"ONE
SPIRIT."
1
Corinthians 12: 1-13.
1. Asserting the rights of the Holy Spirit. (Click here)
2. Why many Jews have failed to recognize Jesus as Messiah. (Click here)
3. Another Comforter. (Click
here)
4. Why Jesus, the Messiah, had to die and postpone His
glorious reign for a time. (Click here)
5. Another would take the place of the Messiah on earth for
a time. (Click here)
6. The activity of the Spirit on earth while Christ is away. (Click here)
7. The activity of the Spirit in the Assembly while Christ
is away. (Click here)
8. There is a divine person on earth and He will abide with
us forever. (Click here)
9. The great test for Christians today. (Click here)
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
1. Asserting the rights of the Holy Spirit.
My task tonight is that which I am persuaded ought to be the
business of every Christian man, not in word only, but in deed and in truth —
to assert the rights of the Spirit of God in the church of God. I say, "to
assert His rights;" for I assume here the personality of the Holy Ghost. It
is needless now to give any proofs of this any more than of His Deity. These
truths can be taken for granted, not as if there were not abundant proofs in
the word of God, but because they are at present uncalled for. But it is
another thing, beloved friends, when we speak of the rights of the Holy Ghost —
His proper sovereign action in the church, flowing from His personal presence
as sent down from heaven. On this subject many find difficulties and
obscurities; and great ignorance exists even among the children of God, and
those too who may have been greatly blessed; in and by whom the Holy Ghost may
have acted powerfully for the good of souls. Unless however we know this truth
from God, unless we have it as a divine certainty in our souls, it is clear that
whatever grace may do in giving us practical subjection, yet there must be much
lost if we do not know the special ways in which it is the will of God that the
Holy Ghost, present both in the individual and in the church of God, should be
honoured. On this theme — a large one for a single discourse — I propose now to
enter.
Here too, as in treating of the "one body," I
would show from God's word that which was always true of the Spirit, and which
therefore has no special connection with the present time, in order that we may
the better discern in what God is now manifesting Himself, and how it is that
Christians — for of them I speak — are apt to be mistaken as to this. A mistake
here is so much the more serious a thing, as it is a question of duly recognizing
a divine person. If we maintain the title of the Holy Spirit to act as He will
in the church, no question is raised about His work in souls from the
beginning. No person intelligently acquainted with the Scriptures doubts the
fact or its importance; neither is there the least thought, wish, or motive to
do so. The Holy Spirit has always been the direct agent in whatever God Himself
has undertaken. If we look at creation, the Spirit had His part there. If we
look again at the elders who obtained a good report through faith, no believer
questions for a moment that it was only by the operation of the Holy Ghost that
man believed then as now. He wrought in Abel, Enoch, Noah, and in all others
whom the Scriptures testify as the line of saints. So again when God espoused
His people Israel, if He wrought in any especial fashion suited to the display
of His glory in their midst, it was the Spirit of God who was the energetic
power behind and within. It was He that wrought, for instance, from a Moses
down to a Bezaleel, from Samson up to David. When we come to the prophets, it
need scarcely be said it was under the power of the Holy Ghost that holy men of
God spoke; the Spirit of Christ made them to be witnesses beforehand of His
sufferings, and of His glories that were to follow, little as they might
themselves understand His sufferings. Thus, in those who stand for present
privileges, there is no disposition whatever to obscure, but on the contrary to
give the fullest value to all that the Holy Ghost has ever wrought; for in
truth there never was anything of God in which He did not work.
2. Why many Jews have failed to recognize Jesus as
Messiah.
But when we come to the New Testament, a new thing comes to
view. A despised, crucified, departing Son of man was a strange sound. (John
12: 34) They looked for Christ to abide for ever, and to reign in glory and
righteous blessing upon earth. But gradually, as man and Israel especially
rejected Him, the truth — astonishing to the Jew — dawned more and more, that
He, the Messiah and Son of God, was going to leave the earth. Gentiles, I am
aware, think little of this; but do they therefore show superior wisdom? To the
Jew it was a most startling announcement, and at first sight irreconcilable
with the law and prophets. They had looked for Him, the promised One, and their
hearts delighted in His presence: it was what kings and prophets had desired
most earnestly. God had put the desire into their souls; but now that it was
gratified in His coming, He is going to leave them, to sink down in sorrow and
shame and death — the death of the cross! under man's, ay, and under God's,
hand! And not merely this, but when He rose again — instead of maintaining His
glory from the throne of His father David, and filling the earth with the
blessedness that was foretold, and accomplishing, and more than accomplishing,
all that their hearts had so fondly hoped was just about to dawn and for ever
brighten this world — He was about to leave the world in its darkness; at any
rate, He was about to retire again to the heavens whence He came. But if He was
about to go on high, it was not as He came down; for as the Son of God He had
come down to become man — "the Word was made flesh;" and now as man,
risen from the dead, He was leaving the world to take His place at the right
hand of God; and during His absence on high, He would send down the Holy Ghost
in a way never before known. The Old Testament prepares the heart for a present
Messiah, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost as the needed appropriate meed
paid to the reign of the Messiah over the earth; but the Messiah, on His death
and resurrection, disappearing from the view of the world that had cast Him
out, entering into a new and heavenly scene, and the Holy Ghost sent down
personally in His absence to be here while He was there — all this was
something wholly unexpected by the Jew. If Gentiles do not turn aside and
wonder at the great sight, it is certainly not from excess of spiritual feeling
or intelligence. We may find of course the wonder of stupidity; but there is
such a thing as no wonder, just because there is no real thought about it. I
believe this is the reason why, if there be on the one hand the wonder of men
who are surprised, there is a lack of wonder in others because they are too
engrossed in earthly things to be really concerned.
Now this, next to Christ, is the central truth of the New
Testament; but so far from its being the solid ground on which Christians are
now walking, in point of fact all is reduced in their minds to a mere
continuation of the influence which the Holy Ghost has always exerted. The
consequence is, that all men who reject His special presence in person on earth
as a consequence of redemption are driven into the most painful expedients in
order to evade the plainest scriptures. I may just mention one case: it will
perhaps startle some that such assertions should be made, and especially by a
person of large reputation for spiritual knowledge. It will show where want of
faith as to the great truth of the actual presence of the Holy Ghost in a way
never experienced before lands those who oppose it systematically. In order to
escape the clear intimation of a new and incomparable blessing in the shape of
the Comforter, they allege that the Holy Ghost (who had always been given!)
departed from the earth when the Lord was here, in order that the Lord should
give Him once more on His own ascension to heaven. Thus, the time of the
Saviour's presence on earth would be, not a bright and happy feast, but dearth
as regarded the Spirit of God! I just name the thought, in order that you may
see the excessive violence, not to say worse, to which unbelief reduces even
intelligent men of God. Need I say, on the contrary, that those who surrounded
the Saviour and were blessed by His teaching had all the Old Testament saints
ever enjoyed, and a great deal more? The Holy Ghost had quickened their souls,
like their predecessors, by giving them faith in Christ. Besides, the disciples
had the Messiah's presence and the manifestation of grace and truth in Him, and
all His words and ways. No doubt there was much they could not then bear, as
the Lord Himself told them; but still they were as truly believers as any had
ever been before them. The fact is that such reasoning is the puny effort of
man to escape from the solemn truth of God.
The New Testament is most explicit. Our Lord first of all
brings out the doctrine of the Spirit; and this as fully meeting the need of
man to be born of the Spirit and to have the Holy Ghost, in order that he
should be able to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. But more than
this, He prepares the disciples for the mighty work in spreading the truth and
the grace of God. The Holy Ghost was necessary for this; and accordingly we
have it in John 7 — a scripture which it is impossible to escape. The Lord had
put it in a figurative way, that out of the belly of him who believed should
flow rivers of living water. "This spake he of the Spirit," (which
should not be given to a person in order to make him believe, but) "which
they that believe should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given],
because that Jesus was not yet glorified." Lengthy reasoning on such a
scripture would be a dishonour to the word of God. Where there is an obscurity,
we may try to explain and illustrate; but where the language employed is
plainer than any that could be substituted in its stead, I feel that it is due
to Scripture simply to press that plain meaning.
In the later chapters of the same gospel again we have our
Lord bringing out, not merely the fact that after the glorification of Jesus
the Holy Ghost was to be given, as He had not been before; but, besides, we
have His personal action, when sent and come, entered into fully and
definitely. Hence in John 14 He is spoken of as the Comforter. Mark the
importance of this. We may reason about the Holy Ghost being given, as if it
meant no more than a spiritual power, but we cannot thus attenuate the sent
Comforter. Who is He but the Holy Ghost Himself? No one can say that
"Comforter" means a miracle, or a tongue, or any operation you
please. Doubtless He works in all these various ways; but it is a real person
who replaces the Messiah when He leaves the earth. Just read a few verses of
the chapter in order that it be made still plainer: "I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever." There again we have what is most evident. Miracles have been;
tongues cease; prophecies and knowledge pass away; but here we have a divine
person who abides with the saints for ever — "even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:
but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." The world
was bound to receive Jesus, and after an outward manner it had Him there; but
here we find One who, not having become incarnate, could not in any way be
brought before the eyes of the world. I admit of course that the world does not
really receive Jesus in a spiritual manner any more than the Holy Ghost; but
still there is a pointed reference to the manner of the Holy Ghost's presence
here below, which excludes Him from all apprehension on the world's part as an
object either of sight or of knowledge.
Again in John 14: 26 we read, "The Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto
you." It is not a gift or power or influence merely, but one who is really
sent — a person who teaches all things and brings all the Lord's sayings to
their remembrance. Then in John 15: 26, "But when the Comforter is
come." It is not merely in this case "sent" (because some might
argue perhaps about the sending of an influence) but "come."
"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth [in every way guarding this most weighty theme], which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness,
because ye have been with me from the beginning." Assuredly we have the
Holy Spirit's coming presented with solemnity and distinctness. In the former
chapter the Father sends Him in Christ's name; in this Christ sends
Him from the Father. In the one case He is said to bring all things Christ had
spoken to their remembrance; in the other He comes down from the Son, and bears
witness of Him. They had been conversant with Him upon earth, and were to
attest it as witnesses; also the Spirit from Him in heaven comes down, that
there should be as it were these joint witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then in the sixteenth chapter of John we have the truth
still further unfolded, and, if possible, with increasing energy, as it is
indeed of the deepest interest and importance. In John 14 the Lord had told
them that they ought to rejoice because He went to the Father. He was leaving a
scene of humiliation and suffering to be in the home of the Father's love and
glory. Had their love been simple, had they been thinking of Him, not of
themselves, they would have rejoiced because He was going to the Father. But
now in John 16 He puts it upon other ground: "It is expedient for you
[and not only as it were for me] that I go to the Father." What! expedient
for those poor weak trembling disciples that He had watched over, in the face
of all Israel who despised Him and would not be gathered to Him? Surely under
His wing He had gathered those little ones, and sheltered them; yea, in the
very hour of His own rejection He had turned His hand upon them. And now He
must leave them. It was expedient for them that He should go to the
Father. How could this be? There is but one answer; and it is the answer that
the Lord gives. It is what in His mind made it expedient. Blessed as it was to
have the Messiah, His presence (just because He was a man upon earth with a
group of disciples around Him) was necessarily limited. He could not thus be as
man everywhere throughout the earth. The Holy Ghost had not, like the Son,
taken human nature into union with His person. But more than that, when
redemption was effected, He could in the most intimate way bring into the
hearts of the disciples all the value that flowed from Christ and His work —
Christ exalted to heaven and estimated of God the Father there.
4. Why Jesus, the Messiah, had to
die and postpone His glorious reign for a time.
Thus then were the great foundations of truth laid. The Lord
Jesus would not leave this world or go to the Father, until every question that
God had with guilty man was settled for ever. When sin was put away by the
sacrifice of Himself on the cross, when righteousness was established in Christ
risen from the dead and exalted on high, it was not merely all pure grace as
before, but now it became a question of God's righteousness through the work of
the Saviour. The efficacy of His blood turned the scale in favour of man; for
it was the man Christ Jesus who had thus glorified God about sin. No doubt He
was His own beloved Son, the inestimable gift of His own grace; and man could
boast nothing, for He was despised and rejected of man — hated without a cause.
Still, there was the fact that God had so looked down upon earth, more
especially upon the cross, to find the man who suffered all, that God Himself
might be glorified. This truth changed everything. Now it became a question, so
to speak, for God: what could He do for this blessed man? If He was God's Son,
was this a reason why He should love or exalt Him less? He raises up from the
grave the man Christ Jesus, and sets Him at His own right hand. That was not
only a personal act in honour of Christ, but for believers it is the measure,
in infinite grace, of acceptance which is now theirs in virtue of Him. All
heaven was filled with wonder and praise at the sight of man, made a little
lower than the angels, taken up in the person of Christ far above all
principalities and powers to sit on the throne of God. Yea God Himself from
that moment has made it His business and delight to show His value for the man
who, in the face of sin and death and Satan and divine judgment, retrieved all
His character, and brought glory to His name in delivering, by suffering for,
the guilty to the uttermost. Before this, man had been the constant public
agent in dishonouring God. Never was God so slighted, insulted, provoked by any
of His creatures as by man. Satan, when he left his first estate, once and for
ever forfeited his place. There might still be a more terrible judgment
awaiting him; but there was no mercy — no beam of hope pierced through the
darkness into which sin plunged a fallen angel. But now, after man had
preferred darkness to light, after his manifold course of rebellion against God
was run, the tide was turned in the death of Christ, and God was placed by His
work under an obligation, so to say, to man to bless him by faith through and
in Christ the Lord.
Hence that expression of which St. Paul is so full "the
righteousness of God." If man was more than ever proved to be lost, God
now had a debt to pay. As a part of His discharge of it, He sets the Lord Jesus
as man at His own right hand; He justifies freely and fully every believer; and
He sends down the Holy Ghost in order that He might be the divine link between
that blessed Man in glory and those who believed in Him, even such as had
trembled at the thought of His departure. What a change there is now! Not only
was there spiritual intelligence now, but power also. Peter, who had denied the
Lord, could now stand boldly forward and say, "But ye denied the
Holy One and the Just." They were all dumb. His denial was
completely gone, and I might venture to say with more glory to the Lord than if
he had never uttered it. A positive strength and triumph glowed in his soul, a
knowledge not only of his own weakness and worthlessness, but of God, of
resurrection, and of His grace — a sense of what Christ was for him that was
beyond all he had ever known before. I do not say beyond grace, unless Peter
had done what he did; but surely there was immense force in his words. They knew
well what he had done, publicly done, in the high priest's hall, and before
people ready enough to see the faults of a disciple. Yet he who repeatedly and
recently denied his Lord was, through abundance of grace, so full of courage as
to stand forth and confront and tell them that it was they that
"denied the Holy One and the Just." His conscience was purged; he had
no more conscience of sins (Heb. 10): all was blotted out that could be against
him before God. Yea he was justified from all things.
This was merely one fruit, precious as it was; and out of
what did it grow? Peter had been a believer before, and was already born anew:
what then was its spring? It was part of the result of the great salvation made
good in the power of the Spirit of God come down from heaven, and thus working
in Peter. No doubt, there was previous moral exercise, deep penitence for his
sins, and the restoration of his soul; but more than all this followed, — the
gift and positive power of the Spirit. It is here, though not here only, that
the church shows its weakness through unbelief. To the believer it is not a
mere negative question now, but one of real present power; as was said of
Timothy — who needed to be reminded of the fact — that it was not a spirit of
fear he had received, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
5. Another would take the place of
the Messiah on earth for a time.
But now we must return to the great truth: the Lord Jesus,
in John 14, 15, 16 shows what was to replace His personal presence upon earth —
a real divine Paraclete — He whom we call the third person in the Trinity. I do
not however admire the expression "second" or "third"
person; and for this reason, that it tends to bring in a subordination in the
Godhead where scripture does not. You cannot have a secondary God. You may
bring human reasonings into the subject, and talk about a son, and his
subjection to his father; but therein is the very thing which is so dangerous,
and of which, to my mind, the devil has taken great advantage. The scripture
shows that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God; that they
are one and all equally Jehovah. Subordination in respect of Deity is only a
means of undermining the proper Godhead of the Son and the Spirit. The notion
of subordination is true only when we look at the place of manhood the Son
deigned to take, or at the office the blessed Holy Ghost is now filling to the
glory of the Son, just as the Son served and will yet reign to the glory of God
the Father.
To return, however — the Lord Jesus tells us it was
expedient that He should go away; — "For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he
is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my
Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is
judged." Any particular notice of this scripture is not the point now, but
rather the general truth. This was the twofold purpose of the Holy Ghost in
coming here below. He proves that the world was under sin; that there is no
righteousness here, but only in the Just One with the Father; and that as to
the prince of this world, he is judged — the sentence not executed, but he
judged. There was hope for the world with the Jew; but now, from the point of
view in which the Lord speaks of His own going and the Holy Ghost's coming, the
world is evidently lost, and the Spirit here is but its reprover. Next, this
same Holy Spirit should lead the disciples into the truth, taking of the things
of Christ, and glorifying Him. There is thus a double relation of the Holy
Ghost — to the world, as a system outside and condemned; to the saints, whom He
leads, telling them of things to come, yea, of all things pertaining to Christ
and His glory. Such is the plain doctrine of the Apostle John as to the Spirit.
Thence we come to the Acts of the Apostles: is there
anything there that, as a matter of fact, answers to our Lord's promises? There
need not be a doubt. In Acts 1 the disciples are with the Lord, entering but
very feebly into that which had filled His heart before He went away. They were
still looking for the kingdom with great things for the earth and for Israel.
They were not, it is true, sunk so low as the unbelieving thoughts of Gentile
Christendom — i.e., a millennium without Christ! the shame of those who
boast so proudly in our day; but still they were not far raised above the
ordinary thoughts of Jews. They did not yet enter into the precious Christian
hope, and for this simple reason: the thoughts of the Christian are the
thoughts of heaven. They are the communications of the Holy Ghost that suit the
Father, because centring in the Son and His heavenly glory. Into that communion
we are brought; and truly it is not merely with the prophets and with their
blessed visions of coming glory for the earth, but "with the Father and
with his Son Jesus Christ." But as for the disciples in Acts 1 the power
of entrance was not yet there, for the Holy Ghost was not personally come; and
yet they had not only life at this time, but life in resurrection. The Lord had
actually breathed upon them the very day He rose, and said, "Receive ye
the Holy Ghost." Of course this was not the gift of the Comforter as such,
the promised One that was to take the place of Christ upon earth; but rather
the communication by the Holy Ghost of His own risen life. Therefore, I
believe, did He breathe upon them: a clear allusion to the Lord God breathing
on Adam. Of old it was the breath of natural life given to Adam. Here was One
upon earth who was both Lord and God (as acknowledged by Thomas a little
after), and also the risen man or last Adam, the quickening Spirit.
Accordingly, He communicates this life, as life must always be communicated, by
the Holy Ghost; and therefore it is said, "Receive ye the Holy
Ghost." But for all that, we know from Acts 1 that the Spirit, the
Comforter, was not yet come. Indeed, we ought to gather it from the simple
fact, that the Lord was not yet gone. "And if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come." He was seen there; and He commands them, when assembled
together, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the
promise of the Father. Whatever the blessing, then, they had received on the
resurrection-day, it was not the accomplishment of the promise of the Father.
6. The activity of the Spirit on earth while Christ
is away.
The next chapter shows us the Holy Ghost acting on earth in
the absence of Christ; and this in various ways. It records that extraordinary
display of divine grace in the gift of tongues, which, without removing,
surmounted the confusion that man's sin and divine judgment had brought into
the world in the various nations and tribes and tongues, which have subsisted
since Babel to this day. Now the Spirit was going out with the news of God's
wonderful works of grace to all, just as they were proving that where sin had
abounded, grace much more abounded. At the same time let us not forget that new
tongues, although the magnificent fruit of the Spirit's operation, are not the
same thing as His presence; they were an effect and characteristic sign of a
crucified but now exalted Lord, the witness of gospel grace and its universal
testimony in contrast with the law, but not the same thing as the gift of the
Holy Ghost Himself. This is exceedingly important, because the unbelief of some
has gone so far as to think and say that if the tongues exist no more, the Holy
Ghost is absent. What blindness to the Saviour's promise! What a lowering of
the Spirit's presence! What denial of Christianity and the church! The truth
is, that the tongues, and the other powers in which the Spirit of God was
pleased then to work, were but the miraculous tokens that befitted His
presence, besides inaugurating the gospel and the church. It was all a new and
unprecedented state of things. When the Son was on earth, miracles followed His
steps and word, as it was only meet, and the accomplishment of prophecy.
Another divine person being come, was it not suitable there should be proofs of
it, more especially as He took no permanent form, as the Son of God had done,
so as to be visible? It was therefore the more needed that there should be
palpable effects and tokens arresting the mind, and causing the heart of man to
weigh what God is and is doing, not only as displayed in the Son, but as
witnessed by the Holy Ghost present upon earth.
This is the cardinal truth upon which all hinges that we
find in the great body of the New Testament. There was now before men a fact
without precedent, altogether unknown to the world, if it did not surprise even
those that had been taught by the Lord Himself to expect it — the wondrous fact
that the Holy Ghost had come down in person, making His presence known by a
signature of gracious power, so as to be then known and read of all men.
Accordingly throughout the Acts of the Apostles you have ever and anon the
testimony not only to His action and its results, but to the glorious truth
that He Himself was there. Look at the first outbreak of the world's
religious rancour in Acts 4, and His answer to it in verse 31. Take again the
first public sin and scandal, where Ananias and Sapphira were charged on the
spot with lying not to man but to God. But how was this proved? They had lied
to the Holy Ghost who was there. The standard of judgment was that dishonoured
person who was in their midst. This measure of sin, let me say, is as true
individually as it is in the church. Hence, in Ephesians 4: 30, it is not
merely that you should not violate this or that command, but "grieve not
the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
Let us note it well.
The more this is reflected upon, the more its immense moment
will be felt by the children of God. Supposing you take the presence of one you
most value and delight in, does not his or her coming affect all your ways and
words just in proportion as you realize and love their presence? We might be
ever so much at ease; but still, if there be one staying with us, who draws out
our honour and esteem, the influence is felt deeply and at once except by a
stone. Surely one does think of that which will give pleasure; one rightly
fears to wound; the heart is on the alert and active, and it is a joy to do
that which will gratify those we love. And so in virtue of redemption the Holy
Ghost is here, because as regards each believer all is gone that was offensive
to God; and the saint stands in divine righteousness before God — become this
in Christ. How indeed could the Holy Ghost be away? He must have His
part when that which was most precious to God and man was wrought. If the
Father accomplished His thoughts in and by the Son, could the Holy Ghost be
absent or inactive? And now God had done His greatest work — the atoning work
of Christ. Where therefore the blood of the accepted sacrifice is, the Holy
Ghost not only can work but must dwell. If Christ by His own blood has entered
in once for all into the holies, having found an everlasting redemption, the
Holy Ghost is come to abide with us for ever. All hangs on and is measured by
this. Accordingly the book of the Acts is far more the acts of the Holy Ghost
than of the apostles, important vessels of His power as they were, though not
they only. We have seen, where it was a question of sin, He judges by His
presence and acts upon this ground. We have seen that, when they were in danger
of being alarmed by the threats of man, the Spirit gave cheering evidence of
His mighty presence. It was not merely Peter and John, or anybody else; but the
place was shaken where they were. Whose presence was this, or in whom
particularly? It was the presence of the Holy Ghost, not merely in this or in
that individual, but in the assembly of God. More than that, the Spirit of God
in chapter 13 of the Acts takes an active place, and sends out Paul and
Barnabas. "Separate me," He says, "Barnabas and Saul for the
work whereunto I have called them." "So they, being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed." I am now referring to the case only to show that it
is not a question of miracles, tongues, or powers, but of a real divine person,
who was the chief agent as present in the church of God; and that this personal
presence of the Spirit in man was a new thing, previously unexampled in the
plan and ways of God. (Compare also Acts 8: 29, 39; Acts 15: 28; Acts 16: 7;
Acts 20: 23; Acts 21: 11.)
7. The activity of the Spirit in
the Assembly while Christ is away.
Now we come to the Epistles, passing by the scriptures which
attest the Holy Ghost's presence in the individual. All-important as this is,
it is not my subject, but His presence in the church. Hence we must omit the
Epistle to the Romans, which takes up our individual relation towards God, and
for the simple reason that there we are regarded as His children. We are
brought out of the place of wrath and sin, made children of God, and if
children, then heirs: the Holy Ghost gives the spirit of adoption, and fills
the heart with hopes of the inheritance which is to follow. But in the Epistles
to the Corinthians you have not merely the state of man and the revelation of
divine righteousness, with their consequences in sinners and saints, as in
Romans, but the church of God, in a grievous state of sin, shame, and disorder,
but still the church of God. Accordingly the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as
there dwelling is shown as in its capital seat. The portion read (1 Cor. 12:
1-13) develops His action in the church. What can be plainer? Here we have the
Holy Ghost viewed as a real person present and working in gifts of outward
sign, no doubt, as well as in ways of edification. But whatever might be the
form of His action, the great truth was that He was there and at
work in the many members of God's assembly. The question is, was all this a
temporary display, or was His presence for ever the substratum of it all? Was
that which we here read confined to a particular local assembly and a special
epoch long past, or is there anything for us, for the church of God at large,
for this time and all times? The answer cannot be doubtful, if we are subject
to the word of God. Certainly our Lord had in John 14 laid down, in contrast
with His own temporary absence, that the Spirit of truth was to abide with His
disciples for ever.
But next the First Epistle to the Corinthians could not open
without the Holy Ghost's giving it the most enlarged application. In the first
verse of the first chapter we read, "Unto the church of God which is at
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both
theirs and ours". This is not said in the Second Epistle: indeed I am not
aware that there is anything exactly like it anywhere else in the New
Testament. Are we to suppose this was a mistake? Let who will be guilty of such
a speech or thought, I trust there is no soul here that would not denounce it
as a sin against God. A mistake in the word of God! On the contrary it seems to
me to be the special wisdom and goodness of the Spirit who foresaw the unbelief
of Christendom; it was the Spirit of God who knew that this Epistle would be
treated as if it were of private application, as if it belonged to a bygone
time and place, and did not appertain to all that call upon the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ — "both theirs and ours." This He has guarded
against at the very threshold, and made such an objection to be plain fighting
against the word of God. Thus it ceases to be a question of opinion. God has
spoken and has written that we may believe Him; and this epistle has a
purposely enlarged scope, so that unbelief as to the perpetuity of the Holy
Ghost's action in the assembly, as long as He and it are here, should be
treated as a sin, as a positive rejection of God's plain word. Is it not
unbelief which makes null and void the Holy Ghost's personal presence in the
church?
It is not at all contended that the Holy Ghost necessarily
works in every way as of old, and still less in the same measure of power. In
the latter part of the New Testament we do not read much about miracles — very
little — less and less too as time passes on. We can understand that, in the
opening of a new dealing of God, there should be, in His goodness, a wonderful
working and display of these mighty powers to awaken the attention even of
careless men. But, as the truth of His presence was established, and the new
communications of God were gradually written, and there was thus not merely the
evidence of outward tokens, but positive scripture committed to human
responsibility, we can easily see that external vouchers were no longer so
requisite, and that the Spirit of God (grieved, as we knew, by much found in
those who professed the name of Christ) might gradually withdraw, not Himself,
but the manifestation of mighty signs, and refuse to put outward ornaments upon
that which dishonoured the Lord Jesus.
It is certain and evident, at least when we come to the
churches of the Apocalypse, that we see or hear no more of the powers of the
age to come. Not a doubt have I that there was the wisdom of God in thus
ordering in view of the state of things that was fast coming in. I think we can
readily discern by spiritual considerations why it would not have been suitable
to the glory of God to continue those miraculous powers. Supposing, for
instance, God were to work now in the way of miracle, is it not evident that in
one of two ways it must be? Either He must work wherever the name of Christ is
preached and known at all; and what would be the consequence of this? Miracles
in Rome, miracles in Canterbury, miracles among Presbyterians, Independents,
Wesleyans, Baptists, Paedo-baptists, Calvinists, Arminians, Lutherans: Greek
church and all sects and denominations in Christendom would have their
miracles! There may be those who would enjoy the sight, but I envy them not.
Every one here, I trust, would feel deeply the anomaly of such an outward seal
on such a mass of confusion. On the other hand, supposing God were pleased to
say that He could not give these tokens of His power and glory where the church
was thus in disorder and rebellion, but must single out — whom shall I say? It
could not be, it ought not to be: God forbid that we ourselves should desire
it, as things are.
But let us for the moment imagine the Lord looking on any
children of God anywhere gathered, and saying, "I see where My people are
subject to My word; and where I find two or three here and there gathered unto
My name, there I will work miracles." What would be the consequence? We
should not know how to behave ourselves! So weak are we, so foolish, so apt to
be full of ourselves, even now in the face of continual weakness, as well as
hatred and contempt, that we should not be able to contain ourselves if we had
these displays of divine power. Besides, what a slight to those we own to be as
truly members of Christ, and as truly indwelt of the Spirit, as any of us!
I am persuaded then there is perfect grace and wisdom as to
this in the ways of God. He no longer works thus. But here is the truth on
which I take my stand this night: the Holy Ghost was given, not merely as a
display of power in the earth, but, if I may so say, as both sign and substance
of the divine value for the cross. God the Father gave the Holy Ghost as the
seal of that redemption which is always unchangeably perfect and infinitely
efficacious. I dare to say it, and yet I say it with all reverence, that if the
Holy Ghost were now taken from the poorest and feeblest of His saints upon
earth, it would not be a dishonour to him so much as to the Son of God and His
atoning work. It would be virtually to say that the ruin of the church has made
the blood of Christ less precious; but will God ever confirm a lie? And here is
the stronghold of faith — in this we can be confident — not only that the Lord
Jesus has expressed the mind and intentions of God, but that we through His
grace can and ought to enter in measure into its ground, reason, character, and
aim, as well as meaning.
All this we may by faith appreciate and enjoy, for He has
explained it to us. Wherefore indeed is the word of God given, if it be not
that we should understand His mind, feel His love, and be sure of His truth,
wisdom and goodness? Hence we are aware that God, in sending the Spirit to abide
always whatever may be the sorrowful condition of believers individually and
collectively, did not give a mere token of approving them, but rather the only
adequate pledge of His delight in the personal work of His beloved Son. The
Holy Ghost, we know, descended on Christ when He was upon earth without blood,
because He was always sinless, as perfect here morally as He was and is in
heaven, no less absolutely holy as man than as God. It is not forgotten, of
course, that He had yet to be made perfect in another sense, as becoming
captain and author of salvation, and to be consecrated as heavenly priest. It
is clear that there was a work to be done, and an official place of glory to be
taken; but nothing ever did or could add to His moral perfectness. Hence, I
repeat, He could and did receive the Holy Ghost for Himself as man without
blood. But when Christ went up on high, He received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost. What amazing comfort, confidence, and rest should this give
us! Had the Holy Ghost been given directly to us, we might well think that, if
we did not carry ourselves as we ought, there might be a revocation. We can
understand a soul troubled with such a thought; but, thanks be to God, the
Father gave the Holy Ghost a second time to Christ. When He went on high, He
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, and shed forth that which
was seen and heard at Pentecost. Thus the gift is entirely in virtue of Christ,
after He had blotted out our sins and received it as a consequence. There we
have the firmest and surest ground on which the perpetuity of the presence of
the Holy Ghost in the saint and in the church rests before God — His love to
Christ, and His estimate of Christ's work for us, not to speak of His immutable
word.
8. There is a divine person on
earth and He will abide with us forever.
And now for a few practical words on this before I have
done. We shall have other applications and results of it in subsequent
lectures, so that the less may be said now. If there be a divine person on
earth who is now in each saint individually, and with all as the church of God,
I ask, Can this be a secondary consideration? Is this a truth that can be
subordinated to circumstances? Is it something that can be pushed aside for the
sake of not disturbing oneself or others? Can men who so think, and speak, and
act, believe in the reality of the Spirit's personal presence and present
operation according to scripture? Do they know that the Holy Ghost is really in
the church on earth? I am not now, of course, alluding to His divine glory
whereby He fills all things, because it is always true, — as true before Christ
came as it has been since, and equally true of all the persons in the Trinity.
But as the Son came down from heaven and was here a man for some thirty or more
years upon the earth but is actually gone, so now the Holy Ghost is come down
personally to abide with and in us in such sort as was unknown before, save
only in Christ. The Holy Spirit, I say, has come now to be in us personally;
and just as Christ was God's only true temple, so now the church is the temple
of God; for both these truths are taught in the word of God. But if this be
believed, if it be received as God's truth, what can compare with it in
importance as a present practical fact, as well as privilege, for the saint and
for the church? Accordingly the responsibility of Christians, if we apply it to
their meeting, is that their assemblies should be governed by the truth that
the Holy Ghost is there.
But how does the Holy Ghost work when owned as there? This
we have answered, if it were only in the scripture already read. He
distributes, or divides, to every one severally as He will. Is His presence
then not to be recognized? Is His working not to be respected? What do we find,
if we test the present aspect of Christendom by the word of God? It is far from
my desire needlessly to trouble any one, nor is it my wish to provoke
controversy; but there are truths which manifestly admit of no compromise:
indeed, all divine truth refuses such unworthy dealing. How, then, I would ask,
is it with our souls in the feeling, in the faith, in the allegiance that we
pay to this truth, so vital to the church, so essential to the right honouring
of the Holy Ghost and of the Lord Himself? Do you doubt that the church of God
is in disorder? Where is the serious-minded Christian that does not own it more
or less? Is there a spiritual man who would maintain that the present state of
the church answers to what we read in the New Testament? Am I not to feel and
to humble myself before God for my own and the church's sin in this grave
matter? Must I not seek to be where the Holy Ghost's presence is owned? It
matters not where I have been ignorantly; I have doubtless been where there was
not even the show of owning His presence and action according to the
scriptures; I may have joined others in praying God to pour out again the Holy
Ghost, as if He were not come and in the church of God. And do you call
such prayer as this a scriptural recognition of His presence? What can be
conceived a more decided or more evident ignoring of the truth that the Holy
Ghost is here? Were it prayed that the Spirit of God might not be grieved, or
that the saints might be filled with Him, it were scriptural. What would it
have been for a disciple in the presence of Jesus to have asked the Father to
send His Son? — to raise up the Messiah when the Messiah was actually there? Is
it not the spirit of the world, which cannot receive the Spirit, because it
seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him? But we know Him — at least we ought to know
Him. Well, if we do know that He is here, is it a light thing whether or not we
are subject to His operation in the church? It is in vain to say, "I
acknowledge the truth of His presence;" so much the worse, if I am not
subject to the scripture, which leaves no doubt how He acts for Christ's glory.
Mere words do not suffice: God looks for faithfulness, for subjection to His
word, for practical recognition of the presence of the Holy Ghost.
9. The great test for Christians
today.
We come together, it may be ever so few: what do we count
on? We are weak and ignorant, but we have One in our midst who knows all
things, and is the source of all power. Are we content with Him? Can we confide
in Him in the face of dangers and difficulties? Why is it that the church is
weak? Why is it that there is such want of power and joy and peace and comfort
among the children of God? Can it be wondered at? What I wonder at is rather
the mercy and astonishing patience of God, blessing as He does in spite of so
much unbelief. Do you really suppose that it can be an indifferent thing to
God? Does He not call for my unhesitating adhesion to His will, duly owning His
Spirit's presence and free action? What about your bowing down to the great
present fact, that in virtue of redemption and in honour of the Lord Jesus, the
Holy Ghost is here personally in the church on earth? This puts the soul to the
test; indeed, it seems to me the great test for Christians. Christ, of course,
abides the practical touchstone for everything and every person; but still if
He is known and valued by my soul as the way, the truth, and the life, is it
nothing to Him that my ways in the church of God should be on the ground He has
given me — faith in the presence of the promised Holy Ghost? Is it not the
truth God Himself presupposes as the very soul, the animating spring, of the
church?
This does not in the slightest degree touch God's working by
individuals. He sends out one to preach the gospel to the world, He raises up
another to edify the children of God. This is another branch of truth; and I
refer to it now only to show that, when we contend for the church's inalienable
obligation to own the presence of the Holy Ghost, this does not in the least
interfere with the individual action of the Spirit in ministry. Granting this
in all its integrity and importance, I would put the question to the conscience
of each before me, Where is there an assembly of God's saints coming together,
and His Spirit left perfect liberty of action that He may employ whom He will
as the vessels of His power? Are there any Christians here present who never
thus find themselves in the only assembly which God's word sanctions? If there
are, I can only say, Ponder that word with prayer, and ask your soul how comes
this? You, a member of God's assembly, yet you never know that assembly
gathered according to scripture, or the action of the Spirit proper to it! You,
a member of Christ's body, yet the Holy Ghost never allowed to use you, or
other members of it, to the glory of Christ and the edification of your
brethren! If it be so, how comes it? Why should you go on thus?
It is granted that there are serious questions here, and
many obstacles; and I am sure we ought to pray much for those that are thus
perplexed and encumbered. Let me not disguise from them what it costs in this
world to be true to the Lord and the unerring word of God. It is not for any
one (the Lord keep us far from it!) to look lightly or coldly on those who are
in this grievous trial: we may have known some of its bitterness ourselves.
What do we desire for God's children? Nothing less than their deliverance, yea,
of every one. Do not all saints who rest upon the redemption of Christ belong
to the body? Has not God set them as it pleased Him in His church? And what are
we doing? Are we gathering together to improve on the Spirit's action in the
church of God? God forbid: rather is it to honour the Lord in the assurance
that He is in our midst. Our only true reason, if we have a divine reason at
all, for meeting together in the name of the Lord Jesus, is that it is His own
will and way; it is to please Him. And if it has been done at cost, God blesses
this greatly, and blesses it too to the softening of the spirit quite as much
as to the exercise of faith: if it is not so, there is something wrong with our
souls. Am I, then, as the centre of my church-action, cleaving to the presence
of the Holy Ghost? If I am not, I have not got Gods centre for mine, and am still
under the dominion of tradition in some shape or another; carrying on either
what my father did, or something else that suits my mind better: but where is
God in all this?
You may be taunted, as we all know, with bigotry and
exclusiveness. Did these censors ever weigh what either means? I call bigotry
an unreasonable attachment, without solid divine warrant, to one's own
particular doctrine or practice in defiance of all others. Allow me to ask, Is
it bigotry to give up one's most cherished associations because of God's word,
in order to do His will? Is it exclusive to abandon sects, one and all, in
order to be always and only where I can meet all saints according to the word,
and in dependence on the Holy Ghost, gathered unto Christ's name? I am not assuming
this for any one who does not own scripture as the unchanging truth of God; but
I ask you who do, are you to allow yourselves to depart from the known ground
of God, no matter what may be the trial within or the temptation without you?
There are often attachments of other kinds that create difficulty. Friends may
ask you to go here or there for once at any rate; and it seems hard to refuse,
especially as they understand not the force of a divine conviction, which they
lack themselves. You invite them, perhaps, to come with you, and you decline
going with them. Does it not look proud and unbrotherly? Well, it may seem
singular to them, but it ought to be perfectly plain to you; it may be real
humility, and love too, haughty and unkind as rash ignorance counts it.
Let us conceive a godly churchman or dissenter to put this
plain question: "How is it that you, who are so free and hearty in
receiving Christians in the name of Christ, will not come with me to my church
or chapel?" The answer is, "On your own principles, as a Protestant
Christian, you can come here with a good conscience, where we are sure the one
desire is to be subject to the Lord and His word, in the unity of His body, and
in the liberty of His Spirit! You surely acknowledge it is no sin to meet as we
do, according to scripture, and therefore you can meet with us. But I, for my
part, am clear that it is unscriptural to desert the scriptural ground for that
of dissent or Anglicanism, and therefore it is not want of love but fear of sin
that keeps me from going with you, who do not pretend to be meeting on the
ground of God's assembly." Surely he is a bigot or worse who would urge or
expect me to join him against my positive conviction, that in so doing I should
sin against God. Sin is a man doing his own will, or another's, which is not
God's. If you ask me to depart from what I know to be the will of God, it would
of course be sin in me to comply. It is not only a thing that is sinful in
itself, but it would be most especially a sin in me, because I know, if you are
ignorant, that it is infidelity to the Spirit's operation in the church.
Be not moved, then, by reproaches, any more than by fair
speeches. For there is no real love, save in obeying God. (1 John 5: 2, 3)
Never swerve from what you believe to be His will. You may have come in at
first little acquainted with the truth or with the solemn responsibilities it
involves; perhaps it was on that slender reason that you were here converted:
but how is it with you now? Have you been searching the word of God to
ascertain His mind and will? Do you see the presence and action of the Holy
Ghost in the assembly to be the truth of God? Is it not perfectly plain and
sure that God has sent down His Spirit, and that this truth has to be owned and
acted upon by you and all Christians? That truth* you cannot deny; you
know very well it is of God; you may not value it as you ought, (who does?) but
this is another thing. The Lord grant that we may all value it more and
increasingly.
*That "the different denominations" present a
state of things directly at variance with "one body and one Spirit"
is too plain to call for argument with those who are used to bow to scripture,
and to judge present facts by it. How painful then it is to read such
sentiments as these in the recent words (June, 1869) of one whom I cannot but
love and esteem for his work's sake! "I sometimes think that these will
continue for ever. They are of no hurt to the church of God (!) but a great
blessing (!); for some of them take up one point of truth which is neglected,
and others take up another; and so between them all the whole of truth is
brought out (!); and it seems to me that the church is even more one (!) than
if all the various sections were brought together into one grand ecclesiastical
corporation [who contends for this but a Papist or Puseyite?]; for this would
probably feed some ambitious person's vanity, and raise up another dynasty of
priestcraft like the old Babylon of Rome. Perhaps it is quite as well as it is;
but let each body of Christians keep to its own work, and not sneer at the work
of others." Alas! the word of God does not occur in all this reasoning of
unbelief (though in a believer); but as usual the very publication in which it
occurs is a witness that this justification of sin is as hollow as its
profession of love and order. For a large portion is devoted to sneering at the
only Christians who at this time are seeking to give practical effect to their
faith in the "one body and one Spirit." With much, very much, of the
paper on "Order Heaven's first Law" I go so heartily that I am the
more grieved to notice, in however friendly a spirit, such flagrant
inconsistency both in principle and in practice. Let us rather humble ourselves
for our common sin, seek to walk in obedience and love while waiting for the
Lord Jesus, but never abuse the grace of God to deny His truth which condemns
our ways.
Search the Scriptures, examine the word of God for your own
souls; by this means we obtain true spiritual intelligence, but this only in
obedience, and we do not want it otherwise. The intelligence that is gathered
in disobedience seems to me perilous and untrustworthy; to learn the truth,
step by step acting it out, is a happier and holier path, and of simpler faith
too. At the same time that we value intelligence, we must remember that there
is another thing yet more important — single-eyed subjection to the will of
God, even if we seem to be unintelligent about much. "The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." That scripture is not out of date;
and I believe such is the divine and therefore the best way, as a beginning.
There is blessedness in gradually growing up into the truth of God, above all
looking to Him that we walk in that which we know.
For the present, I pray the Lord that the great truths of the "one body" and "one Spirit," which have been before us, may be brought home by His own power; so that all of us who know them may be cheered and confirmed, and that those who are ignorant may be taught them of Himself.