IV
Christ—With His Disciples—Even Judas

Scripture Read: Psa. 122-123; John 13

 We have already looked, in the spirit of wor­ship and adoration, through the page of our Bible which gives a glance into the childhood of our Savior, and we have seen something of the lessons of forbearance which He learned and lived out in His earthly home, in relationship with His mother, brethren, and fellowcitizens. That was the first part of His life. In every lesson, every class through which our Savior went, He learned to the ut­most all He had to learn, no matter what it cost. The Father had prepared beforehand the lessons which Jesus had to learn through suffering in this early part of His life. We cannot at the same time desire to learn heavenly lessons and desire to be spared suffering. Christ, “though He was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). He was not baptized by the Holy Ghost until He had learned obedience in the school of His home life.

Thus equipped, at the age of thirty He began a new theme, the establishment of His promised kingdom upon earth, which was rejected by the elders of the Jews: from which time He spoke to the multitude in parables, and taught the hidden kingdom in the hearts and lives of His disciples. Through their first labors as learning ones—learning, even as Jesus learned His lessons before His baptism by the Spirit—His disciples also had their preparatory school before Pentecost.

How many dear ones there are today, even children of God, who have never learned through and through the lessons of gentle forbearance in their homes! And—it is a dreadful thing to say—there have been even those who have fled from home to become missionaries, because they found the lessons of suffering there too hard to learn! How can God commit to us heavenly things, if we are not faithful first in earthly things? How can we stand the test? O do not think there can be one exercise, one opportunity of forbearance, too many with those in our households who do not yet know the Lord. There is not a single lesson unnecessary in order that we may learn to stand more firmly on the battlefield of the kingdom of God; The powers of darkness are ever ready to bring forth what they can of flesh in us, to hinder the advance of God’s kingdom, in and by us: let us, then, be ever on the watch in the present time.

If, in every department of active life, it is needful to have people fully trained for their work, how much more is it necessary in the kingdom of God to have men and women fully equipped, who have been trained in the preliminary school of daily life at home. There, invaluable lessons may be learned through the opportunities of forbearing with those whose characters are antagonistic to our ways of life and thought. Before we can convert souls outside our doors, it is necessary that those indoors, in our homes, should see the power of God in us, prevailing over the power of darkness in them. To this end, where there is the power of darkness, of self-will in others, it must come to the surface, and we must feel it, and be willing to suffer under it, in order to overcome it by the power of God. The powers of darkness must be manifested, in order that the powers of light and love may withstand, and overcome, and prevail against them.

Such a school has many grades; first we learn through our failures, and our own inability to endure the tests: that the Lord cannot clothe us with His power to forbear in love, till He has made us naked in our own eyes—that is His preparatory school. Having learned our lessons there, He can take us further on, from strength to strength. But we are never to look upon God’s strength as our own property. “Power belongs unto God” (Psalm 62:11).

By the grace of God, and through His Spirit, we will now follow the Lord in His trials and in His sufferings; in His forbearing and enduring love towards His disciples. Let me first, however, bring before you a passage in Holy Scripture which seems to me to reveal the secret of His power to endure, and of never being offended. You will find it in Luke 6:12-13: “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into the mountain to pray: and He continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples: and He chose from them twelve, whom also He named apostles.” Then follows the names of  the twelve chosen.

A whole night in prayer! and then He called the twelve. Here we have the clue to many things in our Savior’s life. It is just this: before He came into contact with His disciples—with trials through men and circumstances—He always settled things with His Father first on the mountain top in prayer.

And this is the holy secret into which, slowly, but deeper and deeper, led by Him, we walk in “newness of life.” Thus we learn, before we begin the day, before we meet with others, always to take our stand in God afresh every morning, in such a way that, during the day, as we come in contact with friends or enemies, we may have the Lord between them and us. Then, when times of testing come through fellow-Christians, in which questions such as these arise: “Have I not made a mistake to have entered into work with such an one who does not understand me, and who cannot bear with me?” you must be able then to call to mind holy hours spent alone with God; hours in which, before you offered for the mission field, before you went forth with fellow-workers, you settled all with God. Then you cannot but trust your God, and be free to say to Him: “Lord, You know I did not come out by any impulse of my own: I did not come out with such and such an one because he pleased me, or was sympathetic with me; but because You did choose for me. It is Your care, O Lord.” And, if you find that the fellow-worker from whom you expected something else, cannot bear with you, then learn yourself to bear with him, and die for him, in the strength and in the love of your Lord.

This was the secret of our Savior’s life: He trusted in His Father’s love and might. Our Lord did nothing of Himself: He spoke not His own words, but as the Father taught Him, so He spoke (John 8:28). Therefore He could go through everything without being touched by anything, doing always the things which pleased His Father (John 8:29). He had found in the secret of His Father’s heart, in the will of God, which was His sanctuary; the power to wait, and the power to go forward without understanding; waiting till His Father opened out the horizons of His life further on. He walked as Man by faith in God. And thus His Father could tell Him the history of the Samaritan woman, and give Him the key to her heart; He could give Him the name of the man hidden in the tree on His way to Jericho; and yet He could remain dependant as Man, Son of Man, a human being, that He might learn obedience, learn to wait till His Father opened up the way.

What was the plan of the life of Jesus through­out His three years’ ministry? A very simple one. “I came to do the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6:38). Take, for instance, the guidance given Him when His disciples returned from their first missionary tour. Naturally, they desired to speak to their Lord. This was a good thing, and it is just what all evangelists should do after they have labored; they should go to the Lord and tell Him all things they have done, so that there may be no exaltation or depression. And what did Jesus do? He took His disciples and withdrew with them apart. Doubtless they thought to have the Lord to themselves, but the multitudes followed; and He welcomed them, and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. Then the twelve came and wanted Him to send the multitude away, but Jesus did what the Father had revealed to Him—He taught, and healed, and fed them all (see Luke 9:10-17). And so from day to day, from one opportunity to another, either in personal conversation near Jacob’s well, or in public preaching—in present or approaching service—He awaited orders. Even standing still two days when He knew the sisters were in agony at Bethany about Lazarus: even then He could wait! Waiting, waiting till the cloud moved on before Him. Whatsoever the Father told Him, that He did.

Let us now return to Luke 6:12-16—the call­ing of the twelve—comparing John 6:64. “For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray Him.” What “beginning”? In John 2:24-25, we read that Jesus did not trust Himself to man, for He knew all men, and He needed not that anyone should testify of man: for He knew what was in man.” This was in the beginning of the gospel. Since, therefore, the Lord “knew what was in man,” and He did “whatever the Father told Him,” may we not infer that in that night of prayer on the mountain­top, when the Father brought before the Son the names of the twelve whom He should choose as disciples, that they were not chosen by Jesus, but by the Father? He simply fulfilled the command: He carried out what the Father had told Him on the mount. And since the Holy Ghost had given Him power to look down into the human heart more deeply than anyone else could see, might there not have been a shrinking back, or at least a look to the Father, which said “Even Judas”? We do not know. It rests between the Father and the Son; but since the Savior knew from the beginning who it was that should betray Him (John 6:64), must it not have been suffering of the deepest kind in His heart and life, to know that one who should eat bread with Him for three years, would lift up his heel against Him?

O the little needle wounding you from the hand of your nearest friend! How much deeper the wound than the deepest from the hand of an enemy! In His own circle Jesus could bear to have a serpent, with Him; the powers of hell were close to Him, so that He might manifest indeed all the powers of heaven! And what are the powers of heaven? Forbearing love, love for all, without partiality, without exception. Not only was Jesus tried by the person of Judas; but, if I understand aright, there was the still greater trial of seeing that all His disciples were in danger of being poisoned by this man, and carried off on false lines.

When the Lord Jesus found in Mary, the sis­ter of Martha, one whom He could lead through lesson after lesson, because she was ready to lay aside everything to hear His Word—He also found that she had grasped what none of His disciples did—that He should die for sinners. She entered into the very thing which they did not understand; she bowed down, and poured forth all the love of her heart to anoint Him for His burial. And not in vain, for He said, “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, that which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” She saw that Jesus must go to Calvary, and she anointed Him accordingly.

Then arose Judas! And he said, “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” (John 12:4-5), and he carried away with him the whole company of the apostles, even John. Look at Mark 14:4, “There were some that had indignation among themselves”; and in Matthew 26:8, “When His disciples saw it (the anointing by Mary), they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?” Does it not seem, therefore, that Judas got all the disciples over his side, and there was not one, not even John, who withstood him? “And they murmured against the woman.” Only the Master protected her. She understood His mind. You see, things come out when they are fully ripe.

But do not think that this was the only time the Lord had to suffer from His disciples. Let us look again at John 13:31: “When therefore he (Judas) had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” Perhaps this was the supreme test of the whole three years of forbearance with Judas, which the Lord must go through victoriously before He could go through Gethsemane and Calvary. Not once in all that time had He said to Judas, “Go away, leave Me if you will, rather than lead My loved ones astray; you are an enemy, and it does not honor Me to have you in My company, you are a danger to the rest of My disciples.” I wonder with which disciple Judas was associated when Jesus sent forth the two and two. He was a constant danger to them all, not only to His own—those to whom He had given the words of His Father—but also to them who should become disciples when His life had been laid down. For all, Judas was a standing danger, and yet Jesus was never put out by him, never offended.

O the more I read John 13, the more I understand how Peter could not bear to let his Master wash his feet. But Judas! how could he bear it ? I am sure this cold water must have been like boiling water on his feet. And Jesus did all carefully: for whatever the Lord did, He did well. Yet Judas had the dreadful courage to endure and allow all this; he could even bear to take the supper of his Lord, and then, and not till then, Satan entered into him (verse 27). Until that time, there might have been hope for him, but the moment came when it was finished, and Satan claimed his own. Then only Jesus said, “That you do, do quickly,” and he went out! And in that supreme moment of His life, after three years’ testing, Jesus could say “Now is the Son of Man glorified!” Never by a look or word had Jesus repulsed him, or failed in this test; He bore the Cross to the very end, bearing and forbearing up to full consummation, even with Judas.

That is glory, beloved brethren, not to mutilate the hour of trial, but to persevere to the end in love, forbearing even with a Judas; and not looking at him as such, however trying he may be—however painful to meet with him. Let us not see Judas in our brother. Let us rather say: “If my Lord could bear with Judas till the work of patience was consummated in Him (for patience must have its perfect work), I know whatever test may come to me, He has overcome, and will give me grace to bear it. I cannot overcome it, but He has brought forth His love in my heart, and when the love of God is shed forth by the Holy Ghost, then I have the same love with which the Father loved His Son, and He in me can overcome.” And as our Lord looked, not to the measure of His forbearing love, but simply looked to His Father’s love dwelling in Him, so may we depend on Him, and prove the sufficiency of His love dwelling in us. “Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy; and may find grace to help us in every time of need” (Heb. 4:6).

Let us pour out our hearts before Him: let us say to Him frankly, “Lord! though it looks as if I had mistaken my field of labor, and my companion, yet I have let You go before me, and I know that all will come out right at last; even the very things which now seem a hindrance and not a help. You know, Lord, what You do. I see now; I had hoped to work for You, and I need Your work in me. You have first to teach me lessons of Divine love and patience with my brother and my sister. I cannot doubt the rightness of Your way. Even if You do not call me to work for You, I know You care for Your own, and will work in me a perfect work of patience. I bow and worship You, and I thank You that in my fellow-worker I see now not a hindrance, but a chosen instrument to bring out Your patience in me. I thought I had it, but now I do not think so.”

For we may think we have patience, and yet may have to find it is not that which can overcome human weakness in others. Say to the Lord: “And now I ask You to let me go forth with that love with which You have loved me; a poor, undone sinner! Now I worship You, and will no more hinder You from carrying out Your glory in me: and as You have glorified Your Son by enabling Him, through the Holy Ghost, to carry out Your work of patience and forbearing love to the end, so let it be even in me. Though I do not understand this way of glory, the mystery, the awful solemnity, in learning patience with my brother, and with others whom I have looked upon as poor saints, now I see what a poor saint I myself am, and I praise You for Your patience all the way.”

Well, brothers: now we see what the Lord accepted—took home to His heart—from His Father’s hands, in that night spent on the mountaintop in prayer! When He received the names of His twelve disciples, He saw what was before Him, and what He would have to bear in those three years: and this is only an example of every step He took throughout His life. He listened to His Father: He walked with God: He never took a step without clear and heavenly guidance. He walked in heavenly light through this dark world, amid the doubting company of His own disciples. The calls of His beloved ones, Martha and Mary, did not, go through His heart before they had gone through His Father’s heart, so that no womanly sympathy might deter or draw Him back from the path of simple obedience. He was in this world for God.

He could forbear, because in His eyes no mistakes of others were a hindrance to the kingdom of God. No Judas could hinder. All things in His eyes were constantly and gloriously working together for good, for the carrying out of God’s purposes. He saw God in everything, even in the attacks of the Pharisees, and the powers of darkness which beset His path, during His three years’ ministry. Everything was to Him a manifestation of God’s will, to bring to the full things to be overcome by Him through suffering and through death. He was the Lamb of God, laying down His life through renouncing His will in everything; every plan in His work for the kingdom; thinking, doing nothing of Himself. That was the great work which He did in the three years, and it gave its full and true power to the sacrifice on Calvary. There was no spot in His life, or in His love, no looking back. He went through every test victoriously. And so He was the Lamb without blemish, proved by God, and proved before the eyes of the disciples, Judas included, as One whom the powers of darkness could not keep from accomplishing the work He had been sent to do. Through such a school He lived the life of the Lamb, and it is this which gives to us the full value of His redeeming love.

He carried out the heavenly life, and that is forbearing love. Now then, who will take the heritage of the Lord? I am not now asking you to offer for missionary service; I call you to something higher. Who will enter this life of the Lamb? Who wills that the Lord may bring out in him the character of the Lamb? If you can trust Him for this, you may be sure there will then be no need for human calls to service. When the call comes from above, you will say to Him, “Lord, here I am! You have brought before me the heavenly vision, it has taken hold of my heart: bind me now to You, that Your own life, Your Lamb-life, may come out in me, at home, in the missionfield, or whosesoever You call me, till You shall call me higher up!”

V
The Mind of Christ

Scripture Read: Rom. 8; Phil. 2:1-18 

Before considering the subjects which these passages in the New Testament bring before us, let me, by way of introduction to them, call your attention to a story in the Old Testament. It is the history of the woman of Shunem, and the resurrection of her son (2 Kings 4). Comparing verse 16 with 28, it seems to me we get a glimpse into much which may have taken place in this woman’s heart, when Elisha opened before her new prospects, new horizons in her life. We cannot doubt but that she was a true Israelitish woman, and no Israelitish woman could bear to accept, as a natural thing, that she should be childless. It was a reproach to her. We know how the mother of Samuel, after years of the same reproach, rejoiced at the prospect of having a son whom she might give to the Lord.

And we may well infer that this Shunammite had suffered, for years possibly, before she could endure the reproach of having no son. At last she accepted her life under these conditions, and became resigned. No wonder, therefore, that she shrank: and feared, when the prophet spoke of new prospects, which revived her old desires. “Do not speak of these things,” she seemed to say. And why not? Was it that she dreaded to face possibilities which might again end in disappointment? Such thoughts suggest themselves when we compare verse 16 with verse 28, and we hear her words, when the disappointment which she feared really came, and her son was dead. Feeling her position more intolerable than before, she reproaches the prophet thus: “Did I desire a son of my lord” Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”

In referring to this Shunammite, I want to draw your attention to something else. It is this. How many of us have drawn back when, in holy seasons of our life, new, heavenly horizons began to break in, new possibilities of a deeper life of fellowship with God? And, like the Shunammite, we have said, “Do not speak to me of such things! I have, passed nights before the Lord, longing to come out of a deadened Christian life which I knew could not be according to the will of God: and yet, do not speak to me of fresh prospects. Let the new horizons fade away, and let me settle down as best I can in the present state of things, rather than speak to me of that which my past experience has proved impossible.”

Brothers, we may fear and shrink, as new prospects open up before us, because we fear that we shall never realize them; but remember, God never deceives a human heart when once He sets before it Divine possibilities. And all our shortcomings and yearning cries are but His preparations to bring to judgment our sinful nature, by which we have sought to take Divine things into our hands. God must bring us down, until at last He can bless us with heavenly light and life, in which we cannot be deceived: that is eternal life. Therefore, let us not doubt and fear; He has never promised anything which He has not guaranteed to perform, in all its fullness, in your life and mine.

Let us now look at Philippians 2:1-8. It is one of the central portions of the New Testament, for it expressly formulates the work of the Holy Trinity—that of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in regard to what He has purposed to produce in us—a life of love. “God is love,” and we have been created in His image. This being the case, there must be some way to bring us back to God’s first thought for us; i.e., we must be brought to know afresh what it is to present to the universe the image of God—which is love.

The apostle begins: “If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions”—if these are not exhausted—“fulfill you my joy.” He does not say, If there is in your heart any more comfort: but he asks, as it were, “Are there no more comforts in Christ, no more consolations of love, no more fellowship in the Spirit?” Shall we, who have received the Holy Ghost, find in our hearts fellowship of love, tenderness, and compassion for others? O let us never seek in our hearts these inexhaustible treasures of His grace, but let us learn more and more to take what there is in Christ.

Christ in us, we in Christ, not we in ourselves! And the more we advance, and grow up in Christ, the less we shall be tempted to seek for anything in ourselves. What is it which characterizes our Holy Bible, and proves that these Epistles were written by the Holy Ghost? They always point to Christ: that is the law of the Spirit. Therefore, whenever we find, in the writings of the apostles, messages which concern our calling as saints, or which condemn us in our walk, we also find that the possibility of attainment or renewal is provided in Christ, and not in us. O brothers, it is by these elementary lessons we shall grow to be men in Christ, ceasing all our efforts to find anything in our­selves, learning to live simply in Him.

“If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, any consolation of love, any fellowship of the Spirit; any tender mercies and compassions: fulfill you my joy”: show before the churches that we have learned to take things by the Spirit of God: obeying the Spirit by taking out of Christ all we need. He is the secret Source of all the tenderness, patience, and forbearance we need in us as instruments in the building up of the Body of Christ. He is the Head, and from the Head the members draw their life. No member receives for itself alone: the life must circulate. The holy oil of life and love descends from the Head, down even to the last extremity, for the little ones; for the babes in Christ.

O these things lead on to heavenly glory, far beyond our thoughts, and are, therefore, apprehended through lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself, “not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.” How ashamed we then become of ourselves! How precious to look off, and see all we have in Christ! There is boundless love in Him, and as we find that “even to look on others as better than ourselves” is beyond our reach, so we find the secret, and the obedience to this command is also in Christ. As we lose sight of our sinful self, and are lost in the consciousness of His love, lowliness of mind is produced, and with it tender mercies and forbearing love. Our hearts are opened, and we breathe heavenly air; the air of heaven is love.

“Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” What mind? To get low down. “He descended, even to the lowest parts of the earth, that He might fill all things,” and subject all things to His light and love. “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself—He emptied Himself—becoming obedient unto death, yes, the death of the cross.” Thus far He went, and thus far can the Holy Ghost carry us, that we may be one with Him, crucified, and buried; disappearing from the eyes of men. The way to this has been opened by the Holy Ghost.

“Wherefore God also highly exalted Him.” All comes from God, all goes to God. At the bidding of the Father, Jesus came, obedient to the Father’s call. God so loved the world, He could give His only begotten Son. He was the Father’s gift, and because the Son had been wellpleasing to the Father, not shrinking back, even from the shame of the cross, “and made His grave with the wicked,” God, therefore  highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name; “that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”—but that is not the last word—the last word is, “To the glory of God the Father.” Every exaltation, every power given to the Son by the Father, will be used by the Son in ages to come with one definite antici­pation of the time when He shall bring to His Father’s feet everything which has been subjected unto Him. “Then shall the Son also Himself be subjected to the Father, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

And this brings before us another prospect. We cannot enter into fellowship with the mind of Christ, forbearing one another in love, without also entering into fellowship with Him in His glorious ministry to exalt the Father’s work. Whatever glory, whatever power has been given to the Son by the Father, the Father knows it will be used by Him with this distinct end in view, to bring back the universe to the feet of God the Father, that He maybe all in all. Oh! it is good sometimes to have an outlook, to scan the distant horizons, and not to be absorbed with the present moment and its present sufferings. It gives us fresh power to descend; and new power to ascend, into the pure, free air of heaven.

Now some may say, “I see all this is in Christ for me; but how may I appropriate it?” It seems to me we have the answer in Phil. 2:12. If we make no pause between verses 11 and 12, we can then see there is no break in the thought which the Apostle intended to convey, “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God,—not the Father; God the Holy Ghost—which works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” O how blessed! First we are taught there is nothing in us, everything is in Christ; then we learn how to take all we need from Christ. But is even this our doing? Not at all. All is the work of the Spirit.

For this purpose was He given—that He might declare the things of Christ, and show them unto us: and then, that He might work out these things in us. It is all His work. It is He who shows us the Crucified and Risen Christ: and, as He went to heaven with His hands outstretched in blessing, even so the Holy Ghost shows Him unto us now. He has never withdrawn His hands, He is still blessing His flock, His own. It is through the Holy Ghost we are brought into constant fellowship with Christ, and, therefore, we should never disobey the Holy Ghost. “As you have always obeyed,” so now continue to obey, by working out your own salvation; and here, brothers, I see in “salvation” nothing else than a life of love. In its first meaning, it clearly points to the pardon of sins, and the new birth; but in the last stage, as we see from Romans 8:23, and 1 Corinthians 1:20, it points to the redemption of the body. And between the two, these two poles—regeneration and redemption—there is sanctification.

What is sanctification, but the life of love such as the apostle brings before us in Phil. 2:1-18. Forbearing love, worked out in daily 1ife—not thinking of ourselves and our sufferings, but that our sufferings may turn to account, in help to those around us. The whole Christian life is one of forbearance, a sinking of self through the power of the Holy Ghost. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which works in you.” If it is my work, well, it belongs to me to take it up in the morning and lay it down in the evening when I am tired. But it is His work, and my part is to obey, to give Him room, and always to re­member we are on holy ground. He is working that He may reveal in us the love of Jesus Christ, so that we may show to the world that we are really in fellowship with Christ, and that we may take from Christ the treasures of His love, and reveal this love to others.

But in all these things we go forward only as we are obedient, never interrupting the Holy Ghost with our thoughts, never grieving Him: for by Him we have been “sealed unto the day of redemption.” Let us then obey the Holy Ghost, and honor the Holy Ghost by trusting Him so to work in us the character pf Christ that we may disappear behind Him. The Holy Ghost is given to show forth Christ, the Living One, and is He not able to bring to pass all these high things—possibilities of reflecting Christ—from which we have hitherto shrunk as impossibilities?

And now a closing word on Rom. 8:28-30. Let me call your attention to some special points in these glorious verses. First, “they that love God,” and those “whom He foreknew, and foreordained” (R.V.), are one and the same. Another point: they have been called according to a Divine plan, for something which God has purposed. It is not their purpose; it is God’s. And what is this purpose? “That they may be conformed to the image of His Son.” Now, can we not understand what unspeakable rest it brings to our poor, human mind, to hear that God has a purpose from all eternity for us? O, no human aspirations nor ambitions could have dreamt of such a purpose. What rest! Since God has really purposed this for me, He must surely know how to carry out His purpose. Remember the Shunamniite.

In society, in this world, with its ambitions and its competitions, man’s purpose is to super­sede his fellows; he lives by treading down the interests of others under his feet, and in human purposes there are hindrances on every side. But with God, all is different. When He purposes, then He works for highest ends, and with this in view He surely knows how to prepare every step for us. Then what have we to do? We have seen that they who are called, and they who love God, are identically the same persons. Well! the very moment that I recognize this, and realize that God has a purpose in my life, I take my stand on God’s side, and I trust Him to carry out His purpose in every­thing He permits in my life. That is practical love towards God. Recognizing His purpose, the first token of this love will be glad consent, that God shall at all costs fulfill His purpose in my life, and with this in view I am content to let every ambition, high or low, be swept away. Here is the purpose, and the promise for those who love God: who identify themselves with Jesus, and stand on God’s side; that He may carry out His purpose with them—conformity to the image of His Son.

What is this image of His Son? It would take hours to explain. Look at Isaiah 53. Come to the threshold of the New Testament, and hear the words of John the Baptist: go through the epistles, read Romans 8; 1 Peter 2:19-25, and then look at the book of the future, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and say what is seen in all. What is the image? Love, always love. It is the vision of the Lamb of God: that image which offends the natural heart of man which always says in word, thought, or deed, “Away with Him, not this Man of shame and sorrow!” He was not according to men’s ideas. We turned our backs upon Him, and “as One from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

People speak of predestination! We can easily know if we are predestinated to be con­formed to this image of the Son: very simply, very practically. If we are willing to be conformed to the life of the Lamb, then, in His own time, in God’s time, through the reading or the preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Ghost will open up before us the glory of the Lamb. We shall meet this figure of the Man of Sorrows; Isaiah 53 will be opened up in such a way that before this Man of Sorrows we shall feel ashamed to the depths of our heart, of all our ambitions, tendencies, aspirations after earthly glory and fleshly satisfaction. Before this Man of Sorrows, all such things fall to pieces, they come to naught, and if we are predestinated to be conformed to His image, though at first there may be a drawing back, yet the vision of the Lamb will conquer us, and bring us to broken­ness at His feet.

But look again! The Holy Ghost now brings us nearer, He shows again the Man of Sorrows, this time more distinctly than before; and, if we are predestinated, or preordained, from our place in the dust we shall now begin to see that it is the highest glory in our life to become at last like this Man of Sorrows, a Man who loved His enemies even to the end. And we shall know it is God’s purpose, not ours, to bring forth such glory. God does not ask it from us. How could He expect such things from us poor, fallen creatures? It is the Holy Ghost who stands in the gap, and who undertakes to bring to pass, even in such as we are, whatever Christ has carried out in His life, and thus made possible for us.

This is the purpose of the Father, and it is founded on Hill love. He has pledged it, He has guaranteed the execution of His purpose, and as surely as our Lord could end His earthly career with “It is finished,” so surely will the day come when the Holy Ghost will speak His “It is finished,” and His work of producing this image of Christ in His members will be completed.

In the eyes of the world, the finished work of the Son appeared a failure; but in the mind of God, it was true success. It was not according to the thoughts of man’s mind, it was a Divine purpose: and, as such, it was carried out on Divine lines; and only those who are preordained can understand such a way of glory, and fall down before the beauty of the Lamb.

They speak no more of what they can do, or speak, or think; but they trust the Holy Ghost to show through the Word the beauty of Christ, as He leads on from victory unto victory. Thus every natural resistance will be overcome, and there will be true union with God in all His purposes. And though yesterday all around may have been dark and difficult, today there will be clearer understanding of God’s purpose—to make us lamblike. The very things which seemed contrary will prove to be working to­gether to that end. Thus are we taught to bring into captivity all our thoughts and ways, and, as little children, learn to know Christ in the school of the Holy Ghost.

Overcome, and conquered, we are carried captive “to the obedience of Christ,” and thus one thought permeates our hearts: “Lord God, You would not have revealed Your purpose of conforming me to the image of Your Son, You would not have shown me the beauty of His life, if it were not Your will that the Holy Ghost, whom You have given, should work in me to will and to do that which is beyond my reach. I trust Him then to produce in me the character of Christ, learning step by step what I do not know as yet by the shortcomings in others and in myself, and I obey Your call to a life of for­bearing love.”

VI

Ministry of the Spirit

In reference to the solemn subject brought before us—of receiving the Holy Ghost, let me give you a word of personal testimony. It was in the year 1874 that I came to England for the first time from Switzerland, having lived there, I may say, for many years, in uninterrupted fellowship with God. If ever a shadow crossed my spiritual life, even for a moment, it was, after deep repentance, immediately removed. I was pastor of a little church in the mountains of French Switzerland when I first heard at one of our Synods of the mighty revivals which were taking place in America and in England through Mr. Moody, and it touched my heart so deeply that I said, “We also shall have these revivals in our land.” On returning from the Synod, a brother pastor said to me, “I have papers about those meetings,” and I read in “The Christian” papers by Pearsall Smith and others. Then I was enabled to cross the Channel, and attend the meetings held at Oxford in 1874, hoping to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I remember waiting before the Lord perhaps for two hours, to receive this experience, when the Lord gave me, not what I sought, not what I had expected; but suddenly, during the meetings, like an opening in my horizon, there broke in upon me a God-given apprehension, a Divine understanding, I might say, of what it meant to simply trust; and I went down on my knees, and could only say I was satisfied, for now I could go away from Oxford with full trust in my God. Then it became the central object of my life to trust the Lord all the way; but I took things in my own hands, and He is kind and patient when He sees those who wish to follow Him to the uttermost. Moments came in which I again took up the old expectation of a baptism of the Holy Ghost; but now nearly twenty-seven years have passed since the Oxford meetings, and the more I read my New Testament, the more clearly it stands before me that, if I am to please the Holy Ghost, and if I am to be strengthened in the inner man, I must obey the Holy Ghost in all His ways of working, and know Him in that central point of His Divine office, by letting. Him fill my horizon with Christ.

If there is in the Holy Trinity one Person more than another to whom the words in Isaiah 45:15, may be applied, “Verily, You art a God that hides Yourself,” it is the Holy Spirit. He has a way of carrying on His work in us as from a distance, and it is not for us to break through His ways of working; it is holy work­manship in the deepest depths of our being, and this holy work is disturbed, dishonored, when I turn my eyes away from the glory of Christ and the glory of the Father. It is Divine work He is doing as He leads from step to step; and He works also in a special way when Christians, members of the Body of Christ, meet together to learn at the feet of Jesus, forgetting former conceptions about the Holy Ghost, and about Church life. At such times He specially educates us, teaching us that most holy truth—that Christ has only one Body—and that every truly converted man is a member of this Body of Christ, one Body, one Spirit. In so far as you forget your individual part, the Holy Ghost can then unfold before you the glory of Christ’s Body—one member living for another, without distinction. Whether another member sees alike with me or not, that makes no difference. I honor him as the creation of the Holy Ghost, a fellow-member of the Body of Christ.

Oh! when children of God meet together on this ground the Holy Ghost is free, as He never can be where individuals are on their face crying for the Holy Ghost. But, brothers, notice the purpose of the ministry of the Spirit—it is that we may learn to please the Father and the Son. It is blessed to hear those wonderful words in the Bible, that it is possible to please God through faith, that wheresoever there is faith, God is pleased (Hebrews 11:5-6). Wherever God finds us trusting, looking unto Him, and not at what is going on in us, He smiles and is pleased. Long before Oxford I never could have doubted the forgiveness of my sins, but from that time I began to see more clearly that through whatsoever depths the Lord might lead, there was nothing in our lives which lacked conformity to Christ from which the Holy Ghost could not cleanse and heal us.

Behind pardon and remission there is the loosing power of the blood, and we cannot fail to see this when reading Revelation 1:5. Speaking of Jesus Christ, John writes, “Unto Him that loved us and washed us [A.V.] [loosed us R.V.] from our sins by His blood.” We cannot say absolutely whether it is “wash” or “loose.” The difference in the Greek is small; but even in these things we see providence in our Bible. sinful past. True repentance never produces washing without loosing, and a washing which would not involve new loosing, leading to an abiding in Christ, would not be what Scripture says it is. Brothers, let me say it. freely in the presence of God—the blood of Christ washes from an evil conscience, and brings poor, sinful human beings to the glorious possibility—no mere human emotion—of living only to please God. And so, even through sorrow for sin, sorrow underlined by the Holy Ghost, I seek no escape, but when looking to Him, even through sorrow, there comes more and more clearly the testimony of the Holy Ghost that I am pleasing unto Him. He does not bring us back under law, but writes with His own pen one fact upon our heart, one occupation from morning until evening—that of pleasing Him.

Brothers, this is Holy Ghost work. The Lord did not ask His disciples, when He went to heaven, to pray for, but to wait for the Holy Ghost. They did receive His baptism; and yet, when later on the house shook, they were not engaged with the question of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but with the glory of Christ. They prayed that God would give them boldness to speak His Word, while He stretches forth His hand to heal; doing wonders by the name of the Holy Child Jesus, and it was while they were thus engaged they were filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 4:31). And when Stephen stood before the judgment seat he was not taken up with the working of the Holy Ghost, but with the glory of Christ. He was taken up with the need of honoring his Lord; and so he was borne over everything, and carried through with such heavenly light and comfort, that even his face shone with Divine glory. He saw not the Holy Ghost, but Christ, He was engaged with Christ.

I shall never forget the first meeting at Oxford in 1874. Asa Mahan spoke. He presented Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in their mutual aspect. He said: Each face in the Godhead is turned towards the other; the face of the Father looks at the Son; and, thus looking, we are seen through Him. Then, when the Son came to earth, He spoke not of Himself, but of the Father. Looking back, He saw the Father; looking forward, the Holy Ghost. He turned the attention of the disciples when He was taking leave of them to the Spirit, who would testify of Him. And so the Spirit came to convict of sin. What sin? The sin of unbelief. And yet how many Christians speak lightly of their unbelief! That is the very thing the Holy Ghost came to convict the world of—unbelief; and He did so at Pentecost. He then avenged Jesus Christ, showing through the lips of Peter to those amazed thousands what they had done in crucifying Jesus; and as they saw Him lifted up, they were broken down. The Holy Ghost had convicted them.

Oh, how many cry for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and yet they need to be convicted of their sin of unbelief in Christ! To believe is to trust, to trust is to believe, and what would the heathen say, what would the Chinese Christians say, if they heard that the Christiana who sent them missionaries had to cry for faith and the Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost convicts of unbelief in order that our whole heart may trust in Jesus, and it is one of the symptoms of decay in the Christian Church that it needs so much agony as I had, until I came to a life of uninterrupted trust in Christ. Oh! the privilege of being enabled now to please God.

Let us look at Romans 14:7: “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Now what is it which characterizes peace and joy in the Holy Ghost? “For he that in these things serves Christ is well pleasing unto God, and approved of men” (verse 18). Whatever is wrought by the Holy Ghost in us has Christ for its object, and he who herein serves Christ is well pleasing unto God. Then in chapter 15:2, “Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good unto edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached you fell on Me” (verses 2, 3). To be well pleasing unto God, and to edify one another, is not to be taken up with our experience of righteousness, and peace, and joy—that is corruption. The moment you see something in yourself, it is no more the Holy-Ghost-given peace in which you rejoice, but self; but when I serve only Christ, then am I well pleasing unto God, and the Holy Spirit gets more room, world without end.

“Christ pleased not Himself.” From the first awakening to His Divine calling, up to His last cry on Calvary, He cared not what anything might cost Him, whether joy or sorrow. He had only one joy—to please the Father: and He did so through the Eternal Spirit, offering Himself upon the cross. And likewise we are enabled to become true sons of God: learning not to care about personal happiness and human satisfaction, but to live only for God. This was the life of Christ, and He lived thus in order that you and I might follow Him. That is not true sanctification in which one pleases himself. We are placed here for God, and the smile of the Father is all that a child needs as a testimony that he is pleasing unto Him. Oh! the smile of God, and of knowing Christ no longer after the flesh. Oh! to be enabled to go further, and step out into the depths of the written Word!