The Holy Spirit
Jesus said, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). What was that power? Certainly not an increase of knowledge, numbers, money, social position, or organization. These are mere influences and important. They should all be used for Christ. But influences are not sufficient for the needs of the church. The word “influence” occurs only once in the Bible, and that in the question of Jehovah to the patriarch Job: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades?” (Job 38:31). “The sweet influences of the Pleiades” which bring the Spring with its bloom of flowers and song of birds are to be
1
g yOUNG CONVERT’S PROBLEMS
welcomed and prized, but for the most effective Christian service we need more than genial influences. The need of every young Christian is in the New Testament word “power” which has in it the omnipotence of God.
The power which came on the Day of Pentecost was God Himself in the person of the Holy The Holy Spirit, who” like a rushing
Spirit Personal mighty wind filled all the house where they were sitting,” and as “tongues of fire sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:2,3). Power is God at work. He uses the Word as a sword, and the Christian as an agent. Power, however, is not in the sword, but in the arm that wields it. Nor is it in the agent, but in the Master whose servant he is. God delegates power to no one. Jesus said, “Go ye and disciple all nations, and lo, I am with you” (Matt. 28: 19, 20). In other words, “I will go with you and do the work myself, provided you fulfil the conditions I impose. You are to pray, trust, preach, and live the truth, while you depend upon me for power.”
The redeemed in glory sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power” (Rev. 5:12), and every Christian, however weak in himself, has no right to give weakness in his service to Christ, for power is within the reach of all who believe. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit, the “Comforter,” the “Paraclete,” one who comes to our aid when we call, came to stay, and He has been with the church ever since. He is often grieved, and, like Jesus, unable to do mighty works because of our unbelief, but He is never absent.
The baptism of the Spirit is mentioned only in connection with Pentecost. Jesus said, “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy The Baptism Spirit not many days hence” the Spirit (Acts 1:5). And John said of Jesus, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matt. 3:11). The baptism at Pentecost seems to have been once for all, and the enduement of the Holy Spirit for service is our entering upon the fulness of this baptism. The Holy Spirit, like the mighty rushing wind of Pentecost, is to-day the atmosphere of the church in which we live and move and have our spiritual being. But every man appropriates the atmosphere in which he lives according to his lung capacity. If he has only one lung, he appropriates only half as much as the man with two lungs. The consumption of unbelief, self-seeking, or any other sin may so congest our capacity for receiving the Spirit that He can occupy only a part of our being.
The sun every day fills the world with its light, and yet I may draw the curtains and shut the light from every room in my house, or admit it only to one room. So the Spirit of God, whose presence is light filling the church, may be admitted to only one or two rooms of our being.
The power-house is built once for all, and the motorman on the trolley uses the power furnished by the company according to the capacity of the wire for transmitting and the machinery on his car for utilizing it. At Pentecost the coming of the Spirit was like the building of the power-house once for all. We have not to pray the Spirit out of heaven; He is with us all the time, but the measure of His power depends upon the wire of faith and consecration through which He may work the machinery of our lives and bring things to pass.
The city builds the reservoir once for all, but the supply of water for every house depends on the pipe which connects with the reservoir, and the water will do the people no good unless the channels are open through which it may flow into their houses. Pentecost was the building of the reservoir once for all. The Holy Spirit is to be ever with the church, but His power depends upon the channels of faith and faithfulness through which He flows into our lives.
All illustrations fail at some point, but it is clear that the Holy Spirit is the atmosphere in which we live, and abundant life is possible only when we let Him fill our being. The Holy Spirit is the sun always shining, but He will fill our souls only as we keep the windows open. The Holy Spirit is the dynamo which furnishes all the power we need through the wires of faith and consecration. The Holy Spirit is the reservoir from which we obtain constant supplies through the channels of faith and faithfulness. To drop all figures of speech and state a blessed fact, the Holy Spirit is God with us all the time, inviting us to work with Him in omnipotent power for the salvation of the lost and the upbuilding of the saved.
As soon as we receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, we ought at the same time to receive by faith the Holy Spirit for service.
But in most cases it is an experience after regen-Relation to the eration, and sometimes Christ-New Birth ians are brought by failure and humiliation to realize the need of the Sprit before they will receive Him for power in service, Charles G. Finney, D. L. Moody, Evan Roberts, R. A. Torrey, and many others, distinguished as soul-winners, passed from an experience of weakness to power with God and men by definitely receiving the Holy Spirit for service. This does not mean a “second blessing” which introduces one to an experience of “sinless perfection” and spiritual boasting. On the other hand, it means the beginning of a more rapid growth in grace, with such a realization of unworthiness and sinfulness as we never had before. The pure atmosphere to which we wholly commit ourselves cures the soul’s congestion of lungs and enables it to give to the Holy Spirit a larger place in its life. The light in the house leads us to lift the curtains that all the rooms may be illuminated and, as the light increases, the shoddiness of the furniture and even the dust motes in the air begin to be revealed, leading us to seek renovation and cleansing. The wires from the dynamo supply such power as to make easy what seemed before to be impossible, so that we cease to depend upon the handworked machinery in our church activities, while we seek to have all our organizations controlled by the Holy Spirit. The pipes from the reservoir bring such refreshing streams into our lives that we turn from all earthly cisterns, and commend only these life-giving waters.
The Spirit-filled life in the Christian’s normal condition, and we should be satisfied with nothing less than the best God has xhe Normal for us. In John 7: 38, 39 we Life read, “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit which they that believed on Him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.” In chapter four, verse fourteen, Jesus tells us that the water He gives becomes “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Now, a well is a fountain curbed in. There is no overflow. The life in us is living water springing up, but not overflowing. The Spirit-filled man, however, is a fountain of blessing to others. The well overflows its curb, and sends out refreshing and life-giving streams. This takes place only when Jesus Christ is glorified. “The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified,” and the Holy Spirit is always not yet given, when Jesus has not been glorified. He testifies of Jesus; He takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. None of those, therefore, who take from Christ the glory of His deity, or refuse to enthrone Him in their lives, need expect the fulness and power of the Holy Spirit. Christ must be glorified, if we would have the Spirit of power in service.