ABIDING

17^th June 1916

Luke 24: 29-31; John 1: 3-39; John 13: 23-25

You will remember that last week I drew attention to the distinctive character of Luke’s Gospel. It is extremely helpful to have the distinctiveness of each book before you in reading - it helps so much in regard to detail.

The four Gospels present the Lord in very distinctive ways. In Luke we have the presentation of God as Man; God is seen in a Man - that is the great idea. In that true, perfect, holy humanity God was seen - as I said before, a fitting title to the Gospel would be, THE HEAD OF CHRIST IS GOD. He was seen in circumstances which sin had created but was not moved by that in which He was found. He had God for His Head. We can never forget that though Man, He was still a divine Person - Christ is God. You cannot understand it? No. Nor reason about it? No. You can only leave the mystery of His Person, for if you could understand it you would be as wise as God.

God has been pleased to come down to us in a Man - in Jesus the true and perfect Man. So much false doctrine is floating about now, even among Christians, in regard to the deity of Christ, that one has to hold tenaciously to His divinity. He never ceased to be what He was because of what He became but was perfect in what He became. Luke presents Him in that way - in the perfection of what He became.

The great thought is that God proposes to recover us to Himself in the life of that Man. If Christians, we come under the influence of the Spirit to that end. Luke’s Gospel always goes with Paul’s teaching and Paul’s doctrine consists of the great moral foundations of the Gospel of the Grace of God - the removal of one man in the death of Christ and the bringing in of another Man in the power of the Spirit. That is it - and yet it is even refused by God’s dear people. Blessed removal - God will recover you in the life of another Man.

You remember the incident (2 Kings: 7) the young man lost the axe-head, it went down into the waters. By the side of Jordan there grew a tree, which when cut down and cast in, caused the iron to swim - the axe-head came to the surface - it was recovered for the owner’s pleasure.

Another thing in Luke’s Gospel is the priestly grace of Christ. The Gospel begins with the Priest and ends with the Priest. At the commencement the priesthood is in weakness. Zacharias is in weakness - he is aged, there is barrenness - no child, it all figures the failure and breakdown of that system. The Gospel ends with Priesthood, Christ ascends on high. “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them, And it came to pass, while He blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven”, v 50, 51. He went up into heaven giving the priestly benediction. That was the last time they saw Him. They saw Him in that attitude where He blessed them and so He was parted from them. Beloved brethren, His hands have never gone down. Two thousand years He has been exercising His priestly grace. There is no departure there, He is Priest and Blesser.

“He led them out ...”. If you will let Him separate you - but it can only be known in separation from the world and its principles - He will place His hands upon you in blessing, for His hands have never gone down and His heart has never grown cold. We often sing of what His love has done, but what is He doing now? He is active now. His heart of love is still the same and desires that we may be drawn from religious formality to know Him and to prove the present activity of His love. If we were all here in the power of that, what a blessed meeting we should have. Oh the constancy of that love, every exigency of God’s people brings out His service.

I have said all this by way of preface, my aim tonight is to show you, if I can, the difference between the two ‘abides’, Luke 24: 29 and John 1: 39.

The hymn ‘Abide with me, fast falls the eventide’ is very familiar and very sweet. I am not saying a word against that. It was written by a godly minister in the parish in which I lived as a boy. People speak of, and sing it, as if it were the acme of a Christian experience. No doubt the theme is taken from these words in Luke’s Gospel.

They needed Him - not that they knew Him - but He was one to sympathise with the lonely and sorrowing ones. Their hopes were blighted, the shadow of death had fallen upon their spirits and their earthly hopes were dashed to the ground. Death is very blighting. It was His death they were thinking of - the death of Jesus, and they reasoned and were sad. If you reason you will get sad. The fruit of reasoning is always sadness but if you believe you will be glad. Their sadness drew Jesus to them. What will draw Him to you today is the sad countenance, the sad heart, cry of distress, the falling tear. He is sensitive to it all. He drew near to them and comforted them, though He rebuked them too, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe” (v 25) and then He expounded the Scriptures to them. That is not my point just now though much more might be said on it, so I hasten on. He abode with them. It is sweet to have Him in your sorrows, sweet to have Him on your side when you are distressed. He will come near - His heart is full of tenderness when we are in trouble. He sympathises like no other for He has tasted every sorrow. He can¹ come so near in our earthly troubles - He can say, ‘I have been there’.

I thank God for all His mercies, His goodness, all the natural relationships of life which He allows us - how good God is. Yet the blessed Lord knew nothing of them. He had not where to lay His head. He was the Man of Sorrows and directly your tears begin to flow His heart is toward you and He can say, ‘I have passed that way’. He was hungry and weary, He travelled all the way of sorrow, thus you can have Him nearer in your sorrow than in your joys.

His sympathy is very real, and now, as I turn from it to the other scripture, do not think that I would in any way belittle it, though I say we have something better.

Let us come therefore to this ‘something better’ in John’s Gospel. The “abide” in John’s Gospel is what I consider to be the culmination of His teaching. You have divine love here working for its own satisfaction. What the Son is to the Father and what the Father is to the Son and divine love working in order that we might be brought into a scene of rest of love - that we might be found in love’s resting place. What I read in the first chapter is the whole thesis - it is the revelation of God to man in a Man, and God’s great end is to have man for His own satisfaction. John exemplifies that in his person as I shall hope to show you. Paul was an exemplar of what he put forth - he could say, “thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life” (2 Tim 3: 10) and in like manner John presents the great thought of his preachings both in the Gospel and in the epistles in his own person.

John the Baptist had to render a testimony to the Lord; it was two-fold and very wonderful. First “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (v 29) and secondly, “the same is He which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost” (v 33). That is a very wonderful testimony.

Christ, as Son of God, is great enough, by the power of the Spirit, to fill the whole universe with the blessing of God. He will not only give the Spirit to you and me individually but presently He will fill the whole universe; He does put away our sins and give us His Spirit but that is more in the verse preceding those I read.

In verse 35 it says, “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking at Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God”. Notice the difference to verse 29. Here it is a look of admiration - it is the Person that attracted him not His work. John was looking at the Lord and his heart was so charged with the greatness and the beauty of His Person that he exclaims “Behold the Lamb of God”. It is always a true testimony that is rendered in the spirit of worship. His heart was so full of what Christ was that his testimony is vital. Alas that we so often hold the truth in terms and there is no vitality.

John gives his testimony and his disciples left him and followed Jesus. His mission was on earth with God but here was One come from heaven to bring heaven down to earth. A vital testimony produced results - they left John and followed Jesus.

(I will just say in passing that Paul’s doctrine puts you in heaven. The apostle John always brings heaven down to you. Paul in his teaching says, ‘God is your Father’, John says, ‘Your Father is God’. You will profit by the distinction.)

They followed Jesus and the blessed Lord turned and saw them following and spoke to them. If one soul desires to come nearer to Christ the Spirit will help you. Alas, alas, how often we listen and still we are left where we were. How many appreciate but do not follow up. May the Lord fan the flame which may have been kindled by our meeting here tonight. If one shall have come nearer to the Lord - I trust many more may - yet if only one, it will have been worth my while to come. It is our heart that He desires.

You may have heard the story before but I repeat it to help my point. The father sat in his study when there came a tap on his door and the little boy Charlie appeared with a broken plaything. ‘Please will you mend my toy?’ The father, a kind man with consideration for little children, stopped and mended the toy, sent the child away happy and then pursued his studies. Not long after another knock came and the child entered, again carrying something that needed attention in his hand. Again the damage was repaired and Charlie sent away happy. Again, there was a tap on the door. ‘What is it now Charlie?’ ‘I want to be with you, Father’. That is it, so he came and sat on the rug happy and contented to be with his father.

May I use the illustration - I do so reverently - God will mend our toys, He will comfort our distresses, He will send us away happy. But may the time come when we may say, ‘I want to be with You’.

The Father’s love the source of all,

Sweeter than all it gives

The disciples say, “where dwellest thou?” and the answer is, “Come and see”. There is a great deal of doctrine pressed into that statement. You must be with Him, not bodily but in Spirit. I would write those words over the Epistle to the Colossians. It would be a fitting title for that is the doctrine that you get there - you leave earth morally to get heaven. You are dead with Christ and risen with Him. You come into a scene where you are prepared for heaven. Do you shrink from this? I beg you not to. He will give us to see how earth is death-shadowed. He will, with loving hands, undo the tendrils that bind you to the earth so tightly and He will set you free.

It is not that you neglect anything here - you go back to those daily duties, but in the spirit of your mind you are free, these things do not govern you, you have priestly grace for the pathway down here.

But, “Where dwellest thou?” - “Come and see”. You shall be richly compensated for your loss here. Happy Jacob, he said to Joseph, “As for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come to ... Bethlehem”, Gen 48: 7. It is but a little way to Christ in that deep sorrow of yours. In that deep sorrow, how near He is. How often the grave of our earthly hopes is the birthplace of our heavenly blessings. This earth has too great a place in our minds. I do not ask you to neglect anything here but I do feel we are not free, we are not free in our spirits, we are so much detained by earth. You will never be a spiritual man whilst earth has first place. We perhaps think of a spiritual man as one who can talk about Scripture and bring out truth in a meeting. We have ideas in our minds but they find no foundation here. Are we free in our spirits? Can we joy with Christ in His circumstances? Do we know anything of that?

The 13^th of John is a wonderful chapter. I might take up feet-washing in many ways and speak of the service, the spring of the service or the manner of it. “He was come from God, and went to God” v 3. O the grace of it, but that is not my point tonight.

Then I might take the chapter up on other lines, the 13^th chapter as following morally on the 12^th - perfect testimony in the 12^th and the close proximity of Jesus to the little circle in the 13^th. Yet Satan was there, flesh was there. Satan and flesh are both there though they do not come out yet. Is there, can there be a man there to betray the blessed Lord his Master? Being three years with Jesus, did that not alter him? He was in the same outward proximity to Jesus as the other eleven. Alas, it is so - may it speak to each one of us tonight. We may be outwardly in the right place, apparently in fellowship, probably taking the Lord’s supper, and yet in heart away from Him. Not even the dearest earthly friend may know the state of our soul, but He is cognisant of it and sensitive to it. There was treachery in their midst.

Then again, I might speak of the chapter in connection with Peter. There you have, not treachery as in Judas, but self-confidence, and weakness because of self-confidence. Weakness and self-confidence go together, so do dependence and power. But the Lord says to Peter, “I have prayed for thee” (Luke 22: 32), otherwise it would have all been over with him. Satan claims the fallen flesh of man and if not kept in the silence of the death of Christ, he will handle it to dishonour the Lord.

I leave all these details tonight, although how one could enlarge upon each one of them, and pass on to John and the position he is seen in in the chapter.

Now John, with his feet washed is in the bosom of Jesus, not lying on the bosom but in. He is in the bosom of the One who is in the bosom of the Father. That is where he dwells.

I have not gone into feet-washing tonight but I would just say it is for the defilement of earth. There are many things which defile, almost unconsciously, many things which perhaps your conscience cannot take cognisance of. For instance, you come home wearied from the city and go to the prayer meeting. Your feet are washed by the sweet sense of love you find in the company of the saints. There are many other ways, I cannot go into them now. John was in the bosom of the One who was in the bosom of the Father. Sweet spot.

Now a question is raised and none of the disciples know the answer. “Who is it?” Why did Peter not ask? Ah! It is the one in the bosom of Jesus who will have all questions answered. There is no question left unanswered if you are in communion. We run here and there to get our questions solved, we seek advice from this or that neighbour. These last two years have exposed us all and have shown how much we were resting on circumstances, and how much more we were detained by earth than we thought we were. We have sought advice from others and have become bewildered.

John with his feet washed asks the question, lying on Jesus’ breast. He was in the bosom of Jesus and now he leans on Him, that is, I do not lean on my own understanding but I rely on Him. ‘Lord, You tell me’. That is very beautiful - you cannot ask if you are not there, and you cannot be there if you are not washed, feet washed I mean. All questions are answered on the bosom of Jesus. There you are able to receive divine communications. That is my point in taking up John as illustrative of his own teachings.

Secondly, you are energised by divine love. Now in chapter 20: 4 it says, “So they ran both together [Peter and John] and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre”. You see, the second, energised by divine love, outran the first. So shall it be “yet went he not in” v 5. “Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre”. Beloved brethren, you need not think the Spirit records these details without intent. You are energised by divine love².

Thirdly, he was reverential. Love always makes you that. Peter rushed by - impulsive Peter - John halted. There is liberty in divine love that is not licence. There is amongst us, I feel, a great danger of being unconsciously irreverent - we do not mean to be I know.

Fourthly, love recognises the Lord. The 21^st chapter is an appendix to the Gospel by John. It is the last thing the Spirit wrote, later even than the Revelation. I thank Him for it. Where should I be? Where would any of us have been if it were not for that chapter? In this fashion he showed himself. Simon Peter saith unto them (some of the disciples) ‘I go a-fishing’ They say to him ‘We also will go with thee’. What is the result? Night, nothing, nakedness. That is always, and always will be the result of going away from the Lord. They went out into the wild waste of waters. It is a sad thing to be away from the Lord - a sad and wearisome thing to take things into one’s own hands and leave the Lord out. But if you do not go after Him, He will come after you. The Lord speaks and acts and John says, “It is the Lord”, v 7. He was the first to discern that and he tells Peter and it moves him. Peter’s heart was right at the bottom but it was drifting.

Have you known the sense of distance? Have you come to the meetings as a mere form? Has there been backsliding in affection? Have you still taken the Lord’s supper and it has not meant to you what it used to do? The people that you live with may perhaps not know - nobody knows - but you know and the Lord knows. There is no act of public backsliding but what has been preceded by a long private backsliding. The Lord would spare you the publicity - He would recall - He is so tender. He will speak again and again and again in many ways. You find the Bible irksome? You have little interest in the Scriptures and prefer light reading? Is prayer neglected? LISTEN! CHILDREN, HAVE YOU ANY MEAT? Answer that dear young Christian.

When Peter got to the shore he saw there was a fire of coals. In effect the Lord says, ‘You want to keep warm by the world’s fire, Peter, now come and warm by my fire’. He will probe you and will warm you. Come and warm by His fire and get right. It all has to come out. “When they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” “Thou knowest that I love Thee”, v 15. Again He asks him. He had first warmed him and then He probes him. How clumsy we are. I was much impressed by a dear old brother whom I accompanied on a visit to another brother who had backslidden. He knew the case very well and had great affection for the man but was received very coldly and one could see the brother was very much hardened. He spoke to him on these lines, ‘Twenty years ago you gave up that for Christ, and that, and that and that and now you are spoiling it all’. It was very lovely, he narrated the beautiful things in him through the grace of God. The stiffness was gone and he was broken down and recovered to the Lord. May the Lord give us grace and skill to handle one another in that way. Peter says, ‘I admit it all, Lord. You know all things. You know that I love you. You know the love that is in my heart - you know you put it there’. Peter is recovered to the Lord.

My fifth point in regard to John is that he followed. “He saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following”, v 19, 20. It is in the power of divine love that we follow - the one who loves is the one who follows.

Lastly, when Jesus was on the cross He saw John standing there and to him he committed His interests. “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother!” John 19: 26, 27. That is, I commit my interests to you.

I would like you to consider these six points in connection with John. It is a pathway open to each. When the feet are washed there is a place on the bosom of Jesus and in the bosom of Jesus where all questions are answered. You are energised by the power of divine love, you are reverential, you discern the presence of the Lord, you follow and then all the interests of the Lord are committed to you. May we each know something of it in our practical experience. May the Lord bless this word. Amen.

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