Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come on you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem… Let us look upon the subject — I. ON ITS NEGATIVE SIDE. It is not — 1. Physical power. Current literature speaks of "muscular Christianity"; but that is not the Christianity of the New Testament. Subsequently, men thought they could assist the gospel by bringing it into alliance with political organisations. But no. Persecutions never made saints yet. The axe can never infuse new life into the tree. But the spring can. 2. Miraculous power. They were already endued with this. But this cannot save men. Men saw Jesus performing miracles, and still remained in their unbelief. 3. The power of eloquence. I have seen, under powerful sermons, stout-hearted sinners weep and pray, but when the electric current which flowed from the preacher subsided, they fell back to their former torpor. Many so-called revivals are but electric shocks disturbing the dead, but leaving them dead notwithstanding. Eloquence, like the wind, moves the sea from without, but that which saves must move it from its own depths. Eloquence works upon the soul; that which saves must work in the soul. One can compose a sermon in which the most critical hearer cannot detect a flaw: but he will-forget it in half an hour. It is so refined that it shoots right through the soul instead of entering into it and remaining there. Polish is commendable up to the point of showing instead of concealing the material underneath. I never like to see an article of furniture so highly polished that I cannot say of what timber it is made. 4. The power of logic. Conquer a man in argument, and, as a rule, you only confirm him in his error. I saw a picture entitled, "Conquered but not Subdued." The young lad was evidently conquered by his mother. There he stood, with his face half-turned towards the wall: but there was determination in the mouth, defiance in the eye, anger in the nostrils. Drive a sinner in argument to a corner, so that he cannot move, yet he can sink, and sink he will to his own hell. Sheet-lightnings dazzle, but never kill. And arguments after all are only sheet-lightnings. 5. The power of thought. The Bible does not claim superiority on account of its ideas, although it contains the sublimest. You may be the best Biblical scholar in the land, and be at last a castaway. The history of preaching abundantly proves this. Read the sermon by Peter on the day of Pentecost, and it will not astonish you with the profundity of its thoughts. The sermons on the Mount and on Mars' hill stand higher on the intellectual side; and yet they made but few converts. Look again from the pulpit to books. Take the" Analogy" by Butler; no book perhaps displays more intellectual power; yet who can point to it as the means of bringing him to Jesus? But read the "Dairyman's Daughter," or the "Anxious Inquirer," without a millionth part of its mental power; but there are thousands who trace their conversion to these books. I do not wish to cast discredit on any of these excellences. They are very valuable in their own places. If a man is possessed of them he can do nothing better than consecrate them on the altar of Christianity. But if man is to be saved, a new power must come to the field. II. ON ITS POSITIVE SIDE. In the Gospel it is called "power from on high." 1. The great want of the world was a power to uplift it out of its state of degradation and sin. Previous to Pentecost the world was sinking lower and lower in the scale of morals. But since humanity has been gradually ascending. Physically we know that this earth is subject to the attraction of other planets. The same fact holds true spiritually. There is a power working mightily in the children of disobedience, and the source of it is in darker regions than our own. But another power has come to the field, a power from on high; the contest must be long and terrible; but the higher power is gradually winning, and will deliver the world from the grasp of evil. Here it is called "the power of the Holy Ghost." We often picture God as looking down pitifully upon us from His heaven. But we are also taught that the great God has descended upon men, and thrown into their hearts the infinite impulse of His own eternal nature. The disciples, as we see them in the Gospel, are cowards; in the Acts they are heroes. The Christian life is Divine. Christianity is not a remembrance of the supernatural in the past, but its perpetuation throughout all ages. Every true ministry is heavy with supernatural influences. We do not perform miracles, but if our ministry is not a continuation of the supernatural in the realm of matter, it is a continuation of it in the realm of mind; and of the two, the latter is the higher kind. Luke tells us that in his Gospel he narrated what Jesus began both to do and to teach; here he goes on to tell what Jesus continued to do and to teach through men; and Church history continues the tale. "The works that I do ye also shall do," etc. 2. What was the effect of this Divine baptism on the disciples? (1) It made them pre-eminently spiritual. Spirituality should be the distinctive badge of every Christian, and especially of the ambassadors of Christ. "A bishop must be blameless." All well and good if he is learned and eloquent, but he must be blameless. (2) It filled them with Divine enthusiasm, with "fire." The Bible speaks much about this fire. Jeremiah had a message, but having been insulted and incarcerated, he made up his mind not to open his mouth again. "I said I will not make mention of Him, or speak any more in His name." Well, how did he fare? "His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forebearing, and could not stay." It was hard to speak — it was harder to be silent. It is difficult enough to stand up here and preach; it would be more difficult to sit down there and be mute. The apostles evinced such fervour that many supposed they were under the power of strong drink. No, says Peter, it is the Holy Ghost working in us. "The love of Christ constraineth us," says St. Paul. Some dared to brand him as a fanatic. "Whether we be beside ourselves," said he, "it is to God, or whether we be sober it is for your cause." The secret of Baxter's power was his unbounded enthusiasm. His biographer says he would have set the world on fire while another was lighting a match. It is the fire of the Holy Ghost that will make men eloquent. A preacher in his study ought to gather his thoughts, to collect his materials; and ascending the pulpit, he ought to set them all ablaze with fire from off the altar. Having built the altar, dinged the trenches, slain the sacrifice, he should join Elijah and cry, "O God, send the fire, send the fire!" 3. What is the effect upon the congregation? Many are turned to God. On the consecration of the Temple of Solomon, the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; much less could the people stand to criticise the work of art, or to admire the amount and richness of the gold. In the same manner the power from on high hides everything but itself. Many a critic went to hear Whitefield with hostile intentions; but in less than five minutes they had totally forgotten their sinister art. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. |
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