Christ Dwelling in the Heart by Faith
Preached at North Street Chapel, Stamford, on Thursday Evening, September 26, 1867
"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 Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19
There are no blessings like spiritual blessings; no mercies like heavenly mercies; and no favours like the good will of him that dwelt in the bush. We desire to be thankful to God for providential favours; we desire to feel gratitude for the daily bread we eat, the daily raiment we wear, the measure of health and strength given to us to perform our daily duties, the bed on which we nightly lie, the kind friends by whom we are surrounded, the many lifts and helps, under trying circumstances, which we have received, and the various ways in which the Lord from time to time has conspicuously, and often unexpectedly, appeared to deliver us out of difficulties, or to grant us timely aid when every other door seemed shut and every other hand closed. For these instances of God's providential kindness, we desire to thank him; and most ungrateful should we be if we were so unmindful of his many mercies towards us, as a God of providence, as to let them lie altogether buried in oblivion. Indeed, humanly speaking, no surer way could we take of closing for the future the Lord's hand against us, than to pass by, with cold unthankfulness and unbelieving neglect, the tender care which he has shown to us in providing for every needful want, and never suffering us to be in circumstances in which we have not seen more or less of his outstretched hand as displayed on our behalf. It is in this point especially, that the children of God differ from the children of the world; that the one through faith see, or desire to see, God in every thing, and the others through unbelief see God in nothing.
But giving all their value to, and acknowledging the hand of God in the gifts of his providence, we may still say, What are all these temporal favours, these providential blessings, compared with spiritual favours and heavenly blessings? The highest favours in providence for the most part perish in the using. The food is soon eaten; the raiment soon worn out; the money is soon spent; and we are ready for a fresh supply to perish in the same way. At least they are for time, not for eternity; they are meant to take us happily and honourably through life, but when life closes they close too. We may indeed look forward to the same kind hand to provide for our children when we ourselves shall no more want the bread that perisheth; but as regards ourselves, we shall want no further help when we have been brought safely to the end of our journey. Not so, however, with spiritual blessings. They, from their very nature, far exceed all providential mercies; for as the soul is greater than the body, as eternity is greater than time, as heaven is greater than earth, and as the life to come is greater than the life that now is, so do spiritual blessings exceed all temporal; so does the favour of God in grace excel all the favour of God in providence.
It is chiefly in this point that the blessings promised in the New Testament so far excel the blessings promised in the Old. Under the Old Testament dispensation, temporal blessings were mostly spoken of and promised. We have striking examples of this in the blessings pronounced upon their children by the ancient patriarchs. For instance, where good old Isaac blesses Jacob, thinking he was Esau, he says: "God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let people serve thee, and the nations bow down to thee." (Gen. 27:28, 29.) I do not mean to imply that spiritual blessings were not couched under temporal, and that there is not a gracious and experimental meaning in "the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine;" but their primary and literal meaning is certainly a promise of temporal blessings. Even when the ancient patriarch sends Jacob to Padan-aram, and again blesses him as Jacob, he says: "And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham." (Gen. 28:3, 4) So when Jacob on his expiring bed blesses the twelve patriarchs, we find that very many, if not the greater part of those blessings, are of a temporal nature. Speaking even to Joseph, his beloved son, he says: "Who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb." (Gen. 49:25.)
But let not this circumstance either surprise or stumble us. Let us bear in mind that it was the very character and genius of the old dispensation to deal much in temporal blessings. The grand and glorious truths of the gospel were not then brought to light. The law was a system of obedience; and this obedience was secured by setting before the people both temporal blessings and temporal curses. To those who hearkened unto the voice of the Lord it was said, "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket, and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out." (Deut. 28:3-6.) But to those who did not hearken unto his voice it was said, "Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out." (Deut. 28:16-19.)
But when we come to the New Testament dispensation and the blessings held out under the new covenant to believers, little or no mention is made of temporal blessings. The first, highest, and most eminent place is given there to spiritual blessings, and temporal blessings occupy only a second place. This is in accordance with the words of our Lord, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:33.) So that whilst under the old dispensation, temporal blessings held the foremost; under the New Testament dispensation, temporal blessings hold only a second place. This suits the genius, character, and spirit of the new dispensation, of the gospel of the grace of God which hath brought life and immortality to light, and by setting forth and revealing the Son of God in his grace and glory, blood-shedding, sufferings, death, resurrection, and present intercession as the great Object of faith, sinks as it were into insignificance of all those temporal blessings, which compared with what he has in himself and has to bestow upon us, are but the trifles of a day. We find, therefore, very few temporal blessings promised in the New Testament. The path there traced out for the redeemed to walk in, is not to be blessed in their basket and in their store, but rather through much tribulation, to enter into the kingdom of God. No special blessings are promised on their kine and their flocks for doing the will of God, nor any temporal prosperity declared to be the reward of obedience. On the contrary, persecution, poverty, contempt, loss of all things for Christ's sake, a rough and thorny path in providence and abundance of trials and afflictions are held out as the appointed portion of the followers of the Lamb. Nor are they to desire or seek worldly prosperity. The language of the Apostle is, "Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content;" and he declares, "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." (1 Tim. 6:9.)
While, then, we desire to be grateful to God for his providential mercies, let us bear in mind that as believers in the Son of God we should look for the fulfilment of spiritual promises rather than temporal; and if, indeed, God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, we should fix our eyes and heart upon them, and beg of God to fulfil them in us, rather than desire or expect any larger amount of temporal blessings than shall take us honourably to our journey's end.
These thoughts seem connected with the prayers of the apostle Paul, put up by him for the saints to whom he writes. You will find in none of them any allusion to temporal blessings. The whole desire of his heart is for spiritual mercies to be granted them. Take for instance the prayer of the apostle for the church of God at Ephesus, which we have in the chapter before us, and observe how, when he was upon his bended knees before the Lord, and his heart went out in supplication for the church to which he was writing, he makes no request for any temporal favour, or any providential blessing; but he says: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you"—what? health, strength, worldly prosperity, a large measure of temporal blessings? No. But what? "to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 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 Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." These are the blessings prayed for by the man of God. Let me seek this evening, then, with God's help and blessing, to unfold the blessings spoken of in our text. I think we shall find that for the most part they are three.
I.—The first is, that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith.
II.—The second is, that they might be rooted and grounded in love.
III.—The third is, that they might "comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that they might be filled with all the fulness of God."
These three blessings I shall endeavour to open up, to the best of my ability, and lay before you this evening, for indeed they are most sweet and suitable, and if they are fulfilled in our happy experience, we shall hold providential blessings with a loose hand, as seeing and feeling how inferior they are to them, both for time and eternity.
I.—The first is, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."
When God bade Moses speak unto the children of Israel that they should bring him an offering of gold and silver, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and other similar offerings for the construction of the tabernacle which was to be erected in the wilderness, he said, "And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them." God wished, so to speak, to dwell visibly among the people of his choice; and therefore he bade Moses erect a tabernacle according to the pattern shown him upon the mount, that in that tabernacle, he might come and manifest his visible glory. Every part, therefore, of that tabernacle was designed and constructed that it might be visibly inhabited by God. Its very materials were choice and precious, and they were put together with exquisite skill by Bezaleel and Aholiab, whom God himself specially taught and "filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship." (Exod. 31:3.) But it was especially in the most holy place, on the mercy seat, between the cherubims, that God visibly dwelt in the shekinah or cloud of glory. This beautiful tabernacle represented the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and was thus a representation, in type and figure, of the pure humanity of our gracious Lord, in which all the fulness of Deity dwells, as shadowed by the dwelling of God in the temple in the shekinah or cloud of glory upon the mercy seat.
But what was thus represented in type and figure to the children of Israel, we now have in its divine and blessed reality. The human nature of our gracious Lord is therefore said to be, "a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands"—"the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man." (Heb. 7:2, 9:11.) And it is because our gracious Lord took our nature into union with his own divine Person, and by his precious bloodshedding and death put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, that God can dwell with man. That God could dwell with man, astonished Solomon, the wisest of men. To unravel this mystery surpassed all that wisdom which God had given him, and all that largeness of heart which was even as the sand that is on the sea shore. (1 Kings 4:29) His wisdom was too little, his understanding too small, his largeness of heart too narrow, to comprehend that mystery, when he cried out, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings 8:27.) But this mystery is solved by the incarnation of our blessed Lord. "Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh."
But, O, what a depth of wisdom and grace is couched in this mystery of godliness—nothing less than the meeting together of God and man; for if our blessed Lord had not come forth from the presence of his heavenly Father, to take our nature into union with his own divine Person, and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, God and man could never have met. But they can, and do now meet in the Person and work of Jesus. God, therefore, can now say, "I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." When, then, the apostle prays, in our text, that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, it is upon this ground, that God having promised to dwell with his people, there is a place provided in which Christ may dwell, and that is the regenerated heart.