The Holy Spirit Came Especially for the Purpose of Creating a Spiritual Order of Things
But note this, dear friends, the Christianity with which we are familiar is very largely constituted on the old dispensation. It would take another hour to show that in any fullness. But do you see how Christianity goes to work now. It begins by building religious buildings. They are called "churches", of course, a false name entirely. The Church is not a building made with hands. And then they set up a certain order in it. And then they appoint certain officers to do the work. When they got the building, and when they got the officers, the minister and all the others, and when they have got their order of service, then they ask the Lord if He will come into it. The organization comes first. The outward thing comes first. It all builds upon the principle of the soul. It is all a matter of reason and emotion and doing. That is Judaistic Christianity!
It is just the reverse with God's method. Where does God begin? God does NOT begin with churches even if they are companies of people. He certainly does NOT begin with buildings. And He does NOT begin with ritual, or with a system of things. And He does NOT begin by calling a congregation together. A congregation is NOT God's beginning. God begins by a work of the Holy Spirit in individual lives. It may just be one to begin with, and then another and then another. And if those two or three find themselves in one city, they are joined, not because they have accepted Christianity, but because they have the one Spirit in them. That is the beginning of the Church in that place.
And what is true of the beginning, has got to be true of everything afterwards. Man's hands must be kept off the things of the Spirit. Man must not try to form something that is of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, Who began this, is perfectly capable of forming what He wants. Hence our responsibility is to be led by the Spirit, to always seek the guidance of the Spirit. And until we are sure that the Holy Spirit is really guiding us, we keep our hands off! We will do nothing about it. This thing must be of the Spirit. This is the order of this dispensation.
Do you see the difference between the beginning and what we have today? In the first thirty years of Christianity, the Gospel spread all over the world that then was. There were churches in almost every country of the world. Thousands and thousands were joined to the Lord. It was a mighty thing. It only took thirty years to do that. We have had two thousand years since then. We have put multitudes of missionaries into the world. We have spent millions of dollars upon this. We have worked tremendously. In two thousand years, there is NOTHING to compare with those thirty years!
Why has it not continued? Because they brought it all back again unto a soul basis (a worldly basis) and not unto a spiritual basis. When things are out of the hands of men, and in the hands of the Holy Spirit things happen. My great concern is that there should be something like that here. That is what I have come to say to you. If things are wholly of the Spirit, you will see something happen, the enemy will be stirred up against it. And that is always a good sign. If the devil feels that there is something that he has got to fight, he knows that means something against his system.
So I must stop now. I have not finished this part yet, we have another day, but do not leave it till tomorrow. This is the word for us today. If I were to go away tomorrow, and never see you again on this earth, I feel that I have spoken to you the most vital word that could be spoken. This represents the complete change from the old to the new, from the natural to the spiritual in the things of God, from the things which are of men to the things which are of God.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 15 - "The Matter Which Is Of Supreme Importance Is: "Christ Fully-Formed In You")
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