The Deeper Christian Life – by Andrew Murray
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Title: The Deeper Christian Life
Creator(s): Murray, Andrew
Print Basis: Fleming H. Revell, 1895
Rights: Public Domain
CCEL Subjects: All; Practical
LC Call no: BV4501 .M7972
LC Subjects:
Practical theology
Practical religion. The Christian life
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THE DEEPER CHRISTIAN LIFE
AN AID TO ITS ATTAINMENT
BY
ANDREW MURRAY
AUTHOR OF “THE MASTER’S INDWELLING,”
“WITH CHRIST IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER,”
ETC., ETC.
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
CHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO
PUBLISHERS OF EVANGELICAL LITERATURE
COPYRIGHT 1895, BY
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
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I. DAILY FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
1. The first and chief need of our Christian life is, Fellowship with
God.
The Divine life within us comes from God, and is entirely dependent
upon Him. As I need every moment afresh the air to breathe, as the s
sun every moment afresh sends down its light, so it is only in direct
living communication with God that my soul can be strong.
The manna of one day was corrupt when the next day came. I must every
day have fresh grace from heaven, and I obtain it only in direct
waiting upon God Himself. Begin each day by tarrying before God, and
letting Him touch you. Take time to meet God.
2. To this end, let your first act in your devotion be a setting
yourself still before God. In prayer, or worship, everything depends
upon God taking the chief place. I must bow quietly before Him in
humble faith and adoration, speaking thus within my heart: “God is.
God is near. God is love, longing to communicate Himself to me. God
the Almighty One, Who worketh all in all, is even now waiting to work
in me, and make Himself known.” Take time, till you know God is very
near.
3. When you have given God His place of honour, glory, and power, take
your place of deepest lowliness, and seek to be filled with the Spirit
of humility. As a creature it is your blessedness to be nothing that
God may be all in you. As a sinner you are not worthy to look up to
God; bow in self-abasement. As a saint, let God’s love overwhelm you,
and bow you still lower down. Sink down before Him in humility,
meekness, patience, and surrender to His goodness and mercy. He will
exalt you. Oh! Take time, to get very low before God.
4. Then accept and value your place in Christ Jesus. God delights in
nothing but His beloved Son, and can be satisfied with nothing else in
those who draw nigh to Him. Enter deep into God’s holy presence in the
boldness which the blood gives, and in the assurance that in Christ
you are most well pleasing. In Christ you are within the veil. You
have access into the very heart and love of the Father. This is the
great object of fellowship with God, that I may have more of God in my
life, and that God may see Christ formed in me. Be silent before God
and let Him bless you.
5. This Christ is a living Person. He loves you with a personal love,
and He looks every day for the personal response of your love. Look
into His face with trust, till His love really shines into your heart.
Make His heart glad by telling Him that you do love Him. He offers
Himself to you as a personal Saviour and Keeper from the power of sin.
Do not ask, can I be kept from sinning, if I keep close to Him? But
ask can I be kept from sinning, if He always keeps close to me? And
you see at once how safe it is to trust Him.
6. We have not only Christ’s life in us as a power, and His presence
with us as a person, but we have His likeness to be wrought into us.
He is to be formed in us, so that His form or figure, His likeness,
can be seen in us. Bow before God until you get some sense of the
greatness and blessedness of the work to be carried on by God in you
this day. Say to God, “Father, here am I for Thee to give as much in
me of Christ’s likeness as I can receive.” And wait to hear Him say,
“My child, I give thee as much of Christ as thy heart is open to
receive.” The God who revealed Jesus in the flesh and perfected Him,
will reveal Him in thee and perfect thee in Him. The Father loves the
Son, and delights to work out His image and likeness in thee. Count
upon it that this blessed work will be done in thee as thou waitest on
thy God, and holdest fellowship with Him.
7. The likeness to Christ consists chiefly in two things–the likeness
of His death and resurrection, (Rom. 6:5). The death of Christ was the
consummation of His humility and obedience, the entire giving up of
His life to God. In Him we are dead to sin. As we sink down in
humility and dependence and entire surrender to God, the power of His
death works in us, and we are made conformable to His death. And so we
know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the victory over sin,
and all the joy and power of the risen life. Therefore every morning,
“present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead.”
He will maintain the life He gave, and bestow the grace to live as
risen ones.
8. All this can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in
you. Count upon Him to glorify Christ in you. Count upon Christ to
increase in you the inflowing of His Spirit. As you wait before God to
realize His presence, remember that the Spirit is in you to reveal the
things of God. Seek in God’s presence to have the anointing of the
Spirit of Christ so truly that your whole life may every moment be
spiritual.
9. As you meditate on this wondrous salvation and seek full fellowship
with the great and holy God, and wait on Him to reveal Christ in you,
you will feel how needful the giving up of all is to receive Him. Seek
grace to know what it means to live as wholly for God as Christ did.
Only the Holy Spirit Himself can teach you what an entire yielding of
the whole life to God can mean. Wait on God to show you in this what
you do not know. Let every approach to God, and every request for
fellowship with Him be accompanied by a new, very definite, and entire
surrender to Him to work in you.
10. “By faith” must here, as through all Scripture, and all the
spiritual life, be the keynote. As you tarry before God, let it be in
a deep quiet faith in Him, the Invisible One, who is so near, so holy,
so mighty, so loving. In a deep, restful faith too, that all the
blessings and powers of the heavenly life are around you, and in you.
Just yield yourself in the faith of a perfect trust to the Ever
Blessed Holy Trinity to work out all God’s purpose in you. Begin each
day thus in fellowship with God, and God will be all in all to you.
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II. PRIVILEGE AND EXPERIENCE
“And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have
is thine .” –Luke 15:31.
The words of the text are familiar to us all. The elder son had
complained and said, that though his father had made a feast, and had
killed the fatted calf for the prodigal son, he had never given him
even a kid that he might make merry with his friends. The answer of
the father was: “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is
thine .” One cannot have a more wonderful revelation of the heart of
our Father in heaven than this points out to us. We often speak of the
wonderful revelation of the father’s heart in his welcome to the
prodigal son, and in what he did for him. But here we have a
revelation of the father’s love far more wonderful, in what he says to
the elder son.
If we are to experience a deepening of spiritual life, we want to
discover clearly what is the spiritual life that God would have us
live, on the one hand; and, on the other, to ask whether we are living
that life; or, if not, what hinders us living it out fully.
This subject naturally divides itself into these three heads:–I. The
high privilege of every child of God. 2. The low experience of too
many of us believers. 3. The cause of the discrepancy; and, lastly,
The way to the restoration of the privilege.
I. THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD.
We have here two things describing the privilege: –First, “Son, thou
art ever with me”–unbroken fellowship with thy Father is thy portion;
Second, “All that I have is thine “–all that God can bestow upon His
children is theirs.
“Thou are ever with me;” I am always near thee; thou canst dwell every
hour of thy life in My presence, and all I have is for thee. I am a
father, with a loving father’s heart. I will withhold no good thing
from thee. In these promises, we have the rich privilege of God’s
heritage. We have, in the first place, unbroken fellowship with Him. A
father never sends his child away with the thought that he does not
care about his child knowing that he loves him. The father longs to
have his child believe that he has the light of his father’s
countenance upon him all the day–that, if he sends the child away to
school, or anywhere that necessity compels, it is with a sense of
sacrifice of parental feelings. If it be so with an earthly father,
what think you of God? Does He not want every child of His to know
that he is constantly living in the light of His countenance? This is
the meaning of that word, “Son, thou art ever with me.”
That was the privilege of God’s people in Old Testament times. We are
told that “Enoch walked with God.” God’s promise to Jacob was:
“Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou
goest , and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave
thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” And God’s
promise to Israel through Moses, was: “My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest.” And in Moses’ response to the promise, he
says, “For wherein shall it be known that I and Thy people have found
grace in Thy sight? Is it not that Thou goest with us; so shall we be
separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the
face of the earth.” The presence of God with Israel was the mark of
their separation from other people. This is the truth taught in all
the Old Testament; and if so, how much more may we look for it in the
New Testament? Thus we find our Saviour promising to those who love
Him and who keep His word, that the Father also will love them, and
Father and Son will come and make Their abode with them.
Let that thought into your hearts–that the child of God is called to
this blessed privilege, to live every moment of his life in fellowship
with God. He is called to enjoy the full light of His countenance.
There are many Christians–I suppose the majority of Christians–who
seem to regard the whole of the Spirit’s work as confined to
conviction and conversion: –not so much that He came to dwell in our
hearts, and there reveal God to us. He came not to dwell near us, but
in us, that we might be filled with His indwelling. We are commanded
to be “filled with the Spirit;” then the Holy Spirit would make God’s
presence manifest to us. That is the whole teaching of the epistle to
the Hebrews: –the veil is rent in twain; we have access into the
holiest of all by the blood of Jesus; we come into the very presence
of God, so that we can live all the day with that presence resting
upon us. That presence is with us wheresoever we go; and in all kinds
of trouble, we have undisturbed repose and peace. “Son, thou art ever
with me.”
There are some people who seem to think that God, by some
unintelligible sovereignty, withdraws His face. But I know that God
loves His people too much to withhold His fellowship from them for any
such reason. The true reason of the absence of God from us is rather
to be found in our sin and unbelief, than in any supposed sovereignty
of His. If the child of God is walking in faith and obedience, the
Divine presence will be enjoyed in unbroken continuity.
Then there is the next blessed privilege: “All that I have is thine .”
Thank God, He has given us His own Son; and in giving Him, He has
given us all things that are in Him, He has given us Christ’s life,
His love, His Spirit, His glory. “All things are yours; and ye are
Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” All the riches of His Son, the
everlasting King, God bestows upon every one of His children. “Son,
thou art ever with me; and all that I have is thine .” Is not that the
meaning of all those wonderful promises given in connection with
prayer: “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, ye shall receive.”? Yes,
there it is. That is the life of the children of God, as He Himself
has pictured it to us.
2. In contrast with this high privilege of believers, look at
THE LOW EXPERIENCE OF TOO MANY OF US.
The elder son was living with his father and serving him “these many
years,” and he complains that his father never gave him a kid, while
he gave his prodigal brother the fatted calf. Why was this? Simply
because he did not ask it. He did not believe that he would get it,
and therefore never asked it, and never enjoyed it. He continued thus
to live in constant murmuring and dissatisfaction; and the keynote of
all this wretched life is furnished in what he said. His father gave
him everything, yet he never enjoyed it; and he throws the whole blame
on his loving and kind father. O beloved, is not that the life of many
a believer? Do not many speak and act in this way? Every believer has
the promise of unbroken fellowship with God, but he says, “I have not
enjoyed it; I have tried hard and done my best, and I have prayed for
the blessing, but I suppose God does not see fit to grant it.” But why
not? One says, it is the sovereignty of God withholding the blessing.
The father withheld not his gifts from the elder brother in
sovereignty; neither does our Heavenly Father withhold any good thing
from them that love Him. He does not make any such differences between
His children. “He is able to make all grace abound towards you” was
the promise equally made to all in the Corinthian church.
Some think these rich blessings are not for them, but for those who
have more time to devote to religion and prayer; or their
circumstances are so difficult, so peculiar, that we can have no
conception of their various hindrances. But do not such think that
God, if He places them in these circumstances, cannot make His grace
abound accordingly? They admit He could if He would, work a miracle
for them, which they can hardly expect. In some way, they, like the
elder son, throw the blame on God. Thus many are saying, when asked if
they are enjoying unbroken fellowship with God: –“Alas, no! I have
not been able to attain to such a height; it is too high for me. I
know of some who have it, and I read of it; but God has not given it
to me, for some reason.” But why not? You think, perhaps, that you
have not the same capacity for spiritual blessing that others have.
The Bible speaks of a joy that is “unspeakable and full of glory” as
the fruit of believing; of a “love of God shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost given unto us.” Do we desire it, do we? Why not get it?
Have we asked for it? We think we are not worthy of the blessing–we
are not good enough; and therefore God has not given it. There are
more among us than we know of, or are willing to admit, who throw the
blame of our darkness, and of our wanderings on God! Take care! Take
care! Take care!
And again, what about that other promise? The Father says, “All I have
is thine .” Are you rejoicing in the treasures of Christ? Are you
conscious of having an abundant supply for all your spiritual needs
every day? God has all these for you in abundance. “Thou never gavest
me a kid!” The answer is, “All that I have is thine . I gave it thee
in Christ.”
Dear reader, we have such wrong thoughts of God. What is God like? I
know no image more beautiful and instructive than that of the sun. The
sun is never weary of shining; –of pouring out his beneficent rays
upon both the good and the evil. You might close up the windows with
blinds or bricks, the sun would shine upon them all the same; though
we might sit in darkness, in utter darkness, the shining would be just
the same. God’s sun shines on every leaf; on every flower; on every
blade of grass; on everything that springs out of the ground. All
receive this wealth of sunshine until they grow to perfection and bear
fruit. Would He who made that sun be less willing to poor out His love
and life into me? The sun–what beauty it creates! And my God, –would
He not delight more in creating a beauty and a fruitfulness in me?
–Such, too, as He has promised to give? And yet some say, when asked
why they do not live in unbroken communion with God, “God does not
give it to me, I do not know why; but that is the only reason I can
give you–He has not given it to me.” You remember the parable of the
one who said, “I know thou art an hard master, reaping where thou hast
not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed ,” asking and
demanding what thou hast not given. Oh! Let us come and ask why it is
that the believer lives such a low experience.
3. THE CAUSE OF THIS DISCREPANCY BETWEEN GOD’S GIFTS, AND OUR LOW
EXPERIENCE.
The believer is complaining that God has never given him a kid. Or,
God has given him some blessing, but has never given the full
blessing. He has never filled him with His Spirit. “I never,” he says,
“had my heart, as a fountain, giving forth the rivers of living water
promised in John vii. 38.” What is the cause? The elder son thought he
was serving his father faithfully “these many years” in his father’s
house, but it was in the spirit of bondage and not in the spirit of a
child, so that his unbelief blinded him to the conception of a
father’s love and kindness, and he was unable all the time to see that
his father was ready, not only to give him a kid, but a hundred, or a
thousand kids, if he would have them. He was simply living in
unbelief, in ignorance, in blindness, robbing himself of the
privileges that the father had for him. So, if there be a discrepancy
between our life and the fulfilment and enjoyment of all God’s
promises, the fault is ours. If our experience be not what God wants
it to be, it is because of our unbelief in the love of God, in the
power of God, and in the reality of God’s promises.
God’s word teaches us, in the story of the Israelites, that it was
unbelief on their part that was the cause of their troubles, and not
any limitation or restriction on God’s part. As Psalm 78th says:–“He
clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the
great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused
waters to run down like rivers.” Yet they sinned by doubting His power
to provide meat for them–“They spake against God; they said, can God
furnish a table in the wilderness?” (vs. 15-19). Later on, we read in
v. 41, “They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of
Israel.” They kept distrusting Him from time to time. When they got to
Kadesh-Barnea , and God told them to enter the land flowing with milk
and honey where there would be rest, abundance, and victory, only two
men said, “Yes;” we can take possession, for God can make us conquer.”
But the ten spies, and the six hundred thousand men answered, “No; we
can never take the land; the enemies are too strong for us.” It was
simply unbelief that kept them out of the land of promise.
If there is to be any deepening of the spiritual life in us, we must
come to the discovery, and the acknowledgment of the unbelief there is
in our hearts. God grant that we may get this spiritual quickening,
and that we may come to see that it is by our unbelief that we have
prevented God from doing His work in us. Unbelief is the mother of
disobedience, and of all my sins and short comings–my temper, my
pride, my unlovingness , my worldliness, my sins of every kind. Though
these differ in nature and form, yet they all come from the one root,
viz , that we do not believe in the freedom and fullness of the Divine
gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and strengthen us, and fill us
with the life and grace of God all the day long. Look, I pray you, at
that elder son, and ask what was the cause of that terrible difference
between the heart of the father and the experience of the son. There
can be no answer but that it was this sinful unbelief that utterly
blinded the son to a sense of his father’s love.
Dear fellow believer, I want to say to you, that, if you are not
living in the joy of God’s salvation, the entire cause is your
unbelief. You do not believe in the mighty power of God, and that He
is willing by His Holy Spirit to work a thorough change in your life,
and enable you to live in fullness of consecration to Him. God is
willing that you should so live; but you do not believe it. If men
really believed in the infinite love of God, what a change it would
bring about! What is love? It is a desire to communicate oneself for
the good of the object loved–the opposite to selfishness; as we read
in 1 Cor. xiii. “Love seeketh not her own.” Thus the mother is willing
to sacrifice herself for the good of her child. So God in His love is
ever willing to impart blessing; and He is omnipotent in His love.
This is true, my friends; God is omnipotent in love, and He is doing
His utmost to fill every heart in this house. “But if God is really
anxious to do that, and if He is Almighty, why does He not do it now?”
You must remember, that God has given you a will, and by the exercise
of that will, you can hinder God, and remain content, like the elder
son, with the low life of unbelief. Come, now, and let us see the
cause of the difference between God’s high, blessed provision for His
children, and the low, sad experience of many of us in the unbelief
that distrusts and grieves Him.
4. THE WAY OF RESTORATION–HOW IS THAT TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT?
We all know the parable of the prodigal son and how many sermons have
been preached about repentance, from that parable. We are told that
“he came to himself and said, I will arise and go to my father, and
will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy
sight.” In preaching, we speak of this as the first step in a changed
life–as conversion, as repentance, confession, returning to God. But,
as this is the first step for the prodigal, we must remember that this
is also the step to be taken by His erring children–by all the
ninety-nine “who need no repentance,” or think they do not. Those
Christians who do not understand how wrong their low religious life is
must be taught that this is sin–unbelief; and that it is as necessary
that they should be brought to repentance as the prodigal. You have
heard a great deal of preaching repentance to the unconverted; but I
want to try to preach it to God’s children. We have a picture of so
many of God’s children in that elder brother. What the father told
him, to bring about a consideration of the love that He bore him, just
as he loved the prodigal brother, thus does God tell to us in our
contentedness with such a low life: –“You must repent and believe
that I love you, and all that I have is thine .” He says, “By your
unbelief, you have dishonoured me, living for ten, twenty, or thirty
years, and never believing what it was to live in the blessedness of
My love. You must confess the wrong you have done Me in this, and be
broken down in contrition of heart just as truly as the prodigal.”
There are many children of God who need to confess, that though they
are His children, they have never believed that God’s promises are
true, that He is willing to fill their hearts all the day long with
His blessed presence. Have you believed this? If you have not, all our
teaching will be of no profit to you. Will you not say, “By the help
of God, I will begin now a new life of faith, and will not rest until
I know what such a life means. I will believe that I am every moment
in the Father’s presence, and all that He has is mine?”
May the Lord God work this conviction in the hearts of all cold
believers. Have you ever heard the expression, “a conviction for
sanctification?” You know, the unconverted man needs a conviction
before conversion. So does the dark-minded Christian need conviction
before, and in order for sanctification, before he comes to a real
insight to spiritual blessedness. He must be convicted a second time
because of his sinful life of doubt, and temper, and unlovingness . He
must be broken down under that conviction; then there is hope for him.
May the Father of mercy grant all such that deep contrition, so that
they may be led into the blessedness of His presence, and enjoy the
fullness of His power and love!
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III. CARNAL OR SPIRITUAL?
“And Peter went out and wept bitterly.” — Luke 22:62 .
These words indicate the turning point in the life of Peter, –a
crisis. There is often a question about the life of holiness. Do you
grow into it? Or do you come into it by a crisis suddenly? Peter has
been growing for three years under the training of Christ, but he had
grown terribly downward, for the end of his growing was, he denied
Jesus. And then there came a crisis. After the crisis he was a changed
man, and then he began to grow aright. We must indeed grow in grace,
but before we can grow in grace we must be put right.
You know what the two halves of the life of Peter were. In God’s Word
we read very often about the difference between the carnal and the
spiritual Christian. The word “carnal” comes from the Latin word for
flesh. In Romans viii., and in Gal. v., we are taught that the flesh
and the Spirit of God are the two opposing powers by which we are
dominated or ruled, and we are taught that a true believer may allow
himself to be ruled by the flesh. That is what Paul writes to the
Corinthians. In the 3rd chapter, the first four verses, he says, four
times to them, “You are carnal, and not spiritual.” And just so a
believer can allow the flesh to have so much power over him that
becomes “carnal.” Every object is named according to its most
prominent characteristic. If a man is a babe in Christ and has a
little of the Holy Spirit and a great deal of the flesh, he is called
carnal, for the flesh is his chief mark. If he gives way, as the
Corinthians did, to strife, temper, division, and envy, he is a carnal
Christian. He is a Christian, but a carnal one. But if he gives
himself over entirely to the Holy Spirit so that He (the Holy Spirit)
can deliver from the temper, the envy, and the strife, by breathing a
heavenly disposition; and can mortify the deeds of the body; then
God’s Word calls him a “spiritual” man, a true spiritual Christian.
Now, these two styles are remarkably illustrated in the life of Peter.
The text is the crisis and turning point at which he begins to pass
over from the one side to the other.
The message that I want to bring to you is this: That the great
majority of Christians, alas, are not spiritual men, and that they may
become spiritual men by the grace of God. I want to come to all who
are perhaps hungering and longing for the better life, and asking what
is wrong that you are without it, to point out that what is wrong is
just one thing,– allowing the flesh to rule in you, and trusting in
the power of the flesh to make you good.
There is a better life, a life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then, I want to tell you a third thing. The first thing is important,
take care of the carnal life, and confess if you are in it. The second
truth is very blessed, there is a spiritual life; believe that it is a
possibility. But the third truth is the most important, –You can by
one step get out of the carnal into the spiritual state. May God
reveal it to you now through the story of the Apostle Peter!
Look at him, first of all, in the carnal state. What are the marks of
the carnal state in him? Self-will, self-pleasing, self-confidence.
Just remember, when Christ said to the disciples at Caesarea Philippi,
“The Son of Man must be crucified,” Peter said to Him, “Lord, that can
never be!” And Christ had to say to him, “Get thee behind Me, Satan!”
Dear reader, what an awful thing for Peter! He could not understand
what a suffering Christ was. And Peter was so self-willed and
self-confident that he dared to contradict and to rebuke Christ! Just
think of it! Then, you remember, how Peter and the other disciples,
were more than once quarrelling as to who was to be the
chief–self-exaltation, self-pleasing;–every one wanted the chief
seat in the Kingdom of God. Then again, remember the last night, when
Christ warned Peter that Satan had desired to sift him and that he
would deny Him; and Peter said twice over, “Lord, if they all deny
Thee, I am ready to go to prison and to death.” What self-confidence!
He was sure that his heart was right. He loved Jesus, but he trusted
himself. “I will never deny my Lord”! Don’t you see the whole of that
life of Peter is carnal confidence in himself. In his carnal pride, in
his carnal unlovingness , in the carnal liberty he took in
contradicting Jesus, it was all just the life of the flesh. Peter
loved Jesus. God had by the Holy Spirit, taught him. Christ had said,
“Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My Father which
is in heaven.” God had taught him that Christ was the Son of God; but
with all that, Peter was just under the power of the flesh; and that
is why Christ said at Gethsemane, “The spirit is willing but the flesh
is weak.”–“You are under the power of the flesh, you cannot watch
with Me.” Dear reader, what did it all lead to? The flesh led not only
to the sins I have mentioned, but last of all to the saddest of
things, to Peter’s actual denial of Jesus. Three times over he told
the lie; and once with an oath, “I know not the man.” He denied his
blessed Lord. That is what it comes to with the life of the flesh.
That is Peter.
Now, look in the second place at Peter after he became a spiritual
man. Christ had taught Peter a great deal. I think, if you count
carefully, you will find some seven or eight times, Christ had spoken
to the disciples about humility; He had taken a little child and set
him in the midst of them; He had said, “He that exalteth himself shall
be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted; He had said
that three or four times; He had at the last supper washed their feet;
but all had not taught Peter humility. All Christ’s instructions were
in vain. Remember that now. A man who is not spiritual, though he may
read his Bible, though he may study God’s Word, cannot conquer sin,
because he is not living the life of the Holy Spirit. God has so
ordered it, that man cannot live a right Christian life unless he is
full of the Holy Ghost. Do you wonder at what I say? Have you been
accustomed to think,–“Full of the Holy Ghost, that is what the
Apostles had to be on the day of Pentecost; that is what the martyrs
and the ministers had to be; but for every man to be full of the Holy
Ghost, that is too high”? I tell you solemnly, unless you believe
that, you will never become thoroughgoing Christians. I must be full
of the Holy Spirit if I am to be a whole-hearted Christian.
Then, note what change took place in Peter. The Lord Jesus led him up
to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came from heaven upon him, and what took
place? The old Peter was gone, and he was a new Peter. Just read his
epistle, and note the keynote of the epistle. “Through suffering to
glory.” Peter, who had said, “Of course, Lord, you never can suffer,
or be crucified;” Peter, who, to save himself suffering or shame, had
denied Christ, –Peter becomes so changed that when he writes his
epistle the chief thought is the very thought of Christ, “Suffering is
the way to glory.” Do you not see that the Holy Spirit had changed
Peter?
And look at other aspects. Look at Peter. He was so weak that a woman
could frighten him into denying Christ; but when the Holy Spirit came
he was bold, bold, bold to confess his Lord at any cost, was ready to
go to prison and to death, for Christ’s sake. The Holy Spirit had
changed the man. Look at his views of Divine truth. He could not
understand what Christ taught him, he could not take it in. It was
impossible before the death of Christ; but on the day of Pentecost how
he is able to expound the word of God as a spiritual man! I tell you,
beloved, when the Holy Ghost comes upon a man he becomes a spiritual
man, and instead of denying his Lord he denies himself, just remember
that. In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew when Peter had said, “Lord,
be it far from Thee, this shall never happen that Thou shalt be
crucified,” Christ said to Him: “Peter, not only will I be crucified,
but you will have to be crucified too. If any man is to be My
disciple, let him take up his cross to die upon it, let him deny
himself, and let him follow Me.” How did Peter obey that command? He
went and denied Jesus! As long as a man, a Christian, is under the
power of the flesh, he is continually denying Jesus. You always must
do one of the two, you must deny self or you must deny Jesus, and,
alas, Peter denied his Lord rather than deny himself. On the other
hand, when the Holy Spirit came upon him, he could not deny his Lord,
but he could deny himself, and he praised God for the privilege of
suffering for Christ.
Now, how did the change come about? The words of my text tell us,
–“And Peter went out and wept bitterly.” What does that mean? It
means this, that the Lord led Peter to come to the end of himself, to
see what was in his heart, and with his self-confidence to fall into
the very deepest sin that a child of God could be guilty of;
–publicly, with an oath, to deny his Lord Jesus! When Peter stood
there in that great sin, the loving Jesus looked upon him, and that
look, full of loving reproach, loving pity, pierced like an arrow
through the heart of Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly. Praise
God, that was the end of self-confident Peter! Praise God, that was
the turning point of his life! He went out with a shame that no tongue
can express. He woke up as out of a dream to the terrible reality “I
have helped to crucify the blessed Son of God.” No man can fathom what
Peter must have passed through that Friday, Saturday and Sunday
morning. But, blessed be God, on that Sunday Jesus revealed Himself to
Peter, we know not how, but “He was seen of Simon;” then in the
evening He came to him with the other disciples and breathed peace,
and the Holy Spirit upon him; and then, later on, you know how the
Lord asked him, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”–three times,
until Peter was sorrowful, and said, “Lord, thou knowest all things,
thou knowest that I love thee.” What was it that wrought the
transition from the love of the flesh to the love of the Spirit? I
tell you, that was the beginning, –“Peter went out and wept
bitterly,” with a broken heart, with a heart that would give anything
to show its love to Jesus. With a heart that had learned to give up
all self-confidence, Peter was prepared for the blessing of the Holy
Spirit.
And, now, you can easily see the application of this story. Are there
not many just living the life of Peter, of the self-confident Peter as
he was? Are there not many who are mourning under the consciousness,
“I am so unfaithful to my Lord, I have no power against the flesh, I
cannot conquer my temper, I give way just like Peter to the fear of
man, of company, for people can influence me and make me do things I
do not want to do, and I have no power to resist them? Circumstances
get the mastery over me, and I then say and do things that I am
ashamed of.”? Is there not more than one, who, in answer to the
question, “Are you living as a man filled with the Spirit, devoted to
Jesus, following Him, fully giving up all for Him?”–must say with
sorrow, “God knows I am not. Alas, my heart knows it.”? You say it,
and I come, and I press you with the question, Is not your position,
and your character, and your conduct, just like that of Peter? Like
Peter, you love Jesus, like Peter you know He is the Christ of God,
like Peter you are very zealous in working for Him. Peter had cast out
devils in His name, and had preached the gospel, and had healed the
sick. Like Peter you have tried to work for Jesus; but Oh! Under it
all, isn’t there something that comes up continually? Oh, Christian,
what is it? I pray, and I try, and I do long to live a holy life, but
the flesh is too strong, and sin gets the better of me, and
continually I am pleasing self instead of denying it, and denying
Jesus instead of pleasing Him. Come, all who are willing to make that
confession, and let me ask you to look quietly at the other life that
is possible for you.
Just as the Lord Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to Peter, He is willing to
give the Holy Spirit to you. Are you willing to receive Him? Are you
willing to give up yourself entirely as an empty, helpless vessel, to
receive the power of the Holy Spirit, to live, to dwell, and to work
in you every day? Dear believer, God has prepared such a beautiful and
such a blessed life for every one of us, and God as a Father is
waiting to see why you will not come to Him and let Him fill you with
the Holy Ghost. Are you willing for it? I am sure some are. There are
some who have said often, “O God, why can’t I live that life?–Why
can’t I live every hour of unbroken fellowship with God?–Why can’t I
enjoy what my Father has given me, all the riches of His grace? It is
for me He gave it, and why can’t I enjoy it?” There are those who say,
“Why can’t I abide in Christ every day, and every hour, and every
moment? –Why can’t I have the light of my Father’s love filling my
heart all the day long? Tell me, servant of God, what can help me?”
I can tell you one thing that will help you. What helped Peter? “Peter
went out and wept bitterly.” It must come with us to a conviction of
sin; it must come with us to a real downright earnest repentance, or
we never can get into the better life. We must stop complaining and
confessing, “Yes, my life is not what it should be, and I will try to
do better.” That won’t help you. What will help you? This,–that you
go down in despair to lie at the feet of Jesus, and that you begin
with a very real and bitter shame to make confession, “Lord Jesus,
have compassion upon me! For these many years I have been a Christian,
but there are so many sins from which I have not cleansed myself,
–temper, pride, jealousy, envy, sharp words, unkind judgments,
unforgiving thoughts.” One must say, “There is a friend whom I never
have forgiven for what he has said.” Another must say, “There is an
enemy whom I dislike, I cannot say that I can love him.” Another must
say, “There are things in my business that I would not like brought
out into the light of man.” Another must say, “I am led captive by the
law of sin and death.” Oh, Christians, come and make confession with
shame and say, “I have been bought with the Blood, I have been washed
with the Blood, but just think of what a life I have been living! I am
ashamed of it.” Bow before God and ask Him by the Holy Spirit to make
you more deeply ashamed, and to work in you that Divine contrition. I
pray you take the step at once. “Peter went out and wept bitterly,”
and that was his salvation; yes, that was the turning point of his
life. And shall we not fall upon our faces before God, and make
confession, and get down on our knees under the burden of the terrible
load, and say, “I know I am a believer, but I am not living as I
should to the glory of my God. I am under the power of the flesh and
all the self-confidence, and self-will, and self-pleasing that marks
my life.”
Dear Christians, do you not long to be brought nigh unto God? Would
you not give anything to walk in close fellowship with Jesus every
day? Would you not count it a pearl of great price to have the light
and love of God shining in you all the day? Oh, come and fall down and
make confession of sin; and, if you will do it, Jesus will come and
meet you and He will ask you, ” Lovest thou Me?” And, if you say,
“Yes, Lord,” very quickly He will ask again, ” Lovest thou Me?”–and
if you say, “Yes, Lord,” again, He will ask a third time, ” Lovest
thou Me?”–and your heart will be filled with an unutterable sadness,
and your heart will get still more broken down and bruised by the
question, and you will say, “Lord, I have not lived as I should, but
still I love Thee and I give myself to Thee.” Oh, beloved may God give
us grace now, that, with Peter, we may go out, and, if need be, weep
bitterly. If we do not weep bitterly,–we are not going to force
tears–shall we not sigh very deeply, and bow very humbly, and cry
very earnestly, “O God, reveal to me the carnal life in which I have
been living: reveal to me what has been hindering me from having my
life full of the Holy Ghost”? Shall we not cry, “Lord, break my heart
into utter self-despair, and, Oh! Bring me in helplessness to wait for
the Divine power, for the power of the Holy Ghost, to take possession
and to fill me with a new life given all to Jesus?”
_________________________________________________________________
IV. OUT OF AND INTO
And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to give
us the land which He sware unto our Fathers.” –Deut. 6:23.
I have spoken of the crisis that comes in the life of the man who sees
that his Christian experience is low and carnal, and who desires to
enter into the full life of God. Some Christians do not understand
that there should be such a crisis. They think that they ought, from
the day of their conversion, to continue to grow and progress. I have
no objections to that, if they have grown as they ought. If their life
has been so strong under the power of the Holy Ghost that they have
grown as true believers should grow, I certainly have no objection to
this. But I want to deal with those Christians whose life since
conversion has been very much a failure, and who feel it to be such
because of their not being filled with the Spirit, as is their blessed
privilege. I want to say for their encouragement, that by taking one
step, they can get out into the life of rest, and victory, and
fellowship with God to which the promises of God invite them.
Look at the elder son in the parable. How long would it have taken him
to get out of that state of blindness and bondage into the full
condition of sonship ? By believing in his father’s love, he might
have gotten out that very hour. If he had been powerfully convicted of
his guilt in his unbelief, and had confessed like his prodigal
brother, “I have sinned,” he would have come that very moment into the
favor of the son’s happiness in his father’s home. He would not have
been detained by having a great deal to learn, and a great deal to do;
but in one moment, his whole relation would have been changed.
Remember, too, what we saw in Peter’s case. In one moment, the look of
Jesus broke him down and there came to him the terribly bitter
reflection of his sin, owing to his selfish, fleshly confidence, a
contrition and reflection which laid the foundation for his new and
better life with Jesus. God’s word brings out the idea of the
Christian’s entrance into the new and better life by the history of
the people of Israel’s entrance into the land of Canaan.
In our text, we have these words: –“God brought us out from thence
(Egypt), that He might bring us in” into Canaan. There are two steps:
one was bringing them out; and the other was bringing them in. So in
the life of the believer, there are ordinarily two steps quite
separate from each other; –the bringing him out of sin and the world;
and the bringing him into a state of complete rest afterward. It was
the intention of God that Israel should enter the land of Canaan from
Kadesh-Barnea , immediately after He had made His covenant with them
at Sinai. But they were not ready to enter at once, on account of
their sin and unbelief, and disobedience. They had to wander after
that for forty years in the wilderness. Now, look how God led the
people. In Egypt, there was a great crisis, where they had first to
pass through the Red Sea, which is a figure of conversion; and when
they went into Canaan, there was, as it were, a second conversion in
passing through the Jordan. At our conversion, we get into liberty,
out of the bondage of Egypt; but, when we fail to use our liberty
through unbelief and disobedience, we wander in the wilderness for a
longer or shorter period before we enter into the Canaan of victory,
and rest, and abundance. Thus God does for His Israel two things: –He
brings them out of Egypt; and He lead them into Canaan.
My message, then, is to ask this question of the believer: –Since you
know you are converted and God has brought you out of Egypt, have you
yet come into the land of Canaan? If not, are you willing that he
should bring you into the fuller liberty and rest provided for His
people? He brought Israel out of Egypt by a mighty hand, and the same
mighty hand brought us out of our land of bondage; with the same
mighty hand, He brought his ancient people into rest, and by that
hand, too, He can bring us into our true rest. The same God who
pardoned and regenerated us–is waiting to perfect His love in us, if
we but trust Him. Are there many hearts saying:–“I believe that God
brought me out of bondage twenty, or thirty, or forty years ago; but
alas! I cannot say that I have been brought into the happy land of
rest and victory?”
How glorious was the rest of Canaan after all the wanderings in the
wilderness! And so is it with the Christian who reaches the better
promised Canaan of rest, when he comes to leave all his charge with
the Lord Jesus–his responsibilities, anxieties, and worry; his only
work being to hand the keeping of his soul into the hand of Jesus
every day and hour. and the Lord can keep, and give the victory over
every enemy. Jesus has undertaken not only to cleans our sin, and
bring us to heaven, but also to keep us in our daily life.
I ask again: –Are you hungering to get free from sin and its
power?–Anyone longing to get complete victory over his temper, his
pride, and all his evil inclinations?–Hearts longing for the time
when no clouds will come between them and their God?–Longing to walk
in the full sunshine of God’s loving favour? The very God who brought
you from the Egypt of darkness is ready and able to bring you also
into the Canaan of rest.
And now comes the question again: –What is the way by which God will
bring me to this rest? What is needed on my part if God is really to
bring me into the happy land? I give the answer first of all by asking
another question:–Are you willing to forsake your wanderings in the
wilderness? If you say “We do not want to leave our wanderings, where
we have had so many wonderful indications of God’s presence with us;
so many remarkable proofs of the Divine care and goodness, like that
of the ancient people of God, who had the pillar to guide them, and
the manna given them every day for forty years; Moses and Aaron to
lead and advise them . The wilderness is to us, on account of these
things, a kind of sacred place; and we are loath to leave it.” If the
children of Israel had said anything of this kind to Joshua, he would
have said to them (and we all would have said):–“Oh, you fools: It is
the very God who gave you the pillar of cloud and the other blessings
in the wilderness, who tells you how to come into the land flowing
with milk and honey.” And so I can speak to you in the same way; I
bring you the message that He who has brought you thus far on your
journey, and given you such blessings thus far, is the God who will
bring you into the Canaan of complete victory and rest.
The first question, then, that I would ask you is,
ARE YOU READY TO LEAVE THE WILDERNESS?
You know the mark of Israel’s life in the wilderness–the cause of all
their troubles there–was unbelief. They did not believe that God
could take them into the Promised Land. And then followed many sins
and failures–lusting, idolatry, murmuring, etc. That has, perhaps,
been your life, beloved; you do not believe that God will fulfil His
word. You do not believe in the possibility of unbroken fellowship
with Him, and unlimited partnership. On account of that, you become
disobedient, and did not live like a child doing God’s will, because
you did not believe that God could give you the victory over sin. Are
you willing now to leave that wilderness life? Sometimes you are,
perhaps, enjoying fellowship with God, and sometimes you are separated
from Him; sometimes you have nearness to Him, and at other times great
distance from Him; sometimes you have a willingness to walk closely
with Him, but sometimes there is even unwillingness. Are you now going
to give up your whole life to Him? Are you going to approach Him and
say, “My God, I do not want to do anything that will be displeasing to
Thee; I want Thee to keep me from all worldliness, from all
self-pleasure; I want Thee, O God, to help me to live like Peter after
Pentecost, filled with the Holy Ghost, and not like carnal Peter.”
Beloved, are you willing to say this? Are you willing to give up your
sins, to walk with God continually, to submit yourself wholly to the
will of God, and have no will of your own apart from His will? Are you
going to live a perfect life? I hope you are, for I believe in such a
life; –not perhaps in the sense in which you understand
“perfection”–entire freedom from wrong-doing and all inclination to
it, for while we live in the flesh the flesh will lust against the
Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; but the perfection spoken of
in the Old Testament as practiced by some of God’s saints, who are
said to have “served the Lord with a perfect heart.” What is this
perfection? A state in which your hearts will be set on perfect
integrity without any reserve, and your will wholly subservient to
God’s will. Are you willing for such a perfection, with your whole
heart turned away from the world and given to God alone? Are you going
to say, “No, I do not expect that I will ever give up my self-will.”?
It is the devil tempting you to think it will be too hard for you. Oh!
I would plead with God’s children just to look at the will of God, so
full of blessing, of holiness, of love; will you not give up your
guilty will for that blessed will of God? A man can do it in one
moment when he comes to see that God can change his will for him. Then
he may say farewell to his old will, as Peter did when he went out and
wept bitterly, and when the Holy Spirit filled his soul on the day of
Pentecost. Joshua “wholly followed the Lord his God.” He failed,
indeed, before the enemy at Ai, because he trusted too much to human
agency, and not sufficiently to God; and he failed in the same manner
when he made a covenant with the Gibeonites ; but still, his spirit
and power differed very widely from that of the people whose unbelief
drove them before their enemies and kept them in the wilderness. Let
us be willing wholly to serve the Lord our God, and “make no provision
for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Let us believe in the love
and power of God to keep us day by day, and put “no confidence in the
flesh.”
Then comes the second step: –“I must believe that such a life in the
land of Canaan is a possible life.” Yes, many a one will say, “Ah!
What would I give to get out of the wilderness life! But I cannot
believe that it is possible to live in this constant communion with
God. You don’t know my difficulties–my business cares and
perplexities; I have all sorts of people to associate with; have gone
out in the morning braced up by communion with God in prayer, but the
pressure of business before night has driven out of my heart all that
warmth of love that I had, and the world has gotten in and made the
heart as cold as before.” But we must remember again what it was that
kept Israel out of Canaan. When Caleb and Joshua said, “We are able to
overcome the enemy,” the ten spies, and the six hundred thousand
answered, “We cannot do it; they are too strong for us.” Take care,
dear reader, that we do not repeat their sin, and provoke God as these
unbelievers did. He says, it is possible to bring us into the land of
rest and peace; and I believe it because He has said so, and because
He will do it if I trust Him. Your temper may be terrible; your pride
may have bound you a hundred times; your temptations may “compass you
about like bees,” but there is victory for you if you will but trust
the promises of God.
Looking again at Peter. He had failed again and again, and went from
bad to worse until he came to denying Christ with oaths. But what a
change came over him! Just study the first epistle of Peter, and you
will see that the very life of Christ had entered into him. He shows
the spirit of true humility, so different from his former
self-confidence; and glorying in God’s will instead of in his own. He
had made a full surrender to Christ, and was trusting entirely in Him.
Come therefore today and say to God, “Thou didst so change selfish,
proud Peter, and Thou canst change me likewise.” Yes, God is able to
bring you into Canaan, the land of rest. You know the first half of
the 8th of Romans. Have you noticed the expressions that are to be
found there–“The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
me free from the law of sin and death”. To walk after the spirit; To
be after the spirit; To be in the Spirit; To have the Spirit dwelling
in us. Through the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body; To be led
by the Spirit; To be spiritually minded. These are all blessings which
come when we bind ourselves wholly to live in the Spirit. If we live
after the Spirit we have the very nature of the Spirit in us. If we
live in the Spirit, we shall be led by Him every day and every moment.
What if you were to open your heart today to be filled with the Holy
Spirit? Would He not be able to keep you every moment in the sweet
rest of God? And would not His mighty arm give you a complete victory
over sin and temptation of every kind, and make you able to live in
perpetual fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ?
Most certainly! This, then, is the second step; this is the blessed
life God has provided for us. First, God brought us out of Egypt;
secondly, He brings us into Canaan. Then comes–
Thirdly, the question,
HOW DOES GOD BRING US IN?
By leading us in a very definite act, viz , that of committing
ourselves wholly to Him: –entrusting ourselves to Him, that He may
bring us into the land of rest, and keep us in.
You remember that the Jordan at the time of harvest overflowed its
banks. The hundreds of thousands of Israel were on the side of the
river from Canaan. They were told that tomorrow, God would do
wonderful things for them. The trumpet would sound, and the priests
would take up the ark–the symbol of God’s presence–and pass over
before the people. But there lay the swollen river still. If there
still unbelieving children among the people, they would say, “What
fools, to attempt to cross now! This is not the time to attempt
fording the river, for it is now twenty feet deep.” But the believing
people gathered together behind the priests with the ark. They obeyed
the command of Joshua to advance; but they knew not what God was going
to do. The priests walked right into the water, and the hearts of some
began to tremble. They would perhaps ask, “Where is the rod of Moses?”
But, as the priests walked straight on and stepped into the water, the
waters rose up on the upper side in to a high wall, and flowed away on
the other side, and a clear passage was made for the whole camp. Now,
it was God that did this for the people; and it was because Joshua and
the people believed and obeyed God. The same God will do it today, if
we believe and trust Him.
Am I addressing a soul who is saying: –I remember how God first
brought me out of the land of bondage. I was in complete darkness of
soul and was deeply troubled. I did not at first believe that God
could take me out, and that I could become a child of God. But, at
last, God took me and brought me to trust in Jesus, and He led me out
safely.” Friend, you have the same God now who brought you out of
bondage with a high hand; and can lead you into the place of rest.
Look to Him and say, “O God, make an end of my wilderness life–my
sinful and unbelieving life,–a life of grieving Thee. Oh, bring me
to-day into the land of victory and rest and blessing!” Is this the
prayer of your hearts, dear friends? Are you going to give up
yourselves to Him to do this for you? Can you trust Him that He is
able and willing to do it for you? He can take you through the swollen
river this very moment:–yes, this very moment.
And He can do more: After Israel had crossed the river, the Captain of
the Lord’s host had to come and encourage Joshua, promising to take
charge of the army and remain with them. You need the power of God’s
Spirit to enable you to overcome sin and temptation. You need to live
in His fellowship–in His unbroken fellowship, without which you
cannot stand or conquer. If you are to venture today, say by faith “My
God, I know that Jesus Christ is willing to be the Captain of my
salvation, and to conquer every enemy for me, He will keep me by faith
and by His Holy Spirit; and though it be dark to me, and as if the
waters would pass over my soul, and though my condition seem hopeless,
I will walk forward, for God is going to bring me in to-day, and I am
going to follow Him. My God, I follow Thee now into the promised
land.”
Perhaps some have already entered in, and the angels have seen them,
while they have been reading these solemn words. Is there anyone still
hesitating because the waters of Jordan look threatening and
impassable?
Oh! Come, beloved soul; come at once, and doubt not.
_________________________________________________________________
V. THE BLESSING SECURED
“Be filled with the Spirit.”–Ephesians, 5:18.
I may have some air, a little air, in my lungs, but not enough to keep
up a healthy, vigorous life. But everyone seeks to have his lungs well
filled with air, and the benefit of it will be felt in his blood and
through his whole being. And just so the word of God comes to us, and
says, “Christians, do not be content with thinking that you have the
Spirit, or have a little of the Spirit; but, if you want to have a
healthy life, be “filled with the Spirit.” Is that your life? Or are
you ready to cry out, “Alas, I do not know what it is to be filled
with the Spirit, but it is what I long for.” I want to point out to
such the path to come to this great, precious blessing which is meant
for every one of us.
Before I speak further of it, let me just note one misunderstanding
which prevails. People often look upon being “filled with the Spirit”
as something that comes with a mighty stirring of the emotions, a sort
of heavenly glory that comes over them, something that they can feel
strongly and mightily; but that is not always the case. I was recently
in Niagara Falls. I noticed, and I was told, that the water was
unusually low. Suppose the river were doubly full, how would you see
that fullness in the Falls? In the increased volume of water pouring
over the cataract, and its tremendous noise. But go to another part of
the river, or to the lake, where the very same fullness is found, and
there is perfect quiet and placidity, the rise of the water is gentle
and gradual, and you can hardly notice that there is any disturbance
as the lake gets full. And just so it may be with a child of God. To
one it comes with mighty emotion and with a blessed consciousness,
“God has touched me!” To others it comes in a gentle filling of the
whole being with the presence and the power of God by His Spirit. I do
not want to lay down the way in which it is to come to you, but I want
you simply to take your place before God, and say, “My Father,
whatever it may mean, that is what I want.” If you come and give
yourself up as an empty vessel and trust God to fill you, God will do
His own work.
And now, the simple question as to the steps by which we can come to
be “filled with the Spirit.” I shall note four steps in the way by
which a man can attain this wonderful blessing. He must say, (1), “I
must have it,” then, (2), “I may have it,” and, then, (3) “I will have
it,” and then, last, Thank God, “I shall have it.”
1. The first word a man must begin to say, is, “I must have it.” He
must feel “It is a command of God, and I cannot live unfilled with the
Spirit without disobeying God.” It is a command here in this text,
–“Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.” Just as
much as a man dare not get drunk, if he is a Christian, just as much
must a man be filled with the Spirit. God wants it, and oh, that every
one might be brought to say, “I must, if I am to please God, I must be
filled with the Spirit!”
I fear there is a terrible, terrible self-satisfaction among many
Christians, –they are content with their low level of life. They
think they have the Spirit because they are converted, but they know
very little of the joy of the Holy Ghost, and of the sanctifying power
of the Spirit. They know very little of the fellowship of the Spirit
linking them to God and to Jesus. They know very little of the power
of the Spirit to testify for God, and yet they are content; and one
says, “Oh, it is only for eminent Christians.” A very dear young
friend once said to me as I was talking to her–(it was a niece of my
own)–“Oh, Uncle Andrew, I cannot try to make myself better than the
Christians around me. Wouldn’t that be presumptuous?” And I said, “My
child, you must not ask what the Christians around you are, but you
must be guided by what God says.” She has since confessed to me how
bitterly ashamed she has become of that expression, and how she went
to God to seek His blessing. Oh, friends, do not be content with that
half Christian life that many of you are living, but say, “God wants
it, God commands it; I must be filled with the Spirit.”
And look not only at God’s command, but look at the need of your own
soul. You are a parent, and you want your children blessed and
converted, and you complain that you haven’t power to bless them. You
say, “My home must be filled with God’s Spirit.” You complain of your
own soul, of times of darkness and of leanness; you complain of
watchlessness and wandering. A young minister once said to me, “Oh,
why is it I have such a delight in study and so little delight in
prayer?”–And my answer was, “My brother, your heart must get filled
with a love for God and Jesus, and then you will delight in prayer.”
You complain sometimes that you cannot pray. You pray so short, you do
not know what to pray, something drags you back from the closet. It is
because you are living a life, trying to live a life, without being
filled with the Spirit. Oh, think of the needs of the church around
you. You are a Sunday School teacher; you are trying to teach a class
of ten or twelve children, not one of them, perhaps, converted, and
they go out from under you unconverted; you are trying to do a
heavenly work in the power of the flesh and earth. Sunday School
teachers, do begin to say, “I must be filled with the Spirit of God,
or I must give up the charge of those young souls; I cannot teach
them.”
Or, think of the need of the world. If you were to send out
missionaries full of the Holy Ghost, what a blessing that would be!
Why is it that many a missionary complains in the foreign field,
“There I learned how weak and how unfit I am?” It is because the
churches from which they go are not filled with the Holy Ghost.
Someone said to me in England a few weeks ago, “They talk so much
about the volunteer movement and more missionaries; but we want
something else, we want missionaries filled with the Holy Ghost.” If
the church is to come right, and the mission field is to come right,
we must each begin with himself. It must begin with you. Begin with
yourself and say, “O God, for Thy sake; O God, for Thy church’s sake;
O God, for the sake of the world, help me! I must be filled with the
Holy Ghost.”
What folly it would be for a man who had lost a lung and a half, and
had hardly a quarter of a lung to do the work of two, to expect to be
a strong man and to do hard work, and to live in any climate! And what
folly for a man to expect to live–God has told him he cannot live–a
full Christian life, unless he is full of the Holy Ghost! And what
folly for a man who has only got a little drop of the river of the
water of life to expect to live and to have power with God and man!
Jesus wants us to come and to receive the fulfilment of the promise,
“He that believeth in Me, streams of water shall flow out from him.”
Oh, begin to say, “If I am to live a right life, if I am in every part
of my daily life and conduct to glorify my God, I must have the Holy
Spirit–I must be filled with the Spirit.” Are you going to say that?
Talking for months and months won’t help. Do submit to God, and as an
act of submission say, “Lord, I confess it, I ought to be filled, I
must be filled; help me!” And God will help you.
And, then comes the second step, I may be filled. The first had
reference to duty; the second has reference to privilege–I may be
filled. Alas! So many have got accustomed to their low state that they
do not believe that they may, they can, actually be filled. And what
right have I to say that you ought to take these words into your lips?
My right is this–God wants healthy children. I saw today a child of
six months old, as beautiful and chubby as you could wish a child to
be, and with what delight the eyes of the father and the mother looked
upon him, and how glad I was to see a healthy child. And, oh, do you
think that God in Heaven does not care for His children, and that God
wants some of His children to live a sickly life? I tell you, it is a
lie! God wants every child of His to be a healthy Christian; but you
cannot be a healthy Christian unless you are filled with God’s Spirit.
Beloved, we have got accustomed to a style of life, and we see good
Christians–as we call them–earnest men and women, full of failings;
and we think, “Well, that is human; that man loses his temper, and
that man is not as kind as he should be, and that man’s word cannot be
trusted always as ought to be the case; but–but–” And in daily life
we look upon Christians and think, “Well, if they are very faithful in
going to church and in giving to God’s cause, and in attending the
prayer meeting, and in having family prayers, and in their
profession.” Of course we thank God for them and say, “We wish there
were more such,” but we forget to ask, “What does God want?” Oh, that
we might see that “It is meant for me and for everyone else.” My
brother, my sister, there is a God in Heaven who has been longing for
these past years, while you never thought about it, to fill you with
the Holy Ghost. God longs to give the fullness of the Spirit to every
child of His.
They were poor heathen Ephesians, only lately brought out from
heathendom, to whom Paul wrote this letter, –people among whom there
still was stealing and lying, for they had only just come out from
heathendom; but Paul said to every one of these, “Be filled with the
Spirit.” God is ready to do it; God wants to do it. Oh, do not listen
to the temptations of the devil, “This is only meant for some eminent
people, –a Christian who has a great deal of free time to devote to
prayer and to seeking after it,–a man of a receptive
temperament,–that is the man to be filled with the Spirit. Who is
there that dare say, “I cannot be filled with the Spirit.” Who will
dare to say that? If any of you speak thus it is because you are
unwilling to give up sin. Do not think that you cannot be filled with
the Spirit because God is not willing to give it to you. Did not the
Lord Jesus promise the Spirit? Is not the Holy Spirit the best part of
His salvation? Do you think He gives half a salvation to any of His
redeemed ones? Is not His promise for all, “He that believeth in me,
rivers of water shall flow out of him”? This is more than fullness-
this is overflow; and this Jesus has promised to everyone who believes
in Him. Oh, cast aside your fears, and your doubts, and your
hesitation, and say at once, “I can be filled with the Spirit; I may
be filled with the Spirit. There is nothing in heaven, or earth, or
hell, can prevent it, because God has promised and God is waiting to
do it for me.” Are you ready to say, “I may I can , I can be filled
with the Spirit, for God has promised it, and God will give it.”?
And then we get to the third step, when a man says, “I will have it; I
must have it; I may have it; I will have it.” You know what this means
in ordinary things, “I will have it,” and he goes and does everything
that is to be done to get permission. Very often a man comes and he
wants to buy something, and he wishes for it; but wishing is not
willing. I want to buy that horse, and a man asks of me $200 for it,
but I don’t want to give more than $180. I wish for it, I wish for it
very much, and I can go and say, “Do give it me for the $180”; and he
says, “No, $200.” I love the horse, it is just what I want, but I am
not willing to give the $200; and at last he says, “Well, you must
give me an answer; I can get another purchaser;” and at last I say,
“No, I won’t have it; I want it very much, I long for it, but I won’t
give the price.”
Dear friends, are you going to say, “I will have this blessing”? What
does that mean? It means, first of all, of course, that you are going
to look around into your life, and if you see anything wrong there, it
means that you are going to confess it to Jesus and say, “Lord, I cast
it at Thy feet; it may be rooted in my heart, but I will give it up to
Thee, I cannot take it out, but Jesus, Thou cleanser of sin, I give it
to Thee.” Let it be temper, or pride; let it be money, or lust, or
pleasure; let it be the fear of man; let it be anything; –but, oh,
say to Christ at once, “I will have this blessing at any cost.” Oh,
give up every sin to Jesus.
And it means not only giving up every sin, but–what is deeper than
sin, and more difficult to get at–it means giving up yourself–self,
with your will, and your pleasure, and your honour, and all you have,
and saying, “Jesus, I am from this moment going to give myself up,
that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou mayest take possession of me, and that
Thou mayest by Thy Spirit turn out whatever is sinful, and take entire
command of me.” This looks difficult so long as Satan blinds, and
makes us think it would be a hard thing to give up all that; but if
God opens our eyes for one minute to see what a heavenly blessedness,
and what heavenly riches and heavenly glory it is to be filled with
the Spirit out of the heart of Jesus, then we will say, “I will give
anything, anything, ANYTHING but I will have the blessing.”
And then, it means that you are just to cast yourself at His feet and
to say, “Lord, I will have the blessing.”
Ah, Satan often tempts us, and says, “Suppose God were to ask that of
you, would you be willing to give it?”–And he makes us afraid. But
how many have found, and have been able to tell about it, that when
once they have said, “Lord, anything and everything!” the light and
the joy of heaven filled their hearts.
Last year at Johannesburg, the gold fields of South Africa, at an
afternoon meeting we had one day testimony, and a woman rose up and
told us how her pastor two months ago had held a consecration service
in a tent, and he had spoken strongly about consecration, and had
said, “Now, if God were to send your husband away to China, or if God
were to ask you to go away to America, would you be willing for it?
You must give yourself up entirely.” And the woman said–and her face
beamed with brightness when she spoke, –when, at the close of the
meeting he asked those to rise who were willing to give up all to be
filled with the Spirit, she said, “The struggle was terrible; God may
take away my husband or my children from me, and am I ready for it?
Oh, Jesus is very precious, but I cannot say I will give up all. But I
will tell Him I do want to do it.”–And at last she stood up. She said
she went home that night in a terrible struggle, and she could not
sleep, for the thought was, “I said to Jesus everything , and could I
give up husband or child?” The struggle continued till midnight,
“but,” she said, “I would not let go; I said to Jesus, `everything,
but fill me with Thyself.'” And the joy of the Holy Spirit came down
upon her, and her minister who sat there told me afterwards that the
testimony was a true one, and for the two months her life had been one
of exceeding brightness and of heavenly joy.
Oh, is any reader tempted to say, “I cannot give up all”? I take you
by the hand, my brother, my sister, and I bring you to the crucified
Jesus, and I say, “Just look at Him, how He loved you on Calvary; just
look at Him.” Just look at Jesus! He offers actually to fill your
heart with His Holy Spirit, with the Spirit of His love and of His
fullness, and of His power, actually to make your heart full of the
Holy Spirit; and do you dare to say, “I am afraid,”–do you dare to
say, “I cannot do that for Jesus”? Or will your heart not, at His
feet, cry out, “Lord Jesus, anything, but I must be filled with Thy
Spirit!” Haven’t you often prayed for the presence and the abiding
nearness and the love of Jesus to fill you?–but that cannot be until
you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh, come and say, in view of any
sacrifice, “I will have it, by God’s help! Not in my strength, but by
the help of God, I will have it!”
And then comes my last point. Say, “I shall have it.” Praise God that
a man dare say that, “I shall have it.” Yes, when a man has made up
his mind; when a man has been brought to a conviction and a sorrow for
his sinful life; when a man, like Peter, has wept bitterly or has
sighed deeply before God, “Oh, my Lord, what a life I have been
living!”–When a man has felt wretched in the thought, “I am not
living the better life, the Jesus life, the Spirit life;”–when a man
begins to feel that, and when he comes and makes surrender, and casts
himself upon God and claims the promise, “Lord, I may have it; it is
for me,”–what think you? Hasn’t he a right to say, “I shall have it”?
Yes, beloved, and I give to every one of you that message from God,
that if you are willing, and if you are ready, God is willing and
ready to close the bargain at once. Yes, you can have it now, now!
Without any outburst of feeling, without any flooding of the heart
with light, you may have it. To some it comes in that way but to many
not. As a quiet transaction of the surrendered will, you can lift up
your heart in faith and say, “O God, here I do give myself as an empty
vessel to be filled with the Holy Ghost. I give myself up once for all
and forever.” ” Tis done, the great transaction’s done.” You can say
it now if you will take your place before God.
Oh, ministers of the gospel, have you never felt the need of being
filled with the Holy Ghost? Your heart perhaps tells you that you know
nothing of that blessing. Oh, workers for Christ, have you never felt
a need, “I must be filled with the Holy Ghost”? Oh, children of God,
have you never felt a hope rise within you, “I may have this blessing,
I hear of from others”? Will you not take the step and say, “I will
have it”? Say it, not in your own strength, but in self-despair. Never
mind though it appears as if the heart is all cold and closed up,
never mind; but as an act of obedience and of surrender, as an act of
the will, cast yourself before Jesus and trust Him. “I shall have it,
for I now give up myself into the arms of my Lord Jesus, I shall have
it, for it is the delight of Jesus to give the Holy Spirit from the
Father, into the heart of everyone. I shall have it, for I do believe
in Jesus, and He promised me that out of him that believeth shall flow
rivers of living water. I shall have it! I SHALL have it! I will cling
to the feet of Jesus, I will stay at the throne of God; I shall have
it, for God is faithful, and God has promised.”
_________________________________________________________________
VI. THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST
“But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer, it is
I, be not afraid.”– Matt. 14:27.
All we have had about the work of the blessed Spirit is dependent upon
what we think of Jesus, for it is from Christ Jesus that the Spirit
comes to us; it is to Christ Jesus that the Spirit ever brings us; and
the one need of the Christian life day by day and hour by hour is
this, –the presence of the Son of God. God is our salvation. If I
have Christ with me and Christ in me, I have full salvation. We have
spoken about the life of failure and of the flesh, about the life of
unbelief and disobedience, about the life of ups and downs, the
wilderness life of sadness and of sorrow; but we have heard, and we
have believed, there is deliverance. Bless God, He brought us out of
Egypt, that He might bring us into Canaan, into the very rest of God
and Jesus Christ. He is our peace, He is our rest. Oh, if I may only
have the presence of Jesus as the victory over every sin: the presence
of Jesus as the strength for every duty, then my life shall be in the
full sunshine of God’s unbroken fellowship, and the word will be
fulfilled to me in most blessed experience, “Son, thou art ever with
me, and all I have is thine ,” and my heart shall answer, “Father, I
never knew it, but it is true, –I am ever with thee and all Thou hast
is mine.” God has given all He has to Christ, and God longs that
Christ should have you and me entirely. I come to every hungry heart
and say, “If you want to live to the glory of God, seek one thing, to
claim, to believe that the presence of Jesus can be with you every
moment of your life.
I want to speak about the presence of Jesus, as it is set before us in
that blessed story of Christ’s walking on the sea. Come and look with
me at some points that are suggested to us.
1. Think, first, of the presence of Christ lost. You know the
disciples loved Christ, clung to Him, and with all their failings,
they delighted in Him. But what happened? The Master went up into the
mountain to pray, and sent them across the sea all alone without Him;
there came a storm, and they toiled, rowed, and laboured , but the
wind was against them, they made no progress, they were in danger of
perishing, and how their hearts said, “Oh, if the Master only were
here!” But His presence was gone. They missed Him. Once before, they
had been in a storm, and Christ had said, “Peace, be still,” and all
was well; but here they are in darkness, danger, and terrible trouble,
and no Christ to help them. Ah, isn’t that the life of many a believer
at times? I get into darkness, I have committed sin, the cloud is on
me, I miss the face of Jesus; and for days and days I work, worry, and
labour; but it is all in vain, for I miss the presence of Christ. Oh,
beloved, let us write that down, –the presence of Jesus lost is the
cause of all our wretchedness and failure.
2. Look at the second step, –the presence of Jesus dreaded. They were
longing for the presence of Christ, and Christ came after midnight: He
came walking on the water amid the waves; but they didn’t recognize
Him, and they cried out, for fear, “It is a spirit!” Their beloved
Lord was coming nigh, and they knew Him not. They dreaded His
approach. And, ah, how often have I seen a believer dreading the
approach of Christ, –crying out for Him, longing for Him, and yet
dreading His coming. And why? Because Christ came in a fashion that
they expected not.
Perhaps some have been saying, “Alas, alas! I fear I never can have
the abiding presence of Christ.” You have heard what we have said
about a life in the Spirit: you have heard what we have said about
abiding ever in the presence of God and in His fellowship, and you
have been afraid of it, afraid of it; and you have said, “It is too
high and too difficult.” You have dreaded the very teaching that was
going to help you. Jesus came to you in the teaching, and you didn’t
recognize His love.
Or, perhaps, He came in a way that you dreaded His presence. Perhaps
God has been speaking to you about some sin. There is that sin of
temper, or that sin of unlovingness , or that sin of unforgivingness ,
or that sin of worldliness, compromise, and fellowship with the world,
that love of man and man’s honour, that fear of man and man’s opinion,
or that pride and self confidence. God has been speaking to you about
it, and yet you have been frightened. That was Jesus wanting to draw
you nigh, but you were afraid. You don’t see how you can give up all
that, you are not ready to say, “At any sacrifice I am going to have
that taken out of me, and I will give it up,” and while God and Christ
were coming nigh to bless you, you were afraid of Him.
Oh, believers, at other times Christ has come to you with affliction,
and perhaps you have said, “If I want to be entirely holy, I know I
shall have to be afflicted, and I am afraid of affliction,” and you
have dreaded the thought, “Christ may come to me in affliction.” The
presence of Christ dreaded! –Oh, beloved, I want to tell you it is
all misconception. The disciples had no reason to dread that “spirit”
coming there, for it was Christ Himself; and, when God’s word comes
close to you and touches your heart, remember that is Christ out of
Whose mouth goes the two-edged sword. It is Christ in His love coming
to cut away the sin, that He may fill your heart with the blessing of
God’s love. Beware of dreading the presence of Christ.
3. Then comes the third thought, –the presence of Christ revealed .
Bless God! When Christ heard how they cried, he spoke the words of the
text, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Ah, what gladness
those words brought to those hearts! There is Jesus, that dark object
appears, that dreaded form. It is our blessed Lord Himself. And, dear
friends, the Master’s object, whether it be by affliction or
otherwise, is to prepare for receiving the presence of Christ, and
through it all Jesus speaks, “It is I; be not afraid.” The presence of
Christ revealed! I want to tell you that the Son of God, oh believer,
is longing to reveal Himself to you. Listen! Listen! LISTEN! Is there
any longing heart? Jesus says, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not
afraid.”
Oh, beloved; God has given us Christ. And does God want me to have
Christ every moment? Without doubt, God wants the presence of Christ
to be the joy of every hour of my life, and, if there is one thing
sure, Christ can reveal Himself to me every moment. Are you willing to
come and claim this privilege? He can reveal Himself. I cannot reveal
Him to you; you cannot grasp Him; but He can shine into your heart.
How can I see the sunlight tomorrow morning, if I am spared? The
sunlight will reveal itself. How can I know Christ? Christ can reveal
Himself. And, ere I go further, I pray you to set your heart upon
this, and to offer the humble prayer, “Lord, now reveal Thyself to me,
so, that I may never lose the sight of Thee. Give me to understand
that through the thick darkness Thou comest to make Thyself known.”
Let not one heart doubt, however dark it may be, –at
midnight,–whatever midnight there be in the soul,–at midnight, in
the dark, Christ can reveal Himself. Ah, thank God, often after a life
of ten and twenty years of dawn, after a life of ten and twenty years
of struggling, now in the light, and now in the dark, there comes a
time when Jesus is willing just to give Himself to us, nevermore to
part. God grant us that presence of Jesus!
4. And now comes the fourth thought, –The presence of Jesus lost, was
the first; the presence of Jesus dreaded, was the second; the presence
of Jesus revealed, was the third; the presence of Jesus desired, is
the fourth. What happened? Peter heard the Lord, and yonder was Jesus,
some 30, 40, 50 yards distant, and He made as though He would have
passed them; and Peter, –in a preceding chapter I spoke about Peter,
shewing what terrible failure and carnality there was in him, –but,
bless the Lord, Peter’s heart was right with Christ, and he wanted to
claim His presence, and he said, “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come
upon the water to Thee.” Yes, Peter could not rest; he wanted to be as
near to Christ as possible. He saw Christ walking on the water; he
remembered Christ had said, “Follow Me;” he remembered how Christ,
with the miraculous draught of fishes, had proved that He was Master
of the sea, and of the waters, and he remembered how Christ had
stilled the storm; and, without argument or reflection, all at once he
said, “There is my Lord manifesting Himself in a new way; there is my
Lord exercising a new and supernatural power, and I can go to my Lord,
He is able to make me walk where He walks.” He wanted to walk like
Christ; he wanted to walk near Christ. He didn’t say, “Lord, let me
walk around the sea here,” but he said, “Lord, let me come to Thee.”
Friends, would you not like to have the presence of Christ in this
way? Not that Christ should come down, –that is what many Christians
want; they want to continue in their sinful walk, they want to
continue in their worldly walk, they want to continue in their old
life, and they want Christ to come down to them with His comfort, His
presence, and His love; but that cannot be. If I am to have the
presence of Christ, I must walk as He walked. His walk was a
supernatural one. He walked in the love and in the power of God. Most
people walk according to the circumstances in which they are, and most
people say, “I am depending upon circumstances for my religion. A
hundred times over you hear people say, “My circumstances prevent my
enjoying unbroken fellowship with Jesus.” What were the circumstances
that were found about Christ? The wind and the waves, –and Christ
walked triumphant over circumstances; and Peter said, “Like my Lord I
can triumph over all circumstances: anything around me is nothing, if
I have Jesus.” He longed for the presence of Christ. Would God that,
as we look at the life of Christ upon earth, as we look how Christ
walked and conquered the waves, every one of us could say, “I want to
walk like Jesus.” If that is your heart’s desire, you can expect the
presence of Jesus; but as long as you want to walk on a lower level
than Christ, as long as you want to have a little of the world, and a
little of self-will, do not expect to have the presence of Christ.
Near Christ, and like Christ, –the two things go together. Have you
taken that in? Peter wanted to walk like Christ that he might get near
Christ; and it is this I want to offer every one of you. I want to say
to the weakest believer, “With God’s presence you can have the
presence and fellowship of Christ all the day long, your whole life
through.” I want to bring you that promise, but I must give God’s
condition, –walk like Christ, and you shall always abide near Christ.
The presence of Christ invites you to come and have unbroken
fellowship with Him.
5. Then comes the next thought. We have just had the presence of
Christ desired, and my next thought is, –the presence of Christ
trusted. The Lord Jesus said, “Come,” and what did Peter do? He
stepped out of the boat. How did he dare to do it against all the laws
of nature? –How did he dare to do it? He sought Christ, he heard
Christ’s voice, he trusted Christ’s presence and power, and in the
faith of Christ he said, “I can walk on the water,” and he stepped out
of the boat. Here is the turning point; here is the crisis. Peter saw
Christ in the manifestation of a supernatural power, and Peter
believed that supernatural power could work in him, and he could live
a supernatural life. He believed this applied to walking on the sea;
and herein lies the whole secret of the life of faith. Christ had
supernatural power, –the power of heaven, the power of holiness, the
power of fellowship with God, and Christ can give me grace to live as
He lived. If I will but, like Peter, look at Christ and say to Christ,
“Lord, speak the word, and I will come,” and if I will listen to
Christ saying, “Come,” I, too, shall have power to walk upon the
waves.
Have you ever seen a more beautiful and more instructive symbol of the
Christian life? I once preached on it many years ago, and the thought
that filled my heart then was this,–the Christian life compared to
Peter walking on the waves, nothing so difficult and impossible
without Christ, nothing so blessed and safe with Christ. That is the
Christian life, –impossible without Christ’s nearness, –most safe
and blessed, however difficult, if I only have the presence of Christ.
Believers, we have tried in these pages to call you to a better life
in the Spirit, to a life in the fellowship with God. There is only one
thing can enable you to live it, –you must have the Lord Jesus hold
your hand every minute of the day. “But can that be?” you ask. Yes, it
can. “I have so much to think of. Sometimes for four or five hours of
the day I have to go into the very thick of business and have some ten
men standing around me, each claiming my attention. How can I, how can
I always have the presence of Jesus?” Beloved, because Jesus is your
God and loves you wonderfully, and is able to make His presence more
clear to you than that of ten men who are standing around you. If you
will in the morning take time and enter into your covenant every
morning with Him, “My Lord Jesus, nothing can satisfy me but Thine
abiding presence,” He will give it to you, He will surely give it to
you. Oh, Peter trusted the presence of Christ, and He said, “If Christ
calls me I can walk on the waves to Him.” Shall we trust the presence
of Christ? To walk through all the circumstances and temptations of
life is exactly like walking on the water, –you have no solid ground
under your feet, you do not know how strong the temptations of Satan
may come; but do believe God wants you to walk in a supernatural life
above human power. God wants you to live a life in Christ Jesus. Are
you wanting to live that life? Come then, and say, “Jesus, I have
heard Thy promise that Thy presence will go with me. Thou hast said,
“My presence shall go with thee,”–and, Lord, I claim it; I trust
Thee.”
6. Now, the sixth step in this wonderful history, the presence of
Christ forgotten. Peter got out of the boat and began to walk toward
the Lord Jesus with his eyes fixed upon Him. The presence of Christ
was trusted by him, and he walked boldly over the waves; but all at
once he took his eyes off Jesus, and he began at once to sink, and
there was Peter, his walk of faith at an end; all drenched and
drowning and crying, “Lord, help me!” There are some of you saying in
your hearts, I know, “Ah, that’s what will come of your higher-life
Christians.” There are people who say, “You never can live that life;
do not talk of it; you must always be failing.” Peter always failed
before Pentecost. It was because the Holy Spirit had not yet come, and
therefore his experience goes to teach us, that while Peter was still
in the life of the flesh he must fail somehow or other. But, thank
God, there was One to lift him out of the failure; and our last point
will be to prove that out of that failure he came into closer union
with Jesus than ever before, and deeper dependence. But listen, first,
while I speak to you about this failure.
Someone may say, “I have been trying, to say, `Lord, I will live it;’
but, tell me, suppose failure come, what then?” Learn from Peter what
you ought to do. What did Peter do? The very opposite of what most do.
What did he do when he began to sink? That very moment, without one
word of self-reproach of self-condemnation, he cried, “Lord, help me!”
I wish I could teach every Christian that. I remember the time in my
spiritual life when that became clear to me; for up to that time, when
I failed, my only thought was to reproach and condemn myself, and I
thought that would do me good. I found it didn’t do me good; and I
learn from Peter that my work is, the very moment I fail, to say,
“Jesus, Master, help me!” and the very moment I say that, Jesus does
help me. Remember, failure is not an impossibility. I can conceive
more than one Christian who said, “Lord, I claim the fullness of the
Holy Ghost. I want to live every hour of every day filled with the
Holy Spirit;” and I can conceive that an honest soul who said that
with a trembling faith, yet may have fallen; I want to say to that
soul, -Don’t be discouraged. If failure comes, at once, without any
waiting, appeal to Jesus. He is always ready to hear, and the very
moment you find there is the temper, the hasty word, or some other
wrong, at once the living Jesus is near, so gracious, and so mighty.
Appeal to Him and there will be help at once. If you learn to do this,
Jesus will lift you up and lead you on to a walk where His strength
shall secure you from failure.
7.And then comes my last thought. The presence of Jesus was forgotten
while Peter looked at the waves; but now, lastly, we have the presence
of Jesus restored. Yes, Christ stretched out His hand to save him.
Possibly–for Peter was a very proud, self-confident man–possibly he
had to sink there to teach him that his faith could not save him, but
it was the power of Christ. God wants us to learn the lesson that when
we fall then we can cry out to Jesus, and at once He reaches out His
hand. Remember, Peter walked back to the boat without sinking again.
Why? Because Christ was very near him. Remember it is quite possible,
if you use your failure rightly, to be far nearer Christ after it than
before. Use it rightly, I say. That is, come and acknowledge, “In me
there is nothing, but I am going to trust my Lord unboundedly.” Let
every failure teach you to cling afresh to Christ, and He will prove
Himself a mighty and a loving Helper. The presence of Jesus restored!
Yes, Christ took him by the hand and helped him, and I don’t know
whether they walked hand in hand those forty or fifty yards back to
the boat, or whether Christ allowed Peter to walk beside Him; but this
I know, they were very near to each other, and it was the nearness of
his Lord that strengthened him.
Remember what has taken place since that happened with Peter. The
cross has been erected, the blood has been shed, the grave has been
opened, the resurrection has been accomplished, heaven has been
opened, and the Spirit of the Exalted One has come down. Do believe
that it is possible for the presence of Jesus to be with us every day
and all the way. Your God has given you Christ, and He wants to give
you Christ into your heart in such a way that His presence shall be
with you every moment of your life.
Who is willing to lift up his eyes and his heart and to exclaim, “I
want to live according to God’s standard?” Who is willing? Who is
willing to cast himself into the arms of Jesus and to live a life of
faith victorious over the winds and the waves, over the circumstances
and difficulties? Who is willing to say this, –“Lord, bid me come to
Thee upon the water?” Are you willing? Listen! Jesus says, “Come.”
Will you step out at this moment? Yonder is the boat, the old life
that Peter had been leading; he had been familiar with the sea from
his boyhood, and that boat was a very sacred place; Christ had sat
beside him there; Christ had preached from that boat, from that boat
of Peter’s, Christ had given the wonderful draught of fishes; it was a
very sacred boat; but Peter left it to come to a place more sacred
still, –walking with Jesus on the water, –a new and a Divine
experience. Your Christian life may be a very sacred thing; you may
say, “Christ saved me by His blood, He has given me many an experience
of grace; God has proved His grace in my heart,” but you confess “I
haven’t got the real life of abiding fellowship; the winds and the
waves often terrify me, and I sink.” Oh, come out of the boat of past
experiences at once; come out of the boat of external circumstances;
come out of the boat, and step out on the word of Christ, and believe,
“With Jesus I can walk upon the water.” When Peter was in the boat,
what had he between him and the bottom of the sea? A couple of planks;
but when he stepped out upon the water what had he between him and the
sea? Not a plank, but the word of the Almighty Jesus. Will you come,
and without any experience, will you rest upon the word of Jesus, “Lo
I am with you alway “? Will you rest upon His word, “Be of good cheer;
fear not; it is I”? Every moment Jesus lives in heaven; every moment
by His Spirit Jesus whispers that word; and every moment He lives to
make it true. Accept it now, accept it now! My Lord Jesus is equal to
every emergency. My Lord Jesus can meet the wants of every soul. My
whole heart says, “He can, He can do it; He will, He will do it!” Oh
come, believers, and let us claim most deliberately, most quietly,
most restfully, –let us claim, claim it, claim it, CLAIM it.
_________________________________________________________________
VII. A WORD TO WORKERS
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 fullness 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 favour 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 fulfil 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.
_________________________________________________________________
CONSECRATION
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer
so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of
Thine own have we given Thee.”
To be able to offer anything to God is a perfect mystery. Consecration
is a miracle of grace. “All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have
we given Thee.” In these words there are four very precious thoughts I
want to try and make clear to you: –
1. God is the Owner of all, and gives all to us.
2. We have nothing but what we receive–but everything we need we may
receive from God.
3. It is our privilege and honour to give back to God what we receive
from Him.
4. God has a double joy in His possessions when he receives back from
us what He gave.
And when I apply this to my life–to my body, to my wealth, property,
to my whole being with all its powers–then I understand what
Consecration ought to be.
1. It is the glory of God, and His very nature, to be always GIVING.
God is the owner of all. There is no power, no riches, no goodness, no
love, outside of God. It is the very nature of God that He does not
live for Himself, but for His creatures. His is a love that always
delights to give. Here we come to the first step in consecration. I
must see that everything I have is given by Him; I must learn to
believe in God as the great Owner and Giver of all. Let me hold that
fast. I have nothing but what actually and definitely belongs to God.
Just as much as people say, “this money in my purse belongs to me,” so
God is the Proprietor of all. It is His and His only. And it is His
life and delight to be always giving. Oh, take that precious thought–
there is nothing that God has that He does not want to give. It is His
nature, and therefore when God asks you anything, He must give it
first Himself, and He will. Never be afraid whatever God asks; for God
only asks what is His own; what He asks you to give He will first
Himself give you. The Possessor, and Owner, and Giver of all! This is
our God. You can apply this to yourself and your powers to all you are
and have. Study it, believe it, live in it, every day, every hour,
every moment.
2. Just as it is the nature and glory of God to be always giving, it
is the nature and glory of man to be always receiving. What did God
make us for? We have been made to be each of us a vessel into which
God can pour out His life, His beauty, His happiness, His love. We are
created to be each a receptacle and a reservoir of divine heavenly
life and blessing, just as much as God can put into us. Have we
understood this, that our great work–the object of our creation–is
to be always receiving? If we fully enter into this, it will teach
some precious things. One thing–the utter folly of being proud or
conceited. What an idea! Suppose I were to borrow a very beautiful
dress, and walk about boasting of it as if it were my own, you might
say, “What a fool!” And here it is the Everlasting God owns everything
we have; shall we dare to exalt ourselves on account of what is all
His? Then what a blessed lesson it will teach us of what our position
is! I have to do with a God whose nature is to be always giving, and
mine to be always receiving. Just as the lock and key fit each other,
God the Giver and I the receiver fit into each other. How often we
trouble about things, and about praying for them, instead of going
back to the root of things, and saying, “Lord, I only crave to be the
receptacle of what the Will of God means for me; of the power and the
gifts and the love and Spirit of God.” What can be more simple? Come
as a receptacle –cleansed, emptied and humble. Come, and then God
will delight to give. If I may with reverence say it, He cannot help
Himself; it is His promise, His nature. The blessing is ever flowing
out of Him. You know how water always flows into the lowest places. If
we would but be emptied and low, nothing but receptacles, what a
blessed life we could live! Day by day just praising Him–Thou givest
and I accept. Thou bestowest and I rejoice to receive. How many tens
of thousands of people have said this morning: “What a beautiful day!
Let us throw open the windows and bring in the sunlight with its
warmth and cheerfulness!” May our hearts learn every moment to drink
in the light and sunshine of God’s love.
“Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so
willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and we have
given Thee of Thine own.”
3. If God gives all and I receive all, then the third thought is very
simple– I must give all back again. What a privilege that for the
sake of having me in loving, grateful intercourse with Him, and giving
me the happiness of pleasing and serving Him, the Everlasting God
should say, “Come now, and bring Me back all that I give.” And yet
people say, “Oh, but must I give everything back? Brother, don’t you
know that there is no happiness or blessedness except in giving to
God! David felt it. He said: “Lord, what an unspeakable privilege it
is to be allowed to give that back to Thee which is Thine own!” Just
to receive and then to render back in love to Him as God, what He
gives. Do you know what God needs you for? People say, “Does not God
give us all good gifts to enjoy?” But do you know that the reality of
the enjoyment is in the giving back? Just look at Jesus–God gave Him
a wonderful body. He kept it holy and gave it as a sacrifice to God.
This is the beauty of having a body. God has given you a soul; this is
the beauty of having a soul–you can give it back to God. People talk
about the difficulty they meet with in having so strong a will. You
never can have too strong a will, but the trouble is we do not give
that strong will up to God, to make it a vessel in which God can and
will pour His Spirit, so as to fit it to do splendid service for
Himself.
We have now had the three thoughts: God gives all; I receive all; I
give up all. Will you do this now? Will not every heart say, “My God,
teach me to give up everything?” Take your head, your mind with all
its power of speaking, your property, your heart with its
affections–the best and most secret–take gold and silver,
everything, and lay it at God’s feet and say, “Lord, here is the
covenant between me and Thee. Thou delightest to give all, and I
delight to give back all.” God teach us that. If that simple lesson
were learnt, there would be an end of so much trouble about finding
out the Will of God, and an end of all our holding back, for it would
be written, not upon our foreheads, but across our hearts, “God can do
with me what He pleases; I belong to Him with all I have.” Instead of
always saying to God, “Give, give, give,” we should say, “Yes, Lord,
Thou dost give, thou dost love to give, and I love to give back.” Try
that life and find out if it is not the very highest life.
4. God gives all, I receive all, I give all. Now comes the fourth
thought: God does so rejoice in what we give to Him. It is not only I
that am the receiver and the giver, but God is the Giver and the
Receiver too, and, may I say it with reverence, has more pleasure in
the receiving back than even in giving. With our little faith we often
think they come back to God again all defiled. God says, “No, they
come back beautiful and glorified”; the surrender of the dear child of
His, with his aspirations and thanksgivings, brings it to God with a
new value and beauty. Ah! Child of God you do not know how precious
the gift that you bring to your Father, is in His sight. Have I not
seen a mother give a piece of cake, and the child comes and offers her
a piece to share it with her? How she values the gift! And your God,
oh, my friends, your God, His heart, His Father’s heart of love,
longs, longs, longs to have you give Him everything. It is not a
demand. It is a demand, but it is not a demand of a hard Master, it is
the call of a loving Father, who knows that every gift you bring to
God will bind you closer to Himself, and every surrender you make will
open your heart wider to get more of his spiritual gifts. Oh, friends!
A gift to God has in His sight infinite value. It delights Him. He
sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. And it brings
unspeakable blessing to you. These are the thoughts our text suggests;
now comes the practical application. What are the lessons? We here
learn what the true dispositions of the Christian life are.
To be and abide in continual dependence upon God. Become nothing,
begin to understand that you are nothing but an earthen vessel into
which God will shine down the treasure of His love. Blessed is the man
who knows what it is to be nothing, to be just an empty vessel meet
for God’s use. Work, the Apostle says, for it is God who worketh in
you to will and to do. Brethren, come and take tonight the place of
deep, deep dependence on God. And then take the place of child-like
trust and expectancy. Count upon your God to do for you everything
that you can desire of Him. Honour God as a God who gives liberally.
Honour God and believe that He asks nothing from you but what he is
going first to give. And then come praise and surrender and
consecration. Praise Him for it! Let every sacrifice to Him be a
thank-offering. What are we going to consecrate? First of all our
lives. There are perhaps men and women–young men and women–whose
hearts are asking, “What do you want me to do–to say I will be a
missionary?” No, indeed, I do not ask you to do this. Deal with God,
and come to Him and say, “Lord of all, I belong to Thee, I am
absolutely at Thy disposal.” Yield up yourselves. There may be many
who cannot go as Missionaries, but oh, come, give up yourselves to God
all the same to be consecrated to the work of His Kingdom. Let us bow
down before Him. Let us give Him all our powers–our head to think for
His Kingdom, our heart to go out in love for men, and however feeble
you may be, come and say: “Lord, here I am, to live and die for Thy
Kingdom. Some talk and pray about the filling of the Holy Spirit. Let
them pray more and believe more. But remember the Holy Spirit came to
fit men to be messengers of the Kingdom, and you cannot expect to be
filled with the Spirit unless you want to live for Christ’s Kingdom.
You cannot expect all the love and peace and joy of heaven to come
into your life and be your treasures, unless you give them up
absolutely to the Kingdom of God, and posses and use them only for
Him. It is the soul utterly given up to God that will receive in its
emptying the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Dear friends we must
consecrate not only ourselves–body and soul–but all we have. Some of
you may have children; perhaps you have an only child, and you dread
the very idea of letting it go. Take care, take care; God deserves
your confidence, your love, and your surrender. I plead with you; take
your children and say to Jesus: “Anything Lord, that pleases Thee.”
Educate your children for Jesus. God help you to do it. He may not
accept all of them, but He will accept of the will, and there will be
a rich blessing in your soul for it. Then there is money. When I hear
appeals for money from every Society; when I hear calculations as to
what the Christians of England are spending on pleasure, and the small
amount given for Missions, I say there is something terrible in it.
God’s children with so much wealth and comfort, and giving away so
small a portion! God be praised for every exception! But there are
many who give but very little, who never so give that it costs them
something, and they feel it. Oh, friends! Our giving must be in
proportion to God’s giving. He gives you all. Let us take it up in our
Consecration prayer: “Lord, take it all, every penny I possess. It is
all Thine .” Let us often say “It is all His.” You may not know how
much you ought to give. Give up all, put everything in His hands, and
He will teach you if you will wait.
We have heard this precious message from David’s mouth. We Christians
of the nineteenth century, have we learned to know our God who is
willing to give everything? God help us to.
And then the second message. We have nothing that we do not receive,
and we may receive everything if we are willing to stand before God
and take it.
Thirdly. Whatever you have received from God give it back. It brings a
double blessing to your own soul.
Fourthly. Whatever God receives back from us comes to Him in Heaven
and gives Him infinite joy and happiness, as he sees His object has
been attained. Let us come in the spirit of David, with the spirit of
Jesus Christ in us. Let us pray our Consecration Prayer. And may the
Blessed Spirit give each of us grace to think and to say the right
thing, and to do what shall be pleasing in the Father’s sight.
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Indexes
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Index of Scripture References
Psalms
[1]78
Matthew
[2]14:27
Luke
[3]22:62
John
[4]7:38
Romans
[5]6:5 [6]8
1 Corinthians
[7]13
Galatians
[8]5
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This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
generated on demand from ThML source.
References
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