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.