"Be not drunk with wine, wherein
is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Ephesians 5:18. Dear
friends, I bring you a message today that to my mind is one of the most
important in all the Word of God. There never was a time in the history of
Christianity when there was such a great lack of spirituality among the
mass of Christian professors as there is today; and there is such a great
demand for Spirit-filled men and women to lift up Christ by a godly life,
and to carry the gospel to many souls who are longing for the truth and
right, and who are disgusted with formality. These people can be reached
only by the power of God manifested in the lives of his children. As Jesus
said, in John 4:23, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
God was with Luther when he preached those sermons on
faith that shook the world and struck a deadly blow to Romanism. He was
with the Wesleys in the great holiness reform; but there came a time when
the people of those reformations lost out spiritually and they began to
compromise the truth, and conform to the world. God forsook them and their
fall should be a warning to us.
We are now living in the greatest reformation the world
has known since the apostle's days; and there are three features prominent
in this reformation. First, it stands for the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth; second, it teaches the unity of God's people;
third, it fellowships only a Spirit-filled people.
We are living in the Holy Spirit dispensation, and
everything done in this age that will stand the test of time or pass the
judgment must bear the stamp of the Holy Spirit. The gospel was given by
inspiration of God. The natural man cannot discern it; but "when he
the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth." The
Spirit of God only can instruct us properly in these precious truths, and
the Spirit-filled soul only can truly feast on the precious treasures
hidden therein. This is the reason why the Word of God is stale to the
formal, but precious to the spiritual.
HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION
No man can come to Jesus except God by his Spirit draw
him. The Spirit will accompany the preaching of the Word and reprove men
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; and men under this kind of
influence today, will be pricked in their hearts and made to cry out, Men
and brethren, what must we do to be saved? Without the work of the Spirit
of God in our efforts, men will never be brought to Christ. Oh, for more
old-time conviction!
BIRTH OF THE SPIRIT
In John 1:1-5 Jesus tells us that unless we are born
of the Spirit we cannot see the kingdom of God. Right here is one of the
great danger points of life. Salvation is not a mere reformation but a
work of regeneration wrought in the heart and life by the power of the
Holy Ghost. Much religious work today is only an outward reformation and
but little of the old-time kind that changes the heart. What the people
really need is not merely reformation, but regeneration, being born of God
by his Spirit. No man can get saved till he is first brought under
conviction by the Holy Spirit. And a man cannot preach the gospel
successfully to get men under conviction unless his preaching under the
Spirit's anointing. If we tarry before God until we get our messages fresh
from the throne we will see more souls saved - not merely reformed on the
outside, but regenerated, born again, made new creatures. This, and this
only, will put a stop to sin in their lives.
When souls are seeking for salvation, we need to have
wisdom in instructing them, that they will get the real experience and not
come out with a mere profession. Do not get in a hurry; do not talk or
sing them through; let them pray through. Do not urge them to believe
until they are on believing ground. Whenever they meet the conditions of
God's Word they will get the experience that their souls desire. Then the
Holy Spirit will witness to their hearts that they are saved, and the
angels in heaven will rejoice over a new- born babe. There is too much
formality in most altar work. Oh, for more real Holy Ghost conviction and
regeneration.
The very moment a soul is born of the Spirit there will
spring up in his heart a love for God, for his Word, for his people, and
for all men, that he has never felt before. All malice, envy, hatred, and
anger will be gone; and he will then love his worst enemy and freely
forgive him, and if he had the power would gladly carry him in his arms to
the Savior he has found. Anything short of this spiritual experience is
short of salvation. There is no other way. You must be born of the Spirit.
SANCTIFICATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
In Romans 15:16 we read that we are sanctified by the
Holy Ghost. No man is ever sanctified unless the Holy Ghost puts his seal
upon him; and the work must be real, the consecration must be complete, or
God will never accept it. It is not merely a profession of sanctification,
or simply a hoping or believing we are sanctified, but a real definite
experience, that will stand the tests of life and prepare us for heaven.
This can only be obtained by a genuine act of consecration on our part,
and the operation of the Holy Ghost on God's part. "When thy soul the
perfect price has paid, God will send the holy fire." Your heart will
be made clean from selfishness and every unholy desire, and filled with
the love of God. Then and there only can you love the Lord with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Every sanctified man in this
world is in love with God and in love with all his children.
SPIRITUAL FELLOWSHIP
This experience produces that spiritual fellowship
spoken of by Paul in his letter to the Philippians, chapter 2, verse 1.
The Holy Ghost in us will produce fellowship, not doctrinal, or party, or
sectarian fellowship; but the fellowship of the Spirit. Our hearts will
flow together as one, or as it was said of the saints of old, we will be
all of one heart and one soul. Whenever sanctified men meet each other
there is a blending of spirits and they are one; they have fellowship with
each other. This fellowship of the Spirit brings all God's people into the
unity of the faith.
But the unity of the Spirit comes first and is the most
important. I would much rather have the fellowship of the Spirit with a
man, and not yet be in perfect fellowship or unity of faith, than to have
the mere unity of faith and not the unity of Spirit. There are some who
will fellowship a man because he looks all right on the outside or because
they agree in belief; but just mere outward change of dress or belief does
not put you into fellowship with the people of God. I say, again, it takes
the Holy Spirit to produce true fellowship. And the only way to keep in
fellowship and unity with the people of God is to keep filled with the
Spirit of God. We cannot keep the unity of the Spirit if we do not possess
the Spirit.
FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, temperance. These are the
natural results of a Spirit-filled life, the product of the heart filled
with the spirit of God. We will have no trouble in living for God and
producing the right kind of fruit if we live spiritual; but if we lose out
spiritually, the first thing we know the works of the flesh will be on
exhibition. Some may appear quite well on Sunday, or once in a while; but
to live for God seven days in the week we must keep our hearts filled with
the Spirit.
A HOLY GHOST CHURCH
The church of God is not made up of a people who are
mere professors; but it is a spiritual institution, consisting of
spiritual people. We do not get into the church by the right hand of
fellowship, or by water baptism. We do not join the church of God. The
preacher does not take us in, nor does the congregation vote us in. We
might get into some religious denomination that way; but there is only one
way to get into the church of God, and that is by being born of the Spirit
of God. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made
to drink into one Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12:13.
There may be people who profess to be in the church and
who may go along with the people of God, and who either have never had or
have lost the Spirit of God; but they are really not in the church. As
Paul says in Romans 8:9, 14, "If any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his, * * * For as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, they are sons of God." Every individual member of the church is
a spiritual member. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a
spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5. Our preaching, our
songs, our prayers, yes, all our worship must be spiritual to be
acceptable to God. Formality may do in sects but can have no part in the
church of God. For "ye also are builded together for an habitation of
God through the Spirit." Ephesians 2:22.
A SPIRIT-FILLED MINISTRY
After Jesus gave his disciples the commission to go
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15),
he commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued with power
from on high (Luke 24:49). He also told them that they should receive
power after that the Holy Ghost had come upon them (Acts 1:28). This they
did just as Jesus had commanded them; and in Acts 2:1-4 we read that they
received "and were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
In the apostolic church only Spirit-filled men were used
as preachers, and, beloved, I am persuaded that if God had his way such
only would preach today. In the ministry there is nothing so necessary as
being filled with the Spirit. The world is tired of dead, formal
preaching; but many are ready to receive the old-time salvation when it is
presented in the power and demonstration of the Spirit.
Simply to have a knowledge of the Word of God and a good
degree of natural ability is not sufficient. God is able to take a
dishwasher, a chambermaid, a plowboy, or a blacksmith, that is filled with
the power of God, and use such a one much more to his glory, than the
greatest educated or talented man void of the Spirit.
A preacher filled with the Holy Ghost will never willingly
compromise the Word of God; he will neither let down nor let up; he will
neither be too narrow nor too broad; he will neither be too loose nor too
exacting. There is nothing that so tends to keep us well balanced and in
the middle of the road as the Spirit experience. Just now we are passing
between two great dangers - fanaticism on one side and worldly conformity
on the other. Both of these are the result of formality, and the best and
only sure protection is more of God's Spirit in our hearts. With it we
will not go far to the right nor to the left till we will hear a voice
behind us, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
We need more wisdom, but we must be sure that it is the
kind that comes down from heaven, the kind that will make us wise as
serpents and harmless as doves. We need to lay aside everything in our
preaching that hinders souls from receiving gospel truth, and preach only
the pure unadulterated gospel truth with the Holy Ghost power that will
melt the hearts of the hearers. The world is no more of a friend to
genuine salvation than it was in the days of the apostles. I for one have
decided to preach nothing for which I do not have a "thus saith the
Lord." Beloved, the Holy Ghost will put His seal on every sentence of
truth that He would have us to present. And such preaching will never make
division among the people of God.
God wants us to do our duty in preaching the Word. If we
will not do our duty, precious souls will be hindered from getting saved.
The truth will never be overthrown. The truth has come to stay. The sun
shall go down no more; the apostasy has passed. The world once more sees
the gospel truth that was hidden for ages. But if we are not careful
individually we will lose our spirituality, become cold and formal, and
while this glorious reformation goes on to eternal victory we will be left
behind.
We need to get more knowledge, more wisdom; we need to get
nearer to each other and nearer our fellowmen; but above all, as ministers
of God, we need to get closer to him and be filled more with the Holy
Ghost.
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
In 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 we have the different
spiritual gifts mentioned; and in the last verse of the chapter we are
told to covet earnestly the best gifts. Now all these gifts are in the
body of Christ, the church; but we must remember that they are only given
to spiritual men and women, imparted to each member by the Spirit of God
as he wills and as he sees we can us to the edifying of the body of
Christ. The one great reason today why these gifts are not more often
manifested is the great lack of spirituality among the professed Christian
people. The more spiritual we become the more these gifts will be
manifested, and the less spiritual we live the less they will be
manifested. And again, God will never give these gifts to us to exalt self
or to advertise men. The man possessed with these gifts will feel like
hiding himself, but exalting Christ. That spirit that puts self on
exhibition and causes people to be carried away with self to the ignoring
of others, is not of God, but comes from the wrong source, and will result
sooner or later in the downfall of man and in the reproach of the cause of
God. Beloved, if we would be used of God and stay in line with his people
we must keep humble and filled with his Spirit.
WALK IN THE SPIRIT
In Galatians 5:16 we read, "Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." Of late I have been
so forcibly struck with the import of this text. A similar one is found in
Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit." Beloved, we will have no trouble in keeping out of sin so
long as we keep in the Spirit. We will not want to dress like the world or
partake of their ungodly pleasures.
The more spiritual we become the farther we will be
separated from the world, and the easier it will be to live as God would
have us live. Salvation does not destroy human nature or individuality;
and after we are saved we will find weaknesses in our humanity which,
without the grace of God, would soon drag us down again into sin. We need
to be strengthened daily with might by his Spirit in the inner man, so
that when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift
up a standard against him. Jesus said, "Without me ye can do
nothing." John 1:5. Paul says, "I can do all things through
Christ which strengthened me." So if we would be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might we must keep filled with the Spirit.
I pray God to bless our hearts today and to so fill us
with his Spirit that our songs, and prayers, and sermons, and testimonies,
shall be freighted with the power of God; and that he will mightily use us
in every way possible to herald this glorious truth to the ends of the
world, till all men shall know of the power of God to save to the
uttermost. Thus may he find us laboring together when he comes to receive
us to himself.