A Journey of Faith: From Darkness to Light
It was 1979, and I went to pick up a commentary about Hebrews for school. However, another title caught my eye, From Sadow to Substance by Roy Hession. I read them both, but the unintended one caused me to read everything by the author, including The Calvary Road. Roy was part of an East African revival during the mid-twentieth century. He wrote like no other author and spoke not of great revivals but personal ones. The twentieth century left Christians in two camps those seeking a second blessing after salvation and those believing nothing more is needed.
One-Time Justification but Repeated Fillings
In the previous post, I mentioned that the term revival is used eleven times in Psalm 119, more than any other place in the Bible. The dominant theme throughout the Psalm is praise for God's Word for its value to the believer. In the first stanza, the author begins with those with a heart for God. "Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD." From Titus 3:5, we understand, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." To be born again is to be washed clean and made blameless in God's sight. Furthermore, 1 Peter 1:1, 2 says, "who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood." While justification makes the believers blameless, even so, sanctification makes them obedient.
Right out of the gate, the Psalmist declares the believer's state in salvation and cries out for help in his walk with God. "Oh, that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments. I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments. I shall keep Your statutes; do not forsake me utterly!" Psalm 119:5-8
The Confidence Godly Faith Produces when the Battle Begins
Stanzas 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 13
Does not the heart of the mature Christian have the assurance of salvation based on God's grace and the need for God's presence to win the battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil? Indeed, it does. Like every authentic believer, the heart of the Psalmist cries out for help to be holy.
Godly faith and a plea for revival, stanzas 4, 5, 7, and 11
Everyone is aware that on the Day of Pentecost, everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:4. However, unlike justification which happens on the day of salvation but is never repeated, neither in experience nor in the scriptures, the filling of the Spirit does. "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people..." Acts 4:8. Again, we are told in Acts 4:31, "And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness." Again, we are told Stephen was filled with the Spirit before he proclaimed Christ to the religious leaders and his martyrdom.
Throughout the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit filling is repeated because filling is not a once for all time event. Justification is, and for this reason, we are never commanded to be justified, which cannot be said for the filling of the Holy Spirit. "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit..." Ephesians 5:18. The term be filled in Ephesians 5:18 is in the imperative, hence, a command to us.
The Psalmist Understood Revival or Filling Correctly
Psalm 119 and the New Testament run parallel in the need for the believer to be continually experiencing the filling of the Holy Spirit. For the believer to assume they are continuously filled with the Holy Spirit after recognizing they have sinned and need to repent is sheer folly. A sinful act is never committed by someone filled with the Holy Spirit. Hence the need for recognition, repentance, and prayer that leads to filling. The Bible is always consistent; we should never allow an overreaction to charismatic error to cause us to practice error, also.
My dear brothers and sisters, do not allow the devil's deception over your supposed continual filling by the Holy Spirit to fill you with spiritual pride. If this lesson becomes a blessing, please share the blessing with others as the Holy Spirit leads you.
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