_SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM THE NEW BIRTH._
This being "filled with the Spirit" is a definite blessing, quite distinct
from being "born of the Spirit." It is objected by some that every
Christian has the Spirit; quite true, for "if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. viii. 9); and "no man can say Jesus
is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. xii. 3); but to "have the Spirit"
and to be "filled with the Spirit" are two different things. "Egypt always
has the Nile," as some one has said, "but Egypt waits every year for its
overflow;" having the Nile is one thing, but having the Nile overflowing
is quite another. Now it is the Nile's overflow that is Egypt's salvation,
and to overflow it must first be filled. So it is the Christian's overflow
that is the world's salvation, and in order to the overflow there must
first be the filling.
As far as God is concerned, there is no reason why this filling should
not take place at the hour of conversion, of the new birth. See the case
of Cornelius and his friends, in Acts x. 44-48. They believed, were
saved, "received the Holy Ghost," and were baptized with water the same
day. But it were a fatal blunder to assert that _all_ men on believing
received the Holy Ghost in a similar manner, or were thus filled with the
Spirit. Most certainly in Bible times it was not so.
_1. Take the case of the Apostles themselves._
In Acts ii. 4 we read, "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit," all
in the upper room, men and women, including the twelve apostles. Now
these men had the Spirit before. When Christ called them to follow Him,
when they were converted, they received the Spirit. After His
resurrection, but before His ascension, Christ breathed on them and said,
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John xx. 22), and of course they did
"receive" the Spirit then; but it is never said of them that they were
"filled with the Holy Spirit" till that morning in the upper room, for
the simple reason that it _could_ not be said of them, or "the Spirit was
not yet given" (John vii. 39). Yet these men were Christians before that
morning.
_2. Take the case of the Samaritans._
In Acts viii. 5-13 we find that under the preaching of Philip the
evangelist there was a work of grace in the city of Samaria, the people
believed and were baptized. These people, then, were Christians, but they
were not "filled with the Spirit" till Peter and John came down and
prayed for them, thus perfecting the work Philip had been doing (Acts
viii. 15-17).
_3. Take the case of Paul himself._
Saul was converted when the omnipotent, omnipresent Christ, standing as
Picket-guard for that little church at Damascus, unhorsed him, and took
him prisoner on the Damascus road. "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
That question sounds like conversion, surely. For three days he lay in
darkness in Damascus, a surrendered, believing man, and therefore a
Christian man; but it was not till Ananias came to him that he was
"filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ix. 17). And who was this Ananias
through whom this man Saul, destined to prove himself the truest, bravest,
grandest servant the Lord Jesus ever had--through whom even Saul received
the greatest of the New Testament blessings? He was an obscure obedient
believer, of whom we know nothing else than that he did this service for
Saul. Here is the ministry of the saints. So it may be to-day, some big
Paul may be blessed through the ministry of some little Ananias.
_4. Take the case of the Ephesians in Acts xix. 1-6._
Here were twelve men who were disciples, they had been believers for some
time when Paul found them; in other words, they were saved, they were
Christians. But Paul's first question to them was, "Have ye received the
Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Plainly showing that Paul thought it
possible for them to have been believers and yet _not_ to have received
the Holy Ghost. Indeed, in this case, what Paul deemed a possibility
turned out to be a fact; they had _not yet_ "received" the Spirit. Of
course, in a _certain_ sense, they had the Spirit; it was by the Spirit
they had believed, and if they had not the Spirit of Christ, they were
none of His; but for all that, they had not yet "received" the Spirit in
the Pentecostal sense of the word, in the sense in which Paul meant it.
They had not yet come to _their_ Pentecost. In the R. V., Paul's question
is rendered, "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" Proving
(1) that it is possible to "receive" the Holy Ghost at the moment of
believing, and (2) that it is possible to believe without "receiving," as
has already been pointed out from the rendering of the A.V. After Paul
had instructed them more fully in the word and way of the Lord, we read
that "the Holy Ghost came on them." From this we gather that these men of
Ephesus obtained a blessing subsequent to their conversion, spoken of
here as "receiving" the Holy Ghost, as the Holy Ghost "coming" on them.
This is in strict accord with what Paul himself says of this event when
writing to the Ephesians in Eph. i. 13, "After that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." First they "believed," and
then, some time after "believing," they were "sealed," they "received,"
they were "filled." From these four cases--(1) Apostles, (2) Samaritans,
(3) Saul, (4) Ephesians--we conclude that in New Testament times men
actually lived as Christians, were saved, converted men, and yet knew
nothing of the "Filling" with the Spirit--this knowledge, this blessing
coming to them some time after their being born again. Yet this is the
very thing some to-day deny! Whom are we to believe? These objectors or
the Sacred Record? The Divine Word declares it, and there is then no room
or need for argument. So we affirm that it is equally possible for
believers, for saved, converted men, to live in our own time, as well as
in Bible times, without the "Fullness;" nay more, it is possible for them
to live for years, then die and go home to Heaven to be there for ever
with the Lord, and to have known nothing on earth of what it was to be
"filled with the Spirit." But what a loss they have suffered! Eternal,
irreparable loss! So we conclude it is abundantly plain from Scripture,
that for the regenerate soul there is in Christ another blessing over and
above the being born of the Spirit, spoken of as "the Fullness of the
Spirit." "I am amazed at a man like you going to these Conventions," said
a man to his minister once. "What new thing can these Convention speakers
tell you? it is all in the New Testament." "Yes," he replied, "that's the
trouble; and we have left these things in the New Testament; whereas we
want to get them out of the New Testament; and into our hearts and lives."
In Jesus Christ, God's Treasury, our share of Pentecost's blessing has
been deposited for each of us by our Father God. Have we claimed and
received our share? Not likely, if we are not aware that there _is_ such
a blessing for us; but once we recognize the fact that it is there, we
surely will not rest till we have made it our own. The Scottish bankers
have published the fact that they have lying in their vaults a sum of
L40,000,000 in unclaimed deposits. Some of those who owned a share of
this money may have died in the workhouse; some of them may be living to
this moment in direst need, and they might have their money for the
claiming; but they do not know that it is theirs. What vast unclaimed
deposits are lying in God's Treasury, Christ! Some of His people have
died spiritually poor; some are living to-day in spiritual penury, a
hand-to-mouth existence, with such "untrackable riches" lying "at call,"
at deposit in their name. What have we done with _our_ deposit? We are
responsible for its use and disuse. Remember! the reckoning day is coming
(Matt. xxv. 19).