INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
SPURGEON has two sermons on this topic.
“The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, becauseit sees Him not,
neither knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be
in you.” John 14:17.
“But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you.”
I. To come close up to my subject, the first head will be BELIEVERS IN
JESUS CHRIST KNOW THE HOLY SPIRIT. Theyknow Him, to begin
with, by believing what has been taught them concerning the Comforter by
the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christhad taught His people concerning
the Holy Spirit and they had receivedHis teaching, He said, “You know Him.
For He dwells with you and shall be in you.” If they had refused the sayings of
Christ, if they had possessedno love, if they had not kept His commandments,
if they had arrogantlyresolved to find out this mystery for themselves by their
own thinking, apart from the instruction of their Master, they would not have
known the Spirit of God. We must begin our acquaintance with the Spirit by
sitting at the feet of Jesus and accepting His testimony as sure. But more than
this—we know the Holy Spirit by knowing our Lord Jesus and by Him
knowing the Father. There is such an intimate union betweenthe Holy Spirit,
the Father, and the Son, that to know the Holy Spirit we must know the Son of
God, and know the Father. If we know the Lord Jesus, we have the Spirit of
God, for by no one else could the things of Christ be revealedto us. Beginning
then, at the very beginning—do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? You know
something about Him—but do you know Him? Is He your friend, your
acquaintance? Are you on personalterms of fellowship with Him? If so, then

you see the Fatherin His face. Jesus says, “He that has seenMe has seenthe
Father.” And He tells His people, “Fromhenceforth you know Him and have
seenHim.” You are, therefore, acquainted with God the Father through Jesus
Christ the Son. And you have seenthe glory of His grace beaming in your
Savior’s face. In this wayyou have become acquainted with the Holy Spirit
who is not divided from the Father and the Son. As you know the Son you
know the Father, and in this way you come to know the Holy Spirit. No man
comes to the Father but by the Son, and he that comes to the Father receives
the Spirit. We know the Holy Spirit, next, by His operations upon us. We not
only know about His operations but we have been the subjects of them. All
those who are true disciples of Christ have felt a divinely supernatural power
working upon them. First, the Holy Spirit operates to our spiritual
quickening. There was a time when we were dead in trespasses andin sins—
holy feeling was unknown to us and the life of faith was far from us. At that
time we did not desire nor even know spiritual things—we were carnally
minded and the carnal mind knows not the things which are of God. The
Spirit of Godcame upon us and we were awakenedand made to live. Do you
remember that? Many of us candistinctly remember when we passedfrom
death unto life. With others, the visible life may have been made manifest
more gradually, but even in them there was a moment when the vital force
entered the soul and they can now rejoice that they have been quickenedwho
were once spiritually dead. You know the Spirit in measure when He breathes
upon your dead heart and it begins to throb with the heavenly life. In
connectionwith that quickening there was convictionof sin. In what a
powerful light does the Holy Spirit set our sin! In my discourses to you about
sin I try to show you how heinous it is and how terrible are its consequences.
But when a single beam from the Spirit of truth shines upon sin, it makes it
appear “exceeding sinful.” I remember how Mr. Bunyan said, when under
conviction, “I thought none but the devil himself could equal me for inward
wickednessand pollution of mind.” When the Spirit of God revealedhim to
himself he would have willingly changedplaces with toads and serpents for he
esteemedthe most loathsome objects to be better than himself. This revelation
of darkness is the effectof light—the light of the Spirit of God. And when He
convicts us of sin we begin to know Him. After having convictedus of sin, He
leads us to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ—thenwe know Him! How

many a promise did some of you hear but you could not receive it! How many
a comforting discourse did you listen to and yet it did not comfort you! But
when the Spirit of God came—in a moment you saw Jesus as the consolation
of Israel, the friend of sinners, the atoning sacrifice, the Surety of the covenant
of grace—andsweetpeacecame streaming into your soul! At that time you
did not only know that the Holy Spirit leads to Jesus Christbut you knew that
He was leading you. In that respectyou knew Him by an experimental
acquaintance which is the bestof knowledge.Since that time, beloved
brethren, we have known the Holy Spirit in many ways—restraining from
evil, stimulating to good, instructing, consoling, directing and enlivening. He
has been to us the Spirit of reviving—we have growndull and cold and sleepy,
till that verse of the hymn has been verified— “In vain we tune our formal
songs, In vain we strive to rise, Hosannas languish on our tongues, And our
devotion dies.” But no soonerhas the Spirit visited us than we have felt all
alive—bright, cheerful and intense. Then our whole heart has run in the ways
of God’s commands and we have rejoicedin His name. How true is that word,
“He restores my soul”! Thus have we known the Holy Spirit by His operations
within us. Oftentimes He has acted as an illuminator. A difficult Scripture or
mysterious doctrine has been before me—I have lookedatthe original and I
have examined what the best biblical students have written upon it. And yet,
when I have thus used all the helps within reach, the point has remained in the
dark. My best aid has ever been to resortto the greatAuthor of the sacred
Word—eventhe Holy Spirit Himself. He can, by blessing the means which we
are using, or by directly leading the mind in the right track put an end to all
difficulty. He has the clue of every maze, the solution of every riddle. And to
whom He wills, He can revealthe secretofthe Lord. Dearyoung believers,
you who wish to understand the Scriptures, seek this light from above for this
is the true light. Other lights may mislead but this is clearand sure. To have
the Spirit of God lighting up the inner chambers of truth is a greatgift. Truth
of the deepersort is comparable to a caverninto which we cannotfind our
way exceptby a guide and a light. When the Spirit of truth is come He pours
daylight into the darkness and leads us into all truth of God. He does not
merely show the truth but He leads us into it so that we stand within it and
rejoice in the hidden treasure which it contains. Then we know Him as our
sacredilluminator. I especiallynote that we also know Him as the Comforter.

Alas for the disturbance of heart which we receive in the world—perhaps
even in the family! Few things, it may be, are as we could wish and therefore
we are sorelytroubled. But when the Spirit of God comes, peace flows to us
like a river and Jesus breathes onus and says, “Peacebe unto you.” Do you
know that peace? Manysaints of God have enjoyeda heavenly calm upon
their sick beds—whenpain should have distractedthem. The Spirit of God
has restedthem in Jesus. I have heard of one saint, near his end, who asked,
“Is this dying? Then I should like to keepon dying forever.” He felt so much
comfort—sucha flood of joy which the Holy Spirit creates—thatdeathitself
had not only lost its sting but had even become a joy to him! The comforts of
the Holy Spirit take bitterness out of wormwoodand gall and the sting out of
the lastenemy. May God give us His grace to know the Holy Spirit as our
Comforter! Happy knowledge! I trust that we have oftentimes known the
Holy Spirit as guiding us in various ways. I will not speak largelyon this for
some might not understand it. But I know for sure that the Holy Spirit does
give to His favored people hints as to things to come. I say not that any man is
inspired to tell the future. But I do saythat choice saints have received
preparations for the future and foreshadowing oftheir coming experiences.
When believers come into difficult circumstances theybow the knee and cry
for guidance, evenas David said, “Bring here the ephod.” The oracle is not
dumb, but in some way, not always to be explained, the Spirit of God guides
our steps through life if we are willing to obey His monitions. Is it not written,
“Your ears shallhear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk you in
it”? The divine communications of the Holy Spirit are the precious heritage of
true saints. But they are a peculiar voice to their own souls and are not to be
repeatedin words. If you know these divine workings, as I am sure many of
you do, then through His operations you are made to know the Holy Spirit—
that deep calm— that peace which only He can give; that exhilaration, that
superlative joy as of heaven begun below which only the Lord can work. That
steadfastcourage, that holy patience, that fixedness of heart, that gentleness of
manner and firmness of purpose which come only from above—theseall
introduce you to the wonder-working Spirit who takes pleasure thus to
operate upon the minds of the heirs of eternal glory. Thus we know the Holy
Spirit by His works and gifts and revelations. But I do not think we have
entered the center of the text even yet. “You know Him,” says the text— you

know not only His work but Himself. I may know the greatachievements of
an artist in marble but I may not know the sculptor himself. I may know a
man’s paintings and therefore I may guess somewhatofhis characterbut yet I
may not know the man himself. “You know Him,” says our Lord. And truly
we know the Holy Spirit as to His personality. If the Holy Spirit were a mere
influence, we should read, “You know it.” Let us always shun the mistake of
calling the Holy Spirit “it.” It cannot do anything. It is a dead thing—the Holy
Spirit is a living, blessedperson and I hope we can saythat we know Him as
such. Others may doubt His personality. But we believe in the teaching of our
Lord Jesus Christ and behold, in the names given to Him, the emotions
ascribedto Him and the acts performed by Him, abundant proofs of His
sacredpersonality. In our hearts we know HIM. As we know His personality
so we know also His divinity because the Holy Spirit work in us effects which
none but God could work. Who cangive life to the spiritually dead? Who but
the Lord and giver of life? Who caninstruct and illuminate as the Holy Spirit
does? Only because He is divine can He guide us into all truth and purify us
unto perfect holiness. There have been things workedin us—in our
experience—inwhich we have beheld not only the finger of God but God
Himself working in our hearts to will and to do of His owngood pleasure. Oh,
worship the Holy Spirit! The greatestcrime of sinners is to blaspheme the
Holy Spirit—and the greatestfault of saints is to neglectthe Holy Spirit. Let
us adore Him, yield to Him, confide in Him, and pray that we may know Him
to the fullest. So it comes to this—that as we know the Holy Spirit’s
personality and Godheadwe come to know Him. I mean this—that there is
now a personalrelationship betweenthe believer and the Holy Spirit, a
conscious andclearfellowship and communion. The communion of the Holy
Spirit is one of the three choice blessings ofthe greatbenediction. Do we not
enjoy it? We speak with Him and He speaks withus. We trust Him and He
puts us in trust with many a precious truth of God. We are not strangers now.
We do not talk of Him as a personage a long way off of whom we have
heard—a divine mystery with which prophets and apostles were acquaintedin
remote ages—butwe know Him. Come, let me look into your faces, my
beloved in the Lord, and let me ask you, is this true or not? If you are obliged
to say, “We do not know whether there is any Holy Spirit, for we are utter
strangers to Him,” then I pray the Lord to deal graciouslywith you and

manifest His Son Jesus Christto you by the power of that same Holy Spirit of
whom we speak. The Spirit of truth is to those of us who trust in the Lord
Jesus our present help. He is more familiar with us than any other person, for
He enters within, where none else finds admission. “You know Him; for He
dwells with you and shall be in you.” Thus much upon our first head.
II. The secondhead is this—BELIEVERS KNOW THE HOLY SPIRIT
THROUGH HIMSELF. Let us read the text again—“Youknow Him, for He
dwells with you and shall be in you.” It is not, “You know Him for you have
heard gracious preaching.” Nor, “You know Him for you have read about
Him in the Scriptures.” No—“Youknow Him, for He dwells with you and
shall be in you.” The moon cannot help us to see the sun nor can man reveal
God. God canonly be seenin His own light. No one can revealthe Holy Spirit
but the Holy Spirit. I thought this morning, coming along—Ihave to preach
about the Holy Spirit. But what canI do without the Holy Spirit Himself? I
can only preacharight concerning Him by His ownpresence with me. And if
He is not there, I shall only darken counselby words without knowledge. Why
is it that we know the Holy Spirit only by the Holy Spirit? I answerfirst, on
accountof the inadequacy of all means. By what methods can you make a man
know the Holy Spirit? He is not to be discerned by the senses,nor perceived
by eyes or ears. Whatif the preachershould be as eloquent as an angel—in
what way would that make you know the Holy Spirit? You would probably
remember more of the man than of his subject. Nothing is more to be
deplored than a hungering after mere oratory. It would be infinitely better to
speak with a stammer the truth of God than to pour forth a flood of words in
which the truth is drowned. Words are nothing but air and wind and they
cannot possibly reveal the Holy Spirit. No outward ordinances can reachthe
point any more than human speech. We greatlyrejoice in the baptism of
believers and in the breaking of bread in which the death of the Lord Jesus is
setforth before us. But in what symbol could we fully see the Holy Spirit? If
He were evento descendupon us as a dove we should see only the visible
shape—we wouldnot necessarilydiscernthe Spirit. The Spirit Himself must
revealHimself. Beloved, there is no chariot in which God can ride to us—the
axles of creationitself would break beneath the enormous load of Deity. It is

not possible for God to reveal Himself fully by His works—He is seenonly by
Himself. Therefore the Sonof God, Himself, has come to us as “God with us.”
In Him we see God. The Holy Spirit must Himself come into the heart to
which He would make Himself known. This is even clearerfrom the inability
of our nature to discoverthe Holy Spirit. We are dead by nature and how can
we know anything until He makes us alive? Our eyes are spiritually blinded—
how can we see Him until He opens our eyes? We are altogetherwithout
strength by nature—how can we run after Him until He first comes to us and
gives us the powerto do so? We are unable to perceive the Holy Spirit—the
carnalman knows not the things which are of God for they are spiritual and
must be spiritually discerned. We must be endowed with a spirit before we
can discernthe Spirit. Fleshcannot transform itself into spirit. No, it is the
Lord Himself who must come and breathe into us the Spirit of life and then
we perceive Him who is the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit must reveal
Himself to us if we are to know Him—this is clearfrom the nature of the case.
How do I know a man but by the man himself appearing to me and speaking
to me and manifesting himself to me? You cannot with accuracyjudge of a
man by his writings. It is a curious circumstance that Mr. Toplady, who wrote
very bitterly on behalf of the truth of God, was, in temper, the sweetestof
men. On the other hand, Mr. Romaine, of Blackfriars, who in their writings
seemto be the gentlestof beings were by no means free from harshness. You
must see a man. No, more—you must live with a man in order to know him.
You must live with the Holy Spirit and He must dwell with you and be in you,
before you can speak ofknowing Him at all. The facts of the case prove this. I
shall put it to any believer here who can humbly say, “I know Him, for He
dwells with me and is in me.” How do you know the Holy Spirit but by the
Holy Spirit? Did you learn your religion from me? Then you have it all to
unlearn. Did you learn it out of a book? It is necessaryto begin again. Did you
inherit it from your parents or borrow it from your friends? Then you are still
ignorant of the vital point—God is only known through Himself; the Holy
Spirit by the Holy Spirit. Have you not found it so in your own case?Why,
you have satand heard a sermon which was in itself cheering, comforting and
quickening, for your neighbor said, “What a happy time we have enjoyed!”
Alas, you thought you had never felt more stupid and lifeless. Have you not
gone down the Tabernacle steps and said to yourself, “I am as hard as stone

and as cold as a winter’s fog? What shall I do?” Thus are you without the
Spirit of God. But when the divine Spirit comes upon you, such complaints are
at an end. Then does the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb
is made to sing. Then are you full of living joy in listening to the gospel—every
word you hear seems to be on wheels. And towards you the cherubim fly
swiftly bringing live coals from off the altar.
III. My third head is BELIEVERS ENJOYA SACRED INTIMACY WITH
THE SPIRIT OF GOD. I am not going to withdraw that word intimacy. It is
warranted by the language ofour Lord. ForHe says, “You know Him, for He
dwells with you and shall be in you.” First, He says, “He dwells with you.” Is
not that a wonderful sentence? The Holy Spirit is God, and therefore the
heaven of heavens cannot containHim—and yet behold the condescending
fact—“He dwells with you.” The Holy Spirit is now upon earth, the vicar and
representative of the Lord Jesus Christwho said, “I will send you another
Comforter”—thatis, another Helper and Advocate like Himself. Consider
how our Lord dwelt with His disciples. After the same fashion, the Spirit of
truth dwells with us. Jesus permitted His disciples the most intimate
communion with Himself—they ran to Him with their troubles, they told Him
their difficulties, they confessedtheir doubts. He was their Masterand Lord,
and yet He washedtheir feet. He ate and drank with them and permitted the
freestconversation. You never find our Lord repelling their approaches or
resenting their familiarities. He did not draw a ring round Himself and say,
“Keepyour distance.” Now, inthe same manner, the Spirit of truth deals with
believers. “He dwells with you.” You may go to Him at any time, you may ask
what you will of Him, and you may speak to Him as a man speakswith his
friend. You cannot see Him, but He sees you, which is much better. You
cannot hear His voice, but He hears yours. No, He hears your thoughts. He is
most near to those who are in Christ. “He dwells with you.” Dwelling with us,
He is in our assemblies.It is He who fulfils the promise of our Lord, “Lo, I am
with you always, evenunto the end of the world.” It is by the Holy Spirit that
the Lord Jesus is with us. That we might enjoy that sacredpresence, itwas
expedient for our Lord to go away. Beloved, what a mercy it is when the Holy
Spirit is in our assembly! What a dreary business it is when the Holy Spirit is

gone from the congregation!The people come and go and perhaps there may
be fine music, splendid millinery, admirable eloquence, a vast crowd, or a
wealthy congregation;but what of these things? They are a bag of wind! If the
Holy Spirit is not in the congregation, it is gatheredtogetherin vain. Behold,
the people spend themselves for very vanity if the Lord is not among them.
But the Comforter does come into our assemblies.Forit is written, “He dwells
with you.” He also comes into our homes—“He dwells with you.” Where do
you dwell, O true believer? Is it in a very poor lodging?—“He dwells with
you.” It may be, dear friend, you live on board ship and are tossedupon the
sea—“He dwells with you.” Perhaps you go to work in a mine far beneath the
surface of the earth—“He dwells with you.” Many choice saints are bed-
ridden but the Spirit dwells with them. I commend to all of you who love the
Lord these gracious words—“He dwells with you.” The first disciples saidto
the Lord Jesus, “Master, where do you dwell?” He answered, “Come and
see.” So I bid you note where the divine Spirit choosesto dwell—behold and
wonder—He dwells with His people whereverthey are! He does not leave
them alone but He abides with them as a shepherd with his flock. Well may
we know Him, for He takes up His abode with us, and He does this, not as a
latent, inoperative influence but He works in the place where He dwells. He
makes our members instruments of His working and sanctifies the faculties of
our nature as vesselsofa temple wherein He dwells. He perfumes every
chamber of the house of manhood and consecrateseverycornerof our being.
O believer, “He dwells with you” in all the might of His Godheadand you are
made strong in the inner man by His strengthening! Fallback upon the Holy
Spirit in the moment of your weakness. Alas, my brethren, are there any
moments when we are not weak? Fallback, therefore, upon the Holy Spirit at
all times. Even in the prayer in which you seek strength, ask that the Spirit
may help your infirmities. Even for the faith which brings you all divine grace
ask for the Spirit of God to work faith in you. “He dwells with you,” for you
are unable to live without His constantpresence and you need not attempt the
perilous experiment. The secondsentence runs, “He shall be in you.” This is a
greatermarvel. “Know you not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy
Spirit?” Take care ofthem, never defile them. Let not the idea of
drunkenness, gluttony, or lust come near you. For it is written, “If any man
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” With what reverence should

we look upon the body now that it has been redeemedby the Lord Jesus and
is indwelt by the Holy Spirit! The Spirit also dwells within your minds. We
possessHim and He possesses us;“He shall be in you,” as a king in his palace,
or a soul in its body. I am afraid that many professors know nothing about
this. I must be talking nonsense in the esteemofsome of you—if it seems
nonsense, letthat fact condemn you. You cannot be right before God unless
the Spirit of God is in you, in your mind, your heart, your desires, your fears,
your hopes, and your inmost life. The Spirit must permeate your entire being,
filling it full with His floods, even as the waters coverthe channels of the deep.
“He shall be in you.” It is a wonderful fact. The Spirit shall be in you as the
source of your life and the force of your life. What cannota man do when the
Holy Spirit is in him? His weakestendeavor will prosperwhen the Holy Spirit
is pouring His life into him. Forhe shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of
waterthat brings forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shallnot wither.
And whateverhe does, shallprosper. But without the Holy Spirit, what
barren and withered trees we are! May we never know the awful drought
which comes of the absence ofthe Spirit! Brethren, when our Lord Jesus
Christ came upon the earth and was beheld as God in human flesh, that was
to us the pledge of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us—foras God dwelt in
the human person of the Lord Jesus Christ—evenso does the Spirit abide in
our humanity. Our Lord’s life on earth was the picture of the Spirit’s
indwelling. As He was anointed of the Spirit, even so are we in our measure.
“He went about doing good.” He lived consecratedto God, loving the sons of
men. And thus will the Spirit of God within us cause us to live—we shall
imitate the Christ of God through the Spirit of God. The death of Christ was
the wayby which the Spirit was enabled to come to sinful men. By His great
sacrifice the stone is rolled awaywhich once blockedthe road— “It is through
the purchase of His death, Who hung upon the tree, The Spirit is sent down to
breathe On such dry bones as we.” When our Lord rose from the dead, we
had the guarantee that even so the Spirit of God would quicken our mortal
bodies and renew us into newness oflife. But it was when our Lord ascended
up on high, leading captivity captive that the Holy Spirit was actually given.
When our Redeemerreturned to His Father’s throne, He scatteredthe largess
of heaven—He gave the Holy Spirit to men of various offices and to His whole
church. Then were the days of refreshing by divine visitation. Your ascended

Lord gives you this tokenof His love—the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in
you—prize it above all things. Do you know it? It seems like impertinence for
me to put this question to some of you who are gray-headed, and yet there is
need. I trust you knew the Holy Spirit before I was born. But yet I cannothelp
pressing the inquiry, for you may not know Him even now. I have urged the
question upon myself and therefore I urge it upon you. Does the Spirit of truth
dwell in you? If not, what will you do?
IV. I come to a conclusionwith one more observation. BELIEVERS SHALL
HAVE A CONTINUANCE AND AN INCREASE FOR THE SPIRIT’S
INTIMACY. “He dwells with you and shall be in you.” Mark well the
increase. Is it not a blessedstepfrom “with” to “in”? “He dwells with you”—
that is, a friend in the same house. “And shall be in you,” that is, a Spirit
within yourself. This is nearer, dearer, more mysterious and more effective by
far. The bread yonder is “with” me. I eatit and now it is “in” me. It could not
nourish me until it advancedfrom “with” to “in.” What a distinct advance it
is for the child of Godwhen he rises from the Spirit of God being with him to
the Spirit of God being in him! When the Spirit of God helped the apostles to
work miracles, He was with them. But when they came to feel His spiritual
work in their own souls and to rejoice in the comfort which He brought to
them, then He was in them. Even if you could obtain miraculous gifts, you
ought not to be satisfiedto speak with tongues, nor to work miracles. But you
should press on to know the Spirit with yourself—indwelling, communing,
and quickening you. “He shall be in you.” Notice that in consequenceofthis,
we know Him. If a person dwells with us, we begin to know him. But if he
dwells within us and has become intertwined with our being, then we know
him, indeed. “He shall be in you” is a high degree of intimacy. As we have
noticed the increase, so remark the continuance—“He shallbe in you.” There
is no period in which the Holy Spirit will have finished His work so as to go
awayand leave the believer to himself. Our Savior says of the Comforter, that
He “shall abide with you forever.” Grieve not the Spirit of God, I pray you—
quench Him not, resistHim not—but carefully cherishin your hearts this
divine word, “He shall be in you.” What comfort is here! You dread the days
of age and infirmity, but “He shall be in you.” You tremble before that trial

which threatens you, but “He shall be in you.” You do not know how you will
answerthe gainsayer—takeno thought what you shall speak—itshallbe
given you in the same hour what you shall speak, forHe shall be in you. And
when the lastmoment approaches, whenyou must breathe out your soul to
God—the living Spirit who dwells with you, even as the nurse sits at your
bedside— shall then be in you and by His living powerwithin shall transform
death into the gate of endless life. “He dwells with you and shall be in you.” O
child of God, your Comforter will not leave you! He will continue still to take
up His residence within you until you shall be takenup to dwell where Jesus is
forever and ever. This is our greatreliance for the future upholding of the
church as a whole and of eachindividual believer—the Spirit of God dwells
with us and shall be in us. The church of God will never be destroyed. The
gates ofhell shall not prevail againsther. For the Holy Spirit dwells with us
and shall be in us to the end of the world. This is the reliance of the child of
God personally for his perseverancein divine grace. He knows that Jesus lives
and therefore he shall live. And the Holy Spirit is within him, as the life of
Christ, which cannever die. The believerpushes on despite a thousand
obstacles,knowing that God gives him the victory through the Lord Jesus
Christ—out of whose hand none can pluck him. I have done. And yet I have
done nothing unless the Spirit of Godshall bless the word spoken. Oh, that
some of you who have never known the Spirit of God may feelHis power
coming upon you at this moment! You may be sitting in the pew very careless,
even now, and yet before you leave He may descendand soften your hard
heart. The other day the ground was hard as iron and the water was turned to
ice. But there came a breath from the south and soona thaw set in, the snow
vanished and the ice was gone—evenso the Holy Spirit breathes on us and
our inward frost disappears at once. Come, Holy Spirit. Come evennow. Let
us implore His presence and power. Pray for a closer, clearerknowledgeof
Him, O children of God! Pray that sinners may be met with by His grace. The
first tokenof the Spirit’s work will be that they will begin to feel their sin and
cry for mercy—and when that is done, the glad tidings of pardon are for
them. To them we say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
savedand your house.” The Lord make the word effectual, for Jesus Christ’s
sake. Amen.

SPURGEON
THE SAINT AND THE SPIRIT
“But you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you.” John 14:17.
THE Holy Spirit, although He is the most active, most potent, and most real
workerin the world, is not discerned by the mass of mankind. The great
majority of men are affectedonly by what they see, or hear, or feel;their life
is confined to the narrow range of their senses. “Whatshallwe eat?” or,
“What shall we drink?” or, “With what shall we be clothed?”—theseare the
trinity of questions which absorbthe attention and effort of the worldly. If
they can see a thing, they believe in it; if they can hear the sound of it, they
recognize it; if they candiscern its shape, they put it down as real: they know
not that the things which are seenare temporal, and therefore shadowy, and
that the things which are not seenare the only substantial things, because they
exist forever. There they are, owlets fluttering in darkness, earthworms
confined to their groveling sphere, mere moles burrowing in the dark earth;
they have no eagle wing to bear them aloft, no eagle eyes with which to see
afar off. Becausethe Holy Spirit is neither seenwith the eyes nor heard with
the ear, therefore the world cannot receive Him because it sees Him not,
neither knows Him. There are a few nobler spirits in the world whose souls
are above mere dead matter, who mount into the spirit-world, in a certain
sense;they recognize the existence of the soul, and believe in its immortality
and grandeur, but still, never having believed in the Spirit of God, their eyes
are blind to the first and chief of spiritual beings. Whateverelse they see, they
see not Him, and though they hear some voices from the land unknown, yet
they hear not the divine voice; celestialinfluences pass overthem as sound

through a forestwhich stirs not so much as a single leaf, no power or passion
of their spirit being moved by the Holy One of Israel. They canthink of things
sublime, and philosophize upon spiritual topics; their theories are plausible,
and sometimes they speak as though they were among the number of God’s
enlightened, but still, having no faith, they are without the Holy Spirit; and
feeling none of His divine energy, they have no life in Him, no love to Him,
and the affections not being moved, none of the other powers yield to the
mighty influence of the glorious Spirit of the living God. Belovedfriends, the
vital distinction betweenthe man of God and the man of the world is this: the
man of God knows the Holy Spirit, for He is with him and dwells in him; but
the man of the world knows not the Holy Spirit; he may know His name, but
he is not personally acquainted with that glorious One, because he sees Him
not, neither knows Him. Mere outward distinctions, such as may be causedby
baptism or the participation of the Lord’s Supper, are nothing at all, apart
from the Holy Spirit. Mere nominal distinctions, causedby wearing the name
of “Christian,” or the name of Muslim, are just superficial, surface works;but
if you know the Holy Spirit, you are a new creature in Christ Jesus;you have
passedfrom death unto life, you shall never come into condemnation. If you
know not the Spirit, then you are carnaland sensual, and not having the
Spirit you are dead in sin; you have not the Spirit which quickens, and the
flesh can profit you nothing. Whatever you may have attained in depth of
knowledge, orin excellence ofmorality, or in boldness of profession, you have
foolishly begun to build your house at the top instead of at the bottom, and
your house, lacking a foundation, will fall to pieces;and all your building shall
be but as the card house of little children, or the sand-built towerof the fool
which falls in the day of the storm. The greatquestion which I want to raise
in every heart this morning will be this: Do you know the Spirit of God? Does
He dwell with you? Is He in you? If you have not the Spirit of Christ, you are
none of His: but if the Spirit is in you, the body indeed is dead because ofsin,
but the Spirit is Life because ofrighteousness.You are a living child of God if
the Spirit of God dwells in you, but without Him you are dead while you live.
In trying to show this morning, so far as our poor powers can show, what it is
the believerknows of the Holy Spirit, I shall first saythat the believer knows
the Holy Spirit by virtue of His operations;secondly, and better still, he knows
the Holy Spirit by virtue of His personalindwelling; and, thirdly, that the

believer shall know the Holy Spirit yet better, for the text says, He “shallbe in
you.”
I. First, the Holy Spirit is known to believers, and is with believers
THROUGH HIS OPERATIONS IN THEM AND UPON THEM.
My brothers and sisters, we have seenthe operations of the Holy Spirit in the
church at large. It was the Holy Spirit who at the very first formed the
church; it is He who called out the chosenones, quickenedthem, made them
living stones fit to be built togetherfor a habitation of God through the Spirit;
it is He who binds these living stones together, for all Christian unity comes
from Him as the Spirit of peace, the Holy Dove proceeding from the Father.
The first manifest dedicationand consecrationof the church of the Lord Jesus
was at Pentecost;and here the Holy Spirit was the greatactive agent. You
have not forgottenthose words, “When the day of Pentecostwas fully come,
they were all with one accordin one place. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they
were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloventongues like as of fire, and
it sat upon eachof them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” On
that day the ascendedSavior, having obtained gifts for men, fulfilled that
ancient promise pronounced by the mouth of the Prophet Joel, “I will pour
out My Spirit upon all flesh.” There had been no church of God composedof
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia, if the Spirit of God
had not then been poured out upon the first few hundred chosensouls, that
they might be messengers ofmercy unto others, to bring in the lostsheep of
the house of Israel. Since then, dear friends, the Holy Spirit has been a
gracious Agentin supplying the church with her ministry. There are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. “And there are differences of
administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations,
but it is the same Godwhich works all in all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit. For to one is given by the Spirit the
word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to
another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same
Spirit; to another the working of miracles;to another prophecy; to another

discerning of spirits; to another many kinds of tongues;to another the
interpretation of tongues;but all these works that one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as He will.” “Having then gifts differing
according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our
ministering; or he that teaches,onteaching; or he that exhorts, on
exhortation; he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with
diligence;he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” In all our efforts let us
depend upon divine power, for without it we are as sounding brass and a
tinkling cymbal. The gentle dews of Barnabas are useless withoutthe dew of
the Spirit, and Boanerges’thunder is all in vain unless the lightening of the
Holy Spirit shall go with it. Brothers and sisters, the more than golden
treasure of the church is the Holy Spirit. The treasury of the church is not
under the lock and keyof the State;her chests of wealthare not to be opened
by the powerof the policeman or by an Act of Parliament; the true treasury of
the church is not even found in the gold and silver which may voluntarily be
given to her; but in the powerand energy of the Holy Spirit are the riches of
the church of God. That is a rich church which shall meet in a barn or under
the blue vault of heaven if the Holy Spirit is there; but that is a poor church
with “Ichabod” legibly written across its wall, which, with all its wealth, its
intelligence, and its respectability, is devoid of the Spirit of the living God.
This is the church’s power, her energy, her life, the earnestof her future
glory, the present power by which she is to resist and conquer her foes. The
indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the church is as manifest to many of us as any
other greatfact can possibly be. Even when we have doubted whether we,
ourselves, possessedthe Spirit, we have been charmed to see His work in
others. We have seenconversions, whichnothing but Omnipotence could have
worked;We have seengracesexemplified in Christians which unaided human
nature could not have produced; We have seenvirtues in our fellows which we
have delighted to admire; We have covetedearnestlythe goodgifts God has
given to them; we have not envied them nor sought to make their excellences
to appear less beauteous than they are—onthe contrary, we have seen, to the
honor and praise of God, such virtues and excellencesin believers as have
compelled us to feel that the Holy Spirit is still in the midst of His people.
Thus we know the Holy Spirit because we candistinctly recognize His action

in the church of God. We can discernit on every page of history; we see it in
our own times; we have seenit graciouslyin revivals, we hope to see it yet
more; and, as a church, meeting in this place, I am sure we can bear our
testimony, even thousands of us, that the Holy Spirit has been here, blessing
us indeed and of a truth. But, beloved, no man knows the Holy Spirit to any
greatextent by mere observationof His work in the church. Let me come
closerto your souls and deal more personally with your inward experiences.
The only way to know the Holy Spirit is by feeling Him at work in your own
souls. Now, the works of the Holy Spirit within a regenerate man or woman
are very many. It is not possible for me to mention them all, but at the
commencementlet me say that the most of them find an illustration in the
work of the Holy Spirit upon the person of our Lord, who is our Covenant
Head and Representative. Whatthe Spirit did for Jesus, the Mediator, the
head of the body, He repeats after the manner and the measure of eachman
in eachmember of the body of Christ. The same oil bedews the skirts of the
garment as that which fell so copiously upon the head; the same Spirit
descends to the very meanestChristian as that which was upon Christ, the
anointed One of God. Now, you will remember that the Holy Spirit was
concernedin the very birth of our Lord on earth. The angelsaid to Mary,
“The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the powerof the Highest shall
overshadow you; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of you
shall be called the Son of God.” Our Lord was born into this world through
the marvelous, mysterious, secretoperationof the divine Spirit. He was born
of the Virgin Mary, but He is the Son of the Highest. Our Lord might have
addressedthe Holy Spirit and said, “A body have You prepared Me.”
Beloved, anything like a new birth in you and me is also of the Holy Spirit.
Christ was not born at Bethlehem without the Spirit of God, neither is He
born in our hearts. The Christ in the manger is begottenby the Holy Spirit,
and the Christ in every humble heart comes there by the same divine agency.
In us Christ must be conceived;in us Christ must be formed; and this it is
that Paul longedfor when he said, “I travail in birth till Christ is formed in
you the hope of glory.” It is the Spirit’s work, then, to bring Christ to any one
of us, and to make us to know Christ; and every gooddesire towards Jesus,
much less every real receptionof Jesus into the soul is the work of the Spirit of
grace. When our Lord was grown up, and had come to those years in which

He exercisedHis public ministry, although He was baptized by man with
water, He was also baptized with the Holy Spirit. In the midst of Jordan, you
will remember, when He was fulfilling all righteousness, He saw the heavens
opened, and lo, the Spirit of God descendedupon Him like a dove, and did
rest upon Him. That was His consecrationto His work; that was the anointing
which commissionedand qualified Him as the servant of God. He was that
day publicly and effectuallyset apart by the Holy Spirit to be distinctly the
greatCaptain of our salvation, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.
Beloved, it is thus that you and I must be separatedfrom the world by the
Holy Spirit resting upon us; with all His dove-like influences He must descend
into our souls, that from then on we may not serve sin, but become the
servants of God. It is only in the powerof His divine anointing that we can
have powerto minister in the Lord’s house as the sent servants of the Master
of the household. Then, in Jesus Christ’s three and a half years of ministry,
the powerby which He workedmiracles, and the power by which He
preached, is ascribedto the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself said that He castout
devils by the Spirit of God—it was His own declaration. So, albeit that as God
He could work what miracles He willed, yet He chose to use the divine power
of the Holy Spirit of God in the working of many of His wonders. beloved, you
have not forgottenthe famous text of His sermon at Nazareth, which is
appropriate to the point in hand, “The Spirit of the Lord Godis upon Me;
because the Lord has anointed Me to preach goodtidings unto the meek; He
has sentMe to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the
acceptable yearof the Lord.” Did the Masterwork in the powerof the Spirit
of God, and shall not the servants do so? If you would work such works as
Christ did, you must work them in the powerwhich Christ bestowedso
abundantly on His church when He ascendedto His Father. If you would be
wonder-workers here on earth to awakenthe dead, to open blind eyes, and to
setat liberty the captives—andto this you are ordained in your measure even
as He was, everyone of you—then you must have the power of the Holy Spirit
resting upon you, for only by that powercan you lead the life of Christ on
earth. The resurrectionof Christ from the dead is sometimes in Scripture
ascribedto the Holy Spirit. You will recollectthatpassage in the 8th chapter
of the Epistle to the Romans, at the 11th verse:here you are promised that the

same power which “raisedup Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies.” Our resurrectionfrom the death of sin is workedin us by the
Holy Spirit. There is no rising out of the grave of sin unless the voice shall say,
“Lazarus, come forth,” and with that voice, there must go that Irresistible life-
giving power without which the dead in sin will remain dead until they
corrupt and are castinto hell, where their worm dies not, and their fire is not
quenched. See then, beloved, from the birth of Christ to His resurrection, He
was pleasedto put honor upon the Holy Spirit by receiving abundantly of His
power. He was anointed as man with the oil of gladness above His fellows;and
though able as God to have done as He pleased, independently, yet in order
that the unity of the blessedTrinity might be manifest to us, Christ went not
without His Father’s sending, and spoke not His ownwords, but His Father’s
words; and so the power which rested upon Him, which He chose to use, was
the powerof the Holy Spirit. Now, as the strength of the head, so must the
strength of the members be: as the head was anointed of the Spirit, so must
the members be anointed in like manner; as the head rose from the dead, so
must the members rise by the same power—by the energy of that holy
Comforter who has been shed abroad upon the people of God, by virtue of the
Lord Jesus Christ’s ascension, we must be sustained and perfected, that the
many Brethren may in all things be made like to the Elder Brother. There is
much more in this illustration than I can bring forth, therefore I leave it with
you as a goodly dish to feed upon at your leisure. In enlarging upon the
operations of the blessed Spirit, dear friends, if you and I know the Spirit of
God at all, we shall know Him first as having operatedupon us to convictus
of our sin. I trust I shall never be secondto anyone in preaching plainly that
whoeverbelieves in the Lord Jesus Christ has everlasting life, yet I cannotbut
think that many, in their over-zeal for preaching up the simplicity of faith,
have fallen into grievous error by disparaging repentance of sin, and setting at
nothing all idea of a sinner’s coming to Jesus because sinhas become
loathsome and unbearable. Beloved, no one ever did come to Christ nor ever
will until he feels his need of Jesus Christ. Though it is the duty of the minister
to preach the gospelto every sinner, yet that gospelnever canbe and never
will be of any value to a soul until that soul is emptied of self, made to see its
sin and to abhor it. Now, if ever you and I have spied out our disease, have
seenthe blotches of our spiritual leprosy, have been made to know that it is

more than skin-deep, and lies far down in the very core of our being, if ever
we have been made to feel that the whole head is sick and the whole heart is
faint (and I am sure we must feel this before we can savingly put our trust in
Jesus), this is the finger of God, this is the work of the Spirit of God in the
soul. “WhenHe, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall convince the world of
sin.” And if you have been convicted of sin, the Spirit of God has come to you.
There is no Convicterlike the Spirit. beloved, I may tell you of your sins—Ido
try to do so as plainly as I know;I may setbefore you the heinousness ofsin as
againsta just, and holy, and merciful God; I may try to show you the
bitterness of sin in its eternalresults, but all this is nothing until the Holy
Spirit comes—andthen, without words or with them, by whichever wayHe
choosesto act, He canmake your soul shake;He canmake your whole heart
quiver till rottenness enters into your bones. I pray God that all of us may feel
this in such a measure as He may think fit to show it to us; but you will never
doubt the existence ofthe Holy Spirit after such an experience of His power as
a consuming fire and a rushing mighty wind. When He wields the swordof the
Spirit, the word of God, and drives that swordthrough you again, and again,
and again, you will know Him beyond a question! When He takes the great
sledge hammer of the law, and breaks you in pieces, and pounds you like
wheatin a mortar with the pestle, you will never have doubts about His
power! You will know Him, for He is with you and has bowed you in the dust
by His presence. But next, if you know the Holy Spirit, you will also know
Him as the greatrevealerof Christ. There is the serpent lifted up on the pole
in the midst of the sin-bitten dying host; but, brothers and sisters, many may
die, albeit that the bronze serpentis within view, unless someone shalldirect
their eyes to the spot. How many have I known, who, when they have been
told about Christ and the plan of salvation, have said, “Where is He?” and
they have turned their poor bewilderedglances everywhere exceptto the right
place, and even when their eyes have had a little light, they have been looking
for quite another Christ than the One who is setbefore them in the gospel.
Oh, I remember how long I lookedfor Christ, but could not find Him, and
when at last I did spy Him, I perceivedhow near He was while my eyes were
looking a long way off for Him, looking up into heaven or into my ownsoul;
but of this I am conscious atthis moment, that I never could under any
ministry have been enabled to spy out my Lord Jesus, if it had not been that

the Holy Spirit casta ray of light upon Christ, and openedmy eyes so that I
could perceive Him. It is our duty to set forth Christ very plainly, manifestly,
crucified, in the congregation;but Jesus Christ is never seenby any light
which comes from either the minister or his hearer—the light must come from
the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit shines full upon the crownof thorns and
the five wounds and the mournful countenance ofthe Man of Sorrows, oh,
how the wounds glisten, and how fair is Jesus to a poor sinner’s tearful eyes!
But without that light of God, a man may sit at the foot of the cross and see
nothing, and even die in his darkness and sin. Brothers and sisters, if you have
ever put your trust in Jesus, youwill know the Holy Spirit who workedyour
faith in you, and led you to trust in the finished salvationof our exalted
Savior. Since that, have we not often known the Spirit as our helper in
prayer? I went to my chamber and I bowedupon my knees and tried to cry
unto God, but though I sought to pray, I could not till all of a sudden I found a
friend. It is written, “The Spirit also helps our infirmities...for He makes
intercessionfor the saints according to the will of God.” What delightful
praying it is when the Holy Spirit indites the prayer so that we have nothing to
do but just to read what He writes, to utter what He suggests, to speak out
what He speaks,to be the ram’s horn trumpet and He the breath that causes
the sound! Oh, it is rapturous praying when the Spirit helps you pray! Ah,
beloved, you know what this means, some of you. When you have had
wrestling times like Jacobat Jabbok’s brook;when you have been able to say
like Luther, “I have overcome, I have had my desire of God,” to what did you
ascribe your prevalence, your moving that arm which moves the world, but to
the Holy Spirit, who is the greathelper of His people in times of prayer? Yes,
we know the Spirit in that respect, for He is with us daily. Then, when we
rose from our knees, we openedthe Scriptures, and began to read, and the
Spirit of truth actedas interpreter. He wrote the book, and therefore He
understands its meaning. What Bible readings those are when the Spirit of
God is the expositor!It is poor reading when you merely sound the words, but
find not the Spirit; the letter kills, the Spirit is Life. When “a glory gilds the
sacredpage, majestic like the sun,” when every letter reflects the light of
Deity, and every word glows in the presence of the living God, like the bush at
Horeb’s mountain, that glowedwith living fire, ah, then, Bible readings
become soul-fattening times, and the soul, being taught of God, sees the

Father, has communion with the Son, and is filled with life, and light, and
ineffable joy! You may say, perhaps, the Spirit of God is with us in these
solitary and secretengagements,and so we know Him; but is He with us in
public? Ah, beloved, you know not the Spirit unless you have often recognized
Him in His operations as the great calmerand quieter of His people’s minds
when under distractions. It is perfectly marvelous how a soul that is like the
Lake of Galilee, tossedwith a thousand waves, becomes smoothas a sheetof
glass whenthe Holy Spirit breathes upon it; cares, losses, woes, brokenness of
heart, every shape of human misery yields to the soft whisper of the Spirit of
God! Oh, if you do not know the Comforter, I pity you! You may have a
thousand friends, but they are nothing comparedto this one Comforter. All
the remedies of other comforters can only be applied to the ear, but this
celestialmedicine affects the heart itself with matchless powerof consolation.
He does not merely give us something out of which we may draw comfort, but
He actually comforts us, for He reaches the secretspring of our being, and
sheds a sacredpeace abroad. Yes, we know the Heavenly Dove; we have
known Him when we have heard the slander of the many, and fearwas on
every side; we have knownHim, for He has helped us to say— “If on my face,
for Your dear name, Shame and reproachshall be, I’ll hail reproach, and
welcome shame, If You remember me.” We have known Him when we have
lost much; when friend after friend has been hurried awayto the grave;when
there has been disappointment without, and dismay within, we have turned to
Him, and have rested in the Infallible promise of an immutable God, “I will
not leave you comfortless:I will come to you.” I trust you know the Holy
Spirit as the Comforter. More especiallyis the Spirit knownto believers as
their sanctifier. In a certain sense we are sanctified by the blood of Jesus and
by the electionof the Father;we are set apart by electionto be made holy
through the blood by the powerof the Holy Spirit. This third kind of
sanctification, which consists in the subjugation of inbred sin, and in the
victory of the new life over the old nature—this is the daily work of the Spirit
of God in the soul. It is the Spirit’s work to check the unruly passion, to put
the bit into the mouth of the fiery desire;it is the Spirit’s work to feed the
new-born soul, to give it energy and vigor, to give it victory over the old
enemy; and, glory be to God, it will be the Spirit’s work, one day, to make us
exactly like our Master;we shall be fashionedinto His image—we are to be

melted and poured anew into the mold, and made like the first-born among
many brethren; and while we shall give the Saviorthe praise for having
washedus in His blood, yet we shall also bless the Holy Spirit who has worked
all our works in us, and workedin us to will and to do according to the good
pleasure of the Father— “And every virtue we possess, And every victory
won, And every thought of holiness, Are His, and His alone.” My dear
brothers and sisters, I have not time to mention at length the multiform and
hallowedworks of the Spirit in us, but I trust you know them so well that you
know Him by them. Suffice it to say that if you would receive blessing from
the ministry, it must be through the power of the Spirit; and if, on the other
hand, you would minister with powerto others, you must wait upon that
Spirit for your help. If we are ever to be lifted up from selfishness to
disinterestedsacrifice;if we are ever to be raised from cowardlydoubts and
fears to dauntless courage;if ever we are to arise from worldliness and
carnality into heavenly mindedness, and true spirituality; if ever we are to
shake off the serpent-sloughof our old nature, and put on the pure vesture of
Christ’s likeness;if ever we are to be delivered from this present evil world,
and to be filled with all the fullness of God, we must find our strength for each
and all in the powerand energy and quickening Spirit of the living God. I
leave this point, only endeavoring to urge eachone to inquire, “What do I
know of all this?” I am afraid many of you know nothing at all about it. You
are a goodsortof people;you were sprinkled when you were infants, and have
been regularly to church or chapelall your lives; you do not owe anything,
and live as you should live in many respects, and you think that outward
morality and outward religion are everything. You use your hymnbooks and
prayer books, andbehave yourselves like respectable people;but if you have
not the Spirit you are lost! The external without the inward is goodfor
nothing. It is all goodfor nothing. A wagonloadof professionis not worth an
ounce of divine grace—“Youmust be born-again.” The Holy Spirit must come
into your souls, or else, if for a 1,000 years youcould persevere in the most
reputable external religion, you would end where you began, or in something
worse, namely, in wearinessofflesh about such empty things, or in a self-
righteousness whichwould be more damnable perhaps than open sin. Beware
of resting in anything short of the indwelling Spirit. You must have the Spirit;
you cannotpass the gate of pearl without it; you cannot know Christ without

it. “Excepta man be born-again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This is
no slight change which canbe easilyworked. You must be made new
creatures—oldthings must pass away, and all things must become new. This
is a work that your free agencycannotaccomplish, a work that your poor
weakness,whichyou call strength, will never be able to achieve;you must,
therefore, have powerfrom above. Godmust come into contactwith you; the
eternal Spirit must dwell in your soul, or else you can never dwell in heaven.
Let this be laid home to your heart, and God bless the thought to your soul’s
profit.
II. Very briefly, in the secondplace, the chosenof God not only know the
Spirit by His operations which they have seenin the church, and which they
have felt in themselves, but, THEY KNOW HIM BY HIS PERSONAL
INDWELLING IN THEIR SOULS. I shall not attempt to preach upon this
greatmystery, but I should like you to catchthe thought and to hold it in your
hearts. You know that Jesus Christ gave us His righteousness andHis blood,
but He did a greatdeal more, He gave us Himself. “He loved us, and gave
Himself for us.” You have learnedto distinguish betweenthe gifts of Christ,
and Christ Himself. Now, the Holy Spirit gives us His operations and His
influences, for which we should be very grateful, but the greatestgift is not the
operationnor the influence, but Himself, which “dwells with you and shall be
in you.” The greatcovenantgift is the Holy Spirit Himself. Do you understand
that truth of God? It is assertedmany times in Scripture that the bodies of the
saints are the temples of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in you; you are the
temples of God. Now, do not cut that down, and say that it means that He
influences us and operates upon us. It does mean that, but it means a great
deal more; it means literally this—that the Holy Spirit, the third personof the
sacredTrinity, actually dwells in every regenerate manand woman, that He
has made our bodies to be His shrine, and He is the indwelling Lord. Do you
perceive this grand doctrine? I say again, not merely the graces ofGod, nor
the operations ofthe Spirit, but the Spirit Himself dwells in us. He is
everywhere, He fills all in all, but still He has a specialresidence;and though
we are told in the chapter before us that the Fatherand the Sontake up their
abode with us, yet not in the same sense in which the Holy Spirit does. He

personally dwells in the church, and in eachbeliever. God the Holy Spirit is
pleasedto dwell in our bodies, not so as to deify our humanity, or to take us
into connectionwith Deity in the same wayas the humanity of Jesus was
exalted, but still so as truly to dwell in us and abide in us. Brothers and sisters,
gather up this manna, it is better than angels’food;and when you have
receivedthis truth of God thoroughly into your soul, you will say, “This is
wondrously condescending;for, O Lord, I am not worthy that You should
come under my roof, and yet here it is, ‘God dwells in me and I in Him.’” This
indwelling must be singularly effective. It is very powerful for a great Godto
send His influences, but if He comes Himself! There is no wayof doing work
well, you know, except doing it yourself; and when the Mastercomes, and
gives personalattendance, it is sure to be done. Since the Holy Spirit dwells in
us, how well His sanctifying work will be done! Depend upon it, He will not
leave a single relic of sin when His work is achieved, because He has not sent
an angel to us, but He has Himself come here to effectthe divine purpose of
making us qualified for the kingdom of God. Oh, how effective that presence
must be! How delightfully encouraging is this indwelling, “If God actually
dwells in me, then what may I not expect? There canbe no blessing too great
to expect if I have receivedthe Holy Spirit Himself. If I am like one of old, a
man full of the Holy Spirit, and then I cannot be empty of anything else, for
when God gives Himself, how shall He not also give us all things?” Brethren,
if this is so, how potently sanctifying the thought is, for if Goddwells in us, let
us not defile these bodies. What a powerful operation that truth ought to have,
and will have, upon everyone who believes it, for “everyman that has this
hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure.” We must make the temple
pure while God is with us; we cannot prostitute the soul to sin while the Holy
Spirit resides with us, and embraces us in the mighty cloud of His divine
influences. What canbe nobler than a Christian? Talk of kings and queens,
what are they comparedwith men who, every day, carry God about with
them? When Ignatius stoodbefore the judges, they said, “You are calledthe
God-bearer, Theophorus;what do you mean by this?” He said, “I am a God-
bearer; God dwells in me.” When the persecutorlookedathim and said he
blasphemed, he replied that the Holy Spirit dwelt in him. Ah, and Ignatius
proved it; for when they put him to a cruel death, he bore it with undaunted
courage;God shone through the man, and made human weaknessa platform

for divine strength! If you and I dare to say God dwells in us, we must prove it
too; perhaps not by a cruel death, but by what is far more difficult—a holy
life. The Lord help us so to live, that men may take knowledge ofus that God
looks through our eyes;that the love of God acts through our hands in deeds
of integrity and kindness; that God speaks through our tongues in words of
truth and holiness;and that God has been pleasedto fill us to the full with His
own love, breathing Himself into us, that we might breathe Him out among
the sons of men in actions that shall be like Christ, and reflect honor upon His
name. Thus I have brought before you a rich thought for meditation.
III. Now, in the third place, beloved, if we thus know the Holy Spirit, WE
SHALL KNOW HIM BETTER SOON. We shallbe more instructed; and the
instructed disciple knows the Masterbetter than he who is in the A, B, C,
class. We shallbe more fully sanctified, and the pure in heart see God;and the
more pure we become, the more clearlyshall we see the greatPurifier; the
Holy Spirit will daily reveal Christ to us, and as we grow more like Christ, we
shall see more of Christ, and more of Him whose office it is to take of the
things of Christ, and show them unto us. None of us know to what we may yet
attain. I had no idea, when I first knew the Lord, of eventhe small attainment
to which I have come in divine truth. I have put awaymany a childish thing,
and learned many a manly truth of God which was too high for me before;
but if the Lord shall spare our lives—why, beloved, we have specimens among
us of saints who have knownthe Lord 40 or 50 years, who far outstrip us in a
thousand things—I do not know what we may be even here: I do not think any
man knows to what a Christian may attain. We become warpedand crippled
by our small conceptions of the possible in divine grace. ManyChristians get
Chinese shoes put on their feet, and never getdeveloped, and therefore they
think there must always be doubts and fears. There is no need for it! A man
might as welllive without doubts and fears as not; if he would grow in divine
grace, he would outgrow unbelief. We fancy if we getto be as full of faith as
Abraham, that it will be a greatattainment. Oh, but Abraham only lived in
the twilight, when Christ had not come! We live in a better age than
Abraham, after the coming of Christ; and we ought never to stint ourselves to
the same degree as those ancientsaints; we are to excelthem, and mount

higher and higher. You know not how sweetand clearthe air is, how glorious
the views above these clouds, if you could but stretch your wings of love and
confidence and zeal, and mount above the world. We do not know what we
shall be; we cannot tell what we shall know of the love, and of the Spirit of
God here. There is one thing we know—thatwhen He shall appear, whose
coming is our daily hope, we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is;
and when we shall be like He, then we shall know the Spirit of God, for we
shall be filled with wisdom and knowledge, andmade in the Image of Christ,
who is our all in all. If any of you desire the Spirit of God, remember that
your business is not with Him first, but with the cross of Christ. Trust Christ,
poor, broken-heartedsinner! I pray that the Holy Spirit may give you
precious faith to do it. Your brokenness ofheart comes from Him. The
Christian who is saved has to do with the Spirit of God, but to you, poor
sinner, the gospelcommand is, look to Jesus, look to Jesus and live! May the
Lord bless you, for Jesus Christ’s sake.
He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
The office of the Spirit
D. Moore, M. A.
I. THE ASSURANCE OF A NEARER RELATION TO THE DIVINE BEING
CONVEYED BY THIS PROMISE. The indwelling of the Spirit is declaredto
be a mere metaphor, as when we sayof a philosopher, there is in him the soul
of science;or of a poet, that he has the spirit of song. The disciples at this time
needed comfort, they were about to lose the support of their Master's personal
presence. Whatmockeryto have been told that they should be so inspirited
with truth as to compensate them abundantly for all their loss. A literal
indwelling, then, being contended for, notice some of the included blessings.

1. It is a standing pledge of the Divine presence and protection. The Divine
Spirit dwelling in us is God Himself coming back to that temple. He had dwelt
in it once before; but this once living temple lost its purity, and in that same
hour lost the presence of God. The rebuilding of this temple, the preparatory
step for bringing back God to His forsakensanctuary, was the awful mystery
of the Incarnation. By this one act the human nature became an honoured and
noble thing. Through the powerof the Spirit it had enshrined Godhead. The
indwelling of the Spirit is an abiding pledge of restoredand continuing
confidence betweenGod and man.
2. It is the vital principle of union betwixt Christ and His people. Our being
made one in Christ is one of the greatjunction facts of the Gospelsystem. It
connects the sinner with his hope, the electwith the covenant, and both
originates and effects that vital relationto God which brings the faithful
within the reachof the mediatorial designs and purposes. The Spirit initiates
that union, for "by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body." He assures
us of the union remaining unbroken, "Thereby we know that Christ abideth
in us by the Spirit which He hath given us" (Romans 8:11). "He that is joined
unto the Lord is one spirit."
II. THE PERMANENTINFLUENCE PROMISEDAS IT BEARS UPON
OUR HAPPINESS AND ADVANCEMENT IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
1. It assures to us a constantsupply of enlightening and directing influences.
"He will guide you into all truth." He enlarges the range of our spiritual
knowledge, andreveals, as if by a new spiritual sense, the greatmystery of
godliness.
2. It influences the moral affections also. This imparted life makes the heart to
burn, while it opens the understanding.
3. It gives to all our services a filial and loving character — "Forye have not
receivedthe spirit of bondage," etc. There is a service which is not happy. It
may be sincere, and earnest, and costly, and self-denying; but it is the service
not of a son, but of a bondsman. The Spirit in us changes constraintinto
cheerfulness and duty into happiness, and the restless activities of a self-
devised worship into a calm repose and a commanded and acceptedsacrifice.

(D. Moore, M. A.)
The Spirit with you and in you
D. Thomas, D. D.
I. A MAN MAY HAVE THE DIVINE SPIRIT WITH HIM, BUT NOT IN
HIM. The Divine Spirit was with the disciples in the personof Christ. Every
man has the Spirit with him.
1. In the operations ofnature.
2. In the revelations of the Bible.
3. In the events of history.
4. In the lives of all goodmen.
II. IT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE FOR A MAN TO HAVE THE SPIRIT OF
GOD WITH HIM. We have one who is ready to —
1. Guide;
2. Protect;
3. Strengthen;
4. Perfectus.
III. IT IS A GREATER PRIVILEGE FOR A MAN TO HAVE THE DIVINE
SPIRIT IN HIM. Christ had unfolded to His disciples an infinite systemof
truth, but it lay cold and dead in their memories. He depositedprecious seed
in the soil; but the soil lackedthe warmth and sunshine that the Spirit of God
alone could give. Compare the difference betweenthe disciples before and
after Pentecost.Whenthe Spirit of God is in you you have spiritual
1. Life.
2. Satisfaction.

3. Power.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The indwelling of the Spirit
C. Hodge, D. D.
God is said to dwell in heaven;among the children of men; in Zion; among
His people;in believers. The Spirit is said to dwell in His Church which is thus
a temple of God, and in believers individually, who are severallyHis temple. It
follows, then, that where the Spirit dwells His presence is indicated by certain
specific effects.
I. KNOWLEDGE. This is one of the chief ends for which He was promised.
This knowledge includes correctintellectualconvictions and spiritual
discernment. To this are due orthodoxy, love of truth and adherence to it
under all circumstances. To this source, also, we are indebted for the unity as
well as the preservationof the faith. This is a ground of convictionbeyond the
reachof scepticism, and unassailable by infidelity.
II. HOLINESS in all its forms.
1. Faith, confidence in God, in His word, promises, favours, etc.
2. Love —
(1)To God.
(2)To Christ.
(3)To the brotherhood.
(4)To all men.
3. Temperance.
4. Meekness.
5. Long suffering.

III. HOPE, JOY, AND PEACE. The consolationsofthe Spirit which sustain
the soulunder all sorrow;whether from conviction of sin or from affliction.
IV. ACTIVITY IN RESISTINGSIN AND IN DOING GOOD. He is the
source not only of inward spiritual life, but of outward acts of devotion and
obedience to God.
V. GUIDANCE.
1. By the Word.
2. By inward operationon the mind, guiding its thoughts, shaping its
conclusions and exciting right feelings;not by impulse or any magic
methods.Duties flowing from this doctrine —
1. To cherish the conviction that we in a specialsense belong to God.
2. To reverence and obey the admonitions of the indwelling Spirit.
3. To preserve our soul and body pure as the temple of the Holy Ghost.
4. A grateful sense ofthis unspeakable blessing and dignity.
(C. Hodge, D. D.)
God in us
Bp. S. Wilberforce.
I. ALL THE CONDITIONSOF THE DIVINE LIFE IN MAN BASE
THEMSELVES ULTIMATELY ON THE NECESSARYAND ETERNAL
RELATIONS OF THE EVER-BLESSED GODHEAD,OF THE TRINITYIN
UNITY. The gradualness of God's revelation of Himself enables us to trace
out something of this mystery.
1. Formany generations the revelation of the everlasting Fathercoveredthe
canvas, and that form of awful majesty was shrouded everywhere in clouds
and darkness. The utterance was, "I am the Almighty God; walk before Me,
and be thou perfect."

2. To this succeededthe revelation of the co-eternalSon. At first, wrapped, up
in the types and figures of the old law: then struggling like the sun through the
mists of the morning, as by the chant of Psalms, and the voice of prophecy, the
ever-brightening form was declaredto the waiting soul of humanity; until the
fulness of the time was come, and the eternal Son stoodincarnate upon the
earth. Humanity had now reachedaltogethera new stags;God was manifest
in the flesh; yet still God was external to man. The brightness of the uncreated
glory shone before his eyes, but his eyes were not quickenedto receive it.
3. One mighty further step was yet to be reached, and it is with the promise of
this that the Lord here upholds their hearts. The Paraclete "shallbe in you."
The external revelationwas to be replacedby the internal. Accordingly, when
the coming of the Holy Ghost was perfectly accomplished, alladditions to the
external revelation ceased. Miracleswere but visible attestations ofthe
outward kingdom passing into the inward, and one by one they expired as the
inward kingdom was established. Eventhe external revelation of the heavenly
mysteries soonceased. The canonwas closed.
II. FROM THIS FOLLOWS THE PECULIAR CHARACTER OF OUR
PROBATION. Forthough the Spirit of God works as a most free agent,
quickening whom He will; yet does He work on humanity according to the law
under which God has createdit; not destroying its free agency, but, in the
mystery of man's freedom, working with his spirit, and not by external force,
overpowering its proper action. The energyof the Spirit's working is enlarged
or restrained as man yields himself to it, or resists it. In the first preaching of
the gospelthis greatdistinction of the new dispensation was emphatically
declared. "Repent, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, 'that
the times of refreshing may come, from the presence ofthe Lord, and He shall
send Jesus.'" This is —
1. A promise to the whole Church. The stirring of the indwelling powerwas
openly manifested, and through all times since the same law may be traced as
pervading the Church's history. It does not setbefore us one equally prolific
age, but times of utter coldness and weariness alternating with blessedseasons
of refreshing. Ease, success, quietness, has oftenbred a deadly lethargy in the
Church, and the Spirit seems to have left her; but when danger, or

persecution, has brought her back to repentance, at once the Spirit stirred
within her, and the times of refreshing were restored. This has been, all along
its history, the distinctive criterion of the Church. No dead empire has ever
lived again; no exhausted school ofphilosophy has ever revived; no secthas
ever recoveredagainits early strength after falling into decrepitude. The
Church of Christ alone has thus renewed her strength, and mounted up from
her decaywith wings as eagles, becausein her only is this hidden presence of
God the Holy Ghost, and therefore for her only these times of refreshing are
possible.
2. The law of the life of separate souls. With what energydoes it awake when
the heart turns really to God. Who has not known hearts, which seemeddead,
the mere slaves ofselfishness, burnt out, — like exhausted volcanoes buried in
their ashy scoriae, — which have suddenly revived, under the breathing of the
Spirit, and put forth again, like the earth in the blessedspring-time, the
manifested glories of an irrepressible life?
III. FROM THIS GREAT MYSTERYTHERE FOLLOW SOME
PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES.
1. As this is the characteristicofthe dispensationof the Spirit, how do they
lose the glory and the blessednessoflife who do not know it in its fulness?
What earthly joy canbe comparedwith these Divine refreshings? How
different a life is this from the cold, doubting, questioning, colourless life
which the greaternumber of those who call themselves Christians are leading.
What know they, alas!in life or in death, of this word of promise, "He shall be
in you?"
2. This indwelling of Godmust, with all its unspeakable blessedness,be
accompaniedby correlative perils. So the word of God distinctly teaches us
when it speaks ofsin againstthe Holy Ghostas marked with such a peculiar
malignity of charity, and leading to so terrible and hopeless anend.(1) For
other sins are committed againstGod as external to the soul, these are
committed againstHim within us.(2) But beyond this. He who did not believe
in the Son of Man, greatas was his guilt, might under the power of the Holy
Ghostbe won to penitence;but he who blasphemes that Holy Spirit, on whose

presence within us depends the faculty of seeing, destroys in his soul the very
powerof vision itself. He can never see the truth; he can never be won to
repentance, and so he hath never forgiveness, neitherin this life, nor in that
which is to come.(3)Again, the progress ofthis deadly sin is from its peculiar
characterpreeminently insidious. Every external act of wickednesshas of
necessityabout it some note of warning. But the separate actings ofthese sins
againstthe Holy Spirit are so inward and secret, that men may pass through
the whole series without any external sign awakening their alarm.(4)The end
of such a course, and the secrethistory of that spiritual decay, may sometimes
be read in those terrible casesofwhat seemto be the sudden falls into gross
iniquity of those who have long stoodupright. The evil has, we may be sure,
been long festering within. There may, perhaps, be no very marked outward
change in the conduct, It is but that they are colder than they were in all the
religious life: that is, Godthe Holy Ghosthas left them. Then some sudden
gust of temptation falls suddenly upon them, and their utter failure under it
reveals to light and day the fearful secret. Conclusion:With such capacities of
ruin involved in the very blessednessofour regenerate life, surely the lessonof
lessons is for us the need of perpetual watchfulness:of guarding jealouslythat
secretindwelling of God within us which is our glory, but which we canmake
our destruction,
(Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
F. B. MEYER
"The Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because itseeth Him
not, neither knowethHim: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you."--John14:17.

THEY ARE lofty themes which we have been discussing in the foregoing
pages;and just because they touch the highestmatters of the spiritual life,
they involve us in profound responsibility. It was because Capernaumhad
been exalted to heaven in privilege, that she should be castdown to hell. Of
those to whom much is given, much is required. Better not to have known
these truths of the inner life, if we are content to know them only by an
intellectual apprehension, and make no effort to incorporate them into the
texture of our character. Few things harden more certainly than to delight in
the presentationof the mysteries of the kingdom, without becoming a child of
the kingdom.
The objecttherefore which now engagesus is less one of elucidation than of
self-examination. Let us discern ourselves. Letus see whetherwe be in the
faith. Let us expose souland spirit to the discrimination of the Word of God,
which is a discernerof the thoughts and intents of the heart.
I. THERE ARE TWO AVENUES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Perceptionand Reception.--"Whomthe world cannot receive, because itseeth
Him not, neither knowethHim." Three things are specifiedas beyond the
range of the world's power: it does not receive, it does not know, it does not
see, the things of the unseen and eternal world. It cannot see them, therefore it
does not know them, and therefore does not receive them; and this is
especiallytrue of its attitude towards the Holy Ghost.
When the world hears of the Holy Spirit, it brings to bear upon Him those
organs of cognitionwhich it has been accustomedto apply to the objects of the
natural world, and even to the human life of Christ. But, as might have been
expected, these are altogetheruseless. It is as absurd to endeavour to detect
the presence ofthe spiritual and eternal by the faculties with which we discern
what is seenand temporal, as it would be to attempt to receive the impression
of a noble painting by the sense oftaste, or to deal with the problems of
astronomy by the tests that are employed in chemicalanalysis. The world,
however, does not realise its mistake. It persists in applying tests to the Spirit
of God which may be well enoughin other regions of discovery, but which are
worse than useless here. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the

Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned." "Whomthe world cannot receive, for it beholdeth Him not,
neither knowethHim."
There was a touch of this worldly spirit even in Thomas, when he said,
"ExceptI see in his hand the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his
side, I will not believe";and in so far as the world-spirit is permitted to hold
swaywithin us, our powers of spiritual perception will be blunted, and
become infected with the tendency to make our intellect or imagination our
sole means of apprehending divine truth.
There is a better way than this; and our Lord indicates it when He says, "Ye
know Him, for He abideth with you, and shall be in you." Pascalsaid, "The
world knows in order to love: the Christian loves in order to know." The same
thought underlies these words of Christ. The world attempts to see the Spirit,
that it may know and receive Him; the child of Godreceives Him by an act of
faith, that he may know Him.
An illustration of this habit is given in the story of Naaman. The spirit of the
world whispered to him of the desirability of knowing that the waters ofIsrael
possessedcurative properties, before he committed himself absolutely to the
prophet's directions; and if he had waited to know before bathing, he would
have remained a helpless leper to the end of his days. His servants, however,
had a clearerperceptionof the way of faith, and persuaded him to dip seven
times in the Jordan. He actedon the suggestion, dipped seventimes, and his
flesh became as that of a little child. Similarly we are called to actupon
grounds which the world would hold to be inadequate. We hear the testimony
of another; we recognisea suitability in the promises of the Scripture to meet
the deep yearnings of our soul; we feel that the words and works ofJesus
Christ constitute a unique claim for Him, and we open our hearts towards
Him. In absolute humility and perfect obedience we yield to Him our whole
nature. Though the night be yet dark, we fling wide our windows to the warm
south-westwind coming over the sea. The result is that we begin to know, with
an intuitive knowledge that cannot be shakenby the pronouncements of the
higher criticism. We have receivedthe Spirit, and our after-life is too short to
unfold all that is involved in that unspeakable gift. We know Him because He

abideth with us, and is in us. No man knoweth the things of a man, save the
spirit of man which is in him; and we can only know the Spirit of God when
He has takenup his residence within us, and witnesses withour spirit, as One
who is interwoven with the very texture of the inner life.
Consecrationis therefore the key to this higher knowledge;and if any who
read this page are yearning after a discernment of the things of God on which
they may build the house of their faith amid the swirl of the storm and the
beat of the wave of modern doubt, let them open their entire nature, humbly
to receive and diligently to obey that Spirit whom Christ waits to give to all
who seek.
II. THE CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS DISPENSATION.
"He shall be in you."
It has been repeatedly saidthat creationis the work of the Father;
redemption, of the Son; and regeneration, ofthe Holy Spirit. It may also be
said that there are three dispensations:that of the Father, in the earlier
history of mankind; that of the Son, culminating in our Lord's ascension;and
that of the Holy Spirit, in which we are now living. In the history of the world
these were successive;in the history of souls they may be contemporaneous. In
the same house one member may be in the dispensationof the Father, another
in that of the Son, and a third in that of the Holy Spirit. It is highly necessary,
says the saintly Fletcher, that every goodstewardof the mysteries of God
should be well acquainted with this fact, otherwise he will not rightly divide
the word of life. There is peril lestwe should give the truth of one order of
dispensationto those who are living on another level of experience.
There is a remarkable illustration of this in the life of John the Baptist, who
clearly realisedthe distinction on which we are dwelling, and used it with
remarkable nicety when approachedby various classesofcharacter. When
Gentile soldiers came to him, in Roman regimentals, he merely bade them do
violence to no man, and be content with their wages. WhenJews came, he
said, "Beholdthe Lamb of God!" To his eagle eye a further dispensationwas
unveiled to which he alluded when he said, "He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost, and with fire." Similarly they to whom inquirers address

themselves should diagnose their spiritual standing, that they may lovingly
and wiselyadminister the truth suitable to their condition.
The dispensationof the Father includes those who hope that He has accepted
and forgiven them, but have no clearperceptionof the atoning work of
Christ; who are governed rather by fear than love; who tremble beneath the
thunders of Sinai more often than they rejoice at the spectacle ofCalvary;
who are tossedto and fro betweenhope and despair; who desire the favour of
God, but hesitate to speak confidently of having attained it. Such are to be
found in churches where the Gospelis veiled beneath heavy curtains of
misconceptionand formalism. In the same class we might put men, like
Cornelius, who in every nation fear God and work righteousness.
The dispensationof the Son includes those who clearlyperceive his divine
nature, and rejoice in his finished propitiation; they know that they are
acceptedin the Beloved;they receive his teachings about the Father; they
submit to the rule of life which He has laid down; but they know
comparatively little of the inner life, or of their oneness withChrist in
resurrectionand ascension;they understand little of what the apostle meant
by speaking of Christ being formed in the soul; and, like the disciples at
Ephesus, they know but little of the mission and infilling of the Holy Spirit.
The dispensationof the Holy Spirit includes those who have claimed their
share in Pentecost. In their hearts the Paraclete dwells in sanctifying grace, on
their heads He rests in mighty anointing. Those of the dispensationof the Son
resemble Ruth the gleaner;those of the dispensationof the Spirit, Ruth the
bride. Those dwellin Romans vii. and Hebrews 3.; these in Romans 8. and
Hebrews 4. For those the water has to be drawn from the well; in these it
springs up to everlasting life. Oh to know the "in-ness" of the Holy Spirit.
Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you by the Spirit--unless ye be reprobate!
III. THE TOKENS OF THE INDWELLING.
We must distinguish here, as Dr. Steele suggests, betweenwhatare variable,
and what are constant.
These vary,

(1) The joy of realization, which is sometimes overpowering in its intensity, at
other times like the ebbing tide.
(2) Agony for souls, which would be insupportable if it were permanent.
Christ only asks us to watchin Gethsemane forone hour.
(3) Access in prayer. Sometimes the vision is face to face;at others, though we
graspas in Jacob's night-wrestle, we cannotbehold. Like Esther, we seemto
wait in the ante-chamber. As the lark of which JeremyTaylor speaks, we rise
againstthe eastwind.
(4) The openings of Scripture. The Bible does not seemto be always equally
interesting. At times it is like the scentedletter paper, smelling of aloes and
cassia,bearing the handwriting we love; at others it resembles the reading
book of the blind man, the characters in which, by constantuse, have become
almost obliterated, so as hardly to awake answering thought.
(5) The pressure of temptation. We sometimes think that we are getting out of
the zone of temptation. The pressure is so reduced that we think we shall
never suffer againas we have done. Then, all suddenly, it bursts upon us--as
the fury of the storm, when, after an hour's cessation, it takes the mariner
unawares.
All these symptoms are too variable to be relied upon for a diagnosis of our
spiritual condition, or an evidence of the dispensationto which we belong.
These are constant.
(1) The consciousnessofbeing God's. This is to be distinguished from the
outgoing of our faith and love towards God. At the beginning of our
experience we hold Him; but as the Holy Spirit dwells more fully we realise
that we are held by Him. It is not our love to God, but his love to us; not our
faith, but his faithfulness; not the sheep keeping nearthe Shepherd, but the
Shepherd keeping the sheepnear to Himself. A happy sense stealsoverthe
heart, as over the spouse--"Iam my Beloved's, and his desire is toward me."
(2) The supremacy of Jesus in the heart. There is no longer a double empire of
self and Christ--as in the poor Indian who said to the missionary, "I am two

Indians, goodand bad"; but there is the undivided reign of Christ, who has
put down all rule and authority and power--as in the case ofMartin Luther,
who said, "If any one should ask of my heart, Who dwells here? I should
reply, Not Martin Luther, but Christ."
(3) Peace, whichlooks out upon the future without alarm, because so sure that
Christ will do his very best in every day that lies hidden beneath the haze of
the future; which forbears to press its will too vehemently, or proffer its
request too eagerly, because absolutelycertainthat Jesus will secure the
highest happiness possible, consistentlywith his glory and our usefulness to
men.
(4) Love. When the Spirit of God really dwells within, there is a baptism of
love which evinces itself not only in the household and to those naturally
lovable, but goes out to all the world, and embraces in its tenderness suchas
have no natural traits of beauty. Thus the softwaters of the Southern Ocean
lap againstunsightly rocks and stretches ofbare shingle.
Where love reigns in the inner chamber of the soul, doors do not slam; bells
are not jerked violently; soft tones modulate the speech;gentle steps tread the
highways of the world, bent on the beautiful work of the messengers ofpeace;
and the very atmosphere of the life is warm and sunny as an aureole. There is
no doubt of the indwelling Spirit where there is this out-going love.
(5) Deliverance from the love and powerof sin, so that it becomes growingly
distasteful, and the soul turns with loathing from the carrion on which it once
fed contentedly. This begets a sense ofpurity, robed in which the soul claims
kinship to the white-robed saints of the presence-chamber, andreaches out
towards the blessednessofthe pure in heart who see God. There is still a
positive rain of smut and filth in the world around; there is a recognitionof
the evil tendencies of the self-life, which will assertthemselves unless
graciouslyrestrained;but triumphing above all is the purity of the indwelling
Lord, who Himself becomes in us the quality for which holy souls eagerly
long.

BARNES, "He dwelleth in you - The Spirit dwells in Christians by his sacred
influences. There is no personalunion, no physical indwelling, for God is
essentiallypresentin one place as much as in another; but he works in us
repentance, peace, joy, meekness, etc. He teaches us, guides us, and comforts
us. See the notes at Galatians 5:22-24. Thus, he is said to dwell in us when we
are made pure, peaceable, holy, humble; when we become like him, and
cherish his sacredinfluences. The word “dwelleth” means to remain with
them. Jesus was to be taken away, but the Spirit would remain. It is also
implied that they would know his presence, andhave assurance that they were
under his guidance. This was true of the apostles as inspired men, and it is
true of all Christians that by ascertaining that they have the “gracesofthe
Spirit” - joy, peace, long-suffering, etc. they know that they are the children of
God, 1 John 3:24; 1 John 5:10."
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR
But ye know Him
The saint and the Spirit
The Holy Spirit, although the most active, potent, and realworkerin the
world, is not discernedby the mass of mankind, who are affectedonly by what
they see, orhear, or feel. The vital distinction betweenthe man of God and the
man of the world is this: the man of God knows the Holy Spirit, for He is with
him and dwelleth in him; but the man of the world knows not the Holy Ghost.
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS KNOWN TO BELIEVERS THROUGHHIS
OPERATIONSIN THEM AND UPON THEM.
1. We have seenthe operations of the Holy Spirit in the Church at large

2. The works of the Holy Spirit within a regenerate manfind an illustration in
the work of the Holy Spirit upon the personof our Lord, our CovenantHead
and Representative.
3. If we know the Spirit of God at all, we shall know Him as having convinced
us of sin. No one ever came to Christ until he felt his need of Him.
4. If you know the Holy Spirit, you will also know Him as the greatrevealerof
Christ.
5. Since that, have we not often knownthe Spirit as our helper in prayer?
6. Then, when we rose from our knees, we openedthe Scriptures, the Spirit of
Truth acted as interpreter. He wrote the book, and therefore He understands
it meaning.
7. You know not the Spirit unless you have often recognizedHim as the great
calmer and quieter of His people’s minds when under distractions.
8. More especiallyis the Spirit known to believers as their sanctifier.
II. THEY KNOW HIM BY HIS PERSONALINDWELLING IN THEIR
SOULS. The Holy Spirit gives us His operations and His influences for which
we should be very grateful, but the greatestgift is Himself, which “dwelleth
with you and shall be in you.” This is
1. Wondrously condescending;
2. Singularly effective. There is no way of doing work well, exceptdoing it
yourself; and when the Mastercomes and gives personalattendance, it is sure
to be done.
3. Delightfully encouraging, “IfGod actually dwells in me, then what may I
not expect?”
4. Potently sanctifying. If God dwell in us, let us not defile these bodies. When
Ignatius stoodbefore the judges, they said, “You are calledthe God bearer,
Theophorus;what mean you by this? He said, “Goddwells in me.” When the

persecutorlookedat him and said he blasphemed, he replied that the Holy
Spirit dwelt in him. Ah! but Ignatius proved it. If you and I dare to say God
dwells in us, we must prove it too;perhaps not by a cruel death, but by what is
far more difficult--a holy life.
III. WE SHALL KNOW HIM BETTER SOON. We shallbe more instructed;
and the instructed disciple knows the Masterbetter than he who is in the A B
C class. We shall be more fully sanctified, and the more pure we become, the
more clearly shall we see the greatPurifier. I do not know what we may be
even here. We become warped and crippled by our small conceptions ofthe
possible in grace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you
The office of the Spirit
I. THE ASSURANCE OF A NEARER RELATION TO THE DIVINE BEING
CONVEYED BY THIS PROMISE. The indwelling of the Spirit is declaredto
be a mere metaphor, as when we sayof a philosopher, there is in him the soul
of science;or of a poet, that he has the spirit of song. The disciples at this time
needed comfort, they were about to lose the support of their Master’s personal
presence. Whatmockeryto have been told that they should be so inspirited
with truth as to compensate them abundantly for all their loss. A literal
indwelling, then, being contended for, notice some of the included blessings.
1. It is a standing pledge of the Divine presence and protection. The Divine
Spirit dwelling in us is God Himself coming back to that temple. He had dwelt
in it once before; but this once living temple lost its purity, and in that same
hour lost the presence of God. The rebuilding of this temple, the preparatory
step for bringing back God to His forsakensanctuary, was the awful mystery
of the Incarnation. By this one act the human nature became an honoured and
noble thing. Through the powerof the Spirit it had enshrined Godhead. The
indwelling of the Spirit is an abiding pledge of restoredand continuing
confidence betweenGod and man.

2. It is the vital principle of union betwixt Christ and His people. Our being
made one in Christ is one of the greatjunction facts of the Gospelsystem. It
connects the sinner with his hope, the electwith the covenant, and both
originates and effects that vital relationto God which brings the faithful
within the reachof the mediatorial designs and purposes. The Spirit initiates
that union, for “by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body.” He assures
us of the union remaining unbroken, “Thereby we know that Christ abideth
in us by the Spirit which He hath given us” (Romans 8:11). “He that is joined
unto the Lord is one spirit.”
II. THE PERMANENTINFLUENCE PROMISEDAS IT BEARS UPON
OUR HAPPINESS AND ADVANCEMENT IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
1. It assures to us a constantsupply of enlightening and directing influences.
“He will guide you into all truth.” He enlarges the range of our spiritual
knowledge, andreveals, as if by a new spiritual sense, the greatmystery of
godliness.
2. It influences the moral affections also. This imparted life makes the heart to
burn, while it opens the understanding.
3. It gives to all our services a filial and loving character--“Forye have not
receivedthe spirit of bondage,” etc. There is a service which is not happy. It
may be sincere, and earnest, and costly, and self-denying; but it is the service
not of a son, but of a bondsman. The Spirit in us changes constraintinto
cheerfulness and duty into happiness, and the restless activities of a self-
devised worship into a calm repose and a commanded and acceptedsacrifice.
(D. Moore, M. A.)
The Spirit with you and in you
I. A MAN MAY HAVE THE DIVINE SPIRIT WITH HIM, BUT NOT IN
HIM. The Divine Spirit was with the disciples in the personof Christ. Every
man has the Spirit with him.

INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Similar to INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT