Some time ago I read this expression in an old author:--"The
first duty of a clergyman is humbly to ask of God that all that
he wants done in his hearers should first be truly and fully done
in himself." These words have stuck to me ever since. What
a solemn application this is to the subject that occupied our
attention in previous chapters--the living and working under the
fulness of the Holy Spirit! And yet, if we understand our calling
aright, every one of us will have to say, That is the one thing
on which everything depends. What profit is it to tell men that
they may be filled with the Spirit of God, if, when they ask us,
"Has God done it for you?" we have to answer, "No,
He has not done it"? What profit is it for me to tell men
that Jesus Christ can dwell within us every moment, and keep us
from sin and actual transgression, and that the abiding presence
of God can be our portion all the day, if I wait not upon God
first to do it truly and full day by day?
Look at the Lord Jesus Christ; it
was of the Christ Himself, when He had received the Holy Ghost
from heaven, that John the Baptist said that "He would baptize
with the Holy Ghost." I can only communicate to others what
God has imparted to me. If my life as a minister be a life in
which the flesh still greatly prevails--if my life be a life in
which I grieve the Spirit of God, I cannot expect but that my
people will receive through me a very mingled kind of life. But
if the life of God dwell in me, and I am filled with His power,
then I can hope that the life that goes out from me may be infused
into my hearers too.
We have referred to the need of
every believer being filled with the Spirit; and what is there
of deeper interest to us now, or that can better occupy our attention,
than prayerfully to consider how we can bring our congregations
to believe that this is possible; and how we can lead on every
believer to seek it for himself, to expect it, and to accept of
it, so as to live it out? But, brethren, the message must come
from us as a witness of our personal experience, by the grace
of God. The same writer to whom I alluded, says elsewhere:--"The
first business of a clergyman, when he sees men awakened and brought
to Christ, is to lead them on to know the Holy Spirit."
How true! Do not we find this throughout the word of God? John
the Baptist preached Christ as the "Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world;" we read in Matthew that he also
said that Christ would "baptize with the Holy Ghost and with
fire." In the gospel by John, we read that the Baptist was
told that upon Whom he would see the Spirit descending and abiding,
He it was who would baptize with the Spirit. Thus John the Baptist
led the people on from Christ to the expectation of the Holy Ghost
for themselves. And what did Jesus do? For three years, He was
with His disciples, teaching and instructing them; but when He
was about to go away, in His farewell discourse on the last night,
what was His great promise to the disciples? "I will pray
the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, even the
Spirit of truth." He had previously promised to those who
believed on Him, that "rivers of living water" should
flow from them; which the Evangelist explains as meaning the Holy
Ghost:--"Thus spake He of the Spirit." But this promise
was only to be fulfilled after Christ "was glorified."
Christ points to the Holy Spirit as the one fruit of being glorified.
The glorified Christ leads to the Holy Ghost. So in the farewell
discourse, Christ leads the disciples to expect the Spirit as
the Father's great blessing. Then again, when Christ came and
stood at the footstool of His heavenly throne, on the Mount of
Olives, ready to ascend, what were His words? "Ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall
be witnesses unto Me." Christ's constant work was to teach
His disciples to expect the Holy Spirit. Look through the Book
of Acts, you see the same thing. Peter on the day of Pentecost
preached that Christ was exalted, and had received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost; and so he told the people; "Repent
and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
So, when I believe in Jesus risen, ascended, and glorified, I
shall receive the Holy Ghost.
Look again, after Philip had preached
the gospel in Samaria, men and women had been converted, and there
was great joy in the city. The Holy Spirit had been working, but
something was still wanting; Peter and John came down from Jerusalem,
prayed for the converted ones, laid their hands upon them, "and
they received the Holy Ghost." Then they had the conscious
possession and enjoyment of the Spirit; but till that came they
were incomplete. Paul was converted by the mighty power of Jesus
who appeared to Him on the way to Damascus; and yet he had to
go to Ananias to receive the Holy Ghost.
Then again, we read that when Peter
went to preach to Cornelius, as he preached Christ, "the
Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word;" which
Peter took as the sign that these Gentiles were one with the Jews
in the favor of God, having the same baptism.
And so we might go through many
of the Epistles, where we find the same truth taught. Look at
that wonderful epistle to the Romans. The doctrine of justification
by faith is established in the first five chapters. Then in the
sixth and seventh, though the believer is represented as dead
to sin and the law, and married to Christ, yet a dreadful struggle
goes on in the heart of the regenerate man as long as he has not
god the full power of the Holy Spirit. But in the eighth chapter,
it is the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"
that maketh us free from "the law of sin and death."
Then we are "not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," with
the Spirit of God dwelling in us. All the teaching leads up to
the Holy Spirit.
Look again at the epistle to the
Galatians. We always talk of this epistle as the great source
of instruction on the doctrine of justification by faith: but
have you ever noticed how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit holds
a most prominent place there? Paul asks the Galatian church:--"Received
ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"
It was the hearing of faith that led them to the full enjoyment
of the Spirit's power. If they sought to be justified by the works
of the law, they had "fallen from grace." "For
we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith." And then at the end of the fifth chapter, we are
told:--"If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit."
Again, if we go to the epistles
to the Corinthians, we find Paul asking the Christians in Corinth:--"Know
ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is
in you?" If we look into the epistle to the Ephesians, we
find the doctrine of the Holy Spirit mentioned twelve times. It
is the Spirit that seals God's people; "Ye were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise." He illumines them; "That
God may give the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him." Through Christ, both Jew and Gentile "have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." They "are builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." They
are "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man."
With "all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing
one another in love," they "endeavour to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace." By not "grieving
the Holy Spirit of God," we preserve our sealing to the "day
of redemption." Being "filled with the Spirit,"
we "sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord,"
and thus glorify Him. Just study these epistles carefully, and
you will find that what I say is true--that the apostle Paul takes
great pains to lead Christians to the Holy Ghost as the consummation
of the Christian life.
It was the Holy Ghost Who was given
to the church at Pentecost; and it is the Holy Ghost Who gives
Pentecostal blessings now. It is this power, given to bless men,
that wrought such wonderful life, and love, and self-sacrifice
in the early church; and it is this that makes us look back to
those days as the most beautiful part of the Church's history.
And it is the same Spirit of power that must dwell in the hearts
of all believers in our day to give the Church its true position.
Let us ask God then, that every minister and Christian worker
may be endued with the power of the Holy Ghost; that He may search
us and try us, and enable us sincerely to answer the question,
"Have I known the indwelling and the filling of the Holy
Spirit that God wants me to have? Let each one of us ask himself:
"Is it my great study to know the Holy Ghost dwelling in
me, so that I may help others to yield to the same indwelling
of the Holy Spirit; and that He may reveal Christ fully in His
divine saving and keeping power?" Will not every one have
to confess: "Lord, I have all too little understood this;
I have all too little manifested this in my work and preaching"?
Beloved brethren, "The first duty of every clergyman is to
humbly ask God that all that he wants done in his hearers may
be first fully and truly done in himself." And the second
thing is his duty towards those who are awakened and brought to
Christ, to lead them on to the full knowledge of the presence
and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Now, if we are indeed to come into
full harmony with these two great principles, then there come
to us some further questions of the very deepest importance. And
the first questions is:--"Why is it that there is in the
church of Christ so little practical acknowledgment of the power
of the Holy Ghost?" I am not speaking to you, brethren, as
if I thought you were not sound in doctrine on this point. I speak
to you as believing in the Holy Ghost as the third person in the
ever-blessed Trinity. But I speak to you confidently as to those
who will readily admit that the truth or the presence and of the
power of the Holy Ghost is not acknowledged in the church as it
ought to be. Then the question is, Why is it not so acknowledged?
I answer because of its spirituality. It is one of the most difficult
truths in the Bible for the human mind to comprehend. God has
revealed Himself in creation throughout the whole universe. He
has revealed Himself in Christ incarnate--and what a subject of
study the person, and word, and works of Christ form! But the
mysterious indwelling of the Holy Spirit, hidden in the depths
of the life of the believer, how much less easy to comprehend!
In the early pentecostal days of
the church, this knowledge was intuitive; they possessed
the Spirit in power. But soon after the spirit of the world began
to creep into the church and mastered it. This was followed by
the deeper darkness of formality and superstition in the Roman
Catholic Church, when the spirit of the world completely triumphed
in what was improperly styled the Church of Christ. The Reformation
in the days of Luther restored the truth of justification by faith
in Christ; but the doctrine of the Holy Ghost did not then obtain
its proper place, for God does not reveal all truth at one time.
A great deal of the spirit of the world was still left in the
reformed churches; but now God is awakening the church to strive
after a fuller scriptural idea of the Holy Spirit's place and
power. Through the medium of books, and discussions, and conventions
many hearts are being stirred.
Brethren, it is our privilege to
take part in this great movement; and let us engage in the work
more earnestly than ever. Let each of us say my great work is,
in preaching Christ, to lead men to the acknowledging of the Holy
Spirit, who alone can glorify Christ. I may try to glorify Christ
in my preaching, but it will avail nothing without the Spirit
of God. I may urge men to the practice of holiness and every Christian
virtue, but all my persuasion will avail very little unless I
help them to believe that they must have the Holy Ghost dwelling
in them every moment enabling to live the life of Christ. The
great reason why the Holy Spirit was given from heaven was to
make Christ Jesus' presence manifest to us. While Jesus was incarnate,
His disciples were too much under the power of the flesh to allow
Christ to get a lodgement in their hearts. It was needful, He
said, that He should go away, in order that the Spirit might come;
and He promised to those who loved Him and kept His commandments,
that with the Spirit, He would come, and the Father would also
come, and make Their abode with them. It is thus the Holy Spirit's
great work to reveal the Father and the Son in the hearts of God's
people. If we believe and teach men that the Holy Spirit can make
Christ a reality to them every moment, men will learn to believe
and accept Christ's presence and power, of which they now know
far too little.
Then another question presents itself,
viz., What are we to expect when the Holy Spirit is duly acknowledged
and received? I ask this question, because I have frequently noticed
something with considerable interest--and, I may say, with some
anxiety. I sometimes hear men praying earnestly for a baptism
of the Holy Spirit that He may give them power for their work.
Beloved brethren, we need this power, not only for work, but for
our daily life. Remember, we must have it all the time. In Old
Testament times, the Spirit came with power upon the prophets
and other inspired men; but He did not dwell permanently in them.
In the same way, in the church of the Corinthians, the Holy Spirit
came with power to work miraculous gifts, and yet they had but
a small measure of His sanctifying grace. You will remember the
carnal strife, envying, and divisions there were. They had gifts
of knowledge and wisdom, etc.; but alas! pride, unlovingness,
and other sins sadly marred the character of many of them. And
what does this teach us? That a man may have a great gift of power
for work, but very little of the indwelling Spirit. In 1 Cor.
xiii., we are reminded that though we may have faith that would
remove mountains, if we have not love, we are nothing. We must
have the love that brings the humility and self-sacrifice of Jesus.
Don't let us put in the first place the gifts we may possess;
if we do, we shall have very little blessing. But we should seek,
in the first place, that the Spirit of God should come as a light
and power of holiness from the indwelling Jesus. Let the first
work of the Holy Spirit be to humble you deep down in the very
dust, so that your whole life shall be a tender, broken-hearted
waiting on God, in the consciousness of mercy coming from above.
Do not seek large gifts; there is
something deeper you need. It is not enough that a tree shoots
its branches to the sky, and be covered thickly with leaves; but
we want its roots to strike deeply into the soil. Let the thought
of the Holy Spirit's being in us, and our hope of being filled
with the Spirit, be always accompanied in us with a broken and
contrite heart. Let us bow very low before God, in waiting for
His grace to fill and to sanctify us. We do not want a power which
God might allow us to use, while our inner part is unsanctified.
We want God to give us full possession of Himself. In due time,
the special gift may come; but we want first and now, the power
of the Holy Ghost working something far mightier and more effectual
in us than any such gift. We should seek, therefore, not only
a baptism of power, but a baptism of holiness; we should seek
that the inner nature be sanctified by the indwelling of Jesus,
and then other power will come as needed.
There is a third question:--Suppose
some one says to me:--"I have given myself up to be filled
with the Spirit, and I do not feel that there is any difference
in my condition; there is no change of experience that I can speak
of. What must I then think? Must not I think that my surrender
was not honest?" No, do not think that. "But how then?
Does God give no response?" Beloved, God gives a response,
but that is not always within certain months or years. "What,
then, would you have me do?" Retain the position you have
taken before God, and maintain it every day. Say, "Oh God,
I have given myself to be filled, here I am an empty vessel, trusting
and expecting to be filled by Thee." Take that position every
day and every hour. Ask God to write it across your heart. Give
up to God an empty, consecrated vessel that He may fill it with
the Holy Spirit. Take that position constantly. It may be that
you are not fully prepared. Ask God to cleanse you; to give you
grace to separate from everything sinful--from unbelief or whatever
hindrance there may be. Then take your position before God and
say, "My God, Thou art faithful; I have entered into covenant
with Thee for Thy Holy Spirit to fill me, and I believe Thou wilt
fulfill it." Brethren, I say for myself, and for every minister
of the gospel, and for every fellow worker, man or woman, that
if we thus come before God with a full surrender, in a bold, believing
attitude, God's promise must be fulfilled.
If you were to ask me of my own
experience, I would say this:--That there have been times when
I hardly knew myself what to think of God's answer to my prayer
in this matter; but I have found it my joy and my strength to
take and maintain my position, and say: "My God, I have given
myself up to Thee. It was Thine own grace that led me to Christ;
and I stand before Thee in confidence that Thou wilt keep Thy
covenant with me to the end. I am the empty vessel; Thou art the
God that fillest all." God is faithful, and He gives the
promised blessing in His own time and method. Beloved, for God's
sake, be content with nothing less than full health and full spiritual
life. "Be filled with the Spirit."
Let me return now to the two expressions
with which I began: "the first duty of every clergyman is
humbly to ask of God that all that he wants done in those who
hear his preaching may be first truly and fully done in himself."
Brethren, I ask you, is it not the longing of your hearts to have
a congregation of believers filled with the Holy Ghost? Is it
not your unceasing prayer for the Church of Christ, in which you
minister, that the Spirit of holiness, the very Spirit of God's
Son, the spirit of unworldliness and of heavenly-mindedness, may
possess it; and that the Spirit of victory and of power over sin
may fill its children? If you are willing for that to come, your
first duty is to have it yourself.
And then the second sentence:--"the
first duty of every clergyman is to lead those who have been brought
to Christ to be entirely filled with the Holy Ghost." How
can I do my work with success? I can conceive what a privilege
it is to be led by the Spirit of God in all that I am doing. In
studying my Bible, praying, visiting, organizing, or whatever
I am doing, God is willing to guide me by His Holy Spirit. It
sometimes becomes a humiliating experience to me that I am unwatchful,
and do not wait for the blessing; when that is the case, God can
bring me back again. But there is also the blessed experience
of God's guiding hand, often through deep darkness, by His Holy
Spirit. Let us walk about among the people as men of God, that
we may not only preach about a book, and what we believe with
our hearts to be true, but may preach what we are and what we
have in our own experience. Jesus calls us witnesses for
Him; what does that mean? The Holy Ghost brought down to heaven
from men a participation in the glory and the joy of the exalted
Christ. Peter and the others who spoke with Him were filled with
this heavenly Spirit; and thus Christ spoke in them, and accomplished
the work for them. O brethren, if you and I be Christ's we should
take our places and claim our privilege. We are witnesses to the
truth which we believe--witnesses to the reality of what Jesus
does and what He is, by His presence in our own souls. If we are
willing to be such witnesses for Christ, let us go to our God;
let us make confession and surrender, and by faith claim what
God has for us as ministers of the gospel and workers in His service.
God will prove faithful. Even at this very moment, He will touch
our hearts with a deep consciousness of His faithfulness and of
His presence; and He will give to every hungering, trustful one
that which we continually need.
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