INWARD WORKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We have considered some features, of what happened on the Day of Pentecost, which could be heard and been. The Word of God tells us that at the same time the Holy Spirit of God wrought a fourfold inward work in the waiting disciples. Although this was a fourfold work it was one work. Let us humbly seek God's enlightenment as we study His Word.

4. They received the promise of the Father "And being assembled... with them (Jesus) commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father; which, saith he, ye have heard of me" (Acts 1: 4). Evidently this promise was fulfilled to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. What is this promise of the Father? Please read the following scriptures: (1) John 14: 16-18. The promise of the Father was to send to them the Comforter, Who would abide with them forever, so that they would not be left as orphans; (2) John 14: 17. The Comforter; the Holy Spirit was already with them, but from the
appointed day, He would be in them. The disciples were promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This was the promise of the Father, and by this promise they became His children, and received the right to call Him "Father" (Rom.8: 15).

The condition for receiving the Holy Spirit is repentance and faith. The 120 disciples had already fulfilled these conditions, but because the Day of Pentecost, the appointed day, was not yet fully come they had to wait for ten days. In our day, those who repent and believe do not have to wait, but receive the Holy Spirit the moment they hear the Word of God and believe it with all their heart. Like the people in the house of Cornelius, we receive the Holy Spirit the moment we hear the Word of God and believe it with all our heart. When we are born again we receive the promise of the Father, that is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and now we also can call Him our heavenly Father according to Romans 8:15. Thus we see, on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

5. They were baptized with the Holy Spirit "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1: 5). The Lord Jesus spoke these words before His ascension. It is quite clear that this promise of the Lord Jesus was also fulfilled to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. What does this "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" mean?

(1) John the Baptist referred to this "Baptism with the Holy Spirit", as recorded in Matt.3: 11; Mark 1: 8; Luke 3: 16; and John 1: 33.

Joined to Christ, and Joined in Christ The Lord was preparing the disciples for an event very great in the plan of God. It was the long-awaited fulfilment of the promise God had made to Abraham, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed". For many centuries only the family of Abraham had been enjoying this blessing. Now the time was come when all families of the earth were going to be blessed in Christ, as it is written, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal.3: 28). "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many" (1 Cor.12: 13,14). The Body of Christ, the Church, was to come into being on the Day of Pentecost.

This is a tremendous event as you will realize when you understand (1) that the Church is for all nations, and in the Church all the believers 3.re one; {2) that the Church is the Bride of Christ (Rev.19: 7), for whom God and all creation are waiting (Eph.5: 25-27); and (3) that it is through this Church the manifold wisdom of God has to be manifested according to God's eternal purpose (Eph.3: 10,11).

That is why this Baptism has been foreshadowed in many ways from the beginning; for example, when the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea it was a foreshadow or figure of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They "were all baptized unto Moses" and "did all drink the same spiritual drink" (1 Cor.10: 2,4). They all became one body of people because they all had a common spiritual experience, and a common future hope of the Land of Promise. They had all been slaves in Egypt, all had been saved by the blood of the Passover Lamb, and all had the same spiritual meat and same spiritual drink. In Christ we also by one Spirit have been baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. We have "One Spirit" dwelling in .us all, and this implies that we are all "one body". The children of Israel "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea" and this is a figure of believers being baptized unto Christ by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit: that is, they are joined to Christ and identified with Christ, and also joined to one another and identified With one another.

(2) Christ's Baptism in water sheds light upon this Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Matt.3: 1 -17).

United with Christ in His Death, Burial and Resurrection John the Baptist preached, "Repent ye; for, the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt.3: 2) .Many went to him and repented and were baptized by him in the river Jordan. Then the Lord Jesus also went to him for baptism. There is some common meaning in the baptism of repentant sinners and in the baptism of Jesus. For the Lord Jesus, it meant this; "Father, I am ready for the great baptism You have appointed for Me: that is, I am ready to die in the sinner's place and go through the ordeal of suffering and atoning death; ready for the burial; and ready to be raised by You". For us it means, "I believe that by repenting and accepting Christ as my own personal Savior, I have been united with Christ; that is to say, by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit 1 have been united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. Now with a good conscience I give witness to this symbolically by being baptized in water.

(3) Christ's reference to His own sufferings, death, burial and resurrection as "Baptism" sheds more light on the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit".

We are made partakers of His sufferings and His Baptism has become our Baptism. When the word baptism" is used by the Lord Jesus in other contexts like Matt.20: 22 and Luke 12:50,"8vidently the purpose is to shed more light from various aspects upon the meaning of the great experience of "the Baptism of the Holy Spirit".

Lord Jesus said to Zebedee's sons James and John, "Ye shall... indeed be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with" (Matt.20:23). First of all, what did He mean by "the baptism that I am baptized with?" It is clear that He was referring to His own sufferings, culminating in His death, burial and resurrection. We know that Christ's death, burial and resurrection, are central to the Gospel, in the fullest sense, and absolutely central to our salvation (1 Cor.15: 3,4). No doubt, that is why Christ is referring to it again and again as "His baptism". When John the Baptist baptized Him in the river Jordan that was only a figure of this "Baptism" that was awaiting Him.

Secondly, what did the Lord Jesus mean by saying, "Ye shall indeed...be baptized.. ? This statement must have been fulfilled to these disciples at sometime after it was spoken. When was that? It was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when these two disciples, James and John along with others, were baptized with the Holy Spirit. At that time by the inward work of the Holy Spirit, the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus became their own; His Baptism became their Baptism; and they were transformed and became a new creation, so that they could say, "We are risen with Christ!" and from that day onwards they be came partakers of His sufferings, and endured persecution for Christ's sake.

I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD—6 - BAKHT SINGH

The Lord Jesus Christ will make you free from your sinful life. When, you let Him pour the living water into you, that living water will make you free automatically from shameful and defiling habits. No one can deliver you. Only the Lord Jesus can do it by pouring that new life into you. New life brings true worship. That is why in John 4:14, our Lord spoke about the living water, and in verse 24, He spoke to her as to how she should worship in 1 spirit and in truth. The secret of knowing how to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, will automatically change you, transform you, and deliver you.

God is a Spirit, and in our spirit, and by our spirit, we can touch Him, feet Him, speak to Him, and be governed by Him, and by that we can get divine life day by day. Then automatically, yap will find that same life coming out like a bubbling river. In a short time our Lord delivered that woman from her sinful life, and taught her how to worship God in spirit and in truth. God is a Spirit and His Spirit can come into our spirit. Every human being is composed of three things: spirit, soul and body. There are three parts in the human body; bones, muscles and blood make the body. Affection, emotion and will- power make the soul. Similarly, we find three things in the spirit; conscience to hear the voice of God and to discern between good and evil, a longing to know God and also intuition. Because of sin we have a dead spirit, a darkened soul, and a defiled body. That is why God's power must come into us. God is a Spirit, and He can only come into our spirit, not into our bones or brain. If you want Him to live in you, you must have a clean and purified spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the King of kings. He cannot live in our filthy hearts. We are so defiled that unless the Lord Jesus Christ undertakes to cleanse us with His blood, we cannot become clean. He cannot do it by compulsion. We have to say, "Lord, wash me and come into me. Forgive me of all my sins, and transform me and make me such a well", and then He comes in. Then you will find a threefold change coming into you. Your dead spirit becomes a quickened spirit, the darkened soul becomes an enlightened soul, and the defiled body becomes a cleansed body. Then the light of God will shine upon your face.

The power of God will work in and through you day by day, and wherever you go, the same power will be at your disposal to give you victory: victory over your temptations, victory over every tribulation, victory in family, nakedness, sword and persecution, and in the same way, victory over habits of sin. There are some who are slaves to cigarette and tobacco. They do not smoke openly but secretly. One can see it from their faces mouths and lips. They are defiled people, miserable people, rotten people, ruined people, bound like slaves. Come now to the Lord Jesus for complete deliverance, and that will be your victory. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)."