THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - THE NEW STATE
[p. 206] THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - THE NEW STATE
The subject I have already commenced and desire to continue is, the blessings peculiar to the christian. We find that these blessings date from the time when the Lord had gone away, and was exalted to God’s right hand; then blessings of a new character were vouchsafed to His own on this earth, where He had been rejected. On the former evening I was dwelling on the difference between being assured that our sins, where they were committed, have been carried into the land of forgetfulness - a very great thing to know - and the knowledge that we also have the right of entrance into the holiest. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh”.
This evening I desire to bring before you the gift of the Holy Spirit.
As I mentioned the last evening, these blessings are so interwoven that it is not possible to put them in succession; still we have to learn them. Now we have received the Spirit of God, and nothing can be plainer than the verse I have read. “What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God”. This is very definite. Now I desire to trace the Spirit’s work.
I begin with the fact that the Holy Spirit came down when Christ was glorified, as we read in John 14, to remain “with you”, and to be “in you”. No other company except the church will be favoured in the same way. Peter in Acts 2 quotes Joel’s prophecy in [p. 207] order to prove that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon all flesh; and then he makes an addition, that Christ being exalted to God’s right hand, and “having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”. That is an addition to Joel’s prophecy, and is the blessing peculiar to christians; as Paul in Ephesians 1 writes, “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”. I believe this is the first sense you have of a link with Christ personally.
I must refer to several scriptures, and I trust you will be able to take a note of them. The work of the Spirit is divided into two parts in John’s gospel, and I think it is a great help to see this; the Holy Spirit is given for your benefit, and also for Christ’s service. Now there is a danger of confounding these. Turn to John 4: 14 - “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well [or rather, a fountain] of water springing up into everlasting life”. Plainly this is in yourself. It is entirely new, and a contrast to John 2, where the wine was out, while this marvellous gift is to be in you. There is a new power in you, and that power the Spirit of God. You could not know the things of God unless by the Spirit of God. Everything you know of God, you know by the Spirit of God; and you never lose that knowledge. You may lose something you had heard, or a conception of your own mind, but you will never lose anything the Spirit of God has imparted; it is yours; and that is properly your true state. You start with this fact, that all the will of God for you has been finished by Christ; you do not know it all, but it is all done. The Spirit of God gives you conscious knowledge of His work, and all you learn by the Spirit of God remains. If you are under a cloud, you lose your enjoyment of this grace, but when the cloud is [p. 208] gone, you are sure to come back to where you were. If a babe in Christ falls and is restored, he is restored to a babe. If a father in Christ falls, he is restored to a father. The Spirit’s work remains; it is not of the flesh, hence it is your true state.
For the first part of the Spirit’s work, I turn to Romans 5: 1 - 11. I believe the first great thing that a believer learns by the Spirit of God is the terms on which God can be with him. You have offended against God. The mistake often is that souls are not set on ascertaining how God, whom they have offended, stands towards them. Their conscience, or how they can be relieved, is before them. Now the first 11 verses of Romans 5 set forth how God is towards you; that is, if I may use a familiar phrase, the terms of affection on which He is, so that “we also joy [or boast] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement [or reconciliation]”. The prodigal son could say, I never expected that my father would be on such loving terms with me. I was trying to be on terms with him, but I find he is on terms with me. The Spirit leads you into the joy of this great acceptance.
I must add to this Romans 8. It is the saying of another, that as chapter 5: 1 - 11 sets forth how God meets you, so chapter 8 sets forth how you are in Christ before Him. The Spirit effects it. Verse 2 says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. If you would understand the greatness of the gift in John 4: 14, you must study Romans 8. You will find there four parts of the work of the Spirit. First, “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. Marvellous grace! The second is the greatness of your relationship: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”. The third is that, though you are in a groaning creation, you are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body”. And the fourth, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought”, but you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you; He is your friend, so acquainted with your concerns that “he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”.
I trust I have given you some idea of the first work of the Spirit. I merely add that if you do not know this work you will not advance to any other. The Corinthians and the Galatians failed here; they were not dead to sin; though they had the Spirit, they did not know His first work, as detailed in Romans 5 and 8. It is most blessed that the Spirit of God first settles questions about yourself, for you have not rest of heart until they are settled; hence many are looking for holiness by faith, or perfectionism, simply because they are not in the power of the Spirit. When you walk in the Spirit you are superior to the flesh.
For the next work, I turn to John 7: 37 - 39: “In the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any one thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”. I know it is often thought that this refers to serving others; but I think the meaning is that your blessing is so full that it overflows. On the last day of the feast of tabernacles, as they were celebrating how God had made the earth to minister to them, the Lord challenged them, when He said, “If any one thirst, let him come to me, and drink”. I can do infinitely better for him. The state of those here is a contrast to chapter 4; there we see a woman in the most deplorable condition, and the grace of God will set her up in a most blessed way. Here man is surrounded with every earthly blessing, and the Lord [p. 210] says, I can do more for you. “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. You may say, What is it? It is the Spirit making known to us the resources which are in Christ personally. “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste”. I believe the fatted calf is a figure of it. It is individually known. The man in John 9 had it when “he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him”.
The next work of the Spirit I find in Hebrews. It is this, that if you have learnt something of the resources which are in Christ, you are soon aware that He who is so much to you is not here. I hope to go into this blessed subject fully another time, if the Lord permit me. I refer to the priesthood of Christ: He can sympathise with you in the greatest weakness, because of sorrow and pressure here, and He also would maintain you in the brightest spot in the presence of God. The effect is that you are drawn away from earth to a Person who is not here, you are attached to Christ in another place; hence I consider it a distinct progress in the Spirit’s work. I am pointing out, as far as I see, the order in which the Spirit of God works in the believer.
There is one thing of deep importance that I cannot fully explain; it is, that every christian in his behaviour, in his body, discloses the measure of the Spirit’s work in him. I will give you three examples. The first is in Romans 12: “that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.... Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”. Surely that is your body, your personal appearance? I do not mean merely dress; I mean your whole bearing. The second is, not merely that you are not conformed to this world, but that you are transformed into the same image (2 Corinthians 3: 18). This is a great advance. And again, running the race set before us, looking out unto Jesus, encountering every obstacle [p. 211] on the way, is still more (Hebrews 12). Your personal way and course indicate the measure of the Spirit’s power in you.
The next work of the Spirit is to lead you to be here for Christ. He was here for you; the Spirit first makes this known to you, then He leads you to be here for Him. The Lord in John 13 and 14, knowing that He came from God and went to God, prepares His disciples to be here for Him in His absence. It is in the assembly you learn your calling and duty: you are to have part with Him outside and above everything here. He has gone to the Father. He is supreme, and as you are led by the Spirit, you please Him in your service. To this end the Spirit of God was to bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever He had said to them. There were two periods in the Lord’s life on earth; there were thirty years of private life, and three years of public life. It is to the three years of public life the Lord alludes here. You will find the importance of it. In the thirty years of His private life He set forth what a Man was to the eye of God, so that at the close the Father announces, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. But in the three years of His ministry He was setting forth what the Father was to man - quite different - and hence, at the close of this period, when on the holy mount, the voice came, “This is my beloved Son: hear him”, as you read in the gospel narrative. It is in the assembly that we get our mission, as we learn from John 20, which is the assembly in pattern: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”. The work of the Spirit, in order to fit us for service, is enunciated in chapter 14, and it is only as this work is known that you are qualified for service; you receive considerably for yourselves in order to be of use to others.
The next work of the Spirit is in John 15. You have come out here to be as the branches of Christ;
[p. 212] you must abide in Him, and He in you. As far as I see, this is the knowledge of Christ as Head, and as deriving from Him you bear much fruit. As you abide in Him and He in you, you set forth the blessedness of God’s heart to man, and this is true service.
The next work I do not find easy to explain, because the less we know of a truth the less we can explain it. In John 15: 26 we come to another action of the Holy Spirit: “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me”. I ask you to bear in mind the difference between the Spirit’s work in chapter 14 and His work in chapter 15. I am trying to show you the great position in which you are set on the earth. In chapter 14 you are prepared for service. But in chapter 15 you bear fruit, you are His branches, His servants. Here in chapter 15: 26 the Holy Spirit is sent from Christ in heaven for a special purpose: “he shall testify of me”. It was not merely to testify for Me, it is to “testify of me”. I cannot conceive anything greater than this - that the Holy Spirit should enable you to stand forth here in testimony of Christ in heaven, as well as to bear fruit. You are both a servant and a witness. I see many serving who are not witnessing. A witness testifies of a Man whom the world would not have - the heavenly Man. Here doubtless we enter on the epistle to the Ephesians; you must be a heavenly man before you can testify of Christ in heaven. No one else could do it. I cannot dwell on this, but I trust you see that the Spirit leads you to testify of the heavenly Man on the earth. Though this will expose you to all the opposition of Satan, yet you will be personally, in the armour of God and in the power of His might, able to withstand all Satan’s wiles; you will come out in a new character. As I have said, your manner of life always indicates the measure in which the Spirit of God works in [p. 213] you. It is a solemn fact that if you are a witness, that is, descriptive of the heavenly Man, you cannot seek nor maintain a position in the world. The Spirit first demonstrates that the world is in sin, because they believe not on Christ; of righteousness, because He has gone to the Father; and finally of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
I must add a little on John 17. The Spirit, according to it, enables us to be here as belonging to the Father, kept by Him and learning of Him in such unity and sanctification that the world should believe that He had sent Christ; and eventually that the world should know, not only that Christ was sent, but that we are loved by the Father as Christ is loved. The more we are led by the Spirit, the better we shall apprehend the great place to which we are called here during the absence of Christ.
In conclusion I would call your attention very briefly to a subject very often overlooked. It is, that as we suffer with Christ we shall reign with Him. I have already stated that your body indicates the measure of the Spirit’s work in you, it characterises you. Everything you do, “the deeds of the body”, will affect your position with the Lord when He comes to reign. Hence the Spirit leads you to look for the coming of the Lord: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. People speak of going to heaven; I would add, Are you waiting for His Son from heaven? Every believer without doubt will go to heaven; but it is as you suffer, or endure with Him, that you shall reign with Him. The harder your life is here for Christ, the better will be your place with Christ in the kingdom. If you have an easy life here, you will have a very small place in the kingdom. And therefore if you are walking in the Spirit, He is sure to lead you; it is not a question of how much you do, but how the Spirit leads you to be here for Christ; not so much what you do, but that you endure.
[p. 214] I think many, with very little ostentation, are well-pleasing unto the Lord, like a star which you see in a dark night, or like Mary sitting at His feet, hearing His word; she was doing nothing apparently, while Martha was very busy; yet Mary had chosen the good part, she was seeking her Lord’s mind. And if you are led by the Spirit, it will be with you as it was with Mary; when she did act, she quite surpassed Martha. In order to complete the subject of the leading of the Spirit, you must learn that He is conducting you here in view of the kingdom. James and John asked for the chief places; the Lord answered, “It shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father”. I fear that there is too much indifference about the kingdom generally. Are you thinking that Christ will reign here? In the epistles I find the kingdom much referred to. Saints were thinking of the Lord coming to reign, to take His place here; hence “the day of the Lord”, or the appearing of the Lord, is kept prominently before them.
I need not add more. I trust it may interest the youngest believer in this room, and be a stay and cheer to his heart to know that the Spirit of God has been given to him: “in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”. Most blessed! God’s greatest gift to us! He could not give anything greater.
Beloved friends, if the Lord has been pleased to bring this subject in any measure of interest before you, may He also grant that you may discover the wonderful nature of the blessedness into which you are brought, as sealed by the Spirit of God, for His name’s sake.