The Indwelling of the Spirit

If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. JOHN 7:37–38

Nothing brought Whitefield more abuse than his teaching on the Holy Spirit. Bishops wrote pastoral letters against him. Pamphleteers called him an enthusiast, which in the eighteenth century meant something close to a fanatic — a man who claimed private revelations and mistook his own excitement for the voice of God. The charge stung, and it was not entirely unfair of some of his followers. But Whitefield believed that what was being attacked under that name was not fanaticism. It was the plain teaching of Scripture and of the Church of England’s own prayer book: that every true Christian must receive the Holy Ghost.

Not for the apostles only

His sermon The Indwelling of the Spirit, the Common Privilege of All Believers was preached at Whitsun on the words of Christ at the Feast of Tabernacles. He begins by naming the error he means to overturn. Many people, he says, read the gospel as though it were meant only for the first disciples, as they might read an ancient history — interesting, but not addressed to them. And so when anyone speaks of receiving the Holy Ghost today, he is looked upon as a madman.

Against this he sets out his thesis: that “the Holy Spirit is the common privilege and portion of all believers in all ages,” and that we, as well as the first Christians, must receive Him before we can be truly called the children of God.

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call. ACTS 2:39

Graces, not wonders

Whitefield was careful to say what he did not mean. He did not mean that believers should expect to work miracles, speak with tongues or receive new revelations. Those gifts, he thought, belonged to the founding of the church. “I cannot but suspect the spirit of those who insist upon a repetition of such miracles at this time,” he says. What every Christian must have is not the Spirit’s extraordinary gifts but His sanctifying graces — the life of God in the soul.

Indeed he goes further. Even if a man could move mountains and speak with the tongues of angels, it would profit him nothing without the Spirit’s holiness. Saul had a spirit of government for a while and was cast away. Many who cast out devils in Christ’s name will be disowned by Him at the last.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1

Having made that distinction, he turns the charge of enthusiasm on its head. If the word means one who is inspired of God, who has God dwelling in him by His Spirit, then “every Christian, in the proper sense of the word, must be an enthusiast.” Peter speaks of our being made partakers of the divine nature. Christ prays that His people may be one with Him as He is one with the Father. The church’s own communion service speaks of Christ dwelling in us and we in Him.

Why we must receive Him

The reason, Whitefield argues, is the fall. God made man in His image, and Adam lost it. We are all born naked and void of God, as Adam was when he hid among the trees. And until the Spirit restores that image, we are unfit to dwell with God and would flee from Him as Adam did. The great work of sanctification, of making us holy, belongs particularly to the Holy Ghost.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ROMANS 8:11

He anticipates his hearers’ dismay. Is this not driving people to despair? Yes, he says, it is — but to a despair of living with God without the Holy Ghost, not a despair of mercy. He compares himself to a surgeon who must probe a wound to the bottom before it can be healed. And then he brings the remedy: believe on Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the Spirit. Come poor, miserable, blind and naked as you are, and God will receive you.

The marks of the Spirit

In a companion sermon, Marks of Having Received the Holy Ghost, Whitefield describes how a person may know that the Spirit dwells in him. The marks are plain and practical. The first is a spirit of prayer: the true believer, he says, can no more live without prayer than without food. The second is not committing sin — by which he means not a sinless life, for David and Peter fell, but a heart that no longer lives in sin and that rises quickly and weeps when it falls. The third is overcoming the world, setting the affections on things above even while working diligently in this life. The fourth is love for the brethren, a love he describes as impartial and catholic, that embraces God’s image wherever it sees it.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. GALATIANS 5:22–23

Where care is needed

Whitefield insisted that the Spirit’s work is felt. He was scornful of preachers who said we may have God’s Spirit without feeling it, which he thought amounted to denying the thing itself. There is truth in this: the Spirit is not an abstraction, and the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. But the emphasis on feeling has done harm. Some believers pass through long seasons of dryness in which they feel little, and Whitefield himself admitted in Marks of Having Received the Holy Ghost that the spirit of prayer may for a time be sensibly lost even in true Christians. The Spirit’s presence is known by His fruit more surely than by our feelings.

And the charge of enthusiasm was not always unjust. Whitefield in his early years sometimes spoke of impressions and impulses as though they were divine guidance, and he later acknowledged that he had been mistaken in some of them. His own sermon on searching the Scriptures warns that the Spirit guides by the Word, not apart from it. That is the safer road.

Rivers of living water

The heart of this teaching is a promise, and it is addressed to anyone who is thirsty. The Spirit is not a prize for spiritual athletes; He is the common portion of all believers. Christ stood on the last day of the feast and cried out. He still does.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. REVELATION 22:17

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Ask whether you have treated the promise of the Spirit as belonging only to the first Christians. What would change if you believed it was for you?

2. Examine yourself by Whitefield’s four marks: a spirit of prayer, a heart that does not live in sin, a life set on things above, and love for all who bear Christ’s image.

3. If you are in a dry season, do not conclude that the Spirit has left you. Look for His fruit, keep to the means of grace, and wait.

4. Test any inward impression you think is guidance against the plain teaching of Scripture before acting on it.

5. Read The Indwelling of the Spirit in the Ochorus library, and pray its closing invitation for yourself.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me. I am thirsty, and I come.

Give me Your Holy Spirit, not for wonders but for holiness. Restore Your image in me, and make me fit to dwell with You.

Teach me to pray, to hate sin, to set my heart on things above, and to love all who bear Your likeness.

And when I cannot feel Your presence, keep me trusting Your promise, until rivers of living water flow again. Amen.