The Holy Spirit's work in the believer today

… Could you read in Genesis 24, and verse 17, and the servant ran to meet her, that's Rebekah, and said, let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And towards the end of the chapter, verse 64, and Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off a camel, for she had said unto the servant, what man is this that walks in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, it is my master, therefore she took her veil and covered herself. And into John's Gospel, chapter 4, John's Gospel, chapter 4, and verse 23, John 4, verse 23. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And in Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1 and verse 8, Colossians chapter 1, verse 8, the land of Epaphras, who also declared unto us, your love in the spirit, your love in the spirit. And in Revelation chapter 1, Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10, Revelation 1, verse 10, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying unto me, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And we might move on, finally, to chapter 22, chapter 22, Revelation and verse 17, and the Spirit and the Bride say, come, the Spirit and the Bride say, come. It was just a few words, dearly beloved, came pressing on me, really, following the Bible reading this afternoon, and you see, because it's the great work of the Spirit, the person of the Godhead, one of the persons in the Godhead, eternal persons they are, eternal persons, persons in the Godhead, and when we think of the blessed equality of all these persons in the Godhead, and yet one of them, the Spirit, could deign to come here, to take of the things of another blessed person of the Godhead, the Son, and make them known to us. That's a wonderful, down-stooping grace of the Spirit, and yet ever to retain his blessed eternal glory, how precious it is. And in common with the other persons in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is in a hurry to bless. It tells us in Isaiah, doesn't it, that judgment is God's strange work. Judgment is God's strange work, and God is in a hurry to bless, and we see that, don't we, in Luke 15, of the Father, when he was yet a long way off, the Father saw him, ran, he ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him, covered him with kisses. In Numbers 16, there with Aaron, I think we see a type of the Holy Spirit, of the Lord Jesus, Numbers 16, remember the Father was going to come in, and Korah and Dathan and Abiram had been rebellious, and the people were saying, oh, this is unjust, this is terrible, and God was ready to judge them, sweep the seed, clear them, and Moses, with his legalism, he didn't know what to do, and Aaron ran in with a censer, ran in with a censer, Aaron ran in, and surely that would be a type before us of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here, of course, in Luke 24, we have the type of the Holy Spirit, as most of the expositors tell us. This servant here, in this particular chapter, we know elsewhere his name is given, but here is unnamed, the way the Holy Spirit came down here to do Abraham's will, went out, and he goes along to that place, and he prayed that God would order it, so that Rebekah would be the one for whom he was sent, would come out, and we know, of course, in chapter 22, we never read of Isaac coming down from the mountain, do we? We're always told, of course, that indicates that as a result of Calvary's cross, the Lord has been raised and he's gone on high, to spend now Christ has gone on high, redemption's work complete, the Spirit brings his glory nigh to those who fall in wait. And then, significantly, it goes on to give the genealogy of Milcah, as born children unto thy brother Nahor, and it says there, Bethyel begot Rebekah, Rebekah, and Rebekah, we know, is yet one of the many types of the church, and there the church, the assembly comes to light in that situation. So here we see in chapter 24, the work of the Blessed Spirit to retrieve, to bring out, not only for the salvation of sinners, blessed and wonderful as that is, not only for the justification of the guilty, not only for the reconciliation of those that are enmity with God, not only for the sanctification of those who are impure, no, no, and blessedly, of course, to bring to us the fact that we're children, know the Father's name, to make us sons, to bring to light the assembly, to bring to light the assembly, the great work of the Holy Spirit, to bring to light the assembly. And there he prayed the servant, and Rebekah came out, and notice it says in verse 17, the servant ran to meet her, ran to meet her, the servant ran to meet her, and there I would subject again in this other type of the person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, the high, the readiness, the willingness of the Godhead for the blessing of man, and to bring to light the assembly, let me, let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. Oh yes, how precious it is. But of course, we know that when we go to the New Testament, we don't worship the Spirit, we pray in the Spirit, we didn't read that one, pray in the Spirit in Jude, pray in the Spirit, but in Philippians chapter 3, we worship God by the Spirit, we worship by the Spirit. And then we read in John chapter 4, that, in that verse there it says, we worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, we worship the Father in Spirit, and I know of course that there's always the care we need to distinguish between the Spirit with a capital S, the Holy Spirit, and our own spirit, the way we do it, but there's no doubt about it, although it's a spiritual matter, worship, we could really only do it as we've been born of the Spirit and motivated and energized by the Spirit, enjoying the precious divine things of God, these things alone, and it's in that wonderful condition of a heart filled with the Spirit of God, aware of all the wonderful blessings that we have in Christ Jesus, and in this wonderful position into which we've been brought and into where we're going, so that our hearts would rise, rise in worship and praise and homage and adoration to the Father and the Son, Father, thine own unbounded love has reached us through the Son, we now behold him crowned above, eternity has begun, once far from the indescent sin, in him who lives we live, our spirits rise to bless thy name, and holy worship give, wonderful blessed presence and praise, and so we can rise in praise, we can worship in spirit, we had this afternoon, walking in spirit, I mentioned, I didn't read it, praying in the spirit, and here we have worshiping in the spirit, what a glorious and blessed privilege it is for us, not a ritual, not any way of a special book or things like that, no, but a real response of heart to God. You know, I'm always reminded, it was Dr. Sutherland and his wife, Dr. Sutherland's wife, been with the Lord many years, he was a man from Findochty, I think there's only one sister here now who left from Findochty, and Dr. Sutherland originated from Findochty, and his wife, remember her telling us, that there was a dear old brother in Findochty at that time, back in the 20s and 30s, and when she was a young woman, and every Lors du Mourning he gave some praise to the Lord, and somebody said to him, why do you give worship every Lors du Mourning? He says, when I get into the presence of the Lord, I cannot hold my tongue, I cannot keep quiet, you see, and I cannot hold my tongue, he was just so full, the presence, dear saints of God, when we consider all the wonders, the great fact that Lord Jesus Christ has been all the way to Calvary for us, and saved us, saved us for glory, and the way the Father has picked us up, and placed us in his Son, where much are hearts well forth in praise and homage and adoration. Worship in the Spirit. And we read in Colossians, another very practical matter, not so much an exhortation there, in Colossians chapter 1, your love in the Spirit, your love in the Spirit, and although it's not there exhortation, I really feel, well certainly from my own heart, to look at my own heart, and look at my ways, do I love in the Spirit? Or, well maybe there is a trickle of love, but should it not be a full outflowing of the love? Love in the Spirit, what a blessed and wonderful way to love, and it's of course, it's really the only way to love, we'll maybe have affections and likings, you know, there are some dear brothers and sisters that we might hit it all off with, well in a natural way, we have inclinations to them, they seem to have the same attitudes and interests, but you know, we have to love all the dear saints of God, love in the Spirit, love in the Spirit, and get right into it, you know, we're always told, often told, aren't we, about the coal fires, you younger people won't remember coal fires, but, and they always used to say, you see these coal fires were all glowing with red, and then if a little bit of coal, or ash got on the outside, it would cool down, it got to be in it, in it you see, in the middle of it, and then of course, we're all often told about the, and the dear young brother said, to this older saint, oh I don't like to go to town A, you know, I don't like to go to town A, there's no love there, in that meeting, and the wise old brother says, well why don't you take some, hmm, you see, we're always sitting back, wanting it to come to us, but you see, it's a reciprocal matter, isn't it, a reciprocal matter, and so you see, if we take some there, it's infectious, well I know we get inoculations and vaccinations, and we're worried about infections, but dear saints of God, you know, we should be a bit more infected by love, I mean, I speak of course that to myself, I have to confess my own weakness in it, but in saying these things, you know, and one doesn't get up here without exercise, and praying these things, you know, as I said earlier, we've got to dig them up, and then pray them in, and live them out, before you can tell them out, so it's a great exercise to have that love in the spirit, love in the spirit, and then, you know, just the final one of these things that are done in the spirit, mind you, that's not an exclusive list, not an exclusive list, and we all remember our dear late brother, King Thompson, on a line about what's done in the spirit, I was asking Jim if he could remember, but he couldn't quite remember all the wonderful scriptures that our dear brother, King, used to bring us about what's done in the spirit, and here we come in chapter 1 of Revelation, to, it says there of John, I was in the spirit, no walking in the spirit, or worshipping in the spirit, or praying in the spirit, or warring in the spirit, any of these things, he just says he was in the spirit on the Lord's Day, how wonderful and impressive that is, now of course, there is none of us could in any way measure up, or even tie the shoelaces of the dear beloved Apostle John, the one whose head linked in the bosom of Jesus, but you know, I would submit, dearly beloved, that if there's any way in which we want to be of service for the Lord, any message we've got to pass on, service for the saints, to wash their feet, you know it speaks of the widows, doesn't it? We had, in the first reference, was made somewhere, I think, to 1st Timothy, in chapter 5, and the widows, they were to cross into the company that had washed the saints' feet, washed the saints' feet, that of course may be in its, perhaps in its primary bearing, physical, not actually washing them, but caring for them, and looking after them, and things like that, but I'm sure that many of them had ministered of the things of Christ to them. I can always thank God throughout my life, and particularly when I was very young, of these dear older sisters, and some of them husbands with the Lord, but they gave me the scriptures of truth, when they went to their homes, or they spoke to intervals at the meeting, or perhaps if I had maybe made a rash or wrong remark in a Bible reading, or on a platform, they could just graciously afterwards give you from the scriptures, what was the right thing, and the right way of expressing it. They washed the saints' feet, and so whatever condition you're in, whatever service you've got to do, saint of God, it's got to be done in the Spirit. Here, of course, it's blessedly on the Lord's Day, but it's a very good thing if we're in the Spirit, not only on the Lord's Day, but on Monday, you know, it's very precious, things we have on the Lord's Day, but you know, if we've got to get up at six, or half past six, or something on the Monday morning to rush off, some jumping in their cars, some walking along the road, but tubes, trains, buses, it's a different matter, isn't it, but what it is to be in the Spirit, in the Spirit. You know, favorite thing, you've probably heard it, men at work, men and women at work speaking about, oh, what a Monday morning feeling, and I used to say, well, you know, really, it's the next best feeling to the Lord's Day. What a wonderful day of joy, full of the Lord, and the things it is, and Monday really, in a sense, is almost the best day, because it carries over, doesn't it, Monday, in the Spirit and the Lord's Day, so here he was, John, he says, your brother, oh, precious to have brotherly affection, brotherly affection, oh, that we might value it more and more, you know, it can break down brotherly affection, but let us have it, really, you know, it's rather significant that this same John, in his epistle, and there, he only once mentions the word brethren in that epistle, only once, brethren, and I know that there are those that like to count the number of times that things are in, but often, you know, silence is significant, and the fact that there's only once in there speaks volumes to me, brethren, because when he does use it, he's really speaking in a very affecting way, because remember, he does it after referring to Cain and Abel, brothers, one brother that killed the other, and so brethren, precious thing it is to have that link on, and companion in tribulation, now they weren't probably in very much tribulation, but he says he was a companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom, and patience of Jesus Christ, oh, how precious it is to be in the patience of Jesus Christ, and Paul speaks about the Lord, direct your hearts into the patience of Jesus Christ, waiting for him, to be in the spirit, so we would be of any service to the Lord in any way, get some message from him, be ready to serve him, you know, we can pass things on, if we're in the spirit. There was John, he'd no doubt gone around ministering the word, or preaching the word, and yet here he was confined to the Isle of Patmos, but we do know, or at least secular history tells us, that I think he taught a man called Polycarp, who in turn taught somebody else, and so on, these men are being traced through, starting from John and his teaching. And so, then finally, we have one thing, it's not literally in the Bible, but could I suggest it's waiting, waiting in the spirit, waiting in the spirit, and watching in the spirit, isn't it, waiting and watching in the spirit, and it's a very blessed thing to be, looking, looking for the Saviour in the spirit. In verse, chapter 22 and verse 17, the Spirit and the Bride say come, the Spirit and the Bride say come, often remarked, isn't it, the only word that the Bride says in the whole of the New Testament, come, it's the only word that she says, come, and the affections have been wrought upon her by the Holy Spirit. We see a picture of that if we go back to Genesis 24, don't we, the affections are worked upon her as she goes through that role of this journey, and when she says, who is that, and he says, it is my master, and her heart's a fool, it says in the authorised version, she lighted off the camel, but the actual word really means, as Mr. Darby gives it, she sprang off the camel, she couldn't wait to get to him, oh dear friend, dear saint of God, are our hearts burning for him, are we on the tiptoe of desire to see him, to hear his blessed voice, as the hymn says, I can hear his footsteps on the threshold of the door, are we just ready, waiting to him, the cry has gone out, behold the Bridegroom comes, go ye forth to meet him, and are we, is our hearts going out to him, are we ready, just ready to receive him, are our hearts burning, oh how precious it is, as a result of the great work of the blessed Spirit of God today, working our hearts that there might be a response, come, Lord Jesus, so as we have the very fact that at the very beginning, the Spirit is running to bring us in, and working on us that we can cry, come, Lord Jesus, so in between, as has been found, worshipping in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, warring in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit, loving in the Spirit, until the day we see his blessed face, which indeed will be very soon, we know, perhaps tonight, may we enjoy his things, or his namesake. …