WE ARE NOT SAVED on account of the Holy Ghost's work in us; we are saved by means of it. We are saved on account of Christ's work for us. The more the Spirit works within us the more shall we desire that work to go on; but the work of Christ on Calvary is finished, and this is our resting place, our peace, our security. Here below we never ought to get satisfied with the work of the Spirit wrought within us, but we are satisfied with the work of Christ done for us, and this is eternal rest, this is faith. Many sadly confuse these two divine works. Anxious inquirers are constantly looking within to see what is going on there, instead of looking outward to what was done on Calvary. I wish to draw attention to three most precious operations of the Spirit of God as seen in the beginning of John's Gospel:
Born of the Spirit (chap. 3:5-8). Indwell by the Spirit (chap. 4:14). Communicating the Spirit (chap. 7:3).
BORN OF THE SPIRIT
Many think that regeneration, or the new birth or quickening, is a process that goes on subsequent to justification. This is a mistake. Regeneration neither goes before nor comes after justification, but is at the same time, and is an instantaneous act performed by the Spirit of God, communicating the life of Christ to a man formerly dead in trespasses and sins, who had nothing whatever in him that could be transformed into this new creation which He implants. There are two errors against which we must guard: not recognizing or acknowledging the Spirit's special work in regeneration, and confusing or mixing this with Christ's work done for us.
I. It is by a special act of absolute grace that we are born again by the Spirit. "The wind bloweth where it listeth," and so the Jewish Pharisee is compelled to allow God to act as a sovereign. What would be the use of Christ coming, living, dying for sin, rising beyond its doom, and interceding now in Heaven unless the Holy Spirit were here applying to individuals that work and that live by the Word? It is not His influence merely, but He Himself who is now on earth. It is not His Word merely, blessed and essential as it is, but He Himself who applies that Word. Look at the feast in Luke 14. If Christ had not come and died and risen, there would have been no feast to offer, but if the Holy Spirit were not here, none would come to the feast. So the parable tells us, "Compel them to come and the Holy Ghost is the great compeller, making men willing. This is His special work on individuals, not His general work in the world. His work on the world is not in the way of mercy, but of conviction.
A. "Of sin," because the great sin of which God holds man to be guilty is the crucifixion of His Son, and the presence of the Holy Ghost is the great proof of man's refusing Christ, for the rejected Christ has sent the Spirit. His presence is continually crying, "Where is thy brother?" Hence it is said, "of sin, because they believe not on me."
B. "Of righteousness." If man is an ungrateful sinner, God is a righteous God, and if sinful man gave his Saviour a cross of shame, a righteous God gave His Son a throne of glory. This is the great act of righteousness between God and the man Christ. "Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (Ps. 110:1). The presence of the Holy Ghost on the earth is the proof of righteousness of God. Because Christ perfectly glorified God, God glorified Him as a matter of justice and crowned Him with glory and honor, and we see Him, not by the natural eye, for Christ is not yet manifested on His own throne. In the interval between rejection and triumph the Father in righteousness has set Him down on His throne and sent down the Holy Ghost to testify that He is glorified. Therefore it is said, "Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more."
C. "Of judgment," because, since Satan could not hold Christ in death, a power stronger than Satan's must have appeared. Satan's power over death must therefore have been set aside and himself judged, for through death Christ destroyed "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." The Holy Ghost has come to tell us of this great act of judgment. The very fact that He has come proves that Christ is risen and is in glory, and the fact that Christ has risen proves that Satan has been judged. Since Satan is "the prince of this world," the world has been judged, being set aside in its chosen head. Therefore, it is said, "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."
Such is the action of the Holy Ghost on the world to its confusion and shame. However, His work in quickening is quite a distinct thing. He does not work on "the old man" in me and make it better and thus gradually save. He shows me that it cannot be mended. He shows me that I am "guilty," "condemned already," "lost," "alienated," "evil only," "continually evil," "without God," "without hope," "without strength," "dead."
I have 'heard men speak of a remaining spark in the bosom of the unregenerate that required merely to be fanned into a flame by the influences of the Holy Ghost. This is unscriptural (read Gen. 6:55And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5) ). I have heard such men speak of seed of good in every man, which the Holy Ghost cultivates, and this they call the new birth. This is utter confusion and an entire misconception of the figure. Man's co-operation in regeneration is not required, because he has no power to cooperate. He is dead. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The work is altogether of God. As it was God who in His own heart before the foundation of the world planned redemption, and as it was God in. His Son who nineteen hundred years ago, before we were born, secured our redemption, so it is God by His Spirit who now, without our endeavor, apart from our effort, applies this redemption. In fact, the first thing God does is to make us willing. How entirely is this work of God! He was alone in eternity; He was alone in creation; He was alone in redemption; He is alone in regeneration, which is merely redemption applied. God does not find us children; He makes us children. But we must look now at another error.
II. Confounding the work of the Spirit in us with Christ's work for us. While the Spirit of God is the sole agent, the truth of God is the sole instrument which He employs. We cannot see the Spirit; we can see the Word. We cannot see His operations: we can read His record about Christ. No doubt it will be merely letters without meaning until He opens the eyes, but He works only in His appointed channel. He never tells us to look inward, even to His own operations, for peace, but outward to Christ. That is the most Spirit-honoring preaching of the Gospel in which you hear most of Christ. Once I heard a very earnest man preaching to anxious inquirers, and he was dwelling continuously and exclusively upon the Spirit's work—its signs and characteristics—with the effect of confusing many of his hearers. For who could obtain scriptural peace with God from what he felt? We get a healthful and heaven-born conflict by marking the Holy Ghost's operations within us, but never peace. This we get by gazing at the Lamb of God on Calvary. I thought, as I heard the preacher, "I wonder if the Holy Ghost would preach in that way if He were standing there," and I immediately remembered, that "He shall not speak of [from] himself," "He shall testify of me," that is, He will preach Christ. "He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." "He shall glorify me." This is spiritual preaching. I believe the more we are depending on the Spirit's working, the more we shall preach what the Spirit wishes us to preach about, and look to Him to apply it. When we begin to point the anxious inquirer to the Spirit's work, this is not how the Spirit Himself would deal with him.
If I began to speak to a workingman sitting down to his dinner, and said to him, "Do you know the muscles employed in mastication?"
"What's that?" he would likely ask.
"Well, in eating."
"Indeed, I do not."
"And you do not know the nerves that supply them?"
"I'm sure I do not."
"And the beautiful mechanism and arrangement by which the food is converted into a bolus, and introduced into the stomach?"
"Now you are surely laughing at me."
"Oh, no, I'm not. All that is most true and interesting, but tell me what do you know?"
"Well, sir, I know that I am hungry, and that this is a good dinner."
This would be the common-sense and appropriate answer. Even the physiologist, when he is hungry, does not think much of how he eats. The two great points are that he is hungry and that he has a good dinner. Some are hungry and have not the good food, others have the food and are not hungry. But the qualification for enjoying food is not a knowledge of how to eat, but the being hungry. We do not need to know how we are born again in order to be saved. We do not need to know all or anything about the Spirit's work within us in order to get peace (there were people, in Acts 19:2,2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (Acts 19:2) who were believers and who yet said, "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost"), but we must know about Christ's work for us before we can be saved. The greatest physiologist might die of hunger. We might know everything about the Spirit's work and yet be lost for ever because we had not received and rested upon Christ, offered to us in the Gospel.
We are justified by faith, but the experience of what goes on within me is sensation, and not faith.
Some men seem to have a difficulty with anxious. souls (believing them to be dead), not knowing what to advise them to do. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. Some, therefore, tell sinners at once to pray for the Spirit, thinking thus to simplify matters by reducing it to common sense—as it seems very plain, since the Spirit quickens, nothing is easier than to cry for that Spirit. But it is not so easy, for a dead man cannot cry. Some, again, tell them to believe the record God gave of His Son—to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. A dead man cannot speak, and, of course, a dead man cannot believe, so we are in an equal difficulty. Praying and believing are alike impossible for the unregenerate man, without the quickening of the Spirit of God. The great point is to find out what we are commanded to do, what it is our duty to do. It is to tell every man the good news, and press him instantly to believe it. It is the Spirit that is the agent, but He always uses the truth as the instrument, the truth about a crucified and now risen Christ. Faith does not come by feeling, trying, nor praying, but by hearing. The moment I accept Christ as my own individual, personal Saviour who put away my sin, I am warranted to believe that I am born again, and the Spirit in the new man will lust against the flesh in the old man. Peace, indeed, I have with God, that is, Christ, but no peace with myself. There is a faith that is human, and a faith that is Spirit-wrought. The plan is of God; the redemption, the truth, and the faith, are all of God. But how can I know whether I have God-wrought faith? Does my faith take hold of what is going on within? That is not of God. Does my faith take hold of —is it taken up with—what was done nineteen hundred years ago on Calvary, and with Him who suffered there? This is God-honoring and saving faith. This is being born of the Spirit. The Spirit introduces, by the truth, Christ as the life into my dead soul. This is quickening, the renewing of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost thus gives a new nature.
Indwelt by the Spirit
In John 4:1414But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14) we read of the indwelling of the Spirit as "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." This is said only of Christians. The Spirit of God dwells in none but those whom He has quickened. And He dwells in all whom He has quickened (Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9))—in some in greater measure than in others. But "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His." Therefore, all who are Christ's have the Spirit dwelling in them. There is a danger here in separating Christ and the Spirit in us, as there is in regeneration of confounding Christ's work for me with the Spirit's work in me. It is as the believer is linked with Christ, a son as Christ is a son, and heir as Christ is, that the Spirit dwells in the believer, even as He dwelt in Christ—in Him, of course, without measure. It is thus we have access, for through Christ we have access by one Spirit to the Father. It is thus that we can worship the Father in spirit and in truth. This lesson He taught the poor, confessed sinner at Sychar's well. It is thus that we are practically sanctified, more and more separated from evil, for He is the "Holy" Ghost, the "Spirit of holiness." It is thus we are comforted and guided, for Jesus said, "If I go away I will send the Comforter [literally, paraclete, which includes much more than comfort]." This same word is used in 1 John 2:11My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1) for Christ the advocate (literally, paraclete), one who looks after all our interests. And thus, as Christ looks after all our interests before God, so the other paraclete looks after all our interests as we are passing through the wilderness, the divine Servant leading us into all truth, for here again the truth is His channel.
Thus we live in the Spirit (all Christians having died, and having risen with Christ). The exhortation, "Let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:2525If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)), is founded on this, principally as being connected with Christ and the members of His body, in every member of which the Spirit dwells. We are to walk in the Spirit, in the practical exercise of brotherly love, and not be walking as men. What! are we not men? No, we are sons of God indwelt by the Spirit. Men walk in selfishness. The walk in the Spirit is each esteeming others better than himself.
I. We are "led of the Spirit" ( Gal. 5:1818But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (Galatians 5:18)) . All Christians are led. This is not an exhortation, but a privilege. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," and all believers are sons. But though in each Christian the Spirit dwells, the exhortation is given, "Be filled with the Spirit" as with the air you breathe. So live in the presence of glory, in the light, and in fellowship with Father and Son that the atmosphere will be "the Spirit." He is spoken of as
A witness (1 John 5:66This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. (1 John 5:6)). He bears true witness, He tells the truth concerning Christ, He is a witness to Jesus Christ having come by water and blood, and every Christian has Him dwelling within him, as we also see in Romans 8, a witness that we are sons. He is the witness of love and accomplished redemption.
A seal. As the goods are stamped by the purchaser after they are his own, so, after we believe, we are sealed. Only sons are sealed. The oil was put on the blood of the trespass offering (Lev. 14:25, 2825And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot: (Leviticus 14:25)
28And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering: (Leviticus 14:28)). In the experience of many these go together, but many, especially in apostolic days, though they knew their sins were forgiven, did not know they had eternal life. A quickened soul is not necessarily an emancipated soul.
C. An earnest. He is the earnest of our inheritance, that is, part of it that we possess now. The Israelites got the grapes from Eshcol while still in the desert. In Rom. 8:1717And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17) we read we are children (the Spirit bearing witness), and as such sealed, "and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Therefore, since He, as heir, has not taken the inheritance, we do not have it, but suffer now, having the earnest of the inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession. "Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:2323And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)).
Communicating the Spirit
In John 7:38,38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) we read, "He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Thus those who have been quickened and who are indwelt by the Spirit are now the channels through which He is ministered to others. The waters once flowed from a smitten rock. The water flowed from Christ's wounded side, and it is only as we are smitten, exercised, and subdued that these rivers will flow from us.
Only as we come thus to Christ and drink shall living waters flow from us. Alas, how little of the Spirit we see flowing from those professing to be quickened by the Spirit! Is it not because we are drawing little from the great fountain-head? "Let him come unto me and drink." It is truly through saved sinners that God is now to send forth His river of life. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." And this love of God we as witnesses of God are to pour out in rivers in this arid desert—first, by carrying the Gospel to our fellow-sinners and telling of that Christ whom we know and who is offered to them, and, second, by ministering love to all the saints of God in building up and comforting them. And it is only as our own affections and thoughts, that is, all our inner man, are filled with the pure water from the fountain that the rivers can flow.
I. In connection with the three operations of the Spirit of God which we considered, quickened, indwelt, and communicating, we may look (1) at Christ Himself, (2) at the church corporately, (3) at each individual believer, as:
A. Quickened by the Spirit.
The individual believer, when the Spirit applies the truth to his conscience (James 1:1818Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)). "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth."
B. Indwelt by the Spirit.
The church we see at Pentecost, not merely quickened, but formed into a temple for God on the earth —the true temple, filled with the true glory. And we see this accomplished in fulfilment of Acts 1:88But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8). "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me (1) both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, (2) and in Samaria, and (3) unto the uttermost part, of the earth." The Holy Ghost thus fell on:
The Jews, when they were waiting in prayer (Acts 2:44And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4)) in obedience to Jesus' resurrection command, "wait for the promise of the Father which . . . ye have heard of me" (Acts 1:44And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (Acts 1:4)). They had heard of Him in John 14 to 16.
The Gentiles, in the preaching of the Word (Acts 10:4444While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. (Acts 10:44)). And thus is the Spirit now given. In this latter method was the proper Gentile Pentecost our Pentecost. Thus it is in the preaching of the Word that we are to expect the blessing of the Spirit.
The individual is seen in his sealing when by believing the record of the witness he receives his- emancipation, his conscious liberty and peace with God, taking his place as a son, with the Holy Ghost as the testifier, and waiting with Him as the earnest of the inheritance. C. Communicating the Spirit.
Christ in His ministry and prophetic work communicated the Spirit.
The Church is seen communicating the Spirit, in the preaching of the apostles at and subsequent to Pentecost, in the Scriptures they have left, and all collective testimony from their day to this that has been in accordance with Word of God.
Individuals communicate the Spirit in the outflow of love in our place in the wilderness, as evangelists, teachers, pastors, or in any service to God.
(Each of these words, BORN, INDWELT and COMMUNICATING, has its opposite. There are three words spoken about the Spirit, RESIST, GRIEVE and QUENCH.)
The Spirit may be resisted.
"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" (Acts 7:5151Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (Acts 7:51)). This is addressed to the unconverted who resist Him as a quickener.
The Spirit may be grieved.
"Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:3030And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)). This is addressed only to saved people, who can grieve Him as an indwelling Spirit. This shows what a friend He is to us. If you had committed some great sin, your mother would be grieved, but your enemy would rejoice. You can grieve only a friend. What a touching appeal, fellow-believer! What will the consequence be? In love He will reprove. He will rebuke our consciences until we are consciously cleansed and He can again dwell in us ungrieved.
3. The Spirit may be quenched.
"Quench not the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:1919Quench not the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)). Many have been perplexed with this text, thinking that it had reference to the indwelling of the Spirit. You may grieve Him thus, but no believer can quench Him thus, for Christ has said of His own, "They shall never perish." The next verse, "Despise not prophesyings," gives the explanation. A Christian cannot quench the Spirit in himself, but by refusing to allow Him to work from a fellow-Christian, he thus may quench Him. It is thus the Spirit in His communications who may be quenched.
As He can be resisted in His testimony which is His instrument in quickening, and grieved in His person as indwelling, so He can be quenched in His gifts as communicating life. If I despise the humblest channel that God has formed and filled to dispense His streams of life and hold back their flow, I stop His testimony, I quench the Spirit. It has nothing whatever to do with the indwelling of the Spirit. That can never be quenched, for the foundation of God standeth sure. But what a solemn warning in this day of self-seeking and pretensions!
Resist is the word applied to the unconverted. Grieve is that applied to the individual Christian. Quench is that which has reference to the saints when gathered together, waiting on the Spirit.
Bring your ignorance to the Holy Spirit, the great teacher, who by His precious truth will lead you into all truth.
No, not the love without the blood;
That were to me no love at all;
It could not reach my sinful soul,
Nor hush the fears which me appall.
I need the love, I need the blood,
I need the grace, the cross, the grave,
I need the resurrection power,
A soul like mine to purge and save.
The love I need is righteous love,
Inscribed on the sin-bearing tree,
Love that exacts the sinner's debt,
Yet, in exacting, sets him free.
Love that condemns the sinner's sin,
Yet, in condemning, pardon seals;
That saves from righteous wrath, and yet,
In saving, righteousness reveals.
Love boundless as Jehovah's self,
Love holy as His righteous law,
Love unsolicited, unbought,
The love proclaimed on Golgotha.
This is the love that calms my heart,
That soothes each conscience pang within
That pacifies my guilty dread,
And frees me from the power of sin.
The love that blotteth out, each stain,
That plucketh hence each deadly sting,
That fills me with the peace of God,
Unseals my lips and bids me sing.
The love that liberates and saves,
That this poor straitened soul expands,
That lifts me to the heaven of heavens,
The shrine above not made with hands.
The love that quickens into zeal,
That makes me self-denied and true,
hat leads me out of what is old,
And brings me into what is new.
That purifies and cheers and calms,
That knows no change and no decay,
The love that loves for evermore,
Celestial sunshine, endless day.