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A Classic Holiness Sermon

What Happened Upstairs?
Acts 2:1-13

By John T. Seamands

Many things took place on that eventful day in an Upper Room in Jerusalem. But the danger for us is to see only the outward physical manifestations and miss the real inward transformation that resulted. There was the sound like a rushing mighty wind that filled the whole house where the disciples were assembled. There were cloven tongues like fire that rested upon each of them. The disciples all spoke in other languages so that people of all nations gathered in Jerusalem could understand in their own native tongues what was being said.

But is this what we should expect from Pentecost today—wind, fire, other languages? Or is there something deeper involved?
We must distinguish between the passing and the permanent aspects of Pentecost; between the temporary and the timeless; between the incidental and the fundamental; between the historical framework and the personal fact.

The Temporary Framework

1. The Day of Pentecost, a Jewish agricultural festival commemorating the firstfruits of the harvest

2. One hundred twenty disciples in an Upper Room in Jerusalem

3. Cloven tongues like fire

4. Extraordinary speaking in different languages

5. Outer signs and wonders

The Permanent Fact

1. Any day that we are willing to meet the conditions; a spiritual festival representing the fruit of the Spirit

2. Any number of disciples anywhere, united, yielded, and praying for the outpouring of the Spirit

3. The refining fire of the Holy Spirit, sanctifying the individual and empowering him for service

4. The demonstration that in the Church of the living Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, and that the gift of the Holy Spirit is for all

5. Inner strength and well-being of holiness. The greatest sign of all and the greatest wonder—adequate power for holy living and for fruitful service

This we must distinguish between the picture and the frame, between the gift and the wrappings. On the one hand, the Day of Pentecost, as a great historical drama in God’s plan of salvation, is an event of the past and cannot be repeated. It was the beginning of a new era and the birthday of the Church, and in its historical significance can never be repeated any more than the Manger, or Calvary, or the Resurrection, or the Ascension can be repeated. On the other hand, the experience of Pentecost has been repeated over and over again down through the Christian centuries and can be repeated—any time, anywhere a disciple or group of disciples is willing to meet the conditions of obedience, surrender, and faith.

Many times in the Book of Acts other people were filled with the Spirit. Thousands of Christians across the world can testify today to a personal experience of Pentecost. Paul, in his Epistles, plainly commands that all Christians be filled with the Spirit; and Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, explicitly stated that the gift of the Holy Spirit is for all. “The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39, KJV).

A careful reading of the Acts of the Apostles reveals to us that the fundamental results of the experience of Pentecost are three: (1) the plentitude of the Spirit, (2) purity of heart, and (3) power for service.

The Plentitude of the Spirit

Luke, the historian, tells us that on the Day of Pentecost the 120 disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This was basic to everything else that followed.

As has already been pointed out, it does not mean that this was the first time the Holy Spirit was operating in the lives of Christ’s followers. The Holy Spirit was not a stranger to them. Jesus made this very clear in His last discourse in the Upper Room, when He met with His disciples for the celebration of the Passover. He said, “You know him (the Holy Spirit), for he dwells with you” (John 14:17). At the same time Jesus made it clear that the disciples would shortly enter into a more intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. “He dwells with you and will be in you . . . with you forever . . . Before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (John 14:17, 16; Acts 1:5). In other words, this was to be the fullness of the Spirit.

Here again we must be careful to understand what this means. We must not get the idea that the Holy Spirit is fragmented or disconnected, and that He comes only in parts or portions, so that when we are born of the Spirit we receive part of Him, and then where we are baptized with the Spirit we receive the rest of Him. The Holy Spirit is a Person, a perfect Personality. He cannot be split up into segments. He cannot be divided into “more” or “less” stages. It may be possible for us to be split personalities, to be double-minded, but not for Him. When we are converted, we have the Holy Spirit—all of the Holy Spirit that we will ever have. So to be baptized or filled with Spirit certainly does not mean that we get more of the Spirit; rather, the Holy Spirit gets more of us. For though we have all of the Spirit, He does not have all of us. He must have uncontested control of our lives, so that He does not simply dwell in us, but dwells unhindered; that is, in all His fullness.

In a certain city the members of the ministerial association were making plans for a citywide evangelistic campaign. Many persons were being suggested for the evangelist. When someone proposed that they invite Dwight L. Moody, one minister objected strongly. “We’ve had Moody before,” he argued. “Why do you want to invite him again and again? Does Moody have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?”

“No,” replied another quietly, ‘but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Dwight L. Moody.”

That’s the secret of the Spirit-filled life. The Holy Spirit must have a monopoly on us.

But someone asks, “Cannot a person be regenerated and filled with the Spirit at the same time? Cannot a person make a complete consecration to Christ the first time he comes to Him? Cannot God perform both acts of regeneration and sanctification at one time?”

The answer is, theoretically, “Yes.” There is no limitation on God’s part. He will fulfill His promises the moment we meet the conditions. But from the practical standpoint, the records of the New Testament and the experiences of thousands of sincere Christians confirm the fact that, as a rule, one does not experience the birth of the Spirit and the baptism with the Spirit at one and the same time. The limitation is on our part.

Some time ago I read Lawson’s little book, Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians. I found the theology and nomenclature varied considerably. Each individual expressed his experience within the particular theological framework and terminology of his own denomination. But the common denominators in all the experiences were apparent. This “deeper experience” was always subsequent to the experience of conversion, and usually followed a period of great soul-searching and spiritual desperation. There was a new and deeper surrendering of the individual self to God. There was a greater sense of the presence and power of God in the person’s life, as he began living on a permanently higher plane.

There seems, therefore, to be general agreement that the infilling of the Holy Spirit comes after the crisis of conversion. The individual makes an initial surrender to Christ when he receives Him as Saviour. But then as he walks day by day in the Christian life, he begins to discover that there are areas of his life that are not fully committed to the Master’s will. Christ is not really Lord in every part of his being. He also discovers that within himself are attitudes, desires, and reactions that are unchristian and act as a drag on his spiritual life. He now makes a fuller surrender of himself, crowns Jesus as King in his life, and permits the Holy Spirit to sanctify his innermost being. To this experience countless sincere Christians could testify.

Suppose you turn on the ceiling light in the living room of your home. Immediately light floods the room and dispels the darkness. But still there may be a few areas in the room where partial darkness prevails. The couch, the chairs, the piano, and other pieces of furniture cast shadows across the room. Underneath the couch it may be quite dark. Then supposed you remove all furniture from the room. What happens? The light immediately permeates every part of the room, for now there are no longer any hindrances. The amount of light is the same, but the area of penetration is greater.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit may be residing in a believer and yet may not be able to penetrate every part of his being. There are too many hindrances. Resentments, uncontrolled temper, pride, doubt, and other unchristian attitudes are casting shadows in his heart. What the individual needs is not more of the Spirit, but to allow the Spirit to possess more, yes, all of him. Then he will be “filled with the Spirit.”

Purity of Heart

The second basic result of Pentecost was heart purity. Peter made this clear when he addressed the first Christian council at Jerusalem: “And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us; and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8-9, italics mine).

In essence, what Peter said was this: “Exactly the same thing that God did in our hearts on the Day of Pentecost, He has now performed in the hearts of the Gentiles.” And what was it God did? He “cleansed their hearts by faith.”

The word “heart” is used symbolically to denote the seat of our affections, emotions, desires, attitudes, and motives. Cleansing of the heart, therefore, refers to a radical inner cleansing of the center of our personalities.
Such cleansing was very evident in the lives of Christ’s disciples. Before Pentecost, on many occasions they manifested un-Christlike attitudes and reactions. For example, they exhibited pride. They argued among themselves who was greatest in the kingdom of Heaven (Luke 9:46). They manifested selfishness. They requested Jesus to grant them thrones on the right and on the left when He established His kingdom (Mark 10:35-40).

They also demonstrated narrow-mindedness. Once when they saw someone who was not of their group casting out demons, they sought to restrain him (Mark 9:38). The disciples at times reacted in anger. Once, while traveling through Samaria, when they were refused lodging and hospitality by the Samaritans, they wanted to call down fire upon these people (Luke 9:54-56). They exhibited carnal fear and cowardice. On the night of Christ’s arrest and trial, they fled and hid themselves. Peter denied his Lord three times (Matt. 26:56, 69-75).

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit performed radical spiritual surgery in the disciples’ hearts. Pride was replaced with humility, self-seeking with the spirit of service, narrow-mindedness with sympathy, anger with love, and carnal fear with holy boldness. Many present-day disciples of Christ need a similar divine operation in their lives.

The desire to be filled with the Spirit must be accompanied by the willingness to be made pure. The Spirit of God is fundamentally the Holy Spirit. It is a law in logic that when you affirm something you automatically deny the opposite. When you say of an object, “This is white,” you are automatically saying, “It is not black.” When you say, “This is a rectangle,” you at the same time deny that it is a circle. When you declare, “This is wood,” it means it is not metal. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is absolutely, irrevocably opposed to evil.

To affirm that I want to be filled with the Spirit is to declare that I am willing to be emptied of all my unholy attitudes and spirit. Many of us pray with our lips, “Lord, fill me,” but inwardly we say, “Lord, don’t expose my resentments; don’t disturb my comforts.” But God cannot compromise with sin. He puts His finger upon anything that gets between us and Him, and between us and our fellow-men. With the fire of the Holy Spirit, He wants to purify us in our innermost being.

An evangelist friend of mine was invited to conduct a preaching mission is a certain city and was entertained in the home of a middle-aged couple. When the hostess escorted the evangelist to the guest room, she said in a welcome voice, “Now, I want you to make yourself completely at home. Hang your suits up in the closet and put your other clothes in the drawers. This is your room.” The visitor took the hostess at her word, removed everything from his suitcase, and spread it out on the bed. But when he went to the closet to hang up his clothes, he found it jammed full of suits, dresses, slacks, and topcoats, with no empty hanger. When he opened the top drawer of the dresser, it was full of old clothing and rags. He tried the next; it was full also. Likewise, the bottom drawer was crammed with old picture albums and family heirlooms. There was absolutely no room for his clothes, so he put them all back into his suitcase.

When we say to the Holy Spirit, “Make yourself at home,” we can’t expect to keep anything hidden in the secret closets and drawers of our hearts. We must be willing to be emptied of all that is contrary to His nature and will. He must be more than a Guest; he must be Lord. This means He will do a thorough job of housecleaning and will rearrange the furniture to His own plan.

Power for Service

The third major result of Pentecost is power. Just before He ascended to the Father, Jesus said to His disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). On previous occasions He had commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem, until they were “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4).

Here again we notice the difference in the lives and ministry of the disciples before and after Pentecost. Before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in His fullness, the disciples often displayed moments of weakness. Sometimes there was vacillation, or doubt, or a carnal fear of men. This was especially true in the last days before Calvary. They forsook their Master and went into hiding. Peter shamefully denied his Lord. But after the experience of Pentecost, the disciples displayed a stronger faith, a new spirit of confidence and courage. They possessed power beyond themselves to withstand persecution and temptation, and to witness boldly to the resurrection of the Lord.

How the Church today needs this supernatural power—power to reach out beyond the confines of brick and mortar, and to carry the spiritual offensive into the strongholds of society! The Church needs power to break out of routine and formality, and to perform exploits in the Master’s name; power to call people to repentance and true righteousness; power to transform individuals and change society!

The Church of our day has great buildings, but little boldness. It has numbers, but little nerve. It has comfort, but no courage. It has status, but lacks spirit. It has prestige, but no power.

I remember watching the TV program “Candid Camera” a few years ago. A woman coasted downhill in a car and rolled into a filling station. “Fill it up with regular,” she said to the smiling attendant, “and check the oil, please.”

Imagine the look of astonishment on the man’s face when he lifted up the hood and found there was no engine! The Church in many places reminds me of a car that has lost its engine. It has lost its source of power.

One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade at Pasadena, California, a beautiful float came along Colorado Avenue in the middle of the procession. Its collection and arrangement of flowers was breathtaking. Suddenly the truck which was powering the float sputtered and came to a standstill. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up while someone went for a two-gallon can of gas. The crowed roared with laughter when somebody said, “That float represents the Standard Oil Company!” With all the resources of this great company at its disposal, its truck was out of gas!

The Church today need not go on in its powerless ineffective condition. All the mighty resources of the Holy Spirit are at its disposal. The individual Christian need not remain spiritually weak and anemic. He can tarry in surrender and faith and be “clothed with power from on high.” Just as atomic power represents the release of hidden forces in the physical world, so Pentecost represents the release of invisible forces in the realm of personality.

Again, let us understand clearly that power cannot be separated from purity. Power is not an entity in itself. It is basically the unhindered flow of the Spirit’s energy in and through a life that is utterly yielded to Christ and has been subjected to radical surgery by His skillful hand. We cannot experience the power until we’re willing to be made pure. Purity and power go hand in hand.
These then are the permanent and fundamental characteristics of Pentecost: (1) the fullness of the Holy Spirit; (2) purity of heart; and (3) power for witnessing and service. These are the results that took place in the lives of the apostles and early Christians in the first century, and these are the results that can take place in the lives of any and all of Christ’s followers in the twentieth century.

Pentecost was not merely a historical event; it is a present possibility. It was not a fleeting incident, external to the real core and course of the life of the Church. It is a profoundly vital experience with abiding values and permanent principles. It was not only a particular day, but is an extended dispensation. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was not for the Apostolic Church only; it rests, as both obligation and opportunity, upon the Church of every generation.

Pentecost is age-long and planet-wide. Given a child of God utterly yielding, trustfully expecting, any room may become an Upper Room, any day a Day of Pentecost.