How to obtain the fullness of power for Christian life – chpt. 3 part I

This article is part of the "Vitalize" pack

Reuben A. Torrey:
"How to Obtain Fulness of Power For Christian life?"

Chapter 3 — The Power of the Holy Spirit

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"Power belongeth unto God."
Ps 62

Intro

The Holy Spirit is the person who imparts to the individual believer the power that belongs to God. This is the Holy Spirit's work in the believer, to take what belongs to God and make it ours. All the manifold power of God belongs to the children of God as their birthright in Christ, "All things are yours." (1 Cor. 3:21) But all that belongs to us as our birthright in Christ becomes ours in actual and experimental possession through the Holy Spirit's work in us as individuals. To the extent that we understand and claim for ourselves the Holy Spirit's work, to that extent do we obtain for ourselves the fulness of power in Christian life and service that God has provided for us in Christ. A very large portion of the Church know and claim for themselves a very small part of that which God has made possible for them in Christ, because they know so little of what the Holy Spirit can do for us, and longs to do for us.
Let us study the Word, then, to find out what the Holy Spirit has power to do in men. We shall not go far before we discover that the same work which we see ascribed in one place to the power of the Word of God is in other places ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The explanation of this is simple.
The Word of God is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit does His work. The Word of God is "the sword of the Spirit." (Eph. 6:17) The Word of God is also the seed the Spirit sows and quickens. (Luke 8:11; 1 Pet. 1:23) The Word of God is the instrument of all the manifold operations of the Holy Spirit, as seen in Chapter I. If therefore we wish the Holy Spirit to do His work in our hearts we must study the Word. If we wish Him to do His work in the hearts of others we must give them the Word. But the bare Word will not do the work alone. The Spirit must himself use the Word. It is when the Spirit himself uses His own sword that it manifests its real temper, keenness and power. God's work is accomplished by the Word and the Spirit, or rather by the Spirit through the Word. The secret of effectual living is knowing the power of the Spirit through the Word. The secret of effectual service is using the Word in the power of the Spirit. There are some who seek to magnify the Spirit but neglect the Word. This will not do at all. Fanaticism, baseless enthusiasm, wild fire are the result. Others seek to magnify the Word, but largely ignore the Spirit. Neither will this do. It leads to dead orthodoxy, truth without life and power.
The true course is to recognize the instrumental power of the Word through which the Holy Spirit works, and the living, personal power of the Holy Spirit who acts through the Word.
But let us come directly to the consideration of our subject: What has the Holy Spirit power to do?

1. Turn to 1 Cor. 12:3.

"Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost."

The Holy Spirit has power to reveal Jesus Christ and His glory to man. When Jesus spoke of the Spirit's coming He said: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" (Jn. 15:26), and it is only as He does testify of Christ that men will ever come to a true knowledge of Christ. You send men to the Word to get a knowledge of Christ; but it is only as the Holy Spirit takes the word and illuminates it, that men ever get a real living knowledge of Christ. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." 1Cor 12:3. If you wish men to get a true knowledge of Jesus Christ, such a view that they will believe on Him and be saved, you must seek for them the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Neither your testimony nor that of the Word alone, will suffice, though it is your testimony, or that of the Word, which the Spirit uses. But unless your testimony is taken up by the Holy Spirit, and He himself testifies, they will not believe.
It was not merely Peter's words about Christ that convinced the Jews at Pentecost. It was the Spirit himself bearing witness. If you wish men to see the truth about Jesus, do not depend upon your own powers of exposition and persuasion, but cast yourself upon the Holy Ghost and seek His testimony. If you wish yourself to know Jesus with a true and living knowledge, seek the witness of the Spirit through the Word.
Many a man has a correct doctrinal conception of Christ, through a study of the Word, long before he has a true personal knowledge of Christ through the testimony of the living Spirit.

2. Now let us turn to John 16:8-11:

"And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."

The Holy Spirit has power to convict the world of sin. This is closely connected with the preceding; for, it is by showing Jesus and His glory and His righteousness, that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Note the sin of which the Holy Spirit convicts, "Of sin because they believe not on me." It was so at Pentecost, as we see in Acts 2:36, 37.
You can never convict any man of sin because that is the work of the Holy Spirit. You can reason and reason, and you will fail. The Holy Spirit can do it very quickly. Did you never have this experience? You have shown a man passage after passage of Scripture, and he was unmoved, and you have wondered why the man did not break down, and suddenly it has occurred to you, "why, I am not looking in my helplessness to the mighty Spirit of God to convict this man of sin, but I am trying to convince the man of sin myself," and then you have cast yourself upon the Spirit of God for Him to do the work, and conviction came. The Spirit can convince the most careless, as experience has proven again and again.
But it is through us that the Spirit produces conviction. In Jn. 16:7,8, we read: "I will send him to you, and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." It was the Spirit sent to Peter and the rest, who convicted the 3,000 through Peter and the others on the day of Pentecost. It is ours to preach the Word and to look to the Holy Spirit to produce conviction. (See Acts 2:4-37)

3. In Tit. 3:5, we read:

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."

The Holy Spirit has power to renew men or make men new, to regenerate. Regeneration is the Holy Spirit's work. He can take a man dead in trespasses and sins, and make him alive. He can take the man whose mind is blind to the truth of God, whose will is at enmity with God and set on sin, whose affections are corrupt and vile, and transform that man, impart to him God's nature, so that he thinks God's thoughts, wills what God wills, loves what God loves, and hates what God hates. I never despair of any man when I think of the power of the Holy Spirit to make new, as I have seen it manifested again and again in the most hardened and hopeless cases.
It is through us that the Holy Spirit regenerates others. (1 Cor. 4:15) As we have seen in Chapter I, the Word has power to regenerate; but it is not the bare word, but the word made a living thing in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. No amount of preaching, no matter how orthodox it is, and no amount of mere study of the Word will regenerate, unless the Holy Spirit works. Just as we are utterly dependent on the work of Christ for us in justification, so we are utterly dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit in us in regeneration. When one is born of the Spirit the Spirit takes up His own abode in him. (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19) The Holy Spirit dwells in every one who belongs to Christ. (Rom. 8:9.) We may not have surrendered our lives very fully to this indwelling Spirit, we may be very far from being "full of the Spirit," we may be very imperfect Christians, but, if we have been born again, the Spirit dwells in us, just as Paul said to the Corinthians, who were certainly very far from perfect Christians, that He did in them. What a glorious thought it is that the Holy Spirit dwells in me! But it is also a very solemn thought. If my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, I certainly ought not to defile it as many professed Christians do. Bearing in mind that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, would solve many problems that perplex young Christians.

4. We find a further thought about the power of the Holy Spirit in Jn. 4:14.

"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

You may not see at first that this verse has anything to do with the Holy Spirit, but compare John 7:37,39 and it will be evident that the water here means the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then has power to give abiding and everlasting satisfaction. The world can never satisfy. Of every worldly joy it must be said: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." But the Holy Spirit has power to satisfy every longing of the soul. The Holy Spirit and He alone can satisfy the human heart. If you give yourself up to the Holy Spirit's inflowing, or rather upspringing, in your heart, you will never thirst. You will not long for the theatre, or the ballroom or the card party, or worldly gain, or honor. Oh, with what joy unutterable and satisfaction indescribable the Holy Spirit has poured forth His living water in many souls. Have you this living fountain within? Is the spring unchoked? Is it springing up into everlasting life?

5. In Rom. 8:2, we read:

"For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

The Holy Spirit has power to set us free from the law of sin and death. What the "law of sin and death" is we see in the preceding chapter. (Rom. 7:9-24)
Read this description carefully. We all know this law of sin and death. We have all been in bondage to it. Some of us are still in bondage to it, but we do not need to be. God has provided a way of escape. That way is by the Holy Spirit's power. When we give up the hopeless struggle of trying to overcome the law of sin and death, of trying to live right in our strength, in the power of the flesh; and in utter helplessness surrender to the Holy Spirit to do all for us; when we live after Him and walk in His blessed power; then He sets us free from the law of sin and death. There are many professed Christians today living in Rom. 7. Some go so far as to maintain that this is the normal Christian life. That one must live this life of constant defeat. This would be true, if we were left to ourselves; for in ourselves we are "carnal sold under sin."
But we are not left to ourselves. The Holy Spirit undertakes for us what we have failed to do ourselves. (Rom. 8:2-4) In Rom. 8 we have the picture of the true Christian life, the life that is possible to us, and that God expects from each one of us; the life where not merely the commandment comes, as in Chapter VII, but where the mighty Spirit comes also, and works obedience and victory. The flesh is still in us, but we are not in the flesh. (Rom. 8:12,13, compare vs. 9.) We do not live after it. We "live after the Spirit." We, "through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body." We "walk after the Spirit," and do "not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (Gal. 5:16.)
It is our privilege, in the Spirit's power, to get daily, hourly, and constant victory over the flesh and over sin. But the victory is not in ourselves, not in any strength of our own. Left to ourselves, deserted of the Spirit of God, we would be as helpless as ever. It is all in the Spirit's power. If we try to take one step in our own strength we shall fail. Has the Holy Spirit set you free from the law of sin and death? Will you let Him do it now? Simply give up all self effort* to be free from "the law of sin and death," to give up sinning; believe in the divine power of the Holy Spirit to set you free; and cast yourself upon Him to do it. He will do it. Then you can triumphantly cry with Paul: "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:2)

*This attitude may come from a Calvinist background. Meanwhile the apostles teach otherwise, on bilateral co-working: will and work, sanctifi­cation.
See: Phil 2:12-13 and Jms 4:8

6. We find a closely allied but larger thought about the Holy Spirit's power in Eph. 3:16:

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."

The Holy Spirit strengthens the believer with power in the inward man. The result of this strengthening is seen in verses 17-19. Here the power of the Spirit manifests itself not merely in giving us victory over sin, but
(a), in Christ's dwelling in our hearts;
(b), our being "rooted and grounded in love;"
(c), our being "made strong to apprehend with all the saints what is breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."
It all ultimates in our being "filled unto all the fulness of God."

7. We find a still further thought about the Holy Spirit's power in Rom. 8:14, R. V.:

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.."

The Holy Spirit has power to lead us into a holy life, a life as "sons of God," a godlike life. Not merely does the Holy Spirit give us power to live a holy life, a life well pleasing to God when we have discovered what that life is: He takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us into that life. Our whole part is simply to surrender ourselves utterly to Him to lead and to mould us. Those who do this are not merely offspring, which all men are (Acts 17:28), neither are we God's children: "These are sons of God."

More thoughts in this chapter →

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