The Holy Spirit of Promise
The Holy Spirit was promised through the prophets. "Until the spirit be
poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and
the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in
the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the
work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness
quietness and assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in a
peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting
places."--Isa. 32:15-18.
"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give
them a heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine
ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be
their God."--Ezek. 11:19, 20. "For I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as
among the grass, as willows by the water courses."--Isa. 44:3, 4.
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from
all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and
I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you
an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to
walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye
shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my
people, and I will be your God."--Ezek. 36:25-28.
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your
old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions: and
also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour
out my spirit."--Joel 2:28, 29.
=Promised through Christ.= "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father
upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high."--Luke 24:49. "But whosoever 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."--John 4:14. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he
of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet
glorified.)"--John 7:38, 39.
"If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;
even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you."--John 14:15-17, 20, 26. "But when the Comforter is come, whom
I will send you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."--John 15:26.
* * * * *
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go
away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if
I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because
they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and
ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is
judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you
into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He
shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto
you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he
shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you."--John 16:7-15. "John
truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence."--Acts 1:5.
A Fulfillment of This Promise
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost."--Acts 2:1-4.
A Testimony of Its Fulfillment
"But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall
come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.... This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear."--Acts
2:16-18, 32, 33.
To Whom Is This Promised?
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. 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."--Acts 2:38, 39.
"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."--Acts 5:32. "That the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."--Gal.
3:14.
"That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles,
ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles
might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost."--Rom. 15:16.
"But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."--2 Thess.
2:13.
In a previous chapter we have noticed that the Holy Ghost experience of
the apostles and all those of the early church was the same; and we see
definitely by the texts just quoted that it is the design of God that
all believers receive it. Also we have seen that this Holy Ghost
experience is a subsequent one to regeneration, and identical with
sanctification. Every young convert who has truly been regenerated, will
in due time find that something more needs to be done in his heart
before he can fully realize an experience that will correspond with the
fulfillment of the many exceeding great and precious promises of the
Holy Ghost.
The Scriptures clearly teach us that regeneration is a work of the Holy
Spirit. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body."--1 Cor.
12:13. This does not have reference to the Pentecostal baptism, but to
the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, inducting us into the body
of Christ, the church. This is very different from the baptism with the
Holy Ghost. In regeneration the Holy Ghost baptizes the believer into
Christ; in sanctification Christ baptizes the believer with the Holy
Ghost. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."--Matt.
3:11.
This latter is the sanctification and Pentecostal experience. Both are
spiritual experiences. When reading these wonderful promises by the
prophets, we can clearly distinguish the two works of grace foretold.
The birth of the Spirit (John 3:3-8), or that experience which inducts
us into Christ, must necessarily precede the experience of
sanctification. The Holy Ghost will never come into the temple to abide
until he has first gained possession of the same. The heart must first
be both justified and fully consecrated before the divine Guest can make
it his exclusive and permanent abode. This glorious grace of
sanctification does not detract from the marvelous work of
justification. Both have their import and place in God's wonderful
redemption plan, and stand out distinctly in many of the scriptures; and
yet we occasionally hear of some who say of this beautiful doctrine that
it is not taught in the word of God. Why such remarks are made is simply
because of a misconception of the glorious redemption plan--in some
instances it is owing to the perverted doctrines of men, while in others
it may be because of a perverted individual experience of justification.
To the willing and obedient heart, God will impart knowledge and
understanding of his sweet and glorious soul-rest.
Oh, let us praise and magnify the Lord for his wonderful grace that he
has so abundantly supplied through repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is so willing and ready to remove
from our hearts the guilt of all our sins and transgressions, and
remember them against us no more forever, and then bestow upon us this
blessed inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in
Christ Jesus! Would that every justified believer might be kept from all
the perverted doctrines of men, so that the heart could receive the
knowledge of the pure word of God and become instructed in the doctrine
of the Holy Ghost life. The promise of the Father which the resurrected
Christ said he would send upon his justified disciples was no more a
promise for them than for every justified believer throughout the gospel
dispensation. Why then should any of us come short of entering into this
blessed covenant of an entire consecration and receiving the fulfillment
of the promise? Thank God it is for us and our children and to all that
are afar off.
Until the believer reaches this grace, he is not in his normal spiritual
condition, and cannot live the Christ-life in a manner that is perfectly
satisfactory to his own heart. The great need is a clean heart and the
indwelling Holy Spirit, without which there is not the power within at
all times to withstand every evil attack of the enemy with perfect
victory. Jesus knew this need in his disciples. Their usefulness in the
world could not be satisfactory until they received the fulfillment of
the promise. They had been useful in his hands and under his personal
guidance in the ministry of the gospel of the kingdom. They had already
by his help been able to bear fruit, but it was the will of the Father
that they should bear more fruit, through the power of the Spirit-filled
life; hence they were not to depart from Jerusalem until they were
endued with power from on high. "Ye shall receive power after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you." How many of the dear people of God today
have never had their Pentecost! Some are out in the world preaching the
gospel with no deeper spiritual experience than that of the disciples
before they tarried at Jerusalem. Many have mistaken some natural
ability for the power of the Holy Ghost. Others have accepted the
doctrine of sanctification theoretically--made a formal consecration
and claimed the experience, but have never received the Holy Ghost.
Dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let us entreat you to tarry and do
not depart from your positive death bed consecration, until you are
endued with power from on high. It is the will of the Father that you
receive the Holy Spirit to possess your being--the consecrated
temple--and make your life from this moment a reproduction of the life
of Jesus. He is not here now as he was during his earthly ministry, but
the Father has designed that the Holy Spirit should dwell in the hearts
of consecrated men and women who shall go forth into the world and be
witnesses unto Jesus--representatives that will live the Christ-life in
this world, so that men may plainly see his character and fruits in us.
When Jesus ascended to the throne, he by no means intended that his
people should be left comfortless, or deprived of his presence; but
rather, he said, "It is expedient for you that I go away."
The "Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost," is the divine executive of
Jesus. He was the power and life in Jesus when here in his redemption
work, and when he ascended to his throne in heaven the Holy Ghost
descended to earth to carry on this glorious redemption work to the end
of the world. But he must have human instrumentality through which to
work. Where he can find a truly consecrated temple, there he makes his
abode, and taking full control of the entire being, performs the perfect
will of God through this instrumentality. This is why the apostles were
so much more useful after Pentecost than before. They were now fully
possessed by the Holy Ghost, and in, through faith in, the name of Jesus
were enabled to shake the world. Jesus has left his name here on earth.
Through it the Holy Spirit now effects this great redemption. He cannot
do this by himself. He cannot "reprove the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment," only as he can find consecrated hearts
on earth in which to abide. The Spirit-filled lives of the people are
the only factors that can be used in the hand of God to produce
apostolic results in these perilous days in which we live. This final
reformation was unquestionably begun by the power of the Holy Spirit,
and will never be completed by any other power. It is a spiritual work,
and only as the glorious doctrine of sanctification is taught and the
experience obtained and retained, will the church reach the apostolic
plane.