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There are a few things which I would have you remember, and then I am done. Remember that the Holy Spirit has his ways and methods, and there are some things which he will not do. Bethink you, that he makes no promise to bless compromises. If we make a treaty with error or sin, we do it at our own risk. If we do anything that we are not clear about, if we tamper with truth or holiness, if we are friends of the world, if we make provision for the flesh, if we preach half-heartedly and are in league with errorists—then we have no promise that the Holy Spirit will go with us. The great promise runs in quite another strain: "Come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing—and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord God Almighty."
In the New Testament only in that one place, with the exception of the Book of Revelation, is God called by the name of "the Lord God Almighty." If you want to know what great things the Lord can do, as the Lord God Almighty, be separate from the world, and from those who apostatize from the truth. The title, "Lord God Almighty" is evidently quoted from the Old Testament. "El-Shaddai", God all-sufficient, the many-breasted God. We shall never know the utmost power of God for supplying all our needs, until we have cut connection once for all with everything which is not according to His mind. That was grand of Abraham when he said to the king of Sodom, "I will not take from you,"—a Babylonish garment, or a wedge of gold? No, no. He said, "I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet." That was "the cut direct." The man of God will have nothing to do with Sodom, or with false doctrine. If you see anything that is evil, give it the direct cut. Be done with those who are done with truth. Then you will be prepared to receive the promise, and not until then.
Dear brethren, remember that wherever there is great love, there is sure to be great jealousy. "Love is strong as death." What next? "Jealousy is cruel as the grave." "God is love"; and for that very reason "The Lord your God is a jealous God." Keep clear of everything that defiles, or that would grieve the Holy Spirit; for if he be vexed with us, we shall soon be put to shame before the enemy.
Note, next, that he makes no promise to cowardice. If you allow the fear of man to rule you, and wish to save self from suffering or ridicule—you will find small comfort in the promise of God. "He who saves his life—shall lose it." The promises of the Holy Spirit to us in our warfare, are to those who are courageous, and by faith are made brave in the hour of conflict. I wish that we were come to this pass, that we utterly despised ridicule andcalumny. Oh, to have the self-oblivion of that Italian martyr of whom Foxe speaks! They condemned him to be burned alive, and he heard the sentence calmly. But, you know, burning martyrs, however delightful, is also expensive; and the mayor of the town did not care to pay for the fagots, and the priests who had accused him also wished to do the work without personal expense. So they had an angry squabble, and there stood the poor man for whose benefits these fagots were to be contributed, quietly hearing their mutual recriminations. Finding that they could not settle it, he said: "Gentlemen, I will end your dispute. It is a pity that you should, either of you, be at so much expense to find fagots for my burning, and, for my Lord's sake, I will even pay for the wood that burns me, if you please." There is a fine touch of scorn as well as meekness there. I do not know that I would have paid that bill; but I have even felt inclined to go a little out of the way to help the enemies of the truth to find fuel for their criticisms of me. Yes, yes; I will yet be more vile, and give them more to complain of. I will go through with the controversy for Christ's sake, and do nothing whatever to quiet their wrath. Brethren, if you trim a little, if you try to save a little of your reputation with the men of the apostasy, it will go ill with you. He who is ashamed of Christ and his Word in this evil generation, shall find that Christ is ashamed of him at the last.
I will be very brief on these points. Remember, next, that the Holy Spirit will never set his seal to falsehood. Never! If what you preach is not the truth, God will not own it. See well to this.
What is more, the Holy Spirit never sets his signature to a blank. That would be unwise on the part of man, and the holy Lord will not perpetrate such a folly. If we do not speak clear doctrine with plainness of speech, the Holy Spirit will not put his signature to our empty prating. If we do not come out distinctly with Christ and him crucified, we may say farewell to true success.
Next, remember that the Holy Spirit will never sanction sin; and to bless the ministry of some men would be to sanction their evil ways. "Be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord." Let your character correspond with your teaching, and let your churches be purged from open transgressors, lest the Holy Spirit disown your teaching, not for its own sake—but because of the ill savor of unholy living which dishonors it.
Remember, again, that he will never encourage idleness. The Holy Spirit will not come to rescue us from the consequences of willful neglect of the Word of God and study. If we allow ourselves to go up and down all the week doing nothing, we may not climb the pulpit stairs and dream that the Lord will be there and then tell us what to speak. If help were promised to such, then the lazier the man—the better the sermon. If the Holy Spirit worked only by impromptu speakers, the less we read our Bibles and the less we meditated on them, the better. If it be wrong to quote from books, "attention to reading" should not have been commanded. All this is obviously absurd, and not one of you will fall into such a delusion. We are bound to be much in meditation, and give ourselves wholly to the Word of God and prayer, and when we have minded these things we may look for the Spirit's approbation and cooperation. We ought to prepare the sermon, as if all depended upon us—and then we are to trust the Spirit of God, knowing that all depends upon Him. The Holy Spirit sends no one into the harvest to sleep among the sheaves—but to bear the burden and heat of the day. We may well pray God to send more "laborers" into the vineyard; for the Spirit will be with the strength of laborers—but he will not be the friend of loiterers.
Recollect, again, that the Holy Spirit will not bless us in order to sustain our pride. Is it not possible that we may be wishing for a great blessing—that we may be thought great men? This will hinder our success: the string of the bow is out of order and the arrow will turn aside. What does God do with men who are proud? Does he exalt them? I trow not. Herod made an eloquent oration, and he put on a dazzling silver robe which glistened in the sun, and when the people saw his vestments and listened to his charming voice, they cried, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man"; but the Lord smote him, and he was eaten of worms. Worms have a prescriptive right to proud flesh; and when we get very mighty and very big, the worms expect to make a meal of us. "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Keep humble, if you would have the Spirit of God with you. The Holy Spirit takes no pleasure in the inflated oratory of the proud; how can he? Would you have him sanction bombast? "Walk humbly with your God", O preacher! for you can not walk with him in any other fashion; and if you walk not with him, your walking will be vain.
Consider, again, that the Holy Spirit will not dwell where there is strife. Let us follow peace with all men, and specially let us keep peace in our churches. Some of you are not yet favored with this blessing; and possibly it is not your fault. You have inherited old feuds. In many a small community, all the members of the congregation are cousins to one another, and relations usually agree to disagree. When cousins cozen their cousins, the seeds of ill-will are sown, and these intrude even into church life. Your predecessor's high-handedness in past time may breed a good deal of quarreling for many years to come. He was a man of war from his youth, and even when he is gone the spirits which he called from the vasty deep remain to haunt the spot. I fear you cannot expect much blessing, for the Holy Dove does not dwell by troubled waters: he chooses to come where brotherly love continues. For great principles, and matters of holy discipline, we may risk peace itself; but for self or party, may such conduct be far from us.
Lastly, remember the Holy Spirit will only bless in conformity with His own set purpose. Our Lord explains what that purpose is: "He shall glorify me." He has come forth for this grand end, and he will not put up with anything short of it. If, then, we do not preach Christ, what has the Holy Spirit to do with our preaching? If we do not make the Lord Jesus glorious; if we do not lift him high in the esteem of men, if we do not labor to make him King of kings, and Lord of lords; we shall not have the Holy Spirit with us. Vain will be rhetoric, music, architecture, energy, and social status: if our one design is not to magnify the Lord Jesus, we shall work alone and work in vain.
This is all I have to say to you at this time; but, my dear brethren, it is a great call if first considered, and then carried out. May it have practical effect upon us! It will, if the great Worker uses it, and not else. Go forth, O soldiers of Jesus, with "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Go forth with the companies of the godly whom you lead, and let every man be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. As men alive from the dead, go forth in the quickening power of the Holy Spirit—you have no other strength. May the blessing of the Triune God rest upon you, one and all, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
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