SANCTIFICATION BY THE SPIRIT And so day by day, even moment by moment, the battle goes on for the possession of the mind and the heart of man. For the passion of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the passion of the Spirit against the flesh-the two are at issue, so that you are not free to do as you please. Galatians 5:17, Moffatt. When man recognizes the forces contending to take possession of him, and voluntarily submits his will to the divine Spirit of God, then the transformation of character known as sanctification can take place. Having brought conviction of sin, and presented before the mind the standard of righteousness, the Holy Spirit withdraws the affections from the things of this earth and fills the soul with a desire for holiness....The Spirit will take the things of God and stamp them on the soul. By His power the way of life will be made so plain that none need err therein. When one renounces sin, which is the transgression of the law, his life will be brought into conformity to the law, into perfect obedience. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The light of the word carefully studied, the voice of conscience, the strivings of the Spirit, produce in the heart genuine love for Christ, who gave Himself a whole sacrifice to redeem the whole person, body, soul, and spirit.— When the Holy Spirit controls the minds of our church members, there will be seen in our churches a much higher standard in speech, in ministry, in spirituality, than is now seen.— While it is the privilege of God’s people to be wholly possessed by the Third Person of the Trinity, so that their every thought will be God’s thought, they are by no means the exclusive recipients of His attentions. Wherever there is an impulse of love and sympathy, wherever the heart reaches out to bless and uplift others, there is revealed the working of God’s Holy Spirit. In the depths of heathenism, men who have had no knowledge of the written law of God, who have never even heard the name of Christ, have been kind to His servants, protecting them at the risk of their own lives. Their acts show the working of a divine power. The Holy Spirit has implanted the grace of Christ in the heart of the savage, quickening his sympathies contrary to his nature, contrary to his education.— But the Spirit has been watching for eyes turned heavenward. If only the heart is teachable, that the divine qualities of kindness and pity and love may be impressed hereon, there will be opportunity enough throughout eternity for the study of doctrine. And the same Spirit detects when the proud and complacent heart, secure in its possession of truth, closes its ears to the revelation of its own weakness and need. For such a one, He can do no more. All who consecrate soul, body, and spirit to God will be constantly receiving a new endowment of physical and mental power. The inexhaustible supplies of Heaven are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of His own spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in heart and mind. The grace of God enlarges and multiplies their faculties, and every perfection of the divine nature comes to their assistance in the work of saving souls. Through co-operation with Christ they are complete in Him, and in their human weakness they are enabled to do the deeds of Omnipotence.— The fact that Christ emptied Himself (Philippians 2:7, R.S.V.) before coming to this earth necessitated an infilling of the Spirit’s power. The spotless life of Christ was designed to be a powerful encouragement and incentive to men. If Jesus could in the power of God’s Spirit continue to do the deeds of Omnipotence, then His followers may hope to receive power within themselves to make their lives a blessing both to God and to each other. The fullness which Jesus received during His earthly ministry must have depended on His capacity to receive. Gods outpouring of heaven’s riches could benefit Him only as He made room for it. We may be very sure that there was nothing in the character of Christ which needed displacing. It was not a weakness that led Him to make room for an infilling of God’s Spirit. We read that before the creation of this earth Christ satisfied His Father completely: Then I was beside Him, like a master workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always, rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men. Proverbs 8:30,31, R.S.V. No, He emptied Himself of all that would give. Jesus had an advantage over humanity because He did not struggle against sin for none was found in Him. Only thus could He bring hope to the hopeless and inspire in them a confidence that they, too, could overcome in the strength God held out to them, sin that hold them bound. Without such a convincing demonstration as Christ afforded mankind, none would have dared reach up to lay hold of the hand of God to get out of the miry clay of sin. So cleverly had Satan worked in human minds to confuse and discourage with his insinuations of doubt. The spectacle of God’s Son, sharing with His creatures their inherent weaknesses, deliberately being cut off from such communion with His Father as was not available to them, living a blameless and power-filled life despite Satan’s efforts to frustrate and defeat Him—this was Heaven’s demonstration to all who could not be satisfied with words alone. Such a demonstration God had purposed to make in the experience of the nation of Israel. They failed Him, but Jesus came to show man the way. This experience may be yours if you, too, will accept the infilling of My Spirit, God has been saying to all mankind since that day. Surely no one in full possession of his reason, and with a knowledge of God’s plan and purpose for his life, would turn his back on so wonderful a possession as a spirit like Christ’s. What is it that persuades men and women to continue, year after year, so lacking in characteristics that are godlike, content to exist on so low a level, when they might breathe the very atmosphere of heaven? The only answer is SELF. This four-letter word, which is a synonym for an even shorter one, SIN, has been Satan’s trump card from the very beginning. A man who is concerned with his own designs and ambitions, or frustrated by his own inability to lead a victorious life in things of the spirit, is incapable of opening up his life to be filled with the fullness of God having escaped from the corruption that is in the world through lust. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. Matthew 9:17 God’s fullness never can be contained in a vessel partially filled with human imperfection. Therefore God, in mercy, does not answer our prayers for the manifestation of the Spirit in the latter rain. He knows that such a manifestation would shatter the earthen vessels still containing selfish designs and considerations, even as the combining of certain chemicals brings about an explosion that wrecks the test tube holding the mixture. Truly there is a solemn work of purging incumbent on every child of God before he will be ready to receive the outpouring of the latter rain. All heaven is waiting for channels through which can be poured the holy oil to be a joy and blessing to human hearts. … The indwelling of the Spirit will be shown by the outflowing of heavenly love. The divine fullness will flow through the consecrated human agent, to be given forth to others.-
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 05:37:39 +0000
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