They Testified and Suffered and Conquered ;

and that little band of one hundred and twenty disciples increased and grew, and from them there went forth to Samaria and to Caesarea, and to Antioch, and away throughout the world, men and women full of the Holy Ghost. Brethren, let us ask. What did Pentecost mean for those disciples? and let us then ask, Does it mean the same for me too? Are those men to be taken as exceptions, as pattern-specimens of what Christ can do? Must I look upon the men of Pentecost as a specialty, as a proof of what Christ sometimes can do if He chooses? Or am I to look upon them as a proof of what the living Christ in His unchanging power can do every day? Let us believe that because the same Christ lives who gave Pentecost, we can have the same style of Christians here upon earth at this present time and always.

Now we see in the disciples very markedly that there can be in the life of true disciples two stages. It is of the utmost importance to notice that, because it appears to be the mark and characteristic of all God’s dealings with men. Take the history of humanity. You have the Old Testament and the New Testament — not one or three different stages, but just two. And why that? The answer appears simple. There must always be a time of preparation and a time of fulfillment. A time of preparation. There are two great factors in religion, God and man; and the great mystery of religion is how much God is to do and how much man is to do. God is not going to do violence to man’s will, to deal with him by image or miracle apart from all recognition of man’s natural character and the laws of his being. God comes and takes the initiative. He must always do that. But when He has done that, and given a certain amount of light and teaching and grace. He leaves man for a certain time to try and do his best. And with what object? That man shall learn two great lessons — his own impotence and to be roused to a deep expectancy and to wait upon God. That was the great work of the Old Testament. And then the New Testament came and told man the fulfillment. You have exactly that in the case of the disciples. Christ had them three years with Him, and what then? He led them to try and do their very best, that He might teach them their own impotence. You know, for instance, what a devoted disciple Peter was. Did not he forsake all his nets for Christ? Did not he show, when Christ said, “Launch out into the deep,” that he was a man of implicit obedience? Did not he prove that he was a man of great faith when he walked on the sea, and a man of Divine enlightenment when he said, Thou art the Christ,” and Christ said, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and bood have not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven’’? Peter was

A SPLENDID SPECIMEN OF A DISCIPLE,

and yet, with all that, how much there was in him of self-will! For just after he had made that noble confession of Christ, when Christ said He must be crucified, Peter responded, in effect, Lord, that shall never be,” and Christ had to say to Him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” And later on, when Christ wanted to wash the feet of the disciples, Peter said, ‘Thou shalt never wash my feet,” and when Christ said to him, If I wash not thy feet thou hast no part with Me,” Peter went to the other extreme and ex-

28 Faith in the Power of God,

claimed, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head,” Have not you there the power of the flesh and of selLwill with all that is so beautiful in him? And then later on, when Christ warned him, “Thou shalt deny Me,” Peter said, Lord, never’’ What utter self-confidence! And why did Christ allow Peter to fall? The answer is simple and clear. Peter had to be brought to an end of himself, to see his own utter impotence, and discover how much there was of the flesh and the natural life in him, with all his love of Christ. He had to be brought to see that in him there was no good thing.

But after Peter had fallen there came a new, a second, stage in his life. After he had been broken, and when he had wept bitterly, he rose up, and Christ met him again and spoke to him lovingly and led him on to Pentecost; and the Holy Spirit came and made a new man of him, and the very dispositions and inclinations and tempers of Christ came to dwell within his heart. And if you read the First Epistle of Peter you see that the man, who before told Christ He must not suffer, and who could not bear the reproach of acknowledging himself to be a disciple of the Nazarene — you see that now he is — above everything, able to suffer. In his epistle the keynote is. Through suffering to glory. He writes: If ye be reproached for the

name of Christ .... the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” What a change was wrought in Peter! He became a new man, and what a power of blessing went forth from him! And so there are two stages to be met with in the Christian. A man is

30 Faith m the Power of God,

converted and he receives the Holy Ghost; but God puts him to the test, and He puts him to the test on the one point — whether that man will give himself up entirely to the Holy Spirit, whether that man knows his own impotence and will allow the power of God to work in him. And, as a rule, it is not without exceptions, for there are cases in which for the day of conversion the full power of God comes upon a man; as a rule, however, a man after conversion, trusting in himself, tries to serve God, and he fails and fails. Many men live their whole Christian life in what I would call

AN UNPENTECOSTAL STATE;

they live within Pentecost, but they do not experience the power of Pentecost. With others there comes a time when that takes place which took place with Peter. What happens? Such an one begins to ask: Lord

am I always to live sinning this way? am I never to get out of this wretched life of stumbling and sin? am I always to live in this state of self-condemnation?” And he begins to see that that is not needful. Peter was brought to Pentecost and everything was changed, and you can be brought under the power of the Holy Spirit, and all can be changed. When a Christian sees he must learn in despair to utterly give up doing everything in his own strength, and to come as a broken, empty vessel to Christ, believing that Christ can take possession of him and can actually keep possession of him every minute of the day, and can teach him to walk in the Spirit. When a man comes to Christ believing that, then there comes the second stage in his life, in which the peace and joy and rest of God fill him. A change comes like as came to Israel in the desert. Instead of wandering about in the desert they entered the rest of Canaan. A man begins to know then what he did not know during the five, ten, twenty, or thirty years of his Christian life. He knows he can have the Holy Spirit every hour to keep possession of him, and to lead him, and he is brought to a state of deep humility and utter dependence and helplessness, and he has most blessed rest and confidence in the assurance of what Christ and His Spirit will do with him.

Ah, brethren, these two stages mark the ministry, too. Peter was a minister, Peter cast out devils, Peter preached with power some time before Pentecost. That was powerful preach-Faith in the Pozvef of God, 33

ing when he said, “The devils are subject unto us.” And yet how utterly he failed in his after-life! How utterly he failed to confess his Lord! But, thank God, all was changed. And so there comes to the minister a time in which he sees that his work has been far more in the power of the flesh than in the power of the Spirit of God, and that all his self-life and self-trust and self-wisdom must be crucified and brought to an end, in order that he may live a life of absolute dependence on the power of the Holy Ghost. That is what God is willing to do for His minister. And God is willing to show him wherein the ministry consists which is not full of the power of the Holy Spirit. In what does it consist? i Corinthians i. and ii. teach us that solemn lesson; that what we call flesh when we speak of the unconverted, and what we call bitterness and hatred and envy and strife when we speak, as in Galatians, of the fruit of the Spirit, and what we call the religious flesh,, striving in the flesh by circumcision and external things to serve God — all that is centred for the minister in

THE ONE TEMPTATION

to seek his strength in wisdom of words and in excellency of speech. It is possible to preach every Sunday one or more beautiful sermons; it is possible to hold an audience every Sunday listening attentively to clear argument and sound logic, to beautiful illustrations, and to simple practical points of application; and yet that may be done without the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

And then the question comes, Is not all that preaching exactly what the Apostle Paul meant by saying, in effect, No excellency of speech and no wisdom of men did I seek, because Christ had forbidden me? A certain doctor of divinity has said: It is not

enough to preach a crucified Christ, but it depends upon Christ being preached in a crucified spirit.’’ It is not enough that the contents of my preaching are a crucified Christ, but the very spirit and the very manner of my preaching must be in the power of the crucifixion; that means, in that power which humbles nature; in that power which admits that in me there is no good thing and no strength; it means in that power which falls before God in utter impotence. Preaching in the power of the Crucifixion means preaching in that impotence in which Christ sank down into the grave, that the mighty power of God might be manifested in Him. He was crucified in weakness, He was raised in power. And it is when that spirit gets into our life and preaching that we shall understand what Paul means when he says, I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

And now, if there be any truth in these things, then they bring us to the point to which we want to be led in a meeting like this: to the great question, What are we to do? What a solemn thought that every one of us in the ministry of the Gospel has charge of some hundreds of souls upon whom we are to set our mark. It may be a mark of deep spirituality, it may be a mark of wisdom in men’s words, it may be a mark of Divine power never to be erased because the faith of the hearers stands in the power of God, it may be a mark that comes with excellency of speech, and that all too soon passes away. What a solemn thought! And how shall we address ourselves now to the question, What is needed in speaking to the Church at large? How can a change come?

I am sure there are very few here who are not often troubled at the thought of their want of success and power in the ministry. Look at the world around. Here is this great London, where only one man out of every five goes to church on Sunday! The Church outvoted by a tremendous majority! What an awful thing in what is called a Christian city! And the Church is working: praise God for every effort she is making. And the Church is not without a measure of blessing: praise God for every drop of blessing. But there is a deep consciousness that both our work and its results are not what we are led to expect from God’s promises and God’s power. The question comes,