The Project Gutenberg eBook ofThe Spirit-Filled LifeThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: The Spirit-Filled LifeAuthor: John MacNeilAuthor of introduction, etc.: Andrew MurrayRelease date: July 24, 2010 [eBook #33247]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sven Pedersen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: The Spirit-Filled LifeAuthor: John MacNeilAuthor of introduction, etc.: Andrew MurrayRelease date: July 24, 2010 [eBook #33247]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sven Pedersen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Title: The Spirit-Filled Life
Author: John MacNeilAuthor of introduction, etc.: Andrew Murray
Author: John MacNeil
Author of introduction, etc.: Andrew Murray
Release date: July 24, 2010 [eBook #33247]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sven Pedersen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE ***
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sven Pedersen and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
I have been asked by the publishers to write a few lines introducing this book to American Christians. I count it a privilege to be allowed to do so.
The one thing needfulfor the church of Christ in our day, and for every member of it, is to be filled with the spirit of Christ. Christianity is nothing except as it is a ministration of the Spirit. Preaching is nothing, except as it is a demonstration of the Spirit. Holiness is nothing except as it is the fruit of the Spirit. These truths are so little taught or emphasized as they should be, and the blessings they speak of are so little experienced that one gladly welcomes every voice that draws attention to them.
It is known that all do not perfectly agree as to the best answer to the question: How to be filled with the Spirit? Some press that aspect of truth which reminds us that the Holy Spirithas been givento the church and that He dwells in every believer, a fountain of living water. As there have been fountains clogged by stones and earth, and only needing to be cleared and opened up, so we have only to remove the hindrances, to yield ourselves in perfect surrender to the Spirit in us, and the filling will come. We must not ask God for more of the Spirit. God asks for more of us that the Spirit may have us wholly.
Others, while admitting fully that the Spirit is in the believer, and that He asks for a more entire surrender, yet urge that it is from God direct that the filling of the Spirit must ever still be asked and received. God cannot give His spiritual gifts apart from Himself, once for all. As the divine and everlasting One, He gives unceasingly. The Spirit has not been given as if He had left heaven. He is in God and in the church. It is from God Himself that larger measures of the Spirit must ever be sought and received.
Among those who hold this latter view, there is again somewhat of a diversity in the representation of truth. On the one hand we are reminded that it is "by faith" we receive the Holy Spirit, and that faith often has to rest and to act without any conscious experience—has to walk in the dark. Souls that arefully surrenderedto God are invited to claim the promise and then to go and work in the full assurance that the Spirit is in them, and will in His fullness work through them. On the other hand stress is laid on the words "we receivethe Spirit" by faith. The difference between believing and receiving is pointed out, and we are urged to wait until we receive what we claim, and know that God has anew filled us with His Spirit. "To be filled with the Spirit" is offered us as a definite, conscious experience.
With still other Christians there is to be found what may be regarded as a combination of these different views. They believe that a very definite, conscious filling of the Spirit been received by some, and may be had by all. Though from their own experience they cannot testify of it, they still look for God to do for them above what they have asked or thought. Meantime they know that God's Spirit is in them, and seek grace to know Him better, and to yield themselves to Him more undividedly. They believe that the Spirit within them is Himself leading them on to the Lord above them, whose it is to fill with the Spirit. They have claimed in faith the fullness; they have placed themselves to be filled; they look to their Lord to fulfill His promise. Whether it comes in one swift moment or more gradually, they know it is theirs.
I have written this with an eye to those who may not entirely agree with the way in which the truth is presented in this little book. I wish to urge all, especially ministers of the gospel, to give it a prayerful reading. I feel confident it will bring them help and blessing. It will deepen the conviction of the great need and absolute duty of being filled with the Spirit. It will point out the hindrances and open up the way. It will stir up faith and hope. And it will, I trust, bring many a one to feel that it is at the footstool of the throne, in the absolute surrender of a new consecration, that the blessing is to be received from God Himself.
And may this book stir up all its readers, not only to seek this blessing for themselves, but to cry earnestly, "praying exceedingly day and night," "for all Saints," that God may throughout His whole church give the Holy Spirit in power. It is when the tide comes in, that every pool is filled, and all the separate little pools are lost in the great ocean. It is as all believers who know or seek this blessing begin to pray as intensely for each other and all their brethren, as for themselves, that the power of the Spirit will be fully known. With the prayer that this Spirit-filled book may be greatly blessed of God, I commend it to the study of His children.
London, Dec. 1, 1895.
Introduction—Andrew Murray 3
Author's Preface 9
Introduction to first Australian edition 13
The Starting Point 17
Every Believer's Birthright 19
A Command to be Obeyed 21
Something different from the new Birth—Proved from the Case of (1) The Apostles—(2) The Samaritans—(3) Saul of Tarsus—(4) The Ephesians—Unclaimed Deposits 23
Everybody's Need 29
Preventive Against Backsliding 31
How long Between the New Birth and the Filling? 34
Other New Testament Names for "Being Filled with the Spirit"—(1)Baptized with the Holy Ghost—"Baptized into One Body,"What it means—(2) Rivers of Living Waters—(3) The Promiseof the Father—(4) Pouring Forth—(5) The Gift—(6)Receiving—(7) Falling—(8) Coming—(9) Sealed 36
How Obtained?—(1) Cleanse—(2) Consecrate—(3) Claim 47
Wrong Motives 48
Cleansing—A "New Heart" not necessarily a "Clean Heart"—What is a Clean Heart?—Not Sinlessness—Blameless, not Faultless—"I was alone in the Twilight"—Cleansing a Crisis, not a Process 49
Consecration: What is it?—(1) Sanctification—(2) Surrender—(3)Transference of Ownership—(4) Enthroning Christ 72
Claiming—(1) Prayer—(2) Laying on of Hands—Claiming andAsking—Through Faith the Blessing Made Ours—ObjectionsAgainst This 87
How Does it Come?—Aorist Tense: "Were Filled," Refilled, ACrisis—Imperfect Tense: "Were being Filled," AProcess—Present Tense: "Full," the Normal Condition—Deacons"Full of the Holy Ghost"—Illustration of WaterTrough—Illustration of Service Pipe 91
Its Effects—(1) Courage—(2) Fruit of the Spirit—(3) Reach theMasses—(4) Persecution 104
May One Say that He is Filled?—Testifying toForgiveness—Testifying to Full Salvation 120
May One Lose the Blessing?—By Disobedience—By Neglect of theWord—It will be Found Where it was Lost 122
Be filled with the Spirit—Eph. v. 18
Chicago
Copyright 1896 by Fleming H. Revell Company.
I have written only for the "babes." The "full-grown," the "perfect," who may read will kindly bear this in mind. A wide and more or less intimate acquaintance with the Churches of Australasia has shown me the need for a simple, homely talk, such as this little book professes to be. Many, oh! so many of God's dear children are living on the wrong side of Pentecost, living on the same plane as that on which the disciples were living before they "were filled with the Holy Ghost;" and thus by their lives practically making the sad confession, "We did not so much as hear whether the Holy Ghost was given," or "whether there be any Holy Ghost." The object of this little work is to call their attention to their Birthright, to the fact that the Fullness of the Spirit is the Birthright of every believer. God wants us to be livingthisside Pentecost, not theotherside.
The substance of the following pages has been occasionally delivered as a series of afternoon Bible Readings in connection with my Mission Services. The frequent request that those who heard them might have them in a more permanent form, coupled with the hope that the great blessing that has most graciously been vouchsafed to them when spoken, might not be withheld from them when being read, has induced me to commit them to writing.
I gratefully acknowledge help received from many sources, both in preparing the Bible Readings, and in preparing them for publication; especially do I owe a debt of gratitude to my beloved "fellow-worker in Christ Jesus," who has now for many years been "a succorer of many, and of myself also," the Rev. H. B. Macartney, M. A., Incumbent of St. Mary's, Caulfield. He has most kindly revised my MS., penned an introduction, and encouraged me to publish.
In "much fear and trembling," because of its inadequateness, but with earnest and unceasing prayer to Him who has been pleased before to-day to "choose the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty"—with the prayer that He would graciously do so again, I send this little messenger forth on its mission, trusting that the reading of it may be as great a blessing to every reader as the writing of it has been to the writer.
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Christian reader, I pray that before you finish this little book you may become so eager, so intense in your longings after God, that you will not be satisfied until you are really and actually "FULL" of Him, "filled" with the Holy Ghost.
When the Lord asked Job, in chap. xxxviii. 34, "Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?" he would undoubtedly have answered, No. We, on the other hand, with all humility, but without the slightest hesitation, can answer, Yes. "Abundance" is the Father's will; "abundant" are the Stores of Life in Jesus; "abounding" for ever and ever is the Stream of the Spirit's energies.
We have onlyto reflect a littletill the truth flashes, andthenthe victory is all but won. We have only to consider, WHO was it that first loved us, and called us to be His own children, when we were wandering in sin's desert? WHO was it that first crossed the wild with a cup of living water to slake our dying thirst? WHO now crosses that desert a second time on our behalf with great camel loads of wine and milk? What did it cost Him to draw that water from Salvation's well, or to buy those luxuries for growth and power? What will one healing, stimulating draught accomplish in us and others? How will He grieve if we decline to "buy," or hesitate to "drink"? What, above all, will be the consequences to His glory? Oh, let us arise! Let us "shake ourselves from the dust!" Let us drink abundantly, Beloved! There is just now an unutterable need for "something more." Single souls are drooping, though divinely planted. Churches are full of bones, "very many and very dry." The world is a jungle, a forest ready for the fire. Men, women and children form one vast continent of feeling, of ever-increasing sensibility, with an ever-deepening, an ever-aching void. Even the Teachers of High Truth themselves are not "abundantly satisfied" with the fatness of God's House; they do not drink deep enough from the "River of God's pleasures." Yes, there is a thirst not quenched; and I am persuaded that we can only quench Immanuel's thirst whenin Himwe quench our own. Then let us make haste to God; let us hurry to the Stream that is "full of water." We cannot know what the "Infilling of the Spirit" means until we are infilled. It is a new experience. God is not thereby better seen than before by nature's eye, but He is better understood, better loved, better leaned on; that is what He wants, and that is enough.
Perhaps, dear reader, the pathway between you and blessing is somewhat hidden, or your eyes are dim, or your heart is only beating with a faint desire. If so, then carefully read this little book; read it beside an open Bible; read it in prayer. It may be, through infinite compassion, that it may prove a key into the "wealthy place;" it may rend the veil, scatter the darkness, lead you to joy unspeakable, and—to power!
I have known the author long, and love him much. He is thoroughly trained in theology; he is a first-rate preacher; his gospel for sinners is as "clear as crystal;" and when you have read a little further, you will say the same of his gospel for saints! He has penetrated far into the "Secret of the Most High," and so can speak from a rich experience of his own, to which, however, he never refers.
I cannot but express the hope that this little treatise on the "Spirit-filled Life," may not only be widely circulated in Australia, but also in England and America. It is fresh, it is homely, it is temperate, it is timely, it is scriptural, it is splendid. It sets forth a Promise to be claimed, a Gift to be received, a Command to be obeyed; and it portrays the sequel—more liberty, more peace, more devotion, more fellowship with the Son of God in His rejection by man, in His fellowship with the Father.
St. Mary's, Caulfield, Victoria, July 12, 1894.
Reader, are you a B. A.? This little book is only for those who possess that degree from the King's College. If you are not "Born Again," please put it aside, for this is our starting point in considering the Fullness of the Spirit as the birthright of every believer. If you have not been born again you have no right by birth to this, the chiefest of New Testament blessings. Your first concern is to become one of the children of God, and then you may enquire as to your inheritance. If youareborn again, ask that you may read with the anointed eye and with an unprejudiced mind, for the amount of prejudice that exists against this subject is saddening in the extreme. In nothing that he ever wrote does John Bunyan's masterful genius flash forth more clearly than when, in "The Holy War," he places that old churl, Mr. Prejudice, with sixty deaf men under him, as warder of Eargate. Nothing that even Emmanuel may say can reach Mansoul while Prejudice and his deaf men keep that gate. "There is nothing about this in the Standards of our Church." "I have not met with this truth in my favorite authors." "It is quite new to me, and I never will believe it," etc., etc. These and such like, are illustrations one meets with of how well Prejudice keeps his ward! In the name of the Lord let us displace him, and determine to give what of God's truth may be set forth in the following pages a fair field, no favor being asked for. Deep-rooted prejudice is one of the causes of the appalling spiritual poverty that abounds—yes, appalling when we consider the treasures within our reach!
On every hand a lack ofsomethingis being felt and expressed by God's people. Their Christian experience is not what they expected it would be. Instead of expected victory, it is oft-recurring, dreaded defeat; instead of soul satisfaction, it is soul hunger; instead of deep, abiding heart rest, it is disquiet and discontent; instead of advancing, it is losing ground. Is this all Christ meant when He said, "Come unto Me"? Is this life of constant disappointment the normal life of the Bible Christian? To these sad questionings the Divine Word answers with an emphatic "No," and the testimony of an ever-increasing number of God's children answers "No."
For this widely felt, though sometimes inarticulate demand, the Divine supply isthe fullness of the Spirit; and this Fullness is the birthright ofeverybeliever, his birthright by virtue of his new birth. Sometimes we hear it said that to be filled with the Spirit is the Christianprivilege; butbirthrightis a stronger word. Reader, it is your birthright to be filled with the Spirit, as Peter was filled, as Stephen was filled, as the one hundred and twenty men and women in the upper room were filled (Acts ii. 4, and i. 14, 15), as the men and women in Cornelius' house were filled (Acts x. 44-47). "And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off" (Acts ii. 38, 39). What have you done with your birthright? Have you claimed it?Are you living at this moment in the possession and enjoyment of it?Or, are you, Esau-like, "despising your birthright"? (Gen. xxv. 34). Or, if not despising, are you neglecting it? Esau's eyes were ultimately opened to his folly in parting with his birthright for "one mess of meat," and he then desired to inherit the blessing, seeking it "diligently with tears;" but alas! his awaking came too late (Heb. xii. 16, 17). May every reader of these lines have the desire graciously awakened (if it has not yet been awakened and satisfied), to inherit their birthright blessing, while place of repentance is to be found. May the prediction be fulfilled in our glad experience: "The house of Jacob shallpossess their possessions" (Obad. 17).
But lest some one should think, "It is optional with me whether I claim my birthright or not; no doubt it would be a very fitting thing for some people to be filled with the Spirit, butIneed not trouble about it"—in case any one should be tempted to speak and act like this, let us learn that "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. v. 18) is a command to be obeyed, a duty to be done. Many of God's people are acknowledging that they did not know that "Be filled with the Spirit" was a command;but it is, and there is no excuse for not knowing. You will notice that in Eph. v. 18 there is a double command, a negative, "Be not drunk," and a positive, "Be ye filled." The positive command is as authoritative as the negative, and was binding onjust as manyof those Ephesian Christians as was the negative command. Now what was true for those believers there in Ephesus in the long-ago is equally true for all believers on God's footstool to-day. Is it a sin for a believer to-day to disobey the command, "Be not drunk"? and is it then a virtue to disobey the equally authoritative command, "Be ye filled"? If it is a sin for a Christian to be drunk, it is just as surely, truly, really,a sinnot to be filled. We are commanded and expected to live a Spirit-filled life, to be filled, not with wine, the fruit of the vines of earth, but with the new wine of the kingdom, the fruit of the "true Vine."
Reader, if you are asked, Do you obey the command, "Be not drunk with wine," what is your answer? If it is, "Yes," that is obedience. Now, if you are asked, Do you obey the command, "Be filled with the Spirit," what is your answer? If it is, "No," that is disobedience; you are guilty of breaking one of God's plainest commandments. You have no more license to breakthiscommand than you have to break any command in the Decalogue. Before you read further, had you not better confess your sin, and tell the Master that you purpose in your heart new obedience?
This being "filled with the Spirit" is a definite blessing, quite distinct from being "born of the Spirit." It is objected by some that every Christian has the Spirit; quite true, for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. viii. 9); and "no man can say Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. xii. 3); but to "have the Spirit" and to be "filled with the Spirit" are two different things. "Egypt always has the Nile," as some one has said, "but Egypt waits every year for its overflow;" having the Nile is one thing, but having the Nile overflowing is quite another. Now it is the Nile's overflow that is Egypt's salvation, and to overflow it must first be filled. So it is the Christian's overflow that is the world's salvation, and in order to the overflow there must first be the filling.
As far as God is concerned, there is no reason why this filling should not take place at the hour of conversion, of the new birth. See the case of Cornelius and his friends, in Acts x. 44-48. They believed, were saved, "received the Holy Ghost," and were baptized with water the same day. But it were a fatal blunder to assert thatallmen on believing received the Holy Ghost in a similar manner, or were thus filled with the Spirit. Most certainly in Bible times it was not so.
1. Take the case of the Apostles themselves.
In Acts ii. 4 we read, "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit," all in the upper room, men and women, including the twelve apostles. Now these men had the Spirit before. When Christ called them to follow Him, when they were converted, they received the Spirit. After His resurrection, but before His ascension, Christ breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John xx. 22), and of course they did "receive" the Spirit then; but it is never said of them that they were "filled with the Holy Spirit" till that morning in the upper room, for the simple reason that itcouldnot be said of them, or "the Spirit was not yet given" (John vii. 39). Yet these men were Christians before that morning.
2. Take the case of the Samaritans.
In Acts viii. 5-13 we find that under the preaching of Philip the evangelist there was a work of grace in the city of Samaria, the people believed and were baptized. These people, then, were Christians, but they were not "filled with the Spirit" till Peter and John came down and prayed for them, thus perfecting the work Philip had been doing (Acts viii. 15-17).
3. Take the case of Paul himself.
Saul was converted when the omnipotent, omnipresent Christ, standing as Picket-guard for that little church at Damascus, unhorsed him, and took him prisoner on the Damascus road. "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" That question sounds like conversion, surely. For three days he lay in darkness in Damascus, a surrendered, believing man, and therefore a Christian man; but it was not till Ananias came to him that he was "filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ix. 17). And who was this Ananias through whom this man Saul, destined to prove himself the truest, bravest, grandest servant the Lord Jesus ever had—through whom even Saul received the greatest of the New Testament blessings? He was an obscure obedient believer, of whom we know nothing else than that he did this service for Saul. Here is the ministry of the saints. So it may be to-day, some big Paul may be blessed through the ministry of some little Ananias.
4. Take the case of the Ephesians in Acts xix. 1-6.
Here were twelve men who were disciples, they had been believers for some time when Paul found them; in other words, they were saved, they were Christians. But Paul's first question to them was, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Plainly showing that Paul thought it possible for them to have been believers and yetnotto have received the Holy Ghost. Indeed, in this case, what Paul deemed a possibility turned out to be a fact; they hadnot yet"received" the Spirit. Of course, in acertainsense, they had the Spirit; it was by the Spirit they had believed, and if they had not the Spirit of Christ, they were none of His; but for all that, they had not yet "received" the Spirit in the Pentecostal sense of the word, in the sense in which Paul meant it. They had not yet come totheirPentecost. In the R. V., Paul's question is rendered, "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" Proving (1) that it is possible to "receive" the Holy Ghost at the moment of believing, and (2) that it is possible to believe without "receiving," as has already been pointed out from the rendering of the A.V. After Paul had instructed them more fully in the word and way of the Lord, we read that "the Holy Ghost came on them." From this we gather that these men of Ephesus obtained a blessing subsequent to their conversion, spoken of here as "receiving" the Holy Ghost, as the Holy Ghost "coming" on them. This is in strict accord with what Paul himself says of this event when writing to the Ephesians in Eph. i. 13, "After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." First they "believed," and then, some time after "believing," they were "sealed," they "received," they were "filled." From these four cases—(1) Apostles, (2) Samaritans, (3) Saul, (4) Ephesians—we conclude that in New Testament times men actually lived as Christians, were saved, converted men, and yet knew nothing of the "Filling" with the Spirit—this knowledge, this blessing coming to them some time after their being born again. Yet this is the very thing some to-day deny! Whom are we to believe? These objectors or the Sacred Record? The Divine Word declares it, and there is then no room or need for argument. So we affirm that it is equally possible for believers, for saved, converted men, to live in our own time, as well as in Bible times, without the "Fullness;" nay more, it is possible for them to live for years, then die and go home to Heaven to be there for ever with the Lord, and to have known nothing on earth of what it was to be "filled with the Spirit." But what a loss they have suffered! Eternal, irreparable loss! So we conclude it is abundantly plain from Scripture, that for the regenerate soul there is in Christ another blessing over and above the being born of the Spirit, spoken of as "the Fullness of the Spirit." "I am amazed at a man like you going to these Conventions," said a man to his minister once. "What new thing can these Convention speakers tell you? it is all in the New Testament." "Yes," he replied, "that's the trouble; and we have left these things in the New Testament; whereas we want to get them out of the New Testament; and into our hearts and lives." In Jesus Christ, God's Treasury, our share of Pentecost's blessing has been deposited for each of us by our Father God. Have we claimed and received our share? Not likely, if we are not aware that thereissuch a blessing for us; but once we recognize the fact that it is there, we surely will not rest till we have made it our own. The Scottish bankers have published the fact that they have lying in their vaults a sum of £40,000,000 in unclaimed deposits. Some of those who owned a share of this money may have died in the workhouse; some of them may be living to this moment in direst need, and they might have their money for the claiming; but they do not know that it is theirs. What vast unclaimed deposits are lying in God's Treasury, Christ! Some of His people have died spiritually poor; some are living to-day in spiritual penury, a hand-to-mouth existence, with such "untrackable riches" lying "at call," at deposit in their name. What have we done withourdeposit? We are responsible for its use and disuse. Remember! the reckoning day is coming (Matt. xxv. 19).
Some have the idea that this blessing of the Fullness is only for a favored few, for such as have some special work to do for God, but not for ordinary folk, "for auld wives and wabsters" in their homespun. Surely this is one of the devil's champion lies! Alas! alas! that it has found such credence! The Infilling is what makes this promise true, "He that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God" (Zech. xii. 8), so that "one man of you shall chase a thousand" (Josh. xxiii. 10). This means defeat for the devil, so no wonder that he strives to keep us back from the "Fullness"! We are here on earth that through us Christ may be glorified; but there is only One Person that can glorify Christ, and that is the Holy Ghost. "He shall glorify Me" (John xvi. 14). To the glorifying of Christ as He ought to be and might be glorified, the filling with the Spirit is necessary. Mothers in the home, "with thronging duties pressed," need the "Fullness" to enable them to glorify Christ as surely as the apostles needed it; the washerwoman needs it as well as the pastor; the tradesman as well as the evangelist. To live the Christ-glorifying life in the station in which God has placed us, we individually need to be filled with the Spirit. "They wereallfilled" (Acts ii. 4), men and women, the one hundred and twenty in the upper room, the rank and file as well as the apostles. "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and toallthat are afar off" (Acts ii. 38, 39). From Acts viii. 17 we gather thatallthe converts in Samaria, without any favor or distinction, "received the Holy Ghost." From Acts x. 47 we gather thatallin the house of Cornelius "received the Holy Ghost" while Peter was speaking. From Acts xix. 6 we gather that "the Holy Ghost came on"allthe disciples to whom Paul was speaking. Theyallreceived because theyallneeded. Do not weallneed? why then should we notallreceive? And if we do not receive we will suffer loss, the Church will suffer loss, the world will suffer loss, and, above and beyond all, Christ will suffer loss.
It is most instructive to note how exceedingly anxious the early Christians were, that, as soon as a man was converted, he should be "filled with the Holy Ghost." They knew no reason why weary wastes of disappointing years should stretch between Bethel and Peniel, between the Cross and Pentecost. They knew it was not God's will that forty years of wilderness wanderings should lie between Egypt and the Promised Land (Deut. i. 2). When Peter and John came to the Samaritans, and found that they were really turned to God, theirfirstconcern was to get them filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts viii. 15). When Ananias came to the newly-converted Saul of Tarsus, hisfirstword was, "Jesus … hath sent me, that thou mayest … be filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ix. 17). When Paul found certain disciples at Ephesus, his first business with them was to find out if they had "received the Holy Ghost" (Acts xix. 2). These early teachers did not wait for a few months or years till the young converts had become thoroughly disheartened because of the disappointments of the way, thoroughly demoralized by encountering defeats where they had been led to expect that they would come off "more than conquerors;" neither did they wait until the novices had become more established or more fully instructed in the things of God; but straightway, at once, they introduced them to Fullness of blessing, taught them the open secret of the overcoming, ever-victorious life, and they did not leave them until the secret was their very own. Has modern practice been in accord with apostolic practice in this respect? The only possible answer is in the negative. Have we improved then on the apostolic method? Scarcely. But our modern method is very largely responsible for the large percentage of backsliding that one meets with in the Church to-day. Many of these backsliders were soundly converted to God, but unfortunately for them, no Peter or John, no Ananias or Paul, met them in the beginning of their Pilgrimage to compel their attention to the "one thing needful" for the people of the Pilgrimage; so they started out but ill provided, and after a longer or shorter time they became thoroughly dispirited; and then asking, "Is this all that is in it?" they threw their profession overboard; and one can scarcely wonder at it. Prevention is better than cure. Let our young converts be fully instructed and fully equipped with the glorious Fullness provided for them by the gracious Father, and we will hear less about backsliding. Do you know why Peter and John, Ananias and Paul, spake of the Fullness of the Spirit? Becausetheypossessed and enjoyed the blessing themselves, and they could notbutspeak of the blessing that had done so much for them. Do you know why we have not spoken of it to our converts and young Christians? Becausewedid not know of it ourselves! If we "receive" the Spirit we will "minister" the Spirit; and if we do not "minister," why is it?—but because we have not "received."
It is often asked what time must elapse between the regenerating by the Spirit and the filling with the Spirit? for be it remembered the Filling is as real and distinct and definite a blessing as the regenerating. Many people know the moment of their new birth; they were conscious of the change; so also many know when they were "filled with the Holy Ghost;" it was a blessed, bright, conscious experience, and it is as impossible to argue them out of the one experience as out of the other. On the other hand, some people do not know the time when they were born "again;" they simply have come to know by many infallible signs that the great change has taken place; so in like manner some do not know when the Fullness came to them, but they have been gently awaked to the fact that "Jesus came, He filled my soul;" and such people may be as truly "filled with the Spirit" as those who can tell when and where and how the blessing came to them. Now as to the period intervening between the two blessings, we know that in the case of the apostles in Acts ii. 4, three or three and a half years elapsed between the day when they heard the "Follow Me," and the day when they were "filled;" in the cases of the Samaritans in Acts viii. 17, and of the Ephesians in Acts xix. 1-7, some weeks; in the case of Saul in Acts ix. 17, three days. But as we have already noticed in the case of Cornelius and his household in Acts x. 44, they were regenerated and filled the same day. From this we gather that, as far as God is concerned, there is no needs-be for any intervening period, but that the believermaybe "filled" as soon as he is "born again;" the "Life" almost as soon as we get it may blossom into "Life abundantly." If we did not "receive the Holy Ghostwhen" we believed, and if we have not "received" Himsincewe believed, and are not livingnowthe Spirit-filled life, at whose door then does the blame lie?
That we may see how full the New Testament is of this blessing, and that we may the better understand what it is and how it is obtained, let us just glance at some other terms used by the Holy Ghost when speaking of it.
1. "Baptized with the Holy Ghost."
"Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts i. 5). See also Acts xi. 16, Matt. iii. 11, Mark i. 8, Luke iii. 16, John i. 33. Now, though "baptized" and "filled" are sometimes convertible terms, it is instructive to note that they are not always so. The promise in Acts i. 5, "Ye shall be baptized," was fulfilled in Acts ii. 4, "And they were all filled," where "filled" is used for "baptized." In Acts iv. 8 we read, "Peter filled with the Holy Ghost," and in ver. 31, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost;" where the word "baptized" couldnotbe used instead of the word "filled." The difference is this: the "baptism" is received but once; it is, so to speak, the initiatory rite to the life of Pentecostal service, and fullness, and victory. Life begins at the Cross, but service begins at Pentecost. If there has been no Baptism, there has been no Pentecost; and if no Pentecost, no service worth the name. "Tarry until ye be clothed with power," said the Master (Luke xxiv. 49); "Wait for the promise" (Acts i. 4); "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts i. 5); "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts i. 8). And we see that, in compliance with the commands of their Master, no service of any kind did these men attempt till "the day of Pentecost was fully come" (Acts ii. 1).
"Theirs not to make reply!Theirs not to reason why!"
Their business was simply toobey. With the promised "Baptism" they entered upon a new phase of life, experience, and service, and this "Baptism" need not be repeated; but not so the "Filling." Peter was "filled" in Acts ii. 4, again in Acts iv. 31. The "Filling" may be, and ought to be, repeated over and over and over again; the "Baptism" need be but once. In support of this, note how frequently the word "filled" is used in the Acts and Epistles compared with the word "baptized." The Baptism which we are considering here must not be confounded with the baptism in 1 Cor. xii. 13, the "Being baptized into one body." Paul is speaking there of every believer having been quickened from the dead by the agency of the Holy Spirit, and thus made a member of Christ's mystical body. This is a Pauline way of stating the being "born again" of John iii. 7. It was to those who already had been "baptized into one body" that Christ gave the promise, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost" (Acts i. 5). In view then of this word of Christ, "Ye shall be baptized," and of the word of John the Baptist, recorded in John i. 29-33, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world … the same is He that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit" (the same promise is also recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke), it surely cannot be unscriptural for a believer—painfully conscious that as yet this word has not been fulfilled in his experience, that for him as yet the day of Pentecost has not fully come—to pray "Lord Jesus, baptize me with the Holy Ghost!" Why should this be regarded as unscriptural, when in view of the word, "Be filled with the Spirit," the prayer, "Lord, fill me with the Spirit," is considered to be in accord with Scripture? Surely the one prayer in its proper place is as scriptural as the other! To know Christ as the Sin-bearer is buthalfsalvation; to know Him also as the great Baptist isfullsalvation. How many there are who know Christ as their Sin-bearer who have no experimental acquaintance with Him as the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost! One cannot think that it would be grieving to the Holy One that such people should cry for the promised Baptism; but then, when it has been received, let us bear in mind the difference, already pointed out, between "baptized" and "filled;" that now that "the day of Pentecost has fully come," and that he has been baptized with the Spirit, he must not continue praying for the baptism, for that cannot be repeated; whereas he may ask and obtain a fresh filling, a refilling with the Holy Ghost every day of his life.
2. "Rivers of living water."
"He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John vii. 38, 39). One may ask, what is it to be "filled with the Spirit"? The Teacher Himself makes answer: It is to have "rivers of living water flowing" from one's soul. See the universality of the promise, "He that believeth on Me;"nobeliever, even the weakest, obscurest, is outside its magnificent sweep, unless by his unbelief he puts himself there. This is not a promise for the Spiritual aristocracy of the Church, as some, with more heat than sense, maintain. Let us have done with whittling away the vast Godlike promises of the Divine Word, till they come within the cramped limits of our poverty-stricken experience, and let us set to work in earnest to bring our experience abreast of God's promises. This promise is foryou. Has it then been verified in your life and experience? If not, why not? Is there not a cause? But note more closely its hugeness, its Godlike vastness, "Rivers!" not a tricklet, or a babbling brook—by its babbling proclaiming its shallowness—or a stream, or a river, but Rivers! What Divine prodigality! It is the Brisbane, the Clarence, the Hawkesbury, the Murray, the Murrumbidgee, the Tamar and the Derwent all rolled into one—Rivers! By the widest, wildest stretch of imagination could it be said of you that "Rivers of living water" are flowing from you—"flowing," mind you, "flowing"? See the freshness, the freedom, and the spontaneity of the service; no force-pump work about the flowing of the Rivers; none of the hard labor of the "soul in prison" (Ps. cxlii. 7). When the "Rivers" begin to flow the worker may sell his force-pump; his prayer has been answered, "Bring my soul out of prison."
It is worth noting the gradation in John iii., iv., vii. In John iii. 7 we have "Life" in its beginnings—the new birth. In John iv. 14 we have "Life abundantly"—"a well of water springing up." The secret of the perennial upspringing is in the word "drink-e-t-h;" "he that drinketh"—not takes a drink, but drinks and drinks and keeps on drinking, is in the habit of drinking—that man never thirsts; for how can a man's soul be dry and thirsty with a well of water in it? Many people are living in the third of John,—they have "Life," but it is not strong and vigorous; they are suffering from deficient vitality,—when Jesus wants them to be in the fourth, enjoying "Life abundantly." The difference between the two experiences is well illustrated in the case of Hagar. In Gen. xxi. 14 we read that Abraham gave Hagar "a bottle of water" and sent her away. As she wandered in the wilderness "the water was spent in the bottle" (ver. 15). But in ver. 19 "God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water." There are "bottle" Christians, and there are "well" Christians. 'Tis a painful experience wandering in the wilderness with an empty bottle and a dying child! Alas! that there should be so many acquainted with the pain, when all the time God wants us to be independent of any bottle, to be abundantly satisfied with a well of water within us, fed from the hills of God. He wants us to be independent of all but Himself. The "well" is in every Christian, though it is not "springing up" in every one that has it. The very well, on the side of which Jesus, weary with His long journey from Eternity, once sat, has to-day no thirsty men or women coming to it with their empty pitchers, for the well is dry. How? why? Because so much rubbish has fallen in that the well is choked. Clear out the well, and the water will spring up again as in Christ's day. So with many a child of God. The water is within them, the well is there, but it is choked; the water is not springing up, and so they are reduced to dependence on a bottle! Oh! for an anointed eye in our head to see the rubbish, and for grace in our hearts to deal with it, to judge it and to cast it out; and then we would soon have an eye to "see the well of water." May He break every "bottle," and open every eye to see "the well." Now let us contrast the "well" of the fourth chapter with the "rivers" of the seventh. The "well" is for the supply of all possiblelocalneeds; but since the Christianity of Jesus is essentially an unselfish thing, He has made ample provision for the supply ofsurroundingneeds; "out of him" in whom is the "well"—"out of him" who is abundantly satisfied with Christ—"shall flow rivers of living water," bearing life and satisfaction and gladness into the abounding death and destitution and dreariness that exist on every hand; for "everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh" (Ezek. xlvii. 9). Does your Church, your neighborhood feel the vivifying, fructifying, refreshing influences of your presence? Most certainly, if John vii. 38 is your experience; in other words, if you have been "filled with the Spirit." But remember we must go through the fourth of John to get into the seventh! In John iii. we have the Indwelling, in John iv. the Infilling, and in John vii. the Overflowing.
3. "The Promise of the Father."
"Wait for the promise of the Father" (Acts i. 4). See also ii. 33, ii. 39, Gal. iii. 14, Luke xxiv. 49. There are many promises in the Divine Word given us by the Father; but there is only one promise spoken of as "Thepromise," giving it a pre-eminence among all the other "exceeding great and precious promises." What that "promise" was is ascertained by comparing Acts i. 4, "Wait for the promise," with Acts i. 5, "Ye shall be baptized," and Acts ii. 4, "They were all filled." To whom does "the promise" of the Father belong? surely to all the Father's children without favor or distinction. Since then "the promise is untoyou," the question for "you" to settle is, Have you "received" the promise? A promise never made use of is like a check never cashed, and is of little use to the one who gets it. Have you cashed the check? If not, why not? the fault is with the child and not with the Father.
4. "Pouring Forth."
"I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts ii. 17). See alsoActs ii. 18, Joel ii. 28, 29, Isaiah xliv. 3, Acts ii. 33, Acts x. 45.From this expression we may learn still more clearly the copiousness ofthe blessing.
5. "The gift."
"And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 38). See also Acts viii. 20, Acts x. 45, Acts xi. 17. From this expression may we not learn the freeness of the blessing? In this connection ponder carefully the "how much more" of Luke xi. 13.
6. "Receiving."
"And they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 17). See also, "Ye shall receive power" (Acts i. 8); "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" (Acts xix. 2); Acts viii. 15, John xx. 22, Gal. iii. 14. Floods of light will be thrown upon the whole subject if we grasp clearly the full force of this expression, "receive." "Receiving" is the correlative of "The Gift." A gift will not profit one until it is received. It is just here, at theappropriating, that we have come short. God has not failed in His "giving," but we have failed in our taking, in "receiving." "Receiving" is a distinct, definite act on our part. Have we "received"? If not, why not? God is "giving."
7. "Falling."
"For as yet he was fallen upon none of them" (Acts viii. 16). See also Acts x. 44, Acts xi. 15. From this expression may we not learn the "suddenness" with which the blessing sometimes comes, and comes consciously, too? Compare Acts ii. 2, "And suddenly there came from heaven a sound."
8. "Coming."
"The Holy Ghost came on them" (Acts xix. 6). See also Acts i. 8, John xv. 26. John xvi. 7, 8, 13. From this expression may we not learn thepersonalityof the Holy Ghost? "Christ Jesuscameinto the world," and "the Holy Ghostcameon them," are two parallel expressions. If Christ is here a person, why should the Holy Ghost be a mere influence?
9. "Sealed."
"Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. i. 13). See also 2 Cor. i. 22. This "sealing" in Eph. i. 13, is the "receiving" of Acts xix. 2; the "coming on them" of Acts xix. 6; for here, in this epistle, Paul is evidently referring to the incident related in Acts xix. 1-7. In Eph. i. 13, "In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise," we see the successive stages through which the Ephesians passed in their spiritual history. (1) There was a time when they had not heard the Gospel; they were living in the darkness of heathenism. (2) Then came the day when they "heard the word." (3) Then they "believed." (4) Succeeding this they were "sealed," "afterthat ye believed ye were sealed;" a very distinct and definite blessing this for the Ephesians, as definite as their salvation when they believed. And yet, in face of this, some will affirm that there is no such thing as a Christian receiving a new distinct blessing after his conversion! If these Ephesians had this experience, why may not believers still?
When a Christian is "sealed" by the Holy Ghost, "sealed" as the property of his Master, there will be no need to ask, "Whose Image and superscription is this" upon the "sealed" one? The King's, of course. Any one can see the Image. Of what use is a "seal" if it cannot be seen? Is the King's Image visibly, permanently stamped upon us? It is on every Spirit-filled "sealed" believer.
We come now to the practical side of our subject. Surely the unprejudiced reader, if he has not already "received the Holy Ghost," has at least come to the conclusion that thereissuch a blessing mentioned in the New Testament, and lying in God's Treasury, Jesus Christ, for all New Testament believers, and therefore for him—for me. Until it dawns on one's consciousness that thereissuch a blessing as "being filled with the Spirit," it is not likely that he will trouble about seeking it, and therefore will never obtain it. In all fairness these terms which we have just been considering—"Filled," "Baptized," "Rivers," etc.—meansomething. There issomeblessing represented by the terms, some substance at the back of the shadows. God the Holy Ghost knows what that blessing is. "Have I gotthat?" Is there anything in my life and experience to correspond withthat? Now comes the question, "How am I to get it?" The Bible answer may be summarily comprehended in three words—CLEANSE, CONSECRATE, CLAIM.
But before proceeding to consider these words, it is absolutely necessary that we be on our guard against desiring this so needful a blessing from wrong motives. We must seek it for one supreme reason—for the glory of God. If self is at the root of our motives at all, God will most surely block our way to Fullness of blessing. If we are thinking in our heart of hearts that it would be a good thing for us to get this blessing for our own happiness or satisfaction, or even that we might be more useful, or that in any way we might have the pre-eminence, our eye is not single, our whole body is not full of light (Matt. vi. 22). There is therefore need for the refining fire to go through our heart. Godmustbe Alpha and Omega in the matter. "For God's glory, and for God's glory alone" must be our watchword as we proceed with our search after the Fullness of the Spirit.
As there are conditions requiring to be complied with in order to the obtaining of salvation, before one can be justified,e. g., conviction of sin, repentance, faith; so there are conditions for full salvation, for being "filled with the Holy Ghost." Conviction of our need is one, conviction of the existence of the blessing is another; but these have been already dealt with. "Cleansing" is another; before one can be filled with the Holy Ghost, one's heart must be "cleansed." "Giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and He made no distinction between us and them,cleansingtheir hearts by faith" (Acts xv. 8, 9). God first cleansed their hearts, and then He gave them the Holy Ghost. How can we be filled with the Holy Ghost if we are filled with something else? The heart mustfirstbe emptied and cleansed. The milkman has called on his morning round, and the housewife hears his call. There is a jug standing beside her on the table; it is her own, for she purchased it only last week. She picks it up, and looks into it to see if it is clean; she finds it is not. Now she would never think of taking that dirty jug for the milk; but she empties it and rinses and cleanses it, and then, having wiped it dry to her satisfaction, she takes it out for the morning allowance. Indeed, if she brought it out dirty to the milkman, he would positively refuse to put his sweet new milk into it. So a heart may belong to God, that is, it may be the heart of a Christian man, and yet not a "clean" heart, but until it is cleansed God will refuse to put into it the precious deposit of the "water of life clear as crystal."
A "New Heart" not necessarily a "Clean Heart."
But some one objects, "I thought that when one became a Christian, and was made a partaker of the Divine nature, he had a clean heart?" Not necessarily. Many, many a one is born again, is pardoned and justified, and yet has not a "clean heart." "Forgiveness" is one thing, "Cleansing" is another, and one may possess the former without possessing the latter. For instance, take the case of David in Ps. li. He was one of God's people, a restored backslider, when he wrote that Psalm. "The Lord also hath put away thy sin" (2 Sam. xii. 13), said Nathan to him. But forgiveness, great and sweet as that gift was, was not enough for Israel's now so deeply-taught and penitent King. "Create in me acleanheart" (Ps. li. 10), he cries. This is something over and above being "born again," over and above and beyond and deeper even than "forgiveness" (compare Ps. li. 2 and Jer. xxxiii. 8). See also the New Testament teaching on this point in 1 John i. 7, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Soncleansethus from all sin;" and 1 John i. 9, "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and tocleanseus from all unrighteousness." Is the "cleansing" of verse 7 the same as the "cleansing" of verse 9? Most certainly not. The "cleansing" of verse 7 has to do with theguiltof sin, with sin after it has been committed; this is the only sense in which the Blood of Jesus "cleanses," it washes white as snow from the guilt and stain ofactualtransgression; that "cleansing" is retrospective. Now, this "Cleansing" of verse 7 is the "forgiving" of verse 9; both these words bear on a sinner's Justification. But the "cleansing from all unrighteousness" of verse 9 is something different from, something over and above the "forgiving" of verse 9, or the "cleansing" of verse 7; else, if they mean one and the same thing, would not the author be guilty of tautology? The "cleansing" of verse 9 is prospective, and refers to holiness of life, to our being saved from sin, from sinning. And you will notice that it is not the Blood of Jesus that does this, but JesusHimselfby the exercise of His Almighty power. There is a great deal of confusion on this point in many minds, a confusion fostered, if not begotten, by some of our hymns. Powers are sometimes attributed to the Blood of Jesus, to the Death of Christ, which belong to Jesus Himself, to the living Christ. We are saved from sin's condemnation by the Blood, cleansed from the guilt of all sin, forgiven on the ground of the Blood; and in this connection we cannot possibly make too much of the Blood, too much of the Death of the Son of God—but we are saved from sin's power by Jesus Himself. "Himself (lit.) shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. i. 21). "We shall be savedby His life" (Rom. v. 10). "Heis faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The Blood "cleanses" in the sense of washing the sin away after it has actually been committed; He "cleanses" in the sense of preventing, restraining from sin. He keeps us back fromsinning. He "makes us more than conquerors" over sin; and in this so blessed sense "prevention is better than cure." How often does a mother say to her child when putting on a clean snow-white pinafore in the morning, "Now, my darling, do keep it clean!" "Yes, mother," and she intends to do so; but alas for her intentions! At dinner-time she comes home with her pinafore about as dirty as she can make it. Now, the mother can wash it and make it clean again, as white as ever; but it is weary, wearing work, this everlasting washing. So the Blood of Jesus can cleanse from all sin the garments that are brought to it for cleansing, and what a deal of cleansing it has to do for some of us!
But wouldn't it be just splendid for many a hardworking mother if she could put some power or other into her child—her own self, for instance—by which the child would be kept from making the pinafore dirty at all, so that it would not need washing? Wouldn't this be a vast improvement, even on making it clean after it has been made dirty? This is just what Jesus does. He puts a power within the child that trusts Him—that power is Himself, by which the believer is kept from defiling his garments by any known sin, so that they do not need washing. This is to be "cleansed from all unrighteousness." But there are whole battalions of God's saved, forgiven, and "cleansed" people ("cleansed" in the sense of verse 7), who are not "cleansed" in this sense ("cleansed" in the sense of verse 9), who are not yet saved from the power of some besetting (that is, upsetting) sin or other. Have we not known some Christian men who, as has been well said, are like well-supplied cruet-stands? take them which side you like, you will get something either hot or sour, peppery or vinegarish from them! And yet one can scarcely doubt their conversion to God! What are we to say of these cross-grained or fretful, or worldly-minded, or covetous, or pleasure-loving professors of religion? One would fear to judge some of them and say they were utter strangers to God's regenerating grace; no, but one will say that what they sorely need is the "clean" heart.
What is a Clean Heart?
The question then arises, What is it to have a "clean heart"? what is it to be "cleansed from all unrighteousness"? It is to be "saved from our sins," according to Matt. i. 21. It is to translate 1 John iii. 9 into practice, "Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin; … and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God." It is to have a "conscience void of offense" (Acts xxiv. 16). It is to "know nothing against myself" (1 Cor. iv. 4). It is—in the words of another—to be "saved fromall known,conscioussin." But, it is objected, "That is perfection!" (It is amazing how frightened some people are of being perfect! It were well if they were equally afraid of being imperfect; for it is imperfection that grieves God. This dread of perfection has been called by some one, "a scarecrow set up by the devil to frighten away God's people from the very finest of the wheat.") "That is perfection!" Yes and no. Itisthe perfection which is not only allowed, but commanded in the Word of God. But it is notabsoluteperfection; it is not sinlessness. Let us look carefully at the expression, "From all known, conscious sin;" "From all;" yes, all, not some or nearly all, but from "all known sin"—known, that is, to us, though not from all known to God; from "all known, conscious sin," so that one might be able to say, in the language of the lowliest of the apostles, "Herein do I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense toward God and men alway" (Acts xxiv. 16); and "I know nothing against myself" (1 Cor. iv. 4); or, in the language of the disciple whom Jesus loved, "We keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John iii. 22). To have a clean heart, then, is to be saved "from our sins," saved from sinning, saved by JESUS; note it well! not saved by our own efforts, by our watching and praying, and wrestling and fighting and struggling, but by Jesus. So it is not a question of whatwecan do, but of whatHecan do. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. xviii. 14.) Can He not "guard from stumbling?" (Jude 24.) Can He not save from sin, from sinning? Is not this what is meant when it is said, "He is able to save to the uttermost"? (Heb. vii. 25.) "Able to save," as Matthew Poole puts it, "to perfection, to the full, to all ends, from sin, in its guilt, its stain, its power." Yes, He is just as complete, as perfect a Saviour from thepowerof sin, as He is from its guilt and stain. He is equally powerful in each department of His saving work. But after all is said and done, and one is being saved from all known, conscious sin, saved from sinning, that is not to say there is no sin remaining. We are face to face with the inspired statement, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John i. 8). How much sin may there be in us of which we are entirely unconscious, but which is naked and open to those "Eyes like unto a flame of fire!" (Rev. ii. 18).
"I know nothing against myself," cries Paul in 1 Cor. iv. 4, "yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth (examineth) me is the Lord." God may, and does, know much against me when I know nothing against myself; and it is just here that our constant need of the cleansing Blood comes in. If the Bible doctrine of the clean heart meant the eradication of sin, a state of sinlessness, that is, absolute perfection, what need would we then have of the cleansing Blood at all? Though Jesus Christ may have "cleansed us from all unrighteousness," so that we "have a conscience void of offense," so that we "know nothing against ourselves," yet we need the Blood to cleanse from the sins which our eyes fail to detect, and of which our conscience takes no cognizance. It is failure to see this that has led many astray at this point. Having been cleansed and having "no more conscience of sins" (Heb. x. 2), they imagine theyhaveno more sin. How superficial is some people's idea of sin! How little conception have they of the Pauline doctrine of sin! He speaks of sin as "exceeding sinful." How subtle it is! how far-reaching! In their daring ignorance some have actually taken the penknife, like Judah's foolish king, and cut a whole petition out of the prayer which the Lord taught His disciples. He taught them to pray, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors;" but these modern lights in their darkness are correcting their Teacher, and have cut out that petition, and thrown it away. "No need have we to confess our sin, for we have none to confess, and therefore we have no debts to be forgiven." Poor mistaken people! never more need of confession and forgiveness than when they are speaking thus! The holiest of men are the men who lie the lowest before the Holy One, confessing that which they know only too well (because the truth is in them), that they "have sin," offering the sacrifices with which God is ever well pleased, "a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart" (Ps. li. 17). The nearer we get to Him "whose head and whose hair are white as wool, white as snow" (Rev. i. 14), to the Ancient of days "whose garment is white as snow" (Dan. vii. 9), the more conscious are we of the dullness of our whiteness, of the vast difference between our whitest and His whiteness; and this consciousness humbles one. "What is it to have sin? What is sin?" asked a great leader once, and he answered his own question thus: "It is to come short of the glory of God; and in this sense we sin every moment of our lives in thought, word, and deed." Is there a man on earth who can stand before the infinitely Holy One and say, "I do not come short of Thy glory"? Should we speak thus, "we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
We may be helped here by observing the difference between the two New Testament words "blameless" and "faultless." "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preservedblameless(without blame, unblameworthy), unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. v. 23). "To present youfaultless(flawless, blemishless) before the presence of His glory" (Jude 24). Now a person or work may be "blameless" and yet not be "faultless." This is not verbal hair-splitting—by no means. Suffer a personal illustration. I have lying on the table beside me a letter, which will illustrate the point at issue. I received it when I was away in New Zealand on a mission tour, in 1891. It was from my eldest daughter, then a child of five years of age. It reads: "Dear father, I wrote all this myself. I send you a kiss from Elsie." The fact of the matter is, that it is not writing at all, but an attempt at printing in large capitals, and not one of the letters is properly formed; there is not as much as one straight stroke on the page. Why is it that I prize this letter and keep it laid up among my treasures? Fathers who are as much away from home as I am will understand when I say that it was my child's first attempt at letter-writing. Now, this letter which I prize so dearly is certainly not a "faultless" production; it is as full of faults as it is full of letters, but most assuredly it is "blameless." I did not blame my child for her crooked strokes, and answer with a scold, for I judged her work by its motive. I knew it was the best she could do, and that she had put all the love of her little heart into it. She wanted to do something to please me, and she succeeded. By the grace of the indwelling Christ (for you will perceive that it is His work, "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it"—1 Thess. v. 24), this is what our daily life, our daily life-work may be, viz., "blameless;" and He can tell us that it is so, even as I told my child; we may have this testimony, that we are "pleasing God," as Enoch had (Heb. xi. 5). Oh, the joy! Oh, the inspiration of this God-given testimony! But what a sad mistake for any who may by grace have been made "blameless," to think that they are "faultless," a condition which is to be found only "before the throne." For it is to be noted that the Greek word translated "without blemish," "without fault," (amomos) is never used of God's people on earth. It is used once of the Lamb "without blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. i. 19). Elsewhere of the saints.