The Communion of the Holy Spirit (8 page)

We need to be a sanctified people before sinners as well as before professing Christians. Unless we experience the cross and are filled with the Holy Spirit, our testimony before men will be weak and incomplete. We should let people know the centrality of God as well as the full counsel of God. We should let them see that we have offered ourselves up to God to fulfill His will. We seek for God’s ultimate purpose and not just to testify to minor truths.

Do not freely auction up your life of victory. Having been poured upon by the Holy Spirit, you should testify more as to how the Lord delivers you from sin and lives for you. This will create a hunger in people’s heart. If your service is to be effective, you must stir up the desire of the people. As you are led of God, you should clearly tell them how the Lord becomes your victorious life and you should help them to empty themselves for the filling of the Holy Spirit.

There is yet another matter you should pay special attention to; which is, that you should not treat the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as something of a curiosity that is to be propagated everywhere you go. Only when you are led by the Lord should you testify to it. If a person has a need for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, take him to your Lord, gather a few, and then pray together till he receives the Spirit’s outpouring.

We find that in the Old Testament times the Holy Spirit provided people with new life; yet we find the same work being done by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament period: the granting of new life. So that with respect to this matter of new life, both the Old and New Testaments
agree
, all occurrences of life- giving work included therein having been that of the Holy Spirit. Let us never think that the granting of new life is a specialty to be found only in the New Testament. The Lord told Nicodemus (who at that moment was still under the Old Testament dispensation) that he being the teacher of Israel ought to have understood the new birth of which He was then speaking (see John 3.10). This is therefore strong evidence that those in the Old Testament era must have been conversant about this matter of life, too.

What, then, is the basic difference between the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament period and in the New? What can we say is the special work of the Holy Spirit found in the New Testament which sets it apart from the Old Testament? One thing which is certain about this matter in the Old Testament is, that we never find being mentioned that the Holy Spirit dwelt in men. Yes, there is no doubt that during those earlier times He worked in human hearts, but He never took up His abode there. We cannot find a single verse in the Old Testament which states that the Holy Spirit dwelt in man. We do indeed read about the Holy Spirit
falling upon
men, but not about His
dwelling in
them. In relation to the Spirit, the Old Testament scriptures always use the word
spi
-which is “upon”-and never use the word
en
-which is “in.” In the New Testament, we still see mentioned the Holy Spirit falling upon men. He indeed continues to do this kind of work, but He does far more in this new era. As the moment for the Lord’s betrayal approached, Jesus said: “he [the Holy Spirit] abideth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14.17c). This is a totally new work. Henceforth, the New Testament scriptures will speak of man as the temple of the Holy Spirit, which means that the Holy Spirit dwells in men.

Therefore, we see in the New Testament era the
two
fold work of the Holy Spirit: (1) He comes upon men; (2) He dwells in men. His coming
upon
men is still for power, for doing miracles, and for witnessing. His dwelling
in
men is for sanctification. In dwelling in us, the Holy Spirit supplies Christ to us to be our life and to enable us to bear the fruit of holiness.

By carefully distinguishing the above-mentioned twofold work of the Holy Spirit, we come to realize that certain concepts about the Holy Spirit are erroneous. Many consider all their problems solved if they experience their own “Pentecost.” But now that they have had their Pentecost, is their problem of sanctification being resolved? Does it help them to overcome their temper? No, it has not settled this matter of overcoming sin. For Pentecost can only bestow gifts, not fruits.

When Paul looked at the condition of the church in Corinth, he did not say, “The situation here is so bad that we must stop everything.” Many teachers would cast the Corinthian church out because of all the carnal things present there. Not so with Paul; he brought in something to balance the Corinthian believers: “Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. 3.16) In essence he told them they needed to learn what was meant by the Holy Spirit dwelling in men.

These teachers would also teach us, saying: “Gifts are kindergarten stuff. We are now grown-ups. We do not need to play with things such as tongues. Our faith has made much progress. We are more advanced than the apostles. So we will throw all these things away.” On the other hand, too many of those who advocate the gifts of the Holy Spirit think that aside from gifts there is nothing more, they ignoring the importance of the development of the inward life. They despise people who have not had the same experience as they; namely, that of the outpoured Spirit. They boastfully declare, “On such and such a day, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Both of these concepts are wrong: the word of God indeed saying, “forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Cor.14.39b); and it also saying, “moreover a most excellent way show I unto you” (1 Cor. 12.31b)- which is the way of love that is introduced in the verse immediately thereafter (13.1) and fully discussed in what follows in this now famous “love chapter” of the Bible.

In the New Testament we see the two sides of the Holy Spirit. From about the time of the Lord’s last supper with His disciples to the day of Pentecost the Bible mentions the Holy Spirit four times:

(1) at around the time of the Last Supper Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter: “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, . . . for he . . . shall be in you” (John 14.16-17);

(2) after the Last Supper the first mention of the Holy Spirit occurred on the evening of the Lord’s resurrection. Jesus breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (John 20.22b); (3) before His ascension the Lord said, “Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24.49); and (4) the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2.1-4).

The belief is commonly accepted that the promise of the Comforter was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, but this interpretation is not according to the word of God. John wrote John 14, but he also wrote John 20. In Chapter 14 the Lord is recorded as promising that “the Father ... shall give you another Comforter” (v.16). Then in Chapter 20, that promise is shown to have been fulfilled. Before the death of the Lord there is no mention in the Scriptures of the promise of the Holy Spirit coming upon men. No, before His death the Lord had only promised that the Holy Spirit would dwell in men. Then, on the day of His resurrection, He breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (20.22). What is breath? Breath is life. If we cease to breathe, we cease to live. Christ breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”

Now did the Lord also say to His disciples at this time, “You must wait for fifty days”? No, He breathed on them; and there and then they received the Holy Spirit. So John 14 was fulfilled in John 20. The promise made at about the time of the Last Supper was fulfilled on the day of the Lord’s resurrection. Only after
forty
days further had passed did the Lord say to His disciples, “Tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24.49). Hence Pentecost was the fulfillment of Luke 24, the final chapter of that Gospel. Both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts are written by Luke; and therefore, the material in Acts 1 can be reckoned as Chapter 25 of Luke, for it is a continuation of Luke’s Gospel. Acts is but Luke’s continued narration of events. This would only be natural.

From all the above we can see that the indwelling Holy Spirit is given by the breathing of the Lord. It is based on His
resurrection
and is for
life
. That Spirit that comes
upon
me comes through the
glorification
of the Lord, and it is for
service
.

In our consideration together today we would like to inquire into four different passages of Scripture that have to do with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. From each one and from all of them together we can perhaps draw a few conclusions and derive some spiritual principles which can help us to better understand, appreciate and experience this aspect of our Christian walk.

Acts 2.32-41
. In reading this section of Acts 2 we must pay special attention to verse 33: “he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.” On the day of Pentecost the Lord Jesus had poured forth the Holy Spirit. What is this pouring forth based upon? A careful reading of this entire passage will reveal that it is based on the exaltation of Jesus! It is not because of our clean heart or our earnest seeking and fervent prayer, but because of Christ having been highly exalted: “Let all the house of Israel
therefore
know assuredly, that God hath made Jesus both Lord and Christ” (v.36). The outpouring of the Spirit did not occur to prove man’s goodness and sincerity but to prove to all the house of Israel that Jesus is Lord and Christ. How does God prove this? The “therefore” in verse 36 connects with verse

33. What did they see and hear? It was the Holy Spirit being poured forth. The outpouring of the Spirit of God is the evidence of the Lordship of Jesus (cf. John 7.39).

The Spirit has already been poured forth. This is the gospel. One day, after I had explained this truth to a person in Christ, he knelt down and prayed, “Lord Jesus, You have received from the Father two things: glory is for You yourself, and the Spirit is for me. You have already been glorified, but I have not yet had the Spirit.” Then he quickly corrected himself and said, “It is not possible for anyone to say that You have not been glorified. Likewise, it is also impossible to say that I have not had the Spirit.” Immediately the Holy Spirit came upon him.

Forgiveness of sins is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. The outpouring of the Spirit of Christ is based on His being on the throne. This is to say that the outpouring of His Spirit is based on His glorification (compare again John 7.39). The condition for the outpouring of the Spirit, therefore, is His glorification, and not my being and doing. I have not done anything to have my sins forgiven, so I need not do anything to receive the Spirit. Let us read verse 38 of Acts 2, which says: “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 Spirit.” The condition for receiving that spiritual gift is the same condition for receiving the forgiveness of sins. By fulfilling the condition for the forgiveness of God, we also fulfill the condition for receiving the Spirit. If I go to the store, pay ten dollars for two books and take away only one book, need I- in going back for the other book-again pay ten dollars?

Acts 8.14-17
. This passage relates how the Spirit fell upon the Samaritan believers. People may be saved individually, such as in the case of the robber on the cross. But the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the present case is not for the individual member; instead it is for the whole body of Christ. For the outpouring is given to unite all the scattered members into one Body. It is like cement that unites the separated stones into a single construction, “for in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor.12.13a). In the case of the Samaritans, Philip had not gone out to Samaria as one sent out by the Church. If the Holy Spirit had fallen upon the Samaritans at the time of Philip’s preaching to them, the oneness of the body of Christ would have been lost. The apostles from Jerusalem therefore came and laid hands on them, a procedure thus demonstrating their unity with them. This expressed the oneness of the body of Christ, and so the Holy Spirit immediately fell upon the Samaritans. Thus right from the commencement of Church history, God revealed the principle of order. The Samaritans were saved all right, but they had not yet experienced the fellowship of the Body. This principle must be established before the Holy Spirit could be poured forth.

Acts 10.44-48
. “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word.” If, as He had done to the Samaritans, God had had Peter lay hands on these Gentiles gathered in the house of Cornelius as their way of receiving the Spirit instead of letting the Spirit fall directly upon them, would Peter have been willing to do so? The laying on of hands implies union, recognition. Would he as a staunch Jewish believer have recognized these Gentile hearers of the gospel? Even if he had laid hands on them and the Spirit had come down, how would the Christian brethren in Jerusalem have reacted? They would have said to Peter, “This is all
your
fault. If you had not laid hands on the Gentiles, this thing would not have happened!” They would most likely have held on to their Jewish viewpoint. As it turned out, Peter did not lay hands on those who gathered in Caesarea at the house of Cornelius the Roman centurion. He had not even mentioned the Spirit in his message. Yet while he was still speaking, the Spirit fell upon all of them. Consequently, Peter could boldly say, “Can any man forbid the water, that these [Gentiles] should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we [Jews]?” Because the Holy Spirit had indeed come down, what could Peter say?