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<h4 style="text-align: center">
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A Sermon<br>
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(No. 2213)<br>
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Intended for Reading on Lord's-Day, July 19th, 1891,<br>
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Delivered on Friday Morning, April 24th, 1891, by<br>
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C. H. SPURGEON,<br>
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At the Conference of the Pastors' College Evangelical
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Association.<br>
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</h4>
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<p class="scripture">
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"He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall
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shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine:
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therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it
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unto you."—<a onClick="return mV('Jhn', 16, 14);">John 16:14</a>, <a onClick="return mV('Jhn', 16, 15);">15</a>.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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BELOVED FRIENDS, here you have the Trinity, and there is no
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salvation apart from the Trinity. it must be the Father, the
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Son, and the Holy Ghost. "All things that the Father hath are
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mine", saith Christ, and the Father hath all things. They were
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always his; they are still his; they always will be his; and
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they cannot become ours till they change ownership, till Christ
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can say, "All things that the Father hath are mine"; for it is
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by virtue of the representative character of Christ standing as
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the surety of the covenant that the "all things" of the Father
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are passed over to the Son, that they might be passed over to
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us. "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness
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dwell; and of his fullness have all we received." But yet we
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are so dull that, though the conduit-pipe is laid on to the
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great fountain, we cannot get at it. We are lame; we cannot
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reach thereto; and in comes the third Person of the divine
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unity, even the Holy Spirit, and he receives of the things of
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Christ, and then delivers them over to us. So we do actually
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receive, through Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, what is in the
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Father.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Ralph Erskine, in his preface to a sermon upon the fifteenth
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verse, has a notable piece. He speaks of grace as
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honey—honey for the cheering of the saints, for the
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sweetening of their mouths and hearts; but he says that in the
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Father "the honey is in the flower, which is at such a distance
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from us that we could never extract it." In the Son "the honey
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is in the comb, prepared for us in our Immanuel, God-Man,
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Redeemer, the Word that was made flesh, saying, 'All things
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that the Father hath are mine; and mine for your use and
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behoof': it is in the comb. But then, next, we have honey in
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the mouth; the Spirit taking all things, and making application
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thereof, by showing them unto us, and making us to eat and
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drink with Christ, and share of these 'all things'; yea, not
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only eat the honey, but the honeycomb with the honey; not only
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his benefits, but himself." It is a very beautiful division of
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the subject. Honey in the flower in God, as in mystery; really
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there. There never will be any more honey than there is in the
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flower. There it is. But how shall you and I get at it? We have
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not wisdom to extract the sweetness. We are not as the bees
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that are able to find it out. It is bee-honey, but not
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man-honey. Yet you see in Christ it becomes the honey in the
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honeycomb, and hence he is sweet to our taste as honey dropping
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from the comb. Sometimes we are so faint that we cannot reach
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out a hand to grasp that honeycomb; and, alas! there was a time
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when our palates were so depraved that we preferred bitter
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things, and thought them sweet. But now the Holy Ghost has
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come, we have got the honey in the mouth, and the taste that
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enjoys it; yea, we have now so long enjoyed it, that the honey
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of grace has entered into our constitution, and we have become
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sweet unto God; his sweetness having been conveyed by this
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strange method unto us.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Beloved friends, I scarcely need say to you, do keep the
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existence of the Trinity prominent in your ministry. Remember,
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you cannot pray without the Trinity. If the full work of
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salvation requires a Trinity, so does that very breath by which
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we live. You cannot draw near to the Father except through the
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Son, and by the Holy Spirit. There is a trinity in nature
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undoubtedly. There certainly constantly turns up the need of a
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Trinity in the realm of grace; and when we get to heaven we
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shall understand, perhaps, more fully what is meant by the
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Trinity in unity. But if that is a thing never to be
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understood, we shall at least apprehend it more lovingly; and
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we shall rejoice more completely as the three tones of our
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music shall rise up in perfect harmony unto Him who is one and
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indivisible, and yet is three, for ever blessed, Father, Son,
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and Holy Ghost, one God.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Now for the point which I am to open up to you this morning;
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though <i>I</i> cannot do it, but <i>he</i> must do it. We must
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sit here, and have the text acted out upon ourselves. "He shall
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glorify me. He shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you."
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May it be so just now!
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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First, <i>what the Holy Spirit does:</i> "He shall take of
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mine, and shall shew it unto you." Secondly, <i>what the Holy
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Spirit aims at and really effects:</i> "He shall glorify me."
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And then, thirdly, <i>how in doing both these things he is the
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Comforter.</i> It is the Comforter that does this; and we shall
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find our richest, surest comfort in this work of the Holy
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Spirit, who shall take of the things of Christ, and show them
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unto us.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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I. First, WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES. It is clear, beloved
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friends, that the Holy Spirit <i>deals with the things of
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Christ.</i> As our brother, Archibald Brown, said, when
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expounding the chapter just now, he does not aim at any
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originality. He deals with the things of Christ. All things
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that Christ had heard from his Father he made known to us. He
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kept to them. And now the Spirit takes of the things of Christ,
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and of nothing else. Do not let us strain at anything new. The
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Holy Ghost could deal with anything in heaven above, or in the
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earth beneath—the story of the ages past, the story of the
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ages to come, the inward secrets of the earth, the evolution of
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all things, if there be an evolution. He could do it all. Like
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the Master, he could handle any topic he chose; but he confines
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himself to the things of Christ, and therein finds unutterable
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liberty and boundless freedom.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Do you think, dear friend, that you can be wiser than the Holy
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Spirit? And if his choice must be a wise one, will yours be a
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wise one if you begin to take of the things of something or
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somebody else? You will have the Holy Spirit near you when you
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are receiving of the things of Christ; but, as the Holy Spirit
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is said never to receive anything else, when you are handling
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other things on the Sabbath-day, you will be handling them
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alone; and the pulpit is a dreary solitude, even in the midst
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of a crowd, if the Holy Ghost is not with you there. You may,
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if you please, excogitate a theology out of your own vast
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brain; but the Holy Ghost is not with you there. And, mark you!
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there are some of us that are resolved to tarry with the things
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of Christ, and keep on dealing with them as far as he enables
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us to do so; and we feel that we are in such blessed company
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with the divine Spirit, that we do not envy you that wider
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range of thought, if you prefer it.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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The Holy Spirit still exists, and works, and teaches in the
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church; but we have a test by which to know whether what people
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claim to be revelation is revelation or not: "He shall receive
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of mine." The Holy Ghost will never go farther than the cross,
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and the coming of the Lord. He will go no farther than that
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which concerns Christ. "He shall receive of mine." When,
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therefore, anybody whispers in my ear that there has been
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revealed to him this or that, which I do not find in the
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teaching of Christ and his apostles, I tell him that we must be
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taught by the Holy Spirit. His one vocation is to deal with the
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things of Christ. If we do not remember this, we may be carried
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away by vagaries, as many have been. Those who will have to do
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with other things, let them; but as for us, we shall be
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satisfied to confine our thoughts and our teaching within these
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limitless limits: "He shall take of mine, and shall shew it
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unto you."
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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I like to think of the Holy Spirit handling such things. They
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seem so worthy of him. Now has he got among the hills. Now is
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his mighty mind among the infinities when he has to deal with
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Christ, for Christ is the Infinite veiled in the finite. Why,
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he seems something more than infinite when he gets into the
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finite; and the Christ of Bethlehem is less to be understood
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than the Christ of the Father's bosom. He seems, if it were
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possible, to have out-infinited the infinite, and the Spirit of
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God has themes here worthy of his vast nature.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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When you have been the whole Sunday morning whittling away a
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text to the small end of nothing, what have you done? A king
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spent a day in trying to make a portrait on a
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cherry-stone—a king, who was ruling empires; and here is a
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minister, who professes to have been called of the Holy Ghost
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to the employ of taking of the things of Christ, who spent a
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whole morning with precious souls, who were dying while he
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spoke to them, in handling a theme concerning which it did not
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signify the turn of a hair whether it was so or not. Oh,
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imitate the Holy Spirit! If you profess to have him dwelling in
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you, be moved by him. Let it be said of you in your measure, as
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of the Holy Ghost without measure, "He shall receive of mine,
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and shall shew it unto you."
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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But, next, what does the Holy Ghost do? Why, <i>he deals with
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feeble men,</i> yea, he dwells with us poor creatures. I can
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understand the Holy Ghost taking the things of Christ, and
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rejoicing therein; but the marvel is, that he should glorify
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Christ by coming and showing these things to us. And yet,
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brethren, it is among us that Christ is to get his glory. Our
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eyes must see him. An unseen Christ is little glorious; and the
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things of Christ unknown, the things of Christ untasted and
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unloved seem to have lost their brilliance to a high degree.
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The Holy Spirit, therefore, feeling that to show a sinner the
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salvation of Christ glorifies him, spends his time, and has
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been spending these centuries, in taking of the things of
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Christ, and showing them to us. Ah! it is a great condescension
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on his part to show them to us; but it is a miracle, too. If it
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were reported that suddenly stones had life, and hills had
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eyes, and trees had ears, it would be a strange thing; but for
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us who were dead and blind and deaf in an awful sense—for
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the spiritual is more emphatic than the natural—for us to
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be so far gone, and for the Holy Ghost to be able to show the
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things of Christ to us, is to his honor. But he does do it. He
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comes from heaven to dwell with us. Let us honor and bless his
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name.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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I never could make up my mind which to admire most as an act of
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condescension; the incarnation of Christ, or the indwelling of
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the Holy Ghost. The incarnation of Christ is
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marvellous—that he should dwell in human nature; but,
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observe, the Holy Ghost dwells in human nature in its
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sinfulness; not in perfect human nature, but in imperfect human
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nature; and he continues to dwell, not in one body, which was
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fashioned strangely for himself, and was pure and without
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taint; but he dwells in <i>our</i> body. Know ye not that they
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are the temples of the Holy Ghost, which were defiled by
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nature, and in which a measure of defilement still remains,
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despite his indwelling? And this he has done these multitudes
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of years, not in one instance, nor in thousands of instances
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only, but in a number that no man can number. He continues
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still to come into contact with sinful humanity. Not to the
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angels, nor to the seraphim, nor to the cherubim, nor to the
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host who have washed their robes, and made them white in the
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blood of the Lamb, does he show the things of Christ; but he
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shall show them unto <i>us.</i>
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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I suppose that it means this, that <i>he takes of the words of
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our Lord</i>—those which he spoke personally, and by his
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apostles. Let us never allow anybody to divide between the word
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of the apostles and the word of Christ. Our Savior has joined
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them together. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
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also which shall believe on me through their word." And if any
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begin rejecting the apostolic word, they will be outside the
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number for whom Christ prays; they shut themselves out by that
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very fact. I wish that they would solemnly recollect that the
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word of the apostles is the word of Christ. He tarried not long
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enough, after he had risen from the dead, to give us a further
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exposition of his mind and will; and he could not have given it
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before his death, because it would have been unsuitable. "I
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have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
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now." After the descent of the Holy Ghost, the disciples were
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prepared to receive that which Christ spoke by his servants
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Paul and Peter, and James and John. Certain doctrines which we
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are sometimes taunted about as being not revealed by Christ,
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but by his apostles, were all revealed by Christ, every one of
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them. They can all be found in his teaching; but they are very
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much in the parabolic form. It is after he has gone up into
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glory, and has prepared a people by his Spirit to understand
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the truth more fully, that he sends his apostles, and says, "Go
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forth, and open up to those whom I have chosen out of the world
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the meaning of all I said." The meaning is all there, just as
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all the New Testament is in the Old; and sometimes I have
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thought that, instead of the Old being less inspired than the
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New, it is more inspired. Things are packed away more tightly
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in the Old Testament than in the New, if possible. There are
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worlds of meaning in one pregnant line in the Old Testament;
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and in Christ's words it is just so. He is the Old Testament to
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which the Epistles come in as a kind of New Testament; but they
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are all one and indivisible; they cannot be separated.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Well, now, the words of the Lord Jesus, and the words of his
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apostles, are to be <i>expounded</i> to us by the Holy Spirit.
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We shall never get at the center of their meaning apart from
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his teaching. We shall never get at their meaning at all, if we
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begin disputing about the words, saying, "Now, I cannot accept
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the words." If you will not have the shell, you will never have
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the chick. It is impossible. "The words are not inspired," they
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say. Here is a man in the witness-box, and he has sworn to
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speak the truth, and he says that he has done so; and now he is
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cross-examined, and he says, "Now, I have spoken the truth, but
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I do not stand by my words." The cross-examining lawyer has got
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hold of a certain statement of his. The witness says, "Oh, I do
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not swear to the words, you know." The question is asked,
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"What, then, do you swear to? There is nothing else. We do not
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know anything about your meaning. All that you have sworn to
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must be your words." But what the fellow means is this, that he
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is a liar; he is a perjurer. Well, I say no more than
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common-sense would suggest to you if you were sitting in a
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court. Now, if a man says, "I have spoken the truth, but still
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I do not swear to the words;" what is there left? If we have no
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inspiration in the words, we have got an impalpable inspiration
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that oozes away between your fingers, and leaves nothing
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behind.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Well, take the words, and never dispute over them. Still, into
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their soul-fullness of meaning you cannot come until the Holy
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Ghost shall lead you into them. They that wrote them for you
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did not fully understand what they wrote in many instances.
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There were some of them who enquired and searched diligently to
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know what manner of things those were whereof the Holy Ghost
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had spoken to them, and of which he had made them speak. And
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you to whom the words come will have to do the same. You must
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go and say, "Great Master, we thank thee for the Book with all
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our hearts; and we thank thee for putting the Book into words;
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but now, good Master, we will not cavil over the letter, as did
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the Jews and the rabbis and the scribes of old, and so miss thy
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meaning. Open wide the door of the words, that we may enter
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into the secret closet of the meaning; and teach us this, we
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pray thee. Thou hast the key. Lead us in."
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Dear friends, whenever you want to understand a text of
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Scripture, try to read the original. Consult anybody who has
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studied what the original means; but remember that the quickest
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way into a text is praying in the Holy Ghost. Pray the chapter
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over. I do not hesitate to say that, if a chapter is read upon
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one's knees, looking up at every word to him that gave it, the
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meaning will come to you with infinitely more light than by any
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other method of studying it. "He shall glorify me: for he shall
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receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." He shall
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re-deliver the Master's message to you in the fullness of its
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meaning.
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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But I do not think that is all that the text means. "He shall
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receive of mine." In the next verse the Lord goes on to say,
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"All things that the Father hath are mine." I do think that it
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means, therefore, <i>that the Holy Spirit will show us the
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things of Christ.</i> Here is a text for us—"The things of
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Christ." Christ speaks as if he had not any things just then
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which were specially his own, for he had not died then; he had
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not risen then; he was not pleading then as the great
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Intercessor in heaven: all that was to come. But still, he
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says, "Even now all things that the Father hath are mine: all
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his attributes, all his glory, all his rest, all his happiness,
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all his blessedness. <i>All that</i> is mine, and the Holy
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Ghost shall show that to you."
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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But I might almost read my text in another light, for he has
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died, and risen, and gone on high, and lo, he cometh. His
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chariots are on the way. Now, there are certain things which
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the Father hath, and which Jesus Christ hath, which are truly
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the things of Christ, emphatically the things of Christ; and my
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prayer is, that you and I, preachers of the gospel, might have
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this text fulfilled in us: "He shall take of mine—my
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things—and shall show them unto you."
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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Suppose, dear brethren, that we are going to preach the word
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again, and the Holy Spirit shows to us our Master in his
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Godhead. Oh, how we will preach him as divine—how surely
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he can bless our congregation! How certainly he must be able to
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subdue all things unto himself, seeing that he is very God of
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very God! It is equally sweet to see him as man. Oh, to have
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the Spirit's view of Christ's manhood! distinctly to recognize
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that he is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, and that in
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his infinite tenderness he will compassionate me, and deal with
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my poor people, and with the troubled consciences that are
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round me; that I have still to go to them, and tell them of One
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who is touched with the feeling of their infirmities, having
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been tempted in all points like as they still are! Oh, my
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brothers, if we once, nay, if every time before we preach, we
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get a view of Christ in his divine and human natures, and come
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down fresh from that vision to speak about him, what glorious
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preaching it would be for our people!
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</p>
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<p class="indent">
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It is a glorious thing to get a view of the offices of Christ
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by the Holy Spirit; but especially of his office as a Savior. I
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have often said to him, "You must save my people. It is no
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business of mine. I never set up in that line, or put over my
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door that I was a saviour; but thou hast been apprenticed to
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this trade. Thou hast learned it by experience, and thou dost
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claim it as thine own honor. Thou art exalted on high to be a
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Prince and a Savior. Do thine own work, my Lord." I took this
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text, and used it with sinners the other Sunday night, and I
|
|
know that God blessed it when I said to them, "May the Holy
|
|
Ghost show you that Christ is a Savior! A physician does not
|
|
expect you to make any apologies when you call upon him because
|
|
you are ill, for he is a physician, and he wants you in order
|
|
that he may prove his skill; so Christ is a Savior, and you
|
|
need not apologize for going to him; because he cannot be a
|
|
Savior if there is not somebody to be saved." The fact is,
|
|
Christ cannot get hold of us anywhere except by our sin. The
|
|
point of contact between the sick one and the physician is the
|
|
disease. Our sin is the point of contact between us and Christ.
|
|
Oh, that the Spirit of God would take of Christ's divine
|
|
offices, especially that of a Savior, and show them unto us!
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
Did the Holy Ghost ever show to you these thing of Christ,
|
|
namely, his covenant engagements? When he struck hands with the
|
|
Father, it was that he would bring many sons unto glory; that
|
|
of those whom the Father gave him he would lose none, but that
|
|
they should be saved; for he is under bonds to his Father to
|
|
bring his elect home. When the sheep have to pass again under
|
|
the hand of him that telleth them, they will go under the rod
|
|
one by one, each one having the blood-mark; and he will never
|
|
rest till the number in the heavenly fold shall tally with the
|
|
number in the book. So I believe and it has seemed delightful
|
|
to me to have this shown to me when I have gone to preach. It
|
|
is a dull, dreary, wet, foggy morning. There are only a few
|
|
present. Yes; but they are picked people, whom God hath
|
|
ordained to be there, and there will be the right number there.
|
|
I shall preach, and there will be some saved. We do not go at a
|
|
peradventure; but, guided by the blessed Spirit of God, we go
|
|
with a living certainty, knowing that God has a people that
|
|
Christ is bound to bring home, and bring them home he will; and
|
|
while he shall see of the travail of his soul, his Father shall
|
|
delight in every one of them. If you get a clear view of that,
|
|
it will give you backbone and make you strong. "He shall take
|
|
of mine, and shall show you my covenant engagements, and when
|
|
you see them you shall be comforted."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
But, beloved, the Holy Ghost favors you by taking what is
|
|
peculiarly Christ's, namely, his love, and showing that to you.
|
|
We have seen it, seen it sometimes more vividly than at other
|
|
times. But if the full blaze of the Holy Spirit were to be
|
|
concentrated upon the love of Christ, and our eyesight enlarged
|
|
to its utmost capacity, it would be such a vision that heaven
|
|
could not excel it. We should sit with our Bible before us in
|
|
our study, and feel, "Well now, here is a man, whether in the
|
|
body or out of the body, I cannot tell. Such a man is caught up
|
|
into the third heaven." Oh, to see the love of Christ in the
|
|
light of the Holy Ghost! When it is so revealed to us, it is
|
|
not merely the surface which we see, but the love of Christ
|
|
itself. You know that you never saw anything yet, strictly
|
|
speaking. You only see the appearance of the thing—the
|
|
light reflected by it; that is all you see. But the Holy Ghost
|
|
shows us the naked truth, the essence of the love of Christ;
|
|
and what that essence is—that love without beginning,
|
|
without change, without limit, without end; and that love set
|
|
upon his people simply from motives within himself, and from no
|
|
motive <i>ab extra</i>—what that must be, what tongue can
|
|
tell? Oh, it is a ravishing sight!
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
I think that if there could be one sight more wonderful than
|
|
the love of Christ, it would be the blood of Christ.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p style="text-align: center">
|
|
"Much we talk of Jesu's blood,<br>
|
|
But how little's understood."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It is the climax of God. I do not know of anything more divine.
|
|
It seems to me as if all the eternal purposes worked up to the
|
|
blood of the cross, and then worked from the blood of the cross
|
|
towards the sublime consummation of all things. Oh, to think
|
|
that he should become man! God has made spirit, pure spirit,
|
|
embodied spirit; and then materialism; and somehow, as if he
|
|
would take all up into one, the Godhead links himself with the
|
|
material, and he wears dust about him even as we wear it; and
|
|
taking it all up, he then goes, and, in that fashion, redeems
|
|
his people from all the evil of their soul, their spirit, and
|
|
their body, by the pouring out of a life which, while it was
|
|
human, was so in connection with the divine, that we speak
|
|
correctly of "the blood of God." Turn to the twentieth chapter
|
|
of the Acts, and read how the apostle Paul puts it: "Feed the
|
|
church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." I
|
|
believe that Dr. Watts is not wrong when he says—"God that
|
|
loved and died." It is an incorrect accuracy, a strictly
|
|
absolute accuracy of incorrectness. So it must be ever when the
|
|
finite talks of the Infinite. It was a wonderful sacrifice that
|
|
could absolutely obliterate, annihilate, and extinguish sin,
|
|
and all the traces that could possibly remain of it; for "He
|
|
hath finished the transgression, made an end of sins, made
|
|
reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting
|
|
righteousness." Ah, dear friends! you have seen this, have you
|
|
not? but you have to see more of it yet; and when we get to
|
|
heaven, we shall then know what that blood means, and with what
|
|
vigor shall we sing, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us
|
|
from our sins in his own blood"! Will anybody be there to say,
|
|
"Is not that the religion of the shambles?" as they
|
|
blasphemously call it. Ah, my friends! they will find
|
|
themselves where they will wish they had believed "the religion
|
|
of the shambles"; and I think that it will burn like coals of
|
|
juniper into the soul of any man that has ever dared to talk
|
|
like that, that he did despite unto the blood of God, and so,
|
|
by his own wilful deeds, will be cast away for ever.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
May the Holy Spirit show unto you Gethsemane, and Gabbatha, and
|
|
Golgotha! and then, may it please him to give you a sight of
|
|
what our Lord is now doing! Oh, how it would cheer you up at
|
|
any time when you were depressed, only to see him standing and
|
|
pleading for you! Do you not think that if your wife is ill,
|
|
and your child is sick, and there is scant food in the
|
|
cupboard; if you were to go out at the back door, and you saw
|
|
him with the breastplate on, and all the stones glittering, and
|
|
your name there, and him pleading for you, you would go in and
|
|
say, "There, wife, it is all right. He is praying for us"? Oh,
|
|
it would be a comfort if the Holy Ghost showed you a pleading
|
|
Christ! And then, to think that he is reigning as well as
|
|
pleading. He, is at the right hand of God, even the Father, who
|
|
hath put all things under his feet. And he waits till the last
|
|
enemy shall lie there. Now, you are not afraid, are you, of
|
|
those who have been snubbing you and opposing you? Remember, he
|
|
hath said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
|
|
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations; and lo, I am with you
|
|
alway, even unto the end of the world."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
Next, and best of all, may the Holy Spirit give you a clear
|
|
view of his coming. This is our most brilliant hope: "Lo, he
|
|
cometh!" The more the adversary waxes bold, and the less of
|
|
faith there is, and when zeal seems almost extinct, these are
|
|
the tokens of his coming. The Lord always said so; and that he
|
|
would not come unless there was a falling away first; and so
|
|
the darker the night grows, and the fiercer the storm becomes,
|
|
the better will we remember that he of the lake of Galilee came
|
|
to them upon the waves in the night when the storm was wildest.
|
|
Oh, what will his enemies say when he comes? When they behold
|
|
the nail-prints of the Glorified, and the Man with the thorn
|
|
Crown—when they see him really come—they that have
|
|
despised his word, and his ever-blessed blood, how will they
|
|
flee before that face of injured love! And we, on the contrary,
|
|
through his infinite mercy, will say, "This is what the Holy
|
|
Ghost showed us; and now we behold it literally. We thank him
|
|
for the foresights which he gave us of the beatific vision."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
I have not done on the first head yet, because there is one
|
|
point which I want you to recollect. When the Holy Ghost takes
|
|
of the things of Christ, and shows them to us, he has a purpose
|
|
in so doing. You will not laugh, I hope, when I remind you of
|
|
what the little boys sometimes do at school with one another. I
|
|
have seen a boy take out of his pocket an apple, and say to his
|
|
schoolmate, "Do you see that apple?" "Yes," says the other.
|
|
"Then, you may see me eat it," says he. But the Holy Ghost is
|
|
no Tantalus, taking of the things of Christ, and holding them
|
|
up to mock us. No: he says, "Do you see these things? If you
|
|
can see them, you may have them." Did not Christ himself say,
|
|
"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth"?
|
|
Looking gives you a claim; and if you can see him, he is yours.
|
|
It is with you, with regard to the Spirit showing you things,
|
|
as it was with Jacob. You know Jacob lay down, and went to
|
|
sleep, and the Lord said to him, "The land whereon thou liest,
|
|
to thee will I give it." Now, wherever you go, throughout the
|
|
whole of Scripture, if you can find a place where you can lie
|
|
down, that is yours. If you can sleep on a promise, that
|
|
promise is yours. "Lift up now thine eyes," said God to
|
|
Abraham, "and look from the place where thou art northward, and
|
|
southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which
|
|
thou seest, to thee will I give it." The Lord increase our holy
|
|
vision of delighted faith; for there is nothing you see but you
|
|
may also enjoy; all that is in Christ is there for you.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
II. Now, secondly, WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT AIMS AT, AND WHAT HE
|
|
REALLY ACCOMPLISHES. "He shall glorify me."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
Ah, brothers! the Holy Ghost never comes to glorify <i>us,</i>
|
|
or to glorify a denomination, or, I think, even to glorify a
|
|
systematic arrangement of doctrines. He comes to glorify
|
|
Christ. If we want to be in accord with him, we must preach in
|
|
order to glorify Christ. May we never have this
|
|
thought,—"I will put that bit in; it will tell well. The
|
|
friends will feel that oratory is not quite extinct, that
|
|
Demosthenes lives again in this village." No, no. I should say,
|
|
brother, though it is a very delightful piece, strike that out
|
|
ruthlessly; because if you have had a thought of that kind
|
|
about it, you had better not put yourself in the way of
|
|
temptation by using it. "Yes, that is a magnificent sentence! I
|
|
do not know where I met with it, or whether it is my own. I am
|
|
afraid that most of our friends will not understand it; but
|
|
then it will give them an impression that they have a deep
|
|
thinker in their pulpit." Well then, it may be very admirable,
|
|
and, further, it might be a very right thing to give them that
|
|
precious piece; but if you have that thought about it, strike
|
|
it out. Strike it out ruthlessly. Say, "No, no, no! If it is
|
|
not distinctly my aim to glorify Christ, I am not in accord
|
|
with the aim of the Holy Ghost, and I cannot expect his help.
|
|
We shall not be pulling the same way, and therefore I will have
|
|
nothing of which I cannot say that I am saying it simply,
|
|
sincerely, and only that I may glorify Christ."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
How, then, does the Holy Spirit glorify Christ? It is very
|
|
beautiful to think that he glorifies Christ <i>by showing
|
|
Christ's things.</i> If you wanted to do honor to a man, you
|
|
would perhaps take him a present to decorate his house. But
|
|
here, if you want to glorify Christ, you must go and take the
|
|
things out of Christ's house, "the things of Christ." Whenever
|
|
we have to praise God, what do we do? We simply say what he is.
|
|
"Thou art this, and thou art that." There is no other praise.
|
|
We cannot fetch anything from elsewhere, and bring it to God;
|
|
but the praises of God are simply the facts about himself. If
|
|
you want to praise the Lord Jesus Christ, tell the people about
|
|
him. Take of the things of Christ, and show them to the people,
|
|
and you will glorify Christ. Alas! I know what you will do. You
|
|
will weave words together, and you will form and fashion them,
|
|
in a marvellous manner, till you have produced a charming piece
|
|
of literature. When you have carefully done that, put it in the
|
|
fire under the oven, and let it burn. Possibly you may help to
|
|
bake some bread with it. Brethren, it is better for us to tell
|
|
what Christ is, than to invent ten thousand fine words of
|
|
praise in reference to him. "He shall glorify me, for he shall
|
|
receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
Again, I think that the blessed Spirit glorifies Christ by
|
|
showing us the things of Christ <i>as Christ's.</i> Oh, to be
|
|
pardoned! Yes, it is a great thing; but to find that pardon in
|
|
his wounds, that is a greater thing! Oh, to get peace! Yes, but
|
|
to find that peace in the blood of his cross! Brethren, have
|
|
the blood-mark very visibly on all your mercies. They are all
|
|
marked with the blood of the cross; but sometimes we think so
|
|
much of the sweetness of the bread, or of the coolness of the
|
|
waters, that we forget whence these came, and how they came,
|
|
and then they lack their choicest flavour. That it came from
|
|
Christ is the best thing about the best thing that ever came
|
|
from Christ. That he saves me is, somehow, better than my being
|
|
saved. It is a blessed thing to go to heaven; but I do not know
|
|
that it is not a better thing to be in Christ, and so, as the
|
|
result of it, to get into heaven. It is himself, and that which
|
|
comes of himself, that becomes best of all, because it comes of
|
|
himself. So the Holy Ghost shall glorify Christ by making us
|
|
see that these things of Christ are indeed of Christ, and
|
|
completely of Christ, and still are in connection with Christ;
|
|
and we only enjoy them because we are in connection with
|
|
Christ.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
Then it is said in the text, "He shall glorify me: for he shall
|
|
take of mine, and shall shew it <i>unto you?"</i> Yes, it does
|
|
glorify Christ for the Holy Spirit to show Christ <i>to us.</i>
|
|
How often I have wished that men of great minds might be
|
|
converted! I have wished that we could have a few Miltons, and
|
|
such like men, to sing of the love of Christ; a few mighty men,
|
|
who teach politics, and the like, to consecrate their talents
|
|
to the preaching of the gospel. Why is it not so? Well, because
|
|
the Holy Ghost does not seem to think that that would be the
|
|
way to glorify Christ supremely; and he prefers, as a better
|
|
way, to take us common-place sort of persons, and to take the
|
|
things of Christ, and to show them to <i>us.</i> He does
|
|
glorify Christ; and blessed be his name that ever my blear eyes
|
|
should look upon his infinite loveliness; that ever such a
|
|
wretch as I, who can understand everything but what I ought to
|
|
understand, should be made to comprehend the heights and
|
|
depths, and to know, with all saints, the love of Christ, that
|
|
passeth knowledge. You see, in a school, that clever boy. Well,
|
|
it is not much for the master to have made a scholar of him.
|
|
But here is one who shines as a scholar, and his mother says
|
|
that he was the greatest dolt in the family. All his
|
|
schoolfellows say, "Why, he was our butt! He seemed to have no
|
|
brains; but our master, somehow, got some brain into him, and
|
|
made him know something which he appeared, at one time,
|
|
incapable of knowing." Somehow, it does seem to be as if our
|
|
very folly, and impotence, and spiritual death—if the Holy
|
|
Ghost shows to us the things of Christ—will go towards the
|
|
increase of that great glorifying of Christ at which the Holy
|
|
Spirit aims.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
Then, beloved brethren, since it is for the honor of Christ for
|
|
his things to be shown to men, he will show them to us, <i>that
|
|
we may go and show them to other people.</i> This we cannot do,
|
|
except as he is with us to make the others to see; but he will
|
|
be with us while we tell forth what he has taught us; and so
|
|
the Holy Ghost will really be showing to others while he is
|
|
showing to us. A secondary influence will flow from this
|
|
service, for we shall be helped to <i>use the right means</i>
|
|
to make others see the things of Christ.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
III. Our time is almost gone; but in the third place I must
|
|
just point out to you HOW HE IS IN BOTH OF THESE THINGS OUR
|
|
COMFORTER.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
He is so, firstly, for this reason—that <i>there is no
|
|
comfort in the world like a sight of Christ.</i> He shows to us
|
|
the things of Christ. Oh, brethren, if you are poor, and if the
|
|
Holy Ghost shows you that Christ had not where to lay his head,
|
|
what a sight for you! And if you are sick, and if the Holy
|
|
Ghost shows you what sufferings Christ endured, what comfort
|
|
comes to you! If you are made to see the things of Christ, each
|
|
thing according to the condition which you are in, how speedily
|
|
you are delivered out of your sorrow!
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
And then, if the Holy Ghost glorifies Christ, <i>that is the
|
|
cure for every kind of sorrow.</i> He is the Comforter. I may
|
|
have told you before, but I cannot help telling you again, that
|
|
many years ago, after the terrible accident in the Surrey
|
|
Gardens, I had to go away into the country, and keep quite
|
|
still. The very sight of the Bible made me cry. I could only
|
|
keep alone in the garden; and I was heavy and sad, for people
|
|
had been killed in the accident; and there I was, half dead
|
|
myself; and I remember how I got back my comfort, and I
|
|
preached on the Sabbath after I recovered. I had been walking
|
|
round the garden, and I was standing under a tree. If it is
|
|
there now, I should know it; and I remember these words: "Him
|
|
hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a
|
|
Savior." "Oh", I thought to myself, "I am only a common
|
|
soldier. If I die in a ditch, I do not care. The king is
|
|
honored. He wins the victory;" and I was like those French
|
|
soldiers in the old times, who loved the emperor; and you know
|
|
how, when they were dying, if he rode by, the wounded man would
|
|
raise himself up on his elbow, and cry once more, <i>"Vive
|
|
l'Empereur!"</i> for the emperor was graven on his heart. And
|
|
so, I am sure, it is with every one of you, my comrades, in
|
|
this holy war. If our Lord and King is exalted, then let other
|
|
things go which way they like: if he is exalted, never mind
|
|
what becomes of us. We are a set of pigmies; it is all right if
|
|
<i>he</i> is exalted. God's truth is safe, we are perfectly
|
|
willing to be forgotten, derided, slandered, or anything else
|
|
that men please. The cause is safe, and the King is on the
|
|
throne. Hallelujah! Blessed be his name!
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<hr>
|
|
<p class="indent">
|
|
Another anxious week has passed, and by the
|
|
blessing of the Lord upon the means used, Mr.
|
|
SPURGEON'S life is still spared. United and almost
|
|
universal prayer for his complete recovery has
|
|
continued to be offered; and at the time that this
|
|
sermon is sent to the printers there appears to be
|
|
a slight improvement in the dear sufferer's
|
|
condition, which is still very critical. Mrs.
|
|
SPURGEON, and the other members of the family, as
|
|
well as the Church at the Tabernacle, are very
|
|
grateful for all the sympathy that has found
|
|
expression in various ways; and they entreat all
|
|
believers to continue pleading for Mr. SPURGEON'S
|
|
full restoration, if it be the Lord's will.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div></div>
|
|
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