THE RESOURCES OF THE LOCAL ASSEMBLY IN VIEW OF CONTINUANCE (2)

^[p. 325] THE RESOURCES OF THE LOCAL ASSEMBLY IN VIEW OF CONTINUANCE (2)

Ephesians 4:1 - 16; Acts 19:1 - 7

JT In Ephesians 4:16 we see the assembly working for itself “according to the working in its measure of each one part ... the increase of the body to its self-building up in love”. The verses in the Acts are proposed because they speak of the Holy Spirit in relation to the assembly at Ephesus. The apostle Paul enquires from the disciples there, “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” and they say, “We did not even hear if the Holy Spirit was come”. The inference is plain that the apostle is stressing the possession of the Spirit by all those who form the assembly. There were twelve men, we are told, a significant number, and they all received the Holy Spirit evidently together. They were all believers when the apostle met them, but he was desirous of being sure that they had received the Holy Spirit, and their answer brings out that, although they had believed, they had not received the Holy Spirit.

The first chapter of Ephesians, to which we alluded this morning, refers to the reception of the Spirit; it says in verse 13, “in whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”. As there is some exercise concerning this matter in these parts, it is desired that the brethren who are in any way doubtful should be free to speak.

Ques Why, in Acts 8, did the Samaritans who believed, not receive the Spirit, and here also those at Ephesus? They were believers. I think there are many believers in the Lord, who could not say they have received the Spirit.

JT ^[p. 326] That is clearly attested in the verses read from Acts 19. The apostle’s question says: “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” showing that, in his mind, they had believed.

Ques Would it be just to go back a little from this, considering that Apollos, who had been at Ephesus, knew only the baptism of John? Perhaps he could not take them further than he was.

JT Yes, if he was their teacher. The fact is plainly stated by them that they had been baptised to the baptism of John; whether their instruction was from Apollos or others, that is a plain fact. They had believed, but had not the Holy Spirit; there are many in this state today; they are defective in their souls because of imperfect teaching. Then, even after these men had received the full gospel, the Holy Spirit did not come upon them immediately. Paul’s laying on of hands preceded the gift of the Spirit, even after the truth had been presented to them; so that we cannot say that a believer, even if he has received the full gospel, receives the Holy Spirit automatically. If the Spirit comes automatically on the reception of the gospel, then there would have been no need for the laying on of hands here. The same remark applies to chapter 8; it is said in verses 5 - 8: “And Philip, going down to a city of Samaria, preached the Christ to them; and the crowds with one accord gave heed to the things spoken by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he wrought. For from many who had unclean spirits they went out, crying with a loud voice; and many that were paralysed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city”. Philip had preached the Christ, and they had believed with joy; yet in verses 14 - 17 it says: “And the apostles who were in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, sent to them Peter and John; who, having come down,

^[p. 327] prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for he was not yet fallen upon any of them, only they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit”.

Before touching the details, I would like to ask all the brethren if they follow the scriptures we have read on this particular point, and whether they accept them in their full authority, or whether they are qualifying them in their minds? It is well to have a right foundation in our souls in regard of any subject, before we begin to build. The plain statements of Scripture must be received in their full force as to any subject, otherwise we have not a true foundation on which to build.

Ques Would you say a word on the verse in chapter 2:38? “And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.

JT As already remarked this morning, the Holy Spirit is given to all them that obey God, but nowhere does Scripture say that the Holy Spirit is given instantly at the reception of the gospel. Here, Peter says, You “will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”; he does not say, you will immediately receive. We must bear in mind that God is the Giver, and that the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift. Surely we ought to leave it with Him as to how and when He gives it.

Ques Is that why all the cases of the reception of the Spirit in the Acts are different?

JT That helps; it is a fact. The apostle Paul’s question to the twelve men at Ephesus is most significant. It implies that, in principle, we should all be questioned, certainly by ourselves, as to whether we have received the Holy Spirit since we believed. The moral significance of the matter is very great, for the ^[p. 328] Lord knew what would ensue in the history of the assembly, and that false teachers would come in. So in encountering our brethren who are brought up in systems that are not according to God, we must bear in mind that they are pretty certain to have been damaged by defective teaching. Hence the example set by Paul for us in-this particular case in questioning disciples as to whether they have received the Holy Spirit. In the case of the Samaritans there can be no question that Philip preached the clear gospel — he preached “the Christ”, which is a very strong expression — and that they had believed and were full of joy; and yet none of them had received the Holy Spirit. There is no suggestion in the chapter that they had not received the full gospel, whereas the acknowledgment on the part of those at Ephesus is that they had not even heard that the Holy Spirit was come; they were ignorant, they were imperfectly taught.

Ques Those who have not yet received the Holy Spirit do not form part of the assembly, until they have received Him, do they?

JT They do not. Those who form the assembly have been baptised in the power of one Spirit into one body; and it is said of them that they have all been given to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). The first is Christ’s action; He baptises with the Holy Spirit. The second is our action — we drink of one Spirit; the drinking alludes to John 4 and 7.

Ques How does a soul know if it has received the Holy Spirit?

JT We have now to touch on subjective conditions; it refers to our state and God’s operations in us. Faith, according to what we have in chapter 8, caused great joy — faith by itself.

Ques Who would communicate the joy?

JT It is the power of faith in the soul, but it has to be supported, or it will die out. The support to ^[p. 329] it is in the possession of the Spirit. The possession of the Spirit involves drinking, an act of mine. The Lord alludes to it in saying “... thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”, and that he who drank of this living water would “never thirst for ever”. Drinking in this spiritual sense has the force of satisfaction.

Ques Would you say that God is sovereign, and the Spirit is sovereign and comes only where there is a suitable state? It evidently was not so with the Samaritans, but the Spirit fell upon Cornelius.

JT I would not deny that the right conditions were at Samaria. I believe that there it was more a question of Jerusalem intervening; the authority rested in the apostles at Jerusalem. The Lord would have matters settled between Jerusalem and Samaria, for there had always been rivalries between them. He said to the Samaritan woman: “Salvation is of the Jews”. The case of Samaria has therefore a dispensational significance which did not exist at Ephesus.

Ques In the case of the Samaritans was there also the great question of the maintenance of unity, so that there might not be a national Samaritan church?

JT Yes, certainly; but the unjustified pretensions of Samaria, which appeared in the Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman, had to be dissipated. Jerusalem had a special place in the purpose of God which Samaria had not. Therefore it is said that the apostles who were at Jerusalem sent to them Peter and John.

Ques Was not the laying on of the hands of Peter and John the recognition of the brethren by the Samaritans?

JT Specially of “the apostles who were in Jerusalem” — that is of importance, because it involves the authority of Christ, but where He had ^[p. 330] been pleased to place it for the moment. There is no such condition at Ephesus. The verses read from chapter 19 are more appropriate for our present enquiry than chapter 8. At Samaria the converts are not enquired of at all; it is simply that the Holy Spirit had not come upon them. “For he was not yet fallen upon any of them, only they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus”; that is, they are actually baptised, and they are not questioned. It is a wider, more dispensational matter, that God would make clear. But in chapter 19 the individual persons who professed to be disciples are actually enquired of as to whether they had received the Holy Spirit since they had believed, and therefore it applies to the present time particularly.

Ques Would you give some clear external evidence to show that one has received the Holy Spirit?

JT The truth is that we are in such darkened days, that the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit is but little known by any even of those who believe the doctrine of it. They rely on the doctrine, rather than on their own experience as to it, so that the best way to answer the question is to look at the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control” — nine different characters. Therefore I would say to anyone who hesitates as to his possession of the Spirit to look into this Scripture and see whether he is characterised by this “fruit” as it is called: “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control”.

Ques Is there not a difference between receiving the Holy Spirit, and being filled with the Spirit, as we find in several passages?

JT A very great difference. I do not know anybody who is filled with it, whereas in the early days, according to the facts mentioned in the Acts ^[p. 331] it was the general experience that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. I would say for the encouragement of young believers, that if they find that they love the brethren, and love to be in the company of the brethren, love to be in the meetings, that that is one evidence that they have the Spirit. And there is joy in the soul; it is a staying joy, not the initial joy of the convert. One who is depressed, disgruntled, and complaining — if these things characterise him — it is pretty certain he has not the Holy Spirit.

I suppose we have said enough in a general way; each one ought to enquire about this. We may now consider Ephesians 4 a little. Here christians are addressed and enjoined to endeavour to use “diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”. Then we have the basis of this unity in the threefold circle: first, the unity of the Spirit, as seen in the calling, as it says, “There is one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling”; that is relative to the body; all this implying that each one has the Spirit. The second is more public: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism”. The third is more universal: “one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”. Then verse 7 shows that each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. All this has in mind verse 16, that is the ability in the local gathering in itself to build itself up in love. It has been observed and spoken of recently by brethren who move about that gatherings in rural districts all over the world tend, in general, to die out.

Ques. Why is that?

JT We want to get at it here. The economy under Paul implies assemblies, and each is furnished with what is needed for continuance. Elders, we noticed, were selected by the apostles in each assembly;

^[p. 332] but when we come to Ephesus, it is said that the elders in that assembly were set in it by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28). The apostles selected the elders, and, of course, they went away to other fields. But from the standpoint of Ephesus, the Holy Spirit set the elders in the midst of the assembly there, according to the facts we have been going over in chapter 19 and what is presented in this epistle. He not only set elders there in oversight, but He remained there Himself. That is in mind in this instruction as to unity, and that everyone in the assembly had received “grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ”. This brings up the question of our attendance at the meetings. Absentees in a locality weaken the whole position. Hence, in Acts 2, before the Holy Spirit came, we are told that the disciples “were all together in one place”. That is a principle, that the working out of the Spirit’s operation in a local assembly depends on the brethren being present. It is as all are present that He has full scope.

Ques Would it be an encouragement to sisters to be present at the prayer meeting, to see that the last time Mary the Lord’s mother is mentioned is at the prayer meeting?

JT It says in Acts 1:14, “These gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer, with several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren”.

The inclusion of this section in this epistle is very striking. We have first each one receiving grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”. That word ‘all’ in verse 13 is to be observed, and should admonish us all as to the weakening effect of absenting ourselves from the ^[p. 333] gatherings of the saints. Much could be said as to these gifts — apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers — but they are introduced here to this end, “for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ”. Finally it says, “in order that we may be no longer babes, tossed and carried about by every wind of that teaching which is in the sleight of men, in unprincipled cunning with a view to systematized error; but, holding the truth in love, we may grow up to him in all things, who is the head, the Christ: from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply” — every part is involved — “according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love”. The local assembly — and here the whole assembly — is viewed as having within itself the means of edification and continuance in power.

Rem However, an assembly in a locality has not the gifts named here.

JT The gifts are never local; they are set in the assembly as a whole.

Rem An overseer is local; the gifts are for the whole assembly.

Ques Would you not say that the Lord can give in each locality, perhaps in a limited way, what is necessary there?

JT The gifts are always available directly or indirectly. We have no apostles, no prophets, in the full sense as at the beginning, but still there is gift in the assembly, and the Spirit of God being here the ministry is spread abroad. The word given by any gift is carried abroad directly or indirectly, so that each local company gets the benefit of it. But then, each local company has the Holy Spirit; that is the point. The apostle says elsewhere, “Do ye ^[p. 334] not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Rem We are to be careful that national feeling does not prevent us getting the benefit of a gift that may be in another nation.

JT That is an important remark. We see how in the early days such as the saints at Thessalonica imitated the assemblies of Judaea, showing they were entirely free from national feeling.

The power of self-edification is what is to be noted. It involves that we are no longer babes. Each one is in his place, none is absent; each has grace from the Lord, and is part of the organism, so that it is self-edifying. If a member is not there, the organism is defective to that extent. Underlying this is the actual living presence of the Holy Spirit, and it is thus that we are admonished not to grieve the Holy Spirit.