A Sermon
(No. 30)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, June 17, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"The power of the Holy Ghost."–Romans 15:13.
POWER is the special and peculiar prerogative of God, and God alone.
"Twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." God is God;
and power belongeth to him. If he delegates a portion of it to his
creatures, yet still it is his power. The sun, although he is "like a
bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to
run his race," yet has no power to perform his motions except as God
directs him. The stars, although they travel in their orbits, and none
could stay them, yet have neither might nor force, except that which
God daily infuses into them. The tall archangel, near his throne, who
outshines a comet in its blaze, though he is one of those who excel in
strength, and hearken to the voice of the commands of God, yet has no
might except that which his Maker gives to him. As for Leviathan, who
so maketh the sea to boil like a pot, that one would think the deep
were hoary; as for Behemoth, who drinketh up Jordan at a draught, and
boasteth that he can snuff up rivers; as for those majestic creatures
that are found on earth, they owe their strength to him who fashioned
their bones of steel, and made their sinews of brass. And when we think
of man, if he has might or power, it is so small and insignificant,
that we can scarcely call it such; yea, when it is at its
greatest–when he sways his sceptre, when he commands hosts, when he
rules nations–still the power belongeth unto God; and it is true,
"Twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God." This
exclusive prerogative of God, is to be found in each of the three
persons of the glorious Trinity. The Father hath power; for by his word
were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them; by his strength all
things stand, and through him they fulfil their destiny. The Son hath
power; for, like his Father, he is the Creator of all things; "Without
him was not anything made that was made," and "by him all things
consist." And the Holy Spirit hath power. It is concerning the power of
the Holy Ghost that I shall speak this morning; and may you have a
practical exemplification of that attribute in your own hearts, when
you shall feel that the influence of the Holy Ghost is being poured out
upon me, so that I am speaking the words of the living God to your
souls, and bestowed upon you when you are feeling the effects of it in
your own spirits.
We shall look at the power of the Holy Ghost in three ways this
morning. First, the outward and visible displays of it; second, the
inward and spiritual manifestations of it; and third, the future and
expected works thereof. The power of the Spirit will thus, I trust, be
made clearly present to your souls.
I. First, then, we are to view the power of the Spirit in the OUTWARD
AND VISIBLE DISPLAYS OF IT. The power of the Sprit has not been
dormant; it has exerted itself. Much has been done by the Spirit of God
already; more than could have been accomplished by any being except the
Infinite, Eternal, Almighty Jehovah, of whom the Holy Spirit is one
person. There are four works which are the outward and manifest signs
of the power of the Spirit; creation works; resurrection works; works
of attestation, or of witness; and works of grace. Of each of these
works I shall speak very briefly.
1. First, the Spirit has manifested the omnipotence of his power in
creation works; for though not very frequently in Scripture, yet
sometimes creation is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, as well as to the
Father and the Son. The creation of the heavens above us, is said to be
the work of God's Spirit. This you will see at once by referring to the
sacred Scriptures, Job 26, 13th verse, "By his Spirit he hath garnished
the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." All the stars
of heaven are said to have been placed aloft by the Spirit, and one
particular constellation called the "crooked serpent," is specially
pointed out as his handiwork. He looseth the bands of Orion; he bindeth
the sweet influences of the Pleiades, and binds Arcturus with his suns.
He made all those stars that shine in heaven. The heavens were
garnished by his hands, and he formed the crooked serpent by his might.
So, also, in those continued acts of creation which are still performed
in the world; as the bringing forth of man and animals, their birth and
generation. These are ascribed also to the Holy Ghost. If you look at
the 104th Psalm, at the 29th verse you will read, "Thou hidest thy
face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and
return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created;
and thou renewest the face of the earth." So that the creation of every
man is the work of the Spirit; and the creation of all life, and all
flesh-existence in this world, is as much to be ascribed to the power
of the Spirit, as the first garnishing of the heavens, or the
fashioning of the crooked serpent. But if you look in the first chapter
of Genesis, you will there see more particularly set forth that
peculiar operation of power upon the universe which was put forth by
the Holy Spirit; you will then discover what was his special work. In
the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis, we read, "And the earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." We know not
how remote the period of the creation of this globe may be–certainly
many millions of years before the time of Adam. Our planet has passed
through various stages of existence, and different kinds of creatures
have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But
before that era came, wherein man should be its principal tenant and
monarch, the Creator gave up the world to confusion. He allowed the
inward fires to burst up from beneath, and melt all the solid matter,
so that all kinds of substances were commingled in one vast mass of
disorder. The only name you could give to the world, then, was that it
was a chaotic mass of matter; what it should be, you could not guess or
define. It was entirely "without form and void; and darkness was upon
the face of the deep." The Spirit came, and stretching his broad wings,
bade the darkness disperse, and as he moved over it, all the different
portions of matter came into their places, and it was no longer
"without form, and void;" but became round, like its sister planets,
and moved, singing the high praises of God–not discordantly, as it had
done before, but as one great note in the vast scale of creation.
Milton very beautifully describes this work of the Spirit, in thus
bringing order out of confusion, when the King of Glory, in his
powerful Word and Spirit, came to create new worlds:–
"On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore
They viewed the vast, immeasurable abyss,
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turned by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains, to assault
Heaven's height, and with the centre mix the pole.
"Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace,
Said then the Omnific Word; your discord end.
Then on the watery calm,
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread
And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mass."
This you see, then, is the power of the Spirit. Could we have seen that
earth all in confusion, we should have said, "Who can make a world out
of this?" The answer would have been, "The power of the Spirit can do
it. By the simple spreading of his dove-like wings, he can make all the
things come together. Upon that there shall be order where there was
naught but confusion." Nor is this all the power of the Spirit. We have
seen some of his works in creation. But there was one particular
instance of creation in which the Holy Spirit was more especially
concerned; viz., the formation of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Though our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a woman, and made in the
likeness of sinful flesh, yet, the power that begat him was entirely in
God the Holy Spirit–as the Scriptures express it, "The Holy One of
Israel shall overshadow thee." He was begotten, as the Apostles' Creed
says, begotten of the Holy Ghost. "That holy thing which is born of
thee shall be called the Son of the Highest." The corporeal frame of
the Lord Jesus Christ was a master-piece of the Holy Spirit. I suppose
his body to have excelled all others in beauty; to have been like that
of the first man, the very pattern of what the body is to be in heaven,
when it shall shine forth in all its glory. That fabric, in all its
beauty and perfection, was modeled by the Spirit. "In his book were all
the members written, when as yet there were none of them." He fashioned
and formed him; and here again we have another instance of the creative
energy of the Spirit.
2. A second manifestation of the Holy Spirit's power is to be found in
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. If ye have ever studied this
subject, ye have perhaps been rather perplexed to find that sometimes
the resurrection of Christ is ascribed to himself. By his own power and
godhead he could not be held by the bond of death, but as he willingly
gave up his life he had power to take it up again. In another portion
of Scripture, you find it ascribed to God the Father: "He raised him up
from the dead:" "Him hath God the Father exalted." And many other
passages of similar import. But, again, it is said in Scripture that
Jesus Christ was raised by the Holy Spirit. Now, all these things were
true. He was raised by the Father Because the Father said, "Loose the
prisoner–let him go. Justice is satisfied. My law requires no more
satisfaction–vengeance has had its due–let him go." Here he gave an
official message which delivered Jesus from the grave. He was raised by
his own majesty and power, because he had a right to come out; and he
felt he had, and therefore "burst the bonds of death: he could be no
longer holden of them." But he was raised by the Spirit as to that
energy which his mortal frame received, by the which it rose again from
the grave after having lain there for three days and nights. If you
want proofs of this you must open your Bibles again, 1 Peter 3:18. "For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened
by the Spirit." And a further proof you may find in Romans 8:11–(I
love sometimes to be textual, for I believe the great fault of
Christians is that they do not search the Scriptures enough, and I will
make them search them when they are here if they do not do so anywhere
else.)–"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."
The resurrection of Christ, then, was effected by the agency of the
Spirit! And here we have a noble illustration of his omnipotence. Could
you have stepped, as angels did, into the grave of Jesus, and seen his
sleeping body, you would have found it cold as any other corpse. Lift
up the hand; it falls by the side. Look at the eye; it is glazed. And
there is a death-thrust which must have annihilated life. See his
hands: the blood distills not from them. They are cold and motionless.
Can that body live? Can it start up? Yes; and be an illustration of the
might of the Spirit. For when the power of the Spirit came on him, as
it was when it fell upon the dry bones of the valley, "he arose in the
majesty of his divinity, and, bright and shining, astonished the
watchmen so that they fled away; yea, he arose no more to die, but to
live forever, King of kings and Prince of the kings of the earth."
3. The third of the works of the Holy Spirit, which have so wonderfully
demonstrated his power, are attestation works. I mean by this–works of
witnessing. When Jesus Christ went into the stream of baptism in the
river Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and
proclaimed him God's beloved son. That was what I style an attestation
work. And when afterwards Jesus Christ raised the dead, when he healed
the leper, when he spoke to diseases and they fled apace, when demons
rushed in thousands from those who were possessed of them, it was done
by the power of the Spirit. The Spirit dwelt in Jesus without measure,
and by that power all those miracles were worked. These were
attestation works. And when Jesus Christ was gone, you will remember
that master attestation of the Spirit, when he came like a rushing
mighty wind upon the assembled apostles, and cloven tongues sat upon
them; and you will remember how he attested their ministry, by giving
them to speak with tongues as he gave them utterance; and how, also,
miraculous deeds were wrought by them, how they taught, how Peter
raised Dorcas, how he breathed life into Enticus, how great deeds were
wrought by the apostles as well as their Master–so that "mighty signs
and wonders were done by the Holy Ghost, and many believed thereby."
Who will doubt the power of the Holy Spirit after that? Ah! Those
Socinians who deny the existence of the Holy Ghost and his absolute
personality, what will they do when we get them on creation,
resurrection, and attestation? They must rush in the very teeth of
Scripture. But mark! It is a stone upon which if any man fall he shall
be bruised; but if it fall upon him, as it will do if he resists it, it
shall grind him to powder. The Holy Spirit has power omnipotent, even
the power of God.
4. Once more, if we want another outward and visible sign of the power
of the Spirit, we may look at the works of grace. Behold a city where a
soothsayer hath the power–who has given out himself to be some great
one, a Philip enters it and preaches the Word of God; straightway a
Simon Magus loses his power and himself seeks for the power of the
Spirit to be given to him, fancying it might be purchased with money.
See, in modern times, a country where the inhabitants live in miserable
wigwams, feeding on reptiles and the meanest creatures; observe them
bowing down before their idols and worshiping their false gods, and so
plunged in superstition, so degraded and debased, that it became a
question whether they had souls or not; behold a Moffat go with the
Word of God in his hand, hear him preach as the Spirit gives him
utterance, and accompanies that Word with power. They cast aside their
idols–they hate and abhor their former lusts; they build houses,
wherein they dwell; they become clothed, and in their right mind. They
break the bow, and cut the spear in sunder; the uncivilized become
civilized; the savage becomes polite; he who knew nothing begins to
read the Scriptures: thus out of the mouths of Hottentots, God attests
the power of his mighty Spirit. Take a household in this city–and we
could guide you to many such–the father is a drunkard; he has been the
most desperate of characters; see him in his madness, and you might
just as well meet an unchained tiger as meet such a man. He seems as if
he could rend a man to pieces who should offend him. Mark his wife.
She, too, has a spirit in her, and when he treats her ill she can
resist him; many broils have been seen in that house. And often has the
neighborhood been disturbed by the noise created there. As for the poor
little children–see them in their rags and nakedness, poor untaught
things. Untaught, did I say? They are taught and well taught in the
devil's school, and are growing up to be the heirs of damnation. But
some one whom God has blessed by his Spirit is guided to the house. He
may be but an humble city missionary, perhaps, but he speaks to such a
one: "Oh!" says he, "come and listen to the voice of God." Whether it
is by his own agency, or a minister's preaching, the Word, which is
quick and powerful, cuts to the sinner's heart. The tears run down his
cheeks–such as had never been seen before. He shakes and quivers. The
strong man bows down–the mighty man trembles–and those knees that
never shook begin to knock together. That heart which never quailed
before now begins to shake before the power of the Spirit. He sits down
on an humble bench by the penitent; he lets his knees bend, whilst his
lips utter a child's prayer; but, whilst a child's prayer, a prayer of
a child of God. He becomes a changed character. Mark the reformation in
his house! That wife of his becomes the decent matron. Those children
are the credit of the house, and in due time they grow up like olive
branches round his table, adorning his house like polished stones. Pass
by the house–no noise or broils, but songs of Zion. See him–no
drunken revelry; he has drained his last cup, and, now forswearing it,
he comes to God and is his servant. Now, you will not hear at midnight
the bacchanalian shout; but should there be a noise, it will be the
sound of the solemn hymn of praise to God. And, now, is there not such
a thing as the power of the Spirit? Yes! And those must have witnessed
it, and seen it. I know a village, once perhaps the most profane in
England–a village inundated by drunkenness and debauchery of the worst
kind, where it was impossible almost for an honest traveler to stop in
the public house without being annoyed by blasphemy; a place noted for
incendiaries and robbers. One man, the ringleader of all, listened to
the voice of God. That man's heart was broken. The whole gang came to
hear the gospel preached, and they sat and seemed to reverence the
preacher as if he were a God, and not a man. These men became changed
and reformed; and every one who knows the place affirms that such a
change had never been wrought but by the power of the Holy Ghost. Let
the gospel be preached and the Spirit poured out, and you will see that
it has such power to change the conscience, to ameliorate the conduct,
to raise the debased, to chastise and to curb the wickedness of the
race, that you must glory in it. I say, there is naught like the power
of the Spirit. Only let that come, and, indeed, everything can be
accomplished.
II. Now for the second point, THE INWARD AND SPIRITUAL POWER OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT. What I have already spoken of may be seen; what I am about
to speak of must be felt, and no man will apprehend what I say with
truth unless he has felt it. The other, even the infidel must confess;
the other, the greatest blasphemer cannot deny, if he speaks the truth;
but this is what the one will laugh at as enthusiasm, and what the
other will say is but the invention of our fevered fancies. However, we
have a more sure word of testimony than all that they may say. We have
a witness within. We know it is the truth, and we are not afraid to
speak of the inward spiritual power of the Holy Ghost. Let us notice
two or three things wherein the inward and spiritual power of the Holy
Ghost is very greatly to be seen and extolled.
1. First, in that the Holy Ghost has a power over men's hearts. Now,
men's hearts are very hard to affect. If you want to get at them for
any worldly object, you can do it. A cheating world can win man's
heart; a little gold can win man's heart; a trump of fame and a little
clamor of applause can win man's heart. But there is not a minister
breathing that can win man's heart himself. He can win his ears and
make them listen; he can win his eyes, and fix those eyes upon him; he
can win the attention, but the heart is very slippery. Yes! The heart
is a fish that troubles all gospel fishermen to hold. You may sometimes
pull it almost all out of the water; but, slimy as an eel, it slippeth
between your fingers, and you have not captured it after all. Many a
man has fancied that he has caught the heart, but has been
disappointed. It would take a strong hunter to overtake the hart on the
mountains. It is too fleet for human foot to approach. The Spirit alone
has power over man's heart. Do you every try your power on a heart? If
any man thinks that a minister can convert the soul, I wish he would
try. Let him go and be a Sabbath School teacher. He shall take his
class, he shall have the best books that can be obtained, he shall have
the best rules, he shall draw his lines of circumvallation about his
spiritual Sebastopol, he shall take the best boy in his class, and if
he is not tired in a week I shall be very much mistaken. Let him spend
four or five Sabbaths in trying; but he will say, "the young fellow is
incorrigible." Let him try another. And he will have to try another,
and another and another before he will manage to convert one. He will
soon find "it is not by might nor power, but by my Spirit, saith the
Lord." Can a minister convert? Can he touch the heart? David said,
"Your hearts are as fat as grease." Aye, that is quite true; and we
cannot get through so much grease at all. Our sword cannot get at the
heart, it is encased in so much fatness; it is harder than a nether
millstone. Many a good old Jerusalem blade has been blunted against the
hard heart. Many a piece of the true steel that God has put into the
hand of his servants has had the edge turned by being set up against
the sinner's heart. We cannot reach the soul, but the Holy Spirit can.
"My beloved can put in his hand by the hole in the door, and my bowels
will move for sin." He can give a sense of blood-bought pardon that
shall dissolve a heart of stone. He can
"Speak with that voice which wakes the dead
And bids the sinner rise;
And makes the guilty conscience dread
The death that never dies."
He can make Sinai's thunders audible; yea, and he can make the sweet
whisperings of Calvary enter into the soul. He has power over the heart
of man. And here is a glorious proof of the omnipotence of the Spirit
that he has rule over the heart.
2. But if there is one thing more stubborn than the heart, it is the
will. "My lord Will-be-will," as Bunyan calls him in his "Holy War," is
a fellow who will not easily be bent. The will, especially in some men,
is a very stubborn thing; and in all men, if the will is once stirred
up to opposition, there is nothing can be done with them. Free-will
somebody believes in. Free-will many dream of. Free-will! Wherever is
that to be found? Once there was Free-will in Paradise, and a terrible
mess Free-will made there; for it spoiled all Paradise and turned Adam
out of the garden. Free-will was once in heaven; but it turned the
glorious archangel out, and a third part of the stars of heaven fell
into the abyss. I want nothing to do with Free-will, but I will try to
see whether I have got a Free-will within. And I find I have. Very free
will to evil but very poor will to that which is good. Free-will enough
when I sin, but when I would do good, evil is present with me, and how
to do that which I would I find not. Yet some boast of Free-will. I
wonder whether those who believe in it have any more power over
persons' wills than I have? I know I have not any. I find the old
proverb very true, "One man can bring a horse to the water but a
hundred cannot make him drink." I find that I can bring you all to the
water, and a great many more than can get into this chapel; but I
cannot make you drink; and I don't think a hundred ministers could make
you drink. I have read old Rowland Hill, and Whitefield, and several
others, to see what they did; but I cannot discover a plan of turning
your will. I cannot coax you, and you will not yield by any manner of
means. I do not think any man has power over his fellow-creature's
will, but the Spirit of God has. "I will make them willing in the day
of my power." He maketh the unwilling sinner so willing that he is
impetuous after the gospel; he who was obstinate now hurries to the
cross. He who laughed at Jesus now hangs on his mercy; and he who would
not believe is now made by the Holy Spirit to do it, not only
willingly, but eagerly; he is happy, is glad to do it, rejoices in the
sound of Jesus' name, and delights to run in the way of God's
commandments. The Holy Spirit has power over the will.
3. And yet there is one thing more which I think is rather worse than
the will. You will guess what I mean. The will is somewhat worse than
the heart to bend, but there is one thing that excels the will in its
naughtiness, and that is the imagination. I hope that my will is
managed by Divine Grace. But I am afraid my imagination is not at
times. Those who have a fair share of imagination know what a difficult
thing it is to control. You cannot restrain it. It will break the
reins. You will never be able to manage it. The imagination will
sometimes fly up to God with such a power that eagles' wings cannot
match it. It sometimes has such might that it can almost see the King
in his beauty, and the land which is very far off. With regard to
myself, my imagination will sometimes take me over the gates of iron,
across the infinite unknown, to the very gates of pearl, and discover
the blessed glorified. But, if it is potent one way, it is another: for
my imagination has taken me down to the vilest kennels and sewers of
earth. It has given me thoughts so dreadful, that, while I could not
avoid them, yet I was thoroughly horrified at them. These thoughts will
come; and when I feel in the holiest frame, the most devoted to God,
and the most earnest in prayer, it often happens that that is the very
time when the plague breaks out the worst. But I rejoice and think of
one thing, that I can cry out when this imagination comes upon me. I
know it is said in the Book of Leviticus, when an act of evil was
committed, if the maiden cried out against it, then her life was to be
spared. So it is with the Christian. If he cries out, there is hope.
Can you chain your imagination? No; but the power of the Holy Ghost
can. Ah, it shall do it! And it does do it at last, it does it even on
earth.
III. But the last thing was, THE FUTURE AND DESIRED EFFECTS; for, after
all, though the Holy Spirit has done so much, he cannot say, "It is
finished." Jesus Christ could exclaim concerning his own labor–"It is
finished." But the Holy Spirit cannot say that. He has more to do yet:
and until the consummation of all things, when the Son himself becomes
subject to the Father, it shall not be said by the Holy Spirit, "It is
finished." What, then, has the Holy Spirit to do?
1. First, he has to perfect us in holiness. There are two kinds of
perfection which a Christian needs: one is the perfection of
justification in the person of Jesus; and the other is, the perfection
of sanctification worked in him by the Holy Spirit. At present
corruption still rests even in the breasts of the regenerate. At
present the heart is partially impure. At present there are still lusts
and evil imaginations. But, oh! My soul rejoices to know that the day
is coming when God shall finish the work which he has begun; and he
shall present my soul, not only perfect in Christ, but perfect in the
Spirit, without spot or blemish, or any such thing. And is it true that
this poor depraved heart is to become as holy as that of God? And is it
true that this poor spirit, which often cries, "O, wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from the body of this sin an death!" shall get
rid of sin and death? I shall have no evil things to vex my ears, and
no unholy thoughts to disturb my peace. Oh happy hour! May it be
hastened! Just before I die sanctification will be finished; but not
till that moment shall I ever claim perfection in myself. But at that
moment when I depart, my spirit shall have its last baptism in the Holy
Spirit's fire. It shall be put in the crucible for its last trying in
the furnace; and then, free from all dross, and fine, like a wedge of
pure gold, it shall be presented at the feet of God without the least
degree of dross or mixture. O glorious hour! O blessed moment! Methinks
I long to die if there were no heaven, if I might but have that last
purification come up from Jordan's stream most white from the washing.
Oh! To be washed white, clean, pure, perfect! Not an angel more pure
than I shall be–yea, not God himself more holy! And I shall be able to
say, in a double sense, "Great God, I am clean–through Jesus' blood I
am clean, through the Spirit's work I am clean too!" Must you not extol
the power of the Holy Ghost in thus making us fit to stand before our
Father in heaven?
2. Another great work of the Holy Spirit, which is not accomplished, is
the bringing on of the latter-day glory. In a few more years–I know
not when, I know not how–the Holy Spirit will be poured out in a far
different style from the present. There are diversities of operations;
and during the last few years it has been the case that the diversified
operations have consisted in very little pouring out of the Spirit.
Ministers have gone on in dull routine, continually
preaching–preaching–preaching, and little good has been done. I do
hope that perhaps a fresh era has dawned upon us, and that there is a
better pouring out of the Spirit even now. For the hour is coming, and
it may be even now is, when the Holy Ghost shall be poured out again in
such a wonderful manner, that many shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased–the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as
the waters cover the surface of the great deep; when his kingdom shall
come, and his will shall be done on earth even as it is in heaven. We
are not going to be dragging on forever like Pharoah, with the wheels
off his chariot. My heart exults, and my eyes flash with the thought
that very likely I shall live to see the outpouring of the Spirit; when
"the sons and the daughters of God again shall prophesy, and the young
men shall see visions and the old men shall dream dreams." Perhaps
there shall be no miraculous gifts–for they will not be required; but
yet there shall be such a miraculous amount of holiness, such an
extraordinary fervor of prayer, such a real communion with God, and so
much vital religion, and such a spread of the doctrines of the cross,
that every one will see that verily the Spirit is poured out like
water, and the rains are descending from above. For that let us pray;
let us continually labor for it, and seek it of God.
3. One more work of the Spirit, which will especially manifest his
power–the general resurrection. We have reason to believe from
Scripture, that the resurrection of the dead, whilst it will be
effected by the voice of God and of his Word(the Son), shall also be
brought about by the Spirit. The same power which raised Jesus Christ
from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies. The power of the
resurrection is, perhaps, one of the finest proofs of the works of the
Spirit. Ah! My friends, if this earth could but have its mantle torn
away for a little while, if the green sod could be cut from it, and we
could look about six feet deep into its bowels, what a world it would
seem! What should we see? Bones, carcasses, rottenness, worms,
corruption. And you would say, Can these dry bones live? Can they start
up? Yes! "In a moment! In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump,
the dead shall be raised." He speaks; they are alive! See them
scattered! Bone comes to his bone! See them naked; flesh comes upon
them! See them still lifeless; "Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain!" When the wind of the Holy Spirit comes, they
live; and they stand upon their feet an exceeding great army.
I have thus attempted to speak of the power of the Spirit, and I trust
I have shown it to you. We must now have a moment or two for practical
inference. The Spirit is very powerful, Christian! What do you infer
from that fact? Why, that you never need distrust the power of God to
carry you to heaven. O how that sweet verse was laid to my soul
yesterday!
"His tried Almighty arm
is raised for your defense;
Where is the power can reach you there?
Or what can pluck you thence?"
The power of the Holy Spirit is your bulwark, and all his omnipotence
defends you. Can your enemies overcome omnipotence? Then they can
conquer you. Can they wrestle with Deity, and hurl him to the ground?
Then they might conquer you. For the power of the Spirit is our power;
the power of the Spirit is our might.
Once again, Christians, if this is the power of the Spirit, why should
you doubt anything? There is your son. There is that wife of yours, for
whom you have supplicated so frequently; do not doubt the Spirit's
power. "Though he tarry, wait for him." There is thy husband, O holy
woman! And thou hast wrestled for his soul. And though he is ever so
hardened and desperate a wretch, and treats thee ill, there is power in
the Spirit. And, O ye who have come from barren churches, with scarcely
a leaf upon the tree, do not doubt the power of the Spirit to raise you
up. For it shall be a "pasture for flocks, a den of wild asses," open
but deserted, until the Spirit is poured out from on high. And then the
parched ground shall be made a pool, and the thirsty land springs of
water; and in the habitations of dragons, where each lay shall be grass
with reeds and rushes. And, O ye members of Park Street! Ye who
remember what your God has done for you especially, never distrust the
power of the Spirit. Ye have seen the wilderness blossom like Carmel,
ye have seen the desert blossom like the rose, trust him for the
future. Then go out and labor with this conviction, that the power of
the Holy Ghost is able to do anything. Go to your missionary
enterprise; go to your preaching in your rooms, with the conviction
that the power of the Spirit is our great help.
And now, lastly, to you sinners:–What is there to be said to you about
this power of the Spirit? Why, to me, there is some hope for some of
you. I cannot save you; I cannot get at you. I make you cry
sometimes–you wipe your eyes, and it is all over. But I know my Master
can. That is my consolation. Chief of sinners, there is hope for thee!
This power can save you as well as anybody else. It is able to break
your heart, though it is an iron one; to make your eyes run with tears,
though they have been like rocks before. His power is able this
morning, if he will, to change your heart, to turn the current of all
your ideas; to make you at once a child of God, to justify you in
Christ. There is power enough in the Holy Spirit. Ye are not
straightened in him, but in your own bowels. He is able to bring
sinners to Jesus; he is able to make you willing in the day of his
power. Are you willing this morning? Has he gone so far as to make you
desire his name; to make you wish for Jesus? Then, O sinner! Whilst he
draws you, say, "Draw me, I am wretched without thee." Follow him,
follow him; and, while he leads, tread you in his footsteps, and
rejoice that he has begun a good work in you, for there is an evidence
that he will continue it even unto the end. And, O desponding one! Put
thy trust in the power of the Spirit. Rest on the blood of Jesus, and
thy soul is safe, not only now, but throughout eternity. God bless you,
my hearers. Amen.