Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Over fifty years of preaching the gospel of Christ taught my father much about the Lord and his people. Sometimes, his observations were easy to appreciate; other times, it took me years to perceive their value. The following comment, from a sermon in 1975, was one that he occasionally made but that I only recently came to understand and appreciate. Referring to the typical doctrine of Spirit-baptized people, he was wont to say, "God's people use the blood of Christ like dishwater."
My father died on April 20, 1989. That strange saying of his remained a mystery to me even until the day he left this world. A couple of weeks ago, as I was listening to that sermon he preached in May of 1975, it happened to be one of those sermons in which he made that strange statement again. I was there that day, sitting among those old folk gathered in Grandma's farmhouse for that Sunday afternoon prayer meeting, a twenty-three year old just getting started in the Lord. I heard him make that statement, and I remember wondering how it was true that Pentecostal people use the blood of Christ like dishwater.
After struggling for over a quarter century to persuade the children of God that the holy Ghost baptism is the new birth, I understand what my father meant. The holy Spirit is the Blood of Christ. It gives life to the body of Christ. This is a fundamental truth of the New Testament, often mentioned by the apostles in the Bible, even though it is a truth not well known. The Blood of Christ that is still flowing and washing souls from sin is the holy Ghost. The natural blood of Jesus, the natural fluid that flowed in his natural body, ran out of his veins onto the ground at Calvary. It is not available now, and would do no one any good if it were available.
The holy Ghost is the blood of Christ that is treated like dishwater by God's own people. People use dishwater to clean the dishes and then discard it. People receive the holy Ghost; it cleanses their souls. Then, they discard it, saying that it is not necessary for salvation. Because of the doctrines God's children are taught, the very Spirit that has cleansed them becomes, in practice, like dishwater that women have used. It becomes disposable.
The holy Ghost baptism is not a disposable commodity to the person who hopes to be saved from the coming wrath of God. It is precious; it is essential; it is the life of God that guides and leads those who desire eternal peace.
The holy Ghost is NOT like dishwater that is made dirty when it washes used dishes. Dishwater becomes dirty as it cleanses, but the holy Ghost is never polluted with the sins that it washes from the souls of sinners. The holy Ghost is never weak or confused. It is never impractical; it is never dull; it is never unnecessary. We need the holy Ghost every moment we breathe, and we will need the holy Ghost even more afterwards. The Spirit is the light of life to those who believe. It is the way to salvation. It is our only access to the Father. It is our only hope of the resurrection. Without the Spirit and its daily guidance, we will be damned.
Many people who have received the holy Ghost baptism in the past would today be embarrassed if it would fall upon them now. They were cleansed by it once upon a time, but to worship the way they worship now, God's Spirit is not necessary. Besides, what would others think if they praised God out loud or spoke in tongues in the midst of the congregation? And, my goodness, what would the pastor say? No, the holy Ghost is not necessary in order to worship God as He is worshiped now by many of His own children who are entangled with Christianity.
Neither is God's Spirit required in order to live the way they now live. They needed the Spirit to cease from sin. They needed the Spirit to feel their need of cleansing from God; they needed the Spirit to confess who Jesus is; they needed it to bring tears to their eyes and to enable them to humble themselves before God. But now they have discarded the Spirit, as far as their daily lives and their faith are concerned, in the same way that women discard dirty dishwater they have used to wash their dishes.
It would be far better for God's people if, instead of setting the holy Spirit aside, they would discard the worthless Christian doctrines and ceremonies they have been taught by their rented ministers and learn to hold as their most precious possession the holy Spirit of truth that was given to them from God.