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From Heaven With Love
overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of
the Godhead, who would come in the fullness of divine power. The
Spirit makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s
Redeemer. By the Spirit the heart is made pure. Christ has given His
Spirit to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil,
and to impress His own character on His church. The very image of
God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor
of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people.
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“When He [the Spirit of truth] is come, He will reprove the world
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” The preaching of
the Word will be of no avail without the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Only when truth is accompanied to the heart by the Spirit will it
quicken the conscience or transform the life. Unless the Holy Spirit
sets home the truth, no souls will fall on the Rock and be broken.
No advantages, however great, can make one a channel of light.
Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and
the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like
every other promise, it is given on conditions. Many who profess to
claim the Lord’s promise talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit,
yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided
by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is
to use us. But many want to manage themselves. Only to those who
wait humbly upon God is the Spirit given. This promised blessing,
claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. Christ is ready
to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive.
Before leaving the upper chamber, the Saviour led His disciples
in a song of praise. His voice was heard, not in the strains of some
mournful lament, but in the joyful notes of the Passover hallel:
O praise the Lord, all ye nations:
Praise Him, all ye people.
For His merciful kindness is great toward us:
And the truth of the Lord endureth forever.
Praise ye the Lord.
Psalm 117
After the hymn they made their way out of the city gate toward
the Mount of Olives. Slowly they proceeded, each busy with his