6

The Day of Pentecost proved to be a most dramatic and dynamic day for all of the Christians who were privileged to participate in those glorious and transforming events. “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”(Acts 2: 4)

“The Promise of the Father”(Acts 1: 4). - which had been repeated, as well as explained in fuller detail by the Lord Jesus Christ - had become a life changing reality for all of the disciples who were present.

Following Pentecost, emphatic boldness and an irrepressible boldness marked the lives and the witness of those believers. The most compelling evidence of a dynamic power and a spiritual fire marked their witness to the Lord Jesus which were both totally new to them and their ministry.

There was a thrilling awareness a genuine effectiveness and great fruitfulness, which inevitably inspired a deep, sense of awe and wonder at all that the Holy Spirit was accomplishing in them and through them.

The personal experience of Pentecost was so glorious - to them. It can and should be a personal experience, which is equally glorious to every Christian today.

There are some today who may want to claim that Pentecost and the related manifestations of power and fruitfulness was a once only event, limited to the first Pentecost. Neither the clear teaching of the Scriptures, nor the experience of great numbers of Christians support such a claim.

The witness of the Book of Acts is unmistakably clear. The experience of Pentecost is for all who will receive it in faith, resulting in the dynamic in-filling with the Holy Spirit in each humble, surrendered, and receptive believer. This experience is the will of God for everyone who will make themselves fully available to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Peter and John had shared with the other disciples in that dynamic experience of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit used the preaching of Peter that day with such effectiveness that about three thousand were brought to faith in the Lord Jesus.

Soon after that time, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3: 1 - 10). It was as they were intent on being able to be in prayer at that time that the Holy Spirit was able to redirect their focus. Under His leadership their attention was drawn to the need of the crippled man who sat begging at the Beautiful gate of the temple.

It is significant to notice the place of prayer in the lives of those who were filled with the Holy Spirit, who were wholly sanctified. The importance of prayer in their lives matched the pattern, which was set by the Lord Jesus before them. The Gospels give repeated witness to the central role which prayer played in His life.

Also, the way in which they were careful to maintain a constant attentiveness to the prompting of the Holy Spirit reminds us of the attitude of their Lord. They were not “fanatics,” but Christians who were inspired to constantly maintain the closest possible fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

In these things we see demonstrated vital factors which will always play a central role in the lives of all wholly sanctified believers. Which inevitably means, whenever we see these things lacking from our own lives, we need to reexamine our relationship to the Holy Spirit who seeks to indwell us.

Peter told the crippled man, “Such as I have give I thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and anklebones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.”

Peter, a man filled with the Holy Spirit, was the effective instrument of the Holy Spirit in everything that he said, and in everything that he did. The crippled man was transformed as the result of the Holy Spirit being able to work in dynamic power through Peter and John.

The Lord Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you”(Acts 1: 8). The presence of the Holy Spirit will be evident in the Holy Spirit working in dynamic power in and through the one whom He fills.

Thus, the crippled beggar was totally changed by the Holy Spirit working in power through those whom He had placed in the right place at the right time to accomplish His objective.

This is still the way in which the Holy Spirit works to accomplish His mission today, He uses those whom He can fill to lead them into the right place at the right time to do all He seeks to do. Could it be that this explains the reason we see very little of His activity in our day, there are too few whom He can use?

There were thousands of people in and near the temple at the time that the man burst in: “walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking, and praising God!”

Their reaction was instantaneous. “They were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him . . . All the people ran together unto them in the porch . . . greatly wondering.”

These totally unprecedented developments caused quite a stir, so it is not at all surprising that the curiosity of the people so quickly rose to fever pitch. Those people had not experienced anything quite like that before. How could that man who had been a crippled beggar all his life be so instantly and so completely changed?

It is not difficult to imagine that vast crowd as the stunned people gathered around the man who had been healed along with Peter and John. Watching that crowd we would see their startled and wondering expressions as they looked first at the man, then at Peter and John. The expressions on their faces were so obviously asking: “How?”

Peter immediately clarified one issue. “Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?”

Peter and John immediately emphasized that there was no credit due to them, they certainly did not, could not, make the man walk. They made it abundantly clear that all of the credit and praise must go to the Lord.

One of the surest ways to grieve and quench the Holy Spirit is for any Christian to claim for himself the credit which only and always belongs to the Lord.

Peter deliberately and decisively turned the attention of the people to: The Lord Jesus Christ. “God . . . hath glorified His Son Jesus!” That was the key then. That is the key: always!

Following that bold announcement, the Holy Spirit proceeded to use Peter so very effectively to share with that vast crowd all of the vital details of the message of “Jesus and Him Crucified” (see verses 13 through 19).

Having effectively proclaimed the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, he then challenged the people to respond: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

The Holy Spirit continued to work in glorious, transforming power. He used the faithful witness of Peter to Jesus as Savior as He convicted of their sin vast numbers of those who had listened to this message, even as it was the Holy Spirit who brought them to genuine repentance and sincere confession.

“Many of them which heard the Word believed: and the number of the men was about five thousand” (4: 4).

That day began with one man being gloriously transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and as that day progressed, many thousands more also experienced the glorious transforming power of the Holy Spirit as He applied the gospel in their lives.

Whenever the Holy Spirit purifies and fills the Christian, He makes that person a powerful and fiery witness to the Lord Jesus and Him crucified; and as He does so He continues to use such to bring many more into a vital experience of Jesus as Savior and Lord.

That is always the New Testament pattern, always! It is that very pattern which we should be praying for, striving for, expecting, and experiencing today. It will be the pattern when the Holy Spirit is able to fill us, and to have His way, with us, in us, and through us.

There was great rejoicing that day. But, there was also a most severe reaction against all that was done.

“The priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Saducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”(Acts 4: 1, 2).

Incensed by the developments which they were witnessing, the Jewish leaders immediately “laid hands on them”(verse 3), and threw them in prison. For what crime? Teaching the people and preaching Jesus: crucified and risen!

The next day the Apostles were brought before the Jewish Council who demanded an explanation for what they had done. It is significant to notice the statement made about these men as they stood there to give answer: “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them!”(verse 8).

“Filled with the Holy Ghost!” Is it any wonder that Peter and John stood there: bold, confident, and so completely faithful to the Lord? They demonstrated a s[initial dynamic, a vital courage, and a resilient strength, which marked them out in a most profound way.

They were: “Filled with the Holy Ghost!” It is the explicit will and promise of God that this is to be the continuing experience of every Christian who will humbly seek and experience their own personal Pentecost!

Although this Jewish Council met with the determined commitment of silencing the Apostles, the witness of the Apostles had a most notable impact on the very men who would silence them.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men (in other words, just ordinary common folk who had not been educated in the rabbinical schools!) they . . . took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Verse 13).

This was probably the highest compliment that they could pay to Peter and John, even though they did not intend their observation to be taken as a compliment, but rather a scornful put-down. These very men had despised the Lord Jesus, even as they despised Peter and John.

Peter responded with words which rang out in strong conviction: “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Verse 20).

The members of that Jewish Council were forced to acknowledge that, “They could say nothing against it” (verse 14), because, “that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them (which was) manifest to all”(Verse 16).

But they felt compelled to do something, as they were obsessed by the belief that they must silence this powerful witness to the Lord Jesus and the resurrection.

So, “That it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the Name of Jesus”(Verses 17, 18).

“So when they had further threatened them, they let them go”(verse 21). Those strong determined threats made by the Jewish Council would have immediately and totally silenced most Jews in that time, for they well knew that the Council could, and would, move to make their threats good.

And, probably, those same threats would have been more than enough to silence most Christians today. But - would they prove to be enough to silence those Spirit-filled men - then, or now?

The Spontaneous Application - who, in the power and enabling of the indwelling Holy Spirit were so decisively loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ.

“And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.”

They gave a full and accurate report of these ominous developments to the entire Church. This report, including as it did a clear statement of the serious threat which had been made against them, must have come a quite a shock to the believers, as this was the first time that they found themselves confronted by the threat of determined persecution.

They knew that the members of the council meant exactly what they said, and that they intended to carry out those threats. They knew that these were the same men who had so carefully, with dogged determination, schemed to bring about the crucifixion of their Lord.

Could that happen to them? Would that happen to them? Would the fact that the threats were made result in them being intimidated into giving in to the demands of the council?

They heard the report, and knew what it meant. They responded by taking a completely united stand in the face of those threats. This unity of heart and spirit was, and is, always so very vital, especially in the face of impending opposition and persecution.

They responded in the same way in that their Lord had always responded: by recognizing that they were in the service of their God, and He would never fail them. This was His problem more than it was their problem!

They then gave themselves to united, confident, believing prayer, knowing that God would hear and answer their prayer of faith. He had the answer, and He would give His answer to them.

We will face the threat of antagonistic opposition in a variety of ways. Whenever that happens we always have available to us this one answer: take it to the Lord in prayer, for that is the only answer we will ever need. Turn the matter over to the Lord in united believing prayer, knowing that He will always respond - gloriously.

It is important to notice that their immediate response was to pray, yet it is even more important to take into account the way in which they prayed: the content and emphasis of their prayer. There are four things we will briefly note.

First: They glorified God. They began their prayer by accentuating the glorious reality: “Lord, Thou art God!”

These men threaten us, and their council is obviously determined to stop our witness, but they are only mere men. “Lord, Thou art God!”

Lord, You are the infinitely great and all-powerful Creator - it was You who spoke the Word, and by the authority of Your Word the heavens and the earth were made. By contrast, these others are but men, finite creatures, who are so totally insignificant in comparison to You!

When we hold that focus in our cry to God for help, it provides for us a glorious and victorious perspective in every trying and difficult situation. “Lord, You are God!” - in comparison, everything else fades into utter insignificance!

Second: They claim His Word in their prayer to Him. “Who . . . hast said!” “Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen (the nations) rage, and the people imagine vain things?”

This strategy of quoting in prayer Psalm 2: 1 was so very applicable and so relevant to their prayer in that situation. They were praying, God, You have already spoken Your Word to this very situation! Now, by faith, we claim Your Word!

What an incredible privilege, which the Lord has freely given to all His people - even to us! He does give to us the right to take His Word to Him in prayer, and on the basis of His Word plead for His intervention in power. To do this in prayer is to honor Him in the most crucial way.

He has given His Word to His people so that they can always stand on His promises with complete confidence - especially in the place of prayer.

Third: They honored the Lord Jesus as the One in Whom God's promises were so gloriously fulfilled (verses 26 - 28). “Of a truth against Thy holy Child Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined.”

They expressed in their prayer the vital recognition that: central to all that God had planned was the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who had willingly submitted to be subjected to the deliberate and defiant rejection and abuse of those who worked together to bring about His crucifixion.

While men of all kinds did their very worst, God maintained full and complete sovereign control as His Son offered Himself as the atoning sacrifice to make propitiation for the world.

As we pray, we must always remember that, although the world, the flesh, and the devil do their worst, even in their attacks on us, God will always glorify His Son - in us!

Fourth: their prayer expressed the strong confidence that the Lord's will was done, and would be done: “For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done.”

All the threats of the Jewish priests, the Pharisees, and the Council combined could never change that fact.

That truth is a rock upon which every faithful child of God can always stand with confidence, even in the face of the most determined and malicious opposition. The one who is humbly and totally committed to quietly abide in the will of God knows: His will controls everything that may happen.

Everything which is permitted to touch the child of God is always controlled and conditioned by the Father's sovereign hand so that, as Paul wrote: “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Philippians 1: 20).

They were confidently asking the Lord to continue to give close attention to everything that those who were opposing them were doing and were threatening to do. They knew that He would hear them in this prayer.

God does hear every word spoken in malice or threat against any of His children. He does take notice of every measure that is taken against them in the attempt to hinder their faithfulness to His will. He knows everything that even the very least of His little ones has to endure. Nothing - absolutely nothing - of this nature escapes His attention.

Why were they asking for His attention to their difficulties and problems? Certainly not as the basis for any excuse to back off in their service by using those threats as a reason to lessen their commitment to continue to give themselves to His commandment. Nothing of that nature.

Rather, they were using this moment as a most valid reason to seek and to receive a renewed anointing of the Holy Spirit in power!

So often Christians do use difficulties, opposition, and discouragement as their justification for backing out of the heat of the battle. By contrast, the truly Spirit-filled Christian always uses such developments as the motivation to look up and cry for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit in power!

“And grant unto Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word, by stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the Name of Thy holy Child Jesus.”

In total contrast to so many who are seeking justification to ease away from the threat, these Spirit-filled believers urgently sought renewed boldness to enable them to continue to proclaim the Gospel in the very face of these malicious threats! Notice: “ALL BOLDNESS!”

But, they had been ordered to stop preaching in the Name of the Lord Jesus. They cried out to God for His intervention so that they would not flinch, but faithfully exalt the Lord Jesus. “We ought to obey God rather than men!”

How desperately we need, today, that same attitude of total, unflinching commitment to the call of the Lord to us to be faithful in the face of any and all opposition. It is that humble yet powerful plea in prayer, which our God delights to hear and answer.

They had prayed according to the promise. Prayer, in faith and commitment. Had not their Lord Jesus promised: “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him” (Luke 11: 13).

On the day of Pentecost, after they had prayed for ten days, they were all “filled with the Spirit,” and Peter preached the Gospel of Jesus and Him crucified with great boldness and effectiveness. This boldness and effectiveness came as the result of their prayer for “The promise of the Father”, as the Holy Spirit filled them all.

The Father is committed to give to those who ask Him. His promise is still in effect today. His desire to give the Holy Spirit is still as strong as it was on the day of Pentecost.

“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”

On the Day of Pentecost, the Scriptures state that: “Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”

There is no indication of these manifestations being repeated at this time, rather: “the place was shaken!” What does this distinction mean?

It is a reminder of a vital spiritual principle, which many Christians choose to ignore. Those outer manifestations do have real spiritual significance and importance, yet they are not essential to the vital central event.

Too many today want to make these manifestations central and essential, with the inevitable result that such approaches diminish the crucial importance of the one aspect which was and is of central and essential importance.

We must ever remember that there is no promise, nor is there any guarantee, that any of the secondary manifestations will ever be repeated.

Our focus must always be kept on the one vital, and essential fact. At both Pentecost, and at this time, the one vital aspect was: “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost!:”

It also needs to be pointed out that many of those who personally shared in the glorious experience of Pentecost were “filled with the Holy Ghost” on this second occasion, including both Peter and John, for they were present and a part of the “all” who were filled.

When the Apostle Paul wrote, “Be filled with the (Holy) Spirit,” (Ephesians 5: 18), his emphasis was on that which was to be a continuing experience, not a one time only experience: Be continually filled; or, be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Thus, it is not enough to be able to say, I was filled with the Holy Spirit once. There was a wise man who once suggested: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels”(2 Corinthians 4: 7), and we are all in danger of losing all we have received from the Lord if we are not constantly vigilant and submissive to the Holy Spirit.

In John 7: 37 the Lord Jesus said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink . . . Out of his (inmost being) shall flow rivers of living water. But this He spake of the Spirit.”

The impact of this statement is: Let him continue to come, so as to continue to drink, with the result that the rivers of living water will continue to flow.

We see in Acts 4 that the Church continued to come and drink, and continued to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Whenever and wherever the Holy Spirit fills, it is there and then that the Holy Spirit works in power. This reality is unmistakably evident as this point:

“They spake the Word of God with boldness!” We are also informed: “With great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus!”

This is exactly as the Lord Jesus Himself promised: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1: 8).

How the Church today needs those with this vital experience, those Spirit-filled believers whose testimony before the world will be mark by that same dynamic “boldness”. Far too many are so timid, so weak, so ineffective - which traits reveal that they need to experience Pentecost anew - or, could it be, for the first time? They need to be “Filled with the Holy Spirit.”

What a startling difference we would see if it could be said of more Christians today, “With great power (they) gave witness to Jesus!” It is only as we humbly and sincerely seek this continual infilling of the Holy Spirit that we will experience this level of great effectiveness. How greatly it is needed.

It is also stated that, “Great grace was upon them all!” The infinite, all- sufficient grace of God was so wonderfully released to them, in them, and through them.

Grace: to be all that God willed for them to be. To do everything in them and through them that He willed to accomplish. His great grace gave to God the freedom to have His way so that in everything they said and did the Lord Jesus was exalted and glorified.

Again, we must never forget this fact, the Lord Jesus did nothing for the early Church which He is not also willing to do for, in, and through His people today. Every provision, every blessing, every aspect of the Holy Spirit's presence and ministry which we see in the Book of The Acts He seeks to make available to us today - if we are really available to Him, fully surrendered and yield to Him and His will, so as to be able to receive all He gives.

Great grace - upon us all. It that the reality which we know personally today? Or, are we content with something far less than that?

“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost!” They “were all of one heart!” Whenever the Holy Spirit comes in, in all His fullness, the fruit of the Spirit will immediately become clearly evident. “The fruit of the Spirit is love!”

The Lord Jesus clearly set the standard for all who claim to be His disciples, especially for all those who profess to be filled with the Holy Spirit - as He himself was filled with the Holy Spirit. He said: “That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another”(John 13: 34, 35).

To claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and yet fail to love others as the Lord Jesus loves them is undeniable evidence that our claims concerning the Holy Spirit are completely false.

Whenever the Holy Spirit fills, He fills with love: the “love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost”(Romans 5: 5).

“Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common.”

This very practical expression of love, which was demonstrated in the lives, and attitudes of those who were filled with the Holy Spirit is identical to the report of this same attitude which followed Pentecost.

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

Love: which was so practical. This is the only way to demonstrate the genuineness of love. The Lord Himself insists on that fact.

“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3: 16). Nothing could be more practical than that! The death of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary proclaims with resonating emphasis: This is the measure of how much God loves you.

The Scriptures continue: “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up (his compassion) from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3: 16 - 18).

When the Holy Spirit fills us, He fills us to flood level, and beyond, with the love of God! The love of God is always and only expressed in a very personal, practical way. Always!

Peter and John reported to the Church the outbreak of opposition and persecution. The direct result of this was: the Church triumphing through prayer, to be renewed and revived in spirit as the Holy Spirit filled them afresh.

How we need to respond to the needs and the challenges which we face today in the same way in which the Church in Acts responded. It is only thus that we will experience the desperately needed reality of being “Filled with the Holy Spirit” - and the glorious results which always follow that experience.