The Chief End of Life # 2
There are many secondary and subordinate ends of life, but there can be only one that is supreme. We know that we are rational creatures, and that we ought to improve our minds by reading and study; that we are to be tradesmen, and are striving to excel in the knowledge of our business; that we are, in all probability, to be at the head of families, and are preparing to "provide things honest in the sight of all men;" that we are members of society, and are endeavoring to form in ourselves the character of the good citizen, and seeking to act well our part in the great drama of human life. We hope to neglect none of these things; but then we are entirely convinced and duly impressed with the thought that there is something besides and above all these things - that we are God's creatures, continually dependent upon Him, and ought to seek first of all to please our Creator - that we are sinners, and feel it our most pressing business to obtain salvation - and that we are immortal creatures, and must, therefore, surely consider it to be our most momentous interest to possess eternal life. This great object then we have adopted for ourselves, and now propose to you as the chief end of life.
Such a decision rests of course upon our conviction of the truth of God's revealed will in the Holy Scriptures. If these are human inventions, we are deluded and are the dupes of imposture; but if they are a Divine revelation, we are right, and are following the dictates of reason in yielding to those of religion. Aware of the abounding of infidelity and false philosophy, we have examined this subject for ourselves, and have arrived at the conclusion that a volume, accredited by proofs so numerous, various, and harmonious, must be what it claims to be - the Word of God. In the miracles of our Lord and His apostles, so diversified and so multiplied, and wrought not in private but in public, not merely before the eyes of friends but of foes; in the fulfillment of ancient predictions too extraordinary in their nature, delivered too long beforehand, to be the contrivances of foresight, and too many to be resolved into curious coincidences; in the success of Christianity by the labors of fishermen, and against the secular powers of the world; in the contents of the Bible itself, so extraordinary, so sublime, and so pure; in the changes which Christianity has wrought; in its continuance to the present day, notwithstanding all the enemies with which it has had to contend; and in its present attitude as now preparing, under the auspices of the most learned, scientific, wealthy, and powerful nations of the earth, for universal conquest. In all these views of it we see proofs, each strong in itself and possessing unitedly a cumulative force, which satisfy us, whatever difficulties in respects may be presented from the nature of the subjects, that this is surely the Word of God. And if anything else were needed to complete the chain of evidence, we find this in the change it has wrought in us, and which that precious volume calls, "The Witness in Ourselves."
Guided then by this volume, we have been led to see that the salvation of the immortal soul, and a preparation for heaven, form the great end of man's life upon earth. In other words, that true religion is our great business in this world.
By religion we do not mean merely the adoption of a creed, the performance of a round of ceremonies, or the observance of certain ordinances; but in addition to all this, and as the animating principle of all, "Repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;" a mind, heart, conscience, and practice regulated by the Word of God; in short, the new birth, justification by faith, and a holy life.
This, we again say, is with us the chief end of our existence, and we now hold it forth for your adoption in reference to yourselves, and on examination it will be found to contain all that such an object should include, and we entreat you to give to the following statement your most serious and devout consideration:
That which is intended to be the chief end of life must be in itself a legitimate object of pursuit, and must be lawful both in the sight of God and man, such as the law of God and our own consciences shall approve. To choose any other would involve us in perpetual rebellion against God, and in conflict with ourselves. To set up a forbidden object of pursuit would make our own bosom the seat of perpetual internal warfare. Now that true religion is legitimate need not be proved. It is, in fact, the only thing which, as a supreme end, is lawful. Many others are lawful as subordinate ends, but as primary, chief, and ultimate, they are forbidden and made contraband. For what says our Lord, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
That which is the chief end of life should be appropriate to our own situation and circumstances, a something that appertains to us as individuals, and in which we have a personal interest. No one can be expected to set up as the object of existence that in which he has no interest, and in the results of which he has no share. It is very affecting to see a man wearing out life, and exhausting his energies, upon something which has no just claim upon his attention, and does not connect itself at all, or but very slightly and remotely, with his best and eternal interests. This cannot be said of religion in reference to you, for it is your business; it appertains to you; to none more than to you. You each have an immortal soul which must be saved or lost; and only by true religion can it be saved. To you the admonition is addressed, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth." There is not in our world an individual to whom this subject more belongs than you, or on whom it has stronger claims.
~John Angell James~
(continued with # 3 - (The chief object of life must be something important)
Saturday, June 30, 2018
The Moral Character of God
The Moral Character of God
The knowledge of God is the basis of true religion. God is a Spirit, as to His nature; almighty, all-knowing, and everywhere present; searching the hearts and trying the thoughts of men. As to His moral attributes, it is said, "God is love," and "God is light;" by which we are to understand, that He is both benevolent and holy. Yes; so holy, that the very heavens are unclean before Him. He is also so inflexibly just, as to be compelled, by the infinite perfection of His nature, to reveal His wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; and, at the same time, He is a God Who cannot lie, but will fulfill every word of promise or threatening. Oh, my reader, dwell upon this view of the divine character, infinite hatred and opposition to sin; infinite purity, immutable justice, inviolable truth. Pause and ponder! Can you lift up your eyes, and bear the sight of this glorious God, when the cherubim veil their faces with their wings, as they stand before the great while throne, and say one to another, "Holy holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!" When the prophet filled with terror, fell prostrate, exclaiming, "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips!" Oh the deep depravity, the utter sinfulness of man before this holy God!
You must understand the moral law. You must know the spirituality of the law, by which I mean, that it demands the obedience of the mind and heart; and is made for the soul's innermost recesses, as well as for the actions of the life. God sees and searches the mind, and therefore demands the perfect obedience of the heart, and forbids its evil dispositions. By the law of God, as interpreted by Christ, even sinful anger is murder, and unchaste thoughts are adultery. The law demands from every human being sinless, perfect obedience, from the beginning to the end of life, in thought, word, and deed; it abates nothing of its demands, and makes no allowances for human weakness (Matt. 5:17-48; James 2:10-11). The perfection of the law is a tremendous subject; it is an awful mirror for a sinful creature to look into.
You must understand the design of the law; it is not given to save us, but to govern us and condemn us; to show us what sin is, and to condemn us for committing it (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:20). You can know nothing, if you do not know the law. "Sin is the transgression of the law;" but how can you know sin if you do not know the law? Oh, inquirer, how many, how great are your transgressions, if every departure from this law, in feeling as well as in action, is a sin! Nor is this all;for to fall short of the law is sin, no less than to oppose it. Read what our Lord has said; "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all you soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Alarming representation! Have you thus loved God, and your neighbor? Confounding and overwhelming question! What a state of sin have you been living in! Your whole life has been sin, for you have not loved God; and not to love God, is all sins in one. Who can think of greater sin than not loving God? To love the world, to love trifles, to love even sin - and not to love God!
But this leads me to remark, that it is necessary you should understand the evil of sin. Men think little of sin - but does God? What turned Adam and Eve out of paradise? Sin! What drowned the old world in the flood? Sin! What destroyed God's own city, and scattered His chosen people as vagrants over the face of the earth? Sin! What brought disease, accidents, toil, care, war, pestilence, and famine into the world? Sin! What has converted the world into one great burying-place of its inhabitants? Sin! What lights the flames of the bottomless pit? Sin! What crucified the Lord of life and glory? Sin! What then must sin be? Who but God, and what but his infinite mind, can conceive of its evil nature?
Did you ever consider that it was only one sin that brought death and all our woes into the world? Do you not tremble, then, at the thought that this evil is in you? Some will attempt to persuade you that sin is a trifle; that God does not take much account of it; that you need not give yourself much concern about it. But what says God Himself, in His Word, in His providence, in the torments of the damned, in the crucifixion of His Son? You have not only sin enough in yourself to deserve the bottomless pit, and to sink you to it, unless it be pardoned; but sin enough, if it could be divided and distributed to others, to doom multitudes to perdition.
But it is not enough to know your actual sins, you must also clearly understand your original and inherent depravity of heart. There is the sin of your nature, as well as the sin of your conduct. Our Lord has told us that "those things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and they defile the man; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. 15:18-19). The heart is the polluted fountain from whence all the muddy streams of evil conduct flow! The heart is the great storehouse of iniquity! Men sometimes make excuse for their evil deeds by say
ing, that they have good hearts at bottom; this, however, is an awful mistake, for every man's heart, not excepting the most wicked, is really worse than his conduct.
Why do not men seek, serve, and love God? Because the carnal mind is enmity against Him. Why do sinners go on in sin? Because they love sin in their hearts. This was not the original condition of man, for God created Adam in his own image; that is, in righteousness and true holiness; but, by disobeying God in eating the forbidden fruit, our first parent fell into a state of sin, and we, having descended from him, since the fall, inherit his corruption (Rom. 5:12-21). It is of vast consequence for you to know, that you are thus totally corrupt in your very nature, and through all you faculties; for without this knowledge you will be taken up with a mere outward reformation, to the neglect of an entire, inward renovation. If you saw a man, who had a bad and loathsome disease of the skin, merely applying outward lotions, you would remind him that the seat of the disorder was in his blood, and admonish him to purify that by medicine. You must first make the tree good, said our Lord, for good fruit cannot be born by a bad tree. So your heart must be renewed, or you can never perform good works. You not only need the pardon of actual sin,but you need also the removal of original sin. You must have a new heart, a right spirit, or you cannot be saved. Read Psalm 51; 53; John 3:1-8; Gal. 5:19-25; Eph. 4:17-24.
~John Angell James~
The knowledge of God is the basis of true religion. God is a Spirit, as to His nature; almighty, all-knowing, and everywhere present; searching the hearts and trying the thoughts of men. As to His moral attributes, it is said, "God is love," and "God is light;" by which we are to understand, that He is both benevolent and holy. Yes; so holy, that the very heavens are unclean before Him. He is also so inflexibly just, as to be compelled, by the infinite perfection of His nature, to reveal His wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; and, at the same time, He is a God Who cannot lie, but will fulfill every word of promise or threatening. Oh, my reader, dwell upon this view of the divine character, infinite hatred and opposition to sin; infinite purity, immutable justice, inviolable truth. Pause and ponder! Can you lift up your eyes, and bear the sight of this glorious God, when the cherubim veil their faces with their wings, as they stand before the great while throne, and say one to another, "Holy holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!" When the prophet filled with terror, fell prostrate, exclaiming, "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips!" Oh the deep depravity, the utter sinfulness of man before this holy God!
You must understand the moral law. You must know the spirituality of the law, by which I mean, that it demands the obedience of the mind and heart; and is made for the soul's innermost recesses, as well as for the actions of the life. God sees and searches the mind, and therefore demands the perfect obedience of the heart, and forbids its evil dispositions. By the law of God, as interpreted by Christ, even sinful anger is murder, and unchaste thoughts are adultery. The law demands from every human being sinless, perfect obedience, from the beginning to the end of life, in thought, word, and deed; it abates nothing of its demands, and makes no allowances for human weakness (Matt. 5:17-48; James 2:10-11). The perfection of the law is a tremendous subject; it is an awful mirror for a sinful creature to look into.
You must understand the design of the law; it is not given to save us, but to govern us and condemn us; to show us what sin is, and to condemn us for committing it (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:20). You can know nothing, if you do not know the law. "Sin is the transgression of the law;" but how can you know sin if you do not know the law? Oh, inquirer, how many, how great are your transgressions, if every departure from this law, in feeling as well as in action, is a sin! Nor is this all;for to fall short of the law is sin, no less than to oppose it. Read what our Lord has said; "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all you soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Alarming representation! Have you thus loved God, and your neighbor? Confounding and overwhelming question! What a state of sin have you been living in! Your whole life has been sin, for you have not loved God; and not to love God, is all sins in one. Who can think of greater sin than not loving God? To love the world, to love trifles, to love even sin - and not to love God!
But this leads me to remark, that it is necessary you should understand the evil of sin. Men think little of sin - but does God? What turned Adam and Eve out of paradise? Sin! What drowned the old world in the flood? Sin! What destroyed God's own city, and scattered His chosen people as vagrants over the face of the earth? Sin! What brought disease, accidents, toil, care, war, pestilence, and famine into the world? Sin! What has converted the world into one great burying-place of its inhabitants? Sin! What lights the flames of the bottomless pit? Sin! What crucified the Lord of life and glory? Sin! What then must sin be? Who but God, and what but his infinite mind, can conceive of its evil nature?
Did you ever consider that it was only one sin that brought death and all our woes into the world? Do you not tremble, then, at the thought that this evil is in you? Some will attempt to persuade you that sin is a trifle; that God does not take much account of it; that you need not give yourself much concern about it. But what says God Himself, in His Word, in His providence, in the torments of the damned, in the crucifixion of His Son? You have not only sin enough in yourself to deserve the bottomless pit, and to sink you to it, unless it be pardoned; but sin enough, if it could be divided and distributed to others, to doom multitudes to perdition.
But it is not enough to know your actual sins, you must also clearly understand your original and inherent depravity of heart. There is the sin of your nature, as well as the sin of your conduct. Our Lord has told us that "those things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and they defile the man; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. 15:18-19). The heart is the polluted fountain from whence all the muddy streams of evil conduct flow! The heart is the great storehouse of iniquity! Men sometimes make excuse for their evil deeds by say
ing, that they have good hearts at bottom; this, however, is an awful mistake, for every man's heart, not excepting the most wicked, is really worse than his conduct.
Why do not men seek, serve, and love God? Because the carnal mind is enmity against Him. Why do sinners go on in sin? Because they love sin in their hearts. This was not the original condition of man, for God created Adam in his own image; that is, in righteousness and true holiness; but, by disobeying God in eating the forbidden fruit, our first parent fell into a state of sin, and we, having descended from him, since the fall, inherit his corruption (Rom. 5:12-21). It is of vast consequence for you to know, that you are thus totally corrupt in your very nature, and through all you faculties; for without this knowledge you will be taken up with a mere outward reformation, to the neglect of an entire, inward renovation. If you saw a man, who had a bad and loathsome disease of the skin, merely applying outward lotions, you would remind him that the seat of the disorder was in his blood, and admonish him to purify that by medicine. You must first make the tree good, said our Lord, for good fruit cannot be born by a bad tree. So your heart must be renewed, or you can never perform good works. You not only need the pardon of actual sin,but you need also the removal of original sin. You must have a new heart, a right spirit, or you cannot be saved. Read Psalm 51; 53; John 3:1-8; Gal. 5:19-25; Eph. 4:17-24.
~John Angell James~
Having the Holy Spirit # 7
Having the Holy Spirit # 7
A great statesman once said that if a foreigner visited England, for the first time, with his eyes bandaged and his ears open - hearing everything - but seeing nothing - he might well suppose that England was on the road to ruin; so many are the murmurings of the English people. And yet if that same foreigner came to England with his ears stopped and his eyes open - seeing everything and hearing nothing - he would probably suppose that England was the most wealthy and flourishing country in the world, so many are the signs of prosperity that he would see.l
I am often disposed to apply this remark to the case of doubting Christians. If I believed all they say of themselves I would certainly think they were in a bad state. But when I see them living as they do - hungering and thirsting after righteousness, poor in spirit, desiring holiness, loving the name of Christ, keeping up habits of Bible reading and prayer - when I see these things I cease to be afraid. I trust my eyes more than my ears. I see manifest marks of the Spirit's presence, and I only grieve that they should refuse to see them themselves. I see the devil robbing them of their peace, by instilling these doubts into their minds, and I mourn that they should injure themselves by believing him. Some professors, without controversy, may well doubt whether they "have the Spirit," for they have no signs of grace about them. But many nurse up a habit of doubt in their minds for which they have no cause, and of which they ought to be ashamed.
Would you know, last of all, what you ought to do, if you really have the Spirit?
If you have the Spirit, seek to be "filled with the Spirit." (Eph. 5:18). Drink deep of the living waters. Do not be content with a little religion. Pray that the Spirit may fill every corner and chamber of your heart, and that not an inch of room may be left in it for the world and the devil.
If you have the Spirit, "grieve not the Spirit." (Eph. 4:30). It is easy for believers to weaken their sense of His presence, and deprive themselves of His comfort. Little sins not mortified, little bad habits of temper or of tongue not corrected, little compliances with the world, are all likely to offend the Holy Spirit. Oh, that believers would remember this! There is far more of "heaven on earth" to be enjoyed than many of them attain to - and why do they not attain to it? They do not watch sufficiently over their daily ways, and so the Spirit's work is damped and hindered. The Spirit must be a thoroughly sanctifying Spirit if He is to be a comforter to your soul.
If you have the Spirit, labor to bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Gal. 5:22-24).
Read over the list which the Apostle has drawn out, and see that not one of these fruits is neglected. Oh, that believers would seek for more "love," and more "joy!" Then would they do more good to all people; then would they feel happier themselves; then would they make religion more beautiful in the eyes of the world!!
I commend the things that I have written to the serious attention of every reader of these pages. Let them not have been written in vain. Join with me in praying that the Spirit may be poured out from on high with more abundant influence than He has ever been yet. Pray that He may be poured out on all believers, at home and abroad, that they may be more united and more holy. Pray that He may be poured out on Jews, Muhammadans, and Heathen, that many of them may be converted.
Pray that He may be poured out on Roman Catholics, and especially in Italy and Ireland. Pray that He may be poured out on your own country, and that it may be spared the judgments it deserves. Pray that He may be poured out on all faithful ministers and missionaries, and that their numbers may be increased an hundredfold. Pray, above all, that He may be poured out, in abundant power, on your own soul - that if you know not the truth, you may be taught to know it, and that if you know it, you may know it better.
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
A great statesman once said that if a foreigner visited England, for the first time, with his eyes bandaged and his ears open - hearing everything - but seeing nothing - he might well suppose that England was on the road to ruin; so many are the murmurings of the English people. And yet if that same foreigner came to England with his ears stopped and his eyes open - seeing everything and hearing nothing - he would probably suppose that England was the most wealthy and flourishing country in the world, so many are the signs of prosperity that he would see.l
I am often disposed to apply this remark to the case of doubting Christians. If I believed all they say of themselves I would certainly think they were in a bad state. But when I see them living as they do - hungering and thirsting after righteousness, poor in spirit, desiring holiness, loving the name of Christ, keeping up habits of Bible reading and prayer - when I see these things I cease to be afraid. I trust my eyes more than my ears. I see manifest marks of the Spirit's presence, and I only grieve that they should refuse to see them themselves. I see the devil robbing them of their peace, by instilling these doubts into their minds, and I mourn that they should injure themselves by believing him. Some professors, without controversy, may well doubt whether they "have the Spirit," for they have no signs of grace about them. But many nurse up a habit of doubt in their minds for which they have no cause, and of which they ought to be ashamed.
Would you know, last of all, what you ought to do, if you really have the Spirit?
If you have the Spirit, seek to be "filled with the Spirit." (Eph. 5:18). Drink deep of the living waters. Do not be content with a little religion. Pray that the Spirit may fill every corner and chamber of your heart, and that not an inch of room may be left in it for the world and the devil.
If you have the Spirit, "grieve not the Spirit." (Eph. 4:30). It is easy for believers to weaken their sense of His presence, and deprive themselves of His comfort. Little sins not mortified, little bad habits of temper or of tongue not corrected, little compliances with the world, are all likely to offend the Holy Spirit. Oh, that believers would remember this! There is far more of "heaven on earth" to be enjoyed than many of them attain to - and why do they not attain to it? They do not watch sufficiently over their daily ways, and so the Spirit's work is damped and hindered. The Spirit must be a thoroughly sanctifying Spirit if He is to be a comforter to your soul.
If you have the Spirit, labor to bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Gal. 5:22-24).
Read over the list which the Apostle has drawn out, and see that not one of these fruits is neglected. Oh, that believers would seek for more "love," and more "joy!" Then would they do more good to all people; then would they feel happier themselves; then would they make religion more beautiful in the eyes of the world!!
I commend the things that I have written to the serious attention of every reader of these pages. Let them not have been written in vain. Join with me in praying that the Spirit may be poured out from on high with more abundant influence than He has ever been yet. Pray that He may be poured out on all believers, at home and abroad, that they may be more united and more holy. Pray that He may be poured out on Jews, Muhammadans, and Heathen, that many of them may be converted.
Pray that He may be poured out on Roman Catholics, and especially in Italy and Ireland. Pray that He may be poured out on your own country, and that it may be spared the judgments it deserves. Pray that He may be poured out on all faithful ministers and missionaries, and that their numbers may be increased an hundredfold. Pray, above all, that He may be poured out, in abundant power, on your own soul - that if you know not the truth, you may be taught to know it, and that if you know it, you may know it better.
~J. C. Ryle~
(The End)
Having the Holy Spirit # 6
Having the Holy Spirit # 6
Would you know, in the next place, what is the grand defect of the Christianity of our times?
The grand defect I speak of is simply this - that the Christianity of many people is not real Christianity at all! I know that such an opinion sounds hard and shockingly uncharitable. I cannot help that - I am satisfied that it is sadly true. I only want people's Christianity to be that of the Bible; but I doubt exceedingly, in many cases, whether it is so.
There are multitudes of people, I believe, who go to church or chapel every Sunday merely as a form. Their fathers or mothers went, and so they go; it is the fashion of the country to go, and they go; it is the custom to attend a religious service and hear a sermon, and so they go. But as to real, vital, saving religion - they neither know or care anything about it. They can give no account of the distinctive doctrines of the Gospel. Justification, and regeneration, and sanctification, are "words and names" which they cannot explain. They may have a sort of vague idea that they ought to go to the Lord's Table, and may be able to say a few vague words about Christ - but they have no intelligent notion of the way of salvation. As to the Holy Spirit, they can scarcely say more about Him than that they have heard His name.
Now, if any reader of this paper is conscious that his religion is such as I have described, I will only warn him affectionately to remember that such religion is utterly useless. It will neither save, comfort, satisfy, nor sanctify his soul. And the plain advice I give him is to change it for something better without delay. Remember my words. It will not do at the last!
Would you know, in the next place, one truth in the Gospel about which we need to be especially jealous in this day?
The truth which I have in view is the truth about the work of the Holy Spirit. All truth no doubt is constantly assailed by satan. I have no desire for a moment to exaggerate the office of the Holy Spirit - and to exalt Him above the Sun and Center of the Gospel - Jesus Christ. But I do believe that, next to the priestly office of Christ, no truth in the present day is so frequently lost sight of, and so deceitfully assailed, as the work of the Spirit. Some injure it by ignorant neglect - their talk is all about Christ. They can tell you something about "the Saviour;" but if you ask them about that inward work of the Spirit which all who really know the Saviour experience, they have not a word to say.
Some injure the work of the Spirit by taking it all for granted. Membership of the Church, participation of the Sacraments, become their substitutes for conversion and spiritual regeneration. Some injure the work of the Spirit by confounding it with the action of natural conscience. According to this low view, none but the most hardened and degraded of mankind are destitute of the Holy Spirit. Against all such departures from the truth let us watch and be on our guard. Let us beware of leaving the proportion of Gospel statements. Let one of our chief watchwords in the present day be - No salvation without the inward work of the Spirit! No inward work of the Holy Spirit unless it can be seen, felt, and known! No saving work of the Spirit which does not show itself in repentance towards God, and living faith towards Jesus Christ!
Would you know, in the next place, the reason why we, who are ministers of the Gospel, never despair of anyone who hears us so long as he lives?
We never despair, because we believe the power of the Holy Spirit. We might well despair when we look at our own performances - we are often sick of ourselves! We might well despair when we look at some who belong to our congregations - they seem as hard and insensible as the mill-stone. But we remember the Holy Spirit, and what He has done; we remember the Holy Spirit, and consider that He has not changed. He can come down like fire and melt the hardest hearts! He can convert the worst man or woman among our hearers, and mold their whole character into a new shape. And so we preach on. We hope, because of the Holy Spirit. Oh, that our hearers would understand that the progress of true religion depends "not on might or on power," but on the Lord's Spirit! Oh, that many of them would learn to lean less on ministers, and to pray more for the Holy Spirit! Oh, that all would learn to expect less from schools, and tracts, and ecclesiastical machinery, and, while using all means diligently, would seek more earnestly for the outpouring of the Spirit. (Zech. 4:6).
Would you know, in the next place, what you ought to do, if your conscience tells you you have NOT the Spirit?
If you have not the Spirit, you ought to go at once to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, and beseech Him to have mercy on you, and send you the Spirit.I have not the slightest sympathy with those who tell people to pray for the Holy Spirit in the first place,in order that they may go to Christ in the second place. I see no warrant of Scripture for saying so. I only see that if people feel they are needy, perishing sinners, they ought to apply first and foremost, straight and direct, to Jesus Christ. I see that He Himself says, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink." (John 7:37). I know that it is written, "He has received gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them." (Psal. 68:18). I know it is His special office to baptize with the Holy Spirit, and that "in Him all fullness dwells." I dare not pretend to be more systematic than the Bible. I believe that Christ is the meeting place between God and the soul, and my first advice to anyone who wants the Spirit must always be, "Go to Jesus, and tell your need to Him!" (Col.1:19).
Furthermore I would say, if you have not the Spirit, you must be diligent in attending those means of grace through which the Spirit works. You must regularly hear that Word, which is His sword; you must habitually attend those assemblies where His presence is promised. Blind Bartimeus would never have received sight had he sat lazily at home, and not come forth to sit by the wayside. Zaccheus might never have seen Jesus and become a son of Abraham, if he had not run before and climbed up into the sycamore tree. The Spirit is a loving and good Spirit. But he who despises means of grace resists the Holy Spirit.
Would you know, in the next place, what you ought to do, if you stand in doubt about your own state, and cannot tell whether you have the Spirit?
If you stand in doubt whether you have the Spirit, you ought to examine calmly whether your doubts are well-founded. There are many true believers, I fear, who are destitute of any firm assurance as to their own state - doubting is their life. I ask such people to take their Bibles down, and consider quietly the grounds of their concerns. I ask them to consider whence came their sense of sin, however feeble - their love to Christ, however faint - their desire after holiness, however weak - their pleasure in the company of God's people - their inclination to prayer and the Word? Whence came these things, I say? Did they come from your own heart? Surely not! Sinful human nature bears no such fruit. Did they come from the devil? Surely not! satan does not wage war against satan! When then, I repeat, did these things come? I warn you to beware lest you grieve the Holy Spirit by doubting the truth of His operations. I tell you it is high time for you to reflect whether you have not been expecting an 'inward perfection' which you had no right to expect, and at the same time thanklessly undervaluing a real work which the Holy Spirit has actually wrought in your souls.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 7 - and the end)
Would you know, in the next place, what is the grand defect of the Christianity of our times?
The grand defect I speak of is simply this - that the Christianity of many people is not real Christianity at all! I know that such an opinion sounds hard and shockingly uncharitable. I cannot help that - I am satisfied that it is sadly true. I only want people's Christianity to be that of the Bible; but I doubt exceedingly, in many cases, whether it is so.
There are multitudes of people, I believe, who go to church or chapel every Sunday merely as a form. Their fathers or mothers went, and so they go; it is the fashion of the country to go, and they go; it is the custom to attend a religious service and hear a sermon, and so they go. But as to real, vital, saving religion - they neither know or care anything about it. They can give no account of the distinctive doctrines of the Gospel. Justification, and regeneration, and sanctification, are "words and names" which they cannot explain. They may have a sort of vague idea that they ought to go to the Lord's Table, and may be able to say a few vague words about Christ - but they have no intelligent notion of the way of salvation. As to the Holy Spirit, they can scarcely say more about Him than that they have heard His name.
Now, if any reader of this paper is conscious that his religion is such as I have described, I will only warn him affectionately to remember that such religion is utterly useless. It will neither save, comfort, satisfy, nor sanctify his soul. And the plain advice I give him is to change it for something better without delay. Remember my words. It will not do at the last!
Would you know, in the next place, one truth in the Gospel about which we need to be especially jealous in this day?
The truth which I have in view is the truth about the work of the Holy Spirit. All truth no doubt is constantly assailed by satan. I have no desire for a moment to exaggerate the office of the Holy Spirit - and to exalt Him above the Sun and Center of the Gospel - Jesus Christ. But I do believe that, next to the priestly office of Christ, no truth in the present day is so frequently lost sight of, and so deceitfully assailed, as the work of the Spirit. Some injure it by ignorant neglect - their talk is all about Christ. They can tell you something about "the Saviour;" but if you ask them about that inward work of the Spirit which all who really know the Saviour experience, they have not a word to say.
Some injure the work of the Spirit by taking it all for granted. Membership of the Church, participation of the Sacraments, become their substitutes for conversion and spiritual regeneration. Some injure the work of the Spirit by confounding it with the action of natural conscience. According to this low view, none but the most hardened and degraded of mankind are destitute of the Holy Spirit. Against all such departures from the truth let us watch and be on our guard. Let us beware of leaving the proportion of Gospel statements. Let one of our chief watchwords in the present day be - No salvation without the inward work of the Spirit! No inward work of the Holy Spirit unless it can be seen, felt, and known! No saving work of the Spirit which does not show itself in repentance towards God, and living faith towards Jesus Christ!
Would you know, in the next place, the reason why we, who are ministers of the Gospel, never despair of anyone who hears us so long as he lives?
We never despair, because we believe the power of the Holy Spirit. We might well despair when we look at our own performances - we are often sick of ourselves! We might well despair when we look at some who belong to our congregations - they seem as hard and insensible as the mill-stone. But we remember the Holy Spirit, and what He has done; we remember the Holy Spirit, and consider that He has not changed. He can come down like fire and melt the hardest hearts! He can convert the worst man or woman among our hearers, and mold their whole character into a new shape. And so we preach on. We hope, because of the Holy Spirit. Oh, that our hearers would understand that the progress of true religion depends "not on might or on power," but on the Lord's Spirit! Oh, that many of them would learn to lean less on ministers, and to pray more for the Holy Spirit! Oh, that all would learn to expect less from schools, and tracts, and ecclesiastical machinery, and, while using all means diligently, would seek more earnestly for the outpouring of the Spirit. (Zech. 4:6).
Would you know, in the next place, what you ought to do, if your conscience tells you you have NOT the Spirit?
If you have not the Spirit, you ought to go at once to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, and beseech Him to have mercy on you, and send you the Spirit.I have not the slightest sympathy with those who tell people to pray for the Holy Spirit in the first place,in order that they may go to Christ in the second place. I see no warrant of Scripture for saying so. I only see that if people feel they are needy, perishing sinners, they ought to apply first and foremost, straight and direct, to Jesus Christ. I see that He Himself says, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink." (John 7:37). I know that it is written, "He has received gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them." (Psal. 68:18). I know it is His special office to baptize with the Holy Spirit, and that "in Him all fullness dwells." I dare not pretend to be more systematic than the Bible. I believe that Christ is the meeting place between God and the soul, and my first advice to anyone who wants the Spirit must always be, "Go to Jesus, and tell your need to Him!" (Col.1:19).
Furthermore I would say, if you have not the Spirit, you must be diligent in attending those means of grace through which the Spirit works. You must regularly hear that Word, which is His sword; you must habitually attend those assemblies where His presence is promised. Blind Bartimeus would never have received sight had he sat lazily at home, and not come forth to sit by the wayside. Zaccheus might never have seen Jesus and become a son of Abraham, if he had not run before and climbed up into the sycamore tree. The Spirit is a loving and good Spirit. But he who despises means of grace resists the Holy Spirit.
Would you know, in the next place, what you ought to do, if you stand in doubt about your own state, and cannot tell whether you have the Spirit?
If you stand in doubt whether you have the Spirit, you ought to examine calmly whether your doubts are well-founded. There are many true believers, I fear, who are destitute of any firm assurance as to their own state - doubting is their life. I ask such people to take their Bibles down, and consider quietly the grounds of their concerns. I ask them to consider whence came their sense of sin, however feeble - their love to Christ, however faint - their desire after holiness, however weak - their pleasure in the company of God's people - their inclination to prayer and the Word? Whence came these things, I say? Did they come from your own heart? Surely not! Sinful human nature bears no such fruit. Did they come from the devil? Surely not! satan does not wage war against satan! When then, I repeat, did these things come? I warn you to beware lest you grieve the Holy Spirit by doubting the truth of His operations. I tell you it is high time for you to reflect whether you have not been expecting an 'inward perfection' which you had no right to expect, and at the same time thanklessly undervaluing a real work which the Holy Spirit has actually wrought in your souls.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 7 - and the end)
Having The Holy Spirit # 5
Having The Holy Spirit # 5
All who have the Spirit are by Him made HOLY. He is "the Spirit of holiness." (Romans 1:4). When He dwells in people, He makes them follow after love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, faith, patience, temperance." He makes it natural to them, through their new "Divine nature," to count all God's precepts concerning all things to be right, and to "hate every false way." (2 Peter 1:4; Ps. 119:128). Sin is no more pleasant to them - it is their sorrow when tempted by it; it is their shame when they are overtaken by it. Their desire is to be free from it altogether. Their happiest times are when they are enabled to walk most closely with God - their saddest times are when they are furthest off from Him.
I appeal to every thinking reader. Can those who do not even pretend to live strictly according to God's will, be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are SPIRITUALLY MINDED. To use the words of the Apostle Paul, "those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5). The general tone, tenor, and bias of their minds is in favor of spiritual things. They do not serve God by fits and starts - but habitually. They may be drawn aside by strong temptations; but the general tendency of their lives, ways, tastes, thoughts, and habits, is spiritual. You see it in the way they spend their leisure time, the company they love to keep, and their conduct in their own homes. And all is the result of the spiritual nature implanted in them by the Holy Spirit. Just as the caterpillar when it becomes a butterfly can no longer be content to crawl on earth - but will fly upwards and use its wings, so will the affections of the man who has the Spirit be ever reaching upwards toward God.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can those whose minds are wholly intent on the things of this world be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit feel a CONFLICT within them, between the old nature and the new. The words of Paul are true, more or less, of all the children of God, "The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh - so that you cannot do the things that you would." (Gal. 5:17). They feel a holy principle within their bosoms, which makes them delight in the law of God - but they feel another principle within, striving hard for the mastery, and struggling to drag them downwards and backwards. Some feel this conflict more than others - but all who have the Spirit are acquainted with it; and it is a token for good. It is a proof that the 'strong man armed' no longer reigns within, as he once did, with undisputed sway. The presence of the Holy Spirit may be known by inward warfare as well as by inward peace. He who has been taught to rest and hope in Christ, will always be one who fights and wars with sin.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who knows nothing of inward conflict, and is a servant to sin, the world, and his own self-will, can he be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit LOVE others who have the Spirit. It is written of them by John, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren." (1 John 3:14). The more they see of the Holy Spirit in anyone, the more dear he is to them. They regard him as a member of the same family, a child of the same Father, a subject of the same King, and a fellow-traveler with themselves in a foreign country towards the same father-land. It is the glory of the Spirit to bring back something of that brotherly love, which sin has so miserably chased out of the world. He makes people love one another for reasons which to the natural man are foolishness - for the sake of a common Saviour, a common faith, a common service on earth, and the hope of a common home. He raises up friendships independent of blood, marriage, interest, business, or any worldly motive. He unites people by making them feel they are united to one great center, Jesus Christ.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who finds no pleasure in the company of spiritually-minded people, or even sneers at them as saints - can he be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
Finally, all who have the Spirit are taught by Him to PRAY. He is called in Scripture, "The Spirit of grace and supplication." (Zech. 12:10). The elect of God are said to "cry to Him night and day." (Luke 18:7). They cannot help it - their prayers may be poor, and weak, and wandering - but pray they must; something within them tells them they must speak with God and lay their needs before Him. Just as the infant will cry when it feels pain or hunger, because it is its nature, so will the new nature implanted by the Holy Spirit oblige a man to pray. He has the Spirit of adoption, and he must cry, "Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:6).
Once more I appeal to every thinking reader. Can the man who never prays at all, or is content with saying a few formal heartless words, can he be said to have the Spirit? For the last time I say, Judge for yourself.
Such are the marks and signs by which I believe the presence of the Holy Spirit in a man may be discerned. I have set them down fairly as they appear to me to be laid before us in the Scriptures. I have endeavored to exaggerate nothing, and to keep back nothing. I believe there are no true Christians in whom these marks may not be found. Some of them, no doubt, stand out more prominently in some, and others in others. My own experience is distinct and decided - that I never saw a truly godly person, even of the poorest and humblest classes, in whom, on close observation, these marks might not be discovered.
I believe that marks such as these are the only safe evidence that we are traveling in the way that leads to everlasting life. I charge everyone who desires to make his calling and election sure, to see that these marks are his own. There are high-flying professors of religion, I know, who despise the mention of "marks," and call them "legal." I care nothing for their being called legal,so long as I am satisfied they are scriptural. And, with the Bible before me, I give my opinion confidently, that he who is without these marks is without the Spirit of God.
Show me a man who has these marks, and I acknowledge him as a child of God. He may be poor and lowly in this world; he may be vile in his own eyes, and often doubt of his own salvation. But he has that within him which only comes from above, and will never be destroyed, even the work of the Holy Spirit. God is his, Christ is his. His names is already written in the book of life, and before long heaven will be his own.
Show me a man in whom these marks are not to be found, and I dare not acknowledge him to be a true Christian. I dare not as an honest man; I dare not as a lover of his soul; I dare not as a reader of the Bible. He may make a great religious profession; he may be learned, high in the world, and moral in his life. It is all nothing if he has not the Holy Spirit. He is without God, without Christ, without solid hope, and, unless he changes, will at length be without heaven.
And now let me finish this paper by a few PRACTICAL REMARKS which arise naturally out of the matter which it contains.
Would you know, first of all, what is your own immediate duty? I will tell you.
You ought to examine yourself calmly about the subject which I have been trying to set before you. You ought to ask yourself seriously how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit affects your soul. Look away, I beseech you, for a few minutes, to higher things than the things of earth, and more important things than the things of time. Bear with me, while I ask you a plain question. I ask it solemnly and affectionately, as one who desires your salvation - Have you the Holy Spirit?
Remember, I do not ask whether you think all I have been saying is true, and right, and good. I ask whether you yourself, who are reading these lines - have within you the Holy Spirit?
Remember, I do not ask whether you believe that the Holy Spirit is given to the Church of Christ, and that all who belong to the Church are within reach of His operations. I ask whether you yourself have the Spirit in your own heart?
Remember, I do not ask whether you sometimes feel strivings of conscience, and good desires flitting about within you. I ask whether you have really experienced the quickening and reviving work of the Spirit upon your heart?
Remember, I do not ask you to tell me the day or month when the Holy Spirit began His work in you. It is enough for me if fruit trees bear fruit, without inquiring the precise time when they were planted. But I do ask - Are you bringing forth any fruits of the Spirit?
Remember, I do not ask whether you are a perfect person, and never feel anything evil within. But I do ask, gravely and seriously, whether you have about your heart and life the marks of the Spirit?
I hope you will not tell me you do not know what the marks of the Spirit are. I have described them plainly. I now repeat them briefly, and press them on your attention.
1. The Spirit quickens men's hearts.
2. The Spirit teaches men's minds.
3. The Spirit leads to the Word.
4. The Spirit convinces of sin.
5. The Spirit draws to Christ.
6. The Spirit sanctifies.
7. The Spirit makes people spiritually minded.
8. The Spirit produces inward conflict.
9. The Spirit makes people love the brethren.
10. The Spirit teaches to pray.
These are the great marks of the Holy Spirit's presence. Put the question to your conscience like a man - Has the Spirit done anything of this kind for your soul?
I charge you not to let many days pass away without trying to answer my question. I summon you, as a faithful watchman knocking at the door of your heart, to bring the matter to an outcome. We live in an old, worn-out, sin-laden world. Who can tell what "a day may bring forth?" Who shall live to see another year? Have you the Spirit? (Prov. 27:1).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 6)
All who have the Spirit are by Him made HOLY. He is "the Spirit of holiness." (Romans 1:4). When He dwells in people, He makes them follow after love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, faith, patience, temperance." He makes it natural to them, through their new "Divine nature," to count all God's precepts concerning all things to be right, and to "hate every false way." (2 Peter 1:4; Ps. 119:128). Sin is no more pleasant to them - it is their sorrow when tempted by it; it is their shame when they are overtaken by it. Their desire is to be free from it altogether. Their happiest times are when they are enabled to walk most closely with God - their saddest times are when they are furthest off from Him.
I appeal to every thinking reader. Can those who do not even pretend to live strictly according to God's will, be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are SPIRITUALLY MINDED. To use the words of the Apostle Paul, "those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5). The general tone, tenor, and bias of their minds is in favor of spiritual things. They do not serve God by fits and starts - but habitually. They may be drawn aside by strong temptations; but the general tendency of their lives, ways, tastes, thoughts, and habits, is spiritual. You see it in the way they spend their leisure time, the company they love to keep, and their conduct in their own homes. And all is the result of the spiritual nature implanted in them by the Holy Spirit. Just as the caterpillar when it becomes a butterfly can no longer be content to crawl on earth - but will fly upwards and use its wings, so will the affections of the man who has the Spirit be ever reaching upwards toward God.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can those whose minds are wholly intent on the things of this world be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit feel a CONFLICT within them, between the old nature and the new. The words of Paul are true, more or less, of all the children of God, "The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh - so that you cannot do the things that you would." (Gal. 5:17). They feel a holy principle within their bosoms, which makes them delight in the law of God - but they feel another principle within, striving hard for the mastery, and struggling to drag them downwards and backwards. Some feel this conflict more than others - but all who have the Spirit are acquainted with it; and it is a token for good. It is a proof that the 'strong man armed' no longer reigns within, as he once did, with undisputed sway. The presence of the Holy Spirit may be known by inward warfare as well as by inward peace. He who has been taught to rest and hope in Christ, will always be one who fights and wars with sin.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who knows nothing of inward conflict, and is a servant to sin, the world, and his own self-will, can he be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit LOVE others who have the Spirit. It is written of them by John, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren." (1 John 3:14). The more they see of the Holy Spirit in anyone, the more dear he is to them. They regard him as a member of the same family, a child of the same Father, a subject of the same King, and a fellow-traveler with themselves in a foreign country towards the same father-land. It is the glory of the Spirit to bring back something of that brotherly love, which sin has so miserably chased out of the world. He makes people love one another for reasons which to the natural man are foolishness - for the sake of a common Saviour, a common faith, a common service on earth, and the hope of a common home. He raises up friendships independent of blood, marriage, interest, business, or any worldly motive. He unites people by making them feel they are united to one great center, Jesus Christ.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who finds no pleasure in the company of spiritually-minded people, or even sneers at them as saints - can he be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
Finally, all who have the Spirit are taught by Him to PRAY. He is called in Scripture, "The Spirit of grace and supplication." (Zech. 12:10). The elect of God are said to "cry to Him night and day." (Luke 18:7). They cannot help it - their prayers may be poor, and weak, and wandering - but pray they must; something within them tells them they must speak with God and lay their needs before Him. Just as the infant will cry when it feels pain or hunger, because it is its nature, so will the new nature implanted by the Holy Spirit oblige a man to pray. He has the Spirit of adoption, and he must cry, "Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:6).
Once more I appeal to every thinking reader. Can the man who never prays at all, or is content with saying a few formal heartless words, can he be said to have the Spirit? For the last time I say, Judge for yourself.
Such are the marks and signs by which I believe the presence of the Holy Spirit in a man may be discerned. I have set them down fairly as they appear to me to be laid before us in the Scriptures. I have endeavored to exaggerate nothing, and to keep back nothing. I believe there are no true Christians in whom these marks may not be found. Some of them, no doubt, stand out more prominently in some, and others in others. My own experience is distinct and decided - that I never saw a truly godly person, even of the poorest and humblest classes, in whom, on close observation, these marks might not be discovered.
I believe that marks such as these are the only safe evidence that we are traveling in the way that leads to everlasting life. I charge everyone who desires to make his calling and election sure, to see that these marks are his own. There are high-flying professors of religion, I know, who despise the mention of "marks," and call them "legal." I care nothing for their being called legal,so long as I am satisfied they are scriptural. And, with the Bible before me, I give my opinion confidently, that he who is without these marks is without the Spirit of God.
Show me a man who has these marks, and I acknowledge him as a child of God. He may be poor and lowly in this world; he may be vile in his own eyes, and often doubt of his own salvation. But he has that within him which only comes from above, and will never be destroyed, even the work of the Holy Spirit. God is his, Christ is his. His names is already written in the book of life, and before long heaven will be his own.
Show me a man in whom these marks are not to be found, and I dare not acknowledge him to be a true Christian. I dare not as an honest man; I dare not as a lover of his soul; I dare not as a reader of the Bible. He may make a great religious profession; he may be learned, high in the world, and moral in his life. It is all nothing if he has not the Holy Spirit. He is without God, without Christ, without solid hope, and, unless he changes, will at length be without heaven.
And now let me finish this paper by a few PRACTICAL REMARKS which arise naturally out of the matter which it contains.
Would you know, first of all, what is your own immediate duty? I will tell you.
You ought to examine yourself calmly about the subject which I have been trying to set before you. You ought to ask yourself seriously how the doctrine of the Holy Spirit affects your soul. Look away, I beseech you, for a few minutes, to higher things than the things of earth, and more important things than the things of time. Bear with me, while I ask you a plain question. I ask it solemnly and affectionately, as one who desires your salvation - Have you the Holy Spirit?
Remember, I do not ask whether you think all I have been saying is true, and right, and good. I ask whether you yourself, who are reading these lines - have within you the Holy Spirit?
Remember, I do not ask whether you believe that the Holy Spirit is given to the Church of Christ, and that all who belong to the Church are within reach of His operations. I ask whether you yourself have the Spirit in your own heart?
Remember, I do not ask whether you sometimes feel strivings of conscience, and good desires flitting about within you. I ask whether you have really experienced the quickening and reviving work of the Spirit upon your heart?
Remember, I do not ask you to tell me the day or month when the Holy Spirit began His work in you. It is enough for me if fruit trees bear fruit, without inquiring the precise time when they were planted. But I do ask - Are you bringing forth any fruits of the Spirit?
Remember, I do not ask whether you are a perfect person, and never feel anything evil within. But I do ask, gravely and seriously, whether you have about your heart and life the marks of the Spirit?
I hope you will not tell me you do not know what the marks of the Spirit are. I have described them plainly. I now repeat them briefly, and press them on your attention.
1. The Spirit quickens men's hearts.
2. The Spirit teaches men's minds.
3. The Spirit leads to the Word.
4. The Spirit convinces of sin.
5. The Spirit draws to Christ.
6. The Spirit sanctifies.
7. The Spirit makes people spiritually minded.
8. The Spirit produces inward conflict.
9. The Spirit makes people love the brethren.
10. The Spirit teaches to pray.
These are the great marks of the Holy Spirit's presence. Put the question to your conscience like a man - Has the Spirit done anything of this kind for your soul?
I charge you not to let many days pass away without trying to answer my question. I summon you, as a faithful watchman knocking at the door of your heart, to bring the matter to an outcome. We live in an old, worn-out, sin-laden world. Who can tell what "a day may bring forth?" Who shall live to see another year? Have you the Spirit? (Prov. 27:1).
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 6)
Having the Holy Spirit # 4
Having the Holy Spirit # 4
3. Let me, in the last place, describe the particular EFFECTS which the Spirit produces on the souls in which He dwells.
I regard this part of the subject as the most important of all. Hitherto I have spoken generally of the great leading principles which must guide us in inquiring about the work of the Holy Spirit. I must now come closer, and speak of the special marks by which the presence of the Holy Spirit in any individual heart may be discerned. Happily, with the Bible for our light, these marks are not hard to find out.
Some things I wish to premise before entering fully into the subject. It is needful in order to clear the way.
I grant freely that there are some deep MYSTERIES about the work of the Holy Spirit. I cannot explain the manner of His coming into the heart. "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof - but cannot tell whence it comes and where goes - so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8). I cannot explain why He comes into one heart and not into another - why He condescends to dwell in this man and not in that. I only know that so it is. He acts as a sovereign. To use the words of the Church Catechism, He sanctifies "the elect people of God." But I remember also that I cannot explain why I was born in Christian England, and not in heathen Africa. I am satisfied to believe that all God's work is well done. It is enough for me to be in the King's court, without being of the King's counsel!
I grant freely that there are great DIVERSITIES in the operations by which the Spirit carries on His work in men's souls. There are differences in the ages at which He begins to enter the heart. With some He begins young, as with John the Baptist and Timothy - with some he begins old, as with Manasseh and Zaccheus. There are differences in the feelings which He first stirs up in the heart. He leads some by strong terror and alarm, like the jailer at Philippi. He leads some by gently opening their hearts to receive the truth, as Lydia. There are differences in the time occupied in effecting this complete change of character. With some the change is immediate and sudden, as it was with Saul when he journeyed to Damascus - with others it is gradual and slow, as it was with Nicodemus the Pharisee. There are differences in the instruments He uses in first awakening the soul from its natural death. With some He uses a sermon, with others the Bible, with others a tract, with others a friend's advice, with others a sickness or affliction, with others no one particular thing that can be distinctly traced. All this is most important to understand. To require all people to be squared down to one kind of experience is a most grievous mistake!
I grant freely that the BEGINNINGS of the Spirit's work are often small and imperceptible. The seed from which the spiritual character is formed, is often very minute at first. The fountain-head of the spiritual life, like that of many a mighty river, is frequently at its outset, only a little trickling stream. The beginnings therefore of the Spirit's work in a soul are generally overlooked by the world - very frequently not duly valued and encouraged by other Christians - are almost without exception thoroughly misunderstood by the soul itself which is the subject of them. Let that never be forgotten. The man in whom the Spirit begins to work is never hardly aware, until long afterwards, that his state of mind about the time of his conversion arose from the entrance of the Holy Spirit.
But still, after all these concessions and allowances, there are CERTAIN GREAT LEADING EFFECTS which the Spirit produces on the soul in which He dwells, which are always one and the same. Those who have the Spirit may be led at first by different paths - but they are always brought, sooner or later, into one and the same narrow way. Their leading opinions of Gospel truth are the same; their leading desires are the same; their general walk is the same. They may differ from one another widely in their natural character - but their spiritual character, in its main features, is always one. The Holy Spirit always produces one general kind of effects. Shades and varieties there are no doubt in the experience of those on whose hearts He works - but the general outline of their faith and life is always the same.
What then are these general effects which the Spirit always produces on those who really have Him? What are the marks of His presence in the soul? This is the question which now remains to be considered. Let us try to set down these marks in order.
All who have the Spirit are quickened by Him, and made spiritually ALIVE. He is called in Scripture, "The Spirit of Life." (Romans 8:3). "It is the Spirit," says our Lord Jesus Christ, "who quickens." (John 6:63). We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins. We have neither feeling nor interest about true religion. We have neither faith, nor hope, nor fear, nor love. Our hearts are in a state of torpor; they are compared in Scripture to a stone. We may be alive about money, learning, politics, or pleasure - but we are dead towards God. All this is changed when the Spirit comes into the heart. He raises us from this state of death, and makes us new creatures. He awakens the conscience, and inclines the will towards God. He causes old things to pass away, and all things to become new. He gives us a new heart; He makes us put off the old man, and put on the new. He blows the trumpet in the ear of our slumbering faculties, and sends us forth to walk the world as if we were new beings.
How unlike was Lazarus shut up in the silent tomb, to Lazarus coming forth at our Lord's command! How unlike was Jairus' daughter lying cold on her bed amidst weeping friends, to Jairus' daughter rising and speaking to her mother as she was accustomed to do! Just as unlike is the man in whom the Spirit dwells to what he was before the Spirit came into him.
I appeal to every reader. Can he whose heart is manifestly full of everything but God - hard,cold, and insensible - can he be said to "have the Spirit?" Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are taught by Him. He is called in Scripture, "The Spirit of wisdom and revelation." (Eph. 1:17). It was the promise of the Lord Jesus, "He shall teach you all things." "He shall guide you into all truth." (John 14:26; 16:13). We are all by nature ignorant of spiritual truth. "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God - they are foolishness to him." (1 Cor. 2:14). Our eyes are blinded. We neither know God, nor Christ, nor ourselves, nor the world, nor sin, nor heaven, nor the bottomless pit, as we ought. We see everything under false colors. The Spirit alters entirely this state of things. He opens the eyes of our understandings. He illumines us; He calls us out of darkness into marvelous light. He takes away the veil. He shines into our hearts, and makes us see things as they really are! No wonder that all true Christians are so remarkably agreed upon the essentials of true religion! The reason is that they have all learned in one school - the school of the Holy Spirit. No wonder that true Christians can understand each other at once, and find common ground of fellowship! They have been taught the same language, by One whose lessons are never forgotten.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who is ignorant of the leading doctrines of the Gospel, and blind to his own state - can he be said to "have the Spirit?" Judge for yourself!
All who have the Spirit are led by Him to the SCRIPTURES. This is the instrument by which He specially works on the soul. The Word is called "the sword of the Spirit." Those who are born again are said to be "born by the Word." (Eph. 6:17; 1 Peter 1:23). All Scripture was written under His inspiration - He never teaches anything which is not therein written. He causes the man in whom He dwells to "delight in the law of the Lord." (Psalm 1:2). Just as the infant desires the milk which nature has provided for it, and refuses all other food - so does the soul which has the Spirit desire the sincere milk of the Word. Just as the Israelites fed on the manna in the wilderness, so are the children of God taught by the Holy Spirit to feed on the contents of the Bible.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who never reads the Bible, or only reads it formally - can he be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are convinced by Him of SIN. This is an especial office which the Lord Jesus promised He should fulfill."When He has come, He shall reprove the world of sin." (John 16:8). He alone can open a man's eyes to the real extent of his guilt and corruption before God. He always does this when He comes into the soul. He puts us in our right place. He shows us the vileness of our own hearts, and makes us cry with the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He pulls down those proud, self-righteous, self-justifying notions with which we are all born, and makes us feel as we wrought to feel, "I am a sinful man, and I deserve to be in the bottomless pit." Ministers may alarm us for a little season; sickness may break the ice on our hearts; but the ice will soon freeze again if it is not thawed by the breath of the Spirit! Convictions not wrought by Him will pass away like the morning dew.
I appeal again to every think reader. Can the man who never feels the burden of his sins, and knows not what it is to be humbled by the thought of them - can he have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are led by Him to CHRIST for salvation. It is one special part of His office to "testify of Christ," to "take of the things of Christ, and to show them to us." (John 15:26; 16:15). By nature we all think to work our own way to heaven - we fancy in our blindness that we can make our peace with God. From this miserable blindness the Spirit delivers us. He shows us that in ourselves we are lost and hopeless, and that Christ is the only door by which we can enter heaven and be saved. He teaches us that nothing but the blood of Jesus can atone for sin, and that through His mediation alone God can be just and the justifier of the ungodly. He reveals to us the exquisite fitness and suitableness to our souls of Christ's salvation. He unfolds to us the beauty of the glorious doctrine of justification by simple faith. He sheds abroad in our hearts that mighty love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Just as the dove flies to the well-known cleft of the rock, so does the soul of him who has the Spirit flee to Christ and rest on Him. (Romans 5:5).
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who knows nothing of faith in Christ, be said to have the Spirit? Judge for your self.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
3. Let me, in the last place, describe the particular EFFECTS which the Spirit produces on the souls in which He dwells.
I regard this part of the subject as the most important of all. Hitherto I have spoken generally of the great leading principles which must guide us in inquiring about the work of the Holy Spirit. I must now come closer, and speak of the special marks by which the presence of the Holy Spirit in any individual heart may be discerned. Happily, with the Bible for our light, these marks are not hard to find out.
Some things I wish to premise before entering fully into the subject. It is needful in order to clear the way.
I grant freely that there are some deep MYSTERIES about the work of the Holy Spirit. I cannot explain the manner of His coming into the heart. "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof - but cannot tell whence it comes and where goes - so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8). I cannot explain why He comes into one heart and not into another - why He condescends to dwell in this man and not in that. I only know that so it is. He acts as a sovereign. To use the words of the Church Catechism, He sanctifies "the elect people of God." But I remember also that I cannot explain why I was born in Christian England, and not in heathen Africa. I am satisfied to believe that all God's work is well done. It is enough for me to be in the King's court, without being of the King's counsel!
I grant freely that there are great DIVERSITIES in the operations by which the Spirit carries on His work in men's souls. There are differences in the ages at which He begins to enter the heart. With some He begins young, as with John the Baptist and Timothy - with some he begins old, as with Manasseh and Zaccheus. There are differences in the feelings which He first stirs up in the heart. He leads some by strong terror and alarm, like the jailer at Philippi. He leads some by gently opening their hearts to receive the truth, as Lydia. There are differences in the time occupied in effecting this complete change of character. With some the change is immediate and sudden, as it was with Saul when he journeyed to Damascus - with others it is gradual and slow, as it was with Nicodemus the Pharisee. There are differences in the instruments He uses in first awakening the soul from its natural death. With some He uses a sermon, with others the Bible, with others a tract, with others a friend's advice, with others a sickness or affliction, with others no one particular thing that can be distinctly traced. All this is most important to understand. To require all people to be squared down to one kind of experience is a most grievous mistake!
I grant freely that the BEGINNINGS of the Spirit's work are often small and imperceptible. The seed from which the spiritual character is formed, is often very minute at first. The fountain-head of the spiritual life, like that of many a mighty river, is frequently at its outset, only a little trickling stream. The beginnings therefore of the Spirit's work in a soul are generally overlooked by the world - very frequently not duly valued and encouraged by other Christians - are almost without exception thoroughly misunderstood by the soul itself which is the subject of them. Let that never be forgotten. The man in whom the Spirit begins to work is never hardly aware, until long afterwards, that his state of mind about the time of his conversion arose from the entrance of the Holy Spirit.
But still, after all these concessions and allowances, there are CERTAIN GREAT LEADING EFFECTS which the Spirit produces on the soul in which He dwells, which are always one and the same. Those who have the Spirit may be led at first by different paths - but they are always brought, sooner or later, into one and the same narrow way. Their leading opinions of Gospel truth are the same; their leading desires are the same; their general walk is the same. They may differ from one another widely in their natural character - but their spiritual character, in its main features, is always one. The Holy Spirit always produces one general kind of effects. Shades and varieties there are no doubt in the experience of those on whose hearts He works - but the general outline of their faith and life is always the same.
What then are these general effects which the Spirit always produces on those who really have Him? What are the marks of His presence in the soul? This is the question which now remains to be considered. Let us try to set down these marks in order.
All who have the Spirit are quickened by Him, and made spiritually ALIVE. He is called in Scripture, "The Spirit of Life." (Romans 8:3). "It is the Spirit," says our Lord Jesus Christ, "who quickens." (John 6:63). We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins. We have neither feeling nor interest about true religion. We have neither faith, nor hope, nor fear, nor love. Our hearts are in a state of torpor; they are compared in Scripture to a stone. We may be alive about money, learning, politics, or pleasure - but we are dead towards God. All this is changed when the Spirit comes into the heart. He raises us from this state of death, and makes us new creatures. He awakens the conscience, and inclines the will towards God. He causes old things to pass away, and all things to become new. He gives us a new heart; He makes us put off the old man, and put on the new. He blows the trumpet in the ear of our slumbering faculties, and sends us forth to walk the world as if we were new beings.
How unlike was Lazarus shut up in the silent tomb, to Lazarus coming forth at our Lord's command! How unlike was Jairus' daughter lying cold on her bed amidst weeping friends, to Jairus' daughter rising and speaking to her mother as she was accustomed to do! Just as unlike is the man in whom the Spirit dwells to what he was before the Spirit came into him.
I appeal to every reader. Can he whose heart is manifestly full of everything but God - hard,cold, and insensible - can he be said to "have the Spirit?" Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are taught by Him. He is called in Scripture, "The Spirit of wisdom and revelation." (Eph. 1:17). It was the promise of the Lord Jesus, "He shall teach you all things." "He shall guide you into all truth." (John 14:26; 16:13). We are all by nature ignorant of spiritual truth. "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God - they are foolishness to him." (1 Cor. 2:14). Our eyes are blinded. We neither know God, nor Christ, nor ourselves, nor the world, nor sin, nor heaven, nor the bottomless pit, as we ought. We see everything under false colors. The Spirit alters entirely this state of things. He opens the eyes of our understandings. He illumines us; He calls us out of darkness into marvelous light. He takes away the veil. He shines into our hearts, and makes us see things as they really are! No wonder that all true Christians are so remarkably agreed upon the essentials of true religion! The reason is that they have all learned in one school - the school of the Holy Spirit. No wonder that true Christians can understand each other at once, and find common ground of fellowship! They have been taught the same language, by One whose lessons are never forgotten.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who is ignorant of the leading doctrines of the Gospel, and blind to his own state - can he be said to "have the Spirit?" Judge for yourself!
All who have the Spirit are led by Him to the SCRIPTURES. This is the instrument by which He specially works on the soul. The Word is called "the sword of the Spirit." Those who are born again are said to be "born by the Word." (Eph. 6:17; 1 Peter 1:23). All Scripture was written under His inspiration - He never teaches anything which is not therein written. He causes the man in whom He dwells to "delight in the law of the Lord." (Psalm 1:2). Just as the infant desires the milk which nature has provided for it, and refuses all other food - so does the soul which has the Spirit desire the sincere milk of the Word. Just as the Israelites fed on the manna in the wilderness, so are the children of God taught by the Holy Spirit to feed on the contents of the Bible.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who never reads the Bible, or only reads it formally - can he be said to have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are convinced by Him of SIN. This is an especial office which the Lord Jesus promised He should fulfill."When He has come, He shall reprove the world of sin." (John 16:8). He alone can open a man's eyes to the real extent of his guilt and corruption before God. He always does this when He comes into the soul. He puts us in our right place. He shows us the vileness of our own hearts, and makes us cry with the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He pulls down those proud, self-righteous, self-justifying notions with which we are all born, and makes us feel as we wrought to feel, "I am a sinful man, and I deserve to be in the bottomless pit." Ministers may alarm us for a little season; sickness may break the ice on our hearts; but the ice will soon freeze again if it is not thawed by the breath of the Spirit! Convictions not wrought by Him will pass away like the morning dew.
I appeal again to every think reader. Can the man who never feels the burden of his sins, and knows not what it is to be humbled by the thought of them - can he have the Spirit? Judge for yourself.
All who have the Spirit are led by Him to CHRIST for salvation. It is one special part of His office to "testify of Christ," to "take of the things of Christ, and to show them to us." (John 15:26; 16:15). By nature we all think to work our own way to heaven - we fancy in our blindness that we can make our peace with God. From this miserable blindness the Spirit delivers us. He shows us that in ourselves we are lost and hopeless, and that Christ is the only door by which we can enter heaven and be saved. He teaches us that nothing but the blood of Jesus can atone for sin, and that through His mediation alone God can be just and the justifier of the ungodly. He reveals to us the exquisite fitness and suitableness to our souls of Christ's salvation. He unfolds to us the beauty of the glorious doctrine of justification by simple faith. He sheds abroad in our hearts that mighty love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Just as the dove flies to the well-known cleft of the rock, so does the soul of him who has the Spirit flee to Christ and rest on Him. (Romans 5:5).
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who knows nothing of faith in Christ, be said to have the Spirit? Judge for your self.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 5)
Having the Holy Spirit # 3
Having the Holy Spirit # 3
All people have not the Holy Spirit. I regard the doctrine of an "inward spiritual light enjoyed by all mankind" as an unscriptural delusion. I believe the modern notion of universal salvation to be a baseless dream. Without controversy, God has not left Himself without a witness in the heart of fallen man. He has left in every mind sufficient knowledge of right and wrong to make all people responsible and accountable. He has given to every child of Adam a conscience - but He has not given to every child of Adam the Holy Spirit. A man may have good wishes like Balaam, do many things like Herod, be almost persuaded like Agrippa, and tremble like Felix, and yet be as utterly destitute of the grace of the Spirit as these people were. Paul tells us that before conversion people may "know God" in a certain sense, and have "thoughts accusing or excusing one another." But he also tells us that before conversion people are "without God" and "without Christ," have "no hope," and are darkness itself. (Rom. 1:21; 2:15; Eph. 2:12; 5:8). The Lord Jesus Himself says of the Spirit, "The world sees Him not, neither knows Him - but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:17).
All members of Churches and baptized people 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 everyone. 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 hidden. 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 whoever 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 through 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 as it is with the presence of the Spirit in the soul.
Can I see the mainspring of my watch when I look upon the face? I cannot. But when I see the fingers going round and telling me 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 person, it will be seen in the effects He produces on his heart and life.
Beware of supposing that a man may have the Spirit when there is no outward evidence of His presence in the soul. It is a dangerous and unscriptural delusion to think so. We must never lose sight of the broad principles laid down for us in Scripture, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil - whoever does not righteousness is not of God." (1 John 1:6; 3:10).
You have heard, I doubt not, of a wretched class of professing Christians called Antinomians. They are people who boast of having a saving interest in Christ, and say they are pardoned and forgiven, while at the same time they live in willful sin and open breach of God's commandments. I dare say that such people are miserably deceived. They are going down to the bottomless pit with a lie in their right hand! The true believer in Christ is "dead to sin". Every person who has a real hope in Christ "purifies himself even as He is pure." (1 John 3:3).
But I will tell you of a delusion quite as dangerous as that of the Antinomians, and far more specious. That delusion is - to flatter yourself you have the Spirit dwelling in your heart, while there are no fruits of the Spirit to be seen in your life. I firmly believe that this delusion is ruining thousands, as surely as Antinomianism. It is just as perilous to dishonor the Holy Spirit, as it is to dishonor Christ. It is just as offensive to God to pretend to an interest in the work of the Spirit, as it is to pretend to an interest in the work of Christ.
Once for all, I charge my readers to remember that the effects which the Spirit produces are the only trustworthy evidences of His presence. To talk of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you and yet being unseen in your life, is wild work indeed. It confounds light and darkness - nature and grace-conversion and unconversion-faith and unbelief - the children of God and the children of the devil.
There is only one safe position in this matter. There is only one safe answer to the question, "How shall we decide who have the Spirit?" We must take our stand on the old principle laid down by our Lord Jesus Christ, "By their fruits you shall know them." (Matthew 7:20). Where the Spirit is there will be fruit - he who has no fruit of the Spirit has not the Spirit. A work of the Spirit unfelt, unseen, inoperative, is a great delusion. Where the Spirit really is He will be felt, seen, and known.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
All people have not the Holy Spirit. I regard the doctrine of an "inward spiritual light enjoyed by all mankind" as an unscriptural delusion. I believe the modern notion of universal salvation to be a baseless dream. Without controversy, God has not left Himself without a witness in the heart of fallen man. He has left in every mind sufficient knowledge of right and wrong to make all people responsible and accountable. He has given to every child of Adam a conscience - but He has not given to every child of Adam the Holy Spirit. A man may have good wishes like Balaam, do many things like Herod, be almost persuaded like Agrippa, and tremble like Felix, and yet be as utterly destitute of the grace of the Spirit as these people were. Paul tells us that before conversion people may "know God" in a certain sense, and have "thoughts accusing or excusing one another." But he also tells us that before conversion people are "without God" and "without Christ," have "no hope," and are darkness itself. (Rom. 1:21; 2:15; Eph. 2:12; 5:8). The Lord Jesus Himself says of the Spirit, "The world sees Him not, neither knows Him - but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:17).
All members of Churches and baptized people 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 everyone. 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 hidden. 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 whoever 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 through 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 as it is with the presence of the Spirit in the soul.
Can I see the mainspring of my watch when I look upon the face? I cannot. But when I see the fingers going round and telling me 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 person, it will be seen in the effects He produces on his heart and life.
Beware of supposing that a man may have the Spirit when there is no outward evidence of His presence in the soul. It is a dangerous and unscriptural delusion to think so. We must never lose sight of the broad principles laid down for us in Scripture, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil - whoever does not righteousness is not of God." (1 John 1:6; 3:10).
You have heard, I doubt not, of a wretched class of professing Christians called Antinomians. They are people who boast of having a saving interest in Christ, and say they are pardoned and forgiven, while at the same time they live in willful sin and open breach of God's commandments. I dare say that such people are miserably deceived. They are going down to the bottomless pit with a lie in their right hand! The true believer in Christ is "dead to sin". Every person who has a real hope in Christ "purifies himself even as He is pure." (1 John 3:3).
But I will tell you of a delusion quite as dangerous as that of the Antinomians, and far more specious. That delusion is - to flatter yourself you have the Spirit dwelling in your heart, while there are no fruits of the Spirit to be seen in your life. I firmly believe that this delusion is ruining thousands, as surely as Antinomianism. It is just as perilous to dishonor the Holy Spirit, as it is to dishonor Christ. It is just as offensive to God to pretend to an interest in the work of the Spirit, as it is to pretend to an interest in the work of Christ.
Once for all, I charge my readers to remember that the effects which the Spirit produces are the only trustworthy evidences of His presence. To talk of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you and yet being unseen in your life, is wild work indeed. It confounds light and darkness - nature and grace-conversion and unconversion-faith and unbelief - the children of God and the children of the devil.
There is only one safe position in this matter. There is only one safe answer to the question, "How shall we decide who have the Spirit?" We must take our stand on the old principle laid down by our Lord Jesus Christ, "By their fruits you shall know them." (Matthew 7:20). Where the Spirit is there will be fruit - he who has no fruit of the Spirit has not the Spirit. A work of the Spirit unfelt, unseen, inoperative, is a great delusion. Where the Spirit really is He will be felt, seen, and known.
~J. C. Ryle~
(continued with # 4)
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