THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST
[p. 485] THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST
Philippians 1: 19; Genesis 21: 29, 30; 1 Samuel 30: 20, 26
I wish to speak about the Spirit of Christ. It is mentioned in the epistle to the Philippians very significantly, for they were marked by it. The apostle’s labours there were fruitful, not so much in the sense of numbers, as of quality. Numbers of converts are stressed elsewhere. The idea is not foreign to the gospel. We read of three thousand souls secured at one preaching in Jerusalem, both quality and quantity marked them. We have in Acts 2 the number given of those that were converted on that day of days, and we also have a description of their quality in the closing verses, showing that good seed had been sown and hence a good harvest, which is what God looks for: seedtime and harvest, the harvest being in accord with the seed sown.
So that the goodly number at Jerusalem are also goodly in quality, affording the Lord what He could use; for if we are really converted to God and have received God’s Spirit, we are usable, and we should be used, for God always uses His people as they are fit for His service. So that we are told about the goodly number at Jerusalem, and then we have a description of them, by the Spirit of God; that they were all together and had all things in common, and other beautiful traits which the Spirit of God effects; and it is said the Lord added to them such as should be saved. He had there a company that He could use in the sense of adding to them persons that were to be saved, so that they would be saved in a practical way from worldly influences — a very important feature of salvation. All, especially young ones, are exposed and affected too, alas! by worldly influences. Thus the Lord added those that were to be saved to those brethren at Jerusalem, among whom they would find shelter; they would also find fellowship, for it was there in a peculiar way. It is said, “they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers” (Acts 2: 42). Those added would attend the meetings, and find influences of protection in this remarkable result of the gospel. This is a most important principle, and it runs down the ages to us, the Old Testament having spoken of it, Jehovah saying, “I will give salvation in Zion, and unto Israel my glory” (Isaiah 46: 13). Zion corresponds to the assembly. That is, He sets salvation where it is available in a practical sense.
Now, going on to Corinth, we have also “much people” alluded to as in that city. The Lord said to the apostle, “Fear not, ... no one shall set upon thee to injure thee; because I have much people in this city” (Acts 18: 9, 10). They were not converted yet, at least only a few of them, but much is much in the Lord’s mind. We are not told how many there were ultimately in the assembly at Corinth, but evidently a good many; but the quality was lacking. They were allowing there sectarian conditions: one was saying he was of Paul. You might say, Oh, that was not far out of the way. But it was; Paul repudiates it; he says, Was Paul crucified for you? He raises that question, which has its own answer. Another says, I am of Apollos; another says, I am of Cephas. All this was dividing, and damaging generally to the assembly there. That is, the material was poor: so that we might have many people of poor quality in one place and many of a rich quality in another. We are not told how many there were at Philippi, it does not seem that the number was large, but they were of good quality. The apostle speaks most appreciatively of them, with great affection, counting, as he says, that certain circumstances should turn out to his salvation through their prayers. “I know that this shall turn out for me to salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”.
We have to understand the word salvation in this [p. 487] connection, because we must always understand Scripture contextually. The word salvation here refers to the working out of the truth of the gospel in a man’s soul. Even Paul needed the gospel; he needed it right through. He tells the Romans, “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13: 11). That does not mean that any Roman or any Philippian christian who might die at any time would not go to be with the Lord; it means that the true believer is to go through to the end which the gospel has in view. And so in this epistle the apostle says, “work out your own salvation” (Philippians 2: 12) — work it out. Well, you inquire, am I thus depending upon myself? No, you are not depending upon yourself. There is a very large sect in this country which holds that at one time one might be saved through the death of the Lord Jesus and afterwards be lost, which is false. When the Philippian jailor asked the apostle how to be saved, he said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house” (Acts 16: 31) — believe on the Lord Jesus. That is salvation on the principle of faith. But then the salvation you have has to be worked out like a gold mine, if you are to obtain the full gain of it. It becomes yours through faith, otherwise you could not work it out. That is what Paul means here; he speaks of his own salvation. He says, “I know that this shall turn out for me to salvation”. Even the prayers of the saints would help him. He tells the Philippians to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, for, he says, “it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to his good pleasure”. So that, we have here, as I said, fruit from certain sowing by Paul and Silas that was good. Without going further on that line, he is able to speak in this way to them about their helping him in his salvation — a most remarkable thing; so that the most spiritual man, as we might say, on the earth then, looked to the brethren to remember [p. 488] him in their prayers, that their prayers might help him in his salvation; that is, in working it out — not saving him for eternity, which is “not on the principle of works”, but working out his salvation as a present thing.
And so he brings in this additional thought, that I have especially in mind; namely, “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” — a very fine phrase; not that he would get all there was, because it is infinite, but he would get his part, whatever he needed. The Lord is always very ready to pour in a supply of His Spirit; it is an infinite reservoir in heaven, in Christ; each of us always needs a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Do not forget the brethren. Some of you may be saying, You are making too much of the brethren; but I am not making more of them than Paul did; not any more than the Lord Jesus did. We cannot do without the brethren. As I said before, if one is converted, he is secured for God for ever; if God begins a work in my soul, it is going on to completion, but as to practical christianity, we need the assembly; we need the saints; we need their prayers; we need their fellowship; we need their example; we need their affections. So we cannot be isolated; we cannot be so many units; the idea is to be characteristically of and in the assembly. “To whom coming, a living stone ... yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2: 4, 5). That is christianity; that is the practical working out of the truth. Individual salvation is an initial thought and runs on with what I have been saying. The jailor at Philippi felt the need of it, and hence his question, “what must I do that I may be saved”, and the answer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. Faith is stressed in this side of the truth as affording one the unalterable possession of salvation in Christ Jesus. Possessing it in this way [p. 489] the believer works it out according to what I have quoted from Philippians.
And now I go to Abraham, to illustrate a little how this Spirit of Jesus Christ is supplied. He takes seven ewe-lambs. Some of you may not have read this chapter; others of us have often read it and spoken of it and profited by it. The oftener you read a scripture and speak about it and pray about it, the more you get out of it. There is no possibility of exhausting the Scriptures; they are infinite; I mean they are of that character; they are “divinely inspired”. As ministering to the saints, I regard it as most important to refer directly to the scripture or scriptures that specially bear on my subject, so that those listening may judge of the authority and accuracy of what I am saying. So I now call attention to the fact that in the epistle to the Romans we are told that Abraham “is father of us all” (Romans 4: 16). He is the father of all who believe, and therefore, if God sets down traits developed in Abraham, they are intended to be examples for us, and especially now in war times.
The spirit of war is rampant, and God will have people on this earth with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which is the very opposite to the spirit of war. Of the Lord Jesus it is said, “he was led as a lamb to the [p. 491] slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53: 7). He said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants had fought” (John 18: 36). “But now”, He says, “my kingdom is not from hence”. And the sword, the literal sword, has no place there. Peter would have used the sword, but the Lord says, “all who take the sword shall perish by the sword” (Matthew 26: 52). There is now the sword of the Spirit for us, and it is the only one a christian should use. The use of the literal sword is not compatible with christianity. But presently the Lord Jesus will come out [p. 490] of heaven as a great military Man, and then the sword will be used in destroying the wicked on the earth (Revelation 19); but not now; as shown by the Lord’s words already quoted, and the teaching of Romans and other epistles. Our path is the path of Jesus, who came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them, and it is in the Spirit of Jesus that we seek to save them, in so far as we may, as I have been saying, to influence them aright.
And so it was with Abraham; he had certain conflict, not with the sword yet, but with the Philistine king whose servants had taken away a well that Abraham had digged. The well, literally, is not of much account; artesian wells are quite common in this country; it is not of much account in itself; but it is of great account as a type. And so the well in Abraham’s way of speaking would refer to the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus spoke of a well in this sense: “the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life” (John 4: 14). That is what is meant, and we all should understand it. If I have that spring, I progress into eternal life; but if the influence of this world has damaged me and I am failing to judge this, and failing to use the water of purification, then I have lost for the moment my power and my joy and my practical christianity. You cannot have real practical christianity without the Holy Spirit. That is what Abraham, seen in the passage in Genesis which I read, means in type; he did not understand as we do, but that is the teaching of the passage; and therefore he reproved Abimelech, because his servants had taken away a well that belonged to Abraham. And Abimelech sheltering under ignorance, said, I do not know who has done this. But Abraham is making very much of this well; and in order to secure it he set seven ewe-lambs by themselves. The lamb is a type of the Lord Jesus as going into death. “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers and he opened not his mouth”.
John the baptist speaks of Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29). That is Jesus. Here there are seven ewe-lambs: not rams for they are apt to be violent. It is a question of the state of the affections; yielding affections; we are enjoined to let our “gentleness be known of all men” (Philippians 4: 5). That is what is in mind in this type. There are seven ewe-lambs. Abimelech said, What do they mean? You can well understand that he would ask that question. They were foreign to him; no doubt he had lambs and sheep, but never did he understand what was divinely intended to be conveyed in them as seen in the passages I have quoted; never did it occur to him that seven ewe-lambs should mean something in regard of Abraham’s well. Abraham is connecting these seven ewe-lambs with a well that the Philistines had violently taken away from him. Were these lambs violent? No. Well, then, what do they mean? Abraham says, They are to be a witness to you; they do not represent violence. You are to have these seven ewe-lambs, and every time you look at them, remember me, that I dug this well; remember that this well belongs to me. But why was Abraham making so much of that well? It is the antitypical meaning of the well that is the point; that is, it is the Holy Spirit. Typically, Abraham is saying, I cannot do without the Holy Spirit, and if there is any christian here tonight who thinks he can do without the Holy Spirit, he is very foolish; he is not a christian practically at all. It is only by the Spirit of God that I can put to death the deeds of the body; it is only by the Spirit of God that I can fulfil the righteous requirement of the law; it is only by the Spirit of God that I can walk here according to God — those that are led by the Spirit are the sons of God.
Well, you can see, dear brethren, that typically [p. 492] Abraham was saying what I am saying, that I cannot do without the Spirit. And every time you look at those seven ewe-lambs, remember that I am not going to take a sword; I am not going to send a policeman after you; I am not going to hail you before the court. I want you to know that this is my spirit, and if I am to be maintained in that spirit, I must have the well; I must have the Holy Spirit. In order to have the Holy Spirit in a practical way, you must judge yourself, because you are enjoined not to grieve the Spirit, and we are enjoined not to quench the Spirit. If we do either we shall rob ourselves of our joy, our power for testimony here, and of ability to serve God in the assembly.
I now go on to David. This chapter in 1 Samuel which I read is a very crucial one: David had gone away among the Philistines; he evidently lost the joy of his soul and said, I will go to Achish, the king of the Philistines, and he did, and got into trouble. Anybody who goes to the Philistines is sure to suffer damage. Achish had given him Ziklag, and while he was away the Amalekites came to Ziklag and burned it and they carried away his wives and his children — a terrible disaster. The position here, therefore, affords me an opportunity to bring out that when I come into disaster, terribly adverse things happening to me, if I am a real christian, I know where to turn. David turned to God. He “strengthened himself in Jehovah his God”. Where else could he find real strength? He might have gone to the king of the Philistines and asked him to send down an army to retrieve the lost. No! he did not do that; he had learnt his lesson. He turned to God. As some of us were saying, the quality of a horse is seen in the manner of his recovering himself after he falls, and that is David. He knew how to get up. “The righteous falleth seven times, and riseth up again” (Proverbs 24: 16). There is no license for falling seven times, nor for falling once, but if a real christian falls he will rise [p. 493] again; he has power in his soul and he knows where to turn; he knows God and that He is not different from what He was when He converted him; he knows He loves him as much as He did then; His grace is the same as it was then. And so David turned to God, as we have noted: “David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God”.
Well, I say all that of David as prefatory to what I wish to say as to the verses I read in 1 Samuel 30. David, through the great mercy of God, recovered all that the Amalekites had taken in their foray. A young Egyptian found in the field, who took part in the raid, but who had been left behind by his master because he fell sick, became, as revived, a ready instrument in David’s great recovering achievement. All was brought back. And David went down and gained a great victory over the Amalekite army and recovered everything they had carried away — not one thing lost, a very remarkable thing. It can only be true spiritually. You can hardly imagine an ordinary military incident of this kind without some loss, but in God’s victories nothing is lost.
Now I go on to verse 20, where we learn that David makes a division between cattle and cattle. I take these cattle as types of christians; some are called David’s spoil; there must be differences. We sometimes have trouble with young christians marrying unbelievers, or marrying christians that are worldly; and when the latter are in question some neutral persons will say, He or she is a christian, why do you object? In the minds of many it differs from the meaning implied in its use by the Holy Spirit. In Acts 11: 26 it is said, that the disciples were first called christians in Antioch and called there has an oracular significance intimating that the saints had taken on the character of Christ. The Spirit of God says elsewhere, if one suffers “as a christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name”. If I am going to the theatre, am I glorifying God in that name?
[p. 494] I am dishonouring God; I am dragging that name in the dirt, and the devil knows it. That is just what he seeks to accomplish in causing believers to become worldly. A christian who is influenced by the world dishonours Christ from whom the name christian is derived. So one who intends to marry a worldly person and justifies himself, because he or she is a professed believer, is deceiving himself. The man who was put away in Corinth was a christian in that sense, but he was unfit for fellowship. He was delivered to the devil that his flesh might be destroyed and his spirit saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. In attaching the name christian to a worldly person, especially to conceal or justify my own unfaithfulness, is lowering it and hence dishonouring it. He is not deserving of it. If you are to marry, you are to marry in the Lord and that makes room for the word christian.
I am speaking now of the cattle in this verse I read (1 Samuel 30: 20): “And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before the other cattle, and said, This is David’s spoil”. That is, there are other cattle besides those thus distinguished. Transferring the thought to nominal christians, they are David’s spoil. Now the other cattle — how many cattle there are! Let me just attempt to indicate the number of sects; they are more than I could count. I would not belong to a sect under any consideration; to belong to a sect is a dishonour to Christ, it is a dishonour to the saints, and it is a dishonour to myself. The Lord said: “all ye are brethren ... for one is your Father, he who is in the heavens” (Matthew 23: 8, 9). Thus there are cattle and cattle. David says, The flocks and herds that are in the front are my spoil. There are others, not to be ignored, but they are not in the front. That is what he says: “David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before the other cattle, and said, This is David’s spoil”. We have to differentiate between the front ones [p. 495] and those others, and you are not to make these others the same as those; there are christians and christians, as I said. I want to be among those that are called David’s spoil; persons that have been turned aside (and who has not been?) but have been restored, recovered to God; that is David’s spoil. I want to be amongst those. They go before others; it was David’s ordering. This, he said, “is David’s spoil”. This incident is remarkable in this section of Scripture which treats of recovery. It is the principle of grading among the people of God which enters into the divine way. Looking on the cattle brought back in a general way, and the position of those they drove before the other cattle, David said, “This is David’s spoil”.
The next circumstance to be noted here is that there were two hundred men who were not able to go to the battle with David. He did not have a big army. He started with six hundred men, the most efficient soldiers that ever fought, but two hundred of them here were too weary to go on to the battle, to fight with these Amalekites, and they had to stay behind, which they did at the brook Besor. They stayed with the stuff; they were not idle; they looked after something. And now David is coming back with the spoil. And there are men here called sons of Belial, wicked men they are; and they would not share the spoil with those that remained at the brook. Verse 21 says, “And David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and whom they had left behind at the torrent Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him; and David drew near to the people and saluted them”. That is beautiful: their great captain, saluting those who had been unable from exhaustion to join in the conflict, exhibits the Spirit of Christ. They were in David’s eyes genuine people. The Lord Jesus in like manner honoured the women who had been at the sepulchre, Matthew 28: 9. He said “Hail!” How glorious it is to be saluted by Jesus! He regards us with dignity; He respects His people. With David, alas! there were those who were unsympathetic to his generous spirit. Verse 22 reads: “And all the wicked men, and men of Belial, of those that had gone with David, answered and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give then aught of the spoil”.
Let us note this mournfully, because it is typical of what is current today. There are nominal christians about us who speak thus: they have no sympathy with weakness or weariness in the saints. We are enjoined to “comfort the faint-hearted, sustain the weak, be patient towards all” (1 Thessalonians 5: 14). Failing in this spirit we are prone to think of ourselves only and thus fail of the characteristics of Christ’s body as stated in Colossians 3. And now, as I said, we get the Spirit of Christ in David. In verse 23 he says, “Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which Jehovah has given us, who has preserved us, and given the troop that came against us into our hand. And who will hearken to you in this matter? For as his share is that goes down to the battle, so shall his share be that abides by the baggage: they shall share alike. And it was so from that day forward; and he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day”. In this fine statement we have a landmark in the history of the testimony; this is a great statute of grace, a fixed principle: That he that abides by the baggage shall partake with those that go down to the battle; they shall share alike. In the light of it, as a type, christians must renounce churlish selfishness, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, making no provision for the flesh, (Romans 13: 14).
Well, the inquiry that is now to be made is, Are we here partakers of the spoil? We read in verse 26, “And David came to Ziklag, and he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, Behold a [p. 497] present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah”. This word present is blessing; look in the margin. It is not simply that I give something to you; it is a blessing, and that is what is stressed in the instructions as to giving in 2 Corinthians 9: 5, 6; that what we give to the Lord, and for the needs of the saints, is to be in the spirit of blessing. God’s giving is on that principle. He gives us the Spirit — the greatest of all blessings. And He gives us the great blessing of eternal life. God commands it. The word command there is to show that it is imperative; it is imperative on His side and on man’s side. His love for men requires that they should live eternally before Him: He has pleasure in us as thus blessed, and we have eternal enjoyment in living together with Christ (1 Thessalonians 5: 10). I am only referring to eternal life as characteristic blessing; there are others, for we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, Ephesians 1: 3.
The blessing here is what the Lord Jesus has secured through His death and resurrection; that is what is alluded to. It is a blessing for you. If there is anybody here who has not got it, I say, It is a blessing for you. Do not be without it. The Lord Jesus says, “how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11: 13). Why should I be without it? I do not say that we always have to ask, the Father gives the Spirit of Himself, but we may obtain the Holy Spirit through asking, and it is the most wonderful of all blessings, the Holy Spirit come down from heaven. The Son of God is given for us and the Spirit of God is given to us. If you read down the verses, you will see the large area covered by David’s giving for David’s friends: “to those in Bethel, and to those in south Ramoth, and to those in Jattir, and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa, and to those in Rachal, and to those of the [p. 498] cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites, and to those in Hormah, and to those in Chor-ashan, and to those in Athach, and to those in Hebron, and to all the places where David and his men went about”. Am I making room for Him now in the time of His rejection? He says, This is what is waiting for you, a blessing for you. Why should I be devoid of it? It is a blessing of David’s spoil; victory has been acquired by David and he is dispensing the spoil from it to his friends. The Lord says to His disciples, “ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you ... I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you” (John 15: 14, 15).
May God use this word.