Heavenly Attraction and Spiritual Obedience

Next Part Heavenly Attraction and Spiritual Obedience 2

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean– from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:25-26

There are two sins which are deeply embedded in the human heart. One of these is unbelief; the other is idolatry. They are indeed twin branches of that one great stem, that huge trunk of human depravity, which, having its roots deeply and firmly embedded in the soil, tosses on high its gigantic arms, as if it would bid defiance to the very lightnings of heaven. The history of the children of Israel contains very striking examples of both these sins.

View, first, their unbelief. Though they had personally witnessed all the plagues in Egypt, and had experienced a miraculous exemption from every one of them; though they had passed through the waves of the Red Sea, when the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left; though they ate daily of the manna which fell from heaven and drank of the water that gushed out of the rock; though ever before their eyes there was the spectacle of the pillar and the cloud, denoting the immediate presence of God in their midst; yet none of these mighty signs could cure them of their inveterate sin, unbelief. So that at last, God swore in his wrath, that they would not enter into his rest. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness; and they could not enter in because of unbelief.

But their idolatry was almost, if not altogether as great as their infidelity. Though from Sinai's blazing top God had revealed his law with thunder and lightning and earthquake; though he had spoken himself from heaven, "You shall not make to yourself any graven image, nor the likeness of anything which is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth;" yet, when Moses tarried for awhile upon the mountain in solemn communion with God, they must needs make to themselves a golden calf, and cry out with all the brutish ignorance of infidelity and idolatry– "These be your gods, O Israel, which brought you out of Egypt." What! a calf to be the representation of the great God who had done such mighty wonders! What brutish ignorance for them so quickly to depart from the worship of the living God– and as the Psalmist speaks, "to change their glory," (that is, their glorious God) "into the similitude of an ox that eats grass." (Psalm. 106:20.) Can we wonder that God was so provoked by this abominable idolatry, as to say unto Moses– "I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people? Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them." (Exod. 32:9, 10.)

But this was only one instance of their stubborn and deep-rooted idolatry. When they got the promised land into possession, and that "not by their own sword, nor by their own arm, but by the right-hand and arm of the light of God's countenance because he had a favor unto them;" even then, instead of destroying the altars, breaking down the images, and cutting down the groves (or, as the word should be rendered, "the wooden images") of the heathen nations as they were expressly commanded, they bowed down to their false gods. As we read, "They provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images." (Psalm. 78:58.) In fact, what is their whole history down to the time of the Babylonish captivity, but one continued series of idolatrous worship, whenever they got the least opportunity to gratify that propensity of their besotted minds?

We see, then, from these examples of the children of Israel, who are set before us in the Scriptures as warning examples "to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, nor be idolaters as were some of them," how deeply seated are the two sins of unbelief and idolatry. Similarly, wherever a missionary has penetrated, into whatever remote and dark corners of the earth he has carried his foot, there he has found idol worship as the only form of religion known and practiced. In Greece, in Rome, in their palmiest days, idolatry was the only religion of the people. Great as Athens was in learning, cultivated as was every are and science there, yet we read of that distinguished city, that while Paul waited for Silas and Timothy "his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry," [or, as it is in the margin, "full of idols."] There was indeed an altar "To the unknown God;" but it was because the true God was an unknown God that they put an idol in his place.

But we would greatly err if we thought that idolatry was confined to graven images. These are but the outward signs and tokens of something within far deeper than setting up and bowing down to such idols made by human hands as formed heathen worship. There are heart idols, bosom idols; and though not made of wood and stone, yet, if we pay them the secret worship of devotion and affection, and inflame ourselves secretly with them, as the prophet speaks, under every green tree that grows in our bosom, they are as much idols in the sight of God who searches the heart, as if we bowed our knee to an image made with the fingers of men.

As, however, I shall have occasion to speak more upon this point when I open to you the subject of this discourse, I will not now dwell upon it. Let me then, simply read our text again, that you may more distinctly remember it; and may the Lord enable me so to bring out of it and lay before you its rich contents as shall, with his special blessing, be instructive, edifying, and comforting to your souls– "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean– from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."

In opening up these words, I desire to bring before you chiefly three points, which I think you will find closely connected with our text.

First, I shall endeavor to show you what the "clean water" is which we find promised in it.

Secondly, how this "clean water" is sprinkled, and its effects– "From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."

Thirdly, its accomplishments– "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."

I. What the "clean water" is. Water, all through the Scripture, is employed as a typical representation of the Holy Spirit. Thus our Lord said, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He who believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly (or heart) shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke he of the Spirit." (John 7:37-39.) A similar testimony we find in the language of the prophet, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground– I will pour my Spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring." (Isaiah 44:3.) It was of this gift of the Holy Spirit, as symbolized by water, that the Lord spoke in his conversation with the woman of Samaria, where, contrasting the water of Jacob's well with the living water which he had to give, he said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again– but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13, 14.) And it is in this sense I understand those words of the Lord which have given rise to so much error and so much controversy– "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." By water here I do not understand the material element water at all as applied in baptism, whether by immersion or sprinkling, but water in its spiritual meaning as signifying the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. Thus, to be "born of water and of the Spirit" is to be born of the Spirit and his gracious communications and influences which are poured out or applied to the soul as water to the body.

A. But now arises the question, Why the Scriptures generally speak of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit under the figure of water? It seems to me that there are three distinct circumstances connected with water which aptly qualify it to be a representative of the blessed Spirit.

1. Water SATISFIES THE CRAVINGS OF THIRST.Physiologists tell us that water enters very largely into every liquid and solid part of our bodily frame; as therefore, there is a continual depletion and evaporation of this fluid, fresh must be supplied; and thus thirst is the demand of the body for that needful supply. So similarly the water of life, which the Holy Spirit can alone give, satisfies the cravings of that spiritual thirst which is created whenever and wherever God is pleased to communicate divine life to the soul. I need not to tell you that this thirst after God and after what he alone can give is a sure mark of being quickened into spiritual life. You will recollect in the passage I have just quoted how the Lord himself said, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink." Did not he also pronounce a blessing on those who hunger and thirst after righteousness? (Matt. 5:6.) And is not this blessing the blessing of life for evermore? How we hear the psalmist crying out, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." How he compares himself in his pantings after God to the deer which pants after the water brooks. (Psalm 42:1, 2.) How he cries, "O God, you are my God; early will I seek you– my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see your power and your glory, so as I have seen you in the sanctuary." (Psalm 63:1, 2.) And again, "I stretch forth my hands unto you; my soul thirsts after you, as a thirsty land." (Psalm 143:6.) How expressive also is that invitation in the prophet, "Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money; come, buy and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." (Isaiah 55:1.) Does not this cloud of witnesses show that wherever there is grace, there is a thirsting after God, the living God?

Now, what can quench or satisfy this thirst but that water which the Holy Spirit brings and gives, implying thereby all that strength, support, deliverance, and consolation which he affords by his gracious visitations and divine communications, and especially by revealing Christ, taking of the things which are his, as his blood and righteousness, grace and glory, and showing them to the soul, and shedding the love of God abroad in the heart?

2. But again, water, especially as coming from heaven in the shape of dew and rain, has a FERTILIZINGeffect upon the soil. "I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." And what is the consequence? "They shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses." When, then, the blessed Spirit would describe a favored people as coming and singing in the height of Zion, and flowing together to the goodness of the Lord, he says, "Their souls shall be as a watered garden." (Jer. 31:12.) Now, a watered garden was one which is irrigated, as is still the practice in the East, by a brook or river which ran near it and was thus made fruitful; for in that hot climate nothing was needed but an ample and perennial supply of water to make a garden teem with flowers and fruit.

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8. It is only then as the blessed Spirit is pleased to bedew the soul by his grace, and water it with his divine influences and operations that we can bring forth any fruit unto God.

3. But water, thirdly, as representing the operations and influences of the blessed Spirit, has another distinguishing quality. It WASHES, it CLEANSES, it PURIFIES.With water we wash our bodies, with water cleanse our houses. It may seem strange to tell you so, but it is an established fact that the very air itself is defiled by smoke, dust, and exhalations from the earth, and needs to be continually washed and cleansed by showers from heaven. The rain, as it falls from the upper regions of the sky, catches hold as it were in its descent of these particles, and straining them out of the air carries them down to the earth. How fresh and sweet the air smells after a heavy shower, as if it had just been newly washed. Nor do the cleansing effects of rain cease here. How, after heavy rain we see the whole aspect of nature smile as with a fresh washed face. How on every side the dusty leaves upon the trees and hedges, and the soiled productions of the field and garden, lift up their faces clean and fresh as if, like children, they all rejoiced in a good washing from God's shower, and to be dressed in a new suit of clothes. How clearly does our text speak of the cleansing effects of this pure water, for it is clean and pure as coming straight from heaven unmixed with anything of the creature. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you."

We thus see that water, as representing that which quenches thirst, as representing that which washes, cleanses, and purifies; clearly and beautifully sets forth in type and figure the operations and influences of the blessed Spirit. There can be no doubt, therefore, that "the clean water" spoken of in our text which God promises to sprinkle upon his people represents the Holy Spirit as poured out upon the family of God. This we know was the grand promise of the New Testament, the special fruit of our Lord's resurrection, ascension, and glorification. We therefore read that when our Lord promised that rivers of living water should flow out of the heart of him who believed in his name, "But this spoke he of the Spirit, which those who believe on him should receive– for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:39.)

We see therefore that the gift of the Holy Spirit was dependent upon the glorification of Jesus; and therefore he said to his disciples, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away– for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (John 16:7.) And what should this blessed Spirit do when he came? "He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. All that the Father has is mine; this is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me." (John 16:14, 15.)

B. But now I wish to show you in what way the blessed Spirit comes and acts; for we must not suppose that there is anything visionary, wild, or enthusiastic in his divine operations. No! there is a most blessed, sober, and solid reality in them. His teachings, influences, and operations are not a mere matter of feelings which might be right or wrong, real or visionary, from God or Satan transformed into an angel of light, but are of substantial reality and power. Now, what makes the teachings, influences, and operations of the blessed Spirit so solid and so real is that he acts by and through the written word. We find this point blessedly opened by the apostle (Eph. 5.), and his words afford us a striking key to the waters spoken of in our text– "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with thewashing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish." Observe the expression the "washing of water by the word." It is not merely the "washing of water," that is, the Spirit's influences and operations as represented by water, but it is "by the word."

This corresponds also with the language of James, "Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth" (James 1:18); and with that of Peter, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever." (1 Peter 1:23.)

The waters then spoken of in our text we may consider to mean 1st, the washing of regeneration, and secondly, every subsequent renewing by the blessed Spirit of the work of grace. We find these two brought together by the apostle in Titus 3, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior." We have also in that beautiful and striking parable of our gracious Lord, the parable of the vine, another key to the interpretation of the clean water spoken of in our text; "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he purges it." The word "purge" here is the old English word for purify or cleanse; and I have often wished that our excellent translators had used the word "cleanse," because they would then have preserved the beautiful connection which there is in the original between the cleansing and the mode of cleansing.

Let me show this by adopting the word "cleanse." "And every branch that bears fruit he cleanses it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." How clearly and beautifully does this connection between cleansing and clean show the way whereby God cleanses the fruitful branch. It is by the word. This word he had applied to the hearts of the disciples, and by the power of this word he had washed and cleansed them from their unbelief. The Lord, therefore said, "It is the Spirit who quickens; the flesh profits nothing– the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63.) And it was the power of this word upon the heart which made Peter answer when Jesus said unto the twelve, "Will you also go away?" "Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life." Bear then, in mind that it is the word in the hands of the blessed Spirit which does everything set forth in the Scriptures, and therefore in our text is set forth under the figure of water.

Now, having given you this simple interpretation of the clean water, having shown you that it signifies first regeneration, and then every subsequent renewing of the Holy Spirit, I shall pass on to open what I proposed to lay before you as the second branch of my subject.

II. I come now, therefore, to my second point– the sprinkling of the clean water, and its EFFECTSas sprinkled upon the souls of God's people, for it is to them that the promise is made.

I have pointed out that the main reason why the "clean water" is sprinkled is to cleanse and purify those to whom it is applied. Now, we find two main washings spoken of in the word of truth, for I need not dwell upon the washings prescribed by the ceremonial law, which were merely typical and figurative. The washings which claim our attention are those spoken of in the New Testament, which are not typical and figurative, but real and spiritual. One, then, of these washings is the washing of our persons, and the other is the washing of our souls. There is the washing, to speak plainly, of our outsides, and there is the washing of our insides.

A. Justification. Let us consider for a moment the first washing which I have mentioned, that is, the washing of our PERSONS. What is the song of the redeemed? "Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." This washing is the washing of our persons in the blood of the Lamb, whereby we are washed from all the guilt, filth, pollution, imputation, and consequences of all our sins and crimes in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. John saw a great multitude who no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. Whence came those white robes, and why were they so white? It was because those who wore them had washed them, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9-14.) David, therefore cried, when laden with the guilt and burden of sin, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (Psalm 51:7.)

If we are indeed washed in this fountain, we shall stand before God at the great day without spot or wrinkle; for the fountain opened in the Redeemer's pierced hands and feet and side was a fountain appointed by God himself for all sin, and all uncleanness, and every soul washed therein stands before God as white as snow. He therefore says to his people, "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord– though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as wool." (Isaiah 1:18.) This is the blood of the New Testament which was shed for many for the remission of sins; this is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses from all sin; this is the blood which purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God; this is the blood of sprinkling which speaks better things than the blood of Abel.

The apostle therefore says, "So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven, not made by human hands and not part of this created world. Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his own blood, and with it he secured eternal redemption." (Heb. 9:11, 12.) From this precious blood flows all our salvation, all our reconciliation to God, all our pardon, all our peace, and all our hope of eternal life. Here, then, we cast anchor as our only hope of our weary soul; and to this precious, atoning blood do we look as the only sacrifice for all our sins, the only balm for a guilty conscience, the only foundation of peace with God by faith in his dear Son; for it is by this one offering that he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

B. Sanctification. But there is another washing of which I have just struck the key note in the word "sanctified." We have not only to be washed in the blood of the Lamb that all our sins and crimes may be forever put away from the eyes of Him who is of purer eyes than to behold sin, and cannot look on iniquity; but we need to be made fit for the inheritance of the saints in light. We need to be sanctified as well as justified. And observe how the apostle brings together in the compass of one verse, three of the choicest blessings of the gospel– pardon, justification, and sanctification. "And such were some of you; but you are WASHED, but you are SANCTIFIED, but you are JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." It is in Christ's blood that we are washed. It is by Christ's righteousness that we are justified; it is by Christ's Spirit that we are sanctified.

As I have just observed, we not only need a title to heaven; we need a fitness for heaven. We not only need pardon for the acceptance of our persons, but we need regeneration for the sanctification of our souls. For if, as the Lord declares, none can see or enter into the kingdom of God except he is born again, the work of the Holy Spirit upon our conscience is as needful for our entrance into heaven as the work of Christ upon the cross, when he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. How clear, how decisive upon this point are those words of the Holy Spirit– "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." And again– "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his." Paul, therefore, bids us to follow after holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

Now, it is of this work of the Spirit on the soul which we briefly call in one word "sanctification" that our text speaks in the gracious promise– "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean." The allusion here is mainly to a remarkable rite under the Levitical law, of which we have a detailed description in Numbers 19. You will recollect, perhaps, how in that chapter God commanded Moses to take a red heifer without spot or blemish, on which never came yoke. This heifer, which was a type of Christ, the priest was to bring forth outside the camp, where she was to be slain before his face. He was then to take of her blood with his fingers, and sprinkle it directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times. The next step was for one to burn the heifer in his sight, just as she was, with her skin, her flesh, and her blood; and then the priest was to take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, all which things had a typical reference to the blood of the one great sacrifice, as pointing to its durability and fragrance, its being sprinkled on the conscience; and to cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

All these rites and ceremonies were intended to invest the ashes of the heifer thus burnt with a peculiar efficacy and power, for they were to be gathered up by a man who was clean, and laid up outside the camp in a clean place, that they might be preserved for a special use. Now, this use was, that when a person had become ceremonially unclean, some of the ashes of this burnt heifer, together with running water, were to be put into a vessel, and this water became a water of purification for sin; for hyssop was to be dipped into it, and sprinkled upon the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day.

My explanation has been rather long, but every part of this typical ceremony carries with it a gospel meaning. I cannot go through these various meanings, but I will direct our minds to one as having a special connection with our text. There was a particular provision that the water in which the ashes were dipped should be "running water," that is, not stagnant, like that of a pool, but clear and clean, like that of a river. And I may observe that there is a very sweet marginal reading– "Living waters shall be given," which connects it with the words of the blessed Lord to the woman of Samaria, where he tells her if she had known the gift of God, and who it was that said to her– "Give me to drink, she would have asked of him and he would have given her living water." And he tells her why it was "living water," for it would be in him to whom it was given "a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Now, in the type of the red heifer there is a connection, and a very beautiful and significant connection between the two washings of which I have spoken. The killing, burning, and reducing to ashes of the red heifer all point to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus; and the mixture of the ashes with the living water shows the connection between the blood of the Lamb sprinkled upon the conscience and the washing of regeneration by the power of the Spirit.

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