THE SPIRIT LIFE ON ACCOUNT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

^[p. 346] THE SPIRIT LIFE ON ACCOUNT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Romans 8: 10; Hosea 12: 3 - 5; Hosea 14: 8; Psalm 53: 8

I have it before me to speak about life from the standpoint of the passage in Romans 8 which contemplates it in the believer as having the Spirit. It says, “the Spirit life on account of righteousness” Romans 8: 10. From that point of view I wish to present it as an energetic force in the believer, and to say that all energy in us that is acceptable to God must issue from the Spirit.

Life is, as most of us know, also presented in Scripture as an objective idea — something set before us to be entered into. But the passage I have read contemplates it in its subjective potentiality, and I have in mind to refer for a moment to Jacob as illustrative of it from this point of view. He is indeed a type of most of us, even before we receive the Spirit; or, as having received Him, before we understand how to make room for Him as power — divinely given power — in our souls. As “born again” a man has certain instincts that are spiritual as it is said, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 6). It may show itself negatively, but it is there. It marks the man off as distinct from the mere natural man. There is that in him which is designated by the Lord’s own word as “spirit”, and I take Jacob to illustrate the instincts peculiar to it; although perhaps uncontrolled and unintelligible in him, nevertheless, they are expressed: “He took his brother by the heel” (Hosea 12: 3). There was a struggle indeed between them before their birth — a remarkable thing; and I have no doubt that it has its counterpart in any young ones who have just received being by the power of God.

There is a distinct instinct in the soul that the natural man must be supplanted, and so Jacob received his name as the supplanter. For the natural comes first in historical order, as Esau did, and “afterward that which is spiritual” 1 Corinthians 15: 46. Jacob represented the spiritual, as yet unintelligible in him, but nevertheless in such wise as to supplant, in principle, the natural. His subsequent relations with Esau, as most of us know, were not marked by spiritual rectitude; nevertheless he was true to his instincts.

I speak to the young ones here who may be troubled and I would say there is great encouragement in taking notice of your instincts. There may be much that you regret — that causes you pain and others as well, still the entry of your way, to use a scriptural expression (Proverbs), is marked by spiritual instincts that have a distinct bearing Godward. Jacob kept steadily to these instincts, and so the prophet draws attention to the fact that first of all he took hold of his brother by the heel. His next great energy, which brought him on to the ground of the Spirit, was that he wrestled with God. It says, “in his strength he wrestled with God. Yea, he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed” (Hosea 12: 3, 4, New Translation).

Now I wish especially to address young believers here. I wish to encourage you by pointing out that whatever you may experience to distress you, you must take account of the spiritual instincts that mark one “born again”. These are born, not of nature; they are of the Spirit. But what I would especially call attention to is that Jacob wrestled with God. We must not be content with a mixed condition in our souls, which is likely to lead to such deceit as marked Jacob in his displacement of his brother. The Spirit of God in Hosea passes over a long period of Jacob’s life, and then says, “he wrestled with God” Hosea 12: 3. Many of us, doubtless, have spent that long period, or even longer, in a state of spiritual uncertainty. Yet those who have observed us have been assured that we have been born again because of our spiritual inclinations. You love the society of the people of God; you love the Scriptures, you revere the name of Jesus; you resent any ^[p. 348] insult to Him. Nevertheless, your spiritual experience is a mixed one. It may be, like Jacob, that you turn aside into the world, but God never withdraws His eye from one born again. The work that He begins He finishes. And so the Spirit here passes over a long chequered experience, and notes the wrestling with God.

You know, dear brethren, the great difficulty with many of us is the want of energy. The gospel presents to us clearly what is available. Think of what has been brought within our range in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His death The gospel brings to our attention what is thus available. Everything is presented to a believer as available to him in Christ. Every blessing that God has for man is available, and particularly life, for that is what is most urgent after forgiveness. Hence God promised it, and commanded it. He promised it in view of man’s need, and desire to have it. He commanded it, because the exigencies of His nature required that man should live before Him.

Thus it is presented as available, and hence the next thing is energy. It says, Jacob “wrestled with God”. He had heard that Esau was coming with four hundred men. He was distressed in soul. He divided his belongings into troops, and sent them on. But all the time the nightmare of an army of four hundred men, commanded by an outraged brother, was in his mind, and he was left alone, and the angel wrestled with him. God begins the transaction, but Jacob says “I will not let thee go except thou bless me” (Genesis 32: 26).

I would urge upon you young people here, if you have not settled peace with God, and a sense of the love of God in your heart by the Spirit, to become in earnest about it. What is needed is energy — energy of soul — energy with God. He wrestled with God, and he prevailed. He got the blessing. It says further, “he wept, and made supplication unto him” Hosea 12: 4. Many are indifferent to the marvellous things that are brought ^[p. 349] within our range in Christ. But Jacob wept, and made supplication unto Him.

May I press this home? What do we know of this kind of energy? Many of us, doubtless, have put much energy into our businesses, and we have been successful; but here is that which is abiding — the true riches, that which is said to be “really life”, Paul says to Timothy, “Lay hold of eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12), and I refer to this for the principle I am speaking of. What about this energy? You may be assured that such energy as this will bring results. It is not that things are to be laboured for, but God virtually says ‘This is worth your while, go in for it. I have brought it within your range, and it is urgent that you go in for it’.

Jacob went in for it. “He wept”, it says, “and made supplication” Hosea 12: 4. And then it goes on to say, “he found him in Bethel” Hosea 12: 4. You see where this energy ends. God found him in Bethel. It is a synopsis of the spiritual history of Jacob, and, I believe, of the history of every believer who has reached the house of God. We must not settle down in our spiritual energy until God finds us in His house. You see in Matthew 22: 11, it says, “The king came in to see the guests”. How delightful to have such a survey by the blessed God. He came in to see the guests. One would have serious regrets if one were absent on such an occasion, but then it is not only that you are a guest. How are you there? He found one, we are told, who had not on a wedding garment. It says, God found Jacob in Bethel. How did he find him in Bethel? When Jacob reached Bethel he lay on a stone pillow, and a ladder extended from the heavens down to him.

A youth on the way to Syria, he lighted on a certain place, and lay down to sleep with a stone for his pillow. The ladder came down and Jehovah was at the top of the ladder. He finds Jacob in Bethel, but in what state of soul? Jacob belonged to Bethel as much in Genesis 28 as in Genesis 35. But how different the state of the soul ^[p. 350] in the latter! God found him there, and He said virtually to Jacob, I am delighted to see you here. I have the deepest interest in you here. I am going to do wonderful things for you. “The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it” (Genesis 28: 13).

Oh, believer, think of the interest of God in your soul! He found him in Bethel, and poor Jacob awakes, and he says, “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God” (Genesis 28: 17). Jacob had divine instincts, but they were very mixed. They were connected with natural feelings, but they were truly divine for he was able to discern the house of God. But as yet he had not wrestled with God.

After twenty years of sojourn in Syria, he returns. He is on his way back, and God meets him, and He wrestles with him, and the wrestling proceeds. I have no doubt, dear brethren, that God shows us how to do everything, even if it be to wrestle. If it be to pray, it says of the Lord, He was praying in a certain place, and one of His disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray” Luke 11: 1, and He taught them. He taught Jacob to wrestle, and Jacob prevailed. When God finds him in Bethel the second time he has reached there in the power of the Spirit, typically. He had, in principle, received the Spirit. He is constituted a prince; meaning that he had power with God. And I say to you, young brother, young sister, it is within your range through energy of soul to reach that point. What we need is energy, so it says, “he found him in Bethel” Hosea 12: 4.

If you look at Genesis 35 at your leisure you will observe that the record leads us to Jacob returning there, and rearing up the altar and naming it El-beth-el — ‘God of the house of God’. Then the Spirit of God takes up the history from the divine side. It says that God blessed Jacob and he returned from Syria, and that God came down and talked with him in Bethel. I wish you to think of the difference between Jehovah on the top of the ladder, on the first occasion of His ^[p. 351] finding Jacob in Bethel, and to think of Him as coming down and standing beside Jacob, and communing with him on the second visit. We need to understand how God found him the second time. “He found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us — even Jehovah, the God of hosts” (Hosea 12: 4, 5).

God speaks to us in His house. Some of us know a little about this. We know something about coming together in the light of the house of God, and hearing God speak to us as thus together. The place seems to become hallowed as we hear the divine accents, It says of Jacob, “God went up from him in the place where he talked with him” (Genesis 35: 13). The very ground was hallowed by the divine feet, and Jacob sets up an altar and pours a drink offering upon it. He is now conscious of what he is for God’s pleasure.

These mixed feelings, although they contain pure gold, which God knows how to distinguish, nevertheless are not feelings that afford pleasure to Him. God looks for the unalloyed gold. “Take away the dross”, it says, “and there cometh forth a vessel for the refiner” (Proverbs 25: 4). The dross has to go, and it goes as we understand the Spirit received from God as life in us. The Spirit is life. The body is dead on account of sin. The body is here representative of all my natural energies; it is dead, and the Holy Spirit is the source of all my energies and affections; thus I am pleasurable to God.

Well, now, I want to show you how this life as in the house of God, is marked by greenness and so I refer to the last chapter of Hosea, which says, “I am like a green fir tree” Hosea 14: 8. Now I take that to represent the energy of life in our coming into contact with what is adverse. Many of us seem to shine among the people of God where there is no opposition; but how is it when the cold north blast blows? The fir retains its greenness notwithstanding the bitter north wind. It is an evergreen. I ask myself, Am I always green; not only when ^[p. 352] I meet a brother in the street, or enter into his house, or attend the meetings, but when I come in contact with the wicked opposition of this world, do I retain the evidence of spiritual energy — energy that lies in the Spirit of God?

The Spirit is life. My natural propensities are held in check by the power of the Spirit; thus the green is seen. I retain the evidence of the Spirit of Christ, and am enabled to “suffer evil along with the glad tidings” (2 Timothy 1: 8). I stand out in the energy of spiritual life in all weathers. That is what the fir is. We all know how pleasing the green is to the eye, and so God looks for evergreens. He has given us the means whereby there should be perpetual greenness in our walk and ways in this world.

But in the house of God it is not the fir, but the olive. The Psalmist says, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God” Psalm 52: 8. The olive refers to the Spirit as upon the believer, not only the energy of life within, but the dignity that I acquire in the house of God as in the presence of God. Let us understand, dear brethren, that the house of God is a dignified place. It is a place of princes, as I said. When God found Jacob there the second time, He says in effect, ‘Jacob, you are a prince’. He did not say that the first time, for he was far otherwise. The wrestling had come in between, and God greets him. He says, “thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name” (Genesis 35: 10). That is written for our learning, that we should understand that if we are in the house of God we are to be there in dignity suitable to the place.

Who is over the house of God? The Son. It does not say Jesus; it is the Son. The Son of God is over the house, and it is composed of His companions. Think of what is opened up to us, that we should be in the house of God as companions of the Son! But how? As green olive trees. One who is rightly in the house of God will “honour God and man” (Judges 9: 9). That ^[p. 353] is what the olive does. No one who is in the house of God as a green olive tree seeks to be prominent among his brethren. He has no natural ambition. He aspires not to be pre-eminent. He is not such as would cast others out of the assembly; one who loves the pre-eminence. No, beloved. One who is in the house of God as a green olive tree honours God and he honours man. When the proposal is made to the olive to become king over the trees, it says, “Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man”? Judges 9: 9. It knew that its function was greater than ruling over the trees.

If I am in the house of God as a green olive tree, I consider for God. I think of what is suitable to God in His house. I think of God’s honour, not my own. And besides that, I honour man; I have respect for all that are in the house. The Holy Spirit, as in us, enables us to disallow all natural ambition, and think for God, and think for the brethren. What a blessed place the house of God is, as full of olive trees; typical, as I said of men and women who think only for God, and who love God, and who love their brethren. I know that I have passed from death unto life because I love the brethren. I have the evidence of it, and I am not going to leave that.

It is a blessed function to be occupied with God — loving the brethren. So, with the Psalmist “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God” Psalm 52: 8. In the fir, there is evidence of life in all weathers but in the olive tree we have that which dignifies and beautifies the saints inside. Where we come under God’s eye, and under the eye of our brethren, we appear in our dignity. We are not in the house of God, as poor miserable sinners. We are in the house of God like the olive, in the energy of life, or we are not in it aright, and in that life we honour God and we honour man.