Necessity and Possibility of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit

The necessity and availability of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit are highlighted in this chapter, which shows, using Christ and His disciples as examples, that even the most prepared believers must receive this empowering gift before beginning God’s work. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit equips every believer to serve effectively, witness boldly, and accomplish God’s purposes, remaining available to all Christians in every generation.

Shortly before Christ was received up into heaven, having committed the preaching of the gospel to his disciples, He laid upon them this very solemn charge concerning the beginning of the great work He had committed to their hands: " I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) There is no doubt as to what Jesus meant by the "promise of my Father" for which they were to wait before beginning the ministry which He had entrusted to them; in Acts 1:4-5, we read that Jesus ''charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father" which, ''For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” "The promise of the Father," through which the enduement of power was to come, was the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8). Christ then strictly instructed his disciples not to assume to undertake the work to which He had called them until they had received, as the necessary and all-essential preparation for that work, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

The men to whom Jesus said this seemed to have already received thorough preparation for the work in hand. They had been to school to Christ Himself for more than three years. They had heard from His lips the great truths that they were to proclaim to the world. They had been eyewitnesses to His miracles, His death, and resurrection, and were about to be eyewitnesses to His ascension. The work before them was simply to go forth to proclaim what their eyes had seen and what their ears had heard from the lips of Christ Himself. Were they not fully prepared for this work? It would seem so to us. But Christ said, "No. You are so utterly unprepared that you must not stir a step yet.

There is further preparation, so all-essential to effective service, you must abide at Jerusalem until you receive it. This further preparation is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. When you receive that, and not until then, you will be prepared to begin the work to which I have called you." If Christ did not permit these men who had received so rare a schooling for the work to which He had so definitely and clearly called them to undertake this work without receiving, in addition to that, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, what is it for us to undertake the work to which He has called us until we have received, in addition to any amount of schooling we may have had for the work, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit? Is it not the most daring presumption?

But this is not all. In Acts 10:38, we read "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil." When we look into the gospels for an explanation of these words, we find it in Luke 3:21-22, Luke 4:1-14, 15, 18, and 21. We find that at the Baptism of Jesus at Jordan, as He prayed, the Holy Spirit came upon Him. Then, ''Full of the Holy Ghost," He has the temptation experience. Then," in the power of the Spirit, "He begins his ministry, and proclaims Himself ''anointed to preach" because "the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him." In other words, Jesus Christ never entered upon the ministry for which He came into this world until He was baptised with the Holy Spirit.

If Jesus Christ, who had been supernaturally conceived through the Holy Spirit's power, the only begotten Son of God, who was divine, very God of very God, and yet truly man, if Christ, "leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps," did not venture upon the ministry for which the Father had sent Him until thus baptised with the Holy Ghost, what is it for us to dare to do it?

If, in the light of these recorded facts, we dare to do it, it seems like an offence going beyond presumption. Doubtless, it has been done in ignorance by many, but can we plead ignorance any longer? The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a necessary preparation for elective service for Christ along every line of service.

We may have a clear call to service, as clear as 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 "stay in the city until we are clothed with power from on high." This enduement with power is through the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. There are certainly few greater mistakes that we are making today than that of setting men to teach Sunday-school classes, and do personal work, and even to preach the gospel, simply because they have been converted and received a certain amount of education, perhaps including a college and seminary course, but have not as yet been baptised with the Holy Spirit.

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?

What did the world do during those ten days while the early disciples were waiting?

They alone knew the saving truth, yet, in obedience to the Lord's command, they were silent. When the power came, they accomplished more in one day than they would have accomplished in years, if they had gone on in presumptuous disobedience to Christ's charge; so will we, after we have received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, accomplish more in one day than we ever would in years without His power. Days spent in waiting, if it were necessary, would be well spent, but we shall see further on that there is no need for us to spend days in waiting. It may be said that the Apostles had gone out on missionary tours during Christ's lifetime before they were baptised with the Holy Spirit.

This is true, but that was before the Holy Ghost was given, and before the charge, “stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high”.

After that, it would have been disobedience and presumption to have gone forth without this enduement, and we are living today after the Holy Ghost has been given and after the charge to "tarry until clothed" has been given. We come now to the question of the Possibility of Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit for us?

This is a question that has the most plain and direct answer in the Word of God. In Acts 2:39, we read: "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call." What is "the promise" of this passage? Turning back to the fourth and fifth verses of the preceding chapter, we read: "but wait for the gift my Father promised”. “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

“Again, in the thirty-third verse of the second chapter, we read: "Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. '' It would seem to be clear that "the promise" of the thirty-ninth verse must be the same as "the promise" of the thirty-third verse, and "the promise" of the fourth and fifth verses of the preceding chapter; i.e., the promise of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. This conclusion is made clear by the context: "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," etc.

The promise then of this verse is the promise of the gift or Baptism with the Holy Ghost.

(Acts 10:45 with Acts 11:15-16.) Who is this gift for? "To you," says Peter to the Jews whom he was immediately addressing. Then looking over their heads to the next generation, ''And to your children." Then looking down all the coming ages of the Church's history to Gentile as well as Jew, "And to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him." The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is for every child of God in every age of the Church's history. If it is not ours in experimental possession, it is because we have not taken (the exact force of the word "receive" in verse 38 is take) what God has provided for us in our exalted Saviour.

(Acts 2:33; John 7:38-39.) A minister of the Gospel once came to me after a lecture on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and said, "The church to which I belong teaches that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was for the apostolic age alone." "It does not matter," was replied, "what the church to which you belong or the church to which I belong teaches. What says the Word of God?"

Acts 2:39 was read: “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. " I asked. "Yes, he certainly has." "Is the promise for you?" "Yes, it is." And it was. And it is for every child of God who reads these pages. What an exciting thought it is that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, the enduement with power from on high, is for ME individually. But that unspeakably joyous thought has its solemn side. If I may be baptised with the Holy Spirit, I must be.

If I am baptised with the Holy Spirit, then will souls be saved through my instrumentality who are not so saved if I am not so baptised? If then I am not willing to pay the price of this Baptism, and therefore am not so baptised, I am responsible before God for all the souls that might have been saved but were not saved through me because I was not baptised with the Holy Spirit.

I oftentimes tremble for my brethren in Christian work and myself. Not because we are teaching deadly error to men; some are guilty of even that, but I do not refer to that now. Not that we are not teaching the full truth as it is in Jesus. It must be confessed that many do not teach positive error who do not preach a full gospel, but I do not refer to that. I tremble for those who are preaching the truth, the truth as it is in Jesus, the Gospel in its simplicity, in its purity, in its fullness, but preaching it "in persuasive words of wisdom" and not "in demonstration of the spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:4), preaching it in the energy of the flesh and not in the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing more deadly than the gospel without the Spirit's power. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives 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 who hear, and whether it means death or life depends very largely on whether we preach it without or with the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

We must be baptised with the Holy Spirit. It is sometimes argued that "the Baptism with the Holy Spirit" was intended solely for the purpose of imparting miracle-working power and applied only to the apostolic age. In favor of this position, it is asserted that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was followed quite uniformly by miracles. The indefensibility of this position is seen:" (1) By the fact that Christ Himself declared that the purpose of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was to impart power for witnessing, not especially power to work miracles. (Acts 1:5-8; Luke 24:48-49.)

(2) By the fact that Paul distinctly taught that there were diversities of gifts, and that "workings of miracles" was only one of the multiple manifestations of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:4, 8-10.)

(3) By the fact, that Peter distinctly declares that "the gift of the Holy Ghost," "the promise," is for all believers in all generations (Acts 2:38-39), and it is evident from a comparison of Acts 2: 39 with Luke 24: 49; Acts 1: 4- 5; Acts 2, 33, and of Acts 2: 38 with Acts 10: 45 and Acts 11: 15-16, that each of these two expressions, "the promise," and "the gift of the Holy Ghost," refers to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

If we take miracles in a broad sense to mean all results worked by supernatural power, then it is true that each one baptized with the Holy Spirit does receive miracle-working power; for each one baptized receives a power not naturally his own, but supernatural power, God's own power. The result of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit that was most noticeable and essential was convincing power.

(Acts 2:4, 37, 41. Acts 4:8:13. Acts 4:31, 33. Acts 9:17, 20-22.) There appears to have been no displays of miracle-working power immediately following Paul's Baptism with the Holy Spirit, even though he became uniquely gifted in this direction at a later time. It was the power to witness for Jesus as the Son of God that he received in immediate connection with the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.