AFTER

AFTER THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

We will now consider some things that we need to note after we have been filled with the Holy Spirit. It is essential for the person who has been filled with the Holy Spirit, to realise the following facts.

1. Like the Lord Jesus we will find that temptation and spiritual conflict are inevitable after the baptism in the Spirit.

After the wonderful experience at Jordan the Holy Spirit "led" the Lord Jesus into spiritual conflict with Satan. Lk.4v1. The temptation of Christ took place after His baptism at Jordan; this was a baptism for service. Lk.3v21,22. 4v18,19. Christ did no public miracles until He was baptised with the Holy Spirit. We can expect a similar blast from the Wicked One after our baptism in the Spirit and God will allow this to happen, for temptation and trial are essential for spiritual growth and sympathetic Christian service. Heb.2v14-18. 4v14-5v2. 2Cor.1v3-7. It is only those who have overcome temptation that win a crown. 1Pet.1v6,7. James.1v12. It is essential to remember that it is not a sin to be tempted, Jesus was pure and He was tempted, but He was utterly victorious over Satan's temptations, and by His grace we can be too. Let us consider the three ways in which Satan tried to rob Christ of His experience of the baptism of the Spirit and His call, and how Christ overcame Satan, and we shall learn valuable lessons that will enable us to defeat Satan and keep a fullness of the power of the Spirit.  

2. Satan will try to rob us of the power of the Spirit by an attack on our faith.

Satan will try to fill us with doubt and unbelief. We need to counteract the diabolical "ifs" of Satan with the divine antidote of Scripture truth, communion with God and consecration. Mt.4v2,3,6. The Devil will do his utmost to rob us of the gifts and power that we have received at the baptism in the Spirit; he will try to destroy our faith in our experience of God and His spiritual gifts.

a. Satan will try to malign the character, love and provision of God.

When Satan challenged Christ to turn the stone into bread, he was also in effect saying, "You say that you acted in faith on the revealed will and Word of God, and look where it has got you, in a wilderness without any provision. What a good God you serve!" And Satan often implies that our circumstances prove that God does not care, but that is not true, we are always on our Father's heart. How much more reliable than the closest of earthly ties is the abundant affection, unceasing care and unfailing love of our Heavenly Father. Lk.11v13. One great woman of God heard the Devil say to her with an indescribable jeering voice, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." This was the very text that Christ had spoken to her when raising her from her deathbed. Let us resist Satan's leers and jeers, and let us trust in the great grace and goodness of our wonderful Heavenly Father. Let us now consider some of the means by which Satan will try to make us doubt our experience of the baptism in the Spirit and speaking with other tongues.

b. Satan will try to cast doubt upon our most holy and blessed experiences.

Satan will say that our most blessed God-given experiences are a figment of our imagination. Satan even had the audacity and affrontery to question and challenge the holy experiences of Christ, so he will certainly challenge our holy experiences. John had witnessed to the fact that Jesus was God's Lamb and God's Son, and had witnessed to Christ's holy life and experience, and that the Holy Spirit rested upon Him with unlimited power. The Fathers beautiful voice had said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This wonderful witness to Christ's divinity is confirmed by the Holy Scriptures. Mt.3v11-17. Jn.1v30-34. Heb.10v7. Yet Satan had the audacity to challenge these tremendous confirmations of the Sonship and absolute Deity of Christ, and the tremendous experience that Jesus had received. Satan will try to rob us of our lovely, God-given experiences; resist him and rejoice in your Scripture-based, God-given experiences. 1Pet.5v8,9.

c. Satan will try to cast doubt upon God's Word.

"Hath God said," still comes from the Serpent’s lips. Gen.3v1. Satan still challenges the reliability of the Word of God, and the reliability and reality of the promises that God has given, including the promise of the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Christ's experience was based upon the Holy Scriptures, and these same Scriptures confirm that the Pentecostal experience and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today and are the heritage of the children of God. Acts.2v38,39. etc. The Pentecostal experience is not only confirmed by Christian experience but also by the immutable Word of God. Let us rejoice and glory in that experience, we need never doubt our Heavenly Father's Word.

Stand on the Word and promises of God like Jesus did.

1. Satan will try to get us to depend upon our feelings instead of the Scriptures.

We must depend upon what the Bible teaches, not our feelings or circumstances. There can come periods of heaviness after the most tremendous spiritual experiences. 1Pet.1v6. Periods of spiritual conflict always follow times of spiritual blessing and victory. On these occasions we have to stand on God’s promises and answer, "It is written" to Satan's lies, just as the Lord Jesus did.

2. Satan will certainly try to say that our gift of tongues is not a real language, and that it is all imagination.

Satan will try to persuade us that our baptism in the Spirit is just a fake, even as he tried to persuade Christ that His experience at Jordan was just a figment of His imagination. One has only to listen to foreign radio stations to realise that perfectly good languages sound perfect rubbish to those who don't understand them. Many Christians have listened to Satan's suggestion that the language that the Holy Spirit has given to them was a product of their own imagination, instead of believing that God always gives the genuine article to His children as Christ stressed in Lk.11v9. and Mt.7v11. "If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit and good gifts unto His children."

Stand on God’s Word, resist Satan, and say, "it is written that it is impossible for a sincere child of God to get a stone, snake, or scorpion, only good gifts are given by our Heavenly Father." Do not judge the reality of your gift of tongues by how it sounds, W.F.P. Burton heard a lady speak in a tongue, and it sounded so peculiar that he thought that it could not be a language; but a Japanese man, who heard the same utterance, stated that it was perfect Japanese.

3. Satan hates, and will attack the repetitive words of praise to God in the gift of tongues.

Some Christians who have been baptised in the Spirit and spoken in tongues find that they are speaking certain words in their unknown tongue again and again. Satan craftily and deviously suggests that such repetition would not occur in a language given by the Holy Spirit. Actually, this repetition is a confirmation of the reality of their experience, for when the Holy Spirit gives a Christian their first words in an unknown tongue, He causes them to speak words of the deepest devotion and praise to God in the language He gives us, and there is of necessity a repetition of these words of love, affection and praise. Acts.2v11. 10v46. The language of praise is always repetitive.

In English, or for that matter any language, the vocabulary of praise that is used by most Christians is limited to a small number of words. In fact the simple Hebrew "Hallelujah," which means, "Praise the Lord," has taken its place in the language of probably every Christian group on earth. Some Christians just whisper the name of Jesus again and again in worship and reach the very highest levels of love and praise. This kind of repetition can take place when a Christian is speaking in tongues and it can carry the Christian to the very highest levels of love and praise. William Burton tells us in his book "Signs following" of one Christian lady who was using two words again and again in an unknown tongue, and the repetition was such that even her Pastor began to think that the tongue was not genuine. The Pastor had heard these words so often that he knew them by heart, and told them to Mr. Burton and asked his opinion. It was fortunate that Mr. Burton knew the language; it was a Congo language and the woman was using the words in exactly the same repetitive way that the natives did in the Congo when they gave their highest praise to their tribal chiefs. When Mr Burton saw her in the meeting, she was also doing the exact signs with her hands that they did in the Congo. Mr Burton understood how well these words expressed this woman's love and devotion for the Lord, and also how they could have puzzled her Pastor. So we can clearly see that the fact that a Christian speaks a few words in an unknown tongue does not mean that their tongue is not genuine. Christian, keep on speaking with tongues, don't let Satan rob you of your experience by his faith-attacking "if."

Worship expresses our love for God and faith in God; it is the basis of our fellowship with God. In Jn.4v21-24., Jesus said that God seeks true loving worshippers. This worship is commanded in the first and great commandment, it is the supreme Christian act; and the only Christian work that is worthwhile, is the work that springs out of a deep love and devotion towards God. Since worship is the most important aspect of the Christian life we can well understand why the Holy Spirit causes us to repeat again and again the words of deepest praise in the language that He gives to us. Let us now briefly consider the other two temptations of Christ and the lessons that they teach us. 

4. Satan's temptation to pride, presumption and fanaticism and the divine antidote. Mt.4v5-7.

Satan again attacked the faith of Christ, but as we have previously considered the attack on Christ's faith, we will consider the other vital truths that are revealed in this temptation. How great are the perils of pride, presumption, fanaticism and love of one's own way. When Satan quoted Ps.91v11,12., he omitted some very important words, as can be seen by comparison with Lk.4v10,11. And Mt.4v6. Satan omitted the words "in all thy ways," that is, the ways that God was going to direct Jesus in. How often Satan has deceived people by misquoting, misinterpreting, or leaving out part of God's Word; we always need to take care that we rightly interpret the Word of God. If we distort, neglect or omit vital Christian truths then we shall find that we shall end up devoid of the power of God, and in grave spiritual danger.

a. Jesus entirely resisted the temptation to use the power of God in a spectacular manner to exalt Himself.

Jesus refused to use God’s power to gain the admiration of the people. He completely resisted the appeal to his pride. There was no love of the pre-eminence or of position in His heart. Christ had a perfect humility. Mt.11v28-30.

b. The Lord Jesus completely resisted the temptation to presumptuous and self-willed action.

Jesus refused to distrust the guidance and provision of His Father as the Israelites at Massah had. Ex.17v1-7. Deut.6v16. Jesus waited for God’s direction; He would not go ahead without His Father’s guidance and embark upon presumptuous enterprises. Jn.5v19,30. 7v6,8. Presumption and self-will lead to fanaticism and "great transgression," we need to have our actions directed by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, or we can get into great spiritual danger and the work of Christ can be very greatly hindered.

c. Jesus entirely resisted the temptation to use God’s power in a way that would win the influential over to His side.

Satan tried to get Jesus to use His power to win the praise and support of the elders of Israel at the Temple, and so gain acceptance and position among the religious leaders of the land. Satan was saying to Christ, "Cast yourself down at the Temple before the elders of Israel. Seek the help of the patronage of the influential. To do the work that you want to do you need the people with money, power and authority behind you." And how many have compromised truth and experience by throwing themselves down at the Temple of worldly and religious prestige, and in trying to win the praise of men, or praise and position in their denomination have offended God and lost His power.

The thing that always goes along with seeking the praise of man is the compromise of the truth because of the fear of man. The Devil says, "Don't preach truth that will offend the religious leaders, compromise and do the best you can to get them on your side if you want to get on and do any good you must sacrifice the truth and be orthodox. You seek popularity with the people that count, use your power to win them, don't preach against their tradition and upset them, impress them and seek their aid." However, Christ was not going to sacrifice truth to keep in with those who were in authority, there was not going to be any compromise, the Lord Jesus was going to preach the full truth as revealed in the Scriptures. Christ was going to preach the truth regardless of the consequences, what He thought of the vast majority of religious leaders of His day is clearly seen in Mt.23. and John8. God has not chosen these religious leaders whose minds were indoctrinated with a lot of unscriptural traditions, God has chosen ordinary men who had a deep spiritual experience under the ministry of John to be the apostles of Christ. Christ humbled the religious leaders of His day by showing His preference for the prayerful, intensely spiritual, consecrated, and sincere ordinary people, rather than well trained, prayerless, hypocritical, tradition-bound priests, He can and does do the same today. It is spirituality and sincerity that count with God. Let us now briefly consider the last temptation.

5. The Satanic temptation to covetousness and worldliness and the divine antidote. Mt.4v8,9.

Satan will try to get us to exchange our spiritual blessings for worldly prosperity and earthly things.

a. Jesus refused Satan's offer of worldly power, prestige and gain in exchange for His spiritual power and His cross.

How many people sell their soul for worldly wealth and glory, and how careful the Christian must be in his choice of work and the standard of living that he enjoys. The anxious pursuit of large wages and many material goods will nearly always leave one with no time to seek and serve God, and this is a disaster. There are some Christians who God can safely prosper for they determine that what ever happens God will come first, but let us always remember that we cannot serve God and riches. Mt.6v24. The temptation to fill our lives with the world's pleasures and the world's standards will come to every Christian. Miss worldliness will try to allure us with her seemingly beautiful but unreal and transient bubbles, and if this fails, Satan will bring these worldly powers against us with bitter and vicious opposition. When we think that materialism, worldly standards and compromise have more to offer us than serving God, we are getting very close to bowing down to Satan. Let us follow the example of our Lord Jesus, He refused to sell His Heavenly anointing and call for the things of the world, and the fear of opposition from the kingdoms of the world did not deter Him from the mission that the Father had sent Him to do.

b. Jesus refused to use the glory of the world to supplement or replace the power of God.

How often the Church has succumbed to this temptation, the end result has always been the same, God’s power has been usurped completely and reliance upon human endeavour has led to total spiritual bankruptcy. The further we get away from God the more we rely upon the human and the glory of the world. The danger comes when we rely upon what we can do and not upon what God can do, and this is another reason why God chose ordinary people to be the apostles of Christ, they had no natural ability or training to rely upon, they had to depend upon God. The person with ability and natural training tends to rely upon that ability and training. It is very sad that many Churches have replaced the desire for God to do His mighty works with what the energies of the flesh can do for God. The final result of supplementing the power of God with the glory of the world, is to bring the world, flesh and Devil into the Church, and the presence and power of God disappears. Activities are brought into the Church to entertain the unconverted instead of bringing them into an experience of salvation; socials, whist drives, theatrical productions, various types of gambling and numerous other ungodly and doubtful activities, replace the prayer meeting, Bible study, fellowship meeting and evangelistic activities. The glory of God leaves such a Church and all that is left is an empty husk that disillusions those who come into such a Church broken-hearted and weary and looking for the peace and blessing of God. Any Church that compromises with the world and Devil finds itself powerless and barren, and quite unable to meet the needs of this suffering world.

Jesus knew that only the power of God could meet the needs of the world and that human endeavour and worldly glory would always fail. Christ also knew that He did not need the rich or influential behind Him to do the work that God wanted Him to do, He knew that His Father would meet His material needs and find spiritual and godly people to help Him. It is only our communion with God, and the power of the Holy Spirit, that will bring men to God, this demands a cross, there is no other way.

c. Jesus refused to build an earthly empire around His ministry; His kingdom was not of this world.

Someone has said, "How often has ambition conquered those who have conquered nearly all else." There can be the ambition to build an empire around our personality and name. If the extension of our Church organisation, or denomination is the only motive for our desire for the gifts, then we desire gifts for the very worst of motives. We are not here to build our organisations or denomination's prestige, or our bank balance, by exalting Christ and His spiritual gifts, we are here to exalt Christ and to glorify God. Our emphasis should be " Our Christ," not ourselves, our organisation, or our Church. We do not need to build up an organisation or get massive financial support before we can do something for God. The Lord Jesus started out without any human help or backing and His Father undertook for Him. The lesson that we can learn from the attitude of the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul in respect to finances, is that it is desirable to keep ones organisation as simple and financially undemanding as possible so that we shall not be a burden upon the people of God, and so that we can be sent by God anywhere that He wishes, even to one Samaritan woman by a well.

The only person worthy of worship and service is God, if service for Him means that men will hate or kill us, He is well worth the sacrifice. To sell our God for worldly gain or glory, or personal benefit is unthinkable, and is a great sin. To build a personality cult around our ministry is evil, God is the only one to be worshipped. The only aim of our ministry should be to bring glory and worship to God. Any self-glory or self-seeking should be nailed to the cross and ruthlessly dealt with, there is no place for this in God's work. Mt.20v20-28.

N.B. 1. A Pentecostal revival is always "a sign that is spoken against;" be prepared for opposition, and if it comes be meek and humble, do not revile your opponents. Lk.2v34. Acts.28v22. 2Tim.2v24-26. 1Cor.4v12. 1Pet.2v23. The baptism in the Spirit is certain to lead us into conflict, and we must be prepared for it. We need to put on all the armour of God to conquer Satan; we must feed continually on the Holy Scriptures and be much in prayer.

N.B. 2. The person who is filled with the Spirit must obey the Holy Spirit. He is not a dictator, He is the Comforter and Teacher and we must follow His leadings or we can end up like Saul. The Holy Spirit comes to be Lord, and we must be subordinate to His leadings. The baptism of the Spirit must find its outlet in Christian service; the Holy Spirit wants to give us all something to do to extend the kingdom of God. We all have various ministries to perform for the Lord, and these will differ quite considerably, but we can all witness to our salvation in Jesus.

N.B. 3. Great manifestations of the gifts of revelation and power and demonstrations are given to mature Christians not Pentecostal babes, and these mighty manifestations do not occur regularly in a mature Christian's life unless they are entrusted with a particular ministry on these lines or unless one is in great need. 1Tim.3v6,7. 1Cor.14v28-31. Lk.6v40. The Lord said to William Branham, "You can't teach Pentecostal babes supernatural things, it will only result in carnal impersonations." Mighty manifestations of the Holy Spirit are given to those who are equipped to stand the perils of power and the tremendous battles with the powers of darkness. Eph.6v10-20. How few there have been able to stand the fiery baptism of opposition that Christ had to stand. Mt.20v22,23. God will not give unlimited spiritual dynamite to spiritual babes; He will give them a measure of power and a manifestation of the gifts, which is very blessed and edifying. The mighty workings of the Spirit are given to those who by reason of their maturity are better able to stand the perils of power. Babes have milk, mature Christians strong meat, and a mightier exercise of "the powers of the age to come." 1Pet.2v2. Heb.6v5.

Conclusion. The baptism of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit are the heritage of every child of God, no matter how great our experience may be there is infinitely more of the grace and love of God to experience than we have previously experienced. Go forward in God and claim your Christian heritage and resist all the efforts that Satan will certainly make to rob you of your Pentecostal experience. Always remember that the Lord Jesus, your sympathetic, loving, gracious and mighty High Priest, is with you to succour you in the hour of temptation. He waits to give grace and mercy to all those who need it, so come to Him and He will meet your every need and give you strength to conquer in the fight. Trust in Him and "He will not suffer their foot to be moved: for He that keepeth thee will not slumber. The Lord is thy keeper:---The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy goings out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for ever more." Ps.121v3,5,7,8. Heb.2v16-18 4v14-16.

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