Receiving the Holy Spirit
(No. 1790)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 13, 1884,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you
believed?" Acts 19:2.
IT may be well to notice what question the Apostle did not put to these
Ephesian disciples of John. He did not say to them, "Have you
believed?" This would have been a very important question and it ought
to be settled once and for all. Our faith must either be boldly
affirmed or sorrowfully denied–it should not remain the subject of
question. It is a great pity that so many Christians are always saying,
"Have I believed?" and allowing that most vital point to be a matter of
debate–for as long as the existence of faith within our souls is the
subject of question, we must be unhappy. Faith is the cornerstone of
the edifice of godliness–if it is not well laid and known to be well
laid–there can be no sense of security to the inhabitant of the house.
We not only ought to know that we believe, but to know Whom we believe!
And it would be well for us to advance beyond common believing to
assurance–and then to full assurance–the assurance of faith, the
assurance of hope and the assurance of understanding.
Again, Paul does not put the question, "If you have believed, how came
it about? By what agencies was faith created in your souls? When did
you first become Believers?" These are very proper questions if we view
them as points of interest, but they do not touch the essence of
salvation. A man may be saved and yet know none of the details of his
conversion. No doubt there are many strong Believers who could not
point to any special agency as the means by which faith was begotten
within them. In general, it was by the hearing of the Word of God and
by the operation of the Holy Spirit–but they do not remember, as some
do, a remarkable text, or a thrilling sermon, or a striking Providence,
through which they were turned from darkness to the Light of God.
Thousands in the fold of Jesus come to the Good Shepherd by degrees.
Many who now walk in the Light received daylight, not by the leaping of
the sun above the horizon in a moment, but as our days mostly begin in
this country–a little light tinged the eastern sky and then came a
rosy hue, followed by a dim dawn–and afterwards came the actual rising
of the sun which comes out of the chambers of the east and runs his
course till he has created perfect day. Many are gradually brought to
Christ and yet they are truly brought to Christ. I say we may ask about
the when and the how of conversion if we wish to be interested, as we
have a right to be, in the stories of the godly, but we must not ask
such questions as if they were of vital importance and should stand
first.
Paul does not enquire about ways, means and times, but he does
ask–"Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" Our
Revised Version reads it, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed?" and others who are probably quite as accurate read it, "Are
you receiving the Holy Spirit now that you have believed?" It does not
matter one atom which way you read it–all the renderings come to
this–"Do you see a connection between your believing and the Holy
Spirit? Did you receive Him when you believed? Have you received Him
since you believed? Are you daily receiving Him as you believe?"
That is the subject which is now before us–the Holy Spirit in our
hearts as Believers. Has your faith been sealed by the impress of the
Holy Spirit? This is a point of the utmost importance and upon it I
desire to speak with deep and solemn earnestness in the power of the
Holy Spirit, Himself. You know, dear Friends, when the Holy Spirit was
given in the earliest ages, He showed His Presence by certain
miraculous signs. Some of those who received the Holy Spirit spoke with
tongues; others began to prophesy and a third class received the gifts
of healing–so that wherever they laid their hands, disease fled before
them. I am sure that if these powers were given now in connection with
the reception of the Holy Spirit and your believing, you would all be
anxious to possess them. I can hardly imagine a single Christian who
would not put
to himself the enquiry, "Have I received the Holy Spirit in that
fashion?" You would want to be healing, or to be speaking with tongues,
or to be working miracles by which you could benefit your fellow men
and glorify God! Would you
not?
Now, be it never forgotten that those works of the Holy Spirit which
are permanent must assuredly be of greater value than those which were
transitory. We cannot suppose that the Holy Spirit brought forth the
best wine at first and that His operations gradually deteriorated. It
is a rule of the Kingdom of God to keep the best wine for the last and,
therefore, I conclude that you and I are not left to partake of the
dregs, but that those works of the Holy Spirit which are at this time
vouchsafed to the Church of God are, in every way, as valuable as those
earlier miraculous gifts which have departed from us. The work of the
Holy Spirit, by which men are quickened from their death in sin, is not
inferior to the power which made men speak with tongues! The work of
the Holy Spirit, when He comforts men and makes them glad in Christ, is
by no means second to the opening of the eyes of the blind! Why, Sirs,
men might have the gifts of the Spirit as to miracles and yet might
perish, after all! But he that has the spiritual gifts of the Holy
Spirit shall never perish–they are saving blessings and where they
come, they lift the man out of his sinful state and make him to be a
child of God!
I would, therefore, press it upon you, this morning, that as you would
certainly enquire whether you had the gifts of healing and
miracle-working, if such gifts were now given to Believers, much more
should you enquire whether you have those more permanent gifts of the
Spirit which are, this day, open to you all. By them you shall work no
physical miracle, but shall achieve spiritual wonders of the grander
sort! If we come to weigh spiritual operations, they are by no means
secondary in the judgment of enlightened servants of God. Have you then
received the Spirit since you believed? Beloved, are you now receiving
the Spirit? Are you living under His Divine influence? Are you filled
with His power?
Put the question personally. I am afraid some professors will have to
admit that they hardly know whether there is any Holy Spirit. And
others will have to confess that though they have enjoyed a little of
His saving work, yet they do not know much of His ennobling and
sanctifying influence. We have, none of us, participated in His
operations as we might have done–we have sipped where we might have
drunk! We have drunk where we might have bathed! We have bathed up to
the ankles where we might have found rivers to swim in! Alas, of many
Christians it must be affirmed that they have been naked, poor and
miserable when they might, in the power of the Holy Spirit, have been
clad in golden garments and have been rich and increased in goods.
He waits to be gracious, but we linger in indifference, like those of
whom we read, "they could not enter in because of unbelief." There are
many such cases and, therefore, it is not improper that I should, with
all vehemence, press home upon you the question of the Apostle, "Have
you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" Did you receive Him
when you believed? Are you receiving Him now that you are believing in
Christ Jesus? We will, first, this morning, consider the question. And
then we will listen to the lessons which it is calculated to teach.
I. I want you to consider THE QUESTION. In some respects it is a vital
question. I shall not be playing around the outskirts of religion now,
but plunging into its very center. This question has nothing to do with
the sect to which you belong, nor with the particular condition in
which your mind may happen to be for the present hour–it is an enquiry
which touches the heart of the man and the inmost life of his spirit.
"Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" For, remember,
the Holy Spirit is the Author of all spiritual life. Life does not lie
latent in natural men for themselves to stir up–until the Holy Spirit
visits them they are dead in trespasses and sins. If, when you
believed, you had not a life imparted by the Holy Spirit, your
believing was a dead believing, a mere counterfeit of living faith–and
not the faith of God's elect!
If the Holy Spirit has not been with you since your conversion, every
act of your religion has been formal, dead and unaccepted! In vain have
you sung your formal songs! In vain have you attempted to adore! Your
Hosannas have languished on your tongues and your devotion has fallen
like a corpse before the altar. If the Holy Spirit is not there, life
is not there–your many prayers have been mockeries! Your joys have
been delusions and your griefs have been carnal! That which is born of
the flesh is flesh and nothing better–let that flesh be washed and
cleansed–yet all that comes of it is flesh! Only that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit! There must, then, be a work from Heaven, a work
of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, or else you have not believed unto
life and you still abide in death.
As the Holy Spirit is the Author of our quickening, the Lord and Giver
of life, so is He the Author of all true instruction. Brother, you have
professed to be a Believer, but you know nothing at all unless the Holy
Spirit has taught you.
"All your children shall be taught of the Lord." To be taught of the
minister is nothing–but to be taught of the Lord is everything! It is
only the Spirit of God who can engrave the Truth of God upon the fleshy
tablets of the heart. We speak to the ear, but only He can speak to the
inmost soul. He that professes to be a Believer while he has never
received the Truth of God in the power of it, as sent home by the
Spirit of light and fire, has need to begin again and learn the first
rudiments of the faith! He has learned nothing aright who has not been
under the direct operation of the Holy Spirit. The knowledge of the
letter only puffs up those who rest in it–and eventually the letter
kills. But the inward whisper, the secret admonition, the silent
operation of the Spirit of God which falls as the dew from Heaven upon
the heart–this is quite another thing. He that has it not is blind and
ignorant, though he has a Doctor of Divinity and is revered as a rabbi
in Israel! Though he is a preacher to thousands, he is still in the
dark unless the Spirit of God has shone upon his soul. See, then, how
vital this question is! Both for life and for light we must have the
Holy Spirit, or else we are dead and in the dark.
Furthermore, if we have believed in Christ aright, the Holy Spirit has
come upon us to transform us altogether. By Divine Grace we are not now
what we used to be–we have new thoughts, new wishes, new aspirations,
new sorrows, new joys–and these are worked in us by the Spirit. A
man's conversion is nothing. His believing is nothing. His profession
is nothing unless he is made to be a new creature in Christ Jesus. But
how can we be made new by any other power than the Holy Spirit? Only He
that creates can new-create. "Except a man is born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God." We cannot hate evil and love right of ourselves,
for the whole bent and bias of our spirit since the Fall are toward
evil, only evil, and that continually! Neither can we renew ourselves.
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one! Can an unclean
thing bring forth itself clean out of uncleanness? Between the ribs of
death there cannot be spontaneously formed the seeds of life. The Holy
Spirit must transform us by the renewing of our minds–we must be
begotten again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, or else we are still in the flesh and cannot please God.
If our faith has not brought with it the Holy Spirit. If, indeed, it is
not the fruit of the Spirit and we are not changed in nature and in
life, then our faith is presumption and our profession is a lie!
Furthermore, it is absolutely essential to all true religion that you
and I should be sanctified. A faith which works not for purification
will work for putrefaction. Unless our faith makes us pine after
holiness and pant after conformity to God, it is no better than the
faith of devils and, perhaps, it is not even as good as that! How can
any man become holy except by the Spirit of Holiness? A holy man is the
workmanship of the Holy Spirit! Through faith we are sanctified by the
operation of the Holy Spirit so that we are delivered from the dominion
of sin and set free to follow after that which is good and pure and
right in the sight of God. Faith which does not bring holiness with it
is a dead faith which will never bring us into communion with the
living God! Oh, the absolute necessity that the Holy Spirit should rest
upon us when we believe in Christ!
Beside that, remember, dear Friends, there is one mark of God's people
which, if it is lacking, is fatal–and that is prayer. "Behold, he
prays," is a true sign of the new birth! But can a man pray without the
assistance of the Holy Spirit? Let him try to do so and, if he is
honest and sincere, he will soon find the value of that text–"Likewise
the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us
with groans which cannot be uttered." Pray without the Spirit of God?
Oh, Sir, it will be a mechanical performance– the statue of
prayer–not the living, prevailing supplication of an heir of Heaven!
You may go to your chamber and kneel down at that particular chair
where you have so often enjoyed communion with God, but unless you
invoke the Spirit of God, the posture shall be a weariness, the
exercise shall be heartless and the result shall be worthless!
What is the incense without the burning coals? What is the Mercy Seat
without the Shekinah light? Prayer without the Spirit is as a bird
without wings, or an arrow without a bow! As well hope to see a dead
man sit up in his coffin and plead a case in a court of law, as hope to
see a man prevail in prayer who is a stranger to the Holy Spirit, who
is the Spirit of Grace and of supplications! You will leave your prayer
closet unrefreshed if you have been in it without the Spirit. Even the
desire to pray is not with us unless the Holy Spirit has worked it in
the soul. No true word of supplication can arise from the heart unless
the Spirit of God shall prompt it. Dear, dear Friends, you do see, do
you not, how on all these points, contact with the Spirit of God
becomes essential to our present spiritual life and to our eternal
salvation? Look you to it; look you to it at once!
If all you have is what you have made yourself, you and your works must
perish! If all your prayers have risen from no greater depth than your
own heart and if they are the fruit of no better spirit than your
own–they will never reach the ear of God, nor bring you blessings from
the Throne of God. If there is not something supernatural about your
religion, it will be a millstone about your neck to sink you into Hell!
What comes from the dunghill and is of the dunghill will rot on the
dunghill! That which comes from a man's heart, apart from the gracious
operation of the Holy Spirit, will rise no higher than his own depraved
nature and leave Him unblessed! But that which comes from above will
elevate him to its own element and cause him to dwell with Christ at
the right hand of God!
But now, while this is a vital question, I beg to say further that
where it is not vital, it is, nevertheless, greatly important. I do not
think we ought always to be asking the question, "Is this essential?"
meaning thereby, "Is it essential to our salvation?" Those are
miserable souls who would be stingy in obedience and love so that they
would labor and love no more than is absolutely necessary to get to
Heaven! They would be saved in the cheapest possible way and they would
be content to crawl over the threshold of Glory, but not to go too far
in! They want as much Grace as may be necessary to float them over the
bar at the harbor's mouth, but they do not desire a grand entrance. O
you miserly professors, stinting yourselves in the matter of the Grace
of God–I have little to say to you!
But I turn to the children of God and joyfully remind them that there
is, in the Holy Spirit, not only what they absolutely need to save
them, but much more! Here is not only bread, but wine on the lees well
refined. In the Holy Spirit there is comfort to gladden you, Grace to
strengthen you, holiness to ennoble you and love to purify you. For,
first, the Spirit of God is the Comforter and how important it is that
you should be comforted! Why do you hang your heads? Why do you go
mourning as if you were in the night and the dews were thick upon your
eyelids? You are the children of the morning and the children of the
day–rejoice in the Lord and walk in the light as He is in the light!
"Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" You whose brows
are furrowed with care, whose hearts are distracted with anxiety,
receive the Spirit of consolation and be glad in the Lord, for the joy
of the Lord is your strength!
In the Holy Spirit there is also a spirit of enlightening. Do you read
the Word of God understanding very little of it? Do you hear it as
though you heard not? Why is this? Should you not seek more of the
teaching of the Holy Spirit, that He may lead you into all Truths of
God? How much happier you would be–and how much more useful–if you
knew more of the things of God! The Holy Spirit can take of the things
of Christ and can show them to you. Now you only see men as trees
walking, but there is no need to be content with such dim vision, for
the Comforter can anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see–He
can open your eyes that you may behold wondrous things out of His Law!
Why not seek to have the enlightening Spirit of God resting on you, to
teach you in His Word and way?
The Spirit of God is, also, the Spirit of liberty, but some of God's
children do not seem to have attained their freedom as yet. They have
one fetter remaining on their feet and though they try to enter into
the broad fields of heavenly enjoyment, they cannot escape from their
prison. Of such we may well ask–Have you received the Spirit since you
believed? If so, why are you the slaves of custom, the bandaged serfs
of fashion? Why do you ask leave of your fellow men to breathe, or
think? Why are you so cowardly that you dare not follow conscience, or
speak of the things of God? The fear of man brings a snare to many and
that snare is also a chain to their feet. It ought not be! Rather
should they feel that, since the Son has made them free, they are free,
indeed! The Holy Spirit is a free Spirit and makes men free–where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! Glory be to You, O God, "I am
Your servant; You have loosed my bonds."
Many weak children of God have received the Spirit of bondage again to
fear, but they have not yet received the Spirit of adoption by which we
cry, "Abba, Father." Oh, the glory of the Spirit of God when He makes
us feel that we are no more servants, but sons–not under the Law, but
under Grace–not under wrath, but under love, not doomed to death, but
endowed with life! He has brought us forth from prison and broken all
our bonds asunder! He has set our feet in a large room and made us to
walk at liberty because we keep His statutes! Ours is the freedom of no
mean city, for our citizenship is in Heaven and the Spirit of God
enables us to enjoy the citizenship of the New Jerusalem! It is
important that we should know what this heavenly freedom means.
Some of God's people need to feel the Spirit of God as a power moving
and impelling them to holy service. Do you ever hear, behind you, a
voice saying, "This is the way; walk you in it"? Have you ever known
holy impulses bidding you do this and that–impulses which did not come
from human nature, for they impelled you to something which you would
naturally have avoided? And do you ever follow after things unseen,
driven onward as by a powerful wind, not to
be resisted? Have you been made willing in the day of God's power to do
the Divine bidding? I would we had more of it, for then we should be
more ready for service and should do greater things than these. That
same Spirit who moves the saints to work, also empowers them to achieve
the purpose which is put into their souls. By His aid you shall go
forth in your feebleness and put to flight the armies of the aliens!
You shall be, in God's hands, as a sharp threshing instrument having
teeth and shall thresh mountains–and beat them small–yes, fan them
and the wind shall carry them away!
Does any man know what the Spirit of God can make of him? I believe the
greatest, ablest, most faithful, most holy man of God might have been
greater, abler, more faithful and more holy if he had put himself more
completely at the Spirit's disposal. Wherever God has done great things
by a man, He has had power to do more had the man been fit for it. We
are straitened in ourselves, not in God! O Brothers and Sisters, the
Church is weak today because the Holy Spirit is not upon her members as
we would desire Him to be! You and I are tottering along like feeble
babes, whereas, had we more of the Spirit, we might walk without
fainting, run without weariness and even mount up with wings as eagles!
Oh, for more of the anointing of the Holy Spirit whom Christ is
prepared to give immeasurably unto us if we will but receive Him! "Have
you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" Is there not much
Divine Power which has not, as yet, been manifested in you?
"Oh," says one, "I feel so dull today!" Do you? Is not the Holy Spirit
the power to refresh you and to rekindle in your soul the dying flame
of spiritual fervor? Oh, if you did but receive His power today, you
would not mind the heaviness of the atmosphere, nor any other deadening
surroundings, for the Spirit would triumph over the flesh. Do you know
the power of the Spirit? Did He ever make you like the chariots of
Amminadib? Did He ever carry you away with His supreme power? Did you
ever run like Elijah before Ahab's chariot and feel that it was a
little thing to do? Can you not say, "O my Soul, you have trodden down
strength! By my God have I leaped over a wall and broken thorough a
troop: I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me"? These
are the expressions of souls familiar with the Holy Spirit– when He
inspires them, they are divinely strong, even to omnipotence! Brothers
and Sisters, we must have the Holy Spirit! Are you receiving His
forces? Are you receiving His fullness even now?
Now I come to notice that this question is assuredly answerable. "Have
you received the Holy Spirit?" The notion has sprung up that you cannot
tell whether you have the Holy Spirit or not, but you can. Give a man
an electric shock and I guarantee you he will know it! But if he has
the Holy Spirit, he will know it much more. You may sometimes raise the
question, "Did I ever feel the Holy Spirit in years gone by?" but you
cannot ask the question, "Do I feel it now?" for if you feel it now you
have the witness in yourself that the Lord is at work with you. You
need not ask a question about present experience. If you do not feel
the Holy Spirit at work distinctly and perceptibly, even now, then lift
your heart to God for it and pray that you may now receive Him in all
His fullness.
"Oh," says one, "I thought we must always say, 'I hope so. I trust
so.'" I know that jargon, but men do not say, "I hope I have an
estate," or, "I trust I have 20 shillings in the pound," or, "I think I
have a wife and children." Some of us are quite clear about these
matters, one way or the other! We should not live on guess-work as to
daily life, much less as to eternal things. O Souls, live daily on what
God gives you and you cannot doubt! Live near to Christ and you cannot
doubt whether you love Him! Live in the Holy Spirit, give yourselves up
fully to His Divine anointing and bedewing, and you will not have to
say, "I hardly know whether there is any Holy Spirit," for He dwells
with you and shall be in you!
Permit me to say here that there are many professors to whom this
question is inevitable. I will pick out certain of them. There is the
Brother with the long dreary face, the Knight of the Rueful
Countenance. You know him and you pity him. His favorite hymn is–
"'Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought."
Is there anything dreary? He delights in it as much as he can delight
in anything! He is sure of nothing but the horri-ble–everything that
is pleasant he is afraid of. His life is one protracted groan. Come
along, Brother, and shake hands as cheerfully as you can. Please tell
me, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? How he
hesitates! Poor Soul, he is perplexed. He is not well acquainted with
the Comforter. Here is a hymn for him–let us sing it to a gladsome
tune–
"Why should the children of a King Go mourning all their days? Great
Comforter, descend and bring
Some tokens of Your Grace! Do You not dwell in all the saints And seal
the heirs of Heaven? When will You banish my complaints, And show my
sins forgiven?"
Surely, if we have the earnest of the Spirit, the first fruits of
Heaven, we ought to rejoice in the Lord always! Brother, you look
comfortless–how can this be when the Comforter has come to you?
Another Brother is a member of the Church and a very unpleasant
neighbor, for he picks holes in everybody and everything. He is a born
grumbler and since he has been new-born he has not given up the habit.
When he goes home this morning, after dinner he will spend the
afternoon in his growlery, complaining of the heat and, perhaps, of my
sermon. Oh, my dear Brother, you who are so uneasy and unhappy–and so
worrying and annoying to everybody–did you receive the Holy Spirit
when you believed? Are you still receiving the Holy Spirit? I have
sometimes thought that certain unfriendly friends must have been
baptized in vinegar instead of water, from the sharp acid of their
temperament. Surely the Spirit of God is a dove, full of peace, love
and kindness–not a bird of prey! Let me put my hand on that Brother's
shoulder, if he will allow such a rudeness, and say, "Have you received
the Holy Spirit since you believed?"
Here comes another who flies out into great tempers and grows fiercely
angry. A little thing puts him out–he finds fault readily enough and
becomes excited in no time. He says that he is very sorry for it,
afterwards, but this does not remove the wounds which he has inflicted.
If you cut a person's head off, it is of small use to apologize to him
afterwards. Many a man boils over with passion and scalds his friends
and, then, in cooler moments expresses his regret. All very fine–but
fine words cure no blisters! I would suggest to you, the next time you
are in a great temper, that you ask yourself this question, "Have I
received the Holy Spirit since I believed? Is He not the spirit of
peace and gentleness?" I fancy anybody putting that question to you,
when you are in an irritated state of mind, you would reply, "Pray do
not mention such a subject here, for I am not acting as I ought to do."
Then do act as you ought to do and ask for the Spirit of God to help
you to be quiet, forgiving, humble and meek!
Here is a Brother who cannot be happy unless he indulges in worldly
frivolities and useless amusements. When he gets into a grand frolic
with worldly people, he finds himself at home–but the joys of
godliness he despises! My Friend, the next time you are coming home
from a party, I should like to meet you in the street and enquire,
"Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" You would think
me almost blaspheming! Alas, the blasphemy is in your heart! You would
feel awkward, would you not? Do not do things which make you feel
awkward–keep out of those scenes which are unfit for a child of God!
Do not play with the devil's children. Many people around this place
are sore put to it to keep their children from bad company. There is no
playground for their children but the streets–and it seems hard when
they say that their children shall not associate with rude children in
the road–yet they must do it. Our Lord does not love that His dear
children should sport with heirs of wrath, or make them their
intimates. Such evil communications will bring you misery sooner or
later. You cannot expect the Holy Spirit to continue with you if you
are joined with the adversaries of the Lord!
But there are certain persons who live solely to hoard and scrape and
get money that they may grow rich and grind everybody else to pieces in
the process. I would like, when the avaricious man is totaling up his
gains, to put to him the question, "Have you received the Holy Spirit
since you believed?" He would answer, "Don't, don't! It is terribly out
of place to mention so serious a matter!" It is out of place, no doubt,
for the man himself is out of place! But ought a Believer to be in a
position in which it shall be out of place for a friend to speak to him
about his eternal interests?
I know some to whom the question is needless. You never did put it to
them and you never will. You meet them in the morning, soaring aloft,
like the lark, in the praises of God. See them in trouble? They are
patient and resigned to their heavenly Father's will. Mark how they
spend their lives in hallowed service, seeking always to win sinners to
Christ! Their common talk is sweet with the honey of the Holy Land–you
cannot be with them 10 minutes without discovering that they have
leaned on Jesus' bosom! There is an aroma about them which tells you
that they dwell in the garden of the Lord. When they tell you their
experience, it is even as if an angel shook his wings! You do not ask
them if they have received the Holy Spirit–you stand still and admire
the work of the Spirit of God in them!
Now, Beloved, be such yourselves. If our Church is to be strong and if
it is to make a lasting impression upon its age by bearing a telling
testimony to the Truth of God, we must not only have the Spirit of God
in His essential operations,
but in His soul-enriching, heart-delighting, life-sanctifying power!
Thus will He turn earth into Heaven and make us poor earth-born
creatures meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light. So much upon the question. I cannot send it home–I can only
pray that God the Holy Spirit, whom I desire to honor, may apply these
thoughts with power to your souls.
II. One or two LESSONS can be gathered upon the very surface of this
question. "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" The
first lesson is, we are not to look for salvation to one single act of
faith in the past, but to Jesus, in whom we continue to believe. I have
read, very much to my grief, an assertion that whatever we may be,
today, we are safe, if years ago we exercised a single act of faith.
There may be truth in the statement, but it is so badly stated and so
wretchedly distorted, that it looks like a lie–that which saves is a
faith which does not spend itself in a single act, but continues to
work and operate throughout the whole of life! It is not a question for
me, today, "Did I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in the year 1850, on
a certain morning in the month of January?"
Oh, no–the question is, "Do I believe in the Lord Jesus at this hour?"
For if my faith is "faith of the operation of God," it has continued to
this hour and will continue to the end! All my troubles, all my
temptations, all my sins have not killed my faith, but for every day,
as the day has come, I have continued to receive the Holy Spirit's
gracious aid since I believed and was brought into newness of life.
"The just shall live by faith." It is a principle within, springing up
unto everlasting life! It is a living well which never ceases to flow.
It is not something I do in one five minutes and then have done with
it–it is an holy act which I began to do at a certain time, but which
I shall never leave off doing till there remains nothing more to be
believed!
They say we do not believe in Heaven, but this is surely an error
occasioned by lack of thought. Heaven is a fit sphere for faith, not
faith for what we shall see there, but for things promised and not yet
fulfilled. If I were to go to Heaven today, I would believe in my
staying there; I would believe in the Lord's continuing to love me; I
would believe in all the prophecies yet unfulfilled–in the ingathering
of the redeemed, the perfecting of the Church–and the second Advent of
the Lord. I would look for the resurrection, the new heavens and the
new earth, the millennial glory, the binding of Satan and the eternal
glory of the Triune God. Faith may be altogether lost in sight so far
as things realized are concerned, but it will be grandly exercised upon
blessings yet to come. We must live by faith, but it is not only our
starting point, but the road along which we are to travel.
The next lesson of the text is that we must continue to live by
receiving. We received Christ Jesus the Lord at the first, and now we
receive the Holy Spirit. These disciples were questioned about their
receiving rather than their expending, for at bottom everything depends
upon what we receive. Nothing can come out of us if it does not first
go into us. We are always charity children. It is our blessed lot to
live upon the alms of Divine bounty. The question may still be asked of
us, "What have you which you have not received?" We are always filled
out of the fullness of the Lord, for we are not fountains but
reservoirs, not creators but receivers! What shall we render unto the
Lord for all His benefits towards us? We can only keep on
receiving–take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the
Lord!
Again, let us learn that we may not despise the very lowest form of
spiritual life–no, not even those who have not so much as heard
whether there is a Holy Spirit. Paul, when he met these half-instructed
disciples, did not say, "You see the door. Be off! You have nothing to
do with me, for you are so desperately ignorant." On the contrary, he
sat down and taught them more and then baptized them! God has some
children who are mere babes and sucklings–and it is a fact for their
comfort that He does not judge of their being His children by measuring
their height. Babes in Grace are as much His children as those who have
reached perfect manhood! Weaklings are dear to God–let them be dear to
us. When you are considering some poor child of God who has no
education and cannot read the Bible, do not judge him by his knowledge.
The question is not whether he knows, "A" from "B," for if he knows,
"J" from "I," he knows enough–that is to say, if he knows Jesus from
himself, he has grasped the essential point. If He trusts Christ and
not himself, he knows enough to take him to Heaven, and enough for you
to take him into your heart.
Another lesson is that the Holy Spirit always keeps sweet company with
Jesus Christ. As long as these good people only knew John the Baptist,
they might know water baptism, but they could not know the Baptism of
the Holy Spirit. It was only when they came to know Jesus, that the
Spirit of God came upon them and they began to work those mighty things
which are the fruits of the Spirit. Learn, then, to keep close to
Christ both in your lives and in your teaching. The
Spirit of God will not set His seal to what I say or what you say, but
He will confirm the testimony of Jesus Christ! The things of God
concerning Christ Jesus our Lord shall never be without the attesting
power of the Holy Spirit.
Once more, the Holy Spirit can yet be more fully possessed by all
Believers. If there should be a Brother or Sister here who has a notion
that he cannot have any more Grace, I am afraid he is specially in need
of it. The perfect Brother I must leave to the angels–he is above my
reach, for I am sent to fallible men! I conceive that when a man is so
good in his own esteem that he cannot be better, he is even then no
better than he should be and is either cracked in his head or his
honesty! However, I leave him to his own master. But as for you and for
me, let us be certain that if we have been taught of the Spirit, there
is yet more light for the Spirit to give us! If we have been quickened
of the Spirit, there is yet more life for the Spirit to impart to us!
If we have been comforted, there are greater consolations yet which the
Spirit of God can apply to our hearts! If we have been made strong, we
can be stronger, yet, to do yet greater exploits! If we have had
communion with Christ, we can have closer communion and enter more
thoroughly into the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High! If
it can be, then why should it not be?
Does not every man or woman here that is a Christian say, "I mean to
realize all the possibilities of true religion"? Little religion is a
miserable thing. He that has just enough to save him, at last, may not
have enough to comfort him for the present. He that has much Grace and
is filled with the Spirit of God, shall have two heavens–a Heaven here
and a Heaven hereafter! I desire to make that true in my own case. I
would find two heavens in Jesus; are there not many more? He who has
the Spirit richly shall have the joy of the Lord, here, to be his
strength, and the joy of the Lord hereafter to be his reward! Come, let
us ask for all that God is willing to give! Does He not say, "Open your
mouth wide, and I will fill it"? Come, you little ones! Why remain
little?
Our prayer for you is that you may be as David and David as the angel
of the Lord. Come! You are living on crumbs–why not eat abundantly of
the Bread of Heaven? Do not be content with pennies, for a king's
ransom is at your disposal! Poor Brother, rise out of your poverty!
Sister, bowed down by reason of the little of the Spirit of God you
have received, believe for more and pray upon a larger scale! May the
Lord enlarge all our hearts and fill them! And then enlarge them again
and fill them again–so that from day to day we may receive the Holy
Spirit till, at the last, Jesus shall receive us into His Glory.