THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT
A Barrie Brown
Exodus 17: 1- 6
Proverbs 13: 17 (from “but”)
1 John 4: 13
The gospel is preached that you might avail yourself of the free offer of pardon for your sins, available because of the work of the Lord Jesus, that your never-dying soul may be secured and safe, with the fear of death rolled away. All these wonderful and blessed things are available; that you should be covered by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, that you should come by way of faith in believing and true repentance for your sinful history. God is willing and able and ready to bless.
The burden on my heart for this time is particularly in relation to the gift of the blessed Holy Spirit as being an integral part of the glad tidings. Sometimes I feel for myself that I may just add this truth as having to bring it in. It is the joy of the preacher to bring it in. I feel particularly how important it is to emphasise the absolute necessity of having the Holy Spirit, and knowing His help, and knowing the power that flows from that One. That is why I was led to give out the hymn that we sang (Hymn 109). God’s word comes into verse 3 and God’s word in the preaching is about the Lord Jesus and what He has done.
What affected me particularly where we have read in Exodus 17 is to consider that the Lord Jesus suffered that you might receive the Holy Spirit. He suffered too that your sins might be put away, a glorious, wonderful fact; a stupendous fact. God in unparalleled goodness gave His Son for sinners: “we being still without strength, in the due time Christ has died for the ungodly”, Rom 5: 6. When there was nothing to commend us, when all we had to plead was our exceeding need, God provided the answer; and I trust that each one of us knows what it is to have their need met. If you have not, have it met now, as the forgiveness of your sins is the first rung of the ladder. It is vital, it is necessary and we should not trifle with these things.
The hymn also mentions the Spirit striving with men, and God says that in early Genesis, “My Spirit shall not always plead with Man”, Gen 6: 3. That would put us in mind of this current time, the gospel time, the day of grace. God in His goodness is going on with people despite their indifference, despite even their opposition or antagonism; God is wonderfully good. You being here gives another opportunity to listen to the glad tidings. God is striving with you; He is speaking with you. He is pointing you to Christ; He is pointing you to the good things that He has given, the blessed things that He has given. Will you respond, dear friend?
I have spoken of the blessed Holy Spirit. Each one of us has our own spirit. Later on in Proverbs it tells us that “Man’s spirit is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all the inner parts of the belly”, Prov 20: 27. Each one of us has a conscience. Each one of us has a soul too. We referred to a never-dying soul and you are responsible for your soul. Do not be heedless as to it: “what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?”, Mark 8: 36. We are body, soul, and spirit. For the believer our body will be changed; our souls too will go through. Then there is the thought of our spirits, a link God has given us with Himself. Are you one who has their trust in the Saviour, and knows what it is to turn from the cloying grasp of sin and sins and the despair they bring? Perhaps you are one who is going on heedless, in which case God in His goodness will come here to where you are; the striving will go on until the day of grace closes for you. Think of that, God coming to you; He has come here in the person of the Lord Jesus.
There was murmuring in this chapter we read in Exodus, not long after God’s deliverance of the Israelites. What a matter it was, a great testament to God’s intervening for the people, telling us about the truth of redemption, “The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea”, Exod 15: 1. Everything has been met, the power of death has been met, Satan has been conquered, the Lord Jesus has led captivity captive and He has ascended up on high, friend. Yet the people had lost sight of their deliverance. I trust that I have not lost sight of the wonderful truth of redemption, of being purchased by God, being held for Him for ever.
In chapter 6, the manna would speak to us about the attractiveness of the Lord Jesus and His life here, the way that He pleased God in every way. Are you attracted to the Lord Jesus, or is there some other person or some other thing that fills your view? I trust it would not be. How attractive the Lord Jesus is. Perhaps there has been a point in our soul history when we once said, as it says in the prophet, “there is no beauty that we should desire him”, Isa 53: 2. I trust for all here that the Lord Jesus is One that we find beautiful, One that we find our all in, One that we would seek to please, One who we know has died for us, to set us free. The people were murmuring. They had seen how God came in for them by way of the Red Sea and then in the manna. Did they really think that God would lead them this way “to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”. How unpredictable, how fickle the flesh is. Let us not trust in it; it has been put away in the vicarious death of Christ.
The people had murmured, the people had opposed God; what would God do? God’s goodness comes in here, and His grace. It is His grace and His goodness that is towards you now, His love in activity. He desires that you should be blessed. The word to Moses was to take the staff “and thou shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it”. Corinthians tells us that “the rock was the Christ”, 1 Cor 10: 4. It speaks to us of the Lord Jesus. It would speak too of the way that He endured the suffering, the suffering that was due to you and to me because of the sins we have committed, the sins we could never atone for, the dark blot of sin that we could never rub out. The Lord Jesus was smitten on my account. Can you say He was smitten on your account? It says in Isaiah that Jehovah was pleased to bruise Him (Isa 53: 10); it brings out the divine prerogative. It is not exactly that there was pleasure in it for God: consider what God felt as His only Son hung there on the cross. Of course, the Lord Jesus was pleasing to the Father, pleasing to God on the cross, was ever pleasing to Him. The fire of judgment poured was upon the head of the Lord Jesus by a holy God; certainly it was not on His account but on my account and yours. What it brought out was His deep, eternal, blessed perfection. What an offering He was for God. God has been satisfied by what the Lord Jesus did on the cross. Smiting implies the terrible judgment that there was due to you and to me that has been borne by the Lord Jesus vicariously. The rock would perhaps suggest to us something of the deep, enduring capacity of the Lord Jesus to endure that judgment for you and for me. Have you availed yourself of the work of the Lord Jesus; are you covered by His shed blood?
I trust that this will remain with you, that the Lord Jesus, as well as suffering that our sins might be forgiven, as well as going through with the whole matter and completing the work to God’s eternal, lasting, satisfaction, also suffered that we might receive the Holy Spirit. Truly that is in God’s purpose and desire for every believer. It goes on to say here, “thou shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink”. Perhaps you are satisfied with the work of the Lord Jesus for salvation, but looking to the world or other things for satisfaction. God has provided for your satisfaction. He has provided for your life, here. It is in the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit.
In relation to the cleansing of the leper in the books of Moses, it speaks about the anointing oil having to come on the blood, Lev 14: 14, 17. The Holy Spirit can only be given to people - men and women, boys and girls - who believe in the Lord Jesus and have accepted Him as their Saviour; it can only be thus. There was someone in the Acts who sought to give money, so that he would have the power to give the Holy Spirit, Acts 8: 18,19. What a terrible thought that would be. We were affected by that in our earlier reading that God desires to give the Holy Spirit. I have been so impressed afresh by the need to have the Holy Spirit, to make room for Him and to know His presence. I have also been impressed by the greatness of the Holy Spirit. I was going through recently some of His titles; there were over thirty titles I could find in a brief consideration of the Holy Scriptures, each of them implying some of His glories, some of His services, His patience. Think of the way that the Lord Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit in John’s gospel. Firstly, He tells us that “It is profitable for you that I go away”, John 16: 7. We may wonder as to that; how profitable it would be if the Lord Jesus was here. What can we say as to that? We would accept what the Lord Jesus says, how profitable it has been that the Lord Jesus has gone on high. It says earlier in John’s gospel that “the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”, John 7: 39. Jesus has been glorified; He has been received up above all the heavens; He has been raised by the glory of the Father. God’s full satisfaction is invested in Christ and what He has done in putting away the matter of sin.
I have been impressed by that too, how the Lord Jesus has not only dealt with our sins: He has dealt with the man that has sinned. It links with what it says in Corinthians where it speaks about the Lord Jesus being made sin, 2 Cor 5: 21. Think of that. It goes on to say, “that we might become God’s righteousness in Him”. “Him who knew not sin” brings out His stainless perfection; “he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in him”. The Holy One of God was made that which He abhorred, and thus was putting it away from God’s sight forever. He is raised a glorious and living Man, having had to say to sin and sins completely. It is true of every believer that the matter of sin has been dealt with. In our experience we have to come to it and to prove it. Although the children of Israel were safe from judgment and from the Egyptians, they were still murmuring; and does that not perhaps remind us of our soul experience, how perhaps we murmur and maybe we doubt and maybe we go back? How like my own history the children of Israel are: they go up and they go down. Later on, they lusted after the leeks and the onions (Num 11: 5), and all these things. They had not enjoyed Egypt one bit; it had been an exacting place. How the flesh is duplicitous but we are entitled to view ourselves as alive in Christ. The Spirit would help us in that; He is absolutely essential for that.
The Spirit also brings in the matter of satisfaction. If the Lord Jesus said, “It is profitable for you that I go away”, it means that the Spirit would come. There is a divine Person here. We would absolutely accept that the blessed Holy Spirit of God is a divine Person. There is plenty of testimony to it in the Scriptures. Firstly, it speaks of Him as the Spirit of God. That comes in right at the beginning of the Bible where He is said to be “hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen 1: 2), feeling the effects of sin. The Spirit has feelings; He has feelings for you. If there is a stirring in your heart towards God and towards the Lord Jesus, it is on account of the Spirit’s work: may you heed it; may you answer to it. May you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour; may you be one who will receive the blessed Spirit. The Lord Jesus says, “I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter”, John 14: 16. He is One whom “the world cannot receive, because it does not see him nor know him; but ye know him, for he abides with you, and shall be in you”, John 14: 17. That would be a question. Do you know the Spirit? He is a divine Person. In chapter 15 it says He is “the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father”, v 26. We have One who is a divine Person who has moved “forth from with the Father”. I trust that you are not going after things in the world for satisfaction. There is One who abides with you and shall be in you. The Lord Jesus is looking on to the Spirit’s day after He went on high. It also says that he may be with you for ever. What commitment there is on the part of the Spirit. Perhaps you find there are murmurings arising in your heart. Perhaps you find doubts. Do you have the Holy Spirit? - if not ask. The Father would be delighted to give the blessed Holy Spirit; what grace on the part of the Holy Spirit to come and be with us. What a gift that is, how it would govern our conduct, how it would govern our lives, and how it would govern the way that we would move about, the fact that we have a divine Person dwelling in us.
The people drank. Moses was obedient; Moses did as he was told and the water flowed out, as consequent typically upon the Lord Jesus suffering, including the work of atonement, the work of redemption for God’s full and eternal satisfaction; Christ has gone on high and the Spirit has come. He came in totality, blessed matter, on the Lord Jesus. He came on the day of Pentecost, the inauguration of the assembly, and every believer with the Holy Spirit is added to that great vessel. What about you? Without the Holy Spirit, and perhaps without making room for the Holy Spirit, there will be murmurings and doubts. It is of note that just after where we read Amalek came in. It has been suggested that it is Satan really working through the flesh to deflect us, pull us down in our thoughts. We need the Holy Spirit.
In Numbers 21, there are many references to brooks and springs and that is really where they began to make progress. It speaks about the matter of hollowing out a well with their staves. There was an exercise to make room for the Spirit; that means that we have to make less room for other things. If we are to make spiritual progress, we need to make room for the Spirit; and then too they sang unto it, in Numbers 21. How grateful we should be to have the Holy Spirit, how delighted He is when room is made for Him. May we make more room for that blessed One. Always bear in mind what a precious gift it is; the Spirit was given consequent on the immeasurable sufferings of the Lord Jesus for you, not only that your sins might be forgiven. Without that however, you are nowhere; you are in great peril without accepting the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. May you do so now. May you also have a fresh view of the gift of the Holy Spirit because He is given consequent on the sufferings of our Lord Jesus.
In Proverbs we read, “a faithful ambassador is health”. An ambassador in the normal sense of the word is someone who is sent from one country to another to represent the interests of his country. The blessed Spirit being who He is in His Person is far more than that; He has come from a far country. Heaven is so removed morally from this scene, so above this scene. It is a blessed area where we are to have our spiritual roots and the Spirit comes from there. He brings reports from that blessed place. As the Lord Jesus again tells us, He brings things to our remembrance, and then He also says in chapter 16, “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you”, John 16: 14. He constantly glorifies Christ; He glorifies Him in believers who have a living view of the Lord Jesus. That is another matter; the Lord Jesus is near. He is interested in you; He is interested in this gospel preaching. As to His position He is in heaven but He is interested in you, He loves you, He desires your blessing, but it is the Holy Spirit who is actually with us. He could not be any nearer. Is it any wonder that in these chapters the Lord Jesus makes so much of the Holy Spirit? If the Lord Jesus says a great deal about a matter, it must be most important. Surely the blessed Spirit is faithful; all divine Persons are faithful. They would be faithful in that they are true to themselves and they will never let you down. He would ever speak to you of the Lord Jesus; whatever time of day or night, the Spirit is ready. If you are ready, friend, you must relate yourself to that blessed One.
The scripture speaks about sowing to the Spirit (Gal 6: 8), and there is also the practical matter of putting to death the deeds of the body that we might live, Rom 8: 13. That is another great matter. We experienced that this morning, the matter of quickening, being made to live. He is the Spirit of life, "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”, Rom 8: 2. To live we do need to put to death the deeds of the body, because although sin has been judged, it is still in our being. It is no longer to be the domineering influence, but an intruder. We have the flesh in us until the Lord comes, but the Spirit helps us. We need to have the desire to put to death the deeds of the body. This faithful One is ready to help. He stands by, ready to help each one of us. He is ready to help you.
It goes on to say, “is health”. What a healthy spiritual matter it is to be engaged with Him and to speak to Him. Those of us that are in households speak to those that we live with. Surely if there is One that is even closer than that, we would speak to Him? I challenge my heart as to that. We speak to the Father and the Lord Jesus. There is a constant companion who is to be our Friend, our Confidant, our Comforter, the One who is able to manage our affairs exceedingly above all that we could ourselves. Do we speak to Him? Is it your experience that the activity of the blessed Spirit is health? I can say it is, but we need to prove these things individually. How fine the book of Proverbs is. That is another thing the Holy Spirit has done: He has indited the Scriptures. He makes them live to us. Are you in the good of that?
Then we have a blessed thought: “Hereby we know that we abide in him”, that is God, “and he in us, that he has given to us of his Spirit”, 1 John 4: 13. In the previous chapter, there is a similar thought. At the end of the chapter it says, “hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given to us”, 1 John 3: 24. It would emphasise God’s readiness to give. John gives us things plainly and attractively; you are to be conscious that you have the Holy Spirt; and are you conscious that God Himself abides in you?. Abiding is a characteristic word of John which relates to settled conditions. Are there settled conditions in our lives where God can abide? Where we read in chapter 4, it seems to go a little further, “we know that we abide in him and he in us, that he has given to us of his Spirit”. It seems to be a closer thing. It seems to be something that is very wonderful to consider that He has given to us of His Spirit. Is that not an amazing matter to consider that God has given to us of His own Spirit?
Corinthians speaks to us of what “God has revealed to us by his Spirit” (1 Cor 2: 10), and also tells us that “we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God” 1 Cor 2: 12. This seems to be infinitely blessed; God has given to us of His Spirit. How could the creature ever ask the Creator to give of His Spirit? How could we ever conceive these things. These things are being conceived in God’s heart for those that love Him. “We know that we abide in God and he is us that he has given to us of His Spirit”. It would perhaps also involve being partakers of the divine nature.
In saying these things as to the blessed Holy Spirit, I would reemphasise that without knowing the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour, you cannot avail yourself of them. You may be interested in them in some way, I trust that you are, but I just felt it laid upon my heart to emphasise the necessity of the gift of the Holy Spirit, consequent on the Lord Jesus’ suffering, His work and His glorification. I am sure many of us have been given the Holy Spirit, perhaps when we were younger without perhaps identifying a point in time exactly, because God is very gracious. He gives the Spirit to those who ask and also to those who obey. I think the exercise would be to cultivate our relations with that blessed One and to be continually impressed, reverent, thankful, and worshipful that God has given to us of His Spirit, God’s Spirit.
May each one of us be absolutely assured as to our eternal salvation. What a world we live in! We have spoken about divine feelings, and we should have feelings for the race and those that we move about amongst. Reference was made recently to the way that the Lord’s prayer is sometimes said publicly and we are glad when there is any evidence of God’s things being spoken of; even to the extent of at Christmas time, when you may hear a hymn sung in the schools. It may be the only time little children take the name of Jesus on their lips, but that name means something to God. Does His Name mean something to you? Make sure that you have your sins forgiven. Make sure that you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, and make sure too that you are one who knows what it is to abide in God, and God abiding in you, for He has given of His Spirit.
May we be encouraged by these things for the Lord’s name’s sake.
Linlithgow
8th January 2023