Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1662
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, May 28, 1882
“He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified).” John 7:38,39.
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.”
John 16:7.
IT is essential, dear Friends, that we should worship the living and true God. It will be ill for us if it can be said, “You worship you know not what.” “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” The heathens err from this command by multiplying gods and making this and that image to be the object of their adoration. Their excess runs to gross superstition and idolatry. I fear that sometimes we who, “profess and call ourselves Christians,” err in exactly the opposite direction. Instead of worshipping more than God, I fear we worship less than God. This appears when we forget to pay due adoration to the Holy Spirit of God. The true God is triune—Father Son, and Holy Spirit— and though there is but one God, yet that one God has manifested Himself to us in the trinity of His sacred Persons.
If, then, I worship the Father and the Son, but forget or neglect to adore the Holy Spirit, I worship less than God. While the poor heathen, in his ignorance, goes far beyond and transgresses, I must take care lest I fall short and fail, also. What a grievous thing it will be if we do not pay that loving homage and reverence to the Holy Spirit which is so justly His due. May it not be the fact that we enjoy less of His power and see less of His working in the world because the Church of God has not been sufficiently mindful of Him? It is a blessed thing to preach the work of Jesus Christ, but it is an evil thing to omit the work of the Holy Spirit—for the work of the Lord Jesus, itself, is no blessing to that man who does not know the work of the Holy Spirit!
There is the ransom price, but it is only through the Spirit that we know the redemption! There is the precious blood, but it is as though the fountain had never been filled unless the Spirit of God leads us with repenting faith to wash therein! The bandage is soft and the ointment is effectual, but the wound will never be healed till the Holy Spirit shall apply that which the great Physician has provided. Let us not, therefore, be found neglectful of the work of the Divine Spirit, lest we incur guilt and inflict upon ourselves serious damage. You that are Believers have the most forcible reasons to hold the Holy Spirit in the highest esteem, for what are you now without Him? What were you and what would you still have been if it had not been for His gracious work upon you?
He quickened you, otherwise you had not been in the living family of God today. He gave you understanding that you might know the Truth of God, otherwise would you have been as ignorant as the carnal world is at this hour! It was He that awakened your conscience, convincing you of sin! It was He that gave you abhorrence of sin and led you to repent—it was He that taught you to believe and made you see that glorious Person who is to be believed, even Jesus, the Son of God! The Spirit has worked in you your faith, love, hope and every other Grace of God! There is not a jewel upon the neck of your soul which He did not place there—
“For every virtue we possess, And every victory won, And every thought of holiness, Are His and His alone.”
What have we learned, if we have learned aright, except by the teaching of the Holy Spirit? What can we say either in prayer to God or in teaching to men that shall be acceptable unless we receive the unction of the Holy One of Israel?
Brothers and Sisters, who is it that has comforted us in our distresses; directed us in our perplexities; strengthened us in our weaknesses and helped our infirmities in ten thousand ways? Is it not the Comforter whom the Father has sent in Jesus’ name? Can I speak too highly of the riches of His Grace toward us? Can I too much extol the love of the Spirit? I know I cannot and you that know what He has worked in you delight to hear Him highly spoken of and His work and offices set forth! We are bound by a thousand ties to seek His honor who has worked in us our salvation! Let us never grieve Him by our ingratitude, but let us endeavor to extol Him.
For my part, it shall be the labor of this morning to impress upon you the necessity for His work and the superlative value of it. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, notwithstanding all that the Spirit of God has already done in us, it is very possible that we have missed a large part of the blessing which He is willing to give, for He is able to “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” We have already come to Jesus and we have drunk of the life-giving stream—our thirst is quenched and we are made to live in Him. Is this all? Now that we are living in Him and rejoicing to do so, have we come to the end of the matter?