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The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Glorified Christ

by T. Austin-Sparks

From messages given in October 1934.

Edited and supplied by the Golden Candlestick Trust.

Contents

Chapter 1 - The Holy Spirit and the Name of the Lord Jesus

Chapter 2 - The Individual and Collective Display of the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 - The Supreme Matter of a Life in the Spirit

Chapter 1 - The Holy Spirit and the Name of the Lord Jesus

Reading: Acts 2:22-47; John 7:37-39; Eph. 1:19-23; Phil. 2:9-11.

We are being directed by the Lord to a further recognition of the Holy Spirit in His ministry in relation to the glorified Lord Jesus.

That which is very much on my heart in this connection is the Holy Spirit and the Name of the Lord Jesus.

If you read the Acts you will find two main features running right through the book, two things which are uppermost; they are the Holy Spirit and the Name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is mentioned seventy times, and the Name of Jesus more than thirty.

You will see they are joined together, are in operation together, the Holy Spirit has assumed charge of everything and as He goes forward with His mighty work He does it all in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

I would suggest a perusal of the book with the place of the Name of the Lord Jesus in mind; you will not get far before you have a strong impression of wonder and praise. This main character and feature of the book bears out clearly John 7:39 and the words of Peter at Pentecost about the exaltation and glorifying of the Lord Jesus.

When John by way of comment on John 7:39 said, "The Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified", the logic of it all was that when He was glorified the Holy Spirit would be given, the day would come. We see that upon the Lord Jesus being glorified, the Holy Spirit was at once given, He immediately came forth. And now under the guidance of the newly ascended Spirit the words of men on whom He came were around the Name, the exaltation, glorifying, and Lordship of the Lord Jesus, and the deeds done were all in or on the basis of the Name.

Later we see the apostle Paul gave a very full explanation of what happened when the Lord Jesus returned to glory, "God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name" (Phil. 2:9), "put all things in subjection under His feet", as "Head over all things". That is the explanation of what took place when Christ returned to heaven. That is the ground on which the Holy Spirit came forth.

Now, in contemplating the Name of the Lord Jesus we have to find a starting-point that is a long way back and we shall be guided by a clear intimation in the words read; a conjunction will be brought into view, "Wherefore God highly exalted Him". The exaltation of the Lord Jesus, His headship, His being given a title to sovereignty - a title above all is something merited, not something by way of mechanical appointment, not something that just represented an office, but it carries with it a representation of the work done by which the title was merited, not inherited.

We are linked in the context with a former position occupied by Him; a position of equality with God, indisputable on the Divine side, a settled position, not argued but simply affirmed: "He was equal with God".

Away back in that dateless time there was one who aspired and had an ambition in another direction. It was to be possessed of a title, and there was a putting forth of his hand to grasp a title as something to be grasped at, with the result that through long, terrible centuries, millenniums, sin and misery have been; as we know well enough.

A position of authority and dominion in the universe was sought after (by the enemy), to be personally held apart from God, to be on a basis of independent action and interest. There is the root and spring of all independent action, it is easy to be seen that the direction of ambition was possession apart from God. We will not dwell on the dark side, on its consequences and history, but we do know that through that act a rift in order came, with disorder and chaos. Universal dominion had been shattered and the oneness, concreteness, and cohesion of the universe had been upset; a disintegrating force projected against the unity of the universe in relation to its government.

If we did but know it, everything of spiritual chaos in our earthly lives is just coming out of that dark cesspool and was created at that time. Every bit of discord, the multitude of things of which we become conscious when we become spiritual, those things which break in and seek to get the mastery again are not things just born, but are infectious vapours from that pit coming up again like a rolling cloud through the ages. And as the smoke of a distant fire covering everything to the horizon, it affects all things and goes on and on. We sense it afar off, near and far becomes touched by that smoke, that which happened in the spiritual realm at that time. Now we sense that thought which has come across the age; it has broken up that spiritual thing, the unity of the universe, and that dominion of the universe has to be recovered and set up in one Person, not two, not in a host, but in One it has to be recovered and established. All that is the fruit of independent action has to be destroyed, and all this universe has to acknowledge One Name, one government without a rival - that is the fruit of Calvary which was given on the basis of unchallenged merit. That one who was reaching out to possess it was without merit, and was seeking it ambitiously for self, apart from God. That was why the ambition was denied, that is why the rivalry was set up; it has to be merited.

This leads to the heart of such things as the temptation of the Lord Jesus in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus repudiated the whole thing. It carried with it two things:

1. This cannot be had as a personal thing apart from God and,

2. This can never be had by any without merit; it has to be won from the hand of God, and can only be won in one way. He went the way of the cross, "wherefore God hath highly exalted Him". He was obedient unto death, and the Name the Lord Jesus possesses is by the right of merit. He is at the right hand of God, and we see once more gathered up in Him the unity of the universe. In Him everything is made to hold together, the cohesion, the unity of the universe is in Him. Unity is something which cannot be brought about by human agreement, it can only be in the Name of Jesus and all that Name contains.

We can never hold together because of human understanding, because of an understanding on certain things on which we will be agreed. There will be one and another failing and not much agreement on some things, and on that ground the devil has power. The only ground of unity of a right kind is that resting in its universal victory in the Name of Jesus, by One only, in that Name and in all the spiritual virtue of that Name.

The Name gathers up into itself all the mighty forces of universal conquest and we can understand why mighty things happened in the beginning in that Name.

Some have fallen into sentimentality when they have read Acts 2:44: "All things common". That was an agreeable party, but there was something beyond that; it was the Holy Spirit who did that. We may say we will have a nice Pentecostal fellowship, but it cannot be done, for it is only by the Holy Spirit having full possession, having come in in full measure. He can come in in the Name of the Lord Jesus and meet in full the outcome of that original act of the hand against the throne. It places tremendous responsibility on us to contemplate this, any unwatchfulness, any lack of forbearance, any act of broken fellowship among saints is direct complicity with the devil, with the hand against the throne and is a movement against the testimony of Jesus. When the enemy has brought this about, it has always jeopardised the testimony, and taken from the glory of the Lord Jesus. If we are responsible for that and the Holy Spirit strives with us, urging us to put that right and we do not do so, we fall into a most tragic and terrible end. We fall into the original work of the devil. It is terrible but true.

The Holy Spirit works in relation to the Name of the Lord Jesus, that means that the Holy Spirit establishes all that the Name means by the cross. The Holy Spirit applies the cross and all that it means to that thing and the outcome is fellowship.

What is the basis of New Testament unity and fellowship? It is threefold:

1. The cross dealing its death-blow to all that which has come into man and the universe, through Satan's original act.

2. The Name as representing the One, the Person, in whom we are united.

3. The Holy Spirit who is working in this Name on the basis of the cross, and the victory wrought out in the cross. The Cross, the Name, the Holy Spirit. It is very blessed to see the spontaneous working out of this in the New Testament. The Cross making good, and the Name working out the Holy Spirit. The Cross was accomplished, Christ was glorified, the Holy Spirit had come. You can never find such unity, such fellowship outside that realm.

It will not be long before the enemy will try to recover some ground, he will work in someone who has not found full salvation from self, who has not come into death to self. He found ground in Ananias and Sapphira and they sought to aim a blow at the Testimony, against the whole regime. The judgment was swift, but it had to be. The Lord made His laws operative and it was a disastrous end to those two. It always follows.

One of the many aspects I have been made to stress is, why is unity attacked? The enemy's idea at the beginning was to divide the universe and it is clear that the result of his work was to send schism through everything. What are the means through which the Holy Spirit operates? It is only as the cross is wrought into our being, only by the getting rid of self will there be a united relationship in certain realms where the cross is not operative, where things are wrought in for ourselves out of relation with the universal.

In certain realms today where the subjective work of the cross alone is stressed, there is most discord. Look at it the other way. The place where the strongest fellowship exists and where the enemy cannot destroy it is the place where the cross is brought to destroy all that is personal. Sometimes the test is closely applied, it is not always easy to be made a doormat, to be stood up in a corner and taken no notice of. It may be easy to be a martyr but to be stood in a corner is more than human nature takes kindly to. We have to be brought to a place where nothing personal matters. We cannot see our own hearts, but when we are brought to a place where God, whose eyes see right through, sees that every bit of self is gone and the Lord's glory is everything, we are in a place the devil cannot touch.

If you know the work of the Holy Spirit along that line, you will know that He is always seeking sanctification, that is, getting rid of every bit of self by which Satan can find ground to work. When the Holy Spirit works, that sanctification is to the glory of the Lord. The Lord Jesus was greatly glorified in Acts 2. Self was gone and the cross was exalted and exemplified, it was represented in another way.

What a mighty thing real spiritual unity is, and what a great thing when the work of the cross lies behind it. What a glory of triumph when that Name is brought into the need.

You and I cannot stand in the Name of Jesus and have personal interests; this cannot go together. If any personal interests come in, the Name of Jesus is set aside, for that Name is the Name of Him who had no personal interests. He had personal rights, but He put them all aside and emptied Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Was there ever a more humiliating death than the cross? But in His nature there was no trace of self, there was not found anything of personal nature in Him. Everything in the universe will later be gathered up into the Name of Jesus and be under His sovereign headship and He will reign without rival. He whose right it is, not simply because God has given Him that right and appointed Him, but because He has attained to it. He got it by being made a curse for us. That is the opposite to that one who sought to obtain the same end for personal motives.

We shall only know the fulness and power of the Holy Spirit in the measure that He has dealt with all the self in us. In human nature there is a deep-rooted craving for power, this appears even in the smallest forms; we do not like being thought nothing of. An 'inferiority complex' goes to the heart of human nature; it has very great consequences. To consider that you are no good or worthless, and that others will think the same, is simply another way of the desire for power and influence. This can go as far as despotism; it is shot through the human race.

All our ideas of power must be revolutionised when we come to the Lord Jesus. "A Lamb in the midst of the throne". Why has a lamb been chosen as the type of One whose destiny it is to reign, to have universal dominion? Try what you can do with any other creature, but take a lamb, unresisting, uncompromising, unsuspecting, silent, yielded, in a sublime and wonderful sense a symbol: "As a sheep to the slaughter, so opened He not His mouth" (Isa. 53:7). Nothing about asserting rights, nothing of personal ambition. This revolutionises our ideas of power. We shall come to our dominion by letting go, we shall win by not standing for our personal rights, we shall reign by being emptied of self.

There is a battle and we shall never get through that battle until we have been searched through and through and the fire has discovered nothing of self.

It is not always in fire but in prostration and helplessness so that we have to say we 'cannot' and refer it to the Lord; we cry to the Lord that we can do nothing and in the power of the Name we go through. That Name is perfection, it is the Name of the Lord Jesus and that Name rested on human nature. He triumphed as a Man in every kind of test as to whether He would act out of relation to His Father for His own purpose and ends, but He could never be diverted one moment from that selfless fellowship with His Father. If there was any offer, or bribe, or suggestion, any threat or trick, anything carrying an idea of disloyalty to His Father, then it could not be entertained for one moment. The virtue and the value of all that is in view in the Name.

If we would do anything, if we are to overcome in the Name, we must come to the place where the cross is over all that we have and are, where there is nothing of ourselves, where the cross has taken all thoughts of self in order that the Holy Spirit may cause all the power of that Name to operate in and through us.

How universally and wonderfully the Name of Jesus has operated in those early days, and that is the starting-point through the ages, but that was the ground on which that Name and the power of that Name had to be secured.

What mischief resulted, what terrible work, because someone wanted reputation, honour, influence and a name for himself! It is a history of many generations of misery, and when there are any reproductions of that act, we find loss of peace, rivalries, etcetera.

The cross overcomes everything and the Lord Jesus took to glory a mighty comprehensive triumph over all those works of the devil. He was manifested to destroy these. Then the Holy Spirit comes to make the same true in us, to work it out in us. The Holy Spirit must have an emptied vessel, the cross must be its foundation, the cross leading to the Name in its mightiest infinite potency. The Holy Spirit is here to glorify the Name of Jesus, and that necessitates making good in our hearts all that the Name represents and our being in a state of utter helplessness and abandonment to Him.

Chapter 2 - The Individual and Collective Display of the Holy Spirit

Reading: John 1:15-18; 14:25-27; 15:26-27; 16:7-14.

A brief preliminary word by way of catching up and forming a link with what has gone before. In the previous message in speaking about the Holy Spirit in relation to the glorified Christ we took the four references at the beginning of John's gospel to the Holy Spirit.

The basis is in John 1, which brings into view the main objective of the Holy Spirit which is sonship. John the Baptist said, "I knew Him not but... upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending... that this is the Son of God" (John 1:31-34). The Spirit is therefore introduced to us in John in relation to sonship, and whilst the sonship of the Lord Jesus is of a unique character, something quite distinct and peculiar to Him, yet the fact remains that the Spirit of Sonship has come to all believers, and it is the object of the Holy Spirit to make us mature sons, because we are sons of God, crying "Abba, Father". He has sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts. The Holy Spirit in John 1 brings the end into view, that is, sonship.

The following three references to the Holy Spirit are aspects of the Holy Spirit's work in relation to the foundation of the Christian life.

1) In John 3 we get "born of the Spirit" and in John 4 He moves from the general to the specific, from the sovereignty of the Spirit down to the specific reality of being definite vessels.

2) John 4 brings into view vessels chosen for the definite residence of the Holy Spirit: "In you springing up as a well of water" (John 4:14).

3) John 7:37-39 is the third of this triad and is the outworking of that. There is birth, then residence, and then testimony, and then the outflowing of Divine energy through the Spirit.

Now another triad in John 14, 15 and 16. A quite clearly marked change is seen in this other series of references to the Holy Spirit, which are somewhat technical. Some details are necessary before we come to them. There is this distinctive mark of change in the second triad of references that we move from symbols to direct teaching. In John 3 wind, in John 4 water, and in John 7 water as a river, all symbols of the Holy Spirit. In the later chapters, the second half of the gospel, there are no longer symbols or metaphors, but direct teaching, but "Now when He the Spirit is come...", a precise statement of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. The change has its reasons. In the first three the Lord was dealing with unbelievers, the unsaved, whilst in these last three with disciples, we come from a place of metaphor for the Lord is now dealing with people in a faith relation to Christ. We move from the elementary to where it can be stated plainly. We are able to understand the values of this particular statement when we understand the people to whom it was said. Things uttered here cannot be uttered to those who are not in full relationship, they could not be said to the unbelieving, they demand a faith basis, for it is yet a prospective utterance.

The references in John's gospel were to a time not yet arrived; they are looking on to it. "I will send...". For us that day has arrived; we are not necessarily waiting as these were, but where we are, it is available and ought to be our position. A faith relationship to the Lord Jesus is necessary. Given that, beyond that there need be no delay, no waiting. What is it that is ours by the Holy Spirit? In the second half of John you are dealing with the collective. Up to chapter 10 it deals with individuals. The collective is the stage marked by our references. A further stage with regard to the Holy Spirit is reached in John 20: the corporate. From John 10-17 the Lord is dealing with a company, but when you get to chapter 20, you are on resurrection ground and the Lord is coming in then and making of a company a collection, one Body, the Corporate, and says, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit", the blessings and values which are available to believers, to children of God, on the basis of possessing the Holy Spirit.

John 14 speaks of a very simple truth, but of great value, so great that to be without the realisation and enjoyment of it means to be in a very unsatisfactory spiritual state, to be in a state of weakness which ought not to be. The great value of inward illumination is that He is IN you, though the world cannot know or see this, but "in that day ye shall know that I am in you and ye in Me" (John 14:17-20). The two things are set over against one another: on the one hand ignorance, darkness, blindness, a state of incapacity, "the world cannot", and on the other hand: He shall be in you. That great blessing is ours NOW by the appropriation of faith. The value and importance of that being ours cannot be estimated; without that we are in a state of hopeless weakness in relation to the Lord. It must be repeated with emphasis that one of the greatest needs of the Lord's people today lies in this very direction. If we could range the whole state of the things that go by the Lord's Name and understand why they are so unsatisfactory to His mind, going from one swing of the pendulum to the other, we should no doubt find this is the explanation. All the children of the Lord have become part of a great system, differing from the illumination and control of the Spirit in their own hearts; this goes to the root of the matter. On the one hand this means ignorance, incompleteness, inability to take spiritual responsibility, openness to all that comes along of error, falsehood, and deception if it has a semblance of truth - carried about by every wind of doctrine and cunning craftiness of men. All THAT is because of the absence of inward illumination of the Holy Spirit and there is much more than that.

Turning from the unhappy results of this state, let us view the other side. It is true for you and me, the Lord has made present provision by giving the Holy Spirit, He has given an inward illumination on all matters which concern Himself, and real spiritual strength, therefore, as a real personal, inward, living knowledge of the Spirit and nothing can substitute that. There is a sense of the tremendous need of these days that the Lord should have virile, strong, and spiritually competent children, not a company composed of those who have very little real knowledge of Himself. They need to distinguish between satanic things and those that are of God. To send men and women out who will not be easily caught in this, but will be able to take responsibility for other lives to hold and help, and keep them in the ways of life, it is necessary that the Lord has those who have the Holy Spirit in direction and inward illumination.

Note, this is the first thing the Lord says to those in spiritual relation to Himself; not that it is necessary only in an advanced stage in spiritual life, not that you must grow to a certain point and then become possessed of this inward illumination. They should be able to discern that this is theirs from the beginning, and be able to say, "The Lord has been speaking to me, has been showing this to me." That is spiritual illumination and it is an inward thing. To many of you this is not strange, but something very real and which you are enjoying. But this message is not for you, but to those in a state of things the opposite to it, who represent today an appalling state of things, whose whole Christian life is something external to themselves and bound up in a systematic order which is opposed to spiritual life. To them to be illumined by the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit, to hear the voice of the Spirit is an unknown thing. They know not a word. The system nakedly viewed is an atrocity from this point of view. At their most solemn celebration, at the elevation of the Host they will be groaning on their faces and ten minutes later may have knives drawn to stab one another! That is a system, you may modify things, you may get to much higher levels than that, but it is still external, outward. The only way to experience illumination of the Spirit and true sonship, the only thing to bring us to the spiritual level of God's heart, is to walk as Christ walked in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. That is a present value for you and me, these things have already been procured by the Lord, and given we stand on right ground, we can have them by faith appropriation now.

We do not come into them 'willy-nilly' or automatically. We have got to recognise and come in on those grounds on which God has promised and provided then. He desires something on His side before He can impart them, God has provided them on the ground of the cross, and one of the values of the Holy Spirit is inward illumination. How is that made good to us? By faith's appropriation of all that was done on the cross, by saying, "Lord, you have provided, and I stand on the ground of His cross, and appropriate that." You will find that works. You need a definite appropriation of each thing. You begin to know the Lord in this way, but a definite transaction is needed first.

There is all the difference between having and enjoying, between having and drawing, between having and living in continuous and abiding knowledge; this is a matter of the Holy Spirit making real all things in our experience.

John 15:26-27 shows that inward illumination is the first necessity, and the second is the Spirit's witness to Christ. The question is 'How shall the testimony of Jesus be maintained?' This is a very big and important question, There is only one way and this is it: "He shall bear witness of Me". This again is the Holy Spirit's work in believers, then the outward thing follows: "Ye shall bear witness of Me", the Holy Spirit is not going to bear witness apart from an instrument. The witness they bear is because the witness has already been born in them, the Holy Spirit does it because the witness is in us. That was at Pentecost and after.

What is the ministry of the church? It is one of all believers, not of a special class. It is the maintaining of the testimony of Jesus through the disciples. HOW? In no other way and on no other ground than that the Holy Spirit has borne witness of Him in believers.

We will see how it is possible for every believer to have a witness, to be in the ministry of every age and dispensation. That is our calling. What constitutes us ministers of Jesus Christ? Simply that the Holy Spirit bears witness of Him in us. What is the witness of the Holy Spirit to Him? That comprises everything. Can you range the content of the Lord, all the values and virtues in Him? Can you catalogue those things that are in Christ for us? You will never range the content of the Lord Jesus, but there is that in Him that will range every detail of our need from A to Z. Whatever it is in relation to God for us, you will find it is already in Christ for you. In every emergency, any position of service, you will find it is already provided in Him. As you go on in the Spirit, He is showing you Jesus Christ in His manifold, many-sided, inexhaustible provision. Some new position arises, a new crisis, and the Holy Spirit must show how Christ meets that need. That is the witness of the Spirit; the Holy Spirit testifying in us what He is, that is the testimony of Jesus witnessed in us by the Holy Spirit. That is not years ago, but day by day and year by year, you find there is something of the Lord Jesus which you never saw before. Today I have a Christ right up-to-date, who I never knew before. He supplies all my need.

The testimony of Jesus has resolved itself today into a lot of mental stuff instead of the real thing, but there is a simple explanation. The testimony is to be maintained not by preaching facts, but by the testimony that He has done it in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and bearing witness in us.

Notice how wide a range is brought in in John 16:7-14; the world ministry of the glorified Christ as witnessed and carried out by the Holy Spirit. Every bit of this statement relates to Christ, and the Holy Spirit carried out His world mission. "The prince of this world is judged." Who did it? Christ. He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. "They believed not on Me." "He bore our sins." If you do not believe you are convicted, you are under sin, but there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. If you are not in Christ it is the Spirit's work to convict; to convict of righteousness "because I go to the Father", to convict in respect of righteousness. This is another and very blessed aspect, the question of righteousness is settled if Christ gets through to the Father, if the question of righteousness was the purpose of His coming, then God requires righteousness. There was none righteous, no righteousness found in any, but the Lord Jesus provided righteousness and satisfied the Father, and because of that He got through to the Father. No unrighteousness gets through, but He was altogether righteous and in Christ God has found all He wants. He has gone to the Father and the whole question of righteousness is settled by Him, the Man in the glory.

On the other side there is judgment, a terrible condemnation to the sinner convicted. Upon what does judgment rest? This: that you are of the same company as the devil. You have not accepted Christ, so you come under judgment, and have fear of death and judgment. That fear has gone for ever for those in Christ. There is no judgment in Christ, no fear of judgment in Christ, and the fear of death is gone for ever. But the Holy Spirit says if we are not in Christ we are under the same judgment as the devil lies under. God never created man for that. Hell was never brought into being for that, but for the devil, but there is an awful possibility of our being there by alliance with the devil. By nature we are all children of wrath because of that sinful alliance of the devil brought about by Adam; all the children of Adam are in that alliance, he made alliance with the devil and broke his alliance with God. But Christ has come and borne wrath in our place. He came to deliver us from wrath, that we may escape judgment, and the Holy Spirit is here to tell us that if we are not in Christ there is inescapable judgment. He is here to tell us all that Christ has done; He has borne sin, therefore we need not bear it. He has provided righteousness that we might come to God, for He has gone through. He has delivered us from judgment by bearing it Himself, by what He has done by His cross. Righteousness and judgment are the work of the Holy Spirit, but if you are out of Christ, the sin question lies at your door. You are responsible, you have to answer to God face to face. Are you ready to do that?

The Holy Spirit is pointing the way to One who has provided righteousness and swallowed up your judgment in Himself on the cross. The Holy Spirit bears witness to heaven, to Him who has done all, the glorified Christ. But see what is provided for those who seek and those who ask. You could find no better illustration than Luke 11:11: "And which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone?" You say no man unless he was a fiend would do such a thing; no one in ordinary loving parenthood could do that. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13).

Ask... seek... knock. All that is related to the Holy Spirit and we need to know and recognise that we cannot go on without Him.

May we come to the place in which the Holy Spirit shall individually, collectively, and corporately be displayed in us.

Chapter 3 - The Supreme Matter of a Life in the Spirit

Reading: Acts 19:1-7 R.V.

We have been occupied with the necessity of the Holy Spirit and of His ministry in relation to the glorified Christ. Now in pursuing this matter further we shall cover a fairly wide area, with a few comprehensive observations as to what the Lord has to say to us in this matter, in a number of connections.

In meditating on this matter in the Word, I have been impressed by the striking absence in the New Testament in the nature of a declaration that the Holy Spirit is indispensable. I find very little indeed in the New Testament of definite statement that the Holy Spirit is indispensable. It appears strange, but it is all so much in the nature of assumption; it is taken for granted. The Lord Jesus began to give definite teaching of the coming of the Holy Spirit. He speaks in this manner, "It is expedient for you... if I go not... the Comforter will not come", the rejoinder might have been, "We would sooner have You. We are quite satisfied; why should we have another?" You see in this declaration of the Lord the supreme importance that the Holy Spirit should come, and that He was coming. He did not say positively and definitely, "You cannot do without the Holy Spirit", He took that for granted. In Acts 19:2 Paul asked, "Did ye receive the Holy Spirit?" It was taken for granted as being the natural course of things. He assumed that the life of believers was the life of the Spirit.

The question was manifestly prompted by the fact that that life was not there, and what ought to be was absent. This attitude of the New Testament in not declaring the necessity and not giving a definite statement, but assuming the gift of the Holy Spirit, surely implies one or two things. That the promise of the Holy Spirit issues must have been well known among the Jews; as far as they were concerned the knowledge must have been created in them by the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit would one day come with indispensable life, as their essential life. This would lead us back to the study of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. It also implies that the matter must have been definite teaching among the Gentiles, it takes it for granted; and this other thing must have been the general rule to be brought before Gentiles. It must imply that to bring before the Gentiles the Christian life is that it is a life in the Holy Spirit, and that Christian life falls far short in its real meaning if the Holy Spirit is not there and in evidence. To both Jews and Gentiles the Christian life is clearly represented in the New Testament as life in the Spirit, and anything else is clearly not the Christian life. In Corinthians and Romans the contrast is presented of believers walking in the Spirit, and others walking in the flesh. It is made perfectly clear that walking in the flesh is not the Christian life. The Christian life is Christ's life and Christ's life is life in the Spirit, and anything else is NOT Christ's life.

Having our foundation, we will look at a few things of primary character and importance made very clear in connection with the Holy Spirit in relation to the believer and the church. The most important is that the measure in which Christ will be known and glorified is the measure in which the Holy Spirit is in possession and operation. It is the measure in which He is made known as glorified. In our individual lives and in the church there is no more heavenly fact of Christ manifested and glorified than the measure in which the Holy Spirit is in control.

It is the Holy Spirit's purpose to express in the believer and in the church what is in heaven so far as the Lord Jesus is concerned. He is glorified, and the Holy Spirit cannot make Him more glorious than He is. The Holy Spirit has come to manifest that Christ is glorified in believers, and in the church. The day of Pentecost just saw the great fact of Christ being glorified in the church.

What took place 50 days after the deliverance from Egypt? The law and the pattern of the tabernacle were given at Sinai, but when every bit of the tabernacle was completed and ready, it was not until the Shekinah glory descended and the place was filled that it began to function. The counterpart was that 50 days after the resurrection, the Holy Spirit came and that which had been prepared became throbbing with life. When the Shekinah glory had filled the tabernacle all that remained was a cloud, and the Israelites had to walk by faith, for they could not see. On occasions that glory was manifested at the door in judgment, judgment because sin had crept in; that is a very terrible thing. For the greater part of the time the people had to walk by faith, believing that the glory WAS inside, that the glory was concealed, and for the greater part of this dispensation we have to move in faith, a faith by which we know the glory.

The presence of the Holy Spirit, even in power, does not always mean we are taken off the plane of faith. The teaching of the church is such that many are asking the question, "How and when can I receive the Holy Spirit?" It has been about a long time, "What about a manifestation in power and results?" but very often that may not be known, there is no consciousness of it. But perhaps years after it is found that mighty things, revolutionary things had been done then in lives by the power of the Holy Spirit and we knew absolutely nothing about it.

How am I to know if l have the Holy Spirit or not? I want to bring home to you the absolute necessity for our lives to be controlled, to be completely governed by the Holy Spirit and what that means, what the basis is. We must see that we stand on the Lord's ground in this matter.

First, the all pre-eminent fact which is brought into view in the New Testament is that Christ in glory will only be expressed in us in the measure in which the Holy Spirit is in possession and has free operation in our lives.

Second, the Holy Spirit's function of illumination by which all essential truth becomes clear and living. The Lord Jesus said quite clearly that such would be the case when the Holy Spirit came. It is of very great importance that all essential truth should be made clear in our hearts and lives and be living truth, that is the function of the Holy Spirit, we shall not go far without Him. One result is to bring us into oneness of mind in all vital matters. In spite of diversity of mind, opinions, circumstances, etc., and in spite of all that would make for contradictory opinions, when the Holy Spirit is absolutely dominant, there will be absolute unity. Where He is in control and operation there will be oneness of mind on all vital truth. We shall see eye to eye; that is necessary for a distinctive and definite testimony, and the Holy Spirit will see to it, for He is in charge of the testimony.

Today one of the greatest weaknesses of Christendom is diversity of opinion on vital matters; it is broken up into innumerable fragments on things of vital importance. That means that the Holy Spirit has not got the absolute sway and government. We can do nothing to remedy this, we are not under any illusions that what we can say can clear up world situations and problems, but if you and I are under the complete domination and government of the Holy Spirit, we shall be of one mind in all things of vital importance and we shall be in oneness. There will be a definiteness of testimony which cannot be otherwise; the Holy Spirit alone will do it. If He is in charge, the erroneous will go and the right remain, and we shall be all of one mind, in absolute unity, and it is no small thing. We do not know the value of the apostles being all of one mind; it had its impact on the spiritual realm and not only in that of men. In the spiritual realm there is a registration of something done by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual oneness of mind means spiritual power. If you get a dozen who come to oneness that may lack impact; but when the Holy Spirit does such a thing, He brings God in, and there is a mighty impact. God is in it.

You cannot say, "I agree to such and such terms, doctrines and things"; oneness must come in by the Holy Spirit or power will be lacking. Unless He comes in, there will always be something lacking; the use of terms and language may be the same, but different, there will be a hole in the bag and a leakage of power.

Ask the Lord that so far as vital truth is concerned you may be absolutely under the control of the Holy Spirit. That will count for the Lord and then you will be in oneness with others under the Holy Spirit's control. This is what is represented as the Holy Spirit's function in making us of one mind in all matters, it is the result of lives being completely possessed and controlled, as was made manifest in the New Testament. In Acts we see that when the Holy Spirit got hold of men and women who comprised the church, they were elevated, were lifted up above all the natural elements, the human elements of unsaved men and women. That elevation was unaffected by all differences of nation, character, or any other difficulties, or by persecution, threats, death, or any other thing.

Where the natural prejudices of the Jews could not tolerate Gentiles and the differences in the whole make-up of these peoples - their likes and dislikes, etcetera - the Holy Spirit transcended all, and Jews loved Gentiles, and Gentiles loved Jews, for they were in a realm unaffected by these things or by any of the human natural elements. If they went to a place that was utterly hostile, or where they naturally would have been hostile, they were above it, they did not descend to that level, did not reply to it. If there broke on them persecution and threats and they were made to suffer, they were still above it, they never retaliated or went back to the old plane, but persevered. They were after one definite object and they passed all this, for that object necessitated their ignoring it. If they had taken it on as a hostile Gentile city that hated Jews, what hope would there have been for their witness? But they were entirely above that realm, and were able to overcome and go right on without being affected by the operation of the natural elements in unsaved man. This operates today when the love of God shed abroad in a heart causes one to go to a country where all the religion and the natural state would be loathsome, different, and such a one is unaffected by it, not unconscious of it, and when attacked will not allow the natural features to rise up and come through. If we are going to take on natural differences there will be no glory for the Lord, and no progress.

It is necessary that as Christians we should know something of this moral elevation; the work of the Holy Spirit is a marvellous thing. I have been abroad and have known Christian workers refuse to go to meetings, "It's only the Englishman". The Holy Spirit rises above all these natural prejudices, and we need continually the coming in of spiritual power that we keep on top of all that, that we be lifted above all that, else we make no progress. It is necessary to have the energising of the Holy Spirit to rise above things as we see was the case in New Testament times; we find those people were lifted on to a level where the natural human elements did not touch or react on them. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual." What is that? A mighty energy, a weapon. The enemy tries to get us down, to meet things on the level of the flesh, and the result of doing so is defeat every time. But when we remain in the Spirit and meet them there, what a marvellous weapon that is: elevation by the Holy Spirit above what is natural, above that which is in man. This is necessary if we are to be over the enemy and meet him in all directions; it was a mark of the church at the beginning.

May the Lord bring in a mighty inflow of His Spirit in us to that end, to the glory of the Lord in that way. A mighty inflow of the Spirit will result in a spiritual unity of believers. You will never have any unity in a concrete way than by spiritual elevation only in so far as the Holy Spirit has full possession and government. The chief glory in that lifting above unregenerate humanity is that the Holy Spirit reconstitutes human relationships, He disposes of one relationship where all is clash, strife, and friction in all that which is in human nature and He reconstitutes it on the basis of fellowship, love, and brotherhood, as compared with that human relationship which is so selfish and individualistic in interest and competitive in action. The Holy Spirit takes all relationships and reconstitutes them on the basis of love and fellowship and that constitutes the chief glory of the relationship.

It amounts to this, that when the Holy Spirit has His way in us, He brings about a holy, glorious, family love and family life, where what is terminal is ruled out, what is individualistic goes, and what is selfish is ruled out, and that is what we find in Acts. What a company! Look at the end of Paul's letters and note the names, and the different nationalities, outlook, temperament, and constitution, yet a marvellous family spirit. A wonderful display of family life is seen in the early part of Acts. It would be interesting to hear the history of all those who had all things in common, how far it would have come without the Holy Spirit in operation. A good many have tried it, but it always breaks down, here it happened and you have it with no conference, discussion or arrangement. You simply have it by one Divine act. The Holy Spirit does it; it is His work and this has to be recovered; then the Lord has got a display of His glory and triumph, a manifestation of His cross. He has done that which no man can bring about, the evidence or our being IN Christ, and we are led definitely by the Holy Spirit.

All this is said for you to give the Lord no rest until our lives are governed utterly by the Holy Spirit, and no rest until your case is before God, not striving and stretching out for some great manifestation, but that you may hold on to the Lord, and have an understanding with the Lord that all your life shall be dominated and controlled by the Holy Spirit.

There are two marks of the Holy Spirit being within the individual and the Church. As to the individual one of the marks is assurance of God's acceptance and sonship; that is simple and essential. A basic work of the Holy Spirit is to bring about assurance and a knowledge of sealing as to our acceptance. So many lack that settled assurance and the knowledge that they are sealed and God has borne testimony in their hearts to their sonship. All weakness is due to this lack. The Holy Spirit would do that in us if we would have a definite transaction with the Lord about it in faith. Something is wrong, the Holy Spirit has been set aside, put out of place, quenched, grieved, or something has happened if the child of God has not that assurance of the sealing of God's Spirit. He is the witness to our acceptance as sons of God. "He hath sent forth His Spirit that we may cry: Abba Father". It is the uprising of the Holy Spirit out of the heart if we call Him Father, and it is a great thing.

We can have a mental acceptance, sing about the Fatherhood of God, recite prayers and move in that realm religiously, but it is the coming out of our hearts that is the real experience of the Father. There is something mighty in that. You hear the cry from the Lord Jesus on the cross. What a mighty triumph was that "Father" as uttered by Him then! He had just passed through the full judgment of sin, He had gone out into the wilderness, had gone out from the presence of God, was excluded and God-forsaken. He had experienced all the terrors of the lost. He had tasted and drunk the dregs of the cup of God's wrath. And then there broke from the depths of His heart, "Father" in triumph and strength; that was a marvellous and matchless cry.

In exactly the same realm "No man can call Him 'Lord', save by the Holy Spirit". We can say, "Lord Jesus", but this is something more, it is saying it as He said, "Father", there is something of the Holy Spirit in this kind, it is more than all religious doctrine, and the Holy Spirit would establish within us that assurance of our acceptance and sonship. That is His work for the individual. That is yours. Don't wonder about it. It is done for you; possess that which is yours. Stand into it. He has come to do that for you.

As to the church, the Holy Spirit meant for the church its qualification and equipment, and power for world ministry. The Holy Spirit meant that for the church. We will leave that.

But now about the other thing. It is what has been said many times: the Holy Spirit always moves in closest relation to the cross. For our present purpose we see that means that none can be true, and we can have none, only on the ground that the cross represents the position in which we stand. The cross does represent to us an end, our end - that we are dead in Christ, and we must really accept that position and face all that it means. It is "no longer I". And until we realise the great many sided "I" as an end, until then nothing we have said of the Holy Spirit means anything. He is not there. If assurance is not there, the Holy Spirit is set aside. The Holy Spirit must have the cross as a basis of every activity.

What is the water in John 3:5? The testimony to your sharing the grave with the Lord Jesus - sharing His tomb first, and then His Spirit. Baptismal regeneration is not going into water, but going spiritually into what it represents, "Planted together in the likeness of his death". The Holy Spirit works on that. Baptismal regeneration identifies us with His death and burial, the Holy Spirit is always subsequent to that, though He is last, He is the indispensable One.

You may struggle after the Holy Spirit in all His ways, but you must first come to the basic point and accept fully your position. Accept this by faith and accept that there is a stake driven right through your old life. We may wriggle but something has happened, you know it has been struck a final blow, you cannot do as you did, you are not free and able as before, when you touch that realm you find the smiting again and you are glad to flee from that ground of Adamic life. Something has happened; the sword of God has gone clean through that. You must have an understanding with the Lord about it, then the Holy Spirit can take up His work. He can act on that and make us sensitive to what is of the Lord and what is of ourselves.

It is an amazing thing that so many do not recognise what is of the Lord and what is not. I am amazed at the problem of why so many of the Lord's people do not see this. And so many accept lies. They could not accept a lie if they lived in the Holy Spirit and under His control, without knowing it for a false report. It would be "that against one of Mine Own". Would to God we had more of it! Do ask the Lord to bring you to the place where the Holy Spirit has full dominion and where you cannot move without knowing truth, or move in any way contrary without knowing it. It is an ideal, yet aspire to it. You know it a little. But He says, "Prove it first; there's another side to it. Don't just take that report." If you know it that far, you will surely go further still. Let us ask that this life of the Spirit may be ours. There was never anything more practical, and I doubt if ever anything was more important. The glory of the Lord is bound up with it, that is the supreme thing and it will work.

Table of Contents

Author's Rights

Contents

Chapter 1 - The Holy Spirit and the Name of the Lord Jesus

Chapter 2 - The Individual and Collective Display of the Holy Spirit

Chapter 3 - The Supreme Matter of a Life in the Spirit