OUR RESOURCE - THE GREATEST LIGHT IN THE DARKEST DAY
[p. 508] OUR RESOURCE - THE GREATEST LIGHT IN THE DARKEST DAY
I desire to say a little upon light, and to present to you, the Lord helping me, our resource in the darkest day. I have read from John’s gospel, where you get not so much your responsibility as the resources for your responsibility, and these continue unto the close. It is of all importance to know where your resource is. I will unfold the subject as carefully as I can that the youngest may be able to follow it. Your resource is the light, the greatest light for the greatest darkness. The great defect in us is that we do not keep in the light. If you do not keep in the light you have no resource in the darkness. It is not that you do not see a thing, but often it is only by memory that you see it. It is as though a light were brought into the room and then taken away; you remember what you saw when the light was there; but if you are not in the light it is not what you see but what you did see. If you are in the light it is not something you did see but something which you see at the time. It is fresh and vivid to you. It is interesting to bear in mind that it is the light of life. Through Christ’s death you see that you are clear of everything on your own side and you come out in the light of the Lord; and it is the light which is your resource. Of the new Jerusalem we read that, “the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof”, Revelation 21: 23.
I hope to trace the effect of the light and to show how it is our resource. The subject may seem a large one, but I shall try to be brief. If I can present it to you for your meditation I shall be thankful. The beginning is “He that followeth me shall not walk in [p. 509] darkness but shall have the light of life”. That is the start. I see many who have their eyes opened. The blind man in John 9 is an example of this. He had to break with everything religious under the law, and eventually he is in the solitude of light, he is outside of everything of man and the Lord comes to him, and He says to him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” This is all individual. It is a great moment in the history of your soul when you are in the presence of the Son of God, and believe on Him. When you have come to this you have come to “the living stone”. You are outside of everything human; you have come to Himself.
We read in chapter 10: 14, 15, a most wonderful fact: “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father”. This is the climax for the individual. The same character of intimacy is established between the Shepherd and the sheep as between the Father and the Son. Who can comprehend it? Can you explain it to me? I rejoice, while I adore, though its fulness is incomprehensible! This is individual. If you have not found the Lord in this individual way you have not followed Him. If you have not the beginning you cannot advance, “If any man serve me let him follow me, and where I am there shall also my servant be”. Following Himself must be your one object. A great many follow work who do not follow Himself. I know your hindrances and difficulties by knowing my own. Every subtility and snare in which I see another I can trace to myself; but I also see that the grace of God will bring you out of it if you follow Him. That is the way out of every difficulty. I see that the new company in Luke 10 began with two women, Martha and Mary. These two women characterise all Christians, one in one way, the other in another way. One is occupied with service, usefulness, the other is engrossed with Himself.
[p. 510] So it is today; some are occupied with usefulness, some are occupied with Himself. You may get little credit or notice if you are occupied with Himself; you will not be conspicuous, but you will come out for Him at the right time. Never fear! We all know how the blessed Lord approved of and owned Mary’s act, and He took care that it should be recognised. He said, “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her”, Mark 14: 9. It is not here that Christ loved the sinner, but that the sinner loved Him. She takes the most costly thing she had and anoints Him for His burial. When her Lord was about to die her heart says, I seek no distinction here where He has died.
I next turn to our service here for Him. I have been speaking of the individual first, because if you are not right there you cannot be right in the assembly. I come to John 13, I know how slowly we learn. It is very humbling to me that after many years I have had so little effect on others. If the truth had more effect upon myself, I should have been more effective. You cannot lead another beyond where you are yourself. You may enunciate many great things, but if they have no effect on yourself you do not substantiate them. If they do not produce an effect on yourself you invalidate what you propound. “Be thou an example of the believers”. The Lord said to the demoniac: “Return to thine own house. and show how great things God hath done unto thee”. I believe a young evangelist is often very effective because he tells out of a full heart what God has done for him.
I speak solemnly; we are coming to the close; one sees the distraction and difficulty all around, and my desire is to present to you the only resource in difficult times. Note, the Lord says to Peter in John 13: 8: “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me”. I find generally that this is little known, and the lack in this is where the defect lies. A competent physician can not only tell his patients the cause of their illness, but he can prescribe the true remedy. I am afraid few enjoy having part with Christ. Part with Christ is that you are in company with Him where He is.
I am coming now to what I call the second part, preparation for service. Many are in service who are not ready for it. It was so with myself. I think some have undertaken service before they are ready for it. In John 13 the preparation begins. Many earnest labourers have never got beyond chapters 13 and 14; as far as I see they have not touched chapter 15. Chapters 13 and 14 are the preparation, they are inside; chapters 15 and 16, which I hope to come to, are outside. A recruit is brought to the barracks, not to the battlefield; he is brought to the barracks to learn to be a soldier. Chapters 13 and 14 are the barracks where you learn to be a servant; the preparation and provision are inside. Chapters 15 and 16 are the battlefield.
The first point is, you come to His side. Let me show you your gain there. If you turn to the epistle to the Hebrews the great thing there is that you are in company with Him; we are His fellows or companions. If you are not His companions you will never know union with Him. If you are not fit to be His companion you are not fit to be united to Him. The only thing Abraham’s steward was sworn to was that the bride for Isaac must be of his kindred. I thank God that I have learned much from John 13 and 14 inside with Himself. It culminates in the Holy Spirit being sent in Christ’s name by the Father. “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”. This embraces all that had been. Many a servant of God knows something of the past as recorded [p. 512] in Scripture. In Christendom generally they know something about the past, and are occupied with prophecy, the future; but of the present they know nothing. The present, of which many are ignorant, I seek to bring before you.
Now if you turn to chapter 15 you will find that there are three traits of the servant. The first is, you are a disciple, “Abide in me”. Not merely that you understand a passage in Scripture, and can interpret it, but that you are consciously directed by Christ. If you abide in Him, you come fresh from the Head; you must know the Head to abide in Him, and then you bring forth fruit. Now you are in the battlefield. The second trait is you are His friend. You have the same kind of love for His own that He has: “Love one another, as I have loved you”, that is, the eleven. The eleven were to be devoted in love one to the other. “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.... Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you”. Not only His disciples, but His friends. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. This love should characterise every servant. The servant should be known as one who would die for the saints. This exposes you to the hatred of the world, because you are chosen out of the world, and you prefer the company of the saints to that of your own family. Those who are in no way related to you are more to you than your own relations!
Now we come to the third trait, witnessing of Christ by the present ministry of the Spirit. The present ministry, as in chapter 15: 26, is the light; not some of the light, but the light from the source, Christ as He is, not merely as He was. The past is light, I admit, but it does not connect you with the source, Christ as He is. Bring a light into a room and then remove it; you remember the things you had seen, but you do not see them now. As witnesses [p. 513] we have to come from Christ as He is, and this is the light. In chapter 15:26 we read, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me “. He will be descriptive of the heavenly man here on earth. This is the character of the servant. There is the outside servant, and the inside servant. The outside servant is the evangelist, the inside servant is working in the assembly. The outside servant, the evangelist, knows his Lord’s purpose. I would press this on the evangelist. It is not merely that he has a love for souls, but he must also be so in the Lord’s mind that he is working for Him.
We should rejoice that souls are saved, and you should be ready to suffer in order to save; but the evangelist must rise above philanthropy. Too often only the happiness of souls is thought of, and not Christ’s part in them. The more you reduce grace to human feeling, the more popular you will be. I do not know a single doctrine which in Christendom is scripturally defined. It is reduced to human feeling. The resurrection, for instance, is spoken of as a receipt for a debt paid. The resurrection is that there is a MAN out of death before God according to His delight. The two ministries we are entrusted with are the gospel and the church. The gospel is that the man who had offended against God is to be displaced by the MAN who removed the offence and glorified God, bearing His judgment. You have exchanged Adam for Christ, the Man who glorified God. That is the gospel, a wonderful delight to the heart! The MAN who has borne the judgment, and who glorified God where you had dishonoured Him, is your Saviour! You know Him now in glory. This is called the gospel of the glory, and the light comes from Christ in glory. just see how grace works, you cannot estimate the importance of it.
[p. 514] Whence did the light in your soul come? It came out of heaven. The light that converted you came out of heaven, but you may not have got to it yet. I illustrate it thus, a man roaming in a wild forest in a dark night on the edge of a precipice; the light from a mansion crosses his path; he sees the precipice, and the enemy trying to divert him from the light; but though he has not reached the mansion, the light has come to him from it, and he gets to the mansion eventually. This is the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
I say to the evangelist, In your gospel present Christ risen. The first impression is of paramount importance; much harm or much blessing is caused by the way the gospel is presented to an awakened soul. See how Paul presents to the awakened jailor a Person. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. The jailor might have said, ‘I do not know who He is’; but Paul put the right Person before him. So Philip and the eunuch. He preached, he evangelised Jesus to him. Peter says in Acts 10, “through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins”. The evangelist must be in the light of the gospel to be effective. “God, who spoke that out of darkness light should shine ... has shone in our hearts, for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. I see my Saviour in glory. He has accomplished everything, and now there is a ministration of righteousness from the glory. He has accomplished the work, and glorified God, so that the nearer you approach to the light of the glory, instead of being repelled as Isaiah was, you are attracted; and the nearer you get the more you are transformed into moral correspondence with the Lord. Stephen saw his Saviour in the glory, and he goes to Him. Marvellously grand is the gospel of the blessed God!
Next, what is the church? It is the expression of [p. 515] all the members of the Man Christ Jesus, who has displaced Adam. The gospel is to displace Adam by Christ. The church is to express Christ here through His body. The Holy Spirit comes from Christ in heaven, as he said, to “testify of me”. In John 16 you read, when He is come, sent by Christ, and acting from Him, He will demonstrate to the world its sin, and that righteousness is not here, and “of judgment because the prince of this world is judged”. It is of immense importance that the servant should bear in mind that, if he is in communion with Christ, he will realise that he is united to Him, and consequently he is here by the Spirit in the power of His exaltation. There are many distractions and difficulties here, but your resource is in Christ exalted to the right hand of God, and as you are with Him there, you receive power by the Holy Spirit to testify of Him here; you will surmount every opposition, though the world is sin, and righteousness is not here, yet Christ at the right hand of God is above it all, and if you are in conscious union with Him you will be superior to the power of the enemy; you will find that the prince of this world is judged. Nothing can prevent the testifying of Christ. Thus we read in the word. “having done all, to stand”. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper”.
I trust you now see your resource. One or two brief remarks, in conclusion, as to the character of evil at the close. Turn to Revelation 3: 7, the Lord’s word to Philadelphia. The great thing you are taught there is that you have to be in moral association with Himself wholly. What would you do, beloved friends, if you heard that all the streams in a place were tainted? What would you do? Would you not say, I will go to the source It is to Christ, the source, I am directing you. “He that is holy, he that is true”. You must come to Him; you must rise to the top. You get the same instruction in 2 Timothy 3. “Thou hast fully known my doctrine”. It has been an immense help to me to see that the greatest light. is required for the greatest darkness. There is some light in the world, gleams of the light. This clergyman has a little light, or this minister or this preacher has a little light. It is not a little light you want, it is the light, and you should come from the Light. The darkness cannot be greater; you require the greatest light to expose it. It is a divine principle that the full light only will counteract the darkness of the present hour. Hence Paul writes to Timothy, “thou hast fully known my doctrine”. The full light only can expose the “form of godliness”, which is “denying the power thereof”.
The truth which God revived in this century was the knowledge of Christ as the Head. The source of all light was revived before the gospel. The servant of God to whom the truth was made known did not know the gospel fully at the time. The light came from the source; God starts from Christ. The gospel had to be learned in order to enjoy the Head. No one’s gospel is beyond his idea of the church. When you hear the gospel that a man preaches you can tell how much he knows of the church; you can apprehend his aim, the end for which he is working. He works to bring you to something. The gospel sets you in company with Christ in glory. If you are not at home with Him, how can you be united to Him? The prodigal could say after the feast, I am greatly blessed. Now he is prepared to hear that he is united to Christ who had brought him in His own acceptance unto God; and this is his place for ever. The more the difficulties increase, the nearer you are to Him who is exalted to the right hand of God, the more you triumph in His triumphs. If you are in conscious union with Him in the darkest day, you will come forth [p. 517] in the greatest light direct from Himself who is the Light. Your one undeviating purpose is to be in moral association with Him, and you can confront the darkest hour, as Moses came from the mount with God to confront the idolatry of Israel. Our blessed Lord descends from the mount of transfiguration to the cross. He came down from the mount to die. The greatest Light has come down to the greatest darkness!
Now I turn to Revelation 22. There I find that the Lord presents Himself to the heart, “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star”. As you look at Him, and the more you do, the more you receive light from Himself, and you can say, “Come”. I am not referring to the mere event of His coming, I am presenting Him personally to your heart. The rapture is the beginning, the event. But it is Christ Himself who is the bright and morning star.
I need not add more. I trust I have brought enough before you to interest your heart in the scriptures I have presented to you. You open the book of Revelation and find everything in the most deplorable condition. You close it, and find there will be a company here who will answer to His heart, expressing one desire, “Come”. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. It is cheering that up to the close the true heart can say, He is my resource! I am not looking to any other, I have Himself. The nearer you are to Himself the better you will know Him, and the better you know Him, the more you will draw from Him. Many of you may be left long on the battlefield, and though the darkness will increase, and the difficulties, too, I would encourage you by His word, “I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut”. He will stand by you. You will have the comfort of His present support. I set it with Paul; he could say, “The Lord stood with me”.
[p. 518] It was not only, The Lord opened His mind to me, which He did; but He (the Lord) stood with me. Paul had been caught up to the third heaven, he had learned at the source; he came from the highest to the lowest. Many do not begin from the source, from Christ Himself; they content themselves with the past, or with the future as revealed in Scripture; they do not seek, they have never known the ministry of the Spirit from the highest point, from Christ in His exaltation. If you are to be led by the Spirit sent by Christ in heaven you must start from this. Unless you come from Himself you cannot face things here.
May the Lord show you the blessed portion to which you are called. It is a most gracious favour to be here for Him — to be in the midst of all the ruin and disaster for Him, and with Him. It is not a question of who will stand with you. Paul was the master-builder and he had to stand alone. The question is, Are you standing for the Lord? Is He your resource? Many will accompany you at the start who will drop off, as Paul found, the more unflinchingly he stood for the exalted Christ. Though deserted by man the Lord was more than ever to him. Thus you will have the greatest light in the darkest day.