All members of Churches and baptized persons have not the Spirit. I see no ground in Scripture for saying that every man who receives baptism receives the Holy Spirit, and that we ought to regard him as born of the Spirit. I dare not tell baptized people that they all have the Spirit, and that they only need "stir up the gift of God" within them in order to be saved. I see, on the contrary, that Jude speaks of members of the visible Church in his day as "not having the Spirit." Some of them probably had been baptized by the hands of apostles, and admitted into full communion with the professing Church. No matter they "had not the Spirit." (Jude 19).
It is vain to attempt to evade the power of this single expression. It teaches plainly that "having the Spirit" is not the lot of every man, and not the portion of every member of the visible Church of Christ. It shows the necessity of finding out some general rule and principle by which the presence of the Spirit in a man may be ascertained. He does not dwell in every one. Baptism and churchmanship are no proofs of His presence. How, then, shall I know whether a man has the Spirit?
The presence of the Spirit in a man's soul can only be known by the effects which He produces. The fruits He causes to be brought forth in a man's heart and life, are the only evidence which can be depended on. A man's faith, a man's opinions, and a man's practice, are the witnesses we must examine, if we would find out whether a man has the Spirit. This is the rule of the Lord Jesus: "Every tree is known by his own fruit." (Luke 6:44).
The effects which the Holy Spirit produces may always be seen. The man of the world may not understand them: they may in many cases be feeble and indistinct; but where the Spirit is, He will not be hid. He is not idle when He enters the heart: He does not lie still; He does not sleep: He will make His presence known. He will shine out little by little through the windows of a man's daily habits and conversation, and manifest to the world that He is in him. A dormant, torpid, silent indwelling of the Spirit is a notion that pleases the minds of many. It is a notion for which I see no authority in the Word of God. I hold entirely with the Homily for Whit-Sunday: "As the tree is known by his fruit, so is also the Holy Spirit."
In whomsoever I see the effects and fruits of the Spirit, in that man I see one who has the Spirit. I believe it to be not only charitable to think so, but presumption to doubt it. I do not expect to behold the Holy Spirit with my bodily eyes, or to touch Him with my hands. But I need no angel to come down to show me where He dwells; I need no vision from heaven to tell me where I may find Him. Only show me a man in whom the fruits of the Spirit are to be seen, and I see one who "has the Spirit." I will not doubt the inward presence of the almighty cause, when I see the outward fact of an evident effect.
Can I see the wind on a stormy day? I cannot; but I can see the effects of its force and power. When I see the clouds driven before it, and the trees bending under it, when I hear it whistling though doors and windows, or howling around the chimney tops I do not for a moment doubt its existence. I say, "There is a wind." Just so it is with the presence of the Spirit in the soul.
Can I see the dew of heaven as it falls on a summer evening? I cannot. It comes down softly and gently, noiseless and imperceptible. But when I go forth in the morning after a cloudless night, and see every leaf sparkling with moisture, and feel every blade of grass damp and wet, I say at once, "There has been a dew." Just so it is with the presence of the Spirit in the soul.
Can I see the hand of the sower when I walk through the corn fields in the month of July? I cannot. I see nothing but millions of ears rich with grain, and bending to the ground with ripeness: but do I suppose that harvest came by chance, and grew of itself? I suppose nothing of the kind. I know when I see these corn fields that the plough and the harrow were at work one day, and that a hand has been there which sowed the seed. Just so it is with the work of the Spirit in the soul.
Can I see the magnetic fluid in the compass needle? I cannot. It acts in a hidden mysterious way: but when I see that little piece of iron always turning to the north, I know at once that it is under the secret influence of magnetic power. Just so it is with the work of the Spirit in the soul.
Can I see the mainspring of my watch when I look upon its face? I cannot. But when I see the fingers going around and telling the hours and minutes of the day in regular succession, I do not doubt the mainspring's existence. Just so it is with the work of the Spirit.
I charge all my readers to remember this. Establish it as a settled principle in your mind, that if the Holy Spirit really is in a man, it will be seen in the effects He produces on his heart and life.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
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