05.03. THE ACTIVITIES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
We will now turn to John 3:3.
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Two things stand out clearly in this statement. (1) The badness of men by nature. (2) The goodness of God in undertaking to make a new start in them for their blessing. "Ye must be born again." This is an absolute necessity, and this statement gives the lie direct to the vaunting boast that good dwells in every man and merely requires development.
Let us note the fact that these words were not spoken to an outwardly gross and vicious man. Nicodemus was a model for his fellows, upright and correct in his conduct, but with startling clearness the truth is set before even him: flesh is flesh, there must be a new start. "Ye must be born again."
We are told that what humanity needs is to be cultured, educated, religionized; that men ought to be placed in better environment, their standard of life raised. It is argued that a change from the slums to garden cities, that suitable recreations and the like, will bring them up to the platform that will make them satisfactory to themselves and their fellows, and pleasing to God. Well, I for one would like to see all slums disappear, and the lot of man made easier; the miseries and hardships of multitudes can give no pleasure to the Christian; but these things are the foul brood that sin has begotten in the world. Man has a fallen sinful nature, and to make him more comfortable in this world and to change his environment will not change that. We must not lose sight of the fact that the fall took place amid the most beautiful surroundings that human eyes have seen on earth, and that the foulest crime that ever stained the sad annals of humanity was perpetrated in a garden. It was in a garden that the traitor kiss was put upon the cheek of Jesus, and the man who did that dastard deed had been in company with Him for three years. He had been taught, and fed, and protected by Him, and in spite of these circumstances and conditions, the best that man could have, his heart remained unchanged. And the truth must be told, though it may hurt us to hear it, the heart of Judas was but a sample of yours and mine.
If you demand my authority for such an assertion, I will turn you back to Jeremiah 17:9.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Or further back still, to Genesis 6:1-22.
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
It is useless to plead that great progress has been made since those far-off days, for the Lord Jesus said "That which is born of flesh is flesh." "Ye must be born again."
All are corrupt alike by nature, from the mansions of Mayfair to the hovels of Shoreditch; from the highest grade of society to its lowest dregs; flesh is flesh, and nothing but this absolutely new start which God’s Spirit alone can produce, can make men acceptable to God. "Ye must be born again." The truth as to the fall and the utter badness of the heart is not pleasant to the unregenerate man; it suits the pride of his heart better to believe that he has descended from the ape, and that the ape arrived through various stages of evolution from the lowliest form of life, for then he can reason that if he has made such wonderful progress, in the past, the future is big with possibilities. But, alas! it is the Edenic lie, "Ye shall be as gods," which he has believed. This is the will-o’-the-wisp that is leading him through the night of his ignorance, to the black doom of eternal despair. Happy is the man who accepts God’s truth as to himself and owns that he is a fallen sinner, for then he is ready for the unfolding of God’s great plan for his blessing. On the side of God’s goodness in this matter we have "the water and the Spirit." The water certainly is not baptism, it is that which cleanses — not the guilt of a man, the blood does that — but which gives him a new and clean nature; it is the truth of God applied to his heart, which produces repentance in him, and makes him turn from his evil way to God. It makes him hate the sins which once he loved, and long after those things in which he once found no pleasure. In short, it is the introduction of an entirely new nature, not produced by the will of man, but by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. Psalms 119:9 will be sufficient to prove this interpretation of the use of water.
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word." And Ephesians 5:26 is even clearer still.
"That He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word." And speaking to His disciples in John 15:3, the Lord said —
"Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." The water is the word. The truth of God is applied in convicting power by the Spirit of God to the consciences and hearts of men, for just as He moved upon the face of the waters in the days of creation, so He moves now upon the souls of men to bring form out of chaos, to make the light shine where the darkness has reigned, and to bring life out of death. He is the untiring Servant of God in this gracious work, and happy is the man who yields to His influence and power.
Having quickened the soul out of death, the Spirit of God turns the eye to Christ as the only hope and Saviour; and faith in Him settles the question of guilt for ever, for God, "is just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." It is verily a glorious day for a man when he casts himself unreservedly upon the Lord Jesus Christ, for then a complete change of ownership takes place, he is no longer the slave of Satan, but he belongs to the Lord, and as a result receives the Spirit of God.
Two passages from the Epistles will make this clear. Ephesians 1:13-14.
"Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."
Also 1 Corinthians 6:19.
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." In these two passages three important questions are answered.
1. Who are indwelt by the Spirit?
2. When are they indwelt?
3. Why are they indwelt?