Lecture VIII

The last time, speaking on the preceding verses of this chapter, I was in closing referring to two things here — the first, in verse 9, the love of God as manifested to the world in giving His Sou. for us; and, in verse 17, in its double firuit of love and life in ws. God’s love in contrast to man’s love is distinguished by this, that while man must have something to draw out his love, as it is said, “For a good man some would even dare to die,” God commendeth His love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Jod’s love is without motive, there being nothing attractive in the object that draws it out “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” God’s love sees no good in us. The brightest proof of God’s love and man’s enmity was seen in the cross. They met there, and thus showed the superiority of God’s love. As Jethro says, “In the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them.” Then, having shown out the Jirstfruit in verse 9; i.e. the open manifestation of His love to us while we were yet sinners, we learn His purposes and counsels about us as saints in the second point in verse 17: “Herein is love with us made perfect that we majr have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is so are we in this world.” This is a very different thing from His first visiting us in our sins — “Herein is love with us made perfect.” The perfectness of God’s love towards His saints is seen in the bringing them to be like Himself. The sovereign grace of Gk)d puts the saint into the same place as Christy that we may have the same kind of fellowship with the Father that Christ had. So in John xiv. the Lord says, “My peace I give unto you;” that is, the peace He has with the Father. “Not as the world giveth give I unto you.” The world has the character of a benefactor, and that it sometimes gives generously I do not deny; but then it is by helping a man as he is out of the resources which it has, which may be all very well, because by helping him it ’s only taking care of itself. But it is evidently a different thing here; for Christ takes us clean out of our condition putting us into the same relationship with the Father as Himself. The world can’t give in this way. There is no guarding anything for self in Christ’s unjealous love, but in us there is. Therefore He could say, “Not as the world giveth give I unto you.” His delight was to show that the Father loved them, as He loved Him. “The glory thou hast given me I have given them, that the world may know thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” Jesus not only loves them Himself, but He will have it known that they are loved by the Father as He Himself is loved. Can there be anything moi

a than this? (though the word disinterested fails to give the full meaning). Still all this is guarded; for Christ ever keeps His place as the eternal Son of Gkxl, as at the mount of transfiguration. The moment there is the question of putting Moses and EUas in an equality with Jesus they both disappear; for when Peter said “Let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them,” and instantly they vanished. “And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying. This is my beloved Son; hear Him.” It is not said hear them, but hear Him, and when the voice was passed Jesus was found alone. If Christ in His wondrous grace reveals Moses and Elias as EUs companions and associates in the glory, the moment Peter in his foolishness gives utterance to the thought that would place them on an equality with Christ they must both vanish from the scene.

It does not say, as the Father has loved them, but “as He has loved me” (as a man); for however Christ may bring us into the same place with Himself, if we pride ourselves on our equality with Christ immediately we shall be above Him; but it is ever the case, that the more a saint enters into his elevation, as being brought into the same place with Christ, the more he adores Christ as God over all blessed for evermore. This is ever to be borne in mind. The thought in verse 17, “As He is so are we,” is of putting tine Bamt& in the same place as Christ. If I have righteousness, it’s a divine righteousness. “We are made the righteousness of God in Him.” If eternal life, it ’s a divine life. If glory, it ’s the same glory. “The glory thou hast given me I have given them.” If it’s the inheritance, we are “joint heirs with Christ.” If love, it’s the same love wherewith the Father loves Christ. “Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” The love is the most difficult thing for us to enter into; but the Lord would have our hearts enjoying it. All that we have in Christ is brought out in this passage, in this general expression, “JLs He is so are we.” It is the thought and purpose of God’s grace to bless us not only by Christ, but tvith Christ. Christ could not be satisfied unless it were so, we being the fruit of the travail of His souL “Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be mth me.” Again, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye may be also.” The Father’s love is seen in giving His Son for us, and the Son’s love in giving Himself for us, and thus bringing us into the perfect place.

There’s nothing more comforting than the perfect confidence of having God as my Father. I can’t get the affections in full play if I think God is going to judge me; but if I have the Spirit of adoption, and I sin or do wrong, I run to my Father directly, because I know my Father is not going to judge me for it; for God is my Father, and not my Judge, therefore boldness ia needdL tot >3cl ^TL^^^afc of the spiritual affections in me. And we oaght to remember this; for Christians often shrink from it But it is evident that if I am hesitating whether Grod is going to bless me or to judge me, I can*t love Him. Then observe another thing. There is a great difference between spiritual desires and spiritual affections, though both have the same root. The spiritual desires, if the relationship which would meet them be not known, only produce sorrow. Take an orphan, for instance, in a fetmily where the parents’ love to the children is witnessed every day, the sorrowful experience would be, “Oh that I had a father!” The child who has its parents has the same desires; but the relationship existing of parent and child it knows, and the joy and gkdness which flows from such relationship. So that we may have joy and gladness as the children of God we’ must have the consciousness of the relationship in which we stand to God. It is not merely that we have a divine nature, which gives us spiritual desires, but we must also have the consciousness of the relationship in which we are brought by the power of what Christ has done, and it is clear there never could be a question between Christ and His Father, as He daily and hourly enjoyed the consciousness of His Father’s love. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” So also He says, “My peace I give unto you.” Again He says, “That they might have my joy fulfilled in tbemselvea”

The Father’s delight was in Christ, and He knew it in the daily enjoyment of it. Well, “as He is so are we in this world.” While Christ lays the ground of our relationship by being the propitiation for our sins, and the source of our life, yet it is not by Christ’s righteousness that I get boldness. I must be righteous of course. I can’t have boldness without it. But besides this there is the character God has towards me — that of a Father; and I have another character towards God, as a child. I have not only righteousness, but I am a son. And here I would notice the defectiveness of some of our hymns, which caU Christ our Brother. We never find in Scripture that Christ is called our Brother. In the fulness of His grace He is not ashamed to own and call us His brethren. My Father is a man; but I don’t call Him a man. It would show a want of filial reverence in me if I did. In nothing is the power of the Spirit of God more shown in the child of God than in the suitableness of his expressions and feelings towards God. If we are really enjoying our place of infinite privileges, the source and giver of these privileges will maintain His own proper place in our hearts. Theorizing about it won’t do. A common expression is, we cannot be always on the mount. So far that’s true, because we all have our place of service down here; but I would observe that being in the mount of God’s presence always humbles, though when a saint gets down agam Yifc TCka.^ li<i ^lwiSiw mm

having been there. Paul was not puffed up when he was in God’s presence caught up to the third heavens; but after he had been there, he needed a thorn in the flesh, lest he should be exalted above measure. The heart is never proud in God’s presence, and onlj when it is reallj there is it in its right place; for when out of it the Jlesh turns everything into mischief.

“As He is so are we.” Not only in the same standing and acceptance as Christ, but brought by the communication of His life into the same relationship as Himself. While in the beginning of the Epistle the foundation is laid deep and wide in the cleansing of the blood, still the grand subject of the Epistle is the place into which we are brought. “Herein is love with us made perfect.” If my heart has seized the truth that God as a Father is acting in grace towards me, there is no place for fear. In all my need, and even in that with which I ought to have nothing to do, in all my sin, I fly to Him. I could not in my sin fly to my judge; but I have confidence in my Father’s love, and I fly to Him without fear; for “perfect love casteth out fear.” In all my sins and follies I can always look to Him who gave His Son for me; that is where grace puts me.

The proof of God’s love is that He has given

His Son; the perfection of His love is that He

has brought us into His presence, (v. 19.) We

Jove Him because He fiiat loed us* We now delight in the Lord; but we did not come in in that way; it is a mistake to think so. We don’t come in by loving Grod. We don’t love God because He is lovely; we are not competent; we can’t love Him; we should not be sinners if we could. But we are sinners, and must come in as sinners, as debtors to His grace; and then, having come in as debtors, and finding Gk)d to be what He is — love, meeting us in our every need — then we love Him, finding how He had first loved us.

Verse 20. “If a man say he loves God and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” Here we see the truth is checked in an interesting way by practical details. If a man does not love his brother he can’t love God. Wherever the divine nature is, it is attractive to one born of God.

Verse 21. “And this commandment have we jBrom Him.” We have another important principle in this verse. Whatever the energy of the divine life in me it always will bear the character of obedience. While there was in Christ the devotedness of love, there also was obedience. We are to love the brethren, as being led by the energy of the Spirit, but to love them in the holy place of obedience to God. There is nothing 80 humble as obedience. Love never takes us out of the place of obedience. So the Lord said, “As the Father gave me commandment even so I do.” So again when Lazarus was sick, and they sent to Jesus, He aboda tvro Aaq^Va.*^^ aame place, because He bad no wovd fitom His Father; and so if I have any litde service to do for my brother it must be done in obedience to the word of (3od It is what Satan tried to get the Lord out of in the wildemesa. ^’Ob,” says Satan, “have your own will, if it ’s in only ever so little a bit, by making these stones into bread now you are hungry* “No,’* says the Lord; “it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of GkML” And here we get a counter check to all the workings of nature; for if it is not a command it is not of Grod. Man may put on all the forms of love imaginable, and become like an angel; but if it is not in obedience to a command, it is nothing, and won’t do.

Chap. V. 1. “Whosoever believeih that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,” and there we get the link between Grod and the family. When anyone is born of Gk)d he is my brother, and is that which is a link between my soul and God. If the question be asked, How am I to know who is my brother? every one that is born of God is my brother. I may have to sorrow over him sometimes; but still he is my brother, because I am linked to him by the same divine nature. It is of great importance to remember this in the present day, because where the Holy Ghost really acts there will be a tendency to follow different courses. There has been an awakening from the deadness around by the power of the Spirit. Tbexe ate glimmerings of light. Mere stones would be motionless; but a moving power comes in, and they all go in different directions. If they were all subject to the Spirit of God, they would all go one way.

And there is another thing to be observed, that we are not at the beginning of Christianity, but at the dark end, and escaping, as it were, but by different roads. The operation of the Spirit of God, if we were absolutely and perfectly subject to the Spirit in all things, would be to produce perfect unity. But we are not thus subject; and being what we are, there is a tendency in us to go in different directions. The remedy for this will be that, so far as my heart is in fellowship with Christ’s heart, we shall have love to all saints; to the same extent that Christ is valued will the saints be valued. In proportion as Christ’s thoughts are known to me will all saints be in my thoughts. I don’t know Christ’s love rightly if one saint is left out. As it is said in Eph. iii 18: “May be able to comprehend with all saints, .... that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God.” If I should leave one out, I should leave out part of Christ’s heart. In Colossians it is your love to all saints. In Colossians we have the fulness of the Head, and in Ephesians the fulness of the Body. God’s grace working in me makes every one born of God the object of my affections. I cannot go every way at once; and a real difficulty arises now to walk in fidelity to Christ aivi va. Iss^’^f brethren, so as not U) let the affections get in a loose and general way. I cannot love Ghxl without loving all the children of God.

“By this we know that we love God when we love His children,” and t;ic0i»0rsa. Now that’s reasoning in a circle, as men say; but there is truly in it a counter check against the evil of our own heart* II I love the Father, I shall love the children for the Father’s sake; but if I were to lead them to do anything wrong, it would show that I did not love them for the Father’s sake, but for my own satisfaction and pleasure. K it ’s for the Father’s sake you love the children, then it is as (rod’s chUdren you love them, and not for your own comfort and pleasure; and this is proved by your loving God, and keeping His commandments. Obedience and faith in your own walk will prove that it is as God’s children you love the brethren. How practical is this both in wisdom and in love! If I know that a member of Christ’s body is going wrong, does that make me cease to love him? No; but because he is going wrong my soul is more deeply and affectionately going out after him, as being one with Christ. To be able to love the brethren faithfully we must keep close to Christ.

Again, we have what I call a countercheck. If one comes to me with a vast amount of truth without holiness I cannot recognise such; he is not of the Spirit, for the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of hoUneaa, Or if there be a gieat how of holiness and truth be absent, that also is not of the Spirit; He is the Spirit of truth.

Satan never touches that which is born of God; he cannot touch it. Worldliness is a dreadful hindrance to the saint. We have the threefold opposition in the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world opposing the Father, the flesh opposing the Spirit, and the devil opposing Christ. The difficulty lies in this, maintaining our nearness to Christ, which the world comes in and hinders. Then I am open to all sorts of error; for I shan’t take the trouble to be right, unless 1 am near to Christ. It is very troublesome and disagreeable sometimes to have to do even with saints. One can’t give up this thing, another can’t give up that, and so they get off the foundation; and if we are at a distance from Christ we shall be ready to give them up, and shall not take the pains to get them right when they happen to be wrong. So Moses said, “Have I conceived all this people, have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom?” Paul says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” You have got off the right ground, and I must have you, as it were, born again. I am travailing over again for you, that you may be right, because you belong to Christ. When Paul looked at them in confusion as they were away from Christ, he could only say, “I stand in doubt of you;” but when he looked at them as in Ghciat he could say, “I have confidence in you through the Lord.” How is this? Paul himself was nearer to Christ. Faith sees not only Christ in the glory, but sees also the connection between the glory of Christ and saints, the link and tie between God and His people, and it is that which enables one to get on. So Moses said of Israel Not only God was their God, but “they are thy people.” The greater the trouble, the greater the joy, because that is the link.

The real hindrance is the world. There’s nothing takes the energy of the Spirit out of the heart like the world. See Gehazi in the king’s court. His heart had drawn in the spirit of the world, and he was able to entertain the world with the mighty actings of the Spirit. The world must be entertained, and it will be entertained by religion when it can’t get anything else. All that I know of the world’s path, spirit, affections, and conduct is, that it has crucified my Lord. Not in its affections and lusts merely, but by wicked hands it has crucified my Master. Suppose it was but yesterday you had seen Pontius Pilate, the chief priest, and elders of the people, putting Christ to death, would you feel happy to-day in having communication and fellowship with them? Well, the stain of Christ’s blood is as fresh upon the world in God’s sight as if it had been done but yesterday. The time which has elapsed makes no difference in the moTsil guilt. The question is, Am I to get under the power of the world, or am I to overcome it — in my heart I mean? When Christ was down here, with all the beauty and attractive grace in which God the Father would delight, there was not found in the world one thought or sentiment of common feeling with Hinu The world in all its classes — rulers, priests, Pharisees, and the multitude — all have been associated in hanging the Son of God and Son of man on a gibbet Such is the world’s true heart. If I have seen the glory of His person, and see that He is the very Son of God who came down, and that the world turned Him out, can I be happy with it? The link between the thoughts and affections and the world exists in every heart; so that in all sorts of things, even in walking through the streets, I constantly find that which attracts my eye, and my eye affects my heart. Nothing will overcome the world in my heart but the deep consciousness of how it has treated Christ. Take my children, for instance. I want them to get on well in the world; I must have good places for them in it, and nothing but knowing the place Christ had in it will overcome the world in my heart. There is no possibility of getting on unless the world is given up, and the heart is satisfied with Christ, and Christ is everything to it. What do I read of Abraham? That he left his country, his kindred, and his father’s house, and sojourned in a strange land, where he had not a place to set his foot on. We are not of th ^0Yl<i^li.^%Rk>&» is the test of our affections; for we are not a once taken out of the evil, as we must have oui hearts exercised to godliness.

It is very easy to overcome the world when the love of Christ has made it distasteful Satan is the god of this world. Perhaps you will say that ‘g true of the heathen world. Yes; but it ’s true oi the whole world, though it was not till after the rejection of Christ that it was brought out; it was true before. God hjui spoken by His servants the Prophets, and the world had beaten one, and stoned another, and killed another. Then He said, “I will send my beloved Son; may be they will reverence Him when they see Him,” and Him they crucified, thus proving that Satan was the master of man So the Lord said, “righteous Father, the world hath not known thee!” You will not have spiritual discernment or power of motive unless the heart is kept near to Christ, and I shall not want the world if Christ is in my heart If my delight ia in that in which God delights — i.e, Christ — then I can overcome. “Whether therefore you eat ot drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.” What, must I do everything to Christ 1 Oh, that very question proves a heart away fix)m Christ, showing that it is bondage to you to do all to the glory of God! It is not that we are to scorn the world in the least; for God’s grace is for every poor sinner that will receive it. It is the spirit of the world in my own heart which I have to overcome, that which my Yieo & ycl d&njger of

THE FIBST EPISTLE OF JOHN. Ill

being led by. I will now just look back to the three points on which I have touched.

1st Perfect love with us. There is not merely the manifestation of God’s love to the poor sinner, but association with Christ’s life, putting us in relationship with God.

2nd. Love to every saint is our place; but we are to love them as Gkxl’s children, and ourselves being found loving God, and keeping His commandments.

yd. We are to overcome the world. The heart, resting on, looking to, eating, feeding upon Christ, gets the consciousness of what the world is, and overcomes.

The Lord keep us in humble dependence on Himself. His grace is sufficient for us. His sfoieDgth made perfect in our weakness.