Luke 23:39 - 43; 2 Corinthians 12:1 - 4
The subject I desire to occupy you with this evening is Salvation . The word is much misused, for it is looked at generally as only what I am saved from , while in Scripture it is also what I am saved to .
It is interesting to observe how the word 'salvation' is used. In Ephesians, we have "the gospel of your salvation" (Ephesians 1:13); in Hebrews, "the captain of our salvation" (Hebrews 2:10); in Philippians, "Work out your own salvation". (Philippians 2:12)
There is a great difference between being occupied with what you are saved from , and what you are saved to . If you are occupied with the first, it is only relief that is before you; if with the second, you are occupied with the hope of the gospel. Our blessed Lord was not satisfied with getting us out of misery, but He obtained the Father's house for us.
I turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:8 - 10: "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him". Mark verse 10; I beg you to bear that especially in your hearts. What a comprehensive verse it is! "Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him". He died that we might be with Him. How that touches the heart! And the word 'with' here is remarkable; it means co-partnership, association. Well, that is most cheering, that whether I watch or sleep, I am to live with Him.
"Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed". (Romans 13:11) I ask, do you know what this salvation is? The first thing is that the work is completed, not
merely to get me out of misery and judgement, but to place me in glory. That is the reason I have read about the thief on the cross. Directly his eyes are opened, and he sees the just One suffering for the unjust, he says, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom". He saw Jesus as King; the Lord says to him, "Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise".
Commentators have tried to put a comma after "today", to make out that it did not happen then; but it did happen then; at that moment Paradise was opened, and it was not the Paradise of man, but the Paradise of God. The flaming sword and the cherubim guarded the Paradise of man. This was far more. It is the Lord's place. The Lord says to him, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise". The effect of Christ's work was to transfer that man from the deepest misery to the greatest happiness. See what he was transferred from , and what to ! By the efficacy of the death of Christ, that man passed from the lowest, deepest, darkest place of misery ever known to man, into the brightest, holiest, most blessed place of ineffable bliss with the Lord. That is the transition. That is what Christ has done.
Now I must digress a little. There are two great spheres of blessing obtained for us; they combine in the Father's house. Both were procured by the death of Christ: in type they are -- Canaan, and while on the road to Canaan, the tabernacle. These two now converge. We are in the presence of God, and approach Him in all the acceptance of Christ; that is, the tabernacle; and we are seated in the heavenlies in Him, that is Canaan. They had in the tabernacle a travelling companion in the wilderness; we, too, have the presence of God with us, we approach Him now in all the acceptance of Christ; we have the true tabernacle in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has passed into "heaven itself, now to appear in
the presence of God for us". (Hebrews 9:24) I have entrance into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus, and I get there in all the perfection of the One who brought me there. The other sphere of blessing is Canaan -- heaven -- that is, in the very brightest place. I am "seated in the heavenlies in Christ". "Accepted in the beloved". These two -- the greatest blessings -- converge in the Father's house, and both are obtained by the death of Christ. Both of them are obtained, and secured to me by His death. "He died that, whether we watch or sleep, we should live together with him". (1 Thessalonians 5:10)
I look at it now from another side. Every saint looks for escape, expecting to go to heaven by-and-by; but there is another thing, approach to God now; that is unknown to Christians in general; it is not only that I am going to heaven, but I have approach to God now, known along the road: that is Hebrews. I have right to enter the holiest of all, where all is suited to the holiness and righteousness of God, a scene of spotless purity and light. I can rejoice now in all this blessedness while on the way to heaven. I have entrance now into the holiest; and, besides, we are now seated in the heavenlies in Christ. In Luke 23 is established the great fact, that by the death of Christ you pass from the deepest darkness to the brightest place. People cavil at it, they say the thief died; very well, but his death did not entitle him to enter Paradise. It was Christ's death that obtained it for him. There are four aspects of the death of Christ from Egypt to Canaan.
These are the four aspects of the death of Christ; they all happened together, but I do not say I learn them together. The Holy Spirit comes down to make known to my heart what Christ has done.
The thief on the cross entered into Paradise, and his own death had divested him of the encumbrance of the old man in a moment. We are not free of the encumbrance as he was; he was free because he died. So the apostle says, "Though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day". (2 Corinthians 4:16) Look at a saint dying and going to heaven; he gets brighter and brighter because the encumbrance is getting weaker. I say the thief went to Paradise, and that he was free from encumbrance, because he could not carry a bit of the old man into that place.
Now I turn to Corinthians, to show you a man in Christ free from encumbrance, who had not died. Christ's work entitles a man on the earth to enjoy this . Paul does not say an apostle, but "a man in Christ", who had no sense of encumbrance. The Holy Spirit from the glorified Christ led him up there to show him what the work of Christ had accomplished. I believe this man in Christ is in a greater position than the thief in Paradise. It shows the possibility of being taken into Paradise; and more than this, it shows also the nature of the reception vouchsafed there.
Of the thief on the cross we know that he died, and that from the lowest place he went to Paradise, but here, without getting rid of the encumbrance on this earth, the apostle was taken at once into the very highest place, received in the most cordial way, and treated most intimately. Often by favour people get into high places, but the question is, How are they received there? How was this man received? Nothing can convey the cordiality of his reception! He could tell no man about it. Here was a man walking about this world with the secrets of God in his heart which he could not disclose to anyone.
We have heard of the man who dreamed that he went to a great palace, and was received well at the door; then he went in, and at each successive room he was better received. At last he entered the presence chamber, and there he was received with acclamation. It is more than that with the man in Christ!
The prodigal son entering the Father's house shows out the nature of our salvation. It is not simply for my benefit that I am there, but God has a delight in having me there. The Lord here was working out the will of the Father; He says, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of" (John 4:32) "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work". (John 4:34) We see in Luke 15 the delight of the Father in the reception of the prodigal. "It was meet that we should make merry and be glad". (Luke 15:32) Love delights to have me in its company. If man's need were the measure of Christ's work, human joys would suffice; but, when divine love is the measure, the Father's house and the joys there are alone sufficient. It is the Father's pleasure that His house should be filled, therefore "It was meet that we should make merry and be glad". "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found". (Luke 15:24) That is why the reception of the man in Christ was so cordial and so full. This is the characteristic, not of the apostle, but of the man in Christ. Every believer now has a home there. I am dwelling on the gain which we derive from being occupied with the finish; what we are saved to .
Do you accept that this is the main point? It is not like the man in the dream; he made good his footing as he went in; but in the gospel, the light that first comes to you is the light of the end, it is "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ". The light comes from the finish, though it begins with you where you are, and conducts you to the finish. As you advance it becomes fuller and fuller, like the path of the just, that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day. If that end is mine, it is from that end I actually derive all the way. My income is from thence, the Holy Spirit comes from thence.
I turn now to Luke. Luke's gospel shows that you are not saved for earth, but saved for heaven. From whence, then, do you get your joys? From heaven! "Who died .. . that we should live together with him". (1 Thessalonians 5:10) That is the end, the proper hope of the Christian; and you are actually deriving your present enjoyments from that end. Many Christians are not happy. Why? Because they are not deriving their joys from the place where the joys never end; as Peter says, "Joy unspeakable, and full of glory". (1 Peter 1:8)
In chapter 14 is the great supper; it is not in the land, but in the Father's house. The prodigal is conducted to the Father's house; he is not restored to the land. That was lost, but he gets a greater thing, the Father's house, and finds joys that can never end. The natural man connects joy with temporal things; even Christians are often disappointed, because they look for joys in the wrong place. The feast is Wisdom's feast, and that is in the Father's house. How wonderful the present enjoyment that I derive from that which has been obtained for me by the death of Christ!
I have salvation as a secured thing by the death of Christ. I have heaven, I am not there yet, but the efficacy of Christ's work has placed me in two great blessings -- the presence of God, and the joys that come from heaven -- as in the case of the prodigal, "They began to be merry", (Luke 15:24) and that joy will never cease.
I turn now to John 7:37. Well, beloved friends, what I learn here is, not what I am saved from , but what I am saved to ; I am in the reality of the fact that I am outside of death in His life, and not only in His life, but in His power , too, here in this scene of death! The Holy Spirit had come down from the
glorified Christ to acquaint us with the joys of the place whence He came. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water". (John 7:38) Mark how it is stated, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water". We should be exercised as to whether we have these joys in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let me explain. There were for Israel three feasts in the year: the Passover, the feast of Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles. The first is the death of Christ, the second is the descent of the Holy Spirit, the third is not yet fulfilled: it will be in the millennium. Do you say, Then the millennial saints are better off than we are? No! For the presence and power of the Holy Spirit make us rejoice more than if we had the feast of Tabernacles. He is here to enrich our hearts with Christ. He has come down to make known to us all the joys of the Father's house. That is the great supper! I am not there yet, but I get my joys from there. I get home comforts, before I get home; my income is derived from there. There is no such thing as an earthly people now; we are a heavenly people, with heavenly joys.
I now recapitulate. First, Christ has accomplished our salvation, this great blessedness He has obtained for us, and we know it now. Secondly, in His life we are outside of death, and while passing through this evil world, we are superior to it through His power; the Holy Spirit sent down from our glorified Saviour, at one and the same time making us superior to the power of evil, and filling our hearts with joy; the joys of heaven to which we belong.
May each of you join with me in asking the Lord that we may know the nature of divine grace.
Last week we were speaking of Salvation; not only what we are saved from, but what we are saved to. And what you find is, that the Spirit of God occupies us now with what we are saved to. If you are only occupied with what you are saved from, it is relief that is before you. But if you are occupied with what you are saved to, you are abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There are two sides to Christ's work which we often find separated. One is the sinner's benefit. Thank God, that, in a great measure, is proclaimed fully. But there is another side that is not so fully proclaimed, and that is the delight of the Father in having us in His company. Christ accomplished both; for He had not only to bear the judgement of our sins in order that our benefit might be secured, but He had to effect that which would satisfy the Father's heart, so that we could be in His company: like the prodigal son, who was brought home to the Father's house. The subject in that parable is not the benefit of the one found, but the delight of the finder. You must connect the two sides in the gospel.
As I pointed out last week, the parable of the great supper (Luke 14), shows God's side; while that of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 shows our side. It sets forth how the Lord fully secured our benefit for evermore.
Christ shares in the delight of the Father; He can share in saying, "It was meet that we should make merry and be glad". (Luke 15:32) We too much lose sight of this side, even the Father's delight in having us in His house. However slow one's heart is to take it in, it remains true that He has positive delight to have us in His house.
Now for the point that I wish specially to bring before you this evening. The thief on the cross went straight to heaven, there to be with the Lord. He was free from all encumbrance. Mark the fact, that his salvation is accomplished and enjoyed by him. But one will say, O, but he died! Well, I admit it; and that free from all encumbrance, he went to Paradise; but it was Christ's work, not his own death, which obtained it for him. Hence there is a greater thing now, which is illustrated by Paul being caught up into the third heaven. The Spirit in relating it, does not say Paul; He says, "a man in Christ" on one occasion was caught up into Paradise, before he died, but free from any sense of encumbrance! By the Spirit of God, he was carried up to the highest spot and meets with a most wonderful reception, for in great confidence and intimacy, he hears the counsels of God. He has not only reached the highest place, but he is received there on the most intimate terms, as "accepted in the Beloved". (Ephesians 1:6) Verily he is there in perfect liberty, with no sense of encumbrance. And that is the point I want to bring before you this evening: that it is possible for us to enjoy, as our present portion, what Christ's work has secured for us; to have the sense of it without encumbrance, as made "free from the law of sin and death". (Romans 8:2)
The thief died, he was divested of everything; Paul, a man in Christ, was caught up into Paradise, and was received there in the most cordial way possible; he had no sense of encumbrance. This is a sample of a greater thing.
The Holy Spirit has come down from the glorified Christ, and leads our hearts into the enjoyment of that scene in which He is, a scene of perfect brightness which he has obtained for us; and though we are still encompassed with this body of death, yet we can really know what liberty is, liberty in Christ's life.
This, beloved friends, is what I wish to dwell a
little upon; it is a subject of all importance. Earnest souls have at all times endeavoured to reach this liberty, that is, to get rid of the encumbrance, to walk about in this world free from that which is the encumbrance, that is, the old man, the flesh. Hence, you see the apostle states his own practical knowledge. It is not simply what we call knowing the truth doctrinally, but he states it is a known fact. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me".
Well, now, what I desire to occupy you with is how this is practically known, how you can really arrive at it. The first thing is, that the old man has, in the eye of God, been ended judicially on the cross. I am not speaking now of experience. But the first great point is, that man, the responsible man, must be judicially removed from the eye of God.
Look at the beginning. Man was driven out from the garden of Eden; there was the flaming sword that turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. He is a responsible man under judgement; unless he fulfils what is required, he cannot get back. He cannot regain, when guilty and under the judgement of death, what he did not retain in innocence. When he failed in innocence, how could he get back when under condemnation? But we find that instead of man getting better after being driven out, he goes from bad to worse. Hence that man must judicially terminate in the sight of God; that is, that as man cannot meet his responsibility, he must bear the judgement of God.
Mark the fact: man did not get better; on the contrary, after 1,500 years I read in Genesis 6:13: "And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them: and behold I will destroy them with the earth".
In the Septuagint (a Greek version of the Old Testament, a version of the scripture that the apostles continually quote from, just as I might quote from the English version now) -- in the Septuagint it is, "The time of all men is come". "The time", that is, a period: we get the word constantly, "time" and "times"; it is a period of existence now completed. I dwell upon this, because it shows that the wickedness of man was fully exposed; "The end of all flesh is come before me".
When I come to Romans (though I am not going to dwell upon it now), I get three things spoken of, which indicate what the state of man in the flesh is. We get the blood of Christ, the death of Christ, and the crucifixion of Christ. All occurred together, but they are different aspects of the same act.
I want you to understand, not only that Christ has atoned for our sins, "He bare our sins in his own body on the tree"; (1 Peter 2:24) but, beloved friends, that He bare the judgement due to us , and we judicially have come to an end in God's sight; "He, who knew no sin, was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him". (2 Corinthians 5:21) Hence, in Romans 6:6, we read, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin". Here, as has been often remarked, it is "sin", not "sins" -- "that the body of sin might be destroyed".
Man, as the responsible man, has failed; it could not be otherwise; and he is under the judgement of God. If he bore the judgement himself, it would be the end of him, in misery for ever.
Well, who will bear the judgement for him? The Lord Jesus Christ has come, become a man, apart entirely from sin; He knew no sin, or He could not be the sacrifice for it. He is the Aaron in the day of atonement: He went in with His own blood into the holiest of all, but also He suffered without the gate.
The carcase of the sin-offering was taken outside the camp and burnt. There were two actions of the fire. There was the fire upon the altar which took up the offering as a sweet savour to God, that was the burnt-offering; and there was the fire outside the camp, which took it away from God, that was the sin-offering.
Mark now the importance of this; we know what exercises souls go through. A person says, All my sins are forgiven me, but I am sinning every minute, and if I am not sinning, I have an inclination to sin. Well, that soul has not liberty, he is not "free from the law of sin and death". (Romans 8:2) I am not speaking of forgiveness tonight, I am speaking of liberty. O, you say, but we are never out of the body. True; we are never out of the body, but still the great thing is, to find liberty of soul in freedom from the power of the flesh.
Now the first point is, that the responsible man must undergo the judgement of death. You could not have the responsible man existing if he bore the judgement. How could he exist if he bore the judgement. And if that judgement is borne for him by another, is he to exist? It could not be! People talk of a recruit being taken in place of another man who is pressed for the army, and he dies for him, as if that were an illustration of what we are speaking of; but that is not the truth at all, that is allowing the responsible man to live, whereas the truth is, that I am free from the responsibility of the responsible man, through Christ bearing the judgement. I am not, through Christ, that man now; that man cannot continue; if I really believe that I have died with Him, I am in liberty in His life, for He lives.
Man was driven out from the garden of Eden what is he to do? He cannot get back! He must have a new state. The man in Christ has a new state. We have it illustrated in 2 Corinthians 12. The man in Christ did not know whether he was in the body, or
out of it. Paul, speaking of himself practically, says, "I am crucified with Christ". It is not a question that I am forgiven, but I am crucified with Christ; that is, I am entirely gone. The responsible man, who never acted up to the responsibility that God required -- that man is gone in judgement. The man in Christ can say, "Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be abolished". (Romans 6:6)
The word here used for 'destroyed' is the same word that is used for "He hath abolished death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel"; (2 Timothy 1:10) the same word that is used for, "That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil". (Hebrews 2:14) But I need not go into that.
Well, I see that man is gone from before God in judgement. That is a great step, and if you have not got that, you will not have any power or liberty.
I take it now for granted that you concur that the old man is entirely gone from the eye of God in judgement. "Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed". And now we come to the second step, if I might so say; I have to learn that I am really myself free from him, and that is what you get in Romans 8:2. Mark how it comes out there. "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh". He did not forgive it. He condemned it. You say, But you sin now, don't you? Yes, I regret to have to say that I do, but I ought not; still I do, and I will go into that question a little, though it is a digression, because it is a difficulty to many.
There is no such thing now as a worshipper once purged, having any more conscience of sins. God does not impute sin to the believer, He never makes a
claim on me for a sin again. Do not misunderstand me -- He has no claim on me. If He had a claim on me, there must be an atonement. Do you mean He passes sin over? No; that which does the sin will pay for the sin, if you do not judge it. Mark my words! You will find in your history that this is true -- the thing that does the sin will pay for the sin, will suffer for the sin, unless you judge it. "Deliver ... to Satan for the destruction of the flesh" (1 Corinthians 5:5) -- that was not atonement for him -"Deliver ... to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus". I say, beloved friends, if you have really judged it, you have put it as far from you as God has put it from Himself. He put it away on the cross, there is no other place for you; that is really what liberty is. That is the reason why the red heifer comes in. The Spirit of God brings me the ashes, that is, He tells me the fire of God's judgement has been there. It is not that it is there; if it were there it would be fire and not ashes. Ashes only indicate that it was there; it is not there now, but it brings to me the fact that it was there, and that is the reason that it is ashes. It is not the question of an atonement, and it is not a fresh application of the blood, but it is that you judge yourself about the thing that God has set aside on the cross. Because we start with this, that in the cross God has removed it from His own eye.
Well now, you must practically hold to the fact that is stated in this verse, "I am crucified with Christ". If you fail, you revive the flesh; I have no right to revive the flesh, and if I do revive it and do not judge it, I revive what God has judicially brought to an end in the death of His Son. It is not only that I do a wrong thing, but it is a grievous thing to revive that which God has set aside from His eye.
Many a one enjoys gleams of unclouded light in looking up to God, who has not liberty -- freedom from the law of sin and death. You look up to God, and
no doubt you are perfectly clear. But you do not know the second step; you cannot say, "Christ liveth in me". When you do, you can say, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death". (Romans 8:2)
Well now, turn to Numbers 21, and you will see how this comes out practically. In that chapter you have the brazen serpent. I referred to that last week, so I will only recall it to your attention now.
There were four aspects of the death of Christ. They all happened together; I do not say that I learn them all together, but they happened together. There was the blood upon the lintel, there was the Red Sea, there was the brazen serpent, and there was the Jordan.
The brazen serpent was when they were leaving the wilderness. Then the real character of the flesh came out. After thirty-nine years in the wilderness, and recipients daily of the utmost care of God, they spake against God and against Moses, and God sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people; they are turned back to the very first entrance of sin, of the old serpent, the devil, in the garden of Eden; the virus of sin was there.
And now God tells Moses to make a brazen serpent that never did a bit of the wrong, but was in the likeness of the serpent; and this serpent he was to put upon a pole, outside of man and above the earth, and it came to pass that if any one was bitten, if he had a sense of what the bitterness of sin was, he looked and he lived; that is, in the life he got by looking at the one who was where sin was condemned, there he had liberty. He had liberty because of being in a life outside himself; and this was the result of faith.
Now if you turn to John 3, You will see that is where John's teaching begins. He does not begin with the blood upon the lintel, nor with the Red Sea; no, he begins where they had started upon a new
journey, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man"- who is the antitype to the serpent -- "be lifted up"; and we can say that the Son of man must be lifted up -- for what? To bear the judgement for me! "God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh". And now, what then? I believe, I look up, and I see I shall not come into judgement, but am passed from death unto life. I have the life of the One who bore the judgement. And that is the argument in Romans 6, which I must revert to now. Paul says, "If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him". What gives me relief? I believe that I am dead with Him; I am not dead at all myself , for I find sin springing up, but I say, "I am dead with Christ". And I am in His life; I have the life of the One with whom I died. It is really the simplest thing in the world, if you look at it as Scripture does, that I have the life of the One with whom I died. If you were dead yourself, you could not be alive. But you are dead with Christ, and there is nothing against you, because "he that is dead is freed from sin".
But more, I have life now, I have life in the One with whom I died; and that is where I have it, and nowhere else. Therefore the apostle says, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me". That is the second step. It is not that I am better than I was; but I have the life of Christ with whom I have died. I see now that I am dead with Christ, and that as I accept the fact that I am dead with Him, I am in His life. And hence in Numbers 21, there was also the "well of God". "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life". That is, the Holy Spirit in me gives me the enjoyment of that new life which I have now
received, and have received from the One with whom I died, on the cross where the judgement was -- the termination of that which was under judgement.
Well, that is what I call the second step; but there is another -- the practical one -- to which I must turn now; but before I do so, I digress a little, to point out the different ways that people try to arrive at this liberty. I need not go into all the phases, but there are four ways I should like to bring before you, by which conscientious, earnest souls have tried to arrive at the relief which can only be had when I am alive in Christ's life. Then I am free. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free". It is not that I am forgiven merely, but I am free, I am at liberty.
It would be going too far to go into it now, but the same statement is made in Colossians, "If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world"- that is Jordan. In Colossians you are not only dead to sin; that is Romans; but you are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world; you are out of it. It is by the same means as in Romans, only extended. If you are dead with Him, you are free from yourself, "Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me".
Well, now I must turn to four different ways in which people have thought to arrive at this liberty, and I think I have traversed them all myself.
The first is that you think by a certain monastic course you will be able to control the flesh. I never thought that any self-denial I adopted would atone for my sins. But I thought I could control the flesh. I dare say you all know something of that. That is very often in connection with a state where there is not a clear apprehension of the full work of Christ; that is, that the whole thing is gone from the eye of God, so that He does not impute sin. Unless a soul gets so far clear, he will not be safe from the snare of "bodily exercise".
The second is what is called 'holiness by faith'. That is extremely specious. The thought is to bring oneself up to a certain standard of holiness. a holiness which does not offend against the law. Such hold that there is no sin but in transgression. That is the holiness of the law, it is not the holiness of God.
They argue that we are dead by faith, and that if we can be without sin for one minute, why not for two? and if two, why not for four? And so they go on, adding on, and say that because you have faith you are a dead man. But you are not a dead man; you are dead with Christ, but you are alive; and you find out very quickly, too, that you are not dead: but you are "free from the law of sin and death" in Christ's life. It is not that you are dead, but being dead with Christ, you live in another life.
The great mistake at the bottom of 'holiness by faith' is, that what holiness really is, is not understood; the presence of God in the holiest has never been known. There is no sense of separation from everything unholy, no separation from the systems of religion in Christendom; no idea of the separate position of one called to God.
Now I come to the third way, which is called 'death to nature'. Death to nature is the snare into which one falls who seeks liberty, when he knows that he is called to a holy separate path, that he cannot take lower ground than that he must be free from the flesh; and therefore he is trying to get rid of it. The teaching therefore is, I am dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world; I belong to a sphere of life, and I live in it; I belong to that life now, and I am outside of this scene altogether; I am out of death and in that new scene.
Well now, but if you accept all this, come back into this scene in the power of Christ, and then it will be manifested that you are in His life. Death to nature is one-sided -- an ideality. Death to nature assumes
that I am over Jordan; but in Jordan it is not only that the water is all gone, and a clear way over, but it is added (Joshua 3 - 10), "Hereby shall ye know that the living, God is among you", etc., so that if I am really over, if I am in the life of Christ, outside of this scene of death, the thing that marks me is that I am in the power of Christ in this scene of death, and that I take up the duties and the responsibilities -- as you get in the epistle to the Ephesians -- I take them up in divine power, and carry them out to the praise and glory of God in the midst of this scene, and in spite of all its opposition.
That is what you get in Ephesians. I face it all I never swerve, but own what is due to the Lord, overcoming evil with good, the greatest moral victory that ever can be upon this earth. But you must connect the two, and if you combine them you will be greatly blessed. I am out of death into life: outside of it all, yet in it all, but above it. That is true liberty, as the apostle says, "The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me".
The fourth, and most novel, is assuming that you can have power over sin by applying the death of Christ; a curious perversion of being dead with Him.
Now I must turn for a moment to what I call the practical side (Galatians 4), a subject of immense interest and very great scope. And what I find, is -- you may think I am severe in making the remark, but I do not feel that I am so -- I do not believe any person progresses till he has got hold of this liberty. He may be very conscientious and very devoted, too, but devotedness is not progress properly in itself. A devoted person wishes to progress, but when he is not free from the thraldom of the flesh there is a terrible block in his way.
Now in the end of Galatians 4, you get how you practically enjoy liberty. I have already dwelt on the
doctrine, and without correct doctrine you will never have correct practice. You may have a great deal of zeal, but you will never use it rightly. A person may be monastic, or try to get holiness by faith, or death to nature, but you will always find that such a one has not right doctrine.
This chapter 4 teaches us how Ishmael, one born after the flesh, is cast out -- treated as an intruder. Time would fail me now to bring before you fully what is extremely interesting in itself -- even that there are three great intrusions of the flesh. I will just touch upon them. There is the Corinthian intrusion, which is self-indulgence; one is beguiled into that, when he thinks he is wise enough to govern himself. What the apostle brings forward to meet this is, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified". The old man is gone. If at the Lord's supper you call to mind Christ's death on your account, how could you indulge the man for whom He died?
The Galatian intrusion is another. They sought to be made perfect by the flesh. That is legalism, and in a certain sense, the opposite to that of the Corinthians.
The third intrusion is in Colossians. That is to make man, both by mind and body, a contributor to the Christian. I do not mean merely an instrument, but a contributor, that is, he would be what they call a Christian man ; the truth of the mystery only would preserve from this.
I return now to Galatians 4, to show how you practically get to the enjoyment of liberty, so that you find you are free from the thraldom of the flesh. This is a wonderful thing.
What is brought before us in this chapter is related in Genesis 21, that Abraham, when Isaac was weaned, made a great feast, and when this feast was made, Ishmael, who was at that time fourteen years of age, mocked, no doubt ridiculed the idea that this little
child, who was only about a year in the house, should be made such an object of respect.
Isaac's place was acknowledged in Abraham's house on that day, and this drew forth the reviling of Ishmael, which the apostle calls persecution. "As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now". But how do we enjoy this practically?
This is an extremely important and interesting question for us. We first find how bad Ishmael is; the incompetence of the flesh as in Romans 7, but concurrently with it, the enjoyment of what Christ is. When did persecution, as Paul calls it, when did the scoffing of Ishmael come out? When Isaac gets his place. It was a festive day, and I dare say many could look back historically to when this festive day was known to their souls. When did you get a sense in your hearts that you wanted to be so entirely free from the flesh, that you felt you would not tolerate it any longer -- not merely as to doctrine, but that you could not tolerate it? When did you arrive at that day when you felt it was not to be tolerated practically? When you learned that the flesh was opposed to Christ, and at the same time that He was possessor of your whole heart, so that you felt the flesh had no right to be there; you do not tolerate it. Therefore the apostle says, "Not I, but Christ". I call this the coronation-day, that is, when Christ is crowned King of my heart. It is not that He has the first place there; that He always had through divine grace, but He has got every place, that is, I acknowledge His sway from centre to circumference. I have found out the flesh. What then? Ishmael must go out. Well, it is not a pleasant thing to accept that I am dead, and therefore God says to Abraham, "Let it not be grievous unto thee; cast out the bondwoman and her son". That is non-toleration; I accept what God has done with the flesh. Well, what then? I am at liberty .
One may ask, Does the flesh never come again? It does, but you treat it now as an intruder; and you can say to it, You are an intruder, you have no right to come here; you are supplanted, and you have no place here. You may say, But Ishmael knows the house well; thrust out at the door, he can come in at a window. No doubt he does; he was fourteen years in it, and that is a long period. But then, I say, he has no right. I am crucified with Christ, that is the first thing. This would not suffice to keep him out, he knows how to master you too well. But also you have a new power. If you turn to chapter 5: 17, You will read, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye may not do the things that ye would". I have got the Spirit of God to maintain me free from the intruder, and He only preserves me from the flesh.
But someone will say, You will be very often disturbed. Yes; but what does that make me feel? It makes me feel the greatness of the Spirit resisting the flesh, which is ever intruding. But how do you keep safe? By dependence on the Spirit who is my power against the flesh. In chapter 6, the apostle says, "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting". You see how you are brought into the new order, "everlasting life". Well, you say, What is sowing to the Spirit? I am led by the Spirit. It is a wonderful thing, I speak of it timidly, but earnestly; to think I have got such a Friend, such a Master, so to speak; but it is not a Master really, but One who identifies Himself with me, and wants to lead me exactly according to Christ.
I remember the time when I used to think the flesh was stronger than the Spirit, but I would not say such a thing now. Well, you say, do you never give way to the flesh? Alas! do not ask me that question.
But the comfort is, that the flesh is an intruder: it has no right to come, and I have got power by the Spirit of God to stand free, so that I may not do the things that I would. Well, then, how is it that you act in the flesh? Because you are not sowing to the Spirit. You may have been sowing to the flesh in touching politics, or sowing to the flesh in your business; it is not your business that is to be blamed, because your business is properly your business, and the Lord would have you to do it well, with a heart for the Lord in doing it. It is possible that you want to make something of yourself by your business, and that is of the flesh. It is not that business is wrong, if you are doing it rightly to the Lord. The Lord could not do a thing imperfectly. What He did He did perfectly. The question is, What do you attempt? The Lord would never lead you to attempt a thing you could not do. Well, that is a long exercise, and an everyday exercise.
You will never treat the flesh as an intruder unless you have already seen what I have called the two previous steps; that is, that the flesh -- the old man -- from before God. and that Christ liveth in me. Thank God! Nothing delights my heart like that. I look up, and see that it is gone before God; I am in the life of Christ, I am free, Christ liveth in me.
The Lord grant that each of our hearts may know practically what divine liberty is, in our walk down here, for His name's sake.
Hebrews 10:19 - 22
The subject here is approach to God. Amongst all Christians there is the knowledge of escape from judgement. Escape from judgement is, as it were, the only thing pressed. I do not know that, as a rule, the doctrine of approach is much known.
You get an example of what I mean in Luke 17. You will remember the ten lepers: they were all healed; they all escaped; but only one approached. You see, according to the type (Leviticus 14), there was first the relieving of the leper -- an offering for his cleansing -- but afterwards he had to go through a very particular process before he could approach God.
Now, beloved friends, I would wish to interest your hearts very much in this truth, that there is not only escape, but also approach to God. It is truly a wonderful thing for us sinners to escape from judgement -- that is our side of the grace of God. But just think that the blessed God would like you to approach Him. Hence, when the one leper returned, the Lord says, "Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger".
Well, you naturally ask, what was the hindrance or difficulty? That I will speak of presently. But before I speak of the hindrance or the obstruction (and that includes the process), I would dwell upon our having the right to approach to God, for that is the first great thing to be assured of in the soul, and that is what we find in figure here. The Lord had so blessed the leper, that he was bound to return to Him. When he did return, he doubtless exemplified what we have to go through as we approach. He falls down on his face; that is the process; you cannot approach without that. You can get the knowledge that you are saved
from judgement, without parting company with yourself, but you cannot approach without doing so. No flesh can glory in His presence.
The first thing I will dwell upon now, after this preface, having, as I trust, interested you in the subject, is that the tabernacle discloses to us the delight that God has in having us in His own presence. If there had been no tabernacle, and Israel had only the land in prospect, their benefit and happiness would have been fully secured; but actually, on the road to Canaan, there was the tabernacle. And what you get in Hebrews is, that with us, it is not a tabernacle like the one Israel had, but the true tabernacle. It is not that I am brought up to it, but the sense of it is brought down to me, that I may know the delight that God has in having me in His presence.
First, then, we have in Hebrews 10:19 the right to go in. We have "boldness", a very strong word, a word that is used for an emancipated slave; we have boldness to enter into the holiest. It is not escape merely; you might escape and yet never get there, like the nine lepers.
Let me interest you in one thing more -- I have no doubt of the blessing of it -- it is not only that I have the right to approach into this light, but it is the nature of the reception I get from the Person who owns the place. When I use the word 'place', I mean the condition belonging to a place. "The holiest of all" does not in Hebrews mean merely a place, therefore I say, you are here now in the presence of God.
If you follow out the type, the tabernacle was in the wilderness, down among them. Now the antitype is that we can enter into this blessing, its living reality, not in figure, but by the Spirit of God. Though I have not come to heaven yet, I have found approach to God in the holiest of all, beforehand. Oh! some may say, but when I read the Ephesians, I am seated in the heavenlies in Christ. True, but that only shows
you still greater things, and that is for another purpose altogether, which, if the Lord permit, we will consider another time. That is to qualify you to be a beautiful transcript of the heavenly Man on earth. This is delight of heart in conscious nearness to the blessed God. And therefore the first thing is, the right to come in. There is "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus". This is the first thing, beloved friends. You have to say distinctly, I have the right to come in. As has been often remarked, you do not get beyond right here. This does not treat of what you do there; it does not come up to John 4, worshipping the Father. This is only establishing your right. It does not speak even of the consecrated company, though no doubt this is the only company there. We have the right of entrance. We have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus".
Now look at the ground for the right of entrance. Turn to Matthew 27:50, "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost; and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent".
I do not stay now to bring much scripture before you, but I will give you a note of it. You all remember Leviticus 16, the day of atonement. I will only allude to what occurred then. The blood was taken right in by the high priest, the blood of the bullock, and the blood of the goat. There were two bloods, the blood of two animals; and that was to show the twofold blessing of the two companies. There was the earthly company, and the heavenly company. What we have to do with is the heavenly company, that is, the company that is identified with the high priest. That is ourselves. Therefore it is in that aspect we are looked at in the Hebrews.
The blood was taken right in, into the presence of the majesty of God, and it was sprinkled there upon
the mercy-seat seven times. That was to establish a basis for God to receive us there. The high priest personated himself and his house. According to God's estimate of the blood, He receives us there. Hence, the very moment Christ died, the veil was rent; God can come out and embrace the sinner. No one will ever be able to reach up to God's estimate of the blood of Christ. It is on His own estimate that He deals with me, not according to my estimate. Oh that your heart might enter into that! you can hardly believe the rest it gives! It is on His own estimate of the blood He deals with me. We do estimate it, but we cannot come up to His estimate of it. I press that point, beloved friends -- on His own estimate of the blood He deals with me. As soon as Christ died, that moment of all moments in the history of this earth -- the darkest, if you look at it as man would look at it -- was the opening up of the brightest era that ever was disclosed upon this earth. All bore witness to Him. "The rocks rent", "the graves opened", and so on. But who was the first, beloved friends? God! Oh, may it touch every heart! "The veil was rent from the top to the bottom". It was not only that we can go in; no, but God can come out, a much greater thing. He who dwelt in thick darkness, He can come out. What do you mean? On His own estimate of that blood, He can come out and embrace a poor prodigal, though he be "a great way off". Love travels faster than necessity. Do you understand that saying? Necessity was bringing the prodigal to the Father, but love brought the Father to the prodigal, and the love went faster than the necessity.
On the basis of what has been accomplished, love can do all its pleasure. God, the Father, can take that poor sinner into His arms, and kiss him; He can let His heart go out to him. Thank God for that.
The veil was rent from the top to the bottom; now He has cleared everything away; there is no more
offering for sin, He suffered without the gate. I say that Christ bore the judgement resting on the responsible man, and the responsible man disappears in judgement. Now we have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh". The blessed holy One dies, His flesh rent to open a way for us; what place, then, for your flesh?
It is not necessary to speak of carnal ordinances now. Beloved friends, open your eyes and see what the holiness of God is, in His presence, and you will understand this. If Christ's flesh was rent for me, to procure a way for me to enter, how could there be any place for man in flesh? Never! Flesh disappears, and I am glad that it disappears. "I am crucified with Christ" -- thank God I am -- and I do not want it to appear. "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world".
Now you can, I trust, see the ground of the right. And I say again, and I desire that your heart may cleave to it -- it is on the estimate that God Himself has of the blood of Christ that I have the right. That is full of blessing.
Well, I trust it is clear to you, that now there has been a basis for God, according to His nature, to receive us in His presence; the nature of the reception I hope to turn to at another time.
The sin-offering does not go beyond establishing the right -- it does not set forth how you are received, but only that you are entitled to be received. The parable of the prodigal son goes further -- but I am not going to that tonight. What I have sought to make clear to you is that the right is established to go into the holiest of all, because if the holy, the blessed
God Himself is ready and happy to receive me, how assured must be my right to come!
Now we come to the second step, and that is, what is the reluctance; why does not every one go in? If it is so simple, and we all have the right, why do we not all go in? What is the hindrance? That is a very important question. I have already pointed out, in Luke 17, the case of the ten lepers, where there was only one out of the ten who overcame the reluctance; and in order to come, he had to fall down: "he fell down on his face at his feet". You may say, Well, I have escaped, I am clear of my sins, I will try by religious exercises to approach God. That is ritualism. That is what the other nine had recourse to; and, alas I it is where the mass of Christians are to this day.
The Samaritan very likely was not what we call religiously brought up, but he learned grace. He could say, I am clear, and I certainly owe it to the One who cleared me, to own it to Himself that I am clear: but you will find, as he found, that he could not bring the flesh into Christ's presence. "No flesh shall glory in his presence". There is nothing I am more convinced of every day, even in one's prayers, that when there is a baulk, a stone before the wheel, it is the flesh -- oneself, in some form.
Turn to Luke 5. Look at Peter, he was giving his time and his means for the Lord's work until arrested by the presence of God. Then he was confounded; "he fell down at Jesus' knees; saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord". Though doing everything right at the time, he could not approach in the flesh. See also the prodigal son (Luke 15); the Father kissed him; reconciliation was effected, yet he was not at liberty. You may know your sins are forgiven; but you may not enjoy the presence of God. Like the prodigal, you may know reconciliation, but you may not know that you are fit for the presence of God. "And he arose and came to his father. But
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him". That is reconciliation; that is the answer to the efficacy of the atonement. "And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son". He is not happy in his presence, he has really to learn what Leviticus 14 is. You see the leper there had to go through two washings -- I am not going into it, but I merely point to the scripture. He had to go through one washing in order to come into the camp -- the place of God's government; and after being there seven days he had to go through another washing before he entered into the full bloom, if I may so say, of the work of Christ for approach. That is the type. In Luke 15 I get the practical thing in the man who is actually kissed. It is true of us all. Are you happy in the presence of God now? Well, you might say, I do not know; I feel I am a pardoned sinner.
I have already remarked that if your faith only rests on what you are saved from , that you are only occupied with relief; but when you are occupied with what you are saved to , the Spirit of God carries you out into the wonderful expanse of divine blessing, which is yours.
I come now to a subject of deep importance; it was not reconciliation that enabled the prodigal to go in. That which enabled him to go in is figuratively expressed here; it is renewing. (And when I say 'renewing', I do not mean what the English word conveys, but I use the word as Scripture uses it. The scripture uses the word 'renew' as something entirely new, something you never had before -- "the renewing of the Holy Spirit", "the renewing of your mind" "the inner man is renewed".) That is an entirely new thing, something he never had before, not a bit of it. You know it has been said by some
commentators that the prodigal describes a backslider. But, I say, if he was a backslider and had thrown away grace, he did not get one bit back that he had thrown away. If he had thrown away grace, he would get back grace, but he did not get back what he had squandered; what he gets is entirely new.
Many souls who are clear about reconciliation, are not clear about renewing. You have something entirely new; it is not merely that you have been cleared of the old. I have shown you on a former occasion that you must be free of the old; I am not dwelling on that side now, but on receiving the new; for, beloved friends, you cannot approach without it. That I have already alluded to. In entering the holiest through the veil, you must come in new, you cannot enter in the old.
Here it is stated in figure how the father removes the reluctance in the prodigal. He says to the servants, "Bring forth", that is, bring out of the house; "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet". These will make him sensibly suitable for Me. "A ring on his hand" -- a mark of distinction -- "and shoes on his feet", which shows that he was at home. You may say, It is a parable. True, but it is a parable that conveys wonderful doctrine. Do you ask, where is the doctrine? Well, the doctrine is in Colossians 1:12, "Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us MEET to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light". The word 'meet' expresses the new state, that was the new thing. You cannot by any ritualism make the flesh fit to enter into the holiest. There never was a greater mistake than to suppose this possible.
The veil, Christ's flesh, has been rent to open a new and living way for us into the holiest; but there is reluctance to enter until in Christ's life you are free
from the law of sin. That is just what the Samaritan who came back expressed in figure, for when he got near Him, he fell down on his face; but I am not dwelling now upon reckoning the old dead, but upon enjoying the new. Some may say, What is it? It is Christ in me, a nature that suits God, ever glad to be near Him, and thus I grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. I do not know how to explain it. It is ever growing -- all of God; "that you may grow thereby". The outward man perishes, but the inner man is renewed. The prodigal son never had anything like this dress before it came out of the father's house; perfectly new, it is the "first" robe: nothing better nor higher.
Now turn to verse 23. I call your attention to that verse, because you find there, that the prodigal is in. You may say, How did he get in? Mark now the beauty of Scripture! It says first in the previous verse, "Bring forth", which shows that he was not in. Now a very important thing is presented, and that is, that it is not, when you go in that you are made fit to be there, but you are "made meet to be a partaker"; you are made fit to go in. Mark also that there is no interval allowed between being made fit, and being in. It says in the previous verse, "Bring forth", and now, in the next verse -- without allowing any interval for the distance (which historically was a great one, because he was "a great way off" when the father saw him) the servants are told to clothe him; there is no interval; he is in . There is no interval allowed. Ponder that. The moment you are fit you are in. That is exactly what we get in Hebrews; it is the condition that suits the place; I am fit, and I am in. I dare say I do not convey it to you; but still, I believe that everyone who has gone in would say, I understand it perfectly. The moment I knew that I had the Spirit of Christ, I was in; I had nothing to do; I had not to expostulate, desire to be, or strive to be
in; I was in. The prodigal son got in, and he was fit to go in.
Now I turn back to Hebrews 10, I trust two things are clear to you -- the right to go in, and the removal of the reluctance to go in, so that with the knowledge of the right, there is also the knowledge of fitness to enter.
I will now dwell a little upon how you are within -- what the sense is of being there, because I have no doubt that this will disclose whether we are in or not. It says, "Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water". It is evident these two things are clearly and distinctly known as you draw near: your heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience, your body washed with pure water. I have no doubt at all that it takes in the two aspects of the cross. He "came by water and blood .. . not by water only, but by water and blood". It is the actual sense of a heart sprinkled from a wicked conscience, and the body washed with pure water.
I think that we are often very practically defective understanding that purification is by Christ's death, as well as expiation. Anyone who has studied the subject will at once see how appropriate this is, and will understand it. Therefore John insists upon it; He came "not by water only, but by water and blood". There is not only the remission of sins -- Christ died for our sins -- but there is the moral action of the word, setting me free from that which already was removed in the death of Christ. So I say you draw nigh in the sense that there is not a shade of sin upon you. I hope I shall not offend some of you when I say that when one gives out a hymn about his sins in a worship meeting, he has left the holiest, and he is not leading the congregation as in it. I say there is not a sin upon you, not a spot.
The first thing is to enter. I cannot speak of
losing a thing until I possess it. And be assured, once you have entered, that you have appropriated your right. It is not that you had not the right before; you had the right, but you have appropriated your right. You will never know the reality of worship until you know that your heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience, and your body washed with pure water. It is not a question at all of sin now, but of holiness. And that is a wonderful contrast. It is wonderful when I compare what is our portion now through Christ's work, and what it was before. All things are contrasted now. In the old dispensation, death was before the soul. Thank God, life out of death is before it now. It was sin then, it is holiness now. We are now to be "partakers of his holiness". May your hearts be exercised about this. You could not come into the holiest if any sin were on you; if you did, it would no longer be the holiest.
Nothing can be plainer to a thoughtful person than that he could not come in with sin on him; the delight of being there would be lost, gone, if sin was before one there. Thank God, that I know the inconceivable delight of being in the presence of God. No spot there, all sense of sin gone; I have passed through the veil by the new and living way. Worship is not spoken of here; the things which occupy you there are not mentioned. The consecration is not described. Of course, only the consecrated company could enter in; but we are not told here how they are occupied.
Now I turn to a question which often tries souls, and it is this, what about the sins which I may commit? I do not deny that we may sin, but I say, a worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sins; of course, when we sin or become defiled, we lose our enjoyment in the holiest; and this may happen very soon after being there, yet it is a very interesting fact, that the better you know the reality of being there, and the
more fully you enjoy it, as long as the sense is fresh, the more careful you will be to keep yourself unspotted from the world.
I am so sensible of the contrariety of everything here, I must be guided on every side. When we sin or are defiled, we are outside, we are not in the holiest. But remember, you cannot lose your right to be there; you never do lose the right. The consecration is only once and for ever. If you sin you must judge yourself; if you do not judge yourself, that which has done the offence will suffer for it; that accounts, no doubt, for many of our maladies here; I do not say for all.
A man works his brain too much to make a fortune; very likely he will suffer in his brain if he does not judge himself. And if he judges himself he stops it; a man cannot judge a thing and go on with it. In Hebrews 12 it is different. There you are suffering for righteousness, and God uses the suffering to make you more separate, in order that you should be "partakers of his holiness". There we have to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. "You have not yet resisted unto blood" -- you have not yet died, that is resisting unto blood -- "striving against sin".
As in the stoning of Stephen; he was becoming practically more separate every minute. "We who live are always delivered unto death"; when anything is a hindrance to you, the Lord rolls in death upon it. If you feel it a hindrance, you are glad death has come in upon it. No matter what it is. Suppose a man has a voice for singing which is a snare to him; he loses his voice, and he can thank God for the loss; he knows the meaning of it.
The Lord grant that each of us may know better what it is to be in the holiest, the delight of it. You get the idea in the case of the father and the prodigal. I know that the Spirit of God only can really lead your
heart to understand it. But how wonderful to be in the presence of God without a spot or a shade, and to know that He delights to have us there!
The Lord grant that each of us may know what approach is.
Hebrews 4:12 - 16
The subject that I desire to bring before you, this evening, is the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The question of sins is first settled, as you find in the first chapter of Hebrews. In Hebrews we have the greatness of the priest; the greatness of the sanctuary; and the greatness of the offering. At the end of chapter 9 you get the testament in consequence of death. It would be of no value at all until the death of the testator.
"By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified". "There is no more offering for sin". Now we have a great Priest over the house of God.
It is little understood amongst Christians, that priesthood has to do with infirmities and not with sins. The question of sin must first be settled. In the opening of Hebrews it is, "Having purged our sins he sat down"; but in chapter 8, "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens". In order to understand what priesthood is, the first great thing to know is, that you are clear of your sins, and of sin, too.
The question of sin has been entirely settled in the death of Christ, and now we have to do with another thing; He has gone up to the right hand of God; He has entered within the veil, the Forerunner for us; that place is secured for us by His blood, and now His service is to support and help us all along the road until we get there -- and that is priesthood.
It has been remarked, that it was not the rod of Moses that budded, for that was authority; but it was the rod of Aaron, and that was priesthood. Priesthood has to do with a feeble folk. In fact, one gets a
good deal of instruction about it, even in the family circle. The mere authority of the father will not be enough for the children, you must have grace also. I am not saying now how you are to deal with their wilfulness, that is another thing; that brings in the advocacy -- I am not going to touch on advocacy more than this. The moment you sin, it is not priesthood you want: it is advocacy. Though it is the same Person who is Advocate, and you have to be exercised, as in Numbers 19, on account of the sin.
Now the main thing is that the question of sin is altogether settled; there is no imputation of sin whatever. Priesthood is, that the One who has gone the road, and gone up to the top, and has secured that top for me, is now conducting me along the road in the very same grace in which He walked that road Himself.
But the great thing for the heart to enter into is the nature of this ministry, which, as I have said, is pre-figured by Aaron's rod. The rod budded and blossomed and brought forth fruit, and was placed in the ark of the covenant.
Now the ground is cleared immensely by seeing that it is not a question of sin at all, but of infirmity. Infirmity is not sin. For instance, a nervous character. I know very well what it is to be startled, and to be so annoyed at being startled as to be ready to express myself very angrily. It was not wrong to be startled, but it was very wrong to be in a passion. Therefore you see you are very near sin in infirmity. The priesthood is to preserve me from it. The priesthood has to do with my infirmity. It was not wrong of Sarah to be afraid; but Sarah told a lie, and that was wrong. Children, if you frighten them, will tell a lie; better avoid such things. Their feebleness makes them liable; still it is no excuse for the lie. Timidity is infirmity; a lie is not infirmity, it is sin.
I think, when you get hold of this point, you will
find immense comfort in studying the priesthood of Christ. It is that Christ having secured the end, has entered within the veil, He is the Forerunner for us entered, and now His service is to lead us to the very place where He is. In John 14 He says, "I go to prepare a place for you", and "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do". That is the measure of His power. He is telling us that there is no limit to His power up to the place He has prepared for us. You will find immense blessing when you understand this ministry.
Now if you turn to the passage I have read, there are the word and the priesthood. The word exposes your motives. "The entrance of thy word giveth light". I am vexed: well, the question is whether I am rightly vexed or not. There is such a thing as being angry rightly: I may be rightly indignant with a man for beating a horse; but if he were to turn around and beat myself, I might lose my temper and be vindictive. Well, the object of the word is to expose, and put me on my guard. It penetrates; it is not here to restore, but to preserve. In John 13, the word is restorative. Here it is to make all patent, there is nothing hid from it, it penetrates to the depth of everything: "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do". Therefore, when you come to deal with trials, common as they are all day long, you never can get on if you have not Christ's sympathy; it has a marvellous effect upon you; God grant we may know more of it. If you are sensible of the continued support of the Lord Jesus Christ in all the little worries of daily life, you gain much spiritually. That is the real reason why trials do good. Trials in themselves do not mellow; as a rule, you will find people hardened by trials. If I learn the grace of Christ in the trials, I am a different person, I am mellowed by them.
I am dwelling now on the difference between the
word and the priesthood. The word exposes my motive -- whether the rest of God is before me. All is open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. It shows the continued exercise of heart which goes on when we are in the light. Then, "we have a great high priest that is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, sin apart".
Now let us look at the difference between knowing Christ as a Saviour, and as a Priest. Look at 1 Samuel 17 and 18. It is surprising, when we come to investigate, how little we know of the priesthood of Christ. We know something of the Saviour. One may say, But knowing Him as the Saviour is greater than knowing Him as Priest. In one sense, it is greater, no doubt; but I think I shall show you that it is as I learn the priesthood, that I begin fully to appreciate the Saviour. I turn to this passage, because, here you have the mind of a person who enjoys a Saviour, and this in order that you may see the difference between the affection which one has when saved, and the affection one has who has known Christ as Priest. Here is David with the head of Goliath in his hand; and Jonathan is so affected by what David did, that he loves him as his own soul, and strips himself to give to David. He had a right sense as to the greatness of what David had done for him in slaying Goliath, but he had not learnt what David's company was, or he would have gone with David, and been able to bear up against all the difficulties which lay between that time and David's time. I am not saying now whether Jonathan was right or wrong in his course, but that he did not learn the effect of David's company or priesthood.
Now I turn to Ruth 1:16. "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following
after thee; for whither thou goest,. I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God". I bring this forward as an example of the difference between a person who knows Christ as Saviour, and the one who knows Him as Priest. Of course, I only use it as an illustration. I want to bring before you the effect of knowing Christ as a Companion in your trials and difficulties here: sustaining you in the very grace He walked in. I say there is an advance in Ruth beyond Jonathan. Ruth says, "Intreat me not to leave thee". Now you find Jonathan can leave David. When I learn Christ as Priest, I cannot do without Him; He is my stay. I have an invisible Friend; He supports me as He had gone the road Himself. It is not a new path that I make for myself; but as He had gone the road, He supports me. And thus is my heart drawn out in attachment to Him -- as the child is attached to the mother by nursing; and the more you enjoy this ministry, the less you can do without it. Therefore Paul could say, I take pleasure in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
How was this peculiar affection produced between Ruth and Naomi? No doubt, Ruth, in the time of her widowhood, found out that Naomi was so necessary to her, that she could not do without her. "Intreat me not to leave thee .. . for whither thou goest, I will go". This peculiar affection for Christ, I doubt not, is the great effect of knowing Him as Priest.
I get it beautifully illustrated in the Lord's life with His disciples. I get there these two things always together; the word, and His sympathies. He was the light that shielded them from the working of their own will, while, on the other hand, He led them to regard everything in a right way. So that we can understand what a blank it was to them when He went away. It was not the blank of a Saviour only,
it was the blank of One who knew how to lead, according to God, in every step. It was this perfect leading that so attached them to Him. And we all know how a companion of the kind affects our hearts. In Luke 18 Peter tells the Lord, "We have left all, and followed thee". The Lord answers, "There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting". And what had He given them? Nothing but His company! "Manifold more in this present time".
In Hebrews we are looked at as individuals fit to be companions of the Lord. There is nothing said there about the greatest thing, namely, that we are united to Him. I see that all our individual greatness is prospectively with reference to union, and thus it is that we are fit for union. Thus it comes out in Ephesians. I mean that it is not by union I get my fitness; I get my fitness by being of Christ; we are "all of One" -- "accepted in the Beloved" -- in order that we might be fit to occupy the position of members of His body. His ministry as Priest produces another thing, even your attachment to Him.
Take the illustration of a babe. A babe does not know the relationship that subsists between it and the mother, though that is the greatest relationship. Now it is the nursing which attaches the child to the mother. And we know that sometimes the child is more attached to the nurse than to the mother, simply because it has been more in the arms of the nurse. This illustrates Christ's priestly service. It is most wonderful when you know and feel that He is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities". He knows every shade of difficulty in your path, and He would lead you through it, not according to your will, but as He has gone through it, in order that you should have His support in it. He knows how you feel in it,
and He would have you to behave as He behaved. For instance, the Lord felt the inattention of the Pharisee, but He never expressed it; the Lord never says a word about it until the Pharisee found fault with the poor sinner. It was not because it affected Himself that He spoke; but when the Pharisee reviled the poor woman, He presents to him the difference between him and her.
In a subject like this, it is very hard to give a history of it in detail, because every one of our histories is different. But I do ask you -- and you will find the good of it if you do it -- whenever a trial comes (I have done it myself often) to say to yourself, How does the Lord feel this? If my own will works, I do not know His sympathy nor learn the way He acted. Many look to the Lord in their trials, to get help out of them, instead of sympathy in them. I do not mean by this to make little of His mercy; not at all. If I have a cold, it is a mercy to get well; I am relieved. His sympathy supports me when suffering. If you are in some great trouble, in prison, for instance, and you get out; well, that would be a great mercy. But the question is, How did I behave in the prison or in the trouble? If you notice your prayers, you will find that, as a rule your desire is to get out of the difficulty; but it is a great thing to bear up like Christ in the difficulty, because I share His grace in it. When He pleases, the difficulty is removed, and that is mercy; As Paul said, "The Lord had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also".
Now I turn to some examples in our Lord's life, which will perhaps explain His sympathy more fully to us. Look at Matthew 8:23 - 26. "And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves; but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us; we perish. And he
saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm". It is interesting to get an example, because, as I said before, you must learn Him in the trial -- and this is real blessing. I have seen many get out of trial, who did not gain by it. Why? Because, as a rule, trial hardens you. The sympathy of the Lord, in the trial, mellows you, and you find out what the Lord is to you at such a time -- this is His priestly service. Hence it is not, how can I get out of the trial, but how am I in it?
Here there was a storm, and they were all troubled, and the Lord was asleep. It requires great nearness to the Lord to know how He regards the trial in which I am. He is always in the aspect suited to my need. He can say, I have been through it all, I am able to bring you out of it fully -- for He is fully out of it. Now here is a storm, and He was asleep, the disciples are troubled and awake Him to save them by His power. If they had sought His sympathy, they would have said, We will see what He can be to us now. Look what an effect the trial would then have had upon them. True they got out of the trial. Many a one has got out of a trial who has gained nothing in it. But how different would have been their gain if they had said, Well, He is asleep, He is superior to the storm. You may say, But how can we know? Well, the Lord is ever thinking about you, He never leaves nor forsakes us.
Supposing a man offends me, I look to the Lord to learn how He would take it. I see the way I feel about it, but I want to know His feeling; for with His feeling I shall have His grace, He will bear me up in it. Oh! you might say, that would be a continual exercise. Yes; but would it not be a very happy exercise to be finding out what Christ is to you? See how your heart would become attached to Him. Thus attachment grows. Attachment is properly
before union is known -- union is the consummation of attachment; thus a person attached to the Lord, as Ruth was to Naomi, appreciates union with him.
I now turn to the end of Matthew 17, to show you how the Lord acts in an emergency, when an unjust demand is made. "They that received tribute-money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers". Do you not feel, beloved friends, that the Lord beside His disciples gives you wonderful insight into His sympathy? Yet, by the Spirit of God, we have greater opportunity of knowing Him and walking in company with Him, than they had. How did He act in this case? This is what we call an emergency: He says, "Lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up". You are unprepared for the emergency; He is not unprepared. It was an unjust demand, but He was not without resource. And if an unjust claim came unexpectedly upon you, you can count on His sympathies -- He will show you that He is not without resource.
I turn now to John 11, to see the intimate way in which the Lord walks with His own. We are all acquainted with sorrow. Here are two sisters suffering from the same sorrow; but very differently. Martha does not get sympathy; the Lord speaks to her, tries to correct her, but more according to John 13. She is not subject; she is in the same sorrow as Mary, and she is eventually relieved. Many are relieved, but that is not sympathy. The great value of the priesthood is learning what the Lord is to me in the sorrow. I get to know Him better. He walks with Mary; He makes known to her what He can be to
her in that blank. The blank was caused by the death of Lazarus. He is using that blank as an opportunity to make known what He can be -- "a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother" -- and makes her feel that He feels it more deeply than she does: "He groaned in spirit and was troubled". But He never says a word about raising up Lazarus; that would have spoiled the sympathy. The sympathy is making known to her the way He Himself would act in the circumstances. It is right to feel the loss of a brother; but you must be subject to the Lord in your sorrow, and then you find the cheer and help of His company in it. Mary, as soon as she hears that Jesus called for her, makes haste and goes to Him, and she falls down at His feet. She has the sense of who He is; and the Lord says, "Where have you laid him?" He enters into her sorrow in order to acquaint her with His own sensibility in it, so that she comes out of the sorrow with a deeper knowledge of what the Lord is. It is not that she gets out of the sorrow; but she is comforted by the immense gain that she has acquired -- a divine sensibility in it. I cannot conceive anything greater than this; I have been in a trial, and in the trial I have learnt how the Lord would feel in it . I have gained His grace in it. The trial has given me a fuller acquaintance with the Lord's heart for me, as well as a greater knowledge of Himself.
When you get the subject before your mind, it is easy to find examples and illustrations of His sympathy. There is one passage I must dwell a little on, because it shows the completeness of how Christ bears us up all the way. I turn to the end of Acts 7. In the case of Stephen, you get Christ's present support beautifully brought before us in the smallest compass: "He, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus". That is, he saw the spot Christ's work had secured for him -- in fact, he crossed the Jordan. I
have no doubt of my right to the spot; but I have to get there. Our blessed Lord, who has gone the road, bears us through everything all the way. There are two things here; one is, that I can pass out of it all here, in the power and joy of the Holy Spirit to that of eternal life, where Christ is. But mark, that if you are really carried up, another thing follows, even that you can, in Christ's power, resume here in the face of all opposition. Now I get these two combined in Stephen. He saw Jesus, who had done everything for him, and he saw the place where He is. He is within the veil, and when I see Him there I have laid hold of eternal life.
Now Stephen resumes his place here; he finds the type of Joshua 3 fulfilled: "Hereby shall ye know that the living God is among you". How? You know that the waters of Jordan are gone, that there is not a single thing between you and the presence of God, that it is your home, and knowing this, you can predicate that you will be superior to every power here. Mark the words, "Hereby shall ye know that the living God is among you". How? Stephen is over Jordan in spirit; but he comes back, as a man over Jordan, to prove that the power of Christ which led him up to glory, will enable him to overcome evil with good. Stephen seems to me to learn here Christ's superiority over everything on man's side. Borne by the power of the One who has gone up to glory, and sustained by Him through every opposition here, so that he overcomes evil with good. To be equal to the occasion is true power. It is not that Stephen's circumstances are mine; but still I should be able to say, "I can do all things through him who gives me power".
I need not add more. The Lord lead us to prove His grace for ourselves. I trust what I said at the commencement may rest with you; because I think, as a rule, souls do not enter into the priesthood of
Christ. It is regarded as the way of approach to God, instead of the support of Him who, by His blood, has secured for me a right to be where He is. Stephen has illustrated this. Both John 14 as well as Matthew 14 are thus known to you. You are made superior to the circumstances here. Tomorrow, when someone annoys you or some vexation occurs, will you bear up? will you overcome evil with good? will you say, I am sure that the power which leads me to Christ in glory is the power that will enable me to walk superior to evil and overcome it with good?
Acts 2:1 - 4
In the former lectures I have desired to bring before you, where the grace of God has set us, as relating to ourselves, and what Christ is to us and for us. Now I desire to turn your attention to what we are to Him. We cannot be for Him if we do not know what He is for us.
I have read this passage because it describes the first time that the Holy Spirit came down to us, and then was established the habitation of God by the Spirit. We read in the last verse of the second of Ephesians, "In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit". Now that is a great thing to start with -- that God has a habitation on the earth. In Ephesians 2 is, "In whom ye are builded together"; the true building is spoken of. I do not mean to go into how that has been intruded into. how certain men have "crept in unawares", bad building. and the like. What I mean to occupy your attention with is the nature of this structure, "the habitation of God through the Spirit". It is established here in Acts 2. There were two actions of the Holy Spirit, and one of those actions I do not mean to speak much of. But the great point is that the first action is connected with the congregation. "There came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting". It does not say it filled the walls, "but all the house where they were sitting"; these latter words you must keep distinctly in your mind; that is, the congregation, with it the Spirit connects Himself. The other action of the Holy Spirit is that He fills each of them individually. So there were two fillings. It is very important for the soul to be
clear about these actions. The first thing is to accept the truth, and the truth is that there is a habitation of God upon the earth, and the Holy Spirit dwells in it, notwithstanding all the corruption. If I can, I will allude to what it is in the weakest day, and in the darkest day. Still, the main thing remains, and you will never understand the assembly unless you own that it is "the habitation of God through the Spirit". Here (Acts 2) it is first established. The Holy Spirit, in a visible way came down and "filled all the house where they were sitting"; and He also, in a very distinct and marked way, at the same time, "sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit". You will say, That all in the house were true believers. I do not deny it; but still, though it began that way, you must bear in mind that such things happened as that evil men "crept in unawares", and that there was bad building, and that judgement must begin at the house of God; but that side I am not going into. What I am trying to bring before you is what the assembly is, and in the house aspect more than the body aspect. The latter, if the Lord permit, I hope to bring before you another time.
Now I turn to a few scriptures, as though you were studying it for the first time; because after all, we are practically very unacquainted with the reality of this truth. Turn to Matthew 16:15 - 18. "He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". That is the first time we get the statement, "My church". The word 'assembly', as you all know, occurs in the Old Testament, but here is the
Lord saying, I will build my assembly. And in what connection does that statement come forth? If you look back to chapter 14: 10, you will see what led to this, "And he sent and beheaded John in the prison". Now that intimated to the Lord that He would be rejected by His own people. God had dwelt in the cloud among Israel, but the glory had departed. But now the Lord, from that verse up to this point (I am not going into it, but it is an interesting scripture), is educating His disciples for this great announcement, even that He will have a new structure, and that new structure is "My assembly". He announces, "Upon this rock I will build my assembly", and that rock was the Son of God. That is the nature of the teaching, or education, which I believe every one of us has to go through, in order to learn the assembly. I do not dwell on the education, but rather on the result of the education. It is an interesting moment. The Lord says. "I will build my church". He does not say, I have built it. Many think that the assembly dates down from Abel. No, it is entirely a new thing, and a new thing consequent upon Christ being refused by His own people. I am not referring to the body, that is when He is entirely rejected as glorified, that is a different thing, though they conjoin, they go together. But the house, the habitation of God, is a thing manifest on this earth. I do not know anywhere in Scripture that you could say that the body was manifested. On the contrary, the body, as far as I see from Scripture, is hidden, save as to its works. I believe that it is the vital thing in the assembly.
The Lord says, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock" -- the Son of God -- "I will build my church": not upon Peter , as the Romanists have made it; all their breakdown you can trace to that. What is the great importance, of the Son of God? Why did He not say, the man Jesus? Because it is entirely outside of everything, simply divine ground. It is in principle
what you get in John's epistle: "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" And that gives a character to this great structure. You are a stone in it. As Peter says (1 Peter 2:5), "Ye also, as living stones".
Now I have a very interesting thing to put before you, and that is, I am not asking you, Are you saved? I do not doubt it; but have you a sense in your soul that you are material for Christ's building? This is more than your salvation; it is consequent on and corroborates your salvation, for how could you be a stone, a living stone, if you are not saved? "To whom coming as unto a living stone". When you understand this, a wonderful light comes into the soul, and you can say, Thank God I am a bit of Christ's building. You are a component part of the structure which Christ builds. That is the great thing. Hence he says, "To whom coming ... ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house". Now that is not the same kind of union as in the body, though it is important to understand that the Spirit is the hold in each, a binding as a stone in a building. Wherever you might be, you would still be a stone in the building. But you are not in assembly function except when you are assembled, gathered of God. If I might illustrate it by an ordinary subject, all the members of parliament together in a room, would not be parliament; they are not convened. Therefore, a believers' meeting, as such, is not the assembly at all. The assembly is called God's assembly; or, as our blessed Lord called it here, "My assembly". Our idea of the assembly is borrowed from Christendom, and thus regarded as "the congregation of the faithful". Now nothing can be plainer than that when a great person has an assembly, he is chief in that assembly. If I went to a man's house who had invited me, and saw a great many collected there, but not the master of the house, I should say I had made a mistake; I came here at
his invitation, and he is not here. You could not have God's assembly without the presence of God. You may have a company of believers; indeed, you might get all the believers in the world, but that would not be the assembly of God. Therefore it is said, "That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the assembly of the living God", 1 Timothy 3:15.
If you were to go to an assembly at any house, the very first person you would look for is the one who invited you. Now when you come to an assembly meeting, the first person you look for in the room, and the first person before your heart, is the Lord. If otherwise, you have not a true idea of the assembly, you are affected by the leaven of Christendom. If you ask a theologian, What is your definition of the church? he will tell you "the congregation of the faithful". It is extraordinary how people are leavened with this idea. The great characteristic of the church of God is that God Himself invites you, has called you out to that company. The company looks for His presence.
Now I turn to John 20:19 - 23, because my object is to lead the youngest here really to understand the assembly. "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit; whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained". I read this, not because it is the church established, but because it
is the pattern. (I think it is important for you to get hold of the pattern, though it is not the thing itself. You get a great deal in the gospels of what I call pattern, but it is not the thing itself. A pattern of the coat is not the coat, but it shows the way the coat is made. Here it is extremely interesting, and one is thankful to the Lord for giving us the pattern of the assembly at the beginning; and it is a comfort to us that we can always go back to beginnings. Here we have the assembly in its infancy. In Scripture the first time a thing is set forth, its main features are presented. You may not have it in all its development, but you have it in its real features, just as a babe has the features which will eventually develop into a man). The Lord has risen from the dead, and you get two things which are interesting to put together. He leads Mary Magdalene into association with Himself where He is; but He also comes down into the midst of His gathered ones here on earth, because He is Son over God's house. The Lord grant our hearts may be true to it. I would not think of going to an assembly where the Lord was not.
In this passage we see the pattern. There are two great things in this pattern -- one is, how He fitted His disciples to be component parts of this great assembly; and the other is, that being fitted, He instructed them as to their responsibilities. This is a pattern of the introduction to the assembly, and therefore not required for those introduced. I do not think that every believer (though his right is unquestionable) is intelligently a component part of Christ's building, a living stone, a component part of the most august assembly that ever was upon the earth. I speak now of "My assembly", because you cannot be occupied with Christ, if your own state still occupies you. Hence the first thing the Lord says, in order to fit His disciples for this new place, is "Peace unto you"; He clears them from every
disturbing element. Then they see His hands and His side -- His death; and then He says, "Peace" to them again. That is, not only peace with God, but peace in their circumstances. They are now becoming constituent parts of this great assembly, they are learning that they are "living stones". It is a great day when I know that I am a living stone; and I trust you all will understand it better, and be able to refuse every worldly offer, because you can say, I am a constituent part of the most august assembly that ever was on this earth, where Christ makes known the Father, and His interests are paramount. It is Christ's assembly. It is not only our association with Him where He is, but He comes down into our midst. Now when I have association with Him, it is in a sphere where there is nothing to hinder; but when He comes into this room, there is hindrance in me and everybody, which He displaces. Still, thank God, He overcomes, and takes His place. If you have not an unclouded sense of the peace in which Christ's work has set you in the presence of God, you are not able to accept your place in the assembly as a living stone. I do not want to shut you out; but I call on you to "make your calling and election sure"; I call on you to understand your privileges. I mean that none else is rightly there. I do not say that others are not there. I own the patience of the Lord.
The assembly is very like a family; the Lord is there. But it is not a family if the head is not there. I do not refer to the Head of the body, but to the Lord as Master of the house. When we are gathered to His name, He is there. Then I see some, like children in the family, who enjoy His presence, others of them who know it is right to be there, but are occupied more with themselves than with Him, and others, lastly, who follow the example of their older brethren, and are there because it is the right thing. Now these three classes are constantly found in the assembly.
Next see to what they are appointed . "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you". Sent into the world with a mission from the Lord -- the vocation of the assembly fundamentally. I believe that there is no place where the Lord opens His mind as He would in the assembly. I do not think any one can understand the Lord in private as He reveals Himself in the assembly. He does manifest Himself to a solitary individual, no doubt, and makes him know what He is to him; but that is not the same as when He is in His own house, making known His pleasure and His counsels, and leading us into the blessedness of the holiest.
But now, what are our responsibilities in the assembly? I turn to Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them". That is not a promise, though it is very often quoted as a promise. It is a consequence; and a consequence is not a promise. A consequence is that if the sun rises, it shines. The Lord says, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I"; it is not, "there will I be", but "there am I". However small we are, we can always secure the presence of the Lord; and that really is the chief gain in the assembly. Now there is a great deal involved in this: because if gathered to His name, we walk according to His name, you could not be truly gathered to His name and not be walking according to His name. It is impossible. This solves one of the great questions of the present day. Many may assume to be gathered to His name, but it is impossible for them to be gathered to His name if not walking according to His name . "Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord, depart from iniquity". When a company is not walking according to His name, one cannot accept it as gathered to His name; one cannot be black and white at the same time. The Lord does not leave the assembly as long as it
gives Him His place, but the Lord leaves the assembly when independency rules, that is, when you act without Him. And you will find, as a general rule, that when you act without Him, you have previously allowed some terrible leaven to work, or you would not act without Him. Thus the Corinthians were recovered, they were not so far gone that they would act without Him; but they would give Him His place and be guided by Him.
Now I turn to 1 Corinthians 10:17 - 21, "For we being many are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh; are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils". It is not that you might not, but you cannot , it is impossible; just as I might say it is impossible for a man to be in heaven and earth at the same time; impossible for a man to be a saint and a sinner. That is the meaning of the word, "Ye cannot". I refer to this, because I want you to see the assembly in its very beginning. I have tried to present to you the pattern assembly in John 20. In Luke 24 you get the other side of it; while the two disciples are telling their tale, the Lord is standing in the midst of them.
I turn to this passage (1 Corinthians 10) to show how the youngest believer is at once connected with the two things which are embraced in the Lord's table. One is the responsibility to have that table suited to the Lord; the other is that there is room enough at the table for every believer on the face of the earth. I am not going into that side of it, but I
am showing you that the very youngest believer is introduced at the very first moment into the great characteristic of the whole assembly on earth. He has two things to maintain, and in fact it is on either of these that all the variances have arisen between Christians. Either they are too lax about what suits the Lord, or they are too narrow as to receiving all that belong to the Lord; and so there are what we call denominations; and that is not His assembly. There are two things: one, it is the Lord's table, and the Lord is there, and the other, as the apostle says (1 Corinthians 5), when you are gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, then you must remove from among yourselves every one unsuited to the Lord's name. There is no other course when leaven is working; that is, when the conscience is overborne by sin.
I want you to understand, that everyone at the Lord's table is answerable for these two things.
On the one hand, that there must be nothing sanctioned which is unsuited to the Lord; on the other hand, We are one bread (one loaf), one body (verse 17). That is, every believer in Christ has a right to be there; you must acknowledge his right; he has a place at His table. These are the two things that mark the Lord's table: one, that there must be nothing that is unsuitable to the Lord, nothing that the Lord would not have there; you must consult Him about it; leaven defiles ourselves, but it is not ourselves only we have to think of, it is the Lord; while, on the other hand, and this introduces the body aspect of the assembly, every one who belongs to Him has a place at His table.
The moment you break bread you are committed to these two things: that nothing shall be there which will not suit the Lord; and that there is room there (it is not the Lord's table otherwise) for every one of His own over the whole earth. There are only two
ordinances, baptism and the Lord's supper, and it is extraordinary how very few can distinguish between them, though all admit that there is a difference. But what is the Lord's supper? It is not, as many hold, reviving to yourselves the work that Christ has done. The Lord's supper is remembering Him in His death when you are in the enjoyment of His presence; He is present as the glorified One. Saul of Tarsus for three days did neither eat nor drink, he was learning the depths of the cross, and how that cross could free him from every charge in the presence of the glory of God. But having learned it, he came to the Lord's supper, to call to mind what that blessed One went through in order to put Him in His presence without a cloud. It is not myself I am thinking of there, I am remembering Him . This is the passover in the land, after you have got on divine territory. If you know that the Lord is before you (God grant that we may know it better) it is wonderful happiness, heaven is begun, there is not a shade between me and Him; I greet Him, His death is prominently before my mind. As a rule, at a bright meeting the Lord's supper is not postponed.
We call Him to mind, as typified by the passover in the land, and we do not get the old corn of the land until the day after the passover. The table then is the responsibility, and the responsibility is, I will go through this world in communion with His death. In fact, it is, if I may give an illustration, as if I were on the Canaan side of Jordan, and I desire to pursue the rest of my journey along the shore of Jordan as I walk on day by day; I look down into the river, and not only at the stones brought up out of it.
Having dwelt on our true state in the assembly, let us now dwell a little on what the Lord is to us in it. According to Hebrews 2:12 He is declaring the Father. "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the assembly will I praise thee". He
has, according to Psalm 22:1 - 21, removed everything that was against us, at the deepest cost to Himself. We are, in breaking of bread, calling to mind all He went through to place us in this unclouded bliss; but now we are listening to Him, happy in His presence, to His declaring the Father to us. Just as a sample, He uttered John 14, at the Supper table, so that we are privileged to expect great unfoldings of the Father in the assembly. As the Lord said, "Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee", for the assembly of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth; all the truth known is in the assembly. We now see that the assembly, as in the hands of man, is in ruins, yet each true heart has a zeal for His house, and knowing that "holiness becometh thy house, O LORD, for ever", he seeks that a corner at least of it should be fit for the Lord.
Let us turn to the second epistle to Timothy. That epistle is divided into two parts. The first two chapters are occupied with an ordinary state of things; the last two, with the difficult times.
The assembly must have fallen into great disorder when profane babblings are tolerated there (2 Timothy 2:17); "Their word will eat as doth a canker; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus". It is not leaven here, but a worse thing, gangrene. Now the Lord did not get His place in that assembly, that is evident enough. Well, now, in this great failure, what are we to do? We are not to stay where the Lord does not get His place. In verse 21 we read, "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour". Now this word 'purge' is only used twice in Scripture. It is used for purging out the unclean person in 1 Corinthians 5:7; and it is used here for purging out oneself. The assembly has come to such a condition they have tolerated vain babbling there, and you must purge yourself, not from the doctrine only, but from the vessels. People are ready
enough to purge themselves from the doctrine, but where the trouble has occurred in many cases, is the endeavour to exonerate themselves because they were clear of the doctrine. To be clear of the doctrine is not sufficient; you are to purge yourselves from the vessels. You are to be vessels unto honour, and to follow "righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart". This indicates that there never would be a time when there would not be a purged people calling on the Lord. This was the divine counsel given to Timothy, to whom it was written when things were in order, "That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God", etc. One now might say, I have purged myself from the vessels to dishonour, where shall I go? If you depend on the Lord, He will show you that there are others besides you who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Isolation is never recommended. A person may have more light, but if he is faithful to Christ he will find that there are other exercised souls who would be glad to receive from him. The saints are all united together; there is one Spirit in the whole; I speak now of the unity of the Spirit, not of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And you will find that when the Lord is working and leading souls in a certain direction, He is working elsewhere in a like manner, and you will often be surprised at the expanse of the testimony, so that when there is an energy of grace here, you will find an energy of grace in America or the Antipodes.
I trust the Lord will lead your hearts truly to understand the august nature of Christ's assembly on the earth.
Colossians 2:1 - 10
The subject I desire to bring before you this evening is the mystery -- Christ the head of the body. Those who were present on the last evening will remember it was the assembly in its house aspect, as a vessel of testimony here on the earth. As I said then, they conjoin. What one has to look at now is the assembly as the body of Christ.
In the previous chapter, you will find how the apostle distinguishes the ministry of the assembly from the ministry of the gospel. He says in verse 23, "If Ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister" -- that is, he was a minister of the gospel -"who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church; whereof I am made a minister". It was not that the Colossians had not heard of this second ministry, but they were not in the power of it. They had the ministry of the gospel, and very interesting they seemed to be from the way the apostle writes to them in the early part of the first chapter. "Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints". Now they had the ministry of the gospel, and they were exemplary too -- "faith in Christ Jesus, and love to all the saints".
I desire to convey this, that they did understand the blessedness of the gospel; because what he prays for them is that they might know that they were saved for heaven; and that was part of the gospel, that was not part of the mystery. We are saved for heaven,
not for earth; in one sense God could not save a people for earth now. How could He save a people for earth where His Son was rejected? He saves them for heaven. "Faith in the Lord Jesus", or "faith in Christ Jesus", gives us a very different idea from faith in God. And I think many are defective in this. They have not entered into the right understanding of the gospel, if it could not be said of them, "Faith in Christ Jesus, and love to all the saints". That is not the mystery; it is the gospel. It is not that they did not hear of the mystery; just as in Romans, the mystery is not spoken of till the last three verses; but the mystery is a distinct doctrine, though it is not easy to point where the gospel ends and the mystery begins. And I am confirmed in this by another, who says that you could not really understand the gospel ministry aright if you did not understand the ministry of the assembly. Still, there are two ministries; that is all I want now to make clear.
Those who knew the ministry of the gospel, the apostle tells, in this chapter I have read, that he would they knew what great conflict he had for them. Now a man would not have a great conflict if there was not a great opposition; and you remember the apostle was in prison; it was not fighting with flesh and blood at any rate. He said, "I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh". What for? That they might know the mystery; that they might be in the enjoyment of the mystery. But what were they in danger of? They were in danger of being carried away -- and he introduces this truth to preserve them from the danger -- that when a man gets clear in the gospel, and that he is settled and sure for heaven, that then, as it was with the Colossians, he tries to make the flesh religious. It is hard to explain, but I will try to explain it to you. It is to try to make the flesh an actual
contributor to the Christian. For instance, I get such a term as this, which is common -- "a Christian man". Now what does that mean? Why do you bring in the man? Why do you not say a Christian? I say, no; you want to bring in something; you are going to give the flesh a place; and the flesh, as it were, craves to get a religious place. It came out very early in the church; it was a compound of mind and body; and therefore, in the present day, it is rationalism and ritualism; it is a combination which gives the flesh a place.
I press it with great earnestness upon you, that nothing will ever preserve you from this intrusion of the flesh, but the mystery. You will never get out of what you may call religiousness in the flesh, but by the mystery; that is the only truth to do it. And we do not look enough at truth; we do not value it enough. I think every truth has what I may call a speciality; that is, it has a power to supplant its contrary. I may state that the Lord in His miracles here never cured two maladies in the same way; He had a different way of dealing with everything. A person says sometimes, "That truth is not necessary". That is all you know about it. It is not necessary until you require it; but then every truth is necessary. Now nothing but the mystery can prevent religiousness. You may find a person very happy in the gospel, who perhaps will sing excitedly. I say, What is that? That is the flesh. That is religious flesh. You may find a man very clear in the gospel preaching a very eloquent sermon. I want to know what that is. Oh, he is naturally eloquent! But the more you are really in divine things, the less ability you have to express them. As someone has said, the more we deal with divine things, the less we make of ourselves. I know very well how often I have wished that I were eloquent, when I had a vista of a divine beauty before my soul. Well, I should have spoilt it if I had brought human
eloquence into it. And therefore, the more advanced Paul was, the less able was he to communicate, because the power must be of God. He was crippled on purpose that the power might be of God, and he had the immense comfort in his heart. Well, I did not express that very well, but, thank God, I expressed it by the power of God, and it did good to souls, though I got no credit for it. And a man of God is happy in the fact that he is serving a soul, and has pleased the Lord.
I think it is an important thing for the soul to understand this, because I do not think the mystery is sufficiently valued. How rarely can it be said of one, he understands the mystery! The ministry of the gospel is appreciated -- thank God, it is. But it is the ministry of the gospel. As I have heard a person before now say, Preach justification by faith, and you will be heard; but preach the body of Christ, and see how few will listen to you. Why? Because they do not understand the immense blessedness connected with this truth. Here the apostle writes, "I would ye knew what great conflict I have for you". That shows he had great opposition. And there is great opposition to it now; and I trust you will see plainly presently why there is such great opposition to the ministry of the church.
Let me try to explain this about the intrusion of the flesh a little better. You see there are three great intrusions of the flesh; two of them are referred to in connection with the gospel, and one in connection with the assembly. There is the intrusion in the Corinthians, which is self-indulgence. There they were so full of their own intellectuality, their wisdom ruined them: they said, We can do as we will, we will reign as kings, we are saved, and we have great gifts. Therefore the Lord's supper was brought in to correct them. You, self-indulgent man, do you know how you got all your blessing? By the death of Christ.
And are you going to indulge the man for whom Christ died? That is what you get in Corinthians; and therefore, "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say". How can you have communion with Christ's death, and allow the man for whom Christ died? Impossible. The sense in my soul is that Christ died for me, and I am thinking of His death, and I am without a shade before Him, it is not only that His death cleared me, but He bore the judgement for me -- then how can I minister to that man? Not I; I cannot minister to him. That is Corinthian. Therefore the apostle tells us practically, that he was always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus.
Now with the Galatians is the other snare. They were led away by legalism; "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" That is what you very often get with conscientious people; they are trying to improve themselves, and they put themselves under restriction; that is legalism.
Now the Colossians is neither one nor the other. Very likely a Colossian would say to you, I know that man is not to be indulged -- because in Colossians we are looked at as risen with Christ. And hence the very same word is used in Colossians 2 as in Romans, "Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world". The doctrine that you have in Romans is only enlarged. In Romans it is, "If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him". Here it goes a step further, "If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world". It is not only I am clear of the man, as in Romans, because I am dead with Christ, and therefore "he that is dead is freed from sin"; but here I am clear of where the man is, "the rudiments of the world"; you cannot get lower than rudiments. I am dead with Him, and as some have said, you have a complete deliverance. I do not know whether practically you have a complete deliverance till you are sensibly
over Jordan. Still, I have no doubt that when a man rejoices in the fact, I am dead with Christ, and in His life I am free from the old man here, that soul is very near enjoying the fact, I am dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world; I am not only free from the man that was under judgement in the death of Christ, having died with Christ, but I am free from where the man is.
Still, I think if you look at it now, you will find that what is brought in here is both mind and body. "This, I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words". But then you see in the end of the chapter there was restriction, "Touch not; taste not; handle not". You do not restrict a thing that is not there. The moment I restrict it, I admit it is there. Hence the apostle opens out in chapter 3, "If Ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above". You are entirely upon a new course; in that sense old things are passed away, and all are become new, and all are of God.
May the Lord open it to your own hearts better. I do not believe anyone can ever learn a thing by listening to it; I must be exercised about it, and thus I learn the value of it. I make it a rule to myself that I never attempt to expound a truth that I have not weighed how much I know of it myself. It is only then I have really learnt it. I have often heard things that I could not make much of; but when I have learnt them I have proved them for myself. That is deriving; there is a great difference between copying and deriving. Deriving is making it your own, and, as one has said, He that speaks from the conscience speaks to the conscience.
I turn now to explain the mystery. Look at Matthew 22:44, "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool". It is consequent on the rejection of the Lord that He first intimated about the assembly.
"I will build my church", as you get it in Matthew 16. But that was not the mystery; though of course what is Christ's building is of the body. But it was not until Christ was completely rejected that there could be a disclosure of the great secret of God, that is, that He had a body for His Son on this earth. I must guard what I am stating; because that wonderful thing had been kept secret from the foundation of the world. I think we are not enough affected by it; I wish my heart were more affected by it. That wonderful disclosure has been made, that Christ, when He was completely rejected by Jew and Gentile, not by one only, but by both Jew and Gentile, was called to sit down at God's right hand. That is why I turn to this first. God says to Him, Sit down at My right hand. Now a wonderful thing is connected with this point, as I have already intimated to you. When God's Son has been rejected from this place, this place could not be a place for God's people. If the brightest, the greatest, and the best could get no place here, it is no place for the weakest. Nothing can be plainer to anyone. Christendom has got out of the difficulty by refusing to admit that the Gentiles have rejected Christ. Well, they show simple ignorance of Scripture, because it was the Gentiles who actually did the deed, the Roman governor and his soldiers. I need not go into it. I am addressing those who have no question that Christ has been rejected from this world. Thus we read in John 15, "Now they have no cloke for their sin". The first sin of man was turning from God in the garden of Eden. The completeness of sin -- there is no cloke for it -- was when Christ came into this world, and "men loved darkness rather than light". The Lord says, "they have both seen and hated both me and my Father"; and the world is now under judgement. You may say, I do not see the judgement. If I am not sailing through this world under the shelter of Christ's
death, as Noah in the ark, I am under the judgement. I need to be saved now going through the world; it is as much under judgement now as to God's sentence, as when the waters were over it. "Now is the judgement of this world", said the Lord.
Now, Christ is called up to this new place; then where will His own be? This is the problem in Christianity. A problem is something that is to be solved. How can you have both the earth and Christ? You cannot; heaven is the hope of the gospel; you are saved for heaven, not for earth. But I am on the earth. True; but then the problem is, how can I be on the earth where He is not, and how can I reach Him in heaven? That is the problem; and if you do not understand the mystery, you will never solve it.
Now it is definitely stated that Christ is called away from this world, and called to God's right hand. Now if we turn to Acts 7:55, we shall see what comes out in connection with that. Here in the rejection of Stephen is the consummation of His rejection. You see He was rejected first by Jew and Gentile, and then after He went up, He was rejected when in glory. As has often been said, they sent a message after Him, "We will not have this man to reign over us". He is now not only refused in humiliation, but refused in glory; Stephen says, "As your fathers did, so do ye". Then the Holy Spirit opens out the new order of things, "He, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God". That is where He is; that is the centre of the new order. It is not Jerusalem any longer; Jerusalem is over, the new centre is the right hand of God. Look at all the places where "the right hand" occurs, and I am sure you will be edified, much will open out to you about the new centre. Hence it says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God". All here is over, and that is the new centre.
There was no disclosure of the mystery then; the disclosure to Stephen, which is also true of us (God grant our hearts may know it better), is that in the power of divine life he is outside all, and he sees his Saviour in the place where his Saviour is. There is nothing said about union; he is united, but that is not the point; the secret is not divulged. The proof that Stephen was by the Spirit led up into heaven, is that he comes back into this scene in the power of Christ, and is superior to it all; he fulfils the type, crossing the Jordan. If I have power to rise out of all this scene, to rise to the things above where Christ is, I have His power in this scene. This is no sentimentality. Because, if you are really over Jordan, you have power over all the enemies here. Otherwise you are like a bird with a wounded wing, you would like to fly but you have not the power. "Hereby shall ye know the living God is among you". The power that carries me right over and right up to association with my Saviour up there, is the same power that places me in superiority to all the combined forces of evil down here. That is the practical manifestation of the power. Hence Stephen returns to confront the whole array and force of evil here, and overcomes evil with good. That proves he was over Jordan; and if I am dead with Christ I am over, I am outside of the power of death, and I prove it in detail every day by overcoming evil with good.
Now I turn to Acts 9:4. "And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Now for the first time is the secret disclosed; it had been, hitherto, kept secret from the foundation of the world. But it comes out now at the proper time. It could not have been divulged any sooner. Christ was not finally rejected until now. He was here in humiliation, going about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him, and Satan worked upon man, so that man refused Him a place here; His own would not have Him, cast Him out, and when He had gone to heaven they refused the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the person of Stephen. What then is the secret? The secret is that His body is on the earth; and if His body is not on the earth, there is no other way whatever of solving the problem that we who are His own can be where He is not, and that we can have association with Him in the place where He is. Cavillers say, How can you rise up to heaven until you die? Well, if I am an individual only that would be true, but I am not merely an individual, I am a member of the body of Christ; and a member of the body of Christ united to Him has a title to be where He is. I am not going further in this subject now. Still it is of immense importance, because if you think of it for a moment, you will see that where He was refused, there His body is. Think what a disclosure it is; how little the heart bows to it; you can imagine how Satan was defeated; why, nothing has ever exasperated Satan like it. Look round you, and see how this enmity works. Look at Romanism. Romanism holds that the church is one great whole, but it deprives Christ of His place, and places a man at the head of it, and thus necessarily sets aside the Holy Spirit. They hold, in a way, the unity of the body. Now Romanism sets forth independency, which is the characteristic of every decline in the church. I believe, that no matter what the form of trouble, the first evidence of decline in the church is independency. That is, acting without Christ.
But I trust your heart will lay hold of the simple fact that He is the Head, and that His body is here. It will have a great effect upon you. I sometimes think to myself what a beautiful service the woman in Luke 7 had; she actually anointed the Lord's feet. Would
not you like to have done that? Certainly. But as great an opportunity is open to you. Each Christian is a bit of Christ, and you can minister to Christians. And it is not to the showy one only, but to any one; "more abundant honour to that part which lacked". It has an immense effect on the heart to realise that Christ's body is here, a wonderful impetus to service. As has been said, you cannot separate the body from the Head. It is not a question of equality, but similarity; the same life, the same nature, and the one Spirit.
Now I turn to Ephesians 5:29, "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ the assembly". The assembly therefore is His own flesh. "For we are members of his body". It is a great thing to get the idea of it in one's heart. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the assembly". You all remember that with a rib which the Lord God had taken from Adam He made a woman, and Adam said, "She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man"; or, rather, "She shall be called Isha", which was the Hebrew word for woman, "because she was taken out of Ish", the Hebrew for man. There you get, as far as types go, the most comprehensive one of the mystery of the assembly, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the assembly".
First I get in Hebrews that we are His companions; we are all of one, the same life, the same nature, His brethren, sons of Aaron. Well, I might be a very small brother, but still I am a companion of Christ. I want you to understand that it is not union which acquires this companionship; this is what grace has made me. This is set forth in Ephesians 1, where I get the greatness of the individual saint before it is
declared that he is a member of the body of Christ. And this is very important, because it is not union which has given me my qualification or fitness to be with Christ, I had the fitness and qualification before by grace; and union binds together those who are fit to be together. I say this, because I want to disabuse your minds of the idea that it is union which makes us fit. For instance, Rebekah going to be united to Isaac, is a type. She is related to Isaac, going to be united to him. She does not get any advance as to birth or as to nature by marrying Isaac; she does as to distinction; but she is of the same family, the same stock; and that is the argument in the Hebrews. "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren". And that is the argument of Ephesians 1, that we are really fit to be united to Christ. As you get in the figure, "She was taken out of man"; and "They twain shall be one flesh". Union was declared after the fitness for companionship was assured; otherwise it would be that union makes us companions for Christ. You were fit to be companions first, and as such you are united to Him.
Now there are two points more, and I turn back to the Colossians. You say, How does all this work? I only quote one passage, "Ye are complete in him". How can I go any higher if I am complete in Him? Hence it says in chapter 3, Christ is everything; "Christ is all and in all". Now the point is that I derive all from Christ. I am entirely of the same order; I belong to Him, a member of His body; and it is as a member of His body that I can now reach -- or rather enjoy -- the place where He is. That is His place, He is called to the right hand of God, and I can enjoy Him there as a member of His body; I enter into it individually, but I have not an individual right, but a corporate right.
Now I turn to Ephesians 1:19, to show how this position is entirely outside the flesh; and that everything is of Christ. And it is not a question of acquiring any help from science or the natural mind, or bringing in anything; as I am complete in Christ, man's mind or body cannot add to me. In Colossians I am learning the Head; but I get the Christ, the whole structure, before me in Ephesians. I may see the truth of it as it is in Ephesians, and I may accept it; it is beautiful to look at it. Christ's body here on earth, and all the gifts given, "until we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man". Every one of us? Yes. "Be no longer babes; tossed to and fro". Hence in chapter 2, verse 6, we are all raised up together. Oh, someone might say, I did not know that till long after I was converted! Yes, but that was true when you were born of God though you found it out long afterwards. It is like a feather of a bird's wing; it was in the bird first, and it has come out now, and you are it; thank God you are it.
What I want you to understand is this. You see we are not united to Christ in humiliation. We are united to the exalted Man; but members of that exalted Man we are here on earth; we are properly heavenly men to exhibit Him according to the measure of His grace to us; every one of us is called to be an expression of the heavenly, exalted Man here, where He was the rejected Man. How could anything exasperate Satan more than that? Satan would not have Him in humiliation, when the smoking flax He would not quench, and the bruised reed He would not break. Now He is the exalted Man over everything, and we are united to that blessed Man, members of His body, and we are to be the expression on this earth, not only of the humbled Man, but of the exalted Man where He was the rejected Man. That is what the church is. And therefore the whole effort
of Satan is against such a thing; and therefore all the practice that you get in Ephesians is of a heavenly character; you could not do any of it, even the least, but in heavenly power.
It is the most marvellous thing that Christ's body should be on the earth; God's great object now on earth is the bride for His Son. The assembly which is His body is in the very place from which He was rejected. I do not believe there is a member wanting to that body; I do not see that they are compacted together; but I believe that His body is here. I admit that it is disorganised, because the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is not kept. But is that a reason for giving it up? Do you believe that this wonderful thing is here? Yes, thank God. In God's eye, not one member wanting? Yes. You play into the hands of Satan, if you give it up or deny it. That has been his great effort since Christ's ascension. I say, Christ's body is here. And because I am a member of that body, I can, by the Holy Spirit, associate with Him in the place where He is. I am not there yet; but as a member of His body I know the power of Christ. I enter this association. The Lord grant we may know it, and understand what a wonderful position it is. I should be found here descriptive of the exalted Man in the very spot where He was the rejected Man. We are called to a marvellous position. The Lord grant that each of our hearts may acknowledge it, however little we know of it practically; but it is ours, and we are not going to stop short at anything less. And what does it produce in us? More earnest looking to the Lord to lead our hearts into full devotedness to Himself, that we may lay aside every hindrance, and be found more thoroughly expressive of what we are called to, here on the earth, for His name's sake.
Leviticus 8:18 - 28; 2 Corinthians 3:18
We have seen, on a former occasion, that we have the right of entrance into the holiest of all. That is, the ground of approach to God is so sure, that we can say, His presence is ever near; as prefigured in the fact of the tabernacle being a travelling companion, as we might say, of Israel through the wilderness. It is now, through the efficacy of Christ's work, that we can say His presence is with us, though we are still travelling to heaven.
We have looked at the fact of the assembly on the earth, and we have looked at the assembly as the body of Christ -- our wonderful relationship to Him; and I think that it would be fit to conclude with this subject -- What do we enjoy, what is the nature of our position in the presence of God? This I will call consecration and worship. Consecration is properly completion, that is the right meaning of the word; we are filled; it is like saying, "Ye are complete in Him".
In a subject like this, one cannot expatiate much, but I think one can point out what we ought to understand. If I may use such a figure, I can open a door for you to look in, and you can see what you are.
I have read about the two rams. Now if you do not understand the first ram, you will never under- stand the second one. The first ram is the burnt-offering; it is gone up whole. Mind you, that is not the sin-offering. The sin-offering establishes a basis, by virtue of what Christ has done, that God can receive you in His presence. The burnt-offering goes farther, because it shows me not only that He can receive me, but the nature of my reception; a very important point. A person might be received in a very grand
place, but he might be received there only formally and not cordially. It is not merely that I have the right of entrance to a place, but the nature of my reception there. That is what the burnt-offering shows. Hence there were the two rams, and in one sense one ram was the duplicate of the other. The one ram as the burnt-offering went up whole. The blessed Lord who glorified God in death is gone up into the presence of God; He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and as it says, "the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified"; not crucified, but glorified. The Holy Spirit comes down to tell us that a Man on this earth has so glorified God that He is raised up into glory, and not only raised into glory, but all glory rests upon that blessed Person now. In the sin-offering the blood was taken into the presence of the majesty of God and sprinkled on the mercy-seat, and seven times before it, and thus a basis was made for God to receive us there, so that He could "be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus". Hence the veil was rent the moment Christ died. But then there is another thing. The same blessed Person so glorified God under the weight of judgement that He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and hence you find that is what the burnt-offering is; He is crowned with glory and honour. The priest never had any of the burnt-offering; it all went up to God, it was burnt whole. Next we enjoy what Christ as the burnt-offering is; to us, in a word, the nature of our acceptance. As it is said, "Accepted in the beloved". It is not the question therefore that I have the right to enter, that is not what I am upon, but how I am there. We may call it our acceptance, but that would not be sufficient, because it is not only our acceptance, but I wish to bring before you what you gain there; I do not know how to express it; it takes in not only what you are, and what you enjoy, but what you do.
I cannot leave out worship, I cannot leave out enjoyment, I cannot leave out progress.
Now look at the other ram, that is the consecration ram. Look at the two rams; one ram typifies Christ glorifying God and now gone up to Him, and the other ram is how He, the glorified One, is to you. That is its great point -- What is Christ to you? We are complete in Christ; I see what He is to God in the burnt-offering, but what am I? Hence you see, first the ram for the burnt-offering was brought, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on it, and it was killed, and the blood sprinkled on the altar, and the whole ram burnt. Then the other ram was brought, and Moses took of the blood of it (and now we are all under the virtue of the blood); it was put on the ear, the hand, and the foot, and all in connection with the high priest, for we enter the holy place as his house. But that was not all. Then come the fat and the inwards, etc., typifying the pure perfect motives of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus I come into the presence of God in the sense of the fragrance of Christ. The prodigal had the best robe on; invested with the beauty of Christ which has come out from heaven. Thus I am brought into correspondence with a greater One who is inside. I mean correspondence with Christ, the burnt-offering, now glorified. Of course, we do not come up to the greatness of what He is, but I am brought into correspondence with that blessed, glorified One. I have nothing of myself, I am filled with what He is to God. The idea of consecration is rarely apprehended; some talk of giving up themselves to the Lord. In presenting my body as a living sacrifice I am only yielding that to which the Lord has the right; for it necessarily follows, that if Christ has freed me from the old master, the flesh, He has the right to the body now.
The consecration takes place when their hands are filled. The varied types of Christ in His life and
ways, were put upon Aaron's hands and his son's hands, and waved as a wave-offering, and then all was burnt for a sweet savour unto the Lord. I want you to have a true sense of the way in which the priestly company went into the holy places. At that time they only went into the holy place, but of course now when the veil is rent, there is full approach to God. We approach in all the fragrance of the One who has glorified God, we are in the presence of the glorified One; He was the burnt-offering, and has gone up into glory, and we come in, in correspondence with Him; we go in, not by any virtue, or anything of our own, but in all the blessed fragrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the type.
Now we turn to the New Testament, and get it all plainer, surely. Still, I trust the sense is awakened in your soul, by the beauty of the type, of the wonderful nature of our entrance into the true tabernacle. Well, you know that Christ has gone up into the presence of God, raised up and glorified; and you know that you can enter in to be assimilated to Him there. You come in, in the fragrance of Jesus in the glory of God.
Now in 2 Corinthians 3, the point of the argument is, that if that which was done away was glorious, how much more glorious is that which remains; that if the ministration of condemnation was glorious, how much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. What we find is that now that our blessed Lord has been received up into glory, it is not a demand for righteousness, but the very opposite, there is a ministration of righteousness; the greatest moral revolution ever known. Now we behold the Lord's glory, His face is unveiled. You are looking at a Person in glory; we have looked at the type, now look at the reality. You are looking at the Lord's glory. I hear people sometimes say, I am looking at the Lord. I say you have left out a word; it is looking at the Lord's glory. Why do I make such a
point of looking at the Lord's glory? Because the glory is the expression of the divine satisfaction in the One who has accomplished everything according to the glory of God. What is the glory of God? When God said to Moses, I will show you the back parts, He could not show him the glory fully, because it was not fully come out. It was not yet the ministration of righteousness, and love could not come out without righteousness. The glory could not be displayed all round; it was not equipoised. The Lord Jesus Christ, He, as man, glorified God. Glory can be displayed! Hence the apostle says in the next chapter, that which could not have been said before -- mark the expression: "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". But glory is the expression of the Father's satisfaction according to all His attributes; and that never could have come out till now, and it now rests on the glorified Man. The Holy Spirit has come down from that glorified One. Ezekiel in a vision saw a man in the glory (Ezekiel 1:26), but it is not only a man in the glory, it is that the glory rests upon a Man. As it is in another place, He is crowned with glory and honour. He has glorified God in the very place of judgement upon man; as Man He so glorified God that the glory of the Father claimed Him. It was not only glory saluting Him as in the mount of Transfiguration, but the glory claimed Him. I am looking at the Lord's glory; I am looking at the One who has established everything according to the nature of God; His righteousness, His truth, His love, His majesty, His honour, everything is there consistently. That is the Lord's glory; and I am looking at it.
Next I learn the effect. Beholding the Lord's glory, we are transformed; it is the strongest word used in the language, it is stronger than changed, it is 'metamorphosed'; you are changed morally into another being altogether, "into the same image".
You become assimilated; "from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord"; or as our hymn has expressed it -
It is not only that I can reach this bright place, it is not only that I can enter into, but am actually made to correspond with the condition suited to it. The state of holiness is an inseparable condition for entering the holiest, but assimilation to the glory is the condition acquired within (we are not come to position yet, we have only to do with condition), but instead of being a stranger in this place, on the contrary I find that the more I behold the Lord's glory -- mind, it is not a question of place, but of condition -- I am "transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord". I hope we know something about it; but if the Psalmist could say, When I went into the Sanctuary I was completely altered as to my judgement of things, how much more should you and I be altered! I am not speaking now of enjoyment; I am insisting on what really belongs to us. If I were a solicitor, and telling a man of a fortune to which he was entitled, he would be arrested. I am now telling you of your title to a much greater thing than an earthly fortune. I am trying to make it clear to you, that glory is your property.
One may not understand how he could be transformed. If you were beholding the Lord's glory, you would understand it. But I will give you an example, Paul prayed three times for the removal of a thorn; and he was a very spiritual man. He was trying to get rid of this thorn but at length he found out that it was better to take pleasure in it. He was a wonderfully changed man; and how did it happen? By
being in the Lord's presence Paul was brought right round to the Lord's mind. I do not say it was wrong to try and get rid of his thorn, but he was so utterly changed as to it, that he takes pleasure in it; you cannot have greater transformation than that.
I may give you another example. We are told to make known all our requests unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep our hearts and minds. That is the experience of a heavenly man. The effect, an effect that passeth all understanding, of being in the presence of God. I want to press upon you this passage, "Beholding the Lord's glory". It will afford wonderful delight to your heart -- you will see every attribute of God's nature established in that blessed Person; the effect upon me of beholding, will be to be transformed into the same image. Could anything be more exquisite than that? Because it is not merely that I have reached the highest place, but I am actually made to correspond with the highest moral beauty there. Now if you understand that sentence you understand everything. The greatest potentate on the earth might receive me into his presence, and might treat me with the greatest friendship, but he could not transform me, he could not make me correspond with himself. But here is the most wonderful thing, I am changed, transformed into the same image. No wonder Paul said, "To God, I am beside myself". It is not now merely what you get with the Psalmist, that all your preconceived notions are reversed, but that you yourself are changed -- you are being assimilated to the glory.
I turn to a passage that is familiar to us, Luke 15:22, to make this plainer. "The father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet". We are made meet to enter; we have a new nature, Christ's nature, and in His Spirit we come into a new place, and are actually fit for this place. Once
a prodigal, I am now fit to be in the Father's house; I am not merely fit to be in, but it has an effect on me:
When you are acting from God's presence it is always God who is before you, and not man. A wonderful mark of a spiritual man in every matter. See the difference between Moses and Joshua in Numbers 11:28, 29. "And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them?" You cannot judge of a thing as it relates to God, unless He is prominently before you. We often speak of going to God; it is quite right, I need not say; but the true power for acting is coming from Him. Our blessed Lord always came from God.
Well next, when in spirit in the holy place, what occupies us? It is a scene of unbounded joy. It is consequent on eating of the fatted calf that the Father's delight is known to the heart. I want to know, Do you believe that you are entitled to this festivity, that it is a part of your property? I am presenting to you your property, I want every one in this room to say, Thank God that is my property, though I have not rightly enjoyed it yet, yet it is my property; and I not only enter, but I come in suitably, according to the beauty of Christ. I am accepted in the Beloved.
The next point is -- I have already alluded to it -- "To God I am beside myself". It is a sure mark that I am in the presence of the Lord, when I am so absorbed by Him that I have lost sight of everything but Himself. Would to God we all knew it better. I will give you an illustration of what I mean. In 1 Kings 10:4, 5, "When the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he
had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her". That, I believe, illustrates what Paul said, "To God I am beside myself"; as you would say of a man, he is beside himself, he is in an ecstasy. I do not object to ecstasy, I would we knew more of it. Here is an interesting illustration of it, in the queen of Sheba. She was a very great person, had plenty of natural means and the like, and yet she is absorbed with the things belonging to Solomon . See how often she uses the word 'his'; it was all that belonged to him . I believe you get the antitype of this in John 16, "He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine, and shall show unto you; all things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show unto you". Did you ever look for those things? Did you ever lose an hour's rest looking for them? Do you think you will pick them up from books, or by listening to me? Not you. "Exalt her [wisdom], and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace her"; that is, when you really seek Christ as for hidden treasure.
Next I turn to 1 Corinthians 2:9, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him". Is that all you know? "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God". I ask you, and I think I am entitled to ask you, Have you really seen these things? In Isaiah's time they were not revealed; now the doors are thrown open. Have you come to Solomon? And I very often say, when I see a saint clinging to the things of this world -- You have not seen Solomon; I do not say that you have not seen the Jonah side of
Christ, but you have not seen the Solomon side; Jonah is the sufferings and Solomon is the glory; and you are as much entitled to the Solomon side as you are to the Jonah side. It says in Colossians 3:1, "Seek those things which are above". That is your place, and it is not only that you would like to be there, but your Father would like you to come in and have fellowship with Him there.
Well, beloved friends, there is only one thing more. It is not only how I get in, and what I am, and how I am there, and what I enjoy there, but now, what am I to God? Now I turn to Ephesians 3:14 - 21, "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 according to the riches of his glory, 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 unto all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the assembly by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen". There you get the completion of the thing. Therefore it is always, by the assembly, the glory of God.
Now we have reached the place. We are in the condition of holiness, and we are in the condition of glory, now we come to position. You never can enjoy the position unless you are in a condition for it. It is not the question of having a right to that position, but you cannot enjoy the position without being in the condition suited to it. You are in holiness, which is inseparable from God -- you have a right to enter the holiest of all; it is not a question of sin at all, it
is holiness, a very great contrast; holiness before God, and not sin. You are in there too with the One who not only died to effect this entrance for you, but as the burnt-offering, the Man who glorified God in death, so that God Himself delights in that Man, His own blessed Son, who has established everything as Man according to God's nature and attributes; that blessed Person is your Saviour; and instead of shrinking from the glory as you naturally would, you are transformed into the same image. And therefore you are in a condition now to occupy the greatest position. Hence the prayer, "That you may be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man, that the Christ [not Christ only, but the Christ] may dwell in your hearts by faith" -- there you have the whole scope of Christ's interests before you. Well, how small this poor world would be, if you spent a little more of your time there -- "That the Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being settled and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints" -- not one left out, how could you see the extent of it if you were not there? How could Abraham walk through the length and breadth of the land if he was not in the land? -- "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height".
Now, beloved friends, will not you believe that I am showing you your property, and is it not your heart's delight to know it? "And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled unto all the fulness of God". I feel myself, when I am reading this passage and trying to explain it, how little I know of it, but still I see it, and I want my heart to enter more into it.
Now we worship. "Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, to him be glory in the assembly by Christ Jesus" -- all
by Christ Jesus. I think it is unspeakable delight to dwell on the fact, that I am in the presence of the Father, to worship Him, "for the Father seeketh such to worship him". I am lost in adoration at the wonderful nature of the grace that has brought me into a scene of such unbounded blessing. And what next? You are fit to come forth, and on this earth to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; and you are never fit otherwise; and I do not believe that you could do it, or even keep a single precept in the Ephesians, unless you come from the presence of God in the sense of the power that worketh in you, not working towards you now, but "the power that works in you". And what then? "To him be glory in the assembly by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end". What a wonderfully blessed thing, that the assembly will be ever the instrument, ever the channel of setting forth the glory of God; and hence when she comes down as a bride adorned for her husband, the very first sight that you get of her is, "Having the glory of God". The Lord give us grace to be more according to His glory here.
"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God", 1 Peter 3:18.
I desire, beloved friends, to bring before you in these lectures, if the Lord permit, what has been brought out by our Lord Jesus Christ. I begin with His death and resurrection. Every believer has some idea of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and when there is some advance in piety they look for His coming again; but there is very little knowledge of what comes in between the two. I desire to bring before you what He has brought out -- THE TRUTH in its parts.
This evening I confine myself to the fact that He was on earth, and what He did here. That He died and rose again is a familiar subject, but the more you ponder it, the more you find that it will bear pondering, and the more wonderful will it become to you.
We have types and illustrations of it. We have all heard of the creation of this earth in Genesis 1, of what took place on the first three days, and the great event of the fourth day, when the sun rose on this earth!
God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. What a change! what a wonderful change it made upon the material earth when the sun rose upon it; but, great as that was, it bears no resemblance to the magnitude of the fact, the amazing fact -- and I want to press this -- that God's Son has been here on this earth.
The sun shone; it was a great fact, and everything on the earth was necessarily affected by it. You can conceive what an immense difference there was between the first three days and the fourth when the sun rose
in his splendour; but immense as that difference was, it is small indeed and poor in the presence of the great fact that God's Son was here in this world. "The dayspring from on high hath visited us". God was manifested in flesh. One wonders how one can walk about the earth and forget even for a moment this stupendous fact. You can understand the apostle, as he breaks forth to Timothy, "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh". That is the first thing, and I desire to press it on every heart. It is a very simple thing, but it is a very great thing; everything necessarily comes out in a new order. In the material creation everything in the first day is as nothing to what took place on the fourth day. Now the greatest has come to pass. GOD has been manifested in flesh. God's Son has been here.
I turn to John's gospel (chapter 1: 14): "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us". Well, beloved friends, I hardly like going from the subject, there are such momentous issues flowing from the fact that God's Son was on earth. "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law". You cannot conceive anything greater! He was the Creator. He made everything; all was good in the eye of God. He made man, the head of it all, in the image and likeness of God, the head of the creation and set in authority over the earth -- but that man let everything drop, he gave in to the enemy, and all was wrecked with him. What a thing for the Creator! The Creator was God's Son. Then God's Son, who made all, became a Man. The Creator had made man, placed him head over the earth, and he had failed; and He becomes a Man Himself. The first man yielded to the enemy, then came forth the promise that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, but only His heel should be bruised. I want you to get hold of the fact that man, the first creature of His hand on earth,
has failed; but that in the fulness of time God sent forth His Son made of a woman. In Scripture language, a passage you all understand, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty". That is now fulfilled. I would arrest you with the grand fact, that God's Son became a Man and dwelt among us. He was the Son of God, equal to the Father, and because the first man has failed He becomes a Man, and John says, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth". It is so great, yet so simple, I want the youngest in this room to get the light of it into his soul, that God's Son has become a Man.
The next thing is, He is the true light. In John 1 the first thing I get is, "The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man"; and a little lower down (verse 17) -- I will put them together -- "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ". You see I put grace and truth together. I am looking now at what He is . He is Light, and light is what I call the moral being of God. But more than that, He comes to declare God: "The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". Now He has not only come, but, having come, He does two things. He exposes what is not of God, and discloses what GOD is. Follow that, and see what a pathway it is! Read down the gospel narrative, and you will see how He exposes all -- all that was good in the eyes of man, religious, comely, amiable; and, on the other hand, He could say, "He that hath seen ME hath seen the Father". Does your soul take in the moral grandeur of such a course? Let us see how it works. In the early part of John you find that the first great thing He did was to set forth what God is. He tells us, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"; but I do not go into that now.
I turn to His pathway here. Look at the Lord in His way with the woman of Samaria; this blessed One talking to a poor sinner! What does He offer her? "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life". When? Hereafter? No; now, here, and for ever. Magnificent! A poor, wretched, abandoned creature she was; but not a word at first about what a sinner she was, but what God is; He first shows what the giving God is, and the new condition He could set her up in, there in Samaria. She only looked at it naturally, thought only that He spoke of spring water. But He is light too: He turns to her conscience, and says, "Go, call thy husband"; and this exposes to her what a sinner she was. A little later she goes to the men of the city and says. "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did". She talks only of the light; this prepares for the love. He "told me all things that ever I did". He does not want to expose, but He must. He is the light. He shows what the giving God is, and He begins with this; all contrary to the light must be removed; the love is the measure of what is conferred.
Now in chapter 8, beloved friends, a guilty sinner (there is no question as to her guilt) is brought into His presence. Up to chapter 8 it is the love side that is before us. Here and in chapter 9 it is more the light. A guilty person is brought before Him, and He says, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her". What happens? The Pharisees who had their reputation to maintain, being convicted by their own consciences, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. There was no one to point a finger at her. The light has exposed them. I cannot dwell on this part. But I want you to understand that the law, when it finds you out, condemns you; the law exposes to condemn; the Lord
exposes to relieve. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He shows not only what man is, but what God is; hence you find to the woman who did not go out He turns and says, "Hath no man condemned thee? ... No man, Lord.... Neither do I condemn thee". Is it that He glosses over sin? No; not at all! But the most wonderful thing comes out, no human tongue can describe it. He comes to expose everything, but He comes to relieve. He exposes down to the very bottom of the heart, but takes away for the believer everything that is exposed. That is what you get in John 1, where His character is portrayed: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world". But if any one does not believe in Him, the wrath of God abides on him -- that does not mean that it comes on him, but that it remains on him, it has never been off; while for the believer all is exposed and all is removed.
I trust, beloved friends, you have some apprehension of the walk of our blessed Lord here, how at the close He could say, "I have glorified thee on the earth". We now come to His death, He is to die! This blessed One came for this. "For this cause came I unto this hour". "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit". Now let us see what He has effected by His death and resurrection. I know it is an elementary subject, but one very dear to us all, and the more we look into it, the more we shall see the amazing consequences that flow from His death and resurrection. We will turn to the Old Testament for types of His death. The first I turn to is Exodus 12:13: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you". The blood shelters from the judgement: that is the first thing that the guilty soul finds out, that he is sheltered from the judgement by the blood of Christ; mind you, we are talking of guilt now; the blood shelters from the Judge, it keeps the Judge out; but
there is no rest there. Very often this is a very interesting time with souls, because the soul is so in earnest; like the Israelites, in haste to get out of the place where the judgement was. With loins girt and shoes on their feet and staff in hand they ate the passover. There is evident haste, but no rest. To me, in this state they are very like a man in a life-boat: he is rescued, but still in the place where the danger is; he would like to get to shore: safe, but not clear of the power of the enemy, not clear of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. That is really where many a soul is today.
Turn to Exodus 14:26 - 28: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them". The power of the enemy is destroyed. "The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea ... there remained not so much as one of them". Now that is a very simple statement, but do you understand what that typified? Did any Israelite, even the youngest of that company, doubt? Did not every one of them know that they had crossed the Red Sea? that they had seen the enemy destroyed? that they were not only safe from judgement, but were delivered from the place where the judgement was? There is not a question about it. It puts the believers today to shame. The Israelites were not only sheltered from the Judge, not only had left the place of death, but were clear of the power of the enemy. They knew they had left the place of judgement, and that they had seen the power of the enemy destroyed.
Let us now turn to the New Testament, and look at the antitype, the reality of this. I know this is familiar ground, but the truth you know best is the truth that will yield you most: I turn to Hebrews 2:14, 15: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage". He took part of the same that He might destroy him that had the power of death (destroy is the same word as abolish), that he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He not merely passed through death, but He bruised the head of the one who brought in death. The judgement of death had come upon man through the devil; therefore, as the scripture says, the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Where the power was, there the power should be annulled; not death in itself, but him that had the power of it. Hence the proof that He who did it was greater than the devil. As a man He mastered Satan -- the devil owned Him the Son of God. No one created on the earth could be delivered from the fear of death before Christ died and rose. Never! Not one -- it could not be. Death was the penalty of sin. We have gained immensely as to this; He has the keys of death and of Hades. The power of the enemy is broken; we have more than shelter, we have peace.
The first man had failed. The Son of God, the Man of God's pleasure, comes into the world, HE has suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. The gain is immense! Not only shelter, but peace; and I do press this very earnestly upon you, because there is a very imperfect idea of peace generally. Forgiveness in itself is not peace: peace is, that the foe is silenced, there is not
an enemy. "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ". Hence the Lord's first salutation to His disciples after He rose is, "Peace unto you". He had silenced every foe that was between God and you. "The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea ... they sank as lead in the mighty waters". I turn to Exodus 15. There you get the mark of a man in peace; the mark of a man who only knows the shelter of the blood is that he wants to get out of Egypt, out of the place where the judgement is. Like the man in the life-boat, he is eager to get to shore. The mark of a man in peace is the song, and he never sings till then, and in the song there are three parts. "I will sing, unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea"; that is the first part: "brought to God", as Peter expresses it. In verse 1 they sing this one simple fact , the complete overwhelming of the enemy. This is what Miriam sings -- I believe it was the chorus. Then in verse 2 you have another thing. I am on new ground; as God has given me peace, I must think of Him: "He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation". That is, I desire that God should be honoured in the place where He has given me peace. This is the second part of the song. Then in verse 17 you have the third: I am going to God's habitation: "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance". We were not only guilty, but lost, driven out from Paradise; and I do not believe any soul has ever true rest until he knows that he belongs to a new place. God's Son entered into death that He might destroy him that had the power of death. I ask you, do you believe that death is abolished ? I hope that many here will say, Well, I believe that He has abolished death , and I can say with the apostle. "O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". I press this; it is the lack in souls today; in all that company of Israel there was not one, not even a child, who did not know they had crossed the sea, that the Egyptian was gone, and the power of the enemy was broken; secondly, that God should be exalted; and thirdly, that they were going to God's place. There was not one that did not know it. In type, "brought to God".
Well, beloved friends, so far I have dwelt on Christ's death for us , and every believer has some idea of this; but there are two more types of His death. We have seen that we are brought to God; the song celebrates this. You may say then, Why do we want the other two? We want them in relation to ourselves, and this is where so many are hindered. All believers know something of Christ's death FOR US, but there is more, we must believe that we died with Him. If I only had to do with God's side of it, I need not go farther than the blood of the lamb, and the Red Sea. But there is sin in me, and I need more. This comes out in Romans 6, and in the type is set forth by the brazen serpent and Jordan. Exodus 12 answers to Romans 3, and Exodus 14 to the last part of Romans 4, that is Christ's death for you. But now you get to yourself, and this I must dwell a little upon. I read Romans 6:8: "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him". Now I am sure if you get hold of this truth you gain immensely. Many believers are puzzled to know what is to be done with sin in them. They often ask, What is the meaning of dying with Christ? They will gain immensely when they believe they have died with Christ. Only this week I had a letter from a stranger, asking how he was to be freed from the sin in him. Nothing tries the believer more than finding sin in him, and the more conscientious
he is, the more he is tried by it. There is no escape but through death. "He that is dead is freed from sin". Death is on you, therefore there is no relief but through death. Death clears us from the whole thing, there is an end of it; not our own death, but Christ's death; though if you were dead yourself you would be free, you would be out of it; but we who believe are dead with Him . And that is not all, there is the greatest gain connected with this, and that is, we have His life. "If we be dead, with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him". You have eternal life in Him, with whom you died. If you do not believe that you are dead with Him, it is plain you are not going on happily in life with Him.
Now I turn back to John 3:13, and you will see how it answers to the brazen serpent. "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven , even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life". Now mark, he does not go to the type of the blood on the lintel, or the Red Sea; they are Christ's death for us , and as your soul enters into that, you know there is no disturbing element; everything that was between God and you is gone; all that could disturb has been removed, and you know also that you have a place with God. You may say, Is not that enough? Yes; enough if there were no sin in you; but there is, and you must learn how you are freed from it, and this the brazen serpent teaches. The brazen serpent came at the end of the wilderness journey, it was on the border of the wilderness (Numbers 21); the well (answering to John 4:14) was geographically outside the wilderness. John introduces us into the new thing -- but he first shows us the brazen serpent, the condemnation of the first man. If I understand this new thing, I am like a bird let loose
from its cage, in freedom; I have got into liberty. Look at that verse in Romans 6:8. If I have died with Him, of course I shall live with Him if He is alive. It is so simple, a child can understand it; and baptism is the expression of death with Him. "Buried therefore with him by baptism unto death". Therefore "reckon yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus". Death only can set free from sin; this death cannot be in yourself, but you have found it in Christ.
Now I look at the type. The brazen serpent never did the mischief, none of it; but it was made in the likeness of what did all the mischief. Man was suffering from the bite of the serpent. The poison was in him. It was the devil, the old serpent, who did the mischief. But now what happened? The man that looked at the brazen serpent lived. That is the way John uses it. "Even so must the Son of man be lifted up". The Lord is introducing a new thing, the heavenly thing, but first the old is condemned, that man is gone in judgement. Sin is not forgiven; it is condemned. "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh". Sin in the flesh is gone in judgement in Christ's death, and I am alive in His life -- this is a fact. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death". Well now, I am coming to a point that I think will help you; I know how a believer often loses the effect of the truth by turning to his experience. He says, Oh, I do not feel dead. Does that make it not true that the believer is dead with Christ ? Are you going to have faith first, or feeling? which is it? An Israelite looked and he lived; he felt he was healed. You ask me, Do you always feel that you are dead? I say, No; because I do not always believe that I am dead with Christ; I cannot feel it unless I
believe it. It is faith first, and then feeling. It is a fact to faith. I go by the fact. I have died with Him, and the consequence of that is, I am alive with Him. I have no other life. What other could I have? It is so simple, the youngest believer can understand it. But I press in connection with this, that if you are not acting in the faith of this, you will get a bad conscience. You must keep your conscience up to your faith, then you have a good conscience. If you neglect a good conscience, you make shipwreck as to your faith. Suppose I lose my temper; I have failed in faith, I have acted in the flesh; my conscience is exercised, I go to God about it, and I judge myself. I had been sowing to the flesh -- reading the newspaper, indulging in gossip, or the like, and I did not find it out till I had lost my temper, or done something out of the way. Like Samson, he thought to go out as at other times, but wist not that the Lord had departed from him. You ought to find out in a minute that the Lord had left you, or rather that you had left the Lord. If I am not walking continually in faith, I am sure to fail. It is with Christ I am dead, and not in myself. Sometimes I am afraid to do anything, to move, or write a letter, because I am sure to blunder, to do it wrong, when I have lost the Lord's support. Thank God, the Spirit of God never leaves me, but He will not help me when I have been ministering to the flesh. I am like a bird with a wounded wing, I have the power but I cannot use it. I have to go to the Lord and confess that I had gone back to the flesh that was condemned in His death, and had not reckoned myself to be dead indeed unto sin. You must accept the word of God, that to faith you are dead to sin. Our old man is crucified with Christ. I press this, for I feel it is of great importance. You have to believe, and then reckon on God to enable you to walk up to your faith, in order that you may preserve a good conscience.
I turn now to Joshua 3, the Jordan, the last type of
the death of Christ. The New Testament scripture that answers to this is Colossians 2:20: "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world". Now Jordan is very interesting. It is my death. Oh, but, says someone, I have not passed through death, meaning what is called the article of death, physical death. But I do not accept that you have to pass through the article of death, because the Lord is coming, and if He came you would not die. I am dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world. All the cords that bound me are loosed by His death. It is true there is sometimes a physical fear of death beforehand, but when you come near to it, the fear is all gone, except in those cases where discipline is necessary; the flesh that I had failed to judge, is judged. His death has severed me from everything, even in myself, that could keep me out of heaven. Do you believe that Christ's death has freed you from everything before God that could bar you from His presence? If the Lord were to come, you would find it is a fact. Now look at the last part of Joshua 3. There was not a drop of water visible. Commentators say that at the Red Sea Israel went through in single file -- the water a wall to them on the right hand and on the left. They could see the waters of judgement which Christ had to bear. Certainly we do learn the death of Christ there. But in Jordan there was no sight of water. Commentators say they went over abreast. You may ask me, Do you feel it? I do feel exercised about it, that is the very thing that helps me to expound it to you. The Lord does not send angels to expound, but someone who is learning it. I have gone through great exercise about it. I know, by the death of Christ, I am clear of everything that could come between me and God, clear of the rudiments of the world. His death is your Jordan, and by it you are set on new ground altogether. Hence in Colossians 3 it is, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God". Have you learnt, beloved friends, what this blessed Man has wrought? That He has not only borne the judgement that was upon you, delivered you from the power of the enemy, but that He has set you free from every single thing that is unsuited to Himself in that glory where He is, and that would bar you from His presence. "Your life is hid with Christ in God". "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free". Everything is taken away that could bind me to this world. Take Ephesians, though that is out of my line this evening, but Ephesians shows me I can go up there. I believe many a soul has tasted being over Jordan who has never accepted it. If in the enjoyment of the life of Christ, tasting of the joys of association with Him where He is, that soul is really over Jordan. By accepting it, I mean owning it as your only true place. If you accept it, you cannot return to the things of this life to be taken up with them. They are weights that would hinder you; as in Hebrews 12, you lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset you, in order that you may run the faster. When I accept what Jordan entails, I sit loose to everything here, I get rid of the hindrance to my onward course. I believe that is the way discipline comes in. Discipline is to free us from things here, that we may go on the faster, as an express train gets rid of luggage trucks in order to proceed quicker; while at the same time we fulfil our duties better than ever.
All discipline comes in to help you, to free you from earthly things, that you may be partakers of His holiness -- what He is. The word for holiness here is only once used, and means its abstract nature. Take Stephen, every stone that battered him only detached him the more from things here, and verified to him the reality of the life outside it. It is said that a man in a balloon as he ascends gradually loses his senses,
first one and then another, till in the long run he becomes wholly unconscious, and here the illustration fails, because he has not another life. But suppose he had another life, a divine life, the higher he went and the more he lost consciousness of the one, the more he would get into the other -- a wonderful gain. Like the apostle, he was sensible of the divine sphere into which he was introduced, but unconscious of his natural condition: "Whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell". I have a divine life, but to enjoy it in its own sphere I pass through Jordan -- death with Christ. There was no Jordan for Hezekiah; all his links were here. Paul's links were all above, he longs to depart and be with Christ . Perhaps you say you are not up to it. Very likely. And if so, discipline may come in that you may be more detached from things here, and more in the enjoyment of heaven. You must be always on the alert; if you do not walk in the Spirit, you will be carried by the flesh; there is the danger. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit".
Christ's death has done everything for you, has set you free to walk in liberty from the man here; and not only that, but to walk in liberty from the place where you are, detached from and unencumbered by the things here. The Israelites were safe out of Egypt, but the failure was they would not go on to Canaan. From the beginning down to this very day, man has always had reluctance to go to God's place. Take Abraham going to Canaan, there was reluctance; and his family eventually left it. Where Christ is, there is your place. Love always gives the best thing it can. The Father's house is thrown open to you, where everything tells of the perfection of the divine love that sought and found you; and yet how few accept it! They would rather stay on earth. But you are brought to God. Then what are you to do? To walk here in the delightful sense that there is not a shade between
you and the Father's heart; and take care you do not go back and get your heart connected with anything here. You have a life that belongs to God, that introduces you into the sphere and character of things where God is, therefore do not go back into the world, "He hath given us an understanding" is the consummation of John's first epistle, therefore he adds, "Keep yourselves from idols". An idol is something in this world.
Who is sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency is of God. We must ever fall back upon God. I need not add more. My comfort is in looking to the Lord. My confidence is in Him, and I count on Him to make good to your souls what I have tried to present to you.
"Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him", John 13:31, 32.
The last evening we were looking at the first coming of our Lord, His death, and resurrection. This evening I desire to engage your hearts with Christ glorified. Every believer would own that Christ is in glory, but there is more than that for us to know and to enjoy -- it is, that the Son of man is glorified; that is what we have here. There is a Man in the glory. When Judas went out our Lord said, "Now is the Son of man glorified". In John 11, when He raised Lazarus, He said, "That the Son of God might be glorified", that you can very easily understand. But the marvel now is, that the One who was here crucified and slain, has been raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. He is gone up into glory; there is a Man in the glory of God, and that Man, beloved friends, is our Saviour. I am not speaking yet upon the benefits that accrue to us from that fact, but I want you to get hold of the simple fact, that there is a Man in glory. You will see that He is the One who died and rose again. "Now", as is stated here, "is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him". The simple thing for faith is, that the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, is in glory. What flows from that we shall have to consider.
Now, first to show you that the counsel of God is that it should be so, I turn to Exodus 40:34, 35, "Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation,
because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle". I have read this, in order that you might see that God desired to connect His redeemed people (Israel were then His redeemed people) with His glory. You may say it was only in a cloud, but still there it was -- the glory filled the tabernacle. And I lay stress upon it, because it shows you that God desired to connect His redeemed people with His glory. The glory filled the tabernacle, as it also did the temple afterwards.
I turn to Isaiah 6. Here a new thing comes before us -- that the glory that God had manifested, which He had connected with His people on earth, His intention is to remove it. There is nothing said about the removal, but we get incidentally, that there is a change. Mark the effect upon Isaiah -- not an unconverted man, but a prophet -- it was that he was "undone". We should not wonder at its being terrific to a sinner, but it was terrific to a prophet. There was no man in the glory then.
I turn now to Ezekiel 1. Here I get the vision of the glory about to go away. It does eventually go away in chapter 11. The wickedness and perverseness of Israel have obliged God to take away this distinctive mark of His favour -- the glory is going away. But I turn to verse 26 with especial interest, for you will see that the glory -- that very remarkable token of God's favour and interest in His redeemed people on the earth -- is to be removed because of their wickedness, but before it is removed, the prophet sees, "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above upon it". Now ponder that passage. In the very brightest spot in the glory about to retire, because of the wickedness of Israel, there comes out a wonderful manifestation. In the very brightest spot
of the retiring glory, where the spot of amber was, there is a throne, and upon that throne is the figure of a Man. Well, the glory goes away, and it never returned in Old Testament times. Habakkuk is made to feel the sense of it, but it never returned to Israel.
Now, in Luke 2:9, you read, "And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them". The glory is come back -- I do not say to stay -- but to make an announcement. The glory shone round about them, and it is announced, that "Unto you is born this day ... a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord".
Let us pursue the history of this blessed Person -- God's Son come into the world and announced from glory: "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord". In Luke 3:22 you read, "And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased". Now this was after thirty years of private life. But mark this, the heaven is opened and a Voice comes -- there is a Man upon earth that is well pleasing to the Father, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". After He had taken His place with the godly remnant in baptism, there comes this announcement from heaven. Upon this Man, whom the glory announced, the Holy Spirit descends in bodily shape like a dove. A Man, thirty years of age, was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, and enters on public service, and this culminates in Luke 9, where, "as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering, and behold there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.... And there came a voice out of the clouds, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him". Now that is a very important moment, because here the glory salutes Him; "The fashion of his countenance was altered". "They saw his glory". Peter makes known "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"; he says, "we were eye-witnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honour and glory". That is what He was as a Man here upon earth; He had done everything to the Father's pleasure; He was fit for the glory of God as a Man. He now descends to die. In fact, here comes out the fulfilment of that type of the slave, "I love my wife, I love my children, I will not go out free". You see this by turning to John 12:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit", or many grains. Now note this. May the Lord fix your eye on it. This blessed One came into the world announced by the glory; He pursued His course here till that very glory saluted Him as belonging to it. But He will not abide alone. You have to remember that this blessed One was here, perfectly according to the mind of God; He magnified the law of God and made it honourable; He did His will; He did not confine Himself to the limits of the law, but He embraced the whole range of God's heart, and He did His will. He showed that when He loved His neighbour, He did not merely relieve him; but He set him on His own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him for ever; all the journey until He returns. He was the one unfailing expression of divine beauty on the earth.
In John 13:31, Judas has gone out, and the Lord says, "Now is the Son of man glorified". It was not
only that He had glorified God upon the earth, but now He will go down into death; and as death was the judgement upon man for having dishonoured God, it was the most distant spot from God; therefore you can understand our blessed Lord saying on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He was at the most distant spot from God, but it was in that spot He glorified God. The burnt-offering typified this. He goes down to the lowest point, which is death, the judgement upon man, and there He maintains what was due to God. It is not merely that He is the Substitute for our sins. That is perfectly true, but you must see more, or you will not understand His words, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life", John 10. It is impossible to get a good illustration of His act. Suppose a banker had been greatly aggrieved and compromised by a friend of mine, I might say, I will pay all he owes, I will clear him perfectly, but I have another thing, a much greater thing, to do. I have to make reparation to the banker for the outrage and dishonour which he has sustained from my friend. Hence, the Lord here in this passage is not dwelling on the benefit His death will be to the sinner, but He has another and a higher thing before Him. He says, I will glorify God while bearing the penalty on man for dishonouring Him. I will maintain all that is due to Him there. In the most distant spot I will glorify Him. "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him". I am going down to the lowest spot, and there I will maintain the glory of God. He swerves from nothing; He bears everything that is due to God's glory. As someone has expressed it, A Man has made God a debtor to Him for glory. Hence you read in Romans 6, "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father".
Now I have established what I said at the commencement. You have a Saviour, who has not only shed His
blood for our sins, but who has unswervingly maintained all that was due to God, when under the penalty on man for dishonouring Him. He glorified God then, and now He has gone up into glory -- the trophy of glory. A Man had maintained all that was due to the glory of God. He could say to God, "All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me". He could say to His enemies, "This is your hour and the power of darkness". All was let loose upon Him. He had gone down to the sinner's distance. Are you surprised that He should be raised to the highest place in glory? From the lowest distance to the highest acceptance, the believer finds himself now. The sinner is either at the lowest, or, on believing, at the highest with God: in one or the other he must be. One is the deepest, darkest, infinite distance from God; the other, the highest exaltation it is possible for man to be in. You may say, you are not there; but there is no intermediate place with God. One or other it must be.
Turn now to Acts 7:55, "He being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus". Here I would try to explain what the glory is. It is not a place. I believe the glory is the manifestation of God according to His attributes; there is nothing left out. I gather this idea from Exodus 33:18, where Moses says, "Shew me thy glory", and God answers, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, There is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock; and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by; and I will take
away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen"; that is, all that had transpired of God. My impression from that passage is, that the glory could not be seen yet; but now, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. To Moses, He says, My face cannot be seen -- the full expression of it -- but I can show you the back parts -- what has transpired. Therefore I conclude that the glory is the manifestation of God according to His attributes, the expression of the divine satisfaction according to His nature; there is nothing left out. That is brought out now; it was only brought out by the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust that it will be helpful to give this explanation of the glory.
Now I turn back to Acts 7, and there I see the Holy Spirit upon the earth in a saint. The Holy Spirit came from a glorified Christ, "The Holy Spirit was not yet; because that Jesus was not yet: glorified"; that is one of the consequences. If Christ has the highest place in heaven, He has the greatest power on earth. "Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus". He saw a Man in the glory. He saw the fulfilment of Ezekiel 1:26. He turns round and says to the Jews, "I see the Son of man standing on the right hand of God". They were just as wicked in that day as in Ezekiel's day, a day older and a day worse, and they stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord. But that is not all; that was the opening out of a new era, because the heaven was opened, the first time heaven was opened to a man, and that to show him a Saviour in glory, and, thank God, it has been open ever since. We are looking now at what has been wrought by a Saviour in glory; but this is not all. Turn to chapter 9, and we find that the Saviour in glory has come down and made Himself known to a sinner on earth. To my own personal
knowledge, I know some who, while they believe that a saint on earth can look up by the Holy Spirit and see a Saviour in glory, do not see that things are so altered because Christ is glorified, that a Saviour in glory can reveal Himself to a sinner in the greatest possible distance from God. The light is now "The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ". Hence Paul says, "A light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shone round about me". He saw the light, and heard His voice; but he was three days learning the work which set him free in the presence of God.
I would dwell on the wonderful change that has taken place. It is not merely the difference between Stephen and Isaiah. Isaiah could not look up into heaven. Stephen can say, I have a Saviour there; the new line is open, and every believer now travels that line; and that is not all, but that a Saviour in glory can be revealed in a light above the brightness of the sun to a sinner, and the chief of sinners. I repeat, that many, who believe in the grace shown to Stephen, do not apprehend the gospel in that largeness in which it is presented in Acts 9.
Now I turn to 2 Corinthians 3: 7: "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory". Now what is the argument here? It is very simple. There was a demand for righteousness from the glory of God, so that Moses himself said, "I exceedingly fear and quake". Again, when Israel saw the glory upon Moses' face they were afraid, because they were afraid of its demand, so much so that Moses had to put a veil upon his face. Now this is the argument of the apostle: -- If the
demand for righteousness was from glory, and it was the ministry of condemnation, how much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory? The meaning of that is, that the ministration of righteousness now comes from the glory. Instead of a demand for righteousness, there is a ministration of righteousness from the glory; and I need not tell you, that if it comes from the glory it is divine righteousness, God's righteousness. And the argument of the apostle is that now, righteousness from the glory is ministered. It is not a demand; that was a ministration of condemnation. This is a ministration of righteousness, the ministration of the Spirit. Hence what we find now is, that it is not only that you have a Saviour in glory, but that you are brought in divine suitability to that glory. If you look for the doctrine of it, it is explained very clearly in Romans 5:18: "Therefore as by one offence, judgement came upon all men to condemnation; even so by one righteousness the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life".
I am dwelling a little on this point, because some hold to what is called 'imputed righteousness'. Well, I have no righteousness but Christ's righteousness, the righteousness of the glorified Man. I have His righteousness because I have His life. Hence you get in Romans 5:18 "justification of life". I have His life; and I enter into all that He is. In the end of the fourth chapter of Romans, I am cleared from all my sins: "He was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification". But we are beyond, because we have the life of the One who cleared us. Therefore it is "justification of life." In the end of the fifth chapter of Romans, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound". The excess is, that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; Romans 5:21. I am brought in divine righteousness to the glory. It is
the righteousness that is ministered from the glory. In that sense, it answers to the best robe brought out from the Father's house for the prodigal. It was brought out of the house and put on him, that he might enter in, completely suitable to the Father's pleasure.
Here is the Son of man gone up into glory; and consequently, not a demand for righteousness, but a ministration of righteousness -- the greatest moral revolution. The glory rests on a Man. God always had love, but He could not show it, because, righteousness was not revealed. Jesus so satisfies the holiness of God, that the moment He died, the veil was rent from the top to the bottom; it is not merely that we may draw nigh, but God can come out consistently with His nature, and take a poor prodigal into His arms. And the prodigal is not only reconciled, but brought in divine righteousness -- divine suitability -- into the Father's house.
There are three things that result from a glorified Christ. One is that the Holy Spirit has come down from the glorified Man. Man in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ must be set in the highest place, before the greatest power can be sent down to man on earth. When He was exalted to the highest place with God, God then sent down the Holy Spirit, to His own, to maintain for Him in the very place where He was rejected. And necessarily so. If the world rejects Him, God exalts Him, and when God exalted Him, the Holy Spirit came down to His own, in the very place where He was rejected. Christendom has lost sight of this altogether. If you do not believe in the exaltation of Christ, you do not believe in the manifestation of the power of the Spirit in the place of His rejection.
The second is, there is divine righteousness ministered from the glory. It is not clearance only; that, thank God, we have, but there is a ministration of righteousness from the glory. It is not like Isaiah
trembling before it, and it is not like even Moses who could not see it, but what we have is this -- a righteousness which suits the glory.
Then there is the third, which is 2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord". Now the right reading of the passage is, "Beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face". Moses had a veil on his face; but there is no veil on Christ's face, as you read in the next chapter, "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". I believe every ray of divine glory rests in that blessed One. His work is the ground for its manifestation, not that it was not there before; but until He, the Son of man, died and was glorified, it could not be manifested to us. God's love is now declared; He always was love; but now His love can come out, because His righteousness is established; there is nothing wanting to complete the circle of His attributes -- everything divinely balanced. I think when we come to practice we shall understand it better. A person is sometimes too loving, sometimes too righteous. It may be a very good thing that you have, but you are too one-sided; you could not be one-sided in the glory; there all is even, every virtue equipoised. The glory of God rests upon the Man who has done all His pleasure, and, thank God, that Man is our Saviour. Are you beholding the Lord's glory?
Now the third consequence of beholding the Lord's glory -- not beholding the Lord, as people sometimes say, nor beholding the glory; that will not do; because I think there is an immense importance connected with the simple fact, that I am looking at Him as the bearer of God's satisfaction, according to all His attributes; and the effect upon me is that I am brought into moral correspondence with it; nothing
less could suit the Father's pleasure. Therefore the true state of a believer now is, 1 John 4:17, "Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world". This is his present state. God could have no lower standard than Christ, and nothing can satisfy His love except His own standard. And if His love is perfected with you -- if God's love has shone into you, it has had this peculiar effect on you, it assures you that as Jesus is accepted up there at God's right hand, so are you sitting in this room. You may say, It is marvellous. So it is; but it makes us narrow-minded if we look at the gospel only as it relates to ourselves: you must bear in mind God's interest in the gospel. Hence it is, when His love according to its true character (that is the force of the word) shines into you, it tells you this -- that nothing less could satisfy that love than that you should be in the same acceptance before Him, as Christ is at His own right hand. It is not the question of how you feel, it is the question of what that love is -- and this explains the marvellousness of the grace.
Let us examine more in detail the effect consequent on Christ being glorified. Turn to 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4: "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them". "The glorious gospel" is not a correct reading, but "the gospel of the glory of Christ". It is that now the light comes down from the top, from the finish of the work, to the bottom where the sinner is. Doubtless to make the sinner sensible, That is light; but not to condemn him, or to demand of him -- not at all; but to conduct him to the top, to the finish. I ask you earnestly, Has your heart travelled that road? The light comes down to the bottom where the sinner is,
to lead him to the top. It is like a man in a dark forest, he is on the verge of a precipice, and a light shines on his path. Satan tries to blind him. You get the intensity of malice here, as you do at the cross, in the presence of the consummation of goodness. Satan would blind him that he may tumble down the precipice; God's light shines to save him, and to direct him to the spot from whence it came. The light has come to invite us to the glory where our Saviour is. It used to repel, now it invites. This is the greatest moral revolution. Not merely are our sins forgiven, but we belong to the glory.
I will now give you two scriptures to illustrate the way we are transformed into the same image. The more you are exercised, the more you will understand it. I turn to 2 Corinthians 12, and I find that Paul has come down from the highest place where he had been most wonderfully received. Nothing adds more to the character of the gospel than the great intimacy in which "a man in Christ" is received in paradise. This man returns to earth, and a messenger of Satan buffets him. He turns to the Lord (and rightly) to remove it; he did not want it to be removed for any worldly purpose, but that he might use his abilities for the Lord. He goes to the Lord once -- no change; he goes twice -- no change; he goes three times, and the third time a most wonderful change comes over him, he is brought round to the mind of the Lord, he is transformed into moral correspondence with His mind. Now instead of being dissatisfied with the thorn, he says, "I take pleasure in infirmities". What a change has taken place! how wonderful! he is brought into moral keeping with God's own mind. He is not merely resigned, but he can say, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me".
Well, that is one example. You get the same in a lesser way in Psalm 73. The psalmist goes into the
sanctuary, and he is led into God's judgement . In Paul's case the man is transformed.
I will give you one example more, in Philippians 4:6. We all know something of this, and the more conscientious we are, the more we know it. I suppose there is hardly a day that we are not sensible of a pressure which we cannot remove. What can I do? I go to the Lord about it; perhaps He will remove it, but if He does not remove it, He will transform me. I do not say I know much about it, but I believe it thoroughly. I believe that very often this verse is quoted when it is not realised; and some think they have the peace of God when they have not, because there is nothing can surpass the peace of God; it "passeth ALL understanding". "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God". Mark the word; we use two words in the English to convey the meaning of the original, because it is not simply knowing it, but I know that He knows. For this you must be near Him: you have had an audience, and you have told the Sovereign fully your need. I know the Sovereign knows it. It is not that I know God knows it by His omniscience, but I know I told Him. Well, we have the wonderful privilege of drawing near to God and "making known" our requests; and He transforms us into moral correspondence with Himself. Though we may not receive the desired answer to our requests, we receive a far greater thing, even "the peace of God which passeth all understanding". It is not merely uncomplaining acquiescence with the will of God. It is divine tranquillity. I cannot conceive a more wonderful transformation. I meet a man in the morning, much distressed because of some great trial; and later on I meet him and say, Are things all right with you now? Has the mercy of God been shown you? No; things are just the same, but a wonderful
change has come over me; I have been to God about my trial, and I am now in unspeakable tranquillity, "the peace of God"; it passeth all understanding . "It is he that sitteth on the circle of the earth", and ruleth over all -- and I am in moral correspondence with Him. I suppose every exercised person amongst us knows the attractiveness of anything philanthropic, benevolent. That is what often ensnares a Christian. I look at man, man's interest, and I think of some benefit. That must be all right; but I go to the Lord about it, and I do not find that He takes much notice of it, and I go perhaps four or five times, and I learn that He does not approve of it; I give it up. A conscientious man must have either God or man before him. You say, But I have to deal with man. Yes; but you have to deal with man from God, otherwise it is not faith, it degenerates into mere benevolence. There is nothing so attractive naturally. What you have to do in a world where God has been dishonoured is to maintain strictly and implicitly for God only; and you may be sure that the more distinctly you are for God, the better you will be for man. The more I behold the Lord's glory the better I test every desire of my heart, and thus assure my heart before Him.
The Lord grant that each of our hearts may have a deep increasing enjoyment of the simple fact, that we have a Saviour in glory.
"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you", John 14:16, 17.
Our subject this evening, beloved friends, is the Holy Spirit's descent to this earth. Not merely His coming to the earth (every believer owns that), but the first point I press is, that the Holy Spirit is residing here. I use the word 'residing' because it is here that the defect in our faith lies. The Holy Spirit is in residence here; and if this fact were known and held in faith, it would have an amazing effect upon us. The Holy Spirit is invisible to the world; He is not sent to the world, and He is not visible to you practically if you are worldly.
The first great fact, then, for you to lay hold of is -- this blessed Person has come to reside here, in the very scene where Christ was rejected. Christ has been rejected on the earth, refused and cast out, and God has exalted Him to the very highest place in heaven. As a Man He is in exaltation in heaven, at the right hand of God. What higher place could He have? But then, what about the place where He is rejected? If we look at Christendom, we see the defect broadly, and it is our common shame. In Christendom there is but little sense of the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently but little sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth. As to ourselves, we do not walk about sufficiently with the sense of the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am sure, if we were in faith as to His exaltation in heaven, if our hearts were better acquainted with Him in that exaltation at God's right hand, we should at once apprehend that there must be One here, commensurate with Himself , to maintain
for Him here where He is cast out. Is He to be refused a place here, and this to be passed over? Impossible! Nor has the blessed God passed it over. The Holy Spirit was always acting here, He always worked here; but He was not always resident here. His residence here is consequent on the rejection of Christ and His exaltation in heaven. It is as if the Master of a house were turned out by the inmates of His house, and a power commensurate with the power of the Master, an invisible power, has come from the Master to maintain His own in the very house where those avowedly His own refused Him. This invisible power makes Himself known to faith, but He is invisible to those who reject the Master.
You see in what a terrible way the church has departed from this. Look at theology, look at Romanism! What has it done? Set up a man in the place and offices of the Holy Spirit, and calls him the vicar of Christ on earth! Romanism never gave up the unity of the church, that she maintains to this day; what she gave up was the fact of the Holy Spirit present on earth as the alone power to maintain for the Head in heaven, and she has appropriated man's power instead. She maintains a visible order, but it is the empty imitation of a grand reality. She says, One church, one head, one language; so that the most ignorant repeats the prayers in Latin.
I trust even the youngest believer in this room apprehends this, and is able to say, I believe in the exaltation of my Saviour to the right hand of God, and that the Holy Spirit, a power commensurate with the Saviour, has come down from Him there to maintain a testimony here, to act for Him in the very place of His rejection. "Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you". Now I quote one passage more to corroborate what I have stated. I turn to Acts 2:33,
"Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear".
We very often find that even intelligent people pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; indeed, I heard of a case tonight. But, dear friends, the Holy Spirit is here ! His presence is a consequence of Christ's exaltation to heaven. If Christ is rejected on earth, and nothing can be plainer than that He is rejected, is He to be overlooked as to the earth? Is it enough to say that He is exalted in another place? No! Such a thing could not be. Being by the right hand of God exalted, He has received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. In this passage He has not received Him for Himself but for us. He was anointed Himself on earth with the Holy Spirit and with power; but the presence of the Holy Spirit for us is consequent on Christ at the right hand of the Father. See John 7:39: "But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive . for the Holy Spirit was not yet; because that Jesus was not yet glorified". It does not say because Jesus was not yet crucified . No -- not yet glorified . This is the important point, that the Holy Spirit comes from the One who is in the glory of God. I trust I have made this plain. The first thing then is, that we believe in the residence of the Holy Spirit here, and this in a twofold way, "with you" and "in you", as it is expressed in John 14:17. I cannot dwell much upon it, but I give you the texts. "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit". "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:17, 19). Here it is the individual temple. I trust you will be like the Bereans, search and see whether these things are so. Next I turn you to 2 Corinthians 6:16, "And what agreement hath the temple of God
with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people". This is the collective temple. "Ye are the temple of the living God". "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Now this is all I mean to say to you upon the first part of our subject, but I trust you will dwell upon it, and I am sure that if you do, it will have an immense effect upon you.
The second point I would bring before you is the mission of the Holy Spirit. I turn to John 14:26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you". Here He is sent by the Father. In that sense it is a mission. I will show you presently how He is sent by Christ: thus He has a twofold mission. In chapter 14, the Father sends Him for the comfort and blessing of the individual believer, in the absence of Christ. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send". Now think of that; and especially to any lonely one here I would say, Think what an amazing fact this is for you. The Holy Spirit sent by the Father to dwell in your body, as His temple! I can imagine such an one saying, To dwell in my body, besides in the collective temple? Yes; the Father has an interest in His child, and He says, as it were, I will show you the depth of My interest, and He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in you. It is not only that the Son has prepared a place for you in the Father's house, and you have a bright prospect of that place, but the wonder of all wonders is, that the power of the new place is sent down to you here in the old place. Faith knows it and enjoys it. You may say, I don't feel it. I don't ask you to feel it; I ask you to believe it, and when you believe it, you will enjoy it. It is a
wonderful thing. I have a new place, but I am not there yet, but while I am not there I have the power of the new place dwelling in me here in the old place. But that is not all, "Whom the Father will send in my name". That is the wonderful characteristic -- in My name. He brings to my heart the absent loved one. He comes to me in the name of my Saviour to teach all things, and to bring back to remembrance whatsoever He has said. Could anything be more exquisite, more perfect? It is divine. And this is for the individual; with such a Guest, the heart desolated by the absence of the Lord can feel lonely no more. But you may say that was to the apostles. Yes, but we get it through them; everything comes to us from the apostles; we derive from them. In natural things you derive from your father. Well, this is one part of the mission of the Holy Spirit.
Now I turn to John 14:26, and I bring this scripture before you to show you that the Holy Spirit has another mission -- the same Person, but with two different missions. Just as a man may be both a husband and a father: the same man, but in two different relationships and with different duties. Now I read this verse, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me". "Whom I will send unto you". Now here it is Christ who sends, but He adds, "which proceedeth from the Father". It is in connection with the Father, and this connection is most important. He is the Spirit of truth, and He shall testify of Me . No other power could. He is the alone power to testify of Christ. And nothing exposes the lack of faith in the church more than the attempt to use any other power than the power of the Holy Spirit. What other power could testify of the glorified Christ? Has the church sunk so low that she has no sense of the greatness of the Head in heaven, and thinks she can
utilise any earthly power to maintain for Him? The power He has sent maintains His testimony, and would not be allied to any worldly power. I feel it deeply before God that any Christian should use a worldly thing in Christ's service, as if the Spirit of God were not enough. Does the Spirit of God need a placard, or human means of any sort? The saints He uses; that is a different matter; they are His vessels for testimony. Look at the world. God gave the sword of government to Nebuchadnezzar, and when this power lapsed to the Romans, they used it to put to death the Son of God! He gave the law to Israel, and Israel used the law against His own Son! "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die". "Now they have no cloak for their sin"; "Now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father". Jew and Gentile united to put Christ to death. Do you mean to say that God can use anything of that power in testimony for Christ? A good man, a man of position, might say to me, I'll use my influence to help you in the gospel. No; I do not want your influence, I refuse it. I want no influence but the influence of the Spirit of God. I rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit. "He shall testify of me". You are the vessel of the Holy Spirit; therefore stand out in testimony; but the Holy Spirit is the alone power, "HE shall testify of ME". Every word is important. Here the Lord does not even say 'ye'. The Holy Spirit alone can stand for Christ where He is not. The Holy Spirit, who came down at Pentecost, is here in the same mission and for the same purpose today, and as fresh and as powerful as in the days of the apostles. True, He does not demonstrate Himself in the same grand way as then, but He is the same that ever He was.
We have looked at the descent of the Holy Spirit, and at His twofold mission. The next point, the third, that I desire to bring before you is the spheres of HisLIBERTY
APPROACH TO GOD
OUR GREAT PRIEST
THE ASSEMBLY
THE MYSTERY
CONSECRATION AND EFFECTS
"Yet sure, if in Thy presence,
My soul still constant were;
Mine eye would, more familiar,
Its brighter glories bear". (Hymn 51)"And with adoring fervour,
In this Thy nature grow". (Hymn 51)THE CIRCLE OF TRUTH
THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
CHRIST GLORIFIED
THE HOLY SPIRIT ON EARTH