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Enduement With Power
I SUPPOSE if I could put the question and ask those who
are filled with the Spirit to respond, very few if any
would be heard from. And yet we read in Ephesians 5:18
that this is a command: "Be ye filled with the
Spirit." God commands us to be filled with the
Spirit; and if we are not filled, it is because we are
living beneath our privileges. I think that is the great
trouble with Christendom today: we are not living up on
the plane where God would have us live. In the 20th
chapter of John's Gospel, and the 22nd verse, are these
words: "And when He had said this, He breathed on
them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy
Ghost." Now, those men had already the Holy Ghost
dwelling in them. They would never have left their
fishing smacks and followed Christ during those three
years of humiliation and suffering if it hadn't been for
the Spirit of God working in them. But almost the first
thing after the resurrection, when our Lord appeared to
His disciples and showed them His pierced hands and His
wounded side, He breathed upon them and said:
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Yet again, after
that, as we see in Luke 24:49, He said: "Behold, I
send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in
the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from
on high." If those men needed to be endued with
power, do you think we are going to be used without it?
The great trouble with many of us is, that we are working
for God without power. We are sons of God - no doubt
about that - and daughters of God. We can "read our
titles clear to mansions in the skies," but we are
sons and daughters without power. That is the trouble.
Now look at Acts 1:8:
"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you." Notice, Christ said that to the
Apostles after they had been with Him three years, and
after He had breathed upon them and said: "Receive
ye the Holy Ghost." There are two ways in which the
Holy Spirit comes to a man. The Spirit dwelling in him is
one thing, and the Spirit on him for power is another
thing. I think that is where Christian people are misled.
The trouble is, they are not looking for the Spirit of
God for service. When the disciples were about to begin
their great work, our Lord said: "Ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."
How many, do you suppose, would have been converted on
the day of Pentecost if Peter had gone and preached
without this power? Not one. The disciples were
commissioned to go and preach, but they were to wait till
they were recommissioned and endued with power by the
Holy Ghost. "Ye shall receive power, after that the
Holy Ghost is 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."
How quickly this whole world would be reached if we were
just looking to God for this same Apostolic power! Turn
to the second chapter of Acts and see how the promise was
fulfilled. They tarried as they were bidden, waiting and
praying for the Holy Ghost, when suddenly the power came,
and they were ready for work. And there was more work
done in one day than in all the three years while they
were with Christ. The Lord had said: "He that
believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also;
and greater works than these shall he do; because I go
unto My Father." "If I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will
send Him unto you." When the power came upon the
Apostles, they did greater things than the Master ever
did. There was a time when I thought the raising of
Lazarus was the greatest work ever done on this earth.
But I think the conversion of those 3,000 Jews on the day
of Pentecost was more wonderful still. Those hard-hearted
Jews were full of hatred and unbelief; many, no doubt,
were the same men who murdered Christ. And yet they were
swept down by the mighty power of the Spirit. We have got
the same obstacles to contend with as the Apostles had.
Our Gospel that we are preaching is a supernatural
Gospel, and we have got to have supernatural power to
preach it.
There is a class of
people who say: "Yes; I know the Spirit came on the
day of Pentecost, but He came in miraculous power; and we
are not warranted in looking for anything like that
today." If you turn to the fourth chapter of Acts
you will find that this wonderful work went right on
after the day of Pentecost. Peter and John were cast into
prison, and brought before the Sanhedrim. The Council
didn't dare to stone them to death because there were so
many young converts. So they gave them this order:
"Now, you can preach in the Temple or wherever you
like, but upon one condition - don't you preach any more
in this man's name." The Apostles went forth from
the Sanhedrim to the other disciples, and they had a
little prayer meeting. What was the result? "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." In the second of
Acts it says that "they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost," and here, in the fourth of Acts, it
says again, "they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost." They had either lost their power or had got
greater capacity - I don't know which. There are a great
many men who had power five years ago that haven't got it
now. They are like Samson robbed of his strength, or like
fishermen working with old, broken nets. Notice, again,
that about ten years after, Peter went out to Caesarea
and told Cornelius the words whereby he and his house
were saved. While he was speaking, what happened?
"The Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the
word." That was about ten years after the day of
Pentecost, and yet they received the special gift of the
Holy Ghost. I firmly believe that if we had this building
filled with men and women expecting the Pentecostal
power, we would get it. I believe if this building was
filled with men and women hungry for the Spirit of God,
we would have this place shaken, and there would be an
influence felt not only in this land, but in foreign
lands. It wouldn't take long to reach the whole world.
Talk about twenty years. It needn't take twenty years if
the Church of God is baptized and quickened.
Notice that those who
are filled with the Holy Ghost immediately begin to
testify of Jesus Christ. Elisabeth, when visited by the
Virgin, was "filled with the Holy Ghost," and
spoke of the coming Lord. Zacharias also was "filled
with the Holy Ghost," and quoted Scripture in
reference to the Messiah. Stephen was "filled with
the Spirit," and received such unction that the men
of the synagogue "were not able to resist the wisdom
and the spirit by which he spake." He was able to
stand before the whole Sanhedrim, and the power of God
was on him in a wonderful degree while he testified of
Christ. When Peter was "filled with the Spirit"
he went out to preach Christ - he couldn't help it. All
through the New Testament we are told that the Apostles
were again and again filled with the Spirit. And as they
preached "much people were added to the
church." That always follows. There will be
conversions breaking out in all the churches if we are
filled with the Spirit. Let us pray that we may receive
power for service. Let us not be satisfied with only the
power by which we are "sealed unto the day of
redemption;" but let us pray that we may be baptized
with that power from on high by which we can do great
things for the Master.
It is important to
know whether the work we are doing is the work God would
have us do. I remember that one time when Dr. Kirk came
to Chicago, his old power came back upon him, and he just
shook that city as I had never seen it shaken. I suppose
if he had stayed, there would have been thousands and
thousands converted. The Mayor of the city and the
leading men all came to hear him, and they said: "If
we could have that kind of preaching we would be glad to
hear it." But he went back to his pastoral work. I
believe that man was meant for an evangelist; yet he went
back to visit the widow and the fatherless. That was an
important work, but others could have done it. Some men
are gifted one way and some another. One man has got
gifts as a pastor, and another has got gifts as an
evangelist, while another is specially qualified to stir
up Christians. Let every one ask, "Am I in the right
place? Am I where God wants me to be?" If we would
do that, it might break up a good many pastorates. Are
you ready - ready to cut the tie? When I was in Chicago I
used to take a circuit out in the country, and preach
during the week evenings; but I think I made a great
mistake in binding myself too closely to my regular work.
There was time after time when there would be a hundred
inquirers in the country, and yet I would hurry away so
as to preach in my own place in the city on Sunday night,
and then perhaps only find myself beating against the
air. Let us be ready to go anywhere - to go wherever the
Master calls.
If you want this power
for service God will give it to you. Just say: "Here
I am, Lord. Send me where you please - only give me
souls. Give me power to win souls for Jesus Christ."
When that is the uppermost thought in our hearts He won't
disappoint us. "He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him
also freely give us all things." If He gave us His
Son, will He withhold the Spirit? "Herein is My
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." Are you
toiling all night and catching nothing? Cast the net on
the right side. Come, my friend, are you ready to go
anywhere? Can you say: "Lord, send me to whom you
will - only send me. Let that power come upon me, that I
may win souls for Jesus Christ?" May we have no will
but God's sweet will. Oh, that our wills may be swallowed
up in God's will. I believe if Gabriel should tell me
that for the rest of my days I could have my way, I
wouldn't have it. I don't know enough about the future. I
want to pray: "Father, not my will, but Thine."
May we all be ready to run if He wants us to run, or to
stand still if He wants us to stand still. May we say:
"Here we are, Lord; take us - take us - fill us -
use us." I think, if I know my own heart, I would
rather die at once and be buried right off than to live
without power. Oh, it is an awfully sad thing for a man
to outlive his usefulness - to be laid aside as a vessel
no longer meet for the Master's use. There are a good
many Christians God can't use as He used them once. He
has got a good many children that were full of power a
year ago or five years ago, but they are not right now.
How He wants to use them! Oh, I pray from the depths of
my soul that as long as I live I may be filled with the
Holy Ghost. Let us pray that we may be filled with this
power from on high; and that we may be always ready -
ready for anything.
----D.L. Moody