CAN WE EXPECT ANOTHER PENTECOST?

Photo taken of Smith's garden 

 

21 – CAN WE EXPECT ANOTHER PENTECOST?

 September 18, 1960

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”

We have been talking to you about the matter of being filled with the Spirit. We have taken two weeks so far in just this one thought, showing you folks that we need to be filled with the Spirit because we are completely corrupt, body, soul, and spirit. Instead of being spiritual beings, we are soulish beings, and our soul is incapable of getting us in right relationship with God. It is incapable of teaching us the things of God.

1/ We are not even capable of praying in ourselves. The Holy Spirit has to pray for us. This shows the utter depravity of man, and his need of the Holy Spirit indwelling him and directing him and taking charge of him.

2/ Then, last week, we showed you the two programs that God had—the kingdom program and the church program. This wonderful Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, will be very active in both. He is spoken of as filling folks in the Kingdom program and filling folks in the church program, but the filling that He has in the two programs is entirely different. In the Kingdom program, He will fill folks and cause them to do His will. They will have to walk in God’s will, because the Holy Spirit will cause them to do that. However, in this mystery program, the Church program, He does come into our lives, and He fills us only when we permit Him and let Him. Even then, He does not cause us and make us to do His will. It is only when we meet God’s requirements that we are filled with the Spirit. It is an entirely different program from the Kingdom filling of the Holy Spirit.

3/ Some folks when they look at the church today say what we need is the Pentecostal power. We need the experience they had back there on the day of Pentecost. Is that being filled with the Spirit? The folks on Pentecost in the Bible are spoken of as having been “filled with the Spirit,” but is that synonymous with the filling that we have today? Let’s examine it and see.

4/ Acts 2: 16, 17 “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:”

Here Peter says that “this is that which is spoken of by the prophet, Joel, and it will come to pass, says God, in the last days I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh...”

Now, Joel 2 is not to the Church which is His Body, Joel knew nothing about the church, it was a complete kingdom picture, and I believe, with all my heart, in the early part of Acts the Kingdom is again offered. Proof is that Peter says, “this is that which is spoken of by the prophet Joel.”

You will notice that it says, “all the Spirit shall be poured out.” And then we can go to Acts 2: 1 – 4 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” ...where it says that all on the day of Pentecost were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now notice there is no exhortation as we have in Ephesians 5: 18 ...”be filled with the Spirit” but they were filled, the language is entirely different from Ephesians 5: 18.

5/ All were filled, 120 strong, from the least to the greatest. Let us look at this. Peter boasted, Thomas doubted, James and John sought personal gain, and now they are all filled with the Spirit, and then you will also remember that when the Lord Jesus Christ was taken prisoner they all fled. Why this difference in their lives? Because now they are filled with the Spirit, they are captive of the Holy Spirit, He is causing them to do His will. They are not being exhorted to be filled with the Spirit, they have been filled. Do you know of any church, any assembly, any group of believers that are filled with the Spirit, from the least to the greatest?

6/ Did they all change because they prayed? Was it because they prayed long and earnestly? No, they had been instructed to go to Jerusalem, not to pray, but to wait—

Acts 1: 4. “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”

Here is the answer why they were filled with the Spirit, not because they were godly or spiritual, or because they prayed long or earnestly, but because the time had arrived for the Holy Spirit to come in fulfillment of Joel 2 and they were all automatically filled.

7/ I want you to carefully notice the immediate things that took place in the behavior of those believers. The Holy Spirit came and took possession of them and not only did they speak with tongues and prophecy and work miracles, but they began living one for another.

Acts 2: 44, 45 “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”

Acts 4: 32, 34, 35 “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

8/ Notice, it says they were of one heart and one soul, it says the multitude of them which believed were this way. Never before had the disciples of Christ even approached such a spirit of love one for another. The twelve had never had anything like this in their past experience, and after this experience was over, the church never had anything like it since then.

9/ Just to show you that they did not have anything like this after this program changed with the advent of Paul, Acts 15: 39 “And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;”

Here we find Paul and Barnabas, and there is much contention between them, it was so sharp that they departed one from the other. What a difference from the day of Pentecost. Oh, that you might see the difference in these two programs.

10/ If we can see the difference in this program, we can understand what John the Baptist said before the ministry of Jesus Christ blossomed into its fullness.

11/ Luke 3: 16 “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:”

Here it says that Jesus Christ was to baptize them in the Holy Spirit. It is not the Holy Spirit that does the baptizing, but rather Christ that does the baptizing and He baptizes in the Holy Ghost. This He did on the Day of Pentecost. He baptized 120 in the Holy Spirit, filled them with the Holy Spirit, and then we have the natural reaction of signs, miracles and wonders and the strict obedience to the will of God. But that is not so today, Christ does not baptize us in the Holy Spirit today. Rather, if we go to Galatians 3: 27, 28 we read “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Not baptized into the Holy Spirit, but baptized into Christ, have been made members of Christ’s Body.

Then notice, the 28th verse, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one—and the next part is important—in Christ Jesus.”

So, you can see on the Day of Pentecost we have the fulfillment of Luke 3: 16 and other promises that Jesus Christ made. They were baptized in the Spirit and all these wonderful things took place, but we today are baptized into Christ, which is far better. We are baptized into Christ. We receive the Holy Spirit and He fills us. Not to cause us to do His will, only as we yield to Him.

12/ Then we turn to Ephesians 4: 5 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” and we read of the one baptism—we are baptized into Christ, not into the Holy Spirit, so that baptism has not taken place today, it is yet future, and the Holy Spirit baptism is not for us today. That is a kingdom experience and they had it on the Day of Pentecost and for a short season thereafter, but today we have one baptism, we are baptized into Christ.

13/ But what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Every child of God, everyone who is saved possesses the Holy Spirit, and this Holy Spirit wants to fill him. Now it is not something to be worked up or prayed down, it is not that we are exhorted to fill ourselves with the Spirit, but rather, be filled with the Spirit. You cannot fill yourself with the Spirit, you must meet God’s conditions and then the Holy Spirit can fill you.

14/ Being filled with the Spirit means to be filled with the Word.

Colossians 3: 16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

One who is not filled with the Word cannot be filled with the Spirit. The next step we must see is that a newly saved babe in Christ is not a Spirit-filled individual. A babe in Christ is not spiritual or carnal, but he may be spiritually minded, or carnally-minded.

Romans 8: 6. “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. If he is carnally-minded, he will wither up and not grow, and not have any strength. When it says to be carnally-minded is death, it does not mean that he will lose his salvation and not be saved and have to be saved agian, but as far as the Christian experience is concerned, carnally-minded brings death—there is no growth there whatsoever.

Peter told this same thing, I Peter 2: 2 “As new-born babes desire the sincere, (that is the pure) milk of the Word that they may grow thereby.”

So, when you are first saved, you need to grow, and the way to grow is to be spiritually- minded, is to keep your mind in the Word of God. A new-born babe cannot understand the will of God as yet, he has to study the Word so that he may grow and become spiritually minded.

15/ Notice what Paul says in Ephesians 4: 13 – 15 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Here he tells us that we come unto a perfect man. That means a full-grown man, and therefore we will be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine.

Everyone loves a baby. What a joy there is in a household when a baby enters into it. What joy to play and fondle a baby, but that joy will soon turn to sorrow and disappointment if that baby doesn’t grow. The same thing is true with the child of God.

16/ The child of God should grow and become a man. That is what we have in

II Timothy 3: 16, 17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

That the man of God, (not the babe in Christ) but the man of God may be perfect, complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

17/ Do not forget Psalms 138: 2 “Thou has magnified Thy Word above all Thy Name.”

The Word of God stands out so important, you cannot be filled with the Spirit unless you are filled with the Word. Again, we come back to this thought of those who place far more emphasis upon prayer than they do upon the Word. Let me ask you one simple question. What is more important? What we have to say to God, or what He has to say to us? There can be but one answer to this question because what God has to say to us is infinitely more important than anything we might say to Him. To obey God means the Bible, the Word, must have a central part in your life.

18/ Luke 10: 38 - 42 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

19/ Every time I think of being filled with the Spirit, I think of being filled with the Word. I always think of Mary and Martha. Commentaries on this passage generally point out that both Mary and Martha had their good points. This, of course, is true. But when we just think about that, we rob the account of its intended lesson, for our Lord did not commend both sisters for their good points. He reproved Martha and defended and commended Mary with regard to one particular matter. What exactly was Mary commended for? Well, how often she has been portrayed as an example of those who spend more time with the Lord in prayer—but this is missing the point of the passage, again. Mary was not praying. She sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His Word. She just sat there drinking in all He had to say. This was the one essential thing which Mary had chosen which our Lord had said was not to be taken away from her. Hearing the Word, studying the Word of God hiding the Word of God in our hearts is the one essential thing above all others.

18/ May we stress again it is studying, not praying. Praying that is a result of studying is fine, but how Satan tries to trick us into thinking we are quite spiritual just because we are a talkative person. You meet someone who can talk all the time, and you can never get a word in edge-wise. They do all the talking you do all the listening. What do you think about God? Do you think God is interested in you when you do all the talking, and God does all the listening? Oh, how much emphasis Satan wants us to put upon this

aspect, but not upon the studying of the Word of God. Praying, yes, by all means being in the attitude of prayer, but above all, studying the Word, being filled with the Word. That is the only way we can be filled with the Spirit.

19/ Being filled with the Spirit will produce certain results and we have here in Ephesians what will happen when we are Spirit-filled. Let us go back now and study the results of being filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5: 19, 20. “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”

This should be translated, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, rather than, speaking to yourselves. It refers to the communication of believing people. Thus, we are to communicate with one another in spiritual songs. Oh, what a great part singing should have in the believer’s life—in the life of the Body of Christ, the assembly here on earth. I am always careful of someone who doesn’t care to sing. Who doesn’t love to burst forth in song, perhaps he doesn’t have any ability as a singer, but he can sing.

20/ James 5: 13 “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.”

Is any merry? Let him sing songs. I am sure it is clear that a great part of the early church in worship consisted of singing. In like manner, the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples sang a hymn at the Last Supper.

21/ Matthew 26: 30. “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.”

Christian music is the only music which is predominately in the major key. Which depicts joy, freedom, life, happiness instead of sorrow, gloom, hopelessness. Listen to most of the songs of today, the silly rock’n’roll, and how it is filled with a mournful note. In England, they had to ban a song because the teenagers were rollicking in it, and thriving in it—it was a song that glorified a youngster that died a violent death in a flaming automobile accident. Oh, yes, our singing should fill our hearts, and if we are filled with the Spirit, we will be a singing people.

AMEN

Ref: 09/18/1960 / 21 - CAN WE EXPECT ANOTHER PENTECOST? 08/08/20