The Baptism with the Holy Spirit: Who Needs It and Who Can Have It

tism with the Holy Spirit? The Bible answers this question very plainly.

Turn first of all to Luke 24:49. We will begin back at the forty-fifth verse to get the connection: ‘“Then opened He their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures; and He said unto them, Thus it is written that Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high.”

Here our Lord gives a very definite, distinct and positive commandment to those to whom He was speaking, that they should not undertake the work to which He had called them until they had received the all-necessary ae for that work of which He speaks here as

and further on,

as ‘a being * 2 “clothed” with power from on high,” and by - comparison of Scripture with ig fon a. we find that this

“promise of the Father,” this being “clothed with Lvower from on hi igh,”: is the Baptism with - with the Holy Spirit.

Now, to whom were these words spoken? ‘To the eleven apostles. And.who were those apostles? It is oftentimes said that they were uneducated men, and from that supposed fact an argument is adduced for an uneducated ministry. But no argument by any possibility could pe more mal-apropos than that, for whatever the apostles were not uneducated men. /They had taken

“more than a three-years’ course in the best theological

seminary that ever existed upon earth, and in which our Lord Jesus Christ Himself was the sole but all-sufficient

Teacher. They had been eye-witnesses of our Lord’s wondrous life on earth, eye-witnesses of His miracles, eye-witnesses of His death, eye-witnesses of His resurrection from the dead, and they were about to be eye-witnesses of His ascension, as He was taken up into heaven bodily, right before their eyes, “and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” And what were they to do? Simply to go and tell a perishing world what their own eyes had seen and what their own ears had heard from the lips of the Son of God Himself. Were they not already fully prepared to go? With our modern ideas of preparation for the ministry we should say they were the most fully and perfectly prepared and equipped men who ever undertook the ministry of the Gospel. But our Lord Jesus here says: You are not adequately prepared at all; there is another preparation so all-necessary that you must not stir one step until you have obtained it. ‘That preparation is the receiving of “the promise of the Father,” the being “endued with power. from.on high,” the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. |“And till you receive it, do not ‘undertake that ministry.”. Th d translated “tarry,” means literally “sit down”:)“Sit down, until: ube clothed with power fr from on on high. “| This is exceedingly solemn. If our Lord would not permit the men whom ‘He Himself had chosen and ordained for this work to undertake that work until they had received a definite enduement of power from on high for that service, namely, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, what is it for ordinary mortals like you or me to undertake that service until we are thus baptized by the Holy Spirit and ioe it? It is the most daring presumption. One of the gravest mistakes that the Church of Jesus Christ is making today is in the way in which we set men

te apart for the ministry of the Gospel. We take a man who is “hopefully pious,” send him for four years to a college, then three or four years to a theological seminary, and then, if he has succeeded in coming out of these insituation with a fair modicum of faith left, we say, “You are now fitted to undertake the ministry,” and we lay our hands upon him and set him apart for this solemn work. But is he prepared? He certainly is not, if that is all he has. It would be a great thing if to every candidate for the ministry, ees shinee him, we should put to him the question :“€ ed wi

But this is not all; nor, Pprolern as it is, is it the most solemn part. Turn in your Bibles to Acts 10:38: “God 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; for God was with Him.” To what definite experience does this refer in the life of our Lord as recorded in the Gospels? Turn to the Gospel of Luke, the third chapter, twenty-first and twenty-second verses, and you will get your answer: “Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also having been baptized, and pra and the Hol escended in a, bodily. on him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my eloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.” Now turn to the next chapter, the fourth, and the first verse, — nothing intervening but the genealogy of His mother: “And Jesus, ull of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.” Now turn to the fourteenth and following verses, the story of

His temptation being all that intervenes, and read again: “And Jesus returned.in, the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and fame went out concerning Him through all the region round about, and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and He entered, as His custom was, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read, And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And He opened the book and.

tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim. to the captives, and pogo’ of s Se to the blind, ‘to. ‘set

Lae fetta &

Ms roclaim the acce ptable:

pode to the attendant, and sat down: and the oe of all in the synagogue were fastened on Him.”

From these verses we learn that it was at the Jordan that our Lord was endued with power from on high, that He was ba ptized with the Holy Spirit, and after that, and

not till after that, He began. His. publ lic: “ministry, And who a our Lord? He was

“The only begotten. ono 2y He wagtiodanantestein-the desh, He was xery Godot very God” He had been supernaturally.

onceived by the power of the Ho pirit, but He was at the same time man, and as a man setting an example to ‘you and me to follow in His steps, He never undertook it he public ministry, for which He came into this world, until He had been d efinitely. endued with power from on high.”y Now listen: If our Lord Jesus, though He had ‘been supernaturally conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, though He was the Word of God made flesh. though He “was God,” (Jno. 1:1), though in Him “dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Clos. 2:9), did not permit Himself to undertake His public ministry until He was definitely “endued with power from on high,” what is it for ordinary mortals, such as you and IJ are, to undertake service for Him until we also are thus endued and know it? To ME IT APPEARS LIKE THE MOST DARING PRESUMPTION; yes, something even beyond that. In view of what the Lord required of His apostles, and still more in view of what He required of Himself, I dare not undertake service for Him until I, too, have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and know it. But even that is not all. If you will turn to Acts 8: 12-17, you will find that the apostles, when they came o a new church that had just been gathered, the very ‘first thing they always saw to was that all the members of this new church “might receive the Holy Spirit.” And if you will turn to Acts 19: 1-6, you will find that the Apostle Paul, when he came to a community where there was a young church, and where he discovered something about it that was not satisfactory, the first thing that he

inquired into was, whether they had definitely “received y of Christian service. We are told of the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:4 that he was definitely “filled with the Holy Spirit” on the day of Pentecost. But in Acts 4:8 we are also told that “Peter” was again,“filled. with. the... Holy Spirit.” ) The tense of the verb used in the original (that is, in the Greek), shows conclusively that the filling spoken of here was anew, filling that.took place right then and there. But we are again told in Acts 4: 31 that

‘ When..they had prayed,.the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together’, and.they were all filled with tie Holy Spirit, and they spake the Word of God with “boldness.”

Here again the tense of the verb used in the original, that is, in the Greek, shows conclusively that it was a filling that took place right then and there. And we are definitely told that Peter was one of the “all” who were then and there filled with the Holy Spirit.

So here are three separate occasions on which Peter was “filled with t the Holy. Spirit,” So then it is as clear as day “that one needs repeated fillings with the Holy

Spirit, no matter how definitely and wonderfully he may jj, have been pa ie with the Holy Spirit in the past.

Christian service. I am often asked if I I have acnoer me “The Second Blessing.” I certainly have,

—and the third and the fourth and the fifth and the three hundredth and the three hundred and fortieth, and I am looking for the three hundred and forty-first today. One of the commonest mistakes today, and one of the gravest, is that many people are trying to work today in the power of some baptism with the Spirit that they received a year ago, or two years ago, or five years ago, or ten years ago, as the case may be. Don’t make that mistake. However definitely you may have been “baptized with the Holy ame in the past ok need

A — many years ago, when I wa the International Convention of Ges ee. we held a meeting in the city of Detroit. I think it was our third annual gathering. I had a friend who had been led out into an experience of the Holy Spirit’s infilling that he had never had before through a well-known teacher in this country. He asked that I put this teacher on the program of the Detroit Convention. This I did. But to my dismay, when I reached Detroit I found that he was circulating a paper of his in which he took the ground that when one was once baptized with the Holy Spirit that ended it; there was nothing more to seek. When he himself came to speak, his utterances were utterly without ypower. He himself ost manifestly needed a new fillin

with the Holy Spirit. Ay

During the World’s Fair in Chicago, in 1893, Mr. oody brought together, in Chicago, some of the most renowned and most able Bible teachers and Gospel preachers from all parts of the world. He said: “For years I have been going to the world; now the world is coming to me, and I am going to see that they get the Gospel through the best preachers in their different languages that I can secure.” He brought famous men from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Russia and other lands. Among others, he brought a man who had been wonderfully used in his own country. He took this man first to Northfield, and then brought him on to Chicago. When he was giving his first lecture iv the lecture-room of the Bible Institute in Chicago, Mr.

Moody said to me: “I want you to hear this man and give me your opinion of him.” So when the crowd had gathered we slipped into a back seat where we would not be seen. After listening for a while, Mr. Moody slipped out and beckoned me to follow. We went up to his office and sat down. Mr. Moody turned to me and said: “What do you think of him?” I replied: “I have nothing I wish to say.” ‘ Well,” he said, “I have something I wish to say: I would give every penny it cost me to bring him to this country if he were back home again. He has lost his unction!”

Oh, it is an awful thing to lose one’s unction! Mr. Moody used to say that he would rather die than to lose the power of the Holy Spirit in his work. But we certainly shall lose our unction unless we seek a new filling with the Spirit for each new emergency of Christian service,

I am often asked: “Would you call these new fillings with the Holy Spirit ‘fresh baptisms with the Holy Spirit?’ No, I would not. I would not for two rea~ sons: First of all, because there is something initiatory in the very thought conveyed by the word “baptism:” and second, because these new fillings are never called “baptisms” in the Bible, and it is always wise to hold fast to Bible terminology. In the Bible the expression “baptized with the Holy Spirit” is always limited to the first experience of the individual. But I would much rather that people would speak of “fresh baptisms with the Holy Spirit” because they recognized that one cannot go in the power of a baptism with the Holy Spirit received some time before, but needs a new filling for each new

emergency of Christian service, than that they be such sticklers for exact terminology that they lose sight of the imperative need of new. fillings with the Spirit for each

new emergency of Christian service. In other words, I would rather have the right thing by the wrong name than the wrong thing by the right name,

SPIRIT? We come now to the very practical and immeasurably important question: Who can have the Baptism with the Holy Spirit? Some years ago I was speaking at a convention in the state of Kansas, and a woman who was one of the leaders in church work in that state and who was also in a high position in the educational work of the state, sent me a little note in which she said: = You have, spoken about the necessity of be ’ Holy Spirit.) Will you kindly tell me who can abe. thus baptized? The church to which I belong teaches that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was confined to the days of the apostles.” Well, who can be baptized with the Holy Spirit? We are not left to speculate about that. God Himself answers the question in the plainest possible words, Turn in your Bibles to Acts 2: 39, and you will get God’s own answer to this all important question: e promise is unto you,.and.to your children, an: that are afar off, even.as many as the. Lord..our

AINE th MBS ESS

a What is the ‘ “promise.” to which Peter refers in this verse? Doubtless many of you know that there are two differing interpretations of this verse. One saint is that “the,promise.”..of..this verse is the promise salvation.and that the verse therefore sets forth the — nant privilege of believers to have their children saved. Now, no one believes in the Covenant privilege of believers to have their children saved more firmly than I do. but is that the meaning of this verse?

The other interpretation is that “the promise”’ of this verse is the promise of the “gift of,” (or, to put it in other words, “th tism with”) the Holy Spirit.” Which of these two interpretations is correct?

There are two laws of interpretation universally accepted by all rational, or really intelligent, interpreters of the Word. The first law is called “the law of the usus loquendi.” ‘The other law is “the law of context.”

The law of the usus loquendi (or, to use plain English, which is far better than Latin, “the law of usage’’), is that when you find a word or phrase in the Bible and you wish to know exactly what it means, the thing to do is not to run for a dictionary to get the definition of the word or phrase, for the dictionary was not written by Bible scholars. The thing to do is to take your concordance and look up every place in the Bible where that word or phrase is used and interpret its meaning by its usage. The exact meaning of words is seldom determined by etymology; it is determined by usage.

Now, what is the usage of this phrase, “the promise,” in the Bible, especially what is the usage in this particular book in the Bible in which this verse is found? ‘Turn back to Acts 1:4 and 5: “He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of..the., Father, which, said He, ye heard from me: for John i indeed baptized with water: but ye shall the rel oly Spirit not many days hen ce,” “What “the promsets ’ is here se are not left to Ecce: We are told that

“the promise” is “the promise” of being “baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Now turn to Acts 2:33: “Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted and having received

He hath

poured forth this which ye see and hear.” Here again we are told that “the promise of the Father” is “the promise of the Holy Spirit” which had just been poured forth on that very day when every one of the apostolic company had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. In other words the meaning of the expression is precisely the same here as it was in the first chapter. Now, six verses further down we come to the verse we are now studying. Can anyone tell me any reasonable rule of interpretation by which this peculiar expression can mean one thing in Acts 1:4 and 5, precisely the same thing in the next place where it occurs, that is, Acts 2:33, and something entirely different in the next place where it occurs, only six verses further down? Beyond any ah lie aul question, the phrase.: nm Acts 2:39, refers to 5 i the..-Holy it, Lhe law of the usus Lguense even if it stood alone, would settle the question, but it does not stand alone.

Let us now apply the law of context. The law of context is this: That when you find a passage of Scripture of which there are two or more possible interpretations and you wish to know which one of the several different interpretations is the correct interpretation, you should look at the passage in its context, that is, in the light of what goes before it and in the light of what comes after it. Many a passage in the Bible, if it stood alone, might mean one, two, three, four or even more things. But standing where it does, it can mean but one of the two or more things.

Now let us apply the law of context here. Let us read what goes immediately before — vs. 38: “Peter said unto them, Repent ye and be baptized, every one of you, in the j name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins:; gift of the Hol Spirit. ‘Fo ou is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him,” Here Peter in the preceding verse declares exactly what the promise is to which he refers. He says: 1 Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you he promise, and to your children, and to all that are [unto 4

“gift of” (or, to use the synonymous phrase, “the Spirit.” The two laws there-

promise eof Acts 2: 6 ‘is
with, the Hoi

‘baptism wit

“settled fact: “For to you is the promise,’ — that is, to the people whom he was addressing, who were for the most part Jews. Thus far there is nothing in it for you or me, for we were not there, and we are not Jews. But Peter did not stop there: “And to your children,” that is, to the next generation of Jews, or, if you will, to all coming generations of Jews, and that does not take many of us in. But, thank God, Peter did not stop there, but added: “And to all that are afar off.” nes does take us

are the Gentiles. who were “once afar off,

now, made nigh by - blood of Christ” CGD cer re (But lest there be any doubt about it, Peter does not stop even there, but adds: “Even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him” (R. V.); that is the call not merely to service, but the call to salvation. We are thus here told in plain words, the meaning of which is unmistakable, that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is fo every child of God, in every age of the Church’s histor [Utes Barniat wir ome Howy Senin is 1 nierin ‘| RIGHT OF EVERY BELIEVER IN JESUS CHRIST. is true that not every believer has claimed his brithright, but it

..is-his, promised byGod and provided by God, through a

icified risen and ascended Saviour, and if you have

Sons years ago we had for a month a Ministerial Institute in the Bible Institute of Chicago. Ministers were gathered there from very many different states of our Union, and for a month we studied the Word of God together. At the closing session of the Institute, I spoken the “Baptism with the Holy Spirit,” and emphasized it if we were to do acceptable service for God. At the close of the meeting a minister from the state of Texas came to me and said: “The church to which I belong teaches that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was only for the apostles. What do you think?” I replied: “I don’t care what the church to which you belong teaches, nor what the church to which I belong teaches; the only question with me is, he’? He said: “That fs right.” “Well,” I said, “take it and look at it,” and I handed him my Bible open at Acts 2: 39, and asked him to read. And he read: “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” I said: “Has He called you? Are you a saved man?” He replied: “I am.” “Then is the promise for you?” He replied: “It must be.” He claimed it. He went back to his pastorate in Texas, a f man. For years I received letters from him od was blessing him in his works

7a Fl.

It..is.for.you, too, if you will claim it and mee

conditions of receiving it.

Let me illustrate this point again: I was at one of the early Y. M. C. A. conventions of the Students of Southern Colleges and Universities, held at Knoxville, Tennessee, on the university grounds. ‘The meeting was presided over by Dr., a very prominent and highly honored and much loved rector of the Protestant Episcopal Church. I spoke on the closing Sunday morning upon the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. This Episcopal rector and I roomed in the same building, and on that hot July afternoon we drew our chairs up in front of the building for a talk together. He turned to me and said: “I was greatly interested in what you had to say this morning, and if your interpretation of Acts 2: 39 is correct you have gained your case. But I question your interpretation of Acts 2:39, Let us talk it over.” And we did. Some years later I was at the Y. M. C. A. Student Convention at Northfield, Massachusetts, and this Episcopal rector was also present. One Sunday afternoon I entered Stone Hall, where the meetings were held in those days, by the back door, just as this Episcopal rector was entering through the front door, and we met. As he saw me approaching, he hurried toward me with extended hand, and said: “You were right about Acts 2:39, at Knoxville; but I think I can tell you something better than that, I think I have now the right to say that I have been baptized with the Holy Spirit.” I thank God that I was right. Not because it was at all important that I should be right, but because the doctrine is such a glorious one. Oh, to be able to go round this globe and face audiences of thousands — Americans, English, Scotch, Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Russians, French, Swiss,

Hindus, Japanese, Chinese, and others, as I have done, and to be able to tell them all, with the absolute certainty that you have God’s own immutable word supporting you when you tell them, that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is for every one of them. What marvellous scenes I have seen, as believers in many lands have seen this truth and Jaimed for themselves the wondrous blessing of the Bap- ism.: irit,; yes, and what marvellous results Have followed i in many lands.

But this glorious truth has its solemn side. If each one of us may be — and beyond a question we may — baptized with the Holy Spirit, then there rests upon us the most solemn. obligation. to. be. thus baptized.) It is not merely a matter of privilege; it is If you and I pay the price of this blessing it will be ours andsguls,.will.be..won.to, Christ who will not be thus won if we do not pay the price and therefore do not obtain the blessing; and if we do not pay the price and therefore do not obtain the blessing, we shall be responsible before God for everyone that might have been saved who was not saved because we did not pay the price and therefore did not obtain the blessing.

Beloved brethren, I oftentimes tremble for myself and for others who are in the ministry. And by the ministry I do not mean merely the ministry as ordinarily defined, as including only ordained ministers. I use it in the broader sense applying to all believers, for we are all called to minister the Gospel in some way. It may not be by preaching; it may be in quiet, humble, personal work, I say I tremble for myself and for my brethren in the ministry. Why? Because we are preaching error? Oh, no, I do not mean that now. It is true there are many in these days who claim to be preaching the truth who are preaching in reality the most pernicious and destructive error, and I do tremble for them: I would rather take my chance before the bar of God as a bootlegger than to take my chance there as one who is called to preach the Gospel, but who, instead, was preaching error — damnable and destructive error. But that is not what I refer to now.

Do I mean that I tremble for those who are not preaching error, but are not preaching the truth? For you all know it is quite possible for a man never to preach a word of error and yet not preach the saving truth, There are many, many ministers nowadays from whose lips a heterodox word has never escaped, and yet they are not preaching the truth, They are preaching on all kinds of extraneous and unimportant questions. Take any daily paper that announces the subjects to be preached upon in any of our great cities, and your heart will certainly be heavy with sadness if you are at all thoughtful. In one of our American cities some time ago these three subjects were announced in the same newspaper by different prominent preachers in that city: “The Wit of an Irishman,” “The Football Match,” “My Mother-in-Law.” Horrible! Think of it! Standing in the sacred desk, the place of such marvellous opportunity and possibility of power for God, and preaching on subjects like that! Yes, I do tremble for these faithless and foolish shepherds,

But that is not what I mean now. What I mean is this: I tremble for those who are preaching the Gospel — preaching the Gospel in its simplicity, in its purity and in its fullness, but preaching it “with enticing words of man’s wisdom,” and not “i i iri

Oh, a man may preach the most sound and most able orthodoxy and preach his audience right into hell! The deadest thing on earth is

can 1 do this only insofar as we are e definitely baptized with the Holy Spirit and insofar as we are definitely,.falled... i wer..for each new emergency of Ciikeas: eerste I repeat again, if we pay the price of this blessing and are therefore baptized with the Holy Spirit and filled again a there will be souls won to Christ through our ministry, whether it be through the ministry of public preaching or the ministry of personal work, who will not be thus won if we do not pay the price and therefore do not obtain the blessing, and therefore if we do not pay the price of this blessing and consequently do not obtain it, we shall be responsible before God for every one who might have been saved but who was not saved because we did not pay the price and therefore did not obtain the blessing. We must we must be, MusT BE baptized with the Holy Spirtt. Tomorrow we shall take up the price of obtaining this

blessing. Or, to put it in other words, we shall take up the question of just what each one of us must do to make it sure that we shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit; and, if we have already been thus baptized with the Holy Spirit, how we may be filled again and again with Hisy

glorious presence and power.