When the Holy Ghost is Come Part 13

Yea, let men rage; since Thou wilt spread Thy shadowing wings around my head; Since in all pain Thy tender love Will still my sure refreshment prove."

3. He was _without guile_. "For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile; but as we were allowed of G.o.d to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but G.o.d, which trieth our hearts."

He was frank and open. He spoke right out of his heart. He was transparently simple and straightforward. Since G.o.d had honoured him with this infinite trust of preaching the Gospel, he sought to so preach it that he should please G.o.d regardless of men. And yet that is the surest way to please men. People who listen to such a man feel his honesty, and realise that he is seeking to do them good, to save them rather than to tickle their ears and win their applause, and in their hearts they are pleased.

But, anyway, whether or not they are pleased, he is to deliver his message as an amba.s.sador, and look to his home government for his reward. He gets his commission from G.o.d, and it is G.o.d who will try his heart and prove his ministry. Oh, to please Jesus!

Oh, to stand perfect before G.o.d after preaching His Gospel!

4. He was _not a time-server nor a covetous man._ "Neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness; G.o.d is witness," he adds.

There are three ways of reaching a man's purse: (1) Directly. (2) By way of his head with flattering words. (3) By way of his heart with manly, honest, saving words. The first way is robbery. The second way is robbery, with the poison of a deadly, but pleasing, opiate added, which may d.a.m.n his soul. The third reaches his purse by saving his soul and opening in his heart an unfailing fountain of benevolence to bless himself and the world.

It were better for a preacher to turn highwayman, and rob men with a club and a strong hand, than, with smiles and smooth words and feigned and fawning affection, to rob them with flattery, while their poor souls, neglected and deceived, go down to h.e.l.l.

How will he meet them in the Day of Judgment, and look into their horrorstricken faces, realising that he played and toyed with their fancies and affections and pride to get money, and, instead of faithfully warning them and seeking to save them, with flattering words fattened their souls for destruction!

Not so did Paul. "I seek not yours, but you," he wrote the Corinthians. It was not their money, but their souls he wanted.

But such faithful love will be able to command all men have to give. Why, to some of his converts he wrote: "I bear you record, that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me" (Gal. iv. 15). But he sought not to please them with flattering words, only to save them.

So faithful was he in this matter, and so conscious of his integrity, that he called G.o.d Himself into the witness-box. "G.o.d is witness," says he.

Blessed is the man who can call on G.o.d to witness for him; and that man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells in fullness can do this.

Can you, my brother?

5. He was _not vain-glorious, nor dictatorial, nor oppressive_.

Some men care nothing for money, but they care mightily for power and place and the glory that men give. But Paul was free from this spiritual itching. Listen to him: "Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome" (or "used authority") "as the Apostles of Christ."

Said Solomon, "For men to seek their own glory is not glory," it is only vain-glory. "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from G.o.d only?"

asked Jesus.

From all this Paul was free, and so is every man who is full of the Holy Ghost. And it is only as we are thus free that with the whole heart and with a single eye we can devote ourselves to the work of saving men.

6. With all his boldness and faithfulness he was _gentle_.

"We were gentle among you," he says, "as a nurse cherisheth her children."

The fierce hurricane which casts down the giant trees of the forest is not so mighty as the gentle suns.h.i.+ne, which, from tiny seeds and acorns, lifts aloft the towering spires of oak and fir on a thousand hills and mountains.

The wild storm that lashes the sea into foam and fury is feeble compared to the gentle, yet immeasurably powerful influence, which twice a day swings the oceans in resistless tides from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e.

And as in the physical world the mighty powers are gentle in their vast workings, so it is in the spiritual world. The light that falls on the lids of the sleeping infant and wakes it from its slumber, is not more gentle than the "still small voice" that brings a.s.surance of forgiveness or cleansing to them that look unto Jesus.

Oh, the gentleness of G.o.d! "Thy gentleness hath made me great,"

said David. "I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Cor. x. 1), wrote Paul. And again, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness" (Gal. v.

22). And as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are gentle, so will be the servant of the Lord who is filled with the Spirit.

I shall never forget the gentleness of a mighty man of G.o.d whom I well knew, who on the platform was clothed with zeal as with a garment, and in his overwhelming earnestness was like a lion or a consuming fire; but when dealing with a wounded or broken heart, or with a seeking soul, no nurse with a little babe could be more tender than he.

7. Finally, Paul was full of _self-forgetful, self-sacrificing love._ "So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of G.o.d only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us."

No wonder he shook those heathen cities, overthrew their idols, had great revivals, that his jailer was converted, and that his converts would have gladly plucked out their eyes for him! Such tender, self-sacrificing love compels attention, begets confidence, enkindles love, and surely wins its object.

This burning love led him to labour and sacrifice, and so live and walk before them that he was not only a teacher, but an example of all he taught, and could safely say, "Follow me."

This love led him to preach the whole truth, that he might by all means save them. He kept back no truth because it was unpopular, for it was their salvation and not his own reputation and popularity he sought.

He preached not himself, but a crucified Christ, without the shedding of whose blood there is no remission of sins; and through that precious blood he preached present cleansing from all sin, and the gift of the Holy Spirit for all who obediently believe.

And this love kept him faithful and humble and true to the end, so that at last in sight of the martyr's death, he saw the martyr's crown, and cried out: "I am now ready to be offered,...

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."

He had been faithful, and now at the end he was oppressed with no doubts and hara.s.sed with no bitter regrets, but looked forward with eager joy to meeting his Lord and beholding the blessed face of Him he loved. Hallelujah!

"Have you received the Holy Ghost?

'Twill fit you for the fight, 'Twill make of you a mighty host, To put your foes to flight.

"Have you received the Holy Power?

'Twill fall from Heaven on you, From Jesus' throne this very hour, 'Twill make you brave and true.

"Oh, now receive the Holy Fire!

'Twill burn away all dross, All earthly, selfish, vain desire, 'Twill make you love the Cross."

"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"

XVII.

PREACHING.

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

"Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not G.o.d made foolish the wisdom of this world?"

asks Paul. And then he declares: "After that in the wisdom of G.o.d the world by wisdom knew not G.o.d, it pleased G.o.d by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

What kind of preaching is this? He does not say, "foolish preaching," but the foolishness of such a way as that of preaching. Certainly, it is not the moral essay, or the intellectual, or semi-intellectual, kind of preaching that is most generally heard throughout the world to-day, that is to save men; for thousands of such sermons move and convert no one: nor is it a mere noisy declamation called a sermon--noisy because empty of all earnest thought and true feeling; but it must be the kind of which Peter speaks when he writes of "them that preached the Gospel ... with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven" (1 Peter i. 12).

No man is equipped to rightly preach the Gospel, and undertake the spiritual oversight and instruction of souls, till he has been anointed with the Holy Ghost.

The disciples had been led to Jesus by John the Baptist, whose mighty preaching laid a deep and broad foundation for their spiritual education, and then for three years they had listened to both the public and private teachings of Jesus; they had been "eye-witnesses of His glory," of His life and death and resurrection, and yet He commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem, and wait for the Holy Spirit. He was to fit them for their ministry. And if they, trained and taught by the Master Himself, had need of the Holy Spirit to enable them to preach and testify with wisdom and power, how much more do you and I need His presence!

Without Him they could do nothing. With Him they were invincible, and could continue the work of Jesus. The mighty energy of His working is seen in the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost.

The sermon itself does not seem to have been very remarkable; indeed, it is princ.i.p.ally composed of testimony backed up and fortified by Scripture quotations, followed by exhortation, just as are the sermons that are most effective to-day in the immediate conversion and sanctification of men. "True preaching," said Horace Bushnell, "is a testimony."

Peter's Scripture quotations were apt, fitting the occasion and the people to whom they were addressed. The testimony was bold and joyous, the rus.h.i.+ng outflow of a warm, fresh throbbing experience; and the exhortation was burning, uncompromising in its demands, and yet tender and full of sympathy and love. But a Divine Presence was at work in that vast, mocking, wondering throng, and it was He who made Peter's simple words search like fire, and carry such overwhelming conviction to the hearts of the people.

And it is still so that whenever and wherever a man preaches "with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven," there will be conviction.