Have you really taken all that God meant you should have? Your life is
the test of this question. If you are constantly failing at the same
point, if you are dominated by a spirit of unrest, if you are lacking
in spiritual power, something is wrong and you need the touch of the
living Christ. The early disciples were an illustration of those of us
who have not yet fully appreciated and appropriated our Savior. He had
given them life, for in the seventeenth of John he declares that this
is true. They had peace as a possession, for in the fourteenth chapter
and twenty-seventh verse he says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." They also had joy as a
gift, for he said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy
might remain in you, and that your joy might be full"; and yet they
quarreled among themselves, one of them denied him with an oath, and
all of them forsook him. They were a weak, vacillating company of men,
but suddenly there came a remarkable change. It was as if there had
been two Peters. The first was a coward, the second a perfect giant in
his fearlessness. The first was afraid of a little girl, the second
faced a mob and fearlessly proclaimed the truth of God that condemned
him; and the secret of this change is found in the fact that the Holy
Ghost had fallen upon him and upon them. This is what we need. Jesus
was God's gift to the world, and the Holy Ghost is his gift to the
church. Have we failed to take both? A man over in England, telling
his pastor about his experience, said that he had taken Jesus for his
eternal life and the Holy Ghost for his internal life. This is
certainly what we need to do more than anything else. We need the Holy
Spirit of God in our lives. He would illuminate our minds as we read
the Bible, strengthen our faith as we appropriate Christ, transform our
lives as he came to do, and enable us to live and preach in
demonstration of the Spirit and with power. Have you ever stopped to
think what is really associated with the full acceptance of the third
Person of the Trinity?
First, _Power_. "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has
come upon you."
Second, _Ability to pray_. "We know not what we should pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us."
Third, _Victory over sin_. "For the law of the Spirit of Christ in
Christ Jesus sets me free from the law of sin and death."
Fourth, _Cleanness of life_. "Ye have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit."
Fifth, _The representation of Jesus Christ_. Not imitation, but
reproduction, is what we need.
Two artists are painting before a picture. The work of one is sadly
deficient, the other an inspiration, for one is copying while the other
is reproducing his own work. Oh, that we might be so filled with the
spirit of God that men should take knowledge of us that we not only had
been with Jesus but were like him! Two things we need, both of which
we may have: _His word and his touch_. First, his Word. We surely
have this. Has he not said, "Ye shall receive power"? But with this
there is coupled a condition, "Come out from among them and be ye
separate." Fulfilling this condition, we have only to step out upon
his promise on the ground of the fact that he has said, "That ye might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Second, we have the touch of his hand. This emphasizes his reality.
One of the greatest dangers of the day, it seems to me, is the fact
that we are so inclined to make him unreal. It also indicates his
nearness. He can fill us so that his life may come throbbing into our
very being, and this is the secret of victory in the time of
temptation. We must be empty to be filled, but no man can empty
himself. Two ways may be presented for the emptying of a jar of air.
First, use the air pump; but in this way it cannot be perfectly done.
Second, fill the jar with water. This is the better way. When Christ
fills our lives he empties us of self and sin. To some unknown friend
I am indebted for four steps which we must take if we would be loosed
from our bondage and stand straight in the presence of God and men.
First: What God claims I will yield; that is myself.
Second: What I yield God accepts. Since I have taken my hands off from
myself I am not my own.
"I have not much to bring Thee, Lord.
For that great love which made Thee mine,
I have not much to bring Thee, Lord,
But all I am is Thine."
Third: What God accepts he fills.
Fourth: What God fills he uses.