Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the passage that we read 1
John chapter 4 and reading for our text verses 12 and 13. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in Him and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. What is upon my spirit this evening
is God dwelling in his people. We have three passages I want
to refer to you before we come to some points and to explain
the text. And they set forth through the
apostles' writings to the churches the idea, the truth of our bodies
being where Christ lives. When Paul writes to the Galatians
and he says before them in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, He says,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. In the midst
of that verse, there is this clear statement, Christ liveth
in me. Now we want to come later on
more in the text to explain what this means. But at first I just
want to convey this great mystery of godliness and it is a great
mystery. Here then Paul says, Christ liveth
in me. Then when he writes to the Ephesians,
he says to them, in Ephesians 2, that chapter begins with a
people that has been quickened or made alive, who were dead
in trespasses and sins. But it finishes in verse 22,
or if we read from verse 21, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom ye also are builted together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit. A habitation of God, a place
where God inhabits is the people of God. Then when Paul writes
to the Corinthians in his first epistle to them and chapter 3,
he says in verses 16 and 17, Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God? and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you. If any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple ye are." And so we have in those passages Christ
living in the Apostle, we have Him as Christ as a believer, as being an habitation
of God, and then we have a believer being a temple of God, the temple
of God, where God comes to his temple. We would remember that
Solomon, he dedicated the first temple, it was a very glorious
temple, When that was destroyed and the second one that was built,
there was many of the old men they wept because that temple
didn't look anything like the first one. There were those that
praised that the foundation was laid, it was going to be built
again. But the prophets encouraged them,
Haggai, Zechariah, that the glory of this latter house would be
greater than the former. And the reason why was because
the Lord himself, manifest in the flesh on this earth, would
actually walk in that house. When we think of Adam and Eve,
the Lord met with them in their state of innocency in the Garden
of Eden. He spoke with them, but it is
not said apart from that he put His Spirit within them, and that
they lived, gave them a living soul. But the second Adam, the
second temple, if you like, or how the Lord has done it with
believers, those that are born again, those that are given new
life, the Lord actually comes and dwells in them. Not just
with them, but in them. And as we said, it is a great
mystery, but it is clearly set forth as God dwelling in his
people. So I want to come back then to
the text and just work briefly through it. So 1 John chapter
4, and we look at three points. Firstly, to look through the
text. and then secondly, as who dwells
in us, and then thirdly, how God dwells in us, and the effects,
the fruits of that in our lives, how it is evidenced and known. But firstly with the text, we
have the first statement that no man has seen God at any time. Now, this is John, and in the
Gospel according to John, we have in the first chapter, verse
18, the same statement, No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. And yet
there is a different emphasis in the Gospel according to John,
making the statement that God is invisible, he is everywhere,
that God is a spirit, and we cannot see him. He has no parts
in our Lord Jesus Christ, he is manifest in the flesh, and
yet his counsels, his purposes, everything is really hidden from
us, it's a mystery to us. But in this chapter, the emphasis
throughout the chapter is on love, and one key text is like
in verses 20 and 21 at the end of the chapter, if a man say,
I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, How can he love God whom
he hath not seen? In this commandment have we from
him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. So in our text,
the first statement, no man hath seen God at any time. And it's in this same context
as to verse 20, that we haven't seen God, we cannot see God,
but we can see a brother. we can see God's people. They are with us. And so with
that as the introduction, we have, if we love one another,
God dwelleth in us. So where we have that love, one
to another, God dwells in us. Now this is not physically, Our
Lord ascended up. He is in heaven. God fills all
things. This is in a spiritual way and
it is manifested and shown in the way the scriptures describe
it. Often we have to look at several
scriptures to describe the mysteries of God. When we think of the
relationship between the father and the son, our Lord makes several
statements. He says that, if you have seen
me, you've seen my father also. He says, I and my father are
one. Then another time, he says, my
father is greater than I. Then he speaks, though they are
one, Yet as distinctly too, regarding the people of God, thine they
were, and thou gavest them me. They belonged to the Father,
and they were given to the Son. And there are many ways that
our Lord described that relationship, and we must put them all together
to understand, or to understand in the words of Scripture, that
great mystery of the Trinity. And so here it is, it is evidenced
by love, it is also as set forth in verse 13, by His Spirit. Hereby know we that we dwell
in Him and He in us because He hath given us of His Spirit. Now it says here, that in verse
12, his love is perfected in us. Now, what that means is not
that our love is perfect here below, that we must get to heaven
before that is so. And God's love itself does not
need to be perfected. We read in verse 19, we love
him because he first loved us. But what it does mean is that
He is the object of the love that we have and have been given
and He is the author of it. He has given us the love of God
and that love is towards Him and towards His people as He
is shown in them, as His Spirit is in them. The very warning
in the beginning of this chapter Believe not every spirit. Remember
the disciples when they wanted to send fire down from heaven
to consume those that would not receive them. And the Lord, as
they were going up to Jerusalem, instead of agreeing with what
they wanted to do to these Samaritans, the Lord said, you know not what
spirit ye are of. The Son of Man came not to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. And so the spirit of God has
very distinct traits or distinct way of acting, very often not
what we would think, not in the way of men. And as our Lord testified,
that spirit is to save, to show mercy and to show love. It comes from God and it leads
to God. He shall receive of mine and
show it unto you. In our text it not only says
that God dwells in us, but also that He, that we dwell in Him. Hereby we know that we dwell
in Him and He in us. A spiritual relationship one
with another, an intimate, very close and intimate spiritual
relationship. And this is this great mystery,
great truth that is set before us here and right through the
scriptures. So I want to look secondly at
who dwells in us. Our text speaks of God, but I want to make clear from
other scriptures that it is indeed the whole Trinity. In the Gospel according to John
and chapter 14, the Lord gives a beautiful The promise there,
and in verse 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love
me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and
we, that is Father and Son, will come unto him and make our abode
with him. Now, we might have a visitor
to our homes, and they might come in, they might stay a day.
But to make an abode, to actually stay and make that a house, that
accords to the scripture. Whose house are we? Or a temple,
where God dwells and takes up His residence. It is God the
Father, and God the Son. But when we turn to Paul's letter,
to second letter to Timothy, in his first chapter, we have
in verse 14, that good thing which was committed unto thee,
keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. So there is a
third person of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
three distinct persons, yet not to be divided, and though manifest
in different ways in us, yet God is God. Our Lord said when
He ascended, though I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world. And He is manifest in His people
in the various ways I want to look at in our third point. These things are a mystery, a
great mystery, but they are to be believed, and it is revealed
to us. These are not the things that
are hidden. These are not the secret counsels
of God. It is the things that are revealed,
and revealed for the comfort and help of the people of God,
for their sanctification as well, because we are exhorted not to
grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption. And the thought that we have
God with us should indeed restrain us from going to or doing things
that would grieve Him, if in a very literal way, If we had
someone that we esteemed was very godly come to live with
us in our home, I wonder how many changes we would make as
to what we did, what we looked at, what we read, how we spent
our time while they were with us. And if we are mindful of
God with us and God in us, then it should have that same sanctifying
effect. It also should be a very comforting
truth that instead of cast away from God, instead of not having
Him with us, He is with us, He dwells in us. And that should
be a real comfort to the people of God. That is why it is revealed
to us in the Word in this way. So I want to look then at how,
how God dwells in us. Now, the first way is that intimated
in our text that it is through the Spirit. In verse 13, because
he hath given us of his Spirit. Now, we might say, well, everyone
that is born again They are quickened by the Spirit of God. It is the
Spirit of God that first gives life. But who's to say when that
life is given? Sometimes we might say, well,
if one is praying, then they already have spiritual life. It is an evidence the Apostle
Paul had. Behold, he prayeth. May we each
know that beginning of real prayer, not just like the Apostle as
a Pharisee, but real heartfelt prayer squeezed out. But it is
a different thing, the quickening operations of the Spirit and
the promised presence of the Spirit. In our Lord's teaching,
He says, if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your
children, How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost unto them that ask Him? To ask for
the Holy Spirit. Now if we look at the two great
times in the Church of God where the Spirit was given, we have
in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, where there were those that were
convicted under Peter's preaching of crucifying our Lord Jesus
Christ. We read in verse 36, Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Now, it is
the spirit that brought them to cry out in that way, to be
pricked in their hearts. This is God's work that brought
them to say that. Then Peter said unto them, repent,
that is, turn from their wickedness in crucifying the Lord, in their
thoughts that He was not the Christ, to that He was, and that
they were truly sorry for what they had done. And be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
So the gift of the Holy Spirit is that which is given to a believer
after conversion or after the first work and that actually
dwells in that person throughout their lives. And we find the
same effect ten years later when we read in Acts chapter 10 and
Peter was the apostle chosen again for this same work, this
time not the Jews as it was at Pentecost, but this time for
the Gentiles, that he should go unto the Gentiles, that he
should preach to them. Let me read of how he'd been
prepared with the vision at Joppa, how Cornelius in Caesarea had
seen a vision of an angel and told him to send for Peter, who
would tell thee words whereby they and all thy household should
be saved. So he sends for him, and he comes,
and he preaches, and he speaks to him. Very simple words, preaching
the word of God. And then we read that, while
Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard the word. Now, what Peter had set forth
was really very much the same as those 10 years before, in
verse 38, We read how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things
which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree. God raised up the third
day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with
him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of quick and dead, the living and dead.
to him give all the prophets witness that through his name
whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of sins." A
very simple, concise sermon, setting forth our Lord Jesus
Christ, lifting him up, that whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. Now we read, while Peter yet
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard
the word. That is, quickened the Holy Spirit,
bring about the new birth, bring about one to really believe in
the Lord. And they then said, they of the
circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with
Peter, Because on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift
of the Holy Ghost. That's the gift of the Holy Ghost
in quickening, in giving the new birth. For they heard them
speak with tongues and magnify God, pretty much the same as
the Pentecost. And Peter's able to say, when
he gave account to the apostles, that the effect was exactly the
same, not by report, but because he had witnessed it. He had been
the means in both cases. Jews cannot say, you Gentiles
are not blessed the same as us. We had the apostle Peter, you
had Paul. No, it was Peter used in both
cases, even though Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And
so then we have again baptism. And it's not baptism that is
the means of forgiveness or it doesn't impart anything but it
is an act of obedience. It is commanded by God. Can any
man forbid water that they should not be baptized which have received
the Holy Ghost as well as we? And commanded them to be baptized
in the name of the Lord. And that blessing that they had
was then to abide with them, the Holy Ghost was to abide with
them and to be in them, not just at the start, but right through
their lives. So it is the Spirit that is promised. When Paul wrote to the Romans,
a beautiful chapter in Romans 8, Romans 8 speaks very much
of the Holy Spirit of God. And in verse 9 we read, But ye
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of God, he is none of his. What a solemn thought. Then he
says in verse 11, But if the Spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwelleth in you. His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Now, it's interesting in these
verses, especially verse 9, We have the Spirit put forth in
two ways. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Then later on in the verse, now
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And we have the mystery again
of God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, God is a Spirit.
And the way that He is manifested to his people and dwells in his
people is by the Spirit. And this is emphasised when the
Lord commanded his disciples to tarry at Jerusalem, in the
city of Jerusalem, until he be endued with power from on high. I will pray the Father, he will
give you another comforter which shall abide with you forever.
And the picture that we have there is the Trinity, the Father,
the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Son praying the Father, the Father
giving the Holy Spirit. And so in that sense, it seems
like the Godhead is individual but divided in that it's a spirit
that just indwells. But we cannot separate the Godhead. So our Lord can rightly say,
I am with you. though I am with you. And yet
the Lord's physical presence is in heaven. This is a great
mystery of godliness. And natural reason cannot sort
out the Trinity. We can only understand it by
the words of Scripture. We ought to think of the Spirit
just as an emanation from God the Father and God the Son. He's
a distinct person. He can be grieved, grieved not
the Holy Spirit of God. We're not to think that just
because we have the Holy Spirit with us, that we do not have
God with us, that we only have part of the Trinity with us.
The scriptures are saying no. If you have one in the Godhead,
you have all. God is not separated in that
way. And so that's why he's spoken. of who is with us, it is I and
my Father, it is we shall make our abode, and then the Holy
Spirit given. Such a mystery it is, but to
have God with us, and God dwelling in us, and dwelling in us by
His Holy Spirit. And so when we read in our text,
God dwelleth in us. God dwelleth in us. Hereby we know we that we dwell
in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. Remember what we said of the
disciples, the Lord saying, ye know not what Spirit ye are of.
The Spirit of God is very distinct. And all that he says and all
that he does is according to the Word of God. I want to then look at that as
our second point, the Word of God. Our Lord teaches in the Gospel
according to John, chapter 6, the necessity of eating his flesh
and drinking his blood. In verse 56 we read, He that
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I
in him. We have the same truths as set
forth in the epistles, both dwelling in God in the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in us. Then we read, going down into
verse 63, It is the spirit that quickeneth, or makes alive, the
flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. So when the Jews here listening,
and these followers listening to the Lord, insisting on that
eating his flesh, drinking his blood, they said, how can this
man give us his flesh to eat? Is it in this way that he is
to dwell in his people? No, not at all. That is not what
the Lord is meaning at all. And yet if we were to eat something,
eat meat, it does, it goes into us, it becomes part of us. But our Lord then clarifies exactly
what He means by saying, the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. They are what dwell in
us. Let the word of God dwell in
you richly, speaking unto yourselves, in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, making melody in your hearts unto the Lord. Thy words were found to Jeremiah,
and I did eat them. They were to the joy and rejoicing
of my heart. And David says that my meditation
of him shall be sweet. The word of God is what the people
of God are to feed upon, And with the spirit, the Thessalonians,
the word came unto them, not in word only, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power. And so another way in which the
picture is drawn of the Lord dwelling in his people is by
his word. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. Man shall not live by bread only,
but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The
written and incarnate word are the same, and heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. The Lord
says in John 17, I have given them thy word, and the world
hath hated them, because the word has a real effect. The people
of God walk by the Word of God. They have the Spirit of God upon
them that affects all they do and all they say and how they
act. And we said of the disciples,
how they were acting was not according to the Spirit of God.
But with the Word of God dwelling in us, thy Word is a lamp unto
my feet, a light unto my path, and that Word becomes part of
us and is a reason why the world hates us, but is also an evidence
of the Lord with us. Going back, thinking of Romans
8, how that we have the very great difference, if we walk
after the flesh, we shall die, but if we walk after the Spirit,
we shall live. To be spiritually minded is life
and peace, to be calmly minded is death. And so when the Lord
comes and takes up his abode with his people as the Word,
then he is known, his presence with them, because he is speaking
to us through his Word. We are hearing his voice through
his Word. And wherever we go, his Word
is hid in our hearts. Thy Word is hid in my heart.
that I might not sin against thee. This is a great blessing
of having a translation in our own tongue and knowing and remembering
the Word of God and having it brought to remembrance by the
Holy Spirit. Because we don't have the Hebrew
hidden in our hearts or the Greek hidden in our hearts, we have
a translation that we can understand hidden there. And that is another
way that is described as the Lord's presence with his people. I wonder how much we can say
that the Word of God dwells in us and dwells in us richly, that
often is brought to our remembrance, often it's a lamp to our feet,
it stops us, it prevents us from walking in wrong ways, it shows
us the way that we should go. Thou shalt hear word behind thee
saying this is the way, walk in it, When you turn to the right
hand, when you turn to the left, it's an evidence of the Lord's
presence, the eternal word with the people of God. But another
way is by faith. When Paul writes to the Ephesians,
He says to them in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 17, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted
and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know
the love of God which passeth knowledge." Well, it's just faith
at the moment to concentrate on that clear statement, Ephesians
3 verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. They're not saying that Christ
gives faith and faith dwells in the heart. He's saying, no,
Christ is dwelling there. And he's dwelling there by faith,
and that faith, that is the gift of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the author and finisher of it. And Paul, in the second chapter
of Ephesians, clearly says, for by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians
2.8. And so it is through faith then,
and we read that long catalogue of those with faith in Hebrews
11. And they all have that evidence
of God dwelling in them. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ
dwelling in the hearts. If you have one, you have them
all. But that is another way that
the scriptures point so that we can really understand what
is meant when our bodies are the temple of God, and habitation
of God, a dwelling place of God, that it is through the Holy Spirit,
it is through the Word of God, it is through faith, and of course
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, but
then it is also by love, and this is then in the text, but
it's also in that portion that we just read in Ephesians. That ye being rooted and grounded
in love. The whole chapter that we have
our text in is speaking of the love of God. And it comes down
to if we cannot see God, but we can see his people, and that
love then is evidenced to his people. We know that we have
passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. John had said that in the third
chapter of this epistle, 1 John 3, verse 14. We know that we
have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. And so this evidence of the Lord's
presence in his people begets a love to his people. We think of those being let go,
they went to their own company. We think of dear Ruth Cleavington,
oh my thy people shall be my people. And each has this evidence,
scriptural evidence of God being with them, the love of God, shed
abroad in the hearts by the Holy Ghost. And though this is an
attribute of God, yet we read this, God is love. So not just
an attribute, but He is actually love, and it proceeds from Him. So when that is known in the
heart when his presence is to be known, we expect there will
be love. And often we pray this and pray
this for the young people, especially that God would give them a love,
a love to his people, a love to the house of God, a love to
the word of God, a love to the Lord Jesus Christ, that they
might love that which he loves and hate that which he hates,
and cleave to that which is lovely. And so when we read here, we
have this truth set before us as the presence of God, the habitation
of God, the temple of God, and God's real presence that is known
and evidenced by these ways, his spirit, the word of God,
the faith of God and His love. Where these are found, then we
have that abundant evidence of the Lord's presence, God's presence,
a triune God, to be with us. Beautiful hymn, I am with thee.
Israel passing through the fire. the Lord's presence. This was
what Moses so coveted, wasn't it? Except thy presence go not
with us, carry us not up hence. But in the New Testament, it's
realised not as a presence as a fiery, cloudy pillar, but an
inward presence in the ways that we've had set before us here. May we know something of these
effects, something of these scriptural ways in which God says that his
presence will be known and evidenced. If we think about it as an illustration,
if we were to have a person who's very influential, they had many
riches, they were a person of great means, and they came into
an assembly, came into a hall, a gathering of people, their
presence would soon be known and felt. Especially if things
arose where they could use their influence, their wealth, their
power, to help those that were in the room. And it wouldn't
just be said, there's this person in the room,
you would say they're there because they've helped, they've used
their influence, they've used their presence, their presence
has been known because of the things that they have done in
that room. And you think of Paul's testimony,
he which hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. He will completely perform it.
He doesn't forsake his people. He doesn't leave them. He comes
to them. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And dwelling in them, then he
shall at last take them home to glory, to be with himself. forever. May we know then, in
a scriptural way, the presence of the Lord with us, our bodies
as an habitation of God, might have a real sanctifying effect
upon us. We know that the Spirit, the
Word and Faith, as in exercise, they do have that effect. Going
back to Romans 8, if ye through the Spirit Do mortify the deeds
of the body, or put to death, or cause that instead of following
those deeds of the body, you follow the spirit, then you shall
live. It's not mortifying it, it's
not fighting it ourselves. It's going after the opposite,
the contrary thing. Walking after the spirit, not
after the flesh. Having the word dwelling in us,
not thoughts of foolishness, emptiness or sinfulness. This
is the Lord's presence that is evidence, a sanctifying effect. And so if you see one that professes
that they are a child of God and yet they still love the world,
they are still at home in it, they love the people of the world,
they would rather that company than the company of the Lord's
people They don't read their Bibles much. They don't dwell
in it. They don't meditate upon the
Word. They don't need the assemblies
of the people of God. They don't need to sit under
the Word. Remember Peter was commissioned, feed my sheep,
feed my lambs. They don't need that. And where
that is the case, there's no evidence of being a child of
God or the Lord's presence with them. Because the Lord's presence
will not lead us to go. into forbidden paths and into
places where it would not bring us. All those quickened and called
by grace are sanctified. And the Lord's presence take
my yoke upon you. That's a close walk, isn't it? And learn of me, for I am meek
and lowly in heart. You shall find rest unto your
souls. God dwelling then in his people
is a real scriptural teaching, a teaching designed to be a great
comfort and also to sanctify us and make us mindful of whose
we are, whom we serve. You know, the apostle, when he
writes to the Corinthians, and if I remember rightly, it is
the 6th chapter, the second epistle, he says at the end, verse 16,
what agreement hath the temple of God, that's us, with idols,
for ye are the temple of the living God. As God has said,
I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God
and they shall be my people. And there's the effect, wherefore,
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will
be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. May we then know this precious
truth. and I will be their God, they
shall be my people. Lord, at His blessing. Amen.