Lucas 24
Steven Cole · Citado em PreceptAustin
Lucas 24
Cole adds "The word “must” is the same Greek word that we found in Lu 24:7 and Lu 24:26, pointing to the necessity of God’s sovereign plan being fulfilled. Luke wants us to know that the death of Jesus was not an accident, nor ultimately the result of sinful men getting the upper hand. It was God’s sovereign purpose, in fulfillment of many Old Testament Scriptures." (Our Mission and How to Fulfill It)
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Cole - Here we are looking primarily at the power of the Holy Spirit that we need to bear witness of Christ. It is significant that the apostle Paul asked the Ephesian church to pray for him, so that he could proclaim the gospel boldly (Eph 6:19-20+). and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (ED: WHO GIVES BOLDNESS? THE SPIRIT - cf Acts 4:31+, et al) I wouldn’t have guessed that Paul was lacking in boldness, but he knew his own weakness and asked for prayer in that area! He asked the Colossians to pray that he could make the gospel clear (Col 4:4+). that I may make it clear in the way I ought (GK = DEI = MUST = HE FEELS OBLIGATED) to speak. Again, I would have thought that Paul of all people could make the gospel clear! Yet he knew that he must depend on the Holy Spirit when he proclaimed the gospel. He also asked for prayer that God would open doors for the word. If Paul needed prayer for these things, how much more should we be praying for the Holy Spirit to empower us and provide openings so that we can proclaim the gospel to those who are lost! You have probably seen things on TV where they said, “Do not try this at home!” They mean, you could get hurt since this is a dangerous activity. The warning regarding witnessing is, “Do not try this in your own strength!” You need the Holy Spirit’s power! Three concluding applications: (1) Make sure that you can present by memory the basic plan of salvation, with appropriate Scripture references. If you do not have in mind a basic outline of the gospel, along with the Bible verses to support it, you cannot be an effective witness. If you’d like training, sign up for the Evangelism Explosion class. Get a copy of the tape by Bill Fay. (2) Ask God to keep you focused on your mission. Don’t get sidetracked into the sandbox of secondary things while souls around you need to hear about the Savior. Ask God for opportunities to bear witness. Pray for world missions. Give to missionaries. Pray about being involved yourself in missions. All the junk we work so hard to collect is going up in smoke someday. The souls that we reach for Christ will be with us in heaven for eternity. (3) Remember, your mission is to be a witness. Jesus didn’t call us to be champion debaters or brilliant orators or astute philosophers. He called us to be witnesses. The job of a witness is simple: he tells what he has seen and heard. Like the man born blind whom Jesus healed, you may not be able to debate theology, but you can say, “One thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (Jn 9:25). You can tell people, “I know that if you will repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He will forgive all your sins. He did that for me. He will do that for you.” Our mission: To proclaim repentance for forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name to all the nations. How we fulfill it: In the power of the Holy Spirit. (Sermon Luke 24:44-49) Out of Gas - One New Year's Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" (Luke 24:49) find themselves out of gas. —Steve Blankenship Go Quickly and Tell - The far-famed preacher, Robert G. Lee, told of a terrible train wreck that occurred near Kinston, North Carolina. An excursion train plunged into an open draw bridge on the Elizabeth River, and eighteen passengers were killed or drowned. An inquiry to determine the cause of the accident heard from the signal man and from the engineer. The signal man swore under oath that he had waved a red flag, signaling the train to stop. The engineer, however, swore that the flag had been white, indicating full speed ahead. The mystery was solved when the flag was recovered and presented as evidence. It was a red flag, but it had become so faded in time that it would have appeared white from a distance. “Many Christians have become like a faded flag that fails to convey God’s message of warning to imperiled men,” said Lee. “Oh, the wrecks that have resulted from the unfaithfulness of those whose Christianity is a faded flag.”(BORROW "The Useless Flag" from Robert G. Lee’s Sourcebook of 500 Illustrations p. 75) Dr. David Jeremiah - Do “dying sayings” interest you? It’s intriguing to compare the final moments of Christians to those without Him. The last words of Thomas Carlyle, the famous Scottish writer, was: I am as good as without hope … a sad old man gazing into the final chasm. (ED: QUOTE FROM CARLYLE - I read Gibbon, and then first clearly saw that Christianity was not true. Then came the most trying time of my life. I should either have gone mad or made an end of myself had I not fallen in with some very superior minds.[28]) Compare that with the dying words of evangelist D. L. Moody: "Earth recedes! Heaven opens before me. This is no dream… It is beautiful! It is like a trance! If this is death, it is sweet! God is calling me, and I must go!" Easter changes the way we look at both life and death. When the Bible says that Christ is the firstfruits of those who sleep, it means He is the first of many to be resurrected. “Firstfruits” refers to the earliest ingathering of crops. It indicates there’s a greater harvest coming. Jesus was the first of those to be resurrected, and because He lives, we shall live also. As Charles
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Cole adds that " Twice in our chapter it is emphasized that God decreed the death of Jesus Christ. The risen Savior tells these two men that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer these things (Lk 24:26). Earlier (Lk 24:7+), the angel reminds the women at the tomb of Jesus’ earlier prediction, “that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified.” The Greek word translated must and necessary is a favorite term for Luke (18 times in his Gospel) that points to God’s sovereign purpose (ED: What does it mean that God is sovereign?). Luke wants us to know that God is in charge of history, moving it along according to His sovereign purpose. This is especially true of the greatest tragedy in history, the crucifixion of the sinless Savior. Although it was the worst crime that could ever be committed, and the men who did it were responsible for their wicked deed, God sovereignly ordained it (Lk 24:7+; Acts 2:23+ = Jesus was "delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God"; Acts 4:27-28+ = "to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur."). It did not thwart His plan; it fulfilled it. (Luke 24:13-35 Disappointment and Hope) Albert Barnes gives another reason it was necessary for Messiah to suffer for our sins - "The reason why it was predicted, and why it was necessary that it should occur, was that it was proper that God should manifest His justice, and do honour to His law, and secure the due regard for His government, while He pardoned the guilty." In other words to follow up on Barnes' comment, Christ's suffering allowed God to "be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Ro 3:26+). Criswell explains that "The entire significance of the atonement is nowhere more succinctly or wonderfully stated than in this verse (Ro 3:26). The divine dilemma consisted of the love and grace of God leading to God's pardon of man, while at the same time providing this pardon without a catastrophic breach of justice in the universe. Christ's death on the cross propitiated ("satisfied") God and reconciled man. Because of that atoning death, God is the "Justifier" of those who believe in Jesus, and He has maintained justice in the pardon by paying the price of sin's punishment Himself." (Believer's Study Bible) Is this not the quintessence of Amazing Grace?! Necessary (must) (1163)(dei from deo = to bind, tie objects together) means it is necessary (binding), needful. Deí is an obligation out of intrinsic necessity or inevitability. In order to fulfill perfectly the OT prophecies of the Messiah, first it was necessary for Him to suffer. More to the point, it was necessary for Him to die on the Cross as our sinless Substitute for sin to fulfill every prophecy and to open a way so that we might one day experience glory with Him. For the Christ (Messiah) to suffer (pascho) these things - The cross before the crown is God's pattern, not just for Jesus but all His disciples. What things? The suffering Cleopas described in Lk 24:19, 20+ The Christ (5547)(Christos from chrio = to anoint as one would do to a Prophet, King, Priest) means "the Messiah" (and so translated by some versions - HCSB, marginal note on NAS = "i.e;, Messiah") (See also Messiah - Anointed One and Greek word for Messiah.) Resources Related to Messiah's suffering Ge 3:15-note, Ps 16 (commentary), Ps 22 - Crucifixion (commentary), Ps 118:22-note. A M Hodgkin's Christ in All the Scriptures. Isaiah 53 In Depth Commentary Isaiah 53 - Of Whom Does the Prophet Speak? (especially for Jewish readers) Christ in Isaiah - Paul Van Gorder from his work The Old Testament Presents...Reflections of Christ The Amazing Prophecy Of Names - A study of Isaiah's names for the Savior The Jewish Tradition Of Two Messiahs The Passion Of Christ: Reflecting On History’s Darkest Hour Suffer (3958)(pascho) means essentially what happens to a person experience. It means to undergo something; to experience a sensation, to experience an impression from an outside source, to undergo an experience (usually difficult) and normally with the implication of physical or psychological suffering. Pascho in the context of the passion clearly means the suffering Savior's supplication in Gethsemane, the sextuplet of false trials, the slaying on the Cross and the incomprehensible mysterious separation from His Father for those three dark hours on the Cross (Mt 27:45, 46). Zechariah prophesied of the sufferings of the Messiah “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered (THE DISCIPLES "RAN FOR COVER" AFTER HIS ARREST IN THE GARDEN.); And I will turn My hand against the little ones. (Zec. 13:7+) Peter spoke of the "The sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." (1 Peter 1:11+) The writer of Hebrews says But we do see Him Who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect (Jesus was perfect but the idea is to bring His mission of redemption to its final goal) the Author of their salvation through sufferings. (Heb 2:9-10+) J C
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Cole - Forgiveness of sins is the first and foremost need of every person who has sinned against God. Sinners do not first need to know how to patch up their broken marriages. They don’t first need to know how to succeed in life. They certainly do not first need to know how to improve their self-esteem! Sinners need to know how they can obtain forgiveness from God. God’s answer is, sinners will be forgiven when they repent of their sins and trust in Christ’s blood that was shed on the cross. Such forgiveness is not partial; it is total. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1Jn 1:7; Heb 10:10-18). The forgiven sinner who has trusted in Christ’s shed blood need never fear that God will bring up some hidden sin at the judgment. As Paul proclaims, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Ro 8:33-34). Thus nothing can separate us from God’s great love in Christ (Ro 8:35-39)! God’s forgiveness in Christ is granted instantly at the moment the sinner repents and turns to Jesus Christ for pardon. It is not based on our earning it by our penance or merit over time. It is granted by His free and abundant grace. Because God grants it by His grace and because He has promised never to take back His gift, it will never be rescinded. You don’t have to worry about a recall! Further, God’s forgiveness is offered to the worst of sinners. Jesus told the disciples to proclaim this message of forgiveness “beginning from Jerusalem” (Lu 24:47). What had just happened in Jerusalem? They had killed their Messiah! In spite of repeated warnings and the evidence of repeated miracles, the religious leaders in Jerusalem had wickedly murdered the Lord of glory! Surely the disciples weren’t hearing the Lord correctly? “Jerusalem? You want us to proclaim forgiveness of sins in this sinful city?” Yes, thank God, His judgment on that city was delayed! The Lord’s words, “beginning at Jerusalem,” tell us that there is no sinner that God cannot save. Our mission is to offer forgiveness of sins to the worst of sinners if they will repent. (Luke 24:44-49) J C Ryle on repentance for forgiveness - “Repentance and remission of sins” are the first things which ought to be pressed on the attention of every man, woman, and child throughout the world.—All ought to be told the necessity of repentance. All are by nature desperately wicked. Without repentance and conversion, none can enter the kingdom of God. All ought to be told God’s readiness to forgive every one who believes on Christ. All are by nature guilty and condemned. But any one may obtain by faith in Jesus, free, full, and immediate pardon.—All, not least, ought to be continually reminded, that repentance and remission of sins are inseparably linked together. Not that our repentance can purchase our pardon. Pardon is the free gift of God to the believer in Christ. But still it remains true, that a man impenitent is a man unforgiven. He that desires to be a true Christian, must be experimentally acquainted with repentance and remission of sins. These are the principal things in saving religion. To belong to a pure Church, and hear the Gospel, and receive the sacraments, are great privileges. But are we converted? Are we justified? If not, we are dead before God. Happy is that Christian who keeps these two points continually before his eyes! Repentance and remission are not mere elementary truths, and milk for babes. The highest standard of sanctity is nothing more than a continual growth in practical knowledge of these two points. The brightest saint is the man who has the most heart-searching sense of his own sinfulness, and the liveliest sense of his own complete acceptance in Christ. (Luke 24)
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Cole says in His Name means "by His authority and by virtue of everything that He is and everything that He did in His death and resurrection in fulfillment of the Scriptures. If you are sharing Christ and someone tries to argue with you, don’t join the argument as if it is your word against his word. Rather, point them to God’s Word. You cannot raise a dead sinner to life, but the name of Jesus can! “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12+). We are to go in Jesus’ authority, proclaiming who He is and what He has done. The subject of our mission is the person and work of Jesus Christ, who offers forgiveness of sins to every repentant sinner in His name."(Luke 24:44-49) David Guzik on in His Name - preach the gospel in Jesus’ name means to: Preach it under His orders Preach it on His authority Preach it knowing repentance and remission of sin come by the virtue of His name Refusing to preach it in our own name (Luke 24 Commentary) To all the nations - The Good News of salvation was for all the nations from the beginning (cf Ge 12:3 "in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."). Forgiveness is available to all people, both Jew and Gentile. This recalls Jesus commission in Matthew to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." (Mt 28:19a-note) Nations (1484)(ethnos) is used over 151 times in the NT and is most often translated Gentiles (93x), then nation or nations (67x). Ethnos is the Greek word for nations in Mt 28:19. Beginning in Jerusalem - This beginning is described in Acts 2 after the Holy Spirit has come to give them the supernatural power they needed to carry out this task (Acts 1:8+) Spurgeon on beginning in Jerusalem - This gospel message was to be proclaimed among all nations, “beginning at Jerusalem”, but not ending there. It has been preached to us; let us see to it that we pass it on to those who have never heard it yet. (Exposition) See Map that shows the Expansion of the Early Church in Palestine Steven Cole - Our Mission and How to Fulfill It (Luke 24:44-49) A young boy asked his mother and grandmother to play with him in his new sandbox in the front yard. He equipped each of them with a shovel and pail, which they promptly put to use at his request. As the two women became involved in conversation, they began to notice that people passing by seemed very interested in what they were doing. It was then they realized that they had become so busy in talking, they had not noticed that the little boy had gone into the back yard to play—leaving them alone in the sandbox. (In Reader’s Digest, 9/86, p. 25). It’s easy, as time goes by, to lose your focus on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. But if you forget what your purpose is, you can look awfully silly. It’s not uncommon for churches to forget what their mission is and to get involved in all sorts of activities and programs that do not serve that mission. Thus we must be clear about our mission as a church and how we are to fulfill it. The risen Lord Jesus spells this out in our text. These words may have been spoken on the first Resurrection Sunday or they may represent a summary of what Jesus taught the disciples over the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension. It was this teaching that transformed these men from being confused, discouraged, and fearful into bold, courageous witnesses who were willing to die for their faith and mission. Our Lord’s teaching here is not just for the apostles or for those in full-time ministry. Every member of Christ’s church is to be involved in seeking first the kingdom of God. We all must make Christ’s purpose our purpose. Here He spells out what our mission is and how we are to fulfill it. (Luke 24:44-49) Steven Cole on The Scope of our Mission to the Whole World - We are to proclaim this message “to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.” The word “nations” is the Greek ethne, from which we get our word “ethnic.” As you probably know, in the past 25 years there has been a radical new focus in missions, the “people-group” approach. Ralph Winter, who pioneered this concept, defines a people group as “the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance” (Mission Frontiers, June, 2000, p. 25). In 1974, approximately one-half of the world’s population lived in unreached people groups. Today, just one-third are in that category. So progress is being made, but there is much work left to be done. One-third equals two billion people! How this concept works, for example, is that rather than viewing the nation of Mexico as one nation, it is viewed as consisting of many different people groups who have different primary languages, customs, and cultural characteristics. To evangelize Mexico, we must see churches planted in each of these people groups. To that end, our church has adopted one group, the Durango Nahuatl, as an unreached group that we are committed to reach through prayer, finances, and other means. To be obedient to Christ’s command, we need to send missionaries to these many unreached groups around the world. Even if we saw thousands come to Christ in Flagstaff, unless we cross linguistic and cultural barriers with the gospel, there will still be two billion unreached people who have no opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ. So we must have our focus on the lost people groups of the world. Pray for them to be reached. For years, our family has used the “Global Prayer Digest” (available from the U.S. Center for World Mission), a monthly prayer guide for the unreached peoples of the world. Support missionaries committed to reaching these unreached groups. Instill a vision for missions in your children. Be open to God’s leading you to go. We should begin in our Jerusalem, but our eyes should be on the whole world. By the way, we have a unique opportunity in Flagstaff, with over 400 international students in our town. If we neglect reaching out to them, we are not obeying our Lord’s command here. Admittedly, it is an overwhelming task! How can we possibly do it? The Lord tells us in verse Lu 24:49: (Luke 24:44-49) YOUR PRAYERS ARE SAFELY STORED IN A BOWL - Revelation 5:8+ which describes "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." Now observe carefully that the next verse (Rev 5:9+) describes "men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Can you not see the relationship between supplications in verse 8 and saved souls in verse 9? Clearly and mysteriously, our prayers for hidden people groups (see Ralph Winter in 1980 when there were 16000 hidden people groups) today will be effective in bringing souls to eternal salvation. Would you not consider storing up for yourself treasure in heaven daily for the rest of your life (Mt 6:20+)? Can I encourage you to take a step of faith and believe that God will hear your prayers for hidden people groups and that one day in eternity you will meet those for whom you have been praying day after day, year after year? And here is an easy way to pray for the hidden people groups daily - bookmark Joshua Project or download the APP from Joshua Project and select daily notifications and you will receive a daily text reminder with the name of the hidden people group for that day. (see also Global Prayer Digest) Now even if I forget to read the full entry for the people group of the day, the APP allows me to never miss a day praying for lost souls who have never heard the Name of Jesus (Acts 4:12+) and His saving Gospel (Ro 1:16+). This is your "once in a lifetime opportunity!" Praying for souls is something we can only do now on earth and is an exciting, rewarding way to redeem the time on earth for heaven! Indeed, if you (energized by the Spirit) pray now, your time in time eternal will be marvelously impacted by the presence of those you took time to pray for in time temporal! Don't procrastinate! Don't delay! Bookmark the site and/or download the Joshua Project APP today. If Paul were speaking to us today he might say something like this "So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." (Gal 6:10+) Today is your "opportunity of a lifetime!" May our Father in Heaven grant you amazing grace by His Spirit to be energized and motivated to intercede for peoples you have never seen but will one day see in the presence of the Lamb Who Alone is Worthy (1 Th 2:19-20+). Amen. Faith asks no signal from the skies, To show that prayers accepted rise, Our Priest is in his holy place, And answers from the throne of grace. “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3+) See the full article - Praying for People from Every Tribe, Tongue, People and Nation
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Cole reminds us that we must ever be mindful of "our total dependence on the Lord if we want to fulfill the mission He has given us. Those who do not know Christ are spiritually blind, unable to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2Co 4:4). No amount of clever salesmanship or persuasive arguments on our part can lift that spiritual blindness. We may be able to talk a person into making a decision (ED: I DID THAT ONCE WITH AN ATHEIST WHO CRIED AND CRIED AT THE NEXT DAYS EASTER SERVICE, BUT 3 MONTHS LATER WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH ME OR MY JESUS! IT WAS A PAINFUL LESSON REMINDING ME OF Jn 15:5 and Acts 1:8!), but only Christ can impart sight to spiritually blind eyes. So as we share the gospel, we must pray that God would open the person’s mind to the truth of His Word. (Our Mission and How to Fulfill It) Witnesses (3144)(martus/martys) basically describes one who remembers something and testifies concerning what they remember. Notice that martus has a two fold meaning of (1) describing one who has seen and/or experienced something or someone and (2) one who testifies to what he or she saw. The testimony could be in a legal setting (Mk 14:63; Acts 6:13; 7:58; Heb. 10:28) or in the general sense of recounting firsthand knowledge (Lk 11:48; 1Ti. 6:12; Heb 12:1; 1Pe 5:1). A martus is one who attests to a fact or event, one who gives evidence (testifies in a court to the truth of a fact or event), one who has seen or has personal knowledge of something or someone, especially as an "eye witness" (eg, the apostles in Acts having and relating their personal knowledge of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances). A witness is one who furnishes evidence or proof, confirming the truth by verbal testimony. Warren
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Cole adds that "Faithful witnesses don’t make up a story; they tell what they have seen and heard. And what they saw and heard in Jesus Christ was completely in line with what God had revealed in His written Word. Even so, our message is contained in the Bible. It is God’s revelation to us about Himself, about our sin and need for a Savior, and about the Savior whom He sent, Jesus Christ. We are not free to modify the message if it isn’t to our liking. We are not free to take part of it that appeals to us and skip the parts that step on our toes. Yet many popular preachers do just that. One of them tells us that if Jesus could speak to us today, He would not tell us that we are miserable sinners. Rather, He would tell us to be proud of who we are, to stop putting ourselves down, and to start enjoying the dignity that is our God-intended destiny. He says that God wants all of us to feel good about ourselves and that to be born again is to be changed from a negative to a positive self-image (Robert Schuller, Self Esteem, the New Reformation [Word] pp. 47, 58, 68). This man sells millions of books in Christian bookstores, and yet he is making up his own message, not proclaiming the message of the Bible. God’s Word is the source of our mission and message. (Our Mission and How to Fulfill It) J C Ryle on You are witnesses of these things - If we are true disciples of Christ, we must bear a continual testimony in the midst of an evil world. We must testify to the truth of our Master’s Gospel,—the graciousness of our Master’s heart,—the happiness of our Master’s service,—the excellence of our Master’s rules of life,—and the enormous danger and wickedness of the ways of the world. Such testimony will doubtless bring down upon us the displeasure of man. The world will hate us, as it did our Master, because we “testify of it, that its works are evil.” (John 7:7.) Such testimony will doubtless be believed by few comparatively, and will be thought by many offensive and extreme. But the duty of a witness is to bear his testimony, whether he is believed or not. If we bear a faithful testimony, we have done our duty, although, like Noah and Elijah, and Jeremiah, we stand almost alone. What do we know of this witnessing character? What kind of testimony do we bear? What evidence do we give that we are disciples of a crucified Saviour, and, like Him, are “not of the world?” (John 17:14.) What marks do we show of belonging to Him who said, “I came that I should bear witness unto the truth?” (John 18:7.) Happy is he who can give a satisfactory answer to these questions, and whose life declares plainly that he “seeks a country.” (Heb. 11:14.) (Luke 24) As Below, So Above Read: Luke 24:44-53 You are witnesses of these things. . . . but tarry in the city . . . until you are endued with power from on high. —Luke 24:48-49 The Roman paganism of Jesus’ day taught that the actions of gods in the heavens above affected the earth below. If Zeus got angry, thunderbolts shot out. “As above, so below,” went the ancient formula. Jesus, though, sometimes inverted that. He taught: As below, so above. A believer prays, and heaven responds. A sinner repents, and the angels rejoice. A mission succeeds, and God is glorified. A believer rebels, and the Holy Spirit is grieved. I believe these things, yet somehow I keep forgetting them. I forget that my prayers matter to God. I forget that the choices I make today bring delight or grief to the Lord of the universe. I forget that I am helping my neighbors to their eternal destinations. The good-news message of God’s love that Jesus brought to this earth we can now bring to others. That was the challenge He gave His disciples before ascending to His Father (see Matt. 28:18-20). We who follow Jesus serve as an extension of His incarnation and ministry. It is why He came to earth. Before He left, He told His disciples that He would send His Spirit from above to them below (Luke 24:48). He did not leave us alone. He fills us with His power that we might touch lives here below to affect eternity. You ascended before our eyes, and we turned back grieving, only to find You in our hearts. —Augustine INSIGHT: In today’s passage, Jesus teaches that all Scripture—the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms—direct us to Him. Paul underscores this point in his second letter to the young pastor Timothy. He reminds Timothy of the purpose of Scripture: “to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). Witnesses - Luke 24:48 Read: Acts 1:1-11 You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me . . . to the end of the earth. —Acts 1:8 In a criminal court case, witnesses provide vital information about a possible crime. Being a witness means telling the court the truth about what you know. Just as the criminal justice system relies heavily on witnesses, Jesus uses bold, faithful, and credible witnesses to spread His Word and build His church. Before Jesus ascended to His Father, He gave His disciples a final command—to launch a worldwide witnessing campaign. The Holy Spirit would come upon them and give them supernatural power to be His witnesses throughout the world (Acts 1:8). Jesus called these early apostles to go into a world where people did not know about Him and to give a truthful account of what they had seen, heard, and experienced (Acts 4:19-20). Since they had witnessed His perfect life, teachings, suffering, death, burial, and resurrection (Luke 24:48; Acts 1–5), they were to go out and give a truthful testimony about Him. Lord and Savior, Christ divine, Reign within this heart of mine; May my witness ever be Always, only, Lord, for Thee. —Brandt God has left us in the world to witness to the world. Luke 24:49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." I send (KJV): Isa 44:3,4 59:20,21 Joel 2:28-32 John 14:16,17,26, John 15:26 John 16:7-16 but (KJV): Isa 32:15 Ac 1:4,8 2:1-21 Luke 24:44–49 The Great Commission: Proclaiming Forgiveness to the World, Part 1 - John MacArthur Luke 24:44–49 The Great Commission: Proclaiming Forgiveness to the World, Part 2 - John MacArthur Luke 24:44-49 Our Mission and How to Fulfill It - Steven Cole Luke 24 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Amplified And behold, I will send forth upon you what My Father has promised; but remain in the city [Jerusalem] until you are clothed with power from on high. KJV And, 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. NET And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." NLT "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." ESV And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." NIV 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." CSB And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high." GWN "I'm sending you what my Father promised. Wait here in the city until you receive power from heaven." The promise is the Spirit. The clothing is power from on high. The Spirit is the Source of the power. "And behold, (idou) I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." - The promise was from the Father and Jesus would send the promise. This promise was the promise of the Holy Spirit, a promise made to the disciples in the upper room before the crucifixion "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides WITH you and will be IN you (as fulfilled at Pentecost)." (Jn 14:16,17). Christ also had told them "“Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (Jn 20:21). But before they went out they had to wait for the promise. As Jesus promised "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8+) They could not be supernatural witnesses without supernatural power. And beloved, this principle still holds true -- we cannot be witnesses for Jesus in our natural strength but only in the Spirit's supernatural power.
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Cole - To be clothed with the Spirit is a word picture that describes being surrounded and marked by the Spirit, just as your clothes cover your body and identify you to others. Clothed (1746)(enduo from en = in + dúo = to sink, go in or under, to put on) means literally to clothe or dress someone and to put on as a garment, to cause to get into a garment (eg, Lk 15:22 where the father says "quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him… "). All God's workmen must be ENDUED with power (dunamis) from on high In the OT "clothed" is used to describe the Holy Spirit coming upon (enduo) Judges 6:34, Gideon; 1Chr 12:18, 1 Chr 24:20 God clothing Adam & Eve Ge 3:21 of a person as clothed, i.e., endued, furnished with any power, quality; 1Co 15:53, 54 = incorruptibility and immortality;Col3:12 = to the bowels of compassion; 2Chr 6:41; Job 29:14; Ps 93:1; Ezek7:27 Paul uses enduo are all figurative describing the putting on of "ethical, moral or spiritual" garments. And what a "wardrobe" he lays out for believers in his epistles… THE ARMOR OF LIGHT Romans 13:12 The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside (cast off, drop, fling away, renounce) the deeds of darkness (all the filthy garments of worldliness—that is, everything associated with unrighteousness and evil -- in the context of Col 3:10 this would include lying) and put on the armor of light. (See notes) CHRIST HIMSELF AS OUR GARMENT Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Comment: This putting on refers to salvation, at which time the Spirit replaced our filthy rags of sin with the righteousness of Christ - this is now and forever our new position before God. He sees us in Christ's righteousness - the theologians refer to this as positional truth = past tense salvation = justification. Romans 13:14 But put on (our practice = present tense salvation = progressive sanctification - put Him on each morning and every moment of the day - aorist imperative [middle voice = you initiate the action and participate in the result = put Him yourself] ) the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (See notes) THE NEW SELF Ephesians 4:24 and put on (not a command - aorist tense) the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Comment: As discussed in the notes there is debate between excellent commentators, some favoring this putting on as indicative of positional truth and others favoring it as calling for this to be our practice - progressive sanctification or present tense salvation. Colossians 3:10 and have put on (past tense salvation = positional sanctification = our position now and forever in Christ - see our practice in Col 3:12) the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One Who created him (See notes) Colossians 3:12 And so, as those who have been chosen of God (cf notes Eph 1:5), holy and beloved, put on (present tense salvation = progressive sanctification = our practice - a command be clothed [middle voice = clothe yourself] now = aorist imperative) a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (See notes) THE BREASTPLATE OF FAITH AND LOVE 1Thessalonians 5:8 (note) But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on (at the time of our new birth = justification = our position = past tense salvation) the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. IMPERISHABLE, IMMORTAL GARMENTS 1 Corinthians 15:53 For this perishable must put on (glorification = future tense salvation) the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. What a "wardrobe" God has made available for believers! We're the "best dressed" folks in the world and most of us don't even know it! And the best is yet to come for John writes… GARMENTS OF FINE LINEN, WHITE AND CLEAN… Revelation 19:14 (note) And the armies (this is us, those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb) which are in heaven, clothed (enduo) in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him (the Lamb = Faithful and True = the Word of God) on white horses. (Comment: This incredible historical event will occur at the end of the 7 year period, Daniel's Seventieth Week, and marks the defeat of the antichrist and his armies and the inception of Messiah's Millennial Reign) Lockyer writes "Clothing" as a verb is frequently used in a figurative sense. In connection with the Spirit's enpowerment it can be likened unto an act of clothing. "The Spirit of the Lord clothed himself with Gideon" (cf. Judges 6:34, marg.). "Tarry ye... until ye be endued" (Clothed with power from on high"—Luke 24:49; cf. Isaiah 61:10)." Judges 6:34 So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. Isaiah 61:10 I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Power from on high - Supernatural power from the Holy Spirit. Power through the Spirit Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit (Zech. 4:6); Jesus was anointed with the Spirit and with power (Acts 10:38); you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you (Acts 1:8); clothed with power from on high (Lk 24:49); God has given us a spirit of power (2 Tim. 1:7); Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14); power of the Spirit (Ro 15:13); the power of signs and wonders, the power of the Spirit (Ro 15:19); not persuasive words but the demonstration of the Spirit and power (1 Cor 2:4) filled with power with the Spirit of the Lord (Micah 3:8) Stephen, full of grace and power (Acts 6:8). These Scriptures beg the question "Am I plugged in to the power "Source" (so to speak)?" Leon
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Cole comments on our need for worship noting that "Christ’s representatives must worship Him before they work for Him. As I said, this is the first reference in Luke to the disciples worshiping Jesus. Worship should always precede work. Any work we do for the Lord should be the overflow of our hearts being full of adoration and love for Him. We hear a lot about burnout in ministry. One major cause of burnout is when our work gets ahead of our worship. When we feel that we’re just cranking out whatever we do to serve the Lord, we need to stop and get our hearts right before Him. The hands that Jesus lifted up in blessing were pierced hands. As the disciples gazed upward at Jesus, lifting up His hands, they would have been reminded that He gave Himself for them on the cross. That is the motivation for all that we do for the Lord (Ga 2:20). I’ll never forget the only time I heard the late Alan Redpath speak. He told us of a time when his ministry seemed to be prospering. He had speaking opportunities pouring in from around the world. It seemed that all that he dreamed about in ministry was coming true. Right in the middle of this time, he was laid up in the hospital with a stroke. His ministry came screeching to a halt. He couldn’t accept any speaking engagements. He couldn’t write any books. All he could do was lie there in bed. He cried out, “Lord, why this? Why now?” He said that the Lord impressed on him, “Alan, you’ve gotten your work ahead of your worship.” I thought, “This man’s work was the Lord’s work! He isn’t some slick TV preacher, with a shallow, self-serving ministry. He is a godly man.” But he said that he realized that he needed to put his worship of the Lord back in priority over his work. In a similar vein, Dr. John G. Mitchell wrote, “Just as much as we really worship, just that far will we bear testimony for Him. We cannot divorce real testimony from real worship” (Moody Monthly [12/79], p. 41). (Luke 24:50-53 Why the Disciples Rejoiced at Jesus’ Ascension) Returned to Jerusalem - Which is what Jesus commanded the disciples (Lk 49:49; Acts 1:4). What does this teach us? The 11 were obedient to their Master, giving us a great example to imitate - obeying joyfully and praising continually, a good pattern to practice! They returned to wait for the Promise from the Father. Surely they returned not as fearful, trembling saints but as expectant, confident saints, fully convinced that every other promise Jesus had made to them had been fulfilled just as He had said. THOUGHT - Sometimes the Lord says wait as He instructed the eleven. Our pattern should always be God's work done in God's power in God's timing, and for God's glory. Let it be so in our lives Lord of Hosts, in Thy Son's great Name. Amen Spurgeon on returned to Jerusalem - Back to the place of his murder, — back to the place where they were likely to be themselves murdered. (Ed: So in light of the potential danger, why did they return to Jerusalem? They were obeying their Lord's instructions in Lk 24:49-note "to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”) (Exposition) GREAT JOY
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Cole on joy - Luke begins with great joy at the announcement of Jesus’ birth and he ends with the disciples filled with great joy after seeing Jesus ascend into heaven. Joy is a theme throughout Luke, but no where it is emphasized more than in Lu 15, where there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Lu 15:7, Lu 15:10), and where the father of the prodigal says, “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found” (Lu 15:32). As believers, we should be filled with great joy as we think often on the fact that Jesus Christ has forgiven us all our sins. Our joy is multiplied every time we hear of another sinner coming to repentance. As we saw last week, our mission is to proclaim among the nations the good news that if people will repent of their sins, they will experience God’s complete forgiveness. Our joy in knowing the Lord Jesus is the basis of our witness for Him. If you lack joy, I encourage you to read the Psalms every day and write down on 3 by 5 cards all of the verses about joy, gladness, and praise. Set your mind on the things above, where Christ is at God’s right hand (Col 3:1-4). He is there, having made forgiveness for all your sins, interceding for you, with all power and authority in the universe. Don’t rest until He gives you His joy. When He does, that joy will draw others to the Savior through you. NET Note - Luke’s gospel story proper ends where it began, in the temple courts (Luke 1:4–22). The conclusion is open-ended, because the story continues in Acts with what happened from Jerusalem onwards, once the promise of the Father (Lk 24:49) came. Joy (5479)(chara) is a feeling of inner gladness, delight or rejoicing. Joy is a feeling of inner gladness, delight or rejoicing. Joy in the NT is virtually always used to signify a feeling of "happiness" that is based on spiritual realities (and independent of what "happens"). Joy is an inner gladness; a deep seated pleasure. It is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart. It is a cheerful heart that leads to cheerful behavior. Joy is not an experience that comes from favorable circumstances but is God’s gift to believers. Joy is a part of God’s very essence and His Spirit manifests this supernatural joy in His children (Galatians 5:22-note, Acts 13:52, 1Th 1:6-note). So while the Spirit had not yet come to live within them, He was surely present with them (cp Jesus' promise in John 14:18 = "with you forever"). Joy is the deep-down sense of well-being that abides in the heart of the person who knows all is well between himself and the Lord. There is a chorus from an old spiritual song that is apropos Happiness happens But joy abides. Steven Cole - Usually good-byes are sad times. Thankfully, modern technology has lessened the impact of being separated from loved ones. A hundred years ago, if your loved one went to Africa, he would get on a boat and you would not see him again for months, if not years. But today, even if he goes half way around the world, he is still just a day’s flight from home. A hundred years ago, a letter would take months to go by boat to another continent, whereas now by email you can have daily interaction with someone almost anywhere in the world. The most difficult good-byes, however, are those that are final in this life. When you know that you will not be seeing your loved one again this side of heaven, you are filled with sorrow at the parting. For this reason, it seems strange that the disciples’ response to Jesus’ final parting from them as He ascended into heaven was not grief and sorrow, but great joy. Luke began his gospel with the angels announcing to the shepherds concerning Jesus’ birth, “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people” (Lu 2:10). Now Luke leaves his readers to ponder the thought, “Why did the disciples have great joy when Jesus ascended?” He wants us to ask ourselves, “Is my life filled with great joy because Jesus is ascended? Am I continually blessing God because Jesus ascended on high?” Jesus’ ascension should cause us to worship Him and rejoice because it signifies the completion of His earthly ministry.... Jesus’ ascension into heaven was the fulfillment of the prophecy that He made to the Jewish leaders during His trial, “But from now on the son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (Lu 22:69). There, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, He awaits the time that the Father has ordained to make His enemies a footstool for His feet (Ps 110:1; 1Co 15:25; Heb 10:12-13). As the writer of Hebrews (Heb 1:13) states, God never told any of the angels that they should sit at His right hand until He made their enemies a footstool for their feet. But of Jesus, the Son of God, He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of Your kingdom” (Heb 1:8). Jesus, the eternal God, took on human flesh for our salvation. The fact that He is now ascended on high, seated at the right hand of the Father, shows us that He accomplished His mission on earth. And that should fill our hearts with worship for Him and great joy. This is the first time that Luke has stated specifically that the disciples worshiped Jesus. And if Jesus is truly risen and ascended into heaven, as they witnessed, then we can join them in adoration and great joy. It means that our sins are forgiven in His name. We now enjoy reconciliation with God through Jesus’ blood. We now have hope both in this life and beyond the grave, because Jesus is at the right hand of the Father on our behalf, waiting that day when He will come again in power and glory to receive us unto Himself. We can worship Him and rejoice because His earthly ministry is completed. Jesus’ ascension should cause us to worship Him and rejoice because it signifies the commencement of His heavenly ministry....The fact that Jesus is now ascended to the right hand of the Father, and that He has resumed His preincarnate glory, but now in a human body, gives us hope that He will take us to be with Him. In our resurrected bodies, one day we will share His glory. Jesus is the first man in glory, and thus we have the assurance that He will transform our bodies and take us to heaven to be with Him. Jesus’ ascension began His intercessory ministry for His people. Jesus is now at the right hand of God where He intercedes for us (Ro 8:34; Heb 7:25). This intercession involves not only presenting our petitions and needs before the Father. Also, He presents His blood in the very presence of the Father as the propitiation for our sins (Heb 9:24; 1Jn 2:1, 1Jo 2:2). Therefore we have continual access to God through Jesus our Advocate. Have you ever needed to get something done through a high government official? If so, you know that having a connection can greatly speed the process. If you know someone who has access to the top official you need to see, you can gain a hearing. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ is our connection in the very presence of God! Through Him we have access in the Spirit to the Father (Eph 2:18). Jesus’ ascension to the Father should cause us to worship Him and rejoice because He is there interceding for us. Jesus’ ascension began His preparation of a place for His people. He told His disciples that He went to prepare a place for them and that He would come again and receive them unto Himself, that where He is, there they may be also (Jn 14:1-3). Jesus’ ascension began His present and future dominion over heaven and earth. Peter tells us that Jesus is now “at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him” (1Pe 3:22). Paul says that Jesus is seated at God’s “right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet” (Eph 1:20-22). And, yet there is a sense in which all things are not yet subject to Him (1Co 15:27-28; Ps 110:1; Heb 10:13). His kingdom is both present and yet future. Presently His enemies are not all yet subject to Him. But when He comes again in power and glory, He will conquer every foe and reign forever and ever. Jesus’ ascension resulted in the pouring out of His Holy Spirit on His people. He told the disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (Jn 16:7). Through the Holy Spirit, the disciples were empowered to carry on the work of Jesus, extending the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth. As Paul also teaches in Eph 4:8, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” Thus the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to the church for the building up of the body of Christ (Eph 4:11-16). The disciples could rejoice at Jesus’ ascension because of His present heavenly ministry, which included the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His people. (See the full sermon Luke 24:50-53 Why the Disciples Rejoiced at Jesus’ Ascension) Have We Learned? Read: Luke 24:44-53 | You shall be witnesses to Me. —Acts 1:8 What happens when we keep to ourselves something that, if shared with others, would enrich their lives? We not only fail to increase their happiness, but we rob ourselves of the joy that generosity brings. Luigi Tarisio, who loved violins passionately, never learned that lesson. He spent his limited income buying the finest instruments he could find. He owned 246 exquisite violins, which were crammed into every corner of his otherwise barren little house. And they were never played! His obsession prevented those instruments from bringing pleasure and inspiration to other music lovers. Instead of following Luigi’s example, we need to be motivated by the admonition of Proverbs 3:27 to keep ourselves free from the guilt of withholding good. Even more, we should be motivated by grateful obedience to Jesus Christ. And obedience, the Savior assures us, brings joy (John 15:10-11). As Christians, we have a message that makes the melodies of heaven flood our souls. Our Lord gave us the mandate to share that message with everybody everywhere (Mark 16:15). Are we keeping the heavenly harmonies of saving grace sealed up inside ourselves, or are we obediently letting them ring out through our lips and lives? O you who are trusting Jesus, Redeemed at infinite cost, Are you showing Christ to others And seeking to win the lost? —Gilmore Joy is a byproduct of obedience. Luke 24:53 and were continually in the Temple praising God. Greek kai ēsan (imperfect tense) dia pantos en tō hierō eulogountes (present tense) ton Theon Amplified And they were continually in the temple celebrating with praises and blessing and extolling God. Amen (so be it). CSB And they were continually in the temple complex blessing God. ESV and were continually in the temple blessing God. KJV And were continually in the temple, praising (aineo - only in Textus Receptus) and blessing God. Amen. NET and were continually in the temple courts blessing God. NIV And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. NLT And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God. YLT and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen. in (KJV): Ac 2:46,47 5:41,42 Amen (only in the KJV, the Textus Receptus): Mt 28:20 Mk 16:20 Rev 22:21 Luke 24:50-53 The Significance of the Ascension - John MacArthur Luke 24:50-53 Why the Disciples Rejoiced at Jesus’ Ascension - Steven Cole Luke 24:50-53 Our Lord’s Posture in Ascension - C H Spurgeon Luke 24:50. Our Lord's Attitude in Ascension - Sermon Notes -scroll down - C H Spurgeon Luke 24 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries IN THE TEMPLE PRAISING GOD Luke began (Lk 1:4-22) and ends in the Temple of God. The continued attendance of the disciples in the Temple is recorded in the Acts 2:44, 3:1, 5:21, 42. And they were continually in the Temple - Note how this marks the transition of Judaism to Christianity, as it would not be long and they would no longer be meeting in the Temple but in homes. THOUGHT - Now where is the Temple today? Our body of course (1 Cor 3:16+ = speaks more of the local body of believers, 1 Cor 6:19-20+ = speaks of individual believers)! So what is the application? If we practiced praise in the temple of our bodies, what difference might it make in our daily grind? Perhaps our daily grind might be filled with great joy (Lk 24:52b)! Why don't we ask the Lord to enable us by His Spirit to praise the Name of Jesus throughout the day and see what difference that makes in our day? NET Note - The conclusion is open-ended, because the story continues in Acts with what happened from Jerusalem onwards, once the promise of the Father (Lk 24:49) came.
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Cole - The disciples went away from these 40 days of fellowship with the risen Lord, culminating in His ascension, with a new vision of the glory of Christ. John Owen, the Puritan theologian, makes the point that in some measure, all true believers have the eyes of their understanding opened to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as declared in the gospel. He says, “Our apprehension of this glory is the spring of all our obedience, consolation, and hope in this world” (The Person of Christ [Sovereign Grace Publishers], p. 243, italics his). To the extent that we see the glory of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, we will be filled with worship, great joy, and thanksgiving toward God for His abundant mercies to us. If you lack these things, ask God to reveal Christ to your soul. Seek Him in His Word and don’t rest until you find yourself continually gathering with God’s people, blessing God. (Luke 24:50-53 Why the Disciples Rejoiced at Jesus’ Ascension) MORE RESOURCES James Smith - THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER. Acts 1:4. Jesus Christ is the gift of God to the world; the Holy Spirit is the gift of Father and of Son to the Church. Both gifts should be thankfully accepted and equally enjoyed. I. What this Promise is. It is the promise— 1. OF AN INDWELLER (John 14:16). 2. OF A COMFORTER (John 16:7). 3. OF A WITNESS (John 15:16). II. The Conditions of Receiving the Promise. This promise was not made to the world—only to those who had obeyed Him, and were desirous of following Him. 1. BELIEVING. 2. WAITING (Luke 24:49). 3. THIRSTING (Isa. 44:3). III. The Results which follow— 1. POWER TO WILL ACCORDING TO GOD'S MIND (Phil. 2:13). 2. POWER TO WALK ACCORDING TO GOD'S WAY (Ezek. 36:27). 3. POWER TO WITNESS ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD (Acts 1:8; 4:33). (Handfuls on Purpose) The Spirit Makes the Difference - Acts 2:38, 39 - David Cooper There is no way to talk about the Christian life without talking about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is mentioned 261 times in the New Testament alone. The Holy Spirit makes the difference. Your spiritual growth and maturity is directly proportionate to your submission to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. When we talk about the Holy Spirit, we are not talking about a New Age mysticism, cosmic power, emotionalism or psychic phenomenon. He is God, third member of the triune Godhead; coexistent, eternal, and equal with the Father and Son (Matthew 28:19). Jesus described Him in very personal terms in John 14:16, 17. When we read the Book of Acts, it becomes apparent that the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost marked a dramatic transformation in the lives of the disciples and, in particular, Simon Peter. Before Pentecost, Peter was often impulsive in his decisions, fearful of opposition and unstable in his commitments. But after Pentecost, he emerges on the scene as a courageous, committed and faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ Peter's challenge rings clear today: "You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). What is this gift, and how do we receive it? I. Receiving the Spirit at Conversion We have the Holy Spirit the moment we receive Christ as our Savior. He lives in the heart of every believer, making us the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). The Spirit is at work in every believer's life (John 20:22). • Born-again by the Spirit (John 3:3-7) • Led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) • Intercedes for us in prayer (vv. 26, 27) • Seals us for the day of salvation (Ephesians 1:13) • Guides us into all truth (John 16:13) • Gifts us for service (1 Corinthians 12:11) • Transforms us into Christ's image (2 Corinthians 3:18) II. Receiving the Spirit in His Baptism or Infilling Every believer needs to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, or what is also described in Scripture as being filled with the Holy Spirit, for power. A. There are five accounts in Acts of believers being filled with the Spirit: 1. Pentecost (Acts 2:4) 2. Samaria (Acts 8:14-17) 3. Paul (Acts 9:17) 4. Cornelius (Acts 10:44-46) 5. Ephesus (Acts 19:6) B. The purpose of the infilling: One word, power (Acts 1:8). The word in Greek is dynamis, from which we get the word dynamite! 1. Power from on high (Luke 24:49) 2. Power in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16, 17). 3. Power in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) III. Receiving the Spirit in Seasons of Renewal There are seasons of spiritual renewal and new power as we seek God to fill us again with the Spirit as seen in the life of the early church (Acts 4:31; 13:52; Ephesians 5:18). Closing: How can we be filled with the Spirit? Peter tells us to "receive." The word receive tells us first and foremost what we do not have to do: work, labor, tarry, be perfect. This means we receive the Spirit as we would receive a gift (Acts 2:38) or as we would receive a guest. The KJV translates Holy Spirit as "Holy Ghost," from the Anglo-Saxon derivative, guest. Thus, the translators in 1611 meant Divine Guest. The means of receptivity include: • Desiring the gift (Matthew 5:6) • Asking for the gift (Luke 11:13) • Repenting of any sins and barriers between you and God's will in your life (Acts 2:38). Missionary Hudson Taylor said, "The Holy Spirit only enters the human heart that can boast of nothing but an aching void." Chapter 30 - POWER FROM ON HIGH - Mt. 28:18–20; Mk 16:15; Lk 24:47–53; Acts 1:1–8 A B Bruce from his book The Training of the Twelve (Read some reviews of this Christian Classic - then consider reading through it being sure to keep your Bible open by your side.) FROM Galilee the disciples, of their own accord or by direction, found their way back to Jerusalem, where their risen Lord showed Himself to them once more, and for the last time, to give them their final instructions, and to bid them farewell. Of this last meeting no distinct notice is taken in the Gospels. Each of the synoptical evangelists, however, has preserved some of the last words spoken by Jesus to His disciples ere He ascended to heaven. Among these we reckon the closing verses of Matthew’s Gospel, where we read: “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Mt 28:18-20) Of this last word Mark gives, in the close of his Gospel, an abbreviated version, in these terms: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mk 16:15) In Luke’s narrative the words spoken by Jesus on the occasion of His final appearance to the eleven are so interwoven with those which He spoke to them on the evening of His resurrection day, that, but for the supplementary and more circumstantial account given by the same author in the Book of the Acts, we should never have thought of making a distinction, far less have known where to place the boundary line. On comparing the two accounts, however, we can see that words spoken at two different times are construed together into one continuous discourse; and we have no great difficulty in determining what belongs to the first appearance and what to the last. According to the Book of Acts, Jesus, in His last conversation with His disciples, spoke to them of their apostolic duties as witnesses unto Himself and preachers of His gospel; of the promise of the Spirit, whose descent was to fit them for their work; and of what they should do till the promise should be fulfilled. Now these are just the topics adverted to in the verses cited from the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel. There is first the apostolic commission to preach repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem; and a virtual injunction laid on the disciples to be faithful witnesses to all things they had seen and heard in their Lord’s company, and especially to His resurrection from the dead. Then there is the renewal of this promise, here called the “promise of my Father.” Then, finally, there is the direction to wait for the promised blessing in the holy city: “But tarry ye at Jerusalem until ye be clothed with power from on high.” All these sayings bear internal evidence of being last words, from their fitness to the situation. It was natural and needful that Jesus should thus speak to His chosen agents at the hour of His final departure, giving them instructions for their guidance in their future apostolic labors, and in the short interval that was to elapse before those labors began. Even the business-like brevity and matter-of-fact tone of these last words betray the occasion on which they were uttered. On first thoughts, we should perhaps have expected a more pathetic style of address in connection with a farewell meeting; but, on reflection, we perceive that every thing savoring of sentimentality would have been beneath the dignity of the situation. In the farewell address before the passion, pathos was in place; but in the farewell words before the ascension, it would have been misplaced. In the former case, Jesus was a parent speaking His last words of counsel and comfort to His sorrowing children; in the latter, He was “as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch;” and His manner of speech was adapted to the character He sustained. And yet the tone adopted by Jesus in His last interview with the eleven was not purely magisterial. The Friend was not altogether lost in the Master. He had kind words as well as commands for His servants. What could be kinder and more encouraging than that word: “And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”? And is there not an accent of friendship in that utterance, in which Jesus, now about to ascend to glory, seems by anticipation to resume the robe of divine majesty, which He laid aside when He became man: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”? Why does He say that now? Not for the purpose of self-exaltation; not to put a distance between Himself and His quondam companions, and, as it were, degrade them from the position of friends to that of mere servants. No; but to cheer them on their way through the world as the messengers of the kingdom; to make them feel that the task assigned them was not, as it might well seem, an impossible one. “I have all power,” saith He in effect, “in heaven, and jurisdiction over all the earth: go ye therefore into all the world, making disciples of all the nations, nothing doubting that all spiritual influences and all providential agencies will be made subservient to the great errand on which I send you.” Jesus had kind actions as well as kind words for His friends at parting. There was indeed no farewell kiss, or shaking of hands, or other symbolic act in use among men who bid each other adieu; but the manner of the ascension was most gracious and benignant towards those whom the ascending One left behind. Jesus moved upwards as if lifted from the earth by some celestial attraction, with His face looking downwards upon His beloved companions, and with His hand stretched out in an attitude of benediction. Hence the eleven grieved not for their Lord’s disappearance. They marvelled indeed, and gazed eagerly and wonderingly towards the skies, as if trying to penetrate the cloud which received their Master’s person; but the parting left no sadness behind. They bowed their heads in worship towards the ascended Christ, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, as if they had gained, not lost a friend, and as if the ascension were not a sunset but a sunrise—as indeed it was, not for them alone, but for the whole world. Of that miraculous event, by which our High Priest passed within the veil into the celestial sanctuary, we may not speak. Like the transfiguration, it is a topic on which we know not what to say; an event not to be explained, but to be devoutly and joyfully believed, in company with the kindred truth declared by the two men in white apparel to the disciples, who said: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, which was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Wherefore we pass from the ascension to make some observations on the great commission given by the Lord to His apostles for the last time, just before He was taken up into glory. That commission was worthy of Him from whom it emanated, whether we regard Him as Son of God or as Son of man. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” Surely this is the language of a Divine Being. What mere man ever entertained a plan of beneficence embracing the whole human race within its scope? and who but one possessing all power in heaven and on earth could dare to hope for success in so gigantic an undertaking? Then how full of grace and love the matter of the commission! The errand on which Jesus sends His apostles is to preach repentance and remission of sins in His name, and to make a peaceful conquest of the world to God by the word of reconciliation through His death. Such philanthropy approves itself to be at once divine and most intensely human. And mark, as specially characteristic of the gracious One, the direction, “beginning at Jerusalem.” The words indicate a plan of operations adapted at once to the circumstances of the world, and to the capacities and idiosyncrasies of the agents; but they do more. They open a window into the heart of Jesus, and show Him to be the same who prayed on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Why begin at Jerusalem? Because “Jerusalem sinners” most need to repent and to be forgiven; and because Jesus would show forth in them at the outset the full extent of His long-suffering, for a pattern to them who should afterwards believe, in Samaria, Antioch, and the uttermost parts of the earth. It was in every way a commission worthy of Jesus, as the Son of God and Saviour of sinners, to give. But what a commission for poor Galilean fishermen to receive! what a burden of responsibility to lay upon the shoulders of any poor mortal! Who is sufficient for these things? Jesus knew the insufficiency of His instruments. Therefore, having invested them with official authority, He proceeded to speak of an investment with another kind of power, without which the official must needs be utterly ineffectual. “And, behold,” He said, “I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye at Jerusalem till ye be clothed with power from on high.” “Power from on high:” (Lk 24:49) the expression has a mystical sound, and its sense seems difficult to define; yet the general meaning is surely plain enough. The thing signified is not altogether or chiefly a power to work miracles, but just what Jesus had spoken of at such length in His farewell address before His death. “Power from on high” means: All that the apostles were to gain from the mission of the Comforter—enlightenment of mind, enlargement of heart, sanctification of their faculties, and transformation of their characters, so as to make them whetted swords and polished shafts for subduing the world unto the truth; these, or the effect of these combined, constituted the power for which Jesus directed the eleven to wait. The power, therefore, was a spiritual power, not a magical; an inspiration, not a possession; a power which was not to act as a blind fanatical force, but to manifest itself as a spirit of love and of a sound mind. After the power descended, the apostles were to be not less rational, but more; not mad, but sober-minded; not excited rhapsodists, but calm, clear, dignified expositors of divine truth, such as they appear in Luke’s history of their ministry. In a word, they were to be less like their past selves and more like their Master: no longer ignorant, childish, weak, carnal, but initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom, and habitually under the guidance of the Spirit of grace and holiness. Such being the power promised, it was evidently indispensable to success. Vain were official titles—apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers, rulers; vain clerical robes, without this garment of divine power to clothe the souls of the eleven. Vain then, and equally vain now. The world is to be evangelized, not by men invested with ecclesiastical dignities and with parti-colored garments, but by men who have experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and who are visibly endued with the divine power of wisdom, and love, and zeal. As the promised power was indispensable, so it was in its nature a thing simply to be waited for. The disciples were directed to tarry till it came. They were neither to attempt to do without it, nor were they to try to get it up. And they were wise enough to follow their instructions. They fully understood that the power was needful, and that it could not be got up, but must come down. All are not equally wise. Many virtually assume that the power Christ spake of can be dispensed with, and that in fact it is not a reality, but a chimera. Others, more devout, believe in the power, but not in man’s impotence to invest himself with it. They try to get the power up by working themselves and others into a frenzy of excitement. Failure sooner or later convinces both parties of their mistake, showing the one that to produce spiritual results something more than eloquence, intellect, money, and organization are required; and showing the other that true spiritual power cannot be produced, like electric sparks, by the friction of excitement, but must come sovereignly and graciously down from on high. (Read Bruce's full treatise of training of the disciples - Online) Oswald Chambers has a devotional on Luke 24:49 entitled "The life that lives" - Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Luke 24:49. The disciples had to tarry until the day of Pentecost not for their own preparation only; they had to wait until the Lord was glorified historically. As soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” The parenthesis in John 7:39 (“For the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified”) does not apply to us; the Holy Ghost has been given, the Lord is glorified; the waiting depends not on God’s providence, but on our fitness. The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here (Ed: However He was here in the sense that He is omnipresent because He is God and has all the attributes of the Father and the Son!). Immediately Our Lord was glorified in Ascension, the Holy Spirit came into this world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revelation that He is here (Ed: It is even better - not only is He here, but He is within! He indwells every born again believer). The reception of the Holy Spirit is the maintained attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive quickening life from the ascended Lord. It is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost which changes men, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into men’s lives by the Holy Ghost that changes them (Ed: The Spirit functions so to speak as the "Chief Operating Office" of the Trinity.). We too often divorce what the New Testament never divorces. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ: it is the evidence of the ascended Christ. The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not make you think of Time or Eternity, it is one amazing glorious NOW. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee.” Begin to know Him now, and finish never. A W Tozer - The Church’s Life in the Holy Spirit: Fruitful, Happy, Blessed! Luke 24:49: “And, 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.” Acts 1:5: “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” OUTLINE - Introduction: Should not individual believers who comprise the membership of evangelical Christian churches be leading fruitful and happy Spirit-filled lives? The Scriptures must be our authority in the consideration of the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Eloquence in presentation is not enough. If the Lord’s people were only half as eager to be filled with the Spirit as they are to prove that they cannot be filled, the churches would be crowded out. The Bible indicates that God never dreamed of His people apart from the Holy Ghost. 1. God made promises about the coming of the Holy Spirit. a. Isaiah and Joel—“The Spirit to be poured on us from on high.” b. Jesus called these prophecies “fullness of the Father.” c. Jesus said, “I will send the promise of the Father upon you.” 2. The three periods relating to the Holy Spirit and the Church. a. The Period of Promise, from John the Baptist to the Resurrection of Christ. b. The Period of Preparation, prior to Pentecost. c. The Period of Realization. The Holy Spirit was given “suddenly” on the Day of Pentecost. 3. Teachings about the Holy Spirit that hinder God’s people. a. Because Pentecost happened, the Church need no longer be concerned about the Holy Spirit and His work. b. The individual Christian need not be concerned with this promise from the Father—it happened once. 4. Questions and answers in regard to these teachings: a. Is it true that the Father’s promise was valid only to Christians of the first century? b. Does the new birth in the first century make unnecessary my new birth? c. Have you ever seen anyone in the Christian church today who received at conversion that which Peter received in the upper chamber? d. Is modern fundamental belief a satisfactory fulfillment of the expectation raised by the Father in Christ? IT IS MY CONTENTION that the individual believers who comprise the membership of our evangelical Christian churches ought to be leading fruitful and happy Spirit-filled lives. If you will set aside the necessary time to search the Scriptures with an honest and open being, you will be convinced that fruitfulness and joy and peace and blessing and contentment are all part and parcel of what the Holy Spirit expects to provide in and through the yielded life of the Christian believer. Now, I know that some say that I have confused people about the blessing of the Holy Spirit and in answer I want to point out that if the Lord’s people were only half as eager to be filled with the Spirit as they are to prove that you can’t be filled with the Spirit, the church would be crowded out. I have never tried to bend people to the working of God merely by eloquence, for if I don’t teach according to the truth found in the Bible, I’m wrong no matter how eloquent I try to be. But in these matters, I have spent a long time in the Word of God myself. and I can speak with a good deal of authority because I have gone through it, and I know what I’m speaking about. However, I wouldn’t ever try to push one of God’s children into any knowledge or any experience, because I have found that we try to push too much and too soon. We only result in kicking God’s children out of their shells too soon, and as a result, we have a lot of weird monstrosities instead of saints. I don’t want to do that! I can only wonder why it is that Christian people can go on and on and not be concerned about actually lacking the blessings and gifts promised by a loving Father in heaven. As a Christian believer, shouldn’t my life and outlook, and the very life of my church, be affected by the promise of the Father God that He would give the Spirit as a gift to His children? In Luke 11:13, I am sure God had in mind the love we have for our children when He said, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” In making the Spirit the promise of the Father, I believe God wanted to show that we don’t have to be afraid of the Holy Spirit. I say this because I have found that it is very difficult to get Christians over the fear of the Holy Spirit. Just remember that He is given to us as the Father’s promised gift. If a man promises his son a beautiful bicycle for Christmas, the son is certainly never afraid of the promise made by a father who loves him and wants to provide the best for him. The members of the redeemed Church should be bound into a bundle of love with the Holy Spirit. The truth is that God never fathered His Church apart from the Holy Spirit. We should be anointed with the Spirit. We are led of the Spirit. We are taught by the Spirit. The Spirit, then, is the medium, the divine solution, in which God holds His Church. The Bible plainly indicates that God never dreamed of His people apart from the Holy Spirit. Actually, He made many promises to them based on the coming of the Spirit. Let’s note some of the promises He made. In Isaiah 32:15–17, He said: “Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” Further on, in Isaiah 44:3, He said: “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” There is also that passage in Joel 2:28–29: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” Now, those were the words of the Father, and Jesus interpreted them and called them the “fullness of the Father.” Let me say that whenever you read about Jesus, our Lord, interpreting the Old Testament, you stay close by His interpretation. Don’t lean too hard on the interpretations of men because they can be wrong. Our Lord, the man Christ Jesus, never was wrong—and He called this the promise of the Father. Recall that in Luke 24:49, Jesus said, “Tarry ye … until ye be endued with power … I send the promise of my Father upon you.” Now, I say that Jesus further interpreted this in chapters 14, 15 and 16 of the Gospel of John, as He talked about the Holy Spirit and His coming to the Church. Here I should point out that in reading the Gospels, the book of Acts and the Epistles, we can easily trace three periods that are discernable with respect to the Holy Spirit and His work in the Church. First is what we may call THE PERIOD OF THE PROMISE, from the time of John the Baptist to the resurrection of Christ. In this three-year period, the disciples were called, commissioned and taught in the best Bible school in the world, for there isn’t a seminary on earth that can equal the seminary in which Jesus was the entire faculty! They didn’t get a degree which they could frame and put on the wall, but they had a degree inside of them, and they loved Christ, our Lord. They loved Him living, they loved Him dead, and they loved Him living again. Now at that time they had only been promised something. Jesus had told them and taught them that there was a new kind of life coming to them—not poetic, not psychic, and not physical. It was to be an afflatus from above. It was to be something that was to come to them out of the world beyond them, over the threshold of their beings, into the sanctum sanctorum, into the deep of their spirits. The Comforter would live there and teach them and lead them and make them holy and give them power. Jesus taught that all the way through! As He came nearer to the end of His earthly life, He intensified this teaching as revealed in John 14, 15 and 16. He told them that there was a new and superior kind of life coming, and He told them that it was to be an infusion, an outpouring of spiritual energy. Then He left them. Do you know that if we could get together today a congregation as spiritually minded as the disciples were before Pentecost we would feel that we had an intensely spiritual church? We would make bishops out of the leadership of that kind of group. We would elect them to boards and write the stories of their lives and name churches after them. But in that period of promise, the disciples were just getting ready. They had not yet received the promise. Jesus was creating an expectation within them. The second period outlined is THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION. In some measure, they were being prepared while Jesus was with them, but after He was gone, they actually began to prepare. They stopped their activities, and this is one of the great lessons for us in our hectic day. I think we are the busiest bunch of eager beavers ever seen in the religious world. The idea seems to be that if we are not running in a circle, breathing down the back of our own neck, we are not pleasing God! When Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world and preach to. every creature,” Peter probably leaped to his feet and, no doubt, scooped up his hat on the way out. He was going to go right then! But the Lord said, “Peter, come back, and tarry in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.” I heard a Christian leader warn recently that we are suffering from a rash of amateurism in Christian circles. Christianity has leveled down and down and down. We are as light as butterflies—though we flit, flit, flit around in the sunshine and imagine that we are eagles flapping our broad wings. Sometimes I think the church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That’s what they did before Pentecost. We spend time praying for the Holy Spirit to unite us, but at Pentecost the Spirit of God came upon the disciples because they were already united—“they were all with one accord in one place.” Many are trying to work for God when they are not really prepared to work. There needs to be some preparation, some getting ready. I think we often make mistakes with our newest converts. We think nothing of taking one of our babes in Christ, pushing a bunch of tracts into his hands, and saying, “Now, Bud, get going!” Perhaps we ought not to forget that in the Old Testament the priests in the service of God were born priests but they had to be anointed before they could serve. Not only was blood placed on their ears, on their thumbs and toes, but fragrant sweet oil, the type of the Holy Ghost, was put on the blood. The third period indicated was that of THE PERIOD OF REALIZATION, and I read that the Holy Spirit came upon them suddenly. I have noted that this word “suddenly” as found in the book of Acts occurs often in places in the Scriptures. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.” I have to smile to myself because of that word “suddenly.” God’s people in our day are so afraid of the implications of “suddenly.” Most of us in the church want things to slip up on us gradually, a little bit at a time—slowly, not suddenly. Everyone is willing to be filled with the Holy Spirit providing God does it very gingerly, very slowly, and doesn’t embarrass or frighten them! The Scriptures say that “suddenly they were filled with the Holy Ghost.” The Scriptures also declare that “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host.” It is amazing that we will find that word “suddenly” whenever God did a wonderful thing. He did it suddenly—but we are afraid of that. We want to “grow” in grace because we know that we can grow and not be embarrassed. It seems to be an embarrassment to believers to get down on their knees to seek Almighty God, to have to get out a handkerchief to wipe away the tears, and then to find themselves saying, “Thank God, the Comforter has come!” It might take something away from their reputation—chairman of the board, Sunday school teachers, workers in the ladies’ aid. The result of this kind of embarrassment is that we go on year after year and learn to live with death. We find ourselves able to live with a spiritual corpse. Our breath is frosty, our cheeks are pale, our toes are frostbitten, and we haven’t any spirituality. We learn to live with that—and we imagine that is “normal.” We even write books to prove that it is normal, but the Holy Ghost isn’t on us, and that’s our trouble. The period of the realization came suddenly, and the Father fulfilled His promise. The expectations were fully met and more! Now, I am concerned about anything that hinders God’s people and keeps them from their full privileges in the Christian life. Sometimes I have to tear into things that I cannot believe are right, and which I feel become a hindrance to the people of God. Some have said that it is none of my business, but it is my business. I have been anointed of God to make this concern my business! One of these things is an error often presented to the Church in this form: that the individual Christian is not concerned with this promise by the Father that He would send the Holy Spirit, that this already happened once in the Christian Church, and that it is not to be repeated. Therefore, this position holds that the Church need no longer be concerned about the Holy Spirit. So, they try to brush us off. Well, here I would like to ask you some questions and let you do your own teaching as you answer them. Is it true that the Father’s promise was valid only to the Christians of the first century? Now, I think we are living in the period of the “last days,” which began with Pentecost and continues until Christ returns. That makes the Prophet Joel’s text active and efficacious and applicable to you and me. We are now living in the latter days when God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh. Recall what Peter said in Acts 2:38–39: “… Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” It wasn’t just that first generation crowd—“you and your children and as many as are afar off”—that’s the promise. Many of us believe and know the witness of the Spirit—and this takes the place of a lot of argument. If you can argue a man into believing he is filled, someone else will come along who can argue him out of believing that he is filled. I point to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and the promise of the Father for a holy and fruitful life in the Spirit—if anything happens to me, he will have the promise of the Father. He won’t be cast back on man’s uncertainty. A second question: Does the new birth of the first century make my new birth unnecessary? The Lord said that we would have to be born again, and He said we were to be filled with the Spirit. Yet someone comes along and tells us that what it really means is that they were to be filled with the Spirit back there—and not us. That leaves us high and dry hanging on a wire, without any hope, born a long time too late. But, wait! Peter was born again. Does Peter’s experience of being born again suffice for me? Peter was filled with the Spirit. Does Peter’s being filled with the Spirit suffice for me? Would the breakfast that Peter ate in 33 A. D. nourish and suffice me in the twentieth century? No, or course not. I have to eat now if I’m going to be nourished now. Peter being born again won’t help me now. I must be born again as he was born again then. Peter’s being filled that day won’t help me now. I must be filled now as he was filled then. Is there any difference between that and the outpouring of the Spirit? A third question: Have you ever seen anyone in the Christian church today that received at conversion what Peter received in the upper chamber? I am asking this because some would teach that we now receive at conversion what the disciples received back there at Pentecost. When you were converted, did you have the power Peter had when he was filled? Bring it down farther—down to the common folk around Peter. Doesn’t the Scripture make it pretty plain that they received something and had something that we apparently don’t have in this day in which we live? I think they did! Now, a final question: Is modern fundamental belief a satisfactory fulfillment of the expectation raised by the Father in Christ, and does your heart personally witness that what you now enjoy is what our Lord promised to His people? Brethren, our Heavenly Father promised the gift of the Holy Ghost to come upon His children. Jesus Himself promised that we should have the Spirit, that He would take the things of Christ and make them known to us, and that we should have power from on high. Now, I look around at cold, dead, dried-up, fundamental textualism hanging out to dry. Then they want me to believe that what they have now is what those early Christians had back there. I just can’t believe it! They were thoroughbreds in those early days. Something from God had come to them, and they blazed with light and power and life. Most of us are “scrubs” compared with those early-day Christians. When I was a boy on the farm in Pennsylvania, we had scrub chickens. Occasionally, my mother would try to improve the strain, bringing in some Plymouth Rocks or some other good breed. But just let the hens go awhile. In five or six years, they will revert back to type. They will go back to scrub, and you can’t figure out what they are—just old, dried-up clucking biddies that lay little eggs, and not too many of them! We Christians have just reverted back to old Adamic type. Just look at us, and then try to say that we automatically have the same spiritual life of those thoroughbreds. Think it over! Do you have the witness in your being now that what you possess in spiritual life and victory is all God meant when He painted that wonderful picture of the fullness of the Spirit? Let me remind you of Mother Cook, a nice little old lady who lived in her modest home on Chicago’s southside and who knew the blessing of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. A young man got converted in this city, and he would have made a good salesman. He was very busy—he loved to run in circles, and he did. He went everywhere running in circles, and his name was Dwight Lyman Moody. One day Mother Cook saw Dwight and said, “Son, I’d like to have you come over to my house sometime—I want to talk to you.” So, Moody went over, and she set him down on a chair and said something to this general effect: “Now, Dwight, it’s wonderful to see you saved so wonderfully and to see your zeal for the Lord, but do you know what you need? You need to be anointed with the Holy Ghost.” “Well,” he said, “Mother Cook, I want whatever God has for me.” “All right,” she said, “get down here.” So he knelt down on the linoleum, and they prayed. Mother Cook prayed, “Oh, God, fill this young man with Thine own Spirit.” Moody died out right there, opened his heart, yielded himself as an empty vessel, and took the promise by faith—but nothing happened. But a few days afterward, he was in another city, and he said, “As I was walking down the street, ‘suddenly’ God fulfilled the promise He had made to me in that kitchen.” Down onto him came a horn of oil, and the Holy Ghost came on him. He said he turned up an alley and raised his hand and said, “Oh, God, stay your power, or I’ll die!” Later he said, “I went out from there preaching the same sermons with the same texts, but oh, the difference now—the Holy Ghost had come!” Yes, the Holy Ghost had been there. The Holy Spirit was there causing him to be born again, for “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.” But, it is quite a different thing to have the Spirit as the agent in my regeneration than to have the horn of oil poured out on my head—quite a different thing—and that was Moody’s testimony and appeal concerning the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Where did we get this idea that because the disciples were filled with the Spirit back there in the first century, it is unnecessary for us to be filled with the Spirit now? There was a time when the Holy Ghost came upon the Church, and it went forth in a blaze of fire to preach the gospel to the known world in the first 100 years. Then came the long death. Now, here we are in our time, and we have teachers that are so infinitely silly as to tell us that all we have to do is just go quietly along until the Lord comes and makes us to rule over many cities. I only ask that you search the Scriptures and see whether these things be so. Pray and yield and believe and obey—and see what God will do for you! A W Tozer - The Holy Spirit Makes the Difference! And, 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. (Luke 24:49) Here we have a very simple and very plain and very forceful truth—the Holy Spirit makes a difference! Our Lord told His disciples that they had a world-shaking job before them. The job was to preach the gospel of Christ and His redemption and transformation to every creature. Yet, having told them to go and preach the good news that men could be saved through faith, He forbade them to go. There must have been a most compelling reason for His instructions to wait. In order for us to assess the great difference in men to whom the Holy Spirit has come in power, we will look first at these disciples to whom Jesus spoke. Remember that they were His called and chosen disciples. The Scriptures plainly tell us who they were, and it tells about the long course of instruction by no less a teacher than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In this sense, they had graduated from the greatest Bible school in the world. Jesus Himself had taught them for more than three years. Notice, too, that they had received and possessed a divine authority. These disciples had an authority that very few people would dare to try to exercise now. Jesus said to them, “Go everywhere. When you cast out devils, when you heal the sick—take all My authority!” He does not give His authority to persons who have had no spiritual experience, you may be sure of that! These persons to whom Jesus said, “tarry ye … until ye be endued with power,” (Luke 24:49) actually knew Jesus Christ in a warm and intimate way. They had been with Him throughout the three years; they had seen Him die on a cross; they had seen Him after He had risen from the dead; they knew Him living, dead and living again! They had shown evidence of being truly converted persons. I know that some people teach that the disciples were converted when the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. Frankly, I do not believe that at all. That is a modern twist that people have given doctrine in order to make room for their own cold carnality. I believe the disciples had shown evidence of being truly converted men, and Christ had declared them to be such. If you doubt that, read from the prayer that Jesus made about these disciples in John 17:7–9: Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them.… Then in verse 12, Jesus prayed, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.…” Then He said, in verse 14, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” These were the things that Jesus said to His Father about His disciples. That doesn’t sound at all like the Lord talking about a bunch of sinners still needing to be converted. Let me remind you again that Jesus Christ had outlined a program of world evangelization for the disciples and promised that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit in order to witness effectively unto the uttermost parts of the earth. He said they were to enter a new era. God was about to introduce a change of dispensation, but He was not to introduce a change of dispensation apart from a stepped-up and elevated spiritual experience. God has His dispensations in dealing with men, but He doesn’t have calendars so He can just pull off January and put up February and thus shift and change dispensations in that way. His dispensations have to do with people—not with calendars. They have to do with spiritual experience, not a measure of time. When they were to enter a new era, it was not only a changeover from one dispensation to another, but it was to be introduced by the coming down of a new afflatus and enabling from above. A power was to be introduced which had not been available before. It was to enter into them and possess them and was to bring God to them in a new way. The power was actually to be a Person—He was to enter them and dwell within them. That is the difference between Christianity and all the Oriental cults and religions. All cult religions try to wake up what you already have, and Christianity says, “What you have is not enough—you will need the enduement which is sent from above!” That is the difference. The others say, “Stir up the thing that is in you,” and they expect this to be enough. By way of illustration, if there were four or five lions coming at you, you would never think of saying to a little French poodle, “Wake up the lion in you.” That would not work—it would not be enough. They would chew the little fellow up and swallow him, haircut and all, because a French poodle just isn’t sufficient for a pack of lions. Some power outside of himself would have to make him bigger and stronger than the lion if he were to conquer. That is exactly what the Holy Spirit says He does for the Christian believer, but the cult religions still say, “Concentrate and free your mind and release the creative powers that lie within you.” The plain fact is, such creative powers do not lie within us. We begin to die the moment we are born. I have often wondered why babies cry just as soon as they are born—could it be that they don’t want to die? They start to die the minute they are born. All of this teaching about hidden potentials and creative impulses and waking up your true self is hard to defend, for we walk around on the earth barely able to keep going. And as we get older, gravitation will pull and slowly drag us down and finally bump over us. We finally give up with a sigh and go back to mother earth. That’s the kind of potential that the human race has—the potential to be a corpse. God Almighty is saying to us, “I am not wanting to wake up the power that lies in you. You shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you!” That is a different thing altogether. If we had only to be awakened, the Lord would simply have gone around waking us up—but we need more than this. We need to be endued with power from on high. So, they were to enter a new era, and it was to be marked by something grandly new—an enriched spiritual condition. What, then, are the differences that we see in these disciples as a result? First, in order to clear the ground, we will take a look at some of the things that these disciples possessed before the Holy Spirit came, and therefore, obviously, there were blessings that He did not have to bring at Pentecost. For instance, they were true disciples, and they possessed the consciousness of their discipleship and their authority from Christ. They were the Lord’s own loving disciples. That did not come at Pentecost. They were converted, forgiven and had fellowship with Christ, and they had something a lot of ministers do not have now—they had the gift of preaching: “They … went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where” (Luke 9:6)! Again, they had the power to work miracles, so that when they came back reciting the manifestations of their power, the Lord rebuked them for pride and told them they should be glad, rather, that their names were written in heaven. But He did not deny that they had exercised His power, for He knew they did. He gave it to them! Some teach that if you are filled with the Spirit, you will have miracles, forgetting that the disciples had the power of miracles before they were filled with the Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit is not necessary to make miracle workers. The power of the Holy Spirit is something infinitely higher, grander and more wonderful than that. They worked miracles before the Spirit ever came. Now, consider the difference in their lives and experiences when the Holy Spirit came upon them, when they were no longer in the pre-Pentecost days, but when they were in the post-Pentecost era after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. MISSIONARY POWER - BARON STOW Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. LUKE 24:49. GREAT enterprises require strong men. The missionary enterprise is by far the greatest in which human agency was ever employed, and, for its effective execution, demands the strongest men which the churches can furnish. It was upon this principle, I suppose, that the Saviour, when about to ascend, gave to his disciples that extraordinary direction, “Tarry ye in Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” He had already appointed them as his missionaries, and charged them to preach “repentance and remission of sins in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” But the undertaking was one of immense magnitude, environed with appalling difficulties, and involving peculiar personal hazards; and he well knew that, notwithstanding all the instruction which they had received, and all the discipline to which they had been subjected, and all the examples which they had witnessed in himself, as the faultless model of missionary excellence, they were but imperfectly qualified for the arduous labors and weighty responsibilities, which the service would impose. They needed the ability to speak the languages of the people whom they might visit; and this, if they should proceed immediately to their work, must be miraculously supplied. They were to commend to an infidel world a system of religion, whose claims to credibility must be established by some extraordinary manifestations of its divine origin; and they needed the power of working such wonders, as should carry conviction to the most incredulous, that their message was no fable, their apostleship no imposture. Besides, they needed a large increase of intellectual and moral strength, such as should qualify them for any exigency. They needed clearer and more comprehensive views of that scheme of redemption, whose mysteries they were to unfold to the ignorant nations. They needed to have the narrow, selfish prejudices of their remaining Judaism entirely removed; and their hearts expanded by a benevolence that should encompass the world; and their whole moral natures more deeply impregnated with the spirit of their mission—the spirit of him who came, “not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” They needed a faith, that should embrace all the promises; a boldness, that should fearlessly encounter any opposition; a courage, that should be terrified by no danger; a fortitude, that should quietly endure any suffering; a wisdom, sufficient for any emergency; a love, that should make them inexpressibly tender, and melt before them a pathway through the ice and the iron of human depravity. All this the Saviour knew and appreciated; and, with a prudence in which kindness and wisdom were richly blended, he directed them to remain where they were, until the requisite qualifications should be imparted. He was about to take his place upon the Mediator’s throne; and one of his first acts, after receiving the joyous welcome of the heavenly choir, who had long been rehearsing for the occasion, and were then waiting in mid heaven for his triumphant arrival, would be the fulfilment of the glorious promise—the sending of that Spirit, which should work in them every needed transformation, and clothe them with the required energies. They obeyed his command, and, ten days afterwards, while engaged in social devotion—the very employment which Heaven loves especially to sanction—the promised Influence descended, and enveloped them, and penetrated them, and wrought such changes, as that each of them became at once a man of strength, “thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Emerging from this baptism, they were conscious of the transition through which they had passed; and, “strengthened with might,” they went forth to their work, assaulting the strongest defences of sin, grappling with Satan’s veteran phalanxes, and winning for their prince a thousand bloodless victories. How soon, and how surely, did the nations feel and confess the power of these evangelical giants! Divinely illuminated, supported, protected, they said what no others could say, they did what no others could do, they endured what no others could endure; and, passing from province to province, we hear them ever and anon exclaiming, “Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us, in every place.” The Romans, in the days of their national vigor, constructed magnificent roads, commencing all at the Forum, and extending to the frontiers of the empire, thus making every portion of the realm accessible to their arts and their arms. These disciples of Jesus, who, “out of weakness were made strong,” proceeding all from the cross, as the point of departure, cut each his way right onward, through the domains of sin, to the outermost limit of the known world; and then, with the columns of converts which lined these radii—the right of each column resting upon Calvary—they swept the intermediate segments of the circle; and thus was executed, as has never since been done, the behest of the ascending Saviour, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Salutary, indeed, was the transformation which every where appeared in the track of these moral conquerors. Not more surely can the eye, from the summit of the pyramid, trace the meanderings of Egypt’s river, by its line of velvet verdure, through the brown and sterile desert, than the observer of apostolic movements could discover the progress, from week to week, of these mighty ones, by the improvement,—moral, intellectual, political, and physical,—which was uniformly the result of their labors, and which denoted, unequivocally, the accompaniment of a superhuman influence. No candid one has ever doubted that they were strong men. At no time since the apostolic period, has the Head of the Church considered it as necessary to qualify his missionary servants for their work, by the intervention of miracles; and with some of the elements of power, which he then deemed to be requisite, he very soon dispensed, giving no intimation that they would ever again be required or conferred. But the necessity that the missionary to the heathen should be a strong man, is by no means suspended. The command just quoted, for the disciples to wait until endued with power from on high, I take to be an explicit recognition of the principle, that the enterprise requires agents of more than ordinary ability; and though, as a specific injunction, it pertained to the few who were personally addressed, yet, in its spirit; I suppose, it inculcates a lesson suited to all their successors. The term power, when applied to men, even to missionaries, you will of course understand me as using in a subordinate and qualified sense, differing widely from the acceptation in which we employ it, with respect to their Almighty Ally, the Holy Spirit. We use it, as denoting those qualities which adapt them to the accomplishment of the proposed end; constituting them—not the mere instruments—a term which ought never to be applied, in such a connection, to moral beings—but the qualified agents, through whose voluntary and well-directed efforts, God may gather into one his chosen who are scattered abroad. There is such a thing as special adaptation to usefulness in the missionary work, and this adaptation we denominate Power. The Saviour was pleased to increase the ability of the few missionaries whom he had selected, rather than to multiply their number; and thus he established for us the principle, not only that this class of laborers should be well qualified men, but also, that, while “the laborers are few,” we render an important service, by enlarging their qualifications for their appointed and peculiar work. If, by any means, the ability of a missionary candidate to be useful can be doubled, then, by doubling his ability, we do essentially the same as to call into the field an additional laborer. If we increase his power ten-fold, then we render him ten times as capable of effect, without any addition to the expense of his support. Who of us has not seen this practically demonstrated—an individual, with faculties and affections all thoroughly trained, moving through the world with a consecrated momentum, which fifty others, destitute of his qualifications, could never equal? It would be but common-place, if I were to consider the elements of this desirable power under the bi-fold classification of Intellectual and Moral; and yet, to manufacture any other distinction, or adopt any other names, would be sheer affectation. Let these, then, be the simple designations of the two kinds of ability, which, united in suitable proportions, constitute MISSIONARY POWER. I. INTELLECTUAL POWER. This department includes a number of important particulars. 1. Native talent. This I mention first, for it is fundamental. Without it, you cannot, by any process, make a strong man. Neither education nor grace supplies constitutional defects. A man may have the requisite piety, and he may have been favored with the best facilities for extended intellectual culture, and yet not possess the kind or measure of native talent appropriate to a work so formidable as the evangelizing of a world that lieth in the wicked one. The missionary should have a mind that is originally vigorous and well balanced, with no faculty unduly protuberant, and no one greatly depressed—a mind susceptible of harmonious and well proportioned development—a mind naturally strong, and capable of being made, by judicious training, a hundred fold stronger. The churches contain multitudes of good men, whose moral feelings and principles can be trusted, and whose desire to be useful is worthy of all commendation, but whose intellectual natures are so cast and constructed, as that by no training can they be qualified to make much impression upon their race. The men we need for effective service among the heathen, are not those whom nature has modeled upon a small scale—men of puny minds, whose predestination is intellectual dwarfishness and imbecility;—but men whose mental structure includes no weak timbers—men whose inward architecture partakes largely of the sturdy and magnificent Doric—men who, by the simple majesty of their native qualities, would anywhere command the respect of the multitude. There are fields in which men of slender capacity may labor, and not without effect; but those fields are at home. To send such men to convert the pagan world, is more than inexpedient. 2. Practical good sense. Every one is acquainted with ministers of talent, intelligence, and piety, whose influence is feeble, and who can never accomplish much for Zion, because of a deficiency of that indefinable, and yet invaluable quality, denominated common sense—an element of character that is not quite as common as its name imports. In the estimation of all men,—Jew and Gentile, ignorant and learned,—nothing is a substitute for it, or can make amends for its absence. Where it is wanting, respect and confidence are wanting, and the man’s influence is almost a nullity. But where it exists, in happy combination with other qualities, it is always an element of power, rendering its possessor considerate and discreet, not only in selecting his mode, but in applying his means, of usefulness. No where is this quality so important as in the missionary, and especially the missionary pioneer, whose least indiscretion might jeopard interests of the greatest magnitude. Experience has taught some lessons upon this subject, which it is undesirable should be repeated, and the question,—“Has he good sense?”—is sure to be propounded, respecting every candidate for missionary service. And they who know the most of the peculiar character of that service, having been the longest on the high places of the field, and become the most deeply interested in the success of the enterprise, are pressing this question the most closely, and insisting upon an unqualified and unequivocal answer. Has he good sense?—practical wisdom? Is he careful, circumspect, judicious? Is he one whose footsteps may safely be trodden by his successors, and whose influence none may have occasion to deplore? The man who discards prudence as a superfluity, or discretion as an incumbrance, even under the pretext of being guided by the Spirit, is tolerable no where; in the missionary field he is a nuisance, from which the heathen may well pray, “Good Lord, deliver us!” 3. Extensive Knowledge. Lord Verulam said, and so, parrot-like, have said a million others, that “Knowledge is power.” Trite as may be the expression, yet how just is the sentiment. It is as true in morals as in physics, in religion as in philosophy, in the missionary of the cross as in the artisan, the civil engineer or the statesman. The possessor of truth can exercise a species of sovereignty, that approaches nearer than any other in resemblance to the divine. Not only is he stronger than any other man, but stronger than many others who have it not. for he can accomplish things to which they are inadequate. He has the true Archimedean lever, with which the world is heaved. The great object of the Christian missionary is such, in a a variety of aspects, as that the unintelligent are not suited to its accomplishment. We prescribe not the measure of his necessary knowledge, nor how, nor where, it must be acquired; but we hesitate not to say, that, other things being equal, the more copious his intellectual acquirements, the greater is his ability to do good. It is a singular fact, that the most learned apostle was the one whose history fills the largest space in the evangelical record, and whose productions a careful Providence has preserved, for the benefit of subsequent generations. In all the circle of the missionary Anakim, he was the Saul,—head and shoulders above the most prominent of his comrades. His intellectual power was the greatest, his influence the most extensively felt, his impression upon society the deepest and the longest perpetuated. The world has seen but one Paul; and, in selecting him as a model missionary, and giving him such extraordinary success, and transmitting to us so largely and minutely his instructive history, the great Superintendent of missions has authorized the conclusion, that the missionary enterprise demands strong men. That a man may hare power over the minds of others, for useful purposes, he must be well acquainted with his own mind, its structure, functions, capacity, susceptibilities, and projectile force. “Know thyself,” is an injunction of both divine and human wisdom, which no religious teacher can with impunity disobey, but which is preëminently important to him who assumes the high responsibilities of a missionary to the heathen. Whatever else he may know, if he be ignorant of himself, he will perpetrate many mistakes, and be the victim of a thousand mortifications. The lightest penalty which he will have to pay, will be the humiliating necessity of witnessing his own inefficiency. Self-knowledge is power. He must also be thoroughly acquainted with mind in general, and especially with the mind which he is to instruct and elevate. If supremacy over matter requires knowledge of matter’s constitution and laws, so is knowledge of the human mind indispensable to supremacy over mind. He who would control it, must know it, and know it not only in its anatomy, but also in its physiology; and this knowledge, derived from patient observation and careful analysis, is always an element of intellectual power. The Great Teacher had a perfect acquaintance with mind, and when he preached, “his word was with power.” “He knew what was in man,” and therefore could address others’ thoughts, as we address their words, so that the concession was extorted from unexpected sources, “Never man spake like this man.” Knowledge of human nature is power. Nor is it less important that the missionary should be intimately familiar with the instruments of his service, which are nothing less and nothing else, than the truths of divine revelation. He has a specified message to the guilty and perishing, and with that message he must be well acquainted; not only with its cardinal doctrines, and more important precepts, but with its secondary principles and requirements, its implications and influences, its extensions and limitations. The ability to ring a hundred changes upon a few consecrated phrases and favorite illustrations, is an inferior attainment. There must be that familiarity with the Gospel, which is obtained only by personal investigation, and which will enable him to exhibit truth in detail; for it is by descending from generals to particulars, rather than by ascending from particulars to generals, that the human mind is best affected, so as to be impressible and persuasible. The power of the Saviour, as a preacher, resided very much in his happy facility at analysis, developing and spreading out truths in their individuality, rather than in their relations and dependencies. It was when he opened the Scriptures, and not when he classified and put them under the screws of systematic divinity, that the hearts of his hearers burned within them. Knowledge of the Gospel is power. 4. Correct Discipline. This is but the result of all right education. Hence, Plato, when asked what he meant by education, replied by the single word, “discipline.” And a greater than Plato, an intellectual Goliath of our own age and country, has justly said, that “a man is not educated, until he has the ability to summon, in an emergency, all his mental powers into vigorous exercise, to effect a given object.” In the author of this sentiment we have an illustration of the meaning of the word discipline, as denoting an element of intellectual power. He has acquired the mastery of his own mind, and thus attained to a supremacy, next to sovereign, over the minds of others. “The greatest of all warriors,” he adds, “who went to the siege of Troy, had not the preeminence because he possessed superlative strength, and carried the largest bow, but because self-discipline had taught him to wield it.” A man of one idea, who can apply it to a hundred uses, is wiser and more efficient in practical life, than he whose head is a warehouse of knowledge, of which he knows not how to avail himself for any useful purpose. If I were solicited to mention an individual, in whom resided the intellectual power that is desirable in the Christian missionary, I could furnish from the annals of missions no better specimen than the apostle Paul. He possessed native talent, common sense, extensive knowledge, and correct discipline; and, in all these respects, he was especially adapted to the work assigned him. He could suit his temper, his manner, and his labor, to all varieties of mind, and address all classes, with a fitness, and propriety, and energy, that made them feel and confess his superiority. Often was he called to grapple with men of might, who, in disputation, had never known defeat, and who looked upon him, as the champion of Gath looked upon the shepherd of Judah. But such was his power, as that he never retired from the conflict other than a victor. His arguments swept through their hollow sophistries, like cannon shot among egg-shells. We shall not be required to send a very large number of men to the heathen. The conversion of the Pagan, and Mohammedan, and nominally Christian world, is to be effected mainly through the labor of native preachers. But such as we must depute, should be strong men; for only such can accomplish what, in the incipient stages of the enterprise, is indispensable to future and enlarged success. The primary work, including the translation of the Scriptures, the formation of model churches, the commencement of trains of far-reaching influence, and the imparting of correct, permanent impressions, is indeed most difficult, and involves responsibilities of the weightiest character. For such a service, the ablest men are needed. The Saviour acted on this conviction, and therefore endued his missionary pioneers with special power, that they might commence the work with vigor, and clear away the most formidable obstacles, and set the whole machinery in energetic operation; well assured, that afterwards the enterprise could advance with an agency of ordinary ability. II. MORAL POWER. By moral power, I understand the possession of those moral qualities, which enable a man to influence the moral feelings and moral conduct of other men. With this the missionary to the heathen needs to be largely supplied; for upon this, immensely more than upon Intellectual ability, will his useful efficiency depend. The elements of this kind of power are so numerous, that I must limit myself to a selection. 1. Personal holiness. It is to be taken for granted, that he who proposes to enter this service is a Christian; that he has for himself, and furnishes to others, the most satisfactory evidence of a spiritual union with the Saviour. If serious doubts exist upon this point, whether in his own mind or in the minds of such as he would benefit, his ability will be essentially crippled. No man needs, so much as he, to be relieved from the fettering embarrassment of unassured hope. Let him, therefore, settle this matter as the antecedent of every other inquiry, and thus save, for the good of the heathen and the glory of Christ, the time which would otherwise be given to the frequent reconsideration of the primary question, “Am I a Christian?” He will have enough to do to watch against temptation, and keep himself in the love of God, and so endure unto the end, without the necessity of inspecting often and minutely the validity of his original experience. But simple conversion, however clearly ascertained as a fact, does not necessarily invest an individual with moral power. Eminent piety is essential to eminent usefulness in the work of missions; and this necessity grows out of the nature of the enterprise. Consequently, we find that those who have been the most distinguished for deep, consistent piety, have ordinarily been the most efficient laborers. Need I mention more than the names of Brainerd, Schwartz, Martyn, Boardman? These men were preëminently spiritual. They walked with God, were filled with his Spirit, dwelt upon the sides of eternity, and thought, felt, spake, and acted with reference to that day which shall conclude time, and commence the everlasting awards of heaven and hell. Thus breathing a heavenly atmosphere, and imbued with a heavenly unction, their deportment and spirit, as well as their teachings, combined to render them powerful, commanding for them the respect of the vilest, and giving them influence over minds, which none of inferior holiness could ever have moved. Their piety set them off so far, in holy separation, from an ungodly world, as that they occupied in morals the true Archimedean position—the που στω—from which their whole ability could be most advantageously applied. Holiness is power; for it gives unity, symmetry, and compactness to character, combining in one harmonious, well-proportioned whole, the excellences which insure for their possessor the confidence of mankind, however degraded or unprincipled. It gives purity and elevation to the motives, direction and energy to the active powers, robustness and elasticity to the moral constitution. It makes the life consistent, and carries to every beholder the conviction of undissembied sincerity, and, by the consciousness which it begets, that the heart and the life are in full sympathy with the calling, imparts to the mind a power of projection that renders influence far-reaching and effective. “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” was the challenge of the holy Saviour. His energy was debilitated by no consciousness of discrepancy between his life and his doctrine. Holiness is power; for, by softening and subduing one’s own soul, it softens and subdues the souls of others. Opening the deep fountains of sensibility, it sends forth a stream of tender influence, before which the heart of adamant yields and becomes as unresisting as the mellowest of substances. Such is the godliness needed by the missionary—a piety distinguished for substance rather than show, for steadiness and uniformity rather than impulse and excitement; not like the Geysers of Iceland, heated by volcanic fires, and discharging in periodical jets the waters that scald and excoriate, but like the living stream, deriving its supplies from an exhaustless reservoir, pouring forth a noiseless and equable current, and diffusing, wherever it meanders, the richest and loveliest productiveness. The piety needed, is that which brings the soul within the circle that encloses heaven’s favorites, and, by giving near access to the throne, and familiar intimacy with him that sitteth thereon, best qualifies for the work of intercession. Our heavenly Advocate is a prevalent Pleader, because he is “Jesus Christ, THE RIGHTEOUS;” for within the veil, as every where else, holy character is power; and he who resembles Him the most perfectly in moral qualities, will ever be the most effective in his pleadings at the footstool of the great Hearer of prayer. Like Jacob, he will have “power with God,” for “the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.” The holy missionary is a powerful missionary. In his intercourse with men, in his intercourse with God, his power is felt and acknowledged, and eternity only can develop the extent and the beneficence of its results. 2. Entire devotedness to the work. It is but little, comparatively, that a man can accomplish in any department, during the short life that is allotted to him upon earth. But, ordinarily, he is the most effective who consecrates himself to one pursuit, and faithfully identifies with it his whole temporal existence, and his entire ability. The work of the Christian missionary is surely large enough and important enough to justify the exclusive application of his time and energies. So the first missionaries viewed the subject; and such was the entireness of their consecration to their grand enterprise, as that each of them could say, and say it uncontradicted, “This ONE thing I do.” Ask them, ask their successors in every age who have trodden most closely in their steps, the secret of their success, and, while they refer you to the Holy Spirit, as the primary cause, they will tell you that, secondarily, their efficiency is attributable to the singleness of their aim, the unity of their purpose, the complete devotedness of their lives to their great object, counting every thing else, compared with the salvation of the heathen, “one grand impertinence.” He who understands the nature of the human mind, knows that its full energies are never put forth unless its object be single as well as great. He who comprehends the legitimate object of the Christian missionary, is aware that it deserves and must have his undivided attention, and the intense application of all his powers. He who is familiar with the history of the enterprise, needs not to be told that those who have effected the greatest good in their own age, and whose impression upon posterity has been the deepest, were distinguished for the simplicity and entireness with which they gave themselves to the duties of their vocation. And of the fifteen hundred evangelical missionaries now in the field, who are affording the most conclusive proofs of useful efficiency? Are they not the men who, with the proper qualifications, are confining themselves to their appropriate work? Am I mistaken, then, in specifying this devotedness as an element of power? It gives concentration to talents which would otherwise be scattered and wasted, and which now produce effect, upon the simple principle that combination is strength. Rays of knowledge are thus collected into a focus, and made to illuminate and burn. The faculties and affections all move in one direction, for the production of a single result; and, moving together in obedience to one common impulse, they acquire a momentum that is not easily resisted; and, digging a channel for themselves, they leave permanent traces, by which coming generations may know that some agent of extraordinary power has been there. 3. Deep sympathy with the object. In every department of practical life, success is dependent, not merely upon acquaintance with the theory of one’s business, but also upon the spirit with which the service is undertaken and prosecuted. There must he interest as well as understanding, heart as well as head, feeling as well as action. If your employment be agricultural, or mercantile, or mechanical, or political, or literary, or scientific, your spirit must correspond with the nature of the object, and so deeply sympathize with it, as that you and your object shall seem to be joined by a living union, one and inseparable. In every vocation it is indeed necessary that we should distinctly perceive what is to be done, and how it is to be effectuated. “Wisdom is profitable to direct.” But it is quite as essential that we should have warm sympathy with the end to which our efforts are to be directed. What is it that often renders some one person more effective than a hundred others in modern enterprises of moral reform? Is it extraordinary genius? Is it profound erudition? We have seen the strong men of all the learned professions stand up in the high places, and lecture with ability upon particular vices, and with most eloquent pleadings call upon wrong-doers to repent, and we have seen them expend their intellectual energies without effect. They reclaimed not, for they reached not, the wretched victims of imbruted appetite. They lacked this element of moral power—the sympathy that embraces the guilty and degraded. We have seen others enter the service, in whom this quality was the presiding spirit. Charged with pity for the miserable outcast, and yearning with tenderest solicitude for his recovery, they descend to his low level, and exhibit in his welfare an affectionate interest, and thus secure his confidence, until the sympathy becomes reciprocal, and the elevation mutual; as the humane sailor goes down for his drowning ship-mate, and feels after him in the mud and seaweed, until he finds him, and then, seizing each other with the death-grasp, they come up together. This sympathy was one of the elements of the Saviour’s moral power. He came to seek and to save the lost; and, understanding perfectly the philosophy of reform, he descended, and placed himself alongside of the lowliest of the race, and showed himself to be really what he was reproachfully styled, “a friend of publicans and sinners.” And it was by means of this condescension, and this tender interest in their welfare, that he had such power over the multitude. “The common people heard him gladly.” Who are the men that accomplish the most for Zion’s enlargement? Who but they whose souls are interpenetrated with the spirit of their enterprise—they in whose bosoms sympathy with man’s recovery and eternal life is an all-absorbing, all-controlling passion? You see them at their work, and feel assured that they are not performing a heartless service. They labor not coldly or mechanically, but are in devout earnest, with all the soul alive, thrillingly sensitive to every thing that bears upon their object, and intent upon the salvation of as many as possible. Read the published sermons of Whitefield, and you see not there the secret of his wonderful efficiency. From the depth of his moral nature, there gushed a spirit of which language was never the medium—a spirit which not even he could transfer to the written or the printed page—a spirit which he threw, like net-work, over and around an audience, holding them as by enchantment, whilst he employed every faculty and affection in communicating to their hearts the benevolent pulsations of his own. Yes, my brother, there is such a thing as a transfusion of that moral influence with which the holy man is endued by the grace of God. His sympathy with heaven connects him with the upper Reservoir of spiritual blessings; his sympathy with man connects him with the souls that fill the circle of his influence; and this double sympathy becomes a consecrated channel for the conveyance of the richest boon of heaven to the perishing of earth. We may not know how it was that the body of the dead man, when it touched the bones of the long buried prophet, revived and stood up animated, resuming life’s functions and life’s duties. But we do know, more than theoretically, that dead souls are quickened by a heavenly influence, of which Christian sympathy is the medium. Elisha sent his staff to be laid upon the face of the deceased child of the Shunamite, but the expedient failed. He must go and stretch himself upon the cold, pulseless frame,—eyes to eyes, mouth to mouth, hands to hands,—and then the flesh of the lad waxed warm, and the prophet delivered him alive to his mother. The missionary who would be efficient, must have a sympathy as close and all-embracing. His object must be to save the souls of the people to whom he is sent, and, to accomplish this, he must throw around them his warm affections, and bring his living heart into contact with their dead hearts, and keep it there until they are resuscitated by the power of the Holy Spirit, which worketh in him and through him mightily. In this way millions of the deadest of all beings, the dead in trespasses and sins, have been made alive. 4. Strong faith. Upon this principle, as an element of moral influence, the Saviour, when teaching his missionaries, constantly insisted; and he availed himself of every fitting occasion to summon it into lively exercise. If opportunity offered for the relief of suffering by miracle, he proposed to them the inquiry, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” When his disciples, foiled in their attempt to expel a demon, asked him to explain the cause of their failure, he promptly replied, “Because of your unbelief.” And how strongly did he assure them of the wonders which they might accomplish, if they only had “faith as a grain of mustard seed.” The smallest conceivable quantity would increase their power; and every addition to their stock of faith, would be so much added to their moral resources, until the feeble should become as David, and David be endued with superhuman energy. Was it the language of hyperbole, or of sober truth, when Jesus said, “All things are possible to him that believeth?” And when he so frequently said to his candidates for missionary, appointment, “According to your faith be it unto you,” what did he intend them to understand, but that the amount of their faith should be the measure of their success? Every man is endowed by his Creator, with a certain amount of physical ability, a portion of which is available on all occasions that may require it, while the remainder is intended only for special exigencies. When circumstances demand, he can draw upon this reserved fund, and thus accomplish what would otherwise be impracticable. Let his house take fire, and he will lift and bear away burdens with a facility that astonishes himself. Much of the mind’s energy lies retired, as reserved capital, to be employed only in extraordinary emergencies. Faith is the principle that has access to this private fund, and whose draft upon it is never dishonored; and, therefore, faith increases the available, if not the actual, power of the soul. He who believes a thing can be done, is generally the man to do it, for he is under the influence of a principle that calls forth the latent ability, and enables him to achieve results, which, without faith, would be impracticable. In all the camp of Saul, there was not a veteran who could safely have encountered the champion of Philistia, for not a man of the host had faith in God sufficient to brace up his courage and nerve his right arm for the conflict. Such faith was found only in the youthful shepherd; and as he believed, so he proceeded. His confidence lifted him above the fear of peril that made the sternest warriors quake, and called forth all his inward energies to one sublime effort; and the headless trunk of his antagonist soon lay stretched in the valley which had rung with his boastings. Sacred history is, to a large extent, a record of the achievements of faith. In the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we have a summary and graphic sketch of the cases mentioned in the inspired narratives, which no one can read without the conviction that the writer regarded faith as an element of power. He understood perfectly well that incredulity benumbs and paralyzes the soul, cutting its very sinews, and laying it prostrate, helpless, strengthless. He also knew, by what he had seen and felt, that faith gives to the mind nerve, elasticity, steadiness, and right onward force. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.” There is something in the confidence that we do not stand alone, but are befriended and succored by another and mightier, that gives determination and vigor to the soul. A Puritan writer has quaintly said, that, “If a man meet a dog alone, the dog is fearful, though ever so fierce by nature; but if the dog have his master with him, he will out upon that man from whom he fled before.” And hence he reasons, that if lower natures, when backed by higher, increase in courage and energy, certainly man, backed by Omnipotence, is a kind of omnipotent creature. A timid child, in company with his father, so long as he feels the warm pressure of the paternal hand, will walk unanxious by night through pathless forests, or on the beetling precipice. So the servant of God, with simple reliance upon a promising Father, will fearlessly press his way through difficulties and dangers the most appalling. Though called to walk through the valley across which death, has thrown his gloomiest shadow, he triumphantly says, “I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” In the world’s transactions, faith is important to efficiency. Weaken it, and you enfeeble the springs of secular enterprise. Destroy it, and you unnerve the community. Quite as indispensable is it in the cause of missions, which is preeminently a “work of faith,” and of faith of the highest order. What could the first preachers of Christianity have accomplished without it? What but confidence in their Master’s promise and presence could have given them such heroic boldness, such indomitable courage, such unfaltering perseverance, such power of endurance? Sustained by it, they did and suffered what impostors never could have done and suffered. They were “men that hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus,” and the assurance, ever fresh in their recollection, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end,” was their unfailing support. They believed that the world could be and would be converted to Christ, and this faith rendered them bold and energetic as agents in the difficult service. They made no experiments. They proceeded not upon probabilities, but upon certainties; and confidence in the promises made them strong, so that “with great power gave they witness,” and thrones trembled, and idols tumbled, and truth and holiness were welcomed by a subjugated world. When faith is really brought into action, the magnitude of an obstacle, even were it increased a hundred fold, is a matter of little moment. “Difficulties heaped upon difficulties can never rise to the level of the promise of God;” and, formidable as they may appear, the power of faith brings in the divine sufficiency, and we overcome them with ready facility. “In the history of the heroes of this world,” says Dr. Merle D’Aubigné,—“of such men as Charles XII., or Napoleon,—there is always a critical moment which shapes their career and insures their future glory; it is that in which a consciousness of their own strength is suddenly imparted to them. And a moment not less decisive than this, though stamped with an impress altogether different, is to be found in the life of every heroic servant of God;—it is that moment in which he first recognizes his absolute helplessness and nothingness: then it is that the strength of God is communicated to him from on high.”* There is a link which connects the impotence of the creature with the omnipotence of Jehovah, so that the creature is encouraged to attempt the greatest things, while conscious of personal inability to do the least things. A weak faith lays hold of a strong Christ; and, lying low and looking high, the believer declares, “when I am weak, then am I strong.” Thus allied to the mighty, he is endued with power; and he can meet unmoved the shock of any trial; for, as Leighton well says, “The firmest thing in this lower world is a believing soul;” and he cen execute any service, however difficult, for his faith enables him to feel and say, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me.” What can interfere with the efficiency of him who goes forth to publish salvation, obeying his Saviour’s command, trusting his Saviour’s promise, favored with his Saviour’s presence? Intimidated by no opposition, discouraged by no perplexities, he presses forward to the achievement of his purpose, winning a revolted world to Christ by the attractions of the cross. 5. An affectionate spirit. Need I multiply proofs that love is power? What is the efficiency of God’s moral government, but the efficiency of love? Wherein consists the energy of the cross, if not in the matchless love which it develops? What is a Christian but a living witness to the all-subduing efficacy of love, overcoming, as it has, the spirit of rebellion, reconciling the alienated heart, reforming the wayward conduct, and giving to the soul a heavenward tendency? And what is the song of the redeemed in glory, but a grateful recognition of their indebtedness to One who loved them, and proved the strength of his love by giving himself for them, and washing them in his blood—the blood of Love? Love is the grand distinctive quality of the Christian system, and especially of its ministry, which is eminently the “ministry of reconciliation.” And this is the quality which, above all others, should pervade the tone of the ministry both at home and abroad. The cause of truth may be weakened by a false manifestation of its spirit, as well as by an inaccurate exhibition of its principles. The temper of the ministry is quite as important as its matter; and a primitive missionary assures us, in his own case, that if he were to “speak with the tongues of men and of angels,” yet without love, his message would be destitute of music,—harsh, dissonant, and repulsive. The heathen sophists insisted upon kindness in an orator as indispensable to success; and one of them illustrates the sentiment by reference to the fabulous stories of Amphion and Orpheus, the moral of which, he thinks, teaches the extraordinary power of the tender and the affectionate over insensible and unyielding hearts. Homer introduces his hoary Nestor pleading in the most gentle, insinuating strain, and thus prevailing where threats and steel were ineffectual. We find it true in civilized lands, and it is quite as true of the barbarous and savage, that men do not open their hearts to the preacher, unless the tone of his instructions, and his whole manner have impressed them with the conviction that he sincerely regards their best interests. The spirit of depravity rouses itself to resist and resent whatever is harsh and denunciatory. “Leviathan is not so tamed.” But where love is the presiding spirit—love, that sympathizes, on the one hand, with the cross of Christ, and, on the other, with man’s degradation and doom, there is power that disarms prejudice, conciliates affection, and conquers the heart. We wonder not at the success of the apostle Paul, when we read that he ceased not to warn the people “night and day with tears.” We are not surprised at the efficiency of another man of God who seldom addressed sinners without an overflow of tender emotion, and whom we hear saying, “You blame me for weeping, but how can I help it, when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are upon the verge of destruction, and for aught you know you are hearing your last sermon, and may never have another opportunity to have Christ offered to you.” It has been said of another, that, when warning the impenitent of their danger, and inviting them to the gracious Saviour, he was often so overcome by the gush of his feelings as to be unable to proceed—a testimony far more creditable than any applause for originality, taste or genius. “I have not wept but once these forty years,” said a veteran military officer, “and that was when I heard Jesse Bushy head, the Cherokee preacher, address his countrymen from the parable of the prodigal son, the tears flowing faster than he could wipe them away.” Love is the key to the human soul, and he who takes it with him, may go to any part of the world, and gain access to hearts, and open the most secret doors, and walk unforbidden through every chamber of the moral nature. When the infuriated Seminoles attacked a settlement, butchering, scalping, burning, whom did they spare—whom but a family which they recognized as the friends of the red man, residing there in the self-denying spirit and practice of Christian missionaries? LOVE IS POWER; for it renders the servant of God gentle, tender, earnest, persuasive. His manner is winning, and his spirit melting. The smile of heaven plays upon his features, and the tones and inflexions of his voice approach nearer to the angelic than the human. More than gratuitous would it be in him to assure his hearers that he loves them, and desires their salvation. The fountain of tears unsealed and gushing, the quivering lip, the tremulous voice, the heaving bosom, are proofs which the stupidest pagan would interpret more easily than a thousand professions and protestations. It may sometimes be necessary for him to declare most awful and terrific truths, but he does it with holy tenderness, mingling no wrath of his own with the wrath of God. The meek, the gentle Redeemer foretold, with all plainness, the doom of the wicked, and pronounced wo! wo! wo! until he could utter it no longer, and his pent-up compassions then burst forth like a food—“O Jerusalem! Jerusalem!” Powerful, irresistible is he who is baptized into the affectionate spirit of Jesus. His words, bathed in his heart’s sensibility, soften whatever they touch, and souls, hard and cold as the Alpine glacier, melt under their influence like snow in a summer sun. Such, brethren, are some of the elements of that power with which it is desirable the Christian missionary should be endued. The whole of these combined, in due proportion, make up a strong character, which wants little else than a physical frame of corresponding strength, to complete the sum of missionary excellence. Happy for the heathen, happy for the interests of Christianity, when the missionary field shall be supplied with laborers who possess the intellectual and moral power required by so grand an enterprise. Some such are already there, and in the character of their labors, and the measure of their efficiency, we perceive not only occasion for devout gratitude to God, but the most valid reasons for the prayer from the church universal—Lord, multiply them a thousand fold. COMMUNION PRESERVED C H SPURGEON THESE disciples knew not their Lord, but they loved the unknown stranger who spake so sweetly of him. Blessed are the men who discourse of Jesus; they shall ever find a welcome in the hearts and homes of the elect. His name to our ears is ever melodious, and we love that conversation best which is fullest of it. We would willingly afford the chamber on the wall, the table, the stool, and the candlestick, to all those who will talk continually of Him. But, alas! there are too many who would blush to answer our Saviour’s question, “What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another?”* Too great a number of professors forget the words of the prophet, “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”* We will not be censorious, but we believe with an old author, that “the metal of the bell is known by the sound of the clapper; what is in the well will be found in the bucket; what is in the warehouse will be shown in the shop; and what is in the heart will be bubbling forth at the mouth.” We often miss our Lord’s company, because our conversation does not please him. When our Beloved goes down into his garden, it is to feed there and gather lilies; but if thorns and nettles are the only products of the soil, he will soon be away to the true beds of spices. When two walk together, and are agreed in solemn discourse concerning heavenly things, Jesus will soon make a third. So here, on this journey to Emmaus, the Saviour, though they “knew him not, because their eyes were holden,” did so wondrously converse with them, that their “hearts burned within them.” He who would stay a man in the street would naturally call out his name; and he who would bring Jesus into his soul must frequently pronounce his charming name. The Lord having graciously conversed with these favoured travellers, essays to leave them, and continue his journey, but they constrain him to remain, and at their earnest suit he does so. From this pleasing little incident let us glean one or two lessons. I. When we have the Saviour’s company for a little while, we shall not be content until we have more of it. These holy men were not content to let him go, but would have him tarry with them all night. There are certain liquors which men drink that are said to increase thirst; it is most true of this rich “wine on the lees,” that the more we drink of it the more we desire. Nor will the draught be forbidden us, or prove in any way injurious, for the spouse bids us “drink, yea, drink abundantly.” The soul which has enjoyed communion with Jesus will never agree that it has dwelt long enough on the mount: it will far rather build a tabernacle for itself and its master. Never is a Christian tired of his Redeemer’s society, but, like Abraham, he cries, “My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.” Any plea will be urged to persuade our Lord to remain. Is it evening? we will plead that the day is far spent, and we shall need him to cheer our midnight hours. Is it morning? we will tell him that we fear to begin the day without a long visit from him. Is it noon? we will urge that the sun is hot, and we shall faint unless he allows us to sit beneath his shadow. We will always find some reason for his remaining, for love’s logic is inexhaustible. If he would become our constant guest we should never weary of his company. A thousand years would seem but as one day if all the time we might lay our head upon his bosom; yea, eternity itself shall need no other source of joy since this perennial stream is ever running. When our wondering eyes have admired the beauties of our Saviour for millions of years we shall be quite as willing to continue the meditation, supremely blest with that Heaven which our eyes shall drink in from his wounded hands and side. The marrow of heaven is Jesus; and as we shall never be surfeited with bliss, so we shall never have too much of Jesus. Fresh glories are discovered in him every hour; his person, work, offices, character, affection, and relationships, are each of them clusters of stars which the eye of contemplation will view with unutterable astonishment as they are in their order revealed to the mind. The saint who has longest tenanted the mansions of glory will confess that the presence of the Saviour has not ceased to be his bliss, nor has the freshness of the pleasure been in the least diminished. Christ is a flower, but he fadeth not; he is a river, but he is never dry; he is a sun, but he knoweth no eclipse; he is all in all, but he is something more than all. He that longs not for Christ hath not seen him, and by just so much as man has tasted of the sweetness of Jesus will he be hungry and thirsty after more of him. Men who are content with a manifestation once in a month will soon become so dull that once a year will suit them; but he who has a visit from the Saviour very frequently will be panting for fresh views of him every day—yea, and every hour of the day. He will never lack appetite for spiritual things who lives much on them. The poor professor may be content with a few of Christ’s pence now and then, but he who is rich in grace thinks so small an income beneath his station, and cannot live unless he has golden gifts from the hand of his Lord; he will covet earnestly this best of gifts, and be a very miser after the precious things of the cross. John Owen, the most sober of theologians, falls into a perfect ecstasy when touching on this subject. In expounding Cant. 8:6, 7, he gives us the following glowing passage: “The intendment of what is so loftily set out by so many metaphors in these verses is, ‘I am not able to bear the workings of my love to thee, unless I may always have society and fellowship with thee. There is no satisfying of my love without it. It is as the grave, that still says, Give! give! Death is not satisfied without its prey. If it have not all it has nothing.’ Let what will happen, if death hath not its whole desire it hath nothing at all. Nor can it be withstood in its appointed season; no ransom will be taken. So is my love; if I have thee not wholly I have nothing. Nor can all the world bribe it to a diversion; it will be no more turned aside than death in its time. Alas! I am not able to bear my jealous thoughts; I fear thou dost not love me—that thou hast forsaken me, because I know I deserve not to be beloved. These thoughts are hard as hell; they give no rest to my soul. If I find not myself on thy heart and arm, I am as one that lies down in a bed of coals.” The absence of the Saviour deprives the believer of more than joy or light; it seems to destroy his very life, and sap the foundations of his being. Let us seek then to hold the king in his galleries. II. We remark, in the next place, that if we would keep the Saviour with us, we must constrain him. Jesus will not tarry if he is not pressed to do so. Not that he is ever weary of his people, but because he would have them show their sense of his value. In the case before us, it is said, “he made as if he would go further.” This he did to try their affection. “Not,” says Ness, “that he had any purpose to depart from them, but to prove them how they prized him, and accounted of his company. Therefore this ought not to be misimproved to countenance any kind of sinful dissimuation. If Solomon might make as though he would do an act that in its own nature was unlawful (to slay an innocent child),* sure I am our Saviour might do that which is but indifferent in itself (whether to go or stay) without being charged with the sin of dissembling. But when Christ makes to be gone, the two disciples would not let him go, but one (as it were) gets hold on one arm, and the other on the other; there they hang till they constrain him to continue with them.” These were wise men, and were, therefore, loath to part with a fellow-traveller from whom they could learn so much. If we are ever privileged to receive Jesus under our roof, let us make haste to secure the door that he may not soon be gone. If he sees us careless concerning him, and cold towards him, he will soon arise and go hence. He will not intrude himself where he is not wanted; he needs no lodging, for the heaven of heavens is his perpetual palace, and there be many hearts of the contrite where he will find a hearty welcome. When we have the honour of a visit from Prince Immanuel let everything be done to protract it. Angels’ visits are few and far between: when we have the happiness of meeting therewith, let us, like Jacob, manfully grasp the angel, and detain him, at least until he leaves a blessing. Up, Christian, with a holy bravery, and lay hold on the mercy while it is within reach! The Son of Man loves those who hold him tightly. He will not resent the familiarity, but will approve of thine earnestness. Let the loving bride of the Canticles teach thee by her example, for she glories in her deed when she sings, “I found him whom my soul loveth, I held him, and I would not let him go.” True, ’tis amazing grace which can allow such a liberty with the person of so exalted a being; but seeing that he invites us to lay hold on his strength, and has sanctioned the act in others, shall we, like Ahaz, when he declined to ask a sign, refuse the favour which our Lord allows? No— “We will maintain our hold; ’Tis his goodness makes us bold.” How can we then prolong our communion with the Saviour? Let us reply to the question by sundry directions, which, by the aid of the Spirit, we will labour to follow. 1. Allow no rivals to intrude. Jesus will never tarry in a divided heart. He must be all or nothing. Search then thy heart; dethrone its idols; eject all interlopers; chastise all trespassers; yea, slay the Diabolians who lurk in thy soul. If we would enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with the Son of God, we must institute a rigid inquisition against all kinds of sin. A little evil will at times mar our peace, just as a small stone in the shoe will spoil our walking. Tender are the shoots of this vine of communion, and little foxes will do no little injury. “The Lord thy God is a jealous God,” and Jesus thy husband is jealous also. Sorely did he smite Jerusalem, because she sought affinity with other gods, and chose to herself many lovers. Keep then thy house and heart open to him, and shut to all others. With sin he cannot dwell. Canst thou expect the “angel of the covenant” to dwell with the prince of darkness? Can there be concord with Christ and Belial? Awake then, and cry “Away, ye profane,” my heart is the temple of Jesus, and ye must not defile its hallowed places. If they retire not, get to thyself the scourge of repentance and self-mortification, and if it be laid on lustily they will not long abide the blows. It behoves us to remember, also, that there are other things besides sins which may become offensive to the Saviour. The nearest friend, the partner of our bosom, or the offspring of our loins, may excite the Lord’s jealousy. If these become the objects of an affection which ought to be wholly his, he will be moved to anger with us. The calf was no less an idol because it was made of gold. The brazen serpent, despite its original service, must be broken when men worship it. All things are alike cause of jealousy to Jesus if they are exalted to his throne, since no creature can in the least possess anything deserving of worship. The very mention of a rival’s name will suffice to drive our blessed Lord away. He will have the name of Baali taken utterly out of our mouth; and he alone must be our Ishi. Oh! true believer, is there no strange god with thee? Make a thorough search. Bid even thy beloved Rachel rise, for the teraph is often concealed beneath the place where she sitteth. Say not in haste, I am no idolater. The approaches of this sin are insidious in the extreme, and ere thou knowest it thou art entangled in its iron net. The love of the creature has a bewitching power over men, and they seldom know the treachery of the Delilah until their locks are shorn. Oh, daughters of Zion, let King Solomon alone have your love; rehearse his name in your songs, and write his achievements on your memories; so will he dwell in the city of David and ride through your midst in his chariot paved with love for you: but if ye pay homage to any save himself, he will return unto his place and make your beauteous city a byword with the enemy. Have no fellowship with strangers, if you desire manifestations of love from the adorable Jesus. “Let none be your love and choice, and the flower of your delights, but your Lord Jesus. Set not your heart upon the world, since God hath not made it your portion; for it will not fall to you to get two portions, and to rejoice twice, and to be happy twice, and to have an upper heaven and an under heaven too. Most of us have a lover and idol besides our husband, Christ; but it is our folly to divide our narrow and little love; it will not serve for two. It is best then to hold it whole and together, and to give it to Christ; for then we get double interest for our love, when we lend it to, and lay it out upon, Christ; and we are sure, besides, that the stock cannot perish.” Let us muse on the words of the writer of The Synagogue— “Peace, rebel thought, dost thou not know the king My God is here? Cannot his presence, if no other thing, Make thee forbear? Or were he absent, all the standers by Are but his spies; And well he knows, if thou shouldst it deny, Thy words were lies. If others will not, yet I must, and will, Myself complain. My God, even now a base, rebellious thought Began to move, And subtly twining with me would have wrought Me from my love: Fain he would have me to believe that Sin And thou might both Take up my heart together for your inn, And neither loathe The other’s company; a while sit still, And part again.” 2. Give the Saviour a goodly entertainment, fit for so great a prince, and thus he may be persuaded to make a longer stay. His rank, his honour, and his benevolence, entitle him to the most respectful treatment. Shall the Son of God be entertained in any but the best room of the house? Shall we offer on his altar any save the fattest of the flock and the herd? Shall we spare ourselves when he is our guest? Shall gentlemen spend all their estates that they may sumptuously feast an earthly monarch? and shall we penuriously count the cost of our love to him? Beloved, we shall have but brief glimpses of Jesus if he does not perceive our souls affected by it. A slight from his friends grieves his spirit, and he withdraws himself. We ought to count it a cheap bargain if we could give our all to win the constant indwelling of Jesus. Princes have melted pearls into the wine wherewith they entertained monarchs, let us do the same. Let us make rich offerings to Jesus; let our duties be more faithfully discharged, our labours more willingly performed, and let our zeal be more eminently fervent. If the altar cease to smoke with incense, the heart will be made empty and void by the departure of its Lord. Self-sacrifice is sweet to our Redeemer, he loves to see his dearly-purchased people confessing that they are not their own. Oh, brethren in the Gospel, do more if ye would receive more; give more largely and ye shall be cheered more abundantly. The self-denying missionary, the laborious pastor, the earnest evangelist, and the indefatigable church member, are generally the persons invited to the royal banquets of Jesus. He delights to honour the men who wait at his gates with diligence, and watch for his coming with vigilance. Faithful service shall never be unrewarded by the master’s notice, and continuance in well-doing shall receive as its recompence a perpetuity of approbation. Hold thou the Saviour, oh believer! by hands ready for service and happy to obey. 3. Trust the Lord much while he is with you. Keep no secrets from him. His secrets are with you; let your secrets be with him. Jesus admires confidence, and if it be not afforded him, he will say, “Farewell,” until we can trust him better. So long as we put our lips to the ear of Christ, and tell him all, he will never let us be alone. When we reveal every whit, and hide nothing from him, he is pleased with us; but when we conceal our designs, our troubles, or our fears, he frowns at our want of confidence. If thou desirest Christ for a perpetual guest, give him all the keys of thine heart; let not one cabinet be locked up from him; give him the range of every room, and the key of every chamber; thus you will constrain him to remain. True faith holds the feet of Jesus and prevents his departure: when he rises to continue his journey, she cries, “Not so, my Lord, hear one more word, listen to the wants of thy servant, let at least another of my griefs find a tomb in thy loving heart. Listen to me this once, for I have somewhat to say unto thee which so deeply concerns me, that if thou dost not regard me, I know not whither to resort.” Thus she will hold her confidant by one continued series of confessions. We doubt not that our loving Lord frequently hides his face from us because we rely not enough upon him. It would be the part of wisdom to transfer our cares to him who careth for us; thus should we imitate David, who urges us to “pour out our hearts before him.” Make Christ manager of thine affairs, and so please him. An old writer somewhere says, “He who runs before the cloud of divine direction goeth a fool’s errand:” let us then desist from self-serving, and give ourselves up like children to the loving care of a tender parent, to be led, guided, directed, and supplied by our great Covenant Head; so will he always have business to do at our house, and will make our soul his settled rest. 4. Another method of retaining the company of our Beloved, is to bring in others of his friends to sit with us. It may be if he cometh not to us alone, he will come with them, and if perchance some ill word of ours might urge him to depart, yet, for the sake of others who sit with him, he will remain. One of these disciples migh not have constrained Christ, but the two effected it. Fire will not tarry in a single coal, but if many be laid together it will be long before it is clean gone. A single tree may not afford much shelter for a traveller, but he will rest beneath the thick boughs of the grove: so will Jesus often sit longer where many of “the trees of the Lord” are planted. Go to the assemblies of the saints, if you would keep the arm of the King of saints. Those who dwell most with the daughters of Jerusalem are most likely to have a goodly share of Emmanuel’s company. Cannot my reader add his own testimony to the fact that fellowship with the saints is conducive to a continuance of fellowship with Jesus? 5. Earnest prayer is the most potent means of winning continued communion. We have found it true, that the mercy-seat is the place where the Lord meets his servants. Full often our souls have risen from depths of distress to heights of delight, by the simple appeal to heaven, which we by supplication have been allowed to make. We will speak well of the exercise of prayer; we can endorse all the titles which old divines have given it, such as—the key of heaven, and of all God’s cabinets, the conduit of mercy, faith flaming, Jacob’s ladder, an invisible and invincible weapon, a victory over the Omnipotent, the sweet consumption of cares, a box of ointment broken on the head of Christ, the perfume of heaven, the mount of transfiguration, the soul’s messenger, and Satan’s scourge: but we will add another—it is a golden chain which holds the Saviour, and secures him to his people. Christ never lingers long with dumb souls; if there be no crying out to him, he loves not silence, and he departs and betakes himself to those hearts which are full of the music of prayer. What a marvellous influence prayer has upon our fellowship with Jesus! We may always measure one by the other. Those pray most fervently and frequently who have been constant attendants on the kind Intercessor; while, on the other hand, those who wrestle the hardest in supplication will hold the angel the longest. Joshua’s voice stayed the sun in the heavens for a few hours; but the voice of prayer can detain the Sun of righteousness for months and even years. Christian Brethren, will you slight this exhortation? Shall none of these means be tried? Are you content to suffer your Saviour to depart? Are ye careless as to his company? Then you have grave cause for fear; there is something vitally wrong. Pass not by this sad admonitory symptom; search your heart, for a sad disease is there. May the great Physician heal thee. But surely, as joint-heir with Jesus, thou hast longings after him and sighings for his presence. Then let it be thy concern to find him, and, having found him, to constrain him to abide with thee for ever. “Oh, that we could for ever sit With Mary, at the Master’s feet; Be this our happy choice, Our only care, delight, and bliss, Our joy, our heaven on earth be this, To hear the Bridegroom’s voice. “Oh, that we could with favour’d John, Recline our weary heads upon The dear Redeemer’s breast! From care, and sin, and sorrow free, Give us, O Lord, to find in thee Our everlasting rest.” In a short time it will be our joy to hold further converse with each other, upon various important points of our knowledge of Christ. We trust we shall then be privileged to enter more fully into the mysteries of communion, and in the mean time we commend our humble effort to the blessing of Heaven, trusting that some beginners will here read and learn what are the elements of that wondrous experience which falls to the lot of a Christian.