The Baptism with the Holy Spirit: What It Is and What It Does
He address of this afternoon, and the addresses of the days immediately to follow, are the outcome of an experience, and that experience was the eof a study of the Word of God. After I had been a Christian for some years, and after I had been in the ministry for some years, my attention was strongly attracted to certain phrases found in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles, such as i baptized with the Holy Spirit,” “filled with the Spirit,”
. Spirit: endued wit “power from on. ‘high, *”and other closely allied phrases. As I studied these various phrases in their context, it became clear to me that they all stood for essentially the same experience; and it also became
clear to me that God bade provided for each ach child of His in this present. dispensation. t that they should should be this e baptized with the Spirit,” or, “filled” with he
’
Di
hes I studied the subject still further, I became convinced that they described an experience which I did not myself possess, and I went to work to secure for myself
the experience thus described. {sought earnestly, that, I ight.“irit,”, I went at it very ignorantly. I have often wondered if anyone ever ‘went at it any more ignorantly than I did. But-whi wasignoran was, thorough cere and in earnest.
NOON hen I began to tell others A Ww at I had found in the ry Word of God, first in very small circles, then in larger ’ circles, then in much wider circles, and at last it was my
privilege to tell it literally around the globe. I have often
ht, in connection. with my own experience, of our.
both in Jerusalem aoa in all Facies, ana in. Samaria, and
h..; for it has been my privilege to declare the truth in the very remotest inhabited spot there is on this globe from the place where I myself was “baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
You will find the substance of all I have to say this afternoon, in three verses in the Bible, Acts 1:4, 5, 8: “And being assembled 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; butyeshall be baptized with the Ho host not many days hence.... But ye shall receive power, afte HQ VE bh QU. HLO, OWLE...UPON OX) Pram. W0X@ GANT ARAYA De
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth.” What I wish you to noticeparticularly just now, in these verses, is these words A BAPTIZED WITH THE
«Hoty Guost. f What a peculiar expression it is! What
does it mean? We all know what it means to be baptized with water: we have seen poeple thus baptized. But “baptized with the Holy Ghost,” what does it mean? What I have to say on the general subject of the ae with the Holy Spirit, will come under five heads: First: What the Baptism with the Holy Spirit Is. Second: What the Results of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit Are. am The Necessity of the Baptism with the Holy 2 ae or, Who Needs the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Fourth: The Possibility of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, or Who Can Be Baptized with the Holy Spirit. “Fifth: How the Baptism with the Holy Spirit Is to Be Obtained.
I. Wuat ts THE BAPTISM wiTH THE Hoty Spirit?
The first question, then, that we should consider is, “What is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit?” The Bible makes this very plain, if we study the various passages that speak of the subject, and study them in their context.
1. In the first place, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit ts a definite experience of which one may know wh he has received it or not. ‘This is clear from Acts 1:4, 5: “And being assembled together with them (He) commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but which, saith He, ye have heard from Me. For John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
verses that the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is a definite experience of which a man may know whether he has received it or not, for if not, how could the disciples possibly know when the days of waiting were over and the days to begin their ministry had begun?
The same thing is clear from Acts 19:2 also: “He said unto them, Ihave ye received the Hol Ghost sia)
e believed?” or, as it is in the Revised Version, “Did ye
. receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed? “| “And they
said unto him, No, we did not so much as hear whether
the Holy Ghost was given.” Paul had come down to
the City of Ephesus, and had found there a small group
of disciples, twelve in number. There was something about these twelve disciples that did not altogether satisfy Paul. We are not told just what it was, have been that there was not tha Iness about them that one expects to find in Spirit- filled Christiansl It may be that Paul was troubled by the fact that there were only twelve of them, thinking that if they were Spirit-filled, there would certainly have been more than twelve of them by this time. Whatever it was that disturbed Paul, he went right to the root of the difficulty at once by putting to them the question that we have just read, “Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?” Evidently Paul expected a definite “Yes,” or a definite “No” in answer to that question. In point of fact he got a definite “No.” They said “No, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Ghost was given.” They did not say what our Authorized Version makes them say: “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” I suppose there are Christians today who are as ignorant as that, they do not even know that there is such a person init, but these disciples knew that there was a Holy Spirit. They knew, furthermore, that there was a definite promise of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, but they did not know that that promise had as yet been fulfilled. Paul assured them that it had, and saw to it at once, even before that meeting broke up, that they all took the steps whereby they were all definitely and immediately baptized with the Holy Ghost right then and there without any “tarrying meetings” or anything of that sort.
There is much talk in these days about the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and much prayer for the Baptism with the Holy Spirit that is altogether vague and indefinite. You will go to a meeting and men will stand up and pray that they may be baptized with the Holy Ghost, but oftentimes, if after the meeting is over you should go to them and ask, “Did you get what you asked? Were you baptized with the Holy Ghost?” there is quite a strong probability that they would hesitate, and even stammer, and say, “Well, well, J hope so.’ But there is none of that indefiniteness in the Bible. The Bible is the most definite book that was ever written. That is one of the reasons why I love it. ‘The Bible is definite about salvation; so definite that if a man is saved, and knows his Bible, and you put to him the question, “Are you saved,” he will reply, in all humility and yet with equal confidence, “Yes, God in Eis infinite. mercy..andy ondescension has saved even me.”y The Bible is just as y efinite about the Baptism with the Holy Spirit; so definite that ifa man hasbeen.“baptized, with the Holy! Spirit,” and knows his Bible, and you put to him the! question, “Have you aptized with the Holyy Spirit?” he will reply, in all humility and yet with equal ’ confidence and positiveness, “Yes, God in His infinite), ercy and condescension has seen fit to baptize even me
Of course, it is quite possible that a man may be a saved man and yet, by reason of his ignorance of the Bible, not have assurance of salvation, 7. e., he may not know that he is saved. We have all met many such men and women. But it is his privilege to know (1 Jno. 5:13). And so it is also quite possible that a man may have been “baptized with the Holy Ghost” and yet, through ignorance of the Bible, not know the name of the experience which he has received. JI have met such men and women as that. I remember a man who came to me once at an “International Christian Workers’ Convention” at Washington, D. C. He was a well-known man — a man known all over the country; a man that I presume every one of you would know at least by name if I should mention it. At the close of an address that I gave on “The Baptism with the Holy Spirit,” this man came to me and said, “Is that what you call it, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit? I never heard the name before, but I have received what you have been talking about, and I can tell you just where I received it.” But,
hile this is all true, it is possible for us to know whether
ENCE OF WHICH ONE MAY KNOW. WHETHER, HE. JLAS) RECEIVED IT OR NOT, f) ) 2 In the second place, th MOY fe O ne ing..work, In other words: it is one thing to nar cn again urs th 1¢ Holy Spirit, and quite another thing to be bapti i evident from Acts 1:5: e aptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.” It is evident from these words that the apostles had not as yet been baptized saeeetaeaeneemeeeta me imeneninua ace cl: with the Holy Spirit, they were to be “not many days
hence.” But 3 ment to sam our Lot ord ae”
h Oo
Now, what does ‘ clean becatse of the word: bi ene Turn to 1 Peter 1:23, and you will get your answer: “Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.” It is evident from these words that “clean through the Word” (or “because of the Word,” as the Revised Version reads) means “begotten again, or born again, “through the Word.” So these men were already born again, but they were not as yet baptized with the Holy Spirit. They were to be “baptized with the wi ce
The same thing is evident from Acts 8:12-16. In verse 12 we are told that “when they believed Philip preaching the good tidings concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” Now certainly, in that large company of baptized believers, who had “believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ,’ and who “had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” (v. 16), there were at least some who were regenerate men and women. Whatever may be the correct mode of baptism, by sprinkling, immersion, or pouring, these disciples had, beyond question, been baptized in the right way, for Philip, an officially appointed officer in the church, had not baptized with the Holy S S‘pirit. {! So it Is As CLEAR AS LANGUAGE CAN POSSIBLY MAKE IT, THAT IT IS ONE THING TO BE BORN AGAIN AND SOME-L HING FURTHER, SOM TELL VG. ADDITIONA O BE. BAP D wits tue Hoty Spier. therefore, that one may be a regenerate man and yet not § as yet have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. ‘| Let us bow to the clear teaching of the Word of Gody even if it does not agree with our preconceived theories. Now, if.a man.is, regenerate,..he is savedy This is not) a question of salvation at all. If he should die he would I go to heaven. ) Buf though, MG bS SAVE VullbrkS Md Wednfutdeds
‘yet all. 1 that he might,
have, and ought to have.y administered the baptism, and as I have said, it is clear that some, at least, of this company of properly baptized believers were regenerate men. But when we come down to verses 15 and 16, we read, “Peter and John, when
they were come down, .pravea hem..that...they.adagls CONC bur kd ron HO Skerrveh.Q os et. He. sas fallen. upon none..of.them.. ere baptized into the name of)
PSom we see clearly that these regenerate)
men had not feee baptized with the Holy Ghost, thoug i
they had been properly “baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.” They were regenerate men but they were
finer
rit is clear and denalle:
or God’s. service. He has not as
PS RAI RR
Let me make it clear, still further, that every believer
has the Holy Spirit in some sense; that the Holy Spirit
dwells in every one that is born again, ‘This appears clearly from Romans 8:9, as well as from many other passages of Scripture. Let me read Romans 8:9 to you: “But if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of His.” Now the words “the Spirit of Christ”
in this verse do not mean a Christlike spirit. The words are a name for the Holy Spirit; that is clear from the context. And what we are told here is that if any man hath not the Holy Spirit (Whg,is here called the Spirit of Christ), he is none of His. it,.1s,.clear,.that every y
pirit,.) But in many a believer the Holy Spirit dwells away back in some hidden sanctuary of his person, away back of conscious experience. So, just as it is one thing to have a guest in your house living in some remote corner of the house where you scarcely know that he is there, and quite another thing to have that guest taking entire possession of the house, just so it is one thing to have the Holy Spirit dwelling away back of consciousness in some hidden sanctuary of our being, and quite another thing to have that Holy Spirit taking entire possession of the house. In other words, it is one thing to have the Holy Spirit merely dwelling in us but we not conscious of His dwelling, and quite another thing to be filled, or baptized, with the Holy Spirit. we may put it with perfect accuracy in this way:
ee the gift of the wie btn
aly iS pirit,” = thie Jiro
et me e say, still further, that, one ma. be ba tized with
is exactly what occurred in the case of the houeonold of. Cornelius. Cornelius and his household and friends were listening to the first gospel sermon they had ever heard in their lives, and Peter had come to the climax of his sermon, in Acts 10:43, where he says: “To Him (1. e., to the Lord Jesus) bear all the prophets witness, that through His name everyone that believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins,” and no sooner had Peter said it than they all believed on the Lord Jesus and were born again, and right then and there, before Peter could finish his sermon, we read, “While Peter yet spake these all them. that t heard the the
, aS many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also ut the gift th ly Spirit. ‘For they heard them speak with tongues and magnif
God.” So we see that they were baptized with the Holy Spirit the very moment that they believed and were born again. Now in a normal order of the Church, I believe that this would be the common experience; but alas! the Church is not in a normal order today. A very large portion of the Church of Jesus Christ today is exactly where the believers in, Samaria were before Peter andg John came down and bia) Cd £ OL obieuiélat,.iey,.1aigl receive the Holy pivit” because “as yet He was falle pon not one of them.” ‘They are just where the twelve) disciples in Ephesus were before Paul visited Ephesus baptized.with..the baptism..of. repentance, .forgiven,.and Asaved, but not yet baptized with. the HoalyS pirit i The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is every believer’ privilege andbirthright, through the crucified, risen and) ascended Saviour.| Jesus Christ, when He ascended up on high, prayed for His Church (Jno, 14: 15-17), that is, for the whole body of believers, and received for them, as we are told in Acts 2: 33, “the promise of the Holy Spirit” and poured forth the Holy Spirit upon His Church as a body, but many members of the true Church, that is, many saved men and women, have not claimed for themselves their birthright; and so, while the baptism with the Holy Spirit is theirs, 7. e., it belongs ta are told in 1 Cor, 12:13, is “baptized into the Body’ £ Jesus Christ as a living, active, efficient member o that Body; but many believers have not claimed this “Baptism with the Holy Spirit,” and therefore are not possessors of those gifts (see 1 Cor. 12:4-11) that qualify them to be members of the Body in the sense in which Paul is describing the Body in the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians. They are potentially baptized with, the Holy Spirit but not experimentally so baptized, but they may be at once.
In any event the passages that we have read, and many others that we might read, make it clear to any one whose mind is subject to the Word of God, and who therefore simply desires to know what the Word of God teaches and is not the slave of a theory, that one may be born again and yet not be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, from our own observation and experience today, we must all know tha the baptism with,.the Holy Spirit means anything definite, as it certainly. did in Bible days, as set forth im both the Acts.and in the). Epistles, then there are many people in the Church today who we have a right to believe are born again and thus saved, who are not as yet baptized with the Holy Spirit.
3. In the third place,.
ee
is evident from the passage where our Lord Jesus made the original promise of the baptism with the Holy Spirit,
Acts 1:8: “Butye shall receive power,..when.,the. Holy.
-Spiritis come upon yous.and ye. shall. be..my. witnesses.
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” ‘The same thing is evident from the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians, where the whole subject of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is treated at length and in detail. We will not take time to read the passage now, although we shall have occasion to read much of it later. There is not one single passage in the Bible, either in the Old Testament or the New Testament, where the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is spoken of, where tt is not connected with testimony or service. I made this statement some years ago in speaking to a large class of theological students. At the close of the lecture two students came up to me and said, “Did we understand you to say, Mr. Torrey, that there was not a single passage in the Bible, where the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is mentioned, where it is not connected with testimony or service?” “Yes,” I replied, “that is exactly what I said.” “Well,” they said, “we doubt it.” I replied, “You have a perfect right to doubt it, but now go and search your Bible and bring me, if you can, one single passage in the Bible where the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is definitely mentioned or referred to, where it is not connected with testimony or service.” They went to work to search for the passage. I think they — must be searching for it yet, for they have never brought it to me; and they never will, for it is not to be found anywhere in the Bible. I have gone through my Bible on this subject, time and time again since I made that remark to those students, and without the slightest fear of successful contradiction I repeat the statement already made, that there is not a single passage in the Old Testament or New Testament where the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is spoken of or referred to where it is not connected with testimony or service.
The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not primarily for the purpose of making us individually holy. Please note carefully my words and grasp exactly what I say. I do not say that it is not the work of the Holy Spirit to make
us holy, for it is His work to make us.bolypand it is only
through His work that any one of us can become holy.
“come still clearer when we come to study the next part ‘ of our subject: the Results of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Neither is it the primary purpose of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit to make us personally happy. Note again carefully what I say. I do not say that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit will not make us happy, if we receive it. I have never known anyone yet who was “baptized with the Holy Spirit” into whose heart a new and more wonderful joy did not come, but I am saying that this is not
I am glad that this is so, for while ecstacies are all Heh in their place, and while I know something about them in my own experience, yet in a world such as you and I live in, where there is this awful tide of men, women and children sweeping on unsaved to a hopeless eternity, I would rather go my entire life through without one single touch of ecstasy or rapture, and have power to do my part to stem this awful tide and save at least some, than own Word. So I repeat it again, THE BAPTISM WITH TH
‘MARILY FOR THE PURPOSE OF, EQUIPMENT Ton Te TESTIMONY “ic ARE RNR N53 ‘ JAND SERVICE: IT Is TO MAKE US USEFUL FoR God IN TH Gace a ata eS Na NR aA NAR LPAR IEA eh SALVATION OF SOULS AND NOT MERELY TO MAKE US HAPPY
to have indescribable raptures every day of my life and have n
I wish to be very clear and very emphatic at this point, for here is where a multitude of people in our day are going astray. Men and women go off to “Bible Conferences,” to “meetings for the deepening of the spiritual life,” and to “tarrying meetings,” and all that sort of thing, and they come back and tell you what a wonderful experience they have had, what raptures they have passed through, and how they have been “baptized with the Holy Spirit,’ and I have watched carefully a good many of these people; and many of them are of no more use to their pastors or their churches than they were before. And some of them are of far less use than they were before and are sometimes a positive nuisance. They have no more love for souls than they had before, make no more effort for the salvation of the lost than they did before, and win no more souls to Christ than they did before; and I am therefore sure that whatever experience they may have received they have not had the Baptism with the Holy Spirit along the lines so plainly laid down in God’s
OLY SPIRIT Is ALWAYS CONNECTED WITH, “AND. ‘TS PRI
REDE I
SAN aR prs ST SORES ela agg 3S {om
II. THe REsuLts oF THE Baris WITH THE HoLy This leads us to He ‘gdonind questions “What ate the Results of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit? The results of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit as set forth in the Word of God are many-fold, but they can all be summed up in one word, and that word is power. This comes out in the passage to which I have already referred, Acts 1: 8: “YE SHALL, RECEIVE POWER
oth in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. i
ernoon meets the conditions of the Baptism, abl Spirit and is therefore “baptized with the Hol there will come a new power into his life and service, There needs, however, a word of caution to be said at this point, and not only to be said, but to be made clear and to be emphasized, and that word of caution is, this power will not manifest itself in the same way in every individual. ‘That thought is developed at considerable length in 1 Cor. 12, the classical passage on the whole subject of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Let me read you verses 4 to 13: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, Who worketh all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit, to profit withal, for to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another, faith, in the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another, workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another dis- cernings of spirits; and to another diverse kinds of tongues; and to another, interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally as He will, For as the body is one, and hath any members, and all the members of the body, being any, are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spin
one Spirit.” ow what strikes one, or what ought to strike one, most forcibly in this passage, is the word “diversities” so often repeated, and also the words “to another” so often repeated. And the thought is as clear as language — can make it, and very much emphasized, that while there is “one Baptism with the Holy Spirit” there is a wide variety of manifestations of that one Baptism with that one and same Spirit; that the Baptism with the Holy
/Spirit results in one gift in one person according to the / line of service to which he is called, and quite another
gift to another person, according to the line of service to which he is called.
Now that is the point at which a multitude of people go astray. They hear of some person who was baptized with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit for His own wise reasons imparted to that person some special gift for the special service to which he was called, and they think that if they are baptized with the Holy Spirit they must have precisely the same gift that this other person had. But that is, as we see, entirely unscriptural; indeed, it is clearly anti-scriptural.
It was at this point that I was tempted to go astray when I first began the study of this subject, a great many years ago. I noticed that in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and in the tenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, those who were baptized with the
Holy Spirit “spake with tongues,” and I wondered if everyone who was baptized with the Holy Spirit would not speak with tongues. And as I did not see anyone speaking with tongues today, I wondered if this gift was not confined to the Apostolic Age. But one day my attention was called to First Corinthians the twelfth chapter, and I read the verses which I have just read to you, and discovered that while there was “one Baptism with the Holy Spirit,” there was a vast variety of manifestations of that one baptism, and that it was distinctly said that to one was given “divers kinds of tongues,” but to others an entirely different gift; and I also discovered that speaking with tongues was way down at the bottom of the list. And then my attention was fixed upon the closing verses of the chapter, verses 28 to 31, where I read: “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues.’ Here again “tongues” was at the very bottom of the list. Then I went on and read: “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues?” And therefore I saw that Paul clearly taught that there were among the believers in this wonderfully gifted church, of which he had plainly declared in the thirteenth verse that every one of them was baptized with the Holy Spirit, some at least who did not speak with tongues. So I saw that the teaching that speaking with tongues was the inevitable and invariable result of being baptized with the Holy Spirit, and that any one who had not spoken with tongues had not been baptized with the Holy Spirit, was utterly unscriptural and anti-scriptural.
But then I was tempted to fall into another error, of a somewhat similar character. I had read the testimony of John Wesley, and of Charles G. Finney, and D. L. Moody, and others, and I noted how all these men, when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, obtained the gift of an evangelist, and I was tempted to say to myself, anyone who is baptized with the Holy Spirit will have the gift of an evangelist. Now that is just as unscriptural as to say that every one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit will speak with tongues. If God has called a man into the work of an evangelist, and he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, then doubtless he will have the gift of an evangelist, but if God has called him to some other work he will have some other power or gift, which wiil fit him for the work to which God has called him,
This mistake, that every one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit will have power as an evangelist, leads to three great evils. The first great evil to which it leads is the evil of disappointment, and sometimes even of despair. Many a man has heard an address upon the Baptism with the Holy Spirit which is not carefully guarded at this point, and he gets the impression that the inevitable and invariable result of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the gift of an evangelist, and then this man seeks for himself the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and meets the conditions of that baptism, and consequently really is baptized with the Holy Spirit, but God has not called him to the work of an evangelist, and therefore, of course, God does not empower him with the gift of an evangelist, and the man is perplexed and bewildered and sometimes is in despair, wondering if he really has been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
I recall a very striking illustration of this. A Scotchman, a ship-plater, receiving large wages over in Scotland, heard an address on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. He got the impression that the result of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was in every instance power as an evangelist, and he sought for himself the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and obtained it. Then he heard that there were spiritually destitute fields in America, up in the Northwest, and he made up his mind to go there and preach the gospel; and at a great financial sacrifice he sold out everything and came out to Minnesota. But God had not at that time called him to be.an evangelist, and he found no openings, and he was nearly in despair. He not only wondered whether he had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, he even got to doubting his salvation. While in this distressed state of mind, one Sunday morning, he dropped into the church in Minneapolis of which I was at that time pastor, and that very morning I spoke on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and made clear what I am trying to make clear to you today, that while “there is one Baptism” with the Holy Spirit, there is a wide diversity of manifestations of that one baptism; and chat the gift of an evangelist is not by any means the invariable result of that baptism. He saw the truth and put himself in God’s hands for God to choose the field of service and to qualify him for the service to which God had called him.
Very soon there came to him an opening to go down into some destitute parts of Wisconsin, doing Sunday School missionary work. He went, and there the great thing happened. When he had thus given up dictating to the Holy Spirit what gift should be bestowed upon him, and left it entirely with the Hi rit in His. sovereign will to decide, and went out to do the work)
od opened to him, the very gift that he had sought ame upon him, He did receive the gift of an evangelist,
and town after town was quite overturned by the power of the gospel as presented by him,
The second mischief that results from this error that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit will always result in power as an evangelist, is the error of presumption. Many a man has heard an address upon the Baptism with the Holy Spirit that is not carefully guarded at this point, and has gotten the impression that the one invariable result of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is power as an evangelist, and so he says to himself, “All I need to become an evangelist is to receive the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Now that is not true. It is very far from the truth. In order to be an evangelist the first thing a man needs is a call from God to that specific work. If God in His infinite wisdom has not called a man into that work, but into some other work, he certainly will not get power as an evangelist, even though he is baptized with the Holy Spirit. The second thing a man needs in order to be an evangelist is such a knowledge of the Word of God that he has something to preach that is worth listening to. If a man has a call of God to the work of an evangelist, and has obtained such a knowledge of the Word of God that he has something to preach that is worth listening to, and then is baptized with the Holy Spirit, he will have power as an evangelist, but otherwise he will not have power as an evangelist. One of the most unfortunate things in evangelistic work today is that so many men have rushed into the work whom God never called into it, who have no message that is worth while.
The third mischief that results from this error is the worst of all, and that is the mischief of indifference.
Many a person comes to a meeting like this and hears an address on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and gets the impression that the one result of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the gift of an evangelist, and this person knows that God has not called him to the work of an evangelist. For instance, here is a woman, with a family of five or six or even more children. Now that woman knows, or at least it is to be hoped that she has sense enough to know, though some don’t, that God has not called her to be an evangelist, that her work is at home with her children; and when she hears this address she says to herself, “My minister may need the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, the evangelist may need the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, the Y. M. C. A. Secretary may need the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, but I don’t; for God has not called me to be an evangelist. My work is here at home with my own children.” But if a mother gets the right conception of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, the Bible conception, namely, that it is to fit believers in Jesus Christ not only for the work of an evangelist, but for any other function to which God may call us in His Church, and that there is no other function in the Church that God has more honoured than the function of sanctified motherhood, then this woman will say, “Evangelists may need the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, my pastor may need the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, but I must have it in order that I may have power to bring my own children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Before leaving this part of my subject, I wish to call your attention to the fact, and to emphasize the fact, that, it 1g THE Horny Spirrt HimseLF Wuo DECIDES WHAT THE PARTICULAR GIFT OR MANIFESTATION SHALL BE IN
This is very plain from 1 Cor. 12:11: “For all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will.” Here we are distinctly taught that it is not for us to choose some gift and look to the Holy Spirit to impart
‘to us that self-chosen gift. It is not for us to choose for
ourselves some field of service and look to the Holy Spirit
‘to qualify us for the field of service which we have
Site
eee
chosen. No, emphatically no! wilbedSufOtoMSuokQpUt ou selves entirely at the disposal of the. Holy Sp Hin 0 choose the gift and. for.f1im.£ogualify us with...
the gift which He has chosen; for Him to choose the field of service, and for Him to qualify us for the field,
: thich He Himself has chosen) Oh, how man: go astray at this point! ‘They have chosen for them- ’ selves some particular gift, it may be speaking with tongues, it may be the gift of an evangelist, or some other gift, and then they meet the conditions of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and then, though they may not be definitely conscious of it, they try to dictate to the Holy Spirit what gift he shall impart to them. I have known people who have waited for weeks or months, or even years, for their self-chosen gift of speaking with tongues.
I recall a man whom I knew intimately in Chicago, a man who was very useful in his church and very gifted in prayer. While I was away, going around the world preaching the gospel, this man got under the influence of those people who over-emphasize “speaking with tongues.” He gave up all his work and gave all his time, when he was not engaged in his business, to “waiting for his Pentecost,’ by which he meant waiting until he should be enabled by the Spirit to speak with tongues.
After two long years of waiting, the last I knew of him he was still absolutely useless, “waiting for his Pentecost.” No, No, No, ne FLO D sovereign in the whole matter (1 Cor, 12:11), and it is not for you nor for me to dictate to Him what gift He shall impart to us when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit. It is for us ito leave that entirely with Him, and just put ourselves unreservedly at His disposal for Him to choose the field) of service, and for Him to. qualify. us for the work. to which He has called us, and to impart to us the aft that! ‘fits us for that work, whether it be s speaking with tonguesy or something entirely. different...which, according to the repeated teaching of the Scriptures, is far more important than the least desirable of all gifts, that of “speaking with tongues.” But having given and emphasized this word of caution, let me repeat what I said some time ago, that
Spirit, they will oe a power in Wie Service that the
‘which God has called them, I could stand here by the — and repeat instances which have come under my own personal observation, of men and women and young people who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, and who did “receive power.” Let me give you three illustrations from life that I think will prove helpful.
The first is of a minister who was the first one, as far as I know definitely, that it was my privilege to lead into a like experience to my own. I had gone from Chicago to New Britain, Conn., more than a thousand miles, to deliver just one address. A thousand miles and back is a long ways to go to deliver one address, and yet I shall never cease to rejoice that I travelled that two thousand miles to deliver that address. It was at a State Convention of the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavour, held in an armory. Perhaps three thousand young people were present, and some older ones. ia spoke upon the subject of Pers nal Work, and as I drew my address to a close I said, |‘ In order to, doefficien
TE ay REFN
ersonal e must be baptized with the Hol
irit,” and re a few words of explanation of what L “meant by being “baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When the convention closed a minister came to me on the platform and said, “I haven’t this power that you have been talking about tonight, but I want it. Will you pray for
me?” I replied, “Why not kneel down and pray a here now?”
It is a good deal to ask of a Congregational minister in staid old New England, where the Congregationalists boast that they are the University denomination, and they are (for almost all the leading universities in New England were founded originally by the Congregationalists) — I say, it is a good deal to ask of a Congregational minister in staid old New England, to kneel down on a platform while three thousand young people are breaking up and leaving the armory in disorder, to seek a blessing from God like an old-fashioned Methodist inquirer at the mourners’ bench; but this minister was in earnest, and he said, “I will.’ We placed two chairs together in a corner of the platform where we were not likely to be much observed, and knelt down to pray. I prayed and then he prayed that he might be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then we arose and after a few words we had to. separate, he to hurry to his train and I to hurry to ‘mine.
Some time passed by and I was in Washington, D. C., at a Christian Workers’ Convention. The night I reached there I was standing in the rotunda of the hotel where I was stopping, and an assistant pastor of the Fourth Congregational Church in Hartford, Conn.” saw me and hurried to me and said, “Do you remember that minister that you prayed for at New Britain, Conn.?” I said, “Yes, I do.” He said, “Have you heard from him since?” “No,” I said. “Let me tell you about him,” he said. “He has gone back to his church a transformed man. He is pastor of a large country church in Connecticut, and since that night you prayed for him his evening congregations fill his church, which,” this man added, “is a very unusual thing in a country church in Connecticut. But that is not the best of it, there are conversions at every service, and a very large proportion of the conversions are the young men of the community.” Now is not that what we want? Not the sending off for some evangelist to come at rare intervals and have some ae stirring of the community, but the power of God u astors of our churches reaching in the power of the Holy Spiri every Sunday night, and conversions right along Well, that i is what we can have, and t irit Some years passed by and one hot summer afternoon I was speaking at Mr. Moody’s peeks cn in Northfield,
4 once? Ca. LL POU [Za ethunto God? i As Ti came awa epee the piactorn a number of Methodist ministers from Alabama gathered around me. ‘They said, “Did. we understand you to say that if any minister did not have power and results in his work it was his own fault?” “Well,” I replied, “brethren, I am not sure that that is just what I said, but that is about what I believe.” “But,” one of them urged, “suppose your whole official board is against you. What can you do then?” Mr. G, the Assistant Pastor of the church in Hartford, was there again, and he broke in, “Mr. Torrey, may I say something?” “Certainly,” I replied.
He said, “Do you remember that Congregational minister that you prayed with at New Britain, Connecticut?” “Yes,” I said, “I remember him well.” He continued, “Did you know that he had changed his church?” “No, I did not.” “Well,” he said, “he did, last February.” (This was August.) ‘“He had a call from a church in the suburbs of Boston. All his spiritually minded friends advised him not to accept the call, for all the ruling members of the church were against aggressive evangelistic effort. But in spite of all the advice of his spiritually minded friends, he somehow felt led to accept the call, and he went there last February. There have already been fifty-nine conversions, and thirty-eight of them are business men of the community.” Oh, brethren, is not that what we want? Well, that is the sort of thing we can have. The secret of it is in our being “baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Let me give you a second illustration. I had been at Montreal, Canada, attending an Inter-provincial Convention of the Young Men’s Christian Association. In my last address I had spoken on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Sometime after I got back to Chicago, I received a letter from a young man, a member of one of the churches in Montreal. He wrote, saying:
“DEAR Mr. Torrey: ‘
“I was at your last meeting at the Y. M. C. A. convention in Montreal, and heard you speak on the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I went away to my home and ht that oe
J tained ity I am Chairman of the Lookout Committee of the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavour of our church. I got together the other members of our committee, and found that two of them had been at the same meeting, and had already obtained the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Then we prayed for the other members of the committee and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit; and now we are going out into the church among the young people, and the young people are coming to Christ right along.”
Brethren, is not that what we want? Is not that what we want in our young people’s societies? Not this everlasting getting up and quoting, parrot-like, some passage of Scripture; not this everlasting getting up at the monthly “Consecration Meeting” and professing to be
wholly surrendered to God when you know you are not; but the young people of our churches baptized with the Holy Spirit, and going out among the other young people of the churches and communities, and leading them to Christ. Well, this is what we can have. The whole secret of it is having our young people “baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Now, just one more illustration, and to me in some respects the best of all. I was in Syracuse, N. Y., attending a Young Men’s Christian Association State Convention. I was over speaking at the meeting of “the Women’s Auxiliary.” As I came down from the platform and passed out the door, a gentleman and his wife were waiting for me. They said, “Are you going over to the main meeting?” I said, “Yes.” They said, “Are you going to walk?” I said, “Yes.” “Can we walk with you?” “Yes,” I said, “if you will walk fast.” As we went down the stairs they began at once to tell me how they had never heard me before, but that they had read the report of an address that I had delivered at Boston, on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and they said, “We have been baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Then the man did the talking. He was Superintendent of one of the prominent Sunday Schools of the city, and since he had been baptized with the Holy Spirit God had revolutionized the Sunday School. I heard from other sources that even the pastor of the church was transformed. When he had finished telling what the Baptism with the Holy Spirit had meant to him (and had also meant a transformed church), then his wife broke in and she said, “And, Mr. Torrey, the best part of it is that Thave been able to get into the hearts of my own children, which I was never able to do before.” ml Oh, brethren, is not that what we want? Is not that what we must have? the power to get into the hearts of our own children, and to lead them to Christ? I think one of the saddest things in the Church of Jesus Christ today is to see the sons and daughters of the Christian fathers and mothers, fathers and mothers who have been pillars in the church, growing up not to follow in the footsteps of their fathers and mothers; growing up sometimes quite godless, not in the church on the Lord’s Day, not in the Sunday School, but off joy-riding, or golfing, or on hiking parties, or playing tennis, or, God only knows what. Oh, the condition today of the children of earnest and godly and active Christian fathers and mothers, is appalling! What all of us fathers and mothers need, first of all, is power to get into the hearts of our own children. And we can have that power. how: “Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Oh, men and women and young people who belong te
Christ! Are we having in our service for Christ the power that we might have and ought to have? We are living in a world where we are surrounded by perishing men, women and children on every hand. And there is a solemn responsibility upon every one of us, to do everything that is in our power, at any cost, to see that these men and women and children are saved. And there is a way in which any one of us can have power for that work. It is by being definitely baptized tes the Holy Spirit. Shall we not decide today that
tice of that ba aE and
. We saw, i th the fourth pees that the one great resul of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is powER in the ey
VI
THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT:.WHO
NEEDS IT AND WHO CAN HAVE IT.
W E saw yesterday that the Baptism with the Holy
Spirit is. finite experience of which one may
know whether he has received it or not,
We saw, in the second place, that
We saw, in the third place, that
always. connected with and is prit
marily f
TS ieamann
at, while this power might manifest itself in a great variety of ways according to the different lines of service to which God has called us, there would always be power in the service of anyone who had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. - We come today to the very important question of the Possibility of the Baptism with the Holy irit, or to put it in another way, Who Needs the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and Who Can Have It?
I. Wuo NEEps THE Baptism witH THE Hoty Sprrit? We take up, first, the question of Who Needs the Bap-