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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
June, I936
multitudes, now mentioned with praise and gratitude by multitudes. Men once ditch diggers for Satan are now road builders for God. Men once the devil’s debauchees are now God’s dynamos. What transformations! What a change in nature and character! Consider John Bunyan, once a swearing drunken tinker, mending old pots and pans and kettles. Transformed into a preacher he was-—a preacher who got in jail for preach ing and who, in jail, wrote a book that crawled out from the bars o f the jail and traveled more highways and walked more bypaths and knocked at more doors and spoke to more people in their mother tongue than has any other book the world has ever known, save the Bible. Think o f John B. Gough, considered a hopeless drunk ard. Bankrupt in character and in purse he was. But he was changed—-and, in turn, he led tens o f thousands to Christ and to the Christian life. And there was Matthew— despised, vulgar, greedy. But his life was transformed; and he wrote the first Gospel. And there was Peter—blundering, cursing fisherman. He lied; he skulked; he swore; he denied. But the blas phemer became the preacher, the coward became the hero, the quicksand became the rock. And there was the woman at the well-Spoor, bruised, soiled, brutalized, dirty toy o f dirtier men. A woman with five husbands, living illicitly with another. But her life was transformed— and many believed on Jesus “ because o f the word o f the woman.” And there was Saul of Tarsus. Bitter as a persecutor, thirsting for the blood o f those'wKoTielieved in JesusJcon- senting to the death o f Stephen, persecuting Christians into strange cities and rejoicing in their tortures. But his life was transformed. He became as gentle as a woman, yet as brave as a lion. He compassed the earth with the
truths of redemption, storming the capitals o f proud em- . pires, smashing the temples o f Greece, taking the hinges off the doors of nations, glorying in bearing in his body the marks and scars o f the Lord Jesus. And there was Moody—a- shoe clerk, rude, crude, un lettered. But he was transformed. Through the regenera tive transformation that took place in his heart and life, he took one continent in one hand and another continent in the other and rocked them both toward God. IV . N ote th e P ower T h at W orks T hese T ransfor mations S een in H um an L ives That Power is oft mentioned in the Bible, where names are not merely incidental, where names o f persons and places have definite and significant meanings. That Power is a Person. And, in the Bible, He is called names which are not accidental or unnecessary. He is called “ the Spirit of glory,” “ the Spirit o f life,” “ the Spirit o f grace,” “ the Spirit o f truth,” “ the Spirit o f Christ,” “ the Spirit of God,” “ the Holy Spirit.” This power that transforms is this Person o f power— the Holy Ghost. And this Holy Spirit who transforms is not a mere attribute o f deity. Not a divine influence pro ceeding from God, corresponding to the influence which proceeds from a human being. Not the will or energy of God under certain forms o f activity. Not an emanation pro ceeding from God, as heat comes from fire, as perfume comes from flowers. No. But a Person o f power—working and bringing to pass transformations in human hearts and lives and purposes and achievements beyond all words to describe. It was the Holy Spirit who inspired Isaiah to speak for national righteousness and international peace. It was the Holy Spirit who directed John the Baptist to denounce hypocrisy and sin in high places, calling for repentance as he did so. It was the Holy Spirit who uncovered the deceit of Ananias and Sapphira. And on— and on. Because the Holy Spirit comes as a Guest into every converted soul, that soul has the power to grow in the Christian graces. The Christian is the temple, the taber nacle, the sanctuary for the Spirit. And to the degree that the Spirit is given opportunity, He develops that fruit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith fulness, meekness, and self-control. And it is not without significance that Paul writes the Galatians o f liberty in the same paragraph in which he urges them to walk by the Spirit. What liberty we enjoy we have by coming to the truth. “ Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Every live young person knows that verse. Does he know also the companion verse: “ He [the Holy Spirit] will guide you into all truth” ? To the extent that we receive the truth given by the Holy Spirit we develop into true freedom—-freedom that is the finest use o f God’s property. What we need to do is to give the Holy Spirit an op portunity. We need to allow Him to develop in us the fruit. W e need to show that those who claim belief in Him are different from those who do not. Life, liberty, spon taneity, sincerity, aggressive evangelism, heroic self-sacri fice, growth into the likeness o f God Himself— these are the words used to express the objectives o f the Holy Spirit. V . N ote th e W ork the H oly S pirit D oes The Holy Spirit reproves, rebukes, convicts. When we see what this activity means in connection with the un belief o f the world, with our own personal righteousness, and with the devil, we understand how we: need this power to work in.our lives: “ And when he is come, he will re prove the world o f sin, and o f righteousness, and of. judg-
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