THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS

1 CORINTHIANS 4:7

By Pastor Maurice R. Gordon, Lovingway United Pentecostal Church

A little girl kneels at an altar with hands upraised. Big, fat tears roll down her checks. She wants Jesus in her heart. An alcoholic, with lines etched across his face, slumps dejectedly on my living room floor, his wife and family gone. He hopes Jesus can help him. A strong young man, raised by a God-fearing mother, kneels at a straight-backed chair in a creaky old farmhouse. He also wants to be filled with the Spirit of Christ

What do all these have in common? Their desire to really know Jesus resulted in their being filled with the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues like those in the upper room did on the Day of Pentecost (See Acts 2:1-4). The little girl’s tears changed to smiles, the alcoholic’s face radiated his new-found joy, and the young man, now on his feet, shouts out praises to his God.

If it happened for them, could the infilling of the Holy Spirit also be for you?

Introduction

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). I know that all who believe in the authenticity, the inerrancy, and the eternality of the Bible will concur with me on this statement. I pray that what is presented in this study will also be carefully considered and received. And, perhaps, after you have read it, you’ll understand more about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is my purpose in writing it.

My scriptural title should alert the discriminating Bible Scholar as to the content of this study. The treasure in the parable refers to God’s gift of Himself. Conversely, the earthen vessel refers to your heart and mine. We are born with an antagonistic, carnal nature. I pray God’s grace and wisdom will abide with us until we hear Him say, “well done.” Of course, this cannot happen unless we have done well. This study will the reader to a fuller understanding of the experience of seeking and receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit.

A Holy Spirit History Lesson:

From the Latter Day Rain to the Charismatic Renewal

The awesome experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is alluded to in John 7:38-39: “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive…” The turbulent history of those sometimes called “Holy Rollers,” began almost 2000 years ago. Spiritual awakenings, [both local and national] have ebbed and flowed, but never ceased.

For the record, I am biased, and so is my wife. We are both 3rd generation, one-God Apostolics, baptized in Jesus’ name, holiness-living, tongue talkers. She received her Holy Spirit baptism at age seven, and I was glorious filled at age 19. So, if called to testify at a court hearing on the subject, we would obviously be qualified expert witnesses.

Proto-Christianity has persevered despite secular and religious persecution. Accurate records of Holy Ghost outpourings down through the years are few and far between. Careful reading of literature sometimes reveals experiences that can be identified as tongue-talking. Often the author will be poking fun at the experience. But there are other instances where the stories sincerely describes people seeking and finding a transcendent experience with God.

The Latter Day Rain

In 1900, God gave the Holy Ghost to Agnes Ozman at a Bible School in Topeka, Kansas. After that recorded instance, it spread like wildfire, both in the south and western U.S. The historic outpouring in an old warehouse on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California, attracting people from around the world, is also well documented. Hungry seekers of every race and creed came to Brother Seymour’s prayer meetings. There were many who received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues. Prophesies, miracles and signs, right out of the book of Acts, were commonplace. The revival made it to front-page status in newspapers of the day.

Many famous preachers, such as John Wesley and D.C. Moody, also allegedly experienced the Holy Ghost baptism. Of those living today, it is reported that Billy Graham, and members of President Bush’s family are also Spirit-filled, as on the day of Pentecost. An old time Pentecostal preacher, circa 1920, wrote one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. When William Booth Clibburn, grandson of William Booth (who was founder of the Salvation Army,) penned Down From His Glory, he had to have been truly inspired by the spirit of God.

Main-line denominations lost prominent leaders—and hordes of their members—to what was generally referred to as the “latter-rain outpouring.” Churches and missions sprang up in the United States and around the world, and the people spoke in tongues when they “got saved.” However, the latter rain flood brought more than its share of aberrant fanatical “flotsam and jetsam.”

I remember when the big tent revivals went from coast-to-coast. Radio and television played a big part in bringing millions of sincere folks—who were sick and tired of the “habitual ritual”—to these revivals. Personalities like Oral Roberts, A. A. Allen, Kathryn Kuhlman and Jack Coe made fortunes and became world famous. What happened to those people?

The Holy Ghost is much more than just tongues. It is also “the Spirit of Truth.” John recorded what Jesus said about it: “Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:13). Unfortunately, the majority who received the Holy Ghost in that era were not taught that the before-mentioned treasure, can not, must not, and will not peacefully co-exist with the earthen vessel’s man-made creeds, doctrines, and traditions. This caused the latter rain movement to dry up.

The demise of the latter rain movement has many Bible precedents:

· In the Garden of Eden, A dreamy paradise turns into a nightmare when the “vessels” reject the “treasure,” after they were deceived by Satan.

· The Israelites, after a miraculous deliverance from Egypt, were destroyed—every man over 20 years old—except Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua. The Israelites couldn’t get Egypt out of their hearts.

· Free at last in Canaan, the next generation of Israelite vessels again rejected the treasure. And, except for a few, they are still dispersed.

At one time, the New Testament church had two Gospels: one to the Jews, (who after being freed from the bondage of the law, still wanted to hold onto it) and one for the Gentiles. Thankfully, Paul went to great lengths in his writings to help both his Jewish and Gentile brothers to understand the liberty we have in Christ.

The Charismatic Renewal

In the 1960’s another great Holy Ghost outpouring began. It was global and I watched its birth with excitement. A few decades later, I also watched its slow death.

The “charismatic renewal,” interestingly enough, started with some Catholic priests at Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their genuine thirst for more of God brought the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost fire spread to Notre Dame University, and then to Catholic centers all over the nation. About 1971, the Vatican even appointed a Vicar to the Charismatic Renewal.

During this renewal, mainline Protestant denominations started having charismatic worship, but they did it in places other than in their sanctuaries. It was at that same time that Guidepost Magazine sent one of its senior editors, John Sherrill, to find out what speaking in tongues was all about. He came. He saw. He was conquered, receiving the Holy Ghost himself. His fascinating book, They Speak With Other Tongues, is a classic. Pat Boone, expelled from the Church of Christ—because he too received the Spirit baptism—wrote about his experience in his wonderful book, A New Song. The “Jesus Movement,” identified by hippies being filled with the Spirit, was contemporary also with the charismatic renewal.

What on earth happened, for heaven’s sake? The answer is the same exercise in futility: the vessel ran the treasure off! The charismatic experience is genuine, a divine endowment of God himself. But it was never intended to renew and energize man-made and man-controlled lifeless church organizations! It’s intended to renew and energize believers themselves. Even John the Baptist, was spiritually enlightened enough to know that: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

“The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord,” says one old hymn. That is a scriptural truth. Jesus Christ is, according to John 1: 1-3, the living word. And the word was God, and is God, and ever shall be God. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).

A Compelling Caveat

To all who are sincerely searching for this glorious treasure, the Holy Ghost baptism, it is simple, yet profound. Accept no substitutes.

Consider what Paul said in II Corinthians 11:3-4, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh, preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received…” and in verses 14-15: “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed, as the ministers of righteousness…” Further, “…good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple...” (Romans 16:18).

There is only one safeguard to insure that we are not misled. We must put our trust and confidence, and even our very life, in the supremacy of God’s word. It is the only way to find the fullness of Jesus!

I would love to compile a veritable Thesaurus of scriptural notations on the awesome subject of the Holy Spirit baptism, but, to save space, I have selected certain topics to encourage sincere seekers to discover the: “…treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field” (Matthew 13:44).

Your investment will not compare to diamonds, which though costly and rare, are perishable. These gems are made of the hardest material in nature, but when subjected to intense heat, in the presence of oxygen, they evaporate into carbon dioxide. I Peter 1:23 should remove any and all doubt or fear concerning God’s promises: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever!”

A Challenging, Sober, Warning

When you invite the wonderfully loving Holy Ghost (treasure) to come into your heart (vessel), you are actually inviting in the “potter” who originally created your clay vessel. He has come to completely transform you into a vessel of honor –like Himself. Since we are all still on the potter’s redo wheel—here is His protocol: We are really beyond repair without His mercy. Our only hope is found in Matthew 21:44, where we are invited to fall on Christ the cornerstone and be broken, so that the stone won’t have to fall on us, grinding us to powder.

This is obviously a matter of eternal life or eternal death. Those who yield to God will never be sorry; they will have great joy. But, what does the Bible say about unconditional eternal security (also known as “once saved, always saved”)? It’s unscriptural. Don’t believe it! According to scripture, it is definitely possible to draw back to perdition:

· Hebrews 10:38-39…but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”.

· Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible for those who once were enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance...”

· Galatians 5:4: “Christ is become of no effect unto you. …ye are fallen from grace.”

· Ephesians 4:19: “…who being past feeling, have given themselves over…”

· Hebrews 10:26-27: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries”.

· Deuteronomy 28:63: “And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you …”

· II Peter 2:20-22: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, …they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them, not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the Holy Commandments….it happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire”.

My advice? Keep your vessel in the hands of the potter! Jesus said: “…my grace is sufficient for thee: my strength is made perfect in weakness…” (II Corinthians 12:9). “What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

What is the Holy Ghost/Spirit?

If you are not certain now, hopefully after careful study of each scriptural reference, you will have a better understanding of God’s Spirit that indwells millions today. The precious Holy Book was—and is—inspired by one God, and that one God is “a Spirit” (John 4:24). In John 6:63, Jesus said: “…the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.” And since Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God, (John 1:1-5, 9-12) He baptizes us with: “…power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (Verse 12).