BRIEF NOTES OF LECTURES
[p. 284] BRIEF NOTES OF LECTURES
What is the gospel of the Christ? Many divers answers would be given. It is now still the time of the “sufferings of the Christ”. The gospel is sure to be opposed on account of the principles of the world which are opposed to God’s. Babylon — the system of man’s glory — refuses the light of God. God will build a world according to Himself out of the wreck of this world — and it all depends on one Man who is the light of God. He is the revelation of God and in Him is redemption — He is the attracting centre for all men. If God is to reveal Himself to men — it must be in a Man: salvation is not for this world — nor forgiveness — but is with a view to attachment to the Head of another world. There is no scapegoat for us, only for Israel — it is administrative. We get all in the Spirit’s witness that we might draw nigh to God.
The Christ really means peace in contrast to the moral confusion produced by lawlessness. Christ is not to be detached from God’s world and connected with this world — as christendom would do — He is not in honour here. Attraction and attachment to Him are by the Spirit.
Paul preached and defended the gospel. It needs defending from dilution and corruption. The gospel was vindicated in Paul’s case (verse 13) and in the saints’ case (verse 27).
The testimony is the bond or rallying point today. Saints to be in accord with it in righteousness and true holiness (new man).
Righteousness: not lawlessness — is being here under Christ’s influence — God’s will.
Holiness: state of mind produced by love — God’s holy love — beware of contamination.
Forest Hill, December 2nd, 1902.
[p. 285] Philippians 2 Gives us the idea of what is that conversation that becomes the Christ, viz., Christ seen in the saints. Paul said, “To me to live is Christ” and the saints are to be luminaries in this world. Chapter 2:15 connects with 1 John 3; it is proper for the children of God to abide in Him — as a Sun, and they thus sin not. This is not details of practice, but what is characteristic, what they are governed by. There are lawless ones, abiding ones and apostates.
Christ is presented in various lights in the epistles, and always connected with the ‘all things’. The ‘all things’ are under Him, He fills them, they are given to Him, etc. Verses 3, 4, are two admonitions and do not be finding faults (you cannot do so when praying!). Others with less light than I have are more faithful, probably, thus I can esteem them better than myself; go out in thought to others.
Verse 5 is an important principle, viz., you disappear from this seen world. Christ passed out of it in the reproach of the cross; Hebrews 12: I — we do by our baptism. There was the curse and the reproach; Christ took the curse alone, but we share the reproach. Retirement from the world by death — we are not conspicuous in this world — the exit is salvation from it. Verse 15, you are reflecting luminaries like the planets.
Salvation is always accompanied by something else, and is realised in the measure we realise that something. For example, Ephesians 2: 8, accompanied by, quickened and raised with Him; Philippians 2: 12, accompanied by, God working in you; 1 Peter 3:21, accompanied by, answer of good conscience by resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[p. 286] The sunshine is the revelation of God’s love and righteousness and mercy — abide in it and you will shine, holding forth the word of life, i.e., the gospel, the “testimony of the Lord”.
Forest Hill, December 17th, 1902.
Philippians 3 Paul is like Caleb and Joshua in the Old Testament; they entered the land and afterwards ran the whole race — only for them there was no Man as yet. Paul was caught up to paradise and he knew the Man of God’s purpose. If Christ is to be the gain, there must be the loss of all things — you cannot have Christ in part and them in part.
Verse 9, Paul desired to be found in Him, he was lost to this world — had disappeared from it, chapter 2.
Verse 10, “To know him”, i.e., as Centre of God’s world and over the “all things”.
Verse 17 are the true leaders, not those who call themselves such, but who go on and can say to others, “follow me”.
Forest Hill, December 17th, 1902.
Philippians 4 This epistle does not give doctrine, but the relations between servant and saints. This chapter gives the christian’s exterior and limitations. We have to flow like a river within the banks appointed to us. Happiness and contentment go together, people seek their own gratification and are not happy.
Chapter 1 gives their care for Paul, chapters 2 and 3 Paul’s care for them.
The gospel is a bond, i.e., the testimony of the Lord; the Spirit also is a bond; and love is the bond of perfectness. The gospel is often an occasion for contention.
Chapter 2, the saints’ relation to Christ, attached to Him. Chapter 3, the saints’ secret life of the soul; secret of continuance is in verse 8, engagement with the Person (the best wine). He is the embodiment of perfect grace (bread of God, John 6) and He when here exposed the character of all. He dwells in God’s love — Where dwellest thou? Come and see! 1 John 4: 15,16.
Philippians 4: Verse 5 — not assert our rights! not get soured. Verse 6 — our outlet — prayer, and get a quieted mind. Verse 8 — be men of discernment, avoiding what is detrimental, accept limitations. All minds need relaxation at times, but avoid contamination. Forest Hill, December 31st, 1902.
The blood is never applied to us in the holiest. There are three steps for the christian: (1) he comes into the court of the house; (2) he is part of the house; and (3) he is in association with Christ for the service of the sanctuary. Everything begins with the court of the house, and there he learns the value of the blood.
Living always connects itself with God and the world to come. Everything is living and in contrast to a world dominated by death. There is the living God, Son of the living God, church of the living God, living way — it presents God to us in relation to a living order of things. The living way is to the living God. The moment the Son came out He is the [p. 288] revelation of the living God. The moment He becomes Man, He is the pledge of another order of things. All is living now.
Psalm 23 In Psalm 23 it is all individual, “My shepherd”, “He maketh me to lie down”, “He leadeth me”.
In Psalm 22, the sufferings of Christ and in verse 22 we have the assembly as quoted in Hebrews 2. This is divine order, we must know something of the privileges of the assembly before we can take up the wilderness path according to God. In the wilderness we get the experimental knowledge of what God is, and I do not believe we can rightly learn this until we have learnt the assembly privileges. I cannot think of anything more wonderful than an experimental knowledge of God — we shall not get this in the same way in heaven. We come from the assembly to find out the suitability of God to meet our need.
“He restoreth my soul” — restore in the sense of revive. All is for our comfort, even the discipline is that which will be our comfort — “Thy rod and thy staff” — a table is spread and the cup runs over. I know there is the other side of the wilderness where we learn the perversity and weakness of the flesh, but here it is the experimental knowledge of God. Psalm 23 follows on Psalm 22.
Philippians 3 is collective: if you want the individual walk of the christian you must go to Romans. Three things in John — life, unity, fruit. Life in the first chapters, then unity in the tenth and fruit in the [p. 289] fifteenth. You must have unity to produce fruit. “Mind” here is not the faculty of thinking, it is purpose. The great thing is to lose sight of yourself; we are all of some importance in our own eyes and do not like to be made nothing of. In verse 7, “emptied himself” is the act of mind — not the overt act; the positive act comes out in “took upon him a bondman’s form”; like “Lo, I come, to do thy will, O God” — that is act of mind — then the overt act, He takes the body prepared for Him. In the form of God He empties Himself, in the form of man He humbles Himself; we cannot humble ourselves, we have nothing to surrender, not a queen even has anything to give up because death is upon it all. Obedience implies humility. He did not esteem it rapine, being in the form of God to be equal with God in contrast to Adam who snatched at the thought of being like God, “ye shall be as gods”. Christ could not go lower than to be made a curse. He is exalted as Man, as God He could not be exalted, it must be as Man. A name in Scripture means what God sets forth in a man. Abraham, for instance, Isaac, it is renown. The name here is all that He is — not only Lord and Saviour, but Judge and all that God sets forth in Him. When it is God’s name it is the revelation of Himself, but when it is the name God gives it is renown. In this chapter it is collective, he guards against quarrelling; if there is quarrelling, there is no unity. It is fruit in testimony from the saints collectively. All status in the flesh gone. J.N.D. said the only use position in this world is to a man is to give it up. I would not subvert respect to one another in daily life unless it is brought in to make anything of one. There is so little unity because there is so little affection.
[p. 290] There could be no resurrection to life if sin had not been put away, that is perfectly certain, because resurrection is the annulling of the sentence of death, and the sentence of death could not have been annulled if sin, which brought in death, had not been put away.
The great object of the gospel is that God may be known. People do not see that enough in connection with the gospel. The object is, not simply that man may be saved from hell, but that God may be known in the heart of the believer. The object is not attained till the Holy Spirit is received and has brought God to us. God could not have been fully known if evil had not entered, but I am inclined to ask those who raise questions about evil being allowed, Are you prepared to take in hand the government of the world? If I could undertake to govern better than God, I might be entitled to raise some of these questions.
The poor men (the apostles), fishermen, men of no acquirements, who had never been to college, nor had any training, had Christ as Head to them, they continued in Christ, and the wisdom of Christ was at their disposal. The effect was amazing .. . all the world was afraid of them. How did they turn the world upside down? Simply because they abode in Christ and His words abode in them.
Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God our Father. Man may [p. 291] boast of education, social reforms, progress, etc., but Christ has been rejected, and this means everything evil in the sight of God. There is nothing in the world that corresponds with God. “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” covers everything in the world. Christ’s place in the world is that of the crucified One, and in being drawn to Him the believer is necessarily drawn away from the world. “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world”. The moment the Lord was crowned in heaven, crowned with glory and honour, that moment the kingdom of God began on earth. “It is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. Righteousness was accomplished when Jesus died. Peace was announced when He rose again from the dead. Besides the forgiveness of sins, God has a stupendous gift to give to men. It is a gift which renders its recipients independent of the world. The gift of God is the Holy Spirit, and when He is received you are fitted for God’s own dwelling place on earth. You are a guest at the great supper. Your heart will be filled with heavenly peace. You will be in the light of heaven’s own joy consequent upon the exaltation of Christ on high.
There is nothing I cherish more than the light of God. Do not resist the light; you can get nothing without it. The way God works in a soul is to introduce light. Then if that light is accepted He comes in to work by it. There is nothing I covet more than that.