John 14 v 6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Psalm 119 is about this point made by Jesus, the way, the truth and life. Psalm 119 verse 105 encapsulates this; Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Jesus Christ is the Word of God (John 1 v 1-3), the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Light, 1 John 1:5; This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth: John 14 v 16-17; And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. And the fact that Jesus Christ is the life was stated in John 14 v 19; Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. It was said of the Lord Jesus that life was in Him, and the life was the light of men, and the darkness overcame it not (John 1:4,5).
John 14 v 21 is about keeping the precepts of the Lord which is what Psalm 119 is all about. Psalm 119 describes the precepts of the Lord as a path to be walked, and the Word of God as a light or Lamp to illuminate the way. Light is transparency; light is clearness; light is absolute purity; light is honesty; light is openness of character. Light hides nothing; its whole action and nature is contrary to hiding anything. It has nothing to hide; it shows everything; it shows all: in other words, it is not deceitful. It does not want to cover anything, or to pretend or make believe that something is other than what it is. Light is single; it is not double; there is no duplicity about light. And light is just – light! There is ‘no darkness at all’ where there is light. Psalm 119 v 130; The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
These things, as you will recognize, are symbolic terms. They show symbolically what the Holy Spirit has come to do, in men and women, and in the creation. He has come to bring about in human nature a condition like that. He has undertaken a tremendous task! He is the Spirit of Light – that is His character – and the purpose of His presence is to bring to an end everything that is of the nature of darkness. How many shades and aspects of darkness there are! – a whole vocabulary of words. The Spirit has come to bring all that to an end by applying the Cross, in which it was all brought to an end in the Person of the Lord Jesus; to work out the meaning of the Cross in our lives, so that everything that belongs to that kingdom of darkness is removed: so that in the end, with us too, there is no darkness at all.
Is that really what we think of, when we think of having, receiving, being filled with the Holy Spirit? Here again, perhaps, a little re-shaping of our ideas is called for. It is true that He is many other things, as well as light: He is the Spirit of Power, He is the Spirit of Wisdom; yes, He is many other things; but, with them all, He is this. And we must not make more of those ‘demonstration’ aspects of the Spirit, in power, in gifts and capacities, in works, than we do of His character side. If He really does His work in you and in me, He will make us to be people who can bear to be ‘looked into’ without any fear, without any drawing of the blinds. Our lives and our motives will bear looking into.
Absolute Truth belongs to God, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Truth, what we as men have is relative truth and or sometimes sincerity, which can be knowledge without light or understanding. We often think that sincerity on our part is all that is called for: we have only got to be ‘sincere’ in order to satisfy God. (I would remind you that there is, in any case, a difference between sincerity and reality.) But Saul of Tarsus was the most ‘sincere’ man alive in his day, and yet he was the most mistaken. Sincerity may be required, may be very important, and it is; but do not let us deceive ourselves with our sincerity, and say that because we are downright sincere, then we must be right; that is not the case. The Spirit may require sincerity to open the door, for anything that is insincere means a closed door to the Holy Spirit. But, after all, it is only an opening of the door, so that He may come in and then begin to show us that, ‘sincere’ as we were, we were wrong after all.
It is exactly what happened with Paul, is it not? “I verily thought… that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). ‘I verily thought that I ought to do…’: absolutely sincere, absolutely conscientious, and yet so ignominiously mistaken and wrong – until the Light came. Then he saw it. You see the point. The Holy Spirit does not just accept our sincerity as the everything. He comes perhaps through that door; then He begins His work of showing that even our purest motives were probably mixed; our most sincere intentions were tainted. He works according to His knowledge, and we must give Him credit always for doing that.
Light is a fearless thing. If there is anything doubtful or questionable, anything about which we are not sure; if we have some question, if we are not sure whether our position is right or wrong: then we are always afraid, we are in the weakness of fear. Darkness and fear always go together – it is like that naturally, is it not? – fear belongs to darkness. There can be no confidence, no strength, where there is darkness. This City, this people, at the end, is a strong city, “having a wall great and high” (Rev. 21:12); it is the very embodiment of the idea of strength: but its strength lies in its character – in its purity, its light.
Light can be shut out by prejudice. We can, you know, deprive ourselves of this light of the Spirit; we can shut out the light; we can have bandages over our eyes. What might such bandages be? Well, take prejudice. Prejudice is a terribly blinding thing. It means, as the word clearly indicates, that you have pre-judged something, some situation, before you really looked into it. You prejudged it – perhaps on the basis of report, or on any one of many pretexts. And, in pre-judging, without a first-hand, honest, sincere, true investigation and enquiry, pursuing this matter till you really knew, you closed down – you foreclosed on it. Very well: you have put the bandage of prejudice on your eyes, and there is no hope – no hope – until that is removed.
Light can be shut out by Pride and Policy. And then there is pride: unwillingness to humble ourselves; unwillingness to say that we have been wrong, to take something back. Pride can blind. Perhaps there are few things more blinding than pride. And policy: you can just shut the Holy Spirit right out if you are going to be governed by policy. Policy means taking into account how things will affect you and your interests, your future, how it will close doors to you; what other people will think – that if you do this or that you will be regarded as a ‘speckled bird’, and so on; you see, secondary considerations. Oh, that is a hobgoblin of the Devil to rob you of something! Yes, it will blind; you will not go on if there is any policy about it – make no mistake. If Abraham has a great inheritance – and there is no doubt that he has, for the covenant of promise concerned his seed, ‘which seed is Jesus Christ’ (Gal. 3:16) – what an inheritance! – remember that the covenant with Abraham was made at the point where God appeared to him and said: “I am God All-sufficient; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Gen. 15:1).
‘Walk before Me! and be thou perfect.’ That is the way of the enlarging inheritance. ‘Before Me!’ Not before men; not before systems; not before public opinion; and not before your own interests, with an eye to how they are going to be served, and what is going to happen to you. ‘Walk before Me, and be thou perfect. I am the Lord All-sufficient’. ‘How can ye believe, who receive glory one from another, and do not seek the glory which comes from God only?’ This is the way of light; this is the way of power; this is the way of the Spirit. It is the way of ‘walking in the light, as He is in the light’, and walking with the light in ourselves. As Psalm 119 verse 133 states; Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.
Psalm 119 verse 159 states; See how I love your precepts; preserve my life, Lord, in accordance with your love. That is in Christ Jesus, Romans 8 verse 39. This is our prayer according to Psalm 119 verses 169-176; May my cry come before you, Lord; give me understanding according to your word. May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous. May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, Lord, and your law gives me delight. Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me. I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.
