"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you."
"Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of
this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?"
asks Paul. And then he declares: "After that in the wisdom of God
the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."
What kind of preaching is this? He does not say, "foolish
preaching," but the foolishness of such a way as that of
preaching. Certainly, it is not the moral essay, or the
intellectual, or semi-intellectual, kind of preaching that is
most generally heard throughout the world to-day, that is to save
men; for thousands of such sermons move and convert no one: nor
is it a mere noisy declamation called a sermon--noisy because
empty of all earnest thought and true feeling; but it must be the
kind of which Peter speaks when he writes of "them that preached
the Gospel ... with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven" (1
Peter i. 12).
No man is equipped to rightly preach the Gospel, and undertake
the spiritual oversight and instruction of souls, till he has
been anointed with the Holy Ghost.
The disciples had been led to Jesus by John the Baptist, whose
mighty preaching laid a deep and broad foundation for their
spiritual education, and then for three years they had listened
to both the public and private teachings of Jesus; they had been
"eye-witnesses of His glory," of His life and death and
resurrection, and yet He commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem,
and wait for the Holy Spirit. He was to fit them for their
ministry. And if they, trained and taught by the Master Himself,
had need of the Holy Spirit to enable them to preach and testify
with wisdom and power, how much more do you and I need His
presence!
Without Him they could do nothing. With Him they were invincible,
and could continue the work of Jesus. The mighty energy of His
working is seen in the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost.
The sermon itself does not seem to have been very remarkable;
indeed, it is principally composed of testimony backed up and
fortified by Scripture quotations, followed by exhortation, just as
are the sermons that are most effective to-day in the immediate
conversion and sanctification of men. "True preaching," said Horace
Bushnell, "is a testimony."
Peter's Scripture quotations were apt, fitting the occasion and
the people to whom they were addressed. The testimony was bold
and joyous, the rushing outflow of a warm, fresh throbbing
experience; and the exhortation was burning, uncompromising in
its demands, and yet tender and full of sympathy and love. But a
Divine Presence was at work in that vast, mocking, wondering
throng, and it was He who made Peter's simple words search like
fire, and carry such overwhelming conviction to the hearts of the
people.
And it is still so that whenever and wherever a man preaches
"with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven," there will be
conviction.
Under Peter's sermon "they were pricked in their hearts." The
truth pierced them as a sword until they said, "What shall we
do?" They had been doubting and mocking a short time before, but
now they were earnestly inquiring the way to be saved.
The speech may be without polish, the manner uncouth, and the
matter simple and plain; but conviction will surely follow any
preaching in the burning love and power and contagious joy of the
Holy Spirit.
A few years ago a poor black boy in Africa, who had been stolen
for a slave, and most cruelly treated, heard a missionary talking
of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and his heart hungered and
thirsted for Him. In a strange manner he worked his way to New
York to find out more about the Holy Spirit, getting the captain
of the ship and several of the crew converted on the way. The
brother in New York to whom he came took him to a meeting the
first night he was in the city, and left him there, while he went
to fulfil another engagement. When he returned at a late hour, he
found a crowd of men at the penitent-form, led there by the
simple words of this poor black fellow. He took him to his
Sunday-school, and put him up to speak, while he attended to some
other matters. When he turned from these affairs that had
occupied his attention for only a little while, he found the
penitent-form full of teachers and scholars, weeping before the
Lord. What the black boy had said he did not know; but he was
bowed with wonder and filled with joy, for it was the power of
the Holy Spirit.
Men used to fall as though cut down in battle under the preaching
of Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, and others. And while there may
not be the same physical manifestation at all times, there will
surely be the same opening of eyes to spiritual things, breaking
of hearts, and piercing of consciences. The Spirit under the
preaching of a man filled with the Holy Ghost will often come
upon a congregation like a wind, and heads will droop, eyes will
brim with tears, and hearts will break under His convicting
power. I remember a proud young woman who had been mercilessly
criticising us for several nights smitten in this way. She was
smiling when suddenly the Holy Spirit winged a word to her heart,
and instantly her countenance changed, her head drooped, and for
an hour or more she sobbed and struggled while her proud heart
broke, and she found her way with true repentance and faith to
the feet of Jesus, and her Heavenly Father's favour. How often
have we seen such sights as this under the preaching of The
General! And it ought to be a common sight under the preaching of
all servants of God, for what are we sent for but to convict men
of their sin and their need, and by the power of the Spirit to
lead them to the Saviour?
And not only will there be conviction under such preaching, but
generally, if not always, there will be conversion and sanctification.
Three thousand people accepted Christ under Peter's Pentecostal
sermon, and later five thousand were converted, and a multitude
of the priests were obedient to the faith. And it was so under
the preaching of Philip in Samaria, of Peter in Lydda and Saron
and in Caesarea, and of Paul in Ephesus and other cities.
To be sure, the preaching of Stephen in its immediate effect only
resulted in enraging his hearers until they stoned him to death;
but it is highly probable that the ultimate result was the
conversion of Paul, who kept the clothes of those who stoned him,
and through Paul the evangelisation of the Gentiles.
One of the greatest of American evangelists sought with agonising
prayers and tears the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and received
it; and then he said he preached the same sermons; but where
before it had been as one beating the air, now hundreds were
saved.
It is this that has made Salvation Army Officers successful.
Young, inexperienced, without special gifts, and without
learning, but with the baptism, they have been mighty to win
souls. The hardest hearts have been broken, the darkest minds
illuminated, the most stubborn wills subdued, and the wildest
natures tamed by them. Their words have been with power, and have
convicted and converted and sanctified men, and whole communities
have been transformed by their labours.
But without this Presence great gifts and profound and accurate
learning are without avail in the salvation of men. We often see
men with great natural powers, splendidly trained, and equipped
with everything save this fiery baptism, and they labour and
preach year after year without seeing a soul saved. They have
spent years in study; but they have not spent a day, much less
ten days, fasting and praying and waiting upon God for His
anointing that should fill them with heavenly wisdom and power
for their work. They are like a great gun loaded and primed, but
without a spark of fire to turn the powder and ball into a
resistless lightning bolt.
It is fire men need, and that they get from God in agonising,
wrestling, listening prayer that will not be denied; and when
they get it, and not till then, will they preach with the Holy
Ghost sent down from Heaven, and surely men shall be saved. Such
preaching is not foolish. The Holy Spirit makes the word alive.
He brings it to the remembrance of the preachers in whom He
abides, and He applies it to the heart of the hearers, lightening
up the soul as with a sun until sin is seen in all its hideousness,
or cutting as a sharp sword, piercing the heart with resistless
conviction of the guilt and shame of sin.
Peter had no time to consult the Scriptures and prepare a sermon
on the morning of Pentecost; but the Holy Spirit quickened his
memory, and brought to his mind the Scriptures appropriate to the
occasion.
Hundreds of years before, the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of the
prophet Joel, had foretold that in the last days the Spirit
should be poured out upon all flesh, and that their sons and
daughters should prophesy. And the same Spirit that spoke through
Joel now made Peter to see and declare that this Pentecostal
baptism was that of which Joel spoke.
By the mouth of David He had said: "Thou wilt not leave My soul
in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption";
and now Peter, by the inspiration of the same Spirit, applies
this Scripture to the resurrection of Jesus, and so proves to the
Jews that the One they had condemned and killed was the Holy One
foretold in prophecy and psalm.
And so to-day the Holy Spirit inspires men who receive Him to use
the Scriptures to awaken, convict, and save men.
When Finney was a young preacher, he was invited to a country
school-house to preach. On the way there he became much
distressed in soul, and his mind seemed blank and dark, when all
at once this text, spoken to Lot in Sodom by the angels, came to
his mind: "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will
destroy this city." He explained the text, told the people about
Lot, and the wickedness of Sodom, and applied it to them. While
he spoke they began to look exceedingly angry, and then, as he
earnestly exhorted them to give up their sins and seek the Lord,
they began to fall from their seats as though stricken down in
battle, and to cry to God for mercy. A great revival followed;
many were converted, and a number of the converts became
ministers of the Gospel.
To Finney's amazement, he learned afterwards that the place was
called Sodom, because of its extreme wickedness, and the old man
who had invited him to preach was called Lot, because he was the
only God-fearing man in the place. Evidently the Holy Spirit
worked through Finney to accomplish these results. And such
inspiration is not uncommon with those who are filled with the
Spirit.
But this reinforcement of the mind and memory by the Holy Spirit
does not do away with the need of study. The Spirit quickens that
which is already in the mind and memory, as the warm sun and
rains of spring quicken the sleeping seeds that are in the
ground, and only those.
The sun does not put the seed in the soil, nor does the Holy
Spirit without our attention and study put the word of God in our
minds. For that we should prayerfully and patiently study.
"We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the
ministry of the word," said the Apostles.
"Study to show thyself approved of God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed; rightly dividing the word of truth," wrote
Paul to Timothy.
Those men have been best able to rightly divide the word, and
have been most mightily used by the Holy Spirit, who have most
carefully and prayerfully studied the word of God, and most
constantly and lovingly meditated upon it.
4. This preaching is _healing and comforting._ Preaching
"with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven" is indescribably
searching in its effects. But it is also edifying, strengthening,
comforting to those who are wholly the Lord's. It cuts, but only
to cure. It searches, but only to save. It is constructive, as
well as destructive. It tears down sin and pride and unbelief,
but it builds up faith and righteousness and holiness and all the
graces of a Christian character. It warms the heart with love,
strengthens faith, and confirms the will in all holy purposes.
Every preacher baptised with the Holy Ghost can say with Jesus:
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath
anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me
to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn."
Seldom is there a congregation in which there are only those who
need to be convicted. There will also be meek and gentle ones to
whom should be brought a message of joy and good tidings; broken-hearted
ones to be bound up; wounded ones to heal; tempted ones to
be delivered; and those whom Satan has bound by some fear or habit
to be set free; and the Holy Spirit who knows all hearts will
inspire the word that shall bless these needy ones.
The preacher filled with the Holy Spirit, who is instant in
prayer, constant in the study of God's word, and steadfast and
active in faith, will surely be so helped that he can say with
Isaiah: "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is
weary" (Isaiah i. 4). And as with little Samuel, the Lord will
"let none of his words fall to the ground" (1 Samuel iii. 19).
He will expect results, and God will make them follow his
preaching as surely as corn follows the planting and cultivating
of the farmer.
"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"