The spiritual life

Front matter

m m

WfifflS

Jagg

Contents

PAGE

Explanatory, 5

Geo. C. Needham, . . 9

II. The Spirit Of Revelation And Of Unction

HERE are many lines of study on the subject of the Holy Spirit which are very profitable. For instance, one can consider the Gospel of John and trace the operations of the Spirit and the promises concerning the Spirit through that Gospel. You will find there a wonderful field of study and of delight. Then any student can take up the book of Acts, and trace the ministry of the Spirit through that book, and while reading the book, just have that one thought in your mind, making notes as you read; it may take you a week or two according to your time and the diligent application you give to it. Then review the Epistle to the Ephesians; there are six chapters in that Epistle and the Spirit is mentioned in every chapter. So if you will study a book, noting what is said about the Spirit, you will find a great deal of comfort and delight and spiritual profit in that study.

Now, let us open our Bibles at John xiv. 16. ' ( And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." I wish to call your attention to the

(41) "

Spirit as the Spirit of Revelation. He reveals to us the things of Jesus Christ. 1 1 1 will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever. " The Comforter is the Holy Spirit, who is Christ's Vicar on earth; Christ's substitute; He comes to take the place of Jesus. Many persons think the Pope is Antichrist, but I never can understand how the Pope is Antichrist, for this reason, the Bible says specifically that Antichrist when he comes will deny the Father and the Son, that Antichrist will be an infidel. The Pope honors the Father and the Son, not only in His humanity as the son of the Blessed Virgin, but he also fully recognizes the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But the Pope claims to be Christ's Vicar on earth, and he occupies the Holy See, which is an abbreviation of the Holy Seat, so that the sin of the Pope is a sin against the Holy Ghost, for his assumption is a denial of the Spirit of God, who has come in his personal presence to be Christ's Vicar on earth and to occupy the Holy See, which is the Church, the Temple of God. The Holy Seat is the heart of the believer, and the Spirit has come as Christ's representative to earth to transact business for Him, so that when the Pope claims to be the Vicar of Christ, he therefore denies the Spirit and sins against Him.

But the Protestant Church is not guiltless. Our evangelical orthodox churches, while not denying the Spirit, yet ignore His presence, so that we also have in great measure sinned against the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I will send One who shall abide with you forever, another Comforter, the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Intercessor, who shall be with you and in you.

John xv. 26. u But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." This then is the main work of the Spirit of God, testifying of an absent Christ ; testifying of a risen Christ. John xvi. 13. The newspaper can only tell us of things which have transpired ; the Bible speaks of things to come. It is the best kind of a newspaper, for it predicts future things. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prophecy. He makes known to us the future, so that the believer need not be speculating concerning the things of the future ; the things concerning our Lord and His people, and concerning this planet upon which we live. c ' He shall show you things to come." The Holy Spirit is the revealer of Jesus Christ. Suppose there is a veil across this platform, all these ministers on the platform will be in obscurity, you cannot see what is behind the veil; but when the veil is drawn aside you see clearly. Revelation means the rolling back of the veil. There is a veil on the human heart ; we cannot see spiritual things, but the Holy Spirit comes and draws aside the veil, opening our eyes and enlightening our understanding, giving us the power to perceive spiritual things, and He sets Jesus Christ before us so that we shall see Him. If we are acquainted with the Holy Spirit in His gracious ministry we shall become more fully acquainted with Christ. But we must not be looking for any mystical work of the Spirit apart from His Word.

Through it He will give to us a clear and complete knowledge of our L,ord Jesus Christ. And here arises the question : Is it possible to believe in, or love an absent person ? Is it possible to love one whom we have never seen, with whom we have never spoken ? Certainly, it is. The Lord Jesus is absent, but the Holy Spirit can reveal Him to us so really that our hearts will throb in love to Him, and like Peter, we can say, "Whom not having seen, we love ; in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." When you have time I want you to read the 24th chapter of Genesis, where we have a very beautiful story, interesting, touching, pathetic; it is also a very striking illustration of God's method of revealing the truth to the believing soul. Abraham is a father, Isaac is his son. Abraham has a faithful servant who has been a long time in his household, and has become as a member of his family. He said to him one day, ' ' You go to the daughters of my people and provide a wife for my son; do not go among the Canaanites ' ' — for old Abraham did not wish to have any unequal yokes in his family — "go find a wife amongst my own people for my son." Now, this was a very peculiar mission on which this servant was sent, but he prayed God to go with him, and when he reached the end of his journey there was Rebekah, and after a little conversation the servant thought, perhaps this is the one whom God has provided for my master's son. I want you to mark the delicate tact of the man. He talked to her and said, ' ' I belong to Abraham ;' ' then he talked about Abraham for a time, and about himself as the servant; but mark you, everything he said about Abraham and everything he said about himself related to Isaac ; he led the mind and heart of the damsel to Isaac. ' ' My master has an only son and his name is Isaac; Abraham is rich and Isaac is his heir." Of course that would be attractive to a damsel, to hear of a true, good young man, very rich. After a little while he opens the casket and takes out some jewels and puts them upon her arms and neck, and said, Now these are but the first-fruits of the wealth that Isaac has. And then he talked about Isaac in a great many sweet ways, and while he talked the heart of the damsel began to throb with love towards the man she had never seen. And when the servant said, ' ' Will you go with me and be his wife?" she said, "I will go." Why?

The revelation of Isaac was so real, the portrayal of the man was so graphic it seemed as if she had known Isaac all her life-time.

So, beloved friends, our Master is very great, He is the risen Lord Jesus, He is Lord of all, and the Holy Spirit conies as the servant of the Father and of the Son to this earth to find a bride for that Isaac. He comes down to earth to speak with us about the Lord; He talks not about Himself except in relation to Christ. Then He takes the promises and precepts and beautiful things which belong to Christ, and gives us to understand this is just a little of the riches of His grace. And as we believe, our poor hearts begin to beat with love towards a person we have never seen, because the Holy Spirit makes Him real to us. This is the work of the Spirit, to make Christ real to the believing heart. He is no mystic Christ, no mere dogma Christ, but the Christ for the human heart; He is full of sympathy, He has suffered for us, He gave His life for us, and the Holy Spirit makes Him and His redeeming love real to our faith, so that we love Him.

Again, the Holy Spirit reveals to us the resources of Christ. There are a great many of us Christians who are living on a cent a day. You know what I mean. The Lord Jesus is infinite in His resources ; He gives to us liberally all things to enjoy, and the Holy Spirit is here to make known to us the deep, infinite, eternal riches of Christ. Not only, dear

The Spirit of Revelation. ^rj

friends, are all things spiritual in the hands of Jesus, but all things material. The cattle upon a thousand hills belong to Him; so also the gold and the silver. Where does George Muller get his means for feeding and educating 2000 orphans ? He goes to His Lord, for the Spirit has revealed to George Muller the infinite resources of Jesus. Hudson Taylor cares for hundreds of missionaries in China, and neither he nor Mr. Muller ever had a pink tea, or an oyster supper, or a broom drill, or a begging expedition to raise money for the Master's work.

There was a man, called Joseph, who, in his youthful days, was supposed to have been eaten by animals. In after years the brothers were in Egypt in the time of famine, and there Joseph revealed himself to them. He forgave them; he filled their sacks with corn; he sent them down to Canaan, and said, Tell my father that I am alive and Governor over the land of Egypt, and bring my father up to me. And the sons came into the tent of their father and said, ' ' Father, Joseph is alive and Governor over the land of Egypt!" Now if they had broken it gently and said first, " he is alive, ' ' and then afterwards "he is well off," and given him time so that he could take it in little by little, they might have convinced him; but the heart of the old man sank within him, and he said, ' ' You mock me!" and turning, it may be, to the little coat hanging on the tent-peg, he said something like this: My sons, there is proof that Joseph is dead. Joseph is to me but a sacred memory, and you harrow my feelings in my old age by talking in that flippant way about him. How can they convince their father that Joseph is alive and Governor of all the land of Egypt, and that the old man shall henceforth have plenty? They invite him to the open door; and as he stood there in the tent-door he saw a chariot, the like of which he had never looked on, with caparisoned horses. "What is this ?" " Those are Joseph's horses and chariot come for you. " u And those wagons — what are these?" u Those are provisions for your comfort on the journey." "What are those?" "Those are provided for us and our families." "What is that?" Wagon after wagon; it was such a revelation to the old man that he cried out, "It is enough; my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die."

My dear friends, the Holy Spirit comes to us, poor pauper Christians that we are, and He brings before us in review chariot after chariot, wagon after wagon, promises, provisions of grace, all to persuade us, to assure us that Christ is rich; that we need not starve; that He has all things in His possession. And when that truth gets down into our hearts and lives we can go on our way rejoicing, singing, " Our Joseph is alive, our Joseph is rich. ' ' So let us not go creeping along, but walk erect as Sons of God, when our Elder Brother has all things at His disposal; spiritual wealth, and all other things which we need. This, then, is the work of the Spirit, revealing Christ, making Him so real that we shall transact business with Christ, who is Governor over all worlds, and who has all resources in His possession.

In the next place, not only is He the Spirit of Revelation, but He is the Anointing Spirit. 1 John ii. 20, 27. The unction of the 20th and the anointing of the 27th verse are the same thing. Now what is the purpose of the Spirit in this respect ? The Spirit is set forth under the emblem of oil. What is the use of oil ? Oil is for many purposes. First, we find that oil is for knowledge ; in the second place, oil is for joy; then oil is for beauty; oil is also for power. Acts x. 43. God anointeth ; the Holy Spirit is the oil. In Luke iv. 10, we read ' ( The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor." As Jesus was anointed with the Spirit, so are His people. There are two things referred to in the Old Testament ; the blood and the oil. In the 14th chapter of Leviticus we have the cleansing of the leper. One bird is killed and the other bird is dipped into the blood of the dead bird and turned loose into the field, while the blood is sprinkled on the leper seven times. Then follow the results of the cleansing. A great many Christians are satisfied to have the blood of Jesus cleanse their past life, but, my dear friends, that is only the first instalment of salvation. When that leper had been cleansed, he shaved off all his hair, washed himself in water, and stood there a cleansed man, then the priest gave other directions. Observe : The priest took of the blood of the trespass offering and put it upon his right ear and upon his thumb and upon his toe, touching him with blood from head to foot. The ear represents the senses ; the hand, labor, and the foot, walk. All touched with the blood of the trespass offering. This is exceedingly interesting to us, because it is typical. When the leper had his senses and all his faculties dedicated with blood, then the priest took the oil and placed the oil upon the blood, associated it with the blood, upon the ear and upon the thumb and upon the toe. Oil is the symbol of the Spirit; hence the rest of the oil was poured upon his head and it flowed down to the skirts of his garment ; so that this leper was not only touched with blood, but also anointed with oil. There is a remarkable passage in i Cor. vi. 19, 20, " Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God? . . . For ye are bought with a price." Thus we have the blood and the Spirit together, but the blood always preceding; the blood first and then the Spirit afterwards ; so that the oil upon the leper represents the fact that the sinner cleansed in trie blood of Jesus, is in the next place touched with the holy oil; the holy unction is placed upon him ; upon his head, upon his hands, and upon his feet ; the whole Christian is now dedicated to the Iyord by the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Now, let us look at these four points. First, the anointing is for knowledge, that you may know; as when Jesus anointed the eyes of the blind man, then he saw ; he went and washed and received his sight. Jesus said to the Church at L,aodicea, ( ' Thou thoughtest that thou wast rich, and increased in goods and had need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art poor and miserable and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou may est be rich ; and white raiment that thou may est be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see." My dear friends, when the Holy Spirit comes as the oil, it is that we may know Christ; then our eyes are opened ; our blindness is removed. The Church blind ? Is that possible ? Yes, and the Holy Ghost is the oil to heal the spiritual eye of the Christian that he may see by its wonderful power and efficacy. Don't you know that the Christian believer sees very much farther than the unregenerate philosopher ; the holy oil, this Spirit of revelation, is given him for knowledge, and he can see farther than the natural man.

The second purpose of the oil is for joy. Psalm xlv. 7. "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." This Psalm is prophetic of Jesus; u He was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. ' ' There is a traditional saying that Jesus was never known to smile, that Pie was never known to laugh, but passed through this world a man of sorrows, gloomy and sad. It is true He is called the ' ' Man of Sorrows ; ' ' He saw enough of sin in this world to fill Him with sorrow; but it is also true that He was a Man of Joy, so we read that Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, u I thank thee, oh Father, L,ord of Heaven and earth." Again and again it is intimated that divine joy possessed the heart of Jesus, and He went through life filled with gladness. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of gladness was upon Him. A little girl heard that Jesus never smiled, and she said, ' l Mamma, that cannot be so, for if He never smiled how would the little children come to Him, for we are told they did come to Him, and if He had never smiled, they would not have come to Him." The Holy Spirit has come to us that we too might be joyful. Gal. v. 21. u The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy." Beloved friends, who are happier than the Lord's children ? They can have their recreations, their amusements, their innocent diversions. I believe they should be very happy; I mean the children of God, who are walking in communion with their L,ord and King.

In the next place, the Holy Spirit, as the oil, makes us beautiful. Psalms civ. 15. Orientals use oil very lavishly; they use it for medicinal purposes and as a beautifier, and the more they shine, the greater beauties they are considered to be. Now the Holy Spirit is represented by that figure; ( ' oil, which makes the face to shine. ' ' There is a spiritual meaning underneath all that. My dear friends, the only beauty this world's children talk of is outward beauty. There are a great many beautiful faces in this world, and there are some beautiful faces in this city. But though some of us are homely enough, nevertheless we can be beautiful, for when the Spirit of God fills mind and heart, and the Word of God abides in us, there will be a spiritual charm and a heavenly peacefulness radiating from the most unhandsome face. It has often been said that Mr. Spurgeon was a very ordinarylooking man; people were disappointed when they saw him. It is true he was not handsome, not even in his young manhood, when I first became acquainted with him. But when preaching, or even in conversation, talking about the I^ord, I have seen that face light up like the face of an angel; I have seen the beauty of the I^ord reflected from that rugged face. I received a letter from the dear man which reached me after he had gone to heaven.

He was feeling well some days before his death, and the letter which he wrote me was tender and sweet. Spiritual beauty is the kind of beauty which the Spirit brings out in the life of the believer. The angles and the harsh lines He tones down and the corners He rounds off. The Spirit of God has a good deal of work to do on some of us, and He has been very patient with us. My dear friends, Society may talk about her balls; her votaries may go through ball-rooms laden down with diamond jewels, but there is no ball-room beauty to be compared with the plainest person in whom the Spirit of God dwells. ( ' L,et the beauty of the L,ord our God be upon us."

The Holy Spirit as oil is given to us for power. The ancient athletes and gymnasts used it for lubricating all parts of their body, so that they were able to bend easily. The oil has been in constant use by Orientals for strengthening the body, so the divine Oil has been given to us that we may be strong in spiritual life.

When you look into the Old Testament, and especially the book of Judges, you will find how the Spirit of God came upon men, anointing them; He came upon Shamgar, and upon Samson; He came upon Gideon, who went forth with his pitchers and lamps and overcame the Midianites. He came upon judges and upon kings to give them strength for action, to qualify them for service. He comes now upon us to impart strength for toil, and power for service. My dear friends, this is an important consideration; are we willing to have the power of the Spirit resting upon us, not only for public service, but also for personal holiness? I believe that if the Spirit of God rests upon us, we will know how to rock a cradle better, how to do an errand better, how to do business better, how to accomplish the most menial things better; for if indeed we are anointed with the Spirit of God there will be a power upon us for everything we seek to do, and surely we need to be anointed that our hands might be made stronger for labor, our services be more complete and our character more perfect.

Now, in closing, is there any way by which we can secure this power? Yes, thank God! There must be a denial cf self there must be a giving up of many things dear to us; there must be a hearty surrender of ourselves unto our God. I do not mean to say that you are to become a monk or a nun, but that the world must have no power over you any more; society must not charm you any longer.

When we fulfil the conditions which secure spiritual power, turning our backs upon all kinds of harmful societies, which are the bane of the Church to-day, turning our back upon the world, giving our services to the Church of Christ, standing by her true pastors and teachers, and in fellowship with all who love our Lord, then shall life indeed be worth living. Brothers and sisters, the power of God is for us all. Oh, I do pity from my heart brethren who are wasting their strength, sisters who are squandering their energies on things that do not profit. When I see many of our best workers drawn aside by one thing and another from the true object of life, I do not care even if it be a legitimate pursuit, I know it is grievous to the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is unlimited in power, infinite in grace. He may take up some poor, weak sister here to-day, and before twelve months you may see her bringing in her sheaves ; He may take up some brother who has never worked for God and use him mightily in saving the lost. I^et us expect great things. God bless you and grant you the anointing of the Spirit.

Ill

THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD.

HE Holy Spirit sustains varied relations to the Holy Scriptures. He is independent of them in personal sovereignty, yet identified with them in official ministry. The Spirit is known only through His word, even as a man is known by his words, which are the outward expression of his thoughts. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Yet not always is the man hereby fully known. Not so, however, with the Spirit, for through the revelation of Himself, we have accurate knowledge of Him — the Holy Spirit. For He wears no mask, adopts no disguise, is not hypocritical, is no trickster, but is transparent as the sea of glass before the throne, clear as the sunbeam, in whom is no darkness at all. Through the mirror of His Word He reflects His pure nature, His manifold characters, and the purposes of His ministry. By that Word, also, by the thunder of its power, by the sharpness of its blade, by the sweetness of its taste, by the richness of its mines, by the comfort of its promises, and by the nourishment of its doctrines, do we further know the Spirit in the majesty of His person and in His manifold ministry. For whatever may have been His modes of revelation in former ages to patriarchs and prophets, and however varied His operations shall be in the ages to come, He seems to have limited the instrument of His ministry during this church dispensation to that Word, of which He is both Author and Finisher.

There is, however, a First Word, who is from the beginning, who in the fullness of time became incarnate, and there is another Word, called ' ' living y Bpistles," with each of whom, also, the blessed Spirit has entered into close and vital relations. There is, besides, a correspondence between such relations, and those He sustains toward the written Word, which is, to us, the source of all spiritual knowledge of things past, present, and to come. With each, the Incarnate Word, the living Epistles of Christ, and the written Scriptures, is the Holy Spirit organically related. It was He who prepared that Temple of our L,ord's body, which concealed, yet revealed, the glory of the only-begotten Son of God. It was He who, in dove-like appearance, descended upon Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, and abode upon Him. Thus He came, as the Father's seal of divine authentication, upon the Beloved Son. Priests and prophets He visited, endowed, inspired, but with none of them could it be said that He abode. And so throughout our Lord's earthly life, in preparation for His unique mission, He was anointed of the Spirit, led of the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, comforted through the Spirit ; He offered Himself a sacrifice for sin by the same Spirit, yea, was finally raised from the dead by Him — who is the quickening Spirit.

Again, observe the very intimate relations which the Holy Spirit holds to the believer. For the Christian is one born of the Spirit, sealed with the Spirit, led of the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, quickened by the Spirit, first in his inner life, and finally in his resurrection from the dead.

Thus, also, do we perceive like relations between the letter of Scripture and the living Spirit. May we not say truly that it is born of the Spirit, it has been baptized with the Spirit, its genuineness is attested by this divine seal upon it? It is anointed with the Spirit, it is made quick and powerful, a living resurrection Word by the same Spirit. As Jesus was author and finisher of His own personal faith, so is He, the Spirit, author and finisher of that ' ' word of faith, ' ' which is our warrant of faith, our ground of faith, our instructor in faith, our incentive to faith, and our rule of faith.

I wish to submit for your consideration four propositions.

I. First proposition : The Holy Spirit is sole Author of Holy Scripture.

1. He is the author of revelation in its totality.

The Bible is not of man, neither by men, even as the stream is not of the river channel. Yet as channel and stream are closely related, and identified one with another, so are the hnman writers and the writings in close identity. But only forth from the fountain-mind of the Eternal Spirit, who is independent, sovereign, original, and originating, have these Scripture streams descended through their human channels to us.