He Pours out His Spirit on the Least of These

Excerpted from A Time of Refreshing by Robert Murray Mc’Cheyne (1813-1843)

GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF ALL WORKS OF GRACE? “I will pour,” He says.

It is God who begins a work of anxiety in dead souls. So it is in Zechariah 12:10: “I will pour out the Spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and mourn.” And so the promise is in John 16:8,9: “When He is come, He will convince the world of sin, because they believe not on me.” If any of you have been awakened, it is God, and God alone, that has done it. It is God who originates the work in individuals and it is He who furthers and sustains the work.

It is God who empowers and enlarges His people for work in this world. [There is no need to wring our hands at the state of the 21st Century Church – when the Holy Spirit of God wills a powerful, unified, invisible Church, it will be so.] If ever we are to see the children of God, greatly enlarged, hearts filled with joy, lips filled with praises, if ever we are to see God's children thriving like willows beside broad streams, filled with all the fulness of God—God must pour down his Spirit. He must fulfil His Word for he is the Author and Finisher of all works of grace: “I will pour.”

Let us learn to look beyond our able pastors and preachers for powerful works of grace. God has given much honour to his ministers, but not the exclusive pouring out of the Spirit. This pouring is for all: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, God says, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

“It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”