The Work of the Holy Spirit
I. The Work of the Spirit in the Universe.
(1) Ps. 33: 6 — “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made) and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth”
Job 33: 4 — “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
FIRST PROPOSITION: The Creation of the material universe and man is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
NOTE. — In Col. i: 16, R.V. (” For in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon .the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him and unto him;”) all things are said to have been created in the Son, and in Heb. i: 2 (“Hath in those last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds”) God is said to have made the worlds (or ages) through Him. In the first passage given above the word as well as the Spirit is mentioned in connection with creation. (Compare Gen. i: 2, 3.) The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all active in the creative work. The Father works through His Word and His Spirit.
(2) Ps. 104: 29, 30 — “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendcst forth thy spirit ‘, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.”
SECOND PROPOSITION: The maintenance of living creatures is through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
(3) Gen. i: 2, 3 — “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
Gen. 2: 7 — “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man be came a living soul.”
THIRD PROPOSITION: The development of the present order of things from the early chaotic, undeveloped state, is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit,
NOTE i. — Seemingly, each new and higher impartation of the Spirit of God brings forth a higher order of being — inert matter, motion, light, vegetable life, animal life, man (the new man), Jesus Christ. This is Biblical development, as distinguished from the godless evolution so popular to-day. This, however, is only hinted at in the Bible.
NOTE 2. — The Word of God is even more plainly active in each stage of progress in creation. “God said” occurs ten times in Gen. i.
II, The Work of the Spirit in Man in general.
i. Jno. 15: 26, 27 — “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”
Acts 5: 30-32 — “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.”
FIRST PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth regarding Jesus Christ.
NOTE i. — At first sight this testimony would seem to be confined to the believer, for Jno. 15: 26 (“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the- Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me “) says,” Whom I will send unto you” (/. e., of course, believers), but in the next chapter, verses 7, 8 (“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send -him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment “), where the Holy Spirit’s work in the world is distinctly described, it says, “I will send him unto you” The truth seems clearly to be that the Spirit works on the world through the believers to whom He is sent. If we as believers realized the utter dependence of the world upon us for the Spirit’s gracious work, would we not be more careful to see that the Spirit found in us an unobstructed channel? How slowly the world comes to know Jesus be cause of the unfaithfulness of the church.
NOTE 2. — Jno. 14: 17 — “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” All truth is from the Spirit — He is “the Spirit of truth” but it is His especial work to bear witness to Him who is the truth — Jesus Christ. (Jno. 14: 6.)
NOTE 3. — It is only through the testimony of the Holy Spirit that men ever come to a true knowledge of Christ. (Cf. i Cor. 12: 3.) If you wish men to get a true view of Jesus Christ — such a view of Him that they may believe and be saved — you must seek for them the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Neither your testimony, nor even that of the Word alone, will effect this — though it is your testimony or that of the word which the Holy Spirit uses. But unless your testimony and that of the word is taken up by the Holy Spirit and He Himself testifies, they will not believe. This explains why it is that one who has been long in darkness concerning Jesus Christ so quickly comes to see the truth when he surrenders his will to God and seeks light from Him. (Compare Jno. 7: 17, and Acts 5: 32.) It explains also why it is that when you have shown a man the truth about Christ over and over again and he has seen nothing, suddenly it all bursts upon him, and he sees and believes. The Spirit has borne His witness to Christ. It was not merely Peter’s words about Christ that convinced the Jews of the truth concerning Christ on the Day of Pentecost. It was the Spirit Himself bearing witness. If you wish men to see the truth about Christ, do not depend upon your own powers of expression and persuasion, but cast yourself upon the Holy Spirit and seek for them His testimony and see to it that they put themselves in a place where the Spirit can testify. This is the cure for both ignorance and skepticism concerning Christ. (Cf. Jno. 7: 17.)
NOTE 4. — The testimony of the Holy Spirit to Christ is different from His testimony to our sonship. That we will consider later.
(2) Jno. 16: 8-u, R.V. — “And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged.”
SECOND PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
He convicts the world of its sin in not believing on Christ.
(Compare Acts 2: 36, 37 — “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” )
He convicts (that is convinces with a convincing that is self-condemning ) the world of Christ’s righteousness attested by His going to the Father, the coming of the Spirit being in itself a proof that Christ has gone to the Father.
( Compare Acts 2: 33 — “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”)
He convicts the world of judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. He was judged at the cross.
(Compare Col. 2: 15 — “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Jno. 12: 31 — “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” Heb. 2:14 — “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
It is ours to preach the word and look to the Holy Spirit to produce conviction. (Acts 2: 4, 37.) Ofttimes the reason why we fail to produce conviction is because we are trying to do it ourselves. Let us not forget on the other hand that it is through ut the Spirit produces conviction. (Jno. 16: 7, 8.)
III. The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Believer.
(i) Tit. 3:5, R. V. — “Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing- of the Holy Ghost.”
Jno. 3: 3-5 — “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born again when he is old? Can lie enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit ‘, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.”
FIRST PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit makes anew or regenerates the believer. ( Compare Rom. 12: 2; 2 Cor. 5: 17.)
Regeneration is the Holy Spirit’s work. Regeneration is the impartation of life, spiritual life, to the one “dead in trespasses and sins.” ( Eph. 2:1.) It is the Holy Spirit who imparts this life.
(Jno. 6: 63 — “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” )
NOTE i. — In 2 Cor. 3: 6, we are told that the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. This is sometimes interpreted to mean that the literal interpretation of the Scripture killeth, but that the interpretation that gives the spirit of the passage giveth life. It means nothing of the kind, as the context shows. This is a favorite perversion of Scripture with those who do not like to take the Bible as meaning just what it says. Still another false interpretation is that the letter means the old covenant, the law; the spirit, the new covenant, the Gospel. But this is not the thought. The contrast, as is seen from v. 3, is between the mere written word written with ink, and the living word written in the heart” with the Spirit of the living God.” This much is true in the second interpretation, that the law was “the ministration of death” ( v. 7), because unaccompanied by the Spirit’s power, and the gospel is a ministration of life, because it is a ministration of the Spirit. But the Gospel is a ministration of the Spirit and of life only when the Gospel is preached “not in persuasive words of wis dom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” ( i Cor. 2: 4); or as Paul puts it in another place ( i Thess. 1:5) when the Gospel comes “not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost.” The mere letter of the Gospel will merely condemn and kill unless accompanied by the Spirit’s power. The ministry of many an orthodox preacher and teacher is a ministry of death. It is true the word of the Gospel is the instrument God uses in regeneration (Compare Jas. i: 18; i Pet. 1:23; i Cor. 4: 15), but it is not the bare word, but the word made a living thing in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. No amount of preaching, no matter how orthodox it may be, no amount of mere study of the Word, will regenerate unless the Holy Spirit works. It is He and He alone that makes a man a new creature. This He is ever ready to do when the conditions are supplied. But we are utterly dependent upon Him. Just as we are utterly dependent upon the work of Christ for us in justification, so we are utterly dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit in us for regeneration. Regeneration is the impartation of a new nature — God’s nature. (2 Pet. 1:4.) It is the Holy Spirit who imparts this to us, makes us partakers of the divine nature. ( Compare Luke i: 35.) It is done through the Word. ( 2 Pet. 1:4, and i Cor. 4: 15.) To put it in a word: The human heart is the soil, the preacher or teacher is the sower, the word of God is the seed, the Spirit of God quickens the seed, and the Divine nature is the result.
NOTE 2. — The Spirit of God dwells in the one thus born of the Spirit, (i Cor. 3: 16 — “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? “) Some say that it is not the individual believer, but the church who is thus indwelt by the Spirit of God. But i Cor. 6: 19 (“What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”) shows that Paul conceives of the individual be liever as the temple of the indwelling Spirit. In the indwelling of the Spirit we have an advance upon the work of regeneration. That is a momentary act, the impartation of life, the implantation of a new nature. But in the indwelling Spirit is an abiding presence. (Jno. 14: 17.) The Holy Spirit dwells in everyone who belongs to Christ. (Rom. 8: 9 — “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”) The Corinthian believers were very imperfect believers, but Paul told them that they were temples of the Holy Spirit even when dealing with them concerning gross immorality. (See i Cor. 6: 15-19.) The Holy Spirit dwells in every child of God. In some, however, He dwells way back in the hidden sanctuary of their spirit and is not allowed to take possession as He desires of the whole man — spirit, soul and body. Some, therefore, are not distinctly conscious of His indwelling, but He is there. What a solemn but glorious thought. If we are children of God we are not so much to pray that the Spirit may come and dwell in us; for He does that already. We are rather to recognize His presence, His gracious and glorious indwelling, and give Him complete control of the house He already inhabits, and strive to so live as not to grieve this Holy one, this Divine guest. We shall see later that it is right to pray for “the filling” or “baptism” with the Spirit. What a thought it gives of the hallowedness of life and of the sacredness of the body, to think of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. How carefully we ought to walk so as not to grieve Him. How considerately we ought to treat these bodies, and how sensitively we ought to shun everything that will defile them.
NOTE 3. — This indwelling Spirit is a source of everlasting satisfaction and life. Jno. 4: 14 — “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (From a comparison with Jno. 7: 37-39, it is plain that the water here spoken of is the Holy Spirit.) The one who drinks of this water “shall never thirst” or literally shall not thirst unto eternity. He has a fountain within. No need now to go outside for satisfaction. He is independent of environment for life and joy. Why then do so many professed Christians feel compelled to run into the world for their satisfaction?
(2) Rom. 8: 2 — “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
SECOND PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit sets the believer in Christ free from the law of sin and death.
What the law of sin and death is we see in the preceding chapter. (Rom. 7: 9-24.) Paul had been aroused by the law of God to see what was holy and just and good. He delighted in this law after the inward man (Rom. 7: 22) and strove to keep it. But he found that there was not only this “holy and just and good” law without him, but he found there was another law in his members warring against the law of his mind. This law of sin and death was, that when he would do good evil was present. (7: 21.) “To will is present to me, but to do that which is good is not.” (V. 18, R.V.) In this wretched position of approving of the law in his mind, but in servitude to the law of sin and death in his actions, Paul found himself until he discovered in Christ Jesus a third law, “the law of the Spirit of life.” This law get him free from the law of sin and death so that now he not only could “will” but also “do,” and the pighteousness of the law was fulfilled in him who walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3.) It is the work of the Holy Spirit when we give up trying to live right in our own strength — i. e., in the energy of the flesh — and surrender to the Holy Spirit to live after Him and walk in his blessed power, to set us free from this awf u law of sin and death.
There are many professed Christians to-day living in Rom. 7: 9-24. Some even go so far as to reason that this is the normal Christian life. But Paul tells us distinctly in v. 9 that this was “when the commandment came,” and again in v. 14 that this was his experience as “carnal, sold under sin,” but in Rom. 8: 9 he tells us how not to be in the flesh but in the Spirit. In the eighth chapter of Romans we have the picture of the true Christian life, the life that is possible to and that God expects from every one of His children — the life where not merely the commandment comes, but the Spirit comes and works obedience and victory. Life not in the flesh but in the Spirit, where we not only see the beauty of the law, but where the Spirit imparts power to keep it. (Rom. 8:4.) We still have “the flesh,” but we do not live after it; we “through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body.” (Rom. 8: 13.) We walk after the Spirit and do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. (Gal. 5: 16.) We “have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts thereof.” (Gal, 5: 24, R.V.) It is thus our privilege in the Spirit’s power to get daily, hourly, constant victory over the flesh and over sin. But this victory is not in ourselves, not in any strength of our own. Left to ourselves, deserted of the Spirit of God, we would be as helpless as ever. It is still true that in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing. (Rom. 7: 18.) It is all in the Spirit’s power. The Spirit’s power may be in such fulness, that one is not conscious even of the presence of the flesh — it seems dead and gone — but it is only kept in the place of death by the Holy Spirit’s power. If we try to take one step in our own strength we fail. We must live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit if we would have victory. (Gal. 5: 16, 25.)
NOTE. — In Jno. 8:32, it is the truth that sets us free and gives victory over sin, and in Ps. 119: n, the indwelling word. In this, as in everything else, what in one place is attributed to the Spirit is elsewher* atir-Uwited to the word.
(3) Eph. 3: 16, R.V. — “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man.”
THIRD PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit strengthens the be* liever with power in the inward man.
The result of this strengthening is seen in vv. 17-19: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end vthat ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.” This work of the Holy Spirit is very closely akin to that mentioned in the preceding section. It is a carrying out of the former work to completion. Here the power of the Spirit manifests itself not merely in giving us victory over sin, but (a) in Christ’s dwelling (a strong word meaning permanently settling) in our hearts, and (b) in our being rooted and grounded in love and (c) in our being made strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. It all ultimates in our being (d) “filled unto all the fulness of God.”
(4) Rom. 8; 14 — “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
FOURTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit leads us into a holy life — a life as sons of God, a godlike life.
Not merely does the Holy Spirit give us power to live a holy Mfe, a life well pleasing to God when we have discovered what that life is; He takes us as it were by the hand and leads us into that life. Our whole part is simply to surrender ourselves utterly to Him to lead and mold us. Those who do this are not merely God’s offspring which all men are (Acts 17: 28), neither are we merely God’s children. “These are sons of God.”
(5) Rom. 8: 16, R.V. — “The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.”
FIFTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit bears witness together with the spirit of the believer that he is a child of God.
Note that Paul does not say that the Spirit bears witness to our spirit but with it — “together with our spirit,” is the exact force of the words used. That is, there are two who bear witness to our sonship; first our spirit bears witness that we are children of God; second, the Holy Spirit bears witness together with our spirit that we are children of God.
How does the Holy Spirit bear His testimony to this fact?| Gal. 4. 6 — “And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
It is only when “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Oesus has made me free from the law of sin and death (v. 2), ana so “the righteousness of the law is fulfilled” in me “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” (v. 4), and I “through the Spirit of God do mortify the deeds of the body” (v. 13), and when I am surrendered to the Spirit’s leading (v. 14) — it is then and only then that I can expect (v. 16) to be realized in my experience, and to have the clear assurance of sonship that comes from the Spirit of God testifying together with my spirit that I am a child of God. There are many seeking this testimony of the Holy Spirit in the wrong place — i. e., as a condition of their surrendering wholly to God and confessing the crucified and risen one as their Saviour and Lord.
(6) Gal. 5:22, 23 — “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace» longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is notlaw0”
SIXTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit brings forth fruit in the believer in Christlike graces of character.
(Compare Rom. 14: 17 — “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Rom. 15: 13 — “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Rom. 5: 5 — “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”)
All real beauty of character, all real Christlikeness in us, is the Holy Spirit’s work, it is His fruit. He bears it, not we. Notice these graces are not said to be the fruits of the Spirit, they are the fruit. There is a unity of origin running through all the multiplicity of manifestation. It is a beautiful life that is set forth in these verses. Every word is worthy of earnest study and profound meditation. “Love,” ‘.’joy,” “peace,” “longsuffering,” “kindness,” “goodness,” “faith,” “meekness,” “self-control.” Is not this the life we all long for, the Christ-life? It is not natural to us, and it is not attainable by any effort of the flesh or nature. The life that is natural to us is set forth in the three preceding verses (19-21). But when the indwelling Spirit is given full control in the one He inhabits, when we are brought to realize the utter badness of the flesh and give up in hopeless despair of ever attaining to anything in its power — when, in other words, we come to the end of self and just give over the whole work of making us what we ought to be to the indwelling Holy Spirit, then, and only then, holy graces of character are His fruit. Do you wish these graces in your character and life? Renounce self utterly and all its striving after holiness, and let the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you, take full control and bear His own glorious fruit. (We get the same essential truth from another point of view in Gal. 2: 20, R.V., Am. App.)
Settle it clearly and forever that the flesh can never bear this fruit, that you can never attain these things by your own effort, that they are “the fruit of the Spirit.” We hear a good deal in these days about “ethical culture,” which usually means a cultivation of the flesh, until it bears the fruit of the Spirit. It can not be done until thorns can be made to bear figs, and a bramble bush grapes. (Luke 6:44; Matt, 12:33.)
We hear also a good deal about “character-building.” That is all very well if you let the Holy Spirit do the building, and then it is not so much building as fruit-bearing. (See, however, 2 Pet. 1:5-7.)
We hear also about cultivating graces of character, but we must always bear in mind that the way to cultivate true graces of character is by submitting ourselves utterly to the Spirit to do His work. “This is sanctification of the Spirit.” (1 Pet. 1: 2; 2 Thess. 2: 13.)
There is a sense, however, in which cultivating graces of character is right. We look at Jesus Christ to see what we ought to be, then we look to the Holy Spirit to make us this that we ought to be.
(7) Jno. 16:13, R.V. — “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself: but «hat things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he sal declare unto you the things that are to come.”
SEVENTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Sjririt guides the believer into all the truth.
This promise was made in the first instance to the Apostles, but the Apostles themselves applied it to all believers. (1 Jno. 2: 20, 27. ) It is the privilege of each of us to be “taught of God.” Each believer is independent of human teachers — “ye need not that any man teach you.” This does not mean, of course, that we may not learn much from others who are taught of the Holy Spirit. If John had thought that he would never have written this epistle to teach others. The man who is most fully taught of God, is the very one who will be most ready to listen to what God has taught others. Much less does it mean that when we are taught of the Spirit we are independent of the Word of God. For the Word is the very place to which the Spirit leads His pupils and the instrument through which He instructs them. (Eph. 6:17; Jno. 6:63; Eph. 5:18, 19; Compare Col. 3:16.) But while we may learn much from men we are not dependent upon them. We have a Divine teacher, the Holy Spirit.
We shall never truly know the truth until we are thus taught. No amount of mere human teaching, no matter who our teachers may be, will give us a correct apprehension of the truth, not even a diligent study of the Word either in the English or original languages will give us a real understanding of the truth. We must be taught of the Holy Spirit. And we may be thus taught, each of us. The one who is thus taught will understand the truth of God better, even if he does not know a word of Greek or Hebrew, than the one who knows Greek and Hebrew and all the cognate languages, and is not taught of the Spirit.
The Spirit will guide the one He teaches into all the truth. Not in a day, nor in a week, nor in a year, but step by step. There are two especial lines of the Spirit’s teaching mentioned. («) ‘He shall declare unto you the things that are to come.” Many say we can know nothing of the future, that all our thoughts on that subject are guesswork. Anyone taught by the Spirit knows better than that, (b) “He shall glorify me (i. e., Christ), for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you.” This is the Holy Spirit’s especial line with the believer as with the unbeliever, to declare unto them the things of Christ and glorify Him.
Many fear to emphasize the truth about the Holy Spirit lest Christ be disparaged, but no one magnifies Christ as the Holy Spirit does. We shall never understand Christ nor see His glory until the Holy Spirit interprets Him to us. The mere listening to sermons and lectures, the mere study of the Word even, will never give you to see “the things of Christ.” The Holy Spirit must show you, and He is willing to do it. He is longing to do it. I suppose the Holy Spirit’s most intense desire is to reveal Jesus Christ to men. Let Him do it. Christ is so different when the Spirit glorifies Him by taking of the things of Christ and showing them unto us.
(8) Jno. 14: 26 — “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in rny name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Here again we have the teaching of the Holy Spirit, but we have something besides.
EIGHTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance the words of Christ,
This promise was made primarily to the Apostles, and is the guarantee of the accuracy of their report of what Jesus said; but the Holy Spirit does a similar work with each believer who expects it of Him, and looks to Him to do it. He brings to mind the teachings of Christ and the Word, just when we need them for either the necessities of our life or of our service. How many of us could tell of occasions when we were in great distress of soul, or great questioning as to duty, or great extremity as to what to say to one whom we were trying to lead to Christ or to help, and just the Scripture we needed — some passage we had not thought of for a long time and perhaps never in this connection — was brought to mind. It was the Holy Spirit who did this, and He is ready to do it even more when we expect it from Him. Is it without significance that in the verse following this blessed promise, Jesus says: ’ * Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you?” If we will just look to the Holy Spirit to bring to mind Scripture just when we need it and just the Scripture we need, we will indeed have Christ’s peace.
(9) i Cor. 2:9-14 — ‘* But as it is writtten, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
NINTH PROPOSITION: In these verses we have a twofold work of the Spirit, (a) The Holy Spirit reveals to us the deep things of God which are hidden from and foolishness to the natural man. (It is primarily to the Apostles, that He does this, but we can not limit this work of the Spirit to them. ) (b) The Holy Spirit imparts power to discern, know and appreciate what he has taught.
Not only is the Holy Spirit the Author of Revelation — the written word of God — He is also the interpreter of what He has revealed. How much more interesting and helpful any deep book becomes when we have the author of the book right at hand to interpret it to us. This is what we always may have when we study the Bible. The author, the Holy Spirit, is right at hand to interpret. To understand the book we must look to Him and the darkest places become clear. “We need to pray often with the Psalmist: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Ps. 119:18.) It is not enough that we have the objective revelation in the written word, we must have the (subjective) inward illumination of the Holy Spirit to enable us to comprehend it. It is a great mistake to try to com. prehend a spiritual revelation with the natural understanding. It is the foolish attempt to do this that has landed so many in the bog of * ’ the higher criticism.” A man with no aesthetic sense might as well expect to appreciate the Sistine Madonna because he is not color-blind, as an imspiritual man to understand the Bible simply because he understands the laws of grammar and the vocabulary of the languages in which the Bible was written. I would as soon think of setting a man to teach art because he understood paints, as to set him to teach the Bible because he understood Greek and Hebrew. We all need not only to recog nize the utter insufficiency and worthlessness before God of our own righteousness, which is the lesson of opening chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, but also the utter insufficiency and worth lessness in the tilings of God of our own wisdom, which is the lesson of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, especially the first to the third chapters. (See, e. </., 1 Cor. 1: 19-21, 26, 27.)
Tho Jews had a revelation by the Spirit but they failed to depend upon Him to interpret it to them, so they went astray. The whole evangelical church recognizes the utter insufficiency of man’s righteousness, theoretically at least. Now it needs to be taught and made to feel the utter insufficiency of man’s wis dom. That is perhaps the lesson that this nineteenth century of overweening intellectual conceit needs most of any.
To understand God’s word we must empty ourselves utterly of our own wisdom, and rest in utter dependence upon the Spirit of God to interpret it to us. (Matt. 11: 25 — “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”)
When we have put away our own righteousness, then, and only then, we get the righteousness of God. (Phil. 3:4-7, 9 — * ‘Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. * * * And be found in him, not having mine own r ighteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Rom. 10: 3 — “For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”)
When we put away our own wisdom — then, and only then, we get the wisdom of God. (1 Cor. 3: 18 — “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” Matt. 11: 25 — “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” See also
1 Cor. 1:25-28.)
When we put away our own strength, then, and then only, we get the strength of God. (Is. 40:29 — “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”
2 Cor. 12: 9 — “And he said unto mo, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 1 Cor. 1:27. 28 — “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.”)
Emptying must precede filling. Self-poured-out that God may be poured in.
We must daily be taught by the Spirit to understand the word. I cannot depend to-day on the fact that the Spirit taught me yesterday. Each new contact with the Word must be in the power of the Spirit. That the Holy Spirit once illumined our mind to grasp a certain passage is not enough. He must do so each time we confront that passage. Andrew Murray has put this truth well. He says: “Each time you come to the Word in study, in hearing a sermon or reading a religious book, there ought to be, as distinct as your intercourse with the external means, a definite act of self-abnegation, denying your own wis dom and yielding yourself in faith to the Divine teacher.” (“The Spirit of Christ,” p. 221.)
(10) i Cor. 2: 1-5 — “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
i Thess. i: 5 — “For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance: as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”
Acts i: 8 — “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
TENTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit enables the believer to communicate to others in povier the truth lie Himself has been tv’ght.
We not only need the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth in the first place, and the Holy Spirit in the second place to interpret to us as individuals the truth He has revealed, but, in the third place also we need the Holy Spirit to enable us to effectually communicate to others tho truth He Himself has interpreted to us. We need Him all along the line. One great cause of real
o o
failure in the ministry even when there is seeming success, and not only in the ministry, but in all forms of service by Christian men and women, is from the attempt to teach by “enticing words of man’s wisdom” — i. e., by the arts of human logic, rhetoric and eloquence — what the Holy Spirit has taught us. What is needed is Holy Ghost power “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
There are three causes of failure in preaching:
First. Some other message is taught than the message which the Holy Spirit has revealed in the “Word — men preach science, art, philosophy, sociology, history, experience, etc., and not the simple word of God as found in the Holy Spirit’s Book, the Bible.
Second. The Spirit- taught message, the Bible, is studied and sought to be comprehended by the natural understanding — i. e., without the Spirit’s illumination. That, alas! is too common even in institutions where men are being trained for the ministry.
Third. The Spirit-given message, the Word, the Bible, studied and comprehended under the Holy Ghost illumination, is given out to others with “enticing words of man’s wisdom,” and not “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
We need, we are absolutely dependent upon, the Spirit all along the line. He must teach us how to speak as well as what to speak. His must be the power as well as the message.
(n) Jude 20: — “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, pray in gin the Holy Ghost”
Eph. 6: 18 — “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplicatior for all saints.”
Rom. 8: 26, 27, R. V.
ELEVENTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit helps, (juides
and gives power to the believer in, prayer.
The disciples did not know how to pray as they ought, so they came to Jesus and said: “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11: 1.) “We know not how to pray as we ought,” but we have another paraclete right at hand to help. (Jno. 14: 1C, 17.) — “The Spirit helpeth our infirmity.” (Rom. 8: 26, R.V.) He teaches us to pray. True prayer is prayer in the Spirit — i. e., the prayer the Spirit inspires and directs. When we come into God’s presence we should recognize our infirmity, our ignorance of what we should pray for, or how we should do it, and in the consciousness of our utter inability to pray aright, look up to the Holy Spirit, and cast ourselves utterly upon Him, to direct our prayers, to lead out our desires and guide our utterance of them. Rushing heedlessly into God’s presence and asking the first thing that comes into our mind, or that some thoughtless one asks us to pray for, is not praying “in the Holy Spirit,” and is not true prayer. We must wait for the Holy Spirit, and surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit. The prayer that God the Holy Spirit inspires is the prayer that God the Father answers.
NOTE i. — Rom. 8: 26, 27, R.V. — “And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” The longings which the Holy Spirit begets in our hearts are often too deep for utterance, too deep apparently for clear and definite comprehension on the part of the believer himself in whom the Holy Spirit is working. God Himself must “search the heart” to know “what is the mind of the Spirit” in these unuttered and unutterable longings. But God does know what is the mind of the Spirit, He does know what those Spirit-given longings mean, even if we do not, and these longings are “according (to the will of) God,” and He grants them, so it comes to pass that “He is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” (Eph. 3: 20.)
NOTE 2. — i Cor. 14: 15 — “What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” There are other times when the Spirit’s leadings are so clear that we “pray with the Spirit... and with the understanding also.”
(12) Eph. 5: 18-20, R.V — “And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.”
TWELFTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit inspires the be
liever to and guides him in praise and thanksgiving.
Not only does He teach us to pray, He also teaches us to render thanks. One of the most prominent characteristics of “the spirit-filled life” is thanksgiving. (Compare Acts 2: 4, 11.) True thanksgiving is “to God, even the Father,” through or “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” in the Holy Spirit The Same is true of prayer, (Compare Eph. 2: 18, R.V.)
(13) Phil. 3: 3, R.V. — “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of Godt and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,”
THIRTEENTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit inspires
worship on the part of the believer.
Prayer is not worship, thanksgiving is not worship. Wor ship is a definite act of the creature in relation to God. Worship is bowing before God in adoring acknowledgment and contemplation of Himself. Someone has said: “In our prayers we are taken up with our needs, in our thanksgiving we are taken up with our blessings, in our worship we are taken up with Himself.”
There is no true and acceptable worship except that which the Holy Spirit prompts and directs. “Such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers.” (Jno. 4: 23, R.V.) The Flesh seeks to enter every sphere of life. It has its worship as well as its lusts. The worship which the flesh worships is an abomination unto God. (Herein we see the folly of any attempt at a Parliament of Religions, where the representatives of different religions attempt to worship together.)
Not all earnest and honest worship is worship in the Spirit. A man may be very honest and very earnest in his worship, and still not have submitted himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the matter, and so his worship is in the flesh. Even when there is great loyalty to the letter of the Word, worship may not be “in the Spirit” — i. e., inspired and directed by Him. To worship aright we must “have no confidence in the flesh,” we must recognize the utter inability of the flesh — i. e., our natural self, as contrasted to the Divine Spirit that dwells in and should mold everything in the believer — to worship acceptably; we must realize also the danger there is that the flesh, self, intrude itself into our worship. In utter self-distrust and self-abnegation we must cast ourselves upon the Holy Spirit to lead us aright in our worship.
Just as we must renounce any merit in ourselves and cast ourselves utterly upon Christ and His work for us for justification, just so must we renounce any capacity for good in ourselves, and cast ourselves utterly upon the Holy Spirit and His work in us, in holy living, knowing, praying, thanking and worshipping, and all else that we are to do.
(14) Acts 13: 2, 4 — “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto-I have called them. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.”
FOURTEENTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit calls men
and sends them forth to definite lines of work.
The Holy Spirit not only calls men in a general way into Christian work, but selects the specific work and points it out.
“Shall I go to China, to Africa, to India?” many a one is asking, and many another ought to ask. You cannot rightly settle that question for yourselves, neither can any other man settle it rightly for you. Not every Christian man is called to China or Africa, or any other foreign field, or to the foreign field at all. God alone knows whether He wishes you in any of these places. He is willing to show you.
How does the Holy Spirit call? The passage before us doea not tell us. It is presumably purposely silent on this point, lest, perhaps, we think that He must always call in precisely the same way. There is nothing to indicate that He spoke by an audible voice, much less that He made His will known in any of the fantastic ways in which some profess to discern His leading — as e. g., by twitchings of the body, opening of the Bible at random and putting the finger on a passage that may be construed into some entirely different meaning than that the inspired writer intended by it But the important point is, He made His will clearly known and He is willing to make His will clearly known to us to-day.
The great need in Christian work to-day is men and women whom the Holy Spirit calls and sends forth. We have plenty of men and women whom men have called and sent forth, or who have called themselves. (There are many to-day who object strenuously to being sent forth by men, by any organization of any kind, who are, what is immeasurably worse than that, sent forth by self, not by God.)
How shall we receive the Holy Spirit’s call? By desiring it, seeking it, waiting upon the Lord for it, and expecting it. “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, “the record reads. Many a man is saying in self- justification for staying out of the ministry, and staying at home from the foreign field,” I have never had a call.” How do you know that? Have you been listening for it? God speaks often in a 1 1 still small voice.” Only the listening ear can catch it. Have you definitely offered yourself to God to send you where He will? While no man ought to go to China or Africa unless he is clearly and definitely called, he ought to definitely offer himself to God for this work, to be ready for a call and to be listening sharply that he may hear it when it comes. No educated Christian man or woman has a right to rest easy out of the foreign field unless he has definitely offered himself to God for that work, and is clear no call from God has come. A man needs no more definite call to Africa than to Boston, or New York, or Chicago.
(15) Acts 8: 27-29 — “And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”
Acts 16: 6, 7 — “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.”
FIFTEENTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit guides in the details of daily life and service, as to icfiere to go and where not to go; what to do and what not to do.
It is possible for us to have the unerring guidance of the Holy Spirit at every turn of life. For example, in personal work it is manifestly not God’s intention that we speak to every one we meet. There are some to whom we ought not to speak. Time spent on them would be taken from work more to God’s glory. Doubtless Philip met many as he journeyed toward Gaza before he met the one of whom the Spirit said: “Go near., and join thy self to this chariot.” So is He ready to guide us also. So also in all the affairs of life, business, study, everything, we can have God’s wisdom. There is no promise more plain and explicit than Jas. 1:5 — “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; arid it shall be given him.”
How shall we gain this wisdom?
Jas. 1:5-7 — “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.”
Here are really five steps:
First. That we “lack wisdom.” We must be conscious of and fully admit our own inability to decide wisely. Not only the sinfulness, but the wisdom of the flesh must be renounced.
Second. We must really desire to know God’s way, and be willing to do God’s will. That is implied in th? asking if the asking is sincere. This is a point of fundamental importance. Here we find the reason why men ofttimes do not know God’s will and have the Spirit’s guidance. They are not really willing to do whatever the Spirit leads. It is “the meek”
whom He guides in judgment and “the meek” to whom “He will teach his way.” (Ps. 25: 9.) It is he that “willeth to do his will” who shall know, etc. (Jno. 7: 17, R.V.)
Third. We must “ask,” definitely ask guidance.
Fourth. We must confidently expect guidance. “Let him
ask in faith, nothing doubting.” (Vv. 6, 7, R.V.)
Fifth. We must follow step by step as the guidance comes. Just how it will come no one can tell, but it will come. It may come with only a step made clear at a time. That is all we need to know — the next step. Many are in darkness about guidance because they do not know what God will have them do next week, or next month, or next year. Do you know the next step? That is enough. Take it and He will show you the next. (Num. 9: 17- 23 — And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched; as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not. And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed. And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morn ing, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the LORD they rested in their tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.”)
GOD’S GUIDANCE is CLEAR GUIDANCE. (1 Jno. 1:5 — “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”)
Many are tortured by leadings they fear may be from God, but of which they are not sure. You have a right, as God’s children, to be sure. Go to God. Say, “Here I am, heavenly Father, I am willing to do thy will, but make it clear. If this is thy will I will do it, but make it clear if it is so.” He will do so; if it is His will, and you are willing to do itj and you need not, and
Dught not to do that thing until He does make it clear. We have no right to dictate to God how He shall give His guidance: by shutting up every other way, or by a sign, or by letting us put our finger on a text. It is ours to seek and expect wisdom, but it is not ours to dictate how it shall be given. (1 Cor. 12: 11 — “But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. ’ ‘)
Two things are evident from what has been said thus far about the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer:
First. How utterly dependent we are upon the Holy Spirit at every turn of Christian life and service.
Second. How perfect is the provision for life and service that God has made and what the fulness of privilege that is open to the humblest believer through the Holy Spirit’s work. It is not so much what we are by nature, either intellectually, morally, spiritually, or even physically, that is important, but what the Holy Spirit can do for us, and what we will let Him do. The Holy Spirit often takes the one who gives the least natural promise and uses him beyond those who give the greatest natural promise. Christian life is not to be lived in the realm of natural temperament, and Christian work is not to be done in the power of natural endowment, but Christian life is to be lived in the realm of the Spirit, and Christian work is to be done in the power of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is willing and eagerly desirous to do for each of us His whole work. He will do for each of us all that we let Him do.
(16) Rom. 8: n — “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
SIXTEENTH PROPOSITION: The Holy Spirit quickens the
mortal body of the believer.
This, as the context shows, refers to the future Resurrection of the body. This is the Spirit’s work. The glorified body is from Him. It is a spiritual body. We now have the first fruits of the Spirit, but are waiting for the full harvest, the redemption of the body. (Rom, 8:23 — “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”)
NOTE. — There is a sense in which the Holy Spirit even now quickens our bodies. Matt. 12: 28 — “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” Acts 10: 38 — “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: for God was with him.” James 5: 14 — “Is any sick among you: lef him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anoint ing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” God by His Holy Spirit does impart new health and vigor to these mortal bodies in the present life. Compare Ps. 104:29, 30 — “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and are returned to the dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.”