"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come", John 16: 13.
This verse might be more correctly read, "He shall guide you into all the truth".
Well, beloved friends, it is a very humbling subject to us; still it is no less true, that to have the whole truth is one of the marks, one of the accompaniments of knowing the Lord in the midst of His own, gathered together to His name.
For my part I cannot conceive anything more really interesting - because it is not to angels, but to us that the Holy Spirit makes known the truth: "He shall guide you into all the truth". If you look into all the sects in Christendom, what you are met with on every hand is, that each assumes to have more truth than its fellows; or at least one particular truth that others have not. We cannot but see the importance of having all the truth. And though I am very far from assuming that we have it in its fulness, still I do trust there is the earnest desire after the truth. The apostle warns Timothy, that the time would come when they would not listen to the truth, but would be turned away to fables. He speaks of those who were the mischief workers, they "withstand the truth" - not a truth, but the truth. What I propose to present to you as well as I am able, is what really the truth is. Because here the Spirit of God, not the church, guides into it; and one of the failures of Christendom is the boast that the church expounds the truth.
No doubt the church has it; all the truth there is, is in the church. There is a verse in Timothy which is not sufficiently borne in mind: "That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the base of the truth", 1 Timothy 3: 15 - not "the ground" exactly - the base of the truth. And I think if we look around we must acknowledge the reproach that rests on the church. We cannot free ourselves from the reproach, for it rests on each of us. We are only like convalescents; if we are any better than our fellow Christians, we are still in the same infirmary, and we own that we have been suffering from the same malady, but that we have escaped from it. We are thankful for the revival, but we have to encourage and help others to escape also. And though this is our condition, still we are connected with that which is of such value in the eyes of the Lord that it is of immense moment for us to ascertain where the truth is. The danger, I apprehend, and I warn you of it, is that the truth is slipping away; for the truth is being weakened and diluted, and you will find that as the truth becomes weakened, every section of it becomes weakened. The more you advance in truth, the more you advance all round: you cannot advance on one alone without distorting all. If a man is a great man, he has not only good eyes and good ears, all his qualities are good. So with a tree - all the branches contribute to the tree. There can be no greater testimony to the importance among ourselves of the truth, than the assertion of each of the sects, that it has more than its fellows. The first scripture I will turn to as expressing what the truth is, and which will convey it to you in a very small compass, is Colossians 1: 23-25,
"If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God". There, in very small compass, you get the two ministries connected with the truth - one is the gospel, and the other is the church. They are quite distinct. Where they coalesce is an interesting inquiry; but the point for us, what is to mark us, is that we have these two ministries. It is not the question whether every person of the company understands them; but the question is, whether they accept them. I look for an admission of the truth; not that I expect every one of the company to be intelligent as to the truth.
Why were creeds ever brought out? In order to show what people believed. I do not want a creed in that formal way; but I want to understand what really belongs to us as belonging to Christ here on earth, because I take the ground that we are in company with Him. It is not only that I know Him individually. If you do not know Him in your individual circumstances, you will never know Him in the house of God. If you have not personal intimacy according to John 10, "I know my sheep, and am known of mine", do not tell me that you know Him in His assembly. You may know the effect of His presence there, you may get the benefit of His presence, but you do not know Himself there. He is there in a very full way, as He would not be with an individual. When He comes to the individual, He comes in relation to the individual; and when He comes to the assembly, He comes in relation to it, as Son over the house of God. And if you look at Sardis - Revelation 3 - I think you will see there, that the great lack is, that they have not been in company with the Lord in the assembly, and therefore they do not get beyond the Reformation. You see it in Luther; justification by faith, the truth of the gospel revived, but the church only reformed. If you really were alongside of the Lord in His own assembly, do you mean to tell me you would not understand that there is the assembly, as well as the gospel? I do not believe it. Nothing can be plainer. The Colossians were a very nice people - they had "faith in Christ Jesus", and "love to all the saints", but they were in danger. It was not that they did not know the truth, and it was not that the truth was not accepted, but they were not holding "the mystery" in faith. I would not judge a company of saints by one or two; I must take the whole. I do not judge a country by a village. I look at the whole. And you may be sure that the Lord looks at the whole.
Now if you are near the Lord you must know the gospel. If you did not know the gospel you could not be near Him. You could not be in His presence unless He had removed every cloud between Him and you; you could not be happy there. Even Peter was not happy till the Lord restored him to communion. Affection is not communion. I am sure there are many who have affection - you all know something about it - but communion is quite another thing. There is no restlessness where there is communion; on the contrary, there is enjoyment. Peter was restless, and was grieved because there was something between him and the Lord; the Lord removes it, He did so in order that there should be communion. The apostle writes to the Colossians that they should not "be moved away from the hope of the gospel"; and he prays for them according to the hope that is laid up for them "in heaven". As much as to say, If I do not keep you on heavenly ground, I shall never get you to understand the mystery. You must look at the gospel as the handmaid of the assembly. The gospel connects me with heaven. No one is saved for earth now; I am saved for heaven. I am as fit for heaven now, as if I were in it. Sometimes I have said to a person, You are fit for heaven, but not for earth. That is another thing, but you are fit for heaven. If you were not, how could you be fit for the presence of the Lord of glory? The very first thing one learns, is that Christ Himself has removed every single thing that bars me from His presence, and therefore I enjoy His presence. You have the sense that you have touched "the heavenly things"; you could not in any other way be in His presence. He comes into the midst; He comes in heavenly order, and I know that if there were a spot upon me, I could not enjoy Him. Next - if the gospel has not made me fit for Christ, and to be united to Christ, then what does? Surely union does not fit me. I am fit by the gospel, and that is the great teaching of the earlier verses of Ephesians. I am fit for union.
It is like Abraham sending for Rebekah, one of his own family. And that is what you have in Hebrews: "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one". In Hebrews you get that you are fit to be His companion. It is a wonderful thing that the gospel gives that. If you are not fit to be His companion, you could not be united to Him. He could not be united to what is unsuitable to Himself. Ephesians 1 shows that we are "accepted in the beloved", brought really into fitness; as John says, "As he is, so are we in this world". Through divine grace, I am fit to be His companion. And now comes out the mystery; We are His body, in the closest relationship to Him. I do not believe a soul could be in the presence of the Lord in the midst of His own, without the sense that there was a relationship, though he might not be able to explain it, he has not learned the word, the divine authority for it. Scripture tells you that you are united, a member of His body, and you are entranced; but then you were prepared for this light. I want you to understand that you could not be much in His presence without growing into a knowledge of the assembly as well as the gospel. These two ministries comprise the truth, because they show not only what the work of Christ has effected, but what our relationship is to Christ, and that for ever. Not only in this world, but for ever, the assembly will be the medium by which He will convey His pleasure over the whole universe.
Hence you see it is the expression of Himself. There is no good in anything but Himself. "As the truth is in Jesus"; that is, the truth was expressed in Him, a man on earth. A Person was on earth who exposed the false, and declared the true; He was the living impersonation of what is true, and therefore He exposed all that is false. Hence, God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. He is "the Truth". I think I need not say more on these two ministries. I desire before the Lord that you should dwell upon the whole truth, and my comfort in speaking on this subject - in one sense a line new to myself is, that I believe the necessity of the time has called it out - that it is the Lord's will that it should be brought before you. Now I pass on to the practical application, which I may call the test whether you know these two ministries or not.
There are four great events connected with them, and they are in relation to Christ. The first - there is not one here, I hope, who is not clear about it - that our blessed Lord was on this earth, and that He died and rose again. The second is that He has been glorified. The third is that the Holy Spirit has come down from the One who has been glorified. The fourth is not yet accomplished; it is what we wait for - the coming of the Lord. Now by these four events, you may judge the church: you can judge Christendom, you can judge yourself, you can judge every one.
1. Let us look at the first. You say: I believe the Lord was here, and that He died and rose again. Well, I ask, What does that involve?
It involves a momentous thing. It involves that the old man has been crucified, and that a Man has risen out from among the dead. Christ bore the judgment. He was made sin for us. You get it in the Romans; not only is your guilt removed, but your status as of the first man is set aside in the cross. I have no doubt that a great deal of darkness that is in souls, is because the work of the cross is not fully apprehended. This subject will touch you all. There is no atonement for sin. That statement may alarm some of you. There is atonement for sins, and there is atonement for a sin; that is guilt. But your state is sin: He was made sin; and sin is condemned in the flesh. There is a wonderful difference, and if you do not understand it, you have not understood the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Romans 12, tells you to present your body as a living sacrifice. How can you do that if your body is not freed from the old master? The old master was the flesh of sin. I do not wish to go beyond the comprehension of the youngest here, but I want you to know whether you do really believe this first event: That Christ died and rose again; that He cleared everything away, that He not only removed all your guilt when He "bore our sins in his own body on the tree", but "in that he died, he died unto sin once" and "in that he liveth, he liveth unto God": that is, He was the atonement for our sins, but sin in the flesh was condemned. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh", Romans 8: 3. The old man is condemned, and is entirely gone in judgment. I know how slow the heart is to receive it, but till you do receive it, you will never progress. You must have the fact, I am free of the man by which I was held. That man is gone in the death of Him who bore the judgment, and I am free in His life who cleared me. Therefore the scripture is, "Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus". Now you are on new ground, and that is the reason John does not speak of the blood on the lintel, or of the Red Sea; he speaks of the brazen serpent, he says, as it were, man is brought to an end, and your liberty is in life. Therefore, in Numbers 21 it is, whoever "beheld the serpent of brass, he lived". "Even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life". You are out of death, and in life. You come out in a new life literally; outside of everything now. Therefore, the apostle is so earnest that "the truth of the gospel" might continue with them - not a gospel, but the truth of it. He says, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live; yet not I" [not forgiveness here] but "Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me". Well, beloved friends, I need not dilate upon this doctrine; but what is the actual state of the one who has accepted the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? He is not only justified from the guilt, but he is actually freed from the old man.
"He that is dead is justified" [freed] "from sin", Romans 6: 7; that is clearance. The man who enjoys the result of Christ's work, the first event, knows that he is clear of everything, and that he has the life of the Christ who cleared him; in that life there is no condemnation, there could not be, there is nothing to condemn. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death", Romans 8: 2. You are now like a bird out of a cage, you enter on new ground altogether, you are in a new region. The old is set aside; the new is introduced; you are in the life of Christ. That is the first event.
2. Now I turn to the second event, and it tests us. The second is, That Christ is glorified.
That is a very solemn thing. I ask myself very often, Do I believe that He is in heaven? Do I believe that the Person who set me free from all the misery and judgment of this world is glorified at God's right hand in heaven? It is a very solemn question, and a very useful one. The idea in John and in Numbers 21 is that you are on for another country; in fact, that you belong to the place where the Life is. I do not know anything more difficult than to lead saints to understand and accept the simple fact, that they belong to heaven because the One who cleared us from the misery and judgment under which we lay, is in heaven. He is my life, and He is in heaven. Souls are very slow to learn it. When the light broke in many years ago, there was much ignorance about this second event, there was a great deal of legality, a trying to get rid of earthly appearances, and earthly glory; that of itself was not heavenly. Still it was better than what is now. Now it is what is called a clear gospel, not a single charge against me; sins, past, present and future, all gone, as people say. But what are you doing? Trying to make yourself as comfortable here, as you can. I say, Where is your Saviour? He is in heaven, and He is your life, then your "associations of life" are in heaven. It is one of the most interesting moments in the history of the soul, when the inquiry is raised, Where is He?
Mark now, that is the turn in everyone's history. Like Mary Magdalene, desolate without Him, I am in a place where my Lord is not. And the Lord introduces her to a new relationship, to a new sphere, and to a new day, "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". She was like the bride in the Canticles; and He leads her from Canticles to community of relationship, and community of relationship involves union. "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God". It is a real start with Christians when they reach this. But I am dealing now with events or facts which necessarily test us as to whether we hold the truth or not, not a truth but the truth. The Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of truth". We need to test ourselves. What do I see generally abroad? I see the history of Israel repeated. There is not one of us who does not believe that there was a day of provocation in the wilderness, and we know that "all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come", 1 Corinthians 10: 11. Study Numbers, and you see what happened. They only took one journey when the trouble came; they complained, and what then? Their hearts turned back into Egypt, they began lusting; and the next thing was, we will not go up. But that was not all; they essayed afterward to go up without the power. And the worst form today is, that a person says, It is the right thing to go up, but he goes up simply from the knowledge of the right thing without the power, and that is presumption. That was fatal to Israel. It is a grievous thing when your knowledge is beyond your power there is no power without faith. It is a simple question for every heart in this room: we assume to hold the truth - I will test you.
You say you are clear about Christ's death and resurrection. Are you? Do you mean to tell me you are in the liberty of His life, when your heart is indifferent as to where He is; to this second event? I could not believe it while you are engrossed with the things of this life. Hence the argument of the apostle is, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God", Colossians 3: 1. I put a plain question to every one of you, How much of the things above have you sought today? You belong to another sphere altogether. You have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Be like a tree that has its roots in heaven, and its branches down here. You say, That is a miracle.
Very likely; nevertheless, in reality your roots are in heaven, and your branches down here. No doubt they are fretted and nipped by the atmosphere here, but nothing can touch the roots up there. "Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God", Psalm 92: 13. Planted inside, they flourish outside. I have no doubt at all that the first fact, that is, Christ's work at His first coming, is not clear and full in your souls, or you would long to know where He is.
The measure of the truth in Christendom is, Christ was on earth, and is coming again; they have no idea of what is in the interval. Thank God, you have believed in the first; but you must hold fast to the second event, that is, Christ is in heaven. Now, as Christ is in heaven, and I am on earth, how can I get on here in the place where He is not?
3. The answer is, The Holy Spirit has come down, and this is the third fact or event. The Holy Spirit has come down to be with us, and in us.
It is not merely that my heart is in heaven because my Saviour is there; my actual place is there, though I am bodily here. The Holy Spirit has come down to lead us into all the truth; "He shall teach you all things"; "He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you". He has come down to the place where we are, here in this scene of misery where we have been contributors to the misrule and disorder of everything in this world. We have been converted through God's mercy, but still we have the same flesh that we had, and though we are in the same world, yet we are free from all, through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But where is He? In heaven. And when He comes into the midst of His own gathered ones, He comes in His heavenly character - what do you know of Him as the heavenly One there? If you tell me you enjoy Him in the midst of His gathered saints, you must enjoy Him in the place where He is, and your heart is set upon Him there. Someone lately asked, What would make me heavenly minded? Nothing but a Person, the Person who is in heaven - your Saviour.
"Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth". But I am not presenting this merely as a matter of affection; there is further, this great event, that the Holy Spirit has come down to us, and as the Lord tells you in John 16, He not only leads you into all the truth, not only conducts you into a sphere where everything is perfect according to the mind of God, but "He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you". It is not a question of the world; in one sense it is almost easier to get out of the world than to get free of the earth.
The world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; but I see a great many people who are not worldly, but who are earthly. They are surrounding themselves with the ease and comfort of earthly things; the grandeur, and the position of the world they have given up. What I dread is the earth. There were ten thousand men in Gideon's army who were neither fearful nor afraid - but what happened? Nine thousand seven hundred of them fell before the mercies of this life. You say, What will detach me? Nothing but the truth. These are two tests for every one of us, My Saviour is in heaven, and the Holy Spirit has come down to me. The Lord interest you more in having really your associations in heaven. I do not ask you to give up anything, I ask you to acquire, to be true to the simple fact, that He is in heaven.
He was on earth, that was the first fact, you know what that is; then, next, He is in heaven; third, the Holy Spirit has come down to be with us - in the house of God, and in each of us individually. Think then of the power you have. Think of the place He comes from. The place He comes from is necessarily the place He connects us with. You are outside what is natural, your power is by the Spirit of God. That is the third; and these two, the second and the third, are what are to mark us in the interval between the first fact or event, and the fourth, as you get in 1 Thessalonians. People sometimes quote that passage, "Ye turned to God from idols and to wait" - No, I say, you have left out the interval : "to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven". Christendom accepts what it terms the first advent and the second, but it omits the interval; that is, the present time. The moment you accept that Christ is in heaven, and the Holy Spirit is on earth, you must bring in the assembly. The gospel gives me title to be where He is, but in the assembly we are placed there.
Thus you see the two ministries embrace the truth. It would be an impossibility for you to be left in this place where Christ is rejected, if there were no mystery. If He is in heaven, because He has been rejected on earth, how could we be here even for an instant? If He, the Greatest, the Son of God, has no place here, how can I be here? By the mystery, the whole question is solved. I am here simply as a member of His body; in no other way have I a right to be here. As a member of His body, I am left here to express Him in the place where He is not, according to the grace given to me. Now, and it is very searching; Are you simply here as a member of His body standing for Him to whom all belongs, but who has been cast out? As a member of His body I have a place in heaven; I am not there as an individual, but I can enjoy it as an individual. 4. The fourth fact or event, I refer to only very briefly. You can easily see how it must be. What are you looking for? That you get in Thessalonians, "to wait for his Son from heaven"; and they were so carried away by it, that they did not attend to their ordinary business, thinking every day He would come. I do not dwell on that. Through the death and the resurrection of Christ you are clear of all the misery here, you are brought into a new life altogether, to soar away into the realms of light. My Saviour is in heaven, and I have association with Him there. Here you ought to have the sense that you are in the place where Christ died. The deeper my sense of His death, the more do I feel the death of anyone here. The more sorrow you have passed through, the more you feel sorrow. Every new sorrow revives the old ones. It is different with joy: every new joy puts out the old ones. "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward". "Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field". Death follows in our track. It is "the valley of the shadow of death". We recall, in the declaration of our affection to the Lord, the greatest death that ever occurred. "The golden bowl" is broken. We announce His death, we are the continuation in memory of Himself as He left this world, as He died out of it for us. This is an engrossing sorrow always before your heart as you walk through this world. "Remember me", is ever before the true heart. One feels sometimes, as one passes from the Lord's supper - take honour there, take distinction there, seek enjoyment there, where Christ died! Never! How could I? Well then, you are in this world, and the Holy Spirit is here, what are you looking for? I am looking for Him to come. Therefore,
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come". See how naturally they flow one from another. We wait for Him; that is the fourth fact or event; it is not yet accomplished, but we have the certainty of it, we can count upon it more surely than upon tomorrow's sun. You are not true to the fourth, if you do not answer to the other three. I do not think I need add more. I can only look to the Lord to lead you and me to pray that we might see better how necessarily His truth is connected with those who enjoy His presence. One does not assume anything, but I have challenged people before now who profess to be gathered to His name, just give me a short statement of what the assembly is. Their inability to do it shows where they are.
If I look at the literature of the day, I see in it little or nothing as to the assembly, a partial gospel is enough. What I dread, is lest the truth should slip away from us. God has been pleased to recover the truth, and has allowed us to see it: may we not be deprived of it because of unfaithfulness. I am sure He will not permit this without plenty of notice; but He is warning us, He is drawing our attention to it; we are highly favoured, and are proportionately responsible. I say this in order that our hearts may be awakened to understand the greatness of His grace. The Lord grant that each of our hearts may be delighting in the knowledge of the truth. As we are in His company, we expand in it. He is the Truth.
