ALL BLESSING IS IN COMPANY WITH CHRIST
W. C. Lock
I want to speak about the thought of the Christ, about Jesus, and about the Son of God. When we are thinking of Christ, we think about the One who has done so much for God and so much for man. When we are thinking about Jesus, we think of the One who subdues us all into serviceability, “ourselves your bondman for Jesus’ sake”, 2 Corinthians 4: 5. He is also the One who helps us to leave the earth—“his life is taken from the earth”. But if our life is taken from the earth, Paul immediately says, ‘Yes, but here is the Son of God and another sphere’. That is, you do not need to live in relation to the things on the earth now; Jesus has died to deliver us from all this scene of things where there is so much travail and sorrow, and there is another world of which the Head and Centre is God’s Son. That is, I think, where we would like to get everybody to enjoy Christ, where He is now. That is really the full gospel, enjoying Christ where He is—the Man in glory!
But, you know, we are in a very perilous scene and Samaria pretty well corresponds; that is, there are certain religious trimmings to the world. The churches are at every street corner pretty near, like the Samaritans. The woman of John 4 says, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain”. There is a lot of that! But the real question is. Have we a link with God? Have we really found what Christ has done for God and for men? Christ is the anointed One, the One singled out to resolve these terrible matters of sins and sin—I say it in that order—and the bondage of the enemy. This city was in bondage. They had this man Simon who claimed to be something (Well, we have known something of that too), and Peter said to him, “Thy money go with thee to destruction” (Acts 8: 20). How often the enemy seeks to introduce another man to detract from what God is doing.
But Philip goes down and announces the glad tidings of the word. That is one thing, it is the word of God; we should always remember that. “And Philip, going down to a city of Samaria, preached the Christ to them; and the crowds with one accord gave heed to the things spoken by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he wrought”. When it is a question of the anointing, there is power. We must think of that—when you come into the presence of one who has the Spirit, there is power. Those who came into the presence of Christ, suddenly became conscious of wonderful power there, and virtue. That woman in Matthew 9 said “If I should only touch his garment”. There was virtue! She knew there was healing there.
If you say, ‘I would like to be able to leave these things that hold me in bondage’, well, I think the thought of the Christ will help you. There is power, power in view of that situation being met. It is very affecting that God has come into the scene of the enemy’s power and broken it. God in Christ came into this very scene of suffering, came into this city of Samaria, and spoiled the enemy’s goods in the centre of his operations. And He has come into my heart, where the enemy was so firmly entrenched. He displaced the enemy and installed another Man there. That is what God can do. He can come into the scene of the enemy’s activities and displace him, but He does not leave it empty.
One of the worst things that I see in relation to the preaching of the gospel is that certain persons get a verse of Scripture and say, ‘Yes, my sins are forgiven’, and then for years and years they go on living to themselves without thinking of Christ, of God, or of the Spirit of God. It is like the house, you know, unoccupied, swept, and adorned and then it says seven worse spirits came (Matthew 12: 44, 45), and that often happens. If you have started to move towards the Lord Jesus do not be content until your heart is filled. The great thing in christianity is to be filled. It is very interesting in John 2 you get, “Fill the water vessels”, and then in John 6, it says that, “when they had been filled”. Jesus said, “Gather together the fragments”. There is nothing worse than a christian who is not filled. He is not enjoying this world, and he is not enjoying God’s world. You just deprive yourself of all the gain that the Spirit has in mind to introduce us into. Peter quotes in Acts 4: 25, 26, “Why have the nations raged haughtily and the peoples meditated vain things? The kings of the earth were there, and the rulers
were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ”. The enemy knows that, Christ having come in, his power is more than met, that he is spoiled. One of the greatest enemies that the testimony ever had was Saul of Tarsus and God made him the greatest trophy of grace. He spoiled the enemy’s camp and secured the opposer as His own servant— an elect vessel!
Now what God is after is vessels, and vessels have to be filled. The great point in the preaching of the word is, I believe, that the vessels become filled. I know myself that often my heart is not as full as it should be. But the christian’s heart should be full, whether it is in appreciation of Christ in manhood or of the thoughts of God, or of the Spirit having come. I connect the idea of the patience of God with the Spirit. The Spirit has been here nearly two thousand years and in all our afflictions He was afflicted. Think of what the Spirit has felt about all the catastrophes that have come in. But then, maybe, the enemy is intruding into my affections today. That is the point to get through to, that the enemy might be intruding himself and displacing Christ in my heart! Ezekiel 14: 4 refers to every man setting up his idols in his heart. My idol might not be yours, and yours might not be mine. Unless we are careful, unless Christ is in my heart, there is always something that is going to intrude to mar and spoil the joy. It says here, “There was great joy in that city”. There is joy as the result of the preaching of the word. What is in mind in christianity is that sad people become happy, poor people become rich, and people who are unattractive become beautiful. It changes everything around, and what is in mind in the preaching is that persons become changed around as well. Paul refers to himself as having been an insolent overbearing man, but he became a meek
and gentle man and could thus speak of “my ways as they are in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 4: 17. Now Philip is going down to the desert. He had a great big audience in Samaria but now he is going to one man. God is interested in the ones—Thank God that He is! I was not sitting in the preaching when I was converted. I was out on the prairie by myself and God spoke to me. God has His own ways of speaking, but He can get through to you and He can tell you about Himself and He can tell you about yourself—He did both!
The eunuch was reading the Scriptures. It shows that even if you do not understand them (this man did not), you should still read them. There is nothing like the Scriptures to help you to understand something of the God you have. He had been worshipping at Jerusalem, but he did not know the Lord. He was reading the prophet Esaias, “And the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot. And Philip, running up, heard him reading the prophet Esaias, and said, Dost thou then know what thou art reading of? And he said. How should I then be able unless some one guide me?”. Well, thank God, you might not know what you are reading if you read the Scriptures, but there are those who can guide you and help you, and the Spirit is here to guide and help you. “And he begged Philip to come up and sit with him. And the passage of the scripture which he read was this: He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in presence of him that shears him, thus he opened not his mouth”. It is wonderful to think of the Lord Jesus in those final hours! He did not call down judgment; He did not condemn the people who nailed Him to the cross. He did not rail at the Jews and the priests. When He was reviled, He reviled not again. Peter tells us. “He opens not his mouth”—when He
did open His mouth it was to pray for people—“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, Luke 23: 34. It is very affecting that in Luke 24: 47 the Lord says, “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem”. The very place where He was crucified was the very place where the gospel was first proclaimed and that is where I see this dispensation of grace. Thus Paul, the greatest enemy, who persecuted, murdered, and dragged to prison—women and children included— became a trophy of divine grace. And that grace is not limited to Paul. You may have been far off; you may not be too far on even now, but you can be a trophy of divine grace, so that men can take account of the fact that you are not just saved but that God has enriched you with the knowledge of Himself in Christ.
“In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away”. The Lord did not defend Himself. Never! Was it a right judgment when they condemned Him to death? It was not! I think of this verse, “in his humiliation his judgment was taken away”, at the Supper every Lord’s day, because we really reverse the unjust judgment of men. We say, ‘He is worthy—He died, but He is worthy to live’. There was no right judgment in relation to the way the Lord was condemned. Pilate said, “I find no fault whatever in him”, John 18: 38. They could not find anything of which to accuse Him. They even got false witnesses and the witnesses did not agree. Pilate said, “I have found no cause of death in him” (Luke 23: 22), but they still crucified Him. Pilate just sent Him away to Herod and there was not one who could find a single reason to put Him to death. But He went on to the cross and to death; not that there was anything in Him worthy of death; it was because of our sins that He was nailed to the tree.
So He “bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Peter 2: 24.
We cannot say that He bore the sins of all; a most important matter this, because we got into trouble on that seven or eight years ago. It was said that He bore the sins of all. It is not true—Mr. Raven was very, very clear as to that. If you say to a man on the street that Christ has borne his sins, well, what is the need for conversion? You have got to tell him that he has to face up to, and adjust, the matter and realise his need of a Saviour. The sacrifice is for all— He “gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2: 6), but can you say He bore your sins? We have in 1 Corinthians 15: 3, “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures”. Our sins—is there anybody here who is not just sure that their sins have been borne by the Lord Jesus on Calvary’s tree? I tell you there is nothing like the feeling when you know those sins have gone for ever, the gladness of it! The enemy, Satan, is the great accuser. He accused Luther, saying you did this and you did that, and Luther told him to write across the list of charges, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”, 1 John 1: 7. It is a wonderful thing that the vilest sinner can be forgiven. The Lord says, “All sins shall be forgiven” (Mark 3: 28), except, of course, speaking injuriously against the Holy Spirit. But all manner, a murderer, a thief, and anyone else you want to name, can get clear as accepting the perfect offering of Christ as having met the righteous claims of God as to sin. This is an individual matter, “Repent ... each one of you ... Be saved from this perverse generation”, Acts 2: 38– 40.
Then it says here, “His life is taken from the earth”. People say, ‘Well, I know I have to leave the world because of Christ’. Yes, but in Philippians 3: 19 Paul refers to earthly things those “who mind earthly things”, and I think that is something we are going to have to be careful about. We would not go into systems of men, we would not go to picture shows, for instance, or to football games, or other such things, but earthly things sometimes creep in. It may be reading, it might be pictures, or whatever it might be, but earthly things. Those who mind earthly things lose the joy that the eunuch found. “His life is taken from the earth”, not just from the world. He gave Himself for us “so that he should deliver us out of the present evil world” (Galatians 1: 4), but let us also watch that we are clear of earthly things.
Then it says, “And Philip, opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him”—of Jesus. What a Person is presented in the gospel! Not only the One who is officially the Christ, that is one thing, but now we are coming to the personal side. The book of the Revelation makes so much of the name of Jesus, as if at the very end that is what the Spirit of God would project upon our affections. “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies”, Revelation 22: 16. That is, it is not just the One who has officially taken up every matter for God and secured them in righteousness, but it is the One who would affect our hearts. How the name of Jesus affected the apostle! He says in 2 Corinthians 4: 10, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”. That is why we are left here, that there might be a testimony to the Man whose life is taken from the earth. Somebody went to Teignmouth, where Mr. Coates lived, and asked
where he lived and the boy that he asked said, ‘Oh, you mean the man who looks like Jesus’. You see, there was a testimony. It was not official, it was just the impression the boy had. Mr. Coates left that impression—one who was like Jesus. I think, “For Jesus’ sake”, is a wonderful leverage in the soul. It is like what we were saying yesterday, that we might please Him who has enlisted us as soldiers (2 Timothy 2: 4). So we need to think of the testimony of Jesus and the glad tidings of Jesus because it was that which affected this man.
When he gets to this point then the next word is as to water and baptism. The eunuch was not baptised as a baby, but if the life of Jesus was taken from the earth, then, he says, ‘Here is water—If He has gone this way, there is only one righteous thing for me to do—to go the same way’. That is answering to your baptism, you see. Your parents baptised you, rightly; now your conviction—and mine—is that we have to answer to it; that is, if this is the way that Jesus went, then I am going that way too. And that is how I am going to be happy, as it says, the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. That is fine! You know, it is as we leave this world that we begin to be happy. People do not think it, but that is the truth as you come out of the world and live in relation to another world of which the centre is God’s Son.
Now I just want to say a word about that because the Son of God brings in the idea of another world and new associations. It is not that God is just relieving me of the burden of my sins— that is very, very wonderful, but the thought of God’s Son is that He is the centre of another world and He wants me to be there too; He wants you to be there. God’s Son is alive in heaven today. Right now that Man is in the glory. He is there in manhood—a
real man! I know who He is as to His Person; do not get me wrong. I know who that Person is, but a Man is in heaven, a Man is in glory and a Man has been glorified! But God is not satisfied with having that only. Because of the greatness of what Christ has done God is bringing many sons to glory too, in association with Christ. You must remember that all the blessings in christianity are in relation to Christ, as it says in Romans 8: 32, “He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things”—with Him. All the blessings in christianity come in company with Christ. That is Colossians; you have to be with Him where He is. “Seek the things which are above, where the Christ is” (Colossians 3: 1). The point in christianity is that God has wonderful thoughts but they are all expressed in Christ, not only as a Man down here walking His lowly pathway, but rather in the One who is glorified as having effected atonement, redemption, justification, reconciliation, and numerous other things, and the One as to whom it says, “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”, Galatians 4: 6. I wonder whether there is anybody here who has never been consciously brought to that point—not just saying Abba, Father, because the Spirit of God in the Scriptures does not say ‘whereby we say, Abba, Father’; whether it is in Romans or Galatians the word is, ‘crying Abba, Father’, as if there is a certain intensity in the appreciation of the great thoughts of God that would glorify us in association with Christ. He can glorify us because Christ is glorified.
It is a marvellous thing that Christ is glorified and the great fact now is that God in bringing many sons to glory has made perfect the Leader of their salvation through sufferings (Hebrews 2: 10). It is a marvellous gospel that we can leave this scene of trial and tribulation and sadness—and do not let us minimize that—and that we can have wonderful joy, and the heart be filled, as we realise that Christ is on high and the Spirit is here to attach us to Him where He is. May God bless this word and may our hearts find greater place for that One whom we know as Jesus, for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Vancouver, B.C.
4 January 1976