"If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive." Who is the Spirit of Truth? Look at John 14:6; "Jesus said unto them, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."
The world, then, cannot receive the Spirit of God. Mark: the Word does not say that the world shall not receive the Spirit; it says that the world "cannot receive" Him.
It is the same as saying of a blind man that he cannot see. of a blind man there would be a great difference between the Lord's saying, He cannot see, and He shall not see. For Him to say of a blind man, He shall not see, would be a sentence fixed whereas to say of him, He cannot see, would be but a simple statement of a truth already existing.
Thus it is as to the world and the Holy Spirit; it is not a sentence fixed that the world shall not receive him; but the simple statement of a truth that already exists, and exists in the nature of things.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit OF God. The world is not of God. The world, therefore, cannot receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The world lieth in the wicked one. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of the Holy One. The two are at opposites. The world, therefore, cannot receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The world has another god. - "the god of this world." Therefore the world cannot receive the Spirit which is of God.
The Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God. The love of the world is enmity with God. Therefore the world cannot receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thus it stands, in the very nature of things, in the very nature of the world itself, that the world cannot - simply cannot - receive the Holy Spirit. And so also he that is OF the world cannot receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He who loves the world; he who loves the things that are in the world and of the world; he who holds friendship with the world; he whose god is the god of the world, - he simply cannot receive the Spirit of God.
But thank the Lord, Christ "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world." There is deliverance from the world, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; men can be separated from the world unto God, and so can receive the Spirit of God. Of such it is said, "Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." "As My Father hath sent me, even so send I you. . . . Receive ye the Holy Ghost."
Yet one - yes, the one - great trouble with so many professed Christians is that they are not entirely separated from the world. They still incline to the world, to the ways, the fashions, the wishes, and the things, of the world. And this hinders their receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, because that Spirit "the world cannot receive." "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God." No one can have the Spirit of God while entertaining the spirit of the world. No one can have the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world at the same time. No one can be led by the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world both at the same time; for they lead in directly opposite directions.
No one can receive the Holy Spirit while inclining to the world, to its ways, its fashions, or its wishes; for the world cannot receive" Him. No one can receive the Spirit which is of God while indulging the spirit of the world; for "the world cannot receive" Him. It is like a child having his hands full of tinsel and toys. His father holds out to him a beautiful, most-needed, and invaluable gift, but as he is, the child cannot receive the precious gift. It matters not how much he may be pleased and charmed with it and want it, his hands are full already, and he simply cannot receive the offered and most-needed gift.
AH! but he can let go of the tinsel and the toys; he can empty his hands. Then he can receive the good gift that is offered to him. Thus it is with thousands of would-be Christians: the beautiful, most-needed, and invaluable gift of the Holy Spirit is freely offered to them; they are pleased and charmed with it; they "want it, O, so much!" they pray for it; they plead for it; they long for it; - but they cannot receive, simply cannot. And why? Because their hearts and their hands are already full of the tinsel and the toys, the love and the lust, of the world, with the fashions, the wishes, the admiration, and the ways, of the world. Thus, however much they may want the Holy Spirit, and however fully and freely He may be given by the Father, they cannot receive Him.
AH! but they can let go of the world, they can turn their backs upon it all, they can empty heart and hands of the tinsel and toys; then they can receive the Holy Spirit, and the Lord Himself will see to it that they shall. This is consecration; and it is the very thought of the Scripture. When David had prepared of his "own proper good, and abundantly, for the building of the temple of the Lord, he said to all the people, Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" 1 Chron. 29:5. The margin gives the Hebrew expression for "consecrate his service," and it is "fill his hand." In these words the call reads, "Who then is willing to fill his hand this day unto the Lord?"
No man can fill his hands unto the Lord, whose hands are already full unto the world; but whosoever will empty his hands unto the world can easily fill them unto God. No one can fill his heart unto the Lord, whose heart is already full unto the world; but whosoever will empty his heart unto the world can easily fill it unto God. Yea, with all such, God Himself will see to it that heart and hands shall be filled unto the Lord. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts."
So you want the gift of the Spirit of God? Do you want to be baptized with the Holy Ghost? Do you want to receive the Holy Spirit? -- Yes, you do, "O so much!" Then are you of the world, so that you cannot receive Him? Is your heart entertaining the spirit of the world, so that you cannot receive the Spirit which is of God? Are your hands full of the tinsel and the toys of the world, so that you cannot receive the Spirit of Truth? Which do you choose -- the spirit of the world, or the Spirit of God? You cannot have both; which will you take? Who, then, is willing to fill heart and hand this day unto the Lord? Who is willing, who will, who does, empty out heart and hand this day unto the world, that he may fill heart and hand this day unto God?
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost," "whom the world cannot receive."
E. G. Cherry.