THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT - Robert Murray Mcchene

“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”—Gen. i., 9.

THERE is, perhaps, no subject upon which there is greater ignorance than that of the Spirit of God. Most people, in our day, if they answered truly, would say as those twelve men of Ephesus: “We have not so much as heard if there be any Holy Ghost.”— Acts xix. And yet. if ever you are to be saved, you must know him; for it is all his work to bring a poor sinner to Christ. A little boy, when dying, said: “Three persons in the Godhead. God the Father made and preserved me; God the Son came into the world and died for me; God the Holy Ghost came into my heart, and made me love God and hale sin.” My dear friends, if you would die happy, you must be able to bear the same dying testimony. You know it is said in John, that “God is love.” This is true of God the Father in his giving up his Son for sinners; this is true of God the Son, in his becoming man and dying for sinners; this is true of God the Holy Ghost, in his whole work in the heart of sinners. At present I wish to show you the love of the Spirit, by observing all that he has ever done for men in the world. To-day I will show you his work at creation; at the flood; in the wilderness.

I. At creation: The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”—Gen. i., 2. The expression is taken from a dove brooding over its nest. “Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth.”—Ps. civ. Here the Spirit is said to have renewed the face of the earth. Ho made every blade of grass to spring, every flower to open, every tree to put forth blossoms. “By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens.”—Job. xxvi., 13. Here God does, as it were, lead us forth to look upon the midnight sky; and when we gaze upon its spangled maze, studded with brilliant stars, he tells us that it was the loving Spirit that gave them all their brightness and their beauty. Observe, then, that whatever beauty there is in the glassy sea, in the green earth, or in the spangled sky, it is all the work of the Holy Spirit. God the Father willed all, God the Son created all, God the Holy Ghost garnished, and gave life and loveliness to all. Oh! what a lovely world that unfallen world must have been, when God the Son walked with Adam in Paradise, when God the Holy Ghost watered and renewed the whole every moment, when God the Father looked down well pleased on all, and said that all was very good.

Learn, 1. The love of the Spirit.—He did not think it beneath , his care to beautify the dwelling-place of man. He wanted our joy to be full. He did not think it enough that we had a world to live in, but he made the waters full of life and beauty. He’ made every green thing to spring for man, and made a shining canopy above, all for the joy of man. Whatever beauty still remains on earth, or sea, or sky, it is the trace of his Almighty finger. You should never look on the beauties of the world without thinking of the Holy Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters, that renewed the face of the earth, that garnished the heavens with stars.

2. The holiness of the Spirit.—From the very beginning he was the Holy Spirit, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. It was a sinless world. The sea had never been defiled by bearing wicked men upon his bosom. The green earth had never been trodden by the foot of a sinner. The spangled sky had never been looked upon by the eye of one whose eye is full of adultery, and cannot cease from sin. It was a holy, holy, holy world, a temple of the living God, the lefty mountains were the pillars of it; the glittering -heavens its canopy. The far-resounding ocean sang his praise. The hills brake forth into singing, and all the trees of the field clapped their hands. As the cloud which BO filled Solomon’s temple that the priests could not stand to minister by reason 01 the cloud; so the Holy Spirit filled this world, a holy, sinless temple to the Father’s praise. When man fell into sin, and the very ground was cursed for his sake, then the Holy Spirit in great measure left his temple; he could not dwell with sin. And never do you find him coming back, as before, till he lighted on the head of a sinless Saviour; for the Holy Ghost descended upon him like a dove, and abode upon him. Just so is it with the
soul.—As long as your soul is guilty, polluted, vile, in the sight of the Spirit, ne cannot make his abode in your heart. He is a loving Spirit, full of a tender desire to make you holy. But as long as you are guilty in his sight, it is contrary to his nature that he should dwell in you. But come to the blood of Jesus, sinner; come to the blood that makes you white as snow, then will the Spirit see no iniquity in you, and he will come and dwell in your heart, as he dwelt at first in the sinless world. As he moved on the face of the waters, like a dove over its nest, so he will make his nest in your heart, and brood there. As he renewed the face of the ground, so will he renew your heart. As he garnished the heavens, so will he beautify your soul, till he make you shine as the stars for ever and ever.

II. At the food.— “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that ‘he also is flesh (fading): yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”—Gen. vi., 3. What a different scene we have here! Yet here also we shall learn that the Holy Spirit is a loving Spirit. At the creation we found him beautifying the world

dwelling in it as in a temple; the earth, the sea, the sky, all proclaiming that it was a sinless world. But now fifteen hundred years had passed away, and the whole earth was covered with a race of godless men, giants in body and giants in wickedness.

” God looked upon the earth, and it was corrupt.”—It was all one putrid mass. “From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there was no soundness in it;” for all flesh had corrupted his way. Just as a putrid body is loathsome in the sight of man, so the earth was loathsome in the sight of God. Nay, more; the earth was filled with violence. The few children of God that remained were hated and persecuted, hunted like the partridge on the mountains. It repented the Lord that he had made man, and it grieved him at his heart. How is the Holy Spirit engaged? Ans. 1. He does not dwell with sinful men. He cannot dwell with unpardoned sinners; for he is the Holy Spirit. 2. But still he strives with men, and strives to the very end. The men were giants in sin. Every imagination of their heart was only evil continually. But this is the very reason he strives. He sees the flood that is coming, he sees the hell that is beneath them; therefore does he strive. In the preaching of Noah he pleaded with them; he pricked their hearts, made them think of their danger, their sin, their misery. In the preparing the ark he pleaded ‘with them, showed them the way of safety, and said: “Yet there is room.” He made every stroke of the hammer go to their hearts. “The Spirit and the Bride said, Come.”

Learn, 1. That ha is a striving Spirit.—O! let those of you that are living in sin, learn what a loving Spirit is now striving with you. Some of you, who are living in sin, think that God is nothing but an angry God; therefore you do not turn to him. True, “he is angry with the wicked every day;” still he is striving with the wicked every day. He sends the Holy Spirit to strive with you. Oh! what a loving Spirit he is, that does not at once turn you into hell, but pleads and strives, saying: “Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die?”

Some may say: I am a giant in wickedness, I am corrupt, I am violent against God’s children. True; yet still see here how he strove with giants in wickedness. The whole earth was corrupt, and filled with violence; yet he strove. So he strives with you in whatever state you are. He is a loving Spirit. He strives by ministers, Bibles, providences. Sometimes, when you are all alone, that Spirit wrestles with you, brings your sin to remembrance, and makes you tremble; or, like the angels at Sodom, strives to, make you flee from destruction. Oh! what love is here, to strive with hell-deserving worms. “Oh! ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”

2. A long-suffering Spirit.—One hundred and twenty years he strove with the men before the flood. He never ceased till the flood came. Some of you remember a time when God’s Spirit was striving with you at the Sabbath school, or your first sacrament. You wept for your soul, and prayed; but the world has come on you since then, and now you fear he strives no more. Learn, he is a long suffering Spirit, he strives with you yet. “He that hath ears, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.” 3. He will not always strive.—Observe, the Spirit strove till the flood came, but no longer; for the flood came, and carried them all away. So it is with you, my dear friends. As long as our ministry lasts, he strives with you; but when death comes, or when the Saviour comes, he will strive no more. Ah! you will have ho awakening, inviting, striving sermons in hell, not one invitation more. Oh! how sad it is to think that so many, who have the Spirit of God striving with them, should perish after all.

III. In the wilderness.—Nearly one thousand years after the flood, we find God choosing a peculiar people to himself, and keeping them separate from all people, in the wilderness. Here the Spirit shows himself still more as the loving Spirit.

1. The glorifier of Christ.—Bezaleel and Aholiab, by his guidance, make the tabernacle, the mercy seat, the altar, the high priest’s garments.—Exod. xxxi., 1-11. All these typify Christ. The Spirit here enables these men to show forth the Saviour to the many thousands of Israel. Although they often vexed the Holy Spirit, and grieved him in the desert, yet, see here how lovingly he sets forth Christ in the midst of them, that he may lead them to peace and holiness! This is exactly what Christ said of him afterwards: ” He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.”

Dear friends, has the Spirit glorified Christ to you? He is still the great revealer of Christ. He shines into our heart, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ. Has he led you to the altar, to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world? Has he clothed you in the high priest’s garments? Has he brought you within the veil, to the mercy seat? This is his delightful work. Oh! it is a sweet work to be the minister on earth that leads souls to Christ, that points, like John, and says: “Behold the Lamb of God.” But O how infinitely more loving in that Holy Spirit of God to lead trembling souls to Jesus! Oh! praise him that has done this for you. Oh! love the Spirit of God. “Thy Spirit is good: lead me to the land of uprightness.”

2. He purifies all that believe: “Thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar.” Exod. xl., 6, 7. This brazen Inver, containing water, was set up in the wilderness to typify the Holy Spirit; and observe the place where it was put, between the altar and the tabernacle of God. The first thing that the sinner came up to was the altar with the bleeding Iamb. He laid his hands upon the head of the lamb and confessed his sins; so that they were carried all away in the blood of the lamb. Forgiven and justified, he advanced a few paces further to the brazen laver; there he washed his feet and hands. This represented the Holy Spirit washing and renewing his heart, and then he entered into the holy place of God.

“Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scripture, might have hope.” Dear friends, has the Holy Spirit purified you? If you have laid your sins upon the Lamb of God, have you come to this laver of living water? are you really washing there, and preparing to enter into the holy place, made without bands, eternal in the heavens? “Without holiness no man can see the Lord;” and without the Spirit you will have no holiness. Oh! is he not a loving spirit who thus delights to prepare the believer for glory, who dimes into our vile heart, and “creates a clean heart, and renews a right spirit within us?” Oh! love him who thus loves you; and ask for him, you that are his children. The Father delights to give him. “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

3. He upholds the life of believers: “They all drank of that Rock which followed them; and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. X., 4. This was a third way in which the Spirit showed himself in the wilderness. (1.) A river. This was to show Israel how refreshing and supporting he is to the weary soul, and that there is abundance in him. Drink, and drink again; you will not drink a river dry; so there is infinite fulness of the Spirit. (2.) Flowing from a smitten rock. This shows that he is given by a -wounded Saviour; that it is only when we hide in that Rock that we can receive the Holy Ghost. “I will send him unto you.” (3.) It followed them. This was to show that, wherever a believer goes, the Holy Spirit goes with him. “will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;” a well within, springing up into everlasting life.

My dear friends, have you received the Holy Ghost, since you believed? It appears to me that few Christians realize this river flowing after them. Oh! what inexpressible love and grace there 1s in this work of the Spirit. Is there any of you weak and faint, and ready to perish under a wicked heart, and raping lusts? or, have you got a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet you? and are you driven to pray that it may be taken from you? See here the answer to your prayer. A river of living water flows from Christ. There is enough here for all your wants. “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect ‘hi weakness.” Some of you are afraid of the future; you fear Some approaching temptation: you fear some coming contest. See here the river flows after you; the Spirit will abide with you for ever. Oh! what love is here! Notwithstanding all your sinfulness, and weakness, and unbelief, still he abides with you, and will for ever. He is “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John iv., 14.

Oh! love the Spirit, then, who so loves you. Grieve not the$ Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.

St. Peter’s, Dec. 16, 1838.