THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RECEPTION AND ACTION
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RECEPTION AND ACTION
Next to the salvation of our souls, through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing greater than that we should be individually temples of the Holy Spirit; for His dwelling in us is the seal of our faith in Christ, confirming and assuring what has been received. It is a part of the salvation; that is, there is neither positive nor permanent corroboration or enjoyment of the work of Christ without this seal. Souls are quickened by the Holy Spirit. The disciples in John 20 were quickened, but they had not received the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is distinct from quickening. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”, which could not be in the new nature simply. It is making too little of the Spirit of God to say that quickening and indwelling are identical. When I am quickened, it is a new creation, and wondrous indeed it is; but as this creation is of Christ, there is added, “the promise of the Father”. The gift of the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ and to one another, and is the power and energy of our new life in Christ. We must not reduce a gift of God to our comprehension of it, or experiences. The only true way is to accept, in all its entirety, this most wonderful gift of God; and to search and see how it is given; and then His action, which will follow, will prove the fact.
Well then, according to Scripture, after believing, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. It is the oil following the blood, as we see in Leviticus. The blood, definitely and distinctly put on, acceptance is assured,
[p. 74] and then the oil superadded. The first thing then is, that it follows immediately the knowledge of the blood, and is distinct from it; and hence, there is distinctness in the benefits conferred by each. The blood has removed everything, of every kind and nature, contrary to God; and opened the door for His grace to create anew in Christ Jesus; but the oil, the Holy Spirit, distinctly leads the. renewed soul, in an entirely new life, into sonship and the ways of God. The former makes way, or prepares for the other. It is only by the Spirit that a soul can receive the knowledge of what the blood has accomplished; and it is only on the ground of it, that the Holy Spirit can take up His abode in me. They are two distinct actions, even though they be very connected, and the assured enjoyment of the first, dependent on the second. The first clears away what barred me from God, by the greatest work, and only accomplished by the Son of God, in all the power and goodness and love of God. The other is the Holy Spirit taking up His abode on the ground of accomplished redemption, and as an entirely new Guest, enabling one, not only to enjoy divine things, but to act in the mighty power of God. It is therefore very evident that there are two works of the Spirit, one quickening; the other, sealing; the one at conversion; the other, consequent on the known virtue of the blood.
The next thing to ascertain is, how and when the quickened soul is sealed. It is not necessary that there should be much or any lapse of time, beyond distinctness between the two. In the purpose of God there is no delay as to the reception of the gift. The sealing may immediately follow the quickening. With Saul of Tarsus there was an interval of three days. Once their distinctness is admitted, there will not be an attempt to settle down in the state of Romans 7, which is being conscious of a new nature, without power to subdue the flesh. But there will be a looking for the gift of the Holy Spirit from Christ. Mind it is a gift, and one that He especially [p. 75] desires to confer. But the very term ‘gift’ implies that it is to be received. And there is no use in a gift if I do not receive it. Hence, Paul says, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” The Lord says, “If thou knewest the gift of God... thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”, John 4: 10. The Spirit is received by the hearing of faith. There is faith to receive it, otherwise the gift is of no avail. Faith lays hold of the virtue of the blood; and faith lays hold of the virtue of the oil. But, as in the faith that lays hold of the virtue of the blood, there is a sense of the need of its efficacy; and a consequent enjoyment of it, on receiving it; even so, there is a sense of the need of the living water, in the faith that lays hold of it. “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”. This scripture in the simplest way tells us how one receives the Holy Spirit. All, I may say, is contained in the words, “UNTO ME”. In the sense of need, of powerlessness, of want of vigour of life, the way of relief is to “Come unto me”. There is first a knowledge of what Christ has done, as I have said, of the virtue of the blood. The next step which ensures the sealing, is coming to Him; not simply making prayer to Him, but the deep wondrous sense of reaching Him; as near to Him (of course by faith), as the woman who stood behind Him, weeping, washing His feet with her tears (Luke 7); or like the woman (Mark 5), who, with the most comprehensive sense of His power, and readiness to impart it to the most needy, on touching the hem of His garment - coming into the smallest contact with Him; yet after she had received the full answer to her faith, was not ready or equal to encounter Him personally. “Fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came”, etc. Figuratively she was not sealed until she “fell down before him, and told him all the truth”. Nor would the woman of Luke 7, however true her faith in Christ as her Saviour, have had assured peace had she not come practically to Him. Then she could “go in peace”. In like manner, ten lepers (Luke 17) cry for mercy, and they are cleansed by Christ, but only one of them returns, to find in Jesus the sum of what the law required the leper to offer in the day of his cleansing; when he is not only pronounced clean, but made clean.
In John 7 Jesus cried and said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink... This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive”. Nothing now can connect me with Christ but the Holy Spirit. The moment I am simply in Christ, I have the Spirit. If I have not, there is in the converted soul the distress of Romans 7. But in chapter 8 it is, “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. If I have not the Spirit of Christ I am “none of his”. I am not only converted, but I am consciously possessed by a new power, the Spirit of the Son, whereby I cry, “Abba, Father”. A man may be spiritually in advance of his understanding, and therefore of his conscience - he may not be doctrinally clear, that his sins are all gone; but he knows that he has a new and divine affection in his heart, and that he is a child of God, and can say, “Abba, Father”.
The receiving the gift then is a positive thing. It is a new power, and as it is used, so does it increase. The first great thing to insist on, in order to help on souls in grace and power is, that the Spirit is to be received, if they have not received Him. The next, that having received Him, they walk in the Spirit, and know His action. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”. This I cannot do without the assured sense of possessing the Spirit. If I have not received Him, I cannot walk in Him. If I can walk in Him, He must be in me. By Him, I mortify the deeds of the body. I have in me a greater power than the flesh.
Now, I could not have received so great a power without some positive action. The action is threefold. The first action is the cry of sonship, and consequently mortifying the flesh, which is personal. Secondly, the [p. 77] action of uniting me to Christ, and to the members of His body, as also of associating me with them in Him in heaven, which is general; and finally, the action for Him in testimony here, which is service. Thus, there are three distinct actions which follow from my possessing the Holy Spirit. None of them could give me possession; but being in possession of the Spirit, these actions, like sight to the eye, exist to be fostered, but are possessed. Lastly, I become more filled with the Spirit, as I am confined to His actions. I may, as I have said, not be in conscience equal to my grace; but if I have received the Spirit, I can say, “Abba, Father”; and as I cultivate the ability, I grow into the knowledge of His power; for “he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”. So that, when one is in any measure possessed of the Spirit, as he is when he can say “Abba, Father”, he can increase his knowledge of the great gift, which he possesses, by sowing to Him - making Him the One who claims his attention, and from whom he expects to know more of Christ.
There are therefore three classes of saints. First, those who are quickened, but who have not yet received the Holy Spirit. Secondly, those who have received the Holy Spirit, but who, through ignorance or carnality, do not cultivate the Spirit, do not sow to Him, and therefore they are carnal and worldly, and dull. And lastly, those who continuously and sedulously sow to the Spirit, and daily reap the blessed fruits of His power, in happy communion with Christ.