GOD'S WITNESS WITHIN US
GOD’S WITNESS WITHIN US
1 John 5:10; Romans 8:16; 1 Samuel 14:1; 1 Samuel 9:5 - 10
The scriptures read in the New Testament speak of God’s witness within us, within believers. The first witness or testimony to us is what is called objective, as is said, indeed, in the same chapter read from in 1 John (verse 6): “It is the Spirit that bears witness”; and again, in Hebrews, the Spirit is witness to us as regards forgiveness: for these scriptures read speak of witness in us, having in view to set us up in spiritual consciousness, self-consciousness; and also to make us spiritually independent, able in self-consciousness to stand on our own feet; being thus, as it were, a spiritual entity, as each angel is in heaven, to be employed by God as congenial material, such as He is entitled to, ready to hand at any time. The uses for which we are intended are great and various, and it is humbling if God has to look about for agencies. At times He is forced to use incongruous agencies for the reason that what is normal fails. It should not be so, but it is so oft-times, and in order to carry on His work, God is obliged to use what is in itself incongruous. He uses an ass for instance; and, indeed, the Lord said as to praise, if those who praised were silent, the stones would cry out. Such is God’s power that He can take on agencies for His purpose; He would give us to understand that He is independent in that way. But still, on the other hand, He would give us to understand that He has need of each of us; and in order that we should be available, there is this need, this necessity of spiritual preparedness, involving complete immunity from the demands and influence of the flesh. Isaiah said: “Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8) and immediately he was sent, and again: “There was a man sent from God, his name John” (John 1:6); he was the product of long preparation, but as the time of his shewing to Israel [p. 450] arrived, he was ready: he had dwelt in the deserts, his constitution was built up on the negation of flesh, the Spirit having moved him at the earliest possible time. He was built up spiritually, so that as the time arrived of his shewing to Israel, for it is not only that I can serve, but God shews what He can do in the formation of His vessels, he was ready; and the testimony is, “a man sent from God”, that is stressed, “his name John”; he came for witness of the light, but he was not the light. He came for witness of the light, and he kept within his limitations: and so, dear brethren, the Lord has need of each of us, but in this formation, so that he can not only use us, but shew us. He loves to call attention to His workmanship; even with Job He challenges the enemy, saying, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” (Job 1:8); God, as it were, was pleased with His servant so far: nor did Job defeat the divine purpose even in that; for in all the enemy’s efforts to force him through terrible calamities to curse his God, he did not do it, but justified God through it. So this matter is of supreme importance, first as to witness in oneself; one has the witness in oneself. God has His own witness from His own point of view, unvaryingly: Christ in heaven and the Spirit here involve an unvarying witness on God’s part. It is continuous, a wonderful testimony continued all these centuries and up to this present moment, the witness of God stands. “For they that bear witness are three: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood” (1 John 5:7,8). The Lord Jesus came, we are told, in connection with the water and the blood; He came in that way; indeed, one might say, what would be the object of His coming, were it not for these things, the water and blood? “Not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is the truth. For they that bear witness are three: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood”. These stand, thank God, in all their efficacy and power, up to the present moment;
[p. 451] but then there is this witness I have read about: “He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself”. Many of us may speak truthfully of the threefold testimony that God renders to us in the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and cannot speak much of the witness in ourselves; what I have in mind is that each may challenge his own heart as to this matter. As you will observe, it is made here contingent on believing on the Son of God. It is a verse of a remarkable chapter, a chapter full of witness, as I have been pointing out; and the end in mind is that believers might be conscious that they have everlasting life; as the apostle says: “These things have I written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God” (verse 13). “That ye may know”, the word is conscious knowledge, to be conscious that we have eternal life. I am speaking for this, now, dear brethren, this matter of consciousness, that in our experience and testimony, and particularly in our service to God, there should be real body, as one might say, that we might be conscious, that we might have the witness in ourselves. “He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself;” the witness is, “that God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son” (verse 11). But the witness in oneself makes that a very real conscious thing: “God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son”: that is where it is, untouchable. It is fixed, but fixed in a Person; the fruits of it are thus calculated to establish us, dear brethren, not only in an objective sense in believing the testimony rendered to us, but in a conscious sense. There is real body and feeling in a christian of this kind. And as the Lord is pleased to continue, as time goes on, storm after storm will arise; “wicked men and juggling impostors shall advance in evil, leading and being led astray” (2 Timothy 3:13). They seek to baffle us, so it is all important that we should be on our feet standing out against it, superior to it; for “this is the [p. 452] victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith. Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4,5). Believers reach a point where they are inviolable, as it were. God is always supporting us, but I am speaking now of one built up in spiritual consciousness in Christ and having the witness in himself.
Now Paul, in the epistle to the Romans and other epistles, confirms all that; but in the verse I read in Romans 8, it speaks about the Spirit, not simply witnessing to us in this general way that John speaks of it, but that the Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are children of God. Think of that experience we can afford ourselves! in the night, in wakeful hours, or in the busy hours of the day, at the desk, or the machine-shop, or the wash-tub, wherever we may be, we have this blessed inwardness of the Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are God’s children. It is as if to say, ‘Do not be overcome by that, you are God’s children!’ The Spirit would bring it in for victory that we are God’s children. John enlarges on it: “See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1). That is our name: ‘children of God’. It is known in heaven, but the Spirit is saying it all the time inwardly: ‘You are children of God whatever happens, do not forget that’; what an enlargement follows! what comfort! what assurance! There can be no abnegation of this wonderful relation into which we are brought: the Holy Spirit within us is witnessing with our spirits that it is truly so, we are children of God. And “if children”, says the apostle, victoriously, “heirs also: heirs of God, and Christ’s joint heirs; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).
Now, this is all comforting in Romans where we have had to examine our inner regions. You will understand that there are men who examine the heavens with their [p. 453] telescopes, and the bowels of the earth with their spades: there are all kinds of scientific persons who deal with material things, of which of course I have nothing to say. But there is this matter of Romans; one may be capable of all these matters physically and yet never once have attempted to look into his own moral being, what he is inwardly. An honest man says: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any grievous way in me” (Psalm 139:23,24). He challenges God to do that: and God does it too, let there be no doubt about it; divine eyes are always looking in, and the divine word operative helps us, alluding no doubt to the priests of old. “For the word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). That is what He does: it is the word of God; as I allow it to probe me, I become acquainted with the various things which the Spirit opens up to me: “penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. Think of that process! it is the word of God. No priestly eyes of old ever penetrated in this way; it is all a moral question: “the division of soul and spirit”. Where is the scientific man that knows anything about that? Such a man could never touch the spirit and divide it from the soul; nor could he discern the thoughts and intents of man’s heart, but the word of God does. The epistle to the Romans teaches us how to make such an analysis within ourselves; for God gives it to us, it goes with the work of God in our souls, the necessity for exploring the unknown, as it were: but it ceases to be the unknown, according to the experience of one man who did it, he emerges triumphantly, he has reached definitely the idea of his mind, and he has got control of it: “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”
([p. 454] Romans 7:25). In his analysis of his moral being a believer detects much, particularly his spirit and his soul. Some believers, brothers and sisters, are soulless, hard kind of people; one has often wished that a certain man had more soul: if he felt that himself, he would begin to minister to the soul so as to enlarge it that it might be more productive, and it would make him much more attractive to the saints. Mary, the Lord’s mother, had gone through something of this kind: she says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46,47). And so it is, if we are to be truly worshippers of God, all these component parts have to be understood and visualised in the mind, and each given its place so that the vessel is available at any time for God, whatever it is that He needs us for.
Having said all that, I want to shew examples of it in the Old Testament. What I have been saying so clearly refers to simple christianity; Romans is an elementary epistle and furnishes all this instruction, so that every believer here should know something of it: but if one does not, he has not learned the initial blessings of christianity, and the object of this meeting is that he might know it; that everyone might be directed to this matter so that we become spiritually independent — that every wind of doctrine does not affect us, that we stand upright in the things that we know. We shall thus have reached self-consciousness in a spiritual sense, supported consciously in the witness, as it says, he has the witness in himself who believes on the Son of God; and again, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God”. That is to say, he is now on christian ground consciously, and if John’s epistle is pursued, he is victorious in it. What is needed now, dear brethren, is just that, so that we might be overcomers; and, indeed, as I want to shew you, have part in the service of God, which is in mind for every christian. We are left down here [p. 455] for formation, but also for the provisional service of God. The present form, in which the service is, is provisional; there are items in it which will not be needed eternally, such as the Lord’s supper and other such features which will cease; but there is that which will be continuous. These provisional things or features of the service of God are most important, for God would have us just as we are, actively engaged in His service. He needs every one of us; He has taken us up for it so that we should be vessels of His praise.
Now, I am going to speak a little of His service man-ward in conflict, as seen in Jonathan, a man who developed into a worker with God. God worked without him: God worked before any servant of His ever existed; but He is enlisting His people to work with Him; and Jonathan developed into a worker with God, a very great objective to have before us, dear brethren. You can understand that you are not independent in that, but initially you are; so that God can take you on and make you what He wishes you to be in the great work He is carrying on. I do not know anything one covets more than to be a worker with God; such service enlarges you. Of course God is working in a dispensational field, and He calls us into that. Of Jonathan, as you will observe here, it says: “Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that is on the other side”. What he had to say to God before this is not related; nor, indeed, is there much related as to Jonathan’s relations with God, whether he was a praying man, but it is obvious that a man who undertakes a work like this, developing into workmanship with God, must have been a man that had to do with God. He must have had some relations with God to take on such a matter as this, on a particular day, which was never to be forgotten in Jonathan’s history afterwards; nor is it forgotten in the divine [p. 456] calendar, a most important day signalised by the movement of spiritual men of courage and stamina. And what I want to shew is, that he did not tell his father; there is no advertising in a matter of this kind. We are told later on that the people did not know about Jonathan’s movement, the people that were with them: it says, “And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone” (1 Samuel 14:3). It was a secret matter between himself and his armour-bearer. Now, dear brethren, this is an important point, what I am saying; for in advertising we lose power, to say the least. The thing will be advertised, the result will become known: even of the Lord Jesus, it is said “he could not be hid” (Mark 7:24). Things would come out: but let them come out in the divine way, not by advertisement, and, moreover, do not take into your confidence unspiritual people; if you secretly take this brother and that brother into your confidence, brothers who may never have been exercised about the matter at all, you simply weaken your position. But there is more here; Jonathan’s father was not only an unspiritual man, but he was against the truth; he was displaced in the service of God. Why tell the father? He is the last man to tell. One could say quite a little, and one has said quite a little, about this thought of father and what the idea has become in the service of God. Men who are unconverted have that title and expect to be told; but no spiritual man will tell them. Some of them in this very land, and other lands, were they to work out logically what we profess, would prevent us having a meeting here tonight. Are we to tell them? No, we gain nothing by telling them. We lose by taking into our confidence people that have no exercise about these matters. It is not their matter. It was Saul’s matter and the people’s matter, you might say; they will know, but not yet, we shall lose power and we cannot afford to, it is too serious. When Saul his father did know, what happened? did he help? No! he hindered! One [p. 457] could say quite a little about that too. How religious he became as soon as this matter comes up! this spiritual movement of a man who is spiritually independent. We get Saul mentioned as religious, and the priesthood, and the ark, but no answer from God. Of what value is it to bring a man like that into the secrets from God? God is hiding things from him: why should I tell him? He will not be a worker with God. Will He tell him? No! there is no answer from God, even with his priest and the ark: but the Philistine army is melting away and the noise is increasing. The noise goes on, but Saul is not helping; on the contrary, he forbids anyone to take food. ‘You must not take the heavenly food’. How the flesh intrudes on these operations that belong to heavenly people! He well nigh spoilt the victory. He did not know about Jonathan; he says: “Number now, and see who is gone from us” (verse 17). He has not an atom of spiritual discernment. Surely anybody in the camp should know where Jonathan was! The whole of Israel has to be numbered to find out who these men are that have taken on this spiritual operation. We can be led, but we cannot afford to lose spiritual power. That is the point. He did not tell his father and neither did the people know. The obvious thing is to be with God in our service, get our orders from God, learn in His presence what is needed and pursue it. Let others do the same thing, otherwise we shall be found in collusion with unspiritual people who perhaps in their hearts are against the truth, against God. We cannot afford to advertise. Get to the Father in secret, dear brethren; there we acquire understanding and spiritual independency: we become workers with the truth, workers with the Father, workers with God. As the Lord Jesus says in such marvellous language: “The Son can do nothing of himself save whatever he sees the Father doing: for whatever things he does, these things also the Son does in like manner” (John 5:19). The Father shews [p. 458] Him what He is doing. It is written so that we may learn to get to the true Father, and get our understanding there, and know what He is doing. Others will come into it, of course; as the people came into the battle. Saul, this official father here, almost spoilt the battle. The land was flowing with honey, the heavenly land, and this official father would shut us up and deprive us of the food that was necessary in our heavenly conflict.
Now, to go on to the finish, in chapter 9, when this same Saul was a younger man and not yet against the truth, he is described as being the son of Kish, “a choice young man ... there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he”. There is nothing in the way at this time in his service; moreover the young man that is seen with him on the errand, on the service, is seen under orders. So we are told, “And the asses of Kish Saul’s father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses” (verse 3). But they did not find them; the asses were not found. This young man is serving under orders, and, of course, he is serving rightly. He is under orders from Kish, as it were, but he is under Saul, rightly so. Saul is now a young man setting out; he has not yet proved himself, as later, against the truth. He is a goodly young man; there is not a goodlier in Israel; and this young man with him is a type of any of us. What I have in mind is that we may be called to serve with such a person as Saul. It would be disobedience to avoid serving with Saul at this time. It often happens that a spiritual young man is called to serve with one in greater dignity and power, and as the service goes on, the real state of affairs comes to light: that in spite of all his goodliness and height, and that sort of thing, Saul has not found the asses. He has not made one bit of success. It is for me, as a young man, to discern that God is testing me by my [p. 459] companionship; the Lord has called me to serve in my local position in relation to someone who is unspiritual. Am I to accept it as a sine qua non that must stand? No: God is testing me. Am I of a different calibre? If I am, it will soon shew itself; let him be there. The asses are not found and Saul is ready to give up the service; it is a lost cause: and, in effect, he says, ‘We ourselves will be regarded as lost’; and so they were. Many are like that, engaged in caring for things, and seeking lost souls (a good service) but never finding any. The Lord Jesus says He came “to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10): and He never failed: “not one of them has perished, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). He found and he preserved. He said again: “I have not been sent save to the lost sheep of Israel’s house” (Matthew 15:24). He knew well what it was to look for lost persons and He found them. Why am I not finding lost persons? I am a prominent man in the district too: I am not finding any; maybe the meeting will be given up, it is a lost cause. That is not the language of faith. Saul is going to give up the whole matter and return to his father; but this young man had a different mind: so has some young person who has a spark of life in him. What had he? A quarter of a shekel of silver. The young man says, ‘No, there is a man of God in this district’; think of giving up what is of God with a man of God in the neighbourhood! Get to the man of God; what will he say? Saul says, ‘We have not anything to give him; the bread is all gone in the vessels’: sure enough, a man of that kind has nothing; it is a lost cause. What is the cause of the loss? The man in charge is the cause of it: he has nothing in his vessel. This young man Saul, at the very outset of his career is exposed by this young man, this servant. The servant says, “Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man”. Saul has already failed, and is already disqualified [p. 460] for the great office for which he was about to be anointed. The young man says: ‘There is a man of God in this city’, and that is the point, dear brethren in times of distress when it seems to be a lost cause in any place, let us think of the man of God; he never fails, he can help in this matter. Jesus is supremely that: He stood in the breach. This young man says, “He is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go”. Is there any doubt about this? Not in the young man’s mind. He uses the word peradventure, but the tenor of his words shews he is very sure about it. The end is reached too: the concrete thing is the king. One of the greatest possible things to be reached is the anointing of the king. Let us keep it in mind, dear brethren! Leave out Saul for the moment; think of it in the abstract, of the One to whom the thought of king should be applied normally. Jesus is the King. We are approaching that. The young man is leading now, and he says, ‘I will give it to the man of God. I have got a quarter of a shekel of silver’. Saul had not anything. We may be obliged to work with a man like Saul, a man who thinks it is a lost cause; but it only brings out what we have, if with God, to meet the situation. So the young man knows there is a man of God close by in the city. How did he know that? Saul did not know it. The spiritual man does know: the Spirit teaches all things; and one who is characteristically of the assembly has eyes to see and ears to hear, and he knows. “Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we? And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver”. It was not a collective matter at all; that is the point, dear brethren; it was a matter of individual wealth. Although you are forced to work [p. 461] with a man like this, you have got the thing, and you are going to use it yourself, not share it with Saul. ‘I will give it him’, he says. I cannot proceed further, but you know the history; the great end was reached, the king was anointed. The man of God was there and it was a most attractive time; there were the invited guests, the young women, the maidens they met, knew all about it, but this man Saul did not know. This young man did, and the great end is reached. So it is with us, if we cultivate this, we shall be used even under difficult circumstances such as these, working with those who are unspiritual. Saul was not used, but this young man was: and victory follows upon it.