let us pray Lord God do hear
our prayers we come now in Christ's name again and we do pray that
they would undertake in our service we do thank you Lord for gathering
us we thank you for the overruling providences that we have all
arrived in safety and now Lord we do pray that Thou wilt grant
that gracious help of the Holy Spirit. Thou wilt own Thine own
word, Lord, that there might be a gracious application to
all our hearts. O Lord, we do thank Thee for
this day, the Lord's Day, and all the blessings of it, and
every opportunity to gather together in this fashion for corporate
worship. So be pleased, Lord, to bless to us Thine own word. and do get to thyself all the
honor and all the glory. Hear our prayers and pardon all
our sins for Christ's sake. Amen. Well, let us turn to God's Word
and I want to return to The verse we were considering the last
couple of Lord's Day evenings in Paul's first epistle to Timothy
in chapter three and verse 16 is quite remarkable and concise
statement of what is the faith of God's elect. A little compendium
as it were of the of theology, of good doctrine. We read the
verse through, 1st Timothy 3.16, and without controversy great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. And the words that I want to
center your attention on for a while this evening are those
words in the middle of the verse justified in the spirit justified in the spirit of course
last time we were considering the previous clause where he
declares God was manifest in the flesh and there's a relationship
between each of these statements because here we see reference
to two things, both the human nature and also the divine nature
of the Lord Jesus. Clearly, what we were considering
last week, with the reference to the flesh, the manifestation
in the flesh, reminds us of the blessed truth of the incarnation. And Dr. Gill remarks that the
word flesh as regard to the whole human nature. In other words,
the true body and the reasonable soul of the Lord Jesus. His true body, his reasonable
soul, that he was a real man. He was a real man. And as a man he knew something
of the frailties of human life he knew nothing of sin because
what was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin Mary's womb
was that holy thing he was holy, he was harmless, he was undefiled,
he was separate from sinners there was nothing of sinful weakness
in the Lord Jesus Christ but he knew sinless frailty the frailty
of our humanity in fact we're told aren't we he was crucified
through weakness quite remarkable really that he should ever die
there was no real cause of death in him death is the consequence of sin
and there was nothing of sin and yet he dies That is a mystery. There's a mystery in his birth.
There's a mystery also in his dying. But we have that statement
in 2 Corinthians 13, 4, crucified through weakness, reminding us
that it was certainly a frail but a sinless humanity. And then, the word that I want
to really concentrate on tonight justified in the spirit justified
in the spirit he was quickened by himself in his divine nature
that's how we can understand that statement he was quickened
by himself in his divine nature And we have the lines of the
hymn we sometimes sing, Joseph Swain's hymn in the book 1138. Divinity back to his frame, the
life he had yielded restored. He was put to death in the flesh. He was quickened by the Spirit.
And In some ways we're to understand that statement then, justified
in the spirit in terms of the divine nature. However, having
said all of that, there is also a sense in which we are principally
to understand the words here, not so much in reference to his
divine nature but to the ministry of God, the Holy Spirit. There is that sense in which
he is justified by God's the Holy Spirit. And so as we come
to look at the words I want first of all to say something with
regards to the meaning of the word justified. I'm sure you're
probably well aware what that word means. We've preached on
it several times. It's one of the cardinal doctrines
of the faith. The article by which the true
church either stands or falls said Martin Luther. And of course
we see there that the Church of Rome is a false church. It
denies the truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. So we have looked in times past
at the doctrine of justification, but just to remind you of what
we're to understand by the word justified, the meaning of the
term, We have those words in Romans 8, 33, "...who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect. It is Christ that died,
it is God that justifieth." God justifies. But how are we to understand
just what God does in justification? We know from the Old Testament
that justification is very much a legal term. it's associated
with the work of the judges in Israel there in the opening words
of Deuteronomy 25 it's made clear what the judges are to do they
are to condemn the wicked and they are to justify the righteous
and Robert Dabney, a 19th century Presbyterian theologian in the
United States, defines that justification very well. He says that the Holy
Ghost by justify intends a forensic and not a moral change. To justify has nothing to do
with the moral condition of a person, it has to do with their legal
standing. It's a forensic act, says Dabney. It's not making a person righteous,
but it is accounting them righteous, declaring them to be righteous. And of course, that's how we
understand it when we think about justification before God. it's the righteousness of Christ
that is reckoned to the believer's account and so before God the
judge that person is declared to be a righteous person though
in themselves they are sinners morally they are sinful and yet
judicially they are accounted to be righteous that's the amazing
truth that we have when we come to a proper understanding of
our standing before God the Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness
that is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness
Jehovah Sid can you but here we read of Christ being justified
justified by the Spirit How can Christ be justified?
When we think of Christ, when we think of Him as that One who
is always God-man. Interesting, we have a statement
in the book of Job. Remember at the end of Job we
have this man Elihu who makes a very long speech. The other
friends have come and made their various statements and Job has
answered them and then at the end this man Elihu comes and
He says some quite remarkable things in that long speech at
the end of the book of Job. And amongst others we find this
in Job 32 and verse 2. He says, what it says against
Job was his wrath, that's Elijah's wrath, kindled because he justified
himself rather than God. That's what Elijah said of Job,
he was angry with him, because Job justified himself rather
than God of course Job could not make God righteous Job could
not make God righteous because God is and God always was righteous
but Job should have accounted God righteous and this is the
thing that was causing Elihu to be angry, he was accounting
himself righteous, he was not accounting God righteous. He
was questioning God's dealings with him. Clearly the idea of
justification then is an accounting righteous, not a making a person
righteous. But how How does the Holy Spirit
justify the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, we see it, of course, in
the ministry of the Holy Spirit throughout the life of the Lord
Jesus. We certainly see it in the resurrection. He's put to death in the flesh,
He's Christ, but He's quickened. in the spirit and we can understand
that in terms of the Holy Spirit in the resurrection he is declared
to be the son of God with power it says according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead the Holy Spirit
is there in the resurrection as Christ's dead body is revived
and is restored from the grave, it's the Holy Spirit. And that's
such a remarkable statement that we have at the beginning of Romans
concerning the Lord Jesus. He's declared and the significance
of that word, it's having that idea of him being marked out
and signified. and it's by the spirit of holiness
in the resurrection, it's the justification of the Lord Jesus,
the declaration that this man who has suffered such a cruel
death, a judicial death, he suffered the death of a criminal and now
God the Holy Spirit in the resurrection is marking him out as that man
who should be declared righteous. But it's not only in the resurrection It's not only in the resurrection
that we see the work of the Spirit but in every point of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus. There is a blessed work of the
Holy Spirit justifying Him, owning Him, acknowledging Him. There's
an interesting portion in Isaiah 50 and there in the words that
we find at verse 7 and the following couple of verses Isaiah 50 verse
7 clearly a prophecy of Christ because we read of him setting
his face like a flint in verse 7 remember when his time was
come to be offered up he sets his
face to go to Jerusalem I think it's in, is it Isaiah I think
it's Isaiah 11.53, he sets his face to go to Jerusalem. He knows that his time has come.
And he's determined that he will be obedient to the death of the
cross. And here we read in Isaiah 57,
the Lord God will help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint and I know I shall not be ashamed. He is near that
justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him
come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. He is near that justifieth me. Although the Lord Jesus, who
knew no sin, is made sin, yet He knows that ultimately He is
going to be justified. though he was executed as a common
criminal and it's the work of the Holy Spirit justified in
the Spirit and so when the Lord begins his public ministry we
see very much there's that ministry of the Spirit there's that remarkable
anointing of the Spirit upon him the words of John 3.34 he
whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not
the Spirit by measure unto him there's not a small measure of
the Spirit upon him he is that one who is so anointed by the
Spirit he's justified by the Spirit
and now As the Lord Jesus in his earthly life, God manifest
in the flesh, is one who is completely utterly dependent upon the Spirit
for his justification, his vindication at every turn of his ministry,
so too of course in those who are the disciples of the Lord
Jesus. Now, believers are completely
and utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Are they not those who are born
again of the Spirit of God? Are they not those who are born
from above and the sovereign working of the Spirit in regeneration,
the Lord liking it to the wind and the circuits of the wind?
It bloweth where it listeth, though heareth the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. It's a sovereign
work of the Spirit that brings true life, new life, into the
souls of those elect sinners and then always dependent upon
Him in their mortification of the old nature. If ye through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live, says
the Apostle. It's always through the Spirit.
And then of course we are so dependent upon those fruits of
the Spirit. What fruit have we? we have nothing
of ourselves the guidance is that hymn it's not in Gadsby
but I love the lines of that hymn you're probably familiar
with it every virtue we possess and every victory won and every
thought of holiness are his alone if there's anything of any worth
in us anything of that that is pleasing and acceptable
to God it is by the ministry of the Spirit and Paul speaks
doesn't he of that blessed fruit of the Holy Ghost in Galatians
there in Galatians 5 verse 22 the fruit of the Spirit His love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law, and they that are Christ have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the
Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit." Or the Lord Jesus Himself, you
see, was one who, as a man, a real man, lived as human, life in
dependence upon that blessed ministry of the Holy Ghost, always
dependent upon Him. And we have to live our lives.
If we're followers of Christ, we have to live that same life,
that life of faith, that life from whence all spiritual help
comes by God the Holy Spirit. But let us Think of the manner
then of Christ being justified in and by the Spirit. And four areas of the human life
of the Lord Jesus are so striking. Of course, first of all, there
is his actual conception, his human birth. And it is a great
work of the Holy Spirit. here is the virgin she knows
not a man and yet she is found with child how can that be? well
as the angel Gabriel says the holy ghost shall come upon thee
the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also
that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the son of God it is not God the Holy Spirit who is incarnate
It is God the Son. God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit are equal with God the Father in the great mystery of
the Godhead. But it is the Son that becomes
a man. But in becoming a man it is by
and through the work of God the Holy Spirit. the Holy Ghost comes upon that
virgin and the power of the highest so overshadows her a miracle
is performed in her virgin womb and she is with a child and the human nature conceived
by the Holy Ghost in the womb of that woman who was a sinful
woman She was a sinful woman like all the descendants of Adam
and Eve. She was conceived in sin and
shaped in iniquity. She was a virgin, yes. But she
was a sinner and in the Magnificat she can rejoice in God her Saviour. But what a miracle it is because
the human nature of the Lord Jesus is derived from his mother. And yet he doesn't partake of
any of her sin because what is conceived is the holy thing all the wonder of the conception
and the birth of the Lord Jesus is becoming a man he says himself
doesn't he in the language of the psalm really but there in
Hebrews 10 a body hast thou prepared It's quite a passage that we
have there in that 10th chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews
and it's true that the quotation is from the book of Psalms, verse 7 in chapter 10. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God.
Above, when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt, offering
and offering, for sin thou wouldst not, neither at pleasure therein
which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come, to
do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. takes away the old covenant to
establish the new covenant by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for
all that body that was prepared of God the body as thou prepared
me he says and it's done by and through the Holy Spirit But not
only with his birth, when we think of the whole ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ, when he goes to John at the River Jordan,
and it's there of course that he comes forth now, John has
exercised his ministry, John the harbinger, the one sent to
prepare the way for his coming. And the Lord goes there to John
to be baptized. He will do this to fulfill all
righteousness. That's what it says in the account
that we find at the end of Matthew chapter 3. Jesus answering said unto him,
that is, unto John, Suffer it to be so now. For John had said,
you know, I am need to be baptised of thee.
Comest thou to me? John forbade the very idea of
him baptising Christ, the baptism of repentance. John knew that
this one had no sin to repent of. But Jesus answers him. Suffer it to be so now, for thus
it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. He must be identified
with those that He has come to save. He must identify with the
sinner. And then John suffered Him. And
you know, the consequence of it all, Jesus, when He was baptized,
went up straight way out of the water. And lo, the heavens were
opened unto Him. And He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. and know a voice from
heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased
but over there we see him you see again it's that blessed ministry
of the Spirit that great effusion really of the
Spirit upon him he is the Christ he is the anointed one and how
immediately he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted of Satan notice he is not led into temptation
by the spirits that could never be that could never be he is
led into the wilderness it's the mystery of God's providence
really that we see there we know that God cannot be tempted of
sin and God tempteth no man. No man is to say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. A man is tempted when he is let
aside of his own lust and enticed. James makes that so clear in
the opening chapter of his epistle. No man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. God is not the tempter. but we
certainly see there in the spirit's ministry in the Lord Jesus Christ
something of the mystery the mystery of providence he is led
of the spirit into the wilderness and there of course he is to
be assaulted by the great adversary of souls well the Lord Jesus
Christ himself must be tempted You can say at the end of his
ministry when he speaks to his disciples, ye are they which
have continued with me in my temptations. There's that initial
assault, but then the spirit leaves him, but only for a season.
It's only for a little season that Satan leaves him. At the end he says, all his life
is one scene of temptation, ye are they which have continued
with me in my temptations, he says to his disciples. And he must be thus tested and
tried in order that he might minister to his people. Oh God
has said, has he not, there hath no temptation taken you but such
as is common to man. But God is faithful and will
not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, and with the
temptation you'll make a way of escape that you may be able
to bear it. And how is it that the poor tempted
soul can bear it because of the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, we have
not an high priest who is not touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. He was tempted in all points.
like as we are yet without sin. And so he's able to succour them
that are tempted. That's the wonder of it. In that
he himself has suffered. Being tempted, he can succour
all them who are tempted. And that same Spirit who is there
leading him after his baptising and he's going into the wilderness
and there he's going to be tempted and then when he resists all
those temptations he comes forth doesn't he? led by that self
sign spirit he returned in the power of the spirit from the
wilderness it says and then of course he goes into the synagogue
there in Nazareth and he reads the the words of the prophet
Isaiah 61 the spirit of the Lord is upon him or the spirit is
upon him in all of his ministry and now he is justified in that
ministry he's justified by the miracles he's justified by the
miracles the words of Nicodemus, we know, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God. No man can do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him. And how is God with him in the
miracles? It's the work of the Spirit. If I cast out devils by the Spirit, then is the Kingdom
of God come among you, he says. The Spirit is there, the Spirit
is is vindicating him by the miracles authenticating him,
justifying him it's not only in his birth but it's throughout
his life and especially throughout all his ministry even from the
very beginning of that ministry and in every part of that ministry
and then of course we see the spirit there when he comes to
die even there upon the cross Hebrews 9.14 Christ who through
the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God he offered
himself without spot to God how did he offer himself? through
the eternal spirit You may be aware that there's some debate
really with regards to just what is meant by that statement. And even the great Puritan John
Owen in his commentary on Hebrews goes into that debate and makes
some very significant statements. You see, the debate is this,
is the Spirit here, in Hebrews 9.14, a reference to the divine
nature? As I said at the beginning, with
regards to our text, we can understand the words that we're considering
tonight, justified in the Spirit, to have reference to Christ's
divine nature. Just as God manifest in the flesh
refers to His human nature and so too with those words in
Hebrews 9 Owen remarks Christ offered himself unto God through
or by his own eternal spirit the divine nature acting in the
person of the Son It was the divine nature in Christ
that was there to, as it were, sanctify the gift that was being
presented. In a sense, you see, that interpretation
is a sound interpretation because it is the altar that sanctifies
the gift that's offered on the altar. And what was the altar
upon which Christ made that great sin-atoning sacrifice? It was
not the cross. The cross was not the altar. The person being offered was
far greater than the cross. And the person offered was the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God-man. what was it that sanctified
the gift? well it's as Dr. Owen says he
offered himself through or by his own eternal spirit it was
the divine nature that sanctified the gift because the divine nature is
nothing less than true almighty God well that's the wonder of
the sacrifice but then interesting the Puritan says on the other
hand it is not just that he offered himself
in his divine nature but there is that sense in which it's the
Holy Spirit It's no less certain that he offered himself in the
human nature by God the Holy Ghost. That's what Owen says.
So one thing is certain, that it's the divine nature, but Owen
is saying this also is certain, that he offered himself in his
human nature by the Holy Ghost. And both of these truths are
absolutely necessary. And so, we have to recognize
there's a remarkable depth in the Word of God. When we read
those words concerning the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is a sense that even in dying, He is being vindicated by God,
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there, justifying
Him. and then of course subsequently
we see that justification all together as we've already intimated
in the resurrection because he's put to death in the flesh but
he's quickened by the spirit he's declared to be the son of
God according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead how he is justified in the
spirit and the wondrous thing is that all his people also are
justified in him in the resurrection when the surety Christ is that
one who had come to stand in the law place of all his people
he was made of a woman he was made under the law when we read
of the God manifest in the flesh well he is of course the seed
of the woman he has no human father, he has
a human mother it's the promise that he's given right at the
beginning Genesis 3.15 concerning the seed of the woman who would
come to to bruise Satan's head and his own heel would be bruised
in the bruising of Satan's head he's the seed of the woman made
of a woman but also made under the law and stands therefore
in that place of his people, their law place. He will honor
and magnify the law for them by his life of sinless obedience. All that he does, he does as
a surety, acting on behalf of his people.
And then when he comes to die, not only a surety but a substitute. And when he is justified in the
Spirit, when he is raised again from the dead and vindicated,
so his people are justified in him. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again, it says,
for our justification. And so this is the great message,
isn't it, that's preached in the New Testament, justification. By him all that believe are justified
from all things that they could not be justified from by the
deeds of the law, says the Apostle in his preaching there in Acts
13. He's in Antioch, in Pisidia,
and it's a record of his ministry, his preaching there. And that's
the message that he proclaims, justification, by faith in this
one that we read of in our text. All the wonder of it. The wonder
of what we have in this portion of Holy Scripture. What matter
is found here. What remarkable truths. This is that mountain he's spoken
of back in Isaiah 25 if I remember right. The great promise of the proclamation
of the Gospel, Isaiah 25, 6. In this mountain shall the Lord
of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast
of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines
on the lees well refined. That's the Gospel. That's the
gospel, and it's a feast. And there's a feast, I say, in
this remarkable text of Scripture that we're considering, and every
clause in the text. And it all speaks to us so clearly,
so plainly, of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, manifest in the
flesh, God, justified in the Spirit. Well, we'll go on, the
Lord willing to consider these other clauses as the Apostle
sets before us the blessed truths of the everlasting gospel. The
Lord be pleased then to own and bless what we've sought to say
a little even tonight to his own glory and to our good. Amen.