REFORMED WITNESS
Volume XII, June 2004, Number 6
A Song in the Heart
By Rev. John A. Heys
From the January 1, 1969, issue of The Standard Bearer
The singing was superb. The harmony was rich and full. The phrasing was flawless. The rhythm and tempo were in wonderful agreement with the sentiment of the words. The words were pronounced with perfect diction, each syllable coming out clearly; and the audience was never in doubt as to the message conveyed by the words. Men sat with bated breath and were thrilled by the music that flooded their souls.
But did God enjoy it? You may be sure that He does not enjoy the singing of those who have not the song of salvation in their hearts, even when they sing of that salvation. A song that is not sung in His fear makes a raucous sound in His ear. We had better open our ears to what He says Himself about all such singing. Let me quote just a few verses from several parts of the Bible which will show that this is His judgment throughout Holy Writ.
"But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" (Psalm 50:15). Asaph is speaking here of the speech of the wicked rather than of their singing. But the text clearly indicates God's displeasure when the wicked use His Word whether in speech or singing, and that they are loathsome in His sight when they use the things of His covenant for their amusement and fleshly satisfaction. Or, if you will, go to Proverbs 15:8, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is His delight." Once again the second author speaks of sacrifice rather than of singing. But it ought to be evident that he is speaking of spiritual exercises and of external functions that are not the work of a regenerated heart. These are an abomination to God, though to men they may look to be so lovely that we are ready to label them works of faith. God reads the heart and listens for a song in the heart. Proceeding to the New Testament, we find Jesus, no less, in His parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18), declaring that the wicked Pharisee prayed with himself. Jesus did not classify it as a prayer to God. He taught us in this parable moreover that such do not go home with the confidence of justification. That can only mean that the wrath of God abides on such, and thus He does not enjoy their prayers. Romans 14:23b declares, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." You may laud the so-called works of "civic righteousness" which the wicked perform. But you will not get God to go along with you in your philosophies. For He declares that same truth more emphatically in Hebrews 11:6 where we read, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." They may sing ever so beautifully. They may come with the choicest of "sacrifices". They may offer a beautifully worded prayer, or sing the Lord's Prayer with such tenderness that it brings tears to your and my believing eyes. But if they are unbelievers, they do not please God with their singing, instead in that very singing they are an abomination to Him, so that He asks them, 'What hast thou to do to sing of My covenant with your vile lips and cess-pool heart?'
They sing beautifully; and at Christmas time the air is filled with the delightful music of carols. Trained voices of the very best musical quality will sing of God's covenant Head, Christ Jesus Himself, and of His coming in our flesh. They will "'sacrifice" their talents on the altar of His worship. In every city of any appreciable size the "Messiah" of Handel will be sung with varying degrees of artistry. We will sing along in our hearts. We will thrill at the music and also at the message. But will God "sing" along with them? By the way we never read of God singing, do we? Jesus sang an hymn with His disciples at the last Passover. But then, will God approve of all this singing which is on the lips and does not come from the heart? He certainly will not! For whatsoever is not of faith is SIN, and sin He will punish! He never approves of sin. These acts do not please Him, but definitely in all this displease Him. God would find no reason to hire or import trained and gifted singers into the Hallelujah Chorus of the new Jerusalem, simply to create a people able to sing more wonderfully from a musical point of view, but because He is always reading the heart and cannot have before His face those who in their hearts hate Him. God sees that hate when they take His covenant in their mouths. It is not a question of whether the matter of His covenant can be and is in the mouth. We stand before God always as transparent as clear glass; He sees the heart and what is in it. When He hears people who hate Him sing the songs of Zion that "spoils" it every time. One cannot deceive Him by sweet sounding words that fall from the open mouth. One can be an hypocrite before man, but not before God. How well Annanias and Sapphira know that now in hell!
What is more, if a saint such as Paul must declare that the evil that he would not that he does and the good that he would he allows not, how dare we speak of the unregenerated as being able to please God? We sometimes gather the impression from those who defend this theory (for that is all that it is) of 'civic righteousness', that the unregenerated with their 'common grace' can do far more good than the regenerated can with saving grace. It is then hard to explain why those who surely must have both the "common grace" and special, saving grace (such as the apostle Paul) have such a struggle that they say, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7:18).
There are some amazing statements here! Note again and first of all that here you have the speech of a regenerated child of God, who says of his flesh that in it dwelleth NO good thing. Even regeneration, the new birth, does not change or improve that flesh of the child of God. It remains conceived and born in sin and thoroughly corrupt, and if that flesh is not changed in the reborn child of God, where will we find some good yet in the unregenerated who have only that flesh? Is it so, as is claimed, that this "common grace" of God does that? How does it then happen that Paul had none of this? Is it so that saving grace causes the "good" of the "common grace" to melt away? And if the regenerated cannot find how to do the good that their new life given in saving grace knows and wills to do, would it not be better that we receive this "common grace" instead of saving grace? Or let God give us the saving grace just at the very end of our earthly life. Then in this life we can do some good at least.
But note further in Romans 7:18 that a regenerated child of God, speaking here under the infallible guidance of the Spirit of Truth, says that he cannot find a way to do the good that he would, exactly because he still has that old flesh that is so corrupt. should we then say, do we even dare to say, that the unregenerated not only will but also DO find a way to perform it and actually in their deeds perform "civic righteousness?" Do we dare to believe that God finds any joy at all in the words sung with a mouth that is wholly under the power of hatred against God? Oh indeed, there are works that look good to man. But when you speak of righteousness, you speak of that which is an act of love towards God. That is never attributed to the wicked in Scripture. They may perform a duty well as is the case with Jehu, who wiped out the whole family of wicked Ahab (II Kings 10:30). It may even be stated in II Kings 10:30 that Jehu had "done well in executing that which was right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart." But that exactly limits also that which was right in God's sight, and it explains what was right in God's sight as the proper punishment upon the house of Ahab. It does not say that Jehu loved God, and since the inner principle of the law is love towards God, all true civic righteousness must be an act of love towards God. Jehu's deed was not done in God's fear but in fear of Ahab's sons. He knew that his own kingdom was not secure as long as one contender from the line of Ahab lived. This is what moved him to do such a good job of destroying Ahab's house; the love of God was not in it at all.
Just read Hosea 1:4, if you need more proof of this fact. We read, "And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the house of Israel." We may note that this well-doing of Jehu in executing what was right in God's sight is here called bloody murder! He did a good job of killing, but God calls his deed that which even men call a most detestable and atrocious crime: murder! He did well in that he exterminated every last one of Ahab's descendants, but he did it in hatred of his neighbor and in hatred of the God Who sent him to do this work of punishment upon Ahab's house. The love of God was not throbbing in Jehu's heart and therefore the deed of his hand was sin. It was not an act of faith.
So it is with all this "beautiful" singing. God sees no ethical beauty in it. He sees it as nothing but sin. Psalm 50:15 indicates that God prefers to have wicked men completely silent about the matters of His covenant. He does not enjoy their singing of the songs of Zion. Instead it fills Him with righteous fury. Instead of being labeled as '"civic righteousness" by Him, He frowns upon it with righteous indignation. So true is this that He will one day silence it all in the fire of hell, where their mouths instead will be filled with wails of agony as they gnash with their teeth. If all this singing actually pleases Him, why will He bring it to an end? And why to this awful end?
Oh indeed, many will say in that day, "Lord did we not sing so beautifully in Thy Name? And we did it for Charity. We gave programs to raise funds for this cause and for that. We practiced hard to give a truly artistic rendition." Some who heard them sing will have the same thoughts and expect these to receive a reward of glory. But Jesus has a way of cutting through all this activity that does not proceed from faith and says, "Depart from me ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you." Yea, look at the passage in Matthew 7:21-23. Here again were works that appeared to be "civic righteousness," for they prophesied in Christ's name not only, but cast out devils and did many wonderful works. The social improvements which they realized, the many works of charity which they performed, the devils they chased out of the field of labor and out of the social structure wherein men were abused and maltreated, were surely while they lived on the earth branded as works of "civic righteousness." But what is the Master's answer to it all? Does He say? "Yea, ye did well in the sphere of the natural. I liked what you did, even though it had no saving good in it." He does not! He says that they worked iniquity! He says that He never knew them!
If the love of God is not in that heart, then whatever the lips may say, and regardless of the praise that men may heap upon the singer or speaker in God's eyes (and ears) it is iniquity and not righteousness at all. Whatsoever is not of faith is SIN! Only when the song of salvation is in the heart will we sing in His fear, and only then will it be delightful in His ear.
The Outpouring of the Sovereign Spirit
By Rev. H. Veldman
From the May 1, 1978, issue of The Standard Bearer
See more articles by this author
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting." - Acts 2:2
God is always exactly 'on time' in all His works. This is true in the realm of the natural. Nothing happens by chance or unnecessarily. This is also applicable to the realm of the spiritual. Salvation appears in Jesus Christ our Lord in the moment of the "fulness of time." When the Hour is come, the Lord suffers and dies upon the cross of Calvary. He rises from the dead upon the third day. Forty days later He ascends to heaven. Ten days elapse between our Lord's ascension and Pentecost. Upon this tenth day the Spirit is poured out into the whole Church.
We read, "When the day of Pentecost was fully come," or, "In the being fulfilled of the day of Pentecost." The word Pentecost means the fiftieth. The text probably means that the day of Pentecost had been completed. The Spirit was poured out immediately afterward. The Old Testament is completed before the New begins; the Old Testament lamb is slain, the last one, before the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world and the New Testament feast of Pentecost follows immediately upon the Old Testament feast, inasmuch as the latter was a symbol of the former and must make way for the fulfillment.
THE HOLY SPIRIT'S SIGNIFICANCE
Two things are emphasized in Holy Writ concerning the Holy Spirit. First, He was poured out upon Pentecost. We read in John 7:39, "The Holy Ghost was not yet given." Notice that the word "given" appears in our King James version in italics. This means that it does not appear in the original. Originally we read: "The Holy Ghost was not yet." Secondly, many passages can be quoted which indicate that the Holy Spirit was also in the Old Testament.
From this we may conclude, negatively, two things. On the one hand, the Spirit was not poured out upon Pentecost as the Holy Spirit of God in His capacity as the Spirit of God. He is the Spirit of God. God is a Spirit. When we speak of the third Person of the Trinity as the Spirit of God, we understand that this must not be understood in the sense in which God is Spirit. God is Spirit. This means, negatively, that He is immaterial, exalted above and to be distinguished from all material and substance, absolutely invisible, and that He can never be worshiped with men's hands. That God is Spirit refers to His essence and is true equally of all the three Persons of the Trinity. That the third Person of the Trinity is the Spirit of God denotes Him in His personal activity, as proceeding eternally from the Father and the Son. Moreover, He is the Holy Spirit of God. This too refers to His personal activity within the Trinity. If we understood "holy" in the sense of ethical perfection, all the three Persons of God are holy. That the third Person is called the Holy Spirit is because, in His peculiar function as the third Person, He is uniquely consecrated to the divine fulness, searching constantly the deep things in the Father and in the Son, testifying of the One in the Other. Pentecost, now, does not refer to the Holy Spirit in His capacity and activity as the Spirit of God. Of course, the Spirit of Pentecost is the third Person of the divine Trinity. However, He is eternal, was not "born" upon Pentecost. Pentecost is surely not the birthday of the Holy Spirit; neither is it the birthday of the Church. The Church has been in the world since the beginning of this world. If then we read that the Holy Spirit was not yet (John 7:39), this cannot refer to Him as He operates as the third Person of the Holy Trinity.
On the other hand, the Spirit of Pentecost is not the Holy Spirit as He operated in the Old Dispensation. Then too He was the Spirit of life. In Him and through Him the sun, moon and stars shine in the firmament of Heaven, and all things move, live and have their being. Besides, then also He was the Spirit of grace. The saints of the Old Dispensation were surely saved in the same manner as we are saved. Their regeneration and faith were His gifts. We need not say more about this at this time.
The Spirit of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the glorified Christ. Jesus is come and is glorified. In the Old Testament He existed only typically and symbolically... But now Jesus is come. The long awaited Hope of Israel, the Messiah of God, the Seed of the Woman, the Anointed Servant of Jehovah, the second Person of the Trinity, coeternal and coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, united in the second divine Person with our flesh and blood, Immanuel, God with us, has come. And now, having suffered and died, He is glorified. He Himself is glorified. He is also glorified as the Head of Zion, to become the life-giving Spirit.
Now we can understand the fulness of the salvation of the Church as in the New Dispensation. Indeed, how comparably poor was the Church in the Old Dispensation! To be sure, also then the people of God experienced the salvation of the Lord. They experienced the communion and fellowship of God, the forgiveness of sins, were pilgrims and strangers in the earth. However, they were saved only in hope. The salvation of God itself they did not see; it had not yet been realized. They experienced this salvation only through shadows and types and symbols. This applied also in the Old Dispensation to the saints in glory. But now Christ has come and the Spirit of the glorified Christ has been poured out into the Church. Jesus has come. The shadows and types of the Old Dispensation are no longer needed. Yet, we see in a glass darkly. We are yet in the earthly house of our present tabernacle. Presently we shall see face to face. Then this glass will be done away with, and also all this earthly and sin, and the Church of God will be received up into heavenly glory and immortality; God's tabernacle shall be forever with men.
HIS MANNER OF OPERATION
First, the Spirit is irresistible. This is emphasized in Scripture, and it is true in this text. When we read that the sound came from heaven, we realize that the disciples gathered there recognized its heavenly origin. Where else would a sound as of a wind without any wind originate? Notice too that the text speaks of the sound as of mighty rushing wind. There is no wind, and it is the sound as of a mighty rushing wind. Besides, do we not read in John 3:8 that we cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So, no man is able to control it. In this connection, we may also refer to Romans 9:15,16,18,19,21,25, and 26.
That the Spirit is irresistible lies in the nature of the case. This is first of all because of us. We are conceived and born dead in sin and in trespasses. Our hearts are hearts of stone. We are blind and deaf and dumb and lame. We are dead; there is no life in us. Hence, the world cannot receive Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him - see John 14:17. We do not read that the world does not will to receive Him, although this is also true. But the world cannot do so. Man cannot receive Him, embrace Him, pray for Him, desire Him, recognize and acknowledge and obey Him. The fact is, man does not see Him and he does not know Him. This "seeing" is to look upon something with interest. We do not desire Him, for we do not know Him. Man has never tasted Him, experienced Him; man is a stranger to Him. The light of the Spirit was never kindled in his soul. He never knew the cross, his own sin, the consciousness of guilt, the power of the Holy Spirit. This explains why the world cannot receive Him. For the natural man to receive the Holy Spirit is and remains a spiritual impossibility.
Secondly, that the Spirit is irresistible is because of the Holy Spirit. Is He not the Holy Spirit? As the Holy Spirit He is the Spirit of God, Who does not call things into existence after they exist but Who calls them into existence by the word of His power; He speaks and it is, He commands and it stands. He calls the dead to life, makes the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk. His work is surely irresistible. No man can deny Him entrance. His work none is able to withstand.
Consequently, this Holy Spirit is also sovereign. This, too is emphasized in John 3:8. We read: The wind bloweth where it listeth. Indeed, He is sovereign. Sovereign grace or mercy is grace or mercy not dependent upon the will of the creature; it is determined solely by the living God. We understand: the grace of God is either irresistible and therefore also sovereign, or it is resistible and then it is not sovereign. The work of the Holy Spirit is surely sovereign. No man can thwart His operation. He saves whom He wills to save; He does not ask admittance; He does not knock before entering. He simply comes in. The question who will be saved is not determined by man and his free will but by the living God alone. How this is verified in history! He saves men, of high and low estate, rich and poor, strong and weak, learned and unlearned. His disciples are unlearned, but He also stops a leader of the pharisees dead in his tracks enroute to Damascus. He passes by Athens and captures Rome by storm. Capernaum is sovereignly rejected,. but in the heart of Lydia He plants the seed of the gospel. Everywhere He gathers His Church, according to sovereign election. Indeed, "of all whom Thou hast given Me I shall lose nothing."
HIS ALL-COMPREHENSIVENESS
We read: "And it filled all the house where they were sitting."
The Holy Spirit takes hold of the entire man, fills him according to his capacity, his mind and will and all his desires, dwelling in his inmost heart. He renews the heart, enlightens the mind, directs the will. He leads us so that we may confess our sins, confess that we hate all sin and have a delight in all righteousness. Indeed, He fills us. He causes us to hate ourselves completely, all of ourselves, so that no good dwells in our flesh and we do not cleave to any part of it. He enables us to walk in all the commandments of the Lord. He grants us to taste the fulness of salvation in Christ Jesus. Christ covers all our sins; He protects us against all our enemies; He gives us in principle, of course, the fulness of joy and hope.
Is it any wonder that we read what we read in verse 11? We read that they spake of the wonderful works of God. Of course! Of what else could they speak? Of what else can we speak? Is not the operation of the Holy Spirit irresistible and sovereign? Is He not the sole Author and Finisher of our faith and salvation? Is not this salvation the fulness of joy which all eternity will not be able to exhaust? Let us then proclaim these wonderful works of God.
Let us do this individually and personally in all our confession and walk.
Let us do this as churches, in all our preaching and teaching, that we may taste the blessed assurance that God is for us and nothing can be against us.
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