The Spirit's Witness to the Truth
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we have occasion to thank thee for this day, in which we may worship thee, and feel sure of thy presence with us, and we pray that as a result of all these services this community shall be enlivened, and these thy dear people may become more like Christ, and that we all may have a desire to put the Holy Spirit in his rightful place in our lives and in the church.
May we be led of the Holy Ghost to have one mind, even the mind of Jesus Christ, and to know the power of God; and so living in this world, may we bring iilto it a blessing for all with whom we shall come in contact, even the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hear us and answer us, and we will give thee all praise through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
SUBJECT — THE SPIRITS WITNESS TO THE TRUTH/^
“Yea, saith the Spirit” (Rev. 14: 13).
This world of ours has’ had some marvelous galleries of art, in which deeds of heroism, the stories of saintly lives, and the beautiful representations of the landscape have made the canvas glow with rare splendor. But to my mind there has never been produced anything so rich and so beautiful as that found in the book of Revelation. It is a book difficult to understand, and yet it is the one that has in it a blessing pronounced upon the reader, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:3).
Not that he understands it, but that he simply reads it, and hears of the things which are to come to pass in quick succession. Here in this wonderful book John uses marvelous figures, all of which when put together give us a conception of heaven. He describes the city with gates of pearl nd streets of gold, and its many mansions, but above all, tells of the presence of him whom having not seen, we love, and in whom we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
John was alone on the Isle of Patmos, banished to the island for his Master’s sake, but it is not ‘donely” when the One for whose sake he suffers, reveals unto him the things that are shortly to come to pass. As we turn over the pages of the book of Revelation, we find he is using the things round about him in the delineating of heaven. For example, when he would describe the Son of Man he said he is as the ‘sound of many waters.” He heard the breaking of the waves of the .®gean Sea, and he said it shall be like that. When he heard the angels praising the Son of God, he said it was ‘as the voice of many waters.” So, as we turn over the pages of this wonderful Book, we find that as his body was on the Isle of Patmos, his spirit was going through the great surroundings of the city of God. And as he looks, he writes. In the fourth chapter he gives a description of the church as she shall be glorified; of the four and twenty elders throwing down their crowns at His feet. And then in the twentieth chapter he tells of the bottomless pit and Satan’s doom. ^‘And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.” It is here he tells that Satan will be bound and shall deceive the nations no more.
But I want to call your attention to the fourteenth chapter, the chapter where the angel flies, going with the everlasting gospel, and where the Son of Man is sitting on the cloud with a crown on his head and a sickle in his hand. It is the chapter in which I find my text, ^Wea, saith the Spirit.”
I am aware of the fact that some of you may say, “What a strange text for such a service as this.” The whole verse reads, And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me. Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
You may well think it is strange, but if you will follow me patiently, you will find that it is just the text for such a joyous service as this; and it is given, not to make us mourn, but to make us praise and glorify his holy name.
It is the Spirit answering to the truth presented here. Could there be a better theme for this morning? I think a minister is always laboring under a difficulty when he tries to put the things of heaven into the language of earth. Our language is so inadequate. And so when I say that this is like an interruption by the Spirit, this may appear to be an incongruity, for he wrote it all. At least, I can say the text I have chosen is like an interruption by the Spirit. He inspired John to write, but now he breaks in on the message. There are two places where this occurs. One is in Heb. 13:8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” If you read that verse in the original, you find it a little different, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to-day; yes, and forever.” Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to-day. Paul knew about that; he knew what he was yesterday, and he knew what he was to-day. Paul’s own experience told him all that. But just as Paul gets to this place, there is an interruption, as if by the angels, “Yes, and forever.” And so it is, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day;” and just as Paul put that down the angels shouted, “Yes, and forever the same!”
And so my text is like another interruption. John is writing, and he is interrupted. He had just written, “Blessed are the dead,” when the Spirit breaks in, saying, “Amen.” And so, this morning, I want to talk about that, “Amen,” saith the Spirit.
This is like an antiphonal service in the great cathedral of heaven — John like one choir here, and the Spirit another up there. John writes here, and the Spirit answers there, “Amen and amen.”
There are so many different descriptions of the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament and the New. In Genesis the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the deep, like a mother, in his love.
And in Acts 2: 2, the Holy Ghost is like the wind. However perfect the organization, there is no power back of it until the Holy Ghost falls upon the people, and fits them for service. The early disciples had to tarry until endued with power; they had to separate themselves, and then, when they had shut out the world, and were shut up unto God, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they were made ready for service.
And then in Acts 2:3, we have the Holy Ghost like fire — the One who purifies. You know in the mints they always let the fire burn until they can see their faces in the melted metal, and then they know it is pure. And so the Holy Spirit in the church would burn away all that is sinful and cut out all that hinders, and refine the church until there is seen reflected in her the image of Him who loved us and gave himself for us.
But in addition to all these figures, it must be remembered that since Pentecost he is the director and the controller of the affairs of the church, and we as ministers, if we would have his approval, must teach and live only the things to. which the Holy Ghost can say “Amen.” You cannot divorce any part of the church service from him. If it is not a work which he will bless, and which he will attend, I believe with all my soul it is no service. God will not accept a service which is not inspired by the Holy Ghost, and to which he will not say “Amen.” So, whether it be the preaching, praying, or singing, unless controlled by the Holy Ghost, it is not pleasing to God. The work of the Holy Ghost is to glorify Christ. “He shall glorify me,” said Jesus. And you who have been here during the week will remember that we have learned that he first convicts of sin, then leads us to Jesus Christ as the propitiation of our sin, and we have learned how all there is in Christ is for us and how the Spirit makes it real to us, and so now this morning we want to
TITE SPIRITS WITNESS TO THE TRUTH
think a little while about some of the things in our ministry to which the Spirit will say “Amen,”
“He interprets the Word of God to us. I would not have you think this morning that I am saying anything against scholarship. But I do say there is something beyond scholarship. I would not say a word against the schools, for they are the outgrowth of Christianity. The church has been the mother of learning, and wherever the gospel has been carried there have been established libraries and schools and universities. Impelled by zeal for God, the scholars of our lands have weighed the planets and calculated the geography of the heavens; they have dug into the buried cities of the east and brought to light the Kosetta stones of bygone ages, and made the past tell its story, and we exclaim, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” But while I want to say. All honor to the schools and to the teachers, and to the professors in our seminaries, and while I congratulate you upon finishing your course, I want to say that there is something infinitely beyond it all. I. Cor. 2: 9, 10, “But as it is written. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit seaycheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
Can you read my thoughts? I can read them. Do you know what is going on in my inner nature? I know what is going on. “Where is the man who can know the things of God save the Spirit of God?” The things of God are spiritually discerned. So I say this morning, the blessed Bible is only known when a man has yielded himself to God.
The Holy Ghost is ready to give his approval to the statement, The Bible is the word of God. Men dodge the issue when they say, “It contains the word of God.” They say, “Every scripture inspired of God is profitable,” etc. That is not what we want. Every scripture is inspired of God. They would teach us that some scriptures were inspired and some were not. Then you have to depend upon their judgment as to which is inspired and which is not inspired, and it does seem to me that it is hard to tell under the circumstances where speculation should begin and where it should cease. How can you tell whether it is or is not inspired if you know that some is and some is not? You are floating in the midst of a sea of speculation. We ask the question, “Where did we get our Bible?’’ And the world begins to tell us, “A part here, another portion there.’’ But that is not the answer we seek. Where did we get our Bible? This is the correct answer, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II. Pet. 1:21).
. That is where we got it. Inspiration is literally in-breathing; and the Bible is different from all other books because God is in it, walking through all its words and seen in all its beauty.
Dr. John Hall says: “Though it is made of paper and printers’ ink and leather, it is different from all other books; but how is it different? Oh, it is different because God breathed into it. Just as he took the dust of the earth and fashioned it into the image of a man and breathed into him and gave him a soul, and man became different from all things on the earth, so he breathed into this book.” To this statement, this morning, I think I can hear the Holy Ghost say “Amen and amen.
How may I know the Bible is the Word of God? These are days of scholarship and scientiflc questions, and people ask, “Will the Bible stand?” Yes, the Bible will stand scientiflc research and study. But if you would get the sweetness out of it, — and I believe that your venerable bishop here, with all his years of experience, as well as the Holy Ghost, will say “Amen” to this, — if you would get the sweetness out of it, you must accept it as God’s word and act accordingly. Come up to this Book with the scientiflc and philosophic mind, and it shuts itseH up like a sensitive plant; come with your heart open, and it opens like the little mignonette, and diffuses a sweetness that enters your soul and conforms you to the image of the One of whom it speaks.
Augustine says, “You must understand my word if you would believe it; you must believe God’s Word if you would understand it.” There is the difference. I would suggest, therefore, that if you would know it is God’s book, that first of all you accept it as his book, and act accordingly, and your skepticism will disappear as you go on in the path of duty.
Mr. Moody says that when he comes to a passage he can’t understand, he does with it just as he does with the bones when he eats fish. He puts the bones to one side and goes on eating the meat. If you will try this, you will find that the thing you could not understand has become the strength and the inspiration of your ministry. You musicians know about the accidentals in your pieces of music. We who don’t know anything of music think that the accidentals are a discord; but when you understand music, you see then that the composer put them in because they bring out the harmony and make the piece more beautiful. So, sometimes, with the apparent contradictions; the contradictions of men are the harmonies of God. So all we have to do is to take it as the Word of God, and God will show himself in it.
Second, live it. When General Booth was in this country he presented the picture of a man who was starving to death, and the man received a check from a friend, promising to pay a certain amount of money to him. He held it up and danced around the room in his glee. His wife looks at him and says: “Poor man, I was afraid it would be too much for him. He has suffered until he is unsettled mentally.” “Wife,” he said, “I am going to have it framed and hang it up. I will have it set to music, and we will sing it every day.” And General Booth said he could have it framed, and could have it set to music and sing it every day of his life, sing it hour after hour until he died, and it would not do him any good if he did not take the check and demand payment.
This Book speaks of all the greatness that may be yours and mine, when we let God work it out in our lives. Live it, then.
A storm swept the New England Coast, and it was reported in Boston that the Minot lighthouse was down. The excitement was intense. But one day the keeper of the lighthouse was seen upon the streets, and his friends said to him, “They told us the lighthouse had gone down.” He looked at his questioners in perfect amazement. It is true,” he said, ‘That this was the heaviest storm I have ever seen, but she never shook.” She never shook! Blessed old Book! The critics have cut it, and the agnostics have questioned it, God’s enemies have abused it, but it never shook! I think I hear him say — that blessed One who was mystical to us a week ago, but the most real friend we have to-day, with the possible exception of our Lord, — I hear him say, “Amen, amen!”
Another thing to which I am perfectly sure the Spirit will answer “Amen” is, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, John 15: 26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”
There are many arguments to be used for the unregenerate. If you are unsaved and you want to know about Jesus Christ, seek to know what he said about himself. What does he say of himself? When the priests asked him if he was the Son of God, he said, “I am.” Possibly you hold him to be a good man. You cannot hold that theory, my friend. He said, ‘’I am the Son of God’’ and he was, or he was an imposter. And then when you become a child of God and want to know more of his divinity, test him. Try him in heathen lands.
John G. Paton went to the New Hebrides Islands and told the story of the cross. It changed the islands. There are churches and schools in the islands now, and the people are new creatures. What did it? They heard about Jesus Christ, and it transformed their natures and changed their surroundings.
Try him in your own life. Give him a fair test. Do you remember that verse, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’’? It does not mean liberty to do as you please. That is lawlessness. But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty for him to do as he pleases, and that is transformation of character. Just give him a chance to do what he wants to in your -life, and before a week is over you will know that he is the Son of God. Lift him up, as Paul did, and he will prove his divinity as he draws all men to himself. It is here the preacher differs from the orator. He preaches Christ, and in no other theme — philosophy, poetry, art, literature, ethics — may he be sure of the co-operation of the Spirit.
It is here you differ from the man who entertains and interests. Lectures and entertainments are right in their place; sometimes they may be all right in the pulpit in the way of illustrations. But you have no right to believe if you proclaim anything else than the gospel of Jesus Christ that the Holy Ghost will say Amen” to your ministry.
You remember that story told by F. B. Meyer? He was passing through our country, and when on the railroad one day he looked out of the window and saw a man sawing a log. “How in the world can one man saw a log like that?” he said to himself. The train rolled on, and the track made a bend, and he looked back, and there, on the other side, was another man, down on his knees, and he was sawing too, and the bodies of the two men moved in rhythm. The man behind, out of sight, was moving his body in perfect time with the man in full view. Oh, it is a blessed thing to preach in perfect accord with Him, so that when you move here, he moves there. So you must preach him cradled in the manger; going into Egypt; living in Nazareth; healing the sick; cleansing the leper; raising the dead; weeping in the garden; scorned in the court-room;, dying on the cross; rising from the tomb; ascending into
heaven; and coming again in power; and yOu will keep in such rhythm with the Holy Ghost that you will hear him say, “Amen.” “Amen, saith the Spirit.”
There is another truth to which the Holy Ghost may say “Amen.” The church is the body of Christ. The Holy Ghost is the life of the church, and he may be hindered or quenched.
Some people say the hope of the church is in getting sound theology, but I think it is putting the Holy Ghost where he ought to be in the church. “It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us,” that is what we ought to say.
Mr. Spurgeon said that a gospel sermon must have enough of gospel in it so that if a man should come in and hear you just once, he would have gotten enough of the plan of salvation to know how to be saved. To this I think I can hear Him say, “Amen.”
Another thing is. He must dictate the prayers. Matt. 18: 19, “Again I say unto you. That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”
“If two of you shall agree”; that means to symphonize. What is that? Well, it means to make different tones agree with the concert pitch. Agree among yourselves? No, agree with Him. We know not how to pray. He must inspire every sentence.
And then he must inspire the singing. Do you not think the singing of the church sometimes hinders the work of the Holy Ghost? I have heard some music which I doubt very much whether he inspired. I believe it is possible to take a simple anthem like the one you sang this morning and move the people to tears. Why? Because the anthem was one that the Holy Ghost could use, and the hearts back of the song were symphonized with him. “Amen, saith the Spirit.”
If Christ is the head of the church, he must control the body; if the Spirit is the life, he must not be hindered. Then we shall have a real church. If you have that verse in John 14: 19, I want to speak of it, “Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.”
It is the picture of the sun and the moon. When the sun sets we cannot see it, but the moon in the sky still beholds and catches his glory, and throws it back to us.
I want to call your attention to the fact that the world can see Him no more until he comes again to judge it. So now the world doesn’t see him, but it sees us. We see him because we are in the heavenlies, and the world through us sees him. O brethren, how ought we to live? Are we living a life to which the Spirit shall say “Amen”?
Then, I want to speak about Kom. 8: 16, “The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.”
There are three things in that text: First, you are an
heir of God, and if you are an heir of God, then everything in him is yours. And then, if we are heirs, we will suffer with Christ. And if we suffer with him, we are to share his glory. If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him, and be like him. As I say that text this morning I think I can hear the answer of the Spirit, “Amen, amen, amen, saith the Spirit.”
I have seen a piece of charcoal and a diamond laid together in the hand of the jeweler, and he said, “This diamond is charcoal glorified.” That is how our lives are to be — glorified, glorified.
Dr. Charles Hodge, writing of Laura Bridgman, the famous deaf mute, said this, which so beautifully illustrates my point: “I can imagine on the resurrection morning, when
God will touch her eyes and say, Daughter, see.’ And she will open her eyes and see the face of her beloved. And he will touch her ears and say, Daughter, hear.’ And she will hear the voice of the angel choir, like the voice of many waters. And he will touch her lips and say, ‘Daughter, speak.’ And she will open her lips, and, with the angels, she will sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, sweeter than them all.” Oh, it will be like that. That is what “glorified” means. Every part of our being touched with his power and filled with his fullness.
So it is a possible thing, when we say the Bible is the word of God, Christ is the Son of God, and the church is the body of Christ, and you are his sons — is it possible to hear him? I say, ‘Amen, amen, amen, saith the Spirit!”