The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit Part 7

Two things are evident from what has been said about the work of the Holy Spirit. First, how utterly dependent we are upon the work of the Holy Spirit at every turn of Christian life and service. Second, how perfect is the provision for life and service that G.o.d has made. How wonderful is the fullness of privilege that is open to the humblest believer through the Holy Spirit's work. It is not so much what we are by nature, either intellectually, morally, physically, or even spiritually, that is important. The important matter is, what the Holy Spirit can do for us and what we will let Him do. Not infrequently, the Holy Spirit takes the one who seems to give the least natural promise and uses him far beyond those who give the greatest natural promise. Christian life is not to be lived in the realm of natural temperament, and Christian work is not to be done in the power of natural endowment, but Christian life is to be lived in the realm of the Spirit, and Christian work is to be done on the power of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is willing and eagerly desirous of doing for each one of us His whole work, and He will do in each one of us all that we will let Him do.

CHAPTER XIX. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE BELIEVER'S BODY.

The Holy Spirit does a work for our bodies as well as for our minds and hearts. We read in Rom. viii. 11, R. V., "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead _shall quicken also your mortal bodies through His Spirit_ that dwelleth in you."

_The Holy Spirit quickens the mortal body of the believer._ It is very evident from the context that this refers to the future resurrection of the body (vs. 21-23). The resurrection of the body is the Holy Spirit's work. The glorified body is from Him; it is "a spiritual body." At the present time, we have only the first fruits of the Spirit and are waiting for the full harvest, the redemption of our body (v. 23).

There is, however, a sense in which the Holy Spirit even now quickens our bodies. Jesus tells us in Matt. xii. 28 that He cast out devils by the Spirit of G.o.d. And we read in Acts x. 38, "How G.o.d anointed Jesus of Nazareth _with the Holy Ghost_ and with power, who went about doing good _and healing_ all that were oppressed of the devil." In James v. 14, the Apostle writes, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." The oil in this pa.s.sage (as elsewhere) is the type of the Holy Spirit, and the truth is set forth that the healing is the Holy Spirit's work. G.o.d by His Holy Spirit does impart new health and vigour to these mortal bodies in the present life. To go to the extremes that many do and take the ground that the believer who is walking in fellows.h.i.+p with Christ need never be ill is to go farther than the Bible warrants us in going. It is true that the redemption of our bodies is secured by the atoning work of Christ but until the Lord comes, we only enjoy the first fruits of that redemption; and we are waiting and sometimes groaning for our full place as sons manifested in the redemption of our body (Rom. viii. 23). But while this is true, it is the clear teaching of Scripture and a matter of personal experience on the part of thousands that the life of the Holy Spirit does sweep through these bodies of ours in moments of weakness and of pain and sickness, imparting new health to them, delivering from pain and filling them with abounding life. It is our privilege to know the quickening touch of the Holy Spirit in these bodies as well as in our minds and affections and will. It would be a great day for the Church and for the glory of Jesus Christ, if Christians would renounce forever all the devil's counterfeits of the Holy Spirit's work, Christian Science, Mental Healing, Emmanuelism, Hypnotism and the various other forms of occultism and depend upon G.o.d by the power of His Holy Spirit to work that in these bodies of ours which He in His unerring wisdom sees that we most need.

CHAPTER XX. THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.

One of the most deeply significant phrases used in connection with the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures is "baptized with the Holy Ghost." John the Baptist was the first to use this phrase. In speaking of himself and the coming One he said, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: _He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire_" (Matt.

iii. 11). The second "with" in this pa.s.sage is in italics. It is not found in the Greek. There are not two different baptisms spoken of, the one with the Holy Ghost and one with fire, but one baptism with the Holy Wind and Fire. Jesus afterwards used the same expression. In Acts i. 5, He says, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be _baptized with the Holy Ghost_ not many days hence." When this promise of John the Baptist and of our Lord was fulfilled in Acts ii. 3, 4, R. V., we read, "And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."

Here we have another expression "_filled with the Holy Spirit_" used synonymously with "baptized with the Holy Spirit."

We read again in Acts x. 44-46, "While Peter yet spake these words, _the Holy Ghost fell on_ all them which heard the word. And they of the circ.u.mcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was _poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost_. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify G.o.d." Peter himself afterwards describing this experience in Jerusalem tells the story in this way, "And as I began to speak, _the Holy Ghost fell on them_, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water; but _ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost_. Forasmuch then as _G.o.d gave them the like gift as He did unto us_ who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand G.o.d?" (Acts xi. 15-17). Here Peter distinctly calls the experience which came to Cornelius and his household, being _baptized with the Holy Ghost_, so we see that the expression "the Holy Ghost fell" and "the gift of the Holy Ghost" are practically synonymous expressions with "baptized with the Holy Ghost." Still other expressions are used to describe this blessing, such as "receive the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 38; xix. 2-6); "the Holy Ghost came on them" (Acts xix. 2-6); "gift of the Holy Ghost" (Heb. ii. 4; 1 Cor. xii. 4, 11, 13); "I send the promise of My Father upon you;" and "endued with power from on high" (Luke xxiv. 49).

_What is the baptism with the Holy Spirit?_

In the first place _the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience of which one may and ought to know __ whether he has received it or not_. This is evident from our Lord's command to His disciples in Luke xxiv. 49 and in Acts i. 4, that they should not depart from Jerusalem to undertake the work which He had commissioned them to do until they had received this promise of the Father. It is also evident from the eighth chapter of Acts, fifteenth and sixteenth verses, where we are distinctly told, "_the Holy Spirit had not as yet fallen upon any of them_." It is evident also from the nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the second verse, R. V., where Paul put to the little group of disciples at Ephesus the definite question, "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" It is evident that the receiving of the Holy Ghost was an experience so definite that one could answer yes or no to the question whether they had received the Holy Spirit. In this case the disciples definitely answered, "No," that they did not so much as hear whether the Holy Ghost was given. They did not say what our Authorized Version makes them say, that they did not so much as hear whether there was any Holy Ghost. They knew that there was a Holy Ghost; they knew furthermore that there was a definite promise of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, but they had not heard that that promise had been as yet fulfilled. Paul told them that it had and took steps whereby they were definitely baptized with the Holy Spirit before that meeting closed. It is equally evident from Gal.

iii. 2 that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience of which one may know whether he has received it or not. In this pa.s.sage Paul says to the believers in Galatia, "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Their receiving the Spirit had been so definite as a matter of personal consciousness, that Paul could appeal to it as a ground for his argument. In our day there is much talk about the baptism with the Holy Spirit and prayer for the baptism with the Spirit that is altogether vague and indefinite. Men arise in meeting and pray that they may be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and if you should go afterwards to the one who offered the prayer and put to him the question, "Did you receive what you asked? Were you baptized with the Holy Spirit?" it is quite likely that he would hesitate and falter and say, "I hope so"; but there is none of this indefiniteness in the Bible. The Bible is clear as day on this, as on every other point. It sets forth an experience so definite and so real, that one may know whether or not he has received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and can answer yes or no to the question, "Have you received the Holy Ghost?"

In the second place it is evident that _the baptism with the Holy Spirit is an operation of the Holy Spirit distinct from and additional to His regenerating work_. This is evident from Acts i. 5, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye _shall be_ baptized with the Holy Ghost _not many days hence_." It is clear then that the disciples had not as yet been baptized with the Holy Ghost, that they were to be thus baptized not many days hence. But the men to whom Jesus spoke these words were already regenerate men. They had been so p.r.o.nounced by our Lord Himself. He had said to them in John xv. 3, "Now ye are _clean through the word_ which I have spoken unto you." But what does clean through the word mean? 1 Peter i. 23 answers the question, "_Being born again_, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, _by the word of G.o.d_, which liveth and abideth forever." A little earlier on the same night Jesus had said to them in John xiii. 10, R. V., "He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and _ye are clean but not all_." The Lord Jesus had p.r.o.nounced that apostolic company clean-_i. e._, regenerate men-with the exception of the one who never was a regenerate man, Judas Iscariot who should betray Him (see verse 11). The remaining eleven Jesus Christ had p.r.o.nounced regenerate men. Yet He tells these same men in Acts i. 5, that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was an experience that they had not as yet realized, that still lay in the future. So it is evident that it is one thing to be born again by the Holy Spirit through the Word and something distinct from this and additional to it to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The same thing is evident from Acts viii. 12, R. V., compared with the fifteenth and sixteenth verses of the same chapter. In the twelfth verse we read that a large company of disciples had believed the preaching of Philip concerning the kingdom of G.o.d _and the name of Jesus Christ_, and "had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus" (v.

16, R. V.). Certainly in this company of baptized believers there were at least some regenerate persons. Whatever the true form of water baptism may be, they undoubtedly had been baptized by the true form, for the baptizing had been done by a Spirit-commissioned man, but in the fifteenth and sixteenth verses we read, "When they (that is Peter and John) were come down, they prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus." Baptized believers they were; baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus they had been; regenerate men some of them most a.s.suredly were, and yet not one of them as yet had received, or been baptized with, the Holy Ghost. So again, it is evident that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is an operation of the Holy Spirit distinct from and additional to His regenerating work. A man may be regenerated by the Holy Spirit and still not be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In regeneration, there is the impartation of life by the Spirit's power, and the one who receives it is saved: in the baptism with the Holy Spirit, there is the impartation of power, and the one who receives it is fitted for service.

The baptism with the Holy Spirit, however, may take place at the moment of regeneration. It did, for example, in the household of Cornelius. We read in Acts x. 43, that while Peter was preaching, he came to the point where he said concerning Jesus, "To Him bear all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins," and at that point Cornelius and his household believed and we read immediately, "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circ.u.mcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." The moment they believed the testimony about Jesus, they were baptized with the Holy Ghost, even before they were baptized with water. Regeneration and the baptism with the Holy Spirit took place practically at the same moment, and so they do in many an experience to-day. It would seem as if in a normal condition of the church, this would be the usual experience. But the church is not in a normal condition to-day. A very large part of the church is in the place where the believers in Samaria were before Peter and John came down, and where the disciples in Ephesus were before Paul came and told them of their larger privilege-baptized believers, baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, baptized unto repentance and remission of sins, but not as yet baptized with the Holy Ghost. Nevertheless _the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the birthright of every believer_. It was purchased for us by the atoning death of Christ, and when He ascended to the right hand of the Father, He received the promise of the Father and shed Him forth upon the church, and if any one to-day has not the baptism with the Holy Spirit as a personal experience, it is because he has not claimed his birthright.

Potentially, every member of the body of Christ is baptized with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. xii. 13), "For in one Spirit, _we were all_ baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." But there are many believers with whom that which is potentially theirs has not become a matter of real, actual, personal experience. All men are potentially justified in the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross, that is justification is provided for them and belongs to them (Rom. v. 18, R. V.), but what potentially belongs to every man, each man must appropriate to himself by faith in Christ; then justification is actually and experimentally his and just so, while the baptism with the Holy Spirit is potentially the possession of every believer, each individual believer must appropriate it for himself before it is experimentally his. We may go still further than this and say that it is only by the baptism with the Holy Spirit that one becomes in the fullest sense a member of the body of Christ, because it is only by the baptism with the Spirit that he receives power to perform those functions for which G.o.d has appointed him as a part of the body.

As we have already seen every true believer has the Holy Spirit (Rom.

viii. 9), but not every believer has the baptism with the Holy Spirit (though every believer may have as we have just seen). It is one thing to have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, perhaps dwelling within us way back in some hidden sanctuary of our being, back of definite consciousness, and something far different, something vastly more, to have the Holy Spirit taking complete possession of the one whom He inhabits.

There are those who press the fact that every believer potentially has the baptism with the Spirit, to such an extent that they clearly teach that every believer has the baptism with the Spirit as an actual experience.

But unless the baptism with the Spirit to-day is something radically different from what the baptism with the Spirit was in the early church, indeed unless it is something not at all real, then either a very large proportion of those whom we ordinarily consider believers are not believers, or else one may be a believer and a regenerate man without having been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Certainly, this was the case in the early church. It was the case with the Apostles before Pentecost; it was the case with the church in Ephesus; it was the case with the church in Samaria. And there are thousands to-day who can testify to having received Christ and been born again, and then afterwards, sometimes long afterwards, having been baptized with the Holy Ghost as a definite experience. This is a matter of great practical importance, for there are many who are not enjoying the fullness of privilege that they might enjoy because by pus.h.i.+ng individual verses in the Scriptures beyond what they will bear and against the plain teaching of the Scriptures as a whole, they are trying to persuade themselves that they have already been baptized with the Holy Spirit when they have not. And if they would only admit to themselves that they had not, they could then take the steps whereby they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit as a matter of definite, personal experience.

The next thing which is clear from the teaching of Scripture is that _the baptism with the Holy Spirit is always connected with, and primarily for the purpose of testimony and service_.

Our Lord in speaking of this baptism which they were so soon to receive in Luke xxiv. 49 said, "And behold I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be _endued with power from on high_." And again He said in Acts i. 5, 8, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.... But _ye shall receive power_ after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and _ye shall be witnesses unto Me_, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." In the record of the fulfillment of this promise of our Lord in Acts ii. 4, we read, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Then follows the detailed account of what Peter said and of the result. The result was that Peter and the other Apostles spoke with such power that three thousand persons that day were convicted of sin, renounced their sin and confessed their acceptance of Jesus Christ in baptism and continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellows.h.i.+p and in the breaking of bread and in prayers ever afterwards. In the fourth chapter of Acts, the thirty-first to the thirty-third verses, we read that when the Apostles on another occasion were filled with the Holy Spirit, the result was that they "_spake the word of G.o.d with boldness_" and that "_with great power gave the Apostles their witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus_." And in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we have a description of Paul's being baptized with the Holy Spirit. We read in the seventeenth to the twentieth verses, "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and _be filled with the Holy Ghost_.

And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened.... And _straightway, he preached Christ_ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of G.o.d," and in the twenty-second verse we read that he "confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ" (R. V.). In 1 Cor. xii. we have the fullest discussion of the baptism with the Holy Spirit found in any pa.s.sage in the Bible. This is the cla.s.sical pa.s.sage on the whole subject.

And the results there recorded are gifts for service. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not primarily intended to make believers happy, but to make them useful. It is not intended merely for the ecstasy of the individual believer, it is intended primarily for his efficiency in service. I do not say that the baptism with the Holy Spirit will not make the believer happy; for as part of the fruit of the Spirit is "joy," if one is baptized with the Holy Spirit, joy must inevitably result. I have never known one to be baptized with the Holy Spirit into whose life there did not come, sooner or later, a new joy, a higher and purer and fuller joy than he had ever known before. But this is not the prime purpose of the baptism nor the most important and prominent result. Great emphasis needs to be laid upon this point, for there are many Christians who in seeking the baptism with the Spirit are seeking personal ecstasy and rapture. They go to conventions and conferences for the deepening of the Christian life and come back and tell what a wonderful blessing they have received, referring to some new ecstasy that has come into their heart, but when you watch them, it is difficult to see that they are any more useful to their pastors or their churches than they were before, and one is compelled to think that whatever they have received, they have not received the real baptism with the Holy Spirit. Ecstasies and raptures are all right in their places. When they come, thank G.o.d for them-the writer knows something about them-but in a world such as we live in to-day where sin and self-righteousness and unbelief are so triumphant, where there is such an awful tide of men, women and young people sweeping on towards eternal perdition, I would rather go through my whole life and never have one touch of ecstasy but have power to witness for Christ and win others for Christ and thus to save them, than to have raptures 365 days in the year but no power to stem the awful tide of sin and bring men, women and children to a saving knowledge of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The purpose of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is not primarily to make believers individually holy. I do not say that it is not the work of the Holy Spirit to make believers holy, for as we have already seen, He is "the Spirit of Holiness," and the only way we shall ever attain unto holiness is by His power. I do not even say that the baptism with the Holy Spirit will not result in a great spiritual transformation and uplift and cleansing, for the promise is, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit _and fire_" (and the thought of fire as used in this connection is the thought of searching, refining, cleansing, consuming). A wonderful transformation took place in the Apostles at Pentecost, and a wonderful transformation has taken place in thousands who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit since Pentecost, _but the primary purpose of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is efficiency in testimony and service_. It has to do rather with gifts for service than with graces of character. It is the impartation of spiritual power or gifts in service and sometimes one may have rare gifts by the Spirit's power and yet manifest few of the graces of the Spirit. (See 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3; Matt. vii. 22, 23.) In every pa.s.sage in the Bible in which the baptism with the Holy Spirit is mentioned, it is connected with testimony or service.

We shall perhaps get a clearer idea of just what the baptism with the Holy Spirit is, if we stop to consider what are the results of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT?

1. _The specific manifestations of the baptism with the Holy Spirit are not precisely the same in all persons._ This appears very clearly from 1 Cor. xii. 4-13, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same G.o.d which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kind of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Here we see one baptism but a great variety of manifestations of the power of that baptism. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. The gifts vary with the different lines of service to which G.o.d calls different persons. The church is a body, and different members of the body have different functions and the Spirit imparts to the one who is baptized with the Spirit those gifts which fit him for the service to which G.o.d has called him. It is very important to bear this in mind. Through the failure to see this, many have gone entirely astray on the whole subject. In my early study of the subject, I noticed the fact that in many instances those who were baptized with the Holy Spirit spake with tongues (_e. g._, Acts ii.

4; x. 46; xix. 6) and I wondered if every one who was baptized with the Holy Spirit would not speak with tongues. I did not know of any one who was speaking with tongues to-day and so I wondered still further whether the baptism with the Holy Spirit were for the present age. But one day I was studying 1 Cor. xii. and noticed how Paul said to the believers in that wonderfully gifted church in Corinth, all of whom had been p.r.o.nounced in the thirteenth verse to be baptized with the Spirit, "And G.o.d hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gift of healing? _Do all speak with tongues?_ Do all interpret?" So I saw it was clearly taught in the Scriptures that one might be baptized with the Holy Spirit and still not have the gift of tongues. I saw furthermore that the gift of tongues, according to the Scripture, was the last and the least important of all the gifts, and that we were urged to desire earnestly the greater gifts (1 Cor. xiii. 31; 1 Cor. xiv. 5, 12, 14, 18, 19, 27, 28). A little later I was tempted to fall into another error, more specious but in reality just as unscriptural as this, namely, that if one were baptized with the Holy Spirit, he would receive the gift of an evangelist. I had read the story of D. L. Moody, of Charles G. Finney and of others who were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and of the power that came to them as evangelists, and the thought was suggested that if any one is baptized with the Holy Spirit will not he also obtain power as an evangelist? But this was also unscriptural. If G.o.d has called a man to be an evangelist and he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, he will receive power as an evangelist, but if G.o.d has called him to be something else, he will receive power to become something else. Three great evils come from the error of thinking that every one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit will receive power as an evangelist.

(1) The evil of disappointment. There are many who seek the baptism with the Holy Spirit expecting power as an evangelist, but G.o.d has not called them to that work, and though they really meet the conditions of receiving the baptism with the Spirit, and do receive the baptism with the Spirit, power as an evangelist does not come. In many cases this results in bitter disappointment and sometimes even in despair. The one who has expected the power of an evangelist and has not received it sometimes even questions whether he is a child of G.o.d. But if he had properly understood the matter, he would have known that the fact that he had not received power as an evangelist is no proof that he has not received the baptism with the Spirit, and much less is it a proof that he is not a child of G.o.d.

(2) The second evil is graver still, namely, the evil of presumption. A man whom G.o.d has not called to the work of an evangelist or a minister oftentimes rushes into it because he has received, or imagines he has received, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. He thinks all a man needs to become a preacher is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is not true.

In order to succeed as a minister a man needs a call to that specific work, and furthermore, he needs that knowledge of G.o.d's Word that will prepare him for the work. If a man is called to the ministry and studies the Word until he has something to preach, if then he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, he will have success as a preacher, but if he is not called to that work, or if he has not the knowledge of the Word of G.o.d that is necessary, he will not succeed in the work, even though he receives the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

(3) The third evil is greater still, namely, the evil of indifference.

There are many who know that they are not called to the work of preaching.

If then they think that the baptism with the Holy Spirit simply imparts power as an evangelist, or power to preach, the matter of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is one of no personal concern to them. For example, here is a mother with a large family of children. She knows perfectly well, or at least it is hoped that she knows, that she is not called to do the work of an evangelist. She knows that her duty lies with her children and her home. If she reads or hears about the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and gets the impression that the baptism with the Holy Spirit simply imparts power to do the work of an evangelist, or to preach, she will think "The evangelist needs this blessing, my minister needs this blessing, but it is not for me"; but if she understands the matter as it is taught in the Bible, that while the baptism with the Spirit imparts power, the way in which the power will be manifested depends entirely upon the line of work to which G.o.d calls us, and that no efficient work can be done without it, and sees still further that there is no function in the church of Jesus Christ to-day more holy and sacred than that of sanctified motherhood, she will say, "The evangelist may need this baptism, my minister may need this baptism; but I must have it to bring up my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

2. _While there are diversities of gifts and manifestations of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, there will be some gift to every one thus baptized._ We read in 1 Cor. xii. 7, R. V., "But to _each one_ is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal." Every most insignificant member of the body of Christ has some function to perform in that body.

The body grows by that "which every joint supplieth" (Eph. iv. 16), and to each least significant joint, the Holy Spirit imparts power to perform the function that belongs to him.

3. _It is the Holy Spirit who decides how the baptism with the Spirit shall manifest itself in any given case._ As we read in 1 Cor. xii. 11, "But all these worketh the one and the selfsame Spirit dividing to each one severally, _even as He will_." The Holy Spirit is absolutely sovereign in deciding how, that is, in what special gift, operation, or power, the baptism with the Holy Spirit shall manifest itself. It is not for us to pick out some field of service and then ask the Holy Spirit to qualify us for that service. It is not for us to select some gift and then ask the Holy Spirit to impart to us this self-chosen gift. It is for us to simply put ourselves entirely at the disposal of the Holy Spirit to send us where He will, to select for us what kind of service He will and to impart to us what gift He will. He is absolute sovereign and our position is that of unconditional surrender to Him. I am glad that this is so. I rejoice that He, in His infinite wisdom and love, is to select the field of service and the gifts, and that this is not to be left to me in my short-sightedness and folly. It is because of the failure to recognize this absolute sovereignty of the Spirit that many fail of the blessing and meet with disappointment. They are trying to select their own gift and so get none.

I once knew an earnest child of G.o.d in Scotland, who hearing of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the power that resulted from it, gave up at a great sacrifice his work as a s.h.i.+p plater, for which he was receiving large wages. He heard that there was a great need of ministers in the northwest in America. He came to the northwest. He met the conditions of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and I believe was really baptized with the Holy Spirit, but G.o.d had not chosen him for the work of an evangelist, and the power as an evangelist did not come to him. No field seemed to open, and he was in great despondency. He even questioned his acceptance before G.o.d. One morning he came into our church in Minneapolis and heard me speak upon the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and as I pointed out that the baptism with the Holy Spirit manifested itself in many different ways, and the fact that one had not power as an evangelist was no proof that he had not received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, light came into his heart. He put himself unreservedly into G.o.d's hands for Him to choose the field of labour and the gifts. An opening soon came to him as a Sunday-school missionary, and then, when he had given up choosing for himself and left it with the Holy Spirit to divide to him as He would, a strange thing happened; he did receive power as an evangelist and went through the country districts in one of our northwestern states with mighty power as an evangelist.

4. _While the power may be of one kind in one person and of another kind in another person, there will always be power, the very power of G.o.d, when one is baptized with the Holy Spirit._ We read in Acts i. 5, 8, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.... But _ye shall receive power_, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." As truly as any one who reads these pages, who has not already received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, seeks it in G.o.d's way, he will obtain it, and there will come into his service a power that was never there before, power for the very work to which G.o.d has called him.

This is not only the teaching of Scripture; it is the teaching of religious experience throughout the centuries. Religious biographies abound in instances of men who have worked along as best they could, until one day they were led to see that there was such an experience as the baptism with the Holy Spirit and to seek it and obtain it and, from that hour, there came into their service a new power that utterly transformed its character. In this matter, one thinks first of such men as Finney, and Moody, and Brainerd, but cases of this character are not confined to the few exceptional men. They are common. The writer has personally met and corresponded with hundreds and thousands of persons around the globe, who could testify definitely to the new power that G.o.d has granted them through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. These thousands of men and women were in all branches of Christian service; some of them are ministers of the Gospel, some evangelists, some mission workers, some Y. M. C. A.

secretaries, Sunday-school teachers, fathers, mothers, personal workers.

Nothing could possibly exceed the clearness and the confidence and the joyfulness of many of these testimonies.

I shall not soon forget a minister whom I met some years ago at a State Convention of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavour at New Britain, Conn. I was speaking upon the subject of personal work and as I drew the address to a close, I said that in order to do effective personal work, we must be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and in a very few sentences explained what I meant by that. At the close of the address, this minister came to me on the platform and said, "I have not this blessing you have been speaking about, but I want it. Will you pray for me?" I said, "Why not pray right now?" He said, "I will." We put two chairs side by side and turned our backs upon the crowd as they pa.s.sed out of the Armoury. He prayed and I prayed that he might be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then we separated. Some weeks after, one who had witnessed the scene came to me at a convention in Was.h.i.+ngton and told me how this minister had gone back to his church a transformed man, that now his congregations filled the church, that it was largely composed of young men, and that there were conversions at every service. Some years after, this minister was called to another field of service. His most spiritually-minded friends advised him not to go, as all the ruling elements in the church to which he had been called were against aggressive evangelistic work, but for some reason or other, he felt it was the call of G.o.d and accepted it. In six months, there were sixty-nine conversions, and thirty-eight of them were business men of the town.

After attending in Montreal some years ago an Inter-provincial Convention of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation of the Provinces of Canada, I received a letter from a young man. He wrote, "I was present at your last meeting in Montreal. I heard you speak upon the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. I went to my rooms and sought that baptism for myself and received it. I am chairman of the Lookout Committee of the Christian Endeavour Society of our church. I called together the other members of the committee. I found that two of them had been at the meeting and had already been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then we prayed for the other members of the committee and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now we are going out into the church and the young people of the church are being brought to Christ right along."

A lady and gentleman once came to me at a convention and told me how, though they had never seen me before, they had read the report of an address on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit delivered in Boston at a Christian Workers' Convention and that they had sought this baptism and had received it. The man then told me the blessing that had come into his service as superintendent of the Sunday-school. When he had finished, his wife broke in and said, "Yes, and the best part of it is, I have been able to get into the hearts of my own children, which I was never able to do before." Here were three distinctly different lines of service, but there was power in each case. The results of that power may not, however, be manifest at once in conversions. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, but as he witnessed in the power of the Holy Spirit for his risen Lord, he saw no conversions at the time. All he saw was the gnas.h.i.+ng of the teeth, the angry looks and the merciless rocks, and so it may be with us. But there was a conversion, even in that case, though it was a long time before it was seen, and that conversion, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, was worth more than hundreds of ordinary conversions.

5. Another result of the baptism with the Holy Spirit will be _boldness in testimony and service_. We read in Acts iv. 31, "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were a.s.sembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they _spake the word of G.o.d with boldness_." The baptism with the Holy Spirit imparts to those who receive it new liberty and fearlessness in testimony for Christ. It converts cowards into heroes. Peter upon the night of our Lord's crucifixion proved himself a craven coward. He denied with oaths and curses that he knew the Lord. But after Pentecost, this same Peter was brought before the very council that had condemned Jesus to death, and he himself was threatened, but filled with the Holy Ghost, he said, "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, _whom ye crucified_, whom G.o.d raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 8-12). A little later when the council commanded him and his companion, John, not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus, they answered, "Whether it be right in the sight of G.o.d to hearken unto you more than unto G.o.d, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts iv. 19, 20). On a still later occasion, when they were threatened and commanded not to speak and when their lives were in jeopardy, Peter told the council to their faces, "We ought to obey G.o.d rather than men. The G.o.d of our fathers raised up Jesus, _whom ye slew and hanged on a tree_. Him hath G.o.d exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom G.o.d hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts v. 29-32). The natural timidity of many a man to-day vanishes when he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and with great boldness and liberty, with utter fearlessness of consequences, he gives his testimony for Jesus Christ.

6. _The baptism with the Holy Spirit causes the one who receives it to be occupied with G.o.d and Christ and spiritual things._ In the record of the day of Pentecost, we read, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues _the wonderful works of G.o.d_" (Acts ii. 4, 7, 8, 11). Then follows Peter's sermon, a sermon that from start to finish is entirely taken up with Jesus Christ and His glory. On a later day we read, "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were a.s.sembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they _spake the word of G.o.d_ with boldness. And with great power gave the Apostles _witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus_: and great grace was upon them all....

Then Peter, _filled with the Holy Ghost_, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that _by the name of Jesus of Nazareth_, whom ye crucified, whom G.o.d raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole" (Acts iv. 31, 33, 8-10). We read of Saul of Tarsus, that when he had been filled with the Holy Spirit, "Straightway in the synagogues _he proclaimed Jesus_" (Acts ix. 17, 20, R.

V.). We read of the household of Cornelius, "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them who heard the Word. And they of the circ.u.mcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and _magnify G.o.d_." Here we see the whole household of Cornelius as soon as they were filled with the Holy Spirit magnifying G.o.d. In Eph. v. 18, 19, we are told that the result of being _filled with the Spirit_ is that those who are thus filled will speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts _to the Lord_. Men who are filled with the Holy Spirit will not be singing sentimental ballads, not comic ditties, nor operatic airs while the power of the Holy Ghost is upon them. If the Holy Ghost should come upon any one while listening to one of the most innocent of the world's songs, he would not enjoy it, he would long to hear something about Christ. Men who are baptized with the Holy Spirit do not talk much about self but much about G.o.d, and especially much about Christ. This is necessarily so, as it is the Holy Spirit's office to bear witness to the glorified Christ (John xv. 26; xvi. 14).

To sum up everything that has been said about the results of the baptism with the Holy Spirit; _the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of G.o.d coming upon the believer, filling his mind with a real apprehension of truths, especially of Christ, taking possession of his faculties, imparting to him gifts not otherwise his but which qualify him for the service to which G.o.d has called him._

THE NECESSITY OF THE BAPTISM WITH THE SPIRIT.

The New Testament has much to say about the necessity for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. When our Lord was about to leave His disciples to go to be with the Father, He said, "And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but _tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high_" (Luke xxiv. 49). He had just commissioned them to be His witnesses to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (vs. 47, 48), but He here tells them that before they undertake this witnessing, they must wait until they receive the promise of the Father, and were thus endued with power from on high for the work of witnessing which they were to undertake. There is no doubt as to what Jesus meant by "the promise of My Father," for which they were to wait before beginning the ministry that He had laid upon them; for in Acts i. 4, 5, we read, "And being a.s.sembled together with them (He), commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." It is evident then that "the promise of the Father" through which the enduement of power was to come was the baptism with the Holy Spirit. He went on to tell His disciples "Ye shall receive power _after that_ the Holy Ghost shall come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts i.

8). Now who were the men to whom Jesus said this? The disciples whom He Himself had trained for the work. For more than three years, they had lived in the closest intimacy with Himself; they had been eye-witnesses of His miracles, of His death, of His resurrection, and in a few moments were to be eye-witnesses of His ascension as He was taken up right before their eyes into heaven. And what were they to do? Simply to go and tell the world what their own eyes had seen and what their own ears had heard from the lips of the Son of G.o.d. Were they not equipped for the work? With our modern ideas of preparation for Christian work, we should say that they were thoroughly equipped. But Jesus said, "No, you are not equipped. There is another preparation in addition to the preparation already received, so absolutely necessary for effective work that you must not stir one step until you receive it. This other preparation is the promise of the Father, the baptism with the Holy Spirit." If the Apostles with their altogether exceptional fitting for the work which they were to undertake needed this preparation for work, how much more do we? In the light of what Jesus required of His disciples before undertaking the work, does it not seem like the most daring presumption for any of us to undertake to witness and work for Christ until we also have received the promise of the Father, the baptism with the Holy Spirit? There was apparently imperative need that something be done at once. The whole world was peris.h.i.+ng and they alone knew the saving truth, nevertheless Jesus strictly charged them "wait."

Could there be a stronger testimony to the absolute necessity and importance of the baptism with the Holy Spirit as a preparation for work that should be acceptable to Christ?