Beloved brethren, notwithstanding all that the Spirit of God has already done in us, it is very possi-
ble that we have missed a large part of the blessing which He is willing to give, for He is able to "do ex-
ceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” We have already come to Jesus, and we have drunk
of the life-giving stream, our thirst is quenched and we are made to live in Him. Is this all? Now that we
are living in Him, and rejoicing to do so, have we come to the end of the matter? Assuredly not. We
have reached as far as that first exhortation of the Master, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and
drink.” But do you think that the generality of the church of God have ever advanced to the next, "He
that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”? I think I
am not going beyond the grievous truth if I say that only here and there will you find men and women
who have believed up to that point. Their thirst is quenched, as I have said, and they live, and because
Jesus lives they shall live also, but health and vigor they have not. They have life, but they have not life
more abundantly. They have little life with which to act upon others. They have no energy welling up
and overflowing to go streaming out of them like rivers. They have not thought it possible perhaps, or
thinking it possible, they have not imagined it possible to themselves, or believing it possible to them-
selves they have not aspired to it, but they have stopped short of the fullest blessing. Their wading in to
the sacred river has contented them and they know nothing of "waters to swim in.” Like the Israelites of
old, they are slow to possess all the land of promise, but sit down when the war has hardly begun.
Brothers and sisters let us go in to get of God all that God will give us. Let us set our heart upon this,
that we mean to have, by God’s help, all that the infinite goodness of God is ready to bestow. Let us not
be satisfied with the sip that saves, but let us go on to the baptism which buries the flesh and raises us in
the likeness of the risen Lord, even that baptism into the Holy Spirit and into fire which makes us spir-
itual and sets us all on flame with zeal for the glory of God and eagerness for usefulness by which that
glory may be increased among the sons of men.
