THE GIFT OF GOD
THE GIFT OF GOD
“If thou knewest the gift of God”. (John 4: 10) No one could have apprehended the greatness of the gift, that it should be in him; not like the wine, outside of himself; and instead of running out, it should be “in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”. (John 4: 14)
Next, let us look at the nature of the gift; it is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is given to every believer in Christ. “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”. (Ephesians 1: 13) “Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God; and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6: 19) We do not dwell sufficiently on the simple fact that we have received the Holy Spirit. If you have not received the Holy Spirit, you have not believed on Christ personally. In that sense you have not come to Him, I do not say you have not faith in His work, but as in the case of the ten lepers (Luke 17) all were cleansed, but nine of them went back to ritualism to find approach to God. Many converted are here; only one of them came direct to Christ, he had now a living link with Him: this in pattern is sealing by the Holy Spirit. Not only has Christ saved you, but you are of Him, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”. (Romans 8: 9) I press on you that it is His gift. I could not exaggerate this grace. It is surely marvellous that God has not only effected the greatest work, the work of our salvation, but He has given you the greatest gift which you are to enjoy now on earth. If we were more cast upon the Lord as indispensable to us, we should receive more. You should ever be able to say, “Thou anointedst my head with oil; my cup runneth over”. (Psalm 23: 5) We are very often counting up our mercies, the different ways God deals with us, and we say, Well,
[p. 125] we are happy. There is a great deal more for us. “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased”. (Psalm 4: 7)