PUBLIC ASSOCIATIONS
[p. 371] PUBLIC ASSOCIATIONS
John 18:1 - 5; John 18:15 - 18; John 19: 25 - 27
I wish to speak at this time, dear brethren, about public associations, as John according to these verses presents them to us; firstly, Judas standing with those who came to take Jesus, His open enemies and murderers, and then Peter standing with the officers in the courtyard and at the fire warming himself “standing with them”, as it says, and then finally, those who stood by the cross — the women. These three scriptures furnish sufficient from John to indicate what is in mind in each gospel as to public associations.
John also speaks of private associations, association with Christ; I am not concerned about that at this time, but he does speak about that — of having part with Christ in a spiritual way in what He is proceeding with. The Lord says to one, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”, John 13:8. There may be part elsewhere, as I wish to show here, but, aside from His washing, as He says, we can have no part with Him. It is His own washing and we have to make room for that. There is also the thought of our own washing, washing our robes which we are obligated to do as christians, and if we do that, we have right to the tree of life and access by the gates to the city (Revelation 22: 14). We thus establish a right to Christ seen as the tree of life in the city and we enter in by the gates to the city. But then that right is not enough, we need the washing by which He washes in order to have part there. Our washing is outside; His is in order that we might have part inside, not simply right to partake of the tree of life, and to enter into the gates, but to have part with Christ in what He is going on with, a very great [p. 372] privilege, I need not remark. John treats of all that, the inner side of the subject, part with Christ. But there is the public side of the matter, and we are told of the godly man “that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, and standeth not in the way of sinners, and sitteth not in the seat of scorners”, Psalm 1: 1. The godly man is marked by the avoidance of these three things — walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners and sitting in the seat of scorners.
Now these verses in the early part of chapter 18 allude expressly to what I am saying. The Lord left His place inside; at the end of chapter 14 He says, “Rise up, let us go hence”. He also said, “I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing”. He knew that, in taking up a public position, He would encounter the second attack of Satan and the final one, but He says, “the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing”. And in the beginning of chapter 15 He speaks of the public position, that is what He was as the vine, bringing forth fruit for God, the true vine, the vine of God. And then in chapter 16 He proceeds further on that line speaking of the public position in relation to conflict as regards the disciples, warning them and comforting them as to it. In the world they should have tribulation — there is no mistake about it that it would be their lot. It is a very great advantage to us when we accept that in principle: that as we are true to Christ in the world we shall have tribulation. Other scriptures show that the fact is advantageous; that it is not only a matter of privilege to suffer for Christ (it would not be advantageous otherwise) but that it works patience according to Romans — it becomes a worker for the christian; then, according to another passage, the saints must through much tribulation enter the kingdom. Possibly our poor understanding [p. 373] of and participation in the kingdom is because of our avoidance of tribulation. It is through much tribulation that we enter into it. The Lord thus in these chapters graciously fortifies the disciples for what was coming, in view of His death and absence from this world and His going into heaven. In chapter 16 He speaks much of the Holy Spirit, speaks of His bringing into this world demonstration of sin and righteousness and judgment. It is a very important matter in warfare that the issue should be clear. When the issues are confused there are many unnecessary casualties; it is when the issues are clear, dear brethren, that the casualties are few. In some instances in the Old Testament, there was not a single casualty in the greatest conflicts, the issue being so clear; while in another conflict when the leader David in his weakness was affected by natural feeling, and swayed by his undue affection for Absalom, the issue was beclouded and many people were destroyed in the forest, not by the sword, but by an ill-chosen battlefield.
And so the Lord in His remarks in chapter 16 promises the disciples that in the conflict the issue would be made perfectly clear; the Spirit of God, the Comforter, would bring in demonstration, showing perfectly and clearly what sin is, what righteousness is and what judgment is. After saying all this and much more in that chapter to the comfort of the brethren, the Lord prayed to His Father in the well-known chapter 17, that unique chapter of this unique gospel, in which the Lord Jesus looks up to heaven after saying all this and speaks to His Father mainly about His own; this fresh movement then follows. It would not appear that He actually moved at the end of chapter 14, but the thought of movement is there, “Rise up, let us go hence”, meaning that He was leaving that position for a public one; so we have the three succeeding [p. 374] chapters, so rich and so fortifying for us in the conflict. Then it says in chapter 18, “When Jesus had spoken these words”, alluding evidently to chapter 17, because it says at the beginning of that chapter, “These things Jesus spoke, and lifted up his eyes to heaven”, so that the second reference to His words would allude to chapter 17; He then moves out into the garden. It is not called Gethsemane here; it is a garden and a place to which it was customary for Him to resort. He “went out with his disciples beyond the torrent Cedron, where was a garden, into which he entered, he and his disciples”. The other evangelists tell us it was Gethsemane, it was the place of suffering, the greatest pressure ever endured by man, there Jesus was looking on to the cross where He was to be forsaken of God, and it is said that the disciples were with Him; so the position is very clear, it is one of fellowship, of external association with Christ publicly as rejected here.
Now 2 Samuel makes the point clear by furnishing typically what we may say transpires here; David is rejected, his son Absalom having revolted, and when the news comes to him he passes over to the same position (it is called Kidron there); and in order to make the position clear, as I said, we have Ittai the Gittite, that is the stranger, the Philistine from Gath, who followed David, bringing out the great attractiveness of David even in Gath. This man followed him and now David challenges his heart. He says to Ittai, ‘You are a stranger, you have just come, why should you partake of my sufferings?’ Do not think that it was because David did not value the affections of this stranger. No, beloved brethren, he valued Ittai the Gittite and trusted him with an army later, but he challenges his heart as the Lord would challenge our hearts at this moment as to whether we are ready for the acceptance of the position of suffering. And so Ittai says to David, “Surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be” (2 Samuel 15: 21) — a magnificent answer, one that comes down the ages full of holy affection, unqualified allegiance and unqualified identification with a rejected king; that is Ittai.
Here in John’s gospel we have the disciples, eleven of them now, for one of them, alas! is on the other side, openly on the other side; he is the tool of the Lord’s murderers and without any change of mind he is seen in this gospel standing with them, as you observe in the passage in verse 5, “And Judas also, who delivered him up, stood with them”. There is no change of mind with him, John gives us none; Matthew does, there is remorse, for Matthew would rather emphasise the guilt of the Jews; but in John Judas is left without any indication whatever of any change of mind. So here he is standing with the enemy openly. The ranks are broken, alas! as we may have to see, and the Spirit of God does not disguise the fact that even the circle of the twelve, those whom Jesus called as apostles, is broken, as if to emphasise that the principle of law could perfect nothing. It awaited Christ to die and be risen and glorified for an unbreakable constitution of things, and that is the present time. In reconciliation the net does not break.
But here we have the sorrowful picture of eleven and one, eleven with Jesus and one openly with His enemies. How often it occurs in localities, where the Lord’s people have stood with an unbroken front for a while, that presently one turns away and leaves and becomes openly identified with the opposers of the truth! The picture is solemn and searching, “Judas also who delivered him up stood with them”, not ‘with Him’, never again would he stand with Jesus. He has taken his place openly (and without change of mind, although time was given him) with the opposers and murderers of Christ; that is the most flagrant [p. 376] example we can find of defection, of a breaking in upon something for God, one of the twelve deliberately going out from the place of privilege and light and, as we may say, from the place of love, not in a general way, but where love was specifically expressed to him, for the Lord’s heart was unchanged to him till the last; He gave him the sop, denoting distinction. Judas went out and it was night, but he knew the place to which the Lord used to resort with His disciples, he knew that; there was not a man in the world more fitted to be used against Christ at that time, for he knew the place. Those who are in such a position, separated from their brethren in any sense in this way, unless they are humbled, unless they judge themselves before God, find that their very knowledge of what belongs to the inside privileges of the saints is against Him and against the saints, too. The enemy can use their knowledge of what is inside and he does. The most potent opposition to the truth comes from those persons who have turned against them, but who know the ways of the saints and the inner holy familiarity that belongs to them, and so it was with Judas, he knew the place and he came back with the enemies of Christ, leading the opposition, taking advantage of his knowledge of the Lord and of the Lord’s people and of the secrets that belong to them, the holy secret of the inside place of privilege. Judas betrayed Christ, standing with them, no longer with the disciples, no longer with Jesus, but with His enemies. May God forbid that any one here should ever find himself there, or if he be in any measure on that side may he quickly be delivered, may he quickly retrace his steps !
Now Peter comes in in the same chapter written by the same hand. The beloved disciple tells us of his great friend and fellow-apostle Peter. There is no partiality in John’s account; he makes it harder for Peter, it seems to me, and rather indicates that he had to do with Peter’s defection. He was acquainted with the high priest, a somewhat dangerous thing; it may be a little flattering to be acquainted with persons of high degree; in this instance it was the occasion of Peter being introduced to the porteress of the palace and allowed an entrance. John was known to the high priest and he went out and spoke to the porteress; it is as if he had influence and Peter was admitted. It were happier for Peter had he been standing at the gate outside, recognising the door as being a providential hindrance; it was, as it were, God standing protectingly between him and his great failure. But John removed that hindrance and Peter was admitted, and has recourse to heat at the world’s fire. The officers were there warming themselves, not one warming another, or making up the fire like Paul at Melita. You remember a fire was kindled by the inhabitants of Melita when Paul visited the island after the shipwreck; they kindled a fire because it was cold — it was winter time — and Paul added to that fire, a very important thing in service to add to what you find is good. It was not a selfish fire; it was a fire built out of regard for others, and Paul gathered sticks with his own hands and added to it. Here each was warming himself. It is a matter of appropriating what you can get in the world and Peter joined and warmed himself, he “was standing with them and warming himself”, it says. He has identified himself for the moment with those men who were there sharing the common heat, each warming himself. Now we have to be on our guard against selfishness, because it is pretty sure to lead us into the world and expose us in it. Selfishness is an early trait of sinful flesh and when it continues it is the root of most of our failures and sins. Oftentimes it is the occasion, the reason, of our remaining in a position which our consciences forbid. Conscience is a higher faculty, it belongs to the more elevated part of a [p. 378] man morally. In innocency man did not have a conscience; it was acquired with the fall; it came in simultaneously with sin and has continued ever since, an element added to us in our sinfulness; if we do not respect it we are pretty sure to sink deeper and deeper into the world of selfishness. If we do respect our consciences, and if they are enlightened (as they must be), we shall escape the consequences of selfish consideration. I must begin with myself; I have this reason and that reason for my actions, sometimes they are enumerated and given in toto and the conscience is left entirely in abeyance, and the mind of God abandoned, not in theory but in practice. It was certainly quite legitimate to warm oneself at the fire in a physical sense, but then consider all these facts, dear brethren, consider that portal through which Peter entered that court, how he got in; what are the facts and what is the influence in the inside of this court? Can I be of any service to the testimony here? Is my position here of God? These are the questions that belong to the position. Evidently Peter raised none of these questions. He was simply there because of a certain influence, and he is now doing what others are doing, selfishly warming himself. Nearby is the Saviour standing before the high priest, the Judge of Israel about to be smitten on the cheek, about to be carried off bearing His cross, or rather about to move out to Calvary to be crucified. That was the fact. Under the circumstances, beloved, is it possible for a christian to escape? Can anyone here, can any christian on earth today assume to have more keeping power than Peter had? I certainly have not. Peter was a wonderful believer in Christ; he is an outstanding servant, an outstanding apostle; let no one therefore assume in any sense that he could stand there, for he could not. It is just written for that purpose, to tell each of the myriads of christians that he would not do one whit better than [p. 379] Peter did; it is perfect folly to assume that any one of us would have more ability to keep himself in such circumstances than Peter had. He had taken on these circumstances when he should not have taken them on. I am speaking this in the way of warning and exhortation as to the public position. Consider how you got into this position, consider the way that led up to it, consider why you are there; your conscience is smiting you and yet you stay. The fire was there, a certain advantage for the moment, but see the surroundings, and now the enemy is let loose on you and things become infinitely worse. A maid let him in, and she says to Peter, “Art thou also of the disciples of this man?” — that was all. He says, “I am not”. Suppose she had come to him in Gethsemane, what would he have said, would he have denied Christ? No, he would not have denied Christ, he was in the company of Christ and the other disciples; there were no officers there warming themselves by the fire. The position was the secret, the false position, that a maid had admitted him; we read that a lion turns not aside for any, certainly not for a servant maid. The position is the secret. The obvious word there (and I speak to young ones here) is to get out of any such position, whether it be friendly acquaintances at school, or neighbours or business or personal associations; the obvious word there is to leave them at once, because the enemy will take advantage of you there, and there will be more disaster than there is now, a disaster most serious, perhaps an irretrievable one. John does not flatter Peter with any tears or weeping, he just states and leaves the facts. Thank God, we have other records which show that he went out and wept after the third denial, and then that the Lord appeared to him after He arose, and we know that he was the first great announcer publicly of Christ crucified and raised from the dead and glorified in heaven. We know these [p. 380] things, but you can see for yourselves, dear brethren, how Peter got into such a terrible position of denying his Lord. It was a public matter; he had no thought of denying Him, he was not ashamed of being a disciple at all, he had said that if all should forsake the Lord he would not, he would lay down his life for Him. He meant that, but then he got into this position; it was a gradual thing, Satan led him into it; it was really of that kind, he was allured into it, and now the enemy attacks him and he falls. It is a question of position.
Well now, the other side, dear brethren, is in chapter 19 — those who were standing by the cross of Jesus, standing by it, but it was the cross of Jesus. They were women and we have their names, which will never fade or die, any more than the name of Him who hung on the tree at that time will die. We have here the Lord’s mother, one who did not shine too well in this gospel earlier, but she is shining now; she is shining gloriously. The aged Simeon had told her that a sword should pierce her soul and at the same time he said, “that the thoughts may be revealed from many hearts”, Luke 2:35. These closing chapters, these suffering chapters of this gospel, tell us of the hearts that were disclosed and here we have a group of lovers of Jesus, their hearts are disclosed, their thoughts are disclosed. They are courageous enough in their love to stand by that gibbet, the cross on which Jesus was, at that solemn hour when all the world, you might say, was against Christ. This is the association, beloved, that God has ordained for us; our fellowship indeed enters into this position. The epistle to the Corinthians, that we speak of so frequently and that seems to apply at every one of our meetings, begins with this great fact, the cross. Indeed, the apostle says, “I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”, 1 Corinthians 2:2.
[p. 381] The epistle shows how firmly he was standing by the cross of Jesus. No one ever stood by it more firmly than Paul, and so it is with the great truth of fellowship which the epistle opens up to us; it is in this setting. It is a question of our public identification with Christ. In chapter 1 we have the fellowship of God’s Son, and then the fellowship of His death in chapter 10; then in chapter 13 of the second epistle we are in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The first is the dignity of our position, the second is the reproach attached to it (through the death of Christ), and the third is the inner tangible enjoyment of what is there, the fellowship of the Spirit and all that He brings to us as if He were in the thing, as if He were part of the thing, and that is what we prove in our public position in our identification with Christ, that the Spirit is with us. We are called into the fellowship of God’s Son which is our glorious position, no association on earth or in heaven can be greater; it stands over against all other associations; it forbids all of them to those who are in it. Its very dignity forbids them and the death of Christ cuts us off from all of them, whilst the Spirit of Christ fills our souls with feelings and affections that satisfy us in the position of the fellowship. That is the position and these women named here were in it in a supreme degree. They were there standing by the cross of Jesus, His mother, as we are told, and His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala, and they were near enough for the Lord to speak to them. Is that not very beautiful and touching — the Saviour hanging there in His sufferings and yet thinking of those who love Him and making provision for them? And He speaks to them; He says to His mother (He does not call her mother, the time was over for that), “Woman, behold thy son”, and he was as a son. To a certain one who had said, “Blessed is the womb that has borne thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked” the Lord had replied, “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it”, Luke 11:28. Mary saw what a real eternal portion would spring from that, and she kept the word of God; and now she is among those at the cross; and the Lord speaks to her and provides for her. We may say, Well, I have to provide for this and that; what is this woman to do for a home? Will the authorities of the world provide her with one? Will Pilate do it? No, the world will not do that; the world is instinctively against those who stand by the cross, but are they to be bereaved, are they to suffer loss? They do suffer; to suffer is their privilege, and they suffer loss, too, but then they are to be cared for, as Paul says, “My God shall abundantly supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”, Philippians 4: 19. Can we doubt that? It is “my God”, it is said by one speaking from experience; and here is one cared for by the Saviour standing by the cross; she is true to the fellowship. “Jesus therefore, seeing his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, says to his mother, Woman, behold thy son”. We must not assume, dear brethren, that the Lord is speaking of Himself as her son, He is not; He is speaking of John whom He loved; persons in this position need a home, and need food; they are standing firmly by the truth, they are refusing all that is contrary to the cross, standing by it. And they get a home; He says to her, “Behold thy son”, that is John, the loved disciple, as if to say, ‘not one merely that will show you charity, but it is the one I love, I love him and I have the greatest confidence in him, and you will lack nothing’. It is a wonderful thing that she is provided for with a home and a son in that home, one who is to recognise her as his mother, for the Lord says, “Behold thy mother”. The Lord on the cross establishes a home circle for one who stood by [p. 383] that cross; she is to be John’s mother and John is to be her son. It is a real home, real affection, real comfort, not a palace, of course, such as the flesh might wish for, but such as Christ provides for those who love Him. Could she ask for more? How can we afford to be shut off from those that Jesus loves? He sets us up among them in the very place of His sufferings, as if to show us how He values our identification with Him, in fellowship with His cross, as it says, “Therefore let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”, Hebrews 13: 13.