The Holy Ghost and Faith

 •  10 min. read  •  grade level: 8
 
One feels in reading verses like these that they convey so distinctly in the words of God Himself the great truths that He has Himself revealed in them, that one has a kind of consciousness that saying anything about them spoils them. I confess this morning I have that feeling; and yet there are two words that have a very large place here, and come out in such a peculiar and striking way; our beloved brother has already touched upon them: still I would in confidence cast myself on the Lord in trying to say a few words further about them.
The Holy Ghost and faith are the two great subjects which here occupy a large place in the apostle’s heart- longings and prayer for the saints. Both these are distinctly brought in here in his desire, his prayer, namely, that they might undergo a special action of the Spirit, and that “Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith.”
I would place before you a suggestion, beloved friends, namely, that the thought of “dwelling” is taken up here and carried on from the close of ch. 2. There does assuredly seem to be some similarity of thought with regard to dwelling, though brought out in a very different way. He speaks of the dwelling of God; the word “habitation” employed in Eph. 2:2222In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22) is the same word used when he prays that Christ might have a habitation, and thus dwell in their hearts by faith. If there be any connection or analogy (as I am disposed to think there is) between God’s habitation, which is collective in ch. 2, and another habitation in the heart, the seat of the affections of God’s people individually, the subject passes from the collective thought, down to the individual aspect. I must realize the fact individually. He speaks of Christ dwelling in the heart by faith; he has the personality of individuals in his mind, though not of course excluding the corporate, because the ultimate effect is to “comprehend with all saints the length and breadth, depth and height.” Thus you have all aspects brought together here in a very remarkable way.
Eph. 3 is, we know, the wonderful parenthesis of the New Testament, and where the mystery, that wonderful, unique reality, is unfolded; then it is he falls as it were upon his knees, and supplicates for these wonderful things to which I would call your attention for a moment.
Beloved friends, when we speak to one another, as surely we ought to do, of Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, it is an amazing theme! There is something surpassingly blessed in the very expression of it, the very thought of it, that Christ who dwells on high, that blessed One who is in glory, the exalted Man at God’s right hand—think of Him having a home in a poor heart like yours and mine in this world. The very thought of it must cause to spring up in our souls real, divine, spiritual longings.
This leads me to the point that is pressing upon my heart. In order that this might be true to us, that we might know it, there is a special action, or ministry if you please, of His Spirit spoken of here, in the inner man (v. 16), “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” That is the thing that has such an immensity in it for the apostle. He prays for each that they might be the subject of this strengthening of the Spirit deep down within in the inner man, for that is, I believe, the force of the word in the original; it is not merely an illuminating process by which the understanding gets the right color of things from God, though there must be that without doubt, but this is an internal action of God the Holy Ghost, what He is pleased to call here, a strengthening process of power according to the riches of His glory by His Spirit in the inner man. That must take place as the preparing of the ground of the heart as it were for this precious entering into it of Christ to dwell; this strengthening is in order that Christ may domicile in the heart. There must be room made there by God the Holy Ghost, that He may plant this plant of renown as it were deep down in our hearts. This is a point of great moment for us all. How often is it not true that with right desires, true desires, and so forth, yet there is no room for Him? What He desires is room, space for Himself. Now this is one of the most wonderful things in connection with this passage, this blessed internal action of His Spirit. It is, you will observe, the subjective side of things here, as to how the soul enters into communion, even as the prayer in ch. 1 is the objective side: there we see the exalted Man set above all principality and power, and might, and dominion; the apostle prays that the eyes of their heart might be opened to know the hope of their calling. Here his prayer is all in relation to communion. Eph. 1 is the accomplishment of counsels; ch. 3 is the soul’s intelligent communion, the apprehending the effects produced by the reality of Christ’s blessed presence—His being in us thus; verily, it is an unlimited extent of blessing. Thus it is a question of soul apprehension. It is not strengthened with all might in the head, or in the mere intelligence, but oh, how much there is implied in these words, “into the inner man.” Let us think of the practical inward power by the Holy Ghost set forth in them. We need this strengthening operation of His Spirit, that Christ may have His home in our hearts by faith. It is indeed here a question of actual state, of the affections having Christ enthroned in them, and thus being, as is said, rooted and grounded in love, we may be thoroughly able (,>4FPLF0J,) to know that which is indeed measureless.
How blessed, beloved brethren, the infinity into which we are thus brought; but how much more blessed is that set forth in these precious words, “and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge.”
Let me now call your attention to the purport and object of this strengthening. It is that Christ may enter and dwell. The tense is definite, and implies, I judge, an act of entrance and permanent abiding, that Christ might dwell, that He might have, not a temporary resting-place, but a fixed habitation.
I was thinking just now of a passage by way of contrast. In Jer. 14:88O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? (Jeremiah 14:8), which we may take morally, we read, “O the hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of trouble”; assuredly we may apply to ourselves in our feebleness such words, at least in a moral way. If Jehovah was that to Israel, surely Jesus is all that and more beside to us. “Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?” I take this wonderful verse in Ephesians, in all its sublime and blessed contrast to that. It is not a wayfaring man, not a stranger, “who turns aside to tarry for a night,” blessed as that may be, but that Christ may definitely enter and have an abiding place, a fixed home, take up His residence fixedly and definitely in the heart.
Oh, beloved brethren, what a wonderful reality to our souls! What a wonderful moment to Him! What a wonderful moment for us! Now let us note this well, that the heart does not rest itself upon the preparatory process, if I may so say, which, I suppose, would occupy it more or less with itself, but when the end of that process is reached, even the mighty power of the Spirit having made room for Christ, so that He should have His fixed abode in the heart, then there is rest abidingly, then you forget all your surroundings. The guest that has come in has all the space. He dwells in the heart by faith. It reminds me of the widow in the days of Elijah, who, out of poverty, was elevated into affluence when she had the prophet dwelling in her house; all her poverty, all her anxiety and distress were forgotten in the presence of the new guest that filled her home!
It is very blessed to see how the Spirit of God sets nothing before the heart but Christ. The true ministry of the Holy Ghost is the ministry of Christ; He is filling your soul with Christ. You will get the power, but the power is so intimately connected with the Object that it sets that before your heart and mind. It is all Christ; whether it is Christ as He was, as we have seen in John 14, or Christ in heaven, as in ch. 15, it is the One who comes from Him who only knows Him as He is in heaven. The twelve bore witness of Him on earth, but who can tell of Him in heaven? Only the One who came from heaven, the heavenly Comforter who came from Him on high, He alone can set Christ as He is in heaven, before us. Let me ask, how much are we the subjects of this ministry? Whether I find it in witness and testimony, or in unfolding the glories of Christ, it is always the glories of Him who is the object that the Spirit opens out and sets before the soul. If we know Him in heaven, nothing less than this can meet our hearts.
I would now call your attention to what I may term the instrumentality. The Holy Ghost is the divine Operator, faith is the instrument; hence it is said, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Now, beloved friends, it is of all moment to remember that the condition of the soul must answer to the place into which it has been brought. We know that Christ is in us and we in Him, but is it possible that we can be satisfied without the consciousness of enjoying Him? The instrument then is “by faith,” so that we have the power and energy of the Spirit, and we also have the means through which all is effected.
Let us now look at the consequence, the effect. “In order that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth, and depth and height.” It is wonderful where the corporate was, so to speak, the leading and ruling subject, how entirely the apostle was individual in his dealings with the saints. Though he was the one who brought out what was corporate, he was ever thoughtful of the individuals who compose it. It is striking how the personality of individuals is here set forth. It is the Person in the heart. It is not the Spirit, as an object, dwelling in the heart; He dwells as power in the body. We want the power in our bodies; we want the Object in our hearts; the heart is the seat of the affections, the center of the whole being—of the man. Christ, supreme and enthroned there, secures all for Himself. What a different kind of people we would be if Christ were only there! What a different sort of testimony! What a different character of path! What a different manifestation of Christ, if that blessed One was only enshrined in the power of the Spirit in our hearts’ affections.
Then observe how he brings in the corporate. You are blessed as an individual, but it is that you may be able to comprehend with all saints. It is wonderful how the ministry of the Spirit takes this turn, energizes with this in view, even to comprehend with all saints, the length and breadth, and depth and height, and to know the knowledge- surpassing love of Christ in order that ye “might be filled unto all the fulness of God.”
The Lord grant it unto each of us for His name sake!
From Occasional Lectures, (May 1890) 3:17-25