ACQUAINTANCE WITH CHRIST RISEN
ACQUAINTANCE WITH CHRIST RISEN
“I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep”, John 10: 14, 15.
The compiler of the Scriptures into chapters and verses (man’s work) did not understand their meaning, or he would not have divided these two verses; they are but one. I want you to understand first their meaning, and then I desire in these lectures, if the Lord will enable me, to point out what this knowledge of the Lord is. We all in this room have learnt, I trust, what is said in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”; but there is another trait of the good Shepherd, which is a new one, “I know those that are mine and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me, and” (it is not ‘even so’, that is not correct) “I know the Father”. That is the simple meaning of the passage, and it is important for us to bear it in mind in studying this great subject. You will see how it will explain a good deal that you find in Scripture about knowing the Lord. To the fathers, John said, “Ye have known him that is from the beginning”, and that is all. One is almost ready to say, We all know Him; and yet all are not fathers, therefore I want to trace for you, if the Lord permit me, the different steps in this knowledge. I had attempted it in one lecture, but it was very insufficient.
The subject is, The Knowledge of the Lord: and I say, What kind of knowledge is it? I answer, It is the same kind of knowledge (1 do not say the same measure, but the same character of knowledge) that there is between the Father and the Son. I can understand [p. 326] a person saying, Well, if that is the kind of knowledge I know very little of it. That would be right enough; but one would almost say, that it is impossible. Well, there is nothing given in John’s gospel that is not beyond human conception; not merely that the human mind has never reached it, but it is beyond its conception. One might say, it is very fine; but it never was, it could not be. For instance, take chapter 4: 14, You shall never thirst; you shall be brought into a region of satisfied desire. In heaven? No; but on earth. I can understand the most learned man we could meet saying, It is very splendid, but it is downright impossible; never was such a thing known in man’s experience. Well, it is heard of in the Bible. You admit that it is a great thing, if it is true? Yes; and it is true. But this makes John so difficult to understand truly, for in it heavenly things are brought down to man. If you take Paul’s side of things, you are brought up to heaven; you do not find that so difficult, because you expect to find great things up there; but to find great things brought down to earth, and to have them here on earth, that you do not expect. Now I will try to bring before you what I may call — if I may express it in human words — the first step in this knowledge. The first step in this knowledge is personal acquaintance with the Lord. And it is of the deepest importance. In fact, as far as I know, the old divines, and their pious books as far as I have read, do not go beyond the first step. I freely admit that they had much piety; and what is more than piety, a good deal of thorough devotedness to the Lord; but I do not think they got beyond the first step.
Now I will give you a sample of the first step in John 9: 35: “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?”
- [p. 327] he had no acquaintance with Him as yet — “And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him” — the last time he met Him he did not see Him, he was blind — “and it is he that talketh with thee”. That is a mark that I know Him: “He talketh with thee”, — “And he said, Lord, I believe; and he worshipped him”. He had made His acquaintance. I think that is a beautiful sample of first acquaintance, which is my subject this evening.
Now mark, beloved friends, this man had been cured by the Lord; the Lord had put clay upon his eyes, and Jesus had sent him to the pool of Siloam. He had faith in the Lord’s words, and he washed, and came seeing. He had received his sight, and everyone knew of it, and as a consequence of his faithfulness in owning the work of Christ, he was cast out; every circle of society refused him — his neighbours, the social circle; the Pharisees, the religious circle; his parents, the domestic circle, disowned him; and the nation eventually put him out; he is outside of the fold. He was once in the solitude of darkness, and we all have known that solitude; but now he is outside everything of man; and would to God that everyone in this room knew that solitude. The work of Christ is refused, man cannot see it; but the man who had received sight waxes bolder as he goes on; at length he said, “If this man were not of God, he could do nothing”. “And they cast him out”. Jesus finds him, and he makes acquaintance with the Lord. Is there one in this room who would not like to be in the same position as that man? No, surely. Well, that is the first step, but that is not all; I have a great deal more to speak of than that, though not for this evening.
One comfort is, and it is a very great comfort, that we never lose what we get by the Spirit; never. You may say, Oh! but do we not walk in the flesh? Yes; but as soon as you are restored, you are restored to [p. 328] what you lost; it is not like a soldier degraded in his regiment; when you are restored you come up to what you were, because it is the Spirit’s work. If it were only what you call your own work it would be so; but it is the Spirit’s work; and therefore, to illustrate it, if a “father” walks in the flesh he may for the time sink much lower than “a little child”, because it is always the case, the greater the height, the greater the fall. If an enlightened Christian falls, he has a more grievous fall than an ignorant one. If you fall in the Ephesians, you fall to the bottom; you cannot land in Corinthians, because you are beyond it; nor in Galatians, because you are beyond it. But I must not wander from my subject; it is a great thing to understand the nature of this acquaintance.
I turn now to a passage in the Old Testament, which I think will help you. It is most interesting and important that the old scriptures testify of Christ as He was on the earth. If you follow me this evening, you will see that I do not take you beyond the earth. The first acquaintance is with the Lord as risen. Subsequently I shall seek to lead you to Him in glory; but this evening it is acquaintance with Him while you are still on earth where the work was finished; you first become acquainted with the One who did the work in the place where He finished it.
Now let me say before I proceed, that nothing has contributed more to the present distraction of saints than the lack of personal intercourse with the Lord. There has been a great and an increased zeal to acquire knowledge of the Scriptures, but personal acquaintance with the Lord has not been correspondingly sought after. You will find, I trust, that as you become acquainted with the word, you are better acquainted with the Lord, because you desire to know Himself. Paul writes to the Philippians, thirty years after his conversion (as far as I count); “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. After thirty years, his chief desire and study is to know Christ. It is an important saying, that ‘Man’s words explain his mind, but you must know God’s mind in order to understand His words’. I endorse that saying thoroughly; I am quite sure of it. I believe a man may be thoroughly up in the epistle to the Ephesians, thoroughly up in the words of it, and yet not understand it. Why? The apostle’s prayer answers: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him”. This must be received first. If you knew the Lord better, you would understand His word better. I heard of a man who advertised for six agents, and they were to be a father and five sons. Someone said, ‘Why do you want them all to be of one family?’ ‘Because’, he replied, ‘they will understand one another’. I believe there is a great deal in that. I say to myself at times, Why do you not understand a certain passage? I have read it very often. I answer myself, The fact is, you do not know the Lord; if you knew the Lord better you would know what it meant. That is what the Lord said, “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word”, John 8: 43.
I have digressed a little. Now I turn to Genesis 50: 15, to explain my subject a little more. “And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face;
[p. 330] and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God?”
Now the exercises here are very important. I trust you understand them. A believer always knows the service of the Lord before he has made personal acquaintance with Him. I read these verses as an illustration of such a state. Here Joseph’s brethren had no doubt at all of Joseph’s relationship to them and his continued service, but they did not know him so closely as to know his love or his feelings about them; they never had made such close acquaintance with him as to know his own mind, though they were seventeen years living on his bounty and doubtless esteemed him much. I am sure many Christians who have not the slightest doubt of the Lord’s work and service, yet have never made acquaintance with the Lord personally; perhaps never make it till their death-bed. If you did not read your own heart in the light of Scripture you could hardly believe such a thing possible. If we look at this blind man in John 9, we find that he is outside of everything of man. All that he was taught from infancy to revere, to look up to as of God, all was gone; he was alone, outside everything; but he heard the voice of the Lord; saying, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee”. The blessed moment of first acquaintance had come; any one in this room who has ever known it, will understand his deep joy. Joseph’s brethren go and fall down before Joseph, for they think he will requite them for the evil they did to him, but “Joseph wept when they spake unto him”, as much as to say, Is that all you know about me? The fact is, they did not know him.
There are two words in Scripture translated “knowing”, and they have been explained in this way; one is knowing a thing outside of you, and the other is conscious knowledge, knowing a thing in my mind.
[p. 331] The word generally for knowing is the former. I know him, I have met him; that is, we know one another by appearance. But there is much more; when you are acquainted with the moral ways of a person, like John when he said to Peter, “It is the Lord”, and this pre-eminently we learn of the Lord in the gospels; there we are taught the moral traits of that blessed One. Here were these men who had been living for seventeen years under the known care and provision of Joseph, yet did not really know him, they never were in close acquaintance, though no doubt they would say, There is not a brother like Joseph; just as you hear Christians of this day say, There is no one like Jesus. Yes, but do you know Him? You say, Yes. But what do you mean by knowing Him? Do you know His feelings about you? If you answer, How could I know His feelings about me? then it is evident that you do not know Him. Do you think Joseph’s brethren would have said after their interview with Joseph, We do not know his feelings? They had heard from himself, “Fear not; I will nourish you and your little ones”. It is love only that casts out fear. I trust that you see now that the service of Christ is first known, His very great grace; yet until you know His feelings for you, you have not made acquaintance with Him personally.
I turn now to Luke 5: 8. Peter was called, as we know from John 1, and he was very devoted; and it is worthy of note that at times we find people very devoted who really do not know the Lord. Peter was devoting his time and his means to the Lord’s work, also he was obedient to His word; he says, “At thy word I will let down the net”. He lets down the net, and encloses a great multitude of fishes, so that the net breaks, and they beckon to their partners to come and help them. But instead of being, as fishermen always are, very delighted when they have a great haul, what do you find? “When Simon Peter [p. 332] saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. Peter had not made acquaintance with the Lord. Someone might say, I do not understand you. Well, I trust if any of you would say so, that you will turn to the Lord to make you understand this incident, because here it is plain enough. Every Christian has to learn it. Peter falls down before the Lord and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”, though he was doing everything right at the time, quite different from Saul of Tarsus. Yet he was not apart from himself; you will find that you do not really make acquaintance with the Lord until you are apart from all which He has removed; that is, in reality you have not learned the completeness of His service. In Genesis 50 there is an illustration of the true exercise of heart. There, when the father was dead, all the exercise began; because they were thrown into close quarters with Joseph, they had to ascertain how Joseph was in heart towards them; not merely Joseph’s service.
Beloved friends, I do not doubt that you know the service of Christ, but do you know His love in doing it? Do you say, I know the love that did it by the service? Ah, that will not do! You know the service first, I admit; but are you acquainted with His heart? Have you come so near to Him that you know Him like the blind man, and that He has an interest in you? “Joseph wept when his brethren spake to him”. The truth I am pressing is of the deepest importance to your happiness here, and to your service for the Lord. Peter, instead of being enraptured with his success, falls down and says to the Lord, “Depart from me”; but the Lord says, “Fear not”. Peter’s heart is relieved. He is conscious of the Lord’s interest in him. Now occurs what always occurs when the love of Christ is known: they seek His company. They brought their ships to land, and “forsook all and followed him”. That is always the effect of first acquaintance. It is not to heaven at all here, but they follow Him on the earth. One might say, Is everyone to give up one’s business? I do not say that; but I am quite sure that you will find that it is characteristic of the one acquainted with the Lord, that he likes to surrender for Him. I see it in the youngest. Jonathan stripped himself for David. That is just what I mean; there is the desire to make much of Him; love always makes much of its object. Gratitude would requite; but love makes much of its object at personal sacrifice. We see this love in the woman in Luke 7. She believed that Jesus was the Saviour, and she desired to make acquaintance with Him; she followed Him to the Pharisee’s house. She goes to see Him, and makes His acquaintance, and at personal sacrifice anoints His feet. Then He not only announces to her that her sins are forgiven, but He adds, “Go in peace”.
The first trait is that you are alone with Him; you have come to a Person. This will lead you to see beyond the general teaching in Christendom; that is, that instead of singing about your sins gone, you will be singing about Christ. You will sing of the Saviour when you know Him. It is the Deliverer you have then before your heart. Let me dwell upon this for a moment. You have made acquaintance with a Person. And now I will turn to Romans 5: 5, a verse which tells you that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us. In Ephesians 1: 13 we read, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise”. The Spirit always makes Christ paramount, and is in you a “fountain of water springing up into eternal life”. I turn to Acts 10: 43, where it is stated, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall [p. 334] receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word”. The Holy Spirit connects you with Christ personally, with Him who has done the work. Hence, the Lord said to the man who had been blind, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He says, Who is he, Lord? Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee”. Then he said, “I believe, Lord. And he worshipped him”. This is a pattern of the divine bond to Christ, which is called in Scripture “sealing”.
To explain it better, I turn to Luke 17: 15: “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed turned back and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face, at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed: but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole”. Here the Samaritan makes acquaintance with the Lord who had healed him. The ten were cleansed, but nine of them went to ritualism, in order to obtain approach to God by religious services. One only recognised the Lord, and he turns back and fell down on his face at Christ’s feet; he parts company with himself, he gives the Lord thanks, and the Lord commends him. He has made acquaintance with the Lord; this is his first acquaintance, that is the point. You see the same in other scriptures which I need not go into. The woman who was healed when she touched the hem of His garment, is a beautiful example of the effect of faith; she was quite cured. The Lord says, “Somebody has touched me”, and He says, as it were, ‘I want you to be acquainted with me’, and she, “fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her”. It was not enough to be sure of the work, but she must know Him who had cured her. “She [p. 335] came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth”. That is a most blessed time. Now let us see another characteristic in connection with this acquaintance. Nothing satisfies love but company; you will seek His company, as the man who besought Him that he might be with Him. The Lord says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”; nothing will satisfy affection but company. I get this beautifully in Canticles; the reciprocity of real love. This first acquaintance does not go beyond Canticles. One verse will explain to you what I mean, Song of Songs 2: 3: “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste”. Is there anyone in this room who would not say, that is delightful? Surely the deep joy of the heart by-and-by, will be the unbroken intercourse between the Lord and oneself. To have a taste of it now is to “sit under his shadow with great delight”. I do not follow on to the next verse, because that is farther on. “He brought me to the banqueting house”. Still, the main subject of Canticles, what marks it, its characteristic, is, that the heart is not dwelling on His gifts, but how He loves you, and what you are to Him. You will begin with, “My beloved is mine, and I am his”; but you will end with, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is towards me”. It is what you are to Him. This, I trust, will show you the greatness of first acquaintance. I can quite understand someone saying, If that is first acquaintance, it is enough for me. Well, you will never lose first acquaintance. Of course, you may drop into coldness and indifference, but if you advance into more acquaintance, you cannot lose the first. If I have made acquaintance with Him risen on the earth, where all my sin and sorrow have been, certainly I cannot lose it when I know Him in glory.
Now let us consider the character and nature of the service which one thus acquainted with the Lord [p. 336] renders. You have seen an example of it in Jonathan. It is the readiness to surrender. I do not say that it is the highest service, but this liking to give up for the Lord, this desire to sacrifice anything for Him in order to make much of Him, is very pleasing to Him. Lastly, the way you learn His interest in you here on earth; no one can catch you out of His hand. You have peculiar confidence in Him that He will look after all your affairs, your difficulties; He relieves you. It is the first trait of the new company (Luke 10 and 11) that you not only hear His word, but you, pray to Him because you are still on the earth, you are looking to Him with respect to your earthly path — He relieves you.
I am not yet touching on higher experiences; I am confining you to Him risen where you have made first acquaintance with Him. I would recapitulate. You first make acquaintance with Him risen from the dead, you could not be sealed unless all your sins were gone. The blood was put first, then the oil; therefore the very moment Peter said, “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins”, “the Holy Spirit fell on all them who heard the word”. You are now acquainted with the Lord personally, and everything is revolutionised. It is not only that you are saved when ruined and undone, but you have made an acquaintance with your Saviour; and His company is the delight of your heart. You may say, Have not I duties to fulfil? Yes, but one thing is paramount, and that is His company. If you have made acquaintance with Him, you can turn to Him about everything; you know His feelings about you, you dwell upon them. This, Canticles unfolds. You know His interest in you, and you dwell on it. You have One ever to turn to; practically you know the greatness of Himself. Now the nature and character of your service is to make much of Him. I admit that it does not go further than to make much of Him before man, as in the case of the woman in Luke 7; she desired [p. 337] to make much of Him on the earth; it is the service of first acquaintance; it is a surrender; making much of the Lord at your own expense.
Finally you go through the world with a sense — thank God for it — that He was here, and has accomplished all for you here. I have not touched at all on the other side yet; but if you are not acquainted with Him, where all the ruin was, believe me, you will not be acquainted with Him where there is none. You cannot lose that acquaintance; you may get dark and blinded, and think you have lost everything; but when you are restored, you return to it; as you advance in acquaintance with Him, you do not lose the beginning.
The Lord grant that none of you may be satisfied with the forgiveness of sins; thank the Lord, you have listened attentively and earnestly but I pray that not one of you may be satisfied merely to say, I know that He died for me, I am conscious He relieved me. Yes, I say, Take care lest you are measuring His work by your own conscience, and thus resting in the relief to your conscience, instead of resting in Him who glorified God in doing the work. If you know Himself you know His feelings about you, that if the work had to be done over again, He would do it for you. No gift ever measures love; the gift is only the expression of the love; and, therefore, as is said of God Himself, “He will rest in his love”; and He says in Canticles, “If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned”. Giving comes in, as I have already said, but all the giving springs from love.
I feel it is my duty to bring this subject before you, and though I am not doing it as perfectly as I could wish, yet my comfort is that every exercised soul will learn a great deal more about it than I am able to tell him. The Lord bless His word to you for His name’s sake.