The Covenant Promise of the Spirit
(No. 2200)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 10, 1891,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And I will put My Spirit within you." Ezekiel 36:27.
No preface is needed and the largeness of our subject forbids our
wasting time in beating about the bush. I shall try to do two things
this morning–first, I would commend the text. And, secondly, I would,
in some measure, expound the text.
I. First, as for THE COMMENDATION OF THE TEXT, the tongues of men and
of angels might fail. To call it a golden sentence would be much too
commonplace–to liken it to a pearl of great price would be too poor a
comparison! We cannot feel, much less speak, too much in praise of that
great God who has put this clause into the Covenant of His Grace. In
that Covenant, every sentence is more precious than Heaven and
earth–and this line is not the least among His choice words of
promise–"I will put My Spirit within you."
I would begin by saying that it is a gracious Word. It was spoken to a
graceless people, to a people who had followed "their own way" and
refused the way of God–a people who had already provoked something
more than ordinary anger in the Judge of all the earth, for He,
Himself, said (v 18), "I poured My fury upon them." These people, even
under chastisement, caused the holy name of God to be profaned among
the heathen wherever they went! They had been highly favored, but they
abused their privileges and behaved worse than those who never knew the
Lord. They sinned wantonly, willfully, wickedly, proudly and
presumptuously and, by this, they greatly provoked the Lord. Yet to
them He made such a promise as this–"I will put My Spirit within you."
Surely, where sin abounded Divine Grace did much more abound!
Clearly this is a Word of Grace, for the Law says nothing of this kind.
Turn to the Law of Moses and see if there is any Word of God spoken
therein concerning the putting of the Spirit within men to cause them
to walk in God's statutes. The Law proclaims the statutes, but only the
Gospel promises the Spirit by which the statutes will be obeyed. The
Law commands and makes us know what God requires of us, but the Gospel
goes further and inclines us to obey the will of the Lord and enables
us, practically, to walk in His ways. Under the dominion of Grace the
Lord works in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure!
So great a gift as this could never come to any man by merit. A man
might so act as to deserve a reward of a certain kind, in measure
suited to his commendable action, but the Holy Spirit can never be the
wage of human service–the idea verges upon blasphemy! Can any man
deserve that Christ should die for him? Who would dream of such a
thing? Can any man deserve that the Holy Spirit should dwell in him and
work holiness in him? The greatness of the blessing lifts it high above
the range of merit and we see that if the Holy Spirit is bestowed, it
must be by an act of Divine Grace–Grace infinite in bounty, exceeding
all that we could have imagined. "Sovereign Grace over sin abounding"
is here seen in clearest light. "I will put My Spirit within you" is a
promise which drops with Graces as the honeycomb with honey! Listen to
the Divine music which pours from this Word of Love. I hear the soft
melody of Grace, Grace, Grace and nothing else but Grace. Glory be to
God, who gives to sinners the indwelling of His Spirit!
Note, next, that it is a Divine Word– "I will put My Spirit within
you." Who but the Lord could speak after this fashion? Can one man put
the Spirit of God within another? Could all the Church combined breathe
the Spirit of God into a single sinner's heart? To put any good thing
into the deceitful heart of man is a great achievement, but to put the
Spirit of God into the heart, truly, this is the finger of God! No,
here I may say, the Lord has made bare His arm and displayed the
fullness of His mighty power! To put the Spirit of God into our nature
is a work peculiar to the Godhead and
to do this within the nature of a free agent, such as man, is
marvelous! Who but Jehovah, the God of Israel, can speak after this
royal style and, beyond all dispute, declare, "I will put My Spirit
within you"?
Men must always surround their resolves with conditions and
uncertainties, but since Omnipotence is at the back of every promise of
God, He speaks like a king, yes, in a style which is only fit for the
eternal God! He purposes and promises and He as surely performs. Sure,
then, is this sacred saying, "I will put My Spirit within you." Sure,
because Divine! O Sinner, if we poor creatures had the saving of you,
we should break down in the attempt, but, behold, the Lord, Himself,
comes on the scene and the work is done! All difficulties are removed
by this one sentence, "I will put My Spirit within you." We have worked
with our spirit, we have wept over you and we have entreated you–but
we have failed. Lo, there comes One into the matter who will not fail,
with whom nothing is impossible! And He begins His work by saying, "I
will put My Spirit within you." The Word is of Grace and of God–regard
it, then, as a pledge from the God of Grace.
To me there is much charm in further thought that this is an individual
and personal Word of God. The Lord means, "I will put My Spirit within
you." That is to say, within you, as individuals. "I will put My Spirit
within you" one by one. This must be so, since connection requires it.
We read in verse 26, "A new heart also will I give you." Now, a new
heart can only be given to one person. Each man needs a heart of his
own and each man must have a new heart for himself. "And a new spirit
will I put within you." Within each one this must be done. "And I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
heart of flesh"–these are all personal, individual operations of
Divine Grace! God deals with men one by one in solemn matters of
eternity, sin and salvation. We are born one by one and we die one by
one–even so we must be born again one by one–and each one, for
himself, must receive Spirit of God. Without this, a man has nothing!
He cannot be caused to walk in God's statutes except by infusion of
Grace into him as an individual.
I think I see among my hearers one man, or woman, who feels himself, or
herself, to be all alone in the world and, therefore, hopeless. You can
believe that God will do great things for a nation, but how shall
solitary be thought of? You are an odd person, one that could not be
written down in any list–a peculiar sinner with constitutional
tendencies all your own. Thus says God, "I will put My Spirit within
you"–within your heart–even yours! My dear Hearers, you who have long
been seeking salvation, but have not known the power of the
Spirit–this is what you need! You have been striving in energy of
flesh, but you have not understood where your true strength lies. God
says to you, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the
Lord." And again, "I will put My Spirit within you." Oh, that this Word
might be spoken of the Lord to that young man who is ready to despair!
To that sorrowful woman who has been looking into herself for power to
pray and believe! You are without strength or hope in and of yourself,
but this meets your case in all points. "I will put My Spirit within
you"–within you as an individual! Enquire of the Lord for it! Lift up
your heart in prayer to God and ask Him to pour upon you the Spirit of
Grace and of supplications. Plead with the Lord, saying, "Let Your good
Spirit lead me. Even me!" Cry, "Pass me not, my gracious Father; but in
me fulfill this wondrous Word of yours, 'I will put My Spirit within
you.'"
Note, next, that this is a separating word. I do not know whether you
will see this readily, but it must be so–this Word of God separates a
man from his fellows. Men by nature are of another spirit from that of
God and are under subjection to that evil spirit, the Prince of the
power of the air. When the Lord comes to gather out His own, fetching
out from among the heathen, He effects separation by doing according to
this Word, "I will put My Spirit within you." This done, the individual
becomes a new man. Those who have the Spirit are not of the world, nor
like the world–and soon have to come out from among the ungodly and to
be separate–for difference of nature creates conflict. God's Spirit
will not dwell with the evil spirit–you cannot have fellowship with
Christ and with Belial–with the Kingdom of Heaven and with this world.
I wish that the people of God would again wake up to the Truth of God
that to gather out a people from among men is the great purpose of the
present dispensation. It is still true, as James said at the Jerusalem
Council, "Simeon has declared how God at first did visit the Gentiles,
to take out of them a people for His name." We are not to remain
clinging to the old wreck with expectation that we shall pump water out
of her and get her safe into port. No, the cry is very different–"Take
to the lifeboat! Take to the lifeboat!" You are to quit the wreck and
then you are to carry away from the sinking mass, that which God will
save. You must be separate from the old wreck, lest it suck you down to
sure destruc-
tion! Your only hope of doing good to the world is by yourselves being,
"not of the world," even as Christ was not of the world.
For you to go down to the world's level will neither be good for it nor
for you. That which happened in the days of Noah will be repeated, for
when the sons of God entered into alliance with the daughters of
men–and there was a league between the two races–the Lord could not
endure the evil mixture, but drew up the sluices of the lower deep and
swept the earth with a destroying flood. Surely, in that last day of
destruction, when the world is overwhelmed with fire, it will be
because the Church of God shall have degenerated and the distinctions
between the righteous and the wicked shall have been broken down. The
Spirit of God, wherever He comes, does speedily make and reveal the
difference between Israel and Egypt–and in proportion as His active
energy is felt, there will be an ever-widening gulf between those who
are led of the Spirit and those who are under the dominion of the
flesh.
The possession of the Spirit will make you, my Hearer, quite another
sort of man from what you are now, and then you will be actuated by
motives which the world will not appreciate, for the world knows us not
because it knew Him not. Then you will act, speak, think and feel in
such a way that this evil world will misunderstand and condemn you.
Since the carnal mind knows not the things that are of God–for those
things are spiritually discerned–it will not approve your objectives
and designs. Do not expect it to be your friend. The Spirit which makes
you to be of the seed of the woman is not the spirit of the world! The
seed of the serpent will hiss at you and bruise your heel. Your Master
said, "Because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world; therefore the world hates you." This is a separating Word of
God, this. Has it separated you? Has the Holy Spirit called you alone
and blessed you? Do you differ from your old companions? Have you a
life they do not understand? If not, may God in mercy put into you that
most heavenly deposit, of which He speaks in our text–"I will put My
Spirit within you"!
But now notice, that it is a very uniting Word. It separates from the
world, but it joins to God. Note how it runs– "I will put My Spirit
within you." It is not merely a spirit, or the spirit, but My Spirit.
Now when God's own Spirit comes to reside within our mortal bodies, how
near akin we are to the Most High! "Know you not that your body is the
Temple of the Holy Spirit?" Does not this make a man sublime? Have you
never stood in awe of your own selves, O you Believers? Have you
regarded enough even this poor body as being sanctified and dedicated,
and elevated into a sacred condition, by being set apart to be the
Temple of the Holy Spirit? Thus are we brought into the closest union
with God that we can well conceive of. Thus is the Lord our Light and
our life, while our spirit is subordinated to the Divine Spirit. "I
will put My Spirit within you"–then God Himself dwells in you! The
Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead is in you! With
Christ in God your life is hid and the Spirit seals you, anoints you
and abides in you. By the Spirit we have access to the Father! By the
Spirit we perceive our adoption and learn to cry, "Abba, Father." By
the Spirit we are made partakers of the Divine Nature and have
communion with the thrice holy Lord!
I cannot help adding here that it is a very condescending Word–"I will
put My Spirit within you." Is it really so, that the Spirit of God who
displays the power and energetic force of God, by whom God's Word is
carried into effect– that the Spirit who of old moved upon the face of
the waters and brought order and life from chaos and death–can it be
so that He will deign to sojourn in men? God in our nature is a very
wonderful conception! God in the Babe at Bethlehem, God in the
Carpenter of Nazareth, God in the "Man of Sorrows," God in the
Crucified, God in Him who was buried in the tomb–this is all
marvelous! The Incarnation is an infinite mystery of love–but we
believe it. Yet, if it were possible to compare one illimitable wonder
with another, I should say that God's dwelling in His people–and that
repeated ten thousand times over–is more marvelous!
That the Holy Spirit should dwell in millions of redeemed men and women
is a miracle not surpassed by that of our Lord's espousal of human
nature, for our Lord's body was perfectly pure and the Godhead, while
it dwells with His holy Manhood, does at least dwell with a perfect and
sinless Nature. But the Holy Spirit bows Himself to dwell in sinful
men! To dwell in men who, after their conversion, still find the flesh
warring against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh–men who
are not perfect, though they strive to be so–men who have to lament
their shortcomings and even to confess with shame a measure of
unbelief! "I will put My Spirit within you" means the abiding of the
Holy Spirit in our imperfect nature. Wonder of wonders! Yet is it as
surely a fact as it is a wonder. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
you have the Spirit of God, for, "if any man has not the Spirit of
Christ, He is none of His."
You could not bear the suspicion that you are not His and, therefore,
as surely as you are Christ's, you have His Spirit abiding in you! The
Savior has gone away on purpose that the Comforter might be given to
dwell in you–and He does dwell in you. Is it not so? If it is so,
admire this condescending God, and worship and praise His name! Sweetly
submit to His rule in all things. Grieve not the Spirit of God. Watch
carefully that nothing comes within you that may defile the Temple of
God. Let the faintest monition of the Holy Spirit be law to you. It was
a holy mystery that the Presence of the Lord was specially within the
veil of the Tabernacle and that the Lord God spoke by Urim and Thummim
to His people. It is an equally sacred marvel that now the Holy Spirit
dwells in our spirits and abides within our nature and speaks to us
whatever He hears of the Father. By Divine impressions which the opened
ear can apprehend and the tender heart can receive, He speaks to us.
God grant us to know His still small voice so as to listen to it with
reverent humility and loving joy–then shall we know the meaning of
these words, "I will put My Spirit within you."
Nor have I yet done with commending my text, for I must not fail to
remind you that it is a very spiritual Word. "I will put My Spirit
within you" has nothing to do with our wearing a peculiar garb–that
would be a matter of little worth. It has nothing to do with
affectations of speech–those might readily become a deceptive
peculiarity. Our text has nothing to do with outward rites and
ceremonies, but goes much further and deeper. It is an instructive
symbol when the Lord teaches us our death with Christ by burial in
Baptism–it is to our great profit that He ordains bread and wine to be
tokens of our communion in the body and blood of His dear Son–but
these are only outward things and if they are unattended with the Holy
Spirit they fail of their design.
There is something infinitely greater in this promise–"I will put My
Spirit within you." I cannot give you the whole force of the Hebrew, as
to the words, "within you," unless I paraphrase them a little, and
read, "I will put My Spirit in the midst of you." The sacred deposit is
put deep down in our life's secret place. God puts His Spirit not upon
the surface of the man, but into the center of his being. The promise
means–"I will put My Spirit in your heart, in the very soul of you."
This is an intensely spiritual matter, without admixture of anything
material and visible. It is spiritual, you see, because it is the
Spirit that is given–and He is given internally within our spirit. It
is true the Spirit operates upon the external life, but it is through
the secret and internal life, and of that inward operation our text
speaks.
This is what we so greatly require. Do you know what it is to attend a
service and hear God's Truth faithfully preached and yet you are forced
to say, "Somehow or other it did not enter into me; I did not feel the
unction and taste the savor of it"? "I will put My Spirit within you,"
is what you need. Do you not read your Bibles and even pray–and do not
both devotional exercises become too much eternal acts? "I will put My
Spirit within you" meets this evil! The good Spirit fires your heart.
He penetrates your mind. He saturates your soul. He touches the secret
and vital springs of your existence. Blessed Word of God! I love my
text. I love it better than I can speak of it!
Observe once more that this Word is a very effectual one. "I will put
My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
shall keep My judgments and do them." The Spirit is operative–first
upon the inner life in causing you to love the Law of the Lord–and
then it moves you openly to keep His statutes concerning Himself and
His judgments between you and your fellow men. Obedience, if a man
should be flogged to it, would be of little worth. But obedience
springing out of a life within–this is a priceless breastplate of
jewels. If you have a lantern, you cannot make it shine by polishing
the outside glass, you must put a candle in it–and this is what God
does–He puts the light of the Spirit within us and then our light
shines! He puts His Spirit so deep down into the heart that the whole
nature feels it! It works upward, like a spring from the bottom of a
well. It is, moreover, so deeply implanted that there is no removing
it. If it were in the memory, you might forget it. If it were in the
intellect, you might err in it. But, "within you," it touches the whole
man and has dominion over you without fear of failure. When the very
kernel of your nature is quickened into holiness, practical godliness
is effectually secured. Blessed is He who knows by experience our
Lord's Words–"The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water springing up into everlasting life."
If I should fail in expounding the text, I hope I have so fully
commended it to you that you will turn it over and meditate upon it
yourselves–and so get a home-born exposition of it! The key of the
text is within its own self, for if the Lord gives you the Spirit, you
will then understand His Words–"I will put My Spirit within you."
II. But now I must work upon THE EXPOSITION OF THE TEXT. I trust the
Holy Spirit will aid me. Let me show
you how the good Spirit manifests the fact that He dwells in men. I
have to be very brief on a theme that might require a great length of
time and can only mention a part of His ways and workings.
One of the first effects of the Spirit of God being put within us is
quickening. We are dead by nature to all heavenly and spiritual things,
but when the Spirit of God comes, then we begin to live. The man
visited of the Spirit begins to feel–the terrors of God make him
tremble, the love of Christ makes him weep. He begins to fear and he
begins to hope–a great deal of the first and a very little of the
second, it may be. He learns spiritually to sorrow. He is grieved that
he has sinned and that he cannot cease from sinning. He begins to
desire that which once he despised–he especially desires to find the
way of pardon and reconciliation with God. Ah, dear Hearers! I cannot
make you feel, I cannot make you sorrow for sin, I cannot make you
desire eternal life–but it is all done as soon as this is fulfilled by
the Lord, "I will put My Spirit within you." The quickening Spirit
brings life to the dead in trespasses and sins!
This life of the Spirit shows itself by causing the man to pray. The
cry is the distinctive mark of the living child. He begins to cry in
broken accents, "God be merciful to me." At the same time that he
pleads, he feels the soft tug of repentance. He has a new mind towards
sin and he grieves that he should have grieved his God. With this comes
faith, perhaps feeble and trembling–only a touch of the hem of the
Savior's robe–but still Jesus is his only hope and his sole trust. To
Him he looks for pardon and salvation. He dares to believe that Christ
can save even him. Then has life come into the soul when trust in Jesus
springs up in the heart!
Remember, dear Friends, that as the Holy Spirit gives quickening at the
first, so He must revive and strengthen it. Whenever you become dull
and faint, cry for the Holy Spirit. Whenever you cannot feel in
devotion as you wish to feel and are unable to rise to any heights of
communion with God, plead my text in faith and beg the Lord to do as He
has said, namely, "I will put My Spirit within you." Go to God with
this Covenant clause, even if you have to confess, "Lord, I am like a
log. I am a helpless lump of weakness. Unless You come and quicken me I
cannot live to You." Plead importunately the promise, "I will put My
Spirit within you." All the life of the flesh will gender corruption.
All the energy that comes of mere excitement will die down into the
black ashes of disappointment. Only the Holy Spirit is the life of the
regenerated heart! Have you the Spirit? And if you have Him within you,
have you only a small measure of His life, and do you wish for more?
Then go where you went at first! There is only one river of the Water
of Life–draw from its floods. You will be lively enough, bright
enough, strong enough and happy enough when the Holy Spirit is mighty
within your soul!
When the Holy Spirit enters, after quickening he gives enlightening. We
cannot make men see the Truth of God– they are blind–but when the
Lord puts His Spirit within them, their eyes are opened. At first they
may see rather hazily, but still they see. As the light increases and
the eye is strengthened, they see more and more clearly. What a mercy
it is to see Christ, to look unto Him and so to be lightened! By the
Spirit, souls see things in their reality–they see the actual truth of
them and perceive that they are facts. The Spirit of God illuminates
every Believer so that he sees still more marvelous things out of God's
Law–but this never happens unless the Spirit opens his eyes. The
Apostle speaks of being brought "out of darkness into His marvelous
light" and it is a marvelous light, indeed, to come to the blind and
dead! Marvelous because it reveals the Truth of God with clearness. It
reveals marvelous things in a marvelous way! If hills and mountains, if
rocks and stones were suddenly to be full of eyes, it would be a
strange thing in the earth, but not more marvelous than for you and for
me by the illumination of the Holy Spirit to see spiritual things!
When you cannot make people see the Truth of God, do not grow angry
with them, but cry, "Lord, put Your Spirit within them!" When you get
into a puzzle over the Word of the Lord, do not give up in despair, but
believingly cry, "Lord, put Your Spirit within me!" Here lies the only
true light of the soul. Depend upon it, all that you see by any light
except the Spirit of God, you do not see spiritually. If you only see
intellectually, or rationally, you do not see to salvation. Unless
intellect and reason have received the heavenly Light of God, you may
see, and yet not see–even as Israel of old. Indeed, your boasted clear
sight may aggravate your ruin, like that of the Pharisees, of whom our
Lord said, "But now you say, 'We see,' therefore your sin remains." O
Lord, grant us the Spirit within, for our soul's illumination!
The Spirit also works conviction. Conviction is more forcible than
illumination. It is the setting of a Truth before the eye of the soul,
so as to make it powerful upon the conscience. I speak to many here who
know what conviction means. Still, I will explain it from my own
experience. I knew what sin meant by my reading, but yet I never knew
sin in its hei-nousness and horror till I found myself bitten by it as
by a fiery serpent, and felt its poison boiling in my veins! When the
Holy Spirit made sin to appear sin, then was I overwhelmed with the
sight and I would gladly have fled from myself to escape the
intolerable vision. A naked sin stripped of all excuse and set in the
light of the Truth of God is a worse sight
than to see the devil himself! When I saw sin as an offense against a
just and holy God, committed by such a proud and yet insignificant
creature as myself, then was I alarmed.
Sirs, did you ever see and feel yourselves to be sinners? "Oh, yes,"
you say, "we are sinners." O Sirs, do you mean it? Do you know what it
means? Many of you are no more sinners in your own estimation than you
are Hottentots. The beggar who exhibits a sham sore knows not
disease–if he did, he would have enough of it without pretences. To
kneel down and say, "Lord, have mercy upon us miserable sinners," and
then to get up and feel yourself a very decent sort of person, worthy
of commendation, is to mock Almighty God! It is by no means a common
thing to get hold of a real sinner, one who is truly so in his own
esteem. But it is as pleasant as it is rare, for you can bring to the
real sinner the real Savior, and Jesus will welcome him! I do not
wonder that Hart said–
"A sinner is a saved thing, The Holy Spirit has made him so." The point
of contact between a sinner and Christ is sin. The Lord Jesus gave
Himself for our sins. He never gave Himself for our righteousnesses. He
comes to heal the sick and the point He looks to is our sickness. When
a physician is called in, he has no patience with things apart from his
calling. "Tut, tut!" he cries, "I do not care about your furniture, nor
the number of your cows, nor what income tax you pay, nor what politics
you admire! I have come to see a sick man about his disease and if you
will not let me deal with it I will be gone."
When a sinner's corruptions are loathsome to himself. When his guilt is
foul in his own nostrils. When he fears the death that will come of it,
then it is that he is really convicted by the Holy Spirit–and no one
ever knows sin as his own personal ruin till the Holy Spirit shows it
to him! Conviction as to the Lord Jesus comes in the same way. We do
not know Christ as our Savior till the Holy Spirit is put within us.
Our Lord says–"He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you."
And you never see the things of the Lord Jesus till the Holy Spirit
shows them to you. To know Jesus Christ as your Savior, as one who died
for you in particular, is a knowledge which only the Holy Spirit
imparts! To apprehend present salvation as your own, personally, comes
by your being convinced of it by the Spirit. Oh, to be convinced of
righteousness and convinced of acceptance in the Beloved! This
conviction comes only of Him that has called you, even of Him of whom
the Lord says, "I will put My Spirit within you."
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit comes into us for purification. "I will
put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
shall keep My judgments, and do them." When the Spirit comes, He
infuses a new life, and that new life is a fountain of holiness! The
new nature cannot sin because it is born of God and, "it is a living
and incorruptible seed." This life produces good fruit and only good
fruit. The Holy Spirit is the life of holiness. At the same time, the
coming of the Holy Spirit into the soul gives a mortal stab to the
power of sin. The old man is not absolutely dead, but it is crucified
with Christ. It is under sentence and before the eyes of the Law it is
dead, but as a man nailed to a cross may linger long, yet he cannot
live, so the power of evil dies hard, but die it must! Sin is an
executed criminal–those nails which fasten it to the Cross will hold
it fast till no breath remains in it. God the Holy Spirit gives the
power of sin its death wound.
The old nature struggles in its dying agonies, but it is doomed and die
it must. But you will never overcome sin by your own power, nor by any
energy short of that of the Holy Spirit. Resolves may bind it, as
Samson was bound with cords, but sin will snap the cords asunder. The
Holy Spirit lays the axe at the root of sin and fall it must. The Holy
Spirit within a man is "the Spirit of Judgment, the Spirit of Burning."
Do you know Him in that character? As the Spirit of Judgment, the Holy
Spirit pronounces sentence on sin and it goes out with the brand of
Cain upon it. He does more–He delivers sin over to burning. He
executes the death penalty on that which He has judged. How many of our
sins have we had to burn alive! And it has cost us no small pain to do
it. Sin must be got out of us by fire, if no gentler means will
serve–and the Spirit of God is a consuming fire. Truly, "our God is a
consuming fire." They paraphrase it, "God out of Christ is a consuming
fire," but that is not Scripture–it is, "our God," our Covenant God,
who is a consuming fire to refine us from sin! Has not the Lord said,
"I will purely purge away all your dross, and take away all your tin"?
This is what the Spirit does and it is, by no means, easy work for the
flesh, which would spare many a flattering sin if it could.
The Holy Spirit bedews the soul with purity till He saturates it. Oh,
to have a heart saturated with holy influences till it shall be as
Gideon's fleece, which held so much dew that Gideon could wring out a
bowl full from it! Oh, that our
whole nature were filled with the Spirit of God–that we were
sanctified wholly, body, soul, and spirit! Sanctification is the result
of the Holy Spirit being put within us.
Next, the Holy Spirit acts in the heart as the Spirit of preservation.
Where He dwells, men do not go back to perdition. He works in them a
watchfulness against temptation day by day. He works in them to wrestle
against sin. Rather than sin, a Believer would die 10,000 deaths. He
works union to Christ in Believers, which is the source and guarantee
of acceptable fruitfulness. He creates in the saints those holy things
which glorify God, and bless the sons of men. All true fruit is the
fruit of the Spirit. Every true prayer must be "praying in the Holy
Spirit." He helps our infirmities in prayer. Even the hearing of the
Word of the Lord is of the Spirit, for John says, "I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice." Everything that
comes of the man, or is kept alive in the man, is first infused and
then sustained and perfected of the Spirit. "It is the spirit that
quickens; the flesh profits nothing." We never go an inch towards
Heaven in any other power than that of the Holy Spirit. We do not even
stand fast and remain steadfast except as we are upheld by the Holy
Spirit.
The vineyard which the Lord has planted, He also preserves, as it is
written, "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any
hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Did I hear that young man say,
"I should like to become a Christian, but I fear I should not hold
out"? How am I to be preserved? A very proper inquiry for, "He that
endures to the end, the same shall be saved." Temporary Christians are
not Christians! Only the Believer who continues to believe will enter
Heaven. How, then, can we hold on in such a world as this? Here is the
answer. "I will put My Spirit within you." When a city has been
captured in war, those who formerly possessed it seek to win it back
again, but the king who captured it sends a garrison to live within the
walls. And he says to the captain, "Take care of this city that I have
conquered and let not the enemy take it again." So the Holy Spirit is
the garrison of God within our redeemed humanity and He will keep us to
the end. "May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." For preservation, then, we
look to the Holy Spirit.
Lest I weary you, I will be very brief upon the next point. The Holy
Spirit within us is for guidance. The Holy Spirit is given to lead us
into all the Truth of God. Truth is like a vast grotto and the Holy
Spirit brings torches and shows us all the splendor of the ceiling. And
since the passages seem intricate, He knows the way, and He leads us
into the deep things of God. He opens up to us one Truth after another
by His light and by His guidance, and thus we are "taught of the Lord."
He is also our practical Guide to Heaven, helping and directing us on
the upward journey. I wish Christian people oftener inquired of the
Holy Spirit as to guidance in their daily life. Know you not that the
Spirit of God dwells in you? You need not always be running to this
friend and to that to get direction–wait upon the Lord in silence–sit
still in quiet before the oracle of God. Use the judgment God has given
you, but when that suffices not, resort to Him whom Mr. Bunyan calls,
"the Lord High Secretary," who lives within, who is infinitely wise,
and who can guide you by making you to "hear a voice behind you saying,
This is the way, walk you in it." The Holy Spirit will guide you in
life. He will guide you in death and He will guide you to Glory. He
will guard you from modern error and from ancient error, too. He will
guide you in a way that you know not–and through the darkness He will
lead you in a way you have not seen–these things will He do for you
and not forsake you.
Oh, this precious text! I seem to have before me a great cabinet full
of rich and rare jewels. May God the Holy Spirit, Himself, come and
hand these out to you and may you be adorned with them all the days of
your life!
Last of all, "I will put My Spirit within you," that is, by way of
consolation, for His choice name is, "The Comforter." Our God would not
have His children unhappy and, therefore, He Himself, in the third
Person of the blessed Trinity, has undertaken the office of Comforter.
Why does your face wear such mournful colors? God can comfort you! You
that are under the burden of sin, it is true no man can help you into
peace, but the Holy Spirit can! O God, to every seeker here who has
failed to find rest, grant Your Holy Spirit! Put Your Spirit within him
and he will rest in Jesus! And you dear people of God who are worried,
remember that worry and the Holy Spirit are very contradictory one to
another! "I will put My Spirit within you" means that you shall become
gentle, peaceful, resigned and acquiescent in the Divine will. Then you
will have faith in God that all is well!
That text with which I began my prayer this morning was brought home to
my heart this week. Our dearly beloved friend, Adolph Saphir, passed
away last Saturday and his wife died three or four days before him.
When my dear Brother, Dr. Sinclair Patteson, went to see him, the
beloved Saphir said to him, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all."
Nobody would have quoted that passage but Saphir, the Bible student,
the lover of the Word, the lover of the God of Israel. "God is light,
and in Him is no darkness at all." His dear wife is gone and he,
himself is ill, but, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."
This is a deep well of overflowing comfort, if you understand it well.
God's Providence is light as well as His promise–and the Holy Spirit
makes us know this. God's Word and will and way are all light to His
people and in Him is no darkness at all for them. God Himself is purely
and only light.
What if there is darkness in me? There is no darkness in Him and His
Spirit causes me to fly to Him! What if there is darkness in my family?
There is no darkness in my Covenant God and His Spirit makes me rest in
Him! What if there is darkness in my body by reason of my failing
strength? There is no failing in Him and there is no darkness in
Him–His Spirit assures me of this! David says–"God my exceeding
joy"–and such He is to us. "Yes, my own God is He!" Can you say, "My
God, my God"? Do you need anything more? Can you conceive of anything
beyond your God? Omnipotent to work all forever! Infinite to give!
Faithful to remember! He is all that is good! Light only–"in Him is no
darkness at all." I have all light, yes, all things, when I have my
God! The Holy Spirit makes us apprehend this when He is put within us.
Holy Comforter, abide with us, for then we enjoy the Light of Heaven!
Then are we always peaceful and even joyful, for we walk in the
unclouded Light of God. In Him our happiness sometimes rises into great
waves of delight, as if it leaped up to Glory. The Lord make this text
your own–"I will put My Spirit within you." Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Ezekiel 3616-38.