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Christ Is All
by Stephen TyngIn Christ
Chapter X
The Spiritual Call
The great privileges, and responsibilities, and principles of the condition of the man in Christ, we have already considered. Let us now meditate upon the method of grace, by which the Holy Spirit: has brought him into this exalted and blessed state. Of his own will, God was pleased. to beget him with the word of truth being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. In Christ Jesus he has been begotten again through the Gospel; the influence and operation of which Gospel upon him, in this work of divine salvation, I wish in some measure to trace.
The influence of the Gospel upon man in its publication, is twofold. There is a general call of the Gospel, by which all sinful men are invited to become partakers of the grace of Christ; and there is a particular, personal call, by which each real believer is made individually interested in the mercies, the offer of which is thus generally proposed. The first of these, the general call, may be found expressed in such passages of holy Scripture as the following: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."--"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for l am God, and there is none else."--"If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."--"Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." This call of mercy is unlimited in its application to men. It is addressed to all the members of an alienated race, and to all with equal freedom. It is permanent in the opportunity which it opens to mankind; going from generation to generation, and abiding among men, as the recorded message of divine compassion to their perishing souls. It is continually and frequently repeated; not only to mankind as a race, in their successive generations, but also to individual men, in the brief history of their lives. In every page of holy Scripture which is opened to the eye;--in every proclamation of the word of God which is addressed to the ear; the warnings, offers, and invitations of the Gospel are again presented to the notice of men, and they are urged to consider and to obey them. Men are thus placed entirely beyond excuse in a sinful and unpardoned state, because they willingly, and with determination, reject an offer of reconciliation from God, which is perfectly cleared from all difficulties, and precisely adapted to their condition and wants. And yet vast multitudes do reject this offer of mercy, and abide by their own choice in a state of condemnation and death.
But there is a second, personal call of the Gospel, which is addressed immediately to the individual soul, to whom the message comes. It is a secret, silent appeal of the Holy Spirit; his employment of the Gospel, uttered to the conscience and the heart within, with no other witness to His presence or design. It is an effective and constraining appeal, coming not in word. only, but with power; selecting its appointed object, and leading and persuading him to turn from his ungodliness, and accept the offered mercies of a Saviour now revealed. This special call of the Gospel may be considered as illustrated in such passages of the Scripture as these: "When it pleased God. who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal His Son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."--"A certain woman named Lydia, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul."--"Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power"--"Our Gospel came not unto you, in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." It was by this special personal call of the Gospel addressed to him, when he was dead in sins, and having no hope, that the man in Christ was brought to his new condition, and made to taste and experience the power of the grace of God; so that he may truly say with St. Paul, in reference to this spiritual knowledge and experience, "The Gospel which is preached of me, is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." To consider this special call, and the peculiar manifestation of divine power which it has made in him, we may wisely say something first of the general invitation, from which we have separated it.
The general annunciation of the Gospel to man is in the outward message by human instruments, of the grace of God to mankind. It is a proclamation of the great facts which make up the history of man's redemption;--of the mighty Saviour who has himself alone accomplished that redemption, by His own incarnation, obedience, and death. It declares His dignity and power, His humiliation and obedience, His substitution and sufferings for man, His triumph over death: His ascension and intercession, and future coming for His people. It announces His ability to save unto the uttermost, all who come unto God through him, and His readiness to receive and bless all who come to Him; and thus proclaims a finished and glorious work of salvation in Him for the chief of sinners, for all sinners, that whosoever cometh to Him may be in no wise cast out. This general message of the Gospel, the ministers of Christ are sent to proclaim. They are to announce without ceasing, the glorious fulness and sufficiency of a divine Saviour. Without limit, and with the most perfect freedom, are they to preach the sure mercies of the Lord Jesus to sinful men, and to call earnestly upon them not to receive the grace of God in vain. There is a fountain opened, and an atonement made for all the sons of men. And the needy and perishing are called from the very ends of, the earth, to come and cast in their lot with Jesus, and to be partakers of His grace and His glory. Every burden has been borne for them; and every responsibility has been met in their behalf. All fulness is thus proclaimed in Jesus, and a fulness for all; and whosoever will, is urged to take advantage of the offered mercy. While this proclamation of the work of Christ, and of the reconciliation of God is freely made, it is impossible for man to tell, who will embrace, or who will reject the offer. According to God's command, the glad tidings are preached to every creature. The unlimited, unconditional offer of pardon is made to all who will receive the gift, and penitently turn to God and live. We know not which shall prosper, or who will obey the heavenly message. But we know that God will not leave himself without witnesses, nor fail to be glorified in the publication of His grace, nor suffer His word to return unto Him void. And therefore we sow beside all waters; and in season and out of season, preach the same word of mercy to unrighteousness, and of pardon to the guilty; assured that we shall become a sweet savour of Christ, both in them that are saved, and in them that perish.
But connected with this general annunciation, there has been made to the man in Christ, a personal application of the message of mercy to his own soul; an inward work of divine power; so that he has no more doubt by whose power he has been influenced in his course of obedience to God, than by whose power he was made at first. This is an act of divine grace and power indispensable to man's salvation. The offers of Christ were all in vain, until they were received by him as an individual message from God to himself. His soul was made to realize and feel, its personal connection with the things which had been done by the Saviour of men. He was made to see and to acknowledge that the guilt which was laid upon Christ was his;--that the atonement which He made for sin was for him;--that the book which proclaims this boundless mercy was written for him, and addressed to him. He thus felt himself to be singled out from the residue of men, and God to be speaking to him alone, as if the whole plan of grace had been contrived and accomplished especially and solely for himself. Until he was made thus to separate himself in mind from the surrounding mass of men, and to feel that he had a special and peculiar interest in the things which he heard, all was heard in vain. The wheat while growing in the field, or the bread while lying upon the board, was no nourishment for him, however adapted and adequate to his wants. He must take it, and feed upon it, before He could gain life and health through its sustaining power. Thus did he receive the message from God,--not as a general annunciation, in which he was interested in common with others, but as a particular communication which God designed especially for himself, and which it was of the most vital consequence to him that he should hear, and understand, and believe.
This was a secret application of the word to him. The power which was operating in this great crisis, to write the word upon his heart, came unseen by him, and unknown to others, and called his attention secretly to the word which was set forth before him. The evidence of the presence of the renewing Spirit, was in his consciousness of a very peculiar interest in the things which he heard. His heart within was deeply stirred. A secret conviction of his guilt arose before his view. He felt the truth of what he heard. He perceived its vast importance to himself. Views such as he never had before, were impressed upon his conscience. The eye of an heart-searching God seemed to be directly fastened upon him. There might have been crowds around, but he was alone. Deep emotions agitated his breast. His thoughts were arrested, and his judgment was swayed. The danger of his unpardoned soul appeared fearfully before him. The perfect adaptation of Christ to his wants was clearly seen. His hour of mercy had come; a door of hope was opened before him; he heard the inviting voice of God speaking to him, and his heart was at once inclined to obey. He hardly dared to procrastinate for another hour. Something within urged him,--now, to-day, harden not your heart, but hear His voice. O, it was the special call of the Holy Ghost; and though none around might see or feel that there was a shade of difference from the habitual course of facts concerning him;--he felt that every thing was changed, and a new power seemed to have arrested him, and to be leading him on. His dearest friend might be wholly ignorant of what had taken place within him. But God had entered into his very soul, and there, was arguing with himself alone, the unspeakable interests of Christ and eternity. O, what memories rose up in that wonderful hour! What fears, what doubts, what hopes were called into being! How much of life seemed to be compressed in a space so narrow! There was a mighty power at work within him, bringing him into captivity to Christ, and making him to understand and feel, that it was not by might or power of man, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts, that the human soul is turned from .darkness to light, and from the power of Satan into God.
This secret call was the special, personal agency of the Holy Ghost. It was an experience and condition of the soul., in which the Divine Spirit was acting entirely alone. He had passed beyond the region of outward instruments and ministries,--of ordinances and messengers,--to take the message and the work completely into His own hands. Perhaps the sermon, or the providence, which had been made the instrument of first arousing the sinner's attention, had been quite forgotten. Some single text of Holy Scripture, it may be, alone remained in mind. The man may have been in deep retirement and solitude, away from all the agencies of an outward church;--but the Spirit, the infallible and unfailing preacher of righteousness was there; and His great power was manifested, in this secret transformation of a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction, into a vessel of mercy prepared for glory. Here was the voice of God, which breaketh the cedars. He reasoned with the sinner alone. He showed him his guilt, his ruin, and his remedy. He lifted up the cross before him, and proclaimed a free forgiveness. He removed the darkness which was spread out before his anxious soul, and offered him abundant hope. He exhibited Christ as the perfect righteousness of the believing soul, and. presented Him as a garment, and a robe of eternal glory, to the doubting, fearing sinner. He showed the power of new creation. to be of God, and not of man, and urged to an immediate confidence and submission. He pressed an instant acceptance of the Gospel offer, announcing to the guilty man that God had become his salvation, and he might trust, and not be afraid. In this crisis of the life of man, every thing was brought within a narrow compass. The contest was maintained in the closest engagement. The time was short. Every thing was pressing. Eternity hung upon a single moment of life. Heaven was within his very grasp. Will the sinner now hear and submit? was the great question upon which his eternal interests were made dependant. Will he now go with a reconciled God and live? 0, precious, joyful hour! God obtained the victory, captivity was led captive, and the prey was plucked from the jaws of the oppressor. This call of the Gospel was made effectual upon his heart, and guilty man was brought, humbled, pardoned, and believing, to find his all in Christ forever.
This secret, personal call of the Gospel, was to an immediate course of duty and action. Convictions of truth were impressed upon the conscience and judgment. Light was thrown upon the understanding. Attracting influence was exercised from heaven upon the heart. All these gifts of grace were bestowed. But now under their combined operation, man must act. The question proposed to him, was a question for himself to settle. He was brought to a line, where the next step was final safety, and where he must either go forward in chosen, voluntary devotion, or go back in hopeless, perhaps deserted rebellion. A circle of privileges and responsibility was thus drawn around him; the accepted time, the day of salvation had come; and he must, in a conscious choice and determination, embrace the offered mercy, and render up himself a living sacrifice to God. God demanded his whole life, all that he was, and had,--as bought with an inestimable price,--to be supremely, and forever devoted to Him. He was calling him to a godly sorrow for sin, as it was now displayed to him; to a simple dedication of himself to His service and glory; to a love and confidence of his heart towards Him; to a communion and fellowship of his spirit with Him; to an habitual recognition and remembrance of Him; to an earnest and sincere effort and determination to obey Him. He was to choose an accept the Saviour now revealed, as his Master and Lord; and renouncing all other lords but Him, to made mention of His name alone, as his Ruler and his hope. God had opened before him a life of new obedience,--the fruits and product of a spiritual mind within; in which He covenanted to lead on his believing soul from strength to strength by His own Spirit, assuming the whole responsibility of blessing and protecting him, while he faithfully rested upon His word, and trusted to His power. He invited him to a life of happiness and peace in Him;--to a course of energy and faithfulness for Him;--to a firm but successful contest with the enemies of His truth; requiring the solemn and cheerful consecration of all his powers and hopes to Him;--to an exalted, holy walk with Him upon the earth;--and to an eternal inheritance with him in the kingdom of His glory. All these invitations and arguments were not now merely recorded in the written word of truth, as they had always been, but were carried forward by the same Spirit who breathed that word, and written upon the living tables of the conscience and the heart. They were now the voice of God within himself, and he heard and obeyed it, as the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.
His acceptance of this offered mercy, and obedience to this call, brought security and salvation to his soul. The Holy Spirit thus placed him under a heavenly protection, interested him in an everlasting covenant, and armed him with a divine power. He was now sheltered in the hiding-place which Jesus had opened for him, and received the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul. From that hour, he has gone forward over conquered foes, under the guidance of an all-conquering and powerful .Redeemer. He has been pressing on to eternal life; a new man, transformed, regenerated, born again, and a partaker in Christ,--in whom he now dwells, and will dwell forever,--of all the glories and triumphs of the Saviour's victory and power. In the strength of this Saviour unceasingly bestowed upon him, and exercised for him, he cheerfully bears every appointed cross, and counts nothing dear unto himself, so that he may win Christ, and be found in Him, and finish his course with joy, magnifying his glorious Lord, whether by life or by death. This is the happy condition of the man in Christ, to which he was brought by that secret, special call of the Gospel; which was the effectual working of the power of the Spirit in his believing soul.
This special, personal call of the Gospel is never to be trifled with. It cannot be disregarded with safety. Instant obedience to its demand is the only course of security for man. Thus the Psalmist says, "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart replied, Thy face Lord, will I seek." If you yield thus to the voice of God, and follow the guidance of His Spirit, your path is open and plain, and your hope is clear and bright. God will guide you by his counsel, and afterward receive you to his glory. But the peculiar danger and. guilt of man under the privileges of the Gospel, is not only in his rejection of the general invitation which it gives; but his resistance also, of this inward, secret call. Here it is, that sinners pluck down ruin upon themselves. Let unconverted men remember this. The general intelligence of the Gospel they treat with indifference; but they do not deny, nor do they refuse to acknowledge in general terms, their own guilt of which it speaks, and their need of the sufficient Saviour whom it offers. But when the Spirit takes this message from God, and carries it home to their own consciences and hearts;--when they must consider the message as a personal matter, and can be indifferent and unmoved no longer; then they often resist the Holy Ghost, and strive with their Maker, until God proclaims in His wrath, that they shall not enter into His rest. There are few persons under the faithful preaching of the Gospel, who are not conscious of having received some special, personal call of the Holy Ghost. Their secret sins have been made to appear before them. Their neglect of God, and of God's commands, has been presented in its aggravated aspect to their view. Their hearts and eyes have borne witness to the deep sense of sin with which they have been visited from the convincing Spirit. They have seen and acknowledged the advantages, and the obligations of the Lord's service. They have been almost persuaded to be Christians. They have been sometimes ready to arise in the very midst of the congregation, and declare their determination to follow Jesus only in time to come. The pressure upon them was very great; God seemed to be calling them onward to a new and living path, with a power which it appeared impossible to resist. And at that very point, when apparently there wanted but another step,--a thankful, self-renouncing closing in with God's proposal of reconciliation;--an actual, affectionate grasping of the hand of kindness which God appeared to hold out to them from the heavens,--a simple yielding up of all, to follow Jesus, though in great weakness,--then they held back, till to-morrow, another time, a change of circumstances,--some expected end;--and God's arose and departed from them, and they were left to themselves, perhaps to perish. 0, it is a deeply critical point in the soul's history, upon which from an eternity of sorrow, they may look back, to see with amazement, and with bitter self-condemnation, how near they were to the heavenly kingdom;--to a final peace with God,--when foolish, wicked procrastination, or sensual worldly indulgence, delayed them for a season upon the road, and shut them out from hope forever.
This secret personal call is rarely often repeated. When the Holy Spirit brings man up to this line, where nothing separates him from the Saviour, but man's own determination;---when awakened, convinced, impressed, sensitive, and sorrowing, the Saviour stands out before him, offers to him every thing freely, and asks him to obey Him; 0, could his heart reply,--" I will,"--could he then resolve to turn at once from every tempting opposer, and follow Jesus only, and make one sacrifice of pride, and indolence, and fear, to enter into a covenant with Christ; the conquered enemy would depart from him. Angels would shout a Saviour's glory over another soul rescued as a brand plucked out of the fire. But if such an offer, and such grace, are rejected, the despised Spirit rarely returns. The sinner is left to be rejected in his turn. And God is vindicated, even in His mercy, when He passes judgment upon his soul.
In concluding our view of this very important subject, it will be perceived, that it presents the real interests of the soul of man, as a personal secret concern between himself and Christ. The Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. The Holy Spirit reveals and exalts this Son to be accepted as a Saviour to the individual man. The Saviour is thus brought into immediate connection with the sinner;--and in the whole work of his salvation, the sinner is really alone with Christ. It is Christ personally, whom he must receive and obtain, as the life of his soul. It is Christ personally, whom he rejects, when he refuses the life which is thus offered in the Gospel. However ministries and instruments may be employed, as God shall please, in leading the sinner to Christ, and in preaching Christ to him, they are none of them indispensable in this great concern. Nay, they are worthless, but as they become completely subsidiary to this one great end of bringing Jesus, and the work of Jesus, distinctly, constantly, and really, before the sinner's view. It is not, union with the outward church, by sacraments and ordinances, which is security for the soul of man. It is the inward, spiritual union of the soul by faith with Christ; an union which is the work of the Holy Spirit within, leading the heart to believe unto righteousness; and which is afterwards to be witnessed and proclaimed in the outward ordinances of the Gospel, as a confession unto salvation. Between the sinner and the Saviour, in this inward work, no man can interpose, either as a mediator, or a judge. The ministry of man is as an enlightened instructor and guide, to lead the soul to Christ;--to proclaim the fulness of His work, and to exhort the sinner, spiritually to receive and follow Him. Before the Saviour's feet, the soul is to pour forth its wants with perfect confidence, and the assurance that He will hear; and from the Saviour's hands it is to receive abundantly, grace upon grace;--so that man, coming in faith to Christ, shall come short in no gift, but rejoice in the fulness of Him who filleth all in all.
And now, my friends, the Saviour thus calls for you. Go, listen to Him; confer with Him, submit to Him; find every thing in Him; be satisfied to have Him alone as your portion and treasure. But stay not back from Him. Stop not short of Him. If you have Him, you have every thing. As His, you will delight to obey His commands, and to honour His name. But your first great want is Christ himself. And your great and all-important and precious privilege is, that Christ is ready and waiting, to receive and bless you with the possession of himself; to enter into you, and ,to dwell within you forever. 0, let this animate and encourage you to obey His calls, and to cultivate a still more near and intimate acquaintance and communion with Him. In every providence, in every gift, in every trial, 0, seek the voice of Jesus, speaking by His Spirit to yourself, and hear what the Lord God will speak concerning you. He has much to tell you that you have never heard; and much which you will rejoice to hear, as He gives you the ability to understand His words. There are treasures of grace laid up in Him, which eternity will not exhaust. And the habit of delighting in Him, and of being satisfied with Him, which you will acquire here, by dwelling and abiding "in Christ," will be a blessed preparation for the high privilege of understanding, and possessing, and enjoying Him forever; when "with Christ," you receive the end of your faith, even the full salvation of your souls.
  
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