22 chapters
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Selected Chapters
22 chapters
Chapter I. The Personality of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter I. The Personality of the Holy Spirit.
Before one can correctly understand the work of the Holy Spirit, he must first of all know the Spirit Himself. A frequent source of error and fanaticism about the work of the Holy Spirit is the attempt to study and understand His work without first of all coming to know Him as a Person. It is of the highest importance from the standpoint of worship that we decide whether the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, worthy to receive our adoration, our faith, our love, and our entire surrender to Himself,
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Chapter II. The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter II. The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
Omnipresence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Ps. cxxxix. 7-10, “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.” Omniscience is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in several passages. For example, we read in 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, “Bu
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Chapter III. The Distinction of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from His Son, Jesus Christ.
Chapter III. The Distinction of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from His Son, Jesus Christ.
Again in John xvi. 7, a clear distinction is drawn between Jesus who goes away to the Father and the Holy Spirit who comes from the Father to take His place. Jesus says, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” A similar distinction is drawn in Acts ii. 33, where we read, “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the
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Chapter IV. The Subordination of the Spirit to the Father and to the Son.
Chapter IV. The Subordination of the Spirit to the Father and to the Son.
The subordination of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son comes out also in the fact that He derives some of His names from the Father and from the Son. We read in Rom. viii. 9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ , he is none of His.” Here we have two names of the Spirit, one derived from His relation to the Father, “the Spirit of God,” and the other derived from His relation to the Son,
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Chapter V. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as Revealed in His Names.
Chapter V. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as Revealed in His Names.
1. The thought of breath is brought out in John xx. 22 where we read, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them , and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” It is also suggested in Gen. ii. 7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This becomes more evident when we compare with this Ps. civ. 30, “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit , they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.”
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Chapter VI. The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Material Universe.
Chapter VI. The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Material Universe.
II. Not only is the original creation of the material universe attributed to the agency of the Holy Spirit in the Bible but the maintenance of living creatures as well. We read in Ps. civ. 29, 30, “Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit , they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” The clear indication of this passage is that not only are things brought into being through the agency
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Chapter VII. The Holy Spirit Convicting the World of Sin, of Righteousness and of Judgment.
Chapter VII. The Holy Spirit Convicting the World of Sin, of Righteousness and of Judgment.
At the close of an inquiry meeting in our church in Chicago, one of our best workers brought to me an engineer on the Pan Handle Railway with the remark, “I wish that you would speak to this man. I have been talking to him two hours with no result.” I sat down by his side with my open Bible and in less than ten minutes that man, under deep conviction of sin, was on his knees crying to God for mercy. The worker who had brought him to me said when the man had gone out, “That is very strange.” “Wha
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Chapter VIII. The Holy Spirit Bearing Witness to Jesus Christ.
Chapter VIII. The Holy Spirit Bearing Witness to Jesus Christ.
If you wish men to see the truth about Christ, do not depend upon your own powers of expression and persuasion, but cast yourself upon the Holy Spirit and seek for them His testimony and see to it that they put themselves in the place where the Holy Spirit can testify. This is the cure for both skepticism and ignorance concerning Christ. If you yourself are not clear concerning the truth about Jesus Christ, seek for yourself the testimony of the Holy Spirit regarding Christ. Read the Scriptures,
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Chapter IX. The Regenerating Work of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter IX. The Regenerating Work of the Holy Spirit.
To put the matter of regeneration in another way; regeneration is the impartation of a new nature, God's own nature to the one who is born again (2 Pet. i. 4). Every human being is born into this world with a perverted nature; his whole intellectual, affectional and volitional nature perverted by sin. No matter how excellent our human ancestry, we come into this world with a mind that is blind to the truth of God. ( “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foo
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Chapter X. The Indwelling Spirit Fully and Forever Satisfying.
Chapter X. The Indwelling Spirit Fully and Forever Satisfying.
This indwelling Spirit is a source of full and everlasting satisfaction and life. Jesus says in John iv. 14, R. V., “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto (better ‘into’ as in A. V.) eternal life.” Jesus was talking to the woman of Samaria by the well at Sychar. She had said to Him, “Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof himself, a
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Chapter XI. The Holy Spirit Setting the Believer Free From the Power of Indwelling Sin.
Chapter XI. The Holy Spirit Setting the Believer Free From the Power of Indwelling Sin.
There are many professed Christians to-day living in the experience that Paul described in Rom. vii. 9-24. Each day is a day of defeat and if at the close of the day, they review their lives they must cry, “Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?” There are some who even go so far as to reason that this is the normal Christian life, but Paul tells us distinctly that this was “when the commandment came” (v. 9), not when the Spirit came; that it is the exper
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Chapter XII. The Holy Spirit Forming Christ Within Us.
Chapter XII. The Holy Spirit Forming Christ Within Us.
II. In our being rooted and grounded in love (v. 17). Paul multiplies figures here. The first figure is taken from the tree shooting its roots down deep into the earth and taking fast hold upon it. The second figure is taken from a great building with its foundations laid deep in the earth on the rock. Paul therefore tells us that by the strengthening of the Spirit in the inward man we send the roots of our life down deep into the soil of love and also that the foundations of the superstructure
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Chapter XIII. The Holy Spirit Bringing Forth in the Believer Christlike Graces of Character.
Chapter XIII. The Holy Spirit Bringing Forth in the Believer Christlike Graces of Character.
We get very much the same thought from a different point of view in the second chapter and twentieth verse, A. R. V., “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” We hear a great deal in these days about “Ethical Culture,” which usually means the cultivation of the flesh until it bears the fruit of the Spirit
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Chapter XIV. The Holy Spirit Guiding the Believer Into a Life as a Son.
Chapter XIV. The Holy Spirit Guiding the Believer Into a Life as a Son.
Being led by the Spirit of God does not mean for a moment that we will do things that the written Word of God tells us not to do. The Holy Spirit never leads men contrary to the Book of which He Himself is the Author. And if there is some spirit which is leading us to do something that is contrary to the explicit teachings of Jesus, or the Apostles, we may be perfectly sure that this spirit who is leading us is not the Holy Spirit. This point needs to be emphasized in our day, for there are not
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Chapter XV. The Holy Spirit Bearing Witness to our Sonship.
Chapter XV. The Holy Spirit Bearing Witness to our Sonship.
Notice when it is that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. We have the order of experience in the order of the verses in Rom. viii. First we see the Holy Spirit setting us free from the law of sin and death, and consequently, the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us who walk not after the law but after the Spirit (vs. 2-4); then we have the believer not minding the things of the flesh but the things of the Spirit (v. 5); then we have the believer day by
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Chapter XVI. The Holy Spirit as a Teacher.
Chapter XVI. The Holy Spirit as a Teacher.
II. The Holy Spirit will teach us all things. There is a still more explicit promise to this effect two chapters further on in John xvi. 12, 13, 14, R. V. Here Jesus says, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify
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Chapter XVII. Praying, Returning Thanks, Worshipping in the Holy Spirit.
Chapter XVII. Praying, Returning Thanks, Worshipping in the Holy Spirit.
The longings which the Holy Spirit begets in our hearts are often too deep for utterance, too deep apparently for clear and definite comprehension on the part of the believer himself in whom the Spirit is working— “The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered ” (Rom. viii. 26, R. V.). God Himself “must search the heart” to know what is “the mind of the Spirit” in these unuttered and unutterable longings. But God does know what is the mind of the Spirit; He
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Chapter XVIII. The Holy Spirit Sending Men Forth to Definite Lines of Work.
Chapter XVIII. The Holy Spirit Sending Men Forth to Definite Lines of Work.
How does the Holy Spirit call? The passage before us does not tell us how the Holy Spirit spoke to the group of prophets and teachers in Antioch, telling them to separate Barnabas and Saul to the work to which He had called them. It is presumably purposely silent on this point. Possibly it is silent on this point lest we should think that the Holy Spirit must always call in precisely the same way. There is nothing whatever to indicate that He spoke by an audible voice, much less is there anythin
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Chapter XIX. The Holy Spirit and the Believer's Body.
Chapter XIX. The Holy Spirit and the Believer's Body.
One of the most deeply significant phrases used in connection with the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures is “baptized with the Holy Ghost.” John the Baptist was the first to use this phrase. In speaking of himself and the coming One he said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire ” (Matt. iii. 11). The second “with” in this passage is in italics. It i
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Chapter XX. The Baptism With the Holy Spirit.
Chapter XX. The Baptism With the Holy Spirit.
We read again in Acts x. 44-46, “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost . For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.” Peter himself afterwards describing this experience in Jerusalem tells the story in this way, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them , as
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Chapter XXI. The Work of the Holy Spirit in Prophets and Apostles.
Chapter XXI. The Work of the Holy Spirit in Prophets and Apostles.
The doctrine is becoming very common and very popular in our day that the work of the Holy Spirit in preachers and teachers and in ordinary believers, illuminating them and guiding them into the truth and opening their minds to understand the Word of God is the same in kind and differs only in degree from the work of the Holy Spirit in prophets and apostles. It is evident from the passage just cited that this doctrine is thoroughly unscriptural and untrue. It overlooks the fact so clearly stated
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Chapter XXII. The Work of the Holy Spirit In Jesus Christ.
Chapter XXII. The Work of the Holy Spirit In Jesus Christ.
3. Jesus Christ was anointed and fitted for service by the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts x. 38, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power : who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” In a prophetic vision of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament we read in Isa. lxi. 1, “ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me , because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up th
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