THE SPIRIT HERE BRINGING DEMONSTRATION OF SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUDGMENT
[p. 196] THE SPIRIT HERE BRINGING DEMONSTRATION OF SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUDGMENT
John 16:7 - 11; Exodus 23:20 - 23
It will be evident, dear brethren, as having read these scriptures, that I have the Holy Spirit in mind. John presents Him in a unique way, and by a term peculiar to his writings, namely “the Comforter”, a word, as most of us will be aware, denoting that He is here beside us to look after the affairs of the assembly. There can be no doubt that this peculiar appellation employed by the beloved disciple had in view, among other things, that others were putting forth their hands, by profession, to look after and dominate the affairs of the assembly. That great movement of the enemy which has continued ever since, and which has reached enormous proportions — that error had already set in. No doubt it is in view in all the evangelists; and the Lord’s remarks in the synoptic gospels that a word spoken against the Spirit should never be forgiven, is a solemn warning to all those who have taken His place, arrogating to themselves the office and service that belong alone to Him. John does not mention that solemn sentence of the Lord’s but he does bring forward the Spirit under this remarkable appellation, which denotes that He is the One in charge, and that, as in charge, He is armed with power to deal with all contingencies. So that — quoting the Lord Himself — John says of the Spirit that, having come, He brings into this world the conviction of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, one of the most important services possible; a service which became effective at Pentecost, the bearing of it extending on to our own times; so that those who recognize the Spirit today, discern the demonstration that He has effected.
From the outset of God’s ways on this earth the Spirit is seen. We are reminded by His very early introduction in the Bible — which indeed was indited by Himself, I need not say — and the manner of it, that all results for God subjectively, hinge and depend upon the Spirit. In the catastrophe spoken of in the opening of Genesis, He is seen hovering over the face of the waters; He is hovering or brooding, as in the attitude of feeling that something must be done. That is what His attitude conveys. The chaos there was incompatible with God; it discredited Him who made the heavens and the earth in the beginning, for the earth now “was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2). Something must be done! The Spirit will never leave conditions that are unsuitable to God unattended to; that is foreign to Him. Whatever conditions may exist which compromise the holy name and testimony of God they must not be allowed to continue. Something must be done; and that, dear brethren, is what we readily see in the attitude of the Spirit at the outset, in the first mention of Him in the Bible. It was a grievous situation. What was made to be inhabited was now without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep — a most pathetic description drawn by the Spirit Himself in a few words but, in relation to the need He describes, He stands by, and the heart is filled with hope and assurance, that if something must be done, it will be done unfailingly.
Then, when we come to the passage I read in John 16, the Lord contemplated what was primarily imperative, in view of the existence of sin in this world; He contemplated righteousness; He contemplated judgment, and He says that when He, the Spirit of truth, is come He will bring in demonstration to the world concerning these things. “I will send him”, He says. How that speaks to our hearts of [p. 198] the deity of our Lord! How touching too, that another divine Person, equal in the Deity, should be so regarded as that He may be sent! Then as come, He would bring demonstration — meaning that He would act in such wise as to expose sin. It is not here a question of convicting a person so that he might repent; the point is that the idea of sin should be fully set out, and that the Holy Spirit would effect this. And what you find in the passage is that it is demonstrated under one head. That is the divine way of dealing with a specific matter. In dealing with it the whole thing in view comes into evidence. Books innumerable might be written, and have been, dealing with the matter of sin and how it is to be controlled. The Holy Spirit is brief and concise; He brings in the demonstration in few words, dealing with one point, but that one implying in a sense all else.
The demonstration of sin is here seen negatively. It might be said, Surely the wickedness of the Jews in crucifying Christ will be mentioned? Of course it is in view, in the Acts and throughout Scripture, but the demonstration of sin is in a negative setting here. People say, What have I done? But then it may be what have you not done? Sin may be manifested negatively, as it is positively. So the first great demonstration is that of sin, and what is it? “because they believe not on me”. That will not be the only demonstration of sin that will be brought to bear upon the wicked dead as they stand before God, but it will be brought before those to whom the gospel has been preached. God will go to the utmost pains to justify Himself in casting the wicked into the lake of fire; He will not confine Himself to negatives then, although believing not on Christ as presented, will be in view. The books will contain everything, and He will go into the matters of each one. But the Holy Spirit, as I said, brings out the [p. 199] demonstration based on a negative, but, how much enters into it, “because they believe not on me”.
The Holy Spirit is contemplated as having come “from with the Father” in chapter 15:26. What holy thoughts were current — we may say reverently — between the Father and the Spirit about Jesus as here upon earth. I am speaking now from the standpoint of God’s way of coming into our view, into our hearts. I do not assume to understand at all the relations between divine Persons in absolute deity, but in coming into our view, in coming to serve, words are employed that fit into our intelligence, and are intended to affect our hearts. So if the Holy Spirit is come out from being with the Father, what can it mean but that He is conversant with all the thoughts of the Father — there are His own thoughts too — as to the Son? What He was here on earth under the eyes of men, what He was as speaking to them, what He was in His ministry, what He was in His life generally. That such a blessed One, known so well, so infinitely, by the Father and the Spirit should not be believed on, is the very consummation of sin; it is the height of it from Their point of view. Can any one resist believing on that blessed Person? To do so is the most consummate form of sinfulness. Such is the view presented here. The Holy Spirit would show us in what is written here, how He can deal with the whole matter by taking up one specific thing.
Then, the next demonstration is that of righteousness. How much could be written about righteousness in this sense! Books could be written about Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, and all the men of faith, for righteousness shone in them. Much could be written, but we have compression here, and in the compression the most perfect setting out of righteousness. And what is it? “Because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more”. Were it desired of us to [p. 200] demonstrate these things, would we ever do so in this way? But it is the divine way, and again the mind is directed to the blessed Person of Jesus, the Son of God. “Because I go to my Father”, He says. That is righteousness; the whole idea enters into that. You may find it difficult to follow, but, dear brethren, think of what Jesus was in the way of righteousness down here. He loved it. We have to learn everything from Jesus. It is not only that one may regard oneself as accounted righteous, but have we the love of righteousness? We can only be in the assembly according to God as loving righteousness. Think, in spite of the Lord’s perfect righteousness here, how He was treated! You may say it was only for a few years, others have suffered for a much longer period, but again it is the idea of compression. How compressed was the power of Satan, and the wickedness in men’s hearts against Jesus, every moment of His life in testimony here. What is the full expression of righteousness in Him? That He goes to the Father.
Beloved, think of Him with the Father. How infinitely right it is, that such an One should go to the Father! Although it is true that He was carried up into heaven, yet from John’s point of view — He goes to the Father. But I only touch on that. Jesus is with the Father. Is it not right? It is infinitely right! All that the word “right” means is in that, and that is what the Holy Spirit as come, makes clear. We may say, How did it come about? Well, Jesus had followers, and they were known. Peter denied for a little while that he was one of them, but he soon recovered himself through the Lord’s grace to him, and boldly charges others with the guilt that was once upon himself, but was so no longer. No one could speak more boldly of denial of Jesus than Peter; he was stronger on that point than any. It is always the case where sin is truly [p. 201] repented of and judged before God; we have more power as to that point than any. Peter was one of the followers of Jesus, and there were many others there on that memorable day at Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came down upon them. The Lord Jesus said here, “I will send him unto you”, and if the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven upon those followers of Jesus, what can be a greater demonstration of righteousness, as seen in their Master being with the Father? It is evident. “Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God”, says Peter, “and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which ye behold and hear”, (Acts 2:33). It was undeniable. Some spoke about their being drunk with wine, but it was manifest folly, as Peter pointed out. It was no less than the Spirit of God in all His fulness come down from heaven to these disciples. Jesus was with the Father; there was complete evidence of righteousness in that fact.
Then thirdly, there is the demonstration of judgment. How much could be written about that too if it were a mere matter of detail, but the Spirit of God is dealing in a compressed way, and dealing thus with the whole matter. So the demonstration of judgment is “because the prince of this world is judged”. He is the author of sin; the personification of it, as I may say, is in him: “the devil sinneth from the beginning”, (1 John 3:8). It is not only that he sinned at the beginning, but he sins from the beginning. We may say that he can do nothing else. He has acquired a place as the prince of this world, but he is judged. It may be said that he is still in power, and so he is in a way, but what is stated here suggests to us great principles reached and established as demonstrated by the Spirit. The execution of the judgment is only a matter of time. So in our dealings with sin as in the assembly, the [p. 202] great point is to deal with what is manifest, and in dealing with it, to make it plain that it is sin, to set the thing out clearly; as Job says, “hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?”, (Job 26:3).
When Jephthah had to fight the Ammonites he set the matter out fully; he showed how Israel had acquired their inheritance, and that the Ammonites’ claim was unrighteous (Judges 11). If we can establish the point of righteousness, the right and wrong of a matter, it is morally settled. If we are not able to enforce it — we may actually die for it, and thus we enforce it morally. That is really what came out in Jesus. The cross was the great crisis of all these issues, and although the Lord Jesus went down outwardly in death, all these great principles were established, and they cannot be overthrown.
So it is, that one great point in the assembly as seeking to maintain righteousness is to establish all the facts of a thing and so make it plain. The Holy Spirit will enable us to do it. He is here in that respect, to bring in demonstration, so that there can be no question, and every conscience affected by the work of God will discern it. What is the assembly here morally unless there be in it the power of discernment, the principle of judgment? It fails of its mission, and loses its status in this world, save as there is in it the principle of judgment, the means of discerning right and wrong, and the power to remove the wrong and to establish the right. It must not be allowed to go to the wall; right must stand. That is the mind of God. This demonstration of the Spirit stands, and will stand; and thus the devil, the prince of this world, knows that he is judged. It is John’s way of presenting the truth; he has a peculiar way, an abstract way, which is most important to notice. He is looking at the history of christianity, and he adopts this way of dealing abstractly, the most certain way of establishing things,
[p. 203] even though there may not be the power apparent to maintain them. But the Holy Spirit being here, if we give place to Him, they will be maintained; the great features of christianity are thus set out abstractly, so that they might be always before our view. They stand, and will stand.
I go on to Exodus just briefly, so that we may see how the principle set out in the Spirit appeared as Israel crossed the Red Sea. Jehovah said to Moses, “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him”. Now that is a passage, dear brethren, that bears on the subject before me in a very striking way. Not that the Angel is comparable with the Spirit. An angel is a creature, the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, and that in itself indicates the great difference between them, and between Israel and ourselves. Yet there was with Israel the principle of one there sent down from heaven. Moses and Aaron and Miriam led the people outwardly: God led them by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and Miriam also had part in this. God sent those three before them; they were the leaders, but this Angel was a type of the Spirit, ever present, always wakeful, always watching the camp of Israel. How well we may use the word “Comforter” in regard of the blessed Spirit! “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep”, (Psalm 121:4). Moses slept, and so did Aaron and Miriam and Israel, but the Angel was ever awake. How comforting it must have been for faith to look at the tent of meeting as the camp rested, and see the cloud, the sure evidence of the divine presence. Jehovah was always there; angelically, we may say, but nevertheless really present. How precious is the thought! If one were to wake at night, as a godly Israelite might — and there were [p. 204] such, for God speaks of the thousands of them that loved Him — he would look out of his tent and see the cloud over the tent of meeting. How comforting! How he would lie down again in confidence and rest! “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep”.
One often thinks of that. It is most touching, but not as great as our own position. Think of a divine Person being here, and under this remarkable appellative that John uses, “the Comforter”, the Paraclete, One beside us, looking after our affairs with infinite ability to do so, and doing so day and night. Some of us here know something of the present, active energy of the Spirit; His care, His attention to things, His readiness to take up local matters and deal with them. Of course He uses the saints, as available, in this service, for He is not incarnate. He has firsthand knowledge of every person concerned in local difficulties; He is infinitely fair, and He will bring everything out according to the mind of God. “The love of the Spirit” (Romans 15:30) enters into all His services.
The word here in Exodus is, “Beware of him”. Although it is said about the Angel, it is equally applicable to the Spirit of God. The Lord’s solemn words about Him are a warning as to any infringement of His rights and services, any disregard of the Spirit in quenching or grieving Him. The passage goes on to say, “provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him”. I do not say there is no pardon now. Indeed, there was pardon then, according to Leviticus, so that the transgressions here must be great, such as were unpardonable. There are such today; there are unpardonable transgressions. This means that if God speaks to our hearts, there has to be continual heart searching in our relations with one another, and our relations with Himself. Think of unpardonable things! The New Testament speaks of them,
[p. 205] as well as the Old. It says, “my name is in him”. How true that is of the blessed Spirit! All that God is, is here in a divine Person, God dwelling by the Spirit here in the assembly: “an habitation of God through the Spirit”, (Ephesians 2:22). How great a fact this is! All that God is is here. It is no less than that, but in this wonderful attitude of service, ready to take care of every matter amongst us. May we not allow Him to do so?
It may be asked, How can we remove and disallow what hinders — what is of the flesh? There is only one way of making way for the Spirit, either in an individual or in a company, and that is by self-judgment. The apostle Paul, in dealing with these matters, brings in the cross and the Spirit. He brings in the cross in 1 Corinthians 1, and then the Spirit in chapter 2. If we recognize the cross, we shall realize the power of the Spirit. The passage in Exodus proceeds, “But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off”. So that we see, dear brethren, from this passage, as applied to ourselves, how the Holy Spirit, as we make room for Him, leads us forward and brings us into the greatest things, into the purpose of God realized now in the assembly. For that is what Canaan means today. It is what the Holy Spirit brings us into. He does not translate us to heaven. The Lord Jesus translates us to heaven, but the Holy Spirit brings us now into Canaan, which is the purpose of God to be reached in the assembly. That is what the Lord has in view.
In the section from which I read in John, beginning with chapter 13, you will be struck, if [p. 206] you meditate upon these chapters, by the place the Father has, and how the Lord is set to draw us into part with Himself where He has gone. But it is in the assembly, and so here, the Angel would go before and bring them into the land of the Amorites, and the Hittites, and so on, and would cut off their enemies. We go into Canaan not simply as a matter of faith. Faith must be with us, but it is by the Spirit we enter into Canaan. Christ has gone in through death, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to go in. So, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”, (Romans 8:14). We go into Canaan as sons, but we go in in the power of the Spirit. So here it says, he “shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites ... and I will cut them off”.
I think you will see by what I have said how the Holy Spirit is available to us. It is His function to look after matters, to deal with evil, and to bring us into the good, to bring us into the purpose of God. He is bent upon it, to bring the assembly to Christ in the land. That is His service. It may be said, How does He deal with sin? Well, I have been speaking of it, but “beware of him”. We may well say that in the light of Acts 5:3: Peter says to Ananias, “why has Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lie to the Holy Spirit?” How swift was the judgment! It is a solemn chapter, but it is set down there as a testimony to us that the Spirit cannot be impugned. We must beware of Him, and obey His voice. We must not sin against Him; we must not grieve Him nor quench Him. Giving Him scope amongst us, He will bring us into the land of purpose. The Lord bless His word.