlet me remind you of how, from another of our instances, there
comes anotherthought. The result of this majestic, supernatural, universal,
abundant, divine life is practicalsagacityin the commonestaffairs of life.
'Look ye out from among you sevenmen, full of the Holy Ghostand of
wisdom.' What to do? To meet wisely the claims of suspicious and jealous
poverty, and to distribute fairly a little money. That was all. And are you
going to invoke such a lofty gift as this, to do nothing grander than that? Yes.
Gravitation holds planets in their orbits, and keeps grains of dust in their
places. And one result of the inspiration of the Almighty, which is granted to
Christian people, is that they will be wise for the little affairs of life. But
Stephen was also 'full of grace and power,'two things that do not often go
together-- grace, gentleness, loveliness, graciousness, onthe one side, and
strength on the other, which divorced, make wild work of character, and
which united, make men like God. So if we desire our lives to be full of
sweetness andlight and beauty, the best way is to getthe life of Christ into
them; and if we desire our lives not to be made placid and effeminate by our
cult of graciousness andgracefulness,but to have their beauty stiffened and
strengthenedby manly energy, then the best way is to get the life of the
'strong Sonof God, immortal love,'into our lives.

The same Stephen, 'full of the Holy Ghost,' lookedup into heaven and saw the
Christ. So one result of that abundant life, if we have it, will be that even
though as with him, when he saw the heavens opened, there may be some
smoke-darkenedroofabove our heads, we can look through all the shows of
this vain world, and our purged eyes canbehold the Christ. Again the
disciples in our text 'were full of joy,' because 'they were full of the Holy
Spirit,' and we, if we have that abundant life within us, shall not be dependent
for our gladness on the outer world, but like explorers in the Arctic regions,
even if we have to build a hut of snow, shall be warm within it when the
thermometer is far below zero; and there will be light there when the long
midnight is spread around the dwelling. So, dear friends, let us understand
what is the main thing for a Christian to endeavour after, -- not so much the
cultivation of specialgracesas the deepening of the life of Christ in the spirit.
We gatherfrom some of these instances --
III. The way by which we may be thus filled.
We read that Stephen was 'full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,' and that
Barnabas was 'full of the Holy Ghostand of faith,' and it is quite clearfrom
the respective contexts that, though the order in which these fulnesses are
placed is different in the two clauses, their relation to eachother is the same.
Faith is the condition of possessing the Spirit. And what do we mean in this
connectionby faith? I mean, first, a belief in the truth of the possible abiding
of the divine Spirit in our spirits, a truth which the superficialChristianity of
this generationsorelyneeds to have forced upon its consciousnessfar more
than it has it. I mean aspirationand desire after; I mean confident expectation
of. Your wish measures your possession. You have as much of God as you
desire. If you have no more, it is because you do not desire any more. The
Christian people of to-day, many of whom are so empty of God, are in a very
tragic sense, 'full,' because they have as much as they can take in. If you bring

a tiny cup, and do not much care whether anything pours into it or not, you
will getit filled, but you might have had a gallonvesselfilled if you had chosen
to bring it. Of course there are other conditions too. We have to use the life
that is given us. We have to see that we do not quench it by sin, which drives
the dove of God from a man's heart. But the great truth is that if I open the
door of my heart by faith, Christ will come in, in His Spirit. If I take awaythe
blinds the light will shine into the chamber. If I lift the sluice the waterwill
pour in to drive my mill. If I deepen the channels, more of the waterof life can
flow into them, and the deeperI make them the fuller they will be.
Brethren, we have wastedmuch time and effort in trying to mend our
characters. Letus try to get that into them which will mend them. And let us
remember that, if we are full of faith, we shall be full of the Holy Spirit, and
therefore full of wisdom, full of grace and power, full of goodness, full of joy,
whateverour circumstances. And when death comes, though it may be in
some cruel form, we shall be able to look up and see the opened heavens and
the welcoming Christ.
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The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost - Though in the
world they had tribulation, yet in Christ they had peace;and, while engaged
in their Master's work, they always had their Master's wages.The happiness
of a genuine Christian lies far beyond the reachof earthly disturbances, and is
not affectedby the changes and chances to which mortal things are exposed.
The martyrs were more happy in the flames than their persecutors couldbe
on their beds of down.
St. Paul's sermon at Antioch has been thus analyzed.
His prologue, Acts 13:16, addressedto those who fear God.
His narrative of God's goodnessto Israel:
In their deliverance from Egypt.
In their support in the wilderness.
In his giving them the land of Canaan.
In the judges and kings which he had given for their governors, Acts 13:7-22.

His proposition, that Jesus was the Christ, the Savior of the world, Acts 13:23.
The illustration of this proposition, proving its truth:
From Christ's stock and family, Acts 13:23.
From the testimony of his forerunner, Acts 13:24.
From the resurrectionof Christ, Acts 13:30; which was corroboratedwith the
testimony of many Galileans, Acts 13:31, and of the prophets, David, Acts
13:33, Acts 13:35, and Isaiah, Acts 13:34.
He anticipates objections, relative to the unjust condemnation, death and
burial of Christ, Acts 13:27-29.
His epilogue, in which he excites his audience to embrace the Gospelon two
considerations:
The benefits which they receive who embrace the Gospel, Acts 13:38, Acts
13:39.
The dangerto which they were exposedwho should despise and rejectit, Acts
13:40, Acts 13:41.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/acts-
13.html. 1832.
return to 'Jump List'
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible

And the disciples - The disciples in Antioch.
Were filled with joy - This happened even in the midst of persecution, and is
one of the many evidences that the gospelis able to fill the soul with joy even
in the severesttrials.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon Acts 13:52". "Barnes'Notes onthe New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/acts-
13.html. 1870.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And the disciples were filled with joy,.... Meaning either the "apostles",as the
Ethiopic version renders it, Pauland Barnabas;who rejoiced, both at the
successthey had met with, and because theywere counted worthy to suffer
reproachand persecutionfor the sake ofChrist and his Gospel:or rather the
disciples at Antioch, and other parts of Pisidia, the new converts;who were
filled with joy at the Gospelbeing preached unto them, and at the constancy
and courage ofthe apostles in suffering for it:
and with the Holy Ghost; which, with the former, designs the same thing as
spiritual joy, or joy in the Holy Ghost; or else the gifts and graces ofthe
Spirit, which they had both for their own comfort, and the advantage of
others.
Copyright Statement

The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". "The New John Gill Expositionof
the Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/acts-
13.html. 1999.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
the disciples — who, though not themselves expelled, had to endure sufferings
for the Gospel, as we learn from Acts 14:22.
were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost — who not only raised them
above shame and fear, as professeddisciples of the Lord Jesus, but filled them
with holy and elevatedemotions.
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on Acts
13:52". "CommentaryCritical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/acts-13.html. 1871-8.

People's New Testament
The disciples were filled with joy. Those of Antioch. Even if Paul and
Barnabas were driven away, they had left them a glorious inheritance.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Original work done by Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 atThe
RestorationMovementPages.
Bibliography
Johnson, BartonW. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". "People's New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pnt/acts-13.html.
1891.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
And the disciples (οι τε — hoi te or οι δε ματηται — hoi de mathētai). The
Gentile Christians in Antioch in Pisidia. Persecutionhad preciselythe
opposite effectto the intention of the Jews for they “were filled with joy and
the Holy Spirit” (επληρουντο χαρας και πνευματος αγιου — eplērounto charas
kai pneumatos hagiou). Imperfect passive, they kept on being filled. It had
been so before (Acts 4:31; Acts 8:4; Acts 9:31; Acts 12:24). The blood of the
martyrs is still the seedof the church.
Copyright Statement

The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern Baptist Sunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". "Robertson's WordPictures
of the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/acts-13.html. Broadman
Press 1932,33. Renewal1960.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
52.The disciples were filled with joy This member may be expounded two
manner of ways;That they were filled with joy and the Spirit, by hypallage,
thus, With joy of the Spirit, or (which is all one)with spiritual joy; because
there is no quietness, peace, orjoy of conscience,but it cometh of the Spirit of
God, in which respectPaul saith that the kingdom of God is righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Spirit, (Romans 14:17;) or that the word Spirit may
contain under it other virtues and gifts. Yet this pleasethme better, that they
were filled with joy; because the grace of the Holy Spirit reigned in them,
which alone doth so make us glad, truly and perfectly, that we are carriedup
above the whole world. For we must mark Luke’s drift, that the faithful were
so far from being troubled and shakenwith those stumbling-blocks, how great
soeverthey were, with the reproachof their teachers, with the disquieting of
the city, with terrors and threatenings, also with fear and dangers hanging
over their heads, that they did with the loftiness of their faith despise valiantly
the gorgeousness, as wellof their reigned holiness as of their power. And
assuredly, if our faith shall be well grounded in God, and shall be thoroughly
rooted in his word; and, finally, if’ it shall be well fortified with the aid of the
Spirit as it, ought, it; shall nourish peace and joy spiritual in our minds,
though all the world be in an uproar.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". "Calvin's Commentary on the
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/acts-13.html. 1840-
57.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
Ver. 52. With joy, and with the Holy Ghost] There must needs be music in the
Spirit’s temple, and at that continual feast: its deserts are the assurance of
heaven, as FatherLatimer phraseth it. 2 Thessalonians3:1; Proverbs 15:15.
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/acts-
13.html. 1865-1868.
Expository Notes with PracticalObservations onthe New Testament

That is, "The apostles and disciples in this city were nothing discouragedwith
the Jews'blasphemies, oppositions, andpersecutions, but were filled with
spiritual joy that they had embraced the gospel, and went on courageouslyin
the professionofit."
Learn thence, that God's grace, andthe church's joy, may and doth increase
under the greatestoppositionand persecutions of men. Infinite wisdom and
sovereignpowerknows how to overrule the contradiction of sinners, for glory
to himself, and good to his church.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Burkitt, William. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". ExpositoryNotes with
PracticalObservations onthe New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wbc/acts-13.html. 1700-1703.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
52.]See, for similar “joyful perorations,” as Wordsworthwell designates
them, Luke 24:52;ch. Acts 5:41; Acts 12:24.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Alford, Henry. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". Greek TestamentCritical
ExegeticalCommentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/acts-13.html. 1863-1878.
Hawker's PoorMan's Commentary
REFLECTIONS
Almighty God the Spirit, blessedbe thy holy name, for the open and signal
display which thou wert pleasedto make of thyself, and thy sovereignty, in the
ordination of Barnabas and Saul to the ministry of thy word. Do thou,
gracious God, in mercy preside over all the assemblies ofthy people, and
especiallyin the setting apart to the sacredoffice the ministers of thy Church
and people. Hast thou not said, with an eye to this unspeakable mercy, I will
give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge
and understanding. In mercy, Lord, be it according to thy word, in an
eminent manner, in the present day and generation!
Lord, grant that the fearful judgment of Elymas, may deter the swornfoes of
our God, and of his Christ, from daring to oppose thy faithful sent servants.
And for the word of salvation which our God hath sent, very sure we are that
it will never return unto thee void; but as thou hastpromised, give thy people
grace to wait the accomplishmentof it, for it must fulfill thy pleasure, and
prosper in the thing whereunto the Lord shall send it!
Oh! precious Lord Jesus!cause thy people to rejoice in thy full and finished
salvation. By thee, all that believe, are justified from all things. Here then,
Lord, give thy people grace to rest. Let there be nothing wavering, nothing
unsettled, in our faith; while everything in the covenantof grace is ordered,
and sure in all things. Oh! for faith, in lively exercise, to believe the record
God hath given of his dear Son. Thou wilt keephim in perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Let all thy faithful
therefore of the present hour, as were the disciples of old, be strong in the
grace which is in Christ Jesus, and, like them, be filled with joy, and with the
Holy Ghost.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Hawker, Robert, D.D. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". "Hawker's PoorMan's
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pmc/acts-
13.html. 1828.
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament
Acts 13:52. What a simple and significant contrastof the effectproduced by
the gospel, in spite of the expulsion of its preachers, in the minds of those
newly converted! They were filled with joy (in the consciousnessoftheir
Christian happiness), and with the Holy Spirit! πάθος γὰρ διδασκάλου
παῤῥησίαν οὐκ ἐγκόπτει, ἀλλὰ προθυμότερονποιεῖ τὸν μαθητήν, as
Chrysostomhere says.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Meyer, Heinrich. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". Heinrich Meyer's Critical
and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hmc/acts-13.html. 1832.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament

Acts 13:52. ΄αθηται, disciples)when they saw Paul and Barnabas, concerning
whom Acts 13:51 treats, full of joy and the Holy Ghost: for these two are not
here calleddisciples. See note on Matthew 10:1. [After the advent of the
Paraclete,the apostles are nevercalled disciples:that term is thenceforth
applied to the learners with, or from, the apostles:after ch. Acts 21:16, the
term does not occurin the New Testament, but brethren, Christians,
believers, saints.]
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". JohannAlbrecht
Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/acts-13.html. 1897.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
The disciples;either Paul and Barnabas in a more especialmanner, or, also
such as at Perga had believed the gospel, and came with them to Antioch,
were filled with joy, so as no place was left for meaner contentments:
1. By reasonof the pardon of their sins.
2. The promise made to them of everlasting life.
3. The gifts of the Holy Ghost which they had, at that time, as an earnestand
pledge to assure the other unto them.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon Acts 13:52". Matthew Poole'sEnglish
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/acts-13.html. 1685.
Alexander MacLaren's Expositions ofHoly Scripture
Acts
JEWISHREJECTERSAND GENTILE RECEIVERS
‘FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST’
Acts 13:52.
That joy was as strange as a gardenfull of flowers would be in bitter winter
weather. Foreverything in the circumstances ofthese disciples tended to
make them sad. They had been but just won from heathenism, and they were
raw, ignorant, unfit to stand alone. Paul and Barnabas, their only guides, had
been hunted out of Antioch by a mob, and it would have been no wonder if
these disciples had felt as if they had been takenon to the ice and then left,
when they most needed a hand to steady them. Luke emphasises the contrast
betweenwhat might have been expected, and what was actually the case,by
that eloquent ‘and’ at the beginning of our verse, which links togetherthe
departure of the Apostles and the joy of the disciples. But the next words
explain the paradox. These new converts, left in a greatheathen city, with no
helpers, no guides, to work out as best they might a faith of which they had
but newly receivedthe barestrudiments, were ‘full of joy’ because they were
‘full of the Holy Ghost.’

Now that latter phrase, so striking here, is characteristic ofthis book of the
Acts, and especiallyof its earlier chapters, which are all, as it were, throbbing
with wonder at the new gift which Pentecosthad brought. Let me for a
moment, in the briefest possible fashion, try to recall to you the instances of its
occurrence, forthey are very significant and very important.
You remember how at Pentecost‘all’ the disciples were ‘filled with the Holy
Ghost.’Then when the first persecutionbroke over the Church, Peterbefore
the Councilis ‘filled with the Holy Spirit,’ and therefore he beards them, and
‘speaks with all boldness.’When he goes back to the Church and tells them of
the threatening cloud that was hanging over them, they too are filled with the
Holy Spirit, and therefore rise buoyantly upon the tossing wave, as a ship
might do when it passes the bar and meets the heaving sea. Then againthe
Apostles lay down the qualifications for electionto the so-calledoffice of
deaconas being that the men should be ‘full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom’;
and in accordancetherewith, we read of the first of the seven, Stephen, that he
was ‘full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,’and therefore ‘full of grace and
power.’When he stoodbefore the Council he was ‘full of the Holy Ghost,’and
therefore lookedup into heaven and saw it opened, and the Christ standing
ready to help him. In like manner we read of Barnabas that he ‘was a good
man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.’ And finally we read in our text that
these new converts, left alone in Antioch of Pisidia, were ‘full of joy and of the
Holy Ghost.’
Now these are the principal instances, andmy purpose now is rather to deal
with the whole of these instances of the occurrence ofthis remarkable
expressionthan with the one which I have selectedas a text, because I think
that they teachus greattruths bearing very closelyon the strength and
joyfulness of the Christian life which are far too much neglected, obscured,
and forgottenby us to-day.
I wish then to point you, first, to the solemn thought that is here, as to what
should be-
I. The experience of every Christian,

Note the two things, the universality and the abundance of this divine gift. I
have often had occasionto say to you, and so I merely repeat it againin the
briefest fashion, that we do not graspthe central blessednessofthe Christian
faith unless, beyond forgiveness and acceptance,beyond the mere putting
awayof the dread of punishment either here or hereafter, we see that the gift
of God in Jesus Christ is the communication to every believing soulof that
divine life which is bestowedby the Spirit of Christ granted to every believing
heart. But I would have you notice how the universality of the gift is
unmistakably taught us by the instances which I have briefly gathered
togetherin my previous remarks. It was no official class onwhich, on the day
of Pentecost, the tongues of fire fluttered down. It was to the whole Church
that courage to front the persecutorwas imparted. When in Samaria the
preaching of Philip brought about the result of the communication of the Holy
Spirit, it was to all the believers that it was granted, and when, in the Roman
barracks atCaesarea, Cornelius and his companion listened to Peter, it was
upon them all that that Divine Spirit descended.
I suppose I need not remind you of how, if we pass beyond this book of the
Acts into the Epistles of Paul, his affirmations do most emphatically insist
upon the factthat ‘we are all made to drink into one Spirit’; and so convinced
is he of the universality of the possessionofthat divine life by every Christian,
that he does not hesitate to saythat ‘if any man have not the Spirit of Christ
he is none of His,’ and to clearaway all possibility of misunderstanding the
depth and wonderfulness of the gift, he further adds in another place, ‘Know
ye not that the Spirit is in you, except ye be reprobates?’Similarly another of
the New Testamentwriters declares, in the broadest terms, that ‘this spake he
of the Holy Spirit, which’-Apostles? no; office-bearers?no; ordained men?
no; distinguished and leading men? No-’they that believe on Him should
receive.’Christianity is the true democracy, because it declares that upon all,
handmaidens and servants, young men and old men, there comes the divine
gift. The world thinks of a divine inspiration in a more or less superficial
fashion, as touching only the lofty summits, the greatthinkers and teachers
and artists and mighty men of light and leading of the race. The Old
Testamentregardedprophets and kings, and those who were designatedto
important offices, as the possessors ofthe Divine Spirit. But Christianity has

seenthe sun rising so high in the heavens that the humblest floweret, in the
deepestvalley, basks in its beams and opens to its light. ‘We have all been
made to drink into the one Spirit.’
Let me remind you too of how, from the usage ofthis book, as well as from the
rest of the New Testamentteaching, there rises the other thought of the
abundance of the gift. ‘Full of the Holy Spirit’-the cup is brimming with
generous wine. Not that that fulness is such as to make inconsistencies
impossible, as, alas, the best of us know. The highest condition for us is laid
down in the sad words which yet have triumph in their sadness-’The flesh
lusteth againstthe Spirit, and the Spirit againstthe flesh.’ But whilst the
fulness is not such as to exclude the need of conflict, it is such as to bring the
certainty of victory.
Again if we turn to the instances to which I have alreadyreferred, we shall
find that they fall into two classes,whichare distinguished in the original by a
slight variation in the form of the words employed. Some instances referto a
habitual possessionofan abundant spiritual life moulding the character
constantly, as in the cases ofStephen and Barnabas. Others referrather to
occasionalandspecialinfluxes of specialpoweron accountof special
circumstances, anddrawn forth by specialexigencies,as when there poured
into Peter’s heart the Divine Spirit that made him bold before the Council; or
as when the dying martyr’s spirit was floodedwith a new clearness ofvision
that pierced the heavens and beheld the Christ. So then there may be and
ought to be, in eachof us, a fulness of the Spirit, up to the edge of our
capacity, and yet of such a kind as that it may be reinforcedand increased
when specialneeds arise.
Not only so, but that which fills me to-day should not fill me to-morrow,
because, as in earthly love, so in heavenly, no man can tell to what this thing
shall grow. The more of fruition the more there will be of expansion, and the
more of expansion the more of desire, and the more of desire the more of
capacity, and the more of capacitythe more of possession. So, brethren, the
man who receives a spark of the divine life, through his most rudimentary and
tremulous faith, if he is a faithful stewardof the gift that is given to him, will
find that it grows and grows, and that there is no limit to its growth, and that

in its limitless growththere lies the surestprophecy of an eternal growthin
the heavens.
A universal gift, that is to say, a gift to eachof us if we are Christians, an
abundant gift that fills the whole nature of a man, according to the measure of
his presentpower to receive-thatis the ideal, that is what God means, that is
what these first believers had. It did not make them perfect, it did not save
them from faults or from errors, but it was real, it was influential, it was
moulding their characters, it was progressive. And that is the ideal for all
Christians. Is it our actual? We are meant to be full of the Holy Ghost. Ah!
how many of us have never realisedthat there is such a thing as being thus
possessedwith a divine life, partly because we do not understand that such a
fulness will not be distinguishable from our own self, except by bettering of
the works ofself, and partly because ofother reasons whichI shall have to
touch upon presently! Brethren, we may, every one of us, be filled with the
Spirit. Let eachof us ask, ‘Am I? and if I am not, why this emptiness in the
presence ofsuch abundance?’
And now let me ask you to look, in the secondplace, atwhat we gatherfrom
these instances as to-
II. The results of that universal, abundant life.
Do not let us run awaywith the idea that the New Testament, or any part of it,
regards miracles and tongues and the like as being the normal and chiefest
gifts of that Divine Spirit. People readthis book of the Acts of the Apostles
and, averse from the supernatural, exaggerate the extent to which the
primitive gift of the Holy Spirit was manifested by signs and wonders, tongues
of fire, and so on. We have only to look at the instances to which I have
already referred to see that far more lofty and far more conspicuous than any
such external and transient manifestations, which yet have their place, are the
permanent and inward results, moulding character, and making men. And
Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians goes as far in the wayof setting the
moral and spiritual effects of the divine influence above the merely
miraculous and external ones, as the most advanced opponent of the
supernatural could desire.

Let us look, and it can only be briefly, at the various results which are
presentedin the instances to which I have referred. The most general
expressionfor all, which is the result of the Divine Spirit dwelling in a man, is
that it makes him good. Look at one of the instances to which we have
referred. ‘Barnabas was a goodman’-was he? How came he to be so? Because
he was ‘full of the Holy Ghost.’And how came he to be ‘full of the Holy
Ghost’? Becausehe was ‘full of faith.’ Get the divine life into you, and that
will make you good;and, brethren, nothing else will. It is like the bottom heat
in a green-house, whichmakes all the plants that are there, whatevertheir
orders, grow and blossomand be healthy and strong. Therein is the difference
betweenChristian morality and the world’s ethics. They may not differ much,
they do in some respects, in their ideal of what constitutes goodness, but they
differ in this, that the one says, ‘Be good, be good, be good!’ but, like the
Pharisees ofold, puts out not a finger to help a man to bear the burdens that it
lays upon him. The other says, ‘Be good,’but it also says, ‘take this and it will
make you good.’And so the one is Gospeland the other is talk, the one is a
word of goodtidings, and the other is a beautiful speculation, or a crushing
commandment that brings death rather than life. ‘If there had been a law
given which could have given life, verily righteousness hadbeen by the law.’
But since the clearestlaying down of duty brings us no nearer to the
performance of duty, we need and, thank God! we have, a gift bestowedwhich
invests with power. He in whom the ‘Spirit of Holiness’ dwells, and he alone,
will be holy. The result of the life of God in the heart is a life growingly like
God’s, manifested in the world.
Then againlet me remind you of how, from another of our instances, there
comes anotherthought. The result of this majestic, supernatural, universal,
abundant, divine life is practicalsagacityin the commonestaffairs of life.
‘Look ye out from among you sevenmen, full of the Holy Ghostand of
wisdom.’ What to do? To meet wiselythe claims of suspicious and jealous
poverty, and to distribute fairly a little money. That was all. And are you
going to invoke such a lofty gift as this, to do nothing grander than that? Yes.
Gravitation holds planets in their orbits, and keeps grains of dust in their
places. And one result of the inspiration of the Almighty, which is granted to
Christian people, is that they will be wise for the little affairs of life. But

Stephen was also ‘full of grace and power,’two things that do not often go
together-grace, gentleness, loveliness, graciousness, onthe one side, and
strength on the other, which divorced, make wild work of character, and
which united, make men like God. So if we desire our lives to be full of
sweetness andlight and beauty, the best way is to getthe life of Christ into
them; and if we desire our lives not to be made placid and effeminate by our
cult of graciousness andgracefulness,but to have their beauty stiffened and
strengthenedby manly energy, then the best way is to get the life of the
‘strong Son of God, immortal love,’into our lives.
The same Stephen, ‘full of the Holy Ghost,’ lookedup into heaven and saw the
Christ. So one result of that abundant life, if we have it, will be that even
though as with him, when he saw the heavens opened, there may be some
smoke-darkenedroofabove our heads, we can look through all the shows of
this vain world, and our purged eyes canbehold the Christ. Again the
disciples in our text ‘were full of joy,’ because ‘they were full of the Holy
Spirit,’ and we, if we have that abundant life within us, shall not be dependent
for our gladness on the outer world, but like explorers in the Arctic regions,
even if we have to build a hut of snow, shall be warm within it when the
thermometer is far below zero; and there will be light there when the long
midnight is spread around the dwelling. So, dear friends, let us understand
what is the main thing for a Christian to endeavour after,-not so much the
cultivation of specialgracesas the deepening of the life of Christ in the spirit.
We gatherfrom some of these instances-
III. The way by which we may be thus filled.
We read that Stephen was ‘full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,’ and that
Barnabas was ‘full of the Holy Ghostand of faith,’ and it is quite clearfrom
the respective contexts that, though the order in which these fulnesses are
placed is different in the two clauses, their relation to eachother is the same.
Faith is the condition of possessing the Spirit. And what do we mean in this
connectionby faith? I mean, first, a belief in the truth of the possible abiding
of the divine Spirit in our spirits, a truth which the superficialChristianity of
this generationsorelyneeds to have forced upon its consciousnessfar more

than it has it. I mean aspirationand desire after; I mean confident expectation
of. Your wish measures your possession. You have as much of God as you
desire. If you have no more, it is because you do not desire any more. The
Christian people of to-day, many of whom are so empty of God, are in a very
tragic sense, ‘full,’ because they have as much as they cantake in. If you bring
a tiny cup, and do not much care whether anything pours into it or not, you
will getit filled, but you might have had a gallonvesselfilled if you had chosen
to bring it. Of course there are other conditions too. We have to use the life
that is given us. We have to see that we do not quench it by sin, which drives
the dove of God from a man’s heart. But the great truth is that if I open the
door of my heart by faith, Christ will come in, in His Spirit. If I take awaythe
blinds the light will shine into the chamber. If I lift the sluice the waterwill
pour in to drive my mill. If I deepen the channels, more of the waterof life can
flow into them, and the deeperI make them the fuller they will be.
Brethren, we have wastedmuch time and effort in trying to mend our
characters. Letus try to get that into them which will mend them. And let us
remember that, if we are full of faith, we shall be full of the Holy Spirit, and
therefore full of wisdom, full of grace and power, full of goodness, full of joy,
whateverour circumstances. And when death comes, though it may be in
some cruel form, we shall be able to look up and see the opened heavens and
the welcoming Christ.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
MacLaren, Alexander. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". Alexander MacLaren's
Expositions of Holy Scripture.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mac/acts-13.html.

Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
52. οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ ἐπληροῦντο χαρᾶς, andthe disciples were filled with joy.
Rejoicing in accordancewiththe Lord’s exhortation (Matthew 5:12) when
men reviled and persecutedthem, which was the very treatment which they
had receivedin Antioch.
καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου, and with the Holy Ghost. This inward presence of the
Comforter was the spring from which came the fulness of joy. On this
Chrysostomsays, πάθος γὰρ διδασκάλου παρρησίανοὐκ ἐγκόπτει ἀλλὰ
προθυμότερονποιεῖ τὸν μαθητήν.
ON THE JEWISHMANNER OF READING THE SCRIPTURES
The Jewishdivision of the Scriptures is [1] the Law, i.e. the Five Booksof
Moses.[2] The Prophets, under which title the Jews include Joshua, Judges , 1
and 2 Samuel , 1 and 2 Kings, as well as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the
twelve Minor Prophets. [3] The Hagiographa, containing Psalms, Proverbs,
Job, the Song of Solomon[3], Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel,
Ezra, Nehemiah, and the two Books ofChronicles. The command which
enjoins the reading of the Pentateuchis found Deuteronomy 31:10, ‘At the
end of every sevenyears in the solemnity of the year of release in the Feastof
Tabernacles,whenall Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the
place which He shall choose, thoushalt read this Law before all Israelin their
hearing. Gatherthe people together, men and womenand children and thy
strangerthat is within thy gates that they may hear.’
This appointment, which prescribes the reading of the whole Pentateuchon
the FeastofTabernacles, was probably soonfound to be impracticable, and it
is not unlikely that from a very early time the people arrangedto read
through the Pentateuchin sevenyears by taking a small portion on every
Sabbath, beginning with the Sabbath after the FeastofTabernaclesin one
year of release, andending with the Feastof Tabernaclesin the next year of
release. Thus would they in some sort be fulfilling the commandment. That
such an early subdivision of the Pentateuchinto small portions took place
seems likely from what we know of the later arrangements for the reading of
the Law. The existence ofsuch a plan for reading would accountfor some of

the divisions which exist (otherwise unexplained) in various copies of the
JewishLaw.
For [1] we learn (T. B. Megillah, 29 b) that the Jews of Palestine broke up the
Pentateuchinto sections foreachSabbath in such a manner as to spreadthe
reading thereof over three years (and a half?). They arrangedno doubt that
the concluding portions of their secondreading should be on the Feastof
Tabernacles inthe year of release;and they beganagainon the following
Sabbath. In this way they read through the whole Law twice in the seven
years, and by concluding it on the FeastofTabernacles in the year of release
observedthe commandment[4], and hereby may be accountedfor some other
of the unused subdivisions of the copies ofthe JewishLaw.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
"Commentary on Acts 13:52". "Cambridge Greek TestamentforSchools and
Colleges".https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/acts-13.html.
1896.
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible
‘And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.’
By ‘the disciples’ here we are no doubt intended to see all the believers who
have been involved. Both those whom they had left in Pisidian Antioch, and
they themselves also, were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. While they were
sad to part from eachother, the realisationand experience that guaranteed
that the Holy Spirit was with them overrode everything. If He be for us who
can be againstus? This is the filling (pleroo) which is open to all believers all
the time while their hearts are seton God. It is like the filling in Ephesians

5:18-19, and the being ‘full of’ the Holy Spirit elsewhere, where the believer is
filled with joy, and wisdom, and faith (Acts 6:3; Acts 6:5; Acts 11:24). (It
contrasts with ‘being filled (pimplemi) with the Holy Spirit which refers to
inspiration in speaking). Theywere walking in the Spirit and enjoying God’s
presence. It is a sentence which setthe sealon all that God had done in
Pisidian Antioch.
It also provides us with the assurance thatthese believers were being catered
for. It declaredthat all was well. Some of the convertedJews and God-fearers
would be well versedin Scripture and Godwould raise up prophets among
them, so that by the direction of the Spirit they would declare the word of
God. Furthermore Paul and Barnabas were still within reachand could be
consultedif necessary. Believersno doubt saw them off when they were
expelled. And it might even have been that a lesserknownmember of their
party was able to remain behind to keepthings going until Paulreturned, as
they knew that he surely would. We can be confident that God and Paul (or
Barnabas)had it wellcateredfor, even though their expulsion (Paul and
party’s, not God’s) had taken them by surprise and they had not had time to
setup a fully establishedleadership. That would take place on their return.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Pett, Peter. "Commentary on Acts 13:52". "PeterPett's Commentary on the
Bible ". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/acts-13.html.
2013.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

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