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‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God.’
Rom_8:14
I. There is no power like this for conquering what is base and mean and fleshy in us.—‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.’ The spirit of man, helped by the Spirit of God, gains the victory in that conflict. ‘Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?’ No other words can speak as those do for soberness and purity. Ye are not your own. The love of God could not claim you more effectually than by putting the Life of His own Spirit into you. Faith in such love towards us makes the true faith in ourself, which is not pride but reverence, and which gives strong mastery over those temptations which, under the plea of nature, invite us to be as the beasts. ‘Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit.’
II. But besides standing firm and treading down the evil, we have to move and walk.—We ought to go forward, and we need guidance. The light to guide us must be that of conscience. ‘The spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord!’ But the Spirit of the Lord gives to the wavering light that is in us strength and steadiness. That He should be our guide is Christ’s promise. Look more and more confidently for guidance, through your own heart and conscience, from God Himself, whose Spirit is in you. This is the secret of that real wisdom which belongs to men who are taught of God, and of that true growth of character and life which comes to those who are humble enough and ready enough to listen for God’s voice, and to give Him opportunity to lift them from grace to grace. In matters of conduct this is our wisdom: in matters of faith it is this only which can create in us real belief. It takes Divine teaching to believe in God. ‘No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit.’
III. So we think of the Spirit as the Light and Guide and Strength of each heart that receives Him.—But one presence in many hearts or lives must needs draw those hearts and lives nearer to each other. It is only by being in tune with God that we can be in harmony with one another. The things that make quarrels are the lusts that war in our members, and are of earth. The faiths that keep men apart, even when they professedly agree, are the faiths which are formal and mechanical; the faiths which draw together men who even deeply differ are the faiths which are living and spiritual.
—
Bishop E. S. Talbot.
THE CHRISTIAN BIRTHRIGHT
My object is either to awaken or to restore this consciousness as the case may be.
I. A joint witness.—I appeal to the facts of your own consciousness. There is the register if you choose to test it, which must speak to you more convincingly than any argument, more forcibly than any emotional appeal.
(a) I would appeal to your dissatisfaction in your better moments with yourself.
(b) I appeal to the startling and yet most true fact that you are never quite alone.
II. What does the Christ of Revelation add to these facts of our consciousness?
(a) He reveals the true Man. It is the note which you will find in all that is recorded of Him. ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’
(b) Christ adds the interpretation of that Presence which His Cross has revealed. He Who is so near to you when you are most alone, is God, and God is your Father.
—
Bishop E. A. Knox.
Illustration‘Your Baptism, your Confirmation, your Communion are not idle ceremonies. They are historical assurances that your faith is not vain, and means whereby God is pleased, if you use them rightly, to quicken your consciousness of His nearness and love, and to pour out upon you riches, and still richer measures of His adopting Spirit.’
THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
How does the Holy Spirit lead?
II. The Holy Spirit leads us on by the example and by the influence of those whom we love and trust on earth.—There is many a sister pleading with her brother, and she is a minister and vehicle of the Holy Ghost to him. There is many an older man who is trying unselfishly to warn a boy about the bad ways into which he is falling; through him the Holy Spirit is speaking. There is many a mother who is sending up earnest prayers, perhaps in some far country village, for the boy who has come to the town to work.
III. The Holy Spirit leads us by making holiness attractive, by showing the difference between the life of Jesus Christ and the life of the selfish, ungenerous man of the world; by pointing out how much more beautiful it is to be like Christ at home, like Christ in the city, like Christ among our friends, than the selfish, lustful, passionate man who is not led by the Spirit at all. Are you beginning to see that? Is it beginning to dawn upon you that this beautiful life of Jesus Christ, lived out in the city, lived out in the home, is the most winning thing in the world, and that you would like to be like that; you would like to be unselfish, generous, and chivalrous to the weak as Christ was? That is the Holy Spirit, Who is drawing you on by talking of Christ and showing Him to you and making you feel you would like, however far off to-day, to be more like Jesus Christ. Do let Him lead you on!
IV. He leads us on in our prayers.—So many lately are disheartened about their prayers and their meditations; they think they are cold and dry; they used to like religion and be fervent and warm in their prayers, but they feel fervent and warm no more. What are they to do? Give up? No; let the Holy Spirit lead them in prayer, and what a blessed promise it is! The Holy Spirit will pray in us, not for us, ‘with groanings that cannot be uttered.’ He will enable us to pray according to the Will of God.
V. He leads us in our lives.—We may be led by the Spirit all our lives. ‘Am I to work here in this place?’ ‘Am I to go to that shop?’ ‘Am I to stay or not to stay at that factory?’ ‘Am I to take this or that line in life?’ The Holy Spirit is waiting all the time to show us whether or not; to lead us; to guide us, if we will, into the right course. The loving Spirit will lead us forth into the land of righteousness wherever we are.
Bishop A. F. Winnington-Ingram.
Illustrations(1) ‘Here is an old-world story of a village which had in it a clump of thick trees, and in the midst of this clump of trees there dwelt a dove. It was the custom of the village, when they went out to fight, or when some young man was starting on his career, or some little child was in trouble, having perhaps broken the pitcher in bringing it from the well, they would all go to the clump of trees and listen to the voice of the dove. And all was happy and well in that village for years. But at last a bad phase came over the village. It took to drink; evil-speaking, quarrels, and clamouring filled the little place. The voice of the dove became fainter and fainter, and at last a little child came running out from the clump of trees crying, and said the dove had gone. And then great misfortune came upon that village; they were defeated in their local fights; worse and worse the little place became. Sadly they went and consulted an old hermit who lived hard by, and asked him what they were to do; and he said, “There is only one thing to do. Lay aside all this by which you have degraded your village life and driven your dove away. Perchance if you fast and pray that dove will come back into the middle of your village.” They took his advice, and one spring morning a child ran out brightly from the grove and said the dove had come back. The dove had not gone, it turned out, but had only been silent among the trees. If you are feeling a sort of gentle flutter, the soft voice of some one speaking in your heart, it is the Holy Dove of God. It is the Holy Dove Who is trying to win you back from your selfishness to better things. It is the first leading of the Spirit. For God’s sake do not silence the Spirit of God again!’
(2) ‘I remember so well’ (says the Bishop of London) ‘talking to a clergyman years ago about a very difficult parish for which I wanted a man. There was nothing whatever to attract him about it. He was a well-to-do man, and could go anywhere he liked. Here was a parish which he knew nothing about. The credit of the Church was ship-wrecked in it in ways I need not describe, and after my talk I thought he would not go. I went into St. Paul’s Cathedral for the Sunday afternoon sermon, and forgot for the moment all about my friend with whom I had been speaking, and preached—if I remember right—a sermon on this very text, “Led by the Spirit.” I got a letter in the evening: “Dear Bishop, I am led by the Spirit to go.” That was all. How I did thank God that night on my knees that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him. He did go. He did five years’ magnificent work. Having gone from the right motive he was helped by the right power. He built up again the credit of that Church; he gathered round him a large band of workers; he converted the chief opponent of the Church in that district to be what he is now, an enthusiastic and powerful churchworker. He certainly was led by the Spirit to go.’
BY WHOM ARE WE LED?
I. There is a theory that God, before Creation, revealed to angels His purpose to enter Creation. Lucifer hoped that he might be the Instrument of the Incarnation. Disappointed, he rebelled and was cast out. When, therefore, the first man was born, Satan tempted him and succeeded. When our Lord was born, Satan again watched his chance. At our Lord’s Baptism Satan heard the voice: ‘This is My beloved Son.’ He, therefore, at once tempted the Lord and—failed.
II. Every Christian life has this history. At baptism the infant is declared to be a ‘child of God.’ Satan, standing by, says, ‘I will see.’ The child is led into the wilderness of the world, and is tempted. It is a psychological fact that man’s will must be guided.
III. We are led either by the Spirit of God or by the spirit of evil.—Which is it? Upon the answer depends our sonship.
Rev. A. G. Mortimer.
Illustration‘Lead me, Almighty Father, Spirit, Son;
Whither Thou wilt, I follow, no delay;
My will is Thine, and even had I none,
Grudging obedience, still I will obey;
Faint-hearted, fearful, doubtful if I be;
Gladly or sadly I will follow Thee.
Into the land of righteousness I go,
The footsteps thither Thine and not my own.
Jesus, Thyself the way, alone I know,
Thy will be mine, for other have I none.
Unprofitable servant though I be,
Gladly or sadly let me follow Thee.’
THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
I. Only the true Christian can dare to apply to himself that blessed language in which St. Paul and John describe the strength of the believer, the privileges of the regenerate, the comforts of the justified, the liberty of the redeemed, the assurance of the elect. ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.’ Can a man be ‘led’ by the Spirit of God, who is a drunkard, a profane swearer; who desecrates the Lord’s Day; who is envious, only hasting to get rich, proud, imperious, selfish, or impatient; who turns his back on God’s ordinances; who, as the prophet says, has ‘snuffed at’ the Table of the Lord; and who, in no part of his conduct, keeps the fear of God, as an abiding restraint, before his eyes?
II. The Holy Spirit will not abide in a defiled or a neglected temple.—He will go and seek another home, if He be not welcomed in ours. He will only abide in a holy place, ‘with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit; to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’ He cannot put up with ‘proud looks and a high stomach,’ with men who say, ‘We are they that ought to speak; who is lord over us?’ It must be a pure and upright heart, a heart weaned from the world, with ‘affections set on things above.’
III. The Presence of that Holy Spirit is revealed by His fruits: ‘Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.’ ‘Against these there is no law’; indeed, they render all law superfluous. Their animating motive is not fear, but love—the love of Him ‘Who first loved us’; an obedience issuing from the pure devotion of the heart towards a kind Benefactor, a Divine Being, Who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. These fruits must be manifested in each one of us: ‘We have received the Spirit of adoption,’ been made the sons of God, chosen out of the world, that we should ‘show forth the praises of Him Who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.’
If you have not found Him ‘a very present help in trouble,’ it is because you have sought after other comforters. If He bears not ‘His witness with our spirit that we are the children of God,’ it is because worldliness and disobedience have made us strangers to the feeling, as well as forfeited the title of ‘sons.’
Bishop Fraser.
A PROVISION AND A TEST
Now, in our text, you will see not only a provision, but a test. ‘As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of of God.’ How will He guide them?
I. He will guide them downhill.—He will lead them downhill because He will lead them into a deeper humility, a humility with regard to themselves. He will convict of sin. It is His first work.
II. He will lead uphill to the hill of Calvary.—The Holy Spirit will lead the man to think very much of Jesus Christ. ‘He shall glorify Me.’ That doctrine which belittles Christ, that doctrine which would rob Christ of His glory, cannot be of the Holy Spirit.
III. He will lead the man alongside the river bank, beside the still waters, He will lead him there in the paths of peace, He will lead him into satisfaction, into joy. Having led him down into humility, and up there to look, with the eye of penitence and faith, on the Crucified, now peace will join herself to the man.
IV. He will lead him along the King’s highway, He will lead him in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake, to do that which is right in the sight of God, for the glory of Christ’s Name.
V. The Holy Spirit will lead him both with regard to his faith and to his practice.—He will lead him with regard to his faith. ‘He will guide you into all truth.’ And the Holy Spirit will guide the man into apprehension of the Divine truth. His sheep hear His voice, and they know His voice, and they follow Him.
VI. It is the Holy Spirit Who fits us for service.—The first question which is asked of the ordained is this, ‘Dost thou believe that thou art inwardly called by God the Holy Ghost to this office of ministry?’ Now the whole of one’s ministerial life depends upon the truthfulness of the answer to that question. The bishop may ordain, but it is only the Holy Spirit which can make a true minister of God’s Holy Word.
So you will find that this leading of the Holy Spirit is a grand reality.
—
Rev. Canon E. A. Stuart.
WHOM THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL GUIDE
I. There is spiritual humility, self-distrust, the fear, in any matter, of going anywhere without our Guide. God loves the timidity which will trust in nothing, believe in nothing but Himself; which leads us to suspect our motives, that they may be wrong; our steadfastness, that it may falter; our views of duty, that they may be biased; our faith, that in the hour of temptation it may fail (see Exo_33:14-15). Let us, then, realise constantly this habit of self-distrust. We are safe only while we fear.
II. There is the spirit of self-subjection; a will disciplined to instant obedience; the power of postponing all choices to the faintest indication of the Mind of God. Perhaps we are under a strong impression that we ought to do a particular thing. We do not like it; but conscience, or Scripture, or an unknown voice has whispered audibly that such is the Will of God. If, then, we yield to hesitation; if, before deciding, there be a conference with flesh and blood; a debating about expedience, and possible consequences, we are not led by the Spirit of God; but if these intimations of the Divine Will are followed by a simple unquestioning obedience, we are so led (see illustrations of those opposite tempers in 2 King Rom_5:12; Joh_9:7). A willing and obedient mind, that is the way to have the Spirit of God.
III. There is the necessity of habitual prayer for His guidance. A watchful outlook upon Divine signs, prayer for a right interpretation of them, are ever precautions against a wrong step. Wherefore in all things be it ours to seek and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As we journey through the wilderness of life, let us look out that we may behold our Divine Guide always ahead of us, His pillar of cloud directing our course by day, and His pillar of fire enlightening us in the darkest night.
Prebendary D. Moore.