LIBERTY TO SERVE GOD
[p. 44] LIBERTY TO SERVE GOD
Luke 1: 67 - 80; Luke 24: 44 - 53; Acts 13: 46 - 49
What I may call the first great lesson of the many that we have to learn as christians is that of the righteousness and faithfulness of God. Around us in the world there is everything to call this in question. So you can easily understand how important it is. Then there is another point connected with it; it must be the moral foundation in our souls. If you have not some sense of the righteousness and faithfulness of God, you have not a God on whom you can rely. Reliance and confidence on God are all founded on that. There may be but a poor sense, but any sense of the righteousness and faithfulness of God is a wonderful stay.
Now, as I said, the knowledge of the righteousness and faithfulness of God is really the foundation in the soul of every believer. In the most elementary of Paul’s epistles, the epistle to the Romans, the great point is that Christ has come out and accomplished redemption in witness of the righteousness and faithfulness of God. That is the subject of the epistle. Jesus is set forth as a mercy-seat to declare God’s righteousness, that is, in redemption. God has declared His righteousness in regard of all men in grace.
The law in a sense witnessed the righteousness of God, but in the way of demand, and rightly so, too, because God had rights, but it was no good to man, because man could not answer to the demand, but in redemption God sets forth His right in grace, for redemption is His right, and that in grace, so that He might be able to communicate His Spirit to the believer. That is the difference between the law and the gospel, but in either case there is the witness of God’s righteousness. The apostle speaks of the righteousness of God being witnessed by the law and the prophets, but it has been declared in redemption.
Redemption meant God taking up man’s liabilities so that He might impart to the believer the gift of the Spirit. That is the first part of the epistle to the Romans; but there is another part, and that is the declaration of the faithfulness of God, for the position of the Jew, as scattered over the face of the earth, and not having come into the fulfilment of the promises, has called in question the faithfulness of God. That point is taken up in the latter part of the Romans, and the faithfulness of God is vindicated in Christ just as in the first part the righteousness of God is vindicated in His present dealings in grace. So although the gentiles have a place for the moment in the olive tree, yet if they continue not in the goodness of God they will be broken off, and the Jews will be grafted into their olive tree. All will prove and experience the mercy of God.
I have referred to that because it is the subject of the most elementary treatise to believers. God will do right, and nothing but right, and God is faithful after all. It is a great thing for us all to apprehend.
No one can truly know anything about the love or the holiness of God until they have come to a sense of the righteousness and faithfulness of God.
Now you get the same principles brought out in the gospel of Luke. We might sing this song of Zacharias, the application of which is undoubtedly to Israel. It does not go beyond Israel, and outwardly and nationally what is spoken of in the song has never yet been fulfilled. John the baptist was born as a witness of it. He was to be the forerunner, “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins”. The song is prophetic. Zacharias spoke by the Holy Spirit, making known nothing new; but confirming what God had previously declared of His thought with regard to His people Israel. But though outwardly the song has never been fulfilled, I am going to show you it has been fulfilled [p. 46] in principle. And it has been fulfilled in such a way as that the gentile should be brought into it.
Now referring again to what I was speaking of, that is, righteousness and faithfulness of God, it is remarkable that it is what the Lord in Psalm 40 takes up continually. He says, I have declared Thy righteousness and faithfulness. This was in His ministry down here. And now both are witnessed in Christ on high, for on the one hand He is the expression of God’s righteousness, and at the same time He is the Deliverer who is to come out of Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. All the hopes of Israel are bound up with Christ at the right hand of God.
There are two great thoughts in this song, salvation and light. It is with these I want to take up your thoughts. They were in the mind of God for His people. Notice verses 69 to 72, and 74 and 79. It is remarkable that though Zacharias was the father of John, and what was celebrated was the birth of John (the Lord was not yet born), yet Zacharias said but few words about John. You will find a great deal about Christ. John was not the horn of salvation; Christ was that. John was not of the house of David; Christ was of the house of David. Then the day-spring from on high to give light to them that sit in darkness was not John but Christ. John had his own place as the friend of the Bridegroom, “thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways”, but the whole song is a prophetic celebration, by the Spirit of God, of Christ — He was the horn of salvation and the light; that is, the dayspring from on high to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
But to revert to the thought of salvation and light, the two blessings which God proposes for His people. Evidently it is a great thing for people to get light. Nothing could be greater, and salvation is equally important. It contemplates this, that the natural man is in darkness and [p. 47] is at the same time exposed to enemies; this was the position of Israel, and the thought of God with regard to Israel was that they might have light instead of darkness and salvation in place of fear of enemies. All this will be fulfilled in regard of Israel hereafter. They will be awakened nationally and brought into the light of God; they will learn what is in the heart of God toward them — and in it there is an object in view, that they may serve God in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life. Figuratively this was accomplished when Israel was brought out of Egypt; they were brought into the wilderness, and in being brought into the wilderness, they were in a sense brought into the light of God. They had the glory of God, the ark of the covenant, and God spoke to them; they had salvation from the Egyptian, and the point was that they should serve God in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.
Now though this song will in result be accomplished in regard of Israel, it is sad to meditate upon the present condition of Israel, scattered abroad and abiding for many days without ephod or teraphim, with neither king nor prince; yet the Spirit of God contemplates their being brought into the light of God and into God’s salvation that they may yet serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life. That is a very blessed thought for the end must be that men should serve God. The thought of God is not that man should serve himself, but that in liberty he might serve Him. Pharaoh proposed that the people should remain in bondage and serve God, but that would not do. It was necessary that the people should be delivered from the hand of their enemies if they were to serve God.
Now the horn of salvation has been raised up and the dayspring from on high has visited Israel. It had not come to pass when Zacharias spoke, but now it has come to pass. The prophet was there but John was the pledge of more, the pledge of Christ. John was in a, sense born miraculously and was the forerunner of Christ, and now [p. 48] Christ has come; a light to those that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.
If you turn to Luke 24: 49 - 53, what I will call your attention to is, that what Zacharias spoke of has been fulfilled. At the end of the gospel and in the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles we have nothing but a remnant of the Jews; those are not gentiles. I ask any one whether all that Zacharias spoke of was not fulfilled. Do you not think that in the early part of the Acts of the Apostles there were people brought into the light of God who realised that the dayspring from on high had visited Israel? It is true that Christ had been crucified, but He had gone up on high and the Holy Spirit had come, the dayspring had visited them. They realised that God had raised up a horn of salvation in the house of His servant David? Peter pressed in his preaching that when David spoke of resurrection he did not speak of his own resurrection but of Christ; that is the first thing; they had light. And they were made acquainted through the preaching of the apostles with what was in the mind of God toward them. The apostles preached and urged upon them forgiveness of sins, on the condition of repentance, because forgiveness of sins was in the mind of God toward them. God had raised up Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Then there was another thing; they had salvation from enemies and from the hand of all that hated them. God had not yet destroyed their enemies, but, none the less, they had salvation. At first, after the death of Christ, the disciples were very much in fear of the Jews, but the Lord delivered them from that fear. They were delivered from the fear of man and of death and of Satan — from the power of all their enemies. There were enemies and very real enemies. You see God has other ways of delivering people than by destroying the enemies. If God saw fit, and He will see fit one day, He could destroy the enemies, but the enemies are not yet destroyed but believers are delivered from their power. The disciples had felt their power; we see [p. 49] that especially after the death of Christ, “the doors were shut ... for fear of the Jews”, but they were delivered out of the hand of their enemies. God gave to them the Holy Spirit which carried them above fear. I ask any thoughtful person here whether in principle all that was not accomplished. The disciples after the ascension were in the temple continually, praising and blessing God, waiting for the advent of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came, and confirmed them in that which they were doing. They had light, and salvation from their enemies and from the hand of them that hated them — the Sadducees and the chief priests and Satan and the fear of death. They were delivered from the power of all so as to serve God. They came together continually to serve God, for God had given deliverance to that end. We should be prepared ever to serve God. Sometimes we are content with an occasional hour or two, but this only indicates how low down we are, because if God has come into give us light and salvation we should be thankful to serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. I have an idea that many think their great concern is to follow their business, but that is not the end God has in mind for you. It is only incidental down here. God does not relieve you from that responsibility, but it is not His thought in regard of you. Egyptian toil was not God’s thought in regard of Israel, but that they should serve Him. If you have followed me you will apprehend how that thought of God which will be literally fulfilled in Israel has already been fulfilled in a remnant that was saved at the outset, and God secured for Himself a worshipping company. Do you think the apostles ever gave it up all the days of their life or that they ever came again under the power of the enemy? They were delivered from their enemies and from the hand of all that hated them, and continued in the service of God in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life. Their power of continuance did not depend on them, but on the Spirit, and the Spirit is continued to us.
[p. 50] Now, I want to point out that the thoughts of God are enlarged. These same thoughts that have come before us must go out to the gentiles. I would refer again to the verses in Luke 24: 44 - 48, also to Acts 13: 46 - 48. In the latter passage the apostle says it was necessary that “the word of God should first have been spoken to you”. The word of God had not exclusive reference to the Jews; it was only necessary that in the faithfulness of God it should first have been spoken to them, but the word of God contemplated things beyond the Jew, and when they refused it it was spoken to the gentiles. God did not propose something different to the gentiles. He only waited until the Jew rejected it, then He showed that the word of God had as much reference to the gentile as to the Jew. I have spoken of the faithfulness of God, and how what was spoken of in the song of Zacharias was made good in a remnant, but now I come to the righteousness of God, and in the righteousness of God He must go out to the gentiles, “Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”. “Thus it behoved” is an expression which indicates the righteousness of God, and therefore Christ had to die and to rise from the dead the third day.
I understand the passage to refer to redemption, and redemption is not a question merely of the grace of God, but of the righteousness of God. In Romans 3, where the point is redemption, the Spirit of God is declaring the righteousness of God. He says, God hath set forth Jesus “to be a propitiation though faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness”. He does not say the grace of God, though the word ‘grace‘ might be put where righteousness is. But the point is to declare His right, and grace is God’s right. God’s righteousness simply means what is right, and grace, through redemption, is that which is morally right. I have illustrated it in this way: if I had an inheritance and it was encumbered by mortgage, if I [p. 51] could discharge the encumbrance I would be right in doing so, and nobody else in the world could do it; that is, only the person to whom the inheritance belongs has the right of redemption. Now, supposing that men were the inheritance of God, because God created them; they had come under mortgage; that is, they were under liabilities by the judgment of God. Well, God alone had the right of redemption. No other had; man had no right whatever to redeem himself, nor could anyone have redeemed man, for nobody had any right to man except God. God saw fit to take up the liabilities, to discharge the mortgage; redemption is the exercise of a right that properly belonged to God. Therefore it is the declaration of His righteousness. I believe this is the principle on which the grace of God has gone out universally to men. You must remember that although Israel belonged to Jehovah, yet after all, all men belonged to God; God was not only Jehovah to Israel, but He was Creator of all men. Therefore, the Lord Jesus says “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”.
Therefore, you get in this gospel the two principles which are of so much importance with regard to our knowledge of God, that is, the faithfulness and the righteousness of God, in which God has taken up His right of redemption in respect of all men. Therefore, the testimony of the grace of God has gone out to all men, and yet, even here, the faithfulness of God is seen. It was not until the Jew had put the word of God from him that the word went to the gentiles, and then the testimony is, “I have set thee to be a light of the gentiles”. The dayspring from on high had visited the gentiles and salvation, that is, by the horn of salvation, had gone out to the ends of the earth. What God had proposed in His faithfulness to Israel, now went out world-wide to all men. Now Christ is a light to the gentiles and God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Christ stands in that way in relation to the gentiles.
[p. 52] There are very few that apprehend this, but it is a great moment when people do apprehend it. If you look into the heart of God, what wonderful things you find there. God’s heart has been laid bare to us, and you find there nothing but love. You know that the source and spring of everything which God does is love. Even judgment, strange as it may seem to say it, is of love, and I will tell you why, because it is not according to love to allow lawlessness. Therefore, love will put down lawlessness in judgment for the blessing of the universe. God is love. That is a most absolute statement, and we are permitted to look into the heart of God so that we might know what is in that heart in regard of man.
I admit that in that heart there are counsels of wisdom, but they are devised by love. It is a wonderful thing to be in the light of love; to be able to say like the apostle John in chapter 4 of his epistle, “we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him”. That is light, and on the other hand, we have salvation. We are no longer in fear of enemies. Are you? It is a poor thing if you are; if you have the Spirit of God it is that you might not fear enemies. Are you afraid of death? Christ has opened a way through death, just as Moses opened a way through the Red Sea to Israel. We have passed out of death into life in a sense already; are risen together with Christ. Are you afraid of man? The apostle Paul was not afraid of man. He had to stand before the emperor, the greatest dignitary upon earth, but it gave him opportunity for the testimony. Are you afraid of Satan? You have only to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and you need not be afraid of Satan for a moment. The truth is, salvation is in Christ, a horn of salvation has been raised up that we might be free from the fear of our enemies. There are those that hate us, but we are delivered from their power that we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life.
[p. 53] I do not want to give you the idea that as things are in the world you can devote all your time to the service of God. It may be you have not spiritual energy for that, and circumstances do not admit of it, for we are not relieved from the common toil of humanity as a consequence of sin, and it is wise, for this serves us as a kind of discipline, but we get the divine thought that we might be without fear. Israel was before God without fear when they had passed through the Red Sea. They saw the Egyptian dead on the sea shore, and God was before them. They came, afterwards, through unfaithfulness, into fear of one kind and another, but they should have been without fear. When they were hungry they got the manna from heaven, and when they were thirsty they got water from the rock. Ought we to entertain fear or misgiving? We are delivered from our enemies and the hand of all that hate us that we might serve God in holiness and righteousness (because God will not have to say to impurity and lawlessness) all the days of our life. It is a blessed exercise. We cannot take it up every moment, but we can revert to it by the Spirit of God; that was God’s thought with regard to Israel, and it has enlarged out to the gentiles according to the word of God. The word of God never could be narrowed up to Israel, because what is seen in scripture is God’s righteousness. The right of redemption has given God claim in regard of all men.