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ENRICHMENT THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD JESUS

A. P. Devenish

Luke 7: 47–50; Mark 10: 46–52; Acts 8: 34–39;

These persons about whom I have read were enriched with the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, they went away enriched. To the woman the Lord said, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”. Her sins forgiven, she could go in peace. How wonderful that her soul was filled with the preciousness of Christ, the sinner’s Saviour! It says earlier in the chapter that she stood behind Him weeping and, as an aside, beloved brethren, I think our place in these critical times is to stand behind Him weeping, not to push ourselves forward but to stand behind Him weeping. This section is well known to us, and what impresses you about it is how exceedingly precious Christ was to this woman. I want to present to you today the sinner’s Saviour. Scripture says, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, Romans 3: 23. If we have some sense of the depth of our sins and the seriousness of them, what they are in the presence of God, how Christ has suffered to atone for our sins, how exceedingly precious He would become to our hearts. He brought the tidings of God’s grace to her, for which cause no doubt she washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head and anointed them. Those feet were going to take Him to Calvary to atone for her sins—no wonder she loved Him. I trust every one of our hearts is touched by the Saviour of sinners, that He may become exceedingly precious to our hearts. So she goes away in peace—I trust every one of us will go away in peace knowing that our sins have been forgiven. Peter says,

“who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Peter 2: 24. What a wonderful work the Lord Jesus has accomplished on our account; the atoning sufferings of Christ, who can measure them? He said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”, Matthew 27: 46. Let each of us remember that it was your sins and mine that necessitated the sufferings of Christ.

I have read in Mark where, by contrast, we have a young man earlier in the chapter who runs into the way. He says, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10: 17). That is what he desired to do, to have a longer time to enjoy his possessions; that was really what he wanted, time to enjoy his possessions. It says, “Jesus looking upon him, loved him” (Mark 10: 21). I want to leave some impression on every young person here that Jesus is looking on you and He loves you. He is thinking about you in relation to the testimony of our Lord, in relation to the service of God, in relation to having a part in this dispensation, the most wonderful dispensation. He is looking on you and He loves you. I can say that without any question. Although Jesus loved him, this young man was not prepared for the pathway of suffering. “But he, sad at the word, went away grieved” (Mark 10: 22); enriched in this world’s goods but having nothing in his soul of eternal value, nothing. The woman in Luke 7 went away with peace in her heart and her sins forgiven, but this poor man went away grieved “for he had large possessions”. He was not prepared for the way of suffering. The way is the Christian way, and it is the way of suffering. The scripture says in verse 32, “And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going on before them; and they were amazed, and were afraid as they followed. And taking the twelve again to him, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him—Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered up to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him up to the nations—and they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him; and after three days he shall rise again”. You see, it is a way of suffering, there is no other way; it is a way that leads to glory, but it is a way of suffering.

So we have this blind man about whom I have read, blind Bartimaeus. It says, “And having heard that it was Jesus the Nazaraean, he began to cry out and to say, O Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, that he might be silent; but he cried so much the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus, standing still”; think of that, the Lord of glory standing still to meet the needs of a poor blind man. How often we link this scripture with Joshua 10, when the sun stood still upon Gibeon. There of course it was for judgment but here it is to bring out the favourable time, the day of grace in which we live. “And the sun stood still, and the moon remained where it was”, Joshua 10: 13. It says, “And the sun remained standing in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a full day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man”.

We have often linked it, of course, with Luke 23: 34 when the Lord Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, when God listened to the voice of Man, such a Man as He; but think of this wonderful incident when He stood still. “And Jesus standing still, desired him to be called”. It says, “he saw immediately”, I think he saw the King in His beauty. He saw the Son of David; He must have had some impression of the majesty of Jesus, the One who was able to relieve him of his blindness and cause him to see. So it says, “he saw immediately, and followed him in the way”; he was prepared for the suffering way because he had seen the King in His beauty. See how these scriptures would enrich us in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and surely would draw out our affections towards Him.

In Acts 8, it says, “he went on his way rejoicing”. What had he acquired? How was he different than before? What was the difference? He had received into his heart the glad tidings of Jesus. The personal attractiveness of Jesus is what these glad tidings would speak about. Isaiah 53 is what comes into Philip’s preaching, and that is really the unfolding of the glad tidings of Jesus, “He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in the presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away, and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth”. Think of what he must have unfolded to him. Jesus is spoken of as “a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground—he hath no form nor lordliness, and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and left alone of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their faces”, Isaiah 53: 2, 3. It says, “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”. This is the glad tidings of Jesus. Isaiah saw His glory; I have no doubt that that would include Isaiah 53 as well as Isaiah 6. I believe it is a wonderful unfolding of the glad tidings of Jesus, the Man of the Gospels. There are many references to the glad tidings in scripture, particularly in this area of the Acts where we have read, but this is a peculiarly attractive one; the glad tidings of Jesus, bringing before us the attractiveness of the person of the Lord Jesus and what He has accomplished for us. “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”. Do we know Him that way? There is much sorrow amongst us of recent times. He was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Tears coursed down His cheeks; He saw the sorrow at the graveside of Lazarus. I have no doubt He has become exceedingly precious to many of our hearts as we go through these sorrows.

It goes on to say, “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed”. No wonder the eunuch’s heart was full, no wonder he went on his way rejoicing. He had something he had never had before, he had the light in his soul of another Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no doubt that in the reference made, “his life is taken from the earth” that the eunuch felt the need of being baptised, to publicly identify himself with the death of Christ. It says, “as they went along the way, they came upon a certain water, and the eunuch says, Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?” Then it says, “But when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer”. You see he was rendered independent in a sense, not in a wrong sense, but he was rendered independent. He was able now to go back into his own country, his heart filled with Christ; and I have no doubt, because he went on his way rejoicing, that he had the Holy Spirit. He was not needing the support any longer of Philip; he had the glad tidings of Jesus in his heart. The woman in Luke 7, she goes in the way of peace, peace is in her heart as a forgiven sinner; the blind man is made to see and he follows Him in the way having seen the King in His beauty; but I think something happened in the eunuch’s soul, that just transported him in his affections, by the testimony to such a Man. I have no doubt he carried that back to his own land, kept in freshness in his affections for the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit. As we go back to our own places, surely we have had some touch as to Christ, and I trust we will be kept in our affections in freshness by the Holy Spirit so that we will go on our way rejoicing having acquired something, having been enriched in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well I just refer to Ruth. It is a solemn matter this reference to Orpah, her mother-in-law says she has gone back to her people and to her gods. She had such an opportunity, the same as Ruth had, but she “kissed her mother-in-law”. And Naomi said, “Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her people and to her gods”, empty, spiritually empty! Well, this is a solemn matter; persons turning away from the fellowship, living their life in other things, going back to their people and to their gods. But Ruth said, “Do not intreat me to leave thee”, she identifies herself with Naomi in bitterness. Naomi represents the testimony as it may be seen publicly at the present time. There is a lot of sorrowful history connected with every locality and the sorrow goes on, beloved brethren, the sorrow goes on. Somebody said, If the young people have to face a division again they will leave us—that was said recently—the sorrow goes on and on but what does Ruth say? “Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest l will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried”. Is that the committal of your heart and mine? You say, well the position is not very attractive outwardly, there is a lot of sorrowful history, but have we committed ourselves unreservedly to the testimony? Bound with a chain, Paul says, “Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner”, 2 Timothy 1: 8. What does that mean? It means that we will be restricted and limited publicly, perhaps in smallness and weakness.

Much could be said about that but this is the way she meets Boaz. This is the way she comes into touch with the mighty man of wealth, the kinsman redeemer who had the right of redemption. This is the way to come into touch with the Great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will take away your reproach. Ephesians 2 would apply to someone like Ruth, “no longer strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2: 19). Cannot we look beyond the weakness and the sorrow of the public position and see that identifying ourselves unreservedly with the testimony of our Lord Jesus, we will come into touch with Boaz, the mighty Man of wealth, who is able and willing to take on our encumbrances, our liabilities, and to set us in the divine household, the household of God? She felt she was a stranger, but now she is no longer a stranger, but a fellow-citizen of the saints in the household of God. She had found a home, she had found a place in the affections of Boaz. O beloved, may we come into touch with Christ as the mighty Man of wealth, our Boaz, our kinsman Redeemer.

One who has drawn so close to us. Luke’s gospel would represent our kinsman Redeemer, the One who has taken on the liabilities of the race, who has met and discharged all our liabilities Himself. How wonderful He is, the One who is both willing and able to meet our need and, more than that, to set us free and happy in the household of God. It says she gave birth to Obed who was a worshipper, with David in view. How enriched Ruth was in her soul! It speaks about her cloak later on; “he said, Bring the cloak that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And she held it, and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her; and he went into the city. And she came to her mother-in-law; and she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me” (Ruth 3: 15–17). Think of how the Lord would enrich us with the knowledge of Himself, and that is what my exercise is in this meeting, that we may go away with a little greater knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, enriched in our thoughts and affections towards Him.

I will just finish with a reference to the queen of Sheba. If we have spoken about the glad tidings of Jesus, I suppose this section would be the glad tidings of the glory. How she was affected by it as the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon in connection with the name of Jehovah, and then what she saw. She saw, in type, Christ as the glorious centre of a wonderful divine system. Have you seen Him that way? You might say, I only know about the local meeting and there are only two or three of us and we have a hard time. I want you to get a view of Christ as the glorious centre of another world, another scene altogether, and to draw from Him. Christ, as Head, is the One from whom we derive wisdom and power and help and who furnishes us with spiritual wealth. The queen of Sheba went away with her heart filled with the glory of Solomon, but I would like us to go away with our hearts filled with the

glory of Christ. It says, “And when the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon’s wisdom”. He was a remarkable man, Solomon. Headship is seen in him in a very special way. It says in an earlier chapter, “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore”, 1 Kings 4: 29. “And he spoke of the trees, from the cedar-tree that is on Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of cattle, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom”, 1 Kings 4: 33, 34. When the animals were brought before Adam, he was the federal head at the beginning of Genesis; and God brought the animals to him to be named, and he named them; but this is an expansion in the thought of headship, not just the animals but the whole creation.

Think of what we can receive from Christ, as our Solomon, “who has been made to us wisdom from God”, 1 Corinthians 1: 30. If we could just get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus as the centre of a great divine system of glory, everything there reflecting the wisdom and glory typified in Solomon. Did we have some impression of it this morning? Did we get a view of the Lord Jesus as the glorious centre of another world? Did we not see the deportment of His servants, the order of the service? As it says, “his ascent by which he went up”. What a contrast, you might say, this is to Ruth. All she had was Naomi to take account of; that is the public position and let us not shrink from it. Let us not hold ourselves back from it but commit ourselves unreservedly to it. “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God”.

Have you ever said that? What a wonderful committal that was leading her, as I have said, to Boaz. But here it is not the poverty of the outward position, it is the wealth of the inward position in which Solomon is the great head and centre. May our hearts be attracted to Christ, may we get a view of Him this way as the centre of another world, the centre of another scene of things, contributing to His glory. She said, “I gave no credit to the words, until I came and mine eyes had seen; and behold, the half was not told me: in wisdom and prosperity thou exceedest the report that I heard. Happy are thy men! happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, who hear thy wisdom!” That is our portion, beloved brethren.

May we be happy Christians, happy in the light and knowledge of Christ, the glorious centre of another system of things altogether. In Colossians it says, “Christ ... who is our life”, Colossians 3: 4. I have often thought about that. I wonder if that is true with us all. Have we some other things that we live in, some other things that have become absorbing to our souls and hearts; maybe our businesses. Do not find your life in that. Find your life in another world with another Man, the centre and sunshine of another world. O beloved, may our hearts be enriched in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we might go back to our own cities and countries with the light of this in our souls—peace, because our sins are forgiven, follow Him in the way because we have seen the King in His beauty, go on our way rejoicing because we have taken into our hearts the glad tidings of Jesus. O the attractiveness of the Saviour. May we be prepared to identify ourselves with the testimony in reproach because through doing so we will meet our Boaz, the mighty Man of wealth; and then our hearts will be thrilled when we see the Lord Jesus as the Sun and centre of another world where we have our part with Him. May the Lord bless this word.

Preaching at Denton, Texas
27 May 2001

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