When the sinner first receives the message of the gospel, and bows by faith to the name of Jesus, under a sense of his sin and guilt before God, the Holy Spirit, we know, is at work in that soul. There is repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a child of God, though, for a time, there may be great feebleness of faith as to the completeness of the work of redemption, and as to his forgiveness and acceptance, in virtue of that finished work. But when he has learned these further truths by divine teaching, he rests in that work, he has peace with God, he knows he has eternal life, and joy fills his heart. Now he is not only quickened as a sinner, but scaled as a believer.
There must at least be a moment of time between quickening and scaling. The one follows the other; as saith the apostle, “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were scaled with that Holy Spirit of promise,” And again he says, “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” The Christian is now indwelt by God the Holy Ghost, in whose power he prays, subject in heart and conscience to the word of God, and by whoso indwelling he is united to the exalted Lord in glory.
This is the distinctive truth of the present dispensation, the believer’s practical security against the evils that surround him, and most subservient to the one grand exhortation of the apostle, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.”
The Mercy of Our Lord Jesus.
The coming of the Lord Jesus is the grand future of the faithful. Though they may be endeavoring to keep themselves in the love of God; to build themselves up on their most holy faith, and to pray in communion with God through the power of the Holy Spirit, the end of all is, looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus unto eternal life—for a life of eternal, unmingled blessedness, with our God and Father in the presence of His glory. The coming of the Lord to take us up to be with Himself, is here viewed, not as His love and faithfulness—though unchangeable in both—but rather as a mercy, for surely it will be a great mercy to be taken away from the presence of such mere formalism and abounding wickedness. The apostle Paul, in referring to the kindness of Onesiphorus, speaks of the Lord showing mercy to those who had been faithful in a time of trial. “The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day; and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well” (2 Tim. 1:16-1816The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: 17But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. 18The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. (2 Timothy 1:16‑18).) The special truth here is, the coming of the Lord for His saints, which is looked at as a mercy. The ungodly will be dealt with, and the unrighteous judged with all the workers of iniquity at the appearing of the Lord with His saints in full manifested glory.
Discipline.
Grace and wisdom are especially needed, in such times as the apostle speaks of, to distinguish between those who may be drawn aside. The “difference” here spoken of is no doubt a divine principle, but great spiritual discrimination is necessary in dealing with such cases. A more manifest judgment must be expressed against a leader in evil, than against some who may have been led away. But these are matters for local investigation, and for the spiritual judgment of the humble, who wait on God for His divinely given wisdom and grace. Many have mistaken what may be called a human opinion of a case in question, for a spiritual judgment, and thereby widened the breach in place of healing it. The opinion oft repeated, may so prejudice many minds that a happy settlement of the question can never be attained. It is the spiritual judgment of the saints—of the lowly—not the opinion of an influential brother, which will tend to heal, to humble, to restore communion, and to receive the sanction of the Lord. “And of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
The Doxology.
The heart of the apostle, as he turns to God and thinks of the blessed portion of the faithful, overflows with praise. This is characteristic of all the apostolic doxologies. God having so revealed Himself in His grace and goodness to the spiritual understanding of the sacred writers, they usually wind up their communications with a burst of intelligent praise.
We see this beautifully exemplified in the case of the apostle Paul, especially in his epistles to the Romans and the Ephesians. At the close of the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the Romans, after glancing rapidly at Israel’s past history, their present blindness, their future restoration, the thought of the Deliverer coming out of Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob, his heart overflows with adoring wonder, which finds its expression in language so rapturous and sublime, that everything is lost sight of but God Himself. “O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
In his other doxology at the close of the sixteenth chapter, we have an entirely different order of thought. There the apostle speaks as if the welfare of the saints was everything, though it is in view of the power of God, who only is able to do all for them. His heart deeply and tenderly anxious for their stability in the faith, he commends them to God according to the gospel with which he had been entrusted. The inspired salutations may have awakened in his heart the deep sympathies of fellowship, and brought the saints before him in a special way. “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.”
in the epistle to the Ephesians, the great object of the apostle, or, rather of the Spirit of God by the apostle, is to make known the heavenly relations and blessings of the church in Christ—its position in heavenly places in Him; and with this agrees his brief but magnificent doxology at the close of the third chapter. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above ail that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” It is evident that the soul of the apostle was greatly curried away, indeed lost in adoring wonder as he was made the intelligent channel of such rich communications to the church at Ephesus, and through the same epistle to the church in all ages. Unlike the prophets of old who had no personal interest in their revelations, he tasted, he drank deeply, of the sweetness of those living waters which proceed from the throne of God and the Lamb—the eternal counsels of God in Christ, according to which the church is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Hence the apostle could say, “According to the power that worketh in us.” It was thus the language of a heart that felt deeply what it uttered, and the intelligence of a mind that beamed with heavenly light. This is the immense advantage which the Christian has over the prophets of old with reference to divine communications. Thus we read with reference to the latter, “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” 1 Pet. 1:1111Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Peter 1:11).
This is the true principle of all the doxologies: “According to the power that worketh in us;” not merely by us, but in us. And as Paul says, in writing to the Galatians, “When it pleased God.... to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen not even to me or by me, but in me.” It is the effect of the Holy Ghost in us, making good to the soul the divine revelations of the person and work of Christ, together with His present position in glory and the bright hope of His return. “Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he shall show you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.... At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” John 14; 15; 16
It is from this great principle—distinctive and characteristic of the present period—that we expect to find great fervency and earnestness in teachers and preachers of the word of God. It is their privilege to enter by the power of the Holy Ghost into the nature and character of their message. This gives true spiritual feeling, which ought to rise to the height or descend to the depth of their discoveries of the truth of God. Surely nothing can be more inconsistent, more unseemly, than for those who have the Holy Ghost in them, to minister the word or preach the gospel as if they did not feel the weight and reality of their message, or enjoy its sweetness. Can such be in communion with God as to their subject? Can we discover or feel the unction and power of the Holy Ghost, as we listen to a clear but cold didactic manner of address? Was not the soul of the apostle rapt in admiring love when inspired to communicate to the children of God the previously hidden mystery? He prays that they may be rooted and grounded in love: that they may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; but he does not say of what; he found himself at a center of blessing, which has no circumference; but though overwhelmed with the vastness of the divine communications, he falls back on the well-known love of his Savior and Lord. “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” What a filling, what an overflowing of the vessel must this be! “With all the fullness of God.” Such is the happy privilege of those to whom the Holy Ghost reveals the mystery, not Christ merely, not the church merely, but Christ and the church. “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Eph. 5:3232This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:32).
Again, we find the same apostle in 2 Cor. 5 often speaking of the judgment seat of Christ, and thinking of unconverted men who must stand before that tribunal under a responsibility entirely their own, in a state of mind bordering on the most desperate earnestness. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” It would appear that his appeals, his warnings, his entreaties, founded on the terrors of the judgment seat, were of such a character as to expose him to the rude and uncharitable remarks of others, as he says, “For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.” But he cared little for this, as everything was so real, so present, to him. The words of his testimony burned in his heart, and on his lips, and he earnestly desired that they might burn in the hearts of others, whether by tongue or by pen.