The Spiritual Life

By Andrew Murray

Sixteen challenging messages dealing with a person’s need of the Holy Spirit’s control in one’s own life. Taken from a series of messages given at Moody Bible Institute in 1895.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CLC Publications
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781619580923

Andrew Murray

ANDREW MURRAY (1828-1917) was a church leader, evangelist, and missionary statesman. As a young man, Murray wanted to be a minister, but it was a career choice rather than an act of faith. Not until he had finished his general studies and begun his theological training in the Netherlands, did he experience a conversion of heart. Sixty years of ministry in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, more than 200 books and tracts on Christian spirituality and ministry, extensive social work, and the founding of educational institutions were some of the outward signs of the inward grace that Murray experienced by continually casting himself on Christ. A few of his books include The True Vine, Absolute Surrender, The School of Obedience, Waiting on God, and The Prayer Life.

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Concerning the Writing of The Spiritual Life

ANDREW MURRAY came from South Africa to America in the summer of 1895 and during that year was invited to speak in many noted pulpits and on famous platforms of Christian institutions. He was then a mature 67. Countless Christians all over the world had already been singularly blessed by his writings, and he became well known here for both his writings and his messages.

It was during this time in America that Murray delivered a series of lectures to the students enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. The school, which was then nine years old, had been founded to train student volunteers to evangelize the world. Much stress was being placed on the need of the Spirit’s baptism for power in service. Murray’s emphasis was a bit different. Some of the listeners were so impressed with his messages and the response of the young people that they gathered together stenographic reports and with Murray’s permission prepared this volume for publication.

This great man of God had a tender and concerned heart for youth and the potential they represented for the kingdom of God. This attitude is reflected in the serious and yet intensely practical topics he spoke on to these dedicated young people who were preparing to serve the Lord in the church or on the mission fields of the world. His prayer was that the messages would also bless the youth of future generations since they were now preserved in written form.

Over a hundred years have now passed, but the needs of the hearts of men and the truths of God’s Word have not changed. It is to be regretted that for a long while this book has been out of print. It is our hope that this freshly edited work will prove a source of deepening in your own spiritual life, even as it did to a past generation.

The Publisher

1

The Scandal of Carnality

ONE OF THE SCANDALS of the Christian church today is the carnality of its members. Instead of spiritual vitality, spiritual weakness is the widespread condition. Worldliness reigns. And yet, praise God, there are tens of thousands of believers who deeply long to lead a better life in Christ. They know that God’s Word promises perfect peace; that it speaks of a faith that overcomes the world and a joy that is unspeakable; that it describes a life of ever-abiding communion with Christ, hidden in the hollow of God’s hand. Yet they say they do not know how to obtain these blessings.

Let us therefore attempt to discover what are the hindrances that keep so many from experiencing a fulfilling Christian life, and what are the necessary steps for one to enter into it.

I would first call your attention to some basic truths on which we must build. One is this: there are two levels or stages in the Christian life—the lower level is life under the power of the flesh; the other level is life in the power of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 3:1–4 you find reference to both kinds of Christians—the spiritual and the carnal. To be spiritual is to be growing in faith and love, led forward by the Spirit of God. To be carnal is to be worldly and immature, ruled by self and the impulses of the flesh.

In light of this, the Apostle Paul says that when he teaches Christians he first considers which of the two categories they are in, for if he gave spiritual food to the carnal believers it would do them no good. We read: I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Yes, you are in Christ, he declares—real Christians; but you are weak Christians, just like infants. I have fed you with milk and not with meat. There are some truths that are just like milk, suitable for immature, carnal Christians; other truths of God’s Word, deep spiritual truths, are for spiritual people. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal. There is that word carnal again. He clearly wants them to know that they are carnal—believers, yes, but carnal believers. For—here comes the proof—whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?" He asks them to answer that question.

This word carnal comes from the Latin word meaning flesh. As used here, it refers to the ascendance of self If you do the works of the flesh, Paul reiterates, this is proof that you are carnal, walking as mere men do, not as children of God who lead a heavenly life. For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? For the fourth time you have the word carnal, and for the second time he asks them the very pointed question, Tell me, are ye not carnal?

By the help of God, I wish to speak now on these two points: 1. What it means to be not spiritual but carnal. 2. The way from carnality to spirituality.

NOT SPIRITUAL BUT CARNAL

You are not spiritual, but carnal, says the apostle. Let everyone, as we go along, examine himself and answer this question, Am I still carnal, or am I by the grace of God spiritual?

You know that a doctor cannot do you any good unless there is first a thorough diagnosis of your case. He asks a number of questions, examines your lungs and heart, finds out what is wrong and prescribes a remedy. Similarly, until you find out what is wrong with your soul, all the preaching of higher, heavenly truths will do you no good. People must be brought to realize their carnal state before information concerning the Spirit-led life can be to them any real benefit.

Let us approach God with our petition: Oh God, we beseech Thee, reveal the mystery of divine truth; the mystery of our own hearts and the possibility of their carnal state; the mystery of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit-led life. We ask Thee now to come in and teach us. Give us grace to say, ‘Lord, search me, and if I am carnal, oh, make it obvious today—and open up to me the way into the Spirit-led life. May I live as a spiritual person. God grant it.’

If we look carefully at this Scripture passage, we will find four principal marks of the carnal state.

The carnal state is marked by protracted infancy.

If I had here a beautiful little child of six months, with its chubby hands and feet, you would say, What a perfect child! But if in a year we found that the child had not grown an inch, we would conclude that something was wrong. If in another year we still found no growth, we would at once say there is some terrible disease in that child that prevents its growth. Where there is health there is growth. That is what Paul is saying to the Corinthians.

Many of you students are young Christians, babes in Christ. At first a Christian may be carnal because he is young and does not really know what sin is. But when a man has been a Christian for some time, say six months, a year or three years, or even ten years, and he does not grow but remains at the same stage where he started as a babe, there is something the matter. There is some terrible disease, and that disease is the carnal mind.

Any Christian who is under the power of the flesh is in a state of protracted infancy. The Epistle to the Hebrews states that after one has been a Christian for a period of time, that person ought to be a teacher helping others. Yet the persons described here still had to be fed with milk and were not able to take meat as would a full-grown man. Such is a state of protracted infancy, and it is the sad state of the greater part of those who belong to the Christian church. Many believers will testify that the best time in their Christian lives was the first three months after conversion. After that they began to go back, to lose their joy—and alas, they have never had such joy since. They have lost their first love. They previously could conquer sin, but now sin has the mastery.

What are the marks of a baby? A baby cannot help himself; he must be helped by others. Also, he cannot help anyone else. A baby must have its mother or sister or nurse to take care of him. A little baby needs to be helped and cared for continuously. That is the pattern for many Christians. They go to church, to prayer meetings, conferences, and are ever seeking help from others. As an infant six months old cannot help others, so there are many Christians who cannot help others in their spiritual experience.

Let us note this first mark of the carnal state, test ourselves, and should we discover no healthy growth, let us bow before God in shame.

The carnal state is a state of sin and failure.

For the carnal individual, there is no victory over sin. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul points out envying, strife and divisions. These are works of the flesh and were the great reason that the apostle had to write the thirteenth chapter of his epistle. The believers were quarreling. One exalted Paul; another thought Apollos was more eloquent; another reasoned that Peter was older than either and hence better. They were divided into religious parties and squabbling among themselves.

In Galatians 5, envying, strife and so forth are listed as works of the flesh. Do we not frequently find Christians who in some respects have a good measure of the grace of God and yet have never really conquered their temper? When another says a sharp word to them, they give a sharp reply. How many Christians have never learned to love as God wants them to love—able to love the unlovable. Are they not still in the carnal state? The flesh has more power in them than the Spirit. Friends, until we confess with shame that we are carnal we will not move on into the life of the spiritual man.

Let God search us and reveal our true state. Let us find out what it is that hinders the brightness of our lives. You will get the answer from God. Two powers are striving for mastery over you, Spirit and flesh. If the Spirit is not ruling you it is because the flesh is ruling. This is why a man gives way to pride, conceit, worldliness, the desires of the eye, the longings of the flesh, and boasting about life. He is simply still in the carnal state.

A thing always gets its name from what is its most prominent characteristic. A spiritual man gets his name from the fact that the Spirit triumphs and rules his life, even though there still may be somewhat of the flesh. You cannot be in close touch with such a person without discovering that the Spirit is leading, guiding and controlling him. He is called spiritual because spirituality is his chief characteristic. Paul writes to the Corinthians, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? There was somewhat of the Spirit in them, but they had allowed the flesh to rule. The question also comes to us, as a voice from heaven, Are you not carnal? How about that worldliness, that unfaithfulness, that neglect of God’s Word? These are marks of one thing: you are carnal, you have not given yourself over wholly to live the Spirit-led life.

Along with this carnal state there may surprisingly be found a great number of spiritual gifts.

This is a very solemn thought. This fact is illustrated clearly in the case of the Corinthians. In the first chapter Paul says, I thank God . . . that in everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge. There were certainly spiritual gifts among the Corinthians: gifts of prophecy, tongues, and many other most remarkable gifts. Indeed the gift of tongues was so remarkable there that Paul had to caution them to be careful in their use of this gift. And yet Paul writes the whole epistle with the one idea that they were full of quarreling, pride, selfishness and so forth.

A man may have a spiritual gift of preaching and be able to speak with power, and yet his private life may be filled with pride to the extent that the world says, We don’t believe in that man. How sad! A man may be an evangelist and lead hundreds to Christ, and yet you will hear it said, How full of self! Even the worldling will conclude, I don’t believe in that man. Something is wrong. Can it be that a man so powerful in the service of God can be carnal? It can be. I want to make this plain. A man may claim the baptism of the Holy Spirit and actually receive it as the endowment of power and of zeal, and yet that man may be terribly lacking in the simple graces of a holy life in humility, gentleness, tenderness before God and man, and that meekness of the Lamb of God which is the chief grace of the Christian life. The Corinthians obviously had spiritual gifts of prophecy, tongues, etc., yet they were unwilling to be subject one to the other. They had gifts of value for speaking, but there was strife as to who should speak first.

Don’t think that the carnal state is the state of a man in whom there is no good. A man may be a preacher, evangelist, Christian teacher, organizer and yet, alas, God may say to that man, Are you not carnal?" Does he not do as much good in the end, we reason. No. He may help another into the Christian life, but the Christian life he helps him into is such a mixed one that he remains weak and does not stand. The man whose inner life is under the rule of the Spirit, who is himself spiritual, will beget real spiritual children by imparting the life of God in power.

Being able to exercise spiritual gifts is no proof that we are not carnal.

The carnal state puts a limitation on receiving spiritual truth.

Just note how distinctly Paul states this in writing to the Corinthians. In the first and second chapters he had been speaking about himself, that Christ sent him to preach the cross not with human wisdom but in the power of the Spirit. Then in the third chapter he speaks about the church, and remarks that though he had received mysteries from God he could not communicate these to them. Why not? Were the Corinthians so stupid? No, they were seekers after wisdom, priding themselves on their knowledge. They were enriched in all knowledge. They were a cultured, thoughtful people; the wisdom of the world was beautiful in their eyes. Paul indicates, however, that these mysteries would not help them, for if he were to try to impart these deep spiritual truths they could not take them into their spiritually immature minds and properly digest them.

We often make a terrible mistake right at this point. Paul says, Before I can write to these Corinthians I must take into account that they are carnal people. I must notify them that they are stunted spiritual babies and bring them to the point of acknowledging it themselves. But how often in the church today we preach deep spiritual truths to people who are carnal. We clothe our thoughts in beautiful words and illustrations, and the hearers say, What a beautiful sermon! But practically it does them very little good. Was not the truth of the Bible in the sermon? Yes, but you preached spiritual truths to unspiritual people. Friends, as long as the Christian is carnal don’t give him advanced spiritual truth. He cannot digest it. You must first bring him to the point where he recognizes that he is carnal. For a person in the carnal state is incapable of receiving deeper truths.

FROM CARNAL TO SPIRITUAL

Paul did not want the Corinthians to remain in the carnal state. No, he deplored the fact. He wanted them to move on from carnal to spiritual. That is what we need, too.

How am I to get from the one state to the other? There are four principal steps.

I need to be convicted and then brought to the confession of my carnal state.

You know that before a sinner can be converted he must be convicted of sin; he must know and confess his transgressions and his lost estate. Just so, believers must see that they are in a wrong state. Before they can get into the Spirit-led life they must be brought under conviction of the shame and evil of this carnal state.

There is a great difference between conviction before conversion and conviction afterward. Before, that which principally occupied the mind was the thought I am lost and under condemnation. Foremost was the greatness of one’s transgressions and the desire to have them pardoned. There were two things that the awakened sinner was not convicted of yet: that his nature is utterly sinful and that there are many hidden heart-sins that he has never imagined. This is why God brings a believer into what might be termed a second conviction. It is most necessary that he be fully convinced of two things: the utter powerlessness of the flesh to do any good, and the mighty power of the flesh to work evil.

The flesh is ruling. Carnal self is in control. You have the Spirit of God in you, yes; so why do you continue to do these evil things? It is just the condition described in the seventh chapter of Romans: I am struggling to do right, and I cannot.

Oh, friends, it is when a man is brought under the conviction of the utter inability of the flesh to do good that he will understand why he lost his temper and why pride expresses itself and why he speaks wrong words. The flesh takes him captive. The law of sin in him binds him hand and foot. Then come those great hidden sins that the world considers very small, which are revealed to be works of the flesh. The Holy Spirit convicts of pride as being of the flesh; unloving thoughts toward wife, or child, or employee; self-pleasing choices before God and man. The Christian needs an altogether different deliverance from that he received at conversion. Previously he was delivered from the curse of sin. Now he needs release from the power of sin. Many in the church of Christ have need to cry, "Woe is me! Oh, wretched man that I am! I see that in my flesh dwells nothing good.

It is because the flesh has power that you sin. You must find deliverance. And there is no deliverance except through becoming an entire spiritual man.

I need to see and believe that the Spirit-led life is a possibility.

A great many people will repeat in a creed that they believe in the Holy Spirit. They have no doubt about the existence of the Holy Spirit and that He is the Third Person of the blessed Godhead. They are unquestionably orthodox on all these points, but it is an intellectual belief. Practically,