THE HOLY SPIRIT
[p. 123] THE HOLY SPIRIT
Our subject is, “the Holy Spirit”. Christians do not make enough of the fact that the Holy Spirit is given. In verse 5 we read that “the Holy Spirit ... has been given to us”: but the first question is, Have we received Him? In Acts 19 Paul came to Ephesus, and found there a company of believers (about twelve men - the number has, perhaps, a significance), who had not heard that the Holy Spirit was come. Now we know that He has come, consequent on the exaltation of Christ as Man to the right hand of God. Christ is rejected by the world; if He were not, He would be reigning; but God has said to Him, “Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool”, (Psalm 110: 1). When He comes again He comes to reign, and will subdue all His foes. (See 1 Corinthians 15: 23 - 28.)
To return: the point before us is that the Holy Spirit is given. These Ephesian believers were only as far on in the state of their souls as the ministry they had heard; the preaching of Apollos that Jesus was the Christ, that He had come into the world, and was presented to the Jewish nation. They had, therefore, like those in Matthew 3, been baptised unto John’s baptism, which pointed forward to the One who was about to come; to the One who, as John said, “cometh after me”. But when Paul pointed out to them that “John verily baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus”, (Acts 19: 4) they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus (His resurrection name), and, having been thus committed to His death, and Paul, having laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. Acts 10: 40 - 44 makes it clear that it is when the testimony [p. 124] to Christ risen is believed that the Holy Spirit is received. He came on those who “heard the word” (a gentile company), as He had already on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) come on the Jewish company.
The end of Romans 4 establishes the fact that not only was Christ delivered for our offences, but that He was raised again for our justification; and we, believing what God has done, are justified by faith, and have “peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom we have also access by faith into this favour in which we stand [acceptance] and we boast in hope of the glory of God;” and, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”, (Romans 5: 1, 2). Then in verse 11, “we are making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom now we have received the reconciliation”. (Properly speaking, the word ‘atonement’ does not appear in the New Testament.)
Christ having borne the judgment due to man on the cross, the judgment is now removed from every believer; and, on the ground of the work which was there accomplished (by the One who was Himself ever a sweet savour to God, and in whom, therefore, God always found His pleasure) God is free to receive the one who believes into the greatest favour, as is opened out to us in the case of the prodigal when he came to his father. You are received on the ground of the glorified Man, not on the ground of the moral man; the latter was the ground that the elder brother claimed. God has got a Man to His own satisfaction before Him, at the other side of death and judgment, and He works downward from that Man to us. Christ in glory is the Mercy-seat: the place where God begins with us, and where we really begin with God. We receive the Holy Spirit when we believe on Christ risen. The first evidence of this is “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts”. God has laid help upon [p. 125] One that is mighty; when there was no man, and none to help, He has done everything for us Himself.
In Luke 15 we have three things set forth in one parable. (1) The Shepherd’s work. Christ went out to the most distant spot to find the sheep that He might bring it into His own place - “to the house”. (This we see perfectly fulfilled in the case of the thief on the cross.) (2) The Spirit’s work - searching with a light (the word of God) in the darkest spot, on purpose to find the lost piece of silver; and (3) the Father’s grace in receiving from the most degraded condition the one who repented and returned to Him.
Our acceptance with God on the ground of the work which has been done for us is perfect, and therefore unimprovable. It never alters: never varies. And it is very important for us not to mix the acceptance itself with our enjoyment of it. The acceptance is “in Christ”, and therefore unchangeable; the enjoyment is “by the Spirit”, and therefore (because of the working of the flesh) often hindered.
In Romans 5 we have the truth presented on God’s side: the terms He is on with us. Now there is another important point for us to consider, namely, how we are before Him. This we get in Romans 8. The prodigal could have no doubt as to his father’s feelings towards him, when he covered him with kisses. His trouble was his own unfitness for the place - his unsuitability. He says, “I am no longer worthy to be called thy son”. It is at this point that serious and protracted troubles arise in souls. The knowledge of grace and forgiveness is an assured reality; and then, too often, the effort is to make the flesh subject to the law of God, which (we read) it “neither indeed can be”, Romans 8: 7. The prodigal had the grace of forgiveness when his father embraced him; but he had to be made fit to enjoy this grace, and this also is effected for him. The best robe is put on him; he is no longer in his rags. In Christ there is no condemnation;
everything of man is renounced. “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation”, 2 Corinthians 5: 17.
It is of all importance for us to learn that there is a change of man. Christ is now before God and not Adam. In order to be in liberty we must change from Adam to Christ. Romans 5: 12 - 21 instructs us as to this. By Adam’s one act of sin death entered into the world; and, he being the head of the human family, all his posterity are involved in the consequences of his disobedience. “Sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. Death is God’s pronounced judgment on man (Adam), and the man under judgment must go in judgment. Christ was obedient unto death. Christ’s act of righteousness gave God His right place, and those who believe in Him are connected with Him instead of being connected with Adam. This truth is set forth from verse 12 to 21; ending with, “That, even as sin has reigned in the power of death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Death is the consequence of being in Adam; eternal life of being in Christ. This is the superabounding of grace. This makes clear the necessity for the believer to put off the old man for Christ. How blessed to know that you are not connected in God’s sight with the man under judgment, but with the Man who bore the judgment, and who has been raised from the dead by the glory of the Father! What a blessed utterance for you in Romans 8: 2: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. You have changed from Adam to Christ. As before God we are clear by faith through Christ (this is Romans 4 and 5), but as to yourself it is not by faith that you are clear, but by the Spirit of God. This is exceedingly important. No one is in liberty who is trying to improve the old man. He cannot be improved; you must be apart from him [p. 127] altogether. In the end of Romans 7 you get experimentally clear of him, and in the beginning of Romans 8 you are set free “in Christ”. In Romans 5 we have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given unto us; but in Romans 8: 2 it is not love but life. By the Spirit we are free of sin and death; we are in Him.
In Romans 5 you have the terms on which God is with you. Now in Romans 8 it is that you are free from the law of sin and death; God has another Man before Him, and you in Christ are free from the old man; you have come over to God’s side; and that is different from His coming to my side. In grace He came to my side, but with the view of bringing me over to his side. (See Luke 10 and 15). In the parable of the good Samaritan He comes to my side; in that of the prodigal He brings me to His side.
It is very interesting and instructive to compare John 3 to Romans 10: 14 with this, as showing the work done in you - not that done for you. John 3 - man is gone, the Son of man is lifted up; in chapter 4 the Spirit is given, and you will never thirst; chapter 5 - the body is delivered from judgment; chapter 6 - by appropriating Christ’s death you enter into life; chapter 7 - man’s brightest day on earth cannot come up to Christ’s gift - the Holy Spirit - rivers of living water flowing out; chapter 8 - light; chapter 9 - sight, and steps in light up to the knowledge of the Son of God, when you worship; and chapter 10: 14 - 15 - the intimacy that exists between the Shepherd and the sheep. A wonderful unfolding!
Well, we have considered two points in connection with our subject (the Holy Spirit); love and life; you are now in liberty; 2 Corinthians 3: 17, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” - liberty to behold the Lord’s glory. What a wonderful favour the gift of the Spirit is! The love of God shed abroad in the heart first: then life in Christ known and [p. 128] enjoyed; ability by the Spirit to behold the Lord’s glory - all God’s satisfaction according to all His attributes expressed in Him; not as when He was here, the humbled and yet ever perfect and blessed Son of God, in grace; but where and as He is now: the Man whom God has in His own presence to the complete satisfaction of His heart. And the result of our thus beholding is that we are changed into the same image - not into equality, but similarity; we do not imitate, we appropriate the moral excellences which shine in Him, and while here we become the expression of Himself in the very place where He is refused. Stephen is the first bright example of this. The believer knows the love of God by the Spirit; he reaches life in Christ for enjoyment by the Spirit; and, beholding the Lord’s glory by the Spirit, he becomes here descriptive of the risen and exalted heavenly Man, not of the fallen, dying, and earthly man - Adam.