Part 4

III.

IS THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT A THIRD BLESSING?

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

There is much difference of opinion among many of God's children as to the time and order of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and many who believe that entire cleansing is subsequent to salvation, ask if the baptism with the Spirit is not subsequent to cleansing, and, therefore, a third blessing.

There are four classes of teachers whose views appear to differ about this subject. There are:--

1. Those who emphasise cleansing; who say much of a clean heart, but little, if anything, about the fullness of the Holy Spirit and power from on High.

2. Those who emphasise the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fullness of the Spirit, but say little or nothing of cleansing from inbred sin and the destruction of the carnal mind.

3. Those who say much of both, but separate them into two distinct experiences, often widely separated in time.

4. Those who teach that the truth is in the union of the two, and that, while we may separate them in their order, putting cleansing first, we cannot separate them as to time, since it is the baptism that cleanses, just as the darkness vanishes before the flash of the electric light when the right button is touched; just as the Augean stables were cleansed, in the fabled story of Grecian mythology, when Hercules turned in the floods of the River Arno; the refuse went out as the rushing waters poured in.

There are three very blessed portions of Scripture which show us that this is God's order, and two that plainly show us that cleansing and the baptism are not separate in time.

In Psalm li. 10 and 12, David prays, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.... Uphold me with Thy free Spirit." First the cleansing, then the filling that upholds: for as it is my spirit within me that upholds my body, so it is God's Spirit within that upholds my soul.

In Ezekiel xxxvi. 25 and 27, the Lord says, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.... And I will put My Spirit within you."

Here again, the order is first cleansing, then filling.

In John xvii. 15-26, Jesus prays for His disciples, and says: "I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil.... Sanctify them;... that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us;... I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one;... that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Here, again, it is first sanctification (cleansing, being made holy), then filling, divine union with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit.

These Scriptures make plain the order of God's work, and if we looked at them alone, without diligently comparing Scripture with Scripture, as God would have us do, we might perhaps conclude that the cleansing and filling were as distinct and separate in time as they are in this order of statement.

But other Scriptures give us abundant light on that side of the subject. In Isaiah vi. 1-8, we have the record of the prophet's sanctification, and we notice that the cleansing and the filling were not separate in time. The cleansing was not before the baptism, but by the baptism. The "live coal" was laid upon his mouth, and touched his lips; and by this fiery baptism his iniquity was taken away and his sin was purged.

In Acts x. 44, we read of Peter's preaching Jesus to Cornelius, the Roman centurion, and his household; and "while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word"; and in Acts xv. 7-9, at the first Council in Jerusalem, we have Peter's rehearsal of the experience of Cornelius and his household. Peter says: "Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Here we see that their believing, and the sudden descent of the Holy Ghost with cleansing power into their hearts, constitute one blessed experience.

What patient, waiting, expectant faith reckons done, the baptism with the Holy Ghost actually accomplishes. Between the act of faith by which a man begins to reckon himself "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans vi. 11), and the act of the Holy Spirit, which makes the reckoning good, there may be an interval of time, "a little while" (Hebrews x. 37); but the act and state of steadfastly, patiently, joyously, perfectly believing, which is man's part, and the act of baptising with the Holy Ghost, cleansing as by fire, which is God's part, bring about the one experience of entire sanctification, and must not and cannot be logically looked upon as two distinct blessings, any more than the act of the husband and the act of the wife can be separated in the one experience of marriage.

There are two works and two workers: God and man. Just as my right arm and my left arm work when my two hands come together, but the union of the two hands constitute one experience.

If my left arm acts quickly, my right arm will surely respond. And so, if the soul, renouncing self and sin and the world, with ardour of faith in the precious blood for cleansing, and in the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, draws nigh to God, God will draw nigh to that soul, and the blessed union will be effected suddenly: and in that instant, what faith has reckoned done will be done, the death-stroke will be given to "the old man," sin will die, and the heart will be clean indeed, and wholly alive toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It will not be a mere "make-believe" experience, but a gloriously real one.

It is possible that some have been led into confusion of thought on this subject by not considering all the Scriptures bearing on it. What is it that cleanses or sanctifies, and how? Jesus prays: "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." Here it is the word, or truth, that sanctifies.

John says: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Here it is the blood.

Peter says: "God...put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." And Paul says: "That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith." Here it is by faith.

Again, Paul writes: "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit" (2 Thess. ii. 13). And again, "That the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost" (Romans xv. 16). And Peter writes: "To the strangers... elect... through sanctification of the Spirit" (1 Peter i. I, 2). Here it is the Spirit that sanctifies or makes clean and holy.

Is there, then, confusion here? Jesus says, "the truth"; John says, "the blood"; Paul and Peter say, "faith," and "the Holy Ghost." Can these be reconciled? Let us see.

Here is a child in a burning house. A man at the peril of his life rushes to the spot above which the child stands in awful danger, and cries out, "Jump, and I will catch you!"

The child hears, believes, leaps, and the man receives him; but just as he turns and places the boy in safety, a falling timber smites him to the ground wounded to death, and his flowing blood sprinkles the boy whom he has saved.