"Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." [Footnote:
St. John i. 29.] He is the One whom God Himself has provided and set
apart: and "now He has appeared once for all to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself." [Footnote: Heb. ix. 26.] There on Calvary's
Cross before the eyes of crowds of people "who came together to see that
sight," He is set forth as the spotless Son of God who was made an
offering for sin. He it is "whom God now sets forth to us as a
propitiation." [Footnote: Rom. iii. 25.] He it is, and no other, whom God
sets forth as a Mercy seat, the Blood-sprinkled Mercy Seat. God's eye
rests on Christ and His finished work, and because it is a full, perfect
and sufficient satisfaction for all our sins, "God sets Him forth in order
to demonstrate His righteousness that He may be shown to be righteous
Himself and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus." Oh,
what a comfort it is to me to know that He is always there standing before
God as the Righteous One, and therefore when God looks at me in all my
unworthiness He does not see me, He only sees His dear Son.
When that godly physician Sir James Simpson was dying, the minister who
was by his bedside asked if he had any doubts. He looked up and said, "I
have no doubts; when I stand before God I shall just _hold up Christ to
God."_
This is why Jesus is come, and this is why Jesus died, that the believing
soul may hold Him up to God as "the One who has been made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption," [Footnote: I Cor. i. 30.]
and it is all God's doing, from first to last. I love to say to myself,--
"I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my all in all."
Our salvation depends on believing God's Word, that He has accepted our
Surety. When God raised Him from the dead, it was a proof that all the
claims of His holiness and justice had been fully met and satisfied.
The debt is paid because Jesus paid it all. He gave Himself as a
ransom--the redemption price for all.
So now God sets Him forth in all His untold preciousness and proclaims the
glorious message, "_Deliver him_, that poor helpless sinner, from going
down into the pit. I have found a ransom." [Footnote: Job xxxiii. 24.]
What was the price to be paid? "The Son of man is come to give His life a
ransom for many." "We are redeemed, not with silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ." Who can tell how precious? "More precious far
than gold." Think what it _cost_ the Father: He gave His only Son. "Having
yet one son, His well-beloved, He said, I will send Him."
Think what it cost the Son of God. Think of His agony in the garden, and
then the hiding of His Father's face, and last of all the pouring out His
soul unto death on the cross. Our redemption is doubly precious, not only
because of the price paid, but because of the Divine and Holy One who paid
it, the Lord of glory, even the Son of God Himself, "Which things even the
_angels_ desire to look into." [Footnote: 1 Pet. i. 12.] They long to see
into the depths of this wondrous redeeming love.
Can you sing this chorus from your heart--
"Precious, precious,
Precious is my Lord to me;
Precious, precious,
Everything in Him I see."
Think of what we have been rescued from! Christ has redeemed us from sin,
and death and hell.
Think of the cost of this great salvation, and then ask yourself, how much
is it worth to me? We shall only be able to answer that question when we
are safe home in the glory. Then we shall be looking back on death,
looking back on the Judgment of the great White Throne, as never having
come into it: looking back on the old world which has passed away.
"When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glorious sun,
When I go to Christ in glory,
Looking o'er life's finished story;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know
Not till then--how much I owe."
Think of the last plague which God sent upon Egypt. It was not till the
midnight cry, that exceeding great and bitter cry had resounded through
the land of Egypt showing that the destroying angel had entered the houses
of the Egyptians, leaving death and desolation there; it was not till _the
judgment had actually come_ that the Israelites realised the delivering
power of the blood which they had sprinkled on their doorposts. Think of
their wonder and of their thankfulness. They had believed and obeyed
before, but _now_ their hearts are filled with gratitude and praise. If
you have really cast yourself and all your sins on Christ, then you too
will join in the new song, saying, "Thou art worthy, for Thou wast slain
and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood." [Footnote: Rev. v. 9.]
To _receive_ Christ now into our hearts by faith is to be born of God:
[Footnote: St. John. i. 12, 13.] spiritual life is imparted to the
believer.
To _feed_ upon Christ day by day is to live by Him: [Footnote: St. John
vi. 57.] this is the evidence of life in the believer.
To see Christ by and by and to be like Him, is life perfected in glory.
[Footnote: 1 John iii. 2.]
Dear fellow sinners, let me entreat you most earnestly in the light of an
Eternity that is coming, and as you value your precious, never-dying
souls, do not trifle with God's unspeakable Gift. "How shall we escape if
we neglect so great salvation?" [Footnote: Heb. ii. 3.] No one either in
heaven or upon earth can answer that question. If the lost in hell could
speak to us they would tell us that there is _no_ escape.
THE SON OF GOD IS COME,
and oh! the wonder of it all, "He came to where I was."
The words of this beautiful hymn describe it--
"I looked and there was none to help,
'No man' could meet my case:
A weary, world-worn heart was mine,
Without a resting place.
Then One drew near, the Christ of God,
With pitying eyes He scanned,
Jesus came to me where I was,
And took me by the hand.
"He led me first to Calvary's mount,
And, oh! what sight it gave!
The agony, the life out-poured,
It cost Him there to save.
My heart fell broken at His feet,
Who could such love withstand?
The love that came to where I was,
And took me by the hand.
"He lifted me upon a rock,
Round me His light He shed;
He poured His peace into my heart,
He healed, He held, He fed.
Ah! then I knew that holy One,
The whole could understand.
The One who came to where I was,
And took me by the hand.
"And since that day, through all the days,
His love my way has planned:
He comes to bless me where I am,
He takes me by the hand.
This glorious One is all to me,
He shall my life command,
The Christ who came to where I was,
And took me by the hand."
ADDRESS IV
THE SPIRIT OF GOD
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE--St. John iv. 1-26
God is a Spirit. Look at this poor woman standing at the well and let us
try and realise what a wonderful revelation it was which Christ made known
to her soul about God. He told her that God is Father, that God is
Saviour, and that God is Spirit; three Persons but one God.
The Lord opened her heart and she grasped this wondrous truth.
Christ said to her, "God the Father is seeking you, He is longing for you
to come to Him." Then He let her feel and see that He is the Saviour.
Was it not wonderful that she was the first to tell the good news that He
is "the Saviour of the world"? [Footnote: St. John iv. 42.]
Christ said to her, "God is a Spirit," and she found that no one else but
God could touch her heart.
Until the Spirit of God comes into our hearts, we cannot really know God
personally or have communion with Him. "Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God." [Footnote: 1 Cor. ii. 12.]
Although our hearts are so sinful the Holy Spirit is longing to come in.
He found an entrance into the heart of this poor woman whose life was a
wreck with its four great failures. Every life is a failure in God's
sight, but we must never despair of any one, for "with God all things are
possible," and as long as life lasts there is hope for the sinner.
"The Lord opened her heart," she heard and believed, and went home to tell
others what a dear Saviour she had found. It was the beginning of a
revival at Sychar, and every revival begins in the same way, God is
revealed by His Spirit and men realise the nearness of God.
Until a man really finds out what God is, there can be no true spiritual
worship. This is the truth Jesus came to make known to us when He says,
"God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and
in truth," for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. Yes, the Father
is seeking us, yearning for us to come close to Him and to respond to His
love for us. When our Lord tells us that we must worship in spirit, He
means that it is the spirit in man which responds to the Spirit of God. Do
you offer Him your heart's devotion and praise, or is it only lip-worship?
True spiritual worship does not depend on forms or ceremonies or on any
special place or time. I felt the point of this when a railwayman said to
me, "We can be in touch with God all the day long."
God is a Spirit, just as "God is Light." [Footnote: 1 John i. 5.]
And there are no limitations as to where He works or His ways and time of
working.
The Holy Spirit reveals to us far more about God than we ever imagined.
The Bible says, "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit."
[Footnote: 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10.]
Until the Holy Spirit opens our blind eyes to see spiritual things we
cannot understand them. It is not the words of man's wisdom which can
explain them, we need to use spiritual words for spiritual truths, so we
can only speak as the Holy Spirit teaches us what to say. "The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him," [Footnote: 1 Cor. ii. 14.] he does not grasp the meaning of
them.
It is because God is a Spirit that he meets our spiritual need when we
feel altogether helpless and hopeless in ourselves, for He says, "I will
put My Spirit within you." [Footnote: Ezek. xxxvi. 27.] God begins in the
very centre of our being, in our innermost hearts. God makes Himself known
to us as God, through our spiritual necessities.
The Presence of the Holy Spirit is a personal thing in each one who
receives Him. There is only one way by which we can receive the Holy
Spirit, and that is by faith. The Holy Ghost has been given. Will you ask
yourself, Have I received Him? If not, why not?
When God puts His Spirit into our hearts He abides with us for ever. He
never leaves us. Even when we grieve Him by our coldness of heart, He does
not leave us.
It is God who begins the work of grace in our hearts. The Book which
reveals to us what God is, opens with the words, "In the Beginning,
_God_." [Footnote: Gen. i. 1.] God is the Beginner of all things, not only
of the creation of the world, but of the new creation in our souls. This
Book unfolds to us how God begins and finishes the great work of
redemption and salvation.
We find another marvellous beginning which is also unfolded in this Book.
"The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." [Footnote: 1 Gen.
i. 2.] It is a remarkable word; it means the Spirit of God brooded on the
face of the waters. In Genesis we read, "The Spirit of God was brooding,"
and in the Gospels we find the Spirit of God compared to a dove. The word
"brooding" is a figure of the mother dove brooding over her nest and
cherishing her young. The first time the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the
Old Testament is in this verse, and the first emblem of the Holy Spirit in
the New Testament is in the 3rd chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, where it
says that, after our Lord had been baptized, "The heavens were opened unto
Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon
Him." [Footnote: St. Matt. iii. 16.]
First let us look at the background of the picture. We see darkness and
desolation, death and ruin. Then we see the Spirit of God, the Dove of
peace, brooding over it all, and bringing light and life, love and peace
out of the confusion.
So the two thoughts which are here brought to our minds are Motherhood and
Peace. If you look carefully into the Word of God you will see how the
thought of Motherhood is brought before us in many ways in connection with
the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.
When Christ is speaking of the New Birth, He says we are "born of the
Spirit." [Footnote: St. John iii. 6.] Again, when the cry of the new-born
soul is spoken of, we are told how it comes; for Paul says, "God hath sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
[Footnote: Gal. iv. 6] Again there is the beautiful expression, "The
Spirit of Adoption." "We have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we
cry Abba, Father." [Footnote: Rom. viii. 15.] "Abba" means "dear Father."
When God would reveal His heart of love to us He says, "As one whom his
mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." [Footnote: Isa. lxvi. 13.]
Think of a mother busy with her work, and her little one playing on the
floor. Presently there is a cry, it has fallen down, and in a moment the
mother is by its side to soothe it. But there is something sweeter still.
Even if nothing befall the child the mother is near by to help it over
every difficulty and to respond to every look and sign. Even so our God
who is to us our Mother Comforter, says, "Before they call I will answer,
and while they are yet speaking I will hear." [Footnote: Isa. lxv. 24]
The little child always turns to its mother for comfort in every trouble.
There is one thing which we notice in every home, that is, the mother's
tender love and constant care for her little one. Night and day her child
is her one thought. So the Lord says of His people, "I the Lord do keep
it, lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." [Footnote: Isa.
xxvii. 3.] Every child of God can say--
"Moment by moment I'm kept in His love."
Does the child need the mother's constant, watchful care? Yes, because
everything around is like a new world to the little one, it is all a new
experience. The mother gives herself up so entirely to the child that it
depends on her for everything. In the same way when the soul is born again
it is brought into a new relation to God, it has entered into a new
experience and the Holy Spirit becomes to it just what the mother is to
the child and much more.
Just as the mother trains the little one to take the first steps in
walking and holds it up, so it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us how to
walk and to please God. The little hand is slipped into mother's hand to
be led and held up. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the
sons of God." [Footnote: Rom. viii. 14.]
The mother keeps the child close to her, so the Holy Spirit is the
Comforter to us, by our side, for the word "Comforter" means, The one whom
we call to our side to help us. Just as the mother tells her child what to
say when it wants anything, so He helps us when we pray, "for we know not
what we should pray for as we ought." [Footnote: Rom. viii. 26.]
"The Comforter is come." When did He come? On the day of Pentecost, for it
was _then_ that the Holy Spirit was poured out, and He has been with us
ever since.
Let those words ring in your heart and in your life, "The Comforter is
come." [Footnote: St. John xv. 26.] There is a beautiful hymn which
illustrates the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. It
begins with the words--
"Spirit Divine! attend our prayers,
And make our hearts Thy home."
Then four things are mentioned which show forth God's power in Nature.
Light, fire, dew, wind. In the Bible they are all used as symbols of the
Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of men.
In Nature we know that human power is small compared with the power of
light, fire, wind, and water. Have we learnt to depend only on the Power
of the Holy Ghost? God's Voice is ever saying to us now, oh! that we may
listen, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord."
[Footnote: Zech. iv. 6.] Just as all the marvels of the natural world are
perfectly carried out by God's wisdom and power, so He has given the Holy
Spirit to make Him perfectly known as a living Presence, a living Power
and Reality in our hearts and lives.
In the second verse of the hymn we find the words--
"Come as the Light--to us reveal
Our emptiness and woe."
We know what the light does when it shines into a room, It reveals or
shows up any dust we had not noticed before. So when the light of God
shines into our hearts it reveals what we never saw before.
Have you ever watched the battleships on a dark night, anchored a little
way off from the coast? Suddenly the bright dazzling searchlights are sent
out from the ship. They seem to sweep over the ocean with their sparkling
light and then to wrap you round, as you stand there on the shore. The
sight fills you with wonder; you feel as if the eyes of all on board ship
can see you.
It is the same when the Holy Spirit shines into our hearts; it is almost
overwhelming; we can only cry, "Woe is me, for I am undone."
[Footnote: Isa. vi. 5.] We stand condemned under the searching eye of God.
All our self-righteous excuses are swept away. We can no longer take
refuge in the fact that we are as good as others and a great deal better
than some of our neighbours. The dazzling light of God's Presence has
searched us through and through and turned us inside out. Is this
searching necessary for every one? Yes, for it is the only way we can
learn to know the evil of our hearts.
Sometimes the light of the Holy Spirit comes to us in a quiet moment and
shows us what we never saw before. Sometimes it comes like a flash. It
flashed out on the road when Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus.
He described it when he was being tried before King Agrippa, "At midday, O
King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the
sun, shining round about me. And I fell to the ground and I heard a voice
saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he tells us also
that he could not see for the glory of that light." [Footnote: Acts xxvi.
13, xxii 17.] Whenever the light comes it is a revelation, a moment never
to be forgotten: Darkness conceals, light reveals.
The Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters, and God said, "Let
there be light and there was light." [Footnote: Gen. i. 3.]
The Holy Spirit not only shows us what we are, but He shows Christ to us;
then we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. "For God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ." [Footnote: 2 Cor. iv. 6.] Yes, God's glory is radiant on the face
of Christ and the Holy Spirit reveals it. He delights to show us His
beauty and His loveliness and thus to glorify Him. He makes Him a reality
in our souls--"a living bright Reality." If you have not seen Him as
"altogether lovely" it is not because the Holy Spirit is not willing to
show Him to you, but because you turn away and will not look.
How good it is of God to send the Holy Spirit into this world on purpose
to reveal these things to us. We should never see them but for Him. "The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them because they are spiritually discerned." [Footnote: I Cor. ii.
14.] What is the natural man? It is what we are by nature before the
Spirit of God gives us a new life. When it says "He receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God," it means that he has no power to receive
them. He is groping in the dark, loving the darkness rather than the
light.
A poor woman who had led a careless worldly life, sent me this message
when she was dying, "Tell her the little prayer she taught me has been
answered. She will understand. Tell her God has shown me myself and
He has shown me Himself, so I am going to be with Him."
The little prayer which she had learnt from my lips was this--"Lord, show
me myself; Lord, show me Thyself." How I thanked God that He used it for
the saving of her soul.
When the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin and of our need of a Saviour, He
does not leave us there. He draws aside the veil and reveals to us the
secret love of God. When our eyes have been opened to know that God is
_Light_, then we find out that God is _Love_. How did this love of God
show itself? God sent His Son, "In this was manifested the love of God
towards us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that
we might live through Him." [Footnote: 1 John iv. 9.] It is not only the
Love of God made known and shining out in the Gift of His Son, but we are
told that "God commendeth His love towards us." [Footnote: Rom. v. 8.]
How does God commend His love? He sets together His love for His Son and
His love for the sinner, and His love for the sinner is so great that
He gave His Son to die for us. Thus the words "God commendeth His love"
make it quite clear that "God loves the sinner with a love which gives its
best, gives everything, keeping nothing back, and gives to everybody."
"Oh, the love that gave Jesus to die,
The love that gave Jesus to die,
Praise God it is mine this love so Divine--
The love that gave Jesus to die."
"God commendeth His love towards us in that, when we were yet sinners," it
makes no difference _who_ we are or _what_ we have been, the Holy Spirit
fixes our thoughts on that little word "yet." The text says, "When we were
yet sinners, still far off, still lost and undone, Christ died for us"; so
the Blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, "cleanseth us from all sin."
[Footnote: I John i. 7.] When we feel that sin is really a burden then the
Holy Spirit points us to the little word "all." Then He applies the
precious Blood to our guilty consciences, assuring us by the Word that the
Blood of Jesus Christ does cleanse from all sin so that not a single stain
is left. It is a perfect cleanser, there is nothing it cannot do. Then the
Holy Spirit shows us that God has provided a perfect covering for us in
the Robe of Christ's Righteousness.
It is thus that the Comforter, who is the Spirit of Truth, leading into
all truth, shows us the meaning of Christ's redeeming work and enables us
to understand it and to appropriate it. When we do this it is indeed a
blessed experience.
A young man whom I know described it as follows: "I heard the voice of God
saying to me, 'Who told thee that thou wast naked?' [Footnote: Gen. iii.
11.] I am sure that it was the work of the Holy Spirit showing me my utter
helplessness and leading me to seek the covering of Christ's
Righteousness. I feel I am exactly suited to Jesus as He is exactly suited
to me, for I am just the one who needs His fulness, and He is the only one
that can supply my emptiness."
I praised God for this clear testimony, and I have seen again and again
ever since I began to work for the Lord many years ago, that the Holy
Spirit delights to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ as "a full Saviour for
empty sinners."
The Gospel of St. John tells us very plainly that the Holy Ghost was sent,
not only to make us see the meaning of Christ's finished work, but also to
prepare our hearts to receive it in all its fulness.
How does the Holy Spirit prepare our hearts? First, He opens our hearts,
awakens in us a sense of our need and sinfulness, then, when He has opened
our hearts, He breathes into them a new life; He creates a longing for
God. We feel within us a burning desire to know God. We catch eagerly at
everything we hear about God, This is quite a new experience; we used to
go on year after year not troubling about it in the very least. What is
this new experience, this seeking after God? It is what the Bible calls
"Repentance." The word means "Change of mind." Again and again the Apostle
Paul urged upon both Jews and Greeks the necessity of "repentance towards
God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." [Footnote: Acts xx. 21.]
A few days ago I received a touching letter from a young friend telling me
how God's Spirit had led her to repentance. She wrote, "When I was a
little girl and began to seek the Lord, I was very much troubled because
I could not feel sorry enough for my sins. I wanted a real repentance to
come to the Lord with. I thought repentance meant crying over one's sins a
great deal, and I could not feel sorry enough to cry as I wanted to. I
used to keep praying, 'Give me a real repentance.' Many times I dreamed I
had this deep repentance and could cry over my sins, and I have awakened
with my face really bathed in tears, but oh, how disappointing it was to
find it only a dream and I had not got what I wanted after all. I went on
like this until I was twenty, when the Lord spoke these words with great
power to my soul, 'The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.' The
voice seemed audible and I turned to see if anybody had spoken to me. I
was able to weep enough then, but they were tears of joy and gratitude,
and I well remember saying aloud, 'O Lord, why me, why one so sinful as I
am?' I now see that repentance means 'a change of mind' and not a flood of
tears. Had I known this when a child it would have saved me years of
toiling and praying for repentance."