Do not let us run away with the idea that the New Testament, or any
part of it, regards miracles and tongues and the like as being the
normal and chiefest gifts of that Divine Spirit. People read this book
of the Acts of the Apostles and, averse from the supernatural,
exaggerate the extent to which the primitive gift of the Holy Spirit
was manifested by signs and wonders, tongues of fire, and so on. We
have only to look at the instances to which I have already referred to
see that far more lofty and far more conspicuous than any such external
and transient manifestations, which yet have their place, are the
permanent and inward results, moulding character, and making men. And
Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians goes as far in the way of
setting the moral and spiritual effects of the divine influence above
the merely miraculous and external ones, as the most advanced opponent
of the supernatural could desire.
Let us look, and it can only be briefly, at the various results which
are presented in the instances to which I have referred. The most
general expression for all, which is the result of the Divine Spirit
dwelling in a man, is that it makes him good. Look at one of the
instances to which we have referred. 'Barnabas was a good man'--was he?
How came he to be so? Because he was 'full of the Holy Ghost.' And how
came he to be 'full of the Holy Ghost'? Because he was 'full of faith.'
Get the divine life into you, and that will make you good; and,
brethren, nothing else will. It is like the bottom heat in a
green-house, which makes all the plants that are there, whatever their
orders, grow and blossom and be healthy and strong. Therein is the
difference between Christian morality and the world's ethics. They may
not differ much, they do in some respects, in their ideal of what
constitutes goodness, but they differ in this, that the one says, 'Be
good, be good, be good!' but, like the Pharisees of old, puts out not a
finger to help a man to bear the burdens that it lays upon him. The
other says, 'Be good,' but it also says, 'take this and it will make
you good.' And so the one is Gospel and the other is talk, the one is a
word of good tidings, and the other is a beautiful speculation, or a
crushing commandment that brings death rather than life. 'If there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness had
been by the law.' But since the clearest laying down of duty brings us
no nearer to the performance of duty, we need and, thank God! we have,
a gift bestowed which invests with power. He in whom the 'Spirit of
Holiness' dwells, and he alone, will be holy. The result of the life of
God in the heart is a life growingly like God's, manifested in the
world.
Then again let me remind you of how, from another of our instances,
there comes another thought. The result of this majestic, supernatural,
universal, abundant, divine life is practical sagacity in the commonest
affairs of life. 'Look ye out from among you seven men, full of the
Holy Ghost and of wisdom.' What to do? To meet wisely the claims of
suspicious and jealous poverty, and to distribute fairly a little
money. That was all. And are you going to invoke such a lofty gift as
this, to do nothing grander than that? Yes. Gravitation holds planets
in their orbits, and keeps grains of dust in their places. And one
result of the inspiration of the Almighty, which is granted to
Christian people, is that they will be wise for the little affairs of
life. But Stephen was also 'full of grace and power,' two things that
do not often go together--grace, gentleness, loveliness, graciousness,
on the one side, and strength on the other, which divorced, make wild
work of character, and which united, make men like God. So if we desire
our lives to be full of sweetness and light and beauty, the best way is
to get the life of Christ into them; and if we desire our lives not to
be made placid and effeminate by our cult of graciousness and
gracefulness, but to have their beauty stiffened and strengthened by
manly energy, then the best way is to get the life of the 'strong Son
of God, immortal love,' into our lives.
The same Stephen, 'full of the Holy Ghost,' looked up into heaven and
saw the Christ. So one result of that abundant life, if we have it,
will be that even though as with him, when he saw the heavens opened,
there may be some smoke-darkened roof above our heads, we can look
through all the shows of this vain world, and our purged eyes can
behold the Christ. Again the disciples in our text 'were full of joy,'
because 'they were full of the Holy Spirit,' and we, if we have that
abundant life within us, shall not be dependent for our gladness on the
outer world, but like explorers in the Arctic regions, even if we have
to build a hut of snow, shall be warm within it when the thermometer is
far below zero; and there will be light there when the long midnight is
spread around the dwelling. So, dear friends, let us understand what is
the main thing for a Christian to endeavour after,--not so much the
cultivation of special graces as the deepening of the life of Christ in
the spirit.