The-Person-and-Work-of-the-Holy-Spirit-by-R.A.-Torrey (continued)
The Baptism With the Holy Spirit
God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts v. 29-
32). The natural timidity of many a man to-day vanishes when he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and with great boldness and liberty, with utter fearlessness of consequences, he gives his testimony for Jesus Christ.
6. The baptism with the Holy Spirit causes the one who receives it to be occupied with God and Christ and spiritual things. In the record of the day of Pentecost, we read, a They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another. Behold, are not these which speak Galileans ? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born ? Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God" ((Acts ii. 4, 7, 8, ll). Then follows Peter's sermon, a sermon that from start to finish is entirely taken up with Jesus Christ and His ct And when they had glory. On a later day we read, prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together ; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus : and great grace was upon them all. . . . Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole j be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth whom
ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole " (Acts iv. 31, 33, 8-10). We read of Saul of Tarsus, that when he had been filled with the Holy Spirit, " Straightway in the synagogues be proclaimed Jesus (Acts ix. 17, 20, R. V.). We read of the household of Cornelius, " While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them who heard the Word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" Here we see the whole household of Cornelius as soon as they were filled with the Holy Spirit magnifying God. In Eph. v. 18, 19, we are told that the result of being filed with the Spirit is that those who are thus filled will speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord. Men who are filled with the Holy
Spirit will not be singing sentimental,. ballads, not comic ditties, nor operatic airs while the power of the Holy Ghost is upon them. If the Holy Ghost should come upon any one while listening to one of the most innocent of the world's songs, he would not enjoy it, he would long to hear something about Christ. Men who are baptized with the Holy Spirit do not talk much about self but much about God, and especially much about Christ. This is necessarily so, as it is the Holy
Spirit's office to bear witness to the glorified Christ (John xv. 26 ; xvi. 14). To sum up everything that has been said about the
results of the baptism with the Holy Spirit
- 9 the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God coming upon the believer filing his mind with a real apprehension of truth) especially of Christ, taking possession of hisfacuitiesj imparting to him gifts not otherwise his but which qualify him for the service to which God has called him.
THE NECESSITY OF THE BAPTISM WITH THE SPIRIT. The New Testament has much to say about the necessity for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. When our Lord was about to leave His disciples to go to be with the Father, He said, " And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of yerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high " (Luke xxiv. 49). He had just commissioned them to be His witnesses to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (vs. 47, 48), but He here tells them that before they undertake this witnessing, they must wait until they receive the promise of the Father, and were thus endued with power from on high for the work of witnessing which they were to undertake. There is no cc the promise of My Father," for which they were to wait before beginning the ministry that He had laid upon them ; for in Acts doubt as to what Jesus meant by tc And being assembled together with them (He), commanded them that they should not dei. 4, 5, we read, part from Jerusalem," but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." It is evident then that " the promise of the Father" through which the enduement of power was to come was the
baptism with the Holy Spirit. He went on to tell His disciples "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost shall come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth " (Acts i. 8). Now who were the men to whom Jesus said this ? The disciples whom He Himself had trained for the work. For more than three years, they had lived in the closest intimacy with Himself \ they had been eye-witnesses of His miracles, of His death, of His resurrection, and in a few moments were to be eye-witnesses of His ascension as He was taken up right before their eyes into heaven. And what were they to do ? Simply to go and tell the world what their own eyes had seen and what their own ears had heard from the lips of the Son of God. Were they not "equipped for the work ? With our modern ideas of preparation for Christian work, we should say that they were thoroughly equipped. But Jesus said, " No, you are not equipped. There is another preparation in addition to the preparation already received, so absolutely necessary for effective work that you must not stir one step until you receive it. This other preparation is the promise of the Father, the baptism with the Holy
Spirit." If the Apostles with their altogether exceptional fitting for the work which they were to undertake needed this preparation for work, how much more do |ve ? In the light of what Jesus required of His disciples before undertaking the work, does it not seem like the most daring presumption for any of us to [undertake to witness and work for Christ until we also
have received the promise of the Father, the baptism with the Holy Spirit ? There was apparently imperative need that something be done at once. The whole world was perishing and they alone knew the saving truth, nevertheless Jesus strictly charged them u wait." Could there be a stronger testimony to the absolute necessity and importance of the baptism with the Holy
Spirit as a preparation for work that should be acceptable to Christ ?
But this is not all. In Acts x. 38 we read, " How
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power ; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil \ for God was with Him." To what does this refer in the recorded life of Jesus Christ ? If we will turn to Luke iii. 21, 22, and Luke iv. i, 4, 17, 18, we will get our answer. In Luke iii. 21, 22, R. V., we read that after Jesus had been baptized and was praying, u The heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon Him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art My beloved Son ; in Thee I am well pleased." Then the next thing that we read, with nothing intervening but the human genealogy of Jesus, is "And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness " (Luke iv. i). Then follows the story of His temptation ; then in the fourteenth verse we read, tc And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee : and a fame went out concerning Him through all the region round about." And in the seventeenth and eighteenth verses, u And there was delivered unto
2OO The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He bath anointed Me to preach etc." Evidently then, it was at the Jordan in connection with His baptism that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, and He did not enter upon His public ministry until He was thus baptized with the Holy Spirit. And who was Jesus ? It Is the common belief of Christendom that He had been supernaturally conceived through the Holy Spirit's power, that He was the only begotten Son of God, that He was Divine, very God of very God, and yet truly man.
If such an One u leaving us an example that we " did not venture upon His should follow His steps ministry, for which the Father had sent Him, until thus definitely baptized with the Holy Spirit, what is it for us to dare to do it ? If in the light of these recorded facts we dare to do it, does it not seem like the most unpardonable presumption ? Doubtless it has been done in ignorance by many of us, but can we plead ignorance any longer ? It is evident that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is an absolutely necessary preparation for effective work for Christ along every line of service. We may have a very clear call to service, as clear it may be as the Apostles had, but the charge is laid upon us as upon them, that before we begin that service we must tarry until we are clothed with power from on high. This enduement of power is through the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
But this is not all even yet. We read in Acts via.
14-163 cc Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John : whoj when they were come down, prayedfor them that they might receive the Holy Ghost (for as yet He was fallen upon none of them : only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus)." There was a great company of happy converts in Samaria, but when Peter and John came down to inspect the work, they evidently felt that there was something so essential that these young disciples had not received that before they did anything else, they must see to it that they received it. In a similar way we read in Acts xix. i, 2^ R. V., "And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples : and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed ? " When he found that they had not received the Holy Spirit, the first thing that he saw to was that they should receive the Holy Spirit. He did not go on with the work with the, outsiders until that little group of twelve disciples hadbeen equipped for service. So we see that when the Apostles found believers in Christ, the first thing that they always did was to demand whether they had received the Holy
Spirit as a definite experience and if not, they saw to it at once that the steps were taken whereby they should receive the Holy Spirit. It is evident then that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary in every Christian for the service that Christ demands and expects of him. JlfTiere are certainly few greater mis-
2O2 The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit takes that we are making to-day in our various Christian enterprises than that of setting men to teach
Sunday-school classes and do personal work and even to preach the Gospel, because they have been converted and received a certain amount of education, including it may be a college and seminary course, but have not as yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit We think that if a man is hopefully pious and has had a college and seminary education and comes out of it reasonably orthodox, he is now ready that we should lay our hands upon him and ordain him to preach the Gospel. But Jesus Christ says, u No." There is another preparation so all essential that a man must not undertake this work until he has received it. a Tarry ye (literally cf sit ye down") until ye be endued with power from on high." A distinguished theological professor has said that the question ought to be put to every candidate for the ministry, a Have you met God ? "
Yes, but we ought to go farther than this and be even more definite ; to every candidate for the ministry we should put the question, " Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit ? " and if not, we should say to him as Jesus said to the first preachers of the Gospel, "Sit down until you are endued with power from on high."
(But not only is this true of ordained ministers, it is true of every Christian, for all Christians are called to ministry of some kind Any man who is in Christian work, who has not received the baptism with the Holy
Spirit, ought to stop his work right where he is and not go on with it until he has been " clothed with power from on high." But what will our work do while we
are waiting ? The question can be answered by asking another, " What did the world do during these ten days while the early disciples were waiting ? " They knew the saving truth, they alone knew it; yet in obedience to the Lord's command they were silent. The world was no loser. Beyond a doubt, when the power came, they accomplished more in one day than they would have accomplished in years if they had gone on in self-confident defiance and disobedience to Christ's command. We too after that we have received the baptism with the Spirit will accomplish more of real work for our Lord in one day than we ever would in years without this power. Even if it were necessary to spend days in waiting, they would be well spent, but we shall see later that there is no need that we spend days in waiting, that the baptism with the Holy Spirit may be received to-day. Some one may say that the Apostles had gone on missionary tours during Christ's lifetime, even before they were baptized with the Holy
Spirit. This is true, but that was before the Holy Spirit was given, and before the command was given, " Tarry, ye until ye be clothed with power from on high." After that it would have been disobedience and folly and presumption to have gone forth without thisenduement, and we are living to-day after the Holy Spirit has been given and after the charge has been given to tarry until clothed.
WHO CAN BE BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT ? We come now to the question of first importance, namely, Who can be baptized with the Holy Spirit ? At a convention some years ago, a very intelligent Chris-
tian woman, a well-known worker in educational as well as Sunday-school work, sent me this question, " You have told us of the necessity of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, but who can have this baptism ? The church to which I belong teaches that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was confined to the apostolic age. Will you not tell us who can have the baptism with the
Holy Spirit ? "
Fortunately this questionjs answered in the most explicit terms in the Bible. We read in Acts ii. 38, 39, R. V., cc And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him." What is the promise to which Peter refers in the thirty-ninth verse ? There are two interpretations of the passage ; one is that the promise of this verse is the promise of salvation ; the other is that the promise of this verse is the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit (or the baptism with the Holy Spirit j a comparison of Scripture passages will show that the two expressions are synonymous). Which is the correct interpretation ? There are two laws of interpretation universally recognized among Bible scholars. These two laws are the law of usage (or " usus loquendi " as it is called) and the law of"context. Many a verse in the Bible standing alone might admit of two or three or even more interpretations, but when these two laws of interpretation are applied, it is settled to a certainty that only one of the various possible interpretations is
the true interpretation. The law of usage is this, that when you find a word or phrase in any passage of Scripture and you wish to know what it means, do not go to a dictionary but go to the Bible itself, look up the various passages in which the word is used and especially how the particular writer being studied uses it, and especially how it is used in that particular book in which the passage is found. Thus you can determine what the precise meaning of the word or phrase is in the passage in question. The law of context is this ; that when you study a passage, you should not take it out of its connection but should look at what goes before it and what comes after it 5 for while it might mean various things if it stood alone, it can only mean one thing in the connection in which it is found. Now let us apply these two laws to the passage in question. First of all, let us apply the law of usage. We are trying to discover what the expression u the promise" means in Acts ii. 39. Turning back to Acts
L 4, 5, R. V., we read, " He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye heard from Me : for John indeed baptized with water , but ye shall be haptmed with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" It is evident then, that here the promise of the Father means the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Turn now to the second chapter and > the thirty-third verse, R. V., u
therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear." In this passage we are told in so many words that the
promise is the promise of the Holy Spirit. If this peculiar expression means the baptism with the Holy
Spirit in Acts i. 4, 5, and the same thing in Acts ii. 33, by what same law of interpretation can it possibly mean something entirely different six verses farther down in Acts ii. 39 ? So the law of usage establishes it that the promise of Acts ii. 39 is the promise of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Now let us apply the law of context, and we shall find that, if possible, this is even more decisive. Turn back to the thirty-eighth verse, a And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost; for the promise "is unto you, etc." So it is evident here that the promise is the promise of the gift or baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is settled then by both laws that the promise of Acts ii. 39 is that of the gift of the Holy Spirit, or baptism with the Holy
Spirit. Let us then read the verse in that way, substituting this synonymous expression for the expression "the promise," "For the baptism with the Spirit is unto you, and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord otrr God shall call." " It is unto you" says Peter, that is to the crowd assembled before him. There is nothing in that for us. We were not there, and that crowd were all Jews and we are not Jews ; but Peter did not stop there, he goes further and says, "And to your children" that is to the next generation of Jews, or all future generations of Jews. Still there is nothing in it for us, for we are not Jews; but Peter did not stop even there, he went further
and said, " And to all them that are -afar off" That does take us in. We are the Gentiles who were once "afar off," but now u made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph. ii. 13, 17). But lest there be any mistake about it whatever, Peter adds " even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him." So on the very day of Pentecost, xPeter declares that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is for every child of God in every coming age of the church's history.^ Some years ago at a ministerial conference in Chicago, a minister of the Gospel from the Southwest came to me after a lecture on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and said, u The church to which I belong teaches that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was for the apostolic age alone." " I do not care," I replied, " what the church to which you belong teaches, or what the church to which I belong teaches. The only question with me is, What does the Word of God teach ? " "That is right," he said. I then handed him my Bible and asked him to read Acts ii. 39, and he read, cc For the promise is unto you, and unto your children and to all them that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God (R. V.). " Has He called you ? " shall call unto Him "
I asked. " Yes, He certainly has." " Is the promise for you then ? " " Yes, it is." He took it and the result was a transformed ministry. Some years ago at a students* conference, the gatherings were presided over by a prominent Episcopalian minister, a man greatly honoured and loved. I spoke at this conference on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and dwelt upon the significance of Acts ii. 39. That night as we sat
together after the meetings were over, this servant of God said to me, " Brother Torrey, I was greatly interested in what you had to say to-day on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. If your interpretation of Acts ii. 39 is correct, you have your case, but I doubt your interpretation of Acts ii. 39. Let us talk it over." We did talk it over. Several years later, in July, 1894, I was at the students' conference at Northfield. As I entered the back door of Stone Hall that day, this Episcopalian minister entered the front door. Seeing me he hurried across the hall and held out his hand and said, " You were right about Acts ii. 39 at Knoxville, and I believe I have a right to tell you something better yet, that I have been baptized with the Holy
Spirit." I am glad that I was right about Acts ii. 39, not that it is of any importance that I should be right, but the truth thus established is of immeasurable importance. Is it not glorious to be able to go literally around the world and face audiences of believers all over the United States, in the Sandwich Islands, in
Australia and Tasmania and New Zealand, in China and Japan and India, in England and Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France and Switzerland and to be able to tell them, and to know that you have God's sure Word under your feet when you do tell them, a You may all be baptized with the Holy Spirit" ? But that unspeakably joyous and glorious thought has its solemn side. If we, may ,he baptized with the Holy Spirit then we must be. If we are baptized with the Holy
Spirit then souls will be saved through our instrumentality who will not be saved if we are not thus
baptized. If then we are not willing to pay the price of this baptism and therefore are not thus baptized we shall be responsible before God for every soul that might have been saved who was not saved because we did not pay the price and therefore did not obtain the blessing. I often tremble for myself and for my brethren in the ministry, and not only for my brethren in the ministry but for my brethren in all forms of Christian work, even the most humble and obscure. Why ? Because we are preaching error ? No, alas, there are many in these dark days who are doing that, and I do tremble for them ; but that is not what I mean now. Do I mean that I tremble because we are not preaching the truth ? for it is quite possible not to preach error and yet not preach the truth ; many a man has never preached a word of error in his life, but still is not preaching the truth, and I do tremble for them ; but that is not what I mean now. I mean that I tremble for those of us who are preaching the truth, the very truth as it is in Jesus, the truth as it is recorded in the written Word of God, the truth in its simplicity, its purity and its fullness, but who are Breaching it m< u persuasive words of man's wisdom " and not ct in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (i Cor.
/i. 4, R. V.). Preaching it in the energy of the flesh and not in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing more death dealing than the Gospel without cc The letter killeth, but the Spirit the Spirit's power. giveth life." It is awfully solemn business preaching the Gospel either from the pulpit or in more quiet ways. It means death or life to those that hear, and
no The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit whether it means death or life depends very largely on whether we preach it with or without the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
We must be baptised with the Holy Spirit. Even after one has been baptized with the Holy
Spirit, no matter how definite that baptism may be, he needs to be filled again and again with the Spirit.' This is the clear teaching of the New Testament. We read in Acts ii. 4, " They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Now one of those who was present on this occasion and who therefore was filled at this time with the Holy Spirit was Peter. Indeed, he stands forth most prominently in the chapter as a man baptized .with the Holy Spirit. But we read in Acts iv. 8, $ Then Peter, filled with the f Holy
Ghost, said unto them, etc." Here we read again that Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost. Further down in the chapter we read, in the thirty~fijt verse, that being assembled together and praying, they were allfilled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness." We are expressly told in the context that two of those present were John and Peter. Here then was a third instance in which Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. It is not enough that one be filled with the Holy Spirit once. We, peed a new filling for each new emergency of Christian service. The failure to realize this need of constant refillings with the Holy
Spirit has led to many a man who at one time was greatly used of God, being utterly laid aside. There are many to-day who once knew what it was to work
in the power of the Holy Spirit who have lost their unction and their power. I do not say that the Holy
Spirit has left them I do not believe He has but the manifestation of His presence and power has gone. One of the saddest sights among us to-day is that of the men and women who once toiled for the Master in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit who are now practically of no use, or even a hindrance to the work, because they are trying to go in the power of the blessing received a year or five years or twenty years ago. For each new service that is to be conducted, for each new soul that is to be dealt with, for each new work for Christ that is to be performed, for each new day and each new emergency of Christian life and service, we should seek and obtain a new filling with the Holy-
Spirit. We must not cc
" the gift that is in us
neglect
(i Tim. iv. 14), but on the contrary " kindle anew " or "stir into flame " this gift (i Tim. i. 6, R. V., margin). ^Repeated fillings with the Holy Spirit are necessary to continuance and increase of power!) The question may arise, cc Shall we call these new
* with the
* fresh baptisms
fillings with the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit ? " To this we would answer, the expression "baptism" is never used in the Scriptures of a second experience and there is something of an initiatory character in the very thought of baptism, so if one wishes to be precisely Biblical, it would seem to be better not to use the term " baptism " of a second experience but to limit it to the first experience. On the other is used in Acts ii. hand "filled with the Holy Spirit
4, to describe the experience promised in Acts i. 5,
where the words used are " Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost" And it is evident from this and from other passages that the two expressions are to a large extent practically synonymous. However, if we confine the expression " baptism with the Holy Spirit " to our first experience, we shall be more exactly Biblical and it would be well to speak of one baptism but many fillings. But I would a great deal rather that one should speak about new or fresh baptisms with the Holy Spirit, standing for the all-important truth that we need repeated fillings with the Holy Spirit, than that he should so insist on exact phraseology that he would lose sight of the truth that repeated fillings are needed, /. <?., I would rather have the right experience by a wrong name, than the wrong experience by the right name. This much is as clear as day, that we need to be filled again and again and again with the Holy Spirit. I am sometimes asked, " Have you received the second blessing ? "
Yes, and the third and the fourth and the fifth and hundreds beside, and I am looking fcr a new blessing to-day. We come now to the question of first practical importance, namely, WHAT MUST ONE DO IN ORDER TO OB-
TAIN THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT? This quCStion is answered in the plainest and most positive way in the Bible. A plain path is laid down in the Bible consisting of a few simple steps that any one can take, and it is absolutely certain that any one who takes these steps will enter into the blessing. This is,- of couse, a very positive statement, and we would not dare be so positive if the Bible were not equally positive. But what
right have we to be uncertain when the Word of God is positive ? There are seven steps in this path : I. The first step is that we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord. We read in Acts ii. 38, R. V., u Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Is not this statement as positive as that which we made above ?
Peter says that if we do certain things, the result will be, "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Ail seven steps are in this passage, but we shall refer later to other passages as throwing light upon this. The first two steps are in the word " repent." u Repent ye," said Peter. What does it mean to repent ? The Greek word for repentance means " an after- " or u change of mind." To repent then means to change your mind. But change your mind thought about what ? About three things ; about God, about Jesus Christ, about sin. What the change of mind is about in any given instance must be determined by the context. As determined by the context in the present case, the change of mind is primarily about Jesus Christ.
Peter had just said In the thirty-sixth verse, R. V., u Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified. When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart," as well they might be, " and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Brethren, what shall we do ? " Then it was that Peter said, " Repent ye," a Change your mind about Jesus, change your mind from that attitude of mind that rejected Him and cruci-
fied Him to that attitude of mind that accepts Him as Lord and King and Saviour." This then is the firs Urtep towards receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit? receive Jesus as Saviour and Lord j first of all receive Him as your Saviour. Have you done that ? What does it mean to receive Jesus as Saviour ? It means to accept Him as the One who bore our sins in our place on the cross (Gal. iii. 13; 2 Cor. v. 21) and to trust God to forgive us because Jesus Christ died in our place* It means to rest all our hope of acceptance before God upon the finished work of Christ upon the cross of Calvary. There are many who profess to be Christians who have not done this. When you go to many who call themselves Christians and ask them if they are saved, they reply, " Yes." Then if you put to them the question " Upon what are you resting as the ground of your salvation ? " they will reply somecc I go to church ; I say my prayers, I thing like this, read my Bible, I have been baptized, I have united with the church, I partake of the Lord's supper, I attend prayer-meeting, and I am trying to live as near right as I know how." If these things are what you are rest-
Ing upon as the ground of your acceptance before God, then you are not saved, for all these things are your own works (all proper in their places but still your own works) and we are distinctly told in Rom. iii. 20, R. V., that " By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight." But if you go to others and ask them if they are saved, they will reply " Yes." And then if you ask them upon what they are resting as the ground of their acceptance before God, they will reply
j.iic jDaptism vviio me noiy apint 215 something to this effect, " I am not resting upon anything I ever did, or upon anything I am ever going to do 5 I am resting upon what Jesus Christ did for me when He bore my sins in His own body on the cross.
I am resting in His finished work of atonement." If this is what you are really resting upon, then you are saved, you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour and you have taken the first step towards the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
The same thought is taught elsewhere in the Bible, for example in Gal. iii. 2. Here Paul asks of the believers in Galatia, " Received ye the Holy Spirit by the works of the law, or by the bearing of faith ? "
Just what did he mean ? On one occasion when Paul was passing through Galatia, he was detained there by some physical infirmity. We are not told what it was, but at all events, he was not so ill but that he could preach to the Galatians the Gospel, or glad tidings, that Jesus Christ had redeemed them from the curse of the law by becoming a curse in their place, by dying on the cross of Calvary. These Galatians believed this testimony ; this was the hearing of faith, and God set the stamp of His endorsement upon their faith by giving them as a personal experience the Holy Spirit. But after Paul had left Galatia, certain Judaizers came down from Jerusalem, men who were substituting the law of Moses for the Gospel and taught them that it was not enough that they simply believe on Jesus Christ but in addition to this they must keep the law of Moses, especially the law of Moses regarding circumcision, and that without circumcision they could not be
2i6 The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit saved /. *., they could not be saved by simple faith in Jesus (cf. Acts xv. i). These young converts In Galatia became all upset. They did not know whether they were saved or not ; they did not know what they ought to do, and all was confusion.
It was just as when modern Judaizers come around and get after young converts and tell them that in addition to believing in Jesus Christ, they must keep the Mosaic
Seventh Day Sabbath, or they cannot be saved. This is simply the old controversy breaking out at a new point. When Paul heard what had happened in Galatia, he was very indignant and wrote, the Epistle to the Galatians simply for the purpose of exposing the utter error of these Judaizers. He showed them how Abraham himself was justified before he was circumcised by simply believing God (Gal. iii. 6), and how he was circumcised after he was justified as a seal of the, faith which he already had while he was in uncircumcision.
But in addition to this proof of the error of the Judaizers, Paul appeals to their own personal experience. He says to them, u You received the Holy Spirit, did you not ? " "Yes." "How did you receive the Holy Spirit, by keeping the law of Moses, or by the hearing of faith, the simple accepting of God's testimony about Jesus Christ that your sins were laid upon Him, and that you are thus justified and saved ? " The Galatians had had a very definite experience of receiving the Holy Spirit and Paul appeals to it, and recalls to their mind how it was by the simple hearing of faith that they had received the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is God's seal upon the simple acceptance of God's testi-