LOVE AND WITNESS SECURED BY THE GOSPEL
[p. 236] LOVE AND WITNESS SECURED BY THE GOSPEL
Luke 7: 44 - 50; Luke 8: 35 - 39
In the service of the gospel one feels peculiarly at home in speaking from Luke, for the whole book breathes evangelically. Scripture generally affords gospel texts from the very first chapter to the last, it is just lit up with gospel texts, but Luke breathes the gospel, telling us at the outset, as the Babe Jesus was born, that the fact boded good pleasure in men, so that all men are in view. He stresses repentance, speaking not only about persons who repent once for all, but who are repenting sinners, who are marked by that feature, and from the time that repentance begins good pleasure begins. There is joy in heaven, we are told, over one sinner that repenteth; and so, as the prodigal, who stands out in this book as the great gospel subject, begins to move towards his father, every step he took was pleasing to heaven. For there was not only the repentance inwardly which his father as representing God could alone discern, but every step he took on the way back afforded good pleasure to heaven. Of course, he was more delightful when he got back and had the fine clothes on, the finest clothes in heaven, for clothes go a long way in making us pleasing, and when we have on the best, they greatly enhance our delightfulness, but every step he took as he went back to his father occasioned his father pleasure, “His father saw him”, we are told, “when he was yet a great way off”, and he ran. That is one of the features of the returning — God’s delight in regard of those that were afar off. However far off, every step they take in coming back is not wearisome to heaven; it is pleasing to heaven. So that the great epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, which speaks so much of God and His counsels and His great love and His rich mercy, puts those that are afar off before those that are near, and moreover, says that Jesus Himself was the preacher: “Coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off, and the glad tidings of peace to those who were nigh”, Ephesians 2: 17. Those that were afar off were thought of first, and in their return God was very active; He was pleased in their movement. When the father of the prodigal met him, we are told that he covered him with kisses. That would shew how pleased he was, as if he could kiss him all over, every bit of him was pleasing to the father, for it was not simply an ordinary kiss; he covered him with kisses; the whole person was pleasing. That is how love took account of those of us who were afar off and without God in this world; that is how God regarded us and how He regards us. He is not one whit changed. He looks abroad on the gentile world and is as pleased as ever, with those who turn to Him; He is just as pleased tonight as He was two thousand years ago when the gentiles began to come back.
That is how Luke would impress us; he would disarm every bit of fear and prejudice in the way he presents God. The angel came, as you remember, and was beside the shepherds who were away off in the country looking after their flocks, and the angel of the Lord was there, and the glory shone there. It was a wonderful time. Heaven was aglow with what was happening, and the angel told them what had happened, not simply that the Child was born, but born “to you” When? “Today”; not yesterday; no, heaven would not wait for another day; that very day. What happened that day? A Saviour was born — born “to you”. Where? “In David’s city”. Who is He? “Christ the Lord”. Then there was the multitude of the heavenly host round about them praising God. What were they speaking about? “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. What a word that is for us — men, including women, of course; it is the word for the race — that God is going to be pleased with us. Not with [p. 238] our sins, not with our naughty doings, but with us. That is how Luke would bathe our minds and hearts in approaching us with Jesus, so that no one should dread or fear or be dismayed. Heaven is interested, and the very first movement in the recognition of our naughty ways and the desire not to sin any more pleases heaven. The pleasure begins as soon as we begin to repent.
What a wonderful time heaven has had ever since. You say, what sorrow heaven has been occasioned. Yes, and God is capable of grief. We are told in Genesis that man’s conduct grieved Him every day, but He is not overwhelmed with the grief. He is the blessed God, and the word ‘blessed’ in that respect may be rendered ‘happy’. God is infinitely beyond the guilt of man; He is ever what He is, and He is capable of pleasure, and that when one begins to repent. That is God. And it goes on. It is to be seen in heaven; it is in the presence of the angels; they joy when men repent, although it does not actually say that the angels rejoice; it is in the presence of the angels. Some of our hymns do say so, but it is not quite true. Not that I would say they do not.
Gabriel is one of the leading angels, and there are leading angels — archangels; Gabriel is the one in Luke. He is not the military angel. We do not call in military persons in the gospel; we do not need them. Gabriel is the priest in heaven and he represents the side of sympathy. Michael is the military angel, important in his department, so to speak, but Luke brings in Gabriel, a well-known angel, with whom Daniel was conversant, a most interesting angel. He is the one that superintends publicly at the transcending events of the birth of Jesus and the birth of John the Baptist. He announces himself: “I am Gabriel”. Let us be sure that heaven is intensely interested when a great dignitary comes down like that “standing on the right of the altar of incense”. And then he speaks to Mary; so that he represents the thought of sympathy. But the joy,
[p. 239] although undoubtedly shared by such an angel as Gabriel, is in His presence. It is a question of God, that God is pleased, that God has joy, when a person begins to repent. But then He continues too; it is the repenting sinner that is pleasing to Him. It is not the thing, the repentance, but the person. That is the idea. God says, ‘I have that person’. He has him morally as soon as he begins to repent. He will be more pleasing to Him when he gets on the best robe in heaven which will greatly enhance him, but God is pleased with him when he begins to repent. I wonder if there is any one here who has not begun to repent; that is the road to salvation; there is no forgiveness without it. There is forgiveness with God, but not for you without repentance.
Now what I have said brings me to these two cases, and I want to shew from these two persons — for they are model persons — how the saved believer takes up a position here in this world in relation to Christ. He or she will have a place in heaven, but that is not the point in the gospel. The rights of God must come first in the gospel as in everything, and if I am saved, I am saved in relation to the rights of God, what He will do with me. If in His counsels He has a place in heaven for me, good and well. I rejoice in that; but if He requires me here on earth I rejoice in that too and accept it. Generally He has a place on earth for us first. He needs us here, and that is why I read chapter 7 first, because it is a question of the great importance of a lover of Jesus in this world. Think of that — a lover of Jesus in this world. That is what is in view in chapter 7. We are not told anything about the history of this woman, although she was seen in the house of Simon the Pharisee. We must distinguish between Simon the Pharisee and Simon the leper. It is not the house of Simon the leper. The woman who anointed the Lord Jesus in the house of Simon the leper had a much better atmosphere in which to serve Him; the whole atmosphere I might say was [p. 240] favourable. Although Judas and some of the others complained about her, the house of Simon the leper was a favourable one, but this is the house of Simon the Pharisee, and we hear nothing of this woman except that she is here in this house. It is one of Luke’s beautiful pictures. We have nothing about her history previous to that, but she had a history — a bad one, but not all bad. There was repentance there; there was a sense of grace with her or she would never have come into that house. You have come here tonight. I hope there is somebody under conviction. If there is, you are in a better position than the house of Simon the Pharisee. It is much easier to believe in this room than in the house of Simon the Pharisee. There the atmosphere is against you, but here it is all in your favour, so it is of great importance to get into an environment like this; it is an advantage. She was in an adverse environment, but love prevailed. She loved much. Why? Because she was forgiven much. It is love of that kind. It is not put as if it were begotten by the Person of Jesus, but no one can doubt that she was a lover of Jesus. The Lord puts it as if it were a question of her forgiveness; she was forgiven much.
This brings up an important matter, that if I am seeking salvation, how much I have got to settle; for God keeps books, and He is infinitely correct in everything that He does. He keeps books, and if matters have to be settled, it is important that we should understand the sin question has to be gone into. God went into it thoroughly with Jesus at Calvary; there was nothing omitted there. God goes to the root of matters; He went so far in dealing with this matter at Calvary that He hid His face from His beloved Son. That is what He thinks of sin — of sins, and Jesus said, “They are more than the hairs of my head”, Psalm 40: 12, a figure of the number of sins; they are all reckoned. God, as I said, is infinitely correct, and He has records; and so [p. 241] it is well to remember that if we are seeking blessing from God; and I hope nobody is here without that in view. This is not a religious meeting; it is a meeting to help souls. We are here on behalf of Christ to be of service to you, and matters have to be gone into according to God. It is a question of ‘much’. She was forgiven much, and she knew it. Her love is put on that account. She was forgiven much, and she loved accordingly. That is the secret of so little love amongst the people of God. There has to be the reckoning of what has gone before, and that is what God wishes to impress upon us. It is a question of the amount, and so the Lord in dealing with Simon brings up the matter of the five hundred and the fifty pence debtors, “Which of them therefore will love him most?” The point in this chapter is that the sinner has to reckon up the amount; he must go to the root of matters; God went to the root of matters, as I said, and if we are to come into the love that God looks for and values, we must go to the root of matters. Whether it be five hundred or fifty, let us go to the root of matters. It is for our blessing. God does not wish us to carry them; He is impressing upon us the importance of reckoning the amount, so that we will see the extent of the grace that He has wrought on our behalf, what Jesus suffered, what it cost Him that we might be forgiven — for forgiveness is for sins confessed.
Now this forgiven person is a lover; that is what I want to come to, and the value of a lover here in this world, the value of a lover on account of forgiveness. For you will meet thousands of people who need forgiveness, and you say, I am a lover because of forgiveness; I can help people who need forgiveness; I measure my love by my forgiveness; you need forgiveness, and I want to tell you that I love because I have been forgiven; I want you to be forgiven, and to be forgiven is a question of reckoning up your account. What it means is judging yourself and dealing with the sin question as it is,
for “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. If you read the epistle to the Romans which deals with this great subject of the gospel, you will find this great question is all dealt with in its enormity, and thus our spiritual joy and blessing are bound up in our dealing with it according to that.
Well, I am almost in the position of a conscriptor for lovers of Jesus now in this world, persons who love on account of forgiveness. They understand grace. The dispensation, according to Luke, began when the Lord Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, and He appeared to Simon, as it is said. That was a man who needed forgiveness. He sinned most meanly and in a disgraceful way, and yet the Lord appeared to him first. He is going to be a most important man in the service, and it is a question of grace. He loved because he was forgiven. He loved otherwise, I know; he says, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I am attached to thee” (John 21: 17), and he was. He loved just on this principle; he knew grace. Nobody knew it better. And so did this woman. The Lord is asking for such. If you are forgiven tonight He wishes you to be here as one of His lovers. What will you do? If you are one of the lovers of Christ you have to love Him in an adverse scene. We shall love Him in heaven sure enough, love Him eternally, but that will not be an adverse scene. Everybody will love Him there; there are very few loving Him here.
So He turns to the woman. He does not turn to Simon, He turns to the woman and speaks to Simon. It is one of the features of Luke. He turned to His disciples, we are told in chapter 10, and now He turns to the woman. How lovely that is! I want to enlist lovers of Jesus for this town. He has His own way of doing things; He does things divinely. He is great and glorious, far beyond the conditions of anyone here, and only the Father knows Him — for that is scripture. He is great and glorious, and does things His own way, and He has [p. 243] a way of turning to one who loves Him in this town and calling other people’s attention to him. How lovely that is, to have the Lord turn towards you and speak to somebody else about you. How important are lovers of Jesus, persons who love because they are forgiven! Then hear Him say to Simon, ‘You did not do this, she did that’. The Lord is contrasting, He turned to the woman. She would not delay breaking bread when the time came; if she were in a town where the breaking of bread was the custom amongst the lovers of Christ, she would be amongst them. No lover of Jesus would put that off. It is His request, His desire, and no lover of Jesus will put it off. That is what the lovers of Jesus do, and He points to them.
He has His own way, as I said. He told the cleansed leper to go and shew himself to the priest “as Moses ordained, for a testimony to them”. It was not for a testimony to him; it was, of course, a testimony to the priest, but “to them”. It is indefinite, so that, whether people see or not, the lovers of Jesus in this town are a witness; they are a testimony “to them”. And He turns towards us. How He turns towards us on the first day of the week! How blessed is the thought of having Him turn towards us and speak to other people about us. It is the principle of the gospel that there are some in this world who love Jesus, and love because they are forgiven, and He turns towards them and calls attention to what they are doing. That is the idea. I should not be here tonight did I not believe that the Lord turns towards those of us who love Him. We are of immense importance to Him, and if there is one seeking blessing here tonight I wish to press on you, and on all of us, that the Lord needs such.
Now there were those there who in their hearts opposed the Lord in this. He had already brought in the idea of the account, and now He says to the woman, “Thy sins are forgiven”. He turned to her and told her that.
[p. 244] It may be He would say that to some one here. If there is one here whose sins are not forgiven, I would say it to you on His behalf, that is, if you have faith, for it is on the principle of faith. Forgiveness is with God; His attitude is forgiveness towards every one, but it is only for those who believe, “Righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all and upon all those who believe”, Romans 3: 22. That is the position, and now He says, “Thy sins are forgiven”. What that must have been to her. He had been talking about her love. I do not believe she would have said anything about it, but He did. The Lord knew, and He put a name to her actions, as in the case of the blind man in John 9. He said, “Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he”. The blind man did not understand, but the Lord knew. So she had really loved Him, and the Lord said, “Thy sins are forgiven”. What a word that is! She had faith in her soul; her whole attitude and conduct shewed that she had faith. Then the opposers say, “Who is this who forgives also sins?” but the Lord just brushed it aside, paying no attention to such voices as that; they are not worth noticing, and He says to her, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”.
It is not faith here, you notice, as in Romans. In Romans faith is treated as a principle, but here faith is her property, and very wonderful property it is. It is said to be the gift of God. It is one of the greatest bits of property a man can hold — “thy faith”. However little, the Lord says you have enough to save you. It is on that principle, but you have it. She had it; she had that wealth; she was rich in faith. That is the point the Lord makes. I wonder if there is any one here faltering because he thinks he has not enough faith. The Lord says that what you have is enough. He speaks elsewhere of faith as a grain of mustard seed that will remove this mountain; that is the way the Lord looks at your faith. I would encourage any one here who has faith [p. 245] and who is debarred from coming forward because he has not enough. The Lord says, “Thy faith”; it is what you have. Everything shewed she had it. The fact that you are here tonight would rather encourage me to believe it. Why did you come? Being here tonight, I believe the Lord credits you with it. He credits us with everything He can, and the least bit of faith in your soul is enough, “Thy faith”, He says. He brushes the opposers aside; they are not worth attention, but there is that woman. She is in His mind. Somebody here is in His mind. We are all in His mind, but somebody is in His mind tonight, and He would say to you, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace’. She is told to go, which means that she is to remain here on that principle. The Lord virtually says to her, ‘I have the fullest confidence in you. I want you here so that I can point to you again’; and He did, no doubt. We never hear of her, as far as we know. Mary Magdalene may be the same, but I am not prepared to say that, she comes in the next chapter. The Lord told her to go. He would not have told her to go if she were not trustworthy. Earlier in the chapter He delivered up the young man to his mother; He did not tell him to go, but He did this woman. She was a lover and you can trust love; “Love never fails”, 1 Corinthians 13: 8; and the Lord has great need of lovers in this world.
Now, in chapter 8 we have a man, and it is not now a question of love but of intelligence. When we come to the side of the man it is a question of the representation of God, and the Lord has need of that too. He has need of men in this and every town of the world who can represent Him. The woman is someone He can point to; He turned to the woman and spoke about her, but He needs men, the idea being that “where sin abounded grace has overabounded”, Romans 5: 20. That is what this man represents. He represents grace in power, not grace in affection, but in power overcoming evil in the [p. 246] person. The kingdom of God is grace acting in power so as to bring about the representation of God in this world. God needs that. He needs it in the gospel field; He needs it in His service. And so they came out to see what happened to this man who had a legion of demons in him, the idea being to represent the power of Satan dominating a man, and the kingdom of God overcoming that. As the Lord says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you”, Matthew 12: 28. It is a question of the kingdom of God, and that is to set up here persons to represent Him in power. They can be trusted, and so it is the side of the man.
Now, chapter 8 taken by itself gives us the three features of the composition of an assembly — the man, the woman and the child. I have already spoken about the woman, and I only wish to speak about the man now. It is a word for every one of us, for the idea of the representation of God is of immense importance, and it is to be in those where sin abounded. The great apostle Paul is the great example of it after Christ went up into heaven. He is rescued from the power of Satan and made a mighty instrument of the power of God. That is what is needed, and if we are to continue in the service of God in the gospel, there must be on the one hand lovers of Jesus on account of forgiveness, and on the other hand persons who are intelligent and who understand how the kingdom of God has come in His Person, and how in heaven He is made Lord and Christ and has all power, and that power is operating down here and overthrowing the power of evil in me and setting me up in the power of grace. So they came out to see what had happened to this man, and they found him sitting and clothed and in his right mind. Now that is important. Sitting would suggest the Lord’s day, sitting at the feet of Jesus — the Bible-reading. Clothed, he has on the robe of righteousness; “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness”, Psalm 132: 9. There can be no testimony without it. We are living in very dangerous times. The great depression is exposing the people of God to unrighteousness in spite of themselves, and we can never claim immunity. Unrighteousness is unrighteousness, and there can be no testimony without righteousness. This man is sitting and clothed, and he is in his right mind. He has balance; he is going to be in the care meeting to look after the people of God; he will look after the interests of Christ; he has a balanced mind. The word is, “God has not given us the spirit of cowardice; but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion”, 2 Timothy 1: 7, so much needed at the present time.
So they came out, and this is what they saw. Now, where is he to serve? He wants to be with Jesus. It does not say the woman did. I do not doubt but what she would be represented in the woman in this chapter, but that is not the point of view. She is told to go with no responsibility placed upon her; she is a lover and love will never fail. She had anointed His feet; she had washed His feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and anointed them with ointment. She can be trusted; she will show the thing without being told to do it. What an asset for Christ in this world! Now, what is this man to do? He wants to be with Jesus. The Lord values that, but He says, “Return to thine house”. Where was his house? It was in the city. This event is in the land of cities — Decapolis. Although Luke does not mention the word, it is said elsewhere and it means ten cities. It points to the present time, the time of cities, and the more the cities the more the wickedness, you may depend on that. The whole drift of the world today is to the cities. We are told in Revelation that all the cities fell, and they will all fall — even the great cities will fall. The world’s city is characteristically Sodom — think of Sodom! — and Egypt — think what Egypt means in scripture, “Where also their Lord was crucified”. Can we [p. 248] go in there and build ourselves up in it? That is what the world’s city is; it is Sodom; that is, it represents the supreme wickedness of man. The cry of it had gone up to heaven, and God Himself came down to see what the state of Sodom was, and He found it was just what He heard it to be. It is the corruption of man. This man came out of the city we are told. He had no clothes, and was utterly shameless, and he dwelt in the tombs too, a terrible existence, driven by the demons into the desert where there were no springs of God. Such was his terrible state. That is the land of cities — Decapolis — and we are to be warned about them. Young people long to get into the cities. What for? Because of the wickedness, but “He knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol”, Proverbs 9: 18. That is where this man had been. A legion of demons had been there; not seven as in the case of Mary Magdalene, but a legion, and so were they possessed of him that they caused him to speak for them. But the Lord cast them out. His grace abounded, and not only abounded, but acted in power. The Lord had power to do it, and He did it, and now the man is sitting and clothed and in his right mind.
But where is he to go and bear testimony? Is he to go off with Jesus to a less wicked place? No, “Where sin abounded grace has overabounded”. Where I have been converted, where I have lived a godless life, there I am to live a godly life. That is the principle. You say, he has no fellowship, there is no meeting in this place. Never mind. It is a great test. The Lord left him there with no christian fellowship. What do you think it means? It means what the power of the kingdom means. There is enough in the power of the Spirit of God to set me up here so that I can overcome evil with good. That is the thing. It is the greatness of the kingdom as developed in persons, that the person dominated by evil becomes the expression of God; he overcomes evil with [p. 249] good, and that is what this man is to do. There is nothing said about fellowship. The point is what the kingdom can make one person for God in this world. The Lord made no mistake. The man not only went to the house, but into his city and told them what Jesus had done for him. If they were to ask the woman, she would tell them what He had done for her. She loved because she was forgiven. And if they were to ask this man, he would tell them “how great things Jesus had done for him”, and with intelligence in righteousness. He would not be guilty of unrighteousness; he would not frequent unlawful places; he would not take on any unlawful associations. He stood alone in the power of the kingdom. How important that is, each one of us standing up, where we had dishonoured God, in the power of the kingdom of God, witnessing to it and overcoming evil with good.
Well, the Lord has great need of those two features, and if the gospel is to be blessed in our hands they must be present with us. May God grant it.