LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON,
OKLAHOMA
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CHAPTER III.
DOCTRINE OF THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST EXPLAINED AND ELUCIDATED.
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: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire. He
said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said
unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. THE preceding chapters have, we trust, opened the way for an exposition and elucidation of the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, as set forth in the New Testament. In attending to this we will first of all quote the various passages of Scripture in which this doctrine is clearly set forth, and then suggest the various lessons which they appear to teach. The
first passage to which we refer is 1. We learn that the gift of the Spirit was not received in but after conversion—“Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” 2. We are taught that in the judgment of inspired men, believers are not fully qualified for their sphere of Christian activity until this baptism is received. The men whom Paul met he distinctly recognized as Christians, but in want of the chief qualifications for Christian usefulness until they had been “endued with power from on high,” through this Divine Baptism. Nor
was this view peculiar to Paul. It was the view of the other apostles, as we may
learn from 3.
We learn from the passage before us, as well as from others, that when believers
do receive this Divine Baptism, they enter at once upon forms of
Christian activity and usefulness otherwise impossible to them. It was so with
the twelve individuals referred to, and with the apostles and their associates
at the Pentecost, and also with Apollos after he was instructed by Priscilla and
4.
We learn also that where the Holy Ghost is received such a change is wrought in
the subject, that he himself is distinctly conscious of it. This change is also,
with equal distinctness, seen by others. The transformation which took place in
the believers in The
change produced in the apostles and their associates at the Pentecost, was not
only manifest to the inhabitants of That the change wrought by the gift of the Spirit should be visible to others, as well as to believers, was foreshadowed in prophecy: “The Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.” 5. The gift of the Spirit does not ordinarily come to believers unsought or unexpected, but where and when they are seeking it and waiting for it. We have but one case recorded in the New Testament in which this blessing came when not definitely sought. This is the case presented above—the case in which the Gentiles first received this “unspeakable gift.” Here it was thus given for reasons that at once disappeared. To us, the great truth stands plainly revealed, that “the sealing and earnest of the Spirit” will not be given to us, but upon the condition that we seek it and wait for it, as the apostles and primitive Christians sought and waited for it. The
second passage to which we call attention is When a penitent believes in Christ, “he sets to his seal that God is true;” then God gives His Holy Spirit unto him to seal on his heart, the fact that he is “accepted in the Beloved,” and is brought into covenant relations with “the Father of lights.” Until this is done he has no witness from God that his sins are blotted out and that his name is written in Heaven. It would evince great presumption in us to call ourselves His renewed and adopted children, without the testimony and sealing of His Holy Spirit. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” A
third passage which we find on this subject is in The term “earnest” implies, in our language as well as in the original, two ideas—a part of the inheritance given in hand, and that as a pledge of an ultimate possession of the whole. The part received being the same in kind as the remainder, puts the recipient in possession of the same blessedness in kind which he is afterwards to receive in its fullness. This, then, is true of all who receive the “sealing and earnest of the Spirit in their hearts.” With them glory is begun below. Heaven itself has dawned upon their inner life. The
fourth passage to which we invite attention is The reader will notice the various stages of Christian experience here presented, and how each is preparatory to that which follows next in order, until the whole culminates in the soul being “filled with all the fulness of God.” It will also be observed that this fullness results primarily from one originating cause—the indwelling of the Spirit in our hearts. Let us now contemplate these great central facts of the spiritual life, in the order here presented. 1. When we “receive the Holy Ghost, after we have believed,” the first result is an expansion and accumulation of intellectual, moral, and spiritual power. Our faculties of apprehension and comprehension are greatly enlarged. In other words, we are “strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man.” We become “strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” We are able to think, to pray, to suffer, to submit, to do and to endure as would otherwise be impossible to us. 2. When our bodies thus become “the temples of the Holy Ghost,” and we are “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit,” Christ then “dwells in our hearts by faith,” and is “in us the hope of glory.” He and the Father “come to us and make their abode with us,” and then “truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” We thus enjoy “the fellowship of the Spirit,” and in this Divine fellowship we come to know and believe the love that God hath to us,” and by this means our “love is made perfect,” our characters take form after the Divine image, and we become “confirmed, settled, and strengthened;” that is, we become “rooted and grounded in love.” 3. When thus “walking in the light as God is in the light,” “beholding with open face the glory of the Lord,” and having “fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ,” we at length attain to “a comprehension of the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.” We, then, know by experience what our Saviour meant when He said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” 4. As a further result, all our powers and susceptibilities, and activities become pervaded and filled with “the light of God.” Our dwelling place is now in the center of an infinite fullness, where every want is met, where the “effect of righteousness is peace, and the fruit of righteousness is quietness and assurance forever,” and where “God is our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning are ended.” In other words, we are “filled with all the fulness of God.” 5. The inspired caution which follows must not be overlooked in this connection. When our thoughts, desires, and prayers turn towards God, we must never “limit the Holy One.” We must never suppose that the measure of grace, which He shall give, will be limited by what we “ask or think.” We are to bear in mind, on the other hand, that the measure of our real necessities, not as seen by ourselves, but as they lie out under the eye of God, is the limit with which He is able to fill us, and which He will confer when we “put our trust in Him.” “According to the power”—that is, by means of the power of the Spirit—“that worketh in us,” God is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” This is “the way of holiness,” along which all are advancing who “receive the Holy Ghost after they have believed,” and who do not “grieve” or “quench the Spirit,” but “walk in the Spirit.” In
addition to the above, there are various passages which speak of the power
of the Spirit demanding special notice. The Spirit, as imparted to Christ, is
called “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and
might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Jesus commanded
His disciples to “tarry in “Through the power of the Holy Ghost” we are “filled with all joy and peace in believing,” and “abound in hope.” Through the power of the Spirit the truth of God has an all-transforming influence over our whole moral and spiritual being and character. “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” The Spirit also has absolute control of all the elements of moral and spiritual power within us. He can purify our emotions and affections, quicken into immortal life and vigor our intellectual and executive activities, transform character and consolidate virtue, and thus render us “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” for all purposes of thought, action, and endurance. But more of this in another chapter. Let
us now turn our attention to the memorable utterance of our Saviour, found in 1. The Spirit, with all that shall follow His reception, is here promised absolutely to every believer to the end of time. “If any man thirst,” says Christ, in the verse preceding, “let him come unto Me, and drink.” “He that believeth on Me”—that is, every individual that shall believe “as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” No promise can be more universal. 2. The Spirit, as here promised, was given to no believer until after Jesus was glorified, and never at that time in conversion, but only and exclusively after he had believed to the saving of his soul. 3. Let us now think of the moral and spiritual state, “the everlasting consolations,” the assurances of hope, the immortal fellowships, and fullness of joy, represented by such language as this, “Rivers of living water.” “Whosoever,” says our Saviour again, “drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.” All that such language imports becomes real in the experience of every believer who “receives the Holy Ghost” after he has believed. On no other condition can such a form of life and blessedness become real in the experience of any individual. “But this He spake of the Spirit.” You may possess all this, reader, because you may “be filled with the Spirit,” and may “walk in the Spirit.” You must possess all this, or your Christian life, in its essential particulars, will be a melancholy failure. The
object for which the Spirit is given is also specified in the New
Testament. All who receive this baptism, we are taught (verse 13), “by one Spirit are baptized into one body,” and “made to drink into one Spirit.” All have not imparted to them the same gifts; but each receives, in connection with what is common to all, special gifts and influences, which adapt him to his particular place as “a member of the body of Christ.” The specific object of the entire chapter before us is to elucidate this one truth. The
spirit of prophecy which attends this baptism requires special attention.
The effect upon worldly minds of the spirit of prophecy in the Church is set forth in verses 23 and 24 of the same chapter: “If therefore the whole Church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.” This prophetic power, the power of utterance for the edification of the Church and the conversion of sinners, is in all such passages and in other Scriptures represented as the common privilege of all believers. Let any worldly person enter a circle whose hearts are full of the Holy Ghost, and he will at once recognize himself as encompassed with the light of God, and will be impressed with the fact that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto him. When any one speaks there will be an unction about his utterance, which all will recognize as Divine. Another portion of the New Testament, which has an important bearing upon our present inquiries, is the first baptism of the Spirit after “Jesus was glorified;” that which occurred at the Pentecost. A full account of this event is given in the first and second chapters of Acts. The following facts in this account deserve attention:— 1. The apostles and their associates, knowing well that the promise of the Holy Spirit was about to be fulfilled, made every possible arrangement to receive Him; such as completing the required number of apostles, and the preparation of their hearts for His glorious entrance. Having done this, they met together in perfect unity of prayer and expectation to receive “the promise of the Father.” “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Here is a revelation to us of the spiritual state in which we may expect this Divine baptism—viz., a state of total consecration to Christ, and a waiting and praying for it with all our hearts. 2.
We notice also the signs which immediately preceded the baptism itself. First of
all, the place was shaken as by a mighty rushing wind; then appeared the cloven
tongues; and lastly, the internal manifestation, when all in common “were
filled with the Holy Ghost.” We have, we believe, but three instances in which
the bestowment of this blessing was preceded by external manifestations—the
anointing of Christ, the case before us, and the one after the release of Peter
and John, recorded in 3. We notice, again, the special and the common effects of this baptism—the speaking with tongues and prophesying, or the utterance of Divine truth under Divine influence. The former was a miraculous power granted to the few; the latter, a special gift granted to all in common. Few spake with tongues; all uttered “the wonderful works of God,” and “spoke the Word of God with boldness.” 4.
We notice, finally, in this connection, the universality of “the
promise of the Spirit.” This is manifest in the condition on which this gift
of God was promised to those addressed by Peter on this occasion. One
and only one other aspect of this great theme demands our notice in this
connection; we refer to the doctrine of the Spirit as an abiding presence
in the Church, and in all the membership of the same. On this subject the
teachings of our Saviour are very specific. The
visible presence of Christ with His disciples was temporary: that of the Spirit
was to be perpetual: and the blessings received through the presence of the
Spirit were to be much greater than those received through the personal presence
of Christ. Such is the doctrine of the Spirit, as presented in the Scriptures of truth. Let us now attend to certain general suggestions tending to elucidate still further this great subject. We will consider:—
I. THE NATURE OF THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT.
1. The Spirit, as the crowning glory and promise of the New Dispensation, is not, although supernatural, any form of miraculous power. As a miracle-working power, He had been in the Church ever since the fall, and had been imparted as such to the disciples prior to the death of Christ; yet as promised by our Saviour, and foretold by the prophets, He was not given until after “Christ was glorified.” The baptism at the Pentecost was the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise. 2. The Spirit sustains one relation to the world and quite another to the Church. To the former He was a convicting and converting power; to the latter He is an all-illuminating, all sanctifying, and all-strengthening presence, through whom we are continuously transformed into the Divine image “from glory to glory,” brought into “fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ,” have a continuous earnest of eternal fruition, and are “filled with all the fulness of God.” 3.
The promise of the Spirit does not pertain merely to the apostles, the 4. While all who believe become thereby entitled to this promise, its fulfillment is to be sought by faith after we have believed in Jesus; just as pardon is sought in conversion. The promise is as absolute in one case as in the other. There is nothing which God so desires to bestow upon sinners as pardon, and with it eternal life. Neither is there any gift He is more willing to bestow upon believers than this Divine Baptism. Here all who ask receive, and all who seek find. Nothing but unbelief can prevent pardon; and nothing but a want of faith in the promise of God can prevent an “enduement of power from on high.” 5. There is no natural, or intellectual, or educational, or moral, or ecclesiastical gift which can be a substitute for this. It is the all-essential and absolutely supreme gift of God in this dispensation. As the sun in the solar system, and life in the human body are the highest good, and nothing can supersede them; so this baptism is the noblest blessing of Christianity, and no other can fill its place.
II. SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF THIS BAPTISM.
In
reference to the effects of this baptism, we would remark in general, that permanence
and power are the leading characteristics. Without this, feebleness
characterizes the strongest among us; with it, “he that is feeble among us is
as David, and the house of David, as the Lord, as the angel of the Lord before
him.” In the former state, “our souls can neither fly nor go;” in the
latter, “we mount up on wings as eagles, we run and are not weary, and walk
and are not faint.” In the former state “we walk in darkness,” in the
latter “God is our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning are
ended.” In the former state we are weary, “tossed with tempests, and not
comforted;” in the latter, “our peace is as a river, and our righteousness
as the waves of the sea.” In the former state doubts and fears prevail, in the
latter we walk in the cloudless sunlight of “the full assurance of hope.” In
the one state we groan and sigh, and “weep for sorrow of heart,” in the
other “we sing for joy of heart,” returning and coming “to To be more particular, we remark—1. In this state all our natural powers are quickened and developed into unwonted activity and energy. When in the presence of great minds, great thoughts, deep emotions, and vast energies of action, all our mental powers take on forms of activity otherwise impossible to us. What, then, must be the effect upon our mental faculties when they are all brought consciously under the influence of the infinite and eternal mind, and move and act under the power of God’s thoughts, emotions, and activities? These statements are all sustained by universal observation and experience. Whenever anyone receives this baptism, a radical change is immediately observed in the forms which his actions assume. Thought is expanded, emotion deepened, and activity energized as never before. 2. Especially is there an increase of moral and spiritual power to endure and accomplish all things according to the Divine will. Without this baptism the mind remains in servitude to the natural propensities, faints under chastisements, is overcome when tempted, and rendered despondent through broken resolutions. Under this baptism we have a sovereign control over our spirit, we endure when tried, overcome when tempted, and when weak in ourselves find everlasting strength in God. Power
with God and with men is an invariable result of this anointing. After Luther
received it, his enemies were accustomed to say that he could obtain anything
from God for which he asked. After Knox received it, Mary Queen of Scots was
accustomed to say that she feared the prayers of that one man more than she did
the fleets and armies of 3.
Soul-transforming apprehensions of truth is another marked result of this
baptism. Void of this anointing, the Bible, in its spiritual teachings, seems to
be a sealed book, or a dead letter. With it, every truth has an all-vitalizing
power to quicken and enlarge thought, to deepen spiritual emotion, to quicken
the mental faculties, and to transform the whole moral and spiritual being and
character. We walk in the light of God, which, shining upon the sacred page,
gives to its truth a cleansing, illuminating, elevating, and energizing effect
upon our souls. We realize the force of what Paul teaches as the result of
receiving the Spirit in 4. Absolute assurance of hope is another equally marked result of this baptism. This assurance is represented by such forms of expression as these: “We know that we are of God,” “we know that we have passed from death unto life,” “we know in whom we have believed,” and “truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” “Now we have received, not the spirit which is of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God.” After the believer has received the witness of the Spirit, he can no more doubt his adoption than he can doubt his own being. There is nothing of which he does or can enjoy a more absolute assurance. 5. Another result of this baptism is conscious “fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Before the believer has received the Holy Ghost, Christ is to his apprehension far off in Heaven, and God is at an infinite remove. After this baptism, the soul becomes a temple of the Triune Deity. God then “walks in us and dwells in us.” The Father and the Son “come to us and make their abode with us,” and we are thus “filled with all the fulness of God.” Christ is in us the hope of glory, and dwells in our hearts by faith. In prayer, we speak to Him as a personal presence, and inwardly “see His face.” God “shines in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We know then, and only then, what Christ means when He says, “I will come to you,” “I will manifest Myself to him,” and “I will come unto him and sup with him, and he with Me,” and “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” 6. We mention as another result, deep and permanent spiritual blessedness. This blessedness is set forth by such Divine expressions as “joy in God,” “joy in tribulation,” “rejoice evermore,” “pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake,” “everlasting consolations and good hope through grace,” joy unspeakable, and full of glory,” “the peace of God, which passeth understanding, keeps our minds and hearts through Christ Jesus,” peace as a river, and righteousness as the waves of the sea,” and “the Lord shall be their everlasting light, and the days of their mourning shall be ended.” In short, when we have received the Holy Ghost after we have believed, our interior life will fully correspond with Christian experience, as foreseen by the ancient prophets and as described in the New Testament. 7. Christian unity and love is another result which will follow this baptism. We shall “have fellowship” not only “with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ,” but also “one with another;” and the prayer of the Saviour in behalf of His people will be fully answered: “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me;” “I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” It is vain to look for such a condition of unity and concord as here prayed for only as the glorious fruits of a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Any other spirit than this will produce division and strife; but this running through every member will bring the whole as a body to the Head, fitly joined together and compacted, so that there shall be no schism in the body.
III.
CONDITIONS ON WHICH THIS BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED.
In the expositions above given, the conditions on which this Divine baptism may be obtained have been rendered so plain, that only a few particulars need be specified under this division of our subject. It may be stated as a general principle of the Divine administration, and especially in connection with the gift of the Spirit, that no such blessing is conferred until its value is appreciated, until there is faith in the provisions and promises of grace in respect to it, and until it is specifically sought as a supreme good. What, then, are the conditions on which we may receive this all-owning gift of Divine grace? They are, among others, the following:— 1.
It must be clearly separated in thought from all miraculous endowments, and from
that form of Divine influence which issues in conversion and justification. What
if the disciples, when told to “tarry in So with us at the present time. God has so clearly distinguished and separated this from all other gifts of grace and forms of Divine manifestation that, until we have distinctly recognized and credited what He has revealed upon the subject, we are not prepared to receive the blessing, and have no reason to expect it. 2. We must distinctly recognize ourselves, on account of our having exercised “repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,” as formally entitled to plead “the promise of the Spirit,” with the absolute certainty of receiving it. This is the distinctly revealed birthright of every believer. 3.
In a state of supreme consecration to Christ, we must plead this promise before
God, and watch for it and wait for it, as the disciples did at 4.
If as churches or as a body of believers we seek this baptism of the Holy Ghost,
we must each meet the conditions above-named, so that we may appear before God
for this blessing as the apostles and their associates—viz., “all continue
with one accord in prayer and supplication.” “And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Thus must we
wait, pray, supplicate, and believe until the promise of the Father fall upon us
as upon them at the beginning. And thus waiting, it will not be “many days”
ere the Heavenly Gift come down, and we shall all be “filled with the Holy
Ghost.”
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