THE DEEPER CHRISTIAN LIFE
By Andrew Murray
CONTENTS
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 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
works 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 honor, 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 Savior 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.
The Deeper Christian Life Daily Fellowship With God
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.
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.
1 . 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 Savior 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.
The Deeper Christian Life Privilege And Experience
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
2. 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 fulfillment 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 seeks 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 dishonored 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!
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 quarreling 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 exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles
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 selfconfidence,
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 selfdespair,
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 favor? 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 fulfill 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 fulfill 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
fulfillment of the promise, "He that believes 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 believes 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 honor, 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 believes 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 labored, 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
labor; 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 honor, 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 always"? 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 takes 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 favor 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 makes 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 built
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 "endeavor 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 selfsacrifice
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, brethr
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