A great many persons are guilty of thinking the Spirit of God to be straitened when they fancy that he must always work in one way. When I am seeing persons who come forward to confess their faith, I find they often begin by telling me how they were brought low under a sense of sin; and I like that old-fashioned way of conversion. But when I find one beginning by saying, “The Lord met me, and filled my heart with joy and gladness under a sense of pardon, almost before I had any sense of sin, and the sense of sin followed after,” I say to myself, “Let the Lord do his work in his own way.” I am not going to make a pattern, and lay them all on it, and say that they must all be just that length, or else be stretched out a bit, or be cut shorter. No; let the Lord save his own people in his own way; and if one is made to go down to the dark dungeon of law-work, and gets whipped till he has not a bit of whole skin in his soul, I hope that it will do him good. But if another is gently led to Christ, and does not know that there is a rod, but through love and kindness is led to rejoice in his Savior, I trust that he will remember it, and be glad all his days. Conversions are not run into moulds. You cannot get a gross of conversions like a gross of steel pens. Each living child is different from any other living child. A great painter never paints exactly the same picture twice. There is always a difference somewhere, be it ever so slight; and when there is a work for eternity done in a church, it is done in very varied ways. If we begin to tie the Lord down to one way of work, we shall make a great mistake.
“Oh,” says one, “we meet together, a number of us, and anybody speaks who likes, and that is God’s way of working. I do not believe in a one-man ministry.” But we are in great danger of grieving the Spirit of God if we think that he only works with one set of men, with one order of government, or with only those who have none. Another man, who goes to hear one particular individual, says, “I am profited by Mr. So-and-so’s preaching, and do not get so much good under anybody else. I do not like that other open way of worship.” Brethren, let them worship as they like. God does bless a one-man ministry, and God does bless a twenty-man ministry. If the ministry be in the power of his Spirit, let it take what shape it likes. God is not bound by our rules and regulations: if you see God at work, bless his name that he is there, and let him work as he wills. You must not think that God works only on one set of lines. “Oh,” says one, “I always get a blessing from So-and-so.” Yes, you expect it, and you pray God to send it. “But I do not expect a blessing from such-and-such a man. He has such a curious way of going to work.” Very likely. God has some very queer servants, and, may I add, he has some very queer children? We have strange families ourselves sometimes. Some parents have very old boys; and a number of God’s sons and daughters are the oddest children that ever were born. Yet he bears with them; and surely we may bear with them, too. Some of the most useful people one has over known have also been very eccentric, and they have gone their own way to work. If you do not like their way, do not go with them; go your own way. They will not like your way; but they must not blame you, neither must you despise them. As the Lord directs you, and as you find the Word of God guides you, set to work for him, and believe that the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened. God blessed William Huntington, the coal-heaver, to many souls, though he preached a very strong Calvinism, while, at the same time, he was blessing some who preached a very weak Arminianism; but God blesses neither the Calvinism nor the Arminianism, but the Christ that is in the sermon. The true, eternal, evangelical verity that is brought out, God himself will bless to the souls of men. Let us not, therefore, speak of the Holy Ghost as tied to any set of men. “Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?”
Once more: we act as if we did not believe in this divine truth concerning the Spirit of God, when we think that some men are beyond his reach. Let us never imagine that those who have been sitting under the sound of the Word for years are so gospel-hardened as to be past hope; or those who have gone deep into sin are too deeply-dyed ever to be cleansed; or those who have wandered from the fold are too far away ever to be recalled. Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened, that we should despair of any whom God has permitted still to remain on this side his judgment-bar? Have faith for the worst of men, and the worst of women too: great sinners, when saved, bring great glory to that God whose Spirit leads them to the truth.
And again, we may treat the Spirit of God as straitened if we cannot believe that he can bless us to-day. “I feel so gloomy,” you say; “I hope that I shall be better to-morrow.” Brother, why should you not be converted at this good hour? “Oh,” says some sister, “I mean to serve the Lord when I got a little older.” Do you? Well, you are a little older since I began to speak to you; and I think that your best time is to begin now. Believe in God’s nows. Believe that any moment is a good moment with God. “This day is a day of good tidings.” Why should not I at this moment dedicate myself to God afresh? Why should I not come to Christ again, and ask him to give me more life, more faith, more hope, more joy, more likeness to himself now? “Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?”
IV. On the fourth and last point, our words must be few, though the truth affords much scope for instruction. THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WILL PROVE THAT HE IS NOT STRAITENED; and at the last all men shall own his power, whether they have bowed to it or not: he will be magnified in those who are saved, and in those who are lost.
He will exact punishment for resistance. Those who now despise the messages which are sent to them will, at last, be left to their own devices. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” saith the Eternal God; and continual rejection will, at last, and in the total withdrawal of his presence, and the eternal ruin of all who have resisted him.
But notwithstanding the rejection of men, he will fulfill the divine decree. Man’s obstinacy shall not frustrate the purpose of God; and the things which he hath foreordained shall surely come to pass. In this shall be clear evidence that the Spirit of the Lord was not straitened. Not one of God’s chosen shall be suffered to continue in the way to ruin; they shall all be effectually called, and enabled to embrace Christ as he is freely preached to them in the gospel.
Thus, the third proof will be given, in that he will glorify Christ, and prepare a people to welcome his advent. The gospel shall be preached among all nations, and out of every tribe and people witnesses shall be gathered to await the glorious appearing of the victorious Christ, which cannot be long delayed. Then it shall be soon how grandly the Spirit, it of the Lord has perfected both the number and the character of the church, which, like a chaste virgin, shall be presented to the Lamb, as the reward of his agony and intercession.
You that are not converted, but are longing to be, what are you waiting for, seeing that the Spirit of the Lord is thus over ready to work, and will never be more able at another time than he is now? The great point with many is to precipitate decision, to bring them across the border line. You are almost over it. You have often been so. You are almost persuaded. O Spirit of God, make them believe in Jesus now! May they turn their eyes to him who hung upon the tree; and look now, and live! What reason should there be why tomorrow should be better for repenting than to-day? In what way can 1892 be better than 1891? I am at a loss to think; but I can easily find a great many reasons why delays are dangerous, why delays are expensive, why delays will end in rejections. May God the Holy Spirit come and turn you to God now, lest, at last, you should share in that awful judicial blindness which falls on those who spurn his entreaties; lest the gospel should be hid to you because you are lost; lest standing in the way of God’s purpose, you should be cut down as a cumberer of the ground; lest, at last, you should miss being numbered with that glorious throng who are now being called away from their idols to serve the living God, and to wait for his Son from heaven! Has he not said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”? When may they come? Whenever they come, he will not cast them out. What sort of people will he receive? “Him that cometh”—any “him” that cometh, be he who he may. How do they come? They must just trust—trust Jesus. May the Holy Spirit enable you to trust him now! The Lord bless you, for his name’s sake! Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
