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THE KING’S BUSINESS
cast out devils out of men and He cast them out by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was asked to give His life a ransom for the sin of the world and He offered Himself up through the power of the eternal spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit He spoke as no man ever spoke and commanded demons, and they obeyed Him, and made atonement for the sin of the world. But do not forget that He did His work as a carpenter and lived His life as a humble citizen in the village of Nazareth by the power of this same Holy Spirit. The point of what we are saying is this: . God makes pro vision through the power of the Holy Spirit whereby a man can do any thing God asks him to do in the way in which he ought to do it. If God is asking you to do a thing, you can do it, and do it right. I know people are not in the habit of thinking of the power of the Holy Spirit in this way. When they think of the Holy Spirit they think of power to talk and preach. That is not the New Testament conception and it is not the conception that meets the needs of humanity. It is true that a man needs the power of the Holy Spi rit in preaching and testimony. There can be no real preaching apart from His power. But it is just as easy for me to do honest preaching without the power of the Holy Spirit as it is for you to do honest, clean and effective business without that power. Paul in speaking of this spirit-filled life in his letter to the Ephesians hardly men tions preaching and what we often speak of as “Christian work.” What does he write about? About telling the truth in every day relations of life. About getting angry without sinning. It is our duty to get angry, but we must get angry in the power of the Holy Spirit if we are going to do it without sinning against God. He writes about a man making an honest
willingness but of ability, or power to obey. Many men say, “I would like to do good and be what I ought to be but someway when I would do good evil is present with me and the good I would do I do not, and the evil I hate that I do. I simply' have not got the power to do these things.” That raises a very serious question. Does God ask men to do things that it is impossible for -them to do? If a man who is honestly seeking to do the will of God feels that he ought to do a certain thing he may depend upon it that somewhere God has put at his dis posal the' means by which to do that thing. When Jesus asked the disci ples to undertake the task of the evan gelization of the world He imme diately said, “I send forth the promise of the Father upon—you—ye shall re ceive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Without this power they were asked to do the impossible. They simply could not do the work in their own strength. But when they were told to do the work God told them where they could get power to do it. In studying the life of Christ we find that this same Holy Spirit was the source of His power also. He was baptized by the Spirit. He was led by the Spirit. He was anointed for ser vice by the Spirit, and by His power He cleansed and transformed the lives of men. In this spirit energized life He lived a normal human life. God meant that men should live their life by the power of the Holy Spirit. A life filled by the Holy Spirit is a life of power effective in its witness and service., And may I repeat, that is the normal life. The powerless life that is a failure in service is unnatu ral, and was never intended for men by God. God wanted Jesus to be a carpenter in Nazareth and He did that work perfectly by the power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted Him to
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