We read that Stephen was 'full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,' and
that Barnabas was 'full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,' and it is
quite clear from the respective contexts that, though the order in
which these fulnesses are placed is different in the two clauses, their
relation to each other is the same. Faith is the condition of
possessing the Spirit. And what do we mean in this connection by faith?
I mean, first, a belief in the truth of the possible abiding of the
divine Spirit in our spirits, a truth which the superficial
Christianity of this generation sorely needs to have forced upon its
consciousness far more than it has it. I mean aspiration and desire
after; I mean confident expectation of. Your wish measures your
possession. You have as much of God as you desire. If you have no more,
it is because you do not desire any more. The Christian people of
to-day, many of whom are so empty of God, are in a very tragic sense,
'full,' because they have as much as they can take in. If you bring a
tiny cup, and do not much care whether anything pours into it or not,
you will get it filled, but you might have had a gallon vessel filled
if you had chosen to bring it. Of course there are other conditions
too. We have to use the life that is given us. We have to see that we
do not quench it by sin, which drives the dove of God from a man's
heart. But the great truth is that if I open the door of my heart by
faith, Christ will come in, in His Spirit. If I take away the blinds
the light will shine into the chamber. If I lift the sluice the water
will pour in to drive my mill. If I deepen the channels, more of the
water of life can flow into them, and the deeper I make them the fuller
they will be.
Brethren, we have wasted much time and effort in trying to mend our
characters. Let us try to get that into them which will mend them. And
let us remember that, if we are full of faith, we shall be full of the
Holy Spirit, and therefore full of wisdom, full of grace and power,
full of goodness, full of joy, whatever our circumstances. And when
death comes, though it may be in some cruel form, we shall be able to
look up and see the opened heavens and the welcoming Christ.