The Holy Spirit
By W. Graham Scroggie
THE truth never leaves us where
it finds us. We either go on or we go
back. We shall either be better men and better women after this service
or worse. The responsibility is laid upon us. A good hearer may learn
more from a poor preacher than a poor hearer from a good preacher. And
to be good hearers there are four things we should know:
1. If you would obtain any profit, you
must have a
teachable spirit;
2. Memory plays a large part in making the message
profitable;
3. The Word may be of no effect, because it is not mixed
with faith; and
4. "If any man is willing to do My will, willing to do, he
shall know" (John 7.17). This is a great prospect and a grand
assurance. There must be willingness to do. I am to put my will behind
my hearing.
I am no pessimist no Christian should be; but if I had to choose I
would rather be an open-eyed pessimist than a blind optimist. We have
very largely organized the Holy Spirit out of the Christian Church. It
is easier to organize than agonise we are making organisation instead
of agonising.
There are seven words in the New Testament which speak about the
Spirit's mission and work in the individual believer and the Christian
Church. One of the evidences of inspiration in Holy Scripture is the
care with which words are used. Words are used suitably in their
connection, and anywhere else would be unsuitable. There is evidence of
choice and care in the use of language.
There are two things we must give our attention to the intellectual
apprehension of truth, and the spiritual experience of it. There are
quite a lot of people who are intellectual without being experienced;
quite a lot are experienced without being intellectual; quite a lot are
neither; and quite a lot are both. In days such as these it is not
enough that I have an experience of Christ. I must have such an
intellectual apprehension of the truth as to convince others of the
truth of the things I believe.
Now, notice the seven words which
describe the Holy Spirit's ministry:
GIFT OF THE
SPIRIT.
1.
Acts 2:38. The mission of the Holy Spirit towards the individual and
towards the Church. This first passage is the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Father is the Giver, and the Spirit is the Gift, and the Lord in
the Upper Room made His disciples tarry for 10 days for the fulfillment
of the promise. Why 10 days? Because the Passover and the Feast were
separated by 50 days. The birthday of the Church was the day of
Pentecost, bringing the Gift to the united believers. I have heard of
people waiting "for the Gift of the Spirit." This has been done. They
are 1900 years too late.
If you are a Christian you have got the Holy Spirit, If you have not
the Holy Spirit you are not a Christian. God gives to every believer in
the moment of his conversion the Gift of the Holy Spirit. "Repent and
be baptized and ye shall receive the Holy Spirit" when you repent and
turn to God.
In the moment of regeneration the Spirit of God becomes ours; after our
regeneration God gives to every believer the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
You do not realize it at the time. When you receive a gift you say
"Thank you." How many Christians have said "Thank you" to the Father
for the Spirit? He is already given when we receive life.
A PERSON, NOT
AN INFLUENCE.
2.
Ephesians 4:30. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is a
person, not an influence or an emanation. But He does exercise an
influence. The Holy Spirit is not "it," and should not be spoken of as
such. You cannot grieve an influence or an emanation; you can only
grieve a rational and moral being, and this rational and moral Being is
the Divine Gift the "Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption."
There is a redemption past and a redemption to come. We are sealed who
are Christ's. This is the token. Every Christian man and woman is
sealed. We have no right to pray for the Gift of the Spirit or for the
sealing of the Spirit we have both.
OBTAINING AND
ATTAINING.
3. 1 Corinthians 3:16.
"Know ye not that«ye are temples?"
Which
indicates that the Holy Spirit is not bound. Christian attainment is
important. We have obtained, and we should go on to attainment. He does
not say "You need the Holy Spirit," but He does say, "Don't you know
that you are the Temple of God and the Holy Spirit dwells in you?" and
he means that as the whole argument for going on to know the Lord in
attainment. There is a hymn that says "I hate the sins that made Thee
mourn and drove Thee from my breast." If you could do that you would
cease to be a Christian. You can grieve Him, silence Him, but you
cannot drive him out.
There is a doctrine of the body in the Scriptures: it is through our
bodies we function. If I had no body I could not speak to you this
afternoon; but, having a body, I can function through it, and God wants
every living body dedicated to Him, so that He may function through our
bodies, and the Spirit of God has taken possession of every Christian;
but if we have not dedicated our bodies, how can we function?
OUR PLEDGE AND
GUARANTEE.
4. Ephesians 1:14. "The Holy
Spirit of promise which is the
earnest of
our inheritance." That is one of the words which have changed their
meaning. The "earnest" means foretaste and guarantee. The engagement
ring is the earnest and guarantee of marriage the promise, token,
sample, earnest. The grapes -which the spies brought out of the land of
Canaan was an earnest of what was there in super-abundance in the land.
God in His infinite grace has given the Holy Spirit as the earnest of
our inheritance, and 1 am wondering if the Holy Spirit is the earnest,
-what will the inheritance be? That baffles imagination. Every
Christian man and woman has the gift, the seal, the indwelling, and the
earnest of the Spirit. If we have not, we are not Christians at all.
PAST AND FUTURE.
5.
Acts 1:5. The baptism of the Spirit. What is the teaching of the New
Testament touching the baptism of the Spirit There are thousands of
Christian people who -will most sincerely pray for the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. Have you any scripture warrant for praying for the baptism
of the Holy Spirit? None whatever. There is a baptism of power and love
we need them both but there is no exhortation or injunction to pray for
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
In Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts 1, the baptism is pointed
forward to; in Acts 2 it is pointed back to. By one Spirit baptized
into one body. What an opportunity for the Spirit to use! You need this
baptism of the Holy Spirit. By one Spirit ye were baptized into one
body it points back. Where? At this meeting, in Acts 2, on the Day of
Pentecost. The baptism of the Holy Spirit inaugurated a new
dispensation and by that baptism of the believing units there were
hundreds of them hundreds of Christians that were believing units by
baptism; they -were constituted the Church of God.
We have our share in this. When do we have that share? In the moment of
regeneration you became a member of Christ's body, and belonging to the
Church of God. You may be a member of a Christian Church without being
a member of the Church of God. That is not something we have an
experience of, but something we are to be taught.
The Christian life is a life of endless progress, not only in time, but
through eternity. Now abides faith, hope, love. There will never come a
time when we can do without any of these.
We can never exhaust God, therefore our progress "will never come to an
end. God -will not hold us back because we are not intellectually clear
on the subject. There is no New Testament warrant for praying for the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. What should we seek, what may we have?
ARE YOU FILLED?
6. Ephesians 5:18. "Be
filled with the Spirit." This is an
exhortation
to Christian people. If every saved man or woman is filled, then the
injunction has no point. It would seem that a vast majority of
Christians are not filled with the Spirit. It has been said there is no
difference between baptism and fullness of the Spirit. I would have you
understand they are exactly opposed figures. If I were to take a vessel
and seal it, and put it into a bucket of -water, it would be baptized
in the water; but I unseal it, and the water is in it. What is the
meaning of the fullness of the Spirit?
The fullness of the Spirit is the recognized mastership in the life, as
distinct from acceptance of Jesus as my Saviour. He can be my Saviour,
without being my Master. In order to accept I must have faith, but in
order for Him to be my Master I must obey. The Spirit of God is in us
in fullness when we let Him minister the authority of Jesus Christ in
us, and when we unquestionably obey Him.
Is every Christian filled with the Spirit? Does every Christian
recognize Christ as Lord in every phase of their life, in their
thinking and doing? I think not, or there would not be this exhortation
in Ephesians, "Be filled with the Spirit." That is an experience
possible to you and to me. Too often the experience comes long years
after, if it comes at all. We may be filled in the hour of our
regeneration, and I believe that many would be if those who led them to
Christ told them of this thing that could be accomplished.
I have a right, a New Testament warrant, to pray for, seek, and receive
the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I cannot render Him my life service
properly unless I have the fullness of the Spirit.
When a person asks God to fill him with the Holy Spirit, he says, "I do
acknowledge Thee to be my Saviour, and now I render Thee unquestioning
obedience." So long as such a one lives in that attitude, there is
fullness of the Spirit. Our gifts are all right as far as they go, but
when we give these gifts to Him, and give them to Him with
unquestioning obedience, there is the fullness of the Holy Spirit
taking each of the natural endowments and gifts and consecrating them
to Him. Have we received the fullness 'of the Holy Spirit? Have you?
Have you ever sought it Church member, class leader, office-bearer,
Sunday School teacher, Endeavourer, Minister are all ministers filled
with the Holy Spirit? I would they -were; there are some controversies
we should never hear of.
Every Christian has the gift, the sealing, the indwelling, but every
Christian has not the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and every Christian
has not the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
ANOINTED US
7. 2 Cor. 1:21. "And hath
anointed us." The Spirit of God came
upon
Jesus when He was baptized. There never was a time when He was not
filled with the Holy Spirit when He did not perfectly obey. Then what
was it He received? It was an anointing for service. Everyone that goes
forth to spread the Gospel should see that they receive this anointing
everyone who goes to teach the Word or everything, and every one of our
most carefully prepared discourses must prove futile. I do not speak of
great preaching, of past days there is great preaching to-day. It is
learning, oratory, everything there but the one thing that would make
it dynamic that is, the anointing of the Holy Spirit and I could never
go forward to look into the faces of a congregation but for this fresh
anointing for this afternoon, and fresh anointing for this evening let
it cover my soul.
This anointing came upon Him, and then drove Him into the wilderness to
be tested, and He came out of the wilderness in the power of the
Spirit. Do we always come out in the power of the Holy Spirit, or
broken, beaten to the ground? We must first have an infilling, and then
an anointing for service. Where do you stand in relation to this? Are
you anointed? Do you win souls? We should obtain the infilling, the
anointing for service by dedication, consecration, that will make our
least word powerful and fruitful.