[AI translation] Someone once said: the hardest thing is to believe in the Holy Spirit. The work, wisdom and power of God the Father are clearly seen in the world of nature, in the blessed miracles of providence, in everyday life. The reality of Jesus Christ is attested to by historical records, but the reality of the Holy Spirit can only be convinced by an inner spiritual experience, by an experience of faith. Few, therefore, can confess this proposition of our creed: I believe in the Holy Spirit, with the same sincerity and determination as I believe in God and I believe in Jesus Christ. Christmas, Good Friday, Easter mean much more to us than Pentecost. It is easier to share in the joy of the shepherds at Bethlehem, easier to stand in repentance under the cross, easier to gaze in great joyful wonder at the open tomb, than to live into the incomprehensible event of Pentecost.The person and work of God the Holy Spirit is often unknown, unclear even to the believer: how do we stand with Him? Let's be honest: almost nothing! Or at least, if we compare ourselves with the New Testament church, not at all! And now let us try to really compare ourselves with the New Testament church, so that we can at least see clearly: what are we missing, what are we lacking, what are we losing by not knowing the true Pentecostal experience? What do the New Testament churches have that we do not have? In one short word: power! "You will lose power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." (Acts 1:8) So the power of the Holy Spirit is at work there and is missing here in our churches! And if the absence of this power hurts us so much that we can be bitter about it: then we have already taken the first decisive step towards a true Pentecostal experience.
Indeed, the best thing that characterised the first churches was that they were empowered, that they fulfilled the promise of Jesus! Those churches lived by the Holy Spirit, that was their mysterious essence. The mystery of fellowship with one another and the mystery of the inexplicable power that was at work in the whole church was the reality of the Holy Spirit. Those congregations were, in modern terms, dynamic congregations. As Paul put it, "The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." (1 Cor 4:20) And he reminds the Corinthians that they were not won to Christ in fine, big words, "but in the demonstration of the Spirit and power." (1Cor 2,4) And indeed: the apostles had something, some secret, by which it could be seen that they were bringing a heavenly gift to men with the gospel. Who else would have believed that they were bringing the message of God if something divine had not been visible in them, if something divine had not accompanied their actions? It was precisely the manifestation of the Holy Spirit's power in many forms that opened hearts and doors to them everywhere. And this power of the Holy Spirit was a reality among them like the high-voltage current that literally struck down Ananias and Sapphira, the couple who wanted to abuse it for their own benefit, for their own glory. But it was the same force that healed the lame man at the Sharp Gate. So where this power is present, things happen that don't normally happen, things that are considered mysterious, downright occult and magical by our rationally over-abundant age. Yet these are not occult and magical phenomena, but the fulfilment of the promise: "You will lose power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you."
It is a real power, a spiritual power, which reaches down into the subconscious world of man, into the mysterious depths of the human soul, seizes, transforms and puts at its service man's instincts, desires, feelings, emotions. It works such a change in man from within that, according to the Word, it makes man a partaker of a divine nature. "Because that his divine power hath endowed us with all things that pertain unto life and grace, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and power; By which he hath bestowed upon us exceeding great and precious promises; that by them ye might be partakers of a divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the lust of this world." (2Pt 1,3-4)
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph in Christ." (2Cor 2,14) So he creates a life in which there is not always the painful defeat, the defeat in battle, that we know so well, but there is victory, the struggle in the knowledge of Christ's victory and the sharing in Christ's victory. It is a power as mysterious as the sap of the vine in the vine, the fruit of which is "love, joy, peace, forbearance, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance." (Galatians 5:22) It must be a truly miraculous power that can ripen such a beautiful, lush cluster of grapes on a ragged human vine! Moreover, such power is the power of the Holy Spirit, which not only works hidden in the mysterious depths of a soul, but also pours out from there, overflows and even heals bodily ills, as Jesus said to his disciples, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do." (Jn 14,12) This too was so fulfilled, as if Jesus himself had multiplied himself in his disciples!
Let us not try to explain how this is possible, what it is, because it is precisely this supernatural power, a power beyond all understanding: the power of the Holy Spirit! "You will lose power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you!" So the Spirit, the promised Holy Spirit, is there and works mightily, as it is written about Jesus: "He taught them as one having power, and not as scribes" (Mk 1,22) The work of the power of the Holy Spirit, its effect is incomprehensible, amazing, miraculous! The work of the Spirit is moving, shocking, transforming. But even more amazingly, the power of the Spirit is seen in the church as a whole. It has been so extraordinarily powerful that the dividing walls between individuals have been broken down, gaps bridged. We read of them thus: 'But the heart and soul of the multitude of believers was one' (Acts 4:32). Well: the Holy Spirit of God has brought all these different personalities, many separate little worlds, into one unity, into one body! A coherent organism-like reality. And this unity was manifested precisely in the fact that each individual member had its own special role, service, function for the benefit of the whole community. Paul lists the various gifts of grace which the Holy Spirit of God gives for ministry. To some, faith by the same Spirit; to others, gifts of healing by the same Spirit. To some works of miraculous powers; to some prophecy; to some the discerning of souls; to others the gift of tongues; to others the interpretation of tongues; but all these things the same Spirit doeth, dividing to every man severally as he will." (1 Cor 12:8-11)
In other words, in that church all are ministering members, there is no distinction between serving and non-serving believers, active and passive, givers and receivers. In that church there was a general obligation to serve, a general willingness to serve, and at the same time the greatest variety and diversity of service. This is the result of the promise: "Lose strength after the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
And finally, this mysterious power of the Holy Spirit is also seen in the way the New Testament church spread. We cannot imagine it today in any other way than that the church of Christ spread among men through evangelisation, through the preaching of the word. So that the Word was the means of mission. Of course, the preaching of the Word has a great role in the spread of the Gospel, but so does the dynamic effect that the power of the Holy Spirit creates in the church. The winning of outsiders was not primarily by what they were told, but by the incomprehensible things that simply happened in the church! A non-believer's impression of the lives of believers plays a crucial role in his coming to faith. And here, in the New Testament churches, it is precisely the fact that many of the outsiders approached them because they were drawn to the power of the believers' lives! They wanted to share in this power, this power-filled life. Through contact with believers, they entered into the power field of the Holy Spirit, a kind of spiritual magnetism, before they had even heard a word. That is why we read such a report. And the Lord multiplied the congregation every day with those who were brought." (Acts 2:47) "And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. And none of the rest dared to come in among them: but the people exalted them: and they that believed were joined unto the Lord more and more, both of men and women." (Acts 5:12-14) It was like the attraction of a magnetic iron, or the spread of a contagious disease. Man himself is the carrier of this contagion! And the secret of all this wonderful, rich, overflowing, happy, triumphant, ever-expanding church life is this: they were empowered, truly empowered, after the Holy Spirit came upon them, and so they became witnesses, in word and deed, with their whole being, witnesses of Jesus Christ! So, by the dynamic of the Holy Spirit, they lived a life that human power is not enough, because it is incapable!
These are facts, Brothers and Sisters! Can we see in the light of these facts what we are missing? Have we already reached the point where it hurts to lack this strength? Do we feel the misery to which we have sunk through not knowing the Spirit, that without the penetrating power of the Holy Spirit, even the most perfect preaching is a human production, the best organised congregation is a church-legal organisation, the most sacrificial zeal is a human effort? It is clear to us that Pentecost is our most implacable feast! We try in vain to substitute the power of the Holy Spirit of God with our own strength, skill, ingenuity, with any material or spiritual activity, but it is always just a substitute and we can feel that it is not real power, not that power from above, that heavenly power! And the world feels it in us! In fact, the world has felt it in us much longer and much better than we feel it in ourselves! We are still willing to develop whole theological systems, to start large national organizations, and especially to talk a lot, just so we don't have to admit the sinful powerlessness we have gotten into in our condition without the Holy Spirit!
Thank God, in this painful realization, all God's people, east and west, north and south, everywhere, are beginning to be one! Let us stop trying to cover up and disguise the miserable powerlessness that has turned God's people all over the world into tasteless salt, and let us accept the warning of the Lord of the Church to the church at Ephesus in the Book of Revelation: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the works that thou hast done: and if thou wilt not, I will come quickly against thee, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, if thou repent not." (Rev 2:5)
Believe that God wants to and would give His Holy Spirit today just as He did to the New Testament church. There are many indications that God may be preparing His people for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit than ever before. If we look back over the last 30 years, it is impossible not to see that God has been working a revival in this country. And until now there have been two phases, two parts of this revival. First, in my childhood or so, we received an awakening, a shaking assurance of the reality of God as Creator and Father, and then, in the last decade and a half or so, the blessings, gifts and assurances of God as Saviour, Son, Jesus Christ and His work have been brought to many, many believing souls. But the third phase of revival has been missing: the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the filling with the Holy Spirit, the reliving of what Jesus says: "Be strong, after the Holy Spirit has come upon you!" Is this what the Lord is preparing for us?! Do we feel the need, do we feel it is possible?!
Let me conclude by reading the concluding passage from the Pentecost message of the Presidents of the World Council of Churches: 'There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the Church needs more than to be rekindled by the great gift that God gave her at the first Pentecost. The Church that lives under the guidance of the Spirit becomes a centre of spiritual strength in the midst of human weakness, a source of reconciliation in the midst of conflict and strife, a bearer of harmony and justice in the midst of disorder. Let us pray that the Spirit will now reignite the life of God's Church. Veni Creator Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit, the inspiration of our souls!"
Let us pray together for the Holy Spirit in the words of the hymn:
Living Spirit of God, come, blessed be Thou upon me,
Let your eternal flame pass through my heart and mouth!
Untie me, send me away, fill me with fire!
Living Spirit of God, come and bless me!
Living Spirit of God, come, be my guide here,
O help me to leave the paths of sin!
Untie me, send me away, fill me with fire!
Living Spirit of God, come, be my guide here!
Living Spirit of God, come, let me be holy,
And be one with Jesus on earth below!
Untie me, send me away, fill me with fire!
Living Spirit of God, come, let me be holy!
Living Spirit of God, come, give me victory,
And through the final battle, take me up to heaven!
Untie me, send me away, fill me with fire!
Living Spirit of God, come, give us victory!
(Canto 463, verses 1-4)
Amen
Date: 1 June 1952 Pentecost.