Be Filled with the Spirit (Second Lecture)

I want to conclude these addresses on the Holy Spirit and His work in us, by a short summary of what that work is, showing the g“reat and wonderful blessedness that the Holy Spirit brings to them that yield to Him. As my text I mean to take again the words that we have had before, Eph. 5:18. “Be filled with the Spirit.” I think we have said that we are in very great danger when we read that text, of thinking of the Holy Spirit coming in great power, under a conscious sense of His presence, with a great stir of the emotions, with a great revelation of the glory of God, with a great quickening of our power for work, and yet very often this is not the case. I used the illustration of a river being filled up at once by heavy storms of rain, or a river being filled very gradually. I might speak again, of that same river. Sometimes it is filled by the rain coming down in torrents, causing great noise and turmoil, and that same river might be filled with the water running* down from the melted snow on the mountains, so that there will be a calm-like, steady rising-, silently, without any noise or disturbance, and so the Holy Spirit may come with noise as of the sound of a rushingwind and with a wonderful thrillingthroughout the whole being-, yet, many times, He may come on the ordinary level of the daily life and a man can live filled with the Holy Spirit just while he is walkingalongquietly in his daily duties. Then the great thing to know and understand is, what is it that the Holy Spirit will work in such a man? I want to give you three very simple answers. The Holy Spirit bring-s the presence of Christ; He g-ives the likeness of Christ, and the Holy Spirit works the power of Christ.

1. The Holy Spirit is meant to g-ive the presence of Christ. You know, dear friends, that during the three years of Christ’s work on earth, to the disciples, His presence was everything-. Christ’s presence met every trouble and supplied every need. When there were people around them the disciples knew that they had only to say to Christ, “Do help that woman,” and it was done. There had been thousands around them without bread and they wanted to send them away, but Christ had only to tell them to bringfive loaves and two fishes and the five thousand were fed. The presence of Jesus was the supply of every need. They were in the storm and they cried, “Master, we perish.” The presence of Jesus in the ship was all that was needed. He said, “Peace, be still,” and there was a great calm. When He appeared walking on the sea they were terrified, because they thought He was a spirit. It was only necessary for Him to say, “Be not afraid,” and their hearts were set at rest. When they wanted instruction, g-uidance or reproof, Christ’s presence was their help. Everythingdepended upon having-Christ with them. And now, in my life and yours, everything depends upon having Christ’s presence with us. Christ’s presence is very near and very clear and if I can get up in the morning, and if I can go through the day, and if I can meet every difficulty with the secret consciousness that the Lord Jesus, the Almighty One, is with me, then I am prepared for anything and my heart is kept in perfect rest and in great joy. But now, Christ was to go away to heaven and the hearts of the disciples were very sad, but listen, before He went away He said, “I am coming again. “’ ‘I will not leave you comfortless.” He told them that it was by the Holy Spirit He was coming to them. He promised them that He would pray the Father and that He would send the Comforter, He told them that if they loved Him they would keep His commandments and then He promised to come and manifest Himself unto them, and that both He and the Father would come and take up their abode with them. Do you see that the Lord Jesus promised the Holy Spirit? He promised in the first place, above everything else, this — His abiding presence — and this is what the believer wants, and, dear friends, that is what lives want. We don’t know what it is to walk with Jesus as a little child walks with his father, and I want to press this upon you, the Lord Jesus is longing and willmgto come so close to us and to stay so near to us that we can have His presence always. This is not impossible, don’t think it. Jesus is able to give us the consciousness of His abidingpresence, and how does He do it? He does it by fillingus with the Holy Spirit. This is the g-reat work of the Holy Spirit, to glorify Christ. Remember the words John wrote when Christ said, “He thatbelievethon Me as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Christ was not yet glorified.” When Christ was glorified, when He had died and glorified the Father, and the Father had glorified Him in heaven, then the Holy Spirit came as the Spirit of Christ to show us Christ’s heavenly glory, and that is why Christ says, “He shall glorify Me; He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” The Holy Spirit is able to fill me with a real deep sense of the presence of Jesus Christ and of His glory. This is one of the essential roots of the Christian life, the presence of Jesus.

You have heard of what is called, in England, the Keswick Movement. Keswick is in the north of England. The friends who are at the head of this movement stand for what they call the beginning of the spi7’itual life. Their great object is to show Christians how wrong and feeble their life is, sometimes light and sometimes dark, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and to point out a better way. Many admit that they ought to live a different life.

They are broug-ht to the acknowledgment of what is wrong-, to earnest self-searching, to g-ive themselves up to God to be searched, and when the consciousness becomes strong- and deep of what is wrong, then there is pointed out to them from God’s word what the true life is. They- don’t talk so much about the baptism of the Holy Spirit at those conventions, but the most prominent thought is, Jesus Christ is the Saviour from sin and He is able to keep you alway. They bring, by God’s help, many to see that Jesus requires one step. This step only takes a moment. You don’t have to wrestle, but just throw yourself in the arms of Christ and let that living Christ take hold of you, never letting Him go but having Him with you all the day.

Out at the Cape I met a young missionary, just returned from Keswick, where he had been greatly blessed. I asked him what was the difference between his former life and now. He said it was just the personal friendship of Jesus. This is it: you know the Lord Jesus is such a dear friend. He is such a heavenly friend, and such a fountain of love, that is, if you get into the right relationship. Oh, then you must do it. The presence of Jesus must be like the sunlight, for the presence of Jesus makes everything bright. How can I get this, so that I have the Lord Jesus always with me, and I always know it, and I never get out of the realization of it for a minute? That is what Christ longs for. Don’t think He is content with the way most Christians live. He is such a lover. He longs to be very near to us and have us wholly for Himself. Listen ifriends, the way by which a man can alwa)’s have the presence of Christ, is by the power of the Holy Spirit, and what is that way? Why, very simple. A man must confess, “I have not been living- as I should, in close fellowship with Jesus. Sometimes I have met Him, but just as often I have forg-otten and forsaken Him, living* after my own heart, and although I have been kept from open sin, there has not been that holy warmth of a man whose walk is with his Lord. The Lord wants to have me always with Him, and the power of my Lord is to keep me always with Him, and the presence of my Lord is the only secret of a spiritual life.” Believe this, say it, accept Him thus, in the fulness of His presence. Let me say that it is the wonderful purpose of God to make Jesus present with me every day and hour. Dear friends, if your hearts long- to know Jesus fully as the Deliverer from sin, as the comfort of your soul, are you willing- to confess all of the sin of the past, bow down in shame, and be willing to be cleansed in the precious blood? Are you willing- to g-ive up yourself to a life of unbroken communion with Jesus? Oh, that God might work a deep desire in our hearts and make us all ready to say, I want a life of unbroken communion with Jesus. I want Jesus to do the utmost He can for me. I want His love to rule and work through me all day. Is it possible? The answer comes. Have I not given the Holy Spirit, have I not sent the Holy Spirit into your heart for this one purpose, that He should always g-lorify Jesus in 3“0U? Oh come, believers, you have the Holy Spirit within you now, come and bow with shame and say, “Oh God, how little have I let the Holy Spirit manifest the presence of Jesus. Forg-ive me. Father, my heart responds and I want to open my whole being to Him; I want to yield entirely to Him; I want to be filled completely with the Holy Spirit that my whole being may be under His control, so that He may have power to reveal Christ always within me.” If you will ask that, believe God’s promises, claim its fulfillment, and say in deep humility and faith, “God is true, the Holy Spirit is here, the Holy Spirit can and will fill my heart, I am going to expect this, the presense of Jesus, kept in me, wrought in me, manifested in me by the Holy Ghost.” God help us. Dear friends, the first work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the presence of Jesus.

2. The Holy Spirit not only reveals the presence of Jesus but He gives the likeness of Jesus. This is something additional. When a young Christian comes to understand what the presence of Jesus is, he finds how much there is of sin and flesh, self and failure, and shortcoming and even though he has said he consecrated himself very humbly, and undividedly, he is very conscious of how much there still is that has not been consecrated and sacrificed, and the Holy Spirit will lead him on. The disciples hsidthe p7’esence of Jesus though they didnothaveHis likeness. He was humble, they were proud. He was unselfish, they were selfish. Many want to have the presence of Jesus to keep them up, but they do not want to be entirely like Him. You cannot have that. They will say, “I cannot expect to be too holy. I want the presence of Jesus very near o{ course, but I don’t expect to be very much like Jesus.” The Holy Spirit comes to reveal the presence of Jesus in you, not as a separate person, but as dwelling- in your life and heart and disposition and character. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal the very likeness of Christ in you. The characteristics and disposition of Christ should all come to you. What are these characteristics, and what was His disposition? I cannot mention all, but it is a great thing, when looking- on Christ’s character, to find out what is His chief virtue? What is His chief characteristic? The answer is very simple, Immility. Did He not say; “Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.” Did He not continually speak about the Father, saying-, “The Father hath sent Me.” He wanted people to know that He was a servant. He said, in substance, “I am not my own master, the words I speak are not mine, I don’t speak of myself, I dare not speak one word of myself, but what I hear I speak. The works that I do I do not of myself, but the Father hath shown Me the works. I can do nothing of myself.” Christ’s life was a life of absolute dependence upon the Father, to do nothing of Himself, but just to let the Father teach Him, and let the Father work in Him, and let the Father carry out His will. “I seek not mine own honor, but the honor of Him that sent Me. There is another who honors my honor, I don’t take care of that. I only take care of the honoi of the Father. I came not to do mine own will, I have a will, but I g-ave it up, I came to do the will of the Father.” There was with Him a certain self-abneg-ation. He wanted to be nothing- and God to be all. His chief virtue was humility. He g-ave God His place and g-lory; and what is the place and g-lory of God? That God should be all, and in all. Christ came to man to take a humble place — to live as nothing-. God told Him what to do. He tells the Father just to work in Him and show Him what to do. I am only to let God work out His purpose in me. That is the humility of Jesus. That is the Lamb of God. Some of you never thought of that. You have thought of His sacrifice for sin, and especially His blood, but you have never thought of His humility. Men must humble themselves and become nothing before God if they wish to return to Him. The Lord Jesus came from heaven and took that name — the Lamb of God — that He might prove to man He was the Lamb of God in littleness, meekness, gentleness and humility, and this is why Paul said, “He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” He virtually said, “Let it cost me what it will, I will do anything, I will die that God’s will may be done.” Deep humility was the Spirit of Christ, and now when the Holy Spirit comes to us does He come to bring us a very different disposition? You know the answer. The Holy Spirit wants to bring the likeness of Jesus in us — deep dependence upon God. This is what is wanted in the church of Christ. There is so much pride, selfishness, unloving and self-seeking. May God help us to see the beauty of

Christ, just to be in love with His humility and to believe that the Holy Spirit will breathe the humility of Christ into us. Let me say something- to you who are in earnest in seeking” the filling of the Holy Spirit. I have spoken to more than one. Take a very earnest young man. He hears about this higher life. He says, “I want to g“et it;” he struggles, feels, and wills and cannot get it. Why? Because there is a great deal of self-will and self trust in all that fighting. That is not the way to get it. How did Christ g“et the throne of glory? By going” down into the grave, and God lifted Him up to the throne There is the place to get glory. You must sink down into death. It looks so difficult for you to understand what we mean. We tell you to be in earnest, we tell you to wrestle and make every sacrifice, we tell you to rest not till you get it then fall down and become nothing, and yet both are true. A man must set his whole soul upon the price, and when he has struggled he must begin to feel, all my struggling cannot help me, and when that intense desire has been aroused he must fall down with helplessness and say, “Lord, here I am. I can do nothing, I lie down, I die to self, I am in despair.” When in utter despair the blessing- comes. Dear friends, the Holy Spirit is come to work out the likeness of Jesus in your hearts. Remember, as often as you read, “The likeness of Jesus,” this is what the Holy Spirit is going to put into my heart, whether it be self-sacrifice or whether it be humility, gentleness, or poverty before God. Oh, do believe that the Holy Spirit is come to bring the likeness of

Christ in you. When a soul has learned to look for this work with its blessing’s, say, “Lord, I want Thy presence; Lord, I want Thy likeness; Lord, I want Thy divine life; God help me to have my whole life filled with the Holy Spirit.” God’s answer: “Be filled with the Spirit.”

3. The Holy Spirit brings us, not only the presence of Jesus and the likeness of Jesus, but third, the power of Jesus. We all speak about power for work and complain we have so little of it. Many of us are very earnest in prayer for the baptism of power; many of us cry for more power. All very g-ood, but remember, “power belongeth unto God,” and to Him alone. God has given the power to Christ, and Christ has said, “All power is given unto Me, in heaven and in earth,” and there is not a shade V of spiritual power except in Christ, and Christ cannot give me power, as a thing to have in myself. You all have been in some great manufacturing place or factory and seen the mighty engine which was the great fountain of power for moving all the machinery; not a spindle or wheel has any power of its own; it can only get power as it is in connection with the engine. Just so this Christ is a great fountain of power. He cannot communicate power to me if I have any secret power of my own, carrying about. If I want to be filled with the power of Jesus, as the machine must be in momentary connection with the steam-engine, so my soul must be in momentary connection with Jesus; the power is in Him, and He, the living Christ, wants to work through me. He said, “The Father worketh in me.” Paul says, Col. 1:29, “Striving according” to His working-, which worketh in me, mightily. “I strive because God is working in me. Dear friends, the church of Christ has a great work to do in the world. We have hardly touched the world. What machinery and what little result. We are accustomed to thinking of the work we have to do. Think of 800 millions of heathen who have never heard of Christ, and of the millions of nominal Christians who have nothing but the form of religion, without the power, and the tens of millions who are in the church, who may be God’s own people, yet how worldly, how full of sin, and none can do this work but the living Christ. He can do it, and will do it, but how? If the Holy Spirit reveals Christ within 7ne, my heart will be strengthened and I will learn to love souls more and care for them, and speak to them in the power of Christ. Do not think that is impossible. When a man speaks in the power of Christ there will be fruit. How can I have this power of Christ working in me? How can I preach a sermon to-morrow, visit some unconverted man? Or, how can I always allow the power of Christ to work through me? Listen. I must be filled with the Spirit of God, then Christ can work with me. You long for power for service. Jesus Christ is the wisdom and the power of God. Get linked to Him by faith that sees and knows, from moment to moment. His power will work in you. As the leather band brings power from the great steam engine, from moment to moment, the Holy Spirit will keep your heart waiting and trusting in the presence and power of Christ, which will be revealed and it will not be you that works but Christ working- in you. “Be filled with the Spirit.”

As I said some days ag“o, we take up, next week, studies on “The person of Jesus Christ,” and this is our concluding address in regard to the work of the Holy Spirit. Shall we gather up, in one or two thoughts, all? Dear friends, let us bow very low and very humbly in the thought, that the Great Spirit of God is waiting to get complete possession. Oh, the mystery; oh, the blessing! The Great Spirit of God is waiting to get full possession and I cannot force Him, I cannot grasp Him, but I can lie down at the foot of my God and say, “Father, fill me with Thy Spirit.” Oh, give up yourself in emptiness, in surrender, as Jesus gave Himself unto death and the grave, and remember that God raised Him to the throne of glory and gave Him the Holy Spirit to give to us. Sink down into your nothingness and helplessness in the grave of Jesus and God will lift you up and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Often He has done it. Let us then cultivate an intense longing after righteousness. Let us fall down very low and humble ourselves before God. Never mind if there are difficult questions, there is God’s promise, God’s gift and God’s power. Wait upon God and He will give you the filling of the Holy Ghost.

Lastly, believe! believe! believe! with a desperate faith. I am convinced God means me to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Say it; trust God for it. Trust God for it. Sink low down, first, with your whole heart, and look to God and He will fill you. May it be the blessed experience of every one. Let us bow in prayer.