WHAT THE SPIRIT HAS BROUGHT US INTO
Galatians 4: 1-7
Romans 8: 12-17
John 17: 22-26
PM I was freshly affected this morning with what the Holy Spirit has brought us into; not only as to place, wonderful as that is, but as forming in the believer the very feelings and affections that are suited to that place. I wondered if these verses might help us to follow that up a little, because the Holy Spirit operates in the believer that he might be perfectly at home in the presence of divine glory. It says, “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”. How wonderful that is, that the Spirit of God's Son, the One who responded in absolute perfection and in the enjoyment of the relationship, is the same Spirit dwelling in the saints to make us to be entirely at liberty in the presence of the Father. In Galatians the Spirit is crying, “Abba, Father”, and He is doing that in the saints. In Romans we have the leading of the Spirit bringing out not only that we are sons by calling, but as formed by the Spirit we are sons by character, and are able to cry, “Abba, Father”, because of the operation of the Spirit. Then in John 17 the last verse affected me, “that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. We shall always be creatures; we shall never be beyond what is creature, but divine Persons have operated that man should be made entirely suited to be before the Father with the affections and feelings that are suited to the Father's own heart.
JTB That is very helpful. The Spirit was uniquely placed to discern the Father's affections for the Son, do you think? And His intent would be that there should be some reflection of that in ourselves as sons. I was also affected this morning by the simple expression in relation to the Father, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 3: 14), as if filial affection should derive in a very real and tangible way from our knowledge of the Father; but as articulated, you might say, expressed, by the work of the Holy Spirit.
PM The Holy Spirit was there at the waters of baptism and witnessed the Father's expression of His delight in His Son, and the One who offered Himself without spot to God did so by the eternal Spirit, and how acceptable and perfect and how deeply He appreciated the perfection of that Offering! The Spirit saw it all, and knew it perfectly, and that same Spirit is in us.
JTB We had reference yesterday to, “who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God”, Heb 9: 14. The Spirit, speaking reverently, was witness of the perfection of that life in manhood of the Lord Jesus, so that there was no hesitation in the Lord Jesus invoking or having that blessed delivering up of Himself: “who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God”. The offering was really endorsed by the Spirit, do you think?
PM And offered in the power of the Spirit as entirely suitable. How wonderful that moment was! Think of those years when the Spirit was here upon the Person of the Lord Jesus, finding delight! The Lord Jesus could say as to the Spirit, “ye know him, for he abides with you”, John 14: 17. They knew the Holy Spirit's presence because He was there with Christ and in Christ, but they were going to know the Holy Spirit as in themselves. How wonderful!
TWL So the Spirit has come to us from where the Father has glorified Christ, where He has bestowed on Him according to His own feelings. Does that fit in with this?
PM It certainly does. And the Spirit has come to us from that very scene where Christ is exalted, where the Beloved is exalted; and the Spirit is still hearing what the Father and the Son are speaking about to each other, and the delight they are finding in each other. That is a wonderful thing: “whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak”, John 16:13. Think of the communications as they are proceeding between the Father and the Son today, and the Holy Spirit is bringing those very communications into the heart of the assembly and into the heart of each one who makes room for Him. Is that not a wonderful thing?
TWL Maybe we sometimes think of those communications being in relation to administration, but the communications that go on between the Father and the Son would be primarily the communications of affection.
PM Yes, they are.
TWL I was just thinking, in the light of this, that “crying, Abba, Father” is so that the reality of the affections become true in us. Would that be right?
PM Well, that is just what impressed me this morning. It is “the Spirit of his Son”. We have the Father's Spirit in Ephesians, but here it is “the Spirit of his Son”. How the Father loves that the One who - one has to speak carefully and reverently - was with His Son all the time. He is the same Spirit that has been sent out to us, and He cries in our hearts, “Abba, Father”. Is that right?
TWL Yes, it is, and just the wording of this as well is very precious because it is not 'the Spirit of the Son'; it is “the Spirit of his Son”. It brings in the whole thought of the personal feelings of the Father, not just Christ as He is in His glory as the Son, but what He is; “his Son” makes it personal.
PM And brings out the circle of divine affections. We had that in the hymn this morning:
Brought to rest within the circle
Where love's treasures are displayed (Hymn 136).
The Spirit has come from that very scene, bringing into the hearts of those that love Christ the very feelings suited to Him.
DHM We are really introduced into the place of divine secrets. These are precious things that the world knows nothing of, but the whole aspect we are introduced to, the feelings of divine Persons, is quite wonderful. How the Father feels about the Son! The Spirit hears these conversations and is able to relay that to us, and freshly touch our heart in a living way. There is a hymn that says,
Thou takest heav'nly glories of the Son,
And bringest every precious feature near. (Hymn 401)
We experienced that, I think, this morning.
PM And we are to treasure these occasions because we can touch something that is entirely outside of this scene altogether, and outside of man's responsibility. We can touch something that is according to divine purpose and rests in the circle of divine love.
DCB It is presented here that “God sent forth his Son” and then that He “sent out the Spirit of his Son”. I was wondering if there was some importance in these Persons and their distinctiveness and glory but taking up that place as being sent. There is a wonder about it. It brings the aura of the place that they have come from; They are freighted with the area, the place, They have come from as sent.
PM That is helpful and relates to divine purpose, does it not? “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son”, not merely 'when the fulness of time was come' but “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son”. How great that is, God sent Him out in service and in sacrificial service, having “come of woman, come under law”. He was here as having come that way, and God sent Him forth. How wonderful that there was a Man here upon the earth whom God could send forth! But then He has “sent out the Spirit” of that blessed Person “into our hearts”. I would like to get some impression of this in a deeper way. He has not just sent it out for our minds; the Spirit has not just come in relation to our minds although He forms the renewed mind, but He has come into our hearts that there should be affections and feelings that are suited to the Father's house.
DCB Yes; the first reference to the Spirit in Romans is His shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts (Rom 5: 5); so really the commencement of that activity is from within our hearts, and magnifying the love of God to us. These thoughts would meet together, the shedding abroad the love of God and the way in which we are brought into the practical expression of sonship.
PM Yes, and brought to share the Father's feelings as to His own Son. The hymn says that:
In Thy grace Thou now hast brought us
Sharers of Thy joy to be, And to know the blessed secret
Of His preciousness to Thee. (Hymn 277)
The Spirit has come forth from that very scene in order that we might be strengthened to be sharers of the Father's appreciation of His Son.
GMcK Do you have an impression about “because ye are sons”? It appears to me that it is the sovereign grace of God. It is all conferred, “because ye are sons”. I wonder if we get an impression of the wonder of that sovereign gift. I was noticing that in the second scripture, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”. That is a bit different, is it not?
PM It is. Why is it different?
GMcK It seems to be almost more the practical aspect of it. If we are led by the Spirit of God, we really come into sonship, but I wondered whether in contrast this scripture is so attractive “because ye are sons”. There is a glory to be given that is consistent with that great gift of being a son.
PM Yes, and does that relate to the purpose of God? It has often been said that we were sons in purpose before we were sinners in responsibility. In Galatians it is the way God has held us in His own thoughts in His purpose. “Because ye are sons”: it is all from the divine side there. But in Romans the features of sons come into expression. It is a formed thought really in Romans, but I was impressed with this reference, “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”. There is something very tender and sensitive in that, is there not? And He is only doing that to those that are His sons.
NRC Do we get here a sense of what you have brought before us: “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”? It is the desire we would have as believers to come into the gain of these things, but do we also see the desires of divine Persons, that they may dwell within our hearts?
PM That is important. We often view things from how they affect us, and the blessings are very wonderful, but I think we really begin to appreciate the greatness of what God has done when we see how He has done it for Himself. He has done it for His own pleasure, for His own glory, that He might have a scene that is filled with persons that have the feelings that are so like the feelings of His own beloved Son. The Father's house will be filled with persons that are like that.
NRC That is helpful. I often think in relation to the Supper, when we approach the Father, it is our right to be there as sons and, speaking for myself, it is easy to forget perhaps the desires of the Father to have the many sons in His presence and what that means for Him as well. I was impressed with that and the thought of the desires of the Spirit longing to be in the hearts of those who want Him.
PM The service of God, as we know it - and there has been a great opening up of light regarding the service of God over two hundred years or so - is all for the divine pleasure. God finds His pleasure in those that have the feelings and affections that are like His own beloved Son.
SCL Is that the importance of heirship? “But if son, heir also through God”, and then the passage in Romans also refers to heirs. It is not just those, speaking carefully, that have witnessed the affections of the Father and the Son, but there is an experience there; so that our response to the Father is as sons who have experienced the Father's love, and it is expressed by those who have been characterised by the Spirit of the Son for whom He has such great love.
PM I think so. Would you agree that an heir inherits from their father? We are “heirs of God”. We will go out into the world, if we are left here tomorrow, but an heir of God is a dignified thought. We move here not as governed by the principles of the world, but an heir of God moves out in testimony in dignity because he has an inheritance from God Himself. That is a very high standard, but it is here on the page of Scripture, and we should not shrink from it. We should seek by the Spirit, as having the Spirit crying in our hearts, “Abba, Father”, to move here in that holy dignity. That really is the testimony.
TWL Does it help us to see that heirship is the title to lay claim to the Father's name? It gives me the right.
PM You will have to explain that.
TWL Heirship means that I have the right to inherit what my Father proposed; so, as going out into the world in that dignity, I have the right to lay claim to that Name because I am an heir, not just because I know the feelings of an heir, but I have a right to lay claim to the Name. So we had a reference this morning to, “I ascend to my Father and your Father”, John 20: 17. The Lord Jesus does not say 'our Father'; the Lord Jesus says, “my Father”, and I have the right to lay claim to that according to this. Would that be right?
PM Yes, I think so. What you are suggesting is very challenging and it is to exercise us, I believe, because we are passing through a scene that is most undignified. There are abominations on every hand, but we are to move here as “children of God”; that is a wonderful thing.
SD It is a very interesting enquiry. I was thinking of what was said with regard to being heirs. I was wondering if there is a slight difference because, of course, in this world, the heir does not inherit until such time as the parent dies. For instance, the king just now has inherited because the queen has been taken. The thought of heirs according to God is that we come into a blessing because Christ has died, but He has been raised from among the dead, and we come into the blessing on that basis.
PM Is heirship not made available to us because the Lord Jesus has died, and not only died but has risen again? It is because of Him that we come into the gain or enjoyment of being heirs of God, and being children of God as born of God. These things are important to lay hold of, that the believer owes his origin, not to anything here, but he owes his origin to God Himself, not only as Creator but in order that we might become partakers of the divine nature.
SD I think that helps, and I suppose you see it in type in Israel with regard to Joseph's sons: “Bring them, I pray thee, to me, that I may bless them”, Gen 48: 9. The thought is that the inheritance is theirs. It is the Father's delight that it may be so.
PM I was looking at that verse earlier: “Bring them … to me, that I may bless them”. How wonderful that is! The Lord Jesus has done that; He has brought us to God. It says that in John 17, “And now I come to thee”, v 13. He was not going alone; He was taking His own with Him into the very presence of His Father.
KRC As to your thought about the Spirit being sent out, it brings in a sense of the serviceable side of the Spirit and His obedience to come and serve and be willing. I was thinking of Peter in the early Acts. He spoke there of the Spirit as “poured out” (chap 2: 33), which brings in the sense of the grace and the wonder of the love of God that His desire is to give of His Spirit, and that is for our blessing. There is a sense of wonder at that too, is there not?
PM There is: “he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”. There it was. The Spirit then had not descended as a dove like He did upon the Lord Jesus, but there was the testimony to the Spirit being here in the way in which the testimony was moving forward in the appreciation of the glory of Christ where He is at the right hand of God. How wonderful that was! It is the same Spirit that is here today. Now, He operates through vessels. I find it challenging: do I give Him the room to operate in order that there should be such a testimony that could be seen and heard?
I thought in Romans 8 there is the leading of the Spirit, not just that He has been “poured out”, or that He has been sent, but there is the leading of the Spirit: “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”. That is characteristic, the features of sonship coming into expression, not only by title, but seen in character by the Spirit's work here, and such persons are crying, “Abba, Father”.
JTB This is often related to the wilderness, is it not? So, it is very challenging: “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God”; so that in our daily responsibilities does that characterise us? There is something very glorious that we can still cry, “Abba, Father” as conscious of the leading of the Spirit. Do you think it suggests that that is the Spirit's objective, that we should cry, “Abba, Father”? The leading must lead to that, to have a purpose, do you think? That is a very positive thought.
PM I think so; and is it not wonderful that He operates that the very expression the Lord used in addressing the Father should be taken up by persons here? “Abba, Father” is a very feeling expression, is it not? That feeling expression has been formed in persons here through the operation of the Spirit so that the Father should have that which He finds delight in even in the present time.
JTB We have the reference in Corinthians to the fact that “the Spirit quickens” (2 Cor 3: 6); so our souls are moved as conscious of the touch of the Spirit both in relation to our responsible pathway but too as brought into things divine and precious, the touch of the quickening power of the Spirit. It is very affecting that “the Spirit quickens”. Other divine Persons quicken as well, but the Spirit quickening seems to have a very precious touch as to quickening our souls, our spirits, our very inner being in relation to divine things, and in our relationship with the Father in that sense.
PM For the sake of those that are younger, can you tell us what quickening means, and how we experience it?
JTB It is an actual thing, is it not? Your whole inner being is moved really in that sense. There is a touch of movement and action that comes into our inner being, as best I can describe it. It is something that is perhaps very difficult to touch or to describe. You feel a thrill of movement in your heart as something touches your affections, and it is really a touch of quickening:
Before I was aware,
My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people, Song of Songs 6: 12.
That is in relation to the Lord, but that is really the kind of activity, action, that characterises the believer as experiencing quickening. It is a movement, is it not, in the Spirit?
PM I think that is very helpful. You may read, or in your prayer to divine Persons something may come to you, as well as in the service of God a hymn or a thanksgiving may move your whole being. Your heart is thrilled because you have some fresh impression that comes by the Holy Spirit, and that is in view of life being maintained in the believer, is it not? The psalmist says, “quicken me according to thy word”, Ps 119:25.
JTB You referred yesterday to,
Draw me, we will run after thee! Song of Songs 1: 4.
The drawing is really a quickening touch that thrills our hearts and really actuates us in movement towards the Lord Jesus.
PM That is helpful. So, we have here, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit”. That is a very sensitive thing also, is it not? He is witnessing in the spirits of the saints that there is that which is here that is derived from God.
SCL Do you see how precious what you have made reference to is to the heart of God? Those being “led by the Spirit” is deeper and more intimate than just those that are moving according to a sense of right and wrong. As the Lord moved according to the affections of His Father, so those persons that are sons of God are moving according to the feelings of the Father as the Lord did in this scene. What that means to the heart of the Father, that there is that relationship of such intimacy that we govern ourselves by what the Father is feeling!
PM You are touching something that is very vital. If I only do something because I am told that is what I ought to do, when the test comes, I will go and do something else. Sadly we may know something of that, but what you are saying is important that the believer is led by the Spirit. Light may come from God as to assembly behaviour or personal behaviour. But if it is not taken up with the Spirit, it will become just the law and, when the test comes, I shall turn away from it. What the Spirit is doing is maintaining livingly an answer to divine light that comes and forms in the believer that which is in keeping with it. Would you agree?
SCL Yes, and it has struck me that the joy the Father has is that those that are walking that way are seeking to do so as sons out of affection for their Father, not to put ourselves onto the same level as Christ but to be characterised by the way in which He walked for His Father, and in affection for His Father. Those that are characterised by sonship, that is what the Father sees, those that love Him enough to walk in this scene as sons out of affection for Him, do you think?
PM Well, it was a lover of the Lord Jesus who said, “He that says he abides in him ought, even as he walked, himself also so to walk”, 1 John 2: 6. That was said by someone who rested in the bosom of Jesus.
DHM Do you think it goes back to our affection for the Lord Jesus? John 14 says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter”, v 15, 16. That refers to the gift of the Spirit. But there is a further thought here that such persons would come under the leading of the Spirit. Is that not so propitious in terms of what we are talking about of these disclosures?
PM And He is making disclosures, is He not? The Lord Jesus speaks of that in John as to how the Spirit will bring back a report: “whatsoever he shall hear he shall speak”, John 16: 13. There are living communications. Christianity is not to be treated as a mere religion; persons think of it thus: but Christianity is a living organism where everything is deriving from a Man in another world altogether and is being formed in view of display for the glory of God.
DCB Part of the exercise that introduces this is, “but if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. That is a very exercising matter, that there needs to be a depth of exercise that the flesh is not allowed, and it is really as that becomes characteristic that the Spirit's leading is known.
PM It shows that in ourselves we are not able to “put to death the deeds of the body”; it has to be by the Spirit. There is no other power to do so but by the Spirit of God. I would say, Speak to the Spirit. I am speaking to younger ones particularly: speak to the Spirit of God! Tell Him what you think! Tell Him how you feel and the exercises that you face, and He will help you through them and He will direct your heart to the Lord Jesus and give you power to deal with what is out of keeping with Him.
MB Do we see the leading of the Spirit in Acts 8? It says, “And the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot” (v 29), and he is able just to bring up the word that the eunuch was looking at in Isaiah 53 so beautifully.
PM It is a very attractive passage. Philip joined the chariot, then the eunuch says, “concerning whom does the prophet say this?” v 34. O what words they are, “concerning whom does the prophet say this?” He spoke of One.
NRC I am glad that our brother brought that up because I was just thinking of that as well. It says, “But when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer, for he went on his way rejoicing”, v 39. There is one there who is in the gain of being led by the Spirit. We spoke yesterday as to there being some who were full of the Holy Spirit. It does not necessarily say it here, but you get some sense of the similarity here as to someone who is in the gain of the complete desires of divine Persons in experiencing the love for themselves. He was “caught away”, but the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing”.
PM It was not the intention that the eunuch should be occupied with Philip, but the Spirit of God saw to it that he should be occupied with another Man. “He went on his way rejoicing”.
I thought about this last verse in John 17, “And I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. Think of the greatness of that, that the same character of love with which the Father loves the Son should be in us. It is a very wonderful thing that it should be so. That is what the Lord prayed for, that we might experience that character of love, and that we might love the Son with that same character, not in its fulness as the Father does, but the character of that love should be known.
DCB You began at verse 22, about the Lord's glory. I know that has been related frequently to sonship, but there is a glory in receiving the Spirit too that would be fundamental to enjoying anything that you see in this chapter, especially the final verse you referred to.
PM That is helpful. There could be no glory of sonship apart from the Spirit, could there? I know this has often been linked with the glory of sonship, but it must include the gift of the Spirit, because He says, “And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one”. Now, what is the power for that? It is the Spirit, is it not?
TWL Is this seen in the Father's acclamation of the Son? It comes about after the Spirit came upon Him. It is the character of the Man that moves by the Spirit. Does that fit in with this?
PM I think it does: “the glory which thou hast given me”. Think of what it meant at that moment when each divine Person was there and what glory surrounded that moment. John saw it: “the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him”, Luke 3: 22. How wonderful that was, that the Spirit should be seen in a bodily form. That is distinct, is it not? The Spirit is not received by us in a bodily form, but He was by Jesus. What glory marked the relationship as the Father and Son and the Spirit went together on that journey!
TWL This is preceded here with, “I have made known to them thy name”. Earlier on in verse 6 the Lord says, ”I have manifested thy name”. The name of the Father was manifested in a Man on whom the Spirit had settled, and subsequently the love that we should know, Christ having a special place in it, but the love that we should know, is according to what was manifested in a Man who was moving by the Spirit. Would that be right?
PM “Am I so long a time with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Shew us the Father?” (John 14: 9), one in motive, one in affection, one in purpose. What movements they were, and yet the affections that flowed from the Father to the Son in character, is what flows towards us. How wonderful these things are!
TWL Going back to your thought in relation to what comes into display, the love between the Father and the Son can be taken account of by the Spirit who came from that place and takes us there. Would that be right?
PM Yes, He does, and there is nothing less in view than that those that have been secured should be brought into the very scene where Christ is: “I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory”. That is the operation of divine love, and it is a wonderful thing to be lifted above all that surrounds us to be occupied with the One who is the Centre of God's thoughts and all for His own pleasure.
Edinburgh
25th September 2022
Key to Initials:-
D C Brown, Edinburgh; J T Brown, Edinburgh; M Buchan, Aberdeen; K R Cumming, Edinburgh; N R Cumming, Edinburgh; S Duthie, Aberdeen; T W Lock, Edinburgh; S C Lock, Edinburgh;
D H Marshall, Edinburgh; P Martin, Colchester; G McKay, Manchester