THE WORKS OF GOD
[p. 43] THE WORKS OF GOD
I wish to say a word about the works of God, a subject that Scripture begins with. “In the beginning God created”. God began to work, and Scripture ends with the great result of His working. I want also to show that what God regards as His works are presented in man. It is true that “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen; being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead” (Romans 1:20). These are seen in the material system, but what He regards as His peculiar work is that which is seen in man. We have no such statement as we find in this chapter in Genesis 1; it is not said there that the chaotic state of things was there in order that the works of God should be manifested, and yet the whole of Genesis 1 is engaged with the divine works, and God says at the end of each day that “it was good”.
It is very interesting in a simple way to think of oneself and to inquire whether God could say, “It is very good”; whether it is a success. I have no doubt that with many of us, as reviewing our experience and our history as Christians, we think things might be better. It is quite right to review your history as a Christian, as to what the result has been; but bear this in mind, that God reviews things. He reviews His own work. We get the sum total of it in chapter 1, and in the last verse we are told that He saw everything that He had made and it was “very good”; and He saw everything in detail. I mention this to show that everything comes under review with God. Before God takes you up as a stone to build you into the structure He passes you in review. He reviews His own work in each individual. If you look at the parts of the tabernacle, each of which [p. 44] has some reference typically to the Christian, you will see each part was brought to Moses.
I do not know how long you have been converted, but I think the work in you ought to be brought before the Lord. If you bring it to the Lord He will tell you all about it and how much of it is really according to God. Each part of the tabernacle was brought to Moses. I have no doubt that in the end, when the structure is completed, when every item of the tabernacle, so to speak, every believer is brought in, it will be brought to Christ. It is very serious to think that we shall be presented, indeed I am only stating in another way what the judgment seat of Christ will be. But the actual work, not only what you may have done, but God’s work in you, all is presented at the end. Each item of the tabernacle was brought to Moses, and Moses’ judgment was that all was made accurately according to the pattern; that was his decision and he blessed it. If it had not been according to the pattern doubtless he would have pointed it out; so that we need not hesitate to come to the Lord as regards our progress. Judgment must be passed upon the work.
I would speak to young people and ask them, Did you ever come to the Lord as to the little bit of experience that you have gone through? Have you ever taken it to Him to let it pass through His hands? It will pass through His hands. Now think of this one thing, that in you the works of God are to be manifested, not hidden. Alas! they are often hidden, and so we often speak of the new birth, that such and such an one has long since been born again, but then it seems to have been hidden. If the Lord has taken you up at all it is that the works of God should be manifested in you.
The new birth is a work of God, it is not a work of man. It is a great comfort to faith that God has limiting powers. The greatest potentate on earth [p. 45] cannot do as he pleases, even the very sun in the heavens can be stayed by God. But here the Lord says “the wind bloweth where it listeth ... so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). You may shut the wind out of your house, but the Spirit acts sovereignly, and you are not wise in barring up your doors and windows; let Him come in, let the Spirit of God have to say to you. God says, “my Spirit shall not always strive” (Genesis 6:3). Think of that! It is a solemn thing. He is striving now, and the wind, the Spirit, is sovereign in its activity, and it brings down, the wind throws down trees; with the idea that the works of God are to be manifested. The first great effect of the work of God is to bring down. I have often thought of Job after God’s dealings with him; he says to God, I know that Thou canst do everything. It is a wonderful thing to come to that, that God can do everything. It seems an impossibility to bring down a man who is so difficult that you cannot reach him or affect him, but God knows how to bring him down, how to reduce him. The disciples said, “Who then can be saved?” How often we say that in principle. The Lord says, “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:25,26). He pulls down before He builds up.
If you are exercised about becoming converted, you may depend upon it that God will not add to you as you are in this world. He will reduce you as to this world, but He will add to you with regard to another world. The feast of unleavened bread referred to so much in Scripture, prepared for the feast of Pentecost. The feast of unleavened bread is to reduce, and the feast of Pentecost is to enlarge. The gift of the Spirit enlarges. When the wind blows where it lists it brings down. On the day of Pentecost it was not like that. It was not then the “wind bloweth where it listeth”: the wind blows in a certain direction. We can tell where the wind came [p. 46] from on the day of Pentecost and we can tell where it was going. It came from Christ in heaven. They heard, it is said, from heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty wind; not blowing this way or that, but blowing down from heaven. The wind that brings down is a horizontal wind; that is the first work of God in you, but the Spirit indwelling you enlarges you and builds you up as to what is of God. I venture to speak in that way so that we may have clearly before us the means by which God effects His work, but the whole point is, as the Lord says here, “that the work of God should be manifested”.
Now the first thing is that one should have one’s eyes opened. In Mark 8 you have a man similarly found by the Lord, as the one referred to in the chapter before us. The gospel of Mark is a remarkable gospel in this way, that you find sympathy around where there is need; you do not find that in John’s gospel. There is not an atom of sympathy around this man in John 9. In Mark 2, for instance, there is a paralytic, who is borne of four; he is not only borne by a friend of his, but there is general sympathy for that man. That is how Mark presents things. You might say two would have done, but four gives the idea that it is not only one or two who are sympathetic with the man, but the surroundings of the man were sympathetic. It is a wonderful thing to have a number of people praying for you! I have no doubt that that is what is going on at the present time; there is a great deal of pressure, a great deal of exposure to death, and there is prayer, the spirit of prayer is all around. That is how God works. The man was borne of four; and the house in which the Lord Jesus was carrying on the service of God was entirely sympathetic; they let the man down through the roof and there was not a word of protest. But when it is a question of showing what the work of God is by itself, it is seen where there is no sympathy [p. 47] at all; and that we find in John 9, there is no sympathy in the surroundings of this blind man. The neighbours knew that he sat and begged. They ask, Did he sin? Did his parents sin? No! Why then was he born blind? His is an extreme case. In Mark 2 it is not an extreme case; the man there was not entirely friendless, he had at least four friends, and the number four is universal. But if it be a question of showing what the work of God is we have an extreme case. This man was blind from his birth.
Well, no converted person would admit that his own case is not extreme; if you have not come to that you have not judged yourself. “God be merciful to me the sinner” (Luke 18:13); “the sinner” is the extreme case. Then the Lord states, that “as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”, and He spits on the ground and makes clay of the spittle and puts it on the man’s eyes. It was a very remarkable thing to do to prove what He had just said, that “as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”. The man’s eyes are covered with the clay; a thick layer, as we might say, of the clay is spread over the man’s eyes. Were we to pass a mere human judgment upon that piece of the Lord’s work we might say that He was increasing the darkness of the world. We cannot judge by nature. You may say, How could a man see through a layer of clay even if his eyes were open?
In this type the Spirit of God would detain us with the consideration of the humanity of Christ! Do you inquire about the clay? It was a type of the humanity of Christ. The divine glory was all veiled there. All the light of God was veiled behind the “clay”. In order that the light of God should burst forth He became man, and when He comes here He says, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9). He was the “sent one”. Behind all is the activity of the heart [p. 48] of Christ as having come from God in obedience. It is Christ as the “sent one”, the sent One from God with all the light veiled behind His humanity. If it were possible to make the man more blind the layer of clay would have done it, but if relief is to come there must be, in some measure, correspondence with Christ. Apart from the principle of obedience in your heart your salvation is impossible. That will of yours is in the way; it is the will that works in shutting the door of your heart against the Spirit of God and against the light.
The Lord says to the man, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”. The man was already a subject of divine work or he would not have gone, but he went. We are told the interpretation of the name lest we should not understand it. The pool of Siloam was not a pool that was troubled occasionally as the pool in chapter 5, it was not stagnant; the pool of Bethesda was. Sometimes the meetings are like that; they are stagnant, and the “angel” comes; there is a stirring up, and then things lapse back to where they were. The impotent man at the pool of Bethesda got no benefit from the disturbance of the water. Siloam was not that; it went “softly”. It was the principle of obedience. This man did not question, he obeyed Jesus; he went and washed and “he came seeing”.
Now the Lord took the man in Mark 8 outside the village in order to open his eyes; and after He had opened them He says, “Neither enter into the village, nor tell it to anyone in the village”. But it is not so here in John 9. There is no danger of this man going back to the village. John’s converts are typical ones. For instance, of Lazarus in chapter 11, the Lord says, “Loose him, and let him go”. Now in Luke 7 the man that is raised is not “let go”, he is given back to his mother. The examples that John gives take care of themselves as it were; they are [p. 49] the subjects of the work of God, and the work of God gives an account of itself. Look into your heart and see whether there is anything like that there. Do not always be referring to the date of your conversion. The question is, What has happened since? Have you been able to take care of yourself? “he that has been begotten of God keeps himself”, (1 John 5:18). Must you be always under servants? That is a poor thing! Luke gives the young man back to his mother. Lazarus is not put in anybody’s charge, but the word is, “Loose him” (John 11:44); as much as to say, give him an opportunity of showing the effect of the work of God in him. How he justified the Lord! for he was found in the Lord’s company, he “sat at table with him”, (chapter 12:2).
Some young people would go to the theatre if they were “let go”, but if the work of God is in you you will not go to the theatre nor read a novel. Nothing but the work of God can be trusted. No professions can be trusted, but the work of God can be trusted. This man was not told not to go into the village; the Lord knew he would not go. Whereas in Mark the man, is carefully warned not to go to the village, and told, “Go to your house”; go where you will be under control, under good influence. That is a very important warning for young converts: keep near your parents, keep near the brethren.
Look at the glorious history of this man. I have not time to go into it. “He came seeing”, and then one class of people after another have to say to him, the neighbours first, and he gives an account of himself to them. The work of God never fails; it manifests itself. The neighbours are not opposed, but the Pharisees are opposed. Be careful of the leaders of worldly religion!
Many persons put forward their inquiries about this man; they could not believe that it was he [p. 50] that was born blind; but it was he. Then, finally, his parents come into evidence. They are not opposed to him, but they are not prepared to answer for him. He did not need them however. They say, “he is of age”, and so he was: nobody else can speak for him. He can give an account of himself, the man was of age spiritually. There are very few Christians now who are “of age”. See to it that your exercises are keeping pace with the work of God, because otherwise they are of no account. Make sure they are exercises of the light. This man began with seeing things.
Now he makes a confession. He is formally asked as to what his judgment is of Christ. I do not know of any question so important as that. Sometimes the Lord Himself asks it: at other times, it may be, that one of the saints asks you, or it may be an enemy, as it was in this case. The Lord asked the question, “What think ye of Christ?” There was no answer to that. But when He asked His disciples, “Whom do ye say that I am”, there was an answer: “Thou art the Christ”. The answer of this man is, “He is a prophet”. A Christian should always speak of Christ according to his own apprehension of Him, because we are now so supplied with terms and expressions that really we are stunted in using them. Speaking to the Lord in language that is not your own is offensive, and damaging to yourself. This man says, “He is a prophet”; he did not pretend to say a word more than that. That was all he knew, and his belief was based on evidence that brought conviction to his heart. He says: “If this man were not of God he could do nothing”. He must be of God.
Well, before I close, I should like to say a further word to show how the works of God are manifested in one becoming suited, not only for testimony, but suited for God. This man became a worshipper. Solomon tells us, “Prepare thy work without ...
afterwards build thine house” (Proverbs 25:27). This man in John 9 was gradually led on until the works of God were manifest in him, in this sense, that he became a worshipper. Firstly, he speaks of the Lord as “a man called Jesus”; then he speaks about Him as a “prophet”; and then there is in him the idea of “the Christ”, for the Jews had agreed that if any one acknowledged He was Christ he should be put out of the synagogue, and as the sequel shows he virtually confessed that Jesus was “the Christ”, and he was put out of the synagogue. They said, “Dost thou teach us?” But he could well teach, for he was “of age”. Such is the effect of the work of God. It makes you a teacher. It is not a question of how long a man has been converted, but what moral and spiritual power has he; what convictions has he? Instead of listening to him the Pharisees cast him out.
When the world rejects you, they help you. If you are offensive to the company you keep they will not keep your company very long. Enoch walked with God and he pleased God, otherwise he could not have walked with Him. At length we read of this man, that they “cast him out”. Now look! “When Jesus heard that”. He watched over the man’s soul. He is the Overseer of our souls. He knew all that was going on, and when Jesus heard that they had cast him out, He finds him and virtually acknowledges him; He justifies him; the works of God were justified in him. It was a red-letter day for the man, and the Lord takes special account of it. When He finds him he puts the finishing touch to the work. He would lead him on to perfection. That is a real difficulty with many of us, and there are so few perfected. We have not full perfection yet, but every Christian should be perfected. Paul said, “to the end that we may present every man perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
[p. 52] Well, the Lord was going to perfect this man, so He makes him a worshipper. You are never perfected until you are a worshipper. He had been a believer before. The question is, what is it that he believed? The Lord says to him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” That was a very great question! The man says, “Who is he?” If you ask a question like that the Lord will put you back on your previous exercise. He says to the man, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee”. What a moment! If the Lord is going to give you fresh light He gives it to you in relation to the light you have had before; He throws you back on your previous exercise. This man had seen the Lord before. Now he says, “Lord, I believe”. Believe on whom? the Son of God! He not only said it, he proved it by worshipping. There is no greater evidence of the work of God in souls than that they worship. The Father seeketh worshippers.
We are taken up by grace that the works of God should be manifested in us. I believe that at the present time the great failure is the lack of completeness. The Lord says to Sardis, “I have not found thy works complete before my God” (Revelation 3:2). What I would urge upon you, and what I would take home to my own soul, is that we should see to it that we “go on to perfection”. Do not become stunted; go on to perfection. No work is complete in the soul until it is in the assembly, intelligently answering to God. The Father is seeking worshippers, and the work of God is to bring about that, to bring in the worshipping company. Let us go on to perfection.