Pentecost Is Loving Jesus — Hans R. Waldvogel

Pentecost as a Love Affair with Jesus

Pentecost really is simply a love affair between Jesus and his own. If it isn't that, why then it's a farce. If we don't come to this place because we love Jesus and we love to meet him, and because we know he's going to meet us, why then our meetings will soon become churchy.

Experiencing Jesus Through the Holy Ghost

And already they are becoming churchy with a lot of people. But I'm so thankful that when God brought me into Pentecost, he brought me into this lovership with Jesus Christ. I didn't see the building, I didn't see the people, but I saw Jesus through the power of the Holy Ghost and Jesus revealed himself to me and he became so wonderful, alive.

He became to me such a living lover. Now that's something you can't explain, but God promises to do that for us if we want him to. God tells us that that's what he sent the Holy Ghost from heaven for, to deliver us of a form of godliness and to make us alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This morning walking through the park, I had to sing, So long mine Jesus lay, my that made me happy, as long as Jesus is alive, okay, oh dear Lord Jesus. And so I came into Pentecostal meetings like this and every meeting became an event to me.

I had to steal my time to come to meetings, I wasn't allowed to. I was a Baptist, I was expected to attend the Baptist meetings and I tell you something, it was dark. There was smog in that meeting that choked me and fortunately those meetings were short.

One hour seemed like a long, long meeting and then I'd run out and made a beeline for the Pentecostal meeting and they just got started after one hour. And oh, to come into that wonderful presence, that marvelous atmosphere, into the, it was like Jesus putting his arms around me and just pressing me to his bosom and oh there I felt at home and it was Jesus.

And another thing he did, everything that happened in the meeting was himself. It makes oh such a change, it made such a change in my life. When God spoke in tongues or in a message of interpretation or prophecy, I didn't pay attention to the man or the woman but it was Jesus' word to me definitely and personally and powerfully and it made me act upon it.

I expected God to speak to me and he did and it was a wonderful thing how he did. The very thing that I needed he would tell me right out in the meeting. The Lord told me later that sometimes or many times he turned the meeting in my direction because he said, you took the word, I did.

Oh that word of my lover was so very wonderful. And then I found out that with most Pentecostal people it wasn't like that at all. They heard it, they knew it was the Lord speaking but it didn't get under their skin.

It didn't reach any further than that, didn't get into their hearts. There was something lacking, the main thing was lacking. If any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed, that's a curse.

The Father’s Love and Jesus’ Call to Love Him

And that's why I say we ought to pray God to make us love Jesus just for himself more. You think God would answer a prayer like that? Well the whole New Testament is full of it. Do you notice how Jesus himself pleads with his disciples?

What wonderful words he says, as the Father has loved me and we cannot imagine that tremendous love of the Father to the Son. Oh my Lord and my God, there is no love anywhere like that. As the Father has loved me.

Why God loved him so much that he gave him charge of everything. He says all things are delivered unto me of my Father. That's how the Father loved the Son. And now Jesus says, that's how I love you, with the same love.

Boy, that ought to make our hearts leap with joy. It ought to wake us up, but it doesn't, it does not wake us up. We're dead, we're really dead or we're rusty. I tell you, it's a dreadful thing to wither.

It's an awful, awful thing. And the devil is working overtime to rob us of that lovership of Jesus Christ and he succeeds with most people. How does he succeed? Why he comes around. Did you ever see Pilgrim's Progress?

Did you see the picture of Vanity Fair? How these pilgrims, dressed in common dress like the Amish people, they come through these people in the Vanity Fair. All the girls wear miniskirts or no skirts at all and the men, they come around with their dunce caps and they all storm at those pilgrims and tell them, come on, don't be so foggy, why you're like old maids, come on, be like us and you can be religious, you can talk in tongues, sure, you can have visions and dreams and you can be healed of your sickness, but don't be, don't be such foggies, come on.

And the devil comes around with a thousand and one things. Did you ever discover that the least indiscretion, well, no, we don't notice that anymore, we're not sensitive enough. A brother I was acquainted with told me, we were riding on the subway one day and we talked about the presence of Jesus and he said, you know, I was a great fool, he says, I rode on this subway and had a wonderful time with the Lord.

The Lord was pouring out his power upon me and oh, I had such a sweet touch with Jesus and then there was a newspaper lying in the, on the seat in front of me and I picked it up and I began to be interested and presently that unction was gone.

Strange. What's the difference? We're so accustomed to being outward and careless that we don't notice it anymore. But oh, to love Jesus and God works overtime by the Holy Ghost to create lovers. If you had power to raise all the dead Jews in these cemeteries, you know, there's a light in every one of these graves, I mean, an Israelite.

And if you had power to raise them all, what would you do with them? And yet you'd be a very wonderful person, my, your name would be emblazoned in all the papers in all the world, but it wouldn't make any difference in the sight of God.

Loving Jesus in Ordinary Service

But to love Jesus, like Brother Lawrence says, to pick up a straw for the love of Jesus. What a despicable job. How quickly we're irritated when we have to do a job that nobody pays us for. Nobody pays any attention to the work we do, and so we go around grumbling.

You think God wants that? No. Oh, when you love Jesus, Jesus Christ, why, then he becomes your all and in all. The Lord is my life and my salvation. The Lord. Delight thyself also in the Lord. You think Jesus knows whether you delight yourself in him or something else?

Whether you find your delight in blessings, or in some good feeling, or in yourself? You think the Lord knows that you delight yourself in him alone? That your whole heart beats only for him, oh, to have him.

Does he know that? Oh, I tell you, he does. And that's why we have in the New Testament so many calls. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Lord, do you really mean that? You mean that in a meeting like this?

Well, he had only twelve there, and one was a devil, and yet he said these wonderful words. Oh, yes, he means it. And he says, and if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. That love will not die.

It will not grow cold. It'll grow warmer. If you love me, keep my commands. Well, first of all, that Bible will become my textbook, but more than that, it will be a holy love letter from my heavenly lover.

Oh, that's what it is. And I don't say, well, I gotta do this and that. I guess I gotta be crucified. Well, I guess I gotta keep my mouth shut. Well, I guess I have to forgive her now. What a person she is, and goodness me, and my husband, and my wife, and so on.

But when you love Jesus, you delight yourself in the Lord. You delight yourself in the law of the Lord, and you get acquainted with it, and you eat it, and it becomes the joy and the rejoicing of your heart.

It's a love letter, this wonderful book. And you love to meditate therein, and as you meditate therein, Jesus kisses you with the kisses of his mouth. He becomes personal. He becomes so real to your heart.

Loving Jesus Through the Indwelling Spirit

My Lord, where are we? We really ought to pray, oh, God, make me love Jesus more. And he'll do it. He tells us how it happens. First of all, he quickens us by his spirit, so that we have faith in his presence and in his indwelling.

As we sang, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. Looking over the meeting, I can often tell people whose eyes are upon Jesus. You can tell it on their faces, and those who don't.

Du hängest Herz und Blicke an den geliebten Herrn. In keinem Augenblick ist er dir fremd und fern. I'm so glad that we have these German hymns. Das ist die echte Liebesfreue, die fest an ihrem Herrn hängt und alle Tage stets aufs Neue in allem ihm zu dienen denkt, dies im Geringen und im Kleinen es recht genau und ernstlich nimmt, und wissentlich auch nicht in einem, wenn noch so kleinen Fehler stimmt.

Denn wisse Seele, dass des kleinsten geringsten Dienstes nicht der Herr vergisst, weil bei dem kleinsten Dienst am reinsten das Herz von eitler Selbstsucht ist. Trug übe recht die Treue im Kleinen, in Kleinen kämpfen übe dich, sonst wirst du bald wie Petrus weinen um große Untreue bitterlich.

Oh, what a privilege is mine to have such a lover. That's why we sing, Ich hab einen Schatz, so herrlich und frei, der niemals veraltet, er bleibt ewig neu, and when Jesus becomes your portion. He said to me one day, I'm your portion.

I took that, I bit myself into that. I'm your portion, God said to Abraham. I'm your shield and your exceeding great reward. And God was so jealous of his lover, of Abraham, that he took everything away from him.

Testing the Reality of Our Love for Jesus

Even his beloved son Isaac demanded it from him to see whether he still loved him. And I tell you when you profess to love Jesus, he'll strip you, he will strip you. He's got means and ways of putting you into the acid test to see whether your love for him is real or whether it isn't.

Many people love Jesus when he blesses them and when he doesn't then they don't love him anymore. Or if he makes big people out of them, oh how they love Jesus then. But when he demands of them to suffer a little bit, to deny themselves for his name's sake, to do some menial job.

I was working together one time in the mountains of Michigan. I was called to hold some revival meetings and when I came to the place, found that the church was nailed shut with boards. Pentecostal people had backs ridden so badly, they couldn't talk to one another anymore.

They couldn't love one another anymore. And I was supposed to hold meetings then. I hardly started meetings when a group of holiness preachers moved in. They didn't know I was there and they evidently thought that they were going to set the place on fire so they came.

So we had to divide the platform between one another. We lived in the same house and their preacher was a woman. And so she would preach one night and I preached the other night. They liked me except when I spoke in tongues then they were afraid.

But God demanded from me to do the most menial job for those people. The dirtiest job. I lived in the same house. They had five children. They were real holiness people. The woman was the preacher and the husband carried the books.

He was a good well trained husband. His ears stuck out like bat wings and boy was he proud of his wife. And then the kids were just as lively I won't say wild. And so I had plenty chance. And when we got through with the meeting this woman said, well I certainly discovered the spirit of Christ.

I was glad for that. Well he should. They should. Oh beloved if, if Jesus really is my lover, my lover, I will be passionately desires to please him. That's where inventions come from when you're in love.

Holiness as Delight in Pleasing Jesus

You remember when you were in love? How you fixed your hair? How careful you brushed your teeth? How you took care of your shoes? Before that you never dreamed of it. I always tell about one of my boys.

Wouldn't bare his fingernails, wouldn't shine his shoes, wouldn't press his pants. He looked like a hobo. Didn't wash himself. One day he had a haircut and you could see the dirt. I said for goodness sake wash your head.

You could have planted corn on top of his head and it would have grown. So he washed his head just because I told him to. And then one day he came like a dude. New suit, pressed pants. Shoes shined like a dime.

His fingernails manicured. He had a new hat. He tucked it over one eye a little bit like this. Brand new hat. He had kid gloves. I remember how he tried to push it over his fat fingers and he had some job.

He called me uncle. He said well uncle. And he put on an Oxford brogue. I half to laugh to see the cough. Go down the path a mile and a half. If it's alright with you I will start on the next train for Philadelphia.

I didn't know who I was talking to. Who was talking to me? But when he said Philadelphia I knew there was a girl there he was interested in. My what a difference that made. Made a dude out of this bum.

And when you love Jesus well you make the difference. You watch your mouth. Oh Lord thou has searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sinning and my uprising. Thou knowest my thoughts of far off.

There is not a word in my tongue but low. Oh Lord thou knowest it all together. Does he care like that? Oh I tell you he cares. He cares. Not for people that keep the law of Moses. But for people that delight themselves in the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

Which brings me a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees. Because now every thought, act, word and feeling is now controlled by this lovership. Oh to love Jesus. If I had a thousand hearts to give Lord they should all be thine.

Strengthened in the Inner Man

Now don't you think it would be good for us to pray Oh God make me love Jesus more. He will. You know that wonderful prayer that he might grant you according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man.

We look at the outer man and we're satisfied with that outer man. We had a man who came here and received the baptism in the Holy Ghost and he got so proud of manifestations. Mind you he went to the restaurant and showed them how to speak in tongues.

And one day I was with him in his room praying and he got a great blessing. Oh he said I wish the Lord would do that for me in the meeting. How many Pentecostal people are like that. They shout. They speak in tongues to show off.

You can feel it. You can see tested in their voice. Detected. But oh how different when every thought you're strengthened with might by the Holy Ghost in the inner man. For what? That Christ may dwell in your heart by faith.

I tell you Jesus is very particular about where he lives. Oh yeah. He is. Glory to God. But when the Holy Ghost is allowed to take over he prepares the heart. That means every thought and act and word and feeling for the King.

A Wide Vision of the Church and Kingdom

And now the King moves in and he moves in to stay there. And he says then my Father will come in and make our abode with him. And he goes on to say in that prayer that you might prove with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height.

Now you become smart. Oh how dumb we are by nature. But now God gives us a wide vision of the whole church of Christ. The whole world. The whole kingdom of God. We begin to understand what we're here for and what Jesus wants of us.

Rooted and Grounded in the Love of Christ

And that you might be rooted and grounded in love. Now look if God as I said could give you the greatest gift of the Spirit today. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Supposing the Lord would make Mrs. McPherson out of Sister Hetzel.

Wouldn't her husband be proud to carry her books and pass the hat? Or any of you make you some great flaming evangelist. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But listen this is far more wonderful to be rooted and grounded in love.

And that you might know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. I'm not surprised that so few people care about that. You can't unless God Almighty sees that you really mean business. This Savior is going to have a holy people and thank God He has hidden these things from the wise and prudent but revealed them unto babe.

Love Refined Through Affliction and Trial

He says I've chosen you in the furnace of affliction. And when Jesus Christ sets souls to loving Him He puts them into the fire. He'll get you rid of that self-love. Nobody else will. Nothing else will.

And that's what Peter talks about on the same subject. Whom having not seen ye love. Oh my Lord and God don't have to see with my natural eyes. My heart's aflame. In whom though now you see Him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory though if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation that the trial of your faith may prove much more precious than gold though it be tried by fire.

Ah, that's God's way. But we know that all these trials and all these tests are only the fire that purifies, cleanses. And if we saw how greatly we are in need we would say, Oh my God, don't, don't stop.

Take me through. Make me love Jesus more.