In some respects we are the most highly favored people in the world. We live in the most important time, and there never was a period in the world’s history when the Lord was more anxious to unfold Himself to His people than at this time. It is the final crisis that is pending, and those that are saved in God’s everlasting kingdom are the people that in this period in which we live, receive from God those blessings He has for us. And if we cannot get hold of Christ in all His fullness here where we are, then we shall not be saved in the kingdom of God. Now that is true. We cannot put it by as a common thing, this work in which we are engaged, and then afterwards, a long time in the future, take it up.
“We have reached the final crisis. It is right here upon us and it is for us individually to obtain an experience in the things of God, such as we have not had in the past; and it is not for some one to give it to us, but it is for us individually to have it, and the Bible writers, especially the apostle Paul, labored to have revealed in the church individually, those beauties in Christ that could be gotten from no other source. He did not want to simply give it to them, but he wanted that they should receive it. He preached the gospel, and he labored that in each individual there might be a revelation of Jesus Christ Himself. Col.1:25–27: ‘Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, fully to preach the word of God [margin]; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ That is the mystery of the gospel. He would have it revealed in them individually, so that they individually would receive the mystery of Christ. Verse 28: ‘Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.’
“Now His labor was that each individual might receive something from our Lord Jesus Christ, that would lead him to perfection. Verse 29: ‘Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.’ Now the idea that what we receive we must get from some one else, is a great mistake. The Lord wants to teach us individually, ourselves, and He will not open our understanding individually to comprehend His word, unless we believe that He will do it. We individually must believe that Christ wants to do this to us and that we can have this blessing by studying the word for ourselves. He will then enlighten our understanding, will speak to our hearts, and so each individual, as we remarked before, must have the spirit of divine revelation. I do not think it a possible thing for us to go into the kingdom of God unless we have it, and that revelation is not to get up some new theory and present that to the people, but it is to reveal new beauty and glory in the plan of redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what it is and we will see it as we read the Bible. We get the truth from Christ according to our own faith and the interest that we have in Him.
“Eph.1:14–17: ‘Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.’ Why, God there gives you and me individually the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, or as the margin is, for the acknowledgment of Him.’ Then the Spirit of revelation comes to me personally to reveal to me, in the word, our Lord Jesus Christ and the plan of redemption. It will open to my understanding truths that I have never seen before, and there will be a continued freshness, because there is a continual opening of the truths to my understanding; and, my brethren, if we ever get to a point that the Bible in any sense seems dry to us, it is high time for us to seek God with all our hearts. For there is no greater evidence that the Spirit of God is leaving you, than when the Bible comes to lose its freshness to our souls. It will feed the soul, it certainly will. And it will elevate the soul; it will refine the soul; it will increase an interest in the individual to learn more and more of the precious truths in God’s word.
“Verses 18-20: ‘The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.’ The same mighty power, and the same enlightenment that brought Christ from the dead, should be in every one of our hearts; and when that is in the heart it elevates the soul, it purifies the heart. My dear brethren, it does everything for us. There is not anything in this world which is good, but that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel in my soul like exalting God’s word and in this way exalting the Lord Jesus Christ; for I feel there are perhaps thousands that will simply get the theory, and how to present certain arguments from the Bible, that will never get their souls really fed by a revelation of Jesus Christ in the heart; but there is something that fills up the vacuum. I find something in an old REVIEW (June 4th, 1889) on this point, from the pen of Sister White:-
“‘speaks of the riches of the glory of the mystery that is to be made known to the Gentiles. There are many mysteries in the word of God that we do not comprehend, and many of us are content to stop our investigations when we have just begun to receive a little knowledge concerning Christ. When there begins to be a little unfolding of the divine purposes to the mind, and we begin to obtain a slight knowledge of the character of God, we become satisfied and think that we have received about all the light that there is for us in the word of God. But the truth of God is infinite. With painstaking effort, we should work in the mines of truth, discovering the precious jewels that have been hidden. It is the minister’s privilege to have a constant supply of fresh truth for the people. He should be in such a position that he can bring from the treasure-house of God not the same thing over and over, but new beauty, and new truth.
“‘The Spirit of God will rest upon the diligent searcher for truth. He who desires the truth in his heart, who longs for the working of its power upon the life and character, will be sure to have it. Says the Saviour, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” When ministers themselves taste and see that the Lord is good, when their minds are filled with the thoughts of heaven, then the eternal realities of the unseen world will open to their understanding, and they will be able to present the truth of God, and it will make an impression upon human minds. Those who seek for more and still more of the Spirit of God, will not be disappointed.’
“Then, if we are disappointed, brethren, and do not receive the Spirit, who will be to blame? We will. Why will we not receive it? Because we cease to seek it. We should continue to study with the unction that comes from heaven, and that will teach us individually, every one. My dear brethren, we are coming into a time when there will be thousands of voices and manifestations of different kinds to draw the child of God from the one important thing, the truth that pertains to this time. And this is not a great way in the future. Where is our safety? It is in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in having our judgment so enlightened by Him that we can discern the truth, and then Christ will be revealed to us and we shall see and understand the way. Again another paragraph:-
“‘No man can have insight into the word of God without the illumination of the Holy Spirit. If we will but come into the right position before God, His light will shine upon us, in rich clear rays. This was the experience of the early disciples. The Scriptures declare that ‘when the day of pentecost was fully come, they were all of one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ God is willing to give us a similar blessing, when we seek for it as earnestly.
“‘The Lord did not lock the reservoir of heaven, after pouring His Spirit upon the early disciples. We, also, may receive of the fullness of His blessing. Heaven is full of the treasures of His grace, and those who come to God in faith may claim all that He has promised. If we do not have His power, it is because of our spiritual lethargy, our indifference, our indolence. Let us come out of this formality and deadness.
“Brethren, we want to come out of our deadness and have our souls stirred and have them quickened and come to the fountain. Christ is the fountain, and when we come there with that intensity of interest that will not be satisfied, and will seek with honesty of heart and purpose, God will then open the treasure-house of His truth to each one of us. You want to take an advance step. Now I have another expression I wish to read here, it is in reference to our receiving the Spirit of God, and realizing that our sins are forgiven. There is more to this question than we have sometimes thought. The Lord wants that I, personally, should know that the Saviour is to me to-day just as much and even more than He was to the disciples when they walked this earth. The promise of the Holy Spirit that is referred to in what I have just read, that was given to the
disciples, was given to them to take the place of the personal presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that promise came to them because they knew Christ and because their sins had been forgiven. I will read you the Bible on it. John 14:16,17: ‘And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.’
“God has promised blessings to His people. It is those whose sins have been forgiven and who know their Saviour that have a fullness they have not received before. This is the out-pouring of the Spirit of God. It is the loud cry of the third angel’s message. The first step is having the heart cleansed from sin. When the heart is cleansed by the blood of Christ, we will go right on in accomplishing the work that God has for us to do. I praise God that there are promises for His people.
“The Holy Spirit was to take the place of Christ’s personal presence. Suppose we could have Christ’s personal presence with us here this morning, and suppose that He said right here in our midst that our sins were forgiven. I suppose it would give us a joy that we can hardly describe. What is the coming of the Holy Spirit for? To take the place of this. The Holy Spirit should come into the heart to do the same thing, and even more than His presence. ‘I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.’ John 16:12,13.
“When they saw Christ, His personal presence limited their comprehension to grasp the things that He spoke. But the Holy Spirit was to come to unfold and keep unfolding to their minds the truth that He taught. Consequently that Spirit will give us a confidence and assurance in Christ that His personal presence would give, and even greater fullness than that. There is no limit to the Spirit of God, and there is no circumscribing what it will do for the people of God. My dear brethren and sisters, just as sure as God poured out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost and it did great things for them there, and prepared them to go to the uttermost parts of the earth with the gospel, just so certainly will that gospel fit His people in the closing hours of the gospel to do a greater work. This is simply the final triumph of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Shall we say we have this when we have little interest to take it in His word as He reveals it to us? My dear brethren, this is Christ in us. We come to the word, and He gives His Spirit to unfold its light, and we rejoice in Him.
“Here is a testimony which was written last December, ‘To him who is content to receive without deserving, who feels that He can never recompense such love, lays all thoughts and unbelief aside, and comes as a little child at the feet of Jesus, all the treasures of eternal love are the free and everlasting gift.’
“The other day one brother said after leaving the Tabernacle, ‘I am about in despair; it seems that there has never been a good thing in my whole life.’ Then he was about in the condition to come without deserving anything. The man who can come that way, and lay all doubt aside, and sit at the feet of Jesus, and who says, ‘Now Thou must teach me,’ has all things before him. These are the treasures of eternal love. It is for you and for me. The only difficulty that stands in the way is when we think we deserve something. If we do not have it, then we do think we deserve something. May God help us to become undeserving. Everything that is good, brethren and sisters, I want to repeat again if I say it in every discourse, comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.
“I spoke to you Friday about the power of God. I want to say one word more on that. The power of God that is in His word will take care of us physically. I do not say by that that one will never be sick or die. But I do say that when a man trusts in God and has only God’s work before him, the devil himself cannot kill him till he gets his work done. Then the Lord lets him die. [Voices: Let him rest.] One of our sisters in New England, who died a short time ago, who embraced the message in 1842, and who suffered extremely, said to those who were with her, that it seemed good to think that she was going to be laid away a little while to rest in the grave. Men may die, and they will die right along while probation lasts. But I tell you the Lord gives a special blessing to the dead. ‘Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.’ But on the other hand He takes care of His servants. There is power in the gospel of Christ to take care of those that trust in Him and engage in His work.
“‘And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.’ Mark 16:15–18. Paul, you know, was bitten by a serpent once, but I do not suppose he had a thought of dying. The Lord was sending him to Rome to testify, and he simply shook the serpent off into the fire. You remember he was stoned once, and the brethren who stood around him were doubtless talking about burying him. All at once he got up and went off about his work. There is a power in the gospel to take care of a man’s life, and the devil cannot kill him. Read the 18th verse again, and if there is not health in that promise, I do not know where you will find it in the Bible. The bite of a serpent will not kill you; you can drink a deadly drink and it will not hurt you, and if you get sick you won’t die, so long as the Lord has any work for you to do. ‘Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come.’ . . .
“You never had a good thing in all that way, but the Lord has been over that way before you, and He had everything that was good, and not a single mistake, and when He imputes that righteousness He goes clear back and makes a thorough work of it, and puts your sins where you never can find them. David says they shall be as far as the east is from the west. How far is that on a round world? You never can get to it. You go around the world, and it will always be on the other side. Jeremiah says, ‘They shall be sought for and shall not be found.’ Who will look for them?—The devil is always prying around to find them. Why can they not be found?—Because God has pardoned them. There is not a single act of the life of Jesus Christ but what contains salvation.
“Now read the temptation of Christ in the 4th of Matthew. Christ had been fasting forty days, and the devil comes to Him and asks Him to work a miracle to supply His own physical needs. All the words imply that it was His physical strength which was weakened by the fast. The devil said, ‘You cannot live unless you have something to eat. It is all right for you to eat.’ This was Satan’s temptation. The Saviour answered him, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ Verse 4. What kind of life?—Physical life. Then does not that Bible sustain me physically? Bread is good if you have it, but the word of God is better. Will God’s word then sustain me?—Yes.
“Read Deut.8:2–3. Here the Lord shows that He fed the children of Israel in a way that they did not know, that they might know that man should not live by bread alone but by the word of God. That was physical life that He gave them. God leads us by His truth into positions that would seem to cut us off from every worldly prospect. This is true; but there is power in the word of God to make provision for every want in this life. God will take care of the man that trusts His word. All that God would have us believe is that there is power in obeying God’s word. That power will open the way before us, and will supply our physical wants. You know this is so. I doubt not there are scores in this congregation who know this is so.
“Some time ago a Methodist minister embraced the truth, taking hold of it thoroughly, and his support was cut off. But the Lord in various ways supplied his need. Then he was distressed because he did not know how to go and preach the message. He had studied histories in school, but he did not know how to put things together and preach on the fulfillment of prophecy etc., as those who had studied the truth a long time. But he had hold upon Christ. Some thought that he was hardly sound in the faith because he preached Christ so much. There came an opportunity for him to engage in work, and as he sought the Lord for help, a voice seemed to come to him, ‘I will teach you.’ He did not know how this would be done, but he began to preach on the prophecies, and as he preached the Lord unfolded them before him, and as he went along everything was made clear and plain. The Lord Himself taught him, and he has had success in the work and has brought out a company of sixteen or seventeen and all of them are workers.
“In the 4th verse of this chapter, God says, ‘Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.’ Now God would have us simply trust Him. He would have us see His promises and His word, and see nothing else. And as we see it and go forward to do God’s will, and forget everything else, God will take care of us. If it does not come from heaven direct it will come some other way. We will get the bread all the same. If we take His precious word and believe that there is salvation in it, He will teach us Himself and we will get the light and knowledge of His truth. The trouble is we have not seen these things and we have not believed God as we should. We have reasoned too much. But the very first thing and the very last thing and the most important thing of life, is to obey God and do His bidding. When we do that He takes all the responsibility of the poisonous serpents and deadly drinks and sicknesses and everything else, for He will carry us through until we triumph in glory.
Stephen N. Haskell