<SPAN name="chapter16"></SPAN>
<h1>XVI.</h1>
<h2>Characteristics of the Anointed Preacher</h2>
<p align="center">“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you.”</p>
<p>Since God saves men by “the foolishness of preaching,”
the preacher has an infinitely important work, and
he must be fitted for it. But what can fit a man for
such sacred work? Not education alone, not knowledge
of books, not gifts of speech, not winsome manners,
nor a magnetic voice, nor a commanding presence, but
only God. The preacher must be more than a man—­he
must be a man plus the Holy Ghost.</p>
<p>Paul was such a man. He was full of the Holy Spirit,
and in studying his life and ministry we get a life-sized
portrait of an anointed preacher living, fighting,
preaching, praying, suffering, triumphing, and dying
in the power and light and glory of the indwelling
Spirit.</p>
<p>In the second chapter of the First of Thessalonians
he gives us a picture of his character and ministry
which were formed and inspired by the Holy Spirit,
a sample of His workmanship, and an example for all
Gospel preachers.</p>
<p>At Philippi he had been terribly beaten with stripes
on his bare back, and roughly thrust into the inner
dungeon, and his feet were made fast in the stocks;
but that did not break nor quench his spirit. Love
burned in his heart, and his joy in the Lord brimmed
full and bubbled over, and at midnight, in the damp,
dark, loathsome dungeon, he and Silas, his comrade
in service and suffering, “prayed and sang praises
unto God.” God answered with an earthquake,
and the jailer and his household got gloriously converted.
Paul was set free and went at once to Thessalonica,
where, regardless of the shameful way he had been treated
at Philippi, he preached the Gospel boldly, and a
blessed revival followed with many converts; but persecution
arose, and Paul had again to flee. His heart, however,
was continually turning back to these converts, and
at last he sat down and wrote them this letter. From
this we learn that—­</p>
<p>1. He was a <i>joyful</i> preacher. He was no pessimist,
croaking out doleful prophecies and lamentations and
bitter criticisms. He was full of the joy of the Lord.
It was not the joy that comes from good health, a
pleasant home, plenty of money, wholesome food, numerous
and smiling friends, and sunny, favouring skies; but
a deep, springing fountain of solemn, gladdening joy
that abounded and overflowed in pain and weariness,
in filthy, noisome surroundings, in loneliness and
poverty, and danger and bitter persecutions. No earth-born
trial could quench it, for it was Heaven-born; it
was “the joy of the Lord” poured into his
heart with the Holy Spirit.</p>
<p>2. He was a <i>bold</i> preacher. Worldly prudence
would have constrained him to go softly at Thessalonica,
after his experience at Philippi, lest he arouse opposition
and meet again with personal violence; but, instead,
he says: “We were bold in our God to speak unto
you the Gospel of God with much contention.”
Personal considerations were all forgotten, or cast
to the winds, in his impetuous desire to declare the
Gospel and save their souls. He lived in the will
of God, and conquered his fears. “The wicked”
are fearful, and “flee when no man pursueth;
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”</p>
<p>This boldness is a fruit of righteousness, and is
always found in those who are full of the Holy Ghost.
They forget themselves, and so lose all fear. This
was the secret of the martyrs when burned at the stake
or thrown to the wild beasts.</p>
<p>Fear is a fruit of selfishness. Boldness thrives when
selfishness is destroyed. God esteems it, commands
His people to be courageous, and makes spiritual leaders
only of those who possess courage (Joshua i. 9).</p>
<p>Moses feared not the wrath of the king, refused to
be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and
boldly espoused the cause of his despised and enslaved
people.</p>
<p>Joshua was full of courage. Gideon fearlessly attacked
one hundred and twenty thousand Midianites, with but
three hundred unarmed men.</p>
<p>Jonathan and his armour-bearer charged the Philistine
garrison and routed hundreds singlehanded.</p>
<p>David faced the lion and the bear, and inspired all
Israel by battling with and killing Goliath.</p>
<p>The prophets were men of the highest courage, who
fearlessly rebuked kings, and at the risk of life,
and often at the cost of life, denounced popular sins,
and called the people back to righteousness and the
faithful service of God. These men feared God, and
so lost the fear of man. They believed God, and so
obeyed Him, and found His favour, and were entrusted
with His high missions and everlasting employments.</p>
<p>“Fear thou not, for I am with thee,” saith
the Lord; and this Paul believed, and so says, “We
were bold in our God.” God was his high tower,
his strength and unfailing defence, and so he was
not afraid.</p>
<p>His boldness toward man was a fruit of his boldness
toward God, and that, in turn, was a fruit of his
faith in Jesus as his High Priest, who had been touched
with the feeling of his infirmities, and through whom
he could “come boldly to the Throne of Grace,
and obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time
of need.”</p>
<p>It is the timidity and delicacy with which men attempt
God’s work that often accounts for their failure.
Let them speak out boldly like men, as ambassadors
of Heaven, who are not afraid to represent their King,
and they will command attention and respect, and reach
the hearts and consciences of men.</p>
<p>I have read that quaint old Bishop Latimer, who was
afterwards burned at the stake, “having preached
a sermon before King Henry VIII, which greatly displeased
the monarch, was ordered to preach again on the next
Sunday, and make apology for the offence given. The
day came, and with it a crowded assembly anxious to
hear the bishop’s apology. Reading his text,
he commenced thus: ’Hugh Latimer, dost thou
know before whom thou art this day to speak? To the
high and mighty monarch, the king’s most excellent
majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest.
Therefore, take heed that thou speakest not a word
that may displease. But, then, consider well, Hugh,
dost thou not know from whence thou comest? Upon whose
message thou art sent? Even by the great and mighty
God, who is all-present, and who beholdeth all thy
ways, and who is able to cast thy soul into Hell!
Therefore, take care that thou deliver thy message
faithfully.’”</p>
<p>He then repeated the sermon of the previous Sunday,
word for word, but with double its former energy and
emphasis. The Court was full of excitement to learn
what would be the fate of this plain-dealing and fearless
bishop. He was ordered into the king’s presence,
who, with a stern voice, asked: “How dared you
thus offend me?” “I merely discharged
my duty,” was Latimer’s reply. The king
arose from his seat, embraced the good man, saying,
“Blessed be God I have so honest a servant.”</p>
<p>He was a worthy successor of Nathan, who confronted
King David with his sin, and said, “Thou art
the man.”</p>
<p>This Divine courage will surely accompany the fiery
baptism of the Spirit.</p>
<p>What is it but the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that
gives courage to Salvation Army Officers and Soldiers,
enabling them to face danger and difficulty and loneliness
with joy, and attack sin in its worst forms as fearlessly
as David attacked Goliath?</p>
<p>“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,
saith the Lord.”</p>
<p> “Shall I, for fear of feeble man,<br/>
The Spirit’s course in me restrain?<br/>
Awed by a mortal’s frown, shall
I<br/>
Conceal the word of God most high?<br/>
Shall I, to soothe the unholy throng,<br/>
Soften Thy truth, or smooth my tongue?</p>
<p> “How then before Thee shall I dare<br/>
To stand, or how Thine anger bear?<br/>
Yea, let men rage; since Thou wilt spread<br/>
Thy shadowing wings around my head;<br/>
Since in all pain Thy tender love<br/>
Will still my sure refreshment prove.”</p>
<p>3. He was <i>without guile</i>. “For our exhortation
was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile;
but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with
the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men,
but God, which trieth our hearts.”</p>
<p>He was frank and open. He spoke right out of his heart.
He was transparently simple and straightforward. Since
God had honoured him with this infinite trust of preaching
the Gospel, he sought to so preach it that he should
please God regardless of men. And yet that is the
surest way to please men. People who listen to such
a man feel his honesty, and realise that he is seeking
to do them good, to save them rather than to tickle
their ears and win their applause, and in their hearts
they are pleased.</p>
<p>But, anyway, whether or not they are pleased, he is
to deliver his message as an ambassador, and look
to his home government for his reward. He gets his
commission from God, and it is God who will try his
heart and prove his ministry. Oh, to please Jesus!
Oh, to stand perfect before God after preaching His
Gospel!</p>
<p>4. He was <i>not a time-server nor a covetous man.</i>
“Neither at any time used we flattering words,
as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness,”
he adds.</p>
<p>There are three ways of reaching a man’s purse:
(1) Directly. (2) By way of his head with flattering
words. (3) By way of his heart with manly, honest,
saving words. The first way is robbery. The second
way is robbery, with the poison of a deadly, but pleasing,
opiate added, which may damn his soul. The third reaches
his purse by saving his soul and opening in his heart
an unfailing fountain of benevolence to bless himself
and the world.</p>
<p>It were better for a preacher to turn highwayman,
and rob men with a club and a strong hand, than, with
smiles and smooth words and feigned and fawning affection,
to rob them with flattery, while their poor souls,
neglected and deceived, go down to Hell. How will
he meet them in the Day of Judgment, and look into
their horrorstricken faces, realising that he played
and toyed with their fancies and affections and pride
to get money, and, instead of faithfully warning them
and seeking to save them, with flattering words fattened
their souls for destruction!</p>
<p>Not so did Paul. “I seek not yours, but you,”
he wrote the Corinthians. It was not their money,
but their souls he wanted.</p>
<p>But such faithful love will be able to command all
men have to give. Why, to some of his converts he
wrote: “I bear you record, that if it had been
possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes,
and have given them to me” (Gal. iv. 15). But
he sought not to please them with flattering words,
only to save them.</p>
<p>So faithful was he in this matter, and so conscious
of his integrity, that he called God Himself into
the witness-box. “God is witness,” says
he.</p>
<p>Blessed is the man who can call on God to witness
for him; and that man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells
in fullness can do this. Can you, my brother?</p>
<p>5. He was <i>not vain-glorious, nor dictatorial, nor
oppressive</i>. Some men care nothing for money, but
they care mightily for power and place and the glory
that men give. But Paul was free from this spiritual
itching. Listen to him: “Nor of men sought we
glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might
have been burdensome” (or “used authority”)
“as the Apostles of Christ.”</p>
<p>Said Solomon, “For men to seek their own glory
is not glory,” it is only vain-glory. “How
can ye believe, which receive honour one of another,
and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?”
asked Jesus.</p>
<p>From all this Paul was free, and so is every man who
is full of the Holy Ghost. And it is only as we are
thus free that with the whole heart and with a single
eye we can devote ourselves to the work of saving
men.</p>
<p>6. With all his boldness and faithfulness he was <i>gentle</i>.
“We were gentle among you,” he says, “as
a nurse cherisheth her children.”</p>
<p>The fierce hurricane which casts down the giant trees
of the forest is not so mighty as the gentle sunshine,
which, from tiny seeds and acorns, lifts aloft the
towering spires of oak and fir on a thousand hills
and mountains.</p>
<p>The wild storm that lashes the sea into foam and fury
is feeble compared to the gentle, yet immeasurably
powerful influence, which twice a day swings the oceans
in resistless tides from shore to shore.</p>
<p>And as in the physical world the mighty powers are
gentle in their vast workings, so it is in the spiritual
world. The light that falls on the lids of the sleeping
infant and wakes it from its slumber, is not more
gentle than the “still small voice” that
brings assurance of forgiveness or cleansing to them
that look unto Jesus.</p>
<p>Oh, the gentleness of God! “Thy gentleness hath
made me great,” said David. “I beseech
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ”
(2 Cor. x. 1), wrote Paul. And again, “The fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness” (Gal. v. 22). And as the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost are gentle, so will be the servant
of the Lord who is filled with the Spirit.</p>
<p>I shall never forget the gentleness of a mighty man
of God whom I well knew, who on the platform was clothed
with zeal as with a garment, and in his overwhelming
earnestness was like a lion or a consuming fire; but
when dealing with a wounded or broken heart, or with
a seeking soul, no nurse with a little babe could be
more tender than he.</p>
<p>7. Finally, Paul was full of <i>self-forgetful, self-sacrificing
love.</i> “So being affectionately desirous of
you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not
the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because
ye were dear unto us.”</p>
<p>No wonder he shook those heathen cities, overthrew
their idols, had great revivals, that his jailer was
converted, and that his converts would have gladly
plucked out their eyes for him! Such tender, self-sacrificing
love compels attention, begets confidence, enkindles
love, and surely wins its object.</p>
<p>This burning love led him to labour and sacrifice,
and so live and walk before them that he was not only
a teacher, but an example of all he taught, and could
safely say, “Follow me.”</p>
<p>This love led him to preach the whole truth, that
he might by all means save them. He kept back no truth
because it was unpopular, for it was their salvation
and not his own reputation and popularity he sought.</p>
<p>He preached not himself, but a crucified Christ, without
the shedding of whose blood there is no remission
of sins; and through that precious blood he preached
present cleansing from all sin, and the gift of the
Holy Spirit for all who obediently believe.</p>
<p>And this love kept him faithful and humble and true
to the end, so that at last in sight of the martyr’s
death, he saw the martyr’s crown, and cried
out: “I am now ready to be offered,... I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day.”</p>
<p>He had been faithful, and now at the end he was oppressed
with no doubts and harassed with no bitter regrets,
but looked forward with eager joy to meeting his Lord
and beholding the blessed face of Him he loved. Hallelujah!</p>
<p> “Have you received the Holy Ghost?<br/>
’Twill fit you for the fight,<br/>
’Twill make of you a mighty host,<br/>
To put your foes to flight.</p>
<p> “Have you received the Holy Power?<br/>
’Twill fall from Heaven on
you,<br/>
From Jesus’ throne this very hour,<br/>
’Twill make you brave and
true.</p>
<p> “Oh, now receive the Holy Fire!<br/>
’Twill burn away all dross,<br/>
All earthly, selfish, vain desire,<br/>
’Twill make you love the Cross.”</p>
<p class="smallcaps">“Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?”</p>
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