POWER FOR SERVICE.
"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, He shall testify of Me; and ye also shall bear witness" (Joh_15:26-27).
"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me" (Act_1:8).
"God bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost" (Heb_2:4).
When the Holy Spirit was given through Jesus Christ from the Father He came as the Comforter (Advocate), and as the Spirit of truth to bear witness of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and to endow His followers with power to testify of Him. Every son of God should be a servant. "Son, go work to-day in My vineyard." Every delivered one should serve Him without fear in holiness all the days of his life (Luk_1:74-75). For divine service divine equipment is required.
I. Power is Needed.
"Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luk_24:49). The Lord Jesus tarried for thirty years until the time of His showing Himself when He was endued with power from on high at the Jordan. But it is not their tarrying we wish to emphasise so much as the fact that they were not to go in His Name until they had received a special spiritual endowment for this definite work of witnessing. Jesus Christ knew the strength of the forces of evil to be overcome, and that without the presence of the Holy Spirit of power all their self-effort would be worthless. "He wrestled not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness" (Eph_6:12). Therefore the whole Armour of God must be put on ere they set out on this holy warfare. A man may as soon hope to beat back the tide with a pitch-fork as to overcome the works of darkness without the power of the Holy Ghost. The enduement or baptism of the Holy Spirit stamps the service of the man of God with divine authority. Without this power our work for God will only be a laughing stock to wicked spirits.
II. Power is Provided.
"Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Act_1:8, R.V.). "This is that which was spoken. … I will pour out My Spirit" (Act_2:16; Act_10:45). When the Holy Spirit came He came as a Mighty Rushing Wind, the symbol of power. As wind He is within the reach of all, and all the pressing powers of hell shall not be able to withstand His mighty rushing (Isa_59:19). Fling thyself into this mighty rushing current and take full advantage of this all-sufficient spiritual influence waiting in the person of the Holy Ghost to be linked on to your weakness. We may well glory in our infirmities when the power of Christ rests upon us (2Co_12:9).
III. The Nature of this Power.
It is spiritual-the power of the Holy Spirit. It consists of a fitness to adapt with unerring and convincing rectitude the "things of God" to the helpless and destitute spirits of men. It is not so much a gift of the Spirit as it is the working of the Holy Ghost Himself in and through the heart that has been wholly yielded to Him as an habitation of God. It is something entirely different from the powers that dominate in this present evil world. 1. It is not money power. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give." 2. It is not intellectual power. "They were unlearned and ignorant men" (Act_4:13). It is the foolish and the weak things that God hath chosen as channels of His wisdom and power, that no flesh may glory in His presence (1Co_1:27). 3. It is not social power. Those mighty men who stood in front of the battle in the early days were neither princes nor peers, but poor peasants clothed with the armour of God. This power is not of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.
IV. How this Power may be Received.
"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Act_1:8). Just as we receive life by receiving Christ, so shall we receive power by receiving the Holy Ghost. Salvation is in the personal Saviour; power is in the personal Spirit. Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him (Luk_11:13). Ask, and ye shall receive; ask of Him, and He will give you the living water (Joh_4:10) Some, like Simon, would like to buy this power, if not with money, at least with prayers and works (Act_8:18-20). It cannot be purchased, it is the gift of God. When the suffering disciples prayed that "with all boldness they might speak His Word" God answered their cry by filling them with the Holy Ghost (Act_4:29-31). The only way by which God can give us power for service is by filling us with His Holy Spirit. It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which is in you. "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" (Act_19:2).
V. How this Power is to be Used.
If we are not using this power we are abusing it. We must use the gift of the Holy Spirit as the servants were to use the pound delivered to them-in "occupying till He comes." We can only in a true sense occupy His place when we are entirely possessed by His Spirit. In doing His business we are to trade with His gift. He has not sent us on this great warfare on our own charges. We are to use this power as Peter and John used it when they healed the lame man in the Name of the risen Christ. We are to use it as Elisha used the mantle that was given him by his risen and glorified Master (2Ki_2:14-15). We are to use it as Gideon used the "sword of the Lord" (Jdg_7:20). We appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit when by faith we act, depending on Him to accomplish the work and will of God in us and by us. This is the victory, even out faith, "I will go in the strength of the Lord God, making mention of His righteousness, even of His only" (Psa_71:16).
Autor: James Smith