Chapter 8: The Holy Spirit
We have spoken of the eternal purpose of God
as the motive and explanation of all His dealings with us. Now, before we
return to our study of the phases of Christian experience as set forth in
Romans, we must digress yet again in order to consider something which lies at
the heart of all our experience as the vitalizing power of effective life and
service. I refer to the personal presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit of
God.
And here, too, let us take as our starting-point
two verses from Romans, one from each of our sections. "The love of God hath
been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us"
(Romans 5:5). "If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of us"
(Romans 8:9).
God does not give His gifts at random, nor
dispense them in any arbitrary fashion. They are given freely to all, but they
are given on a definite basis. God has truly "blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3), but if those
blessings which are ours in Christ are to become ours in experience, we must
know on what ground we can appropriate them.
In considering the gift of the Holy Spirit it is
helpful to think of this in two aspects, as the Spirit outpoured and the Spirit
indwelling, and our purpose now is to understand on what basis this twofold
gift of the Holy Spirit becomes ours. I have no doubt that we are right in
distinguishing thus between the outward and the inward manifestations of His
working, and that as we go on we shall find the distinction helpful. Moreover,
when we compare them, we cannot but come to the conclusion that the inward
activity of the Holy Spirit is the more precious. But to say this is not for
one moment to imply that His outward activity is not also precious, for God
only gives good gifts to His children. Unfortunately we are apt to esteem our
privileges lightly because of their sheer abundance. The Old Testament saints,
who were not as favoured as we are, could appreciate more readily than we do
the preciousness of this gift of the outpoured Spirit. In their day it was a
gift given only to the select few -- chiefly to priests, judges, kings and
prophets -- whereas now it is the portion of every child of God. Think! we who
are mere nonentities can have the same Spirit resting upon us as rested upon
Moses the friend of God, upon David the beloved king, and upon Elijah the
mighty prophet. By receiving the gift of the outpoured Holy Spirit we join the
ranks of God's chosen servants of the Old Testament dispensation. Once we see
the value of this gift of God, and realize too our deep need of it, we shall
immediately ask, How can I receive the Holy Spirit in this way to equip me with
spiritual gifts and to empower me for service? Upon what basis has the Spirit
been given?
The Spirit Outpoured
Let us turn first to Acts chapter 2 verses 32
to 36:
"(32) This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. (33) Being
therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and
hear. (34) For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The
Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, (35) Till I make thine
enemies the footstool of thy feet.(36) Let all the house of Israel therefore
know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye
crucified."
Let us for the moment set verses 34 and 35
aside and consider verses 33 and 36 together. The former are a quotation from
the 110th Psalm and are really a parenthesis, so we shall get the force of
Peter's argument better if we ignore them for the time being. In verse 33
Peter states that the Lord Jesus was exalted "at the right hand of God" (mg.).
What was the result? He "received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost". And what followed? Pentecost! The result of His exaltation was --
"this, which ye see and hear".
What, then, was the basis upon which the Spirit
was first given to the Lord Jesus to be poured out upon His people? It was His
exaltation to Heaven. This passage makes it absolutely clear that the Holy
Spirit was poured out because the Lord Jesus was exalted. The outpouring of
the Spirit has no relation to your merits or mine, but only to the merits of
the Lord Jesus. The question of what we are does not come into
consideration at all here, but only what He is. He is glorified;
therefore the Spirit is poured out.
Because the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, I have
received forgiveness of sins; because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, I have
received new life; because the Lord Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of
the Father, I have received the outpoured Spirit. All is because of Him;
nothing is because of me. Remission of sins is not based on human merit, but
on the Lord's crucifixion; regeneration is not based on human merit, but on the
Lord's resurrection; and the enduement with the Holy Spirit is not based on
human merit, but on the Lord's exaltation. The Holy Spirit has not been poured
out on you or me to prove how great we are, but to prove the greatness of the
Son of God.
Now look at verse 36. There is a word here which
demands our careful attention: the word `therefore'. How is this word
generally used? Not to introduce a statement, but to follow a statement that
has already been made. Its use always implies that something has been
mentioned before. Now what has preceded this particular `therefore'? With
what is it connected? It cannot reasonably be connected with either verse 34
or verse 35, but it quite obviously relates back to verse 33. Peter has just
referred to the outpouring of the Spirit upon the disciples "which ye see and
hear", and he says: "Let all the house of Israel therefore know
assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye
crucified". Peter says, in effect, to his audience: `This outpouring of the
Spirit, which you have witnessed with your own eyes and ears, proves that Jesus
of Nazareth whom ye crucified is now both Lord and Christ'. The Holy Spirit
was poured out on earth to prove what had taken place in Heaven -- the
exaltation of Jesus of Nazareth to the right hand of God. The purpose of
Pentecost is to prove the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
There was a young man named Joseph, who was
dearly loved of his father. One day news reached the father of the death of
his son, and for years Jacob lamented Joseph's loss. But Joseph was not in the
grave; he was in a place of glory and power. After Jacob had been mourning the
death of his son for years, it was suddenly reported to him that Joseph was
alive and in a high position in Egypt. At first Jacob could not take it in.
It was too good to be true. But ultimately he was persuaded that the story of
Joseph's exaltation was really a fact. How did he come to believe in it? He
went out, and saw the chariots that Joseph had sent from Egypt.
What do the chariots represent here? They surely
typify here the Holy Spirit, sent both to be the evidence that God's Son is in
glory and to convey us there. How do we know that Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified by wicked men nearly two thousand years ago, did not just die a
martyr's death but is at the Father's right hand in glory? How can we know for
a surety that He is Lord of lords and King of kings? We can know it beyond
dispute because He has poured out His Spirit upon us. Hallelujah! Jesus
is Lord! Jesus is Christ! Jesus of Nazareth is both Lord
and Christ!
The exaltation of the Lord Jesus is the basis on
which the Spirit has been given. Is it possible then that the Lord has
been glorified and you have not received the Spirit? On what basis did
you receive forgiveness of sins? Was it because you prayed so earnestly, or
because you read your Bible from cover to cover, or because of your regular
attendance at Church? Was it because of your merits at all? No! A thousand
times, No! On what ground then were your sins forgiven? "Apart from shedding
of blood there is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). The sole ground of forgiveness
is the shedding of blood; and since the precious Blood has been shed, your sins
have been forgiven.
Now the principle on which we receive the
enduement of the Holy Spirit is the very same as that on which we receive
forgiveness of sins. The Lord has been crucified, therefore our sins have been
forgiven; the Lord has been glorified, therefore the Spirit has been poured out
upon us. Is it possible that the Son of God shed His Blood and that your sins,
dear child of God, have not been forgiven? Never! Then is it possible that
the Son of God has been glorified and you have not received the Spirit?
Never!
Some of you may say: I agree with all this, but
I have no experience of it. Am I to sit down smugly and say I have everything,
when I know perfectly well I have nothing? No, we must never rest content with
objective facts alone. We need subjective experience also; but that experience
will only come as we rest upon Divine facts. God's facts are the basis of our
experience.
Let us go back again to the question of
justification. How were you justified? Not by doing anything at all, but by
accepting the fact that the Lord had done everything. Enduement with the Holy
Spirit becomes yours in exactly the same way as justification, not by your
doing anything yourself, but by your putting your faith in what the Lord has
already done.
If we lack the experience, we must ask God for a
revelation of the eternal fact of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as the gift of
the exalted Lord to His Church. Once we see that, effort will cease, and
prayer will give place to praise. It was a revelation of what the Lord had
done for the world that brought to an end our efforts to secure forgiveness of
sins, and it is a revelation of what the Lord has done for His Church that will
bring to an end our efforts to secure the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We work
because we have not seen the work of Christ. But when once we have seen that,
faith will spring up in our hearts, and as we believe, experience will
follow.
Some time ago a young man, who had only been a
Christian for five weeks and who had formerly been violently opposed to the
gospel, attended a series of meetings which I was addressing in Shanghai. At
the close of one in which I was speaking along the above lines, he went home
and began to pray earnestly, `Lord, I do want the power of the Holy Spirit.
Seeing Thou hast now been glorified, wilt Thou not now pour out Thy Spirit upon
me?' Then he corrected himself: `Oh no, Lord, that's all wrong!' and began to
pray again: `Lord Jesus, we are in a life-partnership, Thou and I, and the
Father has promised us two things -- glory for Thee, and the Spirit for me.
Thou, Lord, hast received the glory; therefore it is unthinkable that I have
not received the Spirit. Lord, I praise Thee! Thou hast already received the
glory, and I have already received the Spirit.' From that day the power of the
Spirit was consciously upon him.
Faith Is Again The Key
As for forgiveness, so equally for the coming
upon us of the Holy Spirit, the whole question is one of faith. As soon as we
see the Lord Jesus on the Cross, we know our sins are forgiven; and as soon as
we see the Lord Jesus on the Throne, we know the Holy Spirit has been poured
out upon us. The basis upon which we receive the enduement of the Holy Spirit
is not our praying and fasting and waiting, but the exaltation of Christ.
Those who emphasize tarrying and hold `tarrying meetings' only mislead us, for
the gift is not for the `favoured few' but for all, because it is not given on
the ground of what we are at all, but of what Christ is. The Spirit has been
poured out to prove His goodness and greatness, not ours. Christ has
been crucified, therefore we have been forgiven: Christ has been glorified,
therefore we have been endued with power from on high. It is all because of
Him.
Suppose an unbeliever expresses the desire to be
saved, and you explain to him the way of salvation and pray with him. Suppose
then he prays after this fashion: `Lord Jesus, I believe Thou hast died for me,
and that Thou canst blot out all my sins. I truly believe Thou wilt forgive
me.' Have you any confidence that that man is saved? When will you rest
assured that he has really been born again? Not when he prays: `Lord, I
believe Thou wilt forgive my sins', but when he says: `Lord, I praise
Thee that Thou hast forgiven my sins. Thou hast died for me;
therefore my sins are blotted out' You believe a person is saved when
prayer turns to praise -- when he ceases to ask the Lord to forgive him, but
praises Him that He has already done so because the Blood of the Lamb has
already been shed.
In the same way, you can pray and wait for years
and never experience the Spirit's power; but when you cease to plead with the
Lord to pour out His Spirit upon you, and when instead you trustfully praise
Him that the Spirit has been poured out because the Lord Jesus has
been glorified, you will find that your problem is solved. Praise God! no
single child of His need agonize, nor even wait, for the Spirit to be given.
Jesus is not going to be made Lord; He is Lord. Therefore I am
not going to receive the Spirit; I have received the Spirit. It
is all a question of the faith which comes by revelation. When our eyes are
opened to see that the Spirit has already been poured out because Jesus has
already been glorified, then prayer turns to praise in our hearts.
All spiritual blessings are given on a definite
basis. God's gifts are freely given, but there are conditions which must be
fulfilled on our part before the reception of them is possible. There is a
passage in God's Word which makes the conditions of the outpoured Spirit
perfectly clear: "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him" (Acts
2:38,39).
Four things are mentioned in this passage:
Repentance, Baptism, Forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit. The first two are
conditions, the second two are gifts. What are the conditions to be fulfilled
if we are to have forgiveness of sins? According to the Word they are two:
repentance and baptism.
The first condition is repentance, which means a
change of mind. Formerly I thought sin a pleasant thing, but now I have
changed my mind about it; formerly I thought the world an attractive place, but
now I know better; formerly I regarded it a miserable business to be a
Christian, but now I think differently. Once I thought certain things
delightful, now I think them vile; once I thought other things utterly
worthless, now I think them most precious. That is a change of mind, and that
is repentance. No life can be truly changed apart from such a change of
mind.
The second condition is baptism. Baptism is an
outward expression of an inward faith. When in my heart I truly believe that I
have died with Christ, have been buried and have risen with Him, then I ask for
baptism. I thereby declare publicly what I believe privately. Baptism is
faith in action.
Here then are two divinely appointed conditions
of forgiveness -- repentance, and faith publicly expressed. Have you repented?
Have you testified publicly to your union with your Lord? Then have you
received remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost? You say you have
only received the first gift, not the second. But, my friend, God offered you
two things if you fulfilled two conditions! Why have you only taken one? What
are you doing about the second?
Suppose I went into a book-shop, selected a
two-volume book, priced at ten shillings, and, having put down a ten-shilling
note, walked out of the shop, carelessly leaving one volume on the counter.
When I reached home and discovered the oversight, what do you think I should
do? I should go straight back to the shop to get the forgotten book, but I
should not dream of paying anything for it. I should simply explain to the
shopkeeper that both volumes were duly paid for, and ask him if he would
therefore kindly let me have the second one; and without any further payment I
should march happily out of the shop with my possession under my arm. Would
you not do the same under the same circumstances?
But you are under the same circumstances.
If you have fulfilled the conditions you are entitled to two gifts, not just
one. You have already taken the one; why not just come and take the other now?
Say to the Lord, `Lord, I have complied with the conditions for receiving
remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, but I have foolishly only
taken the former. Now I have come back to take the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
I praise Thee for it.'
The Diversity Of The Experience
But you ask: `How shall I know that the Holy
Spirit is come upon me?' I cannot tell how you will know, but you
will know. No description has been given us of the personal sensations
and emotions of the disciples at Pentecost. We do not know exactly how they
felt, but we do know that their feelings and behaviour were somewhat abnormal,
because people seeing them said they were intoxicated. When the Holy Spirit
falls upon God's people there will be some things which the world cannot
account for. There will be supernatural accompaniments of some kind, though it
be no more than an overwhelming sense of the Divine Presence. We cannot and we
must not stipulate what particular form such outward expressions will take in
any given case, but one thing is sure, that each one upon whom the Spirit of
God falls will know it.
When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at
Pentecost there was something quite extraordinary about their behaviour, and
Peter offered an explanation from God's Word to all who witnessed it. This, in
substance, is what he said: `When the Holy Spirit falls upon believers, some
will prophesy, some will dream dreams, and others will see visions. This is
what God has stated through the prophet Joel.' But did Peter prophesy? Well,
hardly in the sense in which Joel meant it. Did the hundred and twenty
prophesy or see visions? We are not told that they did. Did they dream
dreams? How could they, for were they not all wide awake? Well then, what did
Peter mean by using a quotation that seems scarcely to fit the case at all? In
the passage quoted (Joel 2:28,29), prophesy, dreams and visions are said to
accompany the outpouring of the Spirit, yet these evidences were apparently
lacking at Pentecost.
On the other hand, Joel's prophecy said not a
word about "a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind", nor about "tongues
parting asunder like as of fire" as accompaniments of the Spirit's outpouring;
yet these were manifest in that upper room. And where in Joel do we find
mention of speaking in other tongues? And yet the disciples at Pentecost did
so.
What did Peter mean? Imagine him quoting God's
Word to show that the experience of Pentecost was the outpouring of the Spirit
spoken of by Joel, without a single one of the evidences mentioned by Joel
being found at Pentecost. What the Book mentioned the disciples lacked, and
what the disciples had the Book did not mention! It looks as though Peter's
quotation of the Book disproves his point rather than proving it. What is the
explanation of this mystery?
Let us recall that Peter was himself speaking
under the control of the Holy Spirit. The Book of the Acts was written by the
Spirit's inspiration, and not one word was spoken at random. There is no
misfit, but a perfect harmony. Note carefully that Peter did not say: `What
you see and hear fulfills what was spoken by the prophet Joel'. What he said
was: "This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16). It
was not a case of fulfillment, but of an experience of the same order.
"This is that" means that `this which you see and hear is of the same order as
that which is foretold'. When it is a case of fulfillment, each experience is
reduplicated and prophecy is prophecy, dreams are dreams, and visions are
visions; but when Peter says "This is that", it is not a question of the one
being a replica of the other, but of the one belonging to the same category as
the other. "This" amounts to the same thing as "that"; "this" is the
equivalent of "that"; "this is that". What is being emphasized by the
Holy Spirit through Peter is the diversity of the experience. The outward
evidences may be many and varied, and we have to admit that occasionally they
are strange; but the Spirit is one, and He is Lord. (See Corinthians
12:4-6).
What happened to R.A. Torrey when the Holy Spirit
came upon him after he had been a minister for years? Let him tell it in his
own words:
`I recall the exact spot where I was kneeling in prayer in my study ... It was
very quiet moment, one of the most quiet moments I ever knew ... Then God
simply said to me, not in any audible voice, but in my heart. "It's yours.
Now go and preach." He had already said it to me in His Word in 1 John
5:14,15; but I did not then know my Bible as I know it now, and God had pity on
my ignorance and said it directly to my soul... I went and preached, and I have
been a new minister from that day to this... Some time after this experience (I
do not recall just how long after), while sitting in my room one day ...
suddenly ... I found myself shouting (I was not brought up to shout and I am
not of a shouting temperament, but I shouted like the loudest shouting
Methodist), "Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God", and I could not stop.
... But that was not when I was baptized with the Holy Spirit. I was baptized
with the Holy Spirit when I took Him by simple faith in The Word of God.'[10]
The outward manifestations in Torrey's case
were not the same as those described by Joel or by Peter, but "this is that".
It is not a facsimile, yet it is the same thing.
And how did D.L. Moody feel and act when the
Spirit came upon him?
`I was crying all the time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one
day, in the city of New York -- oh, what a day! -- I cannot describe it, I
seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an
experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say that God
revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to
ask Him to stay His hand. I went preaching again. The sermons were not
different; I did not present any new truths; and yet hundreds were converted.
I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if
you should give me all the world - it would be as the small dust of the
balance.;[11]
The outward manifestation that accompanied
Moody's experience did not tally exactly with Joel's description, or Peter's,
or Torrey's, but who could doubt that "this" which Moody experienced was "that"
experienced by the disciples at Pentecost? It was not the same in
manifestation, but it was the very same in essence.
And what was the experience of the great Charles
Finney when the power of the Holy Ghost came upon him?
`I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost without any expectation of it,
without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for
me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any
person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed
to go through me body and soul. No words can express the wonderful love that
was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love.'[12]
Finney's experience was not a duplicate of
Pentecost, nor of Torrey's experience, nor of Moody's; but "this" certainly was
"that".
When the Holy Spirit is poured out upon God's
people their experiences will differ widely. Some will receive new vision,
others will know a new liberty in soul-winning, others will proclaim the Word
of God with power, and yet others will be filled with heavenly joy or
overflowing praise. "This ... and this ... and this ... is that!" Let us
praise the Lord for every new experience that relates to the exaltation of
Christ and of which it can truly be said that "this" is an evidence of "that".
There is nothing stereotyped about God's dealings with His children. Therefore
we must not by our prejudices and preconceptions make a water-tight compartment
for the working of His Spirit, either in our own lives or in the lives of
others. This applies equally to those who require some particular
manifestation (such as `speaking with tongues') as evidence that the spirit has
come upon them and to those who deny that any manifestation is given at all.
We must leave God free to work as He wills, and to give what evidence He
pleases of the work He does. He is Lord, and it is not for us to legislate for
Him.
Let us rejoice that Jesus is on the throne, and
let us praise Him that, since He has been glorified, the Spirit has been poured
out upon us all. As we accept the Divine fact in all the simplicity of faith,
we shall know it with such assurance in our own experience that we shall dare
to proclaim with confidence -- "This is that!"
The Spirit Indwelling
We move on now to the second aspect of the
gift of the Holy Spirit, which, as we shall see in our next chapter, is more
particularly the subject of Romans 8. It is that which we have spoken of as
the Spirit indwelling. "If so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ..."
(Romans 8:9). "If the Spirit outpoured, so with the Spirit indwelling, if we
are to know in experienced that which is ours in fact, our first need is of
Divine revelation. When we see Christ as Lord objectively -- that is, as
exalted to the throne in Heaven -- then we shall experience the power of the
Spirit upon us. When we see Christ as Lord subjectively -- that is, as
effective Ruler within our lives -- then we shall know the power of the Spirit
within us.
A revelation of the indwelling Spirit was the
remedy Paul offered the Corinthian Christians for their unspirituality. It is
important to note that the Christians in Corinth had become preoccupied with
the visible signs of the Holy Spirit's outpouring and were making much of
`tongues' and miracles, while at the same time their lives were full of
contradictions and were a reproach to the Lord's Name. They had quite
evidently received the Holy Spirit and yet they remained spiritually immature;
and the remedy God offered them for this is the remedy He offers His Church
today for the same complaint.
In his letter to them Paul wrote: "Know ye
not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). For others he prayed for enlightenment of heart,
"...that ye may know" (Ephesians 1:18). A knowledge of Divine facts was
the need of the Christians then, and it is no less the need of Christians
today. W need the `opening of the eyes of our understanding' that we may know
that God Himself through the Holy Spirit has taken up His abode in our hearts.
God is present in the person of the Spirit, and Christ is present in the person
of the Spirit too. Thus if the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts we have the
Father and the Son dwelling within. That is no mere theory or doctrine, but a
blessed reality. We may perhaps have realized that the Spirit is actually
within our hearts, but have we realized that He is a Person? Have we
understood that to have the Spirit within us it to have the living God
within?
To many Christians the Holy Spirit is quite
unreal. They regard Him as a mere influence -- and influence for good, no
doubt, but just an influence for all that. In their thinking, conscience and
the Spirit are more or less identified as some `thing' within them that brings
them to book when they are bad and tries to show them how to be good. The
trouble with the Corinthian Christians was not that they lacked the indwelling
Spirit but that they lacked the knowledge of His presence. They failed to
realize the greatness of the One who had come to make His abode in their
hearts; so Paul wrote to them: "Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Yes, that was the remedy for their
unspirituality -- just to know who He really was who dwelt within.
The Treasure In The Vessel
Do you know, my friends, that the Spirit
within you is very God? Oh that our eyes were opened to see the greatness of
God's gift! Oh that we might realize the vastness of the resources secreted in
our own hearts! I could shout with joy as I think, `The Spirit who dwells
within me is no mere influence, but a living Person; He is very God. The
infinite God is within my heart!' I am at a loss to convey to you the
blessedness of this discovery, that the Holy Spirit dwelling within my heart is
a Person. I can only repeat: `He is a Person!' and repeat it again: `He is a
Person!' and repeat it yet again: `He is a Person!' Oh, my friends, I would
fain repeat it to you a hundred times -- The Spirit of God within me is a
Person! I am only an earthen vessel, but in that earthen vessel I carry a
treasure of unspeakable worth, even the Lord of glory.
All the worry and fret of God's children would
end if their eyes were opened to see the greatness of the treasure hid in their
hearts. Do you know, there are resources enough in your own heart to meet the
demand of every circumstance in which you will ever find yourself? Do you know
there is power enough there to move the city in which you live? Do you know
there is power enough to shake the universe? Let me tell you once more -- I
say it with the utmost reverence: You who have been born again of the Spirit
of God -- you carry God in your heart!
All the flippancy of the children of God would
cease too if they realized the greatness of the treasure deposited within them.
If you have only ten shillings in your pocket you can march gaily along the
street, talking lightly as you go, and swinging your stick in the air. It
matters little if you lose your money, for there is not much at stake. But if
you carry a thousand pounds in your pocket, the position is vastly different,
and your whole demeanour will be different too. There will be great gladness
in your heart, but no careless jaunting along the road; and once in a while you
will slacken your pace and, slipping your hand into your pocket, you will
quietly finger your treasure again, and then with joyful solemnity continue on
your way.
In Old Testament times there were hundreds of
tents in the camp of Israel, but there was one tent quite different from all
the rest. In the common tents you could do just as you pleased -- eat or fast,
work or rest, be joyful or sober, noisy or silent. But that other tent was a
tent that commanded reverence and awe. You might move in and out of the common
tents talking noisily and laughing gaily, but as soon as you neared that
special tent you instinctively walked more quietly, and when you stood right
before it you bowed your head in solemn silence. No one could touch it with
impunity. If man or beast dared to do so, death was the sure penalty. What
was so very special about it? It was the temple of the living God.
There was little unusual about the tent itself, for it was outwardly of very
ordinary material, but the great God had chosen to make it His abode.
Do you realize what happened at your conversion?
God came into your heart and made it His temple. In Old Testament days God
dwelt in a temple made of stone; today He dwells in a temple composed of living
believers. When we really see that God has made our hearts His dwelling place,
what a deep reverence will come over our lives! All lightness, all frivolity
will end, and all self-pleasing too, when we know that we are the temple
of God and that the Spirit of God dwells within us. Has it really come to you
that wherever you go you carry with you the Holy Spirit of God? You do not
just carry your Bible with you, or even much good teaching about God, but God
Himself.
The reason why many Christians do not experience
the power of the Spirit, though He actually dwells in their hearts, is that
they lack reverence. And they lack reverence because they have not had their
eyes opened to the fact of His presence. The fact is there, but they have not
seen it. Why is it that some Christians are living victorious lives while
others live in a state of constant defeat? The difference is not accounted for
by the presence or absence of the Spirit (for He dwells in the heart of every
child of God) but by this, that some recognize His indwelling and others do
not. True revelation of the fact of the Spirit's indwelling will revolutionize
the life of any Christian.
The Absolute Lordship Of Christ
"Know ye not that your body is a temple of
the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your
own; for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body" (1
Cor. 6:19,20).
This verse now takes us a stage further, for,
when once we have made the discovery of the fact that we are the dwelling place
of God, then a full surrender of ourselves to God must follow. When we see
that we are the temple of God we shall immediately recognize that we are not
our own. Consecration will follow revelation. The difference between
victorious Christians and defeated ones is not that some have the Spirit while
others have not, but that some know His indwelling and others do not,
and that consequently some recognize the Divine ownership of their lives while
others are still their own masters.
Revelation is the first step to holiness, and
consecration is the second. A day must come in our lives, as definite as the
day of our conversion, when we give up all right to ourselves and submit to the
absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ. There may be a practical issue raised by
God to test the reality of our consecration, but whether that be so or not,
there must be a day when, without reservation, we surrender everything to Him
-- ourselves, our families, our possessions, our business and our time. All we
are and have becomes His, to be held henceforth entirely at His disposal.
>From that day we are no longer our own masters, but only stewards. Not
until the Lordship of Jesus Christ is a settled thing in our hearts can the
Spirit really operate effectively in us. He cannot direct our lives
effectually until all control of them is committed to Him. If we do not give
Him absolute authority in our lives, He can be present, but He cannot be
powerful. The power of the Spirit is stayed.
Are you living for the Lord or for yourself?
Perhaps that is too general a question, so let me be more specific. Is there
anything God is asking of you that you are withholding from Him? Is there any
point of contention between you and Him? Not till every controversy is settled
and the Holy Spirit is given full sway can He reproduce the life of Christ in
the heart of any believer.
An American friend, now with the Lord, whose name
we will call Paul, cherished the hope from his early youth that one day he
would be called `Dr. Paul'. When he was quite a little chap he began to dream
of the day when he would enter the university, and he imagined himself first
studying for his M.A. degree and then for his Ph.D. Then at length the glad
day would arrive when all would greet him as `Dr. Paul'.
The Lord saved him and called him to preach, and
before long he became pastor of a large congregation. By that time he had his
degree and was studying for his doctorate, but, despite splendid progress in
his studies and a good measure of success as a pastor, he was a very
dissatisfied man. He was a Christian, but his life was not Christ-like; he had
the Spirit of God within him, but he did not enjoy the Spirit's presence or
experience His power. He thought to himself, `I am a preacher of the Gospel
and the pastor of a church. I tell my people they should love the Word of God,
but I do not really love it myself. I exhort them to pray, but I myself have
little inclination to pray. I tell them to live a holy life, but my own life
is not holy. I warn them not to love the world, and, though outwardly I shun
it, yet in my heart I myself still love it dearly.' In his distress he cried
to the Lord to cause him to know the power of the indwelling Spirit, but though
he prayed and prayed for months, no answer came. Then he fasted and besought
the Lord to show him any hindrance there might be in his life. That answer was
not long in coming, and it was this: `I long that you should know the power of
My Spirit, but your heart is set on something that I do not wish you to have.
You have yielded to me all but one thing, and that one thing you are holding to
yourself -- your Ph.D.' Well, to you or me it might be of little consequence
whether we were addressed as plain `Mr. Paul' or as `Dr. Paul', but to him it
was his very life. He had dreamed of it from childhood and labored for it all
through his youth, and now the thing he prized above all was almost within his
grasp. In two short months it would be his.
So he reasoned with the Lord in this wise: `Is
there any harm for me to be a Doctor of Philosophy? Will it not bring much
more glory to Thy Name to have a Dr. Paul preaching the Gospel than a plain Mr.
Paul?' But God does not change His mind, and all Mr. Paul's sound reasoning did
not alter the Lord's word to him. Every time he prayed about the matter he got
the same answer. Then, reasoning having failed, he resorted to bargaining with
the Lord. He promised to go here or there, to do this or that, if only the
Lord would allow him to have his doctor's degree; but still the Lord did not
change His mind. And all the while Mr. Paul was becoming more and more hungry
to know the fullness of the Spirit. This state of affairs continued to within
two days of his final examination.
It was Saturday, and Mr. Paul settled down to
prepare his sermon for the following day, but, study as he would, he could get
no message. The ambition of a lifetime was just within reach of realization,
but God made it clear that he must choose between the power he could sway
through a doctor's degree and the power of God's Spirit swaying his life. That
evening he yielded. `Lord', he said, `I am willing to be plain Mr. Paul all my
days, but I want to know the power of the Holy Ghost in my life.'
He rose from his knees and wrote a letter to his
examiners, asking to be excused from the examination on the Monday, and giving
his reason. Then he retired, very happy, but not conscious of any unusual
experience. Next morning he told his congregation that for the first time in
six years he had no sermon to preach, and explained how it came about. The
Lord blessed that testimony more abundantly than any of his well-prepared
sermons, and from that time God blessed and owned him in an altogether new way.
From that day he knew separation from the world, no longer as an outward thing
but as a deep inward reality, and in daily experience he knew the blessedness
of the Spirit's presence and power.
God is waiting for a settlement of all our
controversies with Him. With Mr. Paul it was a question of his doctor's
degree, but with us it may be something quite different. Our absolute
surrender of ourselves to the Lord generally hinges upon some one particular
thing, and God is after that one thing. He must have it, for He must have our
all. I was greatly impressed by something a great national leader wrote in his
autobiography: `I want nothing for myself; I want everything for my country.'
If a man can be willing that his country should have everything and he himself
nothing, cannot we say to our God: `Lord, I want nothing for myself; I want all
for Thee. I will what Thou willest, and I want to have nothing
outside Thy will.' Not until we take the place of a servant can He take His
place as Lord. He is not calling us to devote ourselves to His cause: He is
asking us to yield ourselves to His will. Are you willing for anything He
wills?
Another friend of mine, like my friend Mr. Paul,
had a controversy with the Lord. before his conversion he fell in love, and as
soon as he was saved he sought to win the one he loved to the Lord, but she
would have nothing to do with spiritual things. the Lord made it clear to him
that his relations with that girl must be broken of, but he was deeply devoted
to her, so he evaded the issue and continued to serve the Lord and to win souls
for Him. But he became conscious of his need for holiness, and that
consciousness marked the beginning of dark days for him. He asked for the
Spirit's fullness that he might have power to live a holy life, but the Lord
seemed continually to ignore his request.
One morning he had to preach in another city and
he spoke from Psalm 73:25: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none
upon earth that I desire beside thee." On his return home he went to a prayer
meeting, and there a sister read out the very same verse from which, unknown to
her, he had just preached, and followed it with the question: `Can we truly
say: "There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee"?' There was power in
that word. It struck right home to his heart and he had to admit to himself
that he could not truthfully say that he desired no one in Heaven or earth
apart from his Lord. He saw, there and then, that for him everything hinged
upon his willingness to give up the girl he loved.
For some it might not have involved much, but for
him it was everything. So he began to reason with the Lord: `Lord I will go to
Tibet and work for Thee there if I may marry that girl'. But the Lord seemed
to care a great deal more about his relationship with that girl than about his
going to Tibet, and no amount of reasoning on his part availed to effect any
change of emphasis on the part of the Lord. The controversy went on for
several months, and when again the young man pleaded for the fullness of the
Spirit, the Lord still pointed to the same thing. But that day the Lord
triumphed, and that young man looked up to Him and said: `Lord, I can truly say
now, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I
desire beside thee".' And that was the beginning of a new life for him.
A forgiven sinner is quite different from an
ordinary sinner, and a consecrated Christian is quite different from an
ordinary Christian. May the Lord bring us to a definite issue regarding the
question of His Lordship. If we do yield wholly to Him and claim the power of
the indwelling Spirit, we need wait for no special feelings or supernatural
manifestations, but can simply look up and praise Him that something has
already happened. We can confidently thank Him that the glory of God has
already filled His temple. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" "Know ye not that your body is a
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have from God?"