CLOTHING

J.A.Gardiner

Isaiah 63: 1-6; Luke 15: 21-23; Matthew 22: 11-14

I believe I was led to these scriptures, beloved friends, initially in any case because they refer to garments. Whether I should proceed with them and speak about garments I do not quite know. But clothing is a great thing in the world. The clothing business is a great business, I suppose. Man likes to clothe himself; it is right of course that he should because of the fall. Naturally man likes to invest himself with whatever will give him some distinction. I suppose the first thing that man did when he fell, when he got a conscience and saw that there was some deficiency, that he was naked, was that he felt he needed to remedy that, he needed to invest himself with something that covered up that exposure. What an exposure it was! So he clothed himself, he took fig leaves, made aprons, and sought to retain his respectability. That was not good enough for God. God has clothing He wants to adorn man with, wonderful garments He wants to clothe man with. One beloved man who came to Christ, who would certainly confirm what I am saying, came to such an appreciation of Jesus that instead of seeking to invest himself with everything that would promote respectability in the world and make way for himself in the world, he enumerates all the things that he could have invested himself with naturally; he says, I count them all dung and dross that I may gain Christ, (see Phil 3: 8). That was Paul, as you know.

Beloved friends, we are here in the presence of the word of God, and the word of God exposes us, it shows that there is deficiency with us. The word of God applied to Jesus brought out perfection. The word of God applied to you and me naturally brings out a deficiency, but God has the remedy for that deficiency in Christ, and as we accept the exposure and are prepared to submit to God's word we will come into blessing.

The portion I read in Isaiah points to the work of Christ: what a work that has been! You say that is a very judicial setting of things in that chapter; certainly it is. What does Edom represent in the Scriptures? Edom represents what is lawless and what God has to say He hates. Edom represents features that stand athwart God's accomplishing His purposes in His saints. Edom represents what is unbrotherly, what would seek to hold up the passage of true hearts through into the great area of eternal life that God has in mind for His people. Moses says to him, we will go through on the king's road, we will not drink of your wells, we will go through without in any sense appropriating anything that you have because we do not really need it (see Num 20: 17). Do you know the king's road? Do you know what the king's road is? Go to Matthew's gospel and you will find the King's road. Go through on that road. The King is meek and lowly in heart (see Matt 11: 29); that is the way He moves, that is His road. The children of Israel say we will go through on the high way; Edom says, you will not pass through lest I come out against you with a sword. That is the man of sin and shame who is obnoxious to God, who seeks to clothe himself with his own righteousness. In Genesis 36 you begin to read about Edom, the dukes of Edom, duke this, and chief that, and chief the next thing; all want the upward line, the line that is against God. Jesus has taken up the cudgels against that man. He has come into this preaching; in a sense He has come as from this chapter, come from Edom. He has come from a mighty triumph, He has come from His victory, and oh! He would assure your heart that there is no need for you to fear. He would say to you, I who speak in righteousness am mighty to save. Would you like salvation? He is ready to save. Later in this chapter He becomes a Saviour. Is that not beautiful? But you see how He has met things in this chapter, how He has met Edom, how He has met all that stands out and stood out against God. "Who is this", it says, "that cometh from Edom, with deep-red garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?" Oh, what power there is with Him, as He comes in God's word to speak to your soul! He is travelling in the greatness of His strength; what strength He has! Soon it will be manifested publicly.

Paul, having divested himself of all that would make something of him naturally, says all I am waiting for now is a body of glory, like unto His own glorious body; I am awaiting Him as Saviour and He is going to transform this condition which I am in according to the power which He has to subdue all things to Himself (see Phil 3: 20, 21). What a magnificent statement that is! He has won that power morally; He has gone into death; Jesus has gone into death in the accomplishment of God's will. He says here in this chapter that He has trodden the winepress alone. Have you seen Him in the winepress? Have you seen Him working this thing out in committal to God's will, in lowliness, in meekness"? Come along to Gethsemane, see Jesus working things out with God, giving expression to His own will, yes, but submitting it to the will of His Father. Never was there a man here like Jesus! That is royalty, that is a King. "Not my will", He says (Luke 22: 42); "if it be possible" (Matt 26: 39); He wanted that cup to pass from Him, that was His will. But then He says "not my will, but thine be done". Oh, the submission! He did not have to clothe Himself with anything; He did not have to take on anything, He was the thing Himself. Are you like the disciples? Can you watch with Him? Maybe you are not too interested. I do not think they were just too interested. In that place, a wonderful privilege, seeing the great thoughts of God being worked out, they fell asleep. Is that not sad? Does He rebuke them? No. He says just watch, watch, that you do not go into temptation (see Matt 26: 41). He goes away again and He says the same thing. Oh, the pressure that was upon Him, the pressure that the devil was bringing upon Him, seeking to divert Him from His purpose. Could He be diverted? No. He is committed to the will of God. That is the winepress, that is pressure. That is how He overcame Esau. He says He trod it alone and there was no man with Me. He never needed any assistance. Who else would be equal to working out this great moral problem, this great moral complexity but He? And He worked it out Himself in His own body on the tree (see 1 Pet 2: 24). Is that not wonderful? He has come into the preaching tonight from that position. He went into death, He lay in death, He rose again, He broke the power of death. He could not be holden of it (see Acts 2: 24). And what power death has! How weak we are in the presence of it! Death is the expression of weakness in man; it brings out the weakness of man. He was crucified in weakness (see 2 Cor 13: 4); He did not go into death in weakness, He went into death in power. That loud cry was a proof that He was going in in power, and going into death He annulled him who had the might of it (see Heb 2: 14).

Oh how glorious Jesus is in His apparel! What garments He wears, garments of a Saviour! He fills out every divine office; He is invested with it. God has made Him both Lord and Christ (see Acts 2: 36), and He comes down to us in our need here to speak to our souls, to lift from us this terrible burden, this weight of sin that is upon us. He speaks through our conscience, says to us, Do not go and hide behind the trees, do not try and clothe yourself with something that is no clothing. Come to me, He says, and I will give you clothing, I will make you whole. He was here healing, He is still healing. He speaks in righteousness; you go through the gospels and you will find Him speaking in righteousness, "mighty to save". What a Saviour He is! One poor woman came into a house where He was and she could not say anything; she was so affected that she was giving expression to her emotions. In that house Jesus spoke in righteousness; He said a lot of things in righteousness; finally He says to her "Thy faith has saved thee, go in peace", Luke 7: 50. He is mighty to save. He is speaking in righteousness tonight. The great system of divine speaking is operative on your behalf. He made a mercy-seat, it says, of pure gold, and put it on the ark, and He says, there will I talk with you, there will I commune with you (see Exod 25). Are you going to come up to the mercyseat? You do not have to go into the tabernacle now; God has set Him forth a mercy-seat "through faith in his blood", Rom 3: 25. He will clothe you with His righteousness. Your own righteousness is as filthy rags (see Isa 64: 6); that is what scripture says. God has wrought out a righteousness in Christ, and you come up to Him and talk with Him. Would you like to speak with Jesus? He never turned anybody away, never will He turn anybody away. He is the mercyseat, you see, the Saviour is the mercy-seat. "This is my beloved Son... hear him", Matt 17: 5. What is He saying? He is appealing to your heart, to have to do with Him about your state, to have to do with Him about your sins. Do not argue with Him; He is not looking for arguments. Job spent a long time arguing; he would argue the point with anybody; he even argued the point with God. There comes a time when Job has to humble himself, and he says "I... repent in dust and ashes", chap 42: 6. That is the kind of spirit that gets blessing in the gospel. That is the kind of spirit that gets blessing at any time. That is the voice of Judah, he took responsibility. I have not committed your sins and you have not committed my sins. You take responsibility for your own sins before God; He will prove to you that He is mighty to save, He certainly will. He proved it to Peter when he walked on the water - Peter actually walked on the water; when he took his eye off Christ he began to sink. Peter really thought he was going under. He says "Lord, save me", Matt 14: 29. Jesus stretched out His hand and took him; Peter proved that He is mighty to save.

Is your case hopeless? Do you think your case is hopeless? No, it is not. The worst sinners have already been converted. Oh! that big religious Pharisee who knew it all: the Lord spoke in righteousness to him: "Saul", He says, "Saul, why persecutest thou me?", Acts 22: 7. He is exposed, completely exposed. Did Saul answer back? Did he enter into an argument? Did he say, Well this is the principle that governs this and this is how it is going to be? He says "What shall I do, Lord?". The Lord would like to hear you say that tonight; He would like to save you, He would like to become your Saviour, and go along with you feelingly in all your affliction. It says He was afflicted (see Isa 53: 7). How feeling Jesus is! He has given expression to the feelings of God. He wants to break down the stoniness of your heart, the hardness of it. In new birth you get another kind of heart; God says He will give His people a heart of flesh; He would make you impressionable to God's word so that you become receptive to it. You build up a link with Him that will go on through all eternity. What is your answer going to be? Have you something to say to Him? He has worked out this thing Himself completely. God has been completely glorified, completely vindicated. Suppose nobody ever came to Christ, yet God has been glorified in the death of Christ, completely glorified. And oh! the grace that comes right down to where we are, in our littleness, in our ignorance, in our lack of understanding, and just meets us there, and touches us in our hearts. That is Judah. Are you going to be like him? Are you going to take the responsibility? Everybody blames everybody else for everything; that is the way of the world; that is not the way of Christianity. Judah took on the responsibility because the thing really belonged to him in any case. As I said, you are responsible for your own sins. He comes to Joseph and he says "Ah! my lord", Gen 44: 18. He is smitten, he is convicted, he is going to have the thing out with him, he is not arguing, he is not setting out this and that and the next. And what is the result? He takes on the load of the whole thing. He stirs holy emotions in Joseph. Joseph says "Put every man out from me!", Gen 45: 1. Would you like to know Jesus? He will make Himself known to you. He has His own way of doing it. "Put every man out from me!", Joseph says. There was nobody there when he made himself known to his brethren. He said "I am Joseph". Would you like Jesus to say that to you now? He will say it, you know. He said it to Saul: "I am Jesus", Acts 9: 5. Would you like to hear Him say that to you? He says to Saul "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest". He says "I am Joseph. Does my father yet live?". Oh the affinity that there was between these two men in relation to the father.

Now here in Luke 15 there is a young man, and he has been in a terrible state. We all know the story, we have preached about it many times and, if the Lord will, we will preach about it as many times again. What happens here is that God is looking, looking longingly. This young man does not say anything for a start, he just makes a move. Are you going to make a move? Make a right move; there are plenty of wrong moves being made: too many. Start making a right move. He decided that he would go to his own father. Oh, God is looking, He is longing to see you move. He is not a hard and austere man like that other man thought. God has made Himself known as Father. Would you like to call God Father now? He said, I will arise and go to my own father, I will get a reception there. And you certainly will. What does he say? He says "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee". He is beginning to come into the knowledge of God. Oh the blessedness of the knowledge of God, God as a Saviour God, God as a Father' That is Judah - "in Judah is God known", Ps 76: 1 - and that is how the knowledge of God really comes into your soul, because you have to do with God initially in relation to your sins. What a history Judah had! But that was all past.

The younger son said "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee", and he was going to say other things. God says, I am clothing you in the worth of Christ. "Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it". Is that not wonderful? You do not go into that house in your rags, nobody ever did go into that house in their rags. The best robe is taken out and the rags are removed, and he is clothed in it, and he goes into that house in the blessedness of sonship. That is adoption. Would you like to come into the family of God? Come into the family of God through the preaching. You are equal to it, you are no embarrassment to the family. It is wonderful to come into this great blessed family that God has, on the principle of adoption. Christ is born Son: "today a Saviour has been born to you in David's city" - He is born that, the Saviour - "Christ the Lord", Luke 2: 11. "Where is the king of the Jews that has been born?", it says, Matt 2: 2. You come into it in adoption, but God gives you His nature, you become a partaker of the divine nature. Oh! instead of that other nature that can only corrupt itself and sin against God and bring in dislocation and sorrow and suffering and distance and alienation, God gives you to be a partaker of the divine nature, so that you grow in love, and grow in the knowledge of God. Well might the Psalmist say "in Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel". Have you on the best robe? Could you be better arrayed? Did you ever sing that hymn? Mr Stoney says He has put on the best robe, let us wear it.

Then in Matthew 22 there is another man, and he is not for it, alas. There is a wedding garment provided for him. God is committed to honouring His Son. The utmost dishonour has been done to Jesus cast out of the world as worthless, crucified, denied, everything that was His taken away from Him. God is bent on honouring Christ. So in this setting He has made a wedding feast for His Son, and He has come in to see the guests, He has come in to have a look. He looks upon everyone to see how they are appreciating what He has provided. He has provided the wedding garments, He has given them. He comes along and He sees somebody here, a man, and he is not clothed with the wedding garment. It is not that he did not have the opportunity to be clothed with it, it is not that; it is that he did not want to be clothed with it. He did not want to wear it, he did not want to submit to the will of God. What else can God offer him? Has He anything else to offer? He is offering the very best that He has. He sees this man and he is not clothed with a wedding garment. Would that be you? Would it? Oh, you say, it is not me, I belong to Christ; that is wonderful if you belong to the Lord Jesus. How are you getting on at the feast? What sort of response comes from your heart to this bountiful provision, this expression of the plenitude of divine grace that the gospel sets out? Oh, I long that my heart was more affected and more responsive to the display of grace that is toward us in the glad tidings. I think I would be more evangelical, I would be more concerned to tell people about Christ. But here is a man, and he has not got it on. What does the King say? He says "My friend, how earnest thou in here not having on a wedding garment?". This man is speechless; he does not have the voice of Judah. He can say nothing, no communion; there is no link at all: is that not terrible? There are going to be people like that. It is very solemn. Persons in Toronto today will be coming to Christ, I have no doubt about that at all. There will be many coming to Christ tonight. I can assure you that that will be the case, but alas there will be persons who will be missing the blessing, who will be refusing to put on the wedding garment, preferring their own works and their own righteousness. Oh how foolish! Oh the folly of such a course! There will come a moment when they have nothing to say - speechless.

I have often wondered what the thief on the cross, who died in his sins, will say to Christ when he comes up at the great white throne. I doubt if any person in the universe had witnessed such an expression of divine love and divine grace as that man, and he refused it. His fellow was converted, his fellow could discern the King and he could discern that there was a kingdom. There is a man who is obviously going to be speechless. That is a solemn and sobering side of the glad tidings. God is in real earnest, you know. This is not optional. You do not have options; you have a responsible life that has to be answered to to God. Jesus has died, He has been into death, He has suffered for your sins. God sets Him forth for your acceptance. God never divests man of his responsibility. Man was created a responsible being and he always will be. So you are responsible now, and I am responsible now as to how I answer and react to the word of God. Well, this man is cast out into outer darkness. It says there will be "weeping and... gnashing of teeth". How sorrowful that is: too late! The terrible 'too late', full of remorse; that is Esau, "he found no place for repentance" (Heb 12: 17), he despised the birthright; he sought it earnestly with tears but he did not think it was necessary to repent. Is that not awful? He was a profane per son - an element that would seek to usurp every feature of brotherly love and brotherly covenant that ever existed. That has all been dealt with in the death of Jesus. Jesus has dealt with that in Himself in totality, and so the summation here is that "many are called ones, but few chosen ones". You had better make sure that you are chosen, because we are in the midst of Christian profession, and because you break bread and go to the meeting does not necessarily mean much at all. What you need is Christ, a living, vital link with Christ. There are plenty of people in the world who break bread and go to meetings, but that is not a proof of salvation. The proof of salvation is that you humble yourself before God as conscious of the fact that you are a sinner and that you need a Saviour. Thank God for everybody who smites on his breast and says "O God, have compassion on me, the sinner", Luke 18: 13. That is not profession, that is reality, and God is looking for reality in you and me. May the Lord help us to follow up His word and bless it to us, that we might grow in the knowledge of divine grace, the knowledge of divine love as it has been made known in Jesus.

TORONTO

10 October 1982