It is this huge conceit that has led some men to announce themselves as apostles and prophets to whom all men must listen, or fall under the wrath of G.o.d; while others have declared that they were living in resurrection bodies and should not die; and yet others have reached that pitch of fanaticism where they could calmly proclaim themselves to be the Messiah, or the Holy Ghost in bodily form. Such people will be quick to deny the infallibility of the Pope, while they a.s.sume their own infallibility, and denounce all who dispute it.
The Holy Spirit may lead to a holy rivalry in love and humility and brotherly kindness and self-denial and good works, but He never leads men into the swelling conceit of such exclusive knowledge and superior wisdom that they can no longer be taught by their fellow-men.
3. Again, the man who is filled with the Spirit is tolerant of those who differ from him in opinion, in doctrine. He is firm in his own convictions, and ready at all times with meekness and fear to explain and defend the doctrines which he holds and is convinced are according to G.o.d"s word, but he does not condemn and consign to d.a.m.nation all those who differ from him. He is glad to believe that men are often better than their creed, and may be saved in spite of it; that, like mountains whose bases are bathed with sunshine and clothed with fruitful fields and vineyards, while their tops are covered with dark clouds, so men"s hearts are often fruitful in the graces of charity, while their heads are yet darkened by doctrinal error.
Anyway, as "the servant of the Lord," he will "not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if G.o.d peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil"
(2 Timothy ii. 24-26).
But when Satan comes as an angel of light he will, under guise of love for and loyalty to the truth, introduce the spirit of intolerance. It was this spirit that crucified Jesus; that burned Huss and Cranmer at the stake; that strangled Savonarola; that inspired the ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew and the horrors of the Inquisition; and it is the same spirit, in a milder but possibly more subtle form, that blinds the eyes of many professing Christians to any good in those who differ from them in doctrine, forms of worship or methods of government. They murder love to protect what they often blindly call truth. What is truth without love? A dead thing, an enc.u.mbrance, the letter that killeth!
The body is necessary to our life in this world, but life can exist in a deformed and even mutilated body; and such a body with life in it is better than the most perfect body that is only a corpse. So, while truth is most precious, and sound doctrine to be esteemed more than silver and gold, yet love can exist where truth is not held in its most perfect and complete forms, and love is the one thing needful.
"The love of G.o.d is broader Than the measure of man"s mind: And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind."
4. The Holy Ghost begets a spirit of unity among Christians.
People who have been sitting behind their sectarian fences in self-complacent ease, or proud indifference, or proselytising zeal, or grim defiance, are suddenly lifted above the fence, and find sweet fellowship with each other, when He comes into their hearts.
They delight in each other"s society; they each esteem others better than themselves, and in honour they prefer one another before themselves. They fulfil the Psalmist"s ideal: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Here is a picture of the unity of Christians in the beginning in Jerusalem: "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of G.o.d with boldness. And the mult.i.tude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common." What an ideal is this! And since it has been attained once, it can be attained again and retained, but only by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. It was for this that Jesus poured out His heart in His great intercessory prayer, recorded in John xvii., just before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He says, "I pray for them.... Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one." And what was the standard of unity to which He would have us come? Listen!
"As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me."
Such unity has a wondrous power to compel the belief of worldly men. "And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfect in one; and that the world may _know_ that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." Wondrous unity! Wondrous love!
It is for this His blessed heart eternally yearns, and it is for this that the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of those who receive Him. But Satan ever seeks to destroy this holy love and divine unity. When he comes, he arouses suspicions, he stirs up strife, he quenches the spirit of intercessory prayer, he engenders backbitings, and causes separations.
After enumerating various Christian graces, and urging the Colossians to put them on, Paul adds: "And above all these things, put on charity," or love, "which is the bond of perfectness" (Col. iii. 14). These graces were garments, and love was the girdle which bound and held them together; and so love is the bond that holds true Christians together.
Divine love is the great test by which we are to try ourselves and all teachers and spirits.
Love is not puffed up. Love is not bigoted. Love is not intolerant. Love is not schismatic. Love is loyal to Jesus and to all His people. If we have this love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, we shall discern the voice of our Good Shepherd, and we shall not be deceived by the voice of the stranger; and so we shall be saved from both formalism and fanaticism.
"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"
VIII.
GUIDANCE.
"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide the people of G.o.d through the uncertainties and dangers and duties of this life to their home in Heaven. When He led the children of Israel out of Egypt, by the hand of Moses, He guided them through the waste, mountainous wilderness, in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, thus a.s.suring their comfort and safety. And this was but a type of His perpetual spiritual guidance of His people.
"But how may I certainly know what G.o.d wants of me?" is sure to become the earnest and, oftentimes, the agonising cry of every humble and devoutly zealous young Christian. "How may I know the guidance of the Holy Spirit?" is asked again and again.
1. It is well for us to get it fixed in our minds that we need to be guided always by Him. A ship was wrecked on a rocky coast far out of the course that the captain thought he was taking. On examination, it was found that the compa.s.s had been slightly deflected by a bit of metal that had lodged in the box.
But the voyage of life on which we each one sail is beset by as many dangers as the ship at sea, and how shall we surely steer our course to our heavenly harbour without Divine guidance? There is a wellnigh infinite number of influences to deflect us from the safe and certain course. We start out in the morning, and we know not what person we may meet, what paragraph we may read, what word may be spoken, what letter we may receive, what subtle temptation may a.s.sail or allure us, what immediate decisions we may have to make during the day, that may turn us almost imperceptibly, but none the less surely, from the right way. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
2. We not only need Divine guidance, but we may have it. G.o.d"s word a.s.sures us of this. Oh! how my heart was comforted and a.s.sured one morning by these words: "And the Lord shall guide thee continually" (Isaiah lviii. 11). Not occasionally, not spasmodically, but "continually." Hallelujah! The Psalmist says: "This G.o.d is our G.o.d for ever and ever: He will be our Guide even unto death" (Psalm xlviii. 14). Again, he says: "The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way" (Psalm xxv. 9). And again, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye" (Psalm x.x.xii. 8). And again, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel"
(Psalm lxxiii. 24). Jesus said of the Holy Spirit: "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth" (John xvi. 13). And Paul wrote: "As many as are led by the Spirit of G.o.d, they are the sons of G.o.d" (Romans viii. 14).
These Scriptures establish the fact that the children of G.o.d may be guided always by the Spirit of G.o.d.
"Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land!
I am weak, but Thou art mighty: Hold me with Thy powerful hand."
3. How does G.o.d guide us?
Paul says: "We walk by faith, not by sight," and, "The just shall live by faith," so we may conclude:--
(a) That the guidance of the Holy Spirit is such as still to demand the exercise of faith. G.o.d never leads us in such a way as to do away with the necessity of faith. When G.o.d warned Noah, we read that it was by faith that Noah was led to build the ark.
When G.o.d told Abraham to go to a land which He would show him, it was by faith that Abraham went (Hebrews xi. 7, 8). If we believe, we shall surely be guided; but if we do not believe, we shall be left to ourselves. Without faith it is impossible to please G.o.d, or to follow where He leads. Again, the Psalmist says, "The meek will He guide in judgment," from which we gather:--
(b) That the Spirit guides us in such manner as to demand the exercise of our best judgment. He enlightens our understanding and directs our judgment by sound reason and sense.
I knew a man who was eager to obey G.o.d, and to be led by the Spirit, but who had the mistaken idea that the Holy Spirit sets aside human judgment and common sense, and speaks directly upon the most minute and commonplace matters. He wanted the Holy Spirit to direct him just how much to eat at each meal, and he has been known to take food out of his mouth at what he supposed to be the Holy Spirit"s notification that he had eaten enough, and that if he swallowed that mouthful, it would be in violation of the leadings of the Spirit.
No doubt, the Spirit will help an honest man to arrive at a safe judgment even in matters of this kind, but it will doubtless be through the use of his sanctified common sense. Otherwise, he is reduced to a state of mental infancy, and kept in intellectual swaddling clothes. He will guide us in judgment; but it is only as we resolutely, and in the best light we have, exercise judgment.
John Wesley said that G.o.d usually guided him by presenting reasons to his mind for any given course of action.
(c) The Psalmist says, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel," and "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go." Now, counsel, instruction, and teaching not only imply effort upon the part of the teacher, but also study and close attention on the part of the one being taught. So this guidance of the Holy Spirit is such as will require us to attentively listen, diligently study, and patiently learn the lessons He would teach us. And so we see that the Holy Spirit does not set aside our powers and faculties, but seeks to awaken and stir them into full activity, and develop them into well-rounded perfection, and thus make them channels through which He can intelligently influence and direct us.
What He seeks to do is to illuminate our whole spiritual being, as the sun illuminates our physical being, and bring us into such union and sympathy, such oneness of thought, desire, affection, and purpose with G.o.d, that we shall, by a kind of spiritual instinct, know at all times the mind of G.o.d concerning us, and never be in doubt about His will.
4. The Holy Spirit guides us--
(a) By opening up to our minds the deep, sanctifying truths of the Bible, and especially by revealing to us the character and spirit of Jesus and His Apostles, and leading us to follow in their footsteps--the footsteps of their faith and love and unselfish devotion to G.o.d and man, even unto the laying down of their lives.
(b) By the circ.u.mstances and surroundings of our daily life.
(c) By the counsel of others, especially of devout, and wise, and experienced men and women of G.o.d.
(d) By deep inward conviction, which increases as we wait upon Him in prayer and readiness to obey. It is by this sovereign conviction that men are called to preach, to go to foreign fields as missionaries, to devote their time, talents, money, and lives to G.o.d"s work for the bodies and souls of men.
5. Why do people seek for guidance and not find it?
(a) Because they do not diligently study G.o.d"s word, and seek to be filled with its truths and principles. They neglect the cultivation of their minds and hearts in the school of Christ, and so miss Divine guidance. One of the mightiest men of G.o.d now living used to carry his Bible with him into the coal mine when only a boy, and spent his spare time filling his mind and heart with its heavenly truths, and so prepared himself to be divinely led in mighty labours for G.o.d.
(b) They do not humbly accept the daily providences, the circ.u.mstances, and conditions of their everyday life as a part of G.o.d"s present plan for them; as His school in which He would train them for greater things; as His vineyard in which He would have them diligently labour.
A young woman imagined she was called to devote herself entirely to saving souls; but under the searching training through which she had to pa.s.s saw her selfishness, and she said she would have to return home, and live a holy life there, and seek to get her family saved--something which she had utterly neglected--before she could go into the work. If we are not faithful at home, or in the shop, or mill, or store where we work, we shall miss G.o.d"s way for us.
(c) Because they are not teachable, and are unwilling to receive instruction from other Christians. They are not humble-minded.
(d) Because they do not wait on G.o.d, and listen and heed the inner leadings of the Holy Spirit. They are self-willed; they want their own way. Some one has said, "That which is often asked of G.o.d is not so much His will and way, as His approval of our way." And another has said: "G.o.d"s guidance is plain, when we are true." If we promptly and gladly obey, we shall not miss the way.