Tag: JND

Luke 15

Luke 15

 

eastmanprodigalIt is wonderful to see how God reveals Himself in certain passages of scripture.  Nobody could manifest God in thoughts, words and actions like the Lord Jesus Himself.  We see that in the parables.

The brightness of God’s glory is too much for man.  Consequently, He graciously hides His brightness in the Person of the Son of man.  Man rejected Christ, constantly finding fault and carping at things with which he could not agree. This however moved God to show that He really was God, clothing Himself in flesh in the person of Christ and showing His heart to man here.  Whilst here He used parables.

In many of them we have the Lord seeking persons in need.  We sometimes tell people to seek Christ.  Doing that is right in one sense, for it is quite true that ‘He that seeketh findeth’(Luke 11:10), but the Lord never said to people, ‘Come unto me’, until He had first come to them.

So in Luke 15 God tells all the truth. God will be God.  In this parable God welcomes the poor prodigal son, making God merry and glad.  God would have His own joy in spite of the men’s objections.  People object to God’s acting in love, prefering to look on God as a judge, believing in pride that their own righteousness will satisfy God.  But God operates in grace, making nothing of man’s righteousness: ‘There is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ (Rom 3:23).

 

The Woman caught in Adultery

People like to compare one person’s righteousness with another’s.  The scribes and Pharisees criticised the Lord for eating with publicans and sinners.  In this they slighted God’s righteousness and magnified their own.  In John 8 we find the woman caught in the act of adultery, being brought by the scribes and Pharisees.  By the law she would have been justly condemned to be stoned: she was undeniably guilty.  Their motive was that He might be obliged to deny either mercy or righteousness. They thought to place Him in an inextricable difficulty (we might say today, a catch-22 situation).  If He should let her off, He would break the law of Moses; but should He say, ‘let her be stoned,’ it would not have been grace.  How does the Lord act?  He says, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her’ (John 8:7).  Their consciences begin to work, they realised that they were all were sinners.  From the eldest to the youngest, all went out: only Jesus was sinless.  It was not time for Him to execute the law, for He had not come not to judge, so He concludes, ‘Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more’ (v. 11).  That was grace, and nothing but grace.

 

Luke 15

We have three parables in the chapter.  Each teaches us something of God’s love:­ ‘The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10).

  • The first parable is that of the shepherd who sought the sheep that was lost.
  • The second, that of the woman who sought the piece of money that was lost.
  • The third, the father’s reception of the son who was lost.

 

The Shepherd with 100 Sheep

The Lord Jesus justifies God in being good to sinners.  He appeals to man’s heart. ‘What man of you, having an hundred sheep?’ etc. (v. 4). The sheep is lost and the shepherd goes and finds it; he puts it on his shoulder and brings it home rejoicing.  That is like the Great Shepherd of the sheep who would say. “Have I not a right to seek lost sinners?  Is it not a right thing for God to mix with publicans and sinners?”  This may not suit a moralist, but it suits God.

 

The Woman and the Coin

In the second parable we have the woman’s painstaking, eagerness to find the lost coin.  The woman lights a candle, sweeps the house, not stopping till the piece was found.  And then we have the joy when her possession is recovered. ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost’ (v. 9). That is the way of the Lord in love.

The woman is typical of the Holy Spirit.  We see grace operating without anything moving in the heart of the sinner: we also see God’s own joy.  Man’s pharisaic objection to grace only served to emphasise the energy and activity of God’s love. The piece of money and the sheep could do nothing. The shepherd and the woman alike did all; it was their joy.  Worth nothing, in a certain sense, to God’s love the sinner is immensely valuable.

 

The Prodigal Son

The third parable shows the feelings of the wanderer and the way he was received back.  Both the father’s and the prodigal’s hearts are laid open.  What was important was not the prodigal’s estimate of the love of the father, but the real manifestation of the father’s heart.

Picture the situation:  a man is brought to the utmost degradation – voluntarily eating husks with the swine (and we must remember what swine are to the Jew).  Looking at the case in more detail, the rebellious younger son was far happier when leaving home than he was when returning – he was doing his own will. The young man was as great a sinner when walked out of his father’s house, as he was when feeding the swine in the far country.  He had chosen to act independently of God – that is sin.  He reaped the fruits of his actions, and in one sense, the very consequences of his sin were mercies, because they showed him what his sin was.  It is like us: whether we are living in vice or not, we have all turned our back on God.

When he first left the house, he showed where his alienated heart was.  He had turned his back on his father and his father’s house, and his face was towards the far country, typically the world.  He went there to do his own will.  Parents understand that. Our child sins against us and we feel it. But the child does not feel it the same way, if at all.  So when we sin against God we do not feel it. We are all like children: “we have turned every one to his own way’ (Isa 53:6)

Having reached the far country, the prodigal went on gaily in his own will for as long as he could, wasting his money in riotous living (See v. 13).  Any person from a Christian home, who lives beyond his means looks rich and happy for a time. But if he thinks he is happy, he is so only because he has gotten away from God. His will is unrestrained. But then, after all, he is in the devil’s country, and enslaved to him. Liberty of will is just slavery to the devil.

Hearts are not easy in the world; leave a man for a few hours to himself, and he will soon be in want (young people nowadays would say they were ‘bored’).  The prodigal had begun to be in want, but his will was not touched yet. There ‘And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat: and no one gave unto him’ (v. 14-16).  There is no giving in the ‘far country’, not even of husks.

Satan sells, and dearly – our souls are the price. You must buy everything. The world’s principle is ‘nothing for nothing’; every gratification has its price.  If you sell yourself to the devil, you will get husks: he will never give you anything. If you want to find a giver, you must go to God.

The prodigal awoke and thought, ‘I perish with hunger’; and then he thought of his father’s house – the very place he had been so anxious to get away from at first.  ‘He said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.’ (v. 17-19).

He did not know how he would be received, yet he knew there was happiness and love in the father’s house, even extending to the bondmen and hired servants.  He also knew that there was plenty of food there, and where he was, he was perishing with hunger.  His abject need brought him to value the house.  He knew it was a good place, but did not yet know the extent of that goodness – God’s goodness.

He went back to the father’s house without a true knowledge of the heart of the father, who had seen him already while he was a long way off.  He had prepared his speech: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants’ (v. 18-19).  He measured the father’s love in by the sense of the evil he had done and he thought to get into the place of a servant. Many hearts are in this state, even dictating to the Father what sort of position that would be fit – this is legalism.  God can only receive us in grace.  Had the father received him at a lower level, he would have been miserable.  Having a son in the position of a servant would remind him of the sin that had been committed.  The father cannot have sons in his house as servants.  He rushed to meet him and did not even give him time to say, ‘Make me as one of thy hired servants’. He confessed his sin, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son’.  When his father is on his neck kissing him, even though all the rags of the far country were still on him, how could he ask to be a hired servant?

The father did not stop to ask him anything.  He knew his son had acted very wrongly, but it would have been no use to say, “You have disgraced me and dishonoured my name”. It was not a question of fitness or worthiness on the part of the son – love does not reason that way – the father was acting from himself and for himself.  He fell on his neck, because he loved to be there. It is God’s love, not the sinner’s worth, that accounts for the extravagant liberality of his reception.

The servants are called to introduce him into the house fittingly. ‘But 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: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry’ (v. 22-24).  God shows His love towards us as wretched sinners, and then clothes us with Christ. He brings us into the house where the servants are, with nothing less than the full honour of sonship.  We read about the robe, the ring, the shoes, the fatted calf, and the feast of joy that welcomes the returning prodigal. The father’s mind was that a son of his was worth it all, and that it was worthy of him to give it.

Some might think it humility to desire the servant’s place in the house.  But that is only ignorance of the Father.  In read in Eph 2:7, ‘That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus’.  It would not have been worthy of the Father to leave us as servants.  We would have had a constant memorial of our sin, shame, dishonour and degradation, whereas, ‘The worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sins’ (Heb 10:2).  Our condition must be worthy of God for us to enjoy now.

This requires faith: faith judges as God judges.  We see sin in the light of God’s holiness.  But as our sins and iniquities are not remembered any more, we learn grace and what our Father’s heart really is.  Faith is the only thing that gives me certainty: reasoning does not. Reasoning may be all quite well for the things of this world; but if God speaks about anything, we believe it by faith.  Faith sets to its seal that God is true (See John 3:33).

If I do not believe what God assures me of, I wrong Him. It is a sin not to believe that I am a son – in God’s presence without a spot of sin – through the blood of the Lamb.  If it were only my own righteousness, it would be torn like rags, but it is the blood of the Lamb has cleansed every single sin.

The question is, ‘What is God’s estimate of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus?’  If my soul knows the value to God of the blood of the Lamb, I know the extent of His love.  It would be an evil thing to doubt that, just as it would have been for the prodigal to say, “I have the rags of the far country on” while his father was kissing him.  Like the prodigal, I must be silenced by such grace.

 

The Elder Brother

It might be said that divine grace sanctions sin.  That is the spirit of the elder brother.  Grace pleaded with him: ‘He was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him (v. 28).  We see the the father’s patient love towards this wretched man who refused to share in the joy. The servants were happy; they say, ‘Thy brother is come, and thy father has killed for him the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound’ (v. 27).

His heart turned sour to the love and grace that God showed to a fellow sinner. He would not go in. The father reasoned with him – ‘It was meet that we should make merry and be glad; for this [not my son, but] thy brother was dead and is alive again; and was lost and is found’ (v. 32) In vain, he could not enter into the joyful spirit that pereated the house, from the father down to the lowest maid. He remained outside, and had none of the happiness or joy.  Despite his outward faithfulness and obedience, he refused his father’s grace: this is man.

 

Conclusion

Let us each ask ourselves, ‘How can I know God’s heart?”  We do not get to know it by looking into our own heart. The God we have to do with is the God who has given His Son for sinners, and if we do not know this, we do not know Him at all. ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ (Rom 8:32).   Let us not say to God, “Make me as one of thy hired servants”. Let us not put our own value on God’s goodness.  Let us not turn back to legalism, and think that it is humility. The only real humility is to forget self in the presence of God.  It may be a humbling process; but it is not in thinking evil of self that we are truly humble, it is in forgetting ourselves completely in the manifestation of the love of God and our Father, who is love to us, and blesses us.

May we poor sinners, know through Jesus, God revealed in love!

Sosthenes

November 2015

Based on a paper by John Nelson Darby.  For original see  Parables of Luke 15 

Worshipping God

 

JohnNelsonDarbyMany Christians have only a vague notion as to worship. They may have turned from clerical formalism with its superstitious rituals, but they do not have a true understanding of what worship is. What, then, is it?

Worship is the honour and adoration rendered to God, by reason of what He is in Himself, and what He is for those who render it. Worship proceeds in heaven, and we have the privilege of entering into it here collectively. In doing so we have joy and blessing, our hearts feeling and responding to God’s love. We love Him in return.

Of course an isolated individual can worship, but not in its fullest sense. He or she can bless God for His goodness. But it needs more than one person for true worship.

 

What is, and what is not Worship

  • A testimony respecting God and His grace is not worship.
  • Preaching the gospel to the unconverted is not worship.
  • A sermon is not worship.
  • Prayers addressed to God as to our need are not worship.
  • Referring to God’s glory, but not addressing Him is not worship.

The gospel might produce worship for it is God’s testimony to man. No Christian worship could exist without it, for the gospel makes known the God who is to be adored. The Holy Spirit leads the soul into the state in which it is able to render true homage to Go in spirit and in truth.  It is sweet to rehearse, one to the other, the excellences of Him whom we love with God Himself in our thoughts.

But in worship Christians delight to address themselves to Him.

  • They to speak to and converse with Him, adoring Him personally.
  • They speak to God of His attributes and acts.
  • They open their hearts to Him, to tell Him that they love Him.
  • They delight in their relationship and communion with Him.
  • They testify to His greatness and goodness.

In worship communion is between ourselves and God, and God is more precious to us than even our brethren. Our affections have a higher tone and communion is more complete.

As to Israel

The children of Israel worshipped God, but they could not draw near to Him. God had redeemed them out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and had borne them as upon eagles’ wings, and had brought them even to Himself (See Ex. 19:4). God had promised that they should worship Him upon Mount Sinai, but it was amid thunders, fire, and the voice of a trumpet. Even Moses trembled.

Under the law God placed man in a position where he could bring forth fruit to His glory. He showed what man ought to be and blessed him if he was faithful and judged him if he was not. Under such circumstances God could not fully reveal His holiness and love. Either have had to tolerate iniquity, or banish those who sinned absolutely and eternally from His presence. So, under the law, God concealed Himself.

The people did not even enter into His house. The high priest alone went in once every year in order to carry in the blood of the ram and the bullock — the propitiatory victims — and to make reconciliation for the people with a God who could not endure iniquity. The people sought His protection, and worshipped Him for the benefits He conferred. This was a foreshadowing of Christian worship, but the principles of its exercise were totally different.

 

Christian Worship

It has all changed now. God has not changed, the revelation which He makes of Himself has. Although there is a light to which we cannot approach, He has revealed Himself in Christ.

Christianity is based upon an altogether new relationship between God and man. It was in God’s counsels before the world’s foundation, but it waited for the height of man’s enmity against God: Christ appeared, and man crucified Him!

Now if there is to be a relationship, all must be grace. If God’s goodness and grace is rejected there can only be judgment. This dark background throws into relief the perfection and brilliancy of grace.

Thank God, we are now occupied with grace. There is no longer any question of guilt between the worshipper and God. Christ has abolished it by His sacrifice. The work of Christ has provided the meeting-place between God and the sinner: love has free course, and we can enjoy all God’s blessings. We are reconciled to God and have been brought to enjoy a new relationship.

We have a striking expression of the consequence of the death of Christ in the rending of the veil of the temple. The holy of holies was hidden behind the veil, so no one could draw near to God. Who would dare to present himself before God if all guilt had not been removed? But the veil has been rent from the top to the bottom: now we can enter the most holy place freely. The stroke which rent the veil, smote the Son of God, when He took our sin upon Himself. He has cleansed our consciences by His perfect and eternal work. Hence we are able to enter the holiest joyfully and without spot.

The relationship of God to the Church is presented to us strikingly in the title ‘God of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ When God is called the God of any one, it indicates that a tie of intimacy. Christ is viewed as a man, the head of a new family, who has ascended to His God and our God. We see this truth in Ephesians chapters 1 and 2 Those who were ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Eph 2:1) are to know ‘what is the hope of the calling of God, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints’ (Ch. 1:18). We learn the true power and extent of that glory: ‘the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places (v. 19-20). All that is His is ours – we have a place then in the presence of God! Even the glory that God has given Jesus, He has given to us, in order that the world may know that we are loved as He is. (See John 17:22-23).

 

The Holy Spirit

Another truth connected with the work of Christ is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit shows, reveals, and communicates divine things to us. We are ‘strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man, in order that, being rooted and grounded in love, Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, and that we 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 we may be filled with all the fulness of God’ (Eph. 3:16-19). ‘That which eye hath not seen, which ear hath not heard, which came not into the heart of man — the things which God has prepared for him whom He loves — God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God (1 Cor 2:9-10).

  • The Holy Spirit is “the unction” by which “know all things” (See 1 John 2:20).
  • He is the seal which God has put upon us unto the day of redemption
  • He gives us the full assurance of the efficacy of the work of Christ.
  • He imparts to us the knowledge that as cleansed by the blood of the Saviour, we are without spot in the God ‘s sight.
  • He reveals to us the glory of Christ as presented in the scriptures.
  • By the Holy Spirit, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
  • He is the originator in us of all the thoughts and affections which respond to this love.
  • He gives us the consciousness of our union with Christ on high

But He is more than all this. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor 6:17). This is not merely an imagination; it is a fact. The same Spirit abides in us, and we are united to Christ as members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. ‘By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body (1 Cor. 12:13). The Spirit is not only the power of this union, but He gives us the consciousness of it. Christ is the Head of the body, so each Christian is a member of it, united by the Holy Spirit. The Christian’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (See 1 Cor. 6:19), and believers as together as a whole, they form God’s temple and dwelling place (See 1 Cor. 3:16).

 

The Father

We must know the character of the Father in order to worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:24). God is a spirit: but it is as the Father” that He seeks worshippers.

  • To worship ‘in spirit’ is to worship according to the true nature of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.
  • To worship God ‘in truth’ is to worship Him according to the revelation which He has given of Himself.

This is in contrast to religious forms and ceremonies.

The Samaritans did not worship God in spirit or in truth. The Jews worshipped God in truth, according to their imperfect revelation but not in spirit. They did not know the gentle and loving name of ‘Father’. By contrast, we are in a position of freedom before a majestic God as the children of His love and sons by adoption. The Spirit, who is the spirit of adoption cries ‘Abba, Father.’

The Christian, however simple, who understands the grace of God and has received the spirit of adoption, is entitled to enjoy all these privileges. Like a child, he or she does not reason things out, but knows, loves and enjoys its father’s love without describing it. This relationship is in Christ, and with Christ, He being ‘the first-born among many brethren’ (Rom 8:29). And we, who were formerly strangers, know that He is the only-begotten Son, the firstborn, the Eternal Son* of the Father, revealing His love to as He Himself knows it. [*]The feeblest Christian is therefore perfectly competent to worship.

  • We worship the God of glory, in whose presence we have confidence, not terror.
  • We worship the God of love and kindness, whose will it is that we should be perfectly happy in Him.
  • We worship our Father who blesses us with all spiritual blessing.
  • We worship our Father who knows all our present needs.
  • We worship Him for that which He is in Himself.
  • We adore God for that which He is to us, the children of His house for eternity.

But the effect of the presence of this ‘one Spirit’ goes much further. Not only does He give us the consciousness of being in Christ, He also gives us the consciousness of being ‘baptised into one body, (1 Cor. 12:13) – the body of Christ, and as such, ‘members one of another’ (See Eph 5:25). In the Church, which God has newly-created in Christ (the one new man), the redeemed worship in ‘the unity of the Spirit’. The Head has ascended up on high, in order that the members of the body may worship freely and joyfully before God, by the unction which is from Him.

 

Some practical Effects

God cannot admit sin into His presence, so only those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and who have received the Spirit, can draw near to God to worship Him. An unconverted man cannot please or worship God. He may pray for something and his prayer might be answered, God having tender compassion for him, as a poor sinner. However he does not yet know God, has not the Spirit, and is not washed in the blood of Christ. Therefore it is utterly impossible for him to worship God. If he thinks he can draw near to God, he is ignorant of what he is in himself, and of what the God is whom he thinks to serve. He does not have the Spirit, and is not of the body.

To enter into the sanctuary, we must be sanctified. Before entering, we might measure the value of the work of Christ by reference to our load of sin. But now, brought into communion with God, we taste the sweetness of His love, and value the work of Christ by the grace and love of God. Our consciences are set at liberty, free to draw near to God, by virtue of the efficacy of the work of Christ. We may be timid in drawing near, and need encouragement. But if we do not have a real knowledge of the efficacy of the work of Christ, we will be ill at ease in approaching God, because he will still have a guilty conscience.

Even if there are just two or three present, we can worship in common, because we are united in one body by the same Spirit. Each can say, ‘We’ in sincerity, when addressing God.

The two great elements of Christian worship are the presence of the Holy Spirit and the remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ. The Holy Spirit, who acts in the body, is the source and energy, of genuine worship. This is clearly established by 1 Corinthians 14: the assembly being formed as the body of Christ. The Spirit acts through spiritual men to express the love of the assembly. This is the way in which worship is rendered to God.

Our joy in the presence of God, worshipping Him in love is our eternal goal. Gifts will cease in heaven, and nobody will be ignorant or lazy. Worship will never cease.

 

The Value of the Cross

Instead of seeing the work of Christ as saved sinners, we contemplate its value according to God’s estimate – the greatness of Christ’s love for us. The death of Christ is of such value in God’s sight, as to constitute, so to speak, a new claim on the affections of His Father.  His confidence in God, devotedness, patience, love, obedience, submission and sacrifice united in the cross. It was for us He suffered all. Satan was overcome; death destroyed, the veil removed from before the presence of God, making us heirs who enjoy the love of God. This must lead us to worship. At the cross God was glorified, otherwise His glory could not have been fully displayed.

But we are not dazzled by the glory of the cross. Christ hung upon the cross for us. It is the expression of love stronger than death for us. He loved us to the end. In doing so, He undertook to render us happy in the presence of the Father. ‘I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also’ (John 14:3).   He said, ‘With desire, I have desired to eat this passover with you, before I suffer; for I will eat no more thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God’ (Luke 22:15-16). As the passover was Israel’s memorial of the deliverance out of Egypt, so the supper is the memorial, not only of our deliverance, but of His love.

If Jesus attaches value to our remembrance to Him and produces deep affection in us, we can understand how the Lord’s supper is the centre of our worship. In the supper, united in one body, we show forth the Jesus’ death ‘until he come’ (1 Cor 11:26).   We recall the act in which the Saviour has testified His love in the most powerful way. Other activities – hymns and thanksgivings are grouped around it. The worshipper is thereby reminded of that which is the most precious of all things in the sight of God — the death of His beloved Son. We enter with spiritual affection into the perfection His work. ‘He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him’ (John 6:56).

The peace-offering and the passover present the most vivid images of the true character of the Lord’s supper. The peace-offering was a feast following a sacrifice, the partakers being God, the priest who officiated, the priests, the worshipper, and those who were with him.   In the passover, Israel fed on the sacrifice, the blood of which was their safeguard against judgment. This expresses the full satisfaction of God in the sweet odour of the work of Christ. Thus God Himself has His part in the joy, so has Christ: His joy is in our joy.

 

The Spirit’s Service

The Holy Spirit is the source and power of all true Christian worship. The unity of the body formed by Him, and in which He acts, necessarily holds a prominent place in the worship. The interceding presence of the Holy Spirit produces the consciousness of this unity. ‘We, [being] many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf’ (1 Cor 10:17 Darby). Jesus Himself is present in the midst, according to His promise. If the bread broken represents the broken body of Christ, the unity of the bread represents the unity of His spiritual body, embracing all the saints in love. We are united to them, wherever they may be, in the unity of the body of Christ. We have all the privileges which attach to it by reason of the love of Him who ‘nourishes and cherishes it’. Consequently, we have a sense of what we owe to God. We have received grace; now we desire to glorifying Him, expressing this in worship.

In the early days they broke bread in private houses, maybe daily. In Acts 20 it would appear that they broke bread on the first day of the week. It is clear from 1 Cor 10 that the supper was to be something special. They had been abusing it, and their lives reflected that. What sort of life should we be careful to lead in order to render suitable praise to God.

As there are two great subjects about which Christian worship is occupied, namely the love of God our Father, and the love of the Lord Jesus, seen in His work, and as Head of His body the Church. Those who give voice to worship will concentrate on different aspects. At times the Lord Jesus will be especially before the mind; at other times thoughts of the Father will be more present. The Holy Spirit alone can guide us in this; but the truthfulness and spirituality of worship will depend upon the state of those who compose the assembly. If the majority in the company are untaught and ‘babes in Christ’ then this will be reflected in what is said. Those with more experience depend on the Comforter — the Spirit of truth — for true united service to God, bringing in nourishment promoting spiritual growth. Nothing, however, is more simple or evident than the truth that the worship which is rendered should be the worship of all.

 

Hindrances

If there is evil in the company, or even in an individual, it will be felt in the service of worship. If a hypocrite is present, he will be a hindrance in the worship; but the unity will not be destroyed. If most have cultivated a delicacy of spiritual feeling, they will feel that the Holy Spirit has been grieved. If there is true spirituality and the Holy Spirit fills the assembly with His presence, evil of every kind is quickly discovered. God is a jealous God, and He is faithful. Fleshly pride loves to make much of a gift, claiming lordship over God’s heritage and arranging things humanly – this gets in the way of the free flow of worship. Likewise do narrow sectarian views.  Achan was discovered at the commencement of the history of Israel ; a single lie in Ananias came in in the beginning of the Church’s history – and what has happened since! May God make us humble, watchful, and true to Him with a sense of the efficacy of the work of Christ, in order, despite the failure, to render spiritual worship. Even with two or three gathered together in the name of Jesus, He is there as the joy and strength. The name of Jesus unites us.

There is another hindrance to worship. In Philippians 3:3 it says, ‘We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.’ This is about the religion of the flesh, which is altogether as evil as its lusts, religiousness being one of them. Religion of the flesh does not tend to the glory of Jesus. It is occupied in good works, ethical conduct, outward piety and humility, talking of the love of God, but more of our love for God. In circumscision the flesh is cut off. We can judge these things if Christ is our all.  As in Deut 26, the worshipper professed aloud that it was God that had accomplished everything for him.

Another thing which marks carnal religion is that, it does not ‘seek those things which are above’ (Col 3:1). The soul that has truly learnt that he was dead in sins, and that the Saviour has come down and been made sin for him and has died and been raised up for him, knows in God’s sight just one sole thing – that God has placed His delight in Jesus.

We should not mingle carnal religion with that of the Spirit. The effort of the adversary, at the commencement of the Church, was, not to substitute the law and circumcision in the flesh, in place of Christ, but to add to it. Paul saw clearly, by the Spirit, that if this were admitted, everything would have been lost. Instead of being in Christ and happy in God’s presence by virtue of a completed work, man tries to find a way of making himself acceptable to God. May God grant us to have no confidence in the flesh, but to rejoice in Christ Jesus (See Phil 3:3).

 

Conclusion

Let us revert to the subject of collective worship. What a sweet and precious privilege it is to anticipate that which will be our eternal employ in heaven! There our worship will be perfect. There, all the Church, in its completeness, will be assembled to render worship in the midst of the general assembly on high. There, without distraction and without fear, worship will be the Church’s eternal joy in the perfect favour of God. What a privilege, even here below, to close the door for a moment upon all the distractions of this world, and by the Spirit to satisfy the desires of the heart in rendering to God the thanksgiving which He is worthy to receive, and which in His grace, He has breathed into our souls!

 

[*] There are those who might object to this expression. But I have no difficulty. He is Son; He is eternal. As Man he is that now. Scripture does not go into the relationship prior to the incarnation. See Heb 1:5, Acts 13:33 and Psalm 2:7.

Sosthenes

November 2015

For original see  On Worship

Oh, Jesus! Jesus!

JohnNelsonDarby“Oh! Jesus, Jesus, what sort of subjection is this we ought to have to Thee? We have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now our eye seeth Thee, we abhor ourselves indeed. Oh! can it be true? Can we see this in Jesus? Have we seen it? None can see it out of Him. It is the truth only in Him. Surely we should move mountains if we believed this. Yet is it simple truth. Dwell on it, my soul! Jesus, that thou knowest, that Stranger in the world among His own, was “I AM.” Hast thou believed it?

I do believe it all; yet I believe nothing; I am as nothing in the thought of it, yet alive for evermore by it. Blessed be God and His name! And all shall praise Him so. Yea, Jesus! Jesus! God Most High, so shall it be. Oh, Jesus! Jesus! Thou art “I AM,” Thou art “I AM.” Yet didst Thou, did “I AM,” take little children in His arms! Yea, didst Thou suffer, die, and be in the horrible pit; yea, for our sins! Thus I know the mercy-seat. I know that there is no imputing sins here; yea, that it is God not imputing, that I am reconciled to God; yea, rather, that God is the reconciling One. I am therefore at home with God; and all that is in Jesus is God’s manner to us.”

Excerpt From: J N Darby. “JND Notes & Comments Vol 7.” PAGE 134

God is One

We are constrained by the limitations of language, but we understand that there could be no full revelation of the One God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit., but through the Son and by the Spirit. This is what the One God is, one identity of will and being, so that the three Divine Persons are essentially one and one only, distinct in willing and acting, but always willing and acting in total unity. The only full revelation of the one true God is in the Trinity. Our prayers rise to God. Through Christ the Son we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Based on J. N. Darby‘s

JohnNelsonDarbyA few words on the Trinity

God could never be fully revealed as one.  He is one; but He was revealed as one in contrast with a multiplicity of gods. But when revealed to be one, He was not fully revealed.  He existed always in trinity in unity – that is unfathomable – but when He was revealed as one, before Chris’s incarnation, He did not suffer Himself to be approached, dwelling behind the veil.  The way into the holiest had not yet been made manifest.

But when the Son was on earth in the bosom of the Father, He was the image of the invisible God, so ‘He that hath seen me hath seen the Father’ (John 14:9).   If God had ceased to be invisible, Christ would have ceased to be God’s revealer and image.  He would not have been God.  The light of God would not have been in the world, and we would never have known God’s love, goodness, forbearance, patience, power or God’s nature and purity.

But this is not all.  Although the darkness did not comprehend the light, the Holy Spirit has quickened us.  The Spirit distributes to whom He will; but this is not separate from the will of the Father and the Son. They are one in counsel, mind, purpose, and thought; yet each acts in a distinct way.  The Son was not separate from the Father. ‘The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works’ (John 14:10). Darby says ‘ There is unity in all that constitutes oneness when we speak spiritually – not unity as one by arriving at the same things, or union, or by being united, as we are by having only one Spirit dwelling in all, but – by being one in eternal being; so that all else flows from that one will and counsel, yet so as that distinction in action in that will is revealed to us: not distinct will, but distinct willing’.

The creature cannot reach to God, or God would not be God.  It is simply impossible for the finite reach to the infinite, otherwise neither would be finite nor infinite.  Nor could the infinite God reveal Himself to a finite creature, neither physically nor morally.  But God is revealed in the Son, by the work of Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit.   Man is able appreciate the Father’ s love, glory, righteousness and holiness, and is able to enjoy intelligently the love of both the Father and the Son, by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We learn a lot from John.  He said that ‘God so loved the world,’ (John 3:16) and speaks of grace and power bringing man into the knowledge and enjoyment of God.  He tells us of the Father and the Son, and what Jesus said about the presence and work of the Comforter. John is the one who speaks particularly of the revelation of God.  He does not emphasise man’s presentation to God whereas Paul does.

We are constrained by the limitations of language, but we understand that there could be no full revelation of the One God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit., but through the Son and by the Spirit.  This is what the One God is, one identity of will and being, so that the three Divine Persons are essentially one and one only, distinct in willing and acting, but always willing and acting in total unity.   The only full revelation of the one true God is in the Trinity. Our prayers rise to God. Through Christ the Son we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Sosthenes

June 2015

For original see  A few words on the Trinity

Whilist writing the above, I thought of the hymn
Josiah Condor – Thou art the Everlasting Word

D-JOSIAH-CONDER03Although verse 3 is not in the 1962 version of the Little Flock hymn book, the Lord being the image of the invisible God was much in mind.

Image of the Infinite Unseen,
Whose being none can know;
Brightness of light no eye hath seen,
God’s love revealed below.
The light of love has shone in Thee,
And in that love our souls are free.

Man always spoils what God has set up perfectly

Let me add that God, in His history of man, has shown what flesh is, and even the creature left to himself. The first thing man has always done is to spoil what God has set up good.

An epilogue to

 J. N. Darby‘s

JohnNelsonDarbyUnion in Incarnation, the Root Error of Modern Theology

Let me add that God, in His history of man, has shown what flesh is, and even the creature left to himself. The first thing man has always done is to spoil what God has set up good. Man himself —

  • The first thing we read of him is eating the forbidden fruit.
  • The first Noah did, after offering thanksgiving for his deliverance, was to get drunk.
  • Israel made the golden calf, before Moses came down from the mountain.
  • Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire the first day after being consecrated, and Aaron never went into the holy of holies in his garments of glory and beauty.
  • The son of David, Solomon, loved many strange women, and the kingdom was divided.
  • The Gentile head of gold persecuted the godly, and became a beast, characterising the empires that followed him for the seven times.

What shall we say of the church? How soon did all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ, and forsake the devoted and faithful apostle! John could say, “There are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.” But God has worked on in grace, in spite of this, to shew what He is, His longsuffering and goodness and patience. So all those things — man, the law, the priesthood, royalty in the Son of David, He that rises to reign over the Gentiles, His being glorified in His saints — all is made good in its place in the Second Man, the Last Adam. May His name be eternally praised! As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. As is the Heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

Sosthenes

June 2015

For original see  Union in Incarnation, the Root Error of Modern Theology

For my summary see Christ’s Coming into Manhood – Some Errors Exposed

Christ’s Coming into Manhood – Some Errors Exposed

Our life as Christians is a wholly new one; we have been born again. There is no renewing or ameliorating of the flesh; it is enmity against God and cannot be subject to His law. Our union is with Christ glorified, in a new life in Him, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, against whom the flesh always lusts. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, so also we shall bear the image of the Heavenly (1 Cor 15:48). And in the ages to come God will shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. May we know it, that through grace, we may be occupied with Christ instead of ourselves.

Based on J. N. Darby‘s

Union in Incarnation, the Root Error of Modern Theology.

JohnNelsonDarbyVery important questions surround the incoming of Christ.  Alas, the answers to them are beset by doctrinal errors – from infidelity to heresy.

The main question is this: Did Christ unite Himself to sinful humanity on earth to renew it?

or

Does the believer have a wholly new life, united by the Holy Spirit to Christ in heaven?

Traditional orthodox teaching looks only at the renewal of the first man; it maintains that Christ was united to fallen man. If Christ had entered into the state of fallen man before redemption, the last Adam would have been united with the first Adam in its sinful state.  For example, the  Wesleyan Methodists and many in Germany assert that there is some good in fallen man, and that what is wrought in salvation is the setting right the first Adam, as such there is a ‘point of connection’ with sinful man.  Edward Irving, a 19th century theologian who heavily influenced both Protestant and Catholic churches held that Christ had a sinful human nature – lust: but as He did not exercise His will, He did not sin.   He died because of what He was as a mortal man, not to atone for our sins. This is in spite of what is said in the tenth commandment (Thou shalt not covet [or desire, or lust] Ex 20:17). Paul made that clear in Romans 7:7.

The truth is that man in the flesh is utterly rejected and lost; that Christ stood alone, though a true man, till He had accomplished redemption. Having risen, ascended and having been glorified, the believer with the Holy Sprit has received by faith justification and life and been given a wholly new nature. Therefore he is united with a glorified Christ, by the Holy Spirit, and is a member of His body.

Christ’s union with sinful humanity is an anti-scriptural fable.

Here are a few more examples of this false doctrine:

‘We are renewed in the whole man after the image of God‘ (Dr. Moody Stuart, late moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland)  – false because in Ephesians 4:24, we have a new creation, where ‘Sin hath not dominion over us, because we are under grace’  Colossians 3:10 .

In regeneration the old nature remains the same, but a new one is also introduced: a new power (the Holy Spirit) enters  the soul.  The truth is new birth – the soul is born again, passing out of its former state of unbelief and darkness, and enters into a new state of faith and holiness.

‘Connected in every fibre of His nature with the common nature of mankind, He saw that He must suffer, the Just for the unjust. It could not be that human nature should fail of enduring the settled and necessary penalty of its sin, and He not only had a human nature, but in Him human nature was organically united, as it never had been before, except in Adam; if the members suffer, should not also the Head? ‘ (a president of a Baptist College).  If Jesus had no connection with a sinful and lost humanity, or if that connection with a sinful and lost humanity had been merely a factitious and forensic one, then it would have been the greatest breach of justice, and an absurdity, that the Lord Jesus should have submitted to an ordinance which was in effect a confession of sin, deserving nothing less than death.

‘I must die to sin, by having Jesus’ death reproduced in me. I must rise to a new life, by having Jesus’ resurrection reproduced in me. … The putting away of the sin and guilt of humanity, which was the essential feature of Christ’s work, must take place in me, and this I must do by having my life incorporated with His life.‘ (Dr Strong)  This really denies the atonement.  He puts our death and resurrection as a result of His death to sin and resurrection to holiness. It does not accept our evil nature.

The above is all based on reforming the old man.

How different is the beautiful simplicity of the scriptural account of Christ’s life!  Let us see how Scripture speaks about the incarnation.  After stating what Christ was ‘The Word was God’ (John 1:1), John tells us in verse 14 what He became: ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us‘.  So in Hebrews 2:14: “As the children were partakers [κεκοινώνηκεν – kekoinoneken – shared in the same way] of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner took part [μετέσχεν – meteschen – He shared the same thing, but in a different way] that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.”  As a man, He was made a little lower than the angels, but His birth was by Holy Spirit, so He was born holy (see Heb 2:9 and Luke 1:35). This was not sinful flesh.  He was not united with sinful humanity; but was a wholly unique, a sinless Man, born holy in a miraculous way.

Does Hebrews 2 lead to any other thought? ‘Behold I, and the children which God has given me‘ (v.13).  The children were in flesh and blood – so He took part in that. In His death He drew men to Him; He had to draw them because they were not united to Him, they were in fact far from Him. That is not union with humanity.  People speak of His being bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, but that is not scriptural.   Eph 5:30 (we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones) relates to Christ glorified.  [Note that the expression ‘of his flesh, and of his bones’ is of dubious authority.  JND puts it in brackets, most modern translations omit it.].  Setting union before Christ’s redemptive work falsifies Christianity and the state of men.

An alleged connection with men is in 1 Corinthians 11:3, ‘The head of every man is Christ‘; but that is not union, it is a relative position of dignity.  Also sometimes quoted is that we are ‘crucified with him‘ (Rom 6:6).  This applies to believers only, and is faith’s apprehension.  It is also God’s apprehension of us as looked at as in Christ, inasmuch as He died for us. But this only confirms the distinctiveness of Christ’s manhood. Ungodly sinners who die in their sins could never be viewed as crucified with Christ.  Furthermore, His being a propitiation (1 John 2:2) has nothing to do with union with the race – it was for, not with men.

The Lord was Son of God and King of Israel according to Psalm 2:7, but according to Psalm 8:4 He was Son of man. He was that in regard to the race, because of His death:  ‘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‘ (John 12:24)  but to take His place, according to that title, He had to die.  “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:23)  For in truth men were far away. So far was were they from union, that they rejected from the earth, lifting Him. When man had rejected Him utterly, and the world was judged in consequence (John 12:31), lifted up out of it, He, the crucified Jesus became the attractive point to all men in grace.

Before there could be any bond between man and God, God’s love and the redeeming power of Christ’s blood had be known. The sin of man, in total alienation from God and the love of God could only be met by redemption.

The living Saviour was, when in the world, Son of God, Messiah, and entitled to be King of Israel. As the risen Son of man, he could take the world, as Redeemer and Saviour. ‘He who descended into the lower parts of the earth is the same that is ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things’ (Eph. 4:10). It is in that character that He takes His place and power in grace and glory.

Before His resurrection God dealt with men in various ways, or dispensations:

  • Innocence in the garden of Eden, where they fell,
  • Up to the flood without any special institution, though not without God’s testimony. The world became so bad, that it was destroyed by the flood.
  • In the new world came government in Noah.
  • God’s promise to Abraham when he was called out from the midst of universal idolatry.
  • The law which would be transgressed, and the prophets, who recalled the people to the law and testified of Christ.

Then God said, ‘I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him‘.. And when they saw Him they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.(See Luke 20:13-15).  Not only was man lawless (without law), and a transgressor (under law), but when grace came in the Person of the blessed Son of God, he refused it. The presence of a divine Person drew out the enmity of the heart of man against God: ‘Now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father” (John 15:24).  So far from their being a link with humanity, the entire race of man had been exposed.  God had come in grace – a man in their midst, and He was cast out. Consequently the Lord had to say, Now is the judgment of this world’ (John 12:31).

So John says, ‘In him was life, and the life was the light of man…He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not‘ (John 1:4, 5).  In general His own did not receive Him, ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’ (v. 12-13).

In John 3:3, ‘Except a man be born again [ἄνωθεν – anothen]‘,  ‘anothen’ means ‘from the very beginning or starting-point’, as in Luke 1:3.   Nicodemus, thought he was well-taught, but he did not see how a totally new life could be possible ‘can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?’ (John 3:4).  As ‘born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever’ (1 Pet. 1:23), we are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; (see Gal. 3:26). The Lord declares that that which is born of the flesh is flesh.  It is of an animal nature, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Scripture states distinctly that divine life is a wholly new thing given of God: it is in absolute contrast with the flesh, for which death is the only remedy.  So along with the error as to Christ’s humanity is that of what happens in man.  Generally Presbyterians and Baptists hold that man is given nothing new; there is simply a renewal of man as he is, in his affections, thoughts, and in his whole soul. The Wesleyans go further in the doctrine of perfectionism: man, (body, soul, and spirit), was in a good state before the fall, and in a bad state after it, then, by the operation of the Spirit, in a good state again. Thus, they hold that a man may be born again ten times a week, and also be perfect; but it is the perfection of the first man.  As a result they are exalting the first man, and losing of the full and blessed truth of grace in the Second.  There can be no mixing the Last and first Adam, no renewing of the latter by the former, but the utter rejection of the former by the latter. The world is convicted of sin by His rejection, and judged. Union in incarnation is a mystical and mystifying fable. Man must be born again

In the nature and standing of the first Adam, we are said to be in the flesh.  Now ‘the carnal [or fleshly] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.  Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.‘ (Rom 8:7-9).  The flesh, or the old man, is an evil thing, rejected by God and reckoned to be accounted dead (because of  Christ’s death).  It is never renewed; it is never changed; it is hopelessly bad. It cannot be improved; it cannot be forgiven. When left to itself it is lawless, rejecting Christ when He came in grace. Even in the believer it is said to be lusting against the indwelling Spirit. We are by nature the children of wrath.

 

Having the Son is a new thing to us sinners.  Our affections and thoughts have been changed, and having the Son we have life.  Hence Christ says, ‘Because I live, ye shall live also’  (John 14:19).  It is life which is given us, life in Christ in the power of the Spirit; ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.’ (v. 3).” We have everlasting life now, and the prospect of eternal glory. When we understand the full Christian place, we enjoy a life of which God is the source. We have been born of God through the Spirit, and the Spirit dwells in us. We have been given power and liberty, living by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth (See Matt. 4:4).

God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh (see Rom. 8:3).  It was condemned in Christ’s death, He having been made made sin for us.  Now he that has died is justified from sin; (Rom. 6:7 Darby). I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live: but not I, but Christ liveth in me; (Gal. 2:20). They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts; (Gal. 5:24). Knowing that our old man is crucified with Him; (Rom. 6:6). If ye be dead with Christ; (Rom. 6:8). Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; (Col. 3:3). Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:11), Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body; (2 Cor. 4:10. Christ having died, it is as if we had died, and we reckon ourselves dead, crucified with Him. We are dead to sin, dead to the law, crucified to the world, and the world to us, Christ lives in us, alive to God — not in Adam, for our old man with his deeds; is crucified with Christ.

So we have a new life communicated to us; the old man has been crucified.  Our privilege and duty being like Christ – and He is in glory.  So ‘Christ in us’ is the hope of glory: this is something wholly new. We are accepted in Him. Read Colossians 3:5-17.  In chapter 3:1, we associated in life with Christ risen and glorified.  Christ is our life, we belong to heaven where He is, though of course we are not yet there physically.

The positive testimony that our union is as believers with Christ in glory is the gift of the Comforter.  The Lord said,  ‘In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you‘ (John 14:20). Who? Humanity? No, the disciples only. The Comforter was not for the world — ‘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 14:17). This is a present experience

In Romans 8 there is no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus; but this is through the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, consequent on the death of Christ.  So in 1 Corinthians 6:17, ‘He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.‘   We are members of the body of Christ, who was raised from the dead by God’s power.  We have been ‘raised together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Him‘ (Eph 2:6). God has given Him ‘to be Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who filleth all in all‘(Eph 1:22) . It is compared with the husband and wife, Eve’s union with Adam, and further developed in 1 Corinthians 12 as a system established here on earth, that it is by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body, united to Christ by the Spirit. The whole groundwork of the New Testament, and the truth taught in it, is that Christ, though a true man, was alone until He had accomplished redemption. Now as glorified, He is the Head and we the members.

Our life as Christians is a wholly new one; we have been born again. There is no renewing or ameliorating of the flesh; it is enmity against God and cannot be subject to His law.  Our union is with Christ glorified, in a new life in Him, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,  against whom the flesh always lusts.  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, so also we shall bear the image of the Heavenly (1 Cor 15:48). And in the ages to come God will shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.  May we know it, that through grace, we may be occupied with Christ instead of ourselves.

Sosthenes

June 2015

For original see  Union in Incarnation, the Root Error of Modern Theology

 

 

Divine Guidance

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye (Psalm 32:8)
The Lord sometimes guides, or rather controls, by providential circumstances, so that I do not go wrong, and I should be thankful that He does so. But I am like a horse or mule without understanding. If, like a stubborn mule, I am insubject to the Lord’s will, I must be controlled with bit and bridle. Providence does sometimes control, but it never guides persons; it guides things. Suppose that I am going to a place to preach, and my train is delayed and I miss a connection and hence fail to give my sermon. God has ordered things, but God has not guided me. It was my will to go, and I would have gone had the train not been delayed. This is not being guided by the ‘eye’, but controlled by the “bit” of God. Though providence overrules, it does not, properly speaking, guide.

Based on J. N. Darby‘s

I will guide thee with mine eye

eyeRead the following portions from the Psalms.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye (Psalm 32:8)

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night (Psalm 1:1-2).

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD (Psalm 119:1).
Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word (Psalm 119:67).
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes (Psalm 119:71).
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments (Psalm 119:176).

We need to see how the Spirit of God deals with the insubject soul. Before David confessed he said, ‘When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long’, and ‘Thy hand was heavy upon me‘ (Psalm 32:3-4).    The Lord’s hand is heavy upon a man until he confesses his sin (all sin, not just a particular sin) before God: then there is forgiveness of the iniquity.  Until then there is no forgiveness – that is the government of God.  When he said ‘Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me‘ (Psalm 51:5), he recognised the root principle of sin.  When there is confession of that,  there is then positive restoration of soul.

Freed from the bondage of things that hinder intercourse with God, the soul learns to lean upon God, rather than those things which take the place of God.  It understands deliverance, and is confident in times of trouble.  In Psalm 32:9, we are told not to be like a horse or mule.  A mule is stubborn.  When our wills are at work, there is not free intercourse in our hearts and affections with God – consequently we are not being led simply by God.  When the heart is in a right state, the whole body is ‘full of light‘ (Luke 11:34), quickly perceiving the will of God by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We are ‘of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD’ (Isa 11:3):,” without any object but the will and glory of God.  Just as the Lord delighted in His Father’s will (See Psalm 40:8), so we will be guided by the Father’s eye, and therefore full of joy.

Before I embark on anything, I should seek God’s mind, judging my hearts as to what may be hindering. If I have not done so, and later meet with difficulties, I will be uncertain as to whether it was God’s mind or not, and be discouraged.   But on the other hand, I have God’s mind and am in communion with Him, I shall be ‘more than a conqueror’ (Rom 8:37).  The power of faith removes mountains: as I am obedient, the Lord gives me to find out His way.

Many speak of providence as a guide. The Lord sometimes guides, or rather controls, by providential circumstances, so that I do not go wrong, and I should be thankful that He does so.  But I am like a horse or mule without understanding.  If, like a stubborn mule, I am insubject to the Lord’s will, I must be controlled with bit and bridle.  Providence does sometimes control, but it never guides persons; it guides things.  Suppose that I am going to a place to preach, and my train is delayed and I miss a connection and hence fail to give my sermon. God has ordered things, but God has not guided me.  It was my will to go, and I would have gone had the train not been delayed.  This is not being guided by the ‘eye’,  but controlled by the “bit” of God. Though providence overrules, it does not, properly speaking, guide.

There is guidance with knowledge, and guidance without knowledge. The former is our blessed privilege; but we may need the latter to humble us. In Christ everything was exactly according to God. In a certain sense He had no character. When I look at Him, what do I see?  Constant, never-failing, perfect obedience. There is great diversity of character amongst men – one tender and soft, another decisive and domineering.  You do not see that in Christ: there is no unevenness – every faculty in His humanity was obedient, and subject to the impulse of God’s divine will.

In Colossians 1:9-11, we find the individual to be ‘filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding‘  The Holy Spirit guides us as to the divine will, and there is no need even to pray about it.  If I have spiritual understanding and have prayed a lot in general, I will have enjoyed such communion so as to know God’s will.  The way is full of stumbling blocks. As children of light we miss them.  If we walk in the night we have to look out for the stones and it is easy to stumble over them.  Jesus said, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.’  (John 11:8).

May our hearts be led to desire to know and to do God’s will. It will then be not so much a question of what that will is, but of knowing and doing God’s will. And then we shall have the certain and blessed knowledge of being guided by His ‘eye’.

Sosthenes

June 2015

For original see   I will guide thee with mine eye

How a Christian is to Exist in this Evil World

The word ‘world’ can be used in three ways:

The world-space – The earth, the platform on which the world-system operates.
The world-people – Those on the earth.
The world-system – The order or system according to which human affairs are managed on the earth.
When we read that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (world-people), that was to the world-space. In so doing He came in contact with the world-system which hated Him. When He said to His disciples, ‘They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world’ (John 17:16), He meant that they were not under the system, governed by it, or finding their life in it.

Based on J. N. Darby

JohnNelsonDarbyWhat the World is; and how a Christian can live in it

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God (James 4:4).

  • What is the world?
  • What is it from which we are to keep ourselves unspotted?

The word ‘world’ can be used in three ways:

  1. The world-space – The earth, the platform on which the world-system operates.
  2. The world-people – Those on the earth.
  3. The world-system – The order or system according to which human affairs are managed on the earth.

When we read that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (world-people), that was to the world-space. In so doing He came in contact with the world-system which hated Him. When He said to His disciples, ‘They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world’ (John 17:16), He meant that they were not under the system, governed by it, or finding their life in it.

He that is a friend of the world-system is an enemy of God, because this world is self-governing and not subject to God. It is a bit like the military system which funds, clothes, arms, trains, accommodates and orders. The soldier simply has to subject himself to the system. It is a self-contained system.

Man wants society. Position is everything: there is an innate desire to climb the great ladder. Some succeed, whilst others strive to maintain their current levels. What a tremendous power to absorb heart and mind the social world-system possesses! People want good government, physical protection, property, human rights, free trade, education, health care – these are met by the world-system. It is amazing! Non-academic people find manual labour or serve in restaurants or care homes; others have creative talents in art, music and literature. Entrepreneurs run successful businesses; others are doctors, administrators and politicians. It takes all kinds to make a world, they say

The object of the world-system is to keep the great moving mass of humanity thoroughly occupied and reasonably contented. People’s hearts and are kept busy from the cradle to the grave.

Man is a very complicated creature. A good many different things taken together are needed for self-fulfilment; a little business, a little politics, a little society, a little study, and a little religion. Man is naturally religious. The word ‘religion’ occurs only five times in the whole Bible. Religion is not godliness, for worshippers of idols are religious. Even humanism can be a religion. Religion is as much a part of man’s nature as his intellect or memory. The world-system provides for man’s religious needs. One may like beautiful music; others relish imposing ceremonies; another wants to give vent to his unrestrained emotions, while another is opposite, preferring cold, legal orthodoxy. To assuage their guilty feelings some do penance. There are creeds, doctrines and sects for every shade of religious temperament, outlook and traditions.

Now God is leading some, alas a very few, to see that all this business, politics, education, government, technology, inventions, electronic communications and the internet, entertainment, charitable institutions – and religion are all part of the ever-improving world-system. But the Christian’s place is not in them, though he r she may use them. Whatever Christ’s present relationship to the world is, that is the Christian’s too – His place is above. That defines our place. Meanwhile, Satan is the god of this world, the manager of this stupendous system. His has the energy and genius: he is the prince. When Jesus Christ was on earth, the devil came and offered Him all the kingdoms of the world. He said ‘All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine’ (Luke 4:6-7). That exposed Satan. Scripture described him as ‘full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty’ (Ezek 28:12) and ‘like an angel of light’ (2 Cor 11:14).

It is little wonder if men are deceived and deluded? A few have their eyes opened to see, by the word of God, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, what the world really is. Some may think they have escaped from the snare of worldliness, if they have given up worldly pleasures, and become active in churches. They do not realise that they are just as much in the world-system as before, only Satan, its prince, has shifted them from one department to another, to quieten their uneasy consciences and make them better satisfied with themselves.

The question arises, how is the Christian to escape from the control of the world-system? Paul says, ‘As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’ (Rom 8:14). The Christian’s normal mode of life is being governed by Christ, the Christian’s Head, under His immediate direction in all things small and great. This is how Christianity cuts at the very root of worldliness, for man’s free-will is the foundation on which the world-system is constructed, just as Christian life is founded on dependence on God and obedience to His will. Satan’s world is a great system for man which is a perfect substitute for the leading of God’s Spirit. The great apostasy is fast approaching and Satan openly will declare himself personally to be god of this world. So is it not high time for Christians to awake out of sleep, and to see to it that they are not in any way associated with a system that is fast heading for judgment?

But we will say, ‘How can we help it? Are we not bound by necessity to these things by our trades and professions, as members of government and of society -business must be attended to?’ Everybody admits that, but the very fact that everybody admits it, demonstrates that it as not of God.

It is our faith that gets the victory that over the world (See 1 John 5:4). Faith does not look at outward circumstances, at what is, or is not, possible; it disregards what seems, and looks at God. People will tell us what we should and should do not do, but the child of God walks straight ahead, paying no attention to what they say. Our natural way may appear perfectly reasonable and satisfactory, but the one who walks by faith knows that whatever is universally agreed on as the right way must be wrong – that is the broad way.

Another question arises as to our citizenship. Should a Christian be interested in the government of the country to which he belongs, and vote, so as to help to put good men in power. Darby said ‘No, as God’s child, I am not a citizen of any country, or a member of any society; my citizenship is in heaven, and I have henceforth to do with heavenly things; the cross of Christ has crucified me to the world, and the world to me; if I give my mind and heart to these earthly things I shall be the enemy of the cross of Christ. Be not conformed to the world.’ God orders governments, so we submit ourselves to them, pay our taxes, and pray to God for kings, and all in authority (See 1 Tim 2:2). It is not that he voting in itself wrong, as that the Christian has given his vote and interest to the Man in heaven, whom God has exalted as King of kings, and Lord of lords. On the other hand, he sees that the world is ungodly and independent of God, coming under judgment.

We who are saved are to be distinct, blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke shining as lights in the world (See Phil 2:15). This is to be our mission. But to live in this way costs something. We will be like a single rock in a fast-flowing river. Everything around us is on the move, pressure, pressure, pressure, and we would get swept it away were we not a rock on a firm base. We have the word of God governing our lives, so we are stable when the storm comes. Being an honest and good church-going citizen brings no persecution, that is just flowing with the river, but to shine as a light in the world for Christ, provokes the world’s enmity because He is hated. If I enjoy a fair reputation in the world, the life of Jesus is not made manifest in my mortal body, Christ is not discoverable in me. That is a test.

When once a person has really come to know God, he is drawn upward, by union with Christ on high, from participation in the things of the world-system. His desire is to be more like Him, and transformed from this present evil world. He has become a son of God, with eternal life in Christ. How can he turn back to the world’s weak and beggarly elements? There are no rules. It does not say, ‘Thou shalt not vote, thou shalt not be honoured in this evil age, thou shalt suffer shame.’ It is a wonderful provision, that the heart of love finds no difficulty in discovering the will of God, while the heart that is not sincere finds excuses and invents ways of enjoying the worldly path whilst appearing sincere externally.

To conclude, we have to be in contact with the world-system to some degree, but this contact is never to be one of fellowship; what concord can there be between Christ and Belial (2 Cor 6:15)?  Jesus said to His Father in John 17:15, ‘I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.’ Jesus, who was not of this world, suffered and was straitened; the loneliness and tribulation were real to Him, and they will be real to us just as we follow in His steps. Are we at home here, where Christ is not? We are homeless wanderers and weary pilgrims.

Alas, we live too much according to the world-system to be brought into conflict with it. The result is that we become disloyal subjects of Christ, and we escape the cross and its reproach. There is a narrow way; may we be of the “few” who find it. We carry our passports with us. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit, waiting for the shout to be caught up into the air, to meet our Lord and be for ever with Him – What a blessed hope!

 

Sosthenes

June 2015

For original see Union in Incarnation, the root error of modern theology.

The True Grace of God wherein we stand.

We have thought quite long enough about ourselves. Let us now think about Him who thought about us with thoughts of good, not evil, long before we even existed, and had any thoughts of own at all. May we see what God’s thoughts of grace about us are, and echo the words of faith in Romans 8:31, ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ I am entitled to forget myself; I am entitled to forget my sins; I am NOT entitled to forget Jesus.
True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of myself, as in not thinking of myself at all. I am too bad to be worth thinking about.

JohnNelsonDarbyBy Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand. (1 Peter 5:12)

God is the ‘God of all Grace’ (1 Peter 5:10), but how hard it is for us to believe that the Lord is gracious. Our natural feelings may be expressed by the servants’ statement ‘I know that thou art an austere [or hard] man’ (Luke 19:21). We need to understand the Grace of God.

Some think that grace implies God’s passing over sin. That is completely wrong – God cannot tolerate sin. If I could, after sinning, patch up my ways and mend myself in order to stand before God, there would be no need of grace. The Lord is gracious because I am a sinner: my state is utterly ruined and hopeless, and nothing but free grace can meet my need.

The moment I understand that I am a sinful man or woman, and that the Lord knew the full extent and how hateful my sin was to Him, and that He came to me, I understand what grace is. Faith makes me see that God is greater than my sin, not that my sin is greater than God. The Lord, who laid down His life for me, is the same Lord I have to do with every day of my life. His dealings with me are on the principle of grace. How strengthening it is to know, at this very moment, that Jesus is feeling and exercising the same love towards me as He had when on the cross.

For instance, I have a bad temper that I cannot control. I bring it to Jesus as my Friend: virtue goes out of Him and meets my need. My own effort will never be sufficient. Real strength is in the sense of the Lord’s being gracious. The natural man in us will never believe that Christ is the only source of strength and blessing. If my soul is out of communion, I think, ‘I must correct the cause of this before I can come to Christ’. But He is gracious: the way is to return to Him at once, just as I am, and then humble myself before Him. Humbleness in His presence is the only real humbleness. If I own myself to be just what I am, I shall find that He shows me nothing but grace. True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of myself, as in not thinking of myself at all. I am too bad to be worth thinking about.

Faith never thinks about what is in me myself: it looks to Jesus to give rest to my soul. Faith receives, loves and apprehends what God has revealed, and what God’s thoughts are about Jesus. As I am occupied with Him,I will be prevented from being taken up with the vanity and sin around. This will be my strength against the sin and corruption of my own heart too. As I am alone in communion with God, I am able to measure everything according to His grace. Nothing, not even the state of the Church, will shake me. I am entitled to forget myself; I am entitled to forget my sins; I am NOT entitled to forget Jesus.

The moment I get away from the presence of God, I rest on my own thoughts, which can never reach up to those of God about me. If I attempt to know God’s grace outside of His presence, I shall only turn grace into licentiousness.

What God is towards us is LOVE. Our joy and peace are not dependent on what we are to God, but on what He is to us: this is grace. All the sin and evil that is in us has been put away through Jesus. A single sin is more horrible to God than all the sins in the world are to us. Yet, despite what we are, God is pleased to be towards us in LOVE.

In Romans 7 we find a person, though quickened, whose reasoning centres in himself. It is all “I,” “I,” “I.”  He stops short of grace, the simple fact that GOD IS LOVE. I have got away from grace if I have the slightest doubt or hesitation about God’s love. I say, ‘I am unhappy because I am not like what I want to be’. Instead I should be thinking of what God is, rather than what I am. All this looking at myself is really pride, not admitting that I am good for nothing. Till I see this I will never look away from myself to God.

Faith looks towards God, who has revealed Himself in grace. Grace relates to what GOD is, not to what I am, except that the greatness of my sins magnifies grace of God. At the same time, grace brings my soul into communion with God, knowing God and loving Him. Knowledge of grace is the true source of sanctification.

We have thought quite long enough about ourselves. Let us now think about Him who thought about us with thoughts of good, not evil, long before we even existed, and had any thoughts of own at all. May we see what God’s thoughts of grace about us are, and echo the words of faith in Romans 8:31, ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’

 

Adapted by Sosthenes from J N Darby’s tract of the same name. Similar to, perhaps extracted from, ‘Why do I groan?‘ Collected Writings volume 12 – Evangelical 1, page 186.

The World cannot Continue the Way it is.

 

Based on John Nelson Darby’s paper ‘What is the World, and What is its End? A serious question for those who are of it.’ – by Sosthenes

Note – This paper was written in 1862. Though much of what Darby wrote has relevance today, circumstances, especially in technology, have changed, and these have been reflected in this summary. Changes I have made are shown in blue.

judgment-dayDespite Christianity, the world has not changed since Adam. Things have progressively deteriorate, but man’s worst sin was the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. Men fear what might come, but the Christian is restful, trusting in God. Some might try and loosen human restraints, whilst others tighten them. Some say that commerce or education is the answer. Religious superstition and extremism, and infidelity may oppose one another, but the world is the same. It is under judgment. God is patient and merciful, but evil will not prevail. Flee the wrath to come.

 

The World is Unchanged

Men are apt to think that have continue unchanged in this world since creation (or since the so-called ‘big bang’). Man has been more prosperous and civilised, making great strides in technology, travel, communications, ammunitions and medicine. All the time, though, man himself is unchanged, his passions remain, and the essential differences in the world since biblical times are not so great as is supposed. Children are not more obedient; families are not more united; the relationship between employer and employee is no better. The world thinks itself better, and vaunts its progress – but is it progress? Underneath the veneer, it recognises that things cannot go on long as they are; we are heading for yet another a crisis of the world’s history, which must result in great disruption.

Christianity has made a difference. But if we look beneath the surface, even that is not much. The world is not Paradise, as God made it. Since Adam, the world has developed through man’s departure from and independence of God.  Men posture their solutions, some advocating democracy and others authoritarianism.  But though judgment is inevitable, God is patient – and over all.

Throughout history men have worried about the future of the world, but their fears, are the fruit of the restless working of principles beyond their control. The world is inherently unstable: regimes have ended violently because man’s passions were stronger than that which controlled them. The bonds of society are either too tight or too weak. Power is not in them, but in the force beneath them. As a result, some would slacken the bonds to give people more independence, whilst others would tighten them through repression. Furthermore, others just give up in fear, hoping for the best.

Man desires to be in control, or at least, control what is within his reach. This can be seen in modern times in the matter of climate change. Despite his fear, man has an exaggerated estimate of his self-importance. The true Christian, on the other hand, he does not fear in this way: he knows that God is over everything. He is more calm and clear-sighted, more interested in the needs of his fellow men, and less interested in politics. In spite of this though, many Christians are deluded into believing that they can meet the world’s needs by their own good works. They even worship them!

 

What is the World?

What is, then, the world? It is a vast system, grown up after man had departed from God, nd Satan is the god and prince of it. At the fall, Man was driven out of the place in which God had set him in innocence and peace. God had made him a vagabond, and barred His way back to the tree of life. Man gave up God for his own lusts and, under the influence of Satan, built a city, Enoch (Gen 4:17), adorning it with art and music. Left without law, the world became so bad that God had to destroy mankind by the deluge, leaving just eight persons. Then under law, man plunged into idolatry, ignoring every prophetic warning. Ultimately God sent His Son, but man would not have Him: He was cast out of the vineyard and slain. Man turned God out of the world, as far as he could, when He had come into it in mercy.

Now when we look at the principles and motives which characterise the world, are they “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16) – pleasure, gain, vanity, ambition, etc. When we speak of men getting on in the world, is it not ambition and gain which motivates? There cannot be much difference in what Cain did in his city, and what men are now doing in theirs. If, say, a Chinese person came to London to see what Christ and Christianity was, he or she would find men governed by the same motives that govern the masses back home in Beijing or Guangzhou. In short, he would find a system in which men honour one another more than God. The world rejected the Son of God when He was here, but the Father set Him at His right hand . Jesus said, “Oh, righteous Father, the world hath not known thee...” (John 17:25). Then, “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).

There is no point in looking to heathenism or Islam for the world; we must look to Christendom. What characterises its state is pleasure, gain, ambition, vanity, without conscience, like the Pharisees. A man is morally what he pursues: if gain, He is covetous: if power, he is ambitious; if pleasure, he is hedonistic, and so on. At the beginning, of Christianity, God’s grace and power of the Holy Spirit raised people above normal human values, and united them in the enjoyment of heavenly things, displaying a care for one other in a way the world never knew. They were dead to the world, pure in walk and unselfish in their ways, so the church got the attention of a hostile, yet admiring, world. Now for centuries, what in infidelity calls itself the church, is marked by ambition, crime and deceit, haughty power and worldly luxury. It makes no difference whether we are looking at Catholicism, Greek orthodoxy or Protestantism. Of course the Spirit of God is active, and that, thank God, good is done in the midst of all this. However, that is not the world, but a distinct power which works in the midst of the world, influencing it and its government. The world is far more guilty,  having had Christianity in its midst – it has not ceased to be the world.

Remember that it was at the death of Christ that the devil received the title of prince of this world, and as to his religious influence, is called the god of this world, When God’s throne was at Jerusalem this was impossible; but, when the true Ruler of the world was rejected, it became plain that Satan was its prince. No doubt the cross gave Satan’s power its death-blow in the sight of God, but not in the in the sight of the world.

Satan’s worst reign is his religious one, as we see from the beasts in Revelation. He reigns only by the corrupt motives of man’s heart, the fears of a bad conscience being the means of his power. He leads men astray by their lusts, and then gives them religion to assuage their consciences, for he cannot cleanse them. Hence wickedness becomes religious wickedness, and the conscience even thinks it is doing God service, while Satan craftily directs all this to his own end, the governance of the world – the Christian world – by men’s lusts. In unbelief and defiance of Christ, the pursuit of gain and pleasure is more ardent and unrestrained than ever. War rages as it ever did.

What, then, is its end? Judgment, speedy judgment. Of the day and the hour, no man knows: it comes as a thief in the night. The self-confident thoughts that men have of improving the world by human development and energy are evil in the extreme. Man sees himself and the world as getting better. He views Christianity as only a phase of man’s history; better is to come. Where from, and how?

 

Commerce and Education

Commerce, we are told, civilises. Commerce appears to have made the world less violent; but gain is its selfish motive. It has not elevated the tone of society, but the contrary. Fraud and corruption are major problems. It has not stopped exploitation and wars; it has caused many, especially where oil is concerned.

What has education done? It certainly has enlargesd the mind, but has it changed man’s values?  People are more educated than they used to be; but to what end? Has the influence of superstition really diminished? The infidelity produced by dependence on man’s mind has forced men, who are not personally established in divine truth, back into a different type of superstition. They call it liberalism, which is bound by no truth, knows no truth, and doubts all truth. It is simply destructive. Go anywhere and everywhere, to India, England, Italy, Russia or America: deliverance from superstition is not by truth, but by disbelief of all known truth. Even Christians rely, not on the Spirit, the gospel and word of God, but on human progress.

 

Superstition and Infidelity

The present conflict is between superstition and infidelity – the mere pretensions of man’s mind.  Neither superstition nor infidelity know or respect truth. One recognises authority; the other rejects it. One is the church, so called (with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, I would venture to include this – Sosthenes); the other, free thought. Faith in the truth is known to neither. Where it is no one knows; the business of man’s mind being to disprove any claim to it.

It is a striking phenomenon that liberalism or infidelity prefer Popery to truth. Truth is divine, Popery is human, and liberalism will be liberal as to it. So governments, pander to Popery, because it is a strong, unscrupulous political power, not concerned with the truth. When centralised power fails, it falls back on modifications, witness Liberation Theology in Latin America, and formal protestant religion which has given up scripture and all moral values.

Even if we turn to America, which many would regard as the most attractive part of the new world, what do we see? There is a large profession and much religious activity, even large-scale tele-evangelism, but Christians are often the most worldly of all.   Money is the number one influence; overrun with alcoholism, immorality and family breakdown.

 

So where is God in all this?

The world, then, has been evil from its origin. Christianity has been corrupted by man.   It has not reformed the world, more it has become the seat of its greatest corruption. Commerce, a partial civiliser of men, absorbs them with the basest of motives – avarice, indifferent to truth and morality.  Education has not improved man’s motives or morals either, nor has it freed him from the bonds of superstition. It has merely set aside all positive truth, by infidelity.

So where is God in all this? God is patient with men, a testimony to His grace. He continues to testify, so long as souls can be won and delivered. But He will not allow the power of evil to last for ever. He declares that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse; filling up the cup of wrath for themselves. He is patient till no more can be done. God says, “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen 15:16). Finally He will remove all evil and bless the earth.

 

Judgment of the World

The object here is not to enter into prophecy in any detail; that has been amply done elsewhere. But the course of the world’s history points to judgment, the removal of the power of evil by power being the only remedy. This is clearly stated in scripture. This is not the judgment of the dead before the Great White Throne, but the judgment of this visible world. ‘Because he [God] hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him [Jesus] from the dead’ (Acts 17:31). Sin will increase till judgment comes. But the world’s greatest sin  was the rejection and crucifixion of Christ.  However, He whom the world rejected, God has raised from the dead, and committed all judgment to Him. Every knee will bow to Him; and the more boldly men have rejected and opposed Him, the more terrible will be their judgment.  All man’s pride, vanity and pretension must come to nought.

Read:

Such is the end of the world as we know it. Its profession of Christianity will only have increased the severity of its judgment. They that have known their Master’s will, and not done it, will be beaten with many stripes. (See Luke 12:47). Christendom fell from the heavenly state in the early chapters of the Acts. Now it will wax worse and worse, ripening for the judgment that so surely awaits it. Flee from the wrath to come.

April 2015

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