What Then? Part 1

What Then?

The destruction of the carnal mind by the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost is a definite experience, and a definite epoch in the life of him who experiences it. When the Holy Ghost comes into the heart and life of a believer and takes up His permanent abode there, He does a definite work. It is not something that is hazy or indefinite.

1) He purifies the heart. "And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts" (Acts 15:8, 9).

Here we see that their hearts were purified when they received the Holy Ghost, or by the reception of the Holy Ghost. When He comes in, He casts out all those evil tempers that are contrary to God's best plan and purpose in us. He casts out anger, malice, wrath, jealousy, peevishness, stubbornness, self-will, and everything else that God cannot use for His glory, and that can never be admitted into heaven. Thus He purifies the heart and gives one the sense of internal cleanness.

In commenting on the above scripture, Dr. W. B. Godbey says, "This scripture settles forever the fact that the hearts of the apostles on the day of Pentecost were purified by faith, in order to be filled with the Holy Ghost. It also settles the matter beyond the possibility of cavil that the plan of salvation is the very same for Jew and Gentile, at Jerusalem and in the uttermost part of the earth." Adam Clarke says, "The purification of the heart by the Holy Spirit was the grand object of the religion of God, and that alone by which the soul could be prepared for the blessed immortality."

2) He gives power. "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8, R.V.). We find this very aptly commented on by Dr. Godbey; so we shall pass on his comment. "The English Version gives this very incorrectly. 'Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you.' You find it beautifully corrected in the Revised Version. I have heard and read many sermons from this text exhorting the people to seek power after the Holy Ghost had come on them. All this leads to superstition and fanaticism. The plain revelation is that the Holy Ghost himself is the power, and there is no other. So never seek power, but seek the Holy Ghost Himself. When you have Him you have all the power you need to do anything that God wants you to do. So you have nothing to do but to get thoroughly sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, abide in Him, obey, and be true. So long as you thus abide, responsive to the gentle voice of the indwelling Comforter, verifying His will revealed by His Spirit, Word and Providence, you will have all the power you need to do your whole duty, because you have Omnipotence to check on at will. After we are filled with the Holy Ghost we grow with paradoxical rapidity, and thus, with spiritual enlargement, become more and more capacious of God ... The word translated 'power' here is not identical to the word 'power' in the preceding verse. There it is exousia, 'authority'; here it is dunamis, 'dynamite.' Hence, the literal reading 'Ye shall receive dynamite of the Holy Ghost,' i.e., if you will receive the Holy Ghost as a personal, indwelling Sanctifier and abiding Comforter, He will supply you with all the dynamite you need to blow all sin out of you and to qualify you to blow up the devil's kingdom wherever you go, and enjoy an everlasting victory in your heart and life."

There are those who want power to succeed in politics, or power to become social leaders, or power to accomplish great physical feats, or power to persuade people to accept their personal opinions in civic or religious matters, etc.; but that kind of power is not implied in the above-quoted promise. The Holy Ghost gives power to live right; power to sacrifice for God, and for others; power in prayer; power in testimony; power to love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength; power to hold your tongue steady; power to keep from quarreling with your wife, or with your husband; power to keep from saying harsh and cutting things; power to defeat the devil on any battlefield; power to keep from lording it over others; power to keep sweet and gentle under all provocations; etc., etc. This requires tremendous power, but the Holy Spirit is ample for every occasion.