Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1923-09-20

This life, like all
other life, begins
with a birth.
There is natural birth, and there is
spiritual birth. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh, that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit"
In this new Spirit-born life, there
are degrees of growth and attainment.
as indicated in such phrases as: life.
and life more abundantly"; peace,
and peace that passeth all under
standing; faith, and 1.-THE fulness Of
faith; joy, and "joy unspeakable and
full of glory"
Every Christian believer is indwelled
by the Holy Spirit. This should be
regarded as a settled matter, based on
such scriptures as Cor. 9 10, IL Cor.
90, Gal. 4:6. This indwelling of the
Spirit, which is common 20 all true
Christians, rests upon fact, namely,
the fact of our union with Christ But,
not all Christians are infilled with the
Spirit, although there Is in our text
plain word of counsel and command
to be so filled.
This milling Of the Holy Spirit may
be regarded as the supreme qualifica-
ton, both for Christian life and serv-
ice. Out Of this fulness there is an
overflow of spiritual blessing to the
world-our world-that circle which
we touch individually day by day, in
the home or the school, or the &C
counting room, or the market place,
just as tout of His Chat is, Christs)
fulness all we receive" so out Of
Spirit-filled lives, the world receives.
The world as such cannot receive the
Spirit, but the world can see the mani
festations of the Spirit in its opera
ton in the lives Of Gods people.
According to scripture the Spirit
filled believer is the divine ideal, both
for life and for service. True service
consists In making Christ known to
the world, not only in preaching, but
in patient forbearance, in loving kind
ness, in self-denial, in sacrificial serv-
Ice. In order to accomplish this, the
Spirit-filled life is necessary. On this
depends the manifestation of those
gifts and graces that beautify charac-
ter and impart to the life that which
is most desirable.
There is one necessary condition for
the obtaining of this supreme qualif-
cation which enables a Christian to
represent Christ to the world, worthily
and well. That condition is found in
such scriptures as Rom. 6:13 and
1911. These scriptures may be summed
up In the one word--"yield.v This
word implies the subsection of self
will to the divine will, or the presenta-
tion of ourselves to God in an intelli-
gent act. This act Of yieldedness
should be regarded as the beginning of
life Of yieldedness, life in which
the attitude Of heart, expressed in the
act Is maintained as regular habit.
Christ died that He might be Lord,
as well as to atone for our sins. Hav-
ing received the forgiveness of sins at
the cost Of His precious blood, 1t is
becoming In the Christian to make
Christ Lord of his life. This can be
done not on the basis Of any feeling,
VI ACLdu6C SOulCOAC oV dutAcCSy Oul
because of the Word which is writ
ten, yield yourselves to God as those
that are alive from the dead" As
Christian believers we are united to
Christ. We died with Him and we are
raised with Him. This is to be be-
lieved and acted upon. Then as those
risen in Christ it becomes natural and
~ - ~.
and to dedicate our lives to Him in an
intelligent way. There is no substi-
tute for this. The experience of Abra-
ham might well serve as an illustra-
ton I'm this matter Of yieldedness, or
surrender, to the will of God
In the words Of Heb. IL :27 he
offered up Isaac. his only son; at the
same time he believed that Cad was
able to raise up Isaac, II necessary, so
in the power of an intelligent faith he
decided over to God the best he had.
Turning now to Gen. % lie we find
this word-"Because thou hast done
this thing, and hast not withheld thy
son, thine only son: that in blessing
will bless thee, and in multiplying l
will multiply thy seed as the stars Of
the heaven, and as the sand which Is
upon the sea shore" So is 1t today.
Because thou hast done this thing, be-
cause thou hast acted in faith on the
basis Of Gods requirement in His
Word, in blessing He blesses more
abundantly and imparts unto us even
the fitness Of His Holy Spirit.