ABUNDANCE OF GRACE
[p. 180] ABUNDANCE OF GRACE
Many have noticed how the principle of the gospel comes out in connection with the ministry of the prophet Elisha. He was a remarkable type of Christ in that sense. He did not come in the character of Elijah, but is marked by having a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. The ministry of Elisha has its own character; it is evangelical. Israel was suffering great affliction from the Syrians, at that time their enemies, and they had to learn that if they were to have any relief or good from God, it must be by the word of the prophet; it was by the prophet that God would give them deliverance. That was always the case. They were ready enough to have the deliverance, but they did not care for the word through which it came; they had to learn that deliverance would only come that way. No one can read these scriptures without feeling the deepest interest in Elisha.
The first point to which I would call your attention is the character of those who bore the glad tidings, then how the principle of the gospel comes out in a most remarkable way, in that the power of the enemy was broken, and where there had been dearth there came to be plenty, it was not only the dearth removed, but there was now abundance. The same principle comes out earlier in the ministry of Elisha (2 Kings 4) in the case of the widow and her pot of oil, not only was the debt paid, but she and her sons were to live of the rest. I only just refer to it, everybody here is familiar with the narrative, and it shows us the divine way. It is not the way of grace simply to relieve a person of debt, but to provide that on which he may live; it relieves you of the pressure that is upon you, but you are to live of the residue; the word which [p. 181] brings the tidings of the grace of God, becomes the power of life in the believer.
I will now say a word about the bearers of the glad tidings. The important point is that they were not great men, they were not learned men, but they were leprous men, and yet they were the bearers of glad tidings; they were evangelists. We see the same thing in connection with the healing of Naaman; it was not a great man that brought the good news to him, not some priest or general, but a little maid who said there was a prophet in Israel who could heal him of his leprosy.
Now we have four leprous men. People might be offended with the gospel, because it is irregularly brought to them, not by properly constituted ministers; but what I see is this, that man having departed from God, He will not put any honour upon man in the bearing of glad tidings to him. The first people who preached were unlearned men; I quite admit that later on, God did take up a man of another kind, but the first preachers of the gospel — and they were most distinguished men in the service of Christ — were Galilean fishermen and the like, and they were the bearers of glad tidings. This is important, and no one ought to be offended because of the person who brings to him glad tidings. I would say, look at the glad tidings, not at the bearers of them; that is the lesson to be deduced from what is before us.
These four lepers were in desperate case, they said: If we enter into the city we die, if we sit still here we die, if we fall to the Syrians and they kill us we shall but die, so to the enemy they went. But the remarkable thing is that when they were come to the camp, they found not only that the enemies were gone, but that they had left abundance behind them, and they fell upon the prey and took the spoil. Then there comes out the natural selfishness of the human heart; they take and hide for themselves, but after a while conscience [p. 182] begins to work, and they say: This day is a day of glad tidings, we do not well to hold our peace, some mischief will befall us if we go on in this way, and so they were compelled by conscience, to go and bear glad tidings to the king of Israel, and glad tidings indeed they were. The closing part of the previous chapter gives you a vivid picture of the dreadful distress in which the people of the city were, and which stirred the heart of the poor king of Israel to its very depth; they were actually killing their children and eating them, and it was not in the power of the king to help them. Then come these remarkable tidings: but everybody was sceptical, the king was sceptical, he could not believe them; he said the Syrians were playing them a trick, he could not believe in the goodness of God. The most difficult thing for man to believe in is the goodness of God; people may believe in the existence of God, but to believe in the goodness of God is very difficult to man, and I will tell you why: it is because the human heart is not privy to pure goodness. The consequence is that it finds it exceedingly difficult to believe in the goodness of God; the king of Israel could not, and so he sent out to enquire, but found it was even so as the lepers had said.
There was one man, a distinguished man, a nobleman, who suffers for his unbelief. One word about that. There are many things that God can bear with, but there is a kind of unbelief that is unpardonable. I see it in the case of the children of Israel; they made a golden calf and God bore with that, but when it came to not believing the glad tidings concerning the land, that was unpardonable; and God swore in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest. There are three notable instances in the life of Elisha, of men falling under the judgment of God through profanity or unbelief: one is the case of the children who mocked the prophet saying: “Go up, thou bald head”, 2 Kings 2:23. The second is that of Gehazi, who sought a reward from Naaman for his healing — these are cases of profanity; the third is the nobleman in this chapter who was unbelieving in the goodness of God, and was trodden down in the gate. God marks all. You cannot play fast and loose with Him, and with His glad tidings; you have to remember that the gospel is the word of God, it is the word of His goodness, and not to believe it, or to profane it, or to refuse to listen to it, is unpardonable. God addresses everyone in grace. God is not now telling you to do this or that, as was the case under the law, but the gospel comes to tell you what God has done; and to make light of or to disbelieve what God has done in divine grace and goodness for man, entails a very serious responsibility. I beg everyone here to take warning. God is no respecter of persons: the bearers of the glad tidings were these four leprous men; and the great man, the nobleman, was trodden down in the gate and died.
I turn now to the great principle of the gospel as illustrated here, that where the enemy and dearth were, it came to pass that not only was the power of the enemy broken, but there was abundance; and that is just what marks the present moment. I quite admit that you cannot see it with your eyes, it is only where God, works and the conscience is in exercise, that the grace of God is apprehended.
Turn back to the case of Samaria — anyone can understand the desperate state of affairs there. The Syrians were without, and dearth within. Imagine London or any great city invested by an enemy; there would soon be dearth there. It was the enemy without, that brought about the dearth within; dearth within is sure to accompany the enemy without. We have seen such a thing in our day. Many can remember Paris being invested; the enemy encircled the city and the people were shut in, and there was famine; and many other consequences follow on that, such as [p. 184] pestilence and death. I trust we may never be permitted to see it in this country.
Of course, the secret of the scarcity in Samaria was the Syrian without; if they could have got rid of the Syrian they might have provisioned the city. So long as they were kept in, there was no hope, and this is pretty much the state of man’s case, the enemy is without and there is moral dearth within. It was the case in regard to man when the Lord came here; He found it so. Man is made a sport of by the enemy, for the enemy carries man far beyond what he himself thinks or intends. If people only knew it, how careful they would be! They do not always intend to go so far in evil, but the enemy carries them away. We see it in the case of Judas. I doubt if he intended to go as far as he did, but Satan got hold of him through the love of money. Every man is liable to fall under the power of the enemy. I will tell you why, because you are akin to him in that sense; there are elements in you to which he can appeal, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, 1 John 2:16; these are the motives on which he can act. Satan ministers to you in that way. Satan will help people on in the line of this world. Scripture speaks of him as the god of this world, who blinds the eyes of them that believe not. He will do that for you; he will blind your eyes, will help you on in the line of lust. Satan will minister to you if you go in for self-gratification. I do not doubt at all that you will get great assistance from him, but then he will carry you much farther than you ever intended to go. A young man begins to trifle with evil; he goes pleasuring on the Lord’s day, or he appropriates some trifling thing belonging to his employer. In a general way it is at first with the idea of restitution, but the end is, that he is carried in evil far beyond what he thought at first. That has been the history of the ruin of many a young man in this world, and it is that which is the proof to me that there [p. 185] is a power at work in this world greater than man, the power of the god of this world.
There is the power of evil without, and dearth within. I pity men. I notice everywhere there is moral dearth, want of bread; men try to live on husks. How often you see men going down in the decline of their lives, feeding on novels, living in clubs and the like; it is all husks, there is no bread; there is famine within, they are not aware of it, but it is true. How can these things sustain the soul when man has to meet sickness or death, and after death to meet God? I pity man, the higher up he is socially the more I pity him; it is not the poor of this world that are most to be pitied in this respect. You cannot approach the highest in the land to speak to them as to their souls; they are the most to be pitied. The higher you rise in the social scale, the nearer you are to the god of this world. There is nothing to envy in the great; certainly they are marked by dearth, the power of the enemy without and dearth within. That is the state of the case with men, but it is not the thought of God for man; the thought of God’s goodness in regard of man is, that where the power of the enemy was, and dearth, there should be abundance.
Now, I hope to make it plain to you that the power of the enemy has been broken, has disappeared for God, so that it is not necessary that man should be under the power of the enemy any longer, and that there is abundance as well; Do you know where the power of the enemy was broken, and how it is that abundance has come in? I will tell you: it was in the death of Christ. In the death of Christ I see on the one hand the power of the enemy broken, and on the other abundance brought in.
I daresay you may not understand that at first, but I will make it plain to you if I can. If you take man as he is naturally, you find that he has a crooked evil will, a lustful heart, and is subject to the power of [p. 186] the enemy, and he is also obnoxious to the righteousness of God; that is true of every man in this world, there is no good point about him for God. I fully recognise what there is of good about man, his natural affections and so on, but when you come to the source of all his actions, there is no good in him; God’s judgment is upon him as he stands. I think we sometimes refer the judgment too much to the future; we have to remember that man is under death now. I will show you what God has come in to do by death. In the death of Christ, God has dealt with the whole question from beginning to end; He has condemned the crookedness of man’s will, sin in the flesh; He has broken the power of the enemy, and in death the righteousness of God has been vindicated. The fact is that the Son of God has come forth on God’s behalf, to meet the enemy in the place of the enemy’s power, that is, in death; and God’s righteousness has been declared where man’s crookedness was condemned. All that has been effected in the death of God’s Son, so that He could say when on the cross: “It is finished”, John 19:30. Everything was effected for God, all evil cleared out of the way, so that His love might flow out — that was the great point: every obstacle had to be removed, His righteousness declared and maintained, otherwise there would have been no security for the eternal blessing of the believer. God’s righteousness might have been declared in another way, He might have condemned the whole world and consigned all to perdition, but in that case there would have been no love expressed. From time to time God has declared His judgment, and very solemn it is; but the full declaration of His righteousness in the cross was to make way for His love to flow forth. God has declared His righteousness; Jesus is the mercy-seat; God is righteous and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, Romans 3:26. The power of the enemy, too, is broken; Christ went into death to annul the power of death.
[p. 187] Now all this has been effected in the death of Christ. It was the purpose of God so to deal with man, that the enemy should have no power over him; not only that righteousness should have no claim against him, but the enemy no power over him. That is what God came to do in the cross of the Lord. Jesus Christ. The gospel comes to speak about what God has done, not to tell people what they have to do; also to speak about God’s purpose in it all, that His love might flow forth, because the One in whom all was effected was the blessed Son of God, the One who could declare God’s nature to man. It was all done in order that God might be made known. The Son of Man was lifted up that whosoever believeth on Him might have everlasting life. I want you to believe what has been effected; God’s righteousness has been declared; He has no demands to make upon the believer, but is the justifier of him that believeth. God’s character has been vindicated so that He can clear the believer. What a wonderful position for God to be in! His righteousness vindicated in the blood of Jesus, the enemy’s power broken, and the state of man condemned — all effected on the part of God in order that He might make known His love; and the love of God is now declared in His blessed Son. “No man hath seen God at any time, the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”, 1 John 4:12.
Now I want to carry you a point further, the enemy’s power is gone. Whatever a man might fear is gone. A man might say, I am afraid of the righteousness of God, well the righteousness of God has been vindicated; I am afraid of death, the power of death has been annulled; I am afraid of my own crooked will, that has been condemned. All these things might come up before the mind of man. I believe it is perfectly right to be afraid of the righteousness of God, of the power of death and of your own evil will, but then in the light of the gospel I see that in the death [p. 188] of Christ all has been met, so that I am no longer afraid. You need not be afraid of the righteousness o God; if you believe in the blood of Jesus, you are justified by that blood, and not only are you justified, but you become the servant of righteousness. The righteousness of God is no terror, and the gospel not only brings to light the fact that the righteousness of God is vindicated, but there is the blessed testimony to man of His love. The One who suffered upon the cross was the One who could declare the nature of God. He was not simply the righteous One, but down here He declared the Father. He maintained and vindicated the righteousness of God, but there was also in Him the testimony of the love of God to man.
How did God prove Him to be His Son? He raised Him from the dead. He was thus declared to be the Son of God, the One who had come here to effect His will. Another point is that He was raised from the dead, in order that as the exalted Man at the right hand of God He might communicate the gift of the Holy Spirit; this is what has been effected in the blessed Son of God.
I think you will now see plainly enough that what was set forth here in type and shadow, has been effected in the death of Jesus. Death, where the power of the enemy was, has now become the witness of the love of God. Death was the power of the enemy. Why? Because it was the judgment of God; death is on man, man ought to be and is in terror of death. Let a man have what he may in this life, title and estate and possession, it all goes in death, he is only a life tenant. A man brings nothing into the world, he may come into plenty here and may live to enjoy it perhaps ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years, but he only holds it according to God’s pleasure. God can say to a rich man: “This night thy soul shall be required of thee”, Luke 12:20. It is a most striking thing that while the title and possessions remain, the man goes. It shows the moral [p. 189] weakness of everything down here. A man is far greater than his possessions, and yet the man goes while the possessions and title remain. Death is upon him, you may attribute it to natural decay, but death is God’s judgment upon man, because sin has come into the world, and I believe that man ought to be afraid of it. Man ought not to look at death as a dog might; death is little to an animal for there is no moral question, animals are constituted differently from men. It only shows how debased man has become, that some can die like animals. Death is upon man, and after death is the judgment; the moral consequence has to be faced even after death has been passed through. Death is man’s utter weakness; it is to thousands a leap in the dark, but the death of Christ has altered the aspect of everything for the believer, and instead of being the witness of God’s solemn judgment upon man, death is the expression in Christ of God’s love to him.
The power of the enemy has been broken, the Syrian has left the field, and now there is abundance. Grace has met man’s debt, but not that only, the believer is to live of the rest of all that has been made known in the death of Christ.
I wonder what the death of Christ is to all here. You listen, but not perhaps with much concern. I am not one that can preach to you an exciting sermon, but I can speak to you about the death of Christ. I see that death is the way of divine grace; grace reigns through righteousness; but I see a great deal more in the fact of its having been God’s Son who died; death has become the expression of God’s love. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son”, John 3:16. Here you have the simple statement of it, a simpler could not be, “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, John 3:16. Do you know what eternal life is? It is the purpose of Christ’s death. It is that the love of God, which is [p. 190] witnessed in the death of Christ, should be life in your soul. You have no lack; you are free of the enemy without, and there is no famine within; that is what has come to pass. The soul of the believer lives now in the light and enjoyment of love. How completely everything is changed! and it is death which has changed all, the death of Christ. It is a wonderful and yet possible thing for a soul to live in the love of God, for righteousness has been vindicated, and your soul can live in all the light of what is revealed; the Holy Spirit is given, and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit Romans 5:5. The divine way is worthy of God, it would scarcely have been worthy of God for man merely to be cleared, to be relieved of the pressure that was upon him, but in addition to that, it is God’s way that he should live of the rest. If you want to know how much you are relieved, the death of Christ will show it you, if you want to know what it is to live of the rest, the death of Christ will also show you that. Think of the solemnity of the Son of God dying, it was the Son of God who came forth that the love of God might be declared, and the Son of God died; well might the sun hide its light, well might the land be filled with darkness, when the Son of God died, and why did He die? That God might, in the death of His Son, express His love to you and me, His love shone forth there. You can be free from the judgment of God now, and from the enemy’s power, and you live of the residue; you are relieved of the dearth, and instead of that you have plenty. I ask you, have you bread, or does your soul know dearth and famine? Are you trying to live on husks? Very poor food it is. What a sad thing it is to know that people are living on husks, when there is plenty of good food and to spare.
There is one simple word for you: do not shut out the light. You have hearts and consciences, do not [p. 191] shut out the light. It is easy to do it. The light discovers all that is in your heart, but the light tells of the love of God, and if it discovers all that is in your heart, it also brings in the light of what is in God’s heart. You cannot do better than let the light in, and you will live; you will live on the bread, the knowledge of God’s love, and you will be better off for this world as well as for the world to come. I have known something of the pleasures of this world, but I am a happier man now without them, for the secret of true happiness is piety; godliness is profitable for all things, 1 Timothy 4:8. It has promise of this life as well as of the next. I only pray that you may know it. Accept the blessed witness in the cross of Christ, of God’s righteousness and love; the consequence will be that you will apprehend that the Son of God is risen and is the giver of the Holy Spirit and He will give you the Holy Spirit to be a well of water springing up in you into everlasting life, John 4:14. Christ is the giver of the Spirit; you can get it from no one else. “Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”, Revelation 22:17. None can give it you but Christ; it is quite right to say, ‘Come to Christ’, He can give you what you want. You have not far to come; He is the giver of the living water; He died to express God’s love, therefore I say, come to Christ, and you will get living water. Jesus said: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again”, John 4:13. How true that is of the springs of this world; but “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst”, John 4:14. That is what He gives. Oh! that your soul may receive the light of Christ; receive the living water that He and He alone can give.