Absolute Surrender
By Andrew Murray
CONTENTS
2.
"The
Fruit Of The Spirit Is Love "
3.
Separated
Unto The Holy Spirit
5.
"Impossible
With Man, Possible With God "
6.
"O
Wretched Man That I Am! "
7.
"Having
Begun In The Spirit "
Absolute Surrender
"And Ben-hadad the king of
Ahab gave what was asked of him by Benhadad - absolute surrender. I want
to use these words: "My lord, 0 king, according to thy saying, I am thine,
and all that I have," as the words of absolute surrender with which every
child of God ought to yield himself to his Father. We have heard it before, but
we need to hear it very definitely-the condition of God's blessing is absolute
surrender of all into His hands. Praise God! If our hearts are willing for that,
there is no end to what God will do for us, and to the blessing God will bestow.
Absolute surrender-let me tell you where I got those words. I used them
myself often, and you have heard them numerous times. But once, in
"Absolute surrender to God is the one thing."
The words struck me as never before. And that man began to tell how, in
the Christian workers with whom he had to deal, he finds that if they are sound
on that point, they are willing to be taught and helped, and they always
improve. Whereas, others who are not sound there very often go back and leave
the work. The condition for obtaining God's full blessing is absolute surrender
to Him.
And now, I desire by God's grace to give to you this message-that your
God in heaven answers the prayers which you have offered for blessing on
yourselves and for blessing on those around you by this one demand: Are you
willing to surrender yourselves absolutely into His hands? What is our answer to
be? God knows there are hundreds of hearts who have said it, and there are
hundreds more who long to say it but hardly dare to do so. And there are hearts
who have said it, but who have yet miserably failed, and who feel themselves
condemned because they did not find the secret of the power to live that life.
May God have a word for all!
Let me say, first of all, that God claims it from us.
GOD EXPECTS YOUR SURRENDER
Yes, it has its foundation in the very nature of God. God cannot do
otherwise. Who is God? He is the Fountain of life, the only Source of existence
and power and goodness. Throughout the universe there is nothing good but what
God works. God has created the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the trees,
and the grass. Are they not all absolutely surrendered to God? Do they not allow
God to work in them just what He pleases? When God clothes the lily with its
beauty, is it not yielded up, surrendered, given over to God as He works in it
its beauty? And God's redeemed children, oh, can you think that God can do His
work if there is only half or a part of them surrendered? God cannot do it. God
is life, love, blessing, power, and infinite beauty, and God delights in
communicating Himself to every child who is prepared to receive Him. But ah!
this one lack of absolute surrender is just the thing that hinders God. And now
He comes, and as God, He claims it.
You know in daily life what absolute surrender is. You know that
everything has to be given up to its special, definite object and service. I
have a pen in my pocket, and that pen is absolutely surrendered to the one work
of writing. That pen must be absolutely surrendered to my hand if I am to write
properly with it. If another holds it partly, I cannot write properly. This coat
is absolutely given up to me to cover my body. This building is entirely given
up to religious services. And now, do you expect that in your immortal being, in
the divine nature that you have received by regeneration, God can work His work,
every day and every hour, unless you are entirely given up to Him? God cannot.
The
God not only claims it, but God will work it Himself.
GOD ACCOMPLISHES YOUR SURRENDER
I am sure there is many a heart that says: "Ah, but that absolute
surrender implies so much!" Someone says: "Oh, I have passed through
so much trial and suffering, and there is so much of the self-life still
remaining. I dare not face entirely giving it up because I know it will cause so
much trouble and agony."
Alas! alas! that God's children have such thoughts of Him, such cruel
thoughts. I come with a message to those who are fearful and anxious. God does
not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of
your will; God is willing to work it in you. Do we not read: "it is God
that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure"
(Philippians 2:13)? And that is what we should seek-to go on our faces before
God, until our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will
come in to turn out what is wrong. He will conquer what is evil, and work what
is well pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.
Look at the men in the Old Testament, like Abraham. Do you think it was
by accident that God found that man, the father of the faithful and the friend
of God? Do you think that it was Abraham himself, apart from God, who had such
faith and such obedience and such devotion? You know it is not so. God raised
him up and prepared him as an instrument for His glory.
Did God not say to Pharaoh: "For this cause have I raised thee up,
for to show in thee my power" (Exodus 9:16)?
And if God said that of him, will God not say it far more of every child
of His?
Oh, I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. Come
with that feeble desire. If there is the fear which says-"Oh, my desire is
not strong enough. I am not willing for everything that maycome , and I do not
feel bold enough to say I can conquer everything"-l implore you, learn to
know and trust your God now. Say: "My God, I am willing that You should
make me willing." If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice
you are afraid of making, come to God now and prove how gracious your God is. Do
not be afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.
God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these
searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you, they
are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute
surrender. He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy
Spirit. You have hindered and hindered Him terribly, but He desires to help you
to get a hold of Him entirely. And He comes and draws you now by His message and
words. Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to
Himself Yes, blessed be God! He can do it, and He will do it.
God not only claims it and works it, but God accepts it when we bring it
to Him.
GOD ACCEPTS YOUR SURRENDER
God works it in the secret of our heart; God urges us by the hidden power
of His Holy Spirit to come and speak it out, and we have to bring and yield to
Him that absolute surrender. But remember, when you come and bring God that
absolute surrender, it may, as far as your feelings or your consciousness go, be
a thing of great imperfection. You may doubt and hesitate and say:
"Is it absolute?"
But, oh, remember there was once a man to whom Christ had said: "If
thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark
9:23). And his heart was afraid, and he cried out: "Lord, I believe, help
thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24).
That was a faith that triumphed over Satan, and the evil spirit was cast
out. And if you come and say: "Lord, I yield myself in absolute surrender
to my God," even though you do so with a trembling heart and with the
consciousness: "I do not feel the power. I do not feel the determination. I
do not feel the assurance," it will succeed. Do not be afraid, but
come-just as you are. Even in the midst of your trembling the power of the Holy
Spirit will work.
Have you not yet learned the lesson that the Holy Spirit works with
mighty power, while on the human side everything appears feeble? Look at the
Lord Jesus Christ in
And when you do yield yourself in absolute surrender, let it be with the
faith that God does now accept it. That is the great point, and that is what we
so often miss-that believers should be thus occupied with God in this matter of
surrender. Be occupied with God. We want to get help, every one of us, so that
in our daily life God will be clearer to us, God will have the right place, and
be "all in all." And if we are to have that through life, let us begin
now and look away from ourselves and look up to God. Let each believe- I, a poor
worm on earth and a trembling child of God, full of failure, sin, and fear, bow
here, and no one knows what passes through my heart. I simply say, "Oh God,
I accept Your terms. I have pleaded for blessing on myself and others. I have
accepted Your terms of absolute surrender." While your heart says that in
deep silence, remember there is a God present that takes note of it, and writes
it down in His book. There is a God present who at that very moment takes
possession of you. You may not feel it, you may not realize it, but God takes
possession if you will trust Him. God not only claims it and works it and
accepts it when I bring it, but God maintains it.
GOD MAINTAINS YOUR SURRENDER
That is the great difficulty with many. People say: "I have often
been stirred at a meeting or at a convention, and I have consecrated myself to
God.
But it has passed away. I know it may last for a week or for a month, but
it fades away. After a time it is all gone."
But listen! It is because you do not believe what I am now going to tell
you and remind you of. When God has begun the work of absolute surrender in you,
and when God has accepted your surrender, then God holds Himself bound to care
for it and to keep it.
Will you believe that?
In this matter of surrender, there are: God and 1-1 a worm, God the
everlasting and omnipotent Jehovah. Worm, will you be afraid to trust yourself
to this mighty God now? God is willing. Do you not believe that He can keep you
continually, day by day, and moment by moment?
Moment by moment I'm kept in His love;
Moment by moment I've life from above.
If God allows the sun to shine on you moment by moment, without
intermission, will God not let His life shine on you every moment? And why have
you not experienced it? Because you have not trusted God for it, and you do not
surrender yourself absolutely to God in that trust.
A life of absolute surrender has its difficulties. I do not deny that.
Yes, it has something far more than difficulties: it is a life that with men is
absolutely impossible. But by the grace of God, by the power of God, by the
power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, it is a life to which we are destined,
and a life that is possible for us, praise God! Let us believe that God will
maintain it.
Some of you have read the words of that aged saint who, on his ninetieth
birthday, told of all God's goodness to him- I mean George Muller. What did he
say he believed to be the secret of his happiness and of all the blessing which
God had given him? He said he believed there were two reasons. The one was that
he had been enabled by grace to maintain a good conscience before God day by
day. The other was that he was a lover of God's Word. Ah, yes, a good conscience
is complete obedience to God day by day, and fellowship with God everyday in His
Word and prayer-that is a life of absolute surrender.
Such a life has two sides-on one side, absolute surrender to work what
God wants you to do; on the other side, to let God work what He wants to do.
First, to do what God wants you to do.
Give yourselves up absolutely to the will of God. You know something of
that will; not enough, far from all. But say absolutely to the Lord God:
"By Your grace I desire to do Your will in everything, every moment of
every day." Say: "Lord God, not a word upon my tongue but for Your
glory. Not a movement of my temper but for Your glory. Not an affection of love
or hate in my heart but for Your glory, and according to Your blessed
will."
Someone says: "Do you think that possible?"
I ask, What has God promised you, and what can God do to fill a vessel
absolutely surrendered to Him? Oh, God wants to bless you in a way beyond what
you expect. From the beginning, ear has not heard, neither has the eye seen,
what God has prepared for them that wait for Him (I Corinthians 2:9). God has
prepared unheard-of-things, blessings much more wonderful than you can imagine,
more mighty than you can conceive. They are divine blessings. Oh, say now:
"I give myself absolutely to God, to His will, to do only what God
wants."
It is God who will enable you to carry out the surrender.
And, on the other side, come and say: "I give myself absolutely to
God, to let Him work in me to will and to do of His good pleasure, as He has
promised to do."
Yes, the living God wants to work in His children in a way that we cannot
understand, but that God's Word has revealed. He wants to work in us every
moment of the day. God is willing to maintain our life. Only let our absolute
surrender be one of simple, childlike., and unbounded trust.
GOD BLESSES WHEN YOU SURRENDER
This absolute surrender to God brings wonderful blessings.
What Ahab said to his enemy, King Benhadad-"My lord, 0 king,
according to thy word I am thine, and all that I have"will we not say to
our God and loving Father? If we do say it, God's blessing will come upon us.
God wants us to be separate from the world. We are called to come out from the
world that hates God. Come out for God, and say: "Lord, anything for
You." If you say that with prayer, and speak that into God's ear, He will
accept it, and He will teach you what it means.
I say again, God will bless you. You have been praying for blessing. But
do remember, there must be absolute surrender. At every tea-table you see it.
Why is tea poured into that cup? Because it is empty, and given up for the tea.
But put ink or vinegar or wine into it, and will they pour the tea into the
vessel? And can God fill you, can God bless you if you are not absolutely
surrendered to Him? He cannot. Let us believe God has wonderful blessings for us
if we will but stand up for God and say, be it with a trembling will, yet with a
believing heart:
"O God, I accept Your demands. I am Yours and all that I have.
Absolute surrender is what my soul yields to You by divine grace."
You may not have such strong, clear feelings of surrender as you would
like to have, but humble yourselves in His sight, and acknowledge that you have
grieved the Holy Spirit by your self-will, selfconfidence, and self-effort. Bow
humbly before Him in the confession of that, and ask Him to break the heart and
to bring you into the dust before Him. Then, as you bow before Him, just accept
God's teaching that in your flesh "there dwelleth no good thing"
(Romans 7:18), and that nothing will help you except another life which must
come in. You must deny self once and for all. Denying self must every moment be
the power of your life, and then Christ will come in and take possession of you.
When was Peter delivered? When was the change accomplished? The change
began with Peter weeping, and the Holy Spirit came down and filled his heart.
God the Father loves to give us the power of the Spirit. We have the
Spirit of God dwelling within us. We come to God confessing that, and praising
God for it, and yet confessing how we have grieved the Spirit. And then we bow
our knees to the Father to ask that He would strengthen us with all might by the
Spirit in the inner man, and that He would fill us with His mighty power. And as
the Spirit reveals Christ to us, Christ comes to live in our hearts forever, and
the self-life is cast out.
Let us bow before God in humility, and in that humility confess before
Him the state of the whole Church. No words can tell the sad state of the
We are members of that sickly body. The sickliness of the body will
hinder us and break us down, unless we come to God. We must, in confession,
separate ourselves from partnership with worldliness, with coldness toward each
other. We must give ourselves up to be entirely and wholly for God.
How much Christian work is being done in the spirit of the flesh and in
the power of self! How much work, day by day, in which human energy-our will and
our thoughts about the work-is continually manifested, and in which there is
little waiting upon God and upon the power of the Holy Spirit! Let us make a
confession. But as we confess the state of the Church, and the feebleness and
sinfulness of work for God among us, let us come back to ourselves. Who is there
who truly longs to be delivered from the power of the self-life, who truly
acknowledges that it is the power of self and the flesh, and who is willing to
cast all at the feet of Christ? There is deliverance.
I heard of one who had been an earnest Christian, and who spoke about the
"cruel" thought of separation and death. But you do not think that, do
you? What are we to think of separation and death? This-death was the path to
glory for Christ. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross. The cross was
the birthplace of His everlasting glory. Do you love Christ? Do you long to be
in Christ, and yet not like Him? Let death be to you the most desirable thing on
earthdeath to self, and fellowship with Christ. Separation-do you think it a
hard thing to be called to be entirely free from the world, and by that
separation to be united to God and His love, by separation to become prepared
for living and walking with God every day? Surely one ought to say:
"Anything to bring me to separation, to death, for a life of full
fellowship with God and Christ."
Come and cast this self-life and flesh-life at the feet of Jesus. Then
trust Him. Do not worry yourselves with trying to understand all about it, but
come in the living faith that Christ will come into you with the power of His
death and the power of His life. Then the Holy Spirit will bring the whole
Christ-Christ crucified and risen and living in glory-into your heart.
"THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS
LOVE"
I want to look at the fact of a life filled with the Holy Spirit more
from the practical side. I want to show how this life will reveal itself in our
daily walk and conduct.
Under the Old Testament you know the Holy Spirit often came upon men as a
divine Spirit of revelation to reveal the mysteries of God, or for power to do
the work of God. But He did not dwell in them then. Now, many just want the Old
Testament gift of power for work. But, they know very little of the New
Testament gift of the indwelling Spirit, animating and renewing the whole life.
When God gives the Holy Spirit, His great object is the formation of a holy
character. It is a gift of a holy mind and spiritual disposition, and what we
need, above everything else, is to say:
"I must have the Holy Spirit sanctifying my whole inner life if I am
really to live for God's glory. "
You might say that when Christ promised the Spirit to the disciples, He
did so that they might have power to be witnesses. True, but then they received
the Holy Spirit in such heavenly power and reality that He took possession of
their whole being at once and so fitted them as holy men for doing the work with
power as they had to do it. Christ spoke of power to the disciples, but it was
the Spirit filling their whole being that worked the power.
I wish now to dwell upon the passage found in Galatians 5:22:
"The fruit of the Spirit is love."
We read that "Love is the fulfilling of the law"' (Romans 13:
10), and my desire is to speak on love as a fruit of the Spirit with a twofold
object. One is that this word may be a searchlight in our hearts, and give us a
test by which to try all our thoughts about the Holy Spirit and all our
experience of the holy life. Let us try ourselves by this word. Has this been
our daily habit, to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of
love? "The fruit of the Spirit is love." Has it been our experience
that the more we have of the Holy Spirit, the more loving we become? In claiming
the Holy Spirit, we should make this the first object of our expectation. The
Holy Spirit comes as a Spirit of love.
Oh, if this were true in the
One of the great causes why God cannot bless His Church is the lack of
love. When the body is divided, there cannot be strength. In the time of their
great religious wars, when
GOD IS LOVE
Now, why is it that the fruit of the Spirit is love? Because God is love
(I John 4:8).
And what does that mean?
It is the very nature and being of God to delight in communicating
Himself. God has no selfishness; God keeps nothing to Himself. God's nature is
to be always giving. You see it, in the sun and the moon and the stars, in every
flower, in every bird in the air, in every fish in the sea. God communicates
life to His creatures. And the angels around His throne, the seraphim and
cherumbim who are flames of firewhere does their glory come from? It comes from
God because He is love, and He imparts to them part of His brightness and His
blessedness. And we, His redeemed children-God delights to pour His love into
us. Why? Because, as I said, God keeps nothing for Himself. From eternity God
had His only begotten Son, and the Father gave Him all things, and nothing that
God had was kept back. "God is love."
One of the old Church fathers said that we cannot better understand the
Trinity than as a revelation of divine lovethe Father, the loving One, the
Fountain of love-the Son, the beloved one, the Reservoir of love, in whom the
love was poured out-and the Spirit, the living love that united both and then
overflowed into this world. The Spirit of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Father,
and the Spirit of the Son is love. And when the Holy Spirit comes to us and to
other men, will He be less a Spirit of love than He is in God? It cannot be; He
cannot change His nature. The Spirit of God is love, and "the fruit of the
Spirit is love."
MANKIND NEEDS LOVE
Why is that so? That was the one great need of mankind, that was the
thing which Christ's redemption came to accomplish: to restore love to this
world.
When man sinned, why was it that he sinned? Selfishness triumphed-he
sought self instead of God. And just look! Adam at once begins to accuse the
woman of having led him astray. Love to God had gone; love to man was lost. Look
again: of the first two children of Adam, the one becomes a murderer of his
brother.
Does that not teach us that sin had robbed the world of love? Ah! what a
proof the history of the world has been of love having been lost! There may have
been beautiful examples of love even among the heathen, but only as a little
remnant of what was lost. One of the worst things sin did for man was to make
him selfish, for selfishness cannot love.
The Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven as the Son of God's love.
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John
3:16). God's Son came to show what love is , and He lived a life of love here on
earth in fellowship with His disciples, in compassion over the poor and
miserable, in love even to His enemies. And, He died the death of love. And when
He went back to heaven, whom did He send down? The Spirit of love, to come and
banish selfishness and envy and pride, and bring the love of God into the hearts
of men. "The fruit of the Spirit is love."
And what was the preparation for the promise of the Holy Spirit? You know
that promise as found in the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel. But remember
what precedes in the thirteenth chapter. Before Christ promised the Holy Spirit,
He gave a new commandment, and about that new commandment He said wonderful
things. One thing was: "Even as I have loved you, so love ye one
another." To them His dying love was to be the only law of their conduct
and fellowship with each other. What a message to those fishermen, to those men
full of pride and selfishness! "Learn to love each other," said
Christ, "as I have loved you." And by the grace of God they did it.
When Pentecost came, they were of one heart and one soul. Christ did it for
them.
And now He calls us to live and to walk in love. He demands that though a
man hate you, still you love him. True love cannot be conquered by anything in
heaven or on earth. The more hatred there is, the more love triumphs through it
all and shows its true nature. This is the love that Christ commanded His
disciples to exercise.
What more did He say? "By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35).
You all know what it is to wear a badge. And Christ said to His disciples
in effect: "I give you a badge, and that badge is love. That is to be your
mark. It is the only thing in heaven or on earth by which men can know me."
Do we not begin to fear that love has fled from the earth? That if we were to
ask the world: "Have you seen us wear the badge of love?." the world
would say: "No, what we have heard of the
LOVE CONQUERS SELFISHNESS
"The fruit of the Spirit is love." Why? Because nothing but
love can expel and conquer our selfishness.
Self is the great curse, whether in its relation to God, or to our
fellow-men in general, or to fellowChristians, thinking of ourselves and seeking
our own. Self is our greatest curse. But, praise God, Christ came to redeem us
from self. We sometimes talk about deliverance from the self-life-and thank God
for every word that can be said about it to help us, But I am afraid some people
think deliverance from the self-life means that now they are no longer going to
have any. trouble in serving God. They forget that deliverance from self-life
means to be a vessel overflowing with love to everybody all the day.
And there you have the reason why many people pray for the power of the
Holy Spirit. They get something, but oh, so little! because they prayed for
power for work, and power for blessing, but they have not prayed for power for
full deliverance from self. That means not only the righteous self in fellowship
with God, but the unloving self in fellowship with men. And there is
deliverance. "The fruit of the Spirit is love." I bring you the
glorious promise of Christ that He is able to fill our hearts with love.
A great many of us try hard at times to love. We try to force ourselves
to love, and I do not say that is wrong; it is better than nothing. But the end
of it is always very sad. "I fail continually," many must confess. And
what is the reason? The reason is simply this-they have never learned to believe
and accept the truth that the Holy Spirit can pour God's love into their heart.
That blessed text has often been limited!-"The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts" (Romans 5:5). It has often been understood in this sense: It
means the love of God to me. Oh, what a limitation! That is only the beginning.
The love of God is always the love of God in its entirety, in its fullness as an
indwelling power. It is a love of God to me that leaps back to Him in love, and
overflows to my fellow-men in love-God's love to me, and my love to God, and my
love to my fellowmen. The three are one; you cannot separate them.
Do believe that the love of God can be shed abroad in your heart and mind
so that we can love all the day.
"Ah!" you say, "how little I have understood that!"
Why is a lamb always gentle? Because that is its nature. Does it cost the
lamb any trouble to be gentle? No. Why not? It is so beautiful and gentle. Has a
lamb to study to be gentle? No. Why does that come so easy? It is its nature.
And a wolf-why does it cost a wolf no trouble to be cruel, and to put its fangs
into the poor lamb or sheep? Because that is its nature. It does not have to
summon up its courage; the wolf nature is. there.
And how can I learn to love? I cannot learn to love until the Spirit of
God fills my heart with God's love, and I begin to long for God's love in a very
different sense from which I have sought it so selfishly-as a comfort, a joy, a
happiness, and a pleasure to myself. I will not learn it until I realize that
"God is love," and to claim and receive it as an indwelling power for self-sacrifice. I will not love until I begin to see that my glory, my
blessedness, is to be like God and like Christ, in giving up everything in
myself for my fellow-men. May God teach us this! Oh, the divine blessedness of
the love with which the Holy Spirit can fill our hearts! "The fruit of the
Spirit is love."
LOVE IS GOD'S GIFT
Once again I ask, Why must this be so? And my answer is: Without this we
cannot live the daily life of love.
How often, when we speak about the consecrated life, we have to speak
about temper, and people have sometimes said: "You make too much of
temper."
I do not think we can make too much of it. Think for a moment of a clock
and of what its hands mean. The hands tell me what is within the clock, and if I
see that the hands stand still, or that the hands point wrong, or that the clock
is slow or fast, I say that something inside the clock is not working properly.
And temper is just like the revelation that the clock gives of what is within.
Temper is a proof whether the love of Christ is filling the heart or not. How
many there are who find it easier in church, or in prayer meeting, or in work
for the Lord-diligent, earnest work-to be holy and happy than in the daily life
with wife and children. How many find it easier to be holy and happy outside the
home than in it! Where is the love of God? In Christ. God has prepared for us a
wonderful redemption in Christ, and He longs to make something supernatural of
us. Have we learned to long for it, ask for it, and expect it in its fullness?
Then there is the tongue! We sometimes speak of the tongue when we talk
of the better life, and the restful life, but just think what liberty many
Christians give to their tongues. They say:
"I have a right to think what I like."
When they speak about each other, when they speak about their neighbors,
when they speak about other Christians, how often there are sharp remarks! God
keep me from saying anything that would be unloving. God shut my mouth if I am
not to speak in tender love. But what I am saying is a fact. How often sharp
criticism, sharp judgment, hasty opinion, unloving words, secret contempt of
each other, secret condemnation of each other are found among Christians who are
banded together in work! Oh, just as a mother's love covers her children and
delights in them and has the tenderest compassion with their foibles or
failures, so there ought to be in the heart of every believer a motherly love
toward every brother and sister in Christ. Have you aimed at that? Have you
sought it? Have you ever pleaded for it? Jesus Christ said: "As I have
loved you that. ye also love one another" (John 13:34). And He did not put
that among the other commandments, but He said in effect:
"That is a new commandment, the one commandment: Love one another as
I have loved you" (John 13:34).
It is in our daily life and conduct that the fruit of the Spirit is love.
From that comes all the graces and virtues in which love is manifested-joy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness-no sharpness or hardness in your
tone, no unkindness or selfishness, meekness before God and man. You see that
all these are the gentler virtues. I have often thought as I read those words in
Colossians, "Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels
of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering"
(Colossians 3:12), that if we had written this, we should have put in the
foreground the strong virtues, such as zeal, courage, and diligence. But we need
to see how the gentler, the most tender virtues are especially connected with
dependence on the Holy Spirit. These are indeed heavenly graces. They never were
found in the heathen world. Christ was needed to come from heaven to teach us.
Your blessedness is long-suffering, meekness, kindness; your glory is humility
before God. The fruit of the Spirit that He brought from heaven out of the heart
of the crucified Christ, and that He gives in our heart, is first and
foremost-love.
You know what John says: "No man hath seen God at any time. If we
love one another; God dwelleth in us" (I John 4:12). That is, I cannot see
God, but as a compensation I can see my brother, and if I love him, God dwells
in me. Is that really true? That I cannot see God, but I must love my brother,
and God will dwell in me? Loving my brother is the way to real fellowship with
God. You know what John further says in that most solemn test, "If a man
say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"
(I John 4:20). There is a brother, a most unlovable man. He worries you every
time you meet him. He is of the very opposite disposition to yours. You are a
careful businessman, and you have to associate with him in your business. He is
most untidy, unbusiness-like. You say:
"I cannot love him."
Oh, friend, you have not learned the lesson that Christ wanted to teach
above everything. Let a man be what he will, you are to love him. Love is to be
the fruit of the Spirit all the day and every day. Yes, listen! If you don't
love that unlovable man whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have
not seen? You can deceive yourself with beautiful thoughts about loving God. You
must prove your love to God by your love to your brother; that is the one
standard by which God will judge your love to Him. If the love of God is in your
heart, you will love your brother. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
And what is the reason that God's Holy Spirit cannot come in power? Is it
not possible?
You remember the comparison I used in speaking of the vessel. I can dip a
little water into a small vessel, but if a vessel is to be full, it must be
unbroken. And the children of God, wherever they come together, to whatever
church or mission or society they belong, must love each other intensely, or the
Spirit of God cannot do His work. We talk about grieving the Spirit of God by
worldliness and ritualism and formality and error and indifference. But, I tell
you, the one thing above everything that grieves God's Spirit is this lack of
love. Let every heart search itself, and ask that God may search it.
OUR LOVE SHOWS GOD'S POWER
Why are we taught that "the fruit of the Spirit is love"?
Because the Spirit of God has come to make our daily life an exhibition of
divine power and a revelation of what God can do for His children.
In the second and the fourth chapters of Acts, we read that the disciples
were of one heart and of one soul. During the three years they had walked with
Christ, they never had been in that spirit. All Christ's teaching could not make
them of one heart and one soul. But the Holy Spirit came from heaven and shed
the love of God in their hearts, and they were of one heart and one soul. The
same Holy Spirit that brought the love of heaven into their hearts must fill us,
too. Nothing less will do. Even as Christ did, one might preach love for three
years with the tongue of an angel, but that would not teach any man to love
unless the power of the Holy Spirit should come upon him to bring the love of
heaven into his heart.
Think of the Church at large. What divisions! Think of the different
bodies. Take the question of holiness, take the question of the cleansing blood,
take the question of the baptism of the Spirit-what differences are caused among
dear believers by such questions! That there are differences of opinion does not
trouble me. We do not have the same constitution and temperament and mind. But
how often hate, bitterness, contempt, separation, and unlovingness are caused by
the holiest truths of God's Word! Our doctrines, our creeds, have been more
important than love. We often think we are valiant for the truth, and we forget
God's command to speak the truth in love. And it was so in the time of the
Reformation between the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches. What bitterness there
was in regard to communion, which was meant to be the bond of union among all
believers! And so, through the ages, the very dearest truths of God have become
mountains that have separated us.
If we want to pray in power, and if we want to expect the Holy Spirit to
come down in power, and if we indeed want God to pour out His Spirit, we must
enter into a covenant with God that we will love one another with a heavenly
love.
Are you ready for that? Only that is true love that is large enough to
take in all God's children, the most unloving and unlovable and unworthy and
unbearable and trying. If my vow-absolute surrender to God-was sincere, then it
must mean absolute surrender to the divine love to fill me. I must be a servant
of love to love every child of God around me. "The fruit of the Spirit is
love."
Oh, God did something wonderful when He gave Christ, at His right hand,
the Holy Spirit to come down out of the heart of the Father and His everlasting
love. And how we have degraded the Holy Spirit into a mere power by which we
have to do our work! God forgive us! Oh, that the Holy Spirit might be held in
honor as a power to fill us with the very life and nature of God and of Christ!
CHRISTIAN WORK REQUIRES LOVE
"The fruit of the Spirit is love." I ask once again, Why is it
so? And the answer comes: That is the only power in which Christians really can
do their work. Yes, it is love that we need. We want not only love that is to
bind us to each other, but we want a divine love in our work for the lost around
us. Oh, do we not often undertake a great deal of work-just as men undertake
work of philanthropy-from a natural spirit of compassion for our fellow-men? Do
we not often undertake Christian work because our minister. or friend calls us
to it? And do we not often perform Christian work with a certain zeal but
without having had a baptism of love?
People often ask: "What is the baptism of fire?"
I have answered more than once: "I know no fire like the fire of
God, the fire of everlasting love that consumed the sacrifice on
"Lord, let love from heaven flow down into my heart. I am giving up
my life to pray and live as one who has, given himself up for the everlasting
love to dwell in and fill him."
Ali, yes, if the love of God were in our hearts, what a difference it
would make! There are hundreds of believers who say:
"I work for Christ, and I feel I could work much harder, but I do
not have the gift. I do not know how or where to begin. I do not know what I can
do."
Brother, sister, ask God to baptize you with the Spirit of love, and love
will find its way. Love is a fire that will burn through every difficulty. You
may be a shy, hesitating person, who cannot speak well, but love can burn
through everything. God fills us with love! We need it for our work.
You have read many a touching story of love expressed, and you have said,
How beautiful! I heard one not long ago. A lady had been asked to speak at a
Rescue Home where there were a number of poor women. As she arrived there and
passed by the window with the matron, she saw a wretched woman sitting outside,
and asked:
"Who is that?"
The matron answered: "She has been into the house thirty or forty
times, and she has always gone away again. Nothing can be done with her, she is
so low and hard." But the lady said: "She must come in."
The matron then said: "We have been waiting for you, and the company
is assembled, and you have only an hour for the address."
The lady replied: "No, this is of more importance"; and she
went outside where the woman was sitting and said:
"My sister, what is the matter?"
"I am not your sister," was the reply.
The the lady laid her hand on her, and said: "Yes, I am your sister,
and I love you"; and so she spoke until the heart of the poor woman was
touched.
The conversation lasted some time, and the company was waiting patiently.
Ultimately, the lady brought the woman into the room. There was the poor,
wretched, degraded creature, full of shame. She would not sit on a chair, but
sat down on a stool beside the speaker's seat, and she let her lean against her,
with her arms around the poor woman's neck, while, she spoke to the assembled
people. And that love touched the woman's heart; she had found one who really
loved her, and that love gave access to the love of Jesus.
Praise God! there is love on earth in the hearts of God's children; but
oh, that there were more!
O God, baptize our ministers with a tender love, and our missionaries,
our Bible readers, our workers, and our young men's and young women's
associations. Oh, that God would begin with us now, and baptize us with heavenly
love!
LOVE INSPIRES INTERCESSION
Once again. It is only love that can fit us for the work of intercession.
I have said that love must fit us for our work. Do you know what the
hardest and the most important work is that has to be done for this sinful
world? It is the work of intercession, the work of going to God and taking time
to lay hold of Him.
A man may be an earnest Christian, an earnest minister, and a man may do
good, but alas! how often he has to confess that he knows little of what it is
to tarry with God. May God give us the great gift of an intercessory spirit, a
spirit of prayer and supplication! Let me ask you in the name of Jesus not to
let a day pass without praying for all saints, and for all God's people.
I find there are Christians who think little of that. I find there are
prayer unions where they pray for the members, and not for all believers. I pray
you, take time to pray for the
The state of Christ's Church is indescribably low. Plead for God's people
that He would visit them, plead for each other, plead for all believers who are
trying to work for God. Let love fill your heart. Ask Christ to pour fresh love
into you everyday. Try to grasp, by the Holy Spirit of God: I am separated unto
the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love. God help us to understand
it.
May God grant that we learn day by day to wait more quietly upon Him. We
must not wait upon God only for ourselves, or the power to do so will soon be
lost. But, we must give ourselves up to the ministry and the love of
intercession, and pray more for God's people in general, for God's people around
us, for the Spirit of love in ourselves and in them, and for the work of God we
are connected with. The answer will surely come, and our waiting upon God will
be a source of untold blessing and power. "The fruit of the Spirit is
love."
Have you a lack of love to confess before God? Then make confession and
say before Him, "O Lord, my lack of heart, my lack of love-I confess
it." And then, as you cast that lack at His feet, believe that the blood
cleanses you, that Jesus comes in His mighty, cleansing, saving power to deliver
you, and that He will give His Holy Spirit. "The Fruit of the Spirit is
love."
SEPARATED
UNTO THE HOLY SPIRIT
"Now there were in the church that was at
"And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them,
they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto
In the story of our text, we find some precious thoughts to guide us to
what God would have of us, and what God would do for us. The great lesson of the
verses quoted is this: The Holy Spirit is the director of the work of God upon
the earth. And what we should do if we are to rightly work for God, and if God
is to bless our work, is to see that we stand in a right relationship with the
Holy Spirit. We must see that we give Him the place of honor that belongs to Him
everyday. In all our work and (what is more) in all our Private, inner life, the
Holy Spirit must always have the first place. Let me point out to you some of
the precious thoughts our passage suggests.
First of all, we see that God has His own plans with regard to His
Kingdom. His church at
Our great Commander organizes every campaign, and His generals and
officers do not always know the great plans. They often receive sealed orders,
and they have to wait for Him to reveal their contents. God in heaven has wishes
and a will, in regard to any work that ought to be done, and to the way in which
it has to be done. Blessed is the man who receives God's secrets and works under
Him.
Some years ago, at
"Last year we gathered here to lay the foundation stone, and what
was there then to be seen? Nothing but rubbish and stones and bricks and ruins
of an old building that had been pulled down. There we laid the foundation
stone, and very few knew what the building was that was to rise. No one knew it
perfectly in every detail except one man, the architect. In his mind it was all
clear, and as the contractor and the mason and the carpenter came to do their
work, they took their orders from him. The humblest laborer had to be obedient
to orders. The structure rose, and this beautiful building has been completed.
And just so," he added, "this building that we open today is but
laying the foundation of a work of which only God knows what is to become."
But God has His workers and His plans clearly mapped out. Our position is
to wait so that God may communicate to us as much of His will as is needful.
We simply have to be faithful in obedience, carrying out His orders. God
has a plan for His Church on earth. But alas! we too often make our own plan. We
think that we know what ought to be done. We ask God first to bless our feeble
efforts, instead of absolutely refusing to go unless God goes before us. God has
planned for the work and the extension of His Kingdom. The Holy Spirit has had
that work given in charge to Him, "The work whereunto I have called
them." May God, therefore, help us all to be afraid of touching "the
ark of God" (2 Samuel 6:6), except as we are led by the Holy Spirit.
Then the second thought-God is willing and able to reveal to His servants
what His will is.
Yes, blessed be God, communications still come down from heaven! As we
read here what the Holy Spirit said, so the Spirit will still speak to His
Church and His people. In these latter days, He has often done it. He has come
to individual men, and by His divine teaching He has led them out into fields of
labor that others could not at first understand or approve. He has led them into
ways and methods that did not appeal to the majority. But the Holy Spirit still,
in our time, teaches His people. Thank God, in our foreign missionary societies
and in our home missions, and in a thousand forms of work, the guiding of the
Holy Spirit is known. But (we are all ready, I think, to confess) He is too
little known. We have not learned to wait upon Him enough, and so we should make
a solemn declaration before God: Oh God, we want to wait more for You to show us
Your will.
Do not ask God only for power. Many a Christian has his own plan of
working, but God must send the power. The man works in his own will, and God
must give the grace-the one reason why God often gives so little grace and so
little success. But let us all take our place before God, and say:
"What is done in the will of God, the strength of God will not be
withheld from it. What is done in the will of God must have the mighty blessing
of God."
And so let our first desire be to have the will of God revealed.
If you ask me, Is it any easy thing to get these communications from
heaven, and to understand them? I can give you the answer. It is easy to those
who are in proper fellowship with heaven, and who understand the art of waiting
on God in prayer. How often we ask: How can a person know the will of God? And
people want, when they are in perplexity, to pray very earnestly so that God
would answer them at once. But God can only reveal His will to a heart that is
humble and tender and empty. God can only reveal His will in perplexities and
special difficulties to a heart that has learned to obey and honor Him loyally
in little things and in daily life.
That brings me to the third thought- Note the disposition to which the
Spirit reveals God's will.
What do we read here? There were a number of men ministering to the Lord
and fasting, and the Holy Spirit came and spoke to them. Some people understand
this passage as they would in reference to a missionary committee of our day. We
see there is an open field, and we have had our missions in other fields. We are
going to get on to that field. We have virtually settled that, and we pray about
it. But the position was a very different one in those former days. I doubt
whether any of them thought of Europe (for later on even Paul himself tried to
go back into
"O Lord," they seem to say, "we are Your servants, and in
fasting and prayer we wait upon You. What is Your will for us?"
Was it not the same with Peter? He was on the housetop, fasting and
praying, and little did he think of the vision and the command to go to
It is in hearts entirely surrendered to the Lord Jesus, separating
themselves from the world, and even from ordinary religious exercises, and
giving themselves up in intense prayer to look to their Lord, that the heavenly
will of God will be made manifest.
You know that word fasting occurs a second time (in the third verse):
"They fasted and prayed." When you pray, you love to go into your
closet, accordin g to the command of Jesus, and shut the door. You shut out
business and company and pleasure and anything that can distract, and you want
to be alone with God. But in one way, even the material world follows you there.
You must eat. These men wanted to shut themselves out from the influences of the
material and the visible, and they fasted. What ,they ate was simply enough to
supply the wants of nature. In the intensity of their souls, they thought to
give expression to their letting go of everything on earth in their fasting
before God. Oh, may God give us that intensity of desire-that separation from
everything-because we want to wait upon God, that the Holy Spirit may reveal to
us God's blessed will.
The fourth thought- What is now the will of God as the Holy Spirit
reveals it? It is contained in one phrase: Separation unto the Holy Spirit. That
is the keynote of the message from heaven.
"Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called
them. The work is mine; and I care for it; and I have chosen these men and
called them; and I want you who represent the
Look at this heavenly message in its twofold aspect. The men were to be
set apart to the Holy Spirit, and the Church was to do this separating work. The
Holy Spirit could trust these men to do it in a right spirit. There they were
abiding in fellowship with the heavenly. The Holy Spirit could say to them,
"Do the work of separating these men." And these were the men the Holy
Spirit had prepared, and He could say of them, "Let them be separated unto
me."
Here we come to the very root-the very lifeof the need of Christian
workers. The question is: What is needed so that the power of God would rest on
us more mightily? What is needed so that the blessing of God would be poured out
more abundantly among those poor, wretched people and perishing sinners among
whom we labor? And the answer from heaven is:
"I want men separated unto the Holy Spirit."
What does that imply? You know that there are two spirits on earth.
Christ said, when He spoke about the Holy Spirit: "The world cannot receive
him" (John 14:17). Paul said: "We have received not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit that is of God" (I Corinthians 2:12). That is the
great want in every worker-the spirit of the world going out, and the Spirit of
God coming in to take possession of the inner life and of the whole being.
I am sure there are workers who often cry to God for the Holy Spirit to
come upon them as a Spirit of power for their work. When they feel that measure
of power, and receive blessing, they thank God for it. But God wants something
more and something higher. God wants us to seek for the Holy Spirit as a Spirit
of power in our own heart and life, to conquer self and cast out sin, and to
work the blessed and beautiful image of Jesus into us.
There is a difference between the power of the Spirit as a gift and the
power of the Spirit for the grace of a holy life. A man may often have a measure
of the power of the Spirit, but if there is not a large measure of the Spirit as
the Spirit of grace and holiness, the defect will be evident in his work. He may
be made the means of conversion, but he never will help people on to a higher
standard of spiritual life. When he passes away, a great deal of his work may
pass away, too. But a man who is separated unto the Holy Spirit is a man who is
given up to say:
"Father, let the Holy Spirit have full dominion over me, in my home,
in my temper, in every word of my tongue, in every thought of my heart, in every
feeling toward my fellow-men. Let the Holy Spirit have entire possession."
Is that what has been the longing and the convenant of your heart with
your God-to be a man or a woman separated and given up unto the Holy Spirit? I
pray you listen to the voice of heaven: "Separate me," said the Holy
Spirit. Yes, separated unto the Holy Spirit. May God grant that the Word may
enter into the very depths of our being to search us, and if we discover that we
have not come out from the world entirely-if God discloses to us that selflife,
self-will, self-exaltation are there-let us humble ourselves before Him.
Man, woman, brother, sister, you are a worker separated unto the Holy
Spirit. Is that true? Has that been your longing desire? Has that been your
surrender? Has that been what you have expected through faith in the power of
our Risen and Almighty Lord Jesus? If not, here is the call of faith, and here
is the key of blessing-separated unto the Holy Spirit. God write the word in our
hearts!
I said the Holy Spirit spoke to that church as a church capable of doing
that work. The Holy Spirit trusted them. God grant that our churches, our
missionary societies, and our workers' unions, that all our directors and
councils and committees may be men and women who are fit for the work of
separating workers unto the Holy Spirit. We can ask God for that, too.
Then comes my fifth thought, and it is this: This holy partnership with
the Holy Spirit in this work becomes a matter of consciousness and of action.
These men, what did they do? They set apart Paul and Barnabas, and then
it is written of the two that they, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went
down to Silica. Oh, what fellowship! The Holy Spirit in heaven doing part of the
work, men on earth doing the other part. After the ordination of the men on
earth, it is written in God's inspired Word that they were sent forth by the
Holy Spirit.
And see how this partnership calls to new prayer and fasting. They had
for a certain time been ministering to the Lord and fasting, perhaps days. The
Holy Spirit speaks, and they have to do the work and to enter into partnership,
and at once they come together for more prayer and fasting. That is the spirit
in which they obey the command of their Lord. And that teaches us that it is not
only in the beginning of our Christian work, but all along, that we need to have
our strength in prayer. If there is one thought with regard to the Church of
Christ which at times comes to me with overwhelming sorrow; if there is one
thought in regard to my own life of which I am ashamed; if there is one thought
of which I feel that the Church of Christ has not accepted and not grasped; if
there is one thought which makes me pray to God: "Oh, teach us by Your
grace, new things"-it is the wonderful power that prayer is meant to have
in the Kingdom. We have so little availed ourselves of it.
We have all- read the expression of Christian in Bunyan's great work,
when he found he had the key in his breast that should unlock the dungeon. We
have the key that can unlock the dungeon of atheism for us. The Holy Spirit,
into whose hands God has put the work, has been called "the executive of
the Holy Trinity." The Holy Spirit has not only power, but He has the
Spirit of love. He is brooding over this dark world and every sphere of work in
it, and He is willing to bless. And why is there not more blessing? There can be
only one answer. We have not honored the Holy Spirit as we should have done. Is
there one who can say that that is not true? Is not every thoughtful heart ready
to cry: "God forgive me that I have not honored the Holy Spirit as I should
have done, that I have grieved Him, that I have allowed self, the flesh, and my
own will to work where the Holy Spirit should have been honored! May God forgive
me that I have allowed self, the flesh, and the will to actually have the place
that God wanted the Holy Spirit to have."
Oh, the sin is greater than we know! No wonder that there is so much
feebleness and failure in the
PETER'S REPENTANCE
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered
the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61, 62).
That was the turning point in the life of Peter. Christ had said to him:
"Thou canst not follow me now" (John 13:36). Peter was not in a fit
state to follow Christ, because he had not been brought to an end of himself. He
did not know himself, and he therefore could not follow Christ. But when he went
out and wept bitterly, then came the great change. Christ previously said to
him: "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32).
Here is the point Where Peter was converted from self to Christ.
I thank God for the story of Peter. I do not know a man in the Bible who
gives us greater comfort. When we look at his character, so full of failures,
and at what Christ made him by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is hope for
every one of us. But remember, before Christ could fill Peter with the Holy
Spirit and make a new man of him, he had to go out and weep bitterly; he had to
be humbled. If we want to understand this, I think there are four points that we
must look at. First, let us look at Peter the devoted disciple of Jesus; next,
at Peter as he lived the life of self; then, at Peter in his repentance; and
last, at what Christ made of Peter by the Holy Spirit.
PETER THE DEVOTED DISCIPLE OF CHRIST
Christ called Peter to forsake his nets and follow Him. Peter did it at
once, and afterward he could rightly say to the Lord:
"We have forsaken all and followed thee" (Matthew 19:27).
Peter was a man of absolute surrender; he gave up all to follow Jesus.
Peter was also a man of ready obedience. You remember Christ said to him,
"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets." Peter the
fisherman knew there were no fish there, for they had been fishing all night and
had caught nothing; but he said: "At thy word I will let down the net"
(Luke 5:4,5). He submitted to the word of Jesus. Further, he was a man of great
faith. When he saw Christ walking on the sea, he said: "Lord, if it be
thou, bid me come unto thee" (Matthew 14:-28). At the voice of Christ, he
stepped out of the boat and walked on the water.
And Peter was a man of spiritual insight. When Christ asked the
disciples: "Whom say ye that I am?"
Peter was able to answer: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God." And Christ said: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven" (Matthew 16:15-17). And Christ spoke of him as the rock man, and of
his having the keys of the Kingdom. Peter was a splendid man, a devoted disciple
of Jesus, and if he were living now, everyone would say that he was an advanced
Christian. And yet how much there was wanting in Peter!
PETER LIVING THE LIFE OF SELF
You recollect that just after Christ had said to him: "Flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven,"
Christ began to speak about His sufferings, and Peter dared to say, "Be it
far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee." Then Christ had to say:
"Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou savorest not the things that be of
God, but those that be of men" (Matthew 16:22-23).
There was Peter in his self-will, trusting his own wisdom, and actually
forbidding Christ to go and die. Where did that come from? Peter trusted in
himself and his own thoughts about divine things. We see later on, more than
once, that the disciples questioned who should be the greatest among them. Peter
was one of them, and he thought he had a right to the very first place. He
sought his own honor above the others. The life of self was strong in Peter. He
had left his boats and his nets, but not his old self.
When Christ had spoken to him about His sufferings, and said: "Get
thee behind me, Satan," He followed it up by saying: "If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me"
(Matthew 16:24). No man can follow Him unless he does that. Self must be utterly
denied. What does that mean? When Peter denied Christ, we read that he said
three times: "I know Him not" (Luke 22:57). In other words he said,
"I have nothing to do with Him; He and I are not friends. I deny having any
connection with Him." Christ told Peter that he must deny self. Self must
be ignored, and its every claim rejected. That is the root of true discipleship.
But Peter did not understand it and could not obey it. And what happened? When
the last night came, Christ said to him:
"Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice" (Mark
14:30).
But with self-confidence Peter said: "Though all shall be offended,
yet will not !. I am ready to go with thee, to prison and to death" (Mark
14:29; Luke 22:33).
Peter meant it honestly, and he really intended to do it; but Peter did
not know himself. He did not believe he was as bad as Jesus said he was.
We perhaps think of individual sins that come between us and God. But
what are we to do with that sell'-life which is all unclean-our very nature?
What are we to do with that flesh that is entirely under the power of sin?
Deliverance from that is what we need. Peter knew it not, and therefore it was
in selfconfidence that he went forth and denied his Lord.
Notice how Christ uses that word deny twice. He said to Peter the first
time, "Deny himself" (Matthew 16:24); He said to Peter the second
time, "Thou shalt deny me" (Matthew 26:34). It is either of the two.
There is no other choice for us; we must either deny self or deny Christ. There
are two great powers fighting each otherthe self-nature in the power of sin, and
Christ in the power of God. Either of these must rule within us.
It was self that made the devil. He was an angel of God, but he wanted to
exalt self. He became a devil in hell. Self was the cause of the fall of man.
Eve wanted something for herself, and so our first parents fell into all the
wretchedness of sin. We, their children, have inherited an awful nature of sin.
PETER'S REPENTANCE
Peter denied his Lord three times, and then the Lord looked upon him.
That look of Jesus broke Peter's heart. The terrible sin that he had committed,
the terrible failure that had come, and the depth into which he had fallen
suddenly opened up before him. Then, "Peter went out and wept
bitterly."
Oh! who can tell what that repentance must have been? During the
following hours of that night, and the next day-when he saw Christ crucified and
buried, and the next day, the Sabbath-oh, what hopeless despair and shame he
must have felt!
"My Lord is gone; my hope is gone; and I denied my Lord. After that
life of love, after that blessed fellowship of three years, I denied my Lord.
God have mercy upon me!"
I do not think we can imagine the depth of humiliation Peter sank into
then. But that was the turning point and the change. On the first day of the
week, Christ was seen by Peter, and in the evening He met him with the others.
Later on at the
PETER TRANSFORMED
Now, Peter was prepared for deliverance from self, and that is my last
thought. You know Christ took him with the others to the footstool of the
throne, and told them to wait there. Then, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy
Spirit came, and Peter was a changed man. I do not want you to think only of the
change in Peter, in that boldness, that power, that insight into the Scriptures,
and that blessing with which he preached that day. Thank God for that. But there
was something deeper and better which happened to Peter. His whole nature was
changed. The work that Christ began in Peter when He looked upon him was
perfected when he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
If you want to see that, read the first epistle of Peter. You know
wherein Peter's failings lay. When he said to Christ, in effect: "Thou
never canst suffer; it cannot be"-it showed he did not have a conception of
what it was to pass through death into life. Christ said: "Deny
thyself," and in spite of that he denied his Lord. When Christ warned him:
"Thou shalt deny me" (Matthew 26:34), and he insisted that he never
would, Peter showed how little he understood what there was in himself. But when
I read his epistle and hear him say: "If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you"
(I Peter 4:14), then I say that it is not the old Peter, but that it is the very
Spirit of Christ breathing and speaking within him.
I read again how he says: "Hereunto were ye called, to suffer,
because Christ also suffered" (I Peter 2:21). 1 understand what a change
had come over Peter. Instead of denying Christ, he found joy and pleasure in
having self denied, crucified, and given up to the death. And therefore, we read
in Acts that when he was called before the Council he could boldly say: "We
ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29), and that he could return
with the other disciples and rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer for
Christ's name.
You remember his self-exaltation; but now he has found out that "the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price"
(I Peter 3:4). Again he tells us to be "subject one to another, and be
clothed with humility" (I Peter 5:5).
Dear friend, I implore you, look at Peter utterly changed-the
self-pleasing, the self-trusting, the self-seeking Peter, full of sin,
continually getting into trouble, foolish and impetuous, now filled with the
Spirit and the life of Jesus. Christ had done it for him by the Holy Spirit.
And now, what is the point in my having thus very briefly pointed to the
story of Peter? That story must be the history of every believer who is really
to be made a blessing by God. That story is a prophecy of what everyone can
receive from God in heaven.
Now, let us just glance hurriedly at what these lessons teach us.
The first lesson is this- You may be a very earnest, godly, devoted
believer, in whom the power of the flesh is still very strong.
That is a very solemn truth. Peter, before he denied Christ, had cast out
devils and had healed the sick. Yet, the flesh had power; and, the flesh had
room in him. Oh, beloved, we have to realize that it is because there is so much
of that selflife in us that the power of God cannot work in us as mightily as He
desires that it should work. Do you realize that the great God is longing to
double His blessing, to give tenfold blessing through us? But there is something
hindering Him, and that something is a proof of nothing but the self-life. We
talk about the pride of Peter, and the impetuosity of Peter, and the self
confidence of Peter. It is all rooted in that one word, self Christ had said,
"Deny self," and Peter had never understood, and never obeyed. Every
failing came out of that.
What a solemn thought, and what an urgent plea for us to cry: Oh God, do
show this to us so that none of us may be living the self-life! It has happened
to people who have been Christians for years; it has happened to people who have
perhaps occupied prominent positions-God found them out and taught them to find
out about themselves. They became utterly ashamed and fell broken before God.
Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow and pain and agony that came to them, until at
last they found that therewas deliverance! Peter went out and wept bitterly.
There may be many godly people in whom the power of the flesh still rules.
And then my second lesson is - It is the work of our blessed Lord Jesus
to disclose the power of self.
How was it that Peter-the carnal Peter, selfwilled Peter, Peter with the
strong self-love-ever became a man of Pentecost and the writer of his epistles?
It was because Christ placed him in charge, and Christ watched over him, and
Christ taught and blessed him. The warnings that Christ had given him were part
of the training. Last of all, there came that look of love. In His suffering,
Christ did not for-get him, but turned around and looked upon him, and
"Peter went out and wept bitterly." And the Christ who led Peter to
Pentecost is waiting today to take charge of every heart that is willing to
surrender itself to Him.
Are there not some saying: "Ah! that is the problem with me; it is
always the self-life, selfcomfort, self-consciousness, selfpleasing, and self
will. How am I to get rid of it?"
My answer is: It is Christ Jesus who can rid you of it. No one else but
Christ Jesus can give deliverance from the power of self. And what does He ask
you to do? He asks that you should humble yourself before Him.
IMPOSSIBLE WITH MAN, POSSIBLE
WITH GOD
"And he said, the things which are impossible with men are possible
with God" (Luke 18:27).
Christ had said to the rich young ruler, "Sell all that thou hast
... and come, follow me." The young man went away sorrowful. Christ then
turned to the disciples,: and said: "How hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the
The text contains two thoughts-that in the question of salvation and of
following Christ by a holy life, it is impossible for man to do it. And then
alongside that is the thought-- What is impossible with man is possible with
God.
These two thoughts mark the two great lessons that man has to learn in
the Christian life. It often takes a long time to learn the first lesson-that in
the Christian life man can do nothing, that salvation is impossible to man. And
often a man learns that, and yet he does not learn the second lesson-what has
been impossible to him is possible with God. Blessed is the man who learns both
lessons! The learning of them marks stages in the Christian's life.
MAN CANNOT
The one stage is when a man is trying to do his utmost and fails, when a
man tries to do better and falls again, when a man tries much more and always
fails. And yet, very often he does not even then learn the lesson: With man it
is impossible to serve God and Christ. Peter spent three years in Christ's
school, and he never learned, it is impossible, until he had denied his Lord,
went out, and wept bitterly. Then he learned it.
Just look for a moment at a man who is learning this lesson. At first, he
fights against it. Then, he submits to it, but reluctantly and in despair. At
last, he accepts it A,llllngly and rejoices in it. At the beginning of the
Christian life, the young convert has no conception of this truth. He has been
converted; he has the joy of the Lord in his heart; he begins to run the race
and fight the battle. He is sure he can conquer, for he is earnest and honest,
and God will help him. Yet, somehow, very soon he fails where he did not expect
it, and sin gets the better of him. He is disappointed, but he thinks: "I
was not cautious enough. I did not make my resolutions strong enough." And
again he vows, and again he prays, and yet he fails. He thinks: "Am I not,
a redeemed man? Have I not the life of God within me?" And he thinks again:
"Yes, and I have Christ to help me. I can live the holy life."
At a later period, he comes to another state of mind. He begins to see
such a life is impossible, but he does not accept it. There are multitudes of
Christians who come to this point: "I cannot." They then think that
God never expected them to do what they cannot do. If you tell them that God
does expect it, it is a mystery to them. A good many Christians are living a low
life-a life of failure and of sin-instead of rest and victory, because they
began to say: "I cannot, it is impossible." And yet they do not
understand it fully. So, under the impression, I cannot, they give way to
despair. They will do their best, but they never expect to get on very far.
But God leads His children on to a third stage. A man comes to take, it
is impossible, in its full truth, and yet at the same time says: "I must do
it, and I will do it-it is impossible for man, and yet I must do it." The
renewed will begins to exercise its whole power, and in intense longing and
prayer begins to cry to God: "Lord, what is the meaning of this? How am I
to be freed from the power of sin?"
It is the state of the regenerate man in Romans, chapter seven. There you
will find the Christian man trying his very utmost to live a holy life. God's
law has been revealed to him as reaching down into the very depth of the desires
of the heart. The man can dare to say:
"I delight in the law of God after the inward man. To will what is
good is present with me. My heart loves the law of God, and my will has chosen
that law."
Can a man like that fail, with his heart full of delight in God's law and
with his will determined to do 'What is right? Yes. That is what Romans, chapter
seven teaches us. There is something more needed. Not only must I delight in the
law of God after the inward man and will what God wills, but I need a divine
omnipotence to work it in me. And that is what the apostle Paul teaches in
Philippians 2:13: "It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do
of his good pleasure."
Note the contrast. In Romans, chapter seven, the regenerate man says:
"To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find
not" (Romans 7:18). But in Philippians, chapter two, you have a man who has
been led on farther. He is a man who understands that when God has worked the
renewed will, God will give the power to accomplish what that will desires. Let
us receive this as the first great lesson in the spiritual life: "It is
impossible for me, my God. Let there be an end of the flesh and all its powers,
an end of self, and let it be my glory to be helpless.
Praise God for the divine teaching that makes us helpless!
When you thought of absolute surrender to God, were you not brought to an end of yourself? Did you not feel that you could see how you actually could live as a -nan absolutely surrendered to God every moment of the day-at your table, in your house, in your business, in the midst of trials and temptations? I pray you learn the lesson now. If you felt you could not do it, you are on the right road, if you let yourselves be led. Accept that position, and