THE POURING OUT OF THE SPIRIT

J. N. Grace

Joel 2: 28, 29; Zechariah 12: 10, 11; Malachi 3: 8–10

These three scriptures refer to the pouring out of the Spirit. I think that we have limited ideas of the grace of God, and of His heart, which is full of blessing. For nearly six thousand years this world’s history of rebellion, sin, and violence has gone on. There never has been a day when there has been such corruption and violence as today in every nation under heaven. God in His patience has spoken down the ages by the prophets, but now in His Son. Despite the rejection of Christ, and His crucifixion, God did not come in in judgment; He put His Son in the highest place in heaven and sent down the Spirit. That is the God we have, dear brethren.

I wonder how much we know Him, whether we have distant thoughts about God, just some academic thoughts about Him. Read the Scriptures and read the ministry. Do you young folk read the ministry? All that the Bible says, take it into the presence of God, so that you do not just know about Him, but you know Him. That is what Christianity is, the knowledge of God in a blessed living Person, Jesus, our Saviour. How near He has come to us! Get to know Him in the gospels; that is how He has been here amongst men. He went about doing good; that is what the Lord did when He was here, as it says, “healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him”, Acts 10: 38. The very best ministry that could have been given to men was given in Christ when here. He never turned anybody away; nobody ever died in the presence of Jesus; He healed everyone brought to Him, every one that was distressed; and He is still the same, that is our Saviour. Oh how little we realize how God is for us, for men, because whatever you enjoy, whatever I enjoy, that is God’s thought for all men. It does not matter who they are, it does not matter what their history is, what their nation is. You say, You are preaching the gospel. Yes, I am preaching the gospel, a wonderful gospel, the revelation of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is all centred in Jesus. How full and free it is! That is what I want to convey at this time, how full and free the heart of God is towards men. As we said, the death of Christ having taken place and atonement having been effected, He is risen from the dead, and we can be justified freely, justified freely by His grace. There are no half-measures with God in His attitude in the gospel, whether it be a matter of your personal blessing, or involving the assembly, it is the same God, and His thoughts are full and free to you and me. He knows your heart and He knows mine. He knows just what you need in your circumstances today. They are the very best circumstances God could provide for you to learn Him. So do not think you could learn better in some other circumstances—if your job was better; or in another family; in another land maybe. You may think. Oh I could do better in another land. The very best opportunities God has given to you just where you are. Well, make the most of them. To make the most of them you must go to Jesus; it is very simple, just go to Jesus.

Now the three scriptures I have read all speak about God pouring out a blessing. There are no reserves with God. This was to a nation that had failed God in every respect. The passage that I read from Joel was written at a time when the testimonies of God had been rejected in the time of Manasseh, a wicked king who caused Judah to sin. That was one of the effects of his reign, and God’s answer to that was that He sent a message by the prophet Joel. He said, I want to pour out a blessing on you, and that blessing was the Spirit of God. Now can I get that, dear brethren, into our hearts today, that God has given His Spirit, given without reserve? We may have reserves in relation to God and our committal to Him, and therefore perhaps we have reserves towards one another as a result. God has no reserves in His heart towards us, because He has given His Son for us, and He wants to give His Spirit to us. There is not a thing our God has held back; He spared not His own San. Well, if we could just, let that into our souls maybe there will not be any reserves with us, and that is what I would like to come to finally. You can examine your heart, you can examine your life, and you will find that you have gone so far, but you have not gone all the way. The word from the Lord for you today is that He wants you to go all the way in your committal to the will of God and the testimony here, and that involves, of course, the place where you are set. God has set you in a local gathering.

Where two or three are gathered together unto His name you are quite certain to find the assembly. God has set you in a locality and He has put you within range of the very best in the pouring out of the Spirit.

Now we have read about God’s answer to the rebellion of Israel. He could not give a greater answer, could He? He might have said, and He could have said, He would remove the nations and destroy them, but He had something better in mind—the pouring out of the Spirit. That is what God has done in the time that we are in, which is a parenthesis in the prophetic calendar.

The prophetic calendar stopped when Paul’s ministry came; it will not be resumed until the Lord comes in His power. The Lord went up in a cloud; they saw Him go up, and a cloud received Him out of their

sight. There are no clouds in Christianity. What there is in Christianity is a light above the brightness of the midday sun. There might be clouds in your history, but there are no clouds in Christianity. Clouds belong to this earth, but Christ is in heaven, above the brightness of the noonday sun. This is Paul’s ministry. When He comes again, He will come in the clouds; that will be when the prophetic calendar will run again. In the meantime, we are in a wonderful time when the Spirit has been poured out. At Pentecost He did not come upon the nation; He is coming upon the nation presently, and He is coming upon all flesh—a wonderful time! But in the time we are in we can take up the prophetic references and turn them to our account, because the Spirit of God has come.

That is what Peter alludes to on the day of Pentecost. He refers to the prophet Joel, and says, This is it! That must have been wonderful as they listened to Peter proclaiming those words.

They, heard persons speaking of the great things of God, and Peter stands up and quotes the scripture, and he said, This is it. Well, dear brethren, we do not have to wait for the Scriptures to be fulfilled; they are being fulfilled now in the presence of the Spirit. Have you ever grasped that? Have you ever thought of the Scriptures being fulfilled in your own history?

That is what Peter said. I think there is nothing more thrilling than to read through the Scriptures in the same way, and say, That is just how I have learned God in my own history.

Well, that is the present day; there is this parenthesis in the prophetic calendar, and there will never be another day like it. It is the day of the Spirit, when not only is the Spirit poured out upon certain persons, but the Spirit of God is indwelling persons. That is what marks Christianity, that God is here in a habitation in the Spirit. That is what is

distinctive to Christianity. There will never be another day like it; so the Lord says, “In that day”, referring to the day of the Spirit. Well, the prophets did not understand what they were speaking of. Peter tell us that (1 Peter 1: 10–12), but we understand because the Spirit is here.

You read the Scriptures, and you do not put them forward to a future time; you say, This is it.

What light that gives us as we go to our readings; we read the Scriptures and say. This is it; a word by, the Spirit today.

The Spirit is speaking in the assembly, so have an ear to hear what He is saying. It is a wonderful day that we live in. How much we can get out of our local gatherings when room is made for the Spirit; that is the key to everything today. In your own history, in the history of our local gatherings—How much room is made for the Spirit of God? You say, I wish I had been here when the Lord was on earth; but the Lord said, I will send another Comforter.

We are in a time of great advantage because Jesus is on high and we have the Spirit here, and we have the opening out of everything according to the thoughts of God in the ministry that has come by way of Paul. So we have not to wait for anything. You say, I am waiting for the rapture. So am I. That is because we are waiting for the Person; not waiting for an event. We are waiting for Jesus; we miss Him and we want Him, and that is why we gather together for the Supper because we miss our absent Lord—and that is why He comes; He comes to persons who want Him. In John’s gospel He came because there were conditions there to which He loved to come. Let us provide those conditions so that the Lord loves to come. He did not have anything to rebuke; there was no unbelief there. In. Luke’s account there was some unbelief; that is the wonder of the time we are in that even if there is unbelief in our hearts,

the Lord comes, and says, Peace—“Peace be unto you … it is I myself”, Luke 24: 36, 39.

You really wonder at the grace of our Lord, that even if there are difficult conditions He may come. Even if there are, according to Mark, disciples lying at table in unbelief, the Lord came anyway. He had to rebuke them; but He will come to hearts that love Him. That is the time that we are in because of the presence of the Spirit.

Well, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh”, and what God has in His mind in blessing He has in His mind for every man. This is God’s answer to the crucifixion; where men had done their worst. God says, Well, I am prepared to do My best. I have been struck by that expression in Colossians, “by him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1: 20). How wonderful that in the face of that enmity which the cross involves in that section—the enmity of man was expressed in all its intensity at that point—reconciliation was made by the blood of His cross. That is the God we have; He has no reserves. Why should there be any with us? Why should we go so far and no farther? Why should we go so far and then draw back when God has gone the whole distance; when Christ has gone the whole distance, and peace has been made by the blood of His cross? You say, What do you mean by going the whole distance? Well, if something comes up in your history, or in the testimony, you say, Well, it is too hard, I am not prepared for the sacrifice.

What more telling consideration can there be than the blood of Jesus, who has gone all the way, to meet the enmity of our hearts, to meet the unbelief of our hearts? There is not a thing in our history, beloved brethren, that the Lord has not met at the cross, not one thing. You examine your heart and you will find that the main reason why you draw back is because of unbelief. You may acknowledge the

truth and the doctrine of things, but the actual practice of things is where we draw back; we are not prepared to go all the way.

Well, Jesus has gone all the way. May I say, God has gone all the way, not only to meet your sins, to meet your need, but to bring you into the very best in His heart—not what your heart naturally can see, because man as such can never see the purpose of God, but what God has in His heart for men in sonship. That is the very best. God has it all in Christ, and He wants you to go all the way. Maybe there are some here who have put their trust in the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins but are not prepared to submit their will, have not confessed Him as their Lord. Such are not going in for the very best that God has in His heart for them. It is available if you go all the way. Submit your will to the will of God, and make a confession of Christ as Lord today. Do it today while you have persons around you who are sympathetic, and in this good atmosphere; confess the Lord, just open your mouth and say, Lord Jesus; I belong to the Lord Jesus. You do not have to know a lot; it is not a question of doctrine, it is a question of confession with your mouth. And if that is the case, you will be wanting to break bread next Lord’s day. You will want to remember the One whom you have come to love; you will want Him; you will want Him to come and get His rights in a world where He has been refused. But you want Him anyway, and you want to be with Him. Soon you will be with Him up there; see to it that you are with Him down here. The last request of the Lord was, Remember Me. He has provided the way, in the Supper, by which we can call Him to mind. Will you be there in the morning? Will you? Have you gone all the way? Just think about that. He has gone all the way for you, and the one thing He has left for the hearts that have come to know Him is to

call Him to mind where He has been rejected. It may be the last time. We have these opportunities and there could be no greater supply. He has poured out a blessing from on high; you have received the remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit; that is the gospel; wonderful! Sins remitted, but the gift of the Holy Spirit gives entrance into all the wealth of the purpose of God.

Well, that is the prophet Joel and it was said to Israel, and Peter says, Well, this is it; you have not to wait until the day of the appearing comes, you can have it now. The Spirit had come. What a time it was! You say, I would like to have been there. The day of the Spirit is here today, just as it was then. The public position may have failed and broken down, and you may have failed and missed your opportunity. But there is no change with God; there is no change with Jesus; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”, Hebrews 13: 8. There is no change with the Father. His attitude is still the same; God is the Same, that is one of His titles, ‘The Same’. We change, and we need to change, but God does not change, and one of the reasons He has given us the Spirit is that we might be changed and become more like Jesus, that perfect, sinless, holy Man.

Now in Zechariah it says, “I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem”. I like that, “the inhabitants of Jerusalem”; the very place where the Messiah was put to death and crucified was where the Spirit was poured out. That is our God, the time we are in, this dispensation of grace. The very best was poured out in the very worst place, and so it is today, it has not changed. “And they shall look on me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son”. The days

of mourning are coming; God has not forgotten His earthly people; no. He is going to fulfil every promise He ever made; He will never break a promise; we can trust Him. So God made these promises to Israel. You say, Where are they? They are going to be fulfilled, every one of them, but before they are, God is going to bring about repentance; that is the basis of God’s blessing for men, all men—repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. He is going to be linked with the house of David in Jerusalem, and He is going to

“pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications”. Maybe they will be persons who have never prayed before and they will be given light; the operations of God in the Spirit will bring about a softening in their hearts and they will begin to cry out for the Messiah.

He has given up the Jews as a nation for the moment, but every one of them can come in on the ground of all men; that is what God has done. There is no difference. The Jew is not at any disadvantage today in that sense. Jew or Gentile are all on the same ground in the light of the gospel as we know it today. But God will take up His earthly people and they will come to this point that they will want Christ, their Messiah, and say, What shall we do, we crucified our Messiah? and they will remember Saul. What Saul said at his conversion was a pattern of all that should hereafter believe; that includes not only us today but includes the remnant of Israel. They will remember that God had mercy on Saul and He will have mercy on them.

This is God; let us come to know Him better. He wants us to know Him; not only to know about Him, but to know Him; know Him in our own personal histories, and know Him in our assembly histories, and trust Him that in His love to us He will see us through.

Now you come to Malachi, “Will a man rob God?” God says. You just “prove me”. That is what God wants us to do; He wants us to prove Him. You can know all about Him from your earliest days; you may preach the gospel far better than I can, but prove God in your circumstances, and in your assembly history too. Just trust Him, prove Him. He says, “Bring the whole tithe into the treasure-house”. I would say again, You go the whole way. Whatever exercises God may raise with us, let us go the whole way, first of all in repentance, and then as to the interests of God here. Then it says, “prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I open not to you the windows of the heavens, and pour you out a blessing”—think of God doing that! That is His answer; not pouring out judgment, as He did in Noah’s day, but pouring out a blessing, and that blessing is the Spirit of God, the very best, “till there be no place for it”. Would you not like to have an experience like that, to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” as it says of certain men in the book of the Acts?

Well, that is my message for you today. That is the God we have. Lay hold of His promises; strengthen your faith; we are lacking in faith so much; we want total faith, faith in the Spirit.

Act in faith if something comes up that seems difficult; abide by the truth; stand by the truth, and the Spirit will confirm what you do. I understand that is the way the Spirit works. You have to answer to the truth, you have to make a sacrifice, and the Spirit will confirm you.

You want confirmation, and you find that God will confirm you in every step of the way. All I would say is, Go the whole way, dear brethren today, for His name’s sake.

Address at Birmingham
5 September 1987