THE PRESENT SERVICE OF THE SON OF GOD
[p. 192] THE PRESENT SERVICE OF THE SON OF GOD
John’s writings are recognised by those who have spiritual intelligence as specially intended for the last days, and in this connection it is significant that the Son as such is seen in service, for it is a question of undoing the works of the devil, as John says, in the epistle from which I read. The devil sins from the beginning, so that his works extend far back and are multitudinous, God knowing well where to place responsibility. Not one of his works fails to come under divine scrutiny. He will be dealt with accordingly. God will deal with him. He never deals with him in a disciplinary way as He does with man, but in a punitive way; and so he will be dealt with according to the sure, discriminating, calculating judgment of God. The Revelation leaves us in no doubt as to this, nor as to his identity, for he is seen there as bearing all his identifying titles. But what is going on now is the undoing of what he has done. He is robbed of his power; not that he has not power, for it is said that he has the might of death; not that he had, but that he has; he is not without power, and he is active in the use of what he has, especially in relation to what God is doing. These meetings, thank God now so numerous, occasion special activity on Satan’s part; for we learn in the Old Testament that as God would take Joshua the high priest and clothe him with festival-robes, removing the filthy ones, Satan was there to resist Him. And so it is that in what God is doing. Satan is active — a very solemn consideration! — a consideration that should induce prayerfulness with regard to all the service of God, that the enemy, as in the days of Job, as he goes up with the sons of God, should be rebuked; as it is said, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee”. We may reckon on that at every meeting, but it should induce intense care [p. 193] and prayerfulness, for he is ready to undo what God does; and as I was saying, his works extend far back, but I am thinking of them in their present manifestation.
Christendom is in a general way the evidence of the last great phase of his works — not being able to obliterate the testimony in the early christians, for they endured, thank God; they suffered, they would not give up the truth, and therefore they founded the assembly, so to speak; they founded it immutably. God did it through them. Being unable to obliterate or root up what was thus established by God, he set about to corrupt. So that in reading the early history of the assembly it is painful to observe the rapid decline from apostolic times, the rapidity with which the truth and the testimony were dragged down and corrupted. The Spirit of God foresaw this in the apostles’ times. They were energetic in foreseeing and preparing the saints for the attack, so that Paul says to the Corinthians, “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy”, 1 Corinthians 3: 17. Strong word! But the corruption has gone on, so that we see abroad a huge system — we speak of it as system — corrupted. And now the question is how the undoing of this is to proceed and whether we have a part in that, whether we see what God is doing. It is a question of the Son of God, the manifestation of the Son of God: “To this end the Son of God has been manifested, that he might undo the works of the devil”. It is a question of how the work of the devil, this widespread work of the devil, is to be undone. It is not that God is setting it aside in a public way, it will be presently; but it is a question of how it is undone in a moral sense now, so that we escape its consequences — at least so as to worship God. Now it is a matter of the profoundest importance, dear brethren, how this extensive, elaborative work of the devil, his masterpiece indeed, is to be undone. It is a great thing to have a part in this service. It is for us to have part in it, because there is nothing God has more interest in [p. 194] than to bring His people into the thing that He is doing, like Jonathan who wrought with God on one particular day: he and another undertook to do something which meant the undoing of Saul’s folly, the consequences of it. He wrought with God on one day; and that is the thing Paul suggests in addressing the Corinthians, that very thing — we are fellow-workers of God, otherwise we shall be contravening what He is doing; for the Lord says as to the principle: “He that gathers not with me scatters”, Matthew 12: 30. We must be with Him. And so, to illustrate this, you will all remember the woman of whom Luke writes, who was bent over for eighteen years — a well known incident. I refer to it now because one has seen persons, known of persons amongst us, nominally so, not really, who had been eighteen years under the influence of some work of the devil, some wrong principle — I will say no more; and they went back to it when they might have been straightened, made to stand upright and worship God, children of Abraham. They went back. That is a sorrowful consideration, because the undoing of the work of the devil is to be permanent or it is not done at all. What the Son of God does is done, and done for ever. There is no record that that woman ever became bent over again; not but what there are instances in the Lord’s service where the moral effect of His gracious service seemed shallow, as in the case of the man at the pool of Bethesda. The Lord said to him when He raised him up, “Sin no more”. That meant He was not sure of him; He had no confidence in the man. And also the woman in this 8th chapter, He said the same thing to her, “Sin no more”. It is a solemn thing to receive benefit in this way, to find the work of the devil in some way undone, and yet to sin again. A worse thing comes upon us. I refer to that in a practical way, dear brethren, because my object here tonight is to show how that the undoing of the works of the devil by the Son of God, is done; it is a perfect, permanent thing.
[p. 195] We want things to be final if they are of any value, as the apostle says, “If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”, Hebrews 10: 38. Going back is in principle apostasy, especially when one has been there before and goes back.
Well now, John, as I said, brings in the Son of God, and that is what has been emphasized for several years — the Son of God. So that in speaking with our brethren in various systems (if we are to come in for the undoing, if they are to come in for the undoing of the works of the devil) nothing can be more helpful initially than to ask them, ‘What do you think about Christ?’ The Lord raised that question even with His followers. He raises it with every one of His followers, I am sure. He says “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” Matthew 16: 13. Well, some said that He was this one and that one of the servants of God of the Old Testament, such as Jeremiah or one of the prophets, but He says, “Who do ye say that I am?” for that is what everything hinges on. Without the knowledge of the Person we must be defective, nor shall we stand without it; as He says to the disciples in another place, “Will ye also go away?” There has been a certain drift here, to be simple and practical, in this region, it was a going away, “Will ye also go away?” John 6: 67. The Lord would challenge us. I remember receiving a letter from a brother once who was questioned as to some conduct of his, some reprehensible conduct, and he sat down and wrote a letter, and said, ‘I withdraw from fellowship’. What fellowship did he withdraw from? What did he understand? What are you withdrawing from? If you use the word fellowship — the scriptural use of the word is that it is the fellowship of God’s Son — are you withdrawing from that? If he said that the fellowship is not that fellowship and I cannot go on, it would be quite intelligent and commendable. But he says, ‘I withdraw from fellowship’. There is always a cause, and it is not always given; the real root cause is not always stated.
[p. 196] But here is a man professedly withdrawing from what? The fellowship — the fellowship of God’s Son. Did he know from what he was withdrawing? He did not know; but he came back again, thank God! He did not know from what he was withdrawing. It is the fellowship of God’s Son; that is what it is. If you say ‘I withdraw from that’, you are exposed. And so, the Lord said, “Will ye also go away?” Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” To whom? It is a question of a Person and that is the test. To go away from that Person — what does it mean? It means apostasy. I do not mean to unchristianise people by it for it may be ignorance; I mean a state of soul; that is the drift, “Thou hast words of life eternal”. That is the Person. The Person had these words. He had them. They were living. They were there. Anyone could hear Him speak. They go away from Him. Peter says, “To whom shall we go?” He was the Christ, the Holy One of God. And so, if we are to help our brethren who are in these systems, nothing can be more appropriate than to introduce the question of the Person of Christ. What do you think of Him? Well, if he is a christian at all, if he has a spark of love for Christ, he will speak and talk about Christ. He may run away from you if you speak about the church, but if he has a spark of affection for Christ he will listen if you speak about Christ. And so John’s gospel — in the first thirteen verses he does not refer to the sonship of Christ, and yet it is the great leading theme of his gospel. The first reference to it is in the 14th verse, and it is to make it attractive. I do not confine it to that, but it is that. It is as if John were to say, ‘This is a wonderful thing to see, to contemplate’. It is no question of the church; John does not use the word in his gospel — the word church or assembly. It is no question of that; it is a question of the attractiveness of the Person, and so he says, “We have contemplated his glory”. He was an eyewitness. He was amongst [p. 197] others an eyewitness of the glory of Christ as the Son of the Father. “We have contemplated his glory”, he says, “a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”. Is that not attractive? If you have half a heart for Christ, or a bit of a heart for Christ, or a bit of an ear for Christ or His word, you will stop and think and listen. Well, that is the idea, dear brethren, in John’s gospel. He is the most attractive Person: that is the way he presents it. It is a son with a father, with a father, the glory is radiant there. And then having attracted your heart he proceeds to show how this Person deals with matters; He is the Son of God. He does not record the numerous miracles that the synoptic gospels do, but virtually says that it is not necessary to do that. If you do get one glimpse of the glory of that Person you will not need to hear of all these wonderful things that He did. And so, he only records some seven or so. They are just called signs, meaning that they confirm, every one of them confirms you as to what you have seen, a glimpse of that glorious Person, the Son of the Father. And I may say here, dear brethren, whatever people say, that the Scriptures always connect Sonship with a Man here on this earth to be seen, to be handled, as John says, to be contemplated. But, oh, He is so attractive; that is virtually what John says: “a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”.
If you get the ear of christians in that way, you lead them forward, and you see how, as they come under the influence of the Lord in their minds and affections, that the Son of God begins to undo the works of the devil. Can we take any other name than His? I cannot say, ‘I am a Roman Catholic’, or ‘I am a Lutheran’. No. I cannot say that in His hearing. He is apt to say some things to remind me about that. Why do you take that name? He says to Philadelphia for instance: “Thou ... hast not denied my name”. How many are denying His name — unintentionally, I admit — taking on another. He would whisper in your ear, ‘That is not just fair to Me’.
[p. 198] Nor is it; nor is it logical. And so, He proceeds; the works of the devil are gradually undone. The man or the woman is led on step by step to a position in relation to that glorious Person, the fellowship of God’s Son, for it is no less than that. It is the dignity of it. The reproach of it is another thing, for it is reproach. Reproach attaches to it, but look at the dignity of it, the fellowship of God’s Son.
I am endeavouring to make the thing simple. The works of the devil have to be undone, and if they are to be undone in every way in a moral sense now, we have to understand sonship as applied to us; and I may say, dear brethren, that is the leading thought in the Son of God becoming a Man, the Son being a Man, that He makes room for others, that we might receive sonship. I wonder if everybody here has received it. It is not a question of birth. To be of the children of God is a question of birth — who have been born. Birth in regard of sonship applies only to Christ as far as I see in Scripture; “Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee”, Hebrews 1: 5. It is either by birth or adoption. It is not by adoption in Christ: He is a Son by birth: “This day have I begotten thee”. With us it is adoption; but how great it is to be adopted! One might in ordinary things be born in very low circumstances and be adopted by a very great personage, but if the great person who adopts him could impart his spirit to him, the lowly birth disappears altogether. Dignity is one of the features of sonship, not simply because I am in the rank of a son, but because I have got the spirit of a son. And so we are told that, “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship” — receive it, Galatians 4: 4, 5. It is a matter of light. It is a matter presented to the mind as light. It is the mind of God for me and for every believer; and then the apostle goes on to say: “Because [p. 199] ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father”. Now notice the word ‘crying’. It is not the cry of pain. It is not that at all. It is the cry of energy. It is the cry of feeling. How blessed a feeling it is to cry, Abba, Father. A cry expresses feeling; it may be sorrow, it may be bitterness, but not always; it may be joy, and certainly it is if I cry, “Abba, Father”, my heart is full of joy. I do not cry without some cause, some consciousness, and how great is the consciousness of sonship. The Spirit cries; in fact, in Galatians, I suppose, to accustom me to the idea — He cries in me, “Abba, Father”. But in Romans 8 it is “we cry”; the believer cries by the Spirit. He has not given us the spirit of bondage again for fear, the spirit of bondage induces fear: but the Spirit of adoption. What a word that is! “Whereby we cry, Abba, Father”. We cry! These two words put together are the exact words used by our Lord Jesus Christ, and as has often been remarked, the first word, Abba, has never been translated into any language as far as I know. It is the exact word that Christ used in the garden of Gethsemane, and what can be more touching than that! What can be more expressive of the undoing of the work of the devil than that a human heart hitherto held captive should be now controlled by the Spirit of adoption, and cry in the language of Jesus in Gethsemane, when He was approaching the great work whereby He was to undo all the works of the devil — the very thing He said: “Abba, Father”. “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: take away this cup from me”, Mark 14: 36. And now the Holy Spirit in the believer — by Him the believer says, “Abba, Father”. Now that is what is going on, and there is no real undoing for us, in a moral sense, of the works of the devil aside from that. It is a question of what the Son of God is doing at the present time. He will do more presently; He will remove publicly all the effects of the works of the devil; He takes away the sin of the world, and [p. 200] the devil himself will be bound with a chain and cast into an abyss for a thousand years, and afterwards let loose for a season, and then cast for ever into the lake of fire, and every trace of his work will be removed. But what the Lord is doing at the end of the dispensation is undoing the works of the devil in a few of us, in Christians. It is to bring us back, to deliver us step by step by the knowledge of Himself, delivering us so that we come into sonship. That is why I read in the 8th chapter of John, a chapter that is as profound, even more profound; it is one in which the Person of Christ shines out with peculiar lustre, the chapter in which He says, “Before Abraham was, I am”. “Abraham”, He says, “rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad”. How it gladdens the heart to see the day of Christ, “He saw it, and was glad”. That is what is going on, to bring the saints into the realm of holy gladness in the light of the day of Christ. And so, as He was proceeding with the remarks according to this wonderful chapter, it says that many of the Jews believed on Him. Now that is the position; many believe nominally on Christ, but that is not enough for Him; it is not just enough that we should believe on Him because of what He says. Certain evangelists would be glad to go after and count such converts. They believed because of certain things the Lord was saying. He was saying wonderful things, and no doubt they were touched; but the Lord would test them, because it is a question of undoing all that has been done; the works of the devil since Pentecost till the present time. It is now a question of my coming as an individual into the good of this undoing by the Son of God, being intelligent.
And so, the Lord says to those who believe: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed”. Now I have been remarking about persons going back, that is, not continuing in His word. Think of a person professing to have his eyes opened to a course in which [p. 201] he had his part for years, and then going back! Going back! So the Lord makes the point here — it is not a question of taking up a public attitude, but continuing in the word, that is, in the mind of God; that enters into the position, for our position, dear brethren, is nothing if it does not involve intelligence as to the mind of God, in continuance in the word. We have two things in the 14th chapter, that is, the commandment and then the word: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”. It hinges on the words being kept, and the words being kept imply dwelling conditions for divine Persons. They can come and abide, not to rebuke but to abide. There are tabernacle conditions where the word is kept. This raises a storm, and it is always so as soon as you bring in the question of the word of God, not only the commandment, but the word opening up so many details and glories, but which some people say is hair splitting — it is a question of words and details. And so it raised a storm. The Jews speak, and the Lord says. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. That is the position. It is a question of the word, of the truth, of the liberation that belongs to me, the holy liberty that belongs to me. That raised a storm. It always raises a storm where there is an unjudged condition. You will always have a storm if the word of Christ, if the truth, is insisted on; and that is what the Lord insists on here. It is a question of the word of truth; and they answer Him. “We are Abraham’s seed, and have never been under bondage to any one; how sayest thou, Ye shall become free?” I cannot stop to examine this remark of theirs, but it is most interesting as illustrative of the human mind in nominal believers, but how illogical and absurd. They were in bondage, their very pennies, their coins, were testimony to their bondage, and yet they say: “We ... have never been under bondage to any one”; but they had been under bondage since the days of Daniel, and they are in bondage yet. That is the natural mind. It is illogical; and that is what we have to deal with in nominal believers, unspiritual persons. But they could not stand the truth. That is the test, dear brethren. There can be no undoing of the works of the devil unless there is respect for the word of Christ and the truth, “Ye shall know the truth”, as He says. Is it not worth knowing, and the liberty that follows in its train? He does not stop there. They go on with their remarks and then the Lord says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever”. This is a remarkable illustration of the use of words — how the Lord turns the question of the servants of sin into the idea of a servant and simply says that a servant does not abide in the house. Of course, a sinner does not abide in the house, but the Lord is gracious and He just puts it on you that you are a servant, without saying that you are a servant of sin, and you do not abide in the house for ever. It is a very gracious way of putting it, and a very effective way of putting it. You are a servant of sin; he that serves sin is a bondman and no bondman abides in the house. He does not go beyond the casting out of Hagar and Ishmael in the thought, but it is a deeper matter here — it is a question of sin. The Lord does not go beyond the question of bondage, of service, that the bondman does not abide in the house. Can I endure that if I have a heart for Christ? I cannot endure being cast out of the house; to be put out of fellowship is the principle of it, but I cannot endure to be cast out of the house. Think of all that affection, that glorious Person whom John depicts in the 1st chapter. Can I be happy out of that house where He is seen as the Son with the Father in His glory, and where those people are? Look at them — the saints of God, they are all there, they [p. 203] belong to the house! The Lord outlines it beautifully and so He says: “If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free”, and one who is really free, in him the works of the devil are manifestly undone. He is free; not only is he free inside, but he is free from the influence of sin, he does not serve it again. That is, in him manifestly the Son of God has undone the works of the devil. He is now for God; so that it says elsewhere: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”, Romans 8: 14. That is the position, dear brethren. That is what the Son of God is doing at the present time. He is undoing the works of the devil. It may be with a few, but it is real; so the point is the testimony of it. With one wave of His power He will wipe out all this world of sin by and by, but now He is setting people free in sonship, bringing them into companionship with Himself in the house where they are really free. May the Lord bless the word.