The Indwelling and Outflowing of the Holy Spirit by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. This sermon was originally preached on May 28th in the year 1882. The text for today comes from the book of John, first from the book of John chapter 7 verses 38 to 39. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, Streams of living water will flow from within him. By this, Jesus meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. But I tell you the truth. It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. It is essential, dear friends, that we must worship the living and true God. It will be dreadful for us if it can be said, you worship what you do not know, Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. The heathen disobey this command by worshiping many gods and making many images to be the object of their adoration. Their excess runs to gross superstition and idolatry. I fear that sometimes we, we who profess and call ourselves Christians, sin in exactly the opposite direction. Instead of worshiping more than the one true God, I fear we worship less than God. This happens when we forget to pay the adoration due to God the Holy Spirit. The true God is Triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And though there is only one God, yet that one God has manifested himself to us in the Trinity of his sacred persons. If then we worship the Father and the Son, but forget or neglect to adore the Holy Spirit, then we worship less than God. While the poor heathen in his ignorance goes far beyond in sins, We must be careful for fear that we will fall short and also fail. What a grievous thing it will be if we do not pay that loving homage and reverence to the Holy Spirit, which is so justly due to Him. May it not be true that we enjoy less of His power and see less of His working in the world because the Church of the Living God has not been sufficiently attentive to Him. It is a blessed thing to preach the work of Jesus Christ, but it is an evil thing to omit the work of the Holy Spirit. For the work of the Lord Jesus itself is no blessing to that man who does not also know the work of the Holy Spirit. There is the ransom price, but it is only through the Spirit that we know the redemption. There is the precious blood. but it is as though the fountain had never been filled unless the Spirit of God leads us with repenting faith to wash there. The bandage is soft and the ointment is effectual, but the wound will never be healed until the Holy Spirit applies that which the Great Physician has provided. Therefore, let us not neglect the work of the Divine Spirit lest we incur guilt and inflict upon ourselves serious damage. You that are believers have the most powerful reasons to hold the Holy Spirit in the highest esteem. For what are you now without Him? What were you? And what would you have still been had it not been for His gracious work upon you? The Holy Spirit made you alive or else you would not have been in the living family of God today. The Holy Spirit gave you understanding that you might know the truth or else you would have been as ignorant as the carnal world is at this hour. It was the Holy Spirit that awakened your conscience convincing you of sin. It was He that gave you a hatred of sin and led you to repent. It was the Holy Spirit that taught you to believe and made you see that glorious person who is to be believed, our Lord Jesus, the Son of God. The Spirit has produced in you your faith and love and hope and every grace. There is not a jewel upon the neck of your soul which he did not place there. For every virtue we possess, and every victory won, and every thought of holiness, are his alone. What have we learned that was good except by the teaching of the Holy Spirit? What can we say either in prayer to God or in teaching to men that will be acceptable unless we receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Brethren, who is it that has comforted us in our distresses, directed us in our perplexities, strengthened us in our weaknesses, and helped us in our anxieties in ten thousand ways? Is it not the Comforter whom the Father has sent in Jesus' name? Can I speak too highly of the riches of His grace towards us? Can I extol too much the love of the Spirit? I know I can't. And you that know what He has created in you delight to hear Him highly spoken of and His work and offices set forth. We are obligated many times over to seek His honor. The One who has produced in us our salvation Let us never grieve the Holy Spirit by our ingratitude, but let us endeavor to extol Him. For my part, it shall be the labor of this morning to impress upon you the necessity for His work and the superlative value of it. Beloved Brethren, notwithstanding all that the Spirit of God has already done in us, It is very possible that we have missed a large part of the blessing which He is willing to give, for He is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. We have already come to Jesus, and we have drunk of the life-giving stream. Our thirst is quenched, and we are made to live in Him. But is this all? Now that we are living in Him and rejoicing to do so, have we come to the end of the matter? Assuredly not. We have only reached as far as that first exhortation of the Master. If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. But do you think that the majority of the Church of the Living God have ever advanced to the next level? that level which says, whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, streams of living water will flow from within him. I think I am not going beyond the solemn truth. If I say to you that only here and there will you find men and women who have believed up to that point. The thirst is quenched, as I have said, and they live. And because Jesus lives, they shall also live. But they do not have strong health and energy. They have life, but they do not have abundant life. They have little life with which to act upon others. They have no energy welling up and overflowing to go streaming out, streaming out of them like streams. They have not thought it possible, perhaps. Or thinking it was possible, they have not imagined it possible to themselves. Or believing it is possible to themselves, they have not aspired to it. So they have stopped short of the fullest blessing. Their wading into the sacred river has made them content, and they do not know anything about swimming in the waters. Like the Israelites of old, they are slow to possess all of the promised land, but rather they sit down when the war had barely begun. Brothers, let us go in to get from God all that God will give us. Let us set our heart on this, that we might gain by God's help all that the infinite goodness of God is ready to bestow. Let us not be satisfied with the sip that saves, but let us go on to the baptism which buries the flesh and raises us in the likeness of the risen Lord. Even that baptism into the Holy Spirit and into fire which makes us spiritual and sets us all ablaze with zeal for the glory of God and eagerness for usefulness by which that glory may be increased among the sons of men. Thus, this morning I introduce to you my text, and by their guidance we will enter upon the further consideration of the operations of the Holy Spirit, especially of those to which we should aspire to. First, we will begin with the remark that the work of the Spirit is intimately connected with the work of Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is intimately connected with the work of Jesus Christ. It is a great pity when persons preach the Holy Spirit's work so as to obscure the work of Christ, and I have known some who do that. For they have held up before the sinner's eyes the inward experience of believers, instead of lifting up, first and foremost, the crucified Savior to whom we must all look to and live. The gospel is not, behold the Spirit of God, but behold the Lamb of God. It is an equal pity when Christ is so preached that the Holy Spirit is ignored, as if faith in Jesus prevented the necessity of the new birth. and imputed righteousness rendered imparted righteousness needless. Have I not often reminded you, dear friends, reminded you that in the third chapter of John, where Jesus taught Nicodemus the doctrine, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit? Have I not taught you that we also read those blessed words, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert So the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. The necessity for regeneration by the Spirit is stated very clearly. And so is the free promise that those who trust in Jesus will be saved. This is what we ought to do. We must take care to let both of these truths stand out most distinctly with equal prominence. They are intertwined with each other and are each dependent on the other. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate. They are so joined together that, first of all, the Holy Spirit was not given until Jesus had been glorified. The Holy Spirit was not given until Jesus had been glorified. Carefully note our first text. It is a very striking one. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. The word given is not in the original. It is inserted by the translators to help out the sense. and they were perhaps wise in making such an addition. But the words in the original are more forcible by themselves. How strong the statement, for the Holy Spirit was not yet. Of course, none of us dream that the Holy Spirit was not yet existing, for he is eternal and self-existent, being most truly God. but he was not yet in fellowship with man to the full extent in which he is now since Jesus Christ is glorified. The near and dear interaction of God with man, which is expressed by the indwelling of the Spirit, could not take place until redeeming work was done and the Redeemer was exalted. As far as men were concerned, and the fullness of the blessing was concerned, indicated by the outflowing streams of living water, the Spirit of God was not yet. Oh, you say, but wasn't the Spirit of God in the church in the wilderness? And wasn't the Spirit of God with the saints of God in all the former ages? I answer, certainly. but not in the manner in which the Spirit of God now resides in the Church of Jesus Christ. You read about the prophets, how that the Spirit of God came upon them, seized them, moved them, spoke by them, but He did not live in them. The Spirit of God did not live in them. His operations upon men were somewhat temporary. These men were at times carried away by the Spirit of God, and they came under His power, but the Spirit of God did not rest upon them or live in them. Occasionally the sacred endowment of the Spirit of God came upon them, but they did not know the communion of the Holy Spirit. As one French pastor very sweetly puts it when referring to the Holy Spirit, he said this, he appeared to men, he did not incarnate himself in man. His action was intermittent, he went and he came. Like the dove which Noah sent out from the ark and which went back and forth finding no rest. While in the New Testament times he dwells, he abides in the heart, like the dove, his emblem, which John the Baptist saw descending and alighting upon the head of Jesus. Engaged to the soul, the spirit went off to see his betrothed, but was not yet one with her. The marriage was not consummated until Pentecost. after the glorification of Jesus Christ. You know how our Lord puts it, He lives with you and will be in you. That indwelling is quite different than simply Him being with us. The Holy Spirit was with the apostles in the days when Jesus was with them. But he was not in them in the sense in which he filled them on and after the day of Pentecost. The operations of the Spirit of God before our Lord's ascension to heaven were not according to the full measure of the gospel. But now the Spirit of God has been poured upon us from on high. Now he has descended and now he lives in the midst of the church. And now we enter into him and are baptized into the Holy Spirit, while he enters into us and makes our bodies to be his temples. Jesus said, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever. Not coming and going, but remaining in the midst of the church, This shows how intimately the gift of the Holy Spirit is connected with our Lord Jesus Christ. Inasmuch as in the foolish sense of His indwelling, the Holy Spirit could not be with us until Christ had been glorified. It has been clearly observed that our Lord sent out seventy evangelists to preach the gospel, even as He had sent out the twelve. And no doubt they preached with great zeal and produced a lot of excitement. But the Holy Spirit never took the trouble to preserve one of their sermons, or even the notes of one. I have not the slightest doubt that they were very crude and incomplete, showing more of human zeal than of divine unction, and hence they are forgotten. But no sooner had the Holy Spirit entered into the disciples than Peter's first sermon is recorded. And since then we have frequent notes of the utterances of apostles, deacons, and evangelists. There was an abiding fullness and an overflowing of blessing out of the souls of the saints after the Lord was glorified, which did not exist among men before that time. Observe too, that the Holy Spirit was given after the Ascension of our Divine Lord into His glory, partly to make that Ascension the more celebrated. When the Lord ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. These gifts were men in whom the Holy Spirit dwelt, who preached the gospel to the nations. The giving of the Holy Spirit on the assembled disciples on that memorable day was the glorification of the risen Christ on earth. I don't know of any other way. in which the Father could have made the glory of heaven so effectually to flow from the heights of the New Jerusalem and to come streaming down among the sons of men as by giving that chief of all gifts the gift of the Holy Spirit when the Lord had risen and gone into His glory. With emphasis, may I say of the Spirit at Pentecost, that he glorified Christ by descending at such a time? What greater celebration could there have been? Heaven rang with praise and the earth echoed with joy. The descending Spirit is the noblest testimony among men to the glory of the Ascended Redeemer. Wasn't the Spirit of God also sent at that time as an evidence of our Divine Master's acceptance? Wasn't the Spirit of God also sent at that time as an evidence of our Divine Master's acceptance? Didn't the Father thus say to the Church, My Son has finished the work and has fully entered into His glory. Therefore I give to you the Holy Spirit. If you want to know what a harvest is to come from the sowing of the bloody sweat and of the death wounds, see the first fruits. Behold how the Holy Spirit is given himself to be the first fruits. The down payment of the glory which shall yet be revealed in us. I need no better evidence from God of the finished work of Jesus than this blazing, flaming seal of tongues of fire upon the heads of the disciples. Christ must have done his work or such a blessing as this would not have come from it. Moreover, if you desire to see how the work of the Spirit comes to us in connection with the work of Christ, Remember that it is the Spirit's work to bear witness of Jesus Christ. If you desire to see how the work of the Spirit comes to us in connection with the work of Christ, remember that it is the Spirit's work to bear witness of Jesus Christ. The Spirit does not take a thousand different matters and show them to us. But as Christ said, He shall take what is mine and make it known to you. The Spirit of God is engaged in a service in which the Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. He comes to men that they may come to Jesus. Therefore, the Holy Spirit comes to convince us of sin, that he may reveal the great sacrifice of sin. He comes to convince us of righteousness, that we may see the righteousness of Christ. and of judgment that we may be prepared to meet Jesus when He shall come to judge the living and the dead. Do not think that the Spirit of God has come or ever will come among us to teach us a new gospel or something other than what is written in the scriptures. Oh, men often come to me with their visions and their new ideas. and they tell me that they were revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. I abhor their blasphemous impertinence and refuse to listen to them for a minute. They tell me this and that absurdity and then blame it on the Spirit of Wisdom. It is enough to try our patience to hear their foolish ravings, but to find that they claim that it came from the Holy Spirit is more than we can bear. We have tests and judgments by which to know whether they who claim to speak by the Holy Spirit do so or not. For the testimony of the Spirit is always most honorable to our Lord Jesus Christ and does not concern itself with the trifles of time and the follies of the flesh.

It is by the gospel of Jesus Christ that the Spirit of God works in the hearts of men. It is by the gospel of Jesus Christ that the Spirit of God works in the hearts of men. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Holy Spirit uses the hearing of the Word of God for the conviction, conversion, comfort, and sanctification of man. His usual and ordinary method of operation is to fasten upon the mind the things of God and to put life and force into the consideration of them. He revives in men's memories things that have long been forgotten, and he frequently makes these the means of affecting the heart and conscience. Men can hardly remember hearing these truths, but still they were heard by them at some time or other before.

Saving truths are such matters as are contained in their substance in the Word of God, and they are concerned with the teaching or the person or the work or offices of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit's number one business here below to reveal Christ to us and in us, and he steadily adheres to that work.

Moreover, my friends, the Holy Spirit's work is to conform us to the likeness of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit's work is to conform us to the likeness of Jesus Christ. He is not working us to this or to that human ideal, but He is working us into the likeness of Christ, that He may be the firstborn among many brethren. Jesus Christ is that standard and model to which the Spirit of God, by His sanctifying processes, is bringing us, till Christ is formed in us, the hope of glory.

It is always for the glory of Jesus that the Spirit of God works. He does not work for the glory of a church or of a community. He does not work for the honor of a man or for the distinction of a denomination. His one great object is to glorify Jesus Christ. He shall glorify me is our Savior's declaration. And when he takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, we are led more and more to reverence and love and adore our blessed Lord, Jesus Christ.

I will not detain you any longer with this. You will see how the works of Jesus and of the Spirit are inseparably joined together so that we may neither set the work of Jesus before the work of the Spirit, nor the work of the Spirit before the work of Jesus. But we are glad with joy for both, and we make much of them. As we delight in the Father's love and the grace of our Lord Jesus, so we will also equally rejoice in the communion of the Holy Spirit, and these three agree together.

We will now advance another step. And here we shall need our second text.

The operations of the Holy Spirit are of incomparable value. The operations of the Holy Spirit are of incomparable value. They are of such incomparable value that the very best thing we can think of was not thought to be so precious as these. Our Lord Jesus Himself said, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you. Beloved friends, the presence of Jesus Christ was of immeasurable value to His disciples, and yet it was not such an advantage to His servants as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Isn't this a wonderful statement? It was good that our Lord prefaced it by saying, but I tell you the truth, as if he felt that they would find it a hard saying, for it is a hard saying. Consider for a moment what Christ was to his disciples while he was here. and then see what must be the value of the Spirit's operations when it is expedient that they should lose all that blessing in order to receive the Spirit of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was to them their teacher. They had learned everything from his lips. He was their leader. They never had to ask what to do. They had only to follow in his steps. He was their defender. Whenever the Pharisees or Sadducees assailed them, He was like a brass wall to them. He was their comforter. In all times of grief, they resorted to Him, and His dear sympathetic heart poured out floods of comfort at once. What if I were to say that the Lord Jesus Christ was everything to them, their all in What a father is to his children. Yes, what a mother is to her suckling. That was Jesus Christ to his disciples. And yet God the Holy Spirit abiding in the Church is better than even all of this. Now think another thought. What would you think if Jesus Christ were to come among us now as in the days of his flesh? I mean, not as he will come, but as he appeared at his first coming. What joy it would give you, oh, the delights, the heavenly joys, to hear that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was on the earth again, a man moving among men. Would we not clap our hands for joy? Our one question would be, Master, where do you live? for we would all long to live just where he lived. We could then sympathize with the blacks in America when they flocked into Washington in large numbers to take up their residence there. Why do you think that they came to live in that city? Why? Because Master Abraham Lincoln lived there who had set them free. and they thought it would be glorious to live as near as possible to their great friend. If Jesus lived anywhere, it would not matter where. If it were in the desert or on the bleakest of mountains, there would be a great rush to that place. That spot would be very crowded. What rents they would pay for the worst of tenements if Jesus was but in the neighborhood. But don't you see the problem? We could not all get near him in any literal or physical fashion. Now that the church has multiplied into millions and millions of believers, some of the Lord's followers would never be able to see him, and the most could only hope to speak with him now and then. In the days of his flesh, the twelve might see him every day. And so might the little company of disciples. But the case is altered now that multitudes are trusting in his name. If our Lord Jesus were at this time living in the United States, we would be very grieved over here in England because we would have an ocean between us and our leader. All the companies that could be formed would not be able to run enough ships to carry us over. Now if the Master personally came here to our little island, it would not hold all the vast company of faithful who would flock to it. Yes, it is much better, much better to have the Holy Spirit because He is dwelling with us and in us. The difficulties of the bodily presence are too great. And so, though we would be thankful, like the Apostles, if we had known Christ in the flesh, yet we shouldn't be surprised that they expressed such little sorrow when they said that after He was gone from them that they knew Him even more. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, had filled the void caused by His absence. and made the disciples rejoice because the Lord had gone to his father.

Are we not apt to think that if our Lord Jesus were here, he would give unspeakable strength to the church? Wouldn't the enemy be convinced if they saw him? No, they would not. If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be converted though one rose from the dead. Jesus rose, but they did not therefore believe. If our Lord had lingered here all this while, His personal presence would not have converted unbelievers, for nothing can do that but the power of the Holy Spirit.

But, you say, surely it would thrill the church with enthusiasm. Imagine the Lord Himself standing in this pulpit this morning in the same attire as when He was on earth. Oh, what rapturous worship! What burning zeal! What enthusiasm! We would go home in such a state of excitement as we never were in before.

Yes, it is true. But then the Lord is not going to carry on His kingdom by the force of mere mental excitement. not even by such enthusiasm as would follow the sight of his person. The work of the Holy Spirit is a truer work, a deeper work, a surer work, and will more effectually achieve the purposes of God than even with the enthusiasm to which we should be stirred by the bodily presence of our well-beloved Savior. The work is to be spiritual. and therefore the visible presence has departed. It is better that it should be so. We must walk by faith and by faith alone. How could we do this if we could see the Lord with these mortal eyes? This is the dispensation of the unseen spirit in which we render glory to God by trusting in his word and relying upon the unseen energy.

Now faith works and faith triumphs, though the world does not see the foundation upon which faith is built. For the Spirit who works in us cannot be discerned by carnal minds. The world does not see Him, neither do they know Him. Thus you see that the operations of the Holy Spirit must be immensely precious. There is no calculating their value, since it is expedient that we lose the bodily presence of Christ rather than remain without the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Now go back to my first text again and follow me in the third point of this sermon. Those operations of the Spirit of God of which I am afraid some Christians are almost ignorant, are of wondrous power. The text says, Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. These operations of the Spirit are of marvelous power. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, Streams of living water will flow from within him. These operations are of marvelous power.

Brethren, do you understand my text? Do streams of living water flow from within you? Notice first that this is to be an inward work. This is to be an inward work. The streams of living water are to flow out from within man, that is, from his heart and soul. The streams do not flow out of his mouth. The promised power is not rhetoric. We have had plenty of words, floods of words, but this is heart work. The source of the streams is found in the inner life. It is an inward work at its fountainhead. It is not the work of talent and ability and show and glitter and determination. It is completely an inward work. The life flood is to come out of man's inmost self, out of the heart and essential being of the man.

Honor is usually shown to outward form and external ceremony, though these soon lose their interest and power. But when the Spirit of God rests within a man, it exercises an internal rule within him, and he gives great attention to what an old preacher used to call the internal department. Sadly, many neglect the realm within which is the chief area under our care. O my brother and sister in Christ, if you would be useful, begin with yourself. It is out of your very soul that a blessing must come. It cannot come out of you if it is not in you. And it cannot be in you unless God the Holy Spirit places it there.

Next, it is a life-giving work. It is a life-giving work. out of the heart of the man, out of the center of his life, are to flow streams of living water. That is to say, he is instrumentally to communicate to others the divine life. When he speaks, when he prays, when he acts, he shall so speak and pray and act that there shall be going out of him a release which is full of the life of grace and godliness. he shall be a light by which others shall see. His life shall be the means of kindling life in other men's hearts. Streams of living water will flow from within him."

Next, let us note the magnitude of it. Let us note the magnitude of it. The figure would have been a surprising one if it had said, A stream of living water will flow from within him. But it is not so. It says streams. Have you ever stood by the side of a very abundant spring? We have some of these not too far from London. You see the water bubbling up from many little mouths. Observe the sand dancing as the water forces its way up from the bottom. And there, just across the road, a mill is turned by the stream which has just been created by the spring. And when the water wheel is turned, you see the stream flowing forward to supply the River Thames. Yet this is only one stream. What would you think if you saw a spring yielding such supplies that a stream flowed from it to the north and a stream to the south? in a stream to the east and a stream to the west. This is the figure before us. Streams of living water flowing out of the living man in all directions.

Ah, you say, I have not attained that. A point is gained when you know, confess, and deplore your failure. If you say, I have attained things that abound, I am afraid you will never reach the fullness of the blessing. But if you know something of your failure, the Lord will lead you further. It may be that the spirit of life which comes out of you is but a trickling brook or even a few tiny drops. Then be sure to confess it and you will be on the way to a fuller blessing. What a word this is! Streams of living water! Oh, that all professing Christians were such fountains!

Next, see how spontaneous it is. Water will flow from within him. See how spontaneous it is. Water will flow from within him. No pumping is required. Nothing is said about machinery and hydraulics. The man does not need stimulating and stirring up, but just as he is, influence of the best kind quietly flows away from him. Did you ever hear a great clamor in the morning? A great outcry? A sounding of trumpets and drums? And did you ever ask, what is that? Did a voice ever reply, the sun is about to rise and he is making this noise that all may be aware of it? No, he shines, but he has nothing to say about it. Even so, the genuine Christian just goes about flooding the world with blessing. And far from claiming attention for himself, it may be that he himself is unconscious of what he is affecting. God so blesses him that his leaf does not wither. And whatever he does is prospering, for he is like a tree planted by streams of water that brings forth its fruit in its season. His greenness and fruit are the natural outcome of his vigorous life. Oh, the blessed spontaneity of the work of grace when a man gets into the fullness of it. For then he seems to eat and drink and sleep eternal life, and he spreads a savor of salvation all around.

And my friends, this is to be perpetual, not like the intermittent springs which burst forth and flow in torrents and then cease, but it is to be an everyday gushing out. And this is to be perpetual, not like intermittent springs which burst forth and flow in torrents and then cease, but it is to be an everyday gushing out. In summer and winter, by day and by night, wherever the man is, he shall be a blessing. As he breathes, he shall breathe blessings. As he thinks, his mind shall be devising generous things. And when he acts, his acts shall be as though the hand of God were working by the hand of man. I hope I hear many sighs rising up in this place. I hope I hear friends saying, oh, that I could get to that point in my Christian life. I want you to attain the fullness of the favor. I pray that we may all get it. For because Jesus Christ is glorified, therefore the Holy Spirit is given in this fashion, given more largely to those in the church age than all those holy men before the Lord's ascent to His glory. He gives no restricted blessing to celebrate the triumph of His Son. God does not give the Spirit by small amounts to Him. On such an occasion God's grandest liberality was displayed. Christ is glorified in heaven above and God would have him glorified in the church below by bestowing a baptism of the Holy Spirit to each one of us.

So I close by this, my friends, which I hope will be a very comforting and inspiring reflection The operations of the Spirit of God are easily to be obtained by the Lord's children. These operations of the Spirit of God are easily to be obtained by the Lord's children. Did you say that you had not received them? They are to be had. They are to be had at once. First, they are to be had by believing in Jesus. By this he meant the spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Don't you see that it is faith which gives us the first drink and causes us to live? And this second, more abundant blessing of being ourselves made fountains from which streams flow comes in the same way? Believe in Christ, for the blessing is to be obtained, not by the works of the law, not by fasting and striving and effort, but by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ for it. With Him is the deposit of the Spirit. He is prepared to give this to you, yes, to every one of you who believe on His name. He will not, of course, make all of you preachers, for who then would be the hearers? If all were preachers, the other works of the church would be neglected. but he will give you this favor, that out of you there shall stream a divine influence all around you to bless your children, to bless the fellow workers where you are employed, and to bless the street that you live on. In proportion as God gives you opportunity, these streams of living water will flow in this channel and in that, and they will be pouring forth from you at all times if you believe in Jesus for the full blessing and can by faith receive it.

But there is another thing to be done as well, and that is to pray. There is another thing to be done as well, and that is to pray. Here I want to remind you of those blessed words of the Master. Everyone who asks, receives. and he who seeks finds. To him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, How much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him?

You see, my friends, there is a distinct promise to the children of God that their Heavenly Father will give them the Holy Spirit if they ask for His power. And that promise is made to be exceptionally strong by the examples which accompany it. If there is a promise that God can break, which there is not, this is not the promise. For God has put it in the most forcible and binding way. I do not know how to show you its wonderful force. Did you ever hear of a man who, when his child asked for bread, gave him a stone? Go to the worst part of London, and will you find such a man? You can if you like. go among the pirates and the murderers. And when a little child around them cries, Father, give me a bit of bread and meat, does the most wicked father fill his own little one's mouth with stones? Yet the Lord Jesus seems to say that this is what he would be doing if he were to deny us the Holy Spirit when we ask him for his power in our lives. He would be like one that gave his children stones instead of bread. Do you think the Lord will ever bring himself down to that? But he says, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? He makes it a stronger case than that of an ordinary parent. The Lord must give the Spirit when we ask him, for he has obligated himself by no ordinary pledge. He has used an allegory which would bring dishonor upon His own name and that of the very grossest kind if He did not give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.

Oh, then let us ask Him at once with all our hearts. Are there any here this morning who will immediately ask? I pray that some who had never received the Holy Spirit at all may now be led while I am speaking to pray, Blessed Spirit, visit me, lead me to Jesus. But especially those of you that are the children of God, this promise is especially made to you. Ask God to make you all that the Spirit of God can make you. Not only a satisfied believer who has drunk for himself, but a useful believer who overflows the neighborhood with blessing.

I see here a number of friends from the country who have come to spend their holiday in London. What a blessing it would be if they went back to their respective churches overflowing. For there are numbers of churches that need flooding. They are dry as a barn floor and very little dew ever falls on them. Oh, that they might be flooded. What a wonderful thing a flood is. Go down to the river, look over the bridge, and see the barges and other craft lying in the mud. All the king's horses and all the king's men cannot tug them out to sea. There they lie, dead and motionless as the mud itself. What shall we do with them? What machinery can move them? Have we a great engineer among us who will devise a scheme for lifting these vessels up and bringing them down to the river's mouth? No, it cannot be done. Wait, my friends, wait till the tide comes in. What a change! Each vessel walks the water like a thing of life. What a difference between the low tide and the high tide. You cannot stir the boats when the water is gone, but at high tide, see how readily they move. A little child may push them with his hand. Oh, for a flood of grace. The Lord send to all our churches a great spring tide. Then the lazy will be active enough, and those who were half dead will be full of energy. I know that in this particular dock several vessels are lined that I would like to see float, but I cannot stir them. They neither work for God nor come out to the prayer meetings, nor give of their money to spread the gospel. If the flood would come, you would see what they are capable of. They would be active, fervent, generous, abounding in every good word and work. So may it be, so may it be. May springs begin to flow in all our churches. And may all of you who hear me, who hear me this day, get your share of the streams. Oh, that the Lord may now fill you and then send you home bearing a flood of grace within you. It sounds odd to speak of a man carrying home a flood with him. And yet I hope it will be so. and that out of you shall flow streams of living water. May God grant it for Jesus' sake. Amen.